Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: A Flexible Misconception
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Parovian looked as if he had fully recovered in that short time. Or perhaps he had judged that he could no longer afford to waste any more time and had forced himself to his feet.
Standing quietly beside him like a proper aide was Raistel.
Having to deliver bad news to them left a bitter taste in my mouth.
"No help is coming. Um... it might have been my attitude that was the problem."
"Impossible."
Parovian shook his head as if he had expected as much.
"You've spoken with him, so you should know better than anyone. He's not the type to be swayed by something as trivial as attitude. He's simply made up his mind."
In truth, my attitude had been pretty awful. I'd gone all out provoking him, practically daring him to kill me.
Of course, it was because he didn't seem inclined to help from the start.
There was no need to explain that messy process to Parovian in detail.
"It seems he wants us to handle it ourselves."
"..."
"We received orders, so we have to do our duty. As for you... your assigned role was analyzing intelligence, and you've more than fulfilled that."
Parovian patted my shoulder encouragingly.
"You've been through a lot facing the Transcendent."
"Are you really going? You know it's just death waiting there."
"Even so, we can't not go. Defying orders means death as well."
"As commander, aren't you in a position to issue orders yourself?"
He gave a wry smile.
"You know all this, yet you say that? Or... are you criticizing me for sending my men to their deaths? I'll gladly accept such criticism."
I knew everything. That's exactly why seeing him march off so obviously to his death had stirred unnecessary emotions, leading me to lash out at the Transcendent.
The reason I was doing this despite knowing was simple.
To buy time.
I had no intention of just letting them leave either. As Parovian himself had said, disobeying orders would only hasten death.
Anonymous (1) needed time to deal with the Transcendent.
It hadn't even been a full day since we'd made the deal.
He probably couldn't handle it in one go. At least a day... no, two days would be needed.
'This is practically praying for a miracle.'
I'd blabbered on about magic being the technology that manifests miracles, but that didn't make me some blind devotee who believed magic solved everything.
Such mystical power couldn't even make a cell phone, after all.
Those were just words I'd thrown out like a vow to steel myself against cowering before a Transcendent.
I grabbed Parovian as he turned to leave, as if he'd said all there was to say.
"Just wait a moment."
"Waiting... changes nothing."
I couldn't stop Parovian.
No matter how much credit I'd earned in this incident, it had all been in a supporting role.
Now, heading to the ancient ruins left only combat and death, and there was no place for me there.
I was just a 5th Circle mage in reality.
So, inevitably, I called the one person who could possibly dissuade him.
I wasn't entirely sure if this was the right move... but I had to buy time somehow.
Just then, someone flung open the inn room door roughly.
Long hair tied in twin tails whipped through the air.
"Grandfather!"
"Oz...? How are you...?"
Parovian stared at Oz with his mouth agape before slowly turning to me.
That brief moment felt strangely interminable.
If our eyes met, there'd probably be a glare that could chew me up and spit me out.
Lacking the confidence to face it, I averted my gaze.
Fortunately, before he could fully glare at me, Oz rushed over and grabbed his collar.
"You absolutely can't go! They'd be telling you to go die after seeing Grandfather!"
"Then should I abandon my duty as a soldier and run away?"
"Request it from command again, please."
"Ivan has already spoken with my superior... no, their superior's superior. This is an order we can't defy."
"Grandfather!"
Their conversation dragged on.
Neither backed down.
Watching them, my heart grew complicated.
If Anonymous (1) really took out the Transcendent, that in itself would be a miracle.
Was it right to cling to such faint hope and create this scene?
As their voices rose higher, my worries deepened, when a vibration hummed from the slate hidden at my waist.
One of the Anonies had sent a message.
I quietly slipped out from Parovian's shadow and leaned slightly toward Raistel, who stood beside me.
"I need to use the restroom for a bit."
"..."
Raistel narrowed his eyes at me. As if to say, You stirred this up and now you're sneaking out alone?
Knowing how favorably he'd treated me before made it sting even more.
But this was unavoidable.
I quickly slipped out of the room and headed to a secluded corner, pulling out the slate.
Fortunately, it was a message from the Anonymous (1) I'd hoped for. Faster than expected.
'Did something go wrong?'
Handled it.
But can I take the skull? I want to use it as a pillow after chopping off the head.
...Bluff or truth?
Some proof like a photo would have been nice...
Suddenly, I thought about adding features like that.
I hadn't originally planned to upgrade the manaphone further. Unless I was making a real cell phone, adding functions one by one would hit obvious limits anyway.
But now, tangled in these events, my thinking had changed.
This anonymous chat room felt like it could be put to very good use. Anyone not an idiot would think the same.
So there was ample reason to invest time and money into developing it.
Oh right.
There was another one besides Philip Deran? A half-formed guy that looks like a skeleton.
At first I thought it was Philip, but he's definitely weaker.
Doesn't seem like he's been a Transcendent long. Or maybe not even a full Transcendent.
Listening to Anonymous (1), my earlier suspicions vanished. The half-formed skeleton-like guy—he had to be Vinsen.
Did you kill him?
No, he's still alive. I was only asked to handle Philip Deran.
In the midst of all this, his adherence to the deal was impressively firm.
If Vinsen had been definitively eliminated too, I'd be completely relieved, but just knowing his master was gone eased most of my worries.
Especially since Anonymous (1) was ambiguous about whether Vinsen even counted as a Transcendent.
We had a 7th Circle mage like Parovian in our forces anyway. And they knew they were up against a Transcendent, so they'd prepare thoroughly. They'd planned their strategy assuming Vinsen had grown stronger by corrupting from 7th Circle in the first place.
It was his master's emergence that had made things hopeless.
The precise meaning of "still alive" nagged at me a bit, but it was definitely better than the hopeless certainty of death if they went.
Come to think of it, my original reason for joining this request was the research data Vinsen had on mana stabilization.
Well, at this point, I wasn't too concerned about it...
I considered replying Leave him be, but hesitated briefly.
From now on, I had to be careful even with single messages.
Our deal ended there, so no reason for you to get further involved.
I wrote a long message to show satisfaction.
Oh, good call not killing him. He wouldn't last anyway.
I wanted to ask why, but held back.
It would break my "omniscient" concept.
Communicating only through messages, without face-to-face, was easy for me with my modern memories.
I pocketed the slate without replying.
The urgent fire was out... but another problem remained.
Oz Eldis.
I'd called her to buy time, but things had resolved too quickly by accident.
I hadn't expected it to end in a single day.
Didn't they say Transcendent battles could drag on for years?
I hadn't thought it would take that long since he seemed confident.
Oz... with her fiery temper... how was I supposed to convince her?
Just thinking about it gave me a headache.
I peeked back into the room, and in that time, their conversation showed no progress. Parovian's face had only grown stormier.
He seemed to have chosen his duty as a soldier over the words of his dearly beloved granddaughter.
On the other hand, tears welled in Oz's eyes. She'd realized she couldn't stop him anymore.
How was I supposed to broach this?
I agonized, then blurted it out.
"I'll go with you."
"...What?"
Oz's incredulous eyes turned to me.
Not just her—Parovian and Raistel too. All gazes focused on me in an instant.
Parovian closed his eyes, let out a deep sigh, and slowly shook his head.
"No need to go that far."
"...No. I'm going with you."
"Don't you value your life? Take a moment to reflect—make sure this isn't misguided sense of responsibility. You'll regret it."
Having resolved things through the deal with Anonymous (1), I had to go no matter what. I needed to check the site myself.
The worry that Anonymous (1) might be waiting there to uncover my identity didn't last long. He'd headed straight to Palewood anyway.
"Why are you doing this too...?"
Oz approached me, her eyes brimming with tears.
Seeing her cry for the first time in my life was more embarrassing than burdensome.
It wasn't something to cry over.
Vinsen was still out there, but with his master dead, the risk of death had dropped sharply.
But I couldn't explain that...
"We agreed to stop him together!"
"The Commander won't change his mind. You felt it too."
"..."
She bit her lip hard.
"So... you're going along? Out of guilt? Can't bear to send Grandfather alone?"
That wasn't the reason...
"You'll come back alive."
"What do you...?"
"Your grandfather won't die."
That was all I could say.
She stared piercingly at me in silence before speaking.
"You're... serious."
Serious, without a shred of falsehood.
I just couldn't explain why.
"How can you be so sure? You were the one who told us a higher Transcendent was involved."
Even as she said it, Oz's face suddenly grew grave. I'd never seen such a serious expression on her. Her face darkened as if imagining something awful.
"You're not thinking something weird, are you?"
"Weird?"
"Like... dying in Grandfather's place or... something."
What the hell was she thinking?