A Record Still Too Early

It was the moment Zick laid his hand on an old metal bracelet in the corner of the old woman's stall—so thickly crusted with black rust that even its shape was nearly impossible to make out.

The divine mark etched on the back of his hand faintly throbbed, then began to pulse with light in time with his heartbeat.

“Huh?”

Startled by the sudden anomaly, Zick reflexively tried to pull his hand away.

But he could not move so much as a single finger.

It was not the bracelet that had seized him.

The world itself had stopped.

The crimson glow of the mana-stone lamps, the footsteps of people weaving through the black market—everything hung frozen in midair. Even Reno’s lips, halfway open to call out from behind him, were locked in place.

Just as when he activated his authority, only Zick’s thoughts accelerated to a grotesque degree. The world had halted, and solely his consciousness continued to move.

I didn’t even use my authority—so why the hell—!

Before Zick could fully process the panic, familiar letters began printing across his frozen field of vision one after another.

Zick read down the log and felt a sharp sense of wrongness.

What he had touched was clearly a battered bracelet no junk dealer would even glance at twice. Yet the system log currently printing labeled it a Holy Relic. Worse, the name that appeared to belong to its owner was violently corrupted—censored into illegible black blocks.

Record access permissions?

Zick furrowed his brow and focused harder on the log—

Static. Violent static.

A furious burst of noise suddenly tore across the entire log window. The orderly characters writhed like insects, and error messages poured out in a crimson scream.

At the same instant, an immense load slammed into Zick’s skull. Pain like a spike driving into the back of his eyes flooded him; his pupils flushed blood-red in a heartbeat. Scalding blood gushed from his nose, and cold sweat poured down his entire body as if he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been doused by rain.

It felt exactly as though someone was forcibly deleting the record.

This is bad.

He had to stop it immediately. But his body would not move. His thoughts remained accelerated, while his real fingers still rested on the bracelet. Even pulling his hand away was impossible. The authority did not halt—instead it burrowed deeper.

I didn’t ignore it!

Zick screamed inside his accelerated thoughts and tried to force the authority to stop. But the runaway power had already slipped completely beyond his control. It dug relentlessly into the abyss, determined to analyze the information sealed behind the ancient bracelet.

This insane authority—!

Deep within his mind the authority clawed at the sealed records with obsessive force. Yet every fragment it touched crumbled into nothing. Characters the authority barely managed to restore were immediately blacked out; sentences he had just managed to read were ripped away without a trace, as if torn free by an invisible hand.

It felt as though his authority and some unknown presence were fighting over a single record, snatching it from each other.

The First Demon King? The First Hero?

Questions had barely begun to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠form when the entire log was swallowed by pitch-black darkness—as if someone had maliciously dumped a vast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pot of ink across it. Every character filling the space was erased in a single sweep.

And across the emptied log window, only one sentence began to print, repeating with grotesque density.

Ah.

Zick understood on pure instinct. It was not that the authority could not find the log. Nor was the log nonexistent. The log was there—it absolutely existed. Someone had erased it. Long ago. Thoroughly. So that no one in the world would ever uncover it.

Damn it.

Zick’s vision flooded red. His real body remained locked and motionless, yet the raw sensations racing along his nerves savagely shredded his mind. The authority, still colliding with that unknown presence, finally overran the limits of his flesh.

This was the edge. If he endured any longer, his body would shatter to pieces long before his soul did. And still the authority only continued digging past the bracelet for the record beyond.

Stop it!

For the first time Zick felt genuine fear toward the log. Instinct was screaming at him. The moment he learned this information, something would become irreversible. That was how it felt.

His vision collapsed. The black log window receded, then surged close again. Consciousness began to blur under the sensation of his body burning away—and just before it failed completely, a low whisper sounded not in his ears but directly inside his mind, rising from beyond the blackening log window.

A voice gentle yet absolute— as if a goddess herself had laid her hand upon Zick’s consciousness.

With that tender voice the runaway authority cut off as if it had never existed. And within Zick’s flickering vision the final result his authority had squeezed out to the very end was printed.

Thud.

The moment the acceleration of thought released, the frozen world lurched back into motion. The noise of the black market crashed into his ears all at once, and Zick dropped to his knees, gasping roughly.

“Hah—hngh…!”

As the sudden physical exhaustion threatened to collapse him, Reno rushed over and seized his shoulder.

“Zick-nim! What’s wrong all of a sudden? Are you all right?”

Reno’s face had gone white with alarm, but Zick could not answer. His eyes were bloodshot red, blood dripped from his nose down his chin, and his back was soaked with cold sweat—yet every nerve he possessed was locked on his own wrist.

Because the rusted bracelet he had been touching mere moments ago was now fastened firmly around it.

“Why… is this here?”

Zick muttered blankly. He tried to pull the bracelet off. It would not come ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠free. Twisting his wrist, forcing his fingers under the band—nothing worked. The bracelet sat as immovably as if it had always belonged there.

The Genesis Era. The First Demon King. The First Hero. And the god who had chosen that first hero.

The final log and the unidentifiable voice kept circling inside his skull until he could barely think straight. Zick managed to steady his breathing and looked across the stall.

“Eek—!”

The old woman who had been selling the bracelet scrambled backward, trembling violently. Broken magic tools and junk scattered everywhere; she paid them no mind as she frantically waved both hands.

“S-spare me! I’ll give you the bracelet free—just please don’t take my life!”

“What? No, ma’am, why would I—”

“Don’t come closer! Stay away!”

The way she recoiled as if she had just spotted a mugger left Zick genuinely dumbfounded. Reno stared hard at him and dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Zick-nim, I don’t think you realize what your face looks like right now.”

“What’s wrong with my face?”

“Your eyes are bloodshot and bright red, blood is streaming from your nose, and your whole body is drenched in cold sweat. You look exactly like a junkie about to go berserk after taking the wrong illegal stimulant in the black market.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Zick understand the old woman’s reaction. In a place as rough as this black market, a customer who froze solid while gripping a bracelet with flipped-out eyes and a bleeding nose would make anyone feel their life was in danger.

Reno clicked his tongue and stepped forward. The worried look he had worn a second earlier vanished without a trace, replaced by a warm, gentle smile meant to soothe the old woman.

“Please don’t worry, ma’am. We are not here to harm anyone. My companion simply has a chronic condition and suffered a brief seizure.”

“Is that true?”

“Of course. As you can see, we haven’t even drawn a weapon. There are simply a few things we would like to ask about that bracelet.”

The old woman’s trembling eased a little. Watching from the side, Zick kept his mouth firmly shut. He had enough sense to know that speaking right now would only make things worse.

Reno did not miss the opening. Smoothly, professionally, he began gathering information on the bracelet’s origin and nature. The old woman kept stealing nervous glances at Zick as she spilled everything she could remember.

“I-I’m just a junk dealer who knows nothing, I swear.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s true! That bracelet simply happened to find its way here somehow!”

“From where, exactly?”

“I was told it came from near the front lines.”

“The front lines…”

“The side that borders the Demon King’s army. I don’t know the precise place name. Only that there was an old ruin nearby.”

Still looking terrified, the old woman flicked her eyes toward Zick’s wrist. But Reno waited calmly, and at last she stammered on.

“Some men—mercenaries or grave-robbers, I couldn’t tell—dug up a very ancient ruin left abandoned near the front and picked this up there. All the proper treasures had already been sold to other merchants. This was handed to me as scrap metal.”

“Did you ever hear anything about the bracelet’s purpose or the name of the ruin?”

“Nothing. Truly. They only said it was a rusted bracelet.”

The old woman was nearly in tears.

“I really know nothing. I had no idea it was a cursed object.”

She genuinely seemed ignorant of both the bracelet’s function and the ruin’s name. The single fact that it had been unearthed from an ancient site near the front lines was the only information available.

“Understood. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Reno nodded, produced a few coins from his coat, and laid them on the stall. When the old woman tried to refuse, he smiled kindly and remarked that settling the price cleanly would be better for both parties if they wished to avoid further talk—then closed the deal with crisp finality.

He turned back to Zick.

“Zick-nim. We’ve obtained the necessary information, more or less.”

“A ruin near the front lines?”

“Yes. We’ll need to pinpoint the exact location later, but as a lead it’s more than enough.”

“Thanks, Reno. But this thing really won’t come off—what do I do?”

“Don’t force it and end up tearing your wrist off. Just leave it. After that whole mess, do you really want to touch it again?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Then stay quiet and behave. I’ve already paid for the goods, so let’s withdraw at once.”

While Zick was still half-dazed, Reno had interrogated the old woman and completed payment with impressive efficiency. He swiftly packed the Rune-Engraved Armor, the poison-expelling dagger, the staff components, and the rest of their purchases into the bag he had brought.

The haul they had pulled from the black market today was more than enough to reinforce the party’s combat strength—yet only one thought filled Zick’s head.

To uncover the true nature of this absurd object, he desperately needed his companions’ knowledge.

“Reno. If Ainz-nim or Noah-nim take a look at this bracelet, they might know something, right?”

“Yes. When it comes to ruins or magic tools, their knowledge will be essential. But first, take care of your own complexion, Zick-nim.”

Reno supported Zick’s arm. Zick’s body was still trembling faintly, and his bloodless face remained deathly pale. He gave a bitter smile and let Reno help him along the dark avenues of the black market.

As they headed for the exit, Zick looked down once more at the old bracelet coiled around his wrist. Outwardly it was nothing more than a scrap of rusted scrap iron. Reno was right—true treasures never advertised themselves as treasures. No—this bracelet went far beyond mere non-advertising. It was a fragment of a vast secret the entire world had been hiding.

A god’s name thoroughly erased by someone. And the clue that led toward that name.

The two men’s shadows stretched long across the black-market floor as they left the underground plaza where the red mana-stone lamps flickered.