Chapter 37 – To T҉͕̙̯̦̲̜̪͟h҈̧̖͉̥̲͚̟̬e҈̷̬̼̩͙̗̝ G҉͈̦̩͓̥̬͜ͅr҈̢̯͓̥̠̘̭̩e҉̵̱͓̣͇̤̱̩a҈̛̖͓̮͙͉̠͉t҈̸̘̫̭̥̝͍̠ A҈̸͖͙͔̬̤͉͖r҉̧͍͖̣̦̱̖̱c҈̨͓̭͈̬͔̫̖h҉̟̲͉̪̘̩̼͢m҈͉̲̣̩̱̥̟͡a҈̟̙̱͓̹̥̩͜g҈̵͇̼̝̤̖̬e҈̸͈̩̝͕̳

To T҉͕̙̯̦̲̜̪͟h҈̧̖͉̥̲͚̟̬e҈̷̬̼̩͙̗̝ G҉͈̦̩͓̥̬͜ͅr҈̢̯͓̥̠̘̭̩e҉̵̱͓̣͇̤̱̩a҈̛̖͓̮͙͉̠͉t҈̸̘̫̭̥̝͍̠ A҈̸͖͙͔̬̤͉͖r҉̧͍͖̣̦̱̖̱c҈̨͓̭͈̬͔̫̖h҉̟̲͉̪̘̩̼͢m҈͉̲̣̩̱̥̟͡a҈̟̙̱͓̹̥̩͜g҈̵͇̼̝̤̖̬e҈̸͈̩̝͕̳

Was it the release of tension from the battle that caused it, or something else? The freshly formed doughnut-shaped wound on my right hand began to throb painfully.

A quick glance revealed that the bones and tendons were all exposed. My fingers dangled loosely, as if they were hanging off a round bearing.
It hadn’t been long since my shattered arm had healed, and now it was already in this state again.

Before heading back up, I’ll have to deal with this damned arm. I have bandages, so wrapping it up will be better than nothing. I’m not sure if a wound this severe will benefit from bandages, but it’s better than doing nothing.
Since I was fighting paper, I worried the letter might have disappeared from my body, so I pulled it out again.

As always, the letter was intact.
The four letters that had been opened were a bit crumpled, and the three that hadn’t been opened were still in perfect condition…

Wait, why four?

I counted the letters again.
The damaged letters were as follows:

A canary-colored letter.
A pale pink letter.
An orange letter.

And a navy blue letter. Aeon’s letter.

I looked at the syringe. Its navy blue shimmer was striking.

The letter was open, and Aeon had vanished. And that bizarre syringe was filled with Aeon’s magic power, enough to be drawn upon continuously.
Could it be that…

What’s contained here, is it Aeon?

No, that can’t be.
But then again, it could be.
Yes, maybe that’s what happened.

If I had been injected with this syringe… Hmm.
Aeon, you bastard. You intended to turn a person into this?

A person I disliked. Someone I had no fond feelings for. At times, I wished they were dead, and I wanted to kill them.
But now that it had actually happened, I didn’t feel as pleased as I thought I would.

My head just hurt.

That’s a lie. In truth, I felt a sense of relief. Is that all it took?
The only concern is that the journey ahead will become even more perilous. Murdering a Tower of Magic archmage. If word gets out, it won’t end with just imprisonment. If the Country of Magic finds out, will I be used as a test subject? Being pursued by both countries at once… Hmm. That’s going to be tough.

Well, I won’t be discovered right away. The Tower of Magic is understaffed, after all.

The next destination is the Holy Imperial Court.
It’s located on the exact opposite side from the Country of Magic. So at least I won’t be chased by the Country of Magic…

Even though it’s closely associated with the empire, if I grease some palms and keep quiet about the goddess, I shouldn’t get caught.

Thinking about the next part of the journey, my whole body began to ache. I’ll probably die before I even get back home at this rate.

The surroundings were silent.
But the roar from above ground continued to reach me.

For now, I should wait here and rest until things quiet down above.

Even if I went outside right now, with this tattered arm, I wouldn’t be able to fight properly. In fact, it didn’t seem like a few more minutes of rest would significantly improve my condition. I just wanted to rest for a while.

I slump to the ground with a thud and open the letter.

Aeon’s letter had an unmistakable air of discomfort about it.
Not that there was any reason I couldn’t read it.

I picked up the navy paper and read through the contents.

—

Hello? This letter is the last one I’m leaving before I die.
Have I been lacking a lot all this time?
Sorry, it has come to this. I don’t think I can help with your research anymore. I’m dead, after all!

Well,
anyway.

Let’s begin.

Our first meeting was when I went to see you with Phelion. I still think about that time.

I’m serious. It’s not a lie. There were many other women, but that time is the most vivid in my memory.

Maybe that’s why I think of you a lot now. We started this journey together, didn’t we? Well, we didn’t do much after that, though.

Actually, I’ve always had regrets regarding you. I’ll take this opportunity to apologize once again. Seriously.

Forgive me for not being able to pass on my magic power to you. I wanted to help with your research a bit more. Then maybe we could have rested by the sea where silver waves shimmer?

The silver sea. I wanted to spend the journey there with all my companions… but, well, that’s also become impossible now.

I never thought it would end this way. So, this is my ■■■■■.

I should just stop ■■■■■■ and rather, let me be ■■■■■.

If you had completed that research, a hero wouldn’t have been necessary. It would have been nice if such a world had come. I also wanted such a beautiful world.

I should have found a way, somehow, to pass on my magic power to you. I’m sorry. If I had just passed on more magic power back then, none of this would have happened.

I wanted to go to ■■■■■ and see mother■■■■■. That would have been enough for me.

Aeon, so, I’m sorry and thank you for everything. So, this is it… Oh right, if you’re short on magic power, use Phelion. Then truly, farewell.

From a foolish hero.

And, overlapping two pages in the torn ■■■■■─

To the great archmage.

─Destroy it.

The fifth written letter.

—

If I were to express my feelings after reading this letter in one sentence, it would be this.

…?

Pure confusion. I couldn’t understand the writing.

How should I express this? I’m not sure.
Evidently, speech contests are useless.

Is it my eyes that are shattered, or is the content of the letter really strange? Even if one eye doesn’t see well, it’s not like I’m seeing things that aren’t there. Nor is it that I can’t see things that are there.

The writing seemed as if it was written by two people at the same time. Troka’s handwriting and another’s were overlapped. Was it written while fighting with someone?

Was there ever a letter this damaged?

No, there had never been a letter of this caliber. It was clear that someone had interfered with it, and it seemed they had done so at the time of its writing.

And what about the letter that was written? Why is my name not my real name or Flan, but Phelion instead? Some sentences even look like they were written by someone else.

Were most of the letters I’ve seen tampered with? The thought that crossed my mind.

Excluding the remaining three letters, all the content in the letters I’ve seen so far, except for those written to Lumen, had something suspicious about them.

Putting aside Aeon’s letter, Master’s letter even contained a hidden message. Aliana’s letter, too, with a completely different handwriting.

In fact, there were many suspicious points.

Especially the part that troubled me the most.
‘It’s a lie, don’t be fooled.’
I didn’t know what to trust and what not to. But one thing became clear from this letter: at the very least, it had been manipulated for someone’s purpose.
And I knew that purpose wasn’t going to be of any help to me.

If it had been information that would help me, at least there would have been an explanation. Thinking this made me feel that the request to pass on the letters wasn’t going to be good news. Maybe if I deliver all the letters, I’ll die, haha.

All things considered, it probably means not to take the contents of the letters at face value.

Various suspicious contents written in this letter. Overlapping… two pages, the second one? What does this mean? I’ll have to figure it out later.

It seems it will take a long time to filter out the necessary information from the manipulated writings and the message hidden by Troka.

No, maybe even this is manipulated. But for now, I have no choice but to believe the content Troka secretly left behind.

The loud noise from above has now quieted down. It’s about time to leave.
Thinking this, I pushed myself off the ground, and my throat spewed out clots of blood.

“Kuh-ha, cough, keuk…”

Damn goddess bitch. She’s messing with me until the very end. Just leave me alone.

Clots of blood that had risen from the depths of my lungs were scattered on the floor. Blood clots, resembling my lungs, covered the narrow floor. There was a strong smell of iron.

My head is spinning. It feels like I’m biting on a blood-soaked rag.

Damn it, isn’t the backlash coming on too quickly?
I thought I could at least swing a few more times before this happened.

No, it wasn’t originally my power to begin with, should I be grateful I could use it at all? I really should be thankful.
Hahaha. As I laughed, I could feel blood refluxing from deep within. My body couldn’t hold on and vomited another clot of blood.

My lips were stained with filthy blood.

…At this rate, by the time I go back to the original world, I’ll be nothing but a corpse sent back.

Maybe this power is what caused Troka to go mad. Just using it a few times wrecked both my body and mind. The guy who kept using that power… must have been completely eroded.

Then it makes sense that Troka went mad. He must have barely held on with the power of a hero. Thinking about it, the one who manipulated the letters is the goddess… right?

I can’t be sure right away.

Still, the contents of the letter had lost their credibility. That much was certain.
Most of the content was just sweet talk for the owners of the letter. If it wasn’t fabricated, no matter how naive or foolish, a person driven to the brink of suicide wouldn’t just have nice things to say. Probably.
If Troka had written it himself, he definitely wouldn’t have included any mental care bullshit.

Also, I can’t trust the letter addressed to me. Nevertheless, all I can do is deliver it.

Even as I reassess the situation, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a trap. What if something really happens after I deliver all the letters?
Well, if I’m going to be lured in, I might as well play the fool. Pretend to be deceived while causing as much trouble as I can.

Being lured in means I’m getting closer to the truth, after all!

So, I have to… I have to be strong.
Yeah, stay positive and keep your spirits up.

I promised, didn’t I?

I let out a long sigh and picked up the syringe. Shiny fragments floated in the dark liquid.

“…You’re in a fine mess, bitch. You’re going to suffer.”

You’re going to suffer. Rot in there for all your life. Well, I’ll set you free when I return. By smashing you to the ground with all my might. Whether you’re alive or dead, I don’t know, but since the letter was opened, you must be dead or something close to it.
Throwing you to the ground would be an act of mercy.

Until then, I’ll make good use of you. Look forward to it, asshole.

The syringe trembled slightly. Or so it seemed. Can you hear my voice?
Or maybe I’ve gone mad.

Silence returned to the surroundings. There was a faint smell of blood.

Time to get out.
The loud noise had subsided, so it should be safe now, probably.

I pushed myself off the floor. I felt dizzy, maybe from losing too much blood. I couldn’t see properly.

Still, I managed to move forward, leaning against the wall.
With every step, my hand throbbed with pain.

Finally, I reached the door hanging from the ceiling.

Two things to check after getting out of here: the identity of the magician who had greeted me and the location of Valkvogel.
Considering she hasn’t met me yet, there must have been some serious trouble. I hope that loud noise wasn’t because she was being unchained.

I reached up to open the door.

-Bang!

The door shattered completely, and I felt a strong impact in my abdomen.

Pain surged through my body. The culprit was Valkvogel.
She looked like a porcupine, covered in skewers. From the tattered state of her limbs, it seemed she had been in a fierce battle. She looked worse off than when I first met her.

What the hell happened.

“Kuhuk…!”

My throat spewed blood once more.

It was because of the unexpected shock.