Meow-!
Inside Kreto’s robe, the cat lifted its head. Kreto grinned at the little creature.
“This is the cat Her Majesty asked for. He’s a cute guy who sometimes disappears on his own. But he’ll always come back if you wait.”
“…I see.”
I quietly leaned back in the seat. The scenery outside the window was that of Haylech. Fortunately, we had already left the Imperial Palace.
“Anyway, just keep it a secret from Her Majesty. I think she misunderstood your loyalty as love. Hmmmm.”
“Yes. Fine.”
It was pretty bizarre, but it was a good change. It was proof that Sophien was feeling human emotions.
“Professor Deculein, your theory is a good read. They said you were invited to the Round Table these days?”
“Yes. It’s a little bothersome.”
The Round Table was one of the five pillars of the magic world, next to Bercht, the Magic Tower, Volcano, and the Floating Island. Of course, officially, it was four pillars since Volcano (the Ashes) were excluded.
“Haha… but, if you have time, can I ask you a question?”
I nodded.
“Yes. It’s fine.”
“Oh~, if that’s the case.”
A book appeared from Kreto’s broad robe. As if he had been waiting, he flipped it open and pointed at a paragraph.
“This part, I don’t quite understand this. The magic output isn’t satisfying. I think I set the circuit of this amplifier wrong.”
“Could you draw the formula?”
“Oh, here.”
I explained the magic to Kreto while Munchkin’s eyes twinkled.
… …
“Moron.”
Bang-!
Sophien pounded the board with her fist. She felt like she was losing her composure for the first time in a while. But, this was anger she had never experienced before in her life.
“The moron spoke straight out of it.”
Sophien rubbed her temples.
Sigh…
She exhaled and rewound the voice she heard through the possessed body.
—…Well. Her Majesty ordered me to ask you about it directly. If you admire her… well, that’s kind of a problem.
—Her Majesty seems to have misunderstood a little. Not at all; I don’t have even a single drop of such a feeling.
“…Hmph.”
That was a big mistake. He didn’t feel anything of the sort, not even a single drop.
“That’s a good thing.”
Sophien grabbed four black stones. Black powder trickled down from her tight grip.
“…Hey!”
She called to the servant waiting outside.
—Yes, Your Majesty. I’m here
“I will begin my work.”
Shame burned away her desire to remain still. She didn’t know when it would grow cold again, but she had already decided what to do on these rare occasions.
“Call the ministers.”
She would torture those damn ministers.
Slam-!
Sophien swung the door open. She stalked out the bedroom, her servants and knights in tow.
— Not at all; I don’t have even a single drop of such a feeling.
She recalled Deculein’s words again. It was rather fortunate that he didn’t dare feel such things for her, but… it was weird. Something that couldn’t be easily expressed in words tickled at her.
“Your Majesty, we’re honored.”
Meanwhile, she arrived in the Imperial Hall, and the officials in the Imperial Palace gathered. Sophien looked down at them.
“I will start the discussion. Everyone must be ready.”
The ministers who were not ready felt perplexed by the suddenness of it, but Sophien didn’t care.
“The theme is All Nations! Let’s talk about the future direction of the empire using the examples of sages and heroes of the past!”
* * *
Whooosh…
A blizzard veiled the concave prison basin. Because of that, in that dark and harsh place where no sun could leak through, Julie was looking at several black and white stones atop a wooden board. Even in the winter in the North, the trend of the empire managed to reach them.
“These days, this game is very popular among the nobility.”
Reylie pouted her lips and placed a black stone on the board. Julie smiled softly.
“…They say it’s a game that resembles war. It seems quite war-like. It’s a very good game where you can train your wits as a knight.”
The goal of Go was ultimately to win territory. You couldn’t win by blindly killing an enemy’s stones, and you couldn’t win by forcefully saving your stones. Therefore, battle and war coexisted in Go.
Julie liked that. She had some talent at the game.
“Hmph. It’s not even fun; how can they call it a game?”
“It becomes more fun when you play it. The more you know.”
“Yeah~, ahhhhh~.”
Just when Reylie started to yawn, a knock rattled the door to Julie’s office.
—Knight. Newspaper.
“Oh. It’s the newspaper.”
Reylie stood and opened the door. The guard, dressed in thick furs, handed her the newspaper. Due to the bitter chill they faced, both Julie and Reylie had gone out hunting to make at least one fur coat for themselves.
“Thank you~.”
“Yes.”
Reylie returned to her seat, but her face hardened as her eyes swept over the articles. She turned to look at Julie.
“Knight.”
“Huh?”
“I think you should take a look.”
Reylie handed Julie the newspaper.
[# 3333 Rockfell, Knight of Iliade, discovered dead during a mission.]
“This…”
Reylie clenched her teeth, but she couldn’t say anything. Julie’s expression was much colder than her own; no, it was colder than the blizzard raging outside…
* * *
…I had a dream, but it wasn’t my own. It was Deculein’s dream.
—What’s going on?
It was a scene from ten years ago. Sierra was there. The woman Deculein killed was still alive.
—The child is very sick.
At that time, Sierra told Deculein that Sylvia was seriously ill. She had inherited Sierra’s hereditary disease.
- It’s fine if I’m the only one sick. Even if my child is sick, there will be a way. I believe so. However.
Sierra held back tears. Deculein watched her with indifferent eyes.
—Glitheon gave me this letter…
Demon’s letter. Its curse killed people, but if it only killed, it wouldn’t be a demon. The letter held a cunning clue.
[And if you spread this letter to more than five people, your next day will be full of good luck.]
Deculein turned his eyes away.
—Was Glitheon the starting point of this letter?
Sierra bit her lip. The rain continued to pour outside. She came to Yukline without Glitheon’s knowledge after learning her husband was the culprit behind the letter that killed hundreds and would kill hundreds more.
—Maybe he didn’t know it was going to be like this… or even if he did…
Sierra confessed. Glitheon spread the letter for the sake of Sylvia. At the same time, she blamed herself for passing her disease on to Sylvia.
—He would’ve known. It’s Glitheon.
Sierra bowed her head, and her broken body shook with tears. Deculein didn’t have to blame her. She was a woman walking on a thorny road. The fact that she married the madman Glitheon was enough for her to deserve sympathy. And, above all, her life span was short.
—Go.
Deculein spoke.
—Yukline will take care of the demon. There is no room for a sick person like you to…
The dream was short, and I opened my eyes. I smiled a little, recalling the past. Before his fiancée had died, Deculein was merciful.
“Oh. Professor! Are you awake?!”
Allen’s voice rang out from somewhere. She was sitting in her office chair and reading a book.
「Introduction to Go」
“A Go book?”
“Ah, yes. They said I have to do this to learn how to play it… Professor, try it too!”
I got up without answering. A midday nap and in a chair. Maybe it was because I had been quite tired from gaining proficiency in Duct Tape lately. Indeed, I had no mana left.
“Bye, Professor! Oh! You didn’t forget about the business trip today, right?!”
“I know.”
“Okay!”
With that, I left, boarding the elevator and heading to the special floor Hall of the tower. There were still many people left crowding the hall.
- So. Here, the password is embedded in this stone.
—A password? We have to crack that code. Is that what you’re saying?
—It can be dismantled, and it can be broken.
They were gathered together and discussing the encryption I placed on the stones.
- Wow. It’s hard. The Professor that made this is also amazing.
—You know what they say. Is it more difficult to create a problem, or is it more difficult to solve it?
“Epherene.”
At that moment, the voices in the hall cut off. All the students turned to me.
“…Yes?”
Epherene tilted her head.
“Follow me. We have a business trip to attend to.”
* * *
Vrooom-
The airship vibrated as it took off. Epherene and Allen were sitting on the couch in the VVIP seat and staring blankly out the window.
“Wow! It floats, it floats!”
“I know, right!”
It was neither of their first times riding in an airship, but it seemed to be the first time they could look out and watch the sky so leisurely.
“Cloud! Cloud! It’s a cloud!”
“I know, right!”
I watched the two of them shouting. They looked like sisters, kneeling on the couch and clinging to the window.
“But Epherene. Are you okay? Aren’t you in the middle of a test right now?”
“Ah… that?”
As I listened to them converse, I pulled out the Go board. Practicing Go should not be neglected either. No matter if Understanding could achieve exponential results, Sophien was a formidable enemy. Rather, it couldn’t be ruled out that Sophien would grow further using my game record as fuel.
“Oh, right. Professor.”
Epherene spun around.
“What is this business trip about today?”
“It’s about the Round Table.”
“…!”
Epherene’s eyes widened. The Round Table, a magical space different from both Bercht and the Floating Island.
“The Round Table!”
Like Epherene, most wizards held pretty big fantasies about the Round Table, but it wasn’t a very good place. Rather, it was a place stained with madness and obsession.
If the Floating Island was the pursuit of pure learning, and Bercht was the gathering of truth out of the world, the Round Table was a world in which the desires of a wizard were distorted.
We needed to be on the lookout for what would happen there.
“It’s the Round Table! Assistant Professor! He said we’re going to the Round Table!”
Epherene spoke to Allen with a bright face. Allen smiled and nodded.
“I know, right! I’m going for the first time!”
The two made a fuss, clapping their hands. I looked at the clock without saying a word.
It was 3 p.m. We would arrive at around 5 o’clock, so let me play Go until then. I started replaying AlphaGo’s game that remained in my memory.
“Oh right, Professor!”
Then, suddenly, Epherene laughed in a silly way and pulled out a stone. It was the magic resistance stone.
“Look.”
At the same time, she closed her eyes. Epherene took a deep breath, concentrating her mana, and-
Whoooong—!
The stone floated.
“I did it!”
Epherene spoke proudly. I nodded slightly as I looked at her, and a faint smile crept across her lips.
“Okay. Good job.”
“…”
Epherene’s expression turned blank for a bit.
* * *
The Imperial Palace was dazzling in all seasons. However, in that place where the confrontation between the Emperor and the priesthood had intensified recently, Sophien was playing Go. Her opponent was an old man who was directly recruited from the Archipelago. With his full gray hair and neatly dressed uniform, anyone could see that he was a master.
“…I lost.”
But Sophien won easily. It was a victory by a wide margin that didn’t exceed 100 moves. She waved her hand in annoyance. Several knights appeared to half-carry the old man out.
“Gosh… Deculein, that bastard’s talent.”
She remembered Deculein again. She played the match she had with him and put the pieces back on the board. One by one, every single copy. Every time that happened, she could hear a voice in her mind.
—Her Majesty seems to have misunderstood a little. Not at all; I don’t have even a single drop of such a feeling.
“…Sigh.”
Sophien clenched her fist. Suddenly, it felt like her whole body was shrinking. She had never experienced anything like this in hundreds of years.
“Should I kill myself?”
She was genuinely considering the thought.
—Her Majesty seems to have misunderstood a little.
Saying that Deculein wore a very absurd face. He looked like a raccoon with a beak, an elephant without a trunk.
—Not at all; I don’t have even a single drop of such a feeling.
It was a voice containing not a single lie. It was a tone that cut even the possibility down.
“…Kreto, this guy.”
He could’ve just asked, saying that he was curious. Were you using the Emperor’s name just because you were embarrassed? You dared to humiliate the Emperor who stands at the apex of all people…?
“Life is so hard!”
Sophien toppled the board and flopped on the floor of her room.
Tick-tock-
Tick-tock-
She looked up at the ceiling in the stillness and near-perfect silence.
“…He doesn’t like me.”
She was so clumsy in human relationships, so she made a bizarre mistake. No, maybe that’s what was expected. Did she want something from the guy she had been with for so many years without even knowing it?
“…”
Sophien was unaware of her feelings. Since she didn’t know her feelings, she couldn’t know the feelings of others, and that was why she misunderstood. Her only weakness was emotions…
“It’s a huge mistake.”
Sophien jumped up. She then changed her clothes slowly, slowly, into the bear fur coat that the northern Drozen had offered her. It looked normal on the surface, but a special artifact effect was added to it.
It was—
Meditation and Calm.
“Hmph…”
Sophien became a bear and calmed her mind, exploring her own emotions while playing Go.
