Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Peace.
At last, peace!
That is what I would like to say, but there is still something left to confirm.
The traitor who existed inside Class F has been dealt with for now. The Cult’s plan has also been crushed. Everything went well.
But I still have not confirmed the Cult’s reaction.
That man did nothing. Normally, by the time Melana acted, he should have taken some kind of separate action, yet aside from granting power to Jeff he did absolutely nothing.
Even if I struck perfectly at his weakness, I believe he should have had at least some minimal means to respond.
Yes. There is a huge difference between not being able to act and choosing not to act.
To summarize simply.
"Ah, welcome, Mr. Johan. I was wondering when you would arrive."
"..."
The Cult let me off.
Thanks to that, the whole situation ended up being quite clean, and all the countermeasures I had prepared turned into scraps of paper.
I am not disappointed. Peace is the best outcome.
"What exactly are you plotting?"
"Plotting? That sounds rather hurtful."
The Cult turned his head toward the window with a gentle smile.
The man cannot even see, so I wondered what the point of that gesture was, but somehow it still looked sacred.
Even at a moment like this, he is managing his image perfectly.
"If anything, it was you who had a scheme, Mr. Johan. You unnecessarily provoked a pitiful student and pushed him into despair."
"Why is that my fault?"
It was something that would have exploded eventually anyway, and I clearly gave him a chance to turn back early on.
The one who threw away that opportunity was Melana, and the one who decided to walk the thorny path using that opportunity was Jeff.
And if we are talking like that, then the Cult is also my accomplice, is he not?
No, forget it. If we start arguing about right and wrong, there will be no end. We are both bad people.
For now, it is better to ask what is bothering me.
"What will happen to Jeff now? Will you simply leave him alone?"
"Who knows? I personally do not mind either way, but I have no intention of controlling the thoughts of the other believers."
"If it is your order, Eden is full of people who would jump into fire."
"That is true."
"...Then why did you save him in the first place?"
In other words, even if he could save him, he has no intention of continuing to do so.
"I like people who stake their lives to carry out their convictions. That is why I wanted to give him an opportunity."
"If that is the case, should you not help him to the end?"
"I cannot do that. I may have helped him this time, but since his will differs from mine, there is no way to know when or how he might become my enemy."
This man is human.
And because he is human, he is contradictory.
I have said it many times already, but that is what makes him terrifying.
He commits madness calmly while still retaining his humanity.
That makes him even more dangerous than those who are simply insane.
"Still, thanks to him I achieved what I was aiming for, so perhaps I should grant him a little grace."
"...What?"
What is he talking about now?
Was I not his objective? Or did he succeed in some other goal? But if that were the case, he would not need to say thanks.
Unless Jeff had helped with the Cult’s plan.
"You were the one who informed Jeff about this matter, were you not? Mr. Johan."
"..."
"You were the one who taught him that I might help him. There are not many people who know that I am the leader of Eden."
"...Yes. That is correct."
I admitted it calmly. I was involved too deeply to try and brush it off.
This had been a kind of deal. An unspoken transaction between the Cult and me.
The moment he granted Jeff a blessing, the Cult accepted that deal.
"It seems you tend to overestimate me, Mr. Johan. Which brings me to a question. Were you perhaps thinking something like this?"
The Cult lightly tapped the desk with his fingers for a moment.
It seemed as though he was choosing his words.
"That I would understand everything about you."
"...Damn."
I covered my mouth.
I made a mistake. The Cult is certainly a monstrous man, but I had overestimated him too much.
"How did you know I was someone who might help Jeff?"
I made my plan based on the information I possess.
That information is knowledge of the future that I know. And beyond that.
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
It concerned the part of his identity that even the Cult himself had not fully established.
"Am I a good person who cannot pretend not to see someone suffering before a fire? Or am I a monster who runs blindly toward a goal? Humans are very complicated creatures, yet you behaved as if you were certain about what kind of person I am."
"..."
The Cult is saying the answer.
Yes. I know what kind of person he is. Beyond the acts he commits, I even roughly understand the thoughts behind why he commits them.
Something that cannot be known simply by seeing fragments of the future.
I even tried to make use of the true feelings he had never outwardly expressed.
And the Cult willingly played along.
Through that, he stepped closer to the greatest secret I am hiding.
"Even I do not know what kind of person I am, yet you threw out choices as if you knew everything. A question that even I have pondered, you acted as if the answer was certain."
Joy.
The Cult smiled brightly, like someone who had just discovered the solution to a problem that had plagued him for a long time.
"So you are not related to the Oracle! If you were, you would not know things that even she does not!"
The monster who always smiles gently and decorates himself before his believers is now showing his true self in front of me.
"So you are something separate. In some sense, something even more remarkable."
I let my guard down.
I stepped too far into dangerous territory.
He has realized that I know things I should not know.
"Thanks to you, I gained some useful information. Thank you, Mr. Johan."
"What are you planning to do?"
"Be happy. I have not decided yet. Whether to consider you an enemy or welcome you as an ally."
The monster who once declared he would open my head and look inside has now changed his mind.
Neither enemy nor ally.
"For the time being, I will think a little more about the secret you carry."
"Ha ha! That is wonderful news."
What the hell is this madman saying?
Goosebumps run across my entire body.
No. Wait. Could this actually be good news?
The monster who wanted to crack open my skull and see what was inside is now saying he will investigate me instead.
In some sense, could that be considered far more gentle?
Ha ha. Of course not. Even trying to think positively, this is not good.
If anything, it feels far more terrifying.
"Then let me give you one piece of advice. Be careful. It seems I am not the only one who has begun to understand something about you."
"...You do not need to tell me that. I already know."
I know what the Cult is referring to.
If there was an unexpected variable in this plan, it was the other chain possessed by Melana.
No matter how I think about it, that is an excessive investment for someone like Melana.
It seems obvious that it was support sent from above for this assault.
However, there is only one existence capable of sending down an item like a chain, which forms the very foundation of the Under Chain.
"So even the Great Sage found me suspicious."
"Ha ha, so you are not afraid of the Great Sage? Most people fear him far more than they fear me."
"Among the many monsters I have identified, I consider him the most pathetic."
"Monsters, you say. Then who do you think is the greatest monster?"
"The Emperor."
"I cannot deny that."
A strange sense of familiarity appears.
It is frightening. How can a simple shift in someone’s approach change things like this?
And what about me, naturally agreeing with him like this?
Let’s stay cautious.
There have been too many lunatics around me lately. It feels like I am starting to become strange as well.
After finishing the unsettling conversation with the Cult, I finally realized it.
"...Ha. That was long."
I am free.
All the enemies within have been eliminated, and the last remaining one, the Cult, will leave the Cradle next week.
That means there is no one left within the Cradle who can target me.
As long as I do not crawl outside the Cradle for the next three years, I will be safe.
Now I can live lazily every single day.
"...That will not happen, will it."
There is something I must do.
Starting today, I need to make the medicine that will cure Ariel’s illness.
I made a promise, so I cannot simply pretend not to know.
Besides, someone’s life is at stake. I cannot treat it carelessly.
Once I have started, I will regret it if I do not give it my best.
Even if I do give it my best, there is no guarantee it will succeed.
Still, I do not want to leave behind any lingering regrets.
If possible, I want to succeed.
That is why I immediately began moving toward my destination.
"I never thought I would come back here again."
The Cradle may have been built as a military facility, but it is still technically a school.
Because of that, various infrastructures have been built, and there are also clubs.
For most of the past year, almost all of my time was spent in one particular place.
And now I had returned to it.
The Alchemy Workshop Ars Magna.
Like the hospital, it is one of the infrastructures within the Cradle, and club activities can also be conducted here.
Looking at it now, it feels nostalgic.
"Back then I practically lived here just to make a single medicine."
After completing the medicine that saved my younger sibling Chris, I quit.
I wonder what they think of me now.
Do they consider me a traitor?
After all, I accepted everyone’s help, then ran away the moment the research was completed.
"...Hoo."
I feel nervous.
It has been a long time since I felt tension unrelated to threats against my life.
I stood in front of the Ars Magna workshop door for quite some time before slowly pulling the handle.
"Huh?"
The first thing I saw when I entered was a wreck of a man lying on the sofa.
Looking closer, it was Professor Georg, the instructor in charge of the alchemy club.
"You. Johan?"
"...It has been a long time, Professor."
"Your expression... looks much better."
"I am no longer suffering from overwork."
"I see. Was that why you looked different? Because the dark circles are gone."
There is no special story behind it. My impression really did change simply because the dark circles disappeared.
After all, the most common thing produced here is recovery potions.
You need a lot of potions to tame those insane killing machines.
In some ways, this place is even busier than the hospital.
"Cough. Sorry to ask right after seeing you again, Johan, but could you make me a cup of coffee?"
"It should be in the usual place, right?"
"Yes."
Professor Georg immediately putting me to work.
I do not mind.
I remember how he burned both body and mind to save students, and how he helped my research whenever he had time.
Whether it is appropriate to call him my mentor or not, that is how I see him.
"Here it is."
"Thanks."
Holding the coffee I made, the professor stared at me with hollow eyes.
His murky gaze, deep like an abyss, made my skin crawl just from looking at it.
If I had not escaped from this place, I probably would have the same eyes.
"What? Are you really Johan?"
"Yes, Professor."
His mind must be wandering.
He greeted me earlier, yet now he is surprised again.
Unfortunately, it seems he was not in his right mind before.
"What did you come here for?"
"...To the alchemy workshop to make medicine. What else would I come here for?"
"Medicine? What kind of medicine?"
"That is..."
"Ah, forget it. I will find out soon enough when I see what you are doing. Do whatever you want."
I bowed slightly and immediately looked for an empty spot.
As I walked among the desks filled with various reagents, I suddenly stopped.
"You kept this exactly as it was?"
"Yes. I thought you might return someday. Oh, and the equipment has been maintained regularly, so it should be fine."
"Why would you..."
Gratitude surged inside me.
I shook my head, holding back the tears threatening to well up.
And at that moment, I noticed another spot.
Just like mine, it still carried the traces of its former owner.
"Professor."
"Yaaawn... huh? Yes?"
"Is this perhaps Senior Jabir’s spot?"
"Yes. You two were close, so you recognized it immediately."
"Why did you leave this one untouched?"
Seeing that my spot had been left exactly as it was made me think he was simply a good teacher.
But this is different.
This is...
"Senior Jabir has already..."
"He left? What, are you about to start saying something old fashioned like that?"
This is obsession.
He simply cannot let go of someone who has already left.
After all, Jabir, the president of the alchemy club, has already...
"He graduated... Please let him go already."
"..."
Why are you still clinging to someone who did not even want to stay?
It is honestly unsettling.
"Yes, Jabir graduated. But there is something you do not know, Johan."
Professor Georg lifted his coffee cup and slowly dragged his white coat along the floor as he moved.
After staggering all the way to the door, he spoke.
"The Cradle has a university. And above that, there is even graduate school."
"...Do not say such ridiculous things. Senior Jabir said that once he graduated he would never look back at this place."
And in just one year, who in their right mind would decide to pursue university studies in a ruined school like this?
Senior Jabir is a smart man. He would never make that choice.
"Ahahahahaha!"
But Georg laughed loudly like a mad scientist.
"Jabir said the same thing at first. That it was ridiculous."
"...What did you just say?"
Jabir too?
So it was not only Jabir?
Then who else did he drag into that pit of despair?
No, I am missing something.
Yes. I thought you might return someday.
A disgusting sensation crawled across my body like insects.
"...Professor. I will ask again. Why did you keep my seat exactly the same?"
"Ha ha... Our workshop needs talented people with sharp instincts like you."
Click.
Professor Georg locked the workshop door.
I immediately entered a combat stance.
It was an emergency.