Chapter 25
Now that Room 301 is dead, this world is all that remains.
I hope this world won’t be destroyed by fate.
And that Irix won’t be destroyed either.
Irix, who had been looking at me, spoke.
“Does it have nothing to do with your father?”
“I didn’t get even this much from that damned married-woman hunter.”
Irix asked,
“Then why are you here, sunbae?”
“I told you—I came to find you.”
“My schedule changed in a single day. You boarded the train before me. If it’s not related to my father, then it’s related to the Order.”
“Wait—how do you know my schedule?”
“I saw the ticket in the room earlier. You took the local train that passes through Sanzna, came to West Station, then transferred.”
He saw that fast. It was only for a moment.
I’m glad I managed to obtain some data about Elpini, but I hadn’t prepared an excuse, so I was at a loss. Fortunately, Irix spoke first.
“Then again, there’s no way my father bought a train ticket in a single day or made the decision that fast. And he wouldn’t have kept it secret from everyone. Maybe everyone knew except me.”
Yeah, exactly that.
It’s your father’s fault.
From now on, whenever this kind of situation happens, I’ll just blame the duke. Most of the time it is his fault, and even when it isn’t, it’s still his fault for living the way he does.
“Then why did you follow me?”
“Well, to stop you from going with that Order.”
Irix looked genuinely shocked.
“I came because I know what you’re going to do today. I also know what’ll happen if you go to the Order. I’ll just say this—it won’t be a good choice.”
I stiffened my neck and said,
“So don’t go there. It’s not a place you should go. No—it’s a place you must not go.”
“Why are you trying to stop me?”
Because if you go as you are, you’ll fall so far you’ll end up destroying the world.
I still don’t know whether you fell at high speed or you were already corrupted and just gained proper momentum.
Maybe, like Elpini, you ran into some wandering spirit. Maybe that’s why you ended up like this.
Honestly, that would be more reasonable. Even if it still makes no sense.
“Anyway, whatever your father planned and whatever you planned—it’ll all fail.”
The problem is, I still don’t know what the plan even is.
“How do you know that?”
Because plans like that always fail.
Countless plans collapse because of the optimism that everyone else will act exactly as the planner expects.
Even plans based strictly on what you yourself can control fail. Plans built on guessing what others will do aren’t plans—they’re delusions. People don’t even know their own hearts properly.
“Sunbae, hurry and tell me. How do you know that?”
“I just… have a feeling.”
“…What?”
Irix looked dumbfounded.
Of course he did. If I were him, I’d be more curious about the other person’s psychiatric evaluation than whether they were telling the truth.
I had no other method. From here on out, it was all momentum. Push forward.
Instead of revealing the incredible truth that I came from another world, I decided to tell a believable lie for this fantasy world.
“Actually, I received a blessing.”
Good. Let’s keep pushing this.
For a moment I regretted not calling it a supernatural ability instead, but it was too late.
“A blessing?”
“Yeah, a blessing. Sometimes I see the future. I saw your future. If you go with that pervert right now, you’re in serious trouble.”
“Earlier you didn’t even know what a blessing—ow, okay.”
I pinched Irix hard.
“That was you jumping to conclusions.”
“Yeah, sorry.”
Telecus rolled his eyes, gauging the situation, then spoke carefully.
“Please don’t listen to that girl’s nonsense. Whatever she says—it’s all fabricated nonsense. Future, whatever… that girl is truly saying ridiculous things.”
“What?”
Irix glared at Telecus. His two eyes burned. Telecus flinched.
“Young master?”
“What do you mean ‘girl’? Apologize to sunbae right now.”
I was more surprised than anyone.
He’s… mad because of me?
Then again—crackle, crackle.
It started again.
I looked down at my hand. My arm and the back of my neck were tingling intensely.
Did Elpini have some kind of illness? Irix let out a long sigh.
“I can’t just leave this alone.”
Um, why?
When Irix reached out and grabbed my arm tightly, the sensation subsided almost immediately.
“You’re okay now, right?”
“I’m fine, but…”
Irix, who had been watching me, lifted his head and looked over my shoulder. I turned too, then quickly stepped back toward him.
Something was emerging from Telecus’s massive hand.
It was Peregion.
Peregion’s long arm stretched toward us. The tingling grew stronger.
“Sunbae.”
“Yeah?”
“You can’t control aether?”
It felt like I’d been hit.
Why is that coming up now?
Irix looked down at me. His hand was still gripping my arm.
“Aether’s been leaking out of you this whole time.”
I widened my eyes in shock.
“The aether leaking from you is reacting to Peregion. Anyone with aether would get some reaction, but in your case it’s constantly leaking, so it’s dangerous. At this rate, you’ll get pulled into a god in an instant. Even a passing minor god could claim you!”
Irix looked at me and said,
“I’ll believe you for now. That you received a ‘blessing.’ But I don’t think it’s a blessing. I think you absorbed the power of a god with prophetic abilities and are using that power.”
I didn’t know anything, so I just listened.
Irix released my arm and grabbed it again. In that brief moment, a jolt of electricity ran through me.
“You’re going to do it for me?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Unlike you, I can control other people’s aether too.”
That was a bit annoying, but he was helping, so I stayed quiet.
“But you can’t even contain it. And unfortunately, you have enough to be overflowing.”
Irix glanced around me.
“There’s really a lot. Which means you’re in danger right now. You’re basically calling gods over.”
So that’s why some ghost like me latched on?
But I couldn’t keep listening. Irix yanked my arm hard. Peregion’s black arm slashed through the air.
When Irix pulled me away, Peregion quickly changed targets and aimed for him instead. Irix shoved me back and said,
“Trying to force a descent?”
Kuuuu—
I could feel the flow of rage.
Peregion’s body swelled massively, as if it would engulf us any second.
That’s when I noticed a large man appear in the train car. The waiter. The one who had been serving very aggressively.
Seeing the situation, the waiter raised both hands. Between them, something long and white like bone appeared, then transformed into a massive bow. A straight white arrow formed atop it.
Do waiters here do that too? I tried not to look surprised. I couldn’t reveal that I was from another world.
Wait—but why is the arrowhead aimed at Irix?
“Hey.”
Irix’s eyes widened.
“Hey! Damn it, what’s wrong with him?!”
“Is he part of the Legion too?”
“No. That’s just my father’s aide—!”
He couldn’t finish. The waiter spoke calmly.
“[Bearing wrath, I send this forth. Annihilate him. Transfixio.]”
A mage?
The arrow shot from the bow like a missile.
The voice was calm, but the result was anything but.
In an instant, the swollen arrow of light flew straight at Irix.
Irix shouted,
“Hey, you! Zephyr, what are you doing?!”
Zephyr? They even know each other—then why attack Irix… Ah, of course. Why would a stranger attack him? Someone who knows him must have a reason.
Peregion threw its body forward and blocked the arrow. The arrow struck Peregion and shattered.
And then—
Boom!
Power collided with power, and the recoil shook the train violently. It felt like every bone in my body detached for a moment and snapped back into place. The impact was immense.
If that arrow had hit properly, not only Irix but I would’ve died too.
Ah… then the world would be saved and I’d die instantly. In conclusion, that might be better.
“You’re insane!”
Irix shouted.
The man calmly nocked another arrow. Bigger. Whiter.
I hurriedly asked,
“Irix, you said that guy is your father’s aide, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you do something that would make him want to kill you if he got the chance?”
“…Not this badly.”
…So it wasn’t nothing.
