episode_0075

What does the Demon of Possibility truly want? Does it sincerely desire humanity’s salvation, or is even that a deception?

“……”

Understanding the psychology of transcendents was akin to an impossible task for mortals. They knew without thinking how noble and also how terrifying the gaze was, looking down on everyone from a distant height. Surely they desired something that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine, and they were carrying it out.

To approach the truth, they had no choice but to descend through all the temporary labyrinths or directly infiltrate the ranks of the demon worshippers. As neither was possible to resolve immediately, Asel let out a deep sigh and flopped onto his back.

Reine smiled faintly at him and spoke.

“Are you tired?”

“……I am a little tired.”

“Everyone is like that after going in and coming out for the first time. It consumes a lot of mental energy, doesn’t it?”

“More importantly, where are the others?”

At Asel’s question, Reine pointed with her finger beside him. As Asel turned his head there, two people who had just woken up were shaking out their messy hair, trying to shake off their sleepiness.

Their condition seemed fine. Well, perhaps that was natural, as the temporary labyrinth itself was a matter of a dream. Saya’s burn from hitting Pascal was also gone, and Celine also had a much more relaxed expression, as if she had recovered from the mana exhaustion.

Then, suddenly, they gasped and started looking around their surroundings.

“Wh- what? Where is this? Are we still inside the labyrinth?”

“Kang kang!”

Saya echoed the bewildered Celine with a fox’s cry. Reine kindly explained about the temporary labyrinth to the two of them. At that, the two people’s faces twisted in a strange way.

The events in the temporary labyrinth were very vivid, too much so to be called a dream. To the point where the gap with reality was hardly felt. Hearing that all the memories of almost dying in such a place were just a dream, they couldn’t help but feel strange.

Crossing the line between life and death has no meaning if you die, but if you survive, it acts as a vast experience. It helps with growth, of course, and also has a profound effect on a person’s fundamental disposition or abilities. That is why many knights and mages seek out battlefields.

The labyrinth, if you considered it, was not much different from a battlefield. Only the opponents they fought were magical beasts, not other people. The degree of danger was similar to war.

Having somehow survived and returned from such a place, it was unavoidable that their energy would drain completely upon hearing that it was actually a dream. Celine ran her hands through her hair and flopped onto the bed, just like Asel.

Asel gently brushed away the hair covering his face and asked with a hopeful thought.

“Celine, did you also hear a voice when you escaped?”

“You mean the one about compensation or something? I heard it. It told me some information called ’50 years of records left by a Saintly Mage’.”

Celine just slightly turned her head and replied.

Records left by a Saintly Mage. It was a different reward from the Sage’s Will that Asel had received. It seemed the will he left was only delivered to Asel. However, the records of the Saintly Mage would clearly be a great help to Celine. Documents left by a mage who mastered the same system are a stroke of luck in themselves.

The important thing was that even if the reward was different, she also received a reward nonetheless.

Perhaps, regardless of the Sage’s Will, the temporary labyrinth, like the original labyrinth, bestowed rewards upon those who escaped.

There was no need to think about who the subject was. Perhaps the Sage had set it up to instill a sense of reward.

‘What kind of mage was he to be able to do something like this?’

The more he delved into it, the more he felt only wonder towards this mage. Asel gave a wry smile and asked Celine about the content of the records.

Celine readily told him what she had heard.

“If one person kills another, they are called a murderer. But if they kill thousands, tens of thousands, they become a hero. In that respect, he was a greater hero than anyone in this world.”

“……”

“A slaughterer, a scholar, a ruler, arrogant but noble and exalted man. Before all the continental inhabitants could be murdered by demons, he directly killed them, setting up a stepping stone for the Transcendence Ritual. The surprising fact is that all those murders were done with consent.”

“…What?”

“Even the Master who could not resist, and the mage who could take thousands of lives with just a gesture. Everyone willingly offered their necks to him. Like that, he killed his family, killed his teacher, killed his friends and lovers. Everyone trusted him and sacrificed themselves as offerings for the ritual.”

Celine continued speaking with an expression that seemed to question if this was right.

“No one could have known what his feelings were at the time. I, the only survivor, am also the same. Honestly, it didn’t matter. He didn’t ask for understanding, and I had no intention of understanding. We are merely the last remnants of humanity left in this world for the sake of a single goal. Personal feelings were nothing but impurities.”

“Taking hundreds of millions of lives to prepare for the ritual, and I took on the role of forcibly opening an imaginary space by aligning all constellations in a straight line. This will be the last collaboration between him and me, fellow students at the Academy…… it ended like that?”

“……Aren’t you the only Saintly Mage at the Academy?”

When Asel asked with a serious expression, Celine thought deeply and then shook her head.

“There’s one in the 3rd year and one in the 4th year. There are quite a few Saintly Mages from the Academy at the Magic Tower. If you search the biographical dictionary, you’ll probably find some Academy graduates among those who have already died.”

“Okay, putting that aside. What kind of bullshit is this about killing all the continental inhabitants?”

“……I don’t know.”

Celine scratched her cheek and rolled her eyes.

“Well, isn’t it a story about a parallel world or something? It’s a theoretically existing domain, but if not, it can’t be explained.”

“……Parallel world.”

Asel mumbled that and looked up at the ceiling.

He already knew that parallel worlds existed. He had memories of a past life, and he’d confirmed the existence of regression through Grace, so there was no need to contemplate the presence or absence of parallel worlds. However, he couldn’t even grasp the intention behind telling Celine information about a parallel world, especially content unrelated to magic.

“……Haa.”

He seemed destined to return with nothing but complicated thoughts from a club he joined with a light heart.

It was ironic.

***

“In the end, I couldn’t be of much help.”

On the way back to their respective dorms after leaving the clubroom bedroom. Saya, who had somehow become able to speak human language, suddenly opened her mouth like that. Asel, who was walking ahead, turned back to her and tilted his head.

“You were quite useful.”

“It’s because I couldn’t do as much as I thought I could. I feel uneasy, like I just became a burden again.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your area of expertise anyway.”

Although Saya could handle magic, she wasn’t a talent specialized in combat like a mage or a knight. Her true strength lay in magic engineering and operating a merchant group, she was someone completely unrelated to hunting magical beasts in a labyrinth. It was natural for her to show shortcomings in combat.

However, Saya herself didn’t seem to think so, as she held a wry smile and lowered her head. Anyone could see the dejected look on her face.

“Thank you for saying that much.”

“……”

“If you have a chance, please visit our merchant group. I will serve you with utmost care then.”

Saya didn’t wait for an answer, bowed her head towards Asel, and turned towards the dorms. Asel stared after her for a moment and then let out a deep sigh.

It seemed she was feeling a greater sense of debt than he had thought. If he had known this, he would have visited her in the hospital earlier, but the situation was turning out strangely. He felt like he needed to make time later to have a serious conversation with her.

“Then I’ll be going this way too.”

Celine said, poking Asel’s side with her finger.

At the fork in the road separating to the respective dorms. Asel gave a bitter smile and nodded. Celine said she would see him later and walked towards her dorm. Asel also immediately headed towards his room.

Walking along the smoothly paved path, the grand dormitory gradually came into view. A building where only four people were living until the midterm exams. Asel greeted Lacy, who was cleaning in the lobby, and as soon as he entered his room, he flopped onto the bed.

“……Haa.”

The faint scent of Ena, which hadn’t yet disappeared, wafted from the bed. Feeling strangely uneasy, Asel cast a cleaning spell on the bed, then lay looking at the ceiling, pressing his hand to his forehead.

“Temporary labyrinth… Sage’s Tomb… Saintly Mage… Parallel world… and the Demon of Possibility…”

Just the new information he learned today amounted to this much. Simply recalling it made his temples throb. Each piece was nothing to be taken lightly.

But he was currently very tired, and even if he wracked his brain, there weren’t enough clues to get a clear answer. In the end, there was no other way than to continue exploring the temporary labyrinth or infiltrate the ranks of the demon worshippers to pick up information about the demons.

Neither option was easy. Asel let out a deep sigh and slowly closed his eyes.

‘For now, let’s rest a bit today.’

Even though he was already mentally exhausted, information was pouring in, making his head feel like it would explode. In times like this, it was much better to rest as best as possible rather than trying to think hard. Considering his condition, it would be right to focus on rest for the time being.

Come to think of it, ever since he entered the academy, instead of enjoying his youth, he had only been caught up in all sorts of incidents and accidents. For now, until the midterm exams, let’s set the goal of organizing the information obtained, researching magic, and being diligent in academy life.

Thinking that, Asel cast a sleep spell on himself. Soon, he fell asleep, breathing softly.

***

The academy rests on weekends. There are no classes, no clubs. Purely personal time is given. Just as if they had been waiting for this time, professors also often wandered outside the academy grounds, enjoying their leisure time. Students did as well.

Apart from having pride in being an academy student, the weekend that arrived after a full week of classes was bound to be sweet. It wouldn’t be strange to say that people lived solely waiting for the weekend throughout the week.

Asel wasn’t particularly the type to wait for the weekend like others, but he quite liked weekends in that he could sleep in late. Falling asleep around the time the moon began to wane and waking up when the sun was high in the sky often brought an unexplainable feeling of pleasantness.

Today was the same. Asel woke up close to 2 PM, made a simple sandwich, and roughly ate it as his breakfast and lunch. He used magic to tidy up his messy hair, and took care of all the bedding and dishes using the life magic he learned from Hayley.

Then he immediately lay down on the sofa and began reading a magic book.

It was a book related to freezing spell formulas. He had borrowed it from the library, an item transferred from the Magic Tower to the Academy side. He had borrowed it a few days ago, and it was more interesting than he expected, so he was reading it thoroughly multiple times.

‘Should I focus on increasing my proficiency in freezing spell formulas for the time being?’

The moment Asel thought that and wiggled his leg.

Knock, knock, knock!

Someone began to knock heavily on the dorm door. Asel tilted his head, placed the book he was reading on the table, and opened the door.

“Ah, Asel!”

In front of the door stood Elena in casual clothes, with an extremely excited expression. Asel looked down at her and asked.

“What is it? What’s going on so suddenly?”

“I have a favor to ask!”

“A favor?”

Asel asked in return, and Elena stepped forward and shouted with a resolute expression.

“Be my boyfriend!”

“?”

At her declaration, Asel’s face twisted bizarrely.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”