He's Gone Mad
"He's lost his mind. Ji Gyutae was never a hasty man. The right moment he's been waiting for hasn't even come yet, has it?"
"Like you said, this isn't the optimal time he was always going on about. But he must have decided that stopping Shin Yujun matters more than raising Coordination. And he's right."
"Good. That's a relief."
Mah let out a long breath.
Coordination had received the Demon God's blessing—the thing they called Demon God's Grace—and that meant a great deal. No one knew why, but the Grace reached its peak when a human received it. On top of that, Coordination were the very ones who had been forging bodies shaped to draw that effect out to its absolute limit.
They had even finished Branch Head Ji Gyutae's own bodily modifications, a reconstruction whose risks were enormous, but whose returns, if it succeeded, would be staggering. There was nothing more to say.
Mah was beaming, and Regilon let out a thin, scoffing laugh.
"Don't get too pleased. You're going to owe Branch Head Ji Gyutae a debt for this."
"What?"
"He isn't going to help you for nothing. He'll want something from you."
"...A worthless human, daring to—"
"Not the sort of thing you should say when you're about to be saved by humans. Anyway, I'm leaving. Even if it kills you, I hope you manage to stop Shin Yujun."
With that, Regilon's figure vanished.
"Miserable bastard."
Mah muttered.
"I'm going to rest a bit."
Yujun, who had spent eight straight hours hunting down information, threw himself onto the bed.
"I've never seen Yujun worn out like that."
Manuela said.
"I quite agree. To behold Master looking tired—why, this is a most precious sight."
"He'll be all right, won't he?"
"Well, he isn't injured. Even mental fatigue may clear away entirely once he sleeps."
"Yeah? Then what do you do when fatigue builds up?"
"Me, you mean?"
"Yeah. You're undead, so you can't sleep."
"My lady. Being undead, I do not grow tired."
"I mean, forget being sleepy. When you take a hit mentally. What do you do then?"
"I do nothing at all."
"And it just gets better if you sit still?"
"Hmm... what an awkward question. Of course, when something weighs on me, a corner of my heart grows heavy—but I have never done anything in particular to resolve it. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. Undead are strange, you know. Ones as intelligent as you are even rarer."
"Ah, you honor me. Heheh."
Paranet grinned wide and ran a hand over his head. Slick—the dust swept away, and his skull came out smooth and gleaming.
"But the ceiling here is rather low. Must I keep shuffling about hunched over like I'm on horseback?"
"You're the one who said you wanted to stay with Yujun."
"That is true, and yet..."
They had chosen the room with Paranet's height in mind, but even in a city full of other races, inn rooms whose floors rose more than five meters to the ceiling were rare. No—not rare. They didn't exist at all. This was the closest thing available to a room that could hold an ogre-sized Paranet, and even here he couldn't stand fully upright.
An illusion spell warped his outward form so he appeared far shorter, but his actual head was pressed flush against the ceiling. And because that distortion didn't apply to his companions' eyes, they could see exactly what state he was in.
Yenil spoke.
"Just sit down."
"Eh?"
"Is there any need to keep standing like that? It's distracting. Sit."
Yenil's expression was downright murderous. She was already on edge from studying magic.
"K-khm..."
Paranet quietly folded himself down cross-legged.
Yujun's rest lasted all of about four minutes. He sat up at once, closed his eyes, and focused.
"That... counted as resting, right?"
Manuela muttered, looking utterly baffled.
Yujun's attention was already sunk into his senses, so he didn't hear her.
The shape of it is coming together.
Sorting reliable information from the rest had taken a long time, but the sheer volume pouring into his head was so immense that he could be fairly confident of its certainty. A few things remained murky, so he set those aside and started with what he was sure of.
They're treating the whole of Koruna Kingdom as a branch. Players have been getting abducted constantly lately, and the kingdom is just looking the other way. Things are unfolding more or less as I expected.
The abducted didn't vanish for good. Before long they reappeared perfectly fine, and simply went on with their lives without even remembering they had been taken. The ones doing the abducting were clearly the Demon God Worshippers—the cult—and those who came back seemed to have lost the memory of it.
So the guess that the Demon God Worshippers are planting something in the players, body or brain, is probably right.
Across the whole of Koruna Kingdom, there wasn't the slightest wariness toward the Demon God Worshippers. That, too, had to be the cult's doing. Strange things kept happening one after another, and yet the players felt no sense of danger at all—none whatsoever. The kingdom itself felt like a stage someone had dressed for a play, and the unease, of course, came from the cult.
He had obtained the one piece of information that mattered most: where the abducted players were being taken. He didn't know the exact spot, but he could pin down which direction it lay in. It was far too late to go now, and since the other side were players as well, a nighttime raid wouldn't mean much anyway.
"We're leaving early tomorrow, so get a good night's sleep."
"Okay."
"...I'll work a little longer, then sleep."
The last was Yenil.
"Because of the magic?"
"Yes."
"Maybe I shouldn't have taught you. Seems like all I did was make things harder for you."
"Do I look as though I'm struggling? It is difficult, of course, but I'm rather enjoying myself."
"Oh? Made some progress, then?"
"A very little? Even so, I haven't untangled the first thread yet."
"Still, at least you aren't completely stuck. Get through that early part, and the middle and later sections should come quickly."
"Which means I'll get stuck again from the middle onward...?"
"You catch on fast."
Despair washed over Yenil's face. The shift was so uncharacteristically vivid that Yujun laughed.
"It isn't that hard, so don't worry."
"If you say it isn't difficult, that means it's difficult for me."
"So you want a magic system better than Ancient Magic without putting in any effort? And I already explained it as simply as I could."
"I know."
"Take breaks while you work."
With that, Yujun lay back down. He wasn't tired, but there was no reason he couldn't sleep if he wanted to. There was a definite freshness that came from sleeping and waking.
"I should sleep too."
Manuela casually followed his lead and lay down as well. Not the same bed, of course—the one beside it. She wasn't quite that bold.
The moment dawn broke, Yujun deposited his companions at the Golden Temple. No matter how he turned it over, traveling together was simply too dangerous. Alone, he could at least pull back in a hurry; with them beside him, the risk climbed dozens of times over.
Paranet was different. Even if the wretch died, he could be brought back, so there was no need to fret over him—and his abilities were useful besides. With Manuela and Yenil gone, though, and only the undead Paranet remaining, the mood turned unbearably bleak. It felt as if cobwebs might spin themselves across the inn-room ceiling at any moment.
Yujun summoned one more familiar.
"TapagolWhoWaitedSoLong—!"
Tapagol answered with full-throated vigor, and as always he had appeared speaking in that bizarre way. If anything, it seemed stranger than before.
"What did you just say?"
"My apologies, Master. It seems the self I had been suppressing slipped out without my noticing."
"Who suppressed it?"
"I held it back myself. I must not commit any irreverence toward Master."
"Hm... I see."
Yujun hadn't summoned Tapagol out of boredom. Tapagol was a guide golem, and he had called him because he needed a guide, plain and simple. He knew the direction, but not the precise location, and for a situation like that Tapagol was perfect.
"So, TapagolWhoWaitedSoLong. I didn't call you, so you must have been pretty bored all this time?"
"Ah, not at all."
Tapagol stammered, unlike himself.
"Why? Weren't you just lodging a complaint with me?"
"It is absolutely correct! Ah—..."
Tapagol's intelligence didn't match Paranet's, so lying didn't come easily to him.
"Correct? Not just correct—absolutely correct?"
"I apologize."
Tapagol bowed his head low. Yujun smiled, a teasing edge to it, and spoke.
"I'm not scolding you. I'm sorry I don't call you often. From now on, I'll summon you whenever I'm bored."
"Does that mean I may remain at Master's side as much as Harp does?"
"Harp?"
Why Harp, all of a sudden?
Harp, dozing with a drowsy face on Yujun's shoulder, startled as well.
"Huh? Me?"
"No. Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep."
"Okay."
Yujun turned his gaze back to Tapagol.
"Tapagol. Harp can't be unsummoned. That's why he's always with me. And he's small, so he isn't in the way when I move."
No matter how violently Yujun moved, Harp never fell from his shoulder. If that counted as an ability, then it was one. And when it came down to it, Harp could unleash a breath attack destructive enough to pull Yujun out of a crisis. Explaining that to Tapagol outright felt a little cruel, so Yujun had dodged around it.
"I see. Understood."
Tapagol nodded. His tone was as stiff as ever, but his face looked somehow downcast.
"Tapagol. I'd like you to guide the way."
At Yujun's words, Tapagol's head snapped up.
"Leave it to me!"
"Good."
Golems really were pleasantly simple.
"Where shall I guide you?"
"I know it's this way. But there isn't just one path or two. I don't even know which building it is, and barriers are laid all over the place, so I can't lock down a single spot."
"Hm. Are you looking for a player?"
"Yeah. His name is Mah. He's a branch head of the cult."
"Please describe his characteristics."
Yujun described Mah in as much detail as he could, based on what he had heard. Put into writing, it still wouldn't have filled more than a few lines.
"I believe I can find him."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes."
"Good. I'm counting on you."
Tapagol strode forward with imposing confidence, and Yujun quietly altered the golem's outward appearance as well. The Demon God Worshippers might not recognize Tapagol—but then again, they might. He hadn't refrained from summoning him entirely, after all.
Tapagol pressed on without hesitation, straight and sure, never once wavering, as if the destination had already been decided. They must have walked quickly for about an hour and a half before he finally stopped.
"We have arrived. There is someone presumed to be Mah in that building."
"...How on earth does this pathfinding of yours even work?"
Yujun was baffled. He had scoured their surroundings as they walked, searching for any clue Tapagol might be following, and even his senses had turned up nothing. It was as if they had simply walked without a thought in their heads and somehow arrived. And he wasn't the only one who thought so.
"Well now. When it comes to finding the way, he really is something else."
Even Paranet—who had once competed with Tapagol for the seat of Yujun's number-one summon—was impressed. Walking ahead of them, Tapagol's shoulders gave a proud little shrug.