Honestly, I had no intention of going to meet Deus.
But whether it was a whim or a gut feeling,
Before I knew it, I had already promised to meet him after seeing that human side he showed at the end.
And so, the next day.
I sighed as I looked at the face of the person who had come to pick up me and Emily.
“It’s been a while.”
“Indeed it has.”
Theseus Vicious von Miltonia.
The First Prince of the Empire had shown up.
Of course, he didn’t exactly appear openly.
He was obviously suspicious, walking around at midday with a black hood pulled over his head.
“Does that disguise serve any real purpose?”
“Looking suspicious is probably better than being recognized as the First Prince.”
True enough.
Just looking suspicious is probably better.
“I have someone with me. Is it okay if they come along?”
“Someone with you?”
“Yes, she’s both my guard and someone who already knows everything.”
“Hmm… Well, I suppose that’s fine. The old man won’t mind.”
“Yuna, it’s okay. Come on out.”
At Theseus’s permission, I called out to Yuna, who had been hiding in secret.
Then, one person walking among the crowd suddenly revealed themselves.
No matter how many times I see it, I can never get used to Yuna’s camouflage skills.
“……!”
Even the great Theseus seemed caught off guard by Yuna’s camouflage skills. His body visibly flinched.
Despite everything, she was someone known as the queen of assassins.
When it comes to ambushes rather than head-on fights, no one can afford to take her lightly.
After all, she was the one who slit Tyllis’s throat without hesitation.
“The world really is full of surprises.”
“Puhihihihi.”
Theseus let out a dry laugh but still led us to the carriage.
It was an ordinary cargo wagon.
The ride would be awful.
“Is it far?”
I’m an intellectual, you see. Can’t stay in a wagon like this for long.
It kills my back.
“It won’t take long.”
“In that case, I suppose it’s fine.”
I just hope this “won’t take long” doesn’t mean what it does when hiking.
And so, I boarded the carriage.
Emily and Yuna naturally climbed in as well.
“Give me one more of what you put in my mouth yesterday.”
“Huh? Oh, the candy? Here you go.”
Mephistopheles materialized and shamelessly asked Yuna for another piece of candy.
Yuna just giggled and popped the candy into his mouth, amused by his cocky attitude.
Should I take this as proof of Mephistopheles’s high likability?
Or should I assume his transformed appearance really is working as intended?
“By the way, why are you suddenly so into candy when you don’t even need food?”
He never ate a thing back when he was in dog form.
“Unlike before, this avatar is much more intricately constructed. I poured quite a bit of power into it. I still don’t need to eat, of course, but I can at least taste things now.”
“Is that so? Then where exactly did that ‘power’ come from?”
“……”
You bastard.
There’s no way you had time to accumulate that much power.
You’ve spent nearly thousands of years in dog form, and now you suddenly manage to turn into a humanoid?
And not just any form….but one luxurious enough to even have a sense of taste?
Of course I’m going to question where all that power came from.
But above all else, what pisses me off the most is that you once claimed you could only stop time for three seconds in front of me—
Even though you had this much power all along.
This guy really lied to my face without a second thought.
“Talk. What did you do?”
“I-I didn’t do anything!”
I pulled out the disciplinary stick.
Good thing I went and got it from Helena.
“If you really didn’t do anything, then you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. So spill it or take a hit and then spill it.”
“Bring out the negotiation table!”
“Gladly.”
I had a fierce debate with Mephistopheles and won.
It was only natural, since neither Yuna nor Emily interfered this time.
You really thought you could beat me with words, Mephistopheles?
“When that elf died, there was leftover power… so I just gulped it down.”
“You’ve got some nasty habits, don’t you.”
You swallowed power on the level of a demon king and had the nerve to pretend like nothing happened?
You even lied to me and said you were asleep at the time!
“I-I ate it in my sleep! I didn’t mean to steal the power, I swear!”
“Whatever. There’s no point in getting angry about something that’s already done.”
He already used that much power in that way.
What’s the use in complaining now?
It was honestly a relief that he hadn’t used that power for something bad.
“So, now that you’ve taken on that form. Can you actually do anything with it? Or is it just that your appearance got cuter?”
“So you do think I’m cute! I knew it! You pretend otherwise, but deep down I knew you thought so!”
Smack!
“Why did you hit me?!”
“No reason. It just kind of happened.”
He just has that kind of face you want to smack.
More importantly, even with a surprise hit, the bold type font didn’t turn off.
Did his actual power level increase?
“Anyway, ever since I took on this form, I’ve been able to do a lot more.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for starters, I can taste things.”
“Skip.”
Who even asked for that?
Tell me if you’re actually useful or not!
“And I can fight too.”
“Oh? Really?”
“This body has its limitations in terms of performance, of course.”
“To what extent?”
“Well, for now, I’m weaker than you. I can’t even draw a sword or use magic.”
“Skip.”
If you’re weaker than me, that means you’re just about good enough to fight a random mob.
So basically, you’re just more deadweight now.
“I-I’ll have something I can contribute! Don’t look down on me!”
“You’re just going to eat up our rations.”
Wasting energy creating things like taste buds… If you had that kind of power, you should’ve put it into firepower instead.
“Sorry to interrupt your heated debate, but we’ve arrived.”
“…Huh?”
While Mephistopheles and I were bickering like usual,
Theseus, who’d been quietly driving the carriage from the coachman’s seat, spoke up with an awkward look.
“We’re here already?”
Already?
But we’d just passed through the gates, hadn’t we?
Did someone come out to meet us or something?
I was still caught up in that thought when I pulled back the carriage curtain.
“…Where are we?”
We were indoors.
I had no idea when we’d entered a building.
More importantly, we’d entered with the carriage, and I hadn’t even noticed.
I stepped out of the carriage and looked around.
There was no way a carriage could’ve come in through any of the paths I saw.
And worse…the scenery beyond the windows was familiar.
…Too familiar.
“Creta?”
The trade city of Creta.
Even at top speed from the Imperial Capital, it should’ve taken at least several hours to get here.
And definitely not by carriage.
It just didn’t make sense.
The sensation was like we’d jumped through space itself, and a chill ran down my spine.
Only now did I notice the lingering trace of powerful mana.
“Finished grasping the situation?”
A voice came from behind me.
An old man’s voice, untouched by any mechanical distortion—
I knew who it was instantly.
“The Scriptwriter.”
The very one who had invited us here.
And now, at last, his other identity was revealed.
An absolute being with the power to traverse space itself.
“So the Wandering Mage… was you?”
One of the Empire’s officially recognized Archmages—
And yet, a mysterious figure whose whereabouts even the Empire itself couldn’t track.
“Well, I suppose I was called that at some point. Long time ago now, though.”
The Wandering Mage.
***
It wasn’t exactly incomprehensible.
There was always some overlap between the Scriptwriter and the Wandering Mage.
Both were people whose identities and faces were unknown.
Come to think of it, I didn’t even know whether Deus could use special abilities or not.
No—
I hadn’t even considered the question.
Because his power didn’t come from mana or any awakened ability. It came from technology.
If anything, he might have been the strongest contender among the final bosses.
His uniquely advanced technology, paired with power on par with an Archmage…
How was anyone supposed to win against that?
Maybe even in the game, Deus didn’t actually die.
Maybe he escaped at the last moment using spatial magic.
And if not that…
“You’re dying, aren’t you?”
Maybe the enemy I fought in the game wasn’t this old man standing before me—
Maybe it was his successor.
Maybe someone else appeared in the story as Deus’s heir instead of me.
“You really don’t hold back, do you? Even to a dying old man.”
“Oh, sorry… Not really. You weren’t exactly any better.”
“That’s true.”
I couldn’t forget how he’d mocked Ryute, asking if he was still alive.
Looking back, maybe it was because he too was on death’s door.
For those who’ve accepted the end, death isn’t something to fear.
Maybe that’s why they could even turn it into a joke.
“Anyway, let’s sit and talk. At this age, it’s hard to stay on my feet for long.”
“Sure.”
At Deus’s suggestion, I sat down across from him at the table.
Emily sat beside me, while Yuna stood nearby.
So… does this seating arrangement mean it’s a meeting between members of Ex Machina?
Likewise, Theseus was standing behind Deus.
“You probably realized it the moment you saw me, but I’m dying. I likely won’t make it past this year. Guess this is the price I pay for living with such a rotten personality.”
“……”
I’ve always thought this, but I just can’t laugh at that kind of joke.
“So, then…why do you think I called you here, Johan Damus?”
I won’t make it past this year.
The first thing that came to mind after hearing that was the image of the final boss.
If he’s dying of natural causes, not killed by someone else… then who was the final boss supposed to be?
“Just to be sure…you didn’t call me here because you’re naming me your successor, right?”
Chances were, someone else had taken the role of the Scriptwriter.
It wouldn’t be strange. After all, he had been preparing a successor for some time now.
“That’s exactly right.”
“…Why? Why me, of all people? I don’t want the job.”
“You’re currently the closest to me. You got your hands on the Spur Gear, which means you’ve surpassed the rest of the executive ranks.”
“That’s not a real reason. You’re the one who set things up that way in the first place. The first gear, the second gear…both were just results of your manipulation.”
“The first gear was just on a whim. But the second gear…that was proof. You beat Ryute. If Ryute had beaten you instead, he’d be the one sitting across from me right now.”
“…No doubt you gave me opportunities the other gears never had.”
“That’s true.”
Then why?
Why go so far as to overestimate me like this?
To be blunt, I’m not a genius.
Even among the regular members of Ex Machina, I’m nothing special.
“You’re the only one who pursued research for the sake of people.”
“……”
“You don’t understand why someone like me, the leader of a terrorist organization, would say something like this?”
“I can’t exactly say I do.”
Research for the sake of people?
Most of the researchers in Ex Machina were terrorists.
They’re the kind who’d throw poison or weapons into a cradle just to see the results of their experiments.
“People remember the bad first. Most of Ex Machina are villains? No… those truly conducting research for humanity don’t commit acts of terror in the first place, so they never get noticed.”
That may be true…
But if they’re not enemies, you’d never have a reason to encounter them, so it’s only natural.
Still, it was Deus who brought them all under the same banner as Ex Machina members without distinction.
Which is why hearing him speak of “for the sake of people” still feels unnatural.
“Then how about this….you’re the one who managed to make a self-centered executive at least a little more human.”
I glanced at Emily without thinking.
Not that I’m saying Emily was some kind of broken human being.
She’s just more expressive now than she used to be, that’s all.
“What does that matter?”
“Emily and the other executives you called terrorists….how are they any different? They’re all the same. They lack social skills. But people can change, and I believed in that.”
“You say that like it means something…”
If you were so sure, you could’ve done a better job managing things afterward.
“Emily was changed by two people. But one of them was driven by revenge and lost his way.”
Coran Lekias, Emily’s master.
Though he may have fallen behind her in knowledge, he was the one who taught her how to interact with others.
If he hadn’t been consumed by vengeance and thrown everything away, maybe he’d be the one standing here now.
“But you didn’t change. No matter what power you gained, you stayed the same. That’s why I handed the Babel Gear over to you to see it for myself. And once again, you proved it.”
“……”
“You didn’t get drunk on your power, and you didn’t waver even when I tried to provoke you. Even when facing Ryute, you chose to flee rather than kill.”
Isn’t that too generous an assessment?
Objectively speaking, my power simply wasn’t enough to take on Ryute.
“Even in crisis, you stuck to your principles. Even with the option of a deal with a demon right in front of you, you struggled to survive within the bounds of humanity. And when you failed, you didn’t cling to some half-baked ideal. You accepted the failure and made the hard decisions to recover from it.”
In the end, I killed Ryute.
I had no choice. There was no surviving otherwise.
It was a misjudgment on my part, and I did what I thought was best under the circumstances.
That’s all there is to it.
“There’s only one criteria I use to judge a successor.”
“……”
“Not being consumed. By knowledge, by wisdom, by power. Being able to look at the world with clarity, without losing yourself.”
Deus gave a sly smile as he spoke.
“Ex Machina’s founding principle is to drive humanity toward evolution. And to do that, one must be more human than anyone.”
At that mischievous grin, a chill ran down my spine again.
I had to stop him.
I couldn’t let myself hear what he was about to say.
If I did, there would be no going back.
“Even if the world is changed by a few geniuses, it’s the ordinary people who live in it.”
“Wait, hold on—”
“That’s why it has to be you. Johan Damus. You, the frog in the well.”
“Please, just listen to me for a second.”
“Only you can decide whether to leave the well and step out into the world.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not doing it!”
There wasn’t a trace of joy in me. So I made sure to show exactly how much I hated the idea as I answered.
In response, Deus gave me a strange look then smirked and said,
“That’s not something you get to decide.”
Is this guy insane?
That’s completely different from what he just said!
He said it was my choice!
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