Ch.29I Want to Hear Your Story (3)

My head feels like it’s about to explode.

Aramis pinched his calf repeatedly, trying to free himself from the overwhelming drowsiness.

‘…I’m going crazy.’

Truly going crazy.

He was painfully realizing why sleep was considered one of the three basic human needs. In just one day, just one single day, all the disciples had been reduced to exhaustion.

Of course, if it had merely been about staying up all night, it wouldn’t have been this difficult. But because they had repeatedly been pushed to exhaustion and forced to get up again, the encroaching sleepiness was unbearable.

‘If I sleep, I die.’

Right beside him, Ro had collapsed with his tongue hanging out. Ro, who had been knocked out in the first room, still hadn’t regained consciousness.

‘Master Royd.’

Today especially, he missed the White Tower Master.

Of course, judging purely by the quality of instruction, this side was overwhelmingly superior. The quality of teaching materials, the instructor’s skill, experience…

‘Damn it!’

Why doesn’t the blasted White Tower have anything to boast about?

Aramis squeezed his eyes shut.

Then a familiar voice reached his ears.

“Are you sleeping?”

Startled, Aramis jumped sideways. With his hand on his chest, trying to calm his racing heart, he saw Olivia looking at him with a pleased smile.

“Why are you so surprised? Were you perhaps asleep?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Really?”

“I swear to the heavens I wasn’t!”

What? A sociopath who can’t understand others’ emotions?

At least not in front of Olivia right now.

This was the result of two weeks of thorough training… no, thorough character education.

“Aramis.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Do you see those guys over there?”

Olivia pointed at the coldly collapsed disciples. If they hadn’t been twitching occasionally, their appearance would have been so miserable they might have seemed truly dead.

“Wake them up.”

“…Yes.”

Aramis picked up a potion of twisted underworld and walked toward his fellow disciples.

“Ah, Aramis…”

“Please, please not that…”

Everyone begged with desperate faces, pleading for mercy.

But Aramis, as if it were out of the question, shoved the potion into their mouths.

Every last drop, without leaving any.

Jayna might have muttered “traitor,” but it couldn’t be helped.

‘I need to survive.’

If there was one thing he had learned so far, it was that taking less punishment was always beneficial.

Love for peers? Consideration? Sharing?

Such dreamy words were nothing but garbage, at least in this place.

‘But I can share my potions as much as I want.’

Aramis secretly grinned. He had just reduced his quota by two bottles.

“Urgh…”

Having regained consciousness, they staggered toward Olivia. Looking at their zombie-like appearance, Aramis once again thought he had done well to resist sleep.

“You disciples. I’m going to be leaving like this every day, and you sit around gambling? How can I trust you and leave? Should I increase your daily quota by five each?”

“Master!”

“What.”

“I have a good idea.”

Everyone’s gaze turned sharply toward Aramis.

“What is it?”

“The reason we were gambling is because the training intensity is too high, isn’t it?”

Olivia tilted her head at an angle.

“So, you want me to lower it?”

“How could I suggest that? I just want to change the system a bit. This stupid—I mean, innovative method is good, of course, but I think this situation occurred because we lack the means to boost our enthusiasm.”

“You lack enthusiasm?”

Olivia fiddled with her staff. Aramis jumped up and waved his hands.

“Ah, no! On second thought, we have plenty of enthusiasm!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Anyway, what I’d like to suggest is a system where the person who completes their daily quota first gets a reward of having their next day’s quota reduced by one. I think that would be really good.”

Olivia frowned.

“Why so complicated? Summarize it in one line.”

“That…”

Jayna, who had been watching from the side, spoke in a tone that suggested she didn’t care anymore.

“He’s saying let us slack off the next day if we finish early today.”

“Oh, is that it?”

“Jayna! I never said that!”

“As if. You’re just thinking about finishing early every day and slacking off yourself.”

Olivia smiled at their harmonious interaction.

‘Hmm, I definitely selected them based on character.’

Something must have happened over the past few days.

“So, do you all agree with Aramis’s proposal?”

“No.”

“Hear that? Your proposal is rejected based on majority vote.”

Though she said that, motivation was actually an essential ingredient in training. She wasn’t crazy enough to beat people every day.

“I plan to treat all my disciples equally. So I’ll adopt a modified version of Aramis’s suggestion.”

The disciples opened their eyes wide.

That meant…

“The slowest one gets an extra task every day. How about that? Motivating, right?”

“Uh…”

“If you don’t like it, we can go back to how we were doing things before. What will it be?”

“We’ll stick with the original method!”

“Actually, I’ve always liked your training methods, Master!”

Olivia nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Good, good. I’ll be stepping out for a moment, so keep practicing.”

Leaving her disciples’ sighs behind, Olivia went outside.

It was time to wake Kiel from his sleeping ice.

*****

Kiel hadn’t just been waiting for Olivia. He had no intention of wasting his remaining time.

The first thing he did upon entering the capital was to visit the Golden Tower.

“The meeting just ended, so she should be here soon.”

“I see.”

Kiel gestured, and the attendant bowed and closed the door as he left.

Not long after, the reception room door burst open.

Sharp golden eyes instantly scanned Kiel’s body.

“Well, who do we have here. Isn’t it Duke Kiel?”

“Yes. I came because I have something to ask…”

“Ah, let me organize these documents first before I listen.”

Melina waved her hand in the air. Following her gesture, the scattered document files found their proper places.

“There. Now ask your question.”

“Is it possible for a magician’s self to split?”

“…That’s quite direct.”

“I apologize. It’s about an acquaintance.”

“Hmm…”

Sensing something unusual, Melina straightened her posture.

“In all my life, this is the first time I’ve seen you so agitated. Even when your father left for the southern expedition when you were young, you didn’t say a word. Could it be you finally have a lover?”

“Stop with the unnecessary talk and just answer my question, Master of Golden Tower.”

“…Playing hard to get.”

Kiel didn’t like Melina’s nonchalant attitude.

‘Would you react the same way if you knew it was your favorite disciple?’

But Kiel decided to hold his tongue. He could easily predict how the magician before him would act if she learned the truth.

Though she appeared to be in her late twenties, Melina had lived for a much longer time than Kiel.

For a full 200 years, in fact. Kiel knew that living a long time wasn’t always a good thing.

Both in terms of personality and in many other ways.

“To give you the conclusion first, such cases do exist. But they’re very rare. Even I have only seen it twice.”

“…What causes the self to split?”

“It’s a phenomenon that occurs when multiple calculations are repeated for too long.”

When no response came, Melina frowned. She was annoyed at having to provide additional explanation.

Tak.

As Melina snapped her fingers, a brain model appeared in midair. Then she raised her hand and split the brain model precisely in half.

“When magicians reach a certain level, they divide their brains into multiple compartments like this. This makes it much easier to perform multiple calculations because it increases the number of entities developing magic.”

The four elements flickered at Melina’s fingertips before disappearing.

“Of course, dividing the brain into multiple compartments doesn’t mean the self splits.”

Melina rummaged through a drawer. An Eldritch skull. That wasn’t something a Tower Master should possess. Melina tapped the skull.

“But after a ‘very’ long time, things change.”

With a cracking sound, the skull began to fracture.

“As time passes, a mortal’s mind wears down rapidly. Usually, the limit is a thousand years. At that point, ninety-nine out of a hundred simply die as their minds collapse. Most Eldritch beings are like that, as are the High Elves who refused to become one with the World Tree. However…”

As Melina applied pressure, the skull turned to dust.

“Very occasionally, one survives by awakening one of the brain compartments as another self.”

“…Why does that help them survive?”

“It’s simple. If you alternate between two selves, the rate at which your mind wears down is halved. In blunt terms, your lifespan doubles.”

Though her words made it sound positive, Melina’s face didn’t look pleased at all.

“I’ve heard that I become a different person when I drink. I wonder if that’s another self…”

“Absolutely not.”

“…Anyway.”

Melina cleared her throat.

“Splitting one’s self is madness. You can’t even remember which was your original self.”

“…”

A momentary flash of anxiety appeared in Kiel’s eyes.

‘…And he still claims it’s just an acquaintance?’

But she couldn’t push the issue if he denied it.

“Is your lover an elf, by any chance?”

“No.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. As long as they’re human, it’s absolutely impossible. You can tell your acquaintance they can stretch out and sleep soundly.”

Melina glanced out the window. The sun’s halo was fading in the distance. If she couldn’t send him away, she’d have to work all day.

“Kiel.”

Kiel flinched.

“…Is it really impossible for humans?”

“Yes.”

“There’s not even the slightest possibility?”

“Little black one.”

Melina changed her tone.

“Even at just two hundred years old, I find life so tedious I could go mad. Every morning when I wake up, I can feel my mind wearing away in real time. And a thousand years? In a human body?”

Melina snorted.

“It’s absolutely impossible. Do you think dragons hibernate for no reason? Even with a dragon’s mind, the density of a thousand years is difficult to endure.”

“…”

Kiel remained silent for a while. Seeing this, Melina inwardly clicked her tongue.

‘At this rate, he won’t leave all day.’

Melina clapped her hands.

“Anyway, it’s time for you to go, Duke Kiel.”

The next moment, a bright light enveloped Kiel. Watching him disappear without resistance, Melina clicked her tongue.

“Tsk.”

That curious man wouldn’t retreat so easily.

Beep.

[Yes, Tower Master. Did you call?]

“Starting tomorrow, if Duke Kiel comes, tell him I’m not here.”

[…Pardon? Ah, yes. Understood.]

Kiel couldn’t meet Melina.

For a full ten days.