[550] Code Decomposition (3)
* * *
Apocalypse reset.
Countless symbols began to accumulate toward the terminus of information.
A blue light streaked across the void, sketching a three-dimensional map, and every landscape regained its vitality.
The city's data reconstituted.
The ruined scenery remained unchanged in every respect—except that Shirone had vanished.
The world was reborn like that, and the man walking across the vast, dried abyss where the sea had been suddenly lifted his head.
"What the…?"
His name was Gaold.
He was the sort of man who, by instinct, walked toward the end of the world.
"It feels like I'm walking the same road again."
His hair hung in tangles, his body was gaunt, and the only thing covering his nakedness was a filthy rag.
"Doesn't matter."
Gaold struck the ground with the staff he gripped and moved on.
To find something he didn't even know he was looking for.
"Where is God? I should kill him…."
* * *
"Shirone will never come back."
Rian felt heavy.
The Shirone they'd met in the Apocalypse was only information, but that information matched the real Shirone exactly.
If the same thing happened in reality, Shirone would have sacrificed himself again.
"But all that would leave is ultimate emptiness."
"Yeah. It becomes an open state. Just as we feel the Apocalypse is meaningless, the same would happen in reality."
When Rian's face darkened, Miro tried to lift the mood.
"Don't worry. It's not an easy thing. The Apocalypse is a world made from human thought, but reality isn't like that."
"Nothing Shirone did was easy."
Miro pursed her lips at the cutting truth.
'Sharp kid in strange ways.'
If you expand the Immortal Function to Infinity, the self dissolves; if you perfectly control it, you can voluntarily leave the world.
They guessed Geokin would be the only one to succeed at the latter, but because it was Shirone, anxiety lingered.
Just to break the tense atmosphere, Arius appeared.
"You returned safely."
He'd been waiting in the Under Coder, blocked from the Apocalypse.
"Well, if I'm not safe, who else would be?"
Arius nodded as if that were self-evident and asked, "How did it go?"
When Miro looked, Fermi produced the Depreciation Trade Contract.
"We got the signature."
It was a forged signature, but since it had been reconstructed from Shirone's restored information, it was plausible.
Arius examined the contract carefully and tucked it into his chest.
"I'll keep it from now on. Only stolen goods can be brought back into reality."
To make a forged signature take effect in reality, they had to evade Drimo's censorship and turn it into an object.
By Drimo's rules it was clearly fraudulent, but tomb-robber Arius knew that trade better than most.
"Can you do it?"
"No problem. I've looted worse and sold it to Teraje."
"Right. Then shall we go?"
Miro's party retraced the Under Coder in reverse and reached Drimo.
If the Dreamer Ruber detected the falsehood, they might be trapped in dreamland forever, but Arius put his past experience to use and moved the process along swiftly.
"I want to exit the dream."
At Drimo's exit, Arius lied calmly.
Ruber peered at the group with a probing gaze, then, wearing a kindly expression, answered, "Had good dreams? Farewell, then."
Even Marsha, leader of the thief gang, felt her heart pound when she passed by the Dreamer.
They rose back into the surface-level consciousness and stepped out through the door Arius had set.
The sensation of the body dimmed, and a bright light assaulted and swallowed them.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Rian was the first to wake.
When a tremendous pain suddenly surged through him, those lying beside him opened their eyes one by one.
"Argh!"
"Rian, are you okay?"
Marsha looked around him with alarm.
The carpet was stained red from how much blood he'd vomited in his sleep.
"They hit me a lot. The subterraneans' weapons—there were slashes, too."
Rian fought the great pain with repeated deep breaths.
The sensations in the Apocalypse had been real, but waking showed they had only been transmissions of information.
Arius, who had controlled the dream, unfolded his legs and approached.
"The convulsion was severe. If it weren't for his regeneration, he would already be dead."
Since he wouldn't die, Miro checked the most important matter first.
"Let's verify. Can you do it?"
Enduring the pain, Rian looked at Fermi.
"I'll try. Hoo!"
Fermi inhaled deeply and cast the spell.
When the Depreciation Trade Contract materialized, everyone's gaze fixed on the signature line.
"It's there."
Arian Shirone's signature was clearly inscribed.
"It's not over yet. Whether it will actually take effect…."
Fermi wetted her dry lips with her tongue and concentrated to the utmost.
Depreciation Trade — Valhalla Action.
A golden orb flashed on her palm, then materialized into a chip and popped up.
"Got it!"
Marsha's eyes went wide.
They had risked their lives for this, but none of them knew for certain that Shirone's magic could be extracted.
Before the chip could fall, Fermi snatched it and set it on her palm.
A red-and-gold pattern traced the edge; in the center, two curved arrows chased each other's tails.
What differed from the norm was a black diagonal line drawn across the center of the image.
"As I thought, it's been judged unusable. That means the cost hasn't been paid yet."
"Shirone?"
Rian checked on Shirone, but Armand's robe was still in place and his breathing unchanged.
"So Shirone is still the debtor."
Fermi agreed with Miro.
"Extraction alone doesn't change anything. If we transfer it, Shirone will wake. Probably."
"Give it here."
Miro reached out and Fermi tossed the chip.
"There's plenty of shelf life, but better to transfer it quickly just in case."
Then the 190 billion gold will start being deposited in installments.
"No need to worry. Teraje must have already hired archmages. If ten of them take turns, they can pay. You'll be needed whenever it's transferred."
That level of service was a broker's basic offering.
"Still, that's dedication. Sacrificing ten archmages just to wake one academy student."
"Teraje must think it's worth it."
Miro thought the same but withheld further comment and turned to Marsha.
"I'm leaving immediately. Will you come?"
Marsha, who'd been promised sponsorship for the Parrot Thieves if the mission succeeded, had no intention of going to Kashan.
"No. I'll trust you—trust you over Teraje. I need to get back to the hideout. There's much to discuss with my subordinates."
Respecting Marsha's decision, Miro asked Rian.
"What about you?"
He would be accepted if he wanted to follow. Rian was Shirone's staunchest ally, and the resolve he'd shown in the Apocalypse would surely prove useful.
After a moment's thought, Rian asked instead of answering.
"What will happen to Shirone now?"
"First we have to go to Kashan and hand over the chip. Then I'll keep him for a while."
Fermi pouted.
"Aunt is taking him?"
"Of course. We spent time, money, and effort waking this kid. I'll teach him a few things and then send him back to the School of Magic. He should at least get his mage certificate."
Fermi smiled meaningfully as something dawned on her.
"A mage certificate. Definitely not easy."
Even after branching off, blood ties remained; Miro returned the smile.
"That's why I'm taking him."
The world order would soon shift drastically, and Shirone would be thrown into that maelstrom.
'Even the Magic Association head in the Kingdom of Tormia has changed.'
Fermi shrugged as if she didn't care.
"Teach him well. As long as I'm around, Shirone won't even be able to graduate."
"Hoho! That'll be fun."
Miro chuckled theatrically and asked Rian, "So, what will you do?"
"I'll resume my duty as a knight."
Marsha found that unexpected.
"Why? We just met after a long time—don't you want to see Shirone wake? It's almost like you saved him."
Rian shook his head bitterly.
"In this battle… I died a thousand times."
The mood turned solemn.
"I came back alive thanks to auditory hallucinations, but in the end I still failed to protect Shirone. All I did was stand and fight. He was that strong."
In Rian's memory, the figure of Bak-nyeo charging like a beast flashed.
"Put another way, he's an opponent I couldn't beat even if I died a thousand times. I want to train more. When Shirone graduates, I want to appear as a proud knight."
Miro respected Rian's resolve. It was a conviction worth honoring.
"All right. It's decided, so let's depart quickly."
So the party left the Ardino house.
Before leaving, Miro turned to Fermi, who had escorted them to the gate, and nagged like a relative.
"You graduate this time. Don't make your stupid father worry."
"Ha ha! I'll think about it."
Miro glanced at Shirone, cradled in Arius's arms.
"Well, it's not like you said you wanted to graduate. But now you must understand Shirone's level, right?"
"You don't fight by level. Valhalla Action won't be lifted until he graduates, and the rest of his magic… besides, I've got this."
Fermi flicked a gold coin and sent it bouncing into the air.
"...Why did they make that out-of-regulation rule? You could tell me now."
"For now, let's say it's because there's a spell I want to buy."
Avoiding a detailed answer, Miro let it go and turned away.
"Okay. I'll tell Shirone you said hello."
"The sooner the deposit, the better."
Even in the final farewell, it was classic Fermi.
* * *
Miro arrived in Kashan, handed over the Valhalla Action chip, and explained what was presumed to be Shirone's collateral.
With that the contract was fulfilled, and after leaving Kashan she gave Arius a certain task, then took Shirone to a cabin deep in the mountains of Tormia.
She handed the chip to Woorin, and for two days nothing happened.
Miro, who checked Shirone's condition each night, decided to watch patiently.
And thus another day passed.
—Restraint released. Acceptance of volitional action.
At the voice that fluttered like a dream, Shirone's brow twitched.
Armand's robe unwound like organic matter and was drawn into the shape of a magic sword; before long Shirone's eyelids slowly opened.
"...."
Blinking slowly as he stared at the log-built roof, memories from heaven flooded Shirone's mind.
"Gah!"
Triggered by combat instinct, he shot upright and widened his eyes to scan his surroundings.
"What—what is this?"
No matter how he looked, everything was unfamiliar.
There was no Arabot spire, no terrifying great angel Faiel to be seen.
'What on earth… Where is this?'
A fear like being in a distant future rose up.
But the first thing his body noticed on returning to reality was a hunger that made his stomach ache.
Hearing his stomach rumble, Shirone clutched his belly and bent over.
"I'm hungry."
As his sense of smell returned, the scent of simmering greens drifted in through the crack of the door.
'I need to eat something….'
He opened the door and stepped out. In a small kitchen, a woman with long blue hair wore an apron and ladled porridge.
Her back felt oddly familiar, but from behind he couldn't tell who she was.
'Who is she?'
She tasted the porridge with the ladle and murmured triumphantly, "Hmm, I am a genius after all. Even this awful stuff tastes good to a genius palate."
"...."
Staring blankly, Shirone asked, "Um, who are you? Where is this?"
Miro, hearing Shirone's voice, turned as if it were an everyday occurrence and smiled brightly.
"Oh? Slept well, Shirone?"