Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: A Small Gift
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“That whish-whish creature, you mean.”
“Ah, this friend is...”
Iru Ri explained about Wisph. That Wisph was her summon and companion. That she was a sorceress, and her real name too.
“So it's Luri. Nice to meet you, Wisph.”
“Whish whish!”
“Yes, Saintess is just a nickname.”
During their conversation, Iru Ri started to think that he might really be human.
It was because her mind felt surprisingly at ease, even while talking to a non-human entity.
“My turn, right? I know all grimoires have owners. Where's Byul's grimoire owner?”
“That's a bit of a strange question.”
He tilted his head as if the question was truly odd. As if there was no need to even ask.
“Of course, I'm the owner.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn't Luri say it's your grimoire too?”
“Well...”
“Whish whish!”
'You just had to pop out there.'
The Wolverine Guild side had been treating the grimoire and Moon Byul as one and the same up until now. As the grimoire's ego, or something living inside it like Wisph.
So they'd planned to find the owner or make Iru Ri the owner, but they'd gotten the very first button wrong.
Of course, it was weird for a grimoire's owner to live inside the grimoire.
That was when Iru Ri finally realized it.
'The Cosmic Grimoire isn't an ownerless grimoire after all!'
The grimoire already had an owner.
It was only natural that humanity hadn't been able to find the grimoire's owner.
“May I ask a question now?”
“Sure, that was a sufficient answer.”
“What I'm really curious about is this.”
As if everything until now had just been appetizers, he continued.
“What happened to Earth in relation to the Tower?”
It was an unexpected question, so she hesitated for a moment but soon explained step by step.
That the Tower structure would collapse if not climbed.
That only climbers among the awakeners risked their lives to ascend the Tower.
And that she was a support sorceress among climbers, lacking decent attack skills, which made it hard to go higher.
“Not much different, then.”
“The US max clear is the 64th floor right now. Korea's at 61 for reference. Byul seems pretty interested in Earth.”
Just from his answer, he revealed quite a bit of information. That he already knew a lot about Earth, and more.
“I suppose so. Probably no one is more interested in Earth than I am.”
He smiled faintly and lifted his teacup.
Iru Ri felt a slight unease at Moon Byul's response. It sounded somehow chilling.
“My turn now?”
“Sorry, but time's short, so we'll have to continue next time.”
“Ah! How can you ask a question and just leave?”
“...You're right, Luri. Then this is the last one. Choose your words carefully.”
The final chance to question an unknown entity.
But her question was already decided.
“Please heal the people who went mad from contacting the grimoire. I beg you.”
“......”
In truth, it violated the rules. What Iru Ri had done wasn't a question, but a request.
Moon Byul didn't point that out.
He simply looked at her bowed head and stroked his chin with interest. Unfortunately, he couldn't see her expression from that angle.
“Luri really is a good person.”
“Pardon?”
“Whiiing?”
Moon Byul gave an unexpected answer.
“I kept asking questions purely out of my own curiosity.”
He paused briefly, picked up his teacup, and gazed into her eyes.
'She's sincere.'
Her eyes were straightforward.
Moon Byul felt glad that the first person he'd met outside the grimoire was Iru Ri.
“You answer with more than necessary, yet you haven't asked a single question for yourself.”
'What? They were all necessary questions.'
Truth be told, she didn't fully understand either. Moon Byul liked that she didn't know.
“I'll help you. I'll come again in a week at the same time. I have some business too.”
“Really? Thank you. Byul's a good person too.”
It was just a simple pleasantry. The kind polite people say to anyone.
Moon Byul knew well what he looked like. How he appeared to people.
A form that even lies couldn't pass off as an ordinary human.
Perhaps that's why he clung so much to humanity.
To being a good 'person'.
She, facing him like this, should feel the greatest sense of wrongness. Ironically, she alone seemed to see him as a person. He wasn't sure about the ones watching.
“It's nice to have a conversation partner after over a century. Thank you.”
Moon Byul finished speaking and stood. He placed the mana stones in the fruit basket.
“I've received something precious but have nothing to give in return.”
“No, you've already given plenty.”
“Instead, I have a small trick. Could you lend me the grimoire for a moment?”
The grimoire was a sorceress's alpha and omega. Her identity.
No one ever handed their grimoire to another. Without it, a sorceress was no longer a sorceress—just a magic-class climber who couldn't use spells.
She'd never given hers to anyone. It had powerful spells making it hard to damage, and it always returned to its owner no matter where it went. Still, bad intentions could make impossible things possible.
Even so, she handed over the grimoire without a worry.
“Whish whish!”
“It's fine, Wisph.”
Wisph seemed displeased with her handing over the grimoire.
Moon Byul noticed and accepted the grimoire as carefully as possible, opening it. When he placed his palm on the open pages, light poured out.
“Wow...”
"Da Shtarken." ⟨ Seal of Stars ⟩
It was a beautiful light. As if stars plucked from the night sky and placed right before her eyes.
The air vibrated, and the light was soon sucked back into the book.
Moon Byul slowly closed the book and handed it back to Iru Ri.
“A fine grimoire.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Try using it in the Tower later.”
He turned to leave but paused briefly.
“Ah, one more thing.”
He shifted his gaze toward the CCTV camera on the ceiling.
“Peeking like this secretly isn't polite.”
At Moon Byul's words, Iru Ri's heart, which had been smiling, turned ice-cold. It was a clear sign of displeasure.
The fact that he was displeased felt like terror to her.
“I get that I'm fascinating, but the stares are too blatant to ignore. I'd appreciate it if you came in person next time.”
“......”
“Since I'm always inside the grimoire.”
He gave her an awkward smile as if it were no big deal.
Leaving the frozen Iru Ri behind, he picked up his gifts and scattered into smoke.
Bzzz.
The book vibrated briefly before returning to normal. The tea table he'd conjured vanished with him.
“Hic... hic.”
“Whish whish.”
“Hic. Phew.”
The immense terror she'd felt in that instant made Iru Ri sob softly. The pressure had made breathing hard.
Only then did Iru Ri truly grasp what she'd been conversing with.
“Haa... haa...”
'Sca... scary!'
It was fundamentally different.
A being that mimicked humans and showed goodwill, yet even its slightest gestures threatened humanity.
'And this time, we talked much longer.'
He'd seemed pulled back into the grimoire unwillingly.
That meant his outings had a time limit, after all.
'Is the limit gradually loosening?'
What did he want? Would they be able to stop him if he became a threat to humanity? But how?
She still had mountains of questions. If only she'd been more careful with them.
If he ever wandered outside later, the people around him would drop like flies.
Could shrimp stay unharmed when whales fought cautiously?
No way.
Even a whale's swim was a cataclysm to the shrimp.
She definitely felt fondness for Moon Byul, but this was another matter. She needed a countermeasure.
“Whish whish.”
“Yeah, I'm okay. Just startled.”
“Luri!”
While she sat slumped on the floor, the guild master had come down to the storage room.
“Luri, you okay?”
“Yes, I'm fine now. You... were watching?”
“Yeah, In-ah and I in the CCTV room... Sorry it turned out like this.”
'As expected.'
Moon Byul's displeasure had been directed at them beyond the CCTV.
“Is In-ah okay?”
“She's fine. Less pressure through the screen, it seems. But you're not worried about me?”
“Sis, of course you'd be fine.”
“See? You're fine if you're talking like that.”
Only then could So Seori relax.
“But what was that at the end?”
“He knew we were spying and got mad.”
“No, what he did to your grimoire.”
Come to think of it, she hadn't explained anything. Why he'd asked for her grimoire, what he'd done to it.
“Hold on.”
She hurriedly opened the grimoire. The light had seeped in around here...
“Found it.”
Iru Ri stared intently at the grimoire for a long while. As she stayed silent, So Seori couldn't hold back her curiosity.
“What? What is it?”
Luri's hand slowly traced the text in the grimoire. With trembling fingers.
“Th-this...”
“Why? What did he do? Should Sis burn that weird grimoire?”
“No, this doesn't make sense.”
While she kept mumbling, So Seori finally lost patience and yelled.
“What is it already!”
“Eek, my ears are gonna bleed.”
“You're the one dragging it out.”
Slam.
Iru Ri closed the book and stood up.
“Sis, big trouble.”
“Why? Is the grimoire broken?”
“Byul gifted me a new skill and left.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “The dummies need more adjustments.”
Moon Byul focused on the dummies, whose movements were still awkward despite his many tweaks.
His goal was to escape this grimoire.
The first objective—stabilizing the portal—could be called a success.
By syncing the time flow with the outside and refining the magic formula, stability had improved.
Next was severing the chains binding him to the grimoire from the outside via the dummies.
Making them similar to human bodies had drastically lowered their durability and made movements awkward.
“Can't do it with a body too like living things, huh.”
He pulled a banana from the fruit basket and ate it.
“Lr...”
He started to use magic to peel it but stopped. Instead, he peeled it slowly by hand.
Inside was a perfectly ripe banana. One humanity had made delicious and hearty through genetic modification.
He took a slow bite. The soft banana chewed like butter and slid down his throat.
“So this is the taste.”
A flavor he'd forgotten.
With the banana's aftertaste lingering deeply, he reached for the fruit basket again.
This time, he grabbed a mana stone.
An idea flashed in his mind.
“I can make the dummies out of these.”
Mana stones were ores storing low-purity Star Power—in other words, mana.
Refining them into dummies would boost their durability dramatically.
“Gotta ask the Saintess for some.”
He needed mana stones. A whole lot of them.