The Path of the King (1)
Some time later, once the rift incidents had stabilized, Gunter broke away from the government. He took the awakened who had originally been part of his guild and left, creating a serious personnel shortage for the administration.
“There’s… there’s just too much work……”
Dan Gayeon muttered as she stirred her soup at the table beside Black Comet in the cafeteria. She looked utterly pitiful.
“The rift problem has mostly been cleaned up now, hasn’t it? Things should ease up soon.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Comet-nim, since you don’t work for the committee…… Once one task ends, three more pop up in its place.”
“There you go with the honorifics again.”
“……Cut me some slack this time. It’s hard for someone younger to suddenly start speaking casually to their senior, you know.”
At Dan Gayeon’s complaint, Comet simply shrugged.
“Still, doesn’t using informal speech make us feel closer?”
“Not really.”
Dan Gayeon grumbled for a moment, then quickly finished her meal and left first. It seemed even mealtime was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
Comet stopped eating and rested her chin on her hand.
Is something bothering you?
“It’s just that Chief Clerk Dan doesn’t seem to feel any sense of accomplishment. The situation is improving, yet all she’s getting is more stress with no reward.”
That is only natural. The future remains unseen.
The government appeared to be struggling endlessly just to plan for tomorrow. And that made sense. The rifts spanning multiple universes had no known cause and no known solution. The Blockers that shattered centralized authority by cutting off all long-distance communication were magical in nature, making them impossible to overcome with current scientific technology. With sea and sky routes blocked by monsters, overseas trade was nearly nonexistent. The fact that monsters didn’t swarm the skies overhead and that food shortages weren’t catastrophic was entirely thanks to the government’s tireless efforts.
Even so, the country was still a ship slowly sinking.
“If they could find a way to solve even one of these problems, Chief Clerk Dan would probably regain some energy, even if the results weren’t immediate.”
Heh heh heh…….
The princess let out a meaningful little laugh.
This princess has a solution.
Comet took out the Soul Bead containing the princess and stared at it quietly.
Heh heh heh!
“What is it?”
Tell me what this princess needs, and I shall share it.
“I have no idea what you need. You’re not going to demand my body over something like this, are you?”
Hmph! A single drop of blood will suffice.
“My blood?”
Indeed.
Comet rolled the Soul Bead between her fingers.
Such insolence…….
The princess grumbled under her breath.
“What was your title again?”
Blood and Shadow!
And yet she was asking for blood? Comet twirled a strand of hair by her temple, thinking, then smiled brightly.
“Can I pay later?”
Commoners truly have no conscience.
“Really? Considering necromancers make deals with souls, this feels like a rather gentle approach.”
Even if it was impossible, the spirit had tried to possess her once before.
But this princess is of imperial blood!
Yet still just a tiny jellyfish. Comet nodded vaguely and finished her meal. For a brief moment, the image of jellyfish naengchae flashed through her mind.
After clearing her tray and leaving the cafeteria, the princess hesitantly spoke up again.
……Since you have formed a bond with a commoner, this princess shall specially permit deferred payment.
“Oh, how kind of you, Your Highness. I’m truly moved.”
You may praise me more.
“Shall I? Your Highness, I’m so moved. You’re so kind.”
They continued their back-and-forth as they returned to the room, where the princess finally explained her method.
Humanity finds itself in dire straits because their technology is so pitifully inadequate that they cannot even detect or locate the Blockers and Mediums.
“……What are those?”
A Blocker is a device that hijacks all communication within a certain range. Whether wireless or wired, it seizes any signal traveling a set distance. It is the foundation of magical information warfare.
“Oh……”
Comet twirled the hair at her temple.
“This might be a strange question, Your Highness, but who exactly are you?”
Did I not tell you? I am a princess.
“I mean more specifically. Which region, which country, which cultural sphere, which planet, which universe do you belong to?”
How fortunate that you finally recognize this one’s greatness. But a commoner need not know such things!
Comet blinked, then nodded.
“I see. Please continue.”
……A Medium is a device that generates and maintains the dimensional rifts across multiple universes. The related technology is beyond even this one’s knowledge, so explaining it is difficult.
“Oh……”
Hmph. What this one will teach you is the spell to locate these two devices. Destroying them is something even a civilization as primitive as humanity can manage, so I shall not explain that part.
“It’s magic, then. Nice. The only problem is that I have terrible aptitude for mana.”
It does not matter. First, give me a drop of blood.
“Weren’t we doing this on credit?”
This one’s magic requires blood or shadow.
“Since your title is Blood and Shadow, that makes sense. This doesn’t have to be my blood, right?”
#
Comet left Yeouido and wandered aimlessly. She walked and walked and walked until she came across an abandoned warehouse and paused. She had a feeling. As she approached and pressed her ear to the wall, she heard voices. From the way they were casually discussing how they had killed people, it was clearly a group of looters.
“Found the perfect source for blood,” she whispered to the princess.
Honorless commoners, the lot of them.
Comet gripped her knife and quietly opened the warehouse door. With a creak, three looters turned to look. They were armed with crude handmade melee weapons. One of them even had a pistol, probably looted from a police officer.
A pistol, huh. Comet scratched her cheek.
The looters swaggered toward her until one of them recognized who she was and shouted. Their attitudes instantly shifted to high alert. A gun barrel snapped up and the trigger was pulled without hesitation. Their reaction was fast. Their judgment, however, was lacking. Running would have been the smarter choice.
Comet watched the finger tightening on the trigger, then moved sharply at the perfect moment. The bullet whistled past her. It had missed, but the shooter’s aim was actually quite good.
Of course, as a necromancer, even an unenchanted bullet wouldn’t cause her major problems if it hit. Losing spiritual energy would sting, though.
She slipped past the looters, lightly flicking her knife. A beat later, a fountain of blood sprayed into the air.
“I deliberately drew blood. Will this be enough?”
It will be more than enough. I shall teach you. Follow my instructions.
“Got it, got it.”
Comet moved exactly as the princess described. First she crouched beside the fresh pool of blood. She dipped her index finger in it, then drew a red square on the warehouse floor. Scooping up a handful of blood with both hands, she sprinkled it over the square. The droplets, which should have fallen with gravity, froze midair, then flowed in strange patterns, forming three-dimensional designs in space.
Comet stared with her mouth hanging open.
“……How does this even work? I didn’t do anything special.”
Hmph. It is because you possess talent for blood and shadow. Still, it is quite impressive. Succeeding on the first try.
“So this is what mana users feel when they look at spiritual energy users…… I think I understand now.”
Maybe this was how mana users felt watching necromancers claim to use invisible energy. It might also explain why they were so wary of people who killed others to gather something they couldn’t even see.
“The result is here, but how do I interpret it?”
This princess shall interpret it for you. Let me see…….
“No. I’ll handle the interpretation. Just teach me the theoretical foundation.”
You ask for a lot. Very well. I shall begin with the most basic principles. Listen carefully.
Comet nodded.
The fundamental premise of hemomancy is faith. The belief that a single drop of blood can change the world.
“Necromancy could also be broadly described as a study of faith. They’re surprisingly similar.”
……Is that not an exceedingly rude comparison?
“What’s wrong with necromancy?”
After that, the princess taught her the basic theories and interpretation techniques required for reading the patterns.
“Okay. So by calculating the vector quantities from the trajectories left by the blood droplets, subtracting the effects of gravity from the result, and then correcting each one according to the three-dimensional coordinates of the square, we can determine the number, power, and direction of the spells affecting this space. Is that right?”
There are a few theoretical leaps, but yes, that is accurate.
“It seems like a spell that would be difficult to use in places with strong wind or electromagnetic interference.”
That can be resolved by using other spells to block additional variables.
“Ah, I see.”
Comet twirled her hair again.
“I understand the number, power, and direction, but this doesn’t tell me the type of magic.”
That part depends on the blood mage’s own ability. If you can make educated guesses about what kind of magic the enemy might have used, you can use inductive reasoning to narrow it down even without knowing the exact type. At least at the level of this princess.
“I see.”
Comet nodded and began analyzing the results of the hemomancy.
In an empire overflowing with magic, this method fell out of use because it was considered obsolete. They would not have prepared any countermeasures against it.
“Looks that way. Seven signatures came up. I don’t know why there are so many in Seoul.”
One Blocker and six Mediums, I presume.
“You need that many in one area?”
If smaller Mediums are layered beneath progressively larger ones, that outcome is possible. Hmm. It appears the devices are stacked across Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and even the entire Earth.
The unexpectedly specific statement made Comet stare silently at the Soul Bead for a moment.
What is it?
“Your Highness, you’re smarter than I thought.”
Hmph! It is far too late for flattery! Take this opportunity to fully appreciate this one’s brilliance.
The little jellyfish puffed up with pride. Comet twirled her hair in thought for a moment, then left the warehouse. She figured she should report the results to the committee chair. While she was at it, she could also report this tiny invader.