[699] Where Ra Is (1)
Shirone and Uorin didn't move until Rian and Kido had passed through the Metagate.
They weren't exactly nostalgic toward each other, but time seemed to slow because both had the premonition that they could never again be left out of one another's lives.
"She's matured."
That was what it meant to live as Kashan's emperor.
They'd met at fourteen and were still only sixteen, but she had grown into a beautiful woman who had shed much of her childishness.
Because Shirone drew all eyes, Rian and Kido were free to study Uorin.
"Is that woman a Teraje?"
Thinking of her as the person with the greatest power in the world made even the air around her seem to ripple.
"She really isn't comparable to Orcamp."
They'd been told she was a daughter, but you could have sworn she'd inherited none of his genes.
"Uh, so—"
Before anyone could speak, Uorin darted forward and dove into Shirone's arms.
"Shirone—oppa!"
It was unexpected. Gando, who'd entered the room a little late, blinked as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Do you know how worried I was? I thought something had happened to you."
Shirone looked down at Uorin's desperate eyes and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you, Uorin."
Buried against his chest where he couldn't see, Uorin's eyes flashed faintly with surprise.
"I heard. You saved me. I don't know how I can ever repay you."
Kido glanced as if to ask whether this was really okay, while Rian simply observed the scene carefully.
Gando spoke cautiously. "Your Majesty."
The imperial palace Aganos was a perfect fortress, fitted with every defense against magic, law, and physics.
Uorin was the most important figure in humanity, guarded by a personal guard divided into close, middle, and long-range units, and protected under the Wind Banner.
And yet now she ignored all those defenses and curled up in someone's arms.
"This is why I tried to stop it," Gando thought.
Leaving a Metagate behind in Kazra was like handing the most valuable life in the world over to someone else.
"To call Shirone here."
Jealousy. The word flitted through Gando's mind, but he quickly shook his head.
"We must protect Her Majesty."
He'd made his decision and began to step forward, but Uorin hunched her shoulders and slowly slipped away first.
With slender fingers she gently pushed on Shirone's chest, smiling with an expression different from before.
"You've gotten stronger, Shirone."
Not calculating meant having no fear.
Gando's steps faltered. Shirone studied Uorin's unmasked face quietly.
"So it was a lie after all?"
Why did it sting a little even though he'd expected it?
"Thanks to you. Armand too, and saving me from the moratorium." Shirone said belatedly. "By the way…can I speak casually with you?"
If the childhood play was over, the girl before him was no longer just sixteen—she was a Teraje carrying thousands of years of history.
"Of course. It's awkward when professionals act stiff. Sit here. Gando, bring tea."
She'd been born to fulfill the Teraje's purpose, so even as she watched Gando head for the tea room, Shirone felt no sense of betrayal.
"So, the blue-haired one must be Rian…"
Uorin crossed her legs, looked at Kido, and raised an eyebrow as if asking for an explanation.
Kido bared his teeth and pointed at himself. "Kido the Devourer. King of the Goblins."
He thought such a title was natural when facing Kashan's ruler.
"Hmm—king of the goblins, huh."
Uorin scanned Kido up and down and stuck out her lower lip.
"You look kind of funny."
"..."
Uorin burst out laughing at Kido's expression, then turned to Shirone.
"I figured you'd visit Kazra someday. How do you feel? Have you shaken off the guilt yet?"
"I just told the truth. That's why it blew up."
As Shirone recounted what had happened in Kazra, Gando brought tea.
"I know what you did to them was cruel. But I didn't want to leave even a sliver of doubt. I couldn't live any other way."
Uorin peered into her teacup. "How foolish. The prince wasn't killed by you."
"But he was killed because of me."
"So you came in last among the Ivory Tower candidates."
When Shirone opened his eyes a little, Uorin tilted her head back toward the ceiling.
"Isn't guilt just something you can stop caring about? Whatever reason you were born for, you're still you."
"But—"
"Yeah, it's not easy. Emotions make everything complicated. Good and evil are just matters of feeling. That's why whoever controls emotions controls humanity."
Uorin lowered her head again. "There are plenty of emotionless psychopaths in the world. But very few can embrace their feelings and still make cold decisions. Which comes first—human life or truth? That's where you and I part ways."
The Teraje spoke as if she knew everything humanity knew.
"What kind of person is Nane?"
"First, strong. Matched against you, the result isn't guaranteed."
It was a kinder assessment than Tsuoi's.
"But Nane's true talent lies elsewhere. He, like you, watches everything as he goes, but he doesn't judge right and wrong. That makes him extremely fast. How fast? …"
Uorin smiled. "Nane would beat you."
It had been only about five seconds into the first evaluation.
"I see."
Shirone felt he could picture what kind of person Nane was.
"Orcamp and Eliza's hearts, your heart, countless emotions. You always mull things over and follow the optimal conclusion. But Nane acts first. Whatever humans can or cannot do, whatever outrageous thing, he tries it and then draws a conclusion. So his realizations are precise and terrifyingly quick. He's a machine that simply absorbs truth."
The description was chilling.
"For example: you erased Ra Enemi's randomness as just the froth of incidents, but Nane would have taken that same randomness and swallowed Ra Enemi whole."
Silence fell at the thought of an opponent whose strength exceeded all expectations. Kido pointed at Uorin. "If it were up to you, which of the three Ivory Tower candidates would you vote for?"
Uorin narrowed her eyes like a seagull. "Haha, that's a tricky question. In front of the candidates."
"You don't care about that sort of thing anyway, do you?"
From just a short conversation, Kido had already realized Uorin moved on a different plane from ordinary humans.
"The stars' vote, right? Nane got seventeen votes, Jinseongeum nine. And Shirone got a measly one. If it were me…"
Uorin put a finger to her lips and thought, and everyone tensed.
"I'd probably cast my vote for either Nane or Jinseongeum."
A shadow passed over Rian's face. 'As expected, I'm still not enough.'
This was no ordinary opinion—the verdict came from the mitochondria Eve; it couldn't be dismissed.
"But if you had to bet your entire fortune…"
Anticipation returned to Kido's eyes. "Obviously Nane. How much do you think my fortune is? You bet on the most probable outcome."
'This woman's a pervert,' Shirone thought, irritated by Uorin's teasing gesture.
He didn't show it, but Shirone bowed his head in gloom.
"She's that strong."
Uorin looked at him affectionately. "But…if I had to wager my life?"
She pointed at Shirone. "Then I'd vote for you, Shirone—no question."
Something clicked in Shirone and he snapped his head up.
"That's it. Other people's opinions when they have nothing to lose are worthless. Reputation, money, even life—thoughts change depending on what's at stake. Only you can judge your life."
A heat rose in Shirone's chest. "Nane has destructive experience. Jinseongeum has unshakable conviction. Both are fast. But you have the caution of someone who doesn't judge right and wrong lightly. So even if you're a bit slower, that's fine. That's what will take you to one hundred percent, not ninety-nine."
Shirone clenched both fists. 'For perfection.'
"You've simply chosen the harder path. I don't know who voted for you, but that person must have thought like me. If you had to risk your life…that's the real measure. You deserve to be a star."
Rian watched Shirone with moist eyes. 'The Empress of Kashan is immense.'
Few people in the world could comfort Shirone from the heart.
Shirone drew a deep breath to steady himself. "Thank you, Uorin. I really do feel more confident now. I'll pass the Ivory Tower test for sure."
"Of course you will. Who picked you, after all."
"Huh?"
That was Uorin's confidence—bluntly stating it, then shaking her head mischievously.
"No—now to the main point. You want to know where Ra Enemi is, right?"
"Oh, right."
That was why they were here.
"Gando, bring paper and a pen."
While Gando ran the errand, Shirone asked, "Do you know where Ra Enemi is?"
"No. Unfortunately I don't know the exact spot. I can only estimate."
"Estimate?"
Uorin set the paper and pen Gando brought on the table and began to explain.
"Even within Kashan, Ra Enemi's location matters. So when the third reset began, I tried tracing history. But I got played. What I traced turned out to be incidents of a false Ra Enemi."
If even the formidable Uorin had been fooled, Shirone's capture of Ra Enemi was nothing short of miraculous.
"So I used another method."
"Another method?"
Uorin twirled the pen and said, "I investigated the entire history of every human except Ra Enemi."
Shirone's mouth fell open. "You investigated them all?"
On the blank page she drew a fist-sized circle. "It's not as impossible as it sounds. Humans have free will, but biological patterns exist. Call it plausibility."
She dotted dozens of points inside the circle and began connecting them with lines.
"Some people spend their whole lives in their hometowns, some wander the world. Some marry and raise families, some lose everything and move."
Shirone watched the lines drawn at incredible speed.
It looked like she was simply scribbling, but the circle filled with countless trajectories.
"If we imagine this circle as our world, human paths according to plausibility are this complex. But—"
As the lines continued to fill the circle, a conspicuously white, empty area stood out.
"When you analyze hundreds of billions of these paths, regions appear where plausibility is severed."
Uorin set down the pen and folded her arms. "Simply put: places people have gone into but never come back from. I call them holes in causality."
Places you enter and can never escape.
"Where are they?"
Uorin spread three fingers. "Jessica. Andre. Paitaros."
They were names anyone might hear in their lifetime. Shirone, who'd been staring at the paper, looked up.
"Could it be?"
"Yes. The world's three great labyrinths. The real Ra Enemi is in one of them."