With a squeaking sound, the teacup filled with light green tea with a mellow scent just by looking at it.
“It smells good and I enjoy drinking it. These days, I have a hobby.”
Milited, who manually unloaded the tea and pushed the teacup in front of me, poured his share of tea and shrugged.
“Drink if you like, or not. I wouldn’t recommend drinking it.”
With those words, the guy sips and tilts his teacup.
After looking down at the teacup for a moment, I looked at Han Soo-young, who was still in a deep sleep, still unconscious. If I had been trying to make a fuss, I would have done it a long time ago.
Without hesitation, I reached out, grabbed the teacup, and took a sip of the tea like a guy.
“Wow, isn’t it hot? Above all, they put Dokdo there. A little bit of venom that will instantly kill even a whale.”
I looked at him without a word.
He showed his palms as if joking.
“It’s a joke. I don’t play around with food. Well, technically it’s a drink, but anyway, that’s what I mean.”
Taking a sip, he drank one more time.
“Then, shall we have a quick conversation with you first? Originally… .”
Here, he glanced at Han Soo-young for a moment, then made a worried expression for a moment.
He seemed to be thinking about how to call her.
“… It would be right to talk with your co-worker after waking up, but in fact, even though this person looks relaxed on the outside, she is quite hot.”
He smiled and slowly began to take off his large oriental coat.
Then, one side of his upper body was exposed to me, and his body, which was exposed, was like a boiling hot soup, with bubbles forming and bursting repeatedly.
“Can you see it?”
He was still smiling as if it wasn’t painful.
“After all, it’s me 300 years from now. Even if they are weak and weak, they are not easily eaten. It’s like this even though I’ve been working hard for three days already.”
Closing his collar, he slowly began to explain.
“First of all, I think I should talk about why I put her in my bed… There’s nothing wrong with that. You, your co-worker, and another me, the three of us, suddenly fell onto my bed. Do you know how surprised I was? Think about it, I was sleeping soundly and suddenly people were falling from the sky!”
Milited burst into laughter.
“So I ate it.”
He leaned back and still looked at me with a relaxed attitude.
“One Milited is enough, you don’t need two. And above all, that… Do you know the story of the doppelganger? No, no. okay… If it was enough to meet me in that world, I’m sure I’d met him too. right?”
I nodded slowly.
When he put down the teacup, which had only slightly moistened his lips, he gave a look of regret.
“It’s very expensive… Anyway, that’s a similar story. There must be only one person in the same time zone, same space. That is the principle and the iron rule. If you try to break it, both of you will die.”
Milited said so and smiled deeply.
“Well, actually, it’s not that tight, so there are a lot of shortcuts. There are no rules without exceptions.”
“Is it a shortcut?”
“right. What… For example, is it that only one side is aware of the other? Or maybe there is a way to recognize each other in an isolated world. Strictly speaking, they are not on the same level.”
He shrugged as he said that.
“However, when both sides recognize each other, one has to disappear unconditionally. This has not changed.”
And, unfortunately, 300 years from now, I’m not the one who wants to disappear.
Saying so, he brought the teacup to his lips.
“Of course I was too. So I didn’t want to die, so I killed him first. That’s all.”
He tapped and clasped his fingers.
“At the same time, I received good gifts, and I was able to catch a glimpse of a lot of fun memories.”
“then.”
“Um?”
“Why didn’t we kill him?”
He frowned at my words, as if he was talking about what the hell he was saying.
“What crazy is that? why do i kill you why me? Nobles I never expected came rolling in like this!”
He jumped out of his seat as if excitedly, tried to get up, then sat back down.
“Why do they fight me 300 years from now and push me to the point where I almost die? That’s my story in that world. not me.”
“… … .”
“There, first of all, you have the pendant, do I need to act stupid?”
He pointed his finger at the pendant he had returned to me.
“Can I ask you one thing first? What the hell did you do there? A thought of immense power is protecting you and that woman. Ownership, most important of all, has completely passed on to you. So without your will, to other people, it’s just an antique.”
Milited’s eyes gleaming with obsession and greed.
It was a well-known fact that he was obsessed with the pendant.
I nodded slightly and asked.
“So you saved it? Do I have complete ownership?”
“… No, just be honest. You were just trying to kill me too.”
Milited spoke in a muffled voice and then filled the teacup again.
“I don’t have any particular grudges. It was just annoying, and it was annoying to get my bed, where I was sleeping well, dirty. Above all else, if the pendant was taken away, would that be the case? Let’s get rid of the hindsight, what were you thinking?”
As he spoke up to that point, he secretly grabbed the wrist of the other with one hand.
“But as soon as I touched my hand with that thought, my arm rotted and broke. … Can you believe it? To crush the Seven Evil Bells with poison. I thought that the only person who could defeat me with poison would be a lizard with the strength of that lizard.”
I could feel the shadow twitch slightly at his words.
It was as if he was unaware that I had Minervana Svengali in his body.
“So, what is the story you want to tell? I don’t think I’m asking for a pendant in return for saving my life.”
“I’ll help you with that.”
Milited leaned down and said.
“Do you have to go back? to your original time.”
I asked, making eye contact with him, calmly, in order to understand his true meaning.
“… and? I don’t think he wants to do any charity work.”
“right.”
He nodded and pointed to the pendant.
“When all is done, hand over the pendant to your will.”
He whispered once more in a lower voice.
“’You must hand over the title to me at your will.’ If you promise me this, I too will have all my names and my past, present, future… Anyway, I swear by everything.”
After saying that, he added urgently after a while.
“If it were me, I would swear by the name of Milited.” What was it that you were tricked like this? And, as you know, it’s nothing more than a plausible trick. Because I have countless names. Losing one of them doesn’t really matter. That’s why it’s so easy to make a name oath. But at the point of all names, that trick doesn’t work. And for us… An oath with such a name and existence is very important.”
Sbengali was quietly right at his words, and he hinted that Militedra would not be able to avoid it as long as he swore like that.
I nodded.
“Then make an oath now.”
“What are you swearing on?”
“I will answer any questions you ask from now on without lies.”
He thought for a moment, then pursed his lips.
I quietly opened my mouth towards that guy.
“You want to do business with me? So, shouldn’t we build trust with each other? As you said, you and I have been enemies from the beginning, and it would be a bit unreasonable for you to trust such a person right away.”
“… I won’t answer the big secret. Would you tolerate a degree of silence?”
“okay.”
“Then I swear. I, Milited, for a little while from now, I will vomit only the truth to all your questions without a single lie. This is my holy, solemn and unavoidable oath by all my name and being.”
As soon as he finished his oath, he said it right away.
“What memories did you get from another Milited you ate? And what new powers have you gained?”
“You’re asking something quite big from the beginning.”
Even as he said that, he answered immediately as if he had been waiting.
“Actually, contrary to what you expected, there is little to be gained. Since it wasn’t in perfect condition, I was able to get only a small portion of it. The power hasn’t changed. I’ve only gotten a little stronger, but I haven’t gained any new power. Memories… Literally, things related to my dreams.”
“What do you know about me?”
“Well, strong enough to drive me to the point of death and the ability to do so?”
“… … .”
Sbengali spoke again as she kept her mouth shut in response to the questionable answer.
[You can trust me. He has too much to lose to just lie about something like this.]
Then, as if Minerva was okay with it, he tapped my ankle with a shadow and stroked it as if stroking it.
I nodded and asked another question.
“You said you would help me. May I ask how you can help?”
“Literally, you and your comrades should be back on time. To be honest, if you guys stay here for a long time, it’s annoying for me as well.”
He spoke in a cool manner and held out his hands.
“Like I said before, that pendant cannot be used without your will. However, as with any object with thoughts, as long as the owner’s just permission is there, he can come into contact and interfere.”
“okay… .”
“More than anything else, you need the core of the Seven Evil Bells to use that pendant.”
Milited whispered to me.
And then he giggled and smiled.
“As for myself… No one in the Seven Evils wants to do such a crazy thing. why? To remove the nucleus is to remove the heart in human terms. In other words, to use the pendant once, you have to sacrifice one life of the Seven Evils. How nonsense is that?”
“But not me.”
“Margot, Svengalli, Minerva, Juno, Venus… Maybe even Ariman can’t do it. I can take off my core at will.”
Milited said so in a confident manner.
And what he said was true enough.
It is also true that he was the only one among the Seven Evils to be able to freely shape his body, including solid, liquid, and gaseous states, as well as shapes. As he was sure, Milited would have been able to arbitrarily remove any part of his body.
“Yeah, then… .”
I nodded.
Then, with a small sigh, I asked him the last question.
“… Lastly, can I ask you a few questions about the clones you create?”
Then, instead of answering right away for the first time, he shut his mouth.
After a while he nodded and muttered.
“… It must have been that me over there ate your acquaintance.”
I didn’t answer, but paradoxically, that was the answer.
He nodded slowly, as if asking a question.
“Conditions to create an alter ego, or to summon them… And in any case, tell me as much as possible about all the relevant things.”
“It’s too voluminous.”
While muttering like a grumbling, he slowly began to explain.
“First of all, there are two main conditions for me to summon an alter ego. First, you must have absorbed an essence such as his blood, hair, or flesh… The second is that the maker should not exist in this world. And in that case, most of them are dead.”
He said there and shook his head slightly.
“But I don’t want to hear this, so let me tell you a few more things. The clones I create are nothing more than ‘an clone with a part of the body’.”
“An alter ego with a part of the body… .”
“Say something a little more extreme. You can also create a homunculus using your clone. But that’s all. It is said that it is best to make a doll that resembles the appearance. Of course, you can instill memories of yourself or those around you to make them as similar as possible. … But that’s not what you want, is it?”
Milited, arguably the most alchemist in the world, told me.
“I ask you frankly, do you want to bring your acquaintance back to life through my alter ego? That’s impossible. It’s something no country can do. Even if you hand it over right now, I can’t.”
“… … .”
I didn’t say anything.
Seeing this, the boy nodded slowly.
“… I don’t know if you know alchemy, but there’s a concept of the tertiary element. It’s the basics of alchemy. Like mercury, salt, and sulfur, all things are made up of three sources.”
He continued explaining to me, who was speechless in a low voice.
“It’s the same with humans. Human beings are spirit, body and soul. It is made up of three When these three balances are broken, humans die. And my alter ego is at least… To put it more simply, it is nothing more than reconstructing what has been stolen from the part that holds it as the lubricant that connects the body and the soul. The lack of body and soul is to reconstruct my body… .”
I waved my hand at the guy who started saying something I couldn’t understand and asked.
“So, you mean… .”
“Yeah, I mean, it takes at least his perfect body and soul to do your will. My alter ego can only play the role of holding the two of them together.”
“… … .”
With those words, the boy got up from his seat.
“… I think the question is now over. For now, let me go out. Shouldn’t you at least discuss it with your colleague?”
Saying so, he licked his lips slightly.
“Look, I think I need time to think about it.”
He slowly opened the door and went out, saying that he would send a servant and a maid to attend. I just sat there silently in the room with the fragrant aroma of tea.
[…] Are you okay?]
I nodded at Sbangali’s question.
“okay.”
It really was.
I was prepared from the beginning, so it was just complicated rather than desperate.
It was time to take a deep breath and slowly reach for the teacup.
[…] Well?]
Meanwhile, Minerva muttered quietly, as if puzzled.
[However, when I think carefully about it, your younger sister whom the real woman saw… Oh no. It was very different from her appearance… ?]
“… uh?”
When I asked him blankly, as if I was talking about something, Minerva said, ‘Umm… ‘ he replied with a voice.
[You have only shown it once.]
[Yeah, obviously… .]
Your brother was locked in the lens.
Minerva said so with certainty.
* * *
[ha… .]
A city disappeared because of her wrath.
In the meantime, many lives shared the fate of the city, among them Milited’s minions, who effectively ruled the city.
[It’s annoying.]
A beautiful female voice came out from the mouth of the large-sized dragon with black scales.
It was a voice full of confidence that only those who had no doubt about their own strength could utter.
[So I guess I’ll have to pay him.]
The dragon with huge horns spread its wings slowly, muttering as if it was annoying.
The place he was heading to was where Milited, a member of the Seven Evils, was staying.