[737] Toward the Stars (1)
Nane said.
"Shirone, as long as you deny me I cannot become a god, but the same goes for you."
He meant that neither Shirone nor Nane could liberate this world from suffering.
"From now on the world will know terrible pain. I will finish this fight as quickly as possible."
Shirone was ready to endure it.
"Even if the end of life is meaningless, as long as we love something I will never give up."
Nane's fingertip pointed at Shirone.
"Then the one who will suffer the most is you."
Perhaps.
"The Great Purifier. The sins we created will become real and strike you. It will be far too much for one person to bear."
Nane's body unspooled like smoke.
"May the nightmare not last too long."
Where Nane had been, a desert sandstorm blew in and erased every trace of him.
"A nightmare, huh?"
Balanced between the extremes of Law, but still the freer of the two, Nane remained the one who could act.
'No matter what, it's a losing fight.'
Nane—who had reduced the world to an object in his mind—could perpetrate any atrocity, while Shirone had to protect them all.
"You are not alone, Shirone."
Rian stepped forward and laid a hand on Shirone's shoulder.
"Even if the whole world turns its back on you, I will follow you."
No matter how distant the struggle, Rian would be at his side in the end.
"I agree."
Seongeum came up to Shirone and reached out; Rian's great blade leapt through the air into her hand.
She tossed it back to Rian and said, "Humanity will have to face a vast enemy. As the Jincheon Empire's princess I cannot stand idly by. I will return home and speak to my father."
The emperor of the Jincheon Empire was someone even Seongeum could not command, but Munkyeong stood silently behind her.
"Go to the Ivory Tower. You bought us time with your life; I think you've earned it."
"Ivory Tower."
No one had been obsessed with becoming a star of the Ivory Tower from the start, but the situation had changed.
'If we don't all fight together, we can't win.'
Even Shirone, who had reached the unprecedented rank of Infinite Mage, could not perfectly stop Nane's grand design.
Unless one side achieved a decisive victory, countless sacrifices were inevitable.
"I'll go to the Ivory Tower."
Seongeum nodded.
"Good choice. I'll take you there."
With an Aether Wave, distance mattered little; they could go straight to the Ivory Tower.
Kido spoke up.
"I won't go to the Ivory Tower."
Shirone had already guessed when he met Kido's eyes.
"You're leaving, Kido."
"I want to investigate what I realized. I'm too confused right now. You understand, Shirone?"
It takes time for knowledge to become feeling and for feeling to return to knowledge.
"Of course. It's your life."
Rian, lost in thought as he listened to Kido, strapped the great blade to his back and said, "Shirone, I won't go to the Ivory Tower either."
Shirone nodded again.
"I thought you would."
"I want to go home first and sort out my thoughts. I need to do what I can."
He had toppled Imir, but that was only a molar—he had to become stronger to protect Shirone in the final war.
"Shirone, you will be the Ivory Tower's star."
Perhaps because Shirone was the only person in this world to open the extrasense, Rian could afford to leave for a while.
"Then I should become a knight worthy of you. I always feel like I'm chasing from behind, but give me time this once."
Munkyeong watched Rian's back and thought, 'You really do believe there's a higher level left to reach.'
Rian's strength, which had smashed Imir's torso, was beyond what Munkyeong—the Jincheon swordsman—could match.
"Alright. I'll be waiting."
Rian and Kido were reliable comrades, but to stop Nane's project they would have to accept separation.
'The world will change faster than ever.'
Seongeum said, "If we're done talking, let's depart. I should return to the Jincheon Empire as soon as I can."
Kido stepped back from Seongeum and said, "Shirone, we're friends, right?"
Kido would travel the world and reach his own conclusions—maybe even conclusions that denied Shirone's.
"Of course. You're my dearest friend. No matter the circumstances, that will never change."
Satisfied, Kido turned and bounded toward the horizon-stretched desert.
"Good luck, Shirone!"
Shirone watched Kido's retreating figure for a long time, his worn cloak flapping.
"Have a good journey."
Then he looked back at Rian and asked, "Are you alright alone? Why not come with me at least as far as the next village? It'll be hard to get food here."
Rian shifted the great blade on his back.
"With this, I could survive even in hell. Don't worry about me—become a star and come back."
After a lifetime of travel for this Ivory Tower trial, Shirone too longed for home.
'Amy….'
His heart beat at the thought that he would soon see her.
"We'll leave now."
Munkyeong bowed respectfully to Rian and stood three paces behind Seongeum as an Aether Wave unfolded.
Seongeum pulled space all the way to the Arctic and used spatial leap; the three of them vanished without a trace.
Where Shirone had disappeared, Rian's eyes suddenly flared with fierce light.
"Imir."
A giant's mirage shimmered on the desert horizon.
* * *
Corona Kingdom.
At humanity's northern limit, the Corona Kingdom was the only nation in the Arctic. Built on eternal snow, the kingdom excelled in ice craft and was practically the Ivory Tower's only market.
People who live in a land where blizzards come daily grow used to death feeling closer than life.
Amid city streets where even the torches on the walls looked precarious, faces were as cold as ice.
"Where are we?"
Not the Ivory Tower, Shirone thought as he turned his head; Seongeum bit her lip in an awkward expression.
"Probably the Corona Kingdom."
To Seongeum, who leapt vast distances, Corona felt small—like a continental city that flashed by—but in the Arctic the only inhabited places were the Ivory Tower or Corona.
"We couldn't approach the Ivory Tower."
The sensation of the Ivory Tower vanished the instant they teleported, and with it their coordinates.
They had arrived at a place their senses had latched onto, like an emergency escape.
'Is there someone here who can manipulate space?'
If this had been earlier Shirone might not have believed it, but after facing Nane, Shirone, and Imir his thinking had changed.
'It could definitely happen.'
It also meant Seongeum's knowledge had broadened.
"We could try again, but the result would be the same. They wouldn't hang an 'Ivory Tower' sign without precautions like this."
Shirone agreed.
"Yeah. Still, getting to the Arctic cut down the travel time. From here I'll find it myself. Thanks."
When Shirone smiled and calmed, a faint blush appeared on Seongeum's cheek.
'A kind person.'
Anchal's words hadn't been lies.
'I don't want to fight someone like that.'
He had a lot to say, but now wasn't the time.
"How much time can you give me?"
"Hahaha."
Seongeum's compulsion to measure others in distance seemed to have turned into measuring time, and Shirone laughed.
"I can give you as much as you need. If it weren't for you, getting to the Arctic would've taken me more than ten days."
"Ten days, then."
Seongeum smiled shyly and stepped back.
"When you become a star, visit Jincheon. I'll use the ten days you gave me then."
"No need to go to such lengths if you don't want—"
"It's a promise. Ten days."
Now that Shirone knew Seongeum's nature, he didn't argue and accepted.
"All right. I'll give you my ten days."
A satisfactory answer.
"I'll give you my spirit token too."
"Hm?"
Shirone repeated, and Seongeum flashed an enigmatic smile before disappearing with Munkyeong.
"…A spirit token, I suppose."
It probably meant she wanted to stay friendly.
"Shall we go?"
With that decision, Shirone walked the streets of the Corona Kingdom feeling much lighter.
It was already late; apart from taverns the lights were off, and the aftereffects of fighting nonstop for days hit him late.
'Something's off.'
At some point Armand had begun failing to recover his fatigue, but Shirone didn't dwell on it now.
"I want to sleep. I want to sleep."
He forced his heavy eyelids open and went to an inn where warm steam rose.
'I should sleep here.'
Even in the Arctic he didn't know where the Ivory Tower was, and there weren't really any competitors left anyway.
A middle-aged woman greeted him as he opened the door.
"Welcome. White Inn."
Shirone looked around and saw a group playing cards at a corner table.
Past that ordinary scene, his gaze fixed on a table in front of the counter.
A red-haired girl who looked about ten was drinking strong liquor alone.
'Do kids drink here?'
Cold regions might explain it, but on second thought it made no sense.
"Are you here to stay the night?"
The woman asked, and Shirone hurriedly answered, "Ah, yes. If possible with food. I haven't had dinner yet…."
"Oh dear. We have some leftover bread and soup. But what can I do? There aren't any rooms available."
"There aren't any rooms?"
Shirone's knowledge of the Corona Kingdom was fragmentary; it wasn't a place tourists frequented.
"Yes. Since yesterday, Ivory Tower residents have been staying en masse, so we're full."
'Ivory Tower residents? How did they get here?'
Shirone narrowed his eyes and glanced at the four people playing cards.
They made no conversation—like machines drawing cards, placing them, and collecting the pot.
'Looks like four Iruki sitting there.'
The middle-aged woman said, "It's a heavy blizzard today. If you don't mind sharing, I'll ask the guests who are awake."
"Oh, if you would…."
"Share my room with me, then."
The red-haired drinker downed a glass and smirked at Shirone; the innkeeper propped her chin and mumbled, "Hmm, but coed rooms are a bit…."
"Why not? If the people involved are okay, what does it matter? I've been missing men anyway. I won't charge for the room."
Shirone frowned.
"You shouldn't say things like that, kid. And drinking already isn't good for you."
"Well, considering the other person was Nane, it must be tiring."
"Huh? What did you just say?"
Shirone blinked and the woman—who had been staring at her cup with unfocused eyes—turned her head.
"Even an Infinite Mage won't survive a proper hit."
Shirone immediately opened his senses.
'She's not a child.'
As the Ultima system synced with his extrasense, the false information that had surrounded her vanished in an instant.
She was an attractive woman without makeup—lithe, with a shapely figure and long limbs.
"Oh, right!"
The middle-aged woman clapped her hands.
"To most folks she probably looked like a girl. This is Seong Mirak Minerva."
"Seong?"
"She's an Ivory Tower resident. Now, what star rank did she say she was…?"
Minerva spread five fingers.
"Oh—five-star, actually. By the way, Minerva, are you really willing to share a room?"
"I said I was fine. The other party's will matters more."
Shirone heard no more.
'Five-star—that's top-tier. Wait… Mirak Minerva? Could it be the one I read about in the books…?'
Mirak Minerva.
One of the world's top 100 dangerous people and the great witch who had plunged the world into despair seven hundred years ago.