Chapter 35 – Life and Magic (7)

Life and Magic (7)

I quickly tidied up the messy room.

It didn’t take much time to organize. The room was quite small to begin with, and the papers that had been scattered about were all taken by Aeon.

I pulled over an empty desk and spread out the wills.

Canary-colored paper.
Pale pink paper.
Orange paper.

Ignore the rest since they’re closed.

The information I struggled to obtain from opening the letters was a few suspicious convictions. A handwriting different from Troka’s, sentences that ended abruptly, and the content written in the letters themselves.
Especially, the content written to master is especially suspicious.

It’s a lie, don’t be fooled.

What’s the lie, and what am I not supposed to be fooled by? I wish they’d explain it properly so I could understand.
Moreover, I can’t even tell which order the master’s letter was written in.
And unless I’m going mad, the letter was definitely opened. How do I explain that slight moment, briefly opened and then sealed again, unnoticed by anyone?
I’ve thought about it over and over, but there’s too little I know.

If Troka is alive…
Well, that’s impossible.

The problem is the goddess’s intervention.
From the start, how did Troka manage to imbue the goddess’s power into the letters? No matter how I look at it, there’s no way or reason for Troka to have done that.

Then that bitch must have exercised her own power directly. But why?
Whatever it is, I need to wreak havoc properly. I can’t stand to see the goddess succeed.

To truly understand the goddess’s schemes, I need to open the letters. And to return home, I need to open the letters.

And for Troka and those bitches, I must open the letters.

I’m not sure if I’m opening the letters in the correct order, but I guess I’m getting it roughly right. After all, I got the first and second ones correct.

I hope that opening the letters this time will reveal more information.
With that hope, I arranged the letters.

“Well, now.”

Time to pull out the recluse from the corner of the room and face reality. A few thrusts with the holy sword should be enough to open that kind of barrier. Or maybe a few more swings will do.

With the sensation of my brain burning, I activated the holy sword. I delivered a horizontal strike that connected point to point. Pieces of paper flew in all directions.

The barrier was shattered, but she didn’t care.
It seemed that scribbling was more important right now.

She wasn’t preparing to part with Troka emotionally. There were no tears or mourning. She was just continuing to deny his death.

Seeing her like that was unbearable. I could feel my face crumpling in real-time.
It seemed Aeon felt the same. As soon as she saw my face, she began to speak.

“I’ve been thinking, what’s the basis for what you said? You don’t expect me to believe that without any evidence, do you?”

Sharp words. There seemed to be no intention to hide the hostile atmosphere. Well, a claim needs to be based on evidence. Even Aeon, who believed Troka was alive, provided some sort of basis, albeit subjective.

Even though we were once colleagues. Isn”t that a bit too harsh? Hahaha.
Maybe I was the only one who thought of us as colleagues.
If a groveling worm suddenly tries to act like an equal, it’s bound to be repulsive.
Haha.

Ha.

“Believe it or not. That’s all I know. There”s no evidence.”

Well, this is just a hypothesis after all. There”s no record of anyone who wasn’t a hero.

Whether the hero is still alive. My death would confirm that fact, but I”m not ready to die just yet. I can”t die now.

“Troka is supposed to be the Hero…”

Aeon started writing something on a scrap of paper again.
At this point, I became curious. What exactly is the content of the research that’s sucking the life out of Troka, and what kind of item requires even more high-quality magical power?
Unless it”s a decisive weapon that could kill the demon king outright, I can”t imagine allowing it.

“So, what exactly is this great research content you”ve been hiding under wraps?”

“A defensive tool based on a perpetual magic engine. If we had that, we wouldn’t have needed the hero. Now, we’ll have to look for another way.”

Although her expression was sharp, she answered. Was that all there was to the content she had been hiding so tightly? A tool to replace the hero?
And to think, it’s powered by Troka”s magic.

Ha, now that I’ve got my answer, I should return the favor.

“Even the divine substance of magic can’t be eternal. You don’t actually think you can create such a thing with Troka’s magic, do you? And what kind of bullshit is it to make an object to replace him with Troka’s power?”

“The demon king occurs naturally at regular intervals. But not the hero. It takes years, sometimes decades, for a hero to crawl out. Are you suggesting we just watch humanity get slaughtered until then?”

In reality, it takes years for a hero to appear after the emergence of a demon king. In an incomplete form.
Of course, this is because it takes a year to summon a human from another world.
And yet, the reason why it sometimes takes decades for a hero to appear is…

That one.

“And Troka could have made it if he had just cooperated a little more. And Troka is still alive. He ran away because he’s afraid of being replaced, like an idiot.”

I didn”t know it would hurt so much to be hit repeatedly on a sore spot. On top of that, I’d long since lost the sound of mind to listen to the venomous accusations against Troka over and over again.

“In the end, he died because he couldn’t overcome his fear, even though it was just an act. Yeah. If only he had researched a little more, it surely would have been possible…”

“From the beginning, you joined the party not with any noble sense of purpose but to use Troka, didn’t you?”

Before she could retort, I cut her off loudly.

“And that damned research saves people? What a fucking joke. Because of that damned project, 50 years had been shaved from Troka’s life, 50 years vanished from an ordinary person’s life!!!”

Aeon momentarily showed a surprised expression, but it didn’t last long. How long had it been since she’d shown even that much of a disturbance?

Come to think of it, had I never mentioned this before?

Ah, Troka told me not to.
That idiot, that’s right.
As if brainwashed by someone, he was obsessed with his mission as a hero.

“Hmm, I see. I need to try a bit harder.”

Wait a minute. Goddess, hero, mission.
What happened to Troka during the time we were apart?

“If Troka had given more of that damned magic power when he was supplying it, none of this would have happened. If that bastard had───”

I’ll think about it later. There’s something more urgent now.
Seeing her quickly regain her composure and spout bullshit makes my blood boil. It feels like I’m hearing the same thing over and over again. That’s why it’s even more unbearable.

“Was the magic power he created by burning through his own life not enough? Of course, it wasn’t. You’ve always wasted it on useless things.”

To Aeon, the fact that the source of the magic power was Troka’s lifespan seemed meaningless. She had always been like that. Only caring about herself.

A hazy memory from the old days. Troka once cooked food himself to improve relations with his party members.
No one but me would eat it, though.
Especially Aeon, who silently took the magic power and threw the food on the ground. At least the saint pretended to eat, and the archer and swordsman didn’t bother to engage at all.

Even then, she squandered the magic power she took right away and demanded more. The only thing you should be doing in front of Troka’s will is…

“Do you still not get it? What you need to do is accept Troka’s death, regret what you’ve done, and apologize. Not spew out bullshit here.”

She picked up a piece of paper that was thrown on the floor. With a voice that had become cold, she began to scribble something.

“Even if Troka really died, suicide isn’t rest; it’s just escape. So, I have no reason to regret. And why should I do that in front of someone who’s not even involved? I’m fine, it’s you who’s weird. Is his damn death like the death of a lover to you? I don’t understand why you’re so angry.”

Were the other women not like this? Maybe their reactions were better. Maybe I’ve been expecting too much. These bitches have always been like that.

…Still, time will eventually solve everything. Even if I’m not there when that day comes, today’s incident must have caused at least a tiny crack, a very slight one. If Aeon is a person who at least has emotions.

“Let me ask you one last thing.”

Before leaving the room, one last question came to mind.

“What does Troka, the hero, mean to you?”

It was a question I wanted to ask the other women as well. It was late in coming, but I decided to ask it now. Did Troka live a proper life, or was it so miserable that he was driven to suicide?

“A person who sacrifices for everyone.”

“And who rewards that sacrifice?”

“The goddess will take care of it. Besides, it’s something that should be done without expecting any reward.”

I had nothing to say to that. Yes. That’s why he made that choice. Is it so obvious?
Even without any expectations, I felt uncomfortable.
It seemed that she would have no regrets about Troka. That thought occurred to me. This too, I suppose, is something I have to accept.

“Just a moment.”

As I was about to open the door and leave, it locked. Aeon had called me. The moonlight filling the room was brighter than ever, illuminating the surroundings.

“But you said you were a hero too, right?”

An uneasy sensation. The moonlight slowly vibrated.
Contrary to Aeon’s calm expression, the moon trembled slightly, as if expressing her madness.

“Then… can’t you create magic power too?”

I could fill seas and rivers with the blood of those who died because I couldn’t create magic power. What a ridiculous thought.
It was so ridiculous that I almost couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“Don’t spout nonsense.”

I wanted to avoid any further conflict since I was about to leave anyway. As gently as possible, after several trials and errors in my throat, I finally spoke.

I’m just a hero candidate, after all. To someone like me, the idea of creating magic power is,
Kim Ji-hoon and happiness.
Phelion and a lover.
Flan and magic power, words that are incompatible.

But Aeon seemed fine with it.

“I need to check for magic power.”

“Are you fucking crazy? You should know by now how ridiculously insufficient my magic power is.”

– Snap!

In that moment, one of the papers stuck on the wall grazed my cheek. The paper, now with a trace of blood on it, landed in Aeon’s hand, and she licked it several times with her mouth.
This was definitely an unexpected variable.

“Hmm. No, it’s not quite like Troka, but the vessel itself is perfect. I don’t know why, but I can feel a power that has been accumulating for a long time. It’s low-grade, but who knows, it might be possible.”

Her eyes, filled with madness, sparkled with hope. It seems like a serious misunderstanding. I’m a man abandoned by the goddess because I have no talent.
Even a vessel? I have nothing…
Ah.
Master.

“Cooperate for the good of all, right porter?”

Aeon pulled out white chains from both hands. It looked like a collision was unavoidable.

If I just sit here, will I end up as a magic power bag? Just an empty vessel with flashy wrapping. Do I even have any magic power left to be extracted?
With her personality, she would forcibly inject magic power into my body and then try to extract it by any means.

“…Even a porter wriggles when stepped on. Do you know that?”

I had a justification now. Self-defense.
I don’t know who Troka hated the most. I don’t know any guys that are particularly on good terms either.

But the one I hate the most in the party is that mage bastard. I’m not so good-natured as to be helplessly robbed of magic power. There’s also a bit of accumulated resentment.

“Well, I’m not a porter anymore.”

So I can use the last resort without hesitation.

Of course, it’s all in self-defense.
Indeed.
It is.