Chapter 186 – The Old City (Four)

Ten days ago.

A boy wearing a long windbreaker appeared on the outskirts of the ruins, they said.

“Even bringing an army would have been insufficient, so it was surprising that he appeared alone. In any case, the fact that he was an intruder threatening the security of my kingdom remained unchanged. So I tried to have the soldiers drive him out.”

But the man, about to throw a lure device, witnessed the following moment.

The sight of the boy chewing and swallowing several small red gemstones.

“At that moment, the mana aura emanating from the intruder’s body exploded and amplified. The nearby soldiers, reacting to it, drew their swords and rushed at him.”

Seeing this, the boy let out a chilling laugh and similarly generated and gripped a sword made of red energy.

And then.

He swung it madly, slaughtering the Keepers as he advanced toward the tower.

“Of course, the red sword couldn’t cut through the soldiers’ sturdy armor. It merely targeted and severed the lower-strength joint parts.”

Because of this, the fallen Keepers repeatedly got up endlessly as their bodies regenerated.

But it was utterly meaningless.

Because the speed at which the intruder knocked down the Keepers and advanced was far faster than their recovery speed.

“The intruder laughed endlessly. As if the act of breaking and cutting something itself was enjoyable. Like a child killing insects mercilessly with malice.”

Feeling a type of fear he had never experienced before, the man entered the Cube and locked the door.

Desperately hoping the opponent wouldn’t notice his existence.

“The intruder entered the castle, set fires, and slashed everything around with his sword. I could only huddle helplessly like a worm in my bedchamber.”

Fortunately, he said the intruder didn’t notice his presence.

He just attempted to break the Cube, gave up, went outside the tower, wandered around as if searching for something, and then left the ruins.

Veronica whispered to Ray.

“Ray, that red gemstone….”

“Right, it’s a Bloodstone.”

Bloodstone.

A high-quality mana charging stone issued to Mercread operatives.

In other words, it meant the intruder was a person belonging to Mercread.

Ray asked the man.

“You said the intruder approached close to the Cube and attacked. Do you remember how many of the opponent’s Rings were activated at that time?”

“I remember. Exactly four.”

Four Rings. An Executive.

Obsess, Vicious, Lazy.

It would have been one of the three we haven’t encountered yet, but a question arose before who the opponent was.

Ray looked intently at Walter’s ring he had taken from his pocket and thought.

‘Detection magic, the arrows indicating the locations of the remaining three Executives have never once moved from the upstream direction of the Elton River to another side.’

Along with the question, he asked the man.

“Was the intruder wearing a ring?”

“He was wearing one. I remember it was a ring with a red gemstone set in it.”

It wasn’t that an Executive had given their ring to someone else.

Only one conclusion followed.

It meant the opponent had manipulated the detection magic bestowed upon the ring to fake their location, just as Curiosa had done.

And after a moment of thought.

“The Doctor has recognized our existence.”

At Ray’s additional conclusion spoken aloud, Veronica asked back.

“That’s how it works?”

“This is Allerger’s command location. There’s no reason for other Executives, whose movements don’t overlap, to appear here, so.”

Ray took a breath and finished his words.

“Unless the Doctor has given new orders to the Executives.”

“Ah…!”

“The opponent arrived here first by a slight margin of ten days, damaged the tower’s records, and also conducted a search to find the gemstone. We should clearly see it as an action conscious of us.”

Veronica said with a face of realization.

“That’s the situation we were hoping for.”

“The reason we’ve been clashing with Mercread was to attract the Doctor’s attention and encounter him directly.”

“But it’s also a situation that’s worrying at the same time.”

“The chances of being exposed to danger will definitely increase.”

The girl momentarily felt a churning in her stomach… but facing the boy’s calm eyes, it seemed to improve.

She then expressed a question.

“But why didn’t he send an Executive to us directly? If we’re beings interfering with the organization’s activities, it would be right to deal with us quickly.”

That, the boy didn’t know either.

He only had the impression that the Doctor wanted to conceal the characters and pictures on the tower wall.

With the question, Ray continued to ask the man.

“Is there any memorable characteristic about the intruder?”

“That’s all I said earlier. Age around mid-teens. Chilling laughter, long windbreaker, and….”

Mid-teens.

An age that didn’t make sense.

According to Curiosa, the Executives were adopted by the Doctor about 20 years ago.

By that logic, their current ages should all be in their 20s or 30s.

‘Is it because of some experiment by the Doctor that they don’t age? Or maybe it’s a different person.’

As Ray was lost in thought, the man’s shout was heard.

“Ah, ah! The intruder came up here and kept muttering something!”

“What did he say?”

“He said he couldn’t understand Father. That he didn’t know why he was wary of a guy whose imagination hadn’t even bloomed.”

Ray tilted his head.

Father would refer to the Doctor, but he couldn’t understand the part about imagination.

Beside him, Veronica muttered.

“Ray is a bit, just a tiny bit lacking in imagination.”

“…….”

In fact, it wasn’t just a bit lacking but catastrophically lacking, so he couldn’t refute it.

Ray asked Grine.

“Have you heard about Mercread?”

“Rumors.”

“The words just now, any part you can guess?”

“Hmm… For an Executive of a powerful organization and a 4th Circle Wizard, he probably wouldn’t have said such a thing carelessly.”

Grine was lost in thought for a moment, then said.

“There was such a story in the records preserved in the Last Forest. That wizards of the Ancient Era used magic in a different way than now.”

“You mean a method other than Rings?”

“No. They had Rings the same. But there was a big difference in the way they manifested magic, they said.”

Because the records were damaged, the exact details weren’t known.

But the part remained that they amplified the power of magic by exerting some innate quality of a living being.

Hearing the word imagination, that content came to mind for some reason, she said.

‘Blooming of imagination.’

He tried to imagine about the short phrase, but failed because he had no imagination to unfold.

So the boy glared wide-eyed at the man.

“The wall was full of pictures and characters.”

“B-before they were damaged by the intruder, they were.”

“What were the contents?”

“Uh, um. I don’t remember well, but.”

“You don’t remember?”

“J-just scribbles, right? I’ve never paid attention to them even once─.”

Crackle!

Seeing the bright blue electricity sparking from Ray’s hand, the man’s face turned pale.

Veronica hurriedly grabbed Ray by the nape and pulled him back, stepping forward.

“Your Majesty, is there really nothing you remember? It’s a really important part for us. Since you are so intelligent, if you think carefully, surely something will come to mind, right?”

“U-um, if you say so…”

Under Veronica’s praise and soothing offensive, the man’s fear quickly subsided.

Not long after, the man, in a better mood, parted his lips.

“There is a place that violent intruder dared not set foot in.”

The place the man guided the party to was the first floor of the tower.

“Wait a moment while I open the door.”

The man, kneeling on one knee, infused mana into the first-floor floor.

Mana of various colors drew complex patterns and spread to various parts of the floor, and soon.

Grrrrrr──

The floor split in half, revealing a deep underground staircase.

“Your Majesty, how did you know about something like this?”

“Hahaha! Isn’t it natural to grasp all the spaces of one’s own nest?”

“But then why couldn’t you remember the characters and pictures on the wall─.”

Veronica twisted Ray’s lips to stop him.

“You really, really seem amazing! May we ask you to continue guiding us?”

“Of course, follow me!”

The beaming man took the lead and went down the stairs.

Veronica, having released Ray’s mouth, moved her hand over her lips in a gesture of zipping them shut.

Ray made the same gesture and followed the man with the party.

Tap─ tap─ tap─

Under the light clusters floating by magic.

The sound of four pairs of footsteps echoed quietly.

With each step, the light from above grew distant, and the slanted stairs gave a feeling of falling rather than descending.

How much time passed like that.

Tap.

They reached the end of the stairs.

For a moment, the suddenly swelling light clusters drove out the darkness that had permeated the space.

“Wow…!”

“This is incredible…?”

Seeing the scenery before their eyes, Veronica and Grine burst out in admiration.

It was a cavern of ample width.

In the center, a stone tablet towering well over the height of an adult man stood tall.

The surrounding walls in a circle were filled with unknown pictures.

“Your Majesty, this place…?”

“I don’t know exactly what purpose this place serves either. But if you were curious about the scribbles on the wall, there are plenty of similar things here, so enjoy them to your heart─.”

That was the moment.

The boy’s steps were taken as if entranced.

Tap─

Steps neither slow nor fast.

Tap─

They advanced, leaving deep footprints in the silence pooled in the space.

Tap.*

Where they stopped at the end was before the stone tablet.

Ancient characters filled with purple mana were reflected in the boy’s white pupils.

It was a short sentence he couldn’t read or pronounce, but the meaning was conveyed intact.

[We await your return.]

At that moment, the boy couldn’t think properly.

He just wanted to ask.

Who are the ‘we’ who wait.

Who are ‘you’ who returns.

And who carved such a sentence on the stone tablet, and for what.

“……?”

The boy suddenly realized tears were flowing from his eyes.

Looking closely, the mana pooled in the ancient characters had various colors besides purple.

Pink sadness. Scarlet gratitude.

Purple longing. Pink yearning, etc.

It seemed he had momentarily assimilated with the emotions of the one who carved the letters.

Then, voices came from behind, Veronica and Grine’s.

“Grine, these pictures. It seems like a story continues along the wall, doesn’t it?”

“Definitely. Then would the starting and ending points of the story be on either side of the entrance we came through?”

Since there was no other content on the stone tablet, Ray turned his body toward the two.

“Ah, Ray. Come here! It seems to start from here!”

The murals took a simple style consisting only of dots and lines.

At a glance, they looked like scribbles a child might have scrawled, but upon careful examination, individual forms could be sufficiently discerned.

Ray stared at the mural on the right side of the entrance and said.

“This round line is a fruit─.”

“Huh? Ray, that doesn’t seem right. It’s full of people gathered inside. I think it’s a plaza.”

“Then this square here is a bench─.”

“Ray, that’s clearly stairs to anyone.”

The mace wielded by those with rich imagination was truly fierce.

Nearly losing his mind, Ray barely stepped back and listened to the conversation.

“Isn’t it a picture depicting various races living together in one place?”

“I agree with Veronica’s thought. This side has pointed ears, so Elves, this side is short in stature, so Dwarves, this side with mountain-like height seems like Giants.”

I don’t really know.

“It must be the appearance before the war broke out. But they don’t look particularly happy or joyful.”

“There’s a somewhat mechanical feeling. Their faces are all expressionless too.”

How do you know that?

Ray, who was throwing silent questions, suddenly realized one fact the two hadn’t noticed yet.

‘The murals before our eyes now, they have no color.’

Only black and white.

Just two colors.

Turning his gaze to the right to examine the continuing murals, he could see they all belonged to a colorless world.

However, that history wasn’t long.

From a certain point onward, the murals continued with color applied.

Ray moved his steps toward the part where the colorless and colored areas were tangled like territorial waters.

“…….”

A mural slightly larger than the others.

Above the black-and-white world, the only object possessing color floated.

Seven colors layered.

A form of a ring cut in half.

Below it.

Someone could be seen taking steps toward the ancient races.