Ch.14Chapter 14. Just Kill.

-Click.

Darkness arrived with the sound of the door closing.

Vivian returned to her quarters and silently moved past the entrance, looking around the interior of the house where she stayed.

It was severely cluttered, just as it had been before she left.

When she had awakened and gone down to the basement, all her research results had vanished, and she had turned the entire house upside down trying to find them.

Of course, the recovered results were already moved to a safe place. Once preparations to move her belongings were complete, she would relocate there and resume her research.

The magic tower had promised to pay attention to defense, so she could trust them.

They were just as desperate, and if they betrayed her, she would simply make them pay the price…

“Still, research will be difficult today.”

After turning the slums upside down and then visiting the magic tower.

For someone who spent most of her time in her room, it had been an exhausting day, so she deemed it reasonable to rest for now.

“Yes, just a little bit.”

Even though she felt the urgency to continue her research immediately, she believed it was necessary for what would come next.

“Just a little compared to how long I’ve been waiting…”

Having succeeded in calming her mind, Vivian moved her sluggish body and returned to her room.

After clearing away some of the mess using telekinesis powered by mana, she flopped onto the bed, clutching only a doll to her chest.

She needed to fall asleep and relieve her fatigue to prepare for what was next…

-Growl.

“…I’m hungry.”

Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten all day.

Though it would be good to eat something to replenish her energy, Vivian ultimately decided not to get up from the bed, burying her face in the doll to forget her empty stomach.

After all, if she tried to find something to eat on her own, all she’d have would be tasteless, hard biscuits.

When she was engrossed in research, she would eat them without paying attention, but now that she couldn’t make progress, her heart was filled with nostalgia from old memories.

If there was something she needed to put in her mouth to soothe that feeling, it would be warm food made by someone’s hands.

Yes, hiring a housekeeper was also meant to experience such things and revisit the nostalgia of those days.

‘Vivian. Stay here quietly.’

Mother.

The only family who had passed down the witch’s blood to her.

And someone who, if she ever stopped moving forward, would only exist in past memories.

‘Mom, don’t go! I don’t want to stay here!’

‘It’s okay, Vivian. From now on, you’re just going to fall into a long sleep.’

Whenever she fell asleep, she would recall their last meeting.

The burning hut and the armed shadows approaching from outside…

And her mother, who blocked their path with a barrier, carrying her on her back, placing her in a box and stroking her cheek in those final moments.

‘When you wake up, surely no one will be able to hurt you. If you wait, such a world will definitely come…’

‘Then, what about mom?’

She didn’t want to part.

No matter what happened afterward, she wanted to share that fate with her mother.

‘If I stay here, what will happen to you, mom?’

No matter how young she was, she wasn’t a fool.

Whatever purpose those people had in coming for them, it was obvious what would happen to her mother who would cast the barrier from outside while she remained inside.

‘Don’t worry, Vivian.’

Yet her mother, without a trace of fear or hesitation, kissed her forehead and whispered softly.

‘Mom is just going to another world.’

‘Another world…?’

‘Yes, another world. You know this too, as my daughter, don’t you? The world we live in is separated by walls of many dimensions.’

‘….’

‘…I’m not disappearing. I’m just going somewhere else.’

Was it just something said to reassure her?

Or perhaps…

Did her mother truly have evidence that the souls of those who left this world went to another?

‘So don’t worry. If you just stay alive, you’ll be able to meet mom again someday.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, so survive. No matter what happens, stay strong…’

With that farewell, the box closed with a thud.

Afterward, she felt an immense power from outside, and her consciousness sank below the surface of sleep. When she awoke again, much time had passed.

In that place, she found humans who had persecuted her, presenting research materials from witches like her mother, asking for interpretation and continuation.

It was some time later that she learned that witches like her mother had been burned to death by their ancestors, their bodies vanishing without a trace.

But she wasn’t simply angry about that fact.

Even if there were no living kin in this world, her mother had left a small hope in the moment of their farewell.

“If the souls of the dead cross over to another world…”

Yes, it was hope.

Because of that hope, she lent her strength to the descendants of her enemies who needed her help, and conducted research on interfering with other dimensions.

Not just stopping at one-way summoning, but directly going there herself or bringing more things to this world.

If she did that, she might find her mother’s reincarnation wandering in the afterlife or another world, and realize those memories in the present…

“When the research is complete, I’ll surely be able to see mom again, right?”

Feeling that the day she would achieve this with her own hands was not far off, Vivian prepared to sink into unconsciousness while hugging the doll in her arms.

In that way, she would cherish the memories with her mother and prepare to forget everything else…

Yes, originally she should have been indifferent to everyone except that one person, but…

“…Hyoseong.”

Why?

Why, in a moment when she should be reminiscing about those memories, does an unexpected name appear in her mind?

“Hyoseong Woo.”

He was just a man she had temporarily called to alleviate her nostalgia and irritation.

No matter how kind he was or how silently he carried out all her instructions, he should have been someone to simply pass by.

“It’s still a strange name when I think about it. Woo-hyo~ like that… He, hehe.”

Yet in this moment, as she recalls his existence.

A smile gradually formed on her lips as she projected his existence onto the doll in her arms.

“Yes, really, it’s strange. That I still remember that person’s name…”

Though she was a being that transcended cognition, she was still a woman who hadn’t forgotten her heart as a girl.

Being so immature, she couldn’t help but be unaware.

That along with her mother whom she hoped to see again someday, another indelible imprint had been etched into her heart.

****

And, several days later.

After reviewing my plans and preparing my mind, I immediately withdrew all the money I had stored in the bank and headed to the craftsmen’s district.

I had no hesitation.

I’d already had enough time to think, and further delay would only weaken my resolve.

When determination is made, one must take action and drive a wedge into the path one wishes to follow.

How important it is to make such a beginning was proven by the experiences I had gone through in my life.

“Are you from another world, young man?”

For this reason, when an old man approached me with interest just as I entered the craftsmen’s district.

I wanted to respond favorably to his approach right away.

Since I couldn’t use just any place, someone showing interest in me could be a good opportunity.

“You can tell right away.”

“Well, a foreigner with black hair is usually a friend from another world.”

The old man looked me up and down with drowsy eyes. The furrowed brow that followed surely revealed his distrust of me.

“But judging by your shabby appearance, you don’t seem to be a hero… Don’t tell me you came here to buy equipment?”

“Yes, I’m planning to become an adventurer soon.”

“…Wanting to be an adventurer when you’re not even a hero, you’re reaching for something too difficult.”

A reasonable concern, if reasonable.

But I answered with a casual smile.

“I have to do it even if it’s difficult.”

Becoming an adventurer when I had money was one of my goals.

That desire had grown even stronger after the incident that day.

***

Of course, I’m not a fool either, so I wasn’t unaffected by what happened that day.

I felt bewildered by the incomprehensible phenomenon, and it was natural to feel fear and powerlessness knowing that such beings existed somewhere in this world.

Nevertheless, I could stand up again and aim to be an adventurer because I recalled a connection I had made when I worked as a porter for the Paladin Order.

So… it happened when the newly appointed leader of the Paladin Order, who was a very rigid nobleman, led his troops with an unreasonable strategy that resulted in their annihilation.

When the remaining survivors were surrounded by the undead legion.

“…Damn, is this the end?”

The knight commander, who couldn’t accept it and struggled in vain, finally accepted reality and fell into despair.

The woman who realized that justice and the desire to destroy evil alone couldn’t achieve anything, quietly muttered as she slumped before the black knight that appeared before her.

Words born from a final pride of not yielding to evil.

“Kuk, kill me.”

“As you wish.”

-Crunch!

The Paladin Order’s commander was butchered by the swinging greatsword.

Although the rest of us, including myself, were horrified by the blood spurting from the severed flesh, he showed no sympathy or hesitation.

After all, to the undead, the preciousness of life was more worthless than a roadside stone.

“There’s no need to resurrect someone who speaks of their own death so carelessly.”

As if to teach this lesson, the black knight kicked the butchered corpse like a stone and then turned to look at the rest of us survivors, giving instructions to the ghouls.

“Take the rest. There might be talent among them who can join us.”

Death Knight.

One of the four knights protecting the Lord of Corpses who led the army of the dead, he intended to turn the remaining survivors, including me, into undead to recruit us as comrades.

To find those who, like himself, could awaken as beings who maintained their sense of self despite being undead.