“First, calm down and listen.”
“I am calm.”
“I know.”
He knows. This bastard…!
“The choice is yours, but giving you the choice is up to me.”
“……”
“And that’s what choice is, to begin with. The need to choose always comes at unfair times.”
Typical of someone smart. He kept spouting all this philosophical nonsense like it was wisdom.
“So stop whining and hand over the Babel Gear.”
“How am I supposed to hand it over if you don’t tell me how to take it out?!”
That’s the part I’m dying to know!
And the fact that I’ve gone this long without knowing it…it’s infuriating!
“Press your elbow and peel it off like a glove. It should come right off.”
Following Deus’s instructions, I removed the Babel Gear that had been parasitizing my right arm.
It was ridiculously simple.
Which only made me angrier.
Something this simple!
What was so hard about it?! Why the hell didn’t he tell me sooner?!
“Well, it fused nicely.”
Deus smirked as he looked at the Babel Gear I’d taken off.
What had once been nothing but flesh was now covered in vein-like strands growing over the gear.
Great. Now it’s even more grotesque.
And I’m supposed to stick that thing back into my arm? Just imagining was sickening.
“Let’s see…”
Deus narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the Babel Gear.
And even that alone caused a change.
The Babel Gear seemed to twist into an unnatural shape, then after spurting blood a few times, it finally calmed down.
What was that? Magic? Or was it such advanced science that it was indistinguishable from magic?
“It’s done.”
“What did you do?”
“I gave it the ability to choose.”
“Haa…”
I didn’t even have the energy to argue anymore.
Just like Deus had said, there was never any real chance to choose to choose.
I could feel the blade of the successor’s role pressing against my throat.
“Emily.”
“Yes.”
“As you know, Johan is now gathering all the gears. That means you’ve become one of his targets too.”
“Why are you saying I’m collecting the gears? You say it like it’s some sort of given.”
“Emily, what will you do? Will you obediently hand your Helical Gear over to Johan? Or will you resist?”
“Are you deaf?”
Seriously, he just says what he wants to say and only hears what he wants to hear.
Even Emily is ignoring me as I yell right next to her.
It’s like I’ve been left behind in another world.
Yuna gently pats my shoulder. Yeah… you’re the only one who understands me.
“I’m here too.”
You. Just butt in when you’re actually wanted, will you?
And stop reading my mind like it’s nothing.
“The Helical Gear?”
“That’s right.”
Helical Gear.
It was the gear that formed the framework among those prepared for evolution.
Considering how she said it was quite convenient, she was probably talking about the one she used most often.
The mechanical device that usually protruded from Emily’s back.
When I saw it, I always thought it looked like spider legs… but calling it the framework of all things made sense too.
Would Emily really hand over a gear that had already become an extension of her limbs so easily?
Somehow, I felt like she might. She didn’t seem like the type to care about things like that.
“I don’t want to. Without this, all the research I’m doing now would hit a dead end. I’ve even modified it in my own way…”
But the response I got wasn’t what I had expected.
Emily frowned.
She looked as if she didn’t want to give up something that was hers.
It was surprising, yes. But at the same time, it made me happy. Emily wasn’t some tree that gave without end.
“Do I really have to give mine?”
“There’s no need for that. Then what do you plan to do?”
To Emily’s calm question, Deus answered with a gentle smile.
It was the first genuinely satisfied expression I had seen on his face today.
He smiled often, but most of the time it was a sneer.
“Why not just make another one? I’ve already created a Helical Gear, haven’t I? And I have the token master gave me when he left Ex Machina. I can use that, right?”
“That’s the most rational answer. Just as I thought. You’re a talent worth watching.”
Hearing Emily’s reply, I realized how narrow-minded my thinking had been.
Gears weren’t one of a kind. Even the Babel Gear…I wasn’t the only one who had it.
First Princess Lapis. That mysterious monster had supposedly attacked other Ex Machinas and stolen their tokens each time Deus collected a Babel Gear, then created a new one.
Anyone who had already created a gear could make another, as long as they had a token.
Just knowing that made Ryute’s death feel all the more tragic.
Of course, even if he had known, Ryute probably still would have attacked me.
It couldn’t be helped. After all, I hadn’t created the Babel Gear myself.
“Johan Damus.”
“What.”
Wasn’t he ignoring me just a moment ago?
“I’ve shown you the way.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Don’t talk like you’re doing this for me. It’s annoying.
“Johan Damus.”
“……”
“We’ll meet again soon.”
Deus had dismissed me.
***
Should I call it unexpected?
Even on the way back, Deus sent us through teleportation.
The ability to travel back and forth from Creta to the capital in just one day…
He really was an Archmage through and through.
“Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Johan. Please take good care of Lobelia.”
“Why are you asking me to take care of her?”
“Well… aren’t you close enough with her that there are even rumors about you two?”
“We’re not.”
“I-I see…”
Theseus looked flustered.
Did I come off too harshly? Still, the real problem is that he doesn’t realize those kinds of rumors aren’t helping us.
He’s got his head in the clouds in his own way.
“Oh, that reminds me.”
Speaking of Lapis, something came to mind…did Theseus know her true identity?
It was Deus who had told me who Lapis really was.
If Theseus was close to Deus, maybe he knew too.
“Do you happen to know the truth about Her Highness, the First Princess?”
I decided to phrase it indirectly.
If he didn’t know, I’d just be stirring up trouble.
Maybe not knowing was actually better for him.
“……”
Theseus wore a bitter expression. No further answer was needed. He knew there was a monster living within the imperial family.
Seeing that expression, I couldn’t help but think maybe that was part of the reason he had left the Imperial Palace.
***
Deus sensed that the end was near.
That vague fear made him impatient, but still, he continued doing what he could.
Yes, what he was doing, standing face to face with death, was putting his regrets in order.
“If you only live in such a dark place, even your mood might sink. How about living with a little sunlight now and then?”
“Wandering Mage.”
“You might as well call me the Scriptwriter instead. That one feels more natural to me.”
“Is that so?”
The first person he visited was the one most closely tied to death.
He already knew where the man lived, so finding him was simple.
“Did fear of death bring you to me?”
“No. The thing that moves me has always been the same, past or present.”
Deus grinned.
With the usual mischievous grin, he revealed his purpose.
“Admiration.”
“I see…”
“The first mage. The foolish great sage. I’ve always wanted to meet you at least once. I once admired you, so think of this as… yeah, just a light fan meeting.”
“Do you have something you want to ask me?”
“Not at all!”
“I see.”
The Great Sage Faust laughed.
He could tell what kind of person the Scriptwriter was just from a few exchanges.
“Then how about a drink?”
“Finally treating me like a proper guest, huh?”
For the first time in a long while, Faust was able to think not as the leader of a group, not as a transcendent being, not as a seeker quietly walking toward a goal…but simply as an ordinary man.
That night, the two longtime scholars laughed, talked, and enjoyed their drinks like regular people.
***
The next person Deus visited was someone he had long been running from.
“You’ve come.”
“I have.”
The Emperor.
Abraham Vicious von Miltonia.
The Scriptwriter Deus smiled as he looked upon the most powerful human in the world.
He knew the man had been leaving him alone all this time. After all, wasn’t it Abraham himself who had once personally bestowed upon him the title of Archmage?
He must’ve known his face, must’ve known what he was up to.
And yet, he left him be.
Because he was capable of calculating that killing Deus would bring more harm than good.
That’s why Deus couldn’t help but fear the Emperor.
A man with such overwhelming power, yet capable of viewing the world without greed. He was a different kind of monster.
“What brings you here?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just thought I’d drop by and see your face for once.”
“I see. Then, did you enjoy your journey?”
“……”
The reason he was called the Wandering Mage.
A frog in a well, who sought to broaden his horizons by exploring the world.
“Even when a frog jumps out of the well to see the world, that doesn’t mean it understands all of it.”
“Then that only means the world is that vast.”
“Hugely! Incredibly vast! Endless fields of green, oceans stretching far beyond the horizon! And beyond the skies…the universe, scattered with stars!”
“You’ve traveled far and wide, I see.”
“Ah, well, I haven’t actually been to space yet. I rushed in once and nearly died. Thought I’d need to prepare a bit more, so I’ve been working on this and that… Ahem.”
“And that’s how you became the Scriptwriter?”
Deus gave an awkward smile, as if embarrassed.
The Emperor Abraham listened intently to Deus’s story.
The life experiences of an old man, gathered over a lifetime, were enough to make anyone a captivated audience.
“The day the frog from the well climbed out, it saw the earth.”
The day he awakened to the power of spatial movement, Deus who was once just a humble farmer in a rural village was able to see the advanced cities beyond the borders of his home.
“The frog that walked the earth eventually reached the sea.”
The day he became an archmage.
Deus gained the ability to travel to every corner of the world.
What lay beyond the vast oceans? Where did the earth end?
His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and his curiosity never ceased.
“Standing before the sea, the frog once again looked up at the sky it had seen from the start.”
Deus looked up at the sky.
The wide, open sky stretched out no matter where he went.
Wondering what lay beyond it, he used his power of spatial movement and flew straight up…beyond the sky.
“And that’s when the frog realized it was a frog.”
Beyond the sky.
The universe, scattered with stars, did not permit his intrusion.
He couldn’t adapt to the environment of space and before long, he came crashing back down to Earth.
And at last, he understood.
Even the world he had believed to be “outside the well” was just another well.
“Did that realization leave you in despair?”
“No, quite the opposite. It stirred up a fighting spirit.”
That’s why he began to consider evolution.
There were limits to what he could endure with magic alone.
If he couldn’t adapt to the environment itself, then he couldn’t move forward.
He had to go beyond the frog.
If the human body was insufficient, then he would become something beyond human.
“Then what are you hesitating for?”
“……”
Deus fell silent at Abraham’s words.
Those eyes, as if they saw right through everything, left him at a loss for words.
But soon, he replied with his usual mischievous grin.
“One day, I heard something from a boy.”
That was when he stopped his research into evolution.
Because he couldn’t be sure whether the evolution he envisioned was truly evolution at all.
“Imagine a large ship. Now, let’s say that ship wants to sail into space. It can’t go as it is. There’s a part that needs to be replaced. Once the part was swapped out, the ship became something much better just as expected.”
The transformation of an object… and the continuation of its identity.
“If you keep replacing parts like that, until not even the original form remains…”
“Then what?”
“…Can that ship truly be considered the same ship it used to be?”
The Ship of Theseus.
That was the reason Deus had been hesitant about evolution all this time.
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