[Yujin, could you listen to me for a moment?]
After leaving Han-cheol at the dwarven workshop, Tiamat who had been silently observing the situation finally spoke up. Yujin nodded.
“Go ahead.”
[I’ve been thinking after listening to the conversation you two had. No matter how I look at it, this “transfer” of yours doesn’t seem like something orchestrated by just an ordinary Transcendent.]
“You think so too?”
Yujin instantly grasped what Tiamat was trying to say. Apparently, while listening to the conversation between Yujin and Han-cheol, Tiamat had been contemplating the nature of their “transfer” in her own way.
And now that she had reached her conclusion, Yujin responded as if he had suspected the same.
[Exactly. From what I can tell, that Han-cheol boy clearly possesses knowledge of the future. That means someone must have had the Authority of Foresight… and to bring a mortal into this world by linking it to another world, they would also need the Authority of Passage or Seizure. On top of that, to interfere enough to create a connection point under the guise of something like “play,” they’d need yet another Authority.]
“Hmm… Is that something even dragons would find difficult to pull off on their own?”
[If it were Dragon Word, it could be possible to accomplish all of that. But considering the scale of affecting another world, it’s certainly beyond the capability of a mere individual Transcendent. I said just now that it seemed like the interference only went as far as creating a “game” connection point, but honestly… I think the interference was on a scale large enough to bring massive upheaval to your world.]
“…What do you mean by that?”
As Yujin’s expression hardened, seemingly having guessed something, Tiamat responded with a slightly bitter look.
[What I mean is… I believe the appearance of the gates in your world, and the mysterious phenomena surrounding them, were caused by interference from Transcendents.]
“……”
Yujin’s expression vanished. And understandably so.
With the emergence of gates, a new energy called mana had started flowing into the world, which in turn gave rise to Awakened individuals and those who were not adapted to mana.
Yujin’s parents had also died as a result of it, so there was no way his heart could be at ease.
Tiamat, knowing that as well, wore a bitter expression.
“…Hoo.”
Yujin let out a sigh and wiped his face, trying to process the shocking truth he had just heard.
He remained silent for a while, then finally spoke to Tiamat.
“It’s… a strange feeling.”
[……]
“Hearing that my parents’ deaths may not have been the result of a natural disaster, but rather the consequence of some transcendent beings interfering with Earth… for a moment, it felt like my chest turned cold. And now, thinking that I met you because of that… it’s making my head spin.”
He gave a bitter smile and shook his head. On his face, there was no trace of resentment or hatred.
Perhaps it was because his bond with Tiamat had become that precious to him. Tiamat sensed that as well.
“Life really is ironic. I suppose that’s why we can’t go on living while holding onto hatred. Not that I ever intended to.”
[That means…]
“You don’t have to worry. At the very least, I have no intention whatsoever of living my life driven by revenge born of hatred. More importantly, is there anything else I should know?”
Yujin brushed past the topic lightly and turned the conversation back to Tiamat.
Feeling relieved by Yujin’s calm demeanor, Tiamat began to speak.
[To be honest, there’s not much I can tell with just this. The only beings currently active as Transcendents are the gods, so all I can say for now is that those with the Authorities of Prophecy and Passage among them are likely to be involved…]
“That alone is more than enough. If I ever come face to face with those gods later, I can just ask them myself.”
[……]
At his mention of meeting them directly someday, Tiamat asked him once more.
[…Yujin, I know it’s a long shot, but do you think your current thoughts might change once you actually meet them face to face?]
“Well… of course, my thoughts might change once I actually face them in person, but for now, I think I want to forgive them. It’s just… I’m a bit conflicted because I don’t really have a reason to do so.”
Yujin responded with a bitter smile. And through their connection, Tiamat realized that he genuinely meant what he said.
Because of that, she decided to set aside her worries about Yujin. If it was Yujin, he would surely handle things in his own way.
Just as she was quietly feeling relieved, Yujin spoke up.
“Tia, by the way, aside from that, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?”
[Hmm? Something I want to ask?]
“It’s just that, when I was talking with the Squad Leader, I might’ve ended up leaving you out a bit… So I was wondering if there was anything you were curious about from our conversation.”
[Ah… so that’s what you meant.]
At those words, Tiamat thought for a moment, then asked Yujin.
[To be honest, there’s nothing in particular I want to ask at this point. I was able to grasp most of the context and meaning just by listening to your conversation.]
“Is that so?”
[Mhmm. Of course, I don’t fully understand everything about Earth, since it’s a completely different world, so I might have a few misconceptions… but I got the general idea, so I’m not too concerned.]
Tiamat genuinely didn’t seem to have any further questions. Thinking she might not have understood the conversation in the first place may have been a bit of an arrogant assumption.
However…
[More importantly… there’s something else I’d like to ask. Yujin, what are you planning to do from now on? From what I’ve heard, if things keep going like this, the mortals will disappear.]
“Destruction, huh… Well, I definitely don’t want that to happen. I’ve grown attached to this place, and I have no desire to just stand by and watch humanity meet its end now.”
Yujin said that with a shrug of his shoulders.
“From now on, I’m thinking of taking a more proactive approach. First, I’ll need to track down Professor Eneria, the Dark Mages’ pawn.”
[And what about the princess?]
The conversation turned to Elicia. According to Han-cheol, things had already diverged from the original timeline the moment she crossed over to the Empire. Tiamat’s reaction showed a hint of concern.
Yujin gave another casual shrug.
“I’ll have to keep in regular contact with Her Highness anyway… and I’ll come up with countermeasures in my own way. Also, remember what you mentioned before, Tia? The ‘Prophetic Dragon Words’.”
The Prophetic Dragon Words. Words that, just as the name suggested, allowed one to foresee the future. Hearing Yujin’s subtle implication that he intended to make use of them, Tiamat gave a small nod.
[That’s right. But Yujin, as I mentioned before, if a Transcendent is involved… the future you see might not necessarily be the absolute truth. For mortals, it can detect their inevitable fate without fail. But when a Transcendent is involved, the vision often ends up being just one possibility among countless others. Especially if another Transcendent who also possesses prophetic power gets involved… it can even turn into a sort of strategic battle.]
“I know. That’s why I’ll only use it as a reference.”
Yujin had no illusions that the power of prophecy was some kind of cure-all. As long as it could offer even a single possible glimpse of the future, that was more than enough for him.
“Besides, at this point, I don’t have any justification to bring Her Highness back to the Academy… and even if I did, it would only make things more difficult for me. So there’s nothing I can do about that.”
With those words, Yujin began to walk.
“Since we’ve brought it up anyway, I should probably check in with the Headmistress and see if everything’s been handled properly regarding Her Highness.”
Yujin muttered to himself, activated the teleportation, and disappeared on the spot.
***
Inside the Academy Headmistress’s office.
As always, Ines was sitting alone at her desk, working.
Although the earlier situation with Princess Elicia had left her feeling somewhat uneasy, work still had to be done.
And so, while she was immersed in her duties…
Knock, knock.
“Headmistress, it’s me. May I come in?”
“!”
Suddenly, along with a knock at the office door, she heard a familiar voice.
Startled, she quickly rose from her seat and replied.
“Ah, yes! Yujin, please, come in!”
“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
Yujin opened the door and stepped into the office. Though she had been seeing him frequently as of late, Ines still found herself tense every time she faced Yujin. She stood stiffly in front of him.
Seeing this, Yujin gave a wry smile and spoke.
“Aren’t you a little too nervous?”
“Ah, no! Not at all…”
Ines frantically waved her hands as she replied, but it was clear to anyone that she was visibly nervous. There was no way her words could be taken at face value.
Yujin let out another wry smile and spoke again.
“…Well, fine. Let’s go with that. But, as I mentioned before, if you can’t be absolutely sure that it’s just the two of us here, I’d appreciate it if you could work on that attitude of yours a little. Just like a moment ago. What would you have done if I had brought someone else with me?”
“Ah! I-I’m terribly sorry!”
“I didn’t say that because I wanted an apology, so please raise your head for now. More importantly, what happened with Her Highness, the Princess?”
Rather than enduring Ines’s constant, burdensome treatment of him any longer, Yujin decided to cut to the point and ask about the progress of the situation.
In response, Ines quickly opened her mouth.
“Ah, regarding Princess Elicia…”
From there, Ines explained what had happened with Elicia, mentioning that there had been a “slight commotion”, but in the end, she had successfully sent the princess back to the Empire without issue.
She didn’t even notice Yujin lowering his head deeply and pressing his temple with one hand upon hearing those words.
After a moment of silence, Yujin finally spoke to the Headmistress.
“…Headmistress.”
“Yes, Yujin.”
“What on earth have you done?”
“…Eh?”
Upon hearing those words, Ines let out a sound far too cute for her age and froze completely on the spot.
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