BAD END: The Mage (1)
Mages are fundamentally a suspicious breed. Suspicion means harboring countless questions and thoughts, which in turn fuels a mage's scholarly drive. That is why an outstanding mage is inevitably a suspicious one. Why does the sun move? Why is fire hot? Why do those floating blue particles obey our words? Is what we see truly what exists? Such questions and doubts accumulate one by one until they forge the profession known as mage. In short, it forms what one might call the "mage's nature."
By the same token, born geniuses tend to rely excessively on intuition. Their instincts are so sharp compared to ordinary people, and they know it all too well, that they naturally lean on those instincts. While others agonize and struggle to uncover something, geniuses simply think, "Huh, it just works when I do it." Most of the time, that success stems from intuition. It is as if they possess a third hand or a third eye that others lack, allowing them to accomplish with ease what others find difficult. Because it comes so effortlessly, geniuses occasionally place blind faith in their intuition. One could call it the "talent-born's nature."
And Lily was a human who embodied both the "mage's nature" and the "talent-born's nature." She had been brimming with curiosity since birth, and she often resolved those curiosities through her innate intuition and instincts. Thanks to that, she rose to the rank of high mage at remarkable speed, and many came to follow her. Being revered became routine, and living in luxury felt only natural. Perhaps her characteristically rude and emotional personality had taken root during those years as well.
However, possessing those two traits also created one very small problem... namely, contradiction. A mage who doubts and investigates all things in the world places absolute, unwavering trust in her own intuition. It was an endless contradiction. If that intuition were ever distorted by "something," she would be deceived more easily than anyone. Even if she realized the truth later, it would already be far too late.
*
"Hwaaaah...!"
Here was a woman sobbing messily, tears and snot streaming down her face. Remarkably, she was the same woman who had been arguing fiercely with him just hours earlier. Her name was Lily Spencer Beatrice. A prodigy destined to become the youngest archmage, and the undisputed champion among the party members when it came to lacking manners. That very person was now crying and apologizing to him. Naturally, Luke could only feel bewildered.
'What the hell...'
Had he been wallowing in self-pity longer than he thought? Maybe enough time had passed for her to reflect. No, even so, crying this hard seemed excessive. Or perhaps she had been brainwashed by the Puppeteer through some method. Maybe this was all an act to trap him somehow. That theory made no sense either, but neither did her current behavior.
'Hmm... The latter actually seems more plausible.'
Did that mean the Puppeteer had already entered this place? While Luke was lost in serious thought over the sudden situation, one person had already grasped everything. Ulyse von Yugrasia. Her eyes were trembling uncontrollably. This was the scenario she had feared most. If one of the party members had returned from the future, it meant the worst possible outcome had already occurred in that timeline. The Hero had died once more, and she herself had met a miserable end.
"Lily, could we talk for a moment?"
That was why Ulyse decided to take Lily somewhere else first. They needed to speak where only those who knew the secret could hear. With that, Ulyse grabbed Lily and disappeared. Fortunately, Luke was too deep in thought to stop them.
Once the two of them were alone in a secluded corner, Ulyse asked, "So, tell me. What exactly happened? ...No, maybe I should start first."
At first, she felt at a loss about where to begin. Lily's attitude made it clear she had returned from the past, but to hear her story, Ulyse would need to explain her own position first. Just as she was wondering how to untangle the explanation, she realized it might not be necessary after all.
"You... you too..."
Lily had figured it out first.
"So you came back as well... Sob, hng... You must have suffered so much. I'm sorry for not knowing..."
At that moment, Ulyse understood. Lily must have seen the Player Log as well. Among those countless scenes, she would have witnessed Ulyse's changed attitude. After all, Ulyse had been clinging to Luke quite a bit lately. Though the person in question remained unaware, anyone who knew the full story could instantly recognize the shift in behavior.
Ulyse let out a sigh. "Haa... Never mind. The Hero's curse is quite troublesome, so these things happen. More importantly, can you explain what occurred?"
At least now she wouldn't have to waste time with tedious explanations. Ulyse decided to get straight to the point. When she asked, Lily composed herself and opened her mouth.
"Hng... Well, you see..."
And so the story began. Another tale filled only with tragedy.
*
If one were to pick the strongest among the Four Heavenly Kings throughout history, there would be countless candidates. But if one were to name the most terrifying, there was only one. Net, the Puppeteer. He was treated as an elder even among the Four Heavenly Kings, an ancient existence. He invaded the human realm more frequently than any other, and every time he appeared, the history books of humanity were stained with blood. Yet because his lifespan was so long, the gaps between those appearances were equally vast... and people occasionally forgot his true terror.
"...This is annoying!"
After her fight with Luke, Lily had been in a foul mood. It wasn't just the argument with the Hero. What bothered her most was that Ulyse had pushed her aside to defend him. Why? Why was everyone protecting the Hero like this? She could understand intervening when things turned violent, but this level of favoritism was beyond her comprehension.
"I'm sorry. I acted out of urgency to stop the fight."
"Hmph, whatever."
So Lily ignored Ulyse's apology. Rather than accept it, she needed to expose the Hero's true identity as soon as possible. She could no longer allow such a suspicious person to remain in their party.
Of course, she acknowledged that her own deductions had been somewhat sloppy. The man was such an enigma that gathering solid evidence had been difficult. Yet her "intuition"—the very intuition that had elevated her to the level of a quasi-archmage—warned her. That man was dangerous. As long as her intuition sounded the alarm, she would not stop doubting him.
With that resolve, she drew up her mana. Not to cast a spell, but to track him. Using magic left behind a distinct trace known as mana residue. It clung to the caster like a scent. The imperial pursuit squads often employed this method. While the trace was common and relatively easy to erase, the Hero apparently had not bothered to do so. The dark-blue mana lingering along the path he had taken made that clear.
As expected of a suspicious man, even his mana was an ominous dark blue. Lily quietly followed the Hero's mana trail. The path, which had been heading toward the city center, suddenly dropped downward. He had descended into the underground waterways.
'I knew it! There had to be something!'
She cheered inwardly. The sewers would certainly allow one to avoid prying eyes. With the other party members occupied in battle, it was the perfect place to scheme in secret. If anything had been planned, traces would surely remain—whether evidence of contact with the Demon King's army or the army itself.
Lily followed the trail with certainty. Just as she expected, there were traces. Only, they were not the kind she had anticipated.
A metallic scent of blood stung her nose. The further she walked, the more monster corpses appeared, one after another. Among the Hero's many curses was the Curse of Concealment, which hid his achievements from view. Perhaps that was why the battle had taken place in the underground waterways rather than on the surface. However, even this curse had an obvious flaw: the results of his actions were not so easily erased. Those countless corpses would not simply sink into the ground or turn to dust and scatter. (Though the case of the Devourer was different—he had been a collection of malevolent wills that had also received divine punishment from the goddess, so vanishing into dust was only natural. He was an exception.)
In the end, the corpses the Hero had slain remained exactly as they were. And Lily witnessed them.
"H-Huh...?"
No matter how much she suspected the Hero, there was a limit to how far she could twist the truth.
"What is this...?"
Deep stab wounds covered the monsters' bodies. Every single one had been inflicted by the Hero. In other words, he had faced all these monsters alone. Even as she thought, "No way," the scene before her eyes denied her doubt. At the very center of the corpses lay an especially shocking face. Oleg, the dark mage. The face she had only ever seen in ancient texts now lay dead on the ground right in front of her.
Lily approached the body. Even as she did, her mind continued to reason. If the Demon King's army had sent monsters through the waterways in addition to the walls, then the Hero must have detected the anomaly first and dealt with them. Alone. And if he had failed to stop even a few of them from getting through... If no one else had noticed the anomaly beforehand... A chill ran down her spine. Something terrible could have happened to the city.
"No, wait, that can't be..."
She tried to deny it for a moment—the fact that she had been unaware of such a major incident, and that the Hero might have stopped it all by himself. If her reasoning was correct, then she had gone and yelled at him after he had gone through all that trouble. Even if only to reject that reality, she wanted to investigate further. At the very least, she wanted to find something other than proof that he had defended this place.
But that attempt did not last long. A magic circle activated with a flash. It was not one Oleg had triggered—he was already long dead. Nor had anyone else activated it. There were no other living beings here besides her. The circle's source was a scroll. Someone had prepared it long ago, long before she arrived. A culmination of magical technique that required at least a year just to inscribe the spell formula. That magic had been activated.
The spell was called Transfer. It moved the target to another location.
As mentioned before, if one were to name the most terrifying of the Four Heavenly Kings, it would be the Puppeteer. This was not merely because of his cruel personality or his ability to control humans. Net, the Puppeteer, had been manipulating lives since birth. He excelled at sowing discord and orchestrating schemes. Whenever he appeared, internal strife among humans followed.
"Huh...?"
In the next instant—
Flash!
Lily was transported to an unknown location.