The Scriptwriter Deus was in his laboratory.
A secret lab that no one could enter. Only he, with the power of spatial movement, could access it.
There were no exits, no windows.
The only things inside were the culmination of the technology he had built up over the years.
“I’m tired.”
Deus leaned back in his chair, dragging his weary body.
The painkillers had held off the pain only briefly.
Soon, death would come for him.
“Hmm.”
For the final time, Deus reached out his hand. A halo of light began to gather above his right hand, and before long, it took the form of a gear.
This was the true form of the gear he had created—
A self-evolution program forged by weaving all the gears into one.
[Masterpiece]
Ex Machina
Preparation was complete. It had been complete long ago.
But this experiment offered no second chances, and there was no way to know if it would succeed or fail until it was done.
The cost of failure would be great.
– …Can that ship truly be considered the same ship it used to be?
Deus recalled his conversation with Emperor Abraham.
To that question, Abraham had responded with a mischievous smile.
– Well, who knows until you try? And isn’t it people, not the ship itself, who make that judgment?
One cannot define oneself.
It’s always others who pass judgment.
He could not know what his true nature was. And that is why—
“Shall we begin?”
He implanted a new heart.
He cast off his worn-out flesh and began his evolution into a new being.
“Now, the choice is yours, Johan.”
Thus, the human known as Deus died.
And in the place where he passed, a mechanical device stood as if to take his place.
***
A few days later.
At Emily’s request, I once again stepped out from the cradle.
After what happened with Ryute, I made sure to bring a guard with me today.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a date, right?”
“We’re going to see Emily.”
“But until we get there, it’s just the two of us.”
“R-Right.”
Just a few words, and it really does start to feel like a date.
“Johan, let’s get ice cream!”
“In this weather?”
Autumn had passed in a flash, and it was already early winter.
Ice cream in this weather? I mean, it’s not like we can’t eat it, but who even sells stuff like that now?
[Andvaranaut Merchant Guild]
Ugh. A familiar shop.
“That one! Honeycomb ice cream!”
“Looks pretty good.”
I glanced over at the honeycomb ice cream stand with a bee drawn on the sign.
Soft serve with an actual chunk of honeycomb on top. Yeah, it probably tastes great.
In the end, I followed Yuna into the honeycomb ice cream shop.
That was my mistake.
“Oh?”
“……”
My eyes met those of a huge scholar inside the ice cream shop.
I truly hadn’t seen this coming.
No matter how careful I am, at this point it feels like an unavoidable fate.
“Is it good?”
“Ah… ahem! It’s… not bad.”
The great warrior Vidar was eating ice cream straight out of the container.
The spoon in his hand looked like a toothpick.
My head spun at the unexpected taste of a barbarian chieftain.
Yuna too seemed at a loss for words and just glanced at me awkwardly.
Well, yeah. She was the one who suggested we come here, and now it’s like running into the final boss.
I feel like something similar happened before… I should probably stop going anywhere Yuna wants to go from now on.
“Well, since we’ve met like this, allow me to buy you one.”
“Then I won’t refuse.”
“Here, here…here’s the menu.”
Normally, I would’ve let out a scream just from running into someone like him in a place like this.
But this time felt a little different.
This was a genuine encounter in the middle of our daily lives.
It was a bit uncomfortable, sure, but it’s not like this was some kind of terrorist attack or anything. So it should be fine.
Of course, the fact that it was Vidar also made a difference.
If someone like Kult had been the one sitting there, I would’ve turned around immediately.
No, I mean… with Kult, it always felt like everything’s premeditated.
Even if he offered to buy me an ice cream, I’d start by being suspicious.
But Vidar, whatever else he may be, he was convincingly playing the part of a warm generous scholar.
“Honey is quite hard to come by where I live. So this kind of opportunity is rare.”
“Is there anything that is easy to get?”
“Ice.”
“…That makes sense.”
To the barbarian tribes who roamed the northern snowfields, food like this was naturally a rare treat. Though, come to think of it, ice cream might actually be easier to make over there.
“Now then, the menu…”
“The honeycomb ice cream here is the best. The others are good too, but this one’s the signature flavor…”
“You must come here often.”
“Ahem.”
Just admit it.
It’s not because honey is hard to come by. You just like it, don’t you?
With our ice cream in hand, Yuna and I sat down right in front of Vidar.
Honestly, as long as he didn’t reveal his true colors, meeting with Vidar wasn’t all that unpleasant.
“But… is it really okay for you to be here? I figured you’d be swamped right now.”
I mean, you went as far as to issue a declaration of war, and now you’re just sitting here eating ice cream?
“Ah, I am busy. But surely I can afford at least this much leisure time?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Haha… Then shall I say this is all part of the plan as well?”
“That’s actually better.”
As I listened to Vidar, I took a bite of my ice cream.
It was sweet. Incredibly sweet.
But maybe because it was honey, it didn’t feel unpleasant.
“I can feel a strange shift in the energy around your arm again. Is that too the result of Ex Machina’s technology?”
“Well, I kind of ended up with something weird. I considered getting rid of it since it creeped me out, but I decided to just hold onto it.”
Honestly, as grotesque as it was, its capabilities were undeniably useful.
Although, since the strength it gave varied depending on the user’s skill, it wasn’t much help overall…
If I had obtained the Babel Gear through normal means, things might have turned out differently.
“Come to think of it, how did you manage to calm it down last time?”
Maybe it was because I’d come face-to-face with Deus.
I asked in his place what he had been wondering about.
If I could get an answer, I could just tell Deus later.
That old man would probably appreciate it.
“Well… it’s nothing special. Could you lend me your hand for a moment?”
“You’re not going to break it, right?”
“I may not be great with machines, but there’s nothing to worry about. If you’re that concerned, you can give me the other arm instead.”
“You’re really not going to break it?”
“…I do have a basic sense of decency, you know.”
I know.
I do know, but still…
Even if someone said a crocodile was well-trained and tame, how many people would willingly stick their arm in its mouth?
That’s what Vidar is like to me.
He’s relatively reasonable and someone I can talk to, but I can’t help being a bit cautious.
The guy looks twice my size. How could I not be? If he just pressed his thumb and forefinger together, it felt like he could snap my wrist on the spot.
“Here.”
Hesitant, I extended my right arm to Vidar.
If something had to break, better it be the Babel Gear.
“Hmm.”
Thunk!
Vidar grabbed my arm, looking thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly jabbed the back of my hand with his index finger.
I’m not joking. He really jabbed it.
His finger sank into the back of my hand. Maybe it was just that his fingers were huge, but it felt like my whole hand had been pierced.
“……”
I stared at the scene blankly, unable to process what just happened.
Aside from the sheer absurdity of it, it didn’t even feel real.
Maybe it was because of the Babel Gear, but there was no pain.
Slick.
When Vidar finally pulled his finger out from the back of my hand—
I saw blood running down my skin, and that’s when reality sank in.
“Wh-What is this…?”
I couldn’t even get angry.
This was a beastkin, one that could tear a person apart. And not just any beastkin, but one who stood at the top of them all.
There was nothing I could do but tremble, shaken with betrayal and frustration.
“Haha, startled you, didn’t I? Don’t worry. I didn’t actually injure you.”
“What kind of nonsense is that…”
He had stabbed through the back of my hand like it was some kind of joke and now this lunatic beast was laughing about it.
Still trembling with fear and rage, I looked back down at my hand.
“…Huh?”
I could’ve sworn blood had been pouring out… but there was no wound.
More than that, what I thought had been blood wasn’t blood at all.
The red that stained the back of my hand—
It had settled like a tattoo, embedded into my skin.
It hadn’t been an injury. It had been the act of inscribing something onto my body.
“What is this?”
The so-called final boss types… Seriously, they’ve shoved something weird into my arm again?
Is my body just a damn trash bin at this point?
It’s not like I even asked for this.
“Sorcery.”
“Sorcery? You mean like magic?”
“Similar, but not quite. Sorcery draws power not from mana, but from nature itself.”
“Then… what does this one do?”
“That’s something you’ll have to discover for yourself.
Sorcery, like awakened abilities, manifests differently depending on the person.”
“…Ugh, I really hate this.”
Stop giving me these vague, undefined powers.
Especially when I’m already unsure if the abilities I do have are even real.
“The sorcery inscribed on my body is one of steadfastness. The ability to stand firm, no matter the situation.”
“Does that apply externally too?”
“If applied correctly, yes.”
“……”
At the very least, that cleared up my question.
So he calmed the Babel Gear using this unique power called sorcery?
Now that I think about it, when the barbarians appeared as enemies in the game, there were guys called barbarian shamans and the like.
I just assumed it was a given because they were barbarians. And it was a game, so there was no real way to distinguish between magic and sorcery anyway.
There were no barbarian allies, and there certainly weren’t any “good guy” barbarians.
So then, what exactly is sorcery?
“As I mentioned before, I know about things the Empire tried to erase. Like the existence of Naraka, or the existence of spirits.”
“…Why did they need to erase them?”
“Because they’re powers that can’t be fully explained. Who could prove that this power truly comes from nature?
It’s natural to fear the unknown. And if that unknown is recognized as dangerous, then the Empire’s decision starts to make sense.”
“……”
“Does it bother you that we use such dangerous power?”
“Would it be fair to say… it’s very barbarian of you?”
“Quite the accurate assessment.”
Vidar scooped the last spoonful of ice cream from his bowl.
For a moment, he closed his eyes as if savoring it. But when he opened them again—
His gaze had turned chilling.
“That’s what it means to be a barbarian.”
“……”
“We’re vile, cowardly, and dangerously savage beasts.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Do you remember what I told you?”
“What exactly are you referring to?”
“That during the coldest time of the year, a chill frost flower would sweep down from the north and blanket the heart of the Empire.”
“……”
I remember.
I passed the message on to Lobelia.
And because I knew that, I asked if it was really okay to just stand around when things were about to get busy.
“When exactly is the coldest time of the year? How do you define it, or even know when it is? You don’t actually think us shamans can see the future, do you?”
“……If you had such power, Eden would have reached out to you a long time ago.”
“Wise of you. That’s exactly why I told you.”
“Sorry…what?”
“You’re wise. And I’d imagine the people you trust are wise, too. But sometimes, the answer is simpler than you’d expect. For example…”
Vidar looked out the window.
Naturally, I followed his gaze.
There was nothing unusual outside.
Just pedestrians walking by.
If there was anything different from usual, it was that their clothes looked a bit thicker.
“It’s quite chilly today.”
“……”
“Then couldn’t today be the coldest day of the year?”
“What…?”
I slowly turned my gaze back.
There was Vidar’s calm expression, showing no trace of emotion.
“Extra! Extra!”
It was noisy outside.
A newspaper boy was running around, shouting in a frenzy.
“An article says the northern gate has fallen! It’s a barbarian attack!”
The war had begun.
And much earlier than anyone had expected.
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