Hermit Wizard

I asked Alice.

“How are you going to resurrect the Dragon?”

There was a strong will in her eyes.

“Why the hell are you trying to know that?”

“You really have no learning ability.”

-Puck!

There was a sound of flesh popping from the back of Alice, who was floating in the air. Small, red flowers bloomed on the white marble floor under the feet.

She screamed.

I waited for a while until the screaming had subsided.

“Uh… ugh!”

Alice swallowed her sound and opened her eyes. She didn’t step back this time. Does this mean that she is so desperate about the Truth-Seeker’s resurrection?

“That… why must I tell you?! Why would you bother about this world?!”

As Alice recognized from my appearance, I was an alien race from a different world. They might not know the detailed information except to the extent that I had brainwashing ability and were very interested in the ‘Waterbird of Decay’ appearing near the Channel.

“I have some circumstances, too.”

As I played the alien race, I brought my fingers.

“The Little Melody of Adeligos.”

The air vibrations, slightly adjusted in intensity, surrounded Alice’s body. At most, it would be like a hydraulic massage that pierced the whole body unless all the skin on her back was peeled off.

I did something else for a while, leaving Alice in magic.

I moved Hessler’s body on the floor to another room. If I put him in the tank, he would lose his consciousness. It would be contrary to Yodmo’s request. I would make the magic solution again with a kind that didn’t lose his consciousness.

I then came up to the living room and returned to my original shape. After being transformed for too long, it was burdening my body. Starting with Hessler, how many hours had it been now?

I did a simple bare-handed stretch. I opened the refrigerator door and took a few sips of cola from the bottle. I washed my face simply since my face was greasy.

I looked at the clock. More than 15 minutes had passed since I cast the magic? I transformed into the alien race and then went down to the basement.

I returned to the place where the magic had been cast and saw Alice’s face. I thought it was still bearable. After all, she was a strong, ancient being.

Releasing the magic, I said, “I’m sorry, I said it was 2 minutes, but I am a little late.”

Drooping, Alice gasped and stared at me. Under her feet was a small red puddle. She twisted her lips with a terrifying look.

“You… bastard…”

I replied, “Now, can you tell me?”

“… No. I can’t believe you.”

My throat was hoarse.

“So doubtful.”

However, Alice seemed to had already predicted it. The fact that I wished to interrupt the resurrection of the Truth-seeker, not to contemplate or help.

Looking at the circumstances, that was understandable. She didn’t think I would do something like that in Hun-neung with no purpose. The motive was weak for only revenge of the kidnapping attempt in the United States.

“… I don’t know what it is but stop. If the Truth-Seeker isn’t resurrected, this world will end!”

“Well? It’s not like that this planet will explode without a Truth-Seeker. You said it with your mouth. Beings who have crossed the wall and creatures without the concept of a soul will survive. Doesn’t it matter what happens to humans? Seeing you at the wizard training center, you didn’t have any hesitation in killing them, did you?”

She spoke as if it was ridiculous, “That’s sophistry! It was an inevitable sacrifice needed for this world!”

I snorted inside. I saw through God’s senses that the beings created by Alice killed humans cruelly.

Alice said, defending herself, “It’s a different thing to kill some of the humans who were there and to ignoring the extinction of over tens of billions of life!”

“Why?”

“I am a native of this world, too. I have lived in this world for thousands of years. I can’t see the ecosystem of the dimension where I live collapse!”

She continued her words.

“It’s not just the ecosystem. You’ve also seen this city made by humans! The world that has achieved such a developed civilization is so vain!”

“No, wait. I’m just curious about this. If this place becomes a land where humans and other species can’t be born, why not move to another world as a whole?”

I tried to quote Noah’s great ark, but I quitted since it felt awkward if I put it in my mouth.

Even if you don’t resurrect the Truth-Seeker… yeah, humankind who was stepping on the Earth’s land would become only extinct. Could you just move?

“There are many Channels. Don’t you think there’s one of them? It’s a dimension suitable for migration. If you like human civilization so much, you can follow the humans.”

“Why shall humans move to another world? Why should I follow humans to another world?”

Alice said in a hoarse voice.

“Both humans and I are the original residents of this world. We don’t have to endure the absence of the Truth-Seeker that far to leave for another world. We need to resurrect the Truth-Seeker, and it’s all over!”

Regardless of other humans, I will be in trouble when he is resurrected.

“Okay, I understand. Why you guys have to resurrect the Dragon, then? Can you tell me? How does the Dragon’s resurrection work? How much time is left?”

I didn’t know the exact schedule, but when I checked the apprentices’ memories, an atmosphere within the organization would be finished in a few years.

“… I can’t even open my mouth unless you tell me what you’re up to.”

She again refused to answer and was so persistent.

I found one thing while I was retracing what Alice had to say about her.

“Ah, I was wondering why you were so desperate. Didn’t you say that the Dragon would bring similar races of another dimension to Earth? Is it because of that promise?”

Her face distorted, and she didn’t continue her words.

It was said that her race of origin had become extinct. Was she thinking of bringing a similar race to Earth and forming a clan again? Even if she mated with an entity that hadn’t crossed the wall, she could have a baby.

Well, I wasn’t interested in such nasty stories.

“Are you not telling me because of that hope? Are you afraid that I will interfere with the resurrection?”

As expected, there was no answer. I sighed.

“Do we have to start again? If we’re done, let’s keep your limbs intact.”

Alice gritted her teeth and spoke.

“I am the first and last Aes Sídhe to break through the evolutionary wall. I do not give in to pain or fear.”

Was that really true?

Parvache, who hid in the corner, sent its mind.

[I don’t think she’s going to talk easily. Wouldn’t it be better to wait for Yodmo to finish its digestion first?]

‘It’s a little disappointing for that. She said it with her mouth. There is no such thing as the ban.’

If I got even a little information before Yodmo finished digesting, my movement could be faster. A little more preparation could be done.

‘It’s like spending time here meaninglessly, so let’s just do half a day more. Still, if she doesn’t open her mouth, I’ll give up and wait for Yodmo while doing other things.’

I concentrated my Mana on both hands. A blazing flame in one hand and a white flash of healing magic in the other.

It seemed to be quite a difficult task.

***

I had a nightmare.

“Khmp! Cough! Cough!”

I was surprised and woke up. I got up and started coughing. I accidentally swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in my mouth while sleeping and made me choke. Duh.

“Cough! Cough, cough!”

The cough barely stopped and continued for a long time. My ribs hurt, but I managed to lift my upper body and sit down.

“Are you all right? May I bring you a glass of water?”

The flight attendant approached silently and asked.

“Oh, it’s all right. It’s okay.”

I nodded with a red face due to coughing and showed a strange gesture of waving my hand from side to side. Oh, it was embarrassing.

Anyway, it wasn’t smooth from the start. As soon as I got on board and got into the seat, I grabbed the towel that the flight attendant handed me and then threw it out in surprise (it was much hotter than I thought). I was embarrassed that I couldn’t find the place to put the earphone jack in. Also, I couldn’t get the table out of the armrest and almost broke it (eventually, the crew opened it up). At that moment, I woke up from my sleep and made a mess.

My cough was finally going away, and then the flight attendant who was guarding me asked.

“There was a light meal service while you were sleeping. If you don’t mind, would you like it ready now?”

I checked the time on the monitor in front of my eyes. I didn’t sleep much. I hadn’t digested the meal before I went to bed. What else could I get?

“No thanks, that’s okay.”

Since I received the spell from Kylgeniapros, my meals had decreased dramatically. Among the living tissues it took, there were also quite a few digestive organs. Apart from simply eating less, it was difficult to digest those days.

I pulled up my back after I sent the flight attendant. I was holding a remote control and fiddling with it while I was asleep. I still had more than two hours left until I arrived.

“It’s not fun.”

After rummaging around the movie, I stopped it. That year, I rarely saw fictional movies or dramas.

I just turned on the news since there was no suitable entertainment among the videos I could see. It was 9 o’clock news that aired yesterday.

-U.S. President Benjamin Greenwood spoke of South Korea in a keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly yesterday in New York. The incident, which took place at a training center in Seoul, was said to be a very shocking tragedy, and expressed condolences to the injured, missing, and their families.

-… Also, the possibility that the Channel was involved in the ‘large black sphere that induces mental disorders’ that appeared in Seoul cannot be ignored. The United States, together with Korea, is ready to help study this monster and control it properly.

-In order to prevent further tragedy, it is of utmost importance to find out the secrets of dimensions and Channels, and some countries that are blocking the sharing of such information will continue promptly…

On the screen, leaders from all over the world gathered and talked with a serious expression.

Parvache’s will was heard from the luggage compartment above my head.

[Did they explain that the base was a training center?]

‘It looks like it’s a newly built public service training center. The people on the internet already notice, and they are upset all over the place.’

I answered back and looked at the screen while leaders of countries engaged in heated debates.

How far did they know about what was happening on Earth currently? Since they were in contact with the alien races, they knew the concept of Truth-Seeker, right?

I was lost in my thought for a moment. At that time, the top priority of the United Nations was to identify the Channel and respond to abnormalities, but their distant successors might have to prepare Noah’s ark.

Humanity didn’t know the correlation between the Channel and the soul, but after that time, wouldn’t they find out someday? They would find a way, move to another world, or some would survive.

I remembered the dimension of the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker. In many aspects, it was an unsuitable dimension for human habitation, but the Earth’s science and technology would be more advanced. Wouldn’t it like to build colonies from science fiction movies? Even if they knew about it that time, there was no way to deal with it, but if it was the future, maybe…

… Hmm?

Ah? Yeah. Even if they knew about it currently, there was no way… to deal with it.

As I thought back to myself, my body hardened. That was because an unexpected possibility came to mind. I might be thinking too far ahead, but could the probability be really 0%?

What if those who appeared on T.V. found out more quickly about the future of humanity?

What if, for example, at that moment, they noticed the fact that if the Dragon wasn’t resurrected, humanity would either perish from Earth or the only option left was to move into another world.

I pinched my chin with my finger.

Disaster would happen in the next two to three hundred years. What choices would humankind make for their descendants? How far could the elite leading that world take action for the future?

In fact, their real heart didn’t matter. The problem was justification and public opinion and the descendants who would live on that planet after the death of all humanity today. The choice was at stake in their fate.

Even if they let their hand go, there was no physical damage to humanity at that time, but the justification was overwhelming. The higher the ethical superiority, the higher the voice would be. Public opinion would be sufficient to drive the world’s leaders in one direction.

I made up my mind. It shouldn’t be known to humans, after all.

I couldn’t stop thinking.

I remembered what Yusu said before.

‘I think it could happen that you abandoned compassion and thought not to protect human beings in this country. For example, what if the humans of this land came together to oppress you? Or what if you were trying to do something so terrible that you couldn’t even imagine? In the meantime, would you want to maintain that barrier?’

I had been lost in thought for a long time since then. How long had it been? An announcement was heard with a strange feeling of the aircraft descending.

-Dear passengers, our flight will arrive at Dubai International Airport soon. For now, please fasten the seat belt for safety, and pull the seatback, and put the table in place…