Knock—Knock—
I was awakened by the sound of knocking on the dormitory window.
“...What the hell?”
I looked over. A [Delivery BoxJ was pressing itself against the glass window.
Screech—
I opened the window. The [Delivery BoxJ slid inside smoothly.
"Hmm."
I didn’t know who sent it, but I checked the contents anyway. It was just a USB drive and a business card.
The name on the card was Nurse Eri.
At that moment, I had a hunch.
It was 'her' name, after all.
I could guess what information might be contained within.
My mother’s death, probably.
I sat down at my desk. Opened my laptop. Connected the USB. There was one video and several documents in the folder.
Before I hit the enter button, there was one thing to be mindful of.
My current dormitory was exposed to Johanna through a ‘spatial mediation’ formula. Everything I heard and saw was shared with her.
However, there are many ways to evoke human emotions.
Sympathy and compassion are certainly among them.
Click-
I played the video on the USB.
The scene was a household table.
A reporter was only shown from the back, while Nurse ‘Eri’ was fully visible, as if the video was taken secretly.
"[...So then. You're saying that 20 years ago, due to the oppressive demands of the Petra family, Shion Ascal’s mother was driven to death. Is that correct?]”
[I... think so.]
Eri was a conscientious commoner.
She lived a life tormented by the trauma of that day and eventually came to me to confess the truth, but when the time came for her testimony, she fled.
I don’t hold a grudge.
Fear and terror are difficult for anyone to bear.
You, me, in fact, everyone in the world is two-faced.
[Yes. Thank you for your report. That will be all.]
Before my regression, Elise herself had bribed Eri.
Maybe even threatened her.
She won’t do that now.
She is not that monster of the future.
Rather...
"It's you.”
This Delivery Box had her scent and magical energy on it.
Had she obtained the information from the reporter before me and sent it my way?
I stared at the screen. Leaned back in my chair. Deliberately made a complex expression.
My feelings were indeed mixed.
If possible, I wanted to hide it.
Because Elise has changed.
Even though the Petra family might still be the same, someday when Elise becomes the head, she will change everything.
My mother’s death is not her fault.
I hoped she wouldn’t be hurt by it.
Ding-
A breaking news alert popped up in the corner of my laptop.
[Breaking News. Armed conflict between organizations erupts in the suburban areas of central Edsilla. Multiple gunshots and magical explosions reported...]
Early in the morning, I made my way to the battlefield. There were quite a few onlookers outside Crow’s building.
They all loitered outside the Police line, but I strode in confidently.
"Uh, excuse me. Civilians are—”
"Here.”
I flashed my ID.
It was a roughly made detective badge using [ Deception J . My face was covered with an Infimian mask.
The patrol officer quickly saluted.
"Yes! Be careful inside! It's quite gruesome!'
I entered the building.
First, I saw the pale-faced police officers.
“...Hey, hey. Just take pictures for now, and—ugh, fuck. Blargh—”
"Bleeeaaargh ."
I passed the vomiting officers and reached the hall on the first floor.
It was a massacre.
Bodies were strewn all over the place.
Some had died fighting, some while trying to escape, and others were caught in explosions.
I checked the faces of the corpses. The second-in-command, Face, was easily found. He had died with a bullet lodged between his eyes.
The third-in-command, Crow, was on the staircase to the third floor. His upper and lower halves were separated, a truly horrific sight.
There were countless other bodies.
Most of Quantum Mechanic's forces had been expended here.
Those who remained would not be safe either. Zia’s cleanup operation had started long ago.
I continued to survey the interior.
I went up the stairs to the rooftop, but the most important Quantum Mechanic—Jesco was nowhere to be found.
Had he survived and fled?
Drrring-drrring-
Justthen, I received a call.
It was Zia.
"Yes.”
.The central western forces are 99% cleared out.
Zia’s voice was elated. She seemed thrilled by the success of the operation.
"Is that so.”
Now, we’ve seized control of the central west.
The scale of the arms industry will grow significantly day by day, and with just this, Zia now has the power to challenge for succession.
—Yeah. We couldn’t find Quantum Mechanic though.
“I think I know where he might have gone.”
If he’s still alive, it’s clear where he would have fled to.
"Should I pursue?
.Yes. Do that.
Zia doesn’t leave loose ends. When dealing with enemies, she is more ruthless than anyone.
"Yes.”
I ended the call. At the same time, I booked a flight.
The destination was Arahall.
Jesco would probably return to the desert.
A scorching wind whipped across the crimson earth. Jesco wandered through the desert where the high-temperature winds seemed to clutch at his limbs, and the sand grains, sharp as shards of glass, seemed to slice through his skin.
With a pistol clutched in hand, he staggered forward, each step a struggle.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sand stuck to his flowing blood, and his burnt skin was already in the throes of necrosis.
Yet, he did not stop moving his legs.
—Even if one day you fail completely, the desert will be waiting for you.
Whether the foolish man that he was would be embraced or rejected by the desert, he did not know. But for Jesco, who had lost everything, the only mirage left was there
Thud.
His foot caught on something.
Jesco’s body tilted. He planted his face into the hot sand.
A heat akin to flames spread, and a momentary hallucination surfaced.
‘You would have had a much better and more ordinary life if you’d gone to college.’
It was something Jesco himself had once said to Belkman.
Strangely, every moment spent with that guy was crystal clear.
It was just three months out of a life lived for 37 years.
‘It wasn’t home I was missing, but someone.'
Just like you said, did I also long for ‘someone’—someone to do things with, to trust and rely on? Having been born without parents and fled from my homeland, did I too yearn for that?
It seems so.
"Yeah.”
Jesco smiled faintly. He reached out and grasped a handful of the scorching sand.
He felt regret.
For what had he lived like this?
For what had he killed people?
For what had he committed crimes?
“I should have just gone to college That would have been better.”
If I had met you a little earlier.
Or if you had really been born as my brother.
Or if I hadn’t been Jesco of Quantum Mechanic, but an entrepreneur engaged in a legitimate business.
Then you might still be alive.
I killed you with my own greed.
Jesco quietly shed tears.
As a child, he hated the life born of the desert.
He always yearned for the outside world, obsessed with their brilliant lights and gold.
Money.
He had coveted it far too much.
Insisting that there could be no value more important than money, denying its existence, he deceived his hollow self.
That was wrong.
It was a mistaken belief.
Because there certainly are things more important than money.
"Ha.
Jesco let out a hollow laugh and closed his eyes. Sand settled over his body.
A sandstorm can swallow a person in an instant
No one knows how many bodies are buried beneath these dunes, these sand hills.
Even if one day you fail completely, the desert will be waiting for you.
The words were ambiguous.
Desert folks are strange.
They spend their lives loathing the desert, but when death approaches, they always return to the sands, wishing to be buried beneath them.
.You would have done the same.”
The merciful desert would accept a bastard like me.
Beneath the endless sands, it would offer a cozy bed.
But Belkman, somewhere cold in Edsilla.
Jesco’s thoughts did not continue beyond that.
His consciousness was cut off in an instant.
Like scorpions gathering on a corpse, the swirling sand grains clung to him.
They engulfed Jesco like a tomb.
.Tsk.”
Suddenly, the sound of someone clicking their tongue floated from somewhere.
Sleek— a sword was drawn.
He watched Jesco being buried silently. Clutching his sword, he pondered for a moment in the spreading heat of the desert.
Then, he sheathed his sword again.
He reached out and lifted Jesco. He hoisted his entire body onto his shoulder.
When Jesco opened his eyes, he was under a white tent.
He looked around blankly.
He was lying in a bed, and there were several patients in the beds next to him.
What on earth had happened?
"You finally woke up?
Someone approached the dazed, blinking man.
Jesco bolted upright as soon as he saw him. His limbs flailed as if he had seen a ghost
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, calm down."
.senior, Belkon?”
"Ah- You still remember? Hasn’t it been almost 17 years?
Am I already dead? Did I die and come to the desert?
Jesco muttered like a man who had lost his soul.
"Dead? What are you talking about, you fool.”
.Then. Is this home?"
"Yeah.”
Belkon pulled back the tent's flap. Jesco looked beyond it.
Is it different from the home you knew?”
He nodded silently without a word.
Indeed, it was different.
There was a school not far away, there were roads, shops, cars, and even inside the hospital tent, there was a computer.
"It's changed a lot...”
"Yeah. An anonymous donation came in. Technicians came and built it all up.”
Jesco found himself smiling vaguely without realizing it.
Probably, it was Belkman’s three months' salary.
Compared to all the money he’s spent eating, drinking, killing, indulging, and living in luxury, it was an infinitely small amount, just a mere three months' salary.
Even with just that, his hometown has changed so much.
“I’m not sure who sent it, but... it seems you've been through some rough stuff outside, huh?”
Jesco turned to look at Belkon, scratching his temple and asking faintly.
“...Senior. Do you happen to know Belkman?"
"Belkman?”
"Yeah. I know of him, but not much.”
Belkon nodded.
"He left a while ago. Left at twenty, just like you.”
“...Family?”
"None. He’s an orphan too.”
Jesco’s words were halted. Something was rising in his throat, an emotion trying to surface, but he forcibly suppressed it, contorting his face.
“...I see.”
"Why? Did you meet that guy?
"Yeah. I met him."
Jesco answered with a trembling voice.
"But, Belkon senior.”
“It’s been a while since anyone’s called me ‘senior.’ These days, the kids call me old man."
"—I killed too many people in Edsilla."
Belkon’s expression hardened instantly.
Jesco continued basely.
"Can I... live here?”
"Hmm...”
Belkon let out a deep sigh. Then, with a twitch of his eyebrows, he delivered some sort of diagnosis.
"You. You've got cancer.”
“...Cancer?”
"Yeah. We tested with a blood kit, so it might not be accurate... but it looks like you’ve neglected your health completely."
Jesco’s face went blank for a moment, but then he actually smiled.
“...Really? I have cancer?”
"Let's talk about the heavy stuff later.”
Belkon sat down on the edge of the hospital bed.
"Anyway, the desert has embraced you now.”
"Embraced?”
"Yeah. You know about the sandstorms. Walking through one like that and not dying, it can only mean the desert has taken you in.”
With that, he handed something to Jesco.
It was a tombstone.
A pair of matching tombstones.
"They were in your pocket.”
Jesco looked at them expressionlessly for a moment, then carefully accepted them.
Belkon asked.
"What exactly did you do in Edsilla?”
Edsilla.
In that place, Jesco had deluded himself into thinking he had gained everything.
Now, having lost all that he thought he had gained, he finally acquired everything.
“...I learned about life."
Jesco laughed, ruffling his long hair roughly.
"Besides, senior.”
If this is a new life I’ve been given, if it’s the last gift from you who left before me.
Then for your sake, I’ll live a life of atonement for as long as I can.
"How many years do I have left to live?”
...For the remainder of my days, as far as they can reach.
