The Most Terrifying Fear
A short groan escaped me.
“…Ugh.”
It was my own voice.
“Ah! Noriel?!”
Nephthea’s cry came from close by. Was she safe too? That was a relief.
I struggled to part my lips to answer her.
“Mmph.”
“?”
“Mmmph…?? Brrph, mmphrrph…!!?”
“Aah…! I accidentally wrapped your mouth too! I’ll undo it right away, just a moment!”
Hurried footsteps rushed over, and the bandages covering my face were peeled away.
“Hah—wait, why did you wrap my entire face?!”
“W-well… your body was in such terrible condition!”
“Ah, I see. So you were planning to suffocate me painlessly.”
“Haaah… thank goodness. If you’re cracking jokes, it seems you’re feeling better…”
That wasn’t exactly true.
From my calves to my thighs, my abdomen and shoulders—every inch of me throbbed. The skin scorched by Authority burned at the slightest touch. The slash across my eye had barely healed on one side; the rest remained bandaged, merely suppressing the immediate pain.
I looked like a human mummy. If they buried me like this, I’d probably look the part.
“Couldn’t you have just healed everything with magic…?”
“Magic has its limits too. Pouring excessive healing power into someone in a short time causes a rebound in the recovery process—it would become poison to the body instead.”
“For example?”
“Huh? Um… growing four nipples…?”
Whoa. I’d have to pass on that.
It seemed today’s quota had already been used up just barely restoring the missing parts.
“Ah, it’s a bit late, but… thank you for treating me back then. Thanks to you, I kept my life.”
If she hadn’t treated the wound on my chest in time—even if the burns were another matter—I would have bled out. I had no idea how many times I had danced on the line between life and death in a single night.
“Th-that was only natural! I should be the one thanking you for stopping the bleeding on my shoulder…”
“By the way, did you wrap these bandages yourself, Nephthea?”
“Ah, the medics went to treat the injured villagers, so for now I….”
“?? Why am I completely naked from the waist up and down?”
“………That… couldn’t be… helped….”
Nephthea’s face flushed bright red before she hung her head.
Why was she the one acting more embarrassed? At this rate, I could forget about ever getting married.
I let out a short sigh and turned my head, which had been lying limp. The first thought that struck me was—
Was this really a battlefield?
Most of the buildings had been half-destroyed and collapsed. The outer walls of those still standing were scarred with sword marks left by Eunhwa, like hideous wounds. Debris blocked more than half the streets, hindering the soldiers carrying the wounded and supplies. The place where I lay was nothing more than a makeshift tent pitched in one of the few relatively intact spots.
“…Didn’t you go a bit overboard? Looks like half of that damage was done by you, Nephthea.”
“I-I’ll have the engineering corps fix it properly later…! Her Majesty is generous with support for damages like this….”
The engineering corps. The ones who came to our village for restoration work before.
“Hm. If you rely on them after causing destruction on this scale, there won’t be a village left after two more fights.”
“But there was no other choice! People’s lives are more important than anything else!!”
A perfectly sound argument. It shut me right up.
She usually seemed scatterbrained, but in moments like this, she was apparently the type to coldly pursue the optimal solution.
“…Noriel. May I ask you one thing?”
Her expression had grown serious before I knew it. Tension was clear on her face.
“The person we fought… if my guess is correct, was she really a member of the Creation Society…?”
Of course she’d ask that first.
“Yes. She was.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I heard a sharp intake of breath. The air inside the tent grew heavy at once.
“…So that’s why. That’s why you were so careful not to speak about the enemy.”
“I didn’t have time to explain properly, but I judged it was the right thing to do.”
The Creation Society. A group that drew the fear, hatred, and resentment of every nation on the continent. The moment humans recognized their identity, their reactions split into two.
Complete submersion in terror.
Or burning with hostility and desperately fighting back.
Nephthea likely fell into the latter category. It was the natural instinct of those who possessed power. But if she truly had, she would have become a charred corpse wrapped in white cloth by now.
“I can’t believe it… that I fought a member of the Creation Society to the death and survived completely intact…”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Of course it is!?! What exactly do you think the Creation Society is, Noriel???”
Nephthea recoiled in horror. She crawled closer and thrust her face right in front of mine.
“If what I know is correct, she was the Fifth Star of the Creation Society, Eunhwa…! Don’t you know about the incident that happened in the Empire???”
“Uh, well… I don’t know the details.”
“It was nine years ago…! Even back then, there were reports of her being sighted at the barracks in front of the Imperial Palace…!”
Nephthea’s teeth chattered as she continued.
“And in a single night, nearly four thousand casualties—an unprecedented massacre…! It happened the very day after the Emperor declared war on the Creation Society!”
Listening quietly, I finally realized just how monstrous an opponent I had faced.
“It’s an event that makes the people of the Empire tremble just hearing the name… There are even rumors that it’s the reason the Kingdom still hasn’t ended its war with them…?!”
So something like that had happened. I was once again reminded that I had crammed every bizarre piece of history into that girl.
This village hadn’t suffered lightly either. But the fact that just the two of us had stopped such a monster… even I found it hard to believe. It was a miracle worthy of becoming a heroic tale.
The reason such an outcome had been possible was—
“The Authority of the Creation Society. Knowing about it in advance was crucial.”
“……”
‘Do not harbor hostility toward her.’
Even now, the restriction sounded absurd. Just feeling hostility in front of her would set your body ablaze. No wonder the entire continent feared her as a monster.
‘How the hell did you know that phrase…!!’
At the same time, a deep question crossed my mind. Despite being such a terrifying being, she had been so shaken by the words I’d let slip. What exactly had those words meant?
And the existence I had faced inside that hallucination—
“Noriel.”
“…Yes? If you have something to say…”
My answer was cut off mid-sentence.
Because she was pointing her staff directly at me.
“I’m sorry… but I have one more question.”
“…Nephthea.”
“Noriel. Are you an enemy of the Allied Kingdom?”
Her posture suggested she could cast a spell at any moment. Yet the aura flowing from her carried a strange sense of unease. Her staff trembled uncertainly, and her eyes shook the same way. As if she were endlessly conflicted about this very situation.
“Authority… the concept and its existence are knowledge known to very few. Even if the Allied Kingdom mobilized all its intelligence, they still couldn’t confirm whether it truly exists.”
“…That makes sense. It’s beyond common sense.”
“Yes, exactly. At first, I didn’t understand the warning you gave me either. Unusual curses or tribal sorcery from minority races can sometimes be seen. But…”
Nephthea’s shoulders were visibly trembling. It seemed she could barely handle the words coming out of her own mouth.
“But their Authority is on an entirely different level…! No matter how much I investigated, the remaining records and cases were extremely scarce. The more I researched, the more impossible it became to understand… an area that drives ordinary human minds to madness just trying to comprehend it…! Laws granted only to them? The providence watched over by the stars?? What on earth does any of that mean???”
“You won’t be able to understand it. That’s the nature of the concept.”
“I know!! I’ve tried to give up countless times!! Even so, I am the representative Archmage of the Allied Kingdom…! I clung to that hell with the resolve to offer this body for Her Majesty!!”
Suddenly, I remembered the words she had unconsciously let slip at the tavern.
‘Hic. When you glimpse knowledge from a realm humans should never tread… do you know what that feels like?’
‘It’s like all the darkness in the world is watching you… an abyssal, primal terror.’
Delving into the Creation Society was akin to pressing a blade against your own throat. Why had all information about them vanished? Because everyone who had touched the taboos they pursued had met the same end.
Nephthea had been walking alone through that unknown fear.
“…As expected, I must seem abnormal to you.”
“You call that a question…! If the intelligence department had moved instead of me, you might already be restrained and undergoing torture by now?!!”
“Am I… about to be taken away right now…?”
“—That’s why I’m doing this!! That’s exactly why I’m acting like this!!!”
Her cry, almost a sob, struck my ears. Large tears welled up in those big eyes.
“…Noriel. Please explain it to me. How do you know about the members of the Creation Society? How do you know about their Authority…! This isn’t something we can just gloss over!!”
Nephthea was doubting me. More precisely, she was desperately trying to believe in me, but every piece of evidence that had crashed down on us forced suspicion upon her.
If—if it was ever proven that I had even the slightest connection to them—
It wouldn’t just be my problem. The entire village of Olpia where I lived could be turned upside down and placed under eternal surveillance.
That was what being connected to the Creation Society meant in this world.
“…”
I gritted my teeth and forced my throbbing upper body upright. My body screamed in protest, but I endured it to face her directly.
Nephthea still held her staff aimed at me. Yet in her eyes, there was a desperate plea.
Please don’t become my enemy.
Was that what it meant?
I didn’t avoid her gaze. Maintaining my composure, I slowly opened my mouth.
“…I’m sorry.”
“—!”
“I cannot tell you how I know.”
“Aah. Aaaaaah…! Noriel…!!”
The staff pointed at me trembled violently. That answer ultimately meant I was aligned with them—an enemy of the Allied Kingdom—
“However.”
What was needed wasn’t a clumsy excuse, but unadorned honesty.
“I will never, under any circumstances, turn the Allied Kingdom—no, the entire Peresedia continent—into my enemy. This much I can tell you with absolute certainty.”
A faint, bitter self-mockery spread across my lips.
“I know exactly what you want to say, Nephthea. Fighting the Creation Society doesn’t prove I’m not connected to them. The information and secrets about Authority I mentioned were all true. They aren’t things an ordinary person should know. Anyone would be suspicious. You’re not wrong at all, Nephthea.”
At those words, her staff flinched. I slowly reached out and gently pushed it aside.
“However, Nephthea. I simply want to be an ordinary human. I mean that with all my heart. I want to slowly take in every part of this world with my own eyes, watch its flow directly, and engrave its history into my memory.”
The wish to see the world. Who could possibly spit on such a small desire?
“I have no interest in grand goals like the Creation Society or anything of the sort. Do you remember when you first saw me in the carriage and called me ‘just a villager’? You were right. That’s exactly what I am—just a mere villager who wants to see the world.”
I met her eyes directly. My reflection shone clearly within them.
“…As for why I know about that realm of knowledge, I truly cannot explain it. Not because I want to hide the truth, but because it’s such an absurd story that I can’t bring myself to say it.”
Knowing an uncertain future was heavy. Knowledge that couldn’t be shared with anyone felt close to solitude.
“But I swear this: no matter what happens, I will never use this knowledge for evil. I will only use it to save the powerless, like in this incident, and to protect the precious bonds I hold dear. This is my sincerity, without a single lie mixed in.”
Just as I had saved the village.
Just as I had reached out to Dohesi and Asera.
Just as I had helped Nephthea cross the line of death, despite our short connection.
Even someone without power could gladly become strength for others. That was enough.
Knowing what lay ahead of time was enough if it could be used for this much.
“I’ll leave any further judgment to you, Nephthea.”
“……”
Her sky-blue eyes bored into me. It was a strange feeling. It seemed as though she wasn’t looking at me, but at something deep inside me.
After a long silence, Nephthea seemed to weigh something—
“You know yourself that this excuse doesn’t make any sense, right?”
“…”
I had nothing to say. She had hit the nail on the head.
But she slowly lowered the staff she had been gripping and set it on the ground. Then she roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and continued.
“……I understand. I won’t suspect you anymore, Noriel.”
“…Are you sure? You can ask more until your doubts are cleared…”
“No. I just confirmed that you’re not lying. It’s complicated, but I have my own way of knowing. And…”
Nephthea quietly lifted her head. Her eyes were still red, but the smile that spread across her face was clearer and kinder than any magic.
“Someone who protected others by sacrificing himself so much… how could he harbor an evil heart? At least, I will choose to believe in the Noriel before me right now.”
“…It’s embarrassing, so could you please say it in a less direct way?”
“Hehe, you’re surprisingly weak to compliments, aren’t you?”
Was I? I think I’d heard something similar before.
Chirp.
Morning light slowly slipped through the gaps in the tent. At the same time, Nephthea’s slightly flushed face came into view. A completely relieved smile bathed in sunlight. I was momentarily captivated by that innocent sight.
They say smiles are contagious. The tension that had been weighing me down eased, and I let out a short laugh as well.
“Still, I thought you’d keep pestering me like last time, asking if I was a spy.”
“Th-that’s! How did you know the name of the Wyblame I created… Ah?! Come to think of it, you still haven’t explained that either…!!”
Ah, right. There was that too.
“That… will also be difficult to explain for similar reasons. I’m sorry.”
“…It seems a little torture will be necessary after all.”
“Please spare me. I’m a patient. Ah. W-wait, you’re serious…!”
I barely stopped Nephthea as she shakily raised her staff—
“Cough!”
“Hik?!!”
A spurt of blood burst from my mouth. It seemed exerting myself even briefly had been too much.
“Ah, this is your fault, Nephthea.”
“What?! I-is it my fault???”
As she caught my collapsing body, Nephthea’s voice gradually grew distant.
For now… I needed to sleep deeply.