“Johan, you need to understand just how insidious that bastard Faust is. You have to be careful. Stay cautious.”
“If you’re going to keep warning me like that, could you at least explain why?”
Dangerous, insidious….anyone can throw around words like that. If that’s all it is, then it means nothing. She needed to explain the actual reason.
“I see. Hmm, then where should I start? Right, I should begin with transcendence disease.”
“Keep it short and to the point.”
“Johan, do you know what transcendence disease was called in the era before magic existed?”
“That would be…”
The very first magic was created by none other than the Great Sage. Which means that before that, transcendence disease was—
“A condition where one suddenly stares into empty space, collapses as if breaking apart in an instant, mutters incomprehensible words, and ultimately disappears in blue flames.”
“.…..”
Just a sequence of simple descriptions. But even without knowing the truth, it wasn’t hard to imagine what people would have thought upon witnessing such phenomena.
“Demonic possession. If that’s the case, someone as sharp as you can probably guess how it ended.”
“…There must have been rampant witch hunts.”
In an era where even magic didn’t exist, the conclusion was painfully obvious. And it was in such a time that the Great Sage created magic for the first time.
There was no way that process had been smooth.
“Faust wanted me to live, but his motive wasn’t triggered by death from transcendence disease.”
“So that came after?”
“Yes. The first time I saw Faust, he was just about to be killed by his own parents.”
“That’s a horrible story.”
“Back then, it wasn’t all that unusual.”
Even if it was their own child, the moment fear took root, people could no longer remain rational.
It was a tragedy born from ignorance, but a tragedy nonetheless.
“He begged me to save him, and I granted that wish. So, do you know what the very first thing Faust did after coming back to life was?”
“I’m not sure.”
“He slaughtered his entire family.”
“That’s…”
Was it the way Mephi spoke? Or the atmosphere she was deliberately creating?
The moment I heard it, an indescribable sensation swept over my entire body.
It felt wrong.
Yes. What I felt was disgust.
“It wasn’t revenge. It wasn’t out of resentment, either. He simply thought it was necessary. If he wanted to live a new life as someone suspected of demonic possession, he needed to eliminate everyone connected to him.”
Hearing about the Great Sage’s past from Mephi left a bad taste in my mouth.
It wasn’t his actions themselves that bothered me. Given the circumstances, they were understandable. At least to a degree.
The discomfort I felt was coming from somewhere else.
“Johan, your biggest mistake was being deceived by his outward appearance.”
“…….”
“I told you, didn’t I? He’s insidious and dangerous. He may now seem like a sage who’s seen through the world, but his essence hasn’t changed.”
A sense of dissonance.
The Great Sage I knew and the life Mephi described didn’t quite align.
“He doesn’t care about the means as long as it serves his purpose.”
“That much I can believe.”
“You still don’t understand. Johan, he’s different from anyone you’ve faced so far. He…”
Mephi let out a cynical laugh.
Then she frowned, as if looking at something unpleasant.
“He has no such thing as conviction.”
“…….”
“There’s no line he feels he must never cross.”
It was a completely opposite assessment from the impression of the Great Sage I had formed so far.
He was someone who avoided unnecessary killing and would extend a hand to anyone who feared death.
“It was just hard to accept because of his identity as a dark mage and the way he blurred the boundary between life and death, but at his core, he acted out of goodwill.”
“Right. He’s not that clean of a person.”
At that moment, a voice other than ours cut in.
Startled, I turned toward where it came from and saw a figure with their hood pulled low.
At least they were alone.
But…
“What is it?”
“No, it’s just…”
The World Tree tilted its head, looking up at me as if nothing were wrong.
Wasn’t it supposed to notify me of anything that entered within 30 meters?
Or… could this be someone so skilled that even the World Tree couldn’t detect them?
They didn’t seem that impressive…
Keeping my guard up, I questioned the World Tree.
“You said you’d tell me if anything came within 30 meters.”
“I did!”
“Then why did you stay quiet? Don’t tell me you were so focused on Mephi’s story that you forgot.”
“As if! I can handle that level of melchi-tasking!”
“You mean multitasking. No, that’s not the point. Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I know them.”
I stared at the World Tree’s blank expression for a moment, then quietly turned my head.
Right then, the person who had been walking toward us pulled back their hood.
Gray hair, dull green eyes, a pale complexion, and a faint presence like that of a corpse. The typical aftereffects of using dark magic
But that wasn’t what mattered.
It was a familiar face.
Someone I knew.
“Hey, Johan Damus. Didn’t expect to run into you here.”
“Melana…?”
A member of the Misfits.
Melana was in the last place she should have been.
***
For a brief moment, I was stunned, but I forced myself to calmly assess the situation.
To avoid repeating Yuna’s mistake, it was better to talk first.
It wasn’t certain yet that Melana had joined the Under Chain.
There was still a chance she had infiltrated them for her own reasons.
“Why are you here?”
“Do I really need to explain that? You can probably guess.”
“…….”
Melana didn’t have much time left to live.
That was the result of forcing herself to wield power beyond her limits.
The erosion of her very soul.
It was a lifespan that not even Helena could do anything about. If there was a reason she had returned to the Under Chain, the very place she once tried to escape, then it had to be that.
“Johan, I came back to the Under Chain because I want to live. But that doesn’t mean I intend to oppose you. I’m just… here.”
“So?”
“…How about we just pretend we didn’t see each other? You go do what you need to do. I’ll act like I saw nothing and pass by.”
“Melana.”
“Let’s do that.”
From a practical standpoint, it wasn’t a bad proposal.
I didn’t want to fight Melana either. She was a friend. And given her circumstances, relying on the Under Chain was probably unavoidable.
At the very least, she was offering not to interfere and to look the other way. Parting ways here might be the best option.
But… was it really?
“What are you doing here?”
“…….”
“If we just walk past each other now, can you really guarantee it’ll stay that way later?”
Melana had come to the Under Chain to solve her lifespan problem. Someone like Faust might know a way to treat the side effects of dark magic.
But Mephi had said it. And Melana agreed.
Faust was insidious.
If that was true, there was no way things would be resolved this simply.
“What did he ask of you? What did you promise him in exchange for extending your life?”
“…Nothing.”
“You expect me to believe you’re here willingly when he asked for nothing in return?”
“It’s not that unbelievable.”
“…….”
I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.
Do I accept what Melana said and walk past her, or do I subdue her by force and uncover the secret she’s hiding? I couldn’t tell which choice was right.
That was why I hesitated.
“Johan, prepare for battle.”
“Oracle?”
“Consider it.”
“…….”
Oracle stared straight at me, her eyes devoid of any emotion.
To her, Melana could only be an outsider.
So perhaps she couldn’t trust Melana’s claim that she would stand by and do nothing.
Or maybe she thought it would be better to capture her to resolve my doubts.
“Really?”
But that probably wasn’t it.
Oracle said she would support me. Maybe not before, but now I think I can trust her.
If she does have something in mind, it might not be a bad idea to trust her on that.
“You’re going to fight?”
As I grabbed my sword, Melana let out a faint scoff and rolled up one sleeve.
A long, stark white chain wrapped around her bandaged wrist came into view.
The chain that had been steadily eating away at her lifespan was now woven far longer than before.
“So there was a price after all.”
The chain coiled around her wrist looked as if it were binding her.
“This isn’t a price. He never forced anything on me.”
“No, it is a price.”
“…….”
“It’s placed a restriction on your actions.”
It had granted her immense power.
But power always comes at a cost. For Melana, who sought to extend her life, it was no different from shackles.
To fight her would be the same as shaving away her lifespan.
“So? Johan, what are you going to do? Are you still going to fight me?”
In a sense, she was threatening me with her own life.
“Let’s stop.”
“Hmm…?”
“Put your sword away, Johan Damus.”
Just as I was about to draw my sword after much deliberation, Oracle stepped in and stopped me.
She was the one who told me to fight, and now she was stopping me. It made no sense.
But the Oracle immediately leaned in and whispered something in my ear.
“I’ve observed it. There’s no need to resolve this through fighting anymore. You can accept her proposal now.”
“Ah.”
I had forgotten. Her greatest ability wasn’t traversing space, but foresight.
She had just made Melana and me fight and saw that future.
Since she had already confirmed the outcome, there was no reason to head toward that future.
However, for her to observe it, the possibility of me fighting Melana had to exist.
That must be why she urged me to fight her.
A clever method.
“…Alright. I’ll just accept your proposal.”
I lowered my sword, feigning resignation.
Melana also stopped showing the chain wrapped around her arm and pulled her sleeve back down.
“Then, goodbye, Johan. I hope what you’re trying to do works out.”
“If things go well for me, what you’re hoping for might fall apart. Are you really okay with that?”
“Well, nothing I can do about it.”
Melana smiled faintly, as if it wouldn’t be strange for her to die at any moment.
“I don’t want to survive by betraying a friend again.”
I knew she had no choice.
I had no option but to respect Melana’s decision.
She didn’t betray anyone. She simply had no other choice.
After all, wanting to live can’t be a sin.
“Could you say the same thing in front of Jeff?”
“…….”
“Yeah. I figured.”
I could tell what Melana was thinking from that brief silence.
For now, that was enough. The fact that she was hesitating was already a significant gain.
In the end, we parted ways with Melana, pretending we hadn’t seen anything. After confirming she had gone far enough—
“Now then, tell me, Oracle. When you say you observed it, you mean you saw the future, right?”
“Yes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t need to know, Mephi.”
“Understood.”
“What about me?”
“You don’t need to know either, World Tree.”
“I see!”
I skipped the tedious explanations.
We had already wasted too much time.
And it wouldn’t be good to let our attention drift elsewhere any longer.
“If we had fought, your friend…? would have died.”
Why the question mark? She is my friend.
“You mean she would’ve died because of the chain’s side effects?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“…That chain was connected to the Great Sage himself.”
A chain connected to Faust.
What that implied was obvious.
And it also made me understand what Mephi and Melana had said. That Faust was far from a clean human being.
“A hostage?”
“And likely a pair of eyes to guard this place as well.”
A chain linked to Faust himself.
That meant the moment Melana used the chain’s power, Faust would know.
Because of that, he would have realized someone had infiltrated his base.
That’s insidious in the extreme.
“Does Melana know?”
“She probably doesn’t. But considering the warning she gave us, she may have at least suspected.”
“So that’s why.”
The reason Melana had to remain in the Under Chain’s base, why she refused to say anything, and why she wanted us to pretend we hadn’t seen anything…it all fit together.
“There must have been a restriction placed on her. In the future I saw, the moment she tried to say something, she coughed up blood and died. Not from the side effects of dark magic, nor by Faust’s hand.”
“He’s really something else.”
Was he always like this?
He had crafted an image of himself as a sage who had seen it all.
And yet he was someone who would resort to methods this vile without hesitation.
I had at least thought he was someone capable of respecting others.
“Still, we gained something.”
But Faust wouldn’t have known.
That Oracle was moving together with me.
To begin with, she and I didn’t have many points of contact, so it would’ve been difficult for him to realize we were cooperating.
However, the fact that she observed this through the future—
That became the biggest variable.
“If he went that far, it must mean there’s something he desperately wants to keep hidden.”
“That is correct.”
The Under Chain’s base.
Another world spread out beneath the ground.
This place is not merely somewhere to mourn the dead or hide oneself.
“For now, it would be best to move. If we want to find out what’s here, the best way is to locate the center.”
“The center…”
A graveyard so vast its end wasn’t even visible.
Rows of tombstones lined up side by side.
A kind of memorial, recording the countless deaths the man known as the Great Sage Faust had witnessed throughout his life.
If there was a center to that place…
“Let’s check the names on the tombstones as we go. The closer the time of death is to the past, the closer we’ll be to the center.”
Each tombstone bore a person’s name, along with their birth and death dates.
I never imagined we’d have to search for clues this way, but…
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
And so, we began reading through the records of the dead.
It was an extremely unpleasant experience.
Leave a Reply