[589] The Hidden Mastermind (4)
* * *
"The Scramble Royal has concluded."
Collie, the head teacher for the graduating class, entered the principal's office.
Alpheas stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking out the window, and Vice-Principal Olivia sat on the sofa, legs crossed, lost in thought.
"Shirone's team won."
Olivia exhaled in relief.
"That's a relief. At least we can block the Shadow Research Society's access."
Alpheas said, "It's fortunate the incident didn't escalate. But Shirone's team winning means they'll get closer to Istas's core."
"How can you be so sure? We don't actually know what Istas's core is either."
Turning from the window, Alpheas sat at his desk.
"Right. No one will know until Miro speaks."
Two people held votes among the twenty judges, but neither of them knew the upper-level details for certain.
"But Shirone was with Miro. She might have told her something."
"If so, that's all the more reason not to investigate Istas. Shirone is curious, yes, but she's cautious. She isn't foolish enough to recklessly pry into a global secret."
"I hope that's the case."
Alpheas's agreement left a bad aftertaste.
'If possible, bury this as it is.'
As a mage, he longed to learn Istas's true nature, but far too many powers were entangled for mere curiosity to justify probing.
"I'll be back in a moment."
Olivia rose from the sofa and headed for the door.
"Where are you going? Don't cause a fuss. It's best if Istas stays sealed like this."
"I know. That's exactly why I'm going."
A cold light flashed in Olivia's eyes as she stepped outside.
'There's exactly one person I want to catch.'
* * *
Girls' dorm rooms normally had beds, but Anch'al sat cross-legged on the bare floor, meditating.
After the clock chimed past midnight, she slowly opened her eyes, sat at the desk, and drew a narrow brush from her robe.
The brush shaft was thin and the tip even thinner.
On a scroll of paper small enough to fit between two fingers, the brush tip—finer than a single hair—trembled.
Each small shake of her fingertips produced dense lines in the Jincheon tongue.
To the Honorable Emperor,
I now stand before the secret of the "Shard."
I do not fear death, but given the difficulty of the mission, I fear I may fail to fulfill my duty.
Therefore, I intend to unseal the family's famed magic seal, the Majengan, bestowed by Your Majesty the Great Emperor. Please reproach my meager skill.
I will break my body and toil, and I shall return with the "Shard."
Long live the Emperor.
Long live the Jincheon Empire.
Anch'al carefully set the brush down, waited for the ink to dry, and rolled the paper.
"Hong-gyu."
At the name, two enormous painted eyes on the ceiling snapped open, and a voice answered, "Yes, Director."
Anch'al — Director of the Jincheon Cosmic Bureau, a department within the Empire's external inspection that handled the most classified matters — was also a world-class keeper of secrets and an advisor to the Valkyrie reset analysis institute.
"You should deliver this yourself."
"Leave it to me."
Anch'al tossed the scroll upward; a tongue shot out from the ceiling's painted mouth, snatched the paper, and swallowed it with a gulp.
"Pardon my bluntness, but please be careful. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Jincheon's future rests in your hands."
"…Understood."
The painted image on the ceiling closed as the ink dried. Anch'al cradled her head in both hands and fell into thought.
'Istas.'
By now the Scramble Royal would have ended.
Either outcome would have been acceptable, but Anch'al thought it a little better that Shirone's team had prevailed.
'If we can make use of Shirone's Shibulsangpokmae—her ability to manipulate time…'
She hadn't planned to involve Shirone from the start, but once she realized time could be manipulated, the Scramble Royal itself lost meaning.
'Fermi will begin moving soon as well. He probably obtained Istas's blueprint.'
She needed help from both sides, but could, if necessary, discard either.
Finishing her thoughts and heading for the bed, someone knocked at the door.
"Anch'al, are you in there?"
'Vice-Principal Olivia.'
Anch'al, expecting this, instantly composed her expression and opened the door as if she'd been asleep.
"Vice-Principal? At this hour—what's the matter?"
"I want to have a talk. May I come in?"
Though the room left nothing to chance, she was hardly inclined to let in an officially recognized Grade-2 archmage.
"Or would you prefer we speak outside?"
Olivia's voice was as sweet as a songbird's, but tonight it carried a cutting edge.
"Yes. I'll listen outside. I could use some fresh air."
As soon as they stepped out, Olivia cast a teleportation spell and flew off without preamble.
A normal student would have been bewildered, but Anch'al followed without complaint.
They arrived on the far side of the mountain range that encircled the school, at the bottom of a deep ravine.
"What is this? Why bring a student all the way down here?"
"Anch'al, how old are you?"
"..."
If Olivia had come to settle matters decisively, Anch'al saw no reason to keep up appearances.
"Thirty-two."
"Just as I thought. Easterners really do look young."
"In the East, not necessarily. So what do you want to know? Istas's secret? My identity?"
"Everything, if possible."
Anch'al shook her head.
"I assumed you weren't foolish. It would be better for you—and for the school—if you didn't pry."
The Jincheon Empire was controlled by the Samhwang order.
"I have no intention of getting dragged into imperial infighting. But Istas is privately owned. I was commissioned by the owner to manage it."
"I'll make sure the school isn't harmed."
"That's for me to hear and decide."
"I'm sorry. I have nothing to tell you."
"Is that so?"
Olivia parted her lips slightly and uttered an ultrasonic incantation; syllables rang out at the upper limit of human hearing.
The sound reflected off the cliff faces and amplified, battering Anch'al's eardrums.
'A roar. So that's why she picked this place.'
While Anch'al's head spun, Olivia recited a spellbook's worth of runes and cast a spell.
"Great Expansion."
The air swelled, and the ravine tens of meters high collapsed inward.
Rumble!
When the landslide finished, no ravine remained within sight.
Olivia landed on the rocks that had filled the chasm, her eyes flashing.
"Jincheon Sorcery—Giant."
At her leap, a twenty-meter-tall giant manifested and brought its fist down.
Kraaaang!
The giant's arm punched through the rock, burying up to its shoulder; even Olivia broke into a cold sweat.
'To destroy matter with an illusion…'
Like finding a ring buried in soil, the giant lashed its arm through the rubble and dragged Anch'al out from deep below.
A leather eyepatch that had covered one eye was torn away, revealing a bluish eye beneath.
"Is that the Majengan?"
The giant set Anch'al down and faded.
"What is this? Do you really intend to fight me?"
"If it's to protect the school, there's nothing I wouldn't do."
"Don't get cocky, Olivia. I'm a soldier. Even as an archmage, you're not someone a teacher can handle."
Anch'al ripped the leather patch off, and Olivia continued, "I don't want to pry into imperial secrets. This is a student matter. Explain why Shirone, and why Fermi is interested in Istas. That's the most I can offer. If you refuse that…"
Olivia's mouth curved as she finished, "I'll deal with you however many times it takes."
"..."
After a long pause, Anch'al extinguished the glow of the Majengan and sat on the rock.
"I am an agent of the Jincheon Cosmic Bureau."
Olivia leaned both hands against the cliff wall.
"My mission is to gather information on cosmic resets—the initializations. So far, the universe has gone through three resets. It began with someone named Geffin."
Anch'al looked up at the sky.
"Nineteen years ago, a being named Geffin protected humanity from Heaven. But he entrusted the mission to Miro and disappeared. That raises questions."
Anch'al raised a finger. "Why did Geffin have no choice but to erase himself? Appointing Miro as his successor doesn't comfortably fit the idea that his fondness for this world simply faded."
"Hmm."
"The Valkyrie hypothesis led us to conclude Geffin had to finish something through Miro that he could not accomplish himself. And we suspect Shirone is involved in that matter in some way."
"Shirone?"
Anch'al declined to discuss classified matters and moved on.
"Geffin's erasure must have been a catastrophe from humanity's perspective. The barrier that held back Heaven's armies vanished."
"There must have been fierce backlash."
"You can't remember it, but you can infer it. We suspect Yolga—Fermi's mother—was at the center of that backlash."
"Shirone and Fermi, then."
"Is that enough reason? You'll need those two to investigate Istas."
"All right. But why Istas?"
From this point, security classification rose sharply, but Olivia's question was natural.
"Have you heard of the Crack Field verification experiment?"
"Vaguely. It showed that the total amount of time and energy in our world is slightly out of sync, right?"
"That's right. Through the Anke Ra Eraser and the Great Purifier, we kept calculating the Crack Field. During that process we found the crack value tied to Geffin's erasure was always fixed. The cracks should have become more complex with each reset."
"What does that mean?"
"Even while the third reset was underway, there exists an event that absolutely does not change."
Anch'al traced a cross in the air—space and time.
"Why Istas? The gate Geffin placed there, unlike other ruins, is fixed to a coordinate in spacetime. You can only reach it if time is stopped. The Jincheon Cosmic Bureau separated that coordinate into space and time using the crack value."
She made a motion as if grabbing threads and spread her hands left and right.
"By linking spatial information to time, we concluded an event lasting roughly three hours took place."
That event was the identity of the crack produced by Geffin's erasure.
"In short, Geffin fixed a specific event. Why would he do that? It's different from the second and third resets."
"Are you saying that event is Istas's upper echelon?"
"You've heard the rumors about Istas's upper levels, right? That everything impossible in this world exists there. That phrase refers to a specific event. And that event is unaffected by resets."
"Is it really possible for an event to be immune to the world's initialization?" Olivia asked.
"Yes."
The answer came immediately.
"Of course, under normal circumstances it's hard. But if the event itself becomes a world—becomes independent and connects to our world…"
"Like another universe?"
Anch'al nodded.
"The Jincheon Cosmic Bureau collected all available data and simulated the world of Istas's upper echelon in advance. You need to know what kind of world it is to judge infiltration difficulty. The results were astonishing."
"What were those results?"
"It has no beginning and no end."
Anch'al swept a finger through the air, looking at Olivia.
"The event that happened in Istas's upper echelon—that roughly three-hour event—is repeating for eternity."