Chapter 79
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 79
“Am I wrong?”
Isley tilted his head, questioning the connection between the spirit I had summoned and the Dark Mana Stone.
At his sharp inquiry, I kept my lips tightly sealed. In a situation like this, a careless answer was forbidden. First, I needed to gauge exactly how much Isley knew about the Dark Spirit and how much he had grasped regarding the link between the spirit and me.
“……”
As I remained silent, Professor Isley continued, his tone reassuring.
“You needn’t worry; I don’t mean to pry. It is an unwritten rule that only the contractor knows the true identity of their spirit.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“There’s no need for thanks. On the contrary, I should be the one to apologize. After your Spirit Affinity Test, I took the liberty of examining the results more closely. The pursuit of the unknown is a scholar’s calling, so I hope you can forgive my curiosity.”
Isley gave me a slight bow before continuing.
“I analyzed the crystal ball used in the test, but there were no signs of malfunction. The device was clearly working normally. Therefore, I concluded that there must be a secret I was unaware of hidden within that strange phenomenon where it turned pitch-black. I’ve since scoured countless ancient texts, documents, and papers, but I couldn’t find any similar cases.”
I felt a slight sense of relief. If even Isley couldn’t find specific information about Dark Spirits, my secret was relatively safe for now.
Then, Isley’s eyes lit up as he added a final remark.
“However, I did find one thing—a mention of a ‘Dark Spirit.’ I couldn’t find its True Name, but comparing it with the descriptions in the literature, it most closely resembled the phenomenon from that day. And surprisingly, there was one legendary figure who was said to have contracted with a Dark Spirit.”
Isley’s words pointed toward someone specific. In the world of the Myrillin Saga, there was only one person who truly fit the title of a ‘legendary’ figure.
I answered in a quiet voice.
“...Kyrus the Great.”
“Oh? You got it right.”
Professor Isley’s eyes widened in a look of genuine impression, and he nodded.
Kyrus the Great was the legendary human emperor who ended the long-standing chaos of the continent caused by the wars between races. Through a covenant with the gods, he was granted a ‘wedge’ for each race.
The wedges were objects that symbolized the destiny of each race. In exchange for bestowing the grace of the gods and the blessing of ‘mana,’ they also left an indelible stigma.
Because of that stigma, the elves—despite their beauty and peerless spirit affinity—were unable to leave their forests. The dwarves, with their exceptional craftsmanship and brilliant technology, could never stray far from the earth. Many other races were bound by similar restrictions.
Humans, too, were said to have been given a restriction by this stigma, but its nature remained a mystery. Some said it was the human lifespan; others claimed it was their potential.
In any case, the fact that Kyrus the Great was the contractor of a Dark Spirit was news to me. I hadn’t even known that Dark Spirits existed in the game’s lore in the first place.
Isley continued.
“In truth, there is very little information about Kyrus the Great. He appeared suddenly and vanished just as abruptly. Where he was born, who his parents were, his lineage—even his race is a mystery. In fact… there’s even a theory that he wasn’t human at all.”
Isley gazed at me with deep, searching eyes for a moment before shrugging.
“Well, with no more information, I couldn’t uncover any further details. In any case, the Dark Spirit he commanded is said to have possessed the ability to handle ‘demonic energy.’ That doesn’t mean the spirit was an evil being, of course. Spirits are fundamentally beings of order. The analysis simply suggests that the specialized domain the spirit governed was of that nature.”
Isley looked at me intently.
“Perhaps… your family, the Devalis, who have fought the demons on the front lines for generations, might be related to this. The manifestation of a spirit is often tied to one’s bloodline. If I may offer a piece of advice, I believe that using that Dark Mana Stone wisely could be of great help to your spirit.”
I stared silently at the Dark Mana Stone resting in the bottle.
“Of course, if the spirit you’ve contracted with isn’t actually a Dark Spirit… then there’s no connection at all. Please, just let it go in one ear and out the other.”
Isley finished with a gentle smile. Though he spoke casually, he seemed to hold a certain degree of conviction. I gazed into his doe-like eyes, lost in thought for a moment.
…I don’t quite understand his intentions.
I still wasn’t sure if Isley had approached me purely to share information or if he was trying to sound me out. But in the Myrillin Saga, Isley was clearly classified as a ‘good’ character. Given his genuinely kind nature, it didn’t seem likely that he would approach me just to test me or uncover a demonic bloodline.
Having reached a conclusion, I simply bowed my head to express my gratitude.
“Thank you for sharing information you worked so hard to obtain.”
The details Isley shared about Kyrus the Great were things even I, who prided myself on knowing the game’s lore inside and out, was unaware of. Kyrus the Great was such an ancient figure that most stories about him were closer to myth than history. In Korean terms, it was on the level of the Dangun myth.
In any case, this realization hit me once again.
This world… is not simply the fragmented game world I knew.
I had felt it at the bookstore, but this world was filled with countless pieces of information that far surpassed what was in the game. The story from the age of myths I heard today was likely the same. It reaffirmed my thought that no matter how much of a veteran I was, I could never let my guard down.
“Hehe. No need for thanks. It’s a natural duty for an educator. Anyway, it seems I interjected suddenly and spoke out of turn.”
Isley looked at the clearing that had swallowed the Crazy Boar.
“I also snatched your prey midway. I apologize.”
“Not at all. It was dangerous, but thanks to you, Professor, I was able to subdue the enemy safely.”
“I’m sure you could have handled a Crazy Boar on your own, Roen. Too much modesty can sometimes be a poison.”
He gave me a smile, then looked toward the garden where the other students were gathered.
“Shall we go?”
*
Kiriel Silverwalker was enjoying a leisurely tea time, sitting on a mat with her aides. But the entire time, her mind was elsewhere.
Where did he go now?
Roen, who had been wandering alone without belonging to any group, had suddenly vanished from her sight. At first, seeing him unable to fit in, she had thought it served him right, but she hadn’t expected him to just disappear like that.
She had no idea what he might be plotting. She even wondered if it would have been better to forcibly pull him into her group just to keep him in her line of sight.
Professor Isley has also disappeared somewhere… Suspicious.
Kiriel thought as she nibbled on a sandwich Professor Isley had made himself. The professor had denied it, but Kiriel hadn’t let go of her suspicions yet. Roen was the type who might grab hold of the kind Professor Isley’s weakness and try to manipulate him. She couldn’t let go of her suspicion until he stepped down from the position of Student Council President and left Union.
Kiriel’s eyes darted around, her ears twitching. Watching her distracted state, her aide Silphy, sitting beside her, asked, “Lady Kiriel, what’s gotten into you again? You’re not looking for Roen, are you?”
“I think she is! Lady Kiriel, really. At this point, don’t you actually like him?”
At Lina’s teasing remark, Kiriel’s face scrunched up in displeasure.
“Hey, Lina. Don’t say things like that, even as a joke. I’ll get angry.”
“…For someone who says that, you seemed a little worried when you heard he was sick.”
“Worried? What are you talking about? It wasn’t concern for Roen personally. If he steps down or drops out for health reasons, everything I’ve worked for will go up in smoke.”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
“And this is no time for jokes. It’s not just that Roen has disappeared; Professor Isley is gone somewhere too.”
“The professor is probably drinking water from a stream somewhere.”
“Hmm. Maybe.”
Kiriel imagined Professor Isley stretching his neck out to drink from a stream. A single, graceful deer quenching its thirst at a babbling brook in Voltimir’s garden. It was a fitting image, but she couldn’t afford to be so optimistic. Even at this very moment, the professor could be struggling in Roen’s evil clutches.
It was then.
Rustle.
At the sound of footsteps, Kiriel’s ears perked up. In the distance, Roen and Professor Isley emerged, walking together from a promenade.
“!”
Kiriel’s eyes widened like saucers.
I knew it! My prediction was right!
Kiriel gripped the juice bottle in her hand tightly and shot up from her seat.
“Hey! Roen!”
And so, today, the misunderstanding only deepened.
*
A few days later. The weekend.
Union’s downtown area. Traum 9 and 3/4 Street.
“You’re here again, Lord Roen.”
As I opened the door to the dusty shop and stepped inside, the blind girl, Gretel, greeted me. Ciel had warned me not to wander around until I was fully recovered, but I had secretly slipped out of Union and headed for the back alleys.
“It’s been a while.”
Gretel nodded and pointed toward the bookshelf.
“The professor has already gone down. With two guards.”
Thankfully, it seemed Zimmer had already gone downstairs in time for our appointment.
“Right, thank you for the letter.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Gretel had brought the letter from the back alleys all the way to the Student Council President’s office. She said she had even snuck into Professor Zimmer’s office to deliver it, so I gave her a reward for her trouble.
“This is for your efforts. Use it as you wish.”
When I handed her a few checks, Gretel bowed her head and accepted them.
“Thank you. But… you brought a tail.”
“A tail?”
Don’t tell me.
With an ominous feeling, I turned around to see a figure in the dim light.
Jingle.
The shop door opened, and a person revealed themselves. It was Ciel, her expression clouded with anger. I thought I had shaken her off perfectly, but it seemed I was mistaken.
Gretel pointed at Ciel and asked, “Is she your girlfriend?”
What a terrible thing to say. I shook my head and replied, “She’s my maid… no, my secretary.”
“Ah, so she’s like a bodyguard.”
While I was talking with Gretel, Ciel approached with a stiff face and an angry voice.
“Lord Roen, I’m quite certain I told you to rest this week and not go anywhere.”
“…I had something I absolutely had to take care of.”
Timing was critical for this matter. It was a negotiation that had to be completed before the Lombard Merchant Ship arrived at the Meteor Archipelago and before the merchant guilds of the Gilbert Kingdom pulled out. Moreover, once the weekend passed and the weekday began, the information would be publicly disclosed on Stella’s stock market, so the work had to be finished today.
“If that was the case, you should have taken me with you. Do you find me that untrustworthy?”
“That was short-sighted of me. I apologize.”
When I apologized meekly, Ciel nodded and looked around.
“I understand. But why have you come to this filthy shop? Is this the way down to the back alleys?”
“You guessed correctly.”
Ciel’s expression soured.
“So this is where you went the other dawn. To such a dangerous place, all by yourself…”
“As long as I came back alive and well, that’s all that matters.”
“That attitude is precisely the problem.”
“I’ll try to fix it in the future. Let’s go.”
Rumble.
The bookshelf blocking one wall slowly moved with a cloud of dust, revealing a staircase leading down.