Sometimes, Ignorance is Bliss
Sometimes, not knowing is a blessing.
“Lulu~.”
In her office, Elena hummed a cheerful tune. It felt as if a rotten tooth had finally been pulled. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way, yet she couldn’t stop the surge of delight. How could she possibly put into words the sheer relief of something that had been blocked suddenly clearing?
“Are you enjoying yourself, my lady?” Hans asked quietly as he sorted documents beside her.
“Well…… I suppose so?”
“Haah, my lady. This isn’t something to celebrate so lightly. The fact that all the knights have left means the territory’s defenses are that much weaker. We can’t simply rejoice when monsters could attack at any moment……”
“So you don’t like it?”
“……”
At Elena’s counter-question, Hans paused, then broke into a bright, relieved smile of his own.
“I love it! Far more than I ever expected! Can you see my skin?”
His usually rough complexion, worn from lack of sleep, looked unusually smooth and radiant today.
“I slept like a log! Watching those bastards get chased out in their underwear was the greatest moment of my life!!!”
He laughed heartily. How exhausting those years had been. Standing at Elena’s side, he had witnessed the knights’ tyranny with his own eyes. It had felt like something was constantly lodged in his throat, like several sweet potatoes had been forced down with no water to wash them away. But yesterday! Seeing them beaten and driven out had been utterly cathartic.
“Right? I haven’t slept that well in ages! With one of the main sources of my stress gone, I slept like a baby!”
Her voice rose higher and thinner than usual, far from her typical demeanor. If even a third party who had only watched felt this way, how much more liberating must it have been for Elena herself?
Yet—
“My lady.”
“What?”
“But will this really be all right? What if they hold a grudge and try to cause trouble……?”
“Trouble, huh……”
It was entirely possible. Given their personalities, it would be stranger if they didn’t retaliate. They had lost their knighthood. They had lost their wealth.
“Those who have nothing left to lose are the most dangerous, as you well know.”
People with nothing to lose will charge forward without regard for consequences. Those with something to protect, however, cannot afford reckless actions.
“You’re right……”
Hans’s words made sense. His concern was only natural. That was why Elena sought out Albert and asked him directly. Albert replied as though her worries were unnecessary.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already taken care of the aftermath.”
“The aftermath? What exactly did you do?”
For a moment, a wicked, unmistakably villainous smile curved Albert’s lips.
“Why? Do you want to know?”
“……”
Her instincts screamed at her. She must not know. Humans are creatures of curiosity, and that curiosity drives progress, yet sometimes it can ruin everything. This was one of those times. She must not learn the truth. If possible, she should never learn it. Her instincts blared a frantic warning.
“N-no, it’s fine.”
“Sometimes it’s better not to know. Anyway, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“……”
Did he say “asked”? Or “took care of”? Two unsettling words had slipped out in an instant. Elena chose not to press further.
“By the way, were you looking at the armor?”
“Yeah.”
Several suits of armor lay before him. His father’s armor. A true armor enthusiast, their father had loved collecting them.
“Father really loved armor……”
“Yes. He had a hobby of collecting armor. Back then, this hallway used to be lined with them.”
Memories surfaced. Their father had insisted on maintaining the armor himself rather than leaving it to the servants. ‘He made strange breathing sounds sometimes, which was a bit much……’ She remembered how happy he had looked whenever he handled the armor. It was a past she had thought forgotten. Their mother smiling beside him. Those memories, tinged with a rosy hue, stirred her heart deeply.
“He was something else. Did you know? Once, Father bought armor from some lunatic, only to find out it was demon armor. You touched it by mistake and were bedridden for a month. Mother threatened divorce and gave him an earful.”
“……”
“That was the first time I’d ever seen Mother so terrifying. She actually tried to smash Father’s head in with a helmet……”
“P-please stop!”
“Why?”
“It feels like my memories are being…… tainted somehow.”
Now that she thought about it, she recalled falling ill after touching something she shouldn’t have. When she woke up, she had heard that Father was wrapped in bandages from head to toe and hovering between life and death after injuring his head.
“I-I thought Father got hurt fighting off a monster invasion……”
“It was a monster, all right.”
Albert shuddered slightly.
“Mother was truly terrifying back then.”
“……”
“So.”
Albert’s playful expression vanished, replaced by a serious one.
“Why did Father and Mother die? It’s only been ten years since I disappeared.”
“……Ten whole years, you mean.”
“……Right. They were still healthy when I vanished. So why did they end up like that?”
Elena’s face darkened. Storm clouds gathered over her beautiful features. She didn’t want to remember, but Albert had the right to know.
“There was a monster attack.”
“A monster attack?”
“Yes. It was a monster wave.”
“But those happen all the time.”
“This one was different.”
As the memory surfaced, fear filled her eyes. Her fingertips trembled faintly.
“Thousands of monsters descended on our territory. Father and Mother fought bravely alongside the knights……”
“If there were that many, they should have run.”
Facing thousands of monsters wasn’t bravery. It was recklessness. Yet thinking of their usual selves, such actions didn’t make sense.
“Why did they……”
“……”
Elena stared at Albert. Her eyes held too many emotions. Albert clenched his teeth. They could have escaped if they had wanted to.
“We detected the signs in advance. They could have avoided it, but they said the territory had to be protected no matter what.”
“……”
There was only one reason they had defended the territory at such cost. They had done it for Albert’s return. They had desperately protected the land so he would have a place to come back to. Since he had disappeared from the lord’s castle, from that very room, they believed he would return there.
“Until the very end, they believed you would come back, Brother. Without fail……”
Elena’s voice grew damp. Recalling the painful past, a single tear fell from her beautiful amethyst eyes.
“They believed you would return. I did too.”
“What do you think?”
Insufficient information.
Requesting additional data.
“I already know the information is lacking. Tell me what you can based on what we know.”
Based on everything you have explained so far, my analysis is as follows.
There is clearly something more at play.
“What is it?”
I cannot give a definitive answer.
However, what I can say is that it is difficult to believe this monster wave occurred naturally.
“If it wasn’t natural, then someone artificially triggered the monster wave?”
The possibility exists.
With insufficient information, I cannot say for certain.
However, if the monsters of this world share similar tendencies with those inside Gates……
They rarely leave their habitats. Even when they do, only a few venture out, and only to hunt for prey or conduct reconnaissance.
A large-scale migration of thousands, especially with mixed monster types, can only mean one thing.
“Someone deliberately sent them.”
The possibility cannot be ignored.
Albert and the System pieced together the puzzle from the scant information. It wasn’t easy, but between his experience surviving countless battles in the other world and the System’s analytical capabilities, they extracted far more from the small clues than most could.
“……Which son of a bitch…… How dare they……”
Fire sparked in his eyes. Something similar had happened in the other world. Beginner Hunter Killers. People who disguised their identities, entered Gates with novice hunters, then lured in monsters far beyond what the beginners could handle, killing them. It had taken considerable effort to catch the culprit. There had been no traces of the monsters being herded, no evidence. But tails grow long, and eventually the perpetrator was caught. On a rainy day, Albert had beaten him until dust flew, then locked him away for life in a hunter-only prison. He had wanted to kill him, but circumstances at the time had prevented it.
Here, however, there was no need for restraint.
“I don’t know who the bastard is, but if I ever find out…… I’ll rip their head off.”
They had the audacity to attack the territory with a monster pull? And because of that attack, his parents had died. A thick, murderous aura radiated from his body. It was so intense that if anyone else had been present, they might have fainted on the spot.
He didn’t know who had done it. Whether they acted in ignorance or with full intent didn’t matter to Albert. There was only one thing he needed to do.
“If I catch them, they die.”
He would hunt them down and kill them. Even if it was a god.
“I sensed a powerful mana wave.”
“A powerful mana wave? What do you mean, Lord Hades?”
Hades. He was the master of the Mage Guild. A prodigy who had sensed mana at the age of five, formed his first circle at six to become a 1st-Circle mage, and reached the 6th Circle on his sixteenth birthday. While ordinary mages required until the age of twenty-five to attain the 6th Circle, he had achieved it at merely sixteen. Furthermore, in his mid-fifties, he had entered the 8th Circle, long considered the limit of human capability. Recognized as the greatest talent since the guild’s founding, he was, without question, the strongest mage alive. To other mages, Hades was both an idol and an object of reverence.
Yet now, his expression was grave. The reason lay in the mana wave he had felt several days prior.
“It seems someone cast a spell.”
“A spell?”
“Yes. And not an ordinary one……”
He hesitated briefly before continuing slowly.
“It was world-class magic.”
“World-class magic!?”
The mage was stunned by Hades’s words. World-class magic lay beyond the 8th Circle, the supposed limit of humanity. Only a 10th-Circle mage could wield it.
“C-could it be a dragon? Only dragons can use world-class magic, after all.”
“That would make sense. No human can surpass the 8th Circle.”
He spoke with absolute certainty. Humans could not exceed the 8th Circle. His reasoning was simple.
‘If I can’t surpass it, then no one else can either.’
Hades was convinced that no human existed who could surpass him in magic. It was impossible.
‘There’s no way another genius like me will appear. I’m a once-in-a-millennium prodigy.’
“B-but dragons are mythical beings from legends, aren’t they? They haven’t shown themselves in five hundred years…… Could it really be a dragon?”
“It’s definitely a dragon.”
“How can you be so sure……?”
“Because if I, an 8th-Circle mage, haven’t broken through that wall yet, then no human could have done so.”
He shrugged as he spoke. Claiming that if he couldn’t achieve something, no other human could. It was an incredibly arrogant statement, yet he had every right to make it.
‘He’s a bit insufferable, but it’s true that I’ve never met a genius who surpasses Lord Hades.’
“A dragon, huh…… But why would a dragon use world-class magic?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Pardon?”
“I called you here to find out.”
“……”
“You didn’t seriously think I summoned you just to chat, did you?”
“Well……”
“Go find out.”
“But I don’t know the location.”
“Ah, that.”
Hades pointed in one direction with his finger.
“That way.”
“Eh?”
“That way. That’s where I sensed it. Just head straight in that direction.”
“D-direction!?”
Was he insane? He wanted the location of world-class magic pinpointed, yet all he offered was a direction? What was anyone supposed to do with that?
“A-at least give me a rough area, not just a direction……”
“If it was world-class magic, it would have been cast with great spectacle. The fact that even the top of the Mage Guild couldn’t see it means it happened quite far away.”
“But what if the world-class magic was used somewhere hidden, like inside a mansion or underground, where it couldn’t be seen?”
“Why are you telling me that?”
“Eh?”
“Because you’re the one who needs to find it.”
“……”
The mage gritted his teeth as he watched Hades reduce everything to “just go find it.” He wanted nothing more than to smash the insufferable man’s head with the staff beside him, and without years of mental discipline, he might have done so. What kind of irresponsible nonsense was this? Look at that expression.
‘Just do it.’
Even if he couldn’t find it, he was still expected to try. It was nothing short of a tantrum. Yet refusal was not an option. Not because Hades had issued the order as guild master.
‘I have no idea what he’ll do if I refuse.’
Knowing his personality, denying this request would lead to considerable trouble. It had happened once before.
‘Last time I refused, he tried to drop a meteor on the Mage Guild……’
Meteor Fall was an 8th-Circle spell. If he hadn’t retrieved what Hades wanted back then, the guild’s current location would have been reduced to rubble.
“Haa…… Understood. I’ll look into it.”
Still, what choice did he have? No matter how difficult, when the master commanded, one had no choice but to obey. After all, he was the master—the absolute authority of the Mage Guild.
“Good. Report to me the moment you find anything.”
With those words, Hades vanished swiftly. The mage let out a long sigh. He had received the order, so he would move, but he had no intention of searching personally.
“He told me to find it, but he didn’t say I had to do it alone, right? So I can just make someone else do it.”
No matter where one went, the chain of command and its accompanying hardships remained the same.