The Book Left Behind
*Vroom.*
The car lifted off the ground.
"So? Can you feel the power of the new serial-linked mana engine?"
"......Yes."
Spending time with Song Rahee had taught me a few things.
First, Song Rahee talked a lot.
And she was a science nerd.
What I mean by that is—
"As expected of our top student. You'd know, wouldn't you? Normally mana circuits are wired in parallel, but this engine connects them in series, which means......"
She was an absolute explainer-machine.
Even though we'd covered a distance that would normally take thirty minutes on foot in a mere thirty seconds, I just sat quietly in the car, listening to her lecture.
"Oh dear, I've done nothing but explain, haven't I? Let's head inside."
Once we went in, I spotted Erciel fiddling with a doll.
"Oh my, you came along too."
Erciel flashed a bright smile.
"By the way, did you bring a swimsuit?"
"A swimsuit?"
"Yes, there's a beach near our villa. And Britain is famous for its beautiful coastlines, you know."
With that, Erciel crossed her arms and looked me up and down.
"Well, of course. Our top student has a face and body like a god sculpted them personally."
"Right? Professor, you have good taste. Honestly, it's practically a crime that he hasn't been on TV or in the media yet."
"Exactly."
*Ahem.*
Bathed in the double wave of praise from Song Rahee and Erciel, I cleared my throat awkwardly, feeling strangely self-conscious.
"Come to think of it, where's Yuhwa?"
"Hong Yuhwa will be coming straight to the warp gate. She said there was somewhere she needed to stop by before heading here."
Erciel's eyes curved playfully.
"You know, the two of you have been awfully close lately."
"Me and Yuhwa?"
"Yes. You two eat meals together, she goes around collecting photos of you, Seoha, you work out together... The students are talking up a storm about it~"
From my perspective, it was a deeply unfair rumor.
The shared meals happened because Hong Yuhwa turned eating with me into some kind of competition. The photo-collecting was probably her own warped way of stoking her rivalry. And the workouts? She just showed up uninvited and tagged along.
"Hmm, judging by your reaction, Seoha, I guess not, huh?"
Erciel grinned, looking delighted. She swayed her head side to side, clearly in a good mood.
I gave her a look.
Getting to Britain didn't take long. Most of the warp gates around the world used the artificial island where Korea Hero Academy stood as their central hub.
Long ago, a great, great Grand Hero built the school and, while he was at it, constructed warp gates connecting it to the whole world. Which meant that even for a mere club activity, we students could travel anywhere, anytime.
"Hmm, coming back to my homeland after so long puts me in a fine mood," Erciel said with a smile.
Hong Yuhwa crossed her arms, wearing a haughty expression as she handed her luggage to a butler.
"Couldn't any academy student come here whenever they wanted?"
"I wanted to focus. I've found someone I want to beat."
Erciel's smiling eyes curved into crescents as they settled on me.
"......Me?"
"Yes. Against Kim Seohyun, I don't really feel much competitive fire, but for some reason, with you, Seoha, it comes out in full force."
"Seohyun's strong too, though."
"How should I put it... She feels like someone I could beat right now?"
Honestly, that was accurate.
Erciel was a master of illusion magic. Kim Seohyun's raw talent was far superior, but Seohyun still had so much left to learn.
Both of their masters were Transcendents, sure—but there was no comparing Melanie, who had spent over a thousand years honing illusion magic, with the Wizard of a Thousand.
'And she has martial arts to learn, too.'
With the fall of Murim, Seohyun had to absorb the thousand years of martial knowledge they'd left behind. She might be the weaker one for now, but once she got past her first year and into her second, everything would change.
"Too bad for you—I'm strong against illusions."
"That's exactly why I've been secretly learning a special technique."
Erciel said with a sly grin.
"So please stay top of the class. Because at the midterm evaluations, I'm going to beat you."
"......Fine."
It left me a little sour, but I nodded along soon enough. Come to think of it, Erciel and Hong Yuhwa were both precocious, but they were still kids.
"So what are we even doing here?"
"There are four of us, so we can do whatever we want, or just wander around and relax."
"......What about the club president?"
"......Oh, right."
Erciel froze for a moment, then snuck a glance toward where the club president stood. Thankfully, he was busy sightseeing nearby and seemed not to have heard.
Then their eyes met.
"Ahem, ahem. I-I just m-made a little mistake. It's my f-first time in Britain, s-so."
"And what activities do we have planned for today, President?"
Erciel asked with a beaming smile. The president wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, then spoke up.
"It's the first day, so why don't we all split up and do our own thing?"
"Sounds great."
I answered immediately.
The places holding the Heavenly Demon's legacy were quite far removed from any real danger. My plan was to obtain the Heaven-Defying Physique, somehow push through only the earliest stretch of the story, and then come straight here to Britain.
'But there might be something else hidden here too. Better to hurry, grab it, and get out.'
"Hmm? What's this? Were you that curious about Britain?"
"......There's somewhere I want to go."
"Where? I'll guide you personally. I am, after all, the eldest daughter of the British House of Fantasy Magic and the next head of the family."
Erciel smirked, flashing that sly grin again.
"That's somewhere I have to go alone. So no."
"Hmm."
Erciel narrowed her eyes, studying me as if sizing me up.
Heukcheon had somehow drifted to my side, her gaze fixed on Erciel.
'Heukcheon?'
-Hm. The thing inside her. I can sense it now.
'You mean Melanie Merhen?'
-So her name is Melanie Merhen.
Heukcheon kept watching Erciel.
*Click.*
I heard something switch on within my mind's eye, and my vision shifted.
I had activated the Divine Eye of Insight.
And I looked at Erciel.
Immense.
Inside Erciel's body, I could see it—a colossal, colossal "world."
A world within an illusion, built by the being called Melanie across a thousand years.
And at the very center of that world—
A silver-haired woman. Her silver eyes were strange, marked with a pair of drawn scales.
Melanie Merhen.
'......How entertaining. So you are the Heavenly Demon's successor. And yet—you do not yet possess the "qualification."'
The faint voice echoed through me, and my consciousness drifted away.
Then my vision snapped back.
'......'
-My lord. Don't tell me you actually saw it.
'......Yeah. I'm a little dizzy.'
-Shut the Divine Eye at once. For a mortal to gaze upon a Transcendent, a price must always be paid.
I rubbed my eyes and deactivated the Divine Eye of Insight.
Erciel stood there, staring at me in shock.
"......Being the Heavenly Demon's heir means you can see even that?"
"I'm just a little special, that's all."
I let out a sigh.
"......The place you have to go alone—it's related to the Heavenly Demon, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Wait, you know about the Heavenly Demon?"
"Yes, my master told me about her."
"Really? Then could you tell me about it later?"
"Of course, that much is fine. Is it dangerous? I could help you, you know."
Erciel smiled slyly.
"You saw my master just now, didn't you? For a short while, at least, I can borrow her power."
It was true that Erciel could draw on Melanie's power.
The only problem was the price—or perhaps I should call it the backlash. She'd end up bedridden, unable to move, confined to a sickroom for about a week.
"I'm sorry."
"I suppose it can't be helped. In exchange, you have to hang out with me once the job's done."
Erciel said with a giggle.
"Oh, right—there's a saying in Korea, isn't there? About being treated to the full course wherever you go. Well then, I shall treat you to the full British course."
"......Sure."
I nodded, unenthusiastic.
Because Britain was, after all, the number one country in the world at cooking terribly.
---
Inside the dungeon.
There was hardly anything dangerous in the dungeon where the Black God's Martial Arts lay. At most, there were a few puzzle challenges and a handful of traps.
'And even those traps were harmless enough as long as an ordinary person exercised a little caution.'
The Black God's dungeon was a dungeon of boundless kindness.
I ran through the dungeon's layout in my head one more time.
But even now, nothing I could call a hint came to mind.
'Then maybe it reacts to the Heaven-Defying Physique.'
I walked deeper into the dungeon. Its structure was second nature to me by now—I'd come here well over a hundred times.
I avoided the traps, solved the puzzles, and pressed inward.
An ancient altar.
And there, a single book rested.
The Black God's Martial Arts (Heukshinmu).
"......So it truly is the Heukshinmu. The tome wielded by the previous master."
Heukcheon spoke.
-And yet something is strange. I sense no remnant of the previous master's soul anywhere nearby......?
"Really?"
Heukcheon couldn't feel it—but I could, crystal clear.
The conceptual stat: Heaven-Defiance.
Conceptual stats governed their power in the most literal sense. Even if the Heavenly Demon—the one they called the previous master—were to stand on this very spot, in the domain of commanding Heaven-Defiance's energy, I would not yield an inch to him.
I placed my hand on the book inscribed with the words Heukshinmu.
And I drew upon Heaven-Defiance.
-GRAAAAAAGH!
A scream rang out.
Then it came pouring into me, flowing down through my body and into my very core. An utterly familiar energy—Heaven-Defiance itself.