The Twisted Thread of Fate (Part 4)
In the city of Robrok, the assassins who had broken through the mountain pass reached the warm main avenue.
Sigilla surveyed her surroundings with a careful gaze.
There were many people.
Unlike Uristia, their faces held no shadows, and loyalty covered every expression.
Those carrying out their duties walked briskly along the busy streets.
“Chief, can you find the target here?”
“For ordinary people, it would be difficult. But there is no problem.”
The target was not exactly a person to be killed, but an important factor that needed to be recruited and taken away.
That phrase was familiar to them, the assassins.
Finding one person in a city with such heavy pedestrian traffic and constant movement was, in normal circumstances, an extremely difficult task.
However, the target being Quillere changed everything. There were simply too few people who could draw attention.
If she had walked around normally, many would have spotted her.
The vendors sitting on the ground and doing business rather than hurried passersby were far more likely to remember her.
“I will look for witnesses. Follow me.”
“Yes!”
In this commercial district, there were all sorts of shops and street vendors. At least a few of them would have useful information.
Just as Sigilla was pondering whom to ask, something strange caught her eye.
“Um…?”
The stall of a street vendor who had just set up a display cart.
A map was displayed inside a panel fixed so no one could take it away. Selling a rare map in a place like this was already astonishing, yet Sigilla paid no attention to the map itself.
The unique finish and material, unmistakably Uristian.
She had definitely seen something similar when she went to Morris’s shop to obtain information about Quillere’s meeting.
Why was it here?
“Hey.”
“…What? Ah, welcome! Take your time looking around…”
“Not that, this map.”
Uristia and the Arundel Empire barely interacted. Therefore, it was impossible for a map to have reached this place.
And Quillere had received nine maps from Morris.
The vendor smiled slyly.
“Ahaha! I see what you mean. Surprising, isn’t it? Seeing such a precious map here. Moreover, this is not imperial. I don’t know the origin, but the geography of the Titan Plains in the western empire and the Liv Sea coast is beautifully…”
The merchant explained with pride.
After all, it had been hung there for advertising effect. A rare item naturally proved the merchant’s ability by its very existence.
Sigilla cut her off and asked directly.
“A foreign white outfit with blue-white hair. Is that you?”
“And… um, yes?”
“The person who gave you this map.”
Sigilla, who had been an orphan adopted into the Crase family and had loyally served until now, did not know much about smooth communication because she had received no proper education. So she spoke bluntly.
“…That is…”
Meanwhile, the merchant was at a loss.
It seemed something had gone wrong. He had been happy thinking a customer had come, only to be mistaken.
The sharp-tongued woman with purple hair before him was asking impolitely, and the people standing rigidly behind her all wore the same expressionless faces.
She was not normal.
He could not casually hand over customer information.
But Sigilla had sensed the reaction.
“Where did she go?”
The firm question carried weight.
Sigilla had thought nothing of it, but the aura of someone who had lived as an assassin for half her life was entirely different.
The merchant finished his self-justification. Since he was not even at the current location, what could he say about her movement? Nothing would happen.
“She… went toward the central library… I saw her heading in that direction.”
“I see. No need to stand on ceremony.”
Sigilla gave a nod and strode forward without hesitation.
She burst into a place entirely unrelated to herself—the library—and swept her gaze sharply through the interior.
At that moment, a calm voice came from inside.
“Oh, welcome.”
It was the librarian standing at the back.
She widened her eyes.
“Are you a group visitor?”
“…Wait outside, all of you.”
Following her orders, Sigilla headed toward the counter, but she had to stop again. There was another map.
It was neatly placed in the letter holder. Also Uristian.
Was the woman treating maps like currency?
“If you want to read the books, please be quiet, and if you want to borrow—”
“Where did the person who gave you this map go?”
“What? Um, I don’t know.”
“Then what did you trade it for?”
The librarian supported the side of her face with her hand, pondered for a moment, and answered.
“It was a ruin announcement, right? This one.”
Following her gaze, Sigilla reached the wooden desk. A large stack of documents lay on top.
“Then what is your relationship with that person… wait!”
Ignoring the librarian, Sigilla approached the desk and rummaged through the documents. Ruins announcement, new ruins and their characteristics.
After looking at them for a while, Sigilla’s eyes sparkled.
For some reason, she felt as if she could know Quillere’s destination.
The area around the ruins was silent.
There were guards to prevent anyone from approaching, but their numbers were few, so she was not noticed.
After all, the sight of her made sense.
“Wow…”
Lightning struck, the north wind blew, and tremors occurred.
New anomalous phenomena appeared sporadically, constantly changing the pattern.
Curiosity was a human instinct, yet the vast majority did not come to such blatantly dangerous places.
Treasure hunters aiming for undiscovered ruins were the same.
They were cunning and swift, but only after thorough investigation concluded it was possible.
Humans were fundamentally different from moths.
“Getting close would be dangerous.”
I was an exception.
If it were dangerous, I would not have come in the first place.
This place could be called a ruin meant for me.
I stepped into the land of curses where disasters were rampant without hesitation. The first lightning targeted me.
The rain-carrying thunderbolt fell vertically toward me, then twisted its course just before impact.
It bent strangely, as if to avoid me, and disappeared across the way. Watching the remaining currents in the air, an earthquake approached.
The shockwaves that shook the ground passed by, excluding the spot I was standing on.
“I was a little tense, but as expected…”
Danger took care of itself.
These natural disasters were a kind of spirit, because they possessed weak self-awareness.
They had probably judged me a “suitable one.”
The concept of attributes was very important in this ruin.
Therefore, humans of inferior racial ability could not even come near it.
One needed to be strong enough to break through the spirit’s barrier or possess high-grade attribute power or spirit affinity.
I was an authority in this field.
There would be no one in this world more specialized in eyes and winter attributes than a snow elf.
Reaching the heart of the ruins, I saw the central monument of the ruin, which looked mysteriously alive. A palm pattern was carved at its entrance.
“As expected, the same.”
Suitable one judgment.
Only those who passed the test could enter the interior. Just as expected, it was one of the ruin types that appeared in the original game.
The sleeping artifact must have been it as well.
Since the disasters had already swept past and proven me suitable, I did not need to be scared.
I placed my hand gently on the pattern.
Now I just needed to pour in the attribute-invested mana… the door opened.
“…Eh?”
What? I had not yet raised mana.
There was nothing like this even when I played the original.
Of course, this was the first time I had come to this ruin as Quillere, but even when I played as a pure elemental mage who could not be without attributes, it had not happened.
I narrowed my eyes and looked inside the ruin.
“Nothing special.”
It was dark, but faint light was swirling.
There was no sense of danger. The fact that the entrance had simply opened was not a bad phenomenon, after all.
Despite suspicion, I entered slowly.
After passing a certain line, the entrance door closed with a creak.
With the door closed, the inside became even brighter.
Beings floating in the air like will-o’-the-wisps were the cause. Various colored lights chased away the darkness.
“Spirit remnants…”
These were the fragments of spirits that had not yet matured into self-aware bodies. The Prike I had created by pouring pure mana into them from the beginning had been adult spirits.
This was not the usual case.
Normally, they drifted in this fluid state until they truly evolved into spirits. They grew by consuming the pure energy scattered in the material world.
There were many of them compared to real spirits, yet there were quite a few of these fluid ones.
With lamps provided, it suited me.
I walked toward the depths. The surroundings brightened.
I ignored them and kept walking. It became brighter. As I continued without stopping my legs, the light intensified as if I were seeing a bright bulb up close.
I could not stand it anymore and muttered.
“Why are you following me?”
That was it.
The spirit remnants like lamps followed me in a floating manner. Every time they met a new one, they flinched and clung to my heels.
My eyes were in pain because of it.
Staring with displeasure, the creatures twitched as if they wanted to say something. There was no way to understand their meaning.
Communication was impossible. I spoke coldly and left.
“Don’t follow.”
But they ignored me.
They chased after me like children pursuing a vacuum cleaner. My eyes were sore again, so I had to modify my request.
“…Leave me alone.”
Fortunately, they seemed able to hear.
This time, they kept a slight distance. The intense light faded and a faint glow remained.
A sigh naturally escaped me.
“Prike… like that…”
Their actions were similar to those mischievous little ones.
It was fortunate they were not bad. After that, I could advance without disturbance.
The key to this ruin was the attribute itself, so there were no monster-like obstacles.
The wide passages gradually narrowed and converged into one place. After a while, it became a narrow path where only two people could stand side by side.
At the end, there was an altar.
“We have arrived.”
It was the end, yet also the beginning.
On the altar lay an artifact resembling a blue gemstone, which was the artifact.
This was the foundation of the ruin and one of the items I needed—the Catalyst.
Ruins with a Catalyst required pure attribute, not strength or wisdom.
It was due to the artifact’s nature.
Therefore, by pouring attribute power into the artifact, the “spirit’s will” within it was satisfied and ownership transferred.
“It is a kind of test.”
The spirit’s will had been prepared only for that test. It would fade enough to disappear once the test ended, so a clumsy person would not even dare to challenge it.
The Catalyst was a high-grade amplification relic.
It was a test even a normal elemental mage could not attempt.
I touched the Catalyst with slight tension. The cool sensation. Concentrating on the sense, the moment I poured in power.
Qugu-!
The ruin shook.
Thinking it was an earthquake, I braced myself to avoid falling. The sudden vibration was fortunately not a full earthquake and gradually subsided.
What was it? At the moment I was rolling my eyes, a voice came.
“Winter… it is…”
I flinched and looked back, then was surprised again.
A faint shape was flickering above the blue gemstone, the Catalyst.
It was much larger than a remnant and could not be compared to the power it emitted. It was the spirit’s will dwelling inside the artifact.
“No way, you have returned… no, that cannot be… then what…”
The will was rambling, and I could not understand what it was saying. Its wrinkled appearance made it seem quite old.
Yet the will had manifested. How was this possible? In the original, it would have observed the test in silence to minimize power consumption.
At that moment, its figure became even more hazy.
After all, the will could not last long once manifested.
The spirit’s will shouted desperately.
“New winter… please hear me… that child… that child… send them back underground…”
“That child?”
What was he saying?
“That child… the landfill… the land even I cannot name… sleeps in that terrible place… now is the opportunity…”
From his mouth came “the western curse land.”
I knew he realized his face had hardened.
“So many disasters have been scattered across the continent… if this continues, the continent will… the world will…”
“…”
I stared at him with a cold expression.
I could not help but understand what he was saying.
But it did not please me.
The will coughed dryly and forced out its words.
“Before that thing wakes… before it grows even stronger… please… please…”
The spirit’s will, spat out with effort, silently faded. I did not know who he was.
He might exist somewhere, or only the will of a spirit that had already perished might remain.
Still, he had been branded with a feeling of distaste.
“Why ask me that?”
The official final boss of the Sa-gye War.
The Black Disaster, Mahabarata.
For beginners, it was a song of lament; for experienced players, it was defeated after being showered with all kinds of graduation items; for veterans, they could mock it while wearing only the strange costume they had made themselves.
As it was now, it was an unbeatable rival for me.
More than anything, I had been dragged here.
Some unknown being had forced this upon me. Yet it was asking me, with only one life, to confront that monster?
“No one decides.”
A strong rejection enveloped my entire body.
No one could force me to kill it.
If I did not want to, I would not.
Of course, if the disaster ran rampant and the continent fell into chaos, I would be in danger too.
But the creature had clearly said moments ago.
The disaster was sleeping in the landfill right now.
“Why wake it up if it is sleeping so nicely?”
Sleeping meant it was safe.
At least for the time being, there would be no worry.
And spirits are beings that live for an eternity as long as they are not destroyed by external pressure.
It was saying that time perception was different from humans.
There was no need to be shaken by the fact that the disaster had said it would flip the world as soon as it woke.
The creatures were the kind that would prepare for the end of the world tens of thousands of years from now with much commotion.
“I won’t. I won’t kill it.”
I shook my head and cut off the thoughts.
My policy had not changed since before.
I would live this second life for my own interest alone. I had no intention of sacrificing myself to do good.
What I would do was, like Artan, bestow favors upon someone who would become a great figure in the future.
If it was troublesome, I would abandon it. I would focus on momentary pleasure rather than distant future events. I would take care of my own thing more than ten people.
I was…
“…I will be happy.”
In this world as well.
After re-sweating, I held the Catalyst in my hand.
“New winter… please hear me… that child… that child… send them back underground…”