A relic of Adams?


Who the hell is this guy?

"That which does no harm to others, but harms them... and above all, protects the world from the Abyss.

Is that a genie?

I asked, fed up.

''Yes. But the other spirits, except for the Spirit King, are different. That's because they are life derived from it. But the Spirit King is different. It is said that each genie king has the memory of the first genie. In other words, they are the inheritors of Adams' will.

'I see, that was in that book too?'

'No, I did my own personal research. And I found it. The diary of the one who gave the Spirit King a home in the past.

I was then thinking about why Patrick and Sarah had gotten along so well in my absence.

'Speaking of which, did you just say 'abyss'?　You think you're here to protect this world from the abyss?

'Yes, but not strictly speaking. They are lives created by Adams using his own existence as an insurance policy in case 'the time' comes. In other words, he bequeathed them to kill a runaway fool.

I see.......so if I go out of control, Patrick will kill me?

'Hahaha!　That's quite an interesting story, isn't it?

Then the doctor looked me straight in the eye with a straight face.

''You don't believe me, do you?''

'No, I trust you. The only reason I said it was funny was because the doctor said something like Patrick would kill me. That couldn't possibly be true.

But truth be told, I was a bit stuck.
I wondered if Sarah had blown something into Patrick's head.
The diary that you found is also the diary of the person who inhabited the spirit king in the past, and it is because the spirit king asked him about it that he was able to write it down.
If that is the case, then Patrick is also.....

''Come to think of it, Sarah was very detailed about the abyss~''

Sarah?

'It's the name of the spirit king Patrick has with him. Salamander - so Sarah.

Well, I see...

But.........but even so, it's not something you can do now, and besides.

''I don't think you can hold me back with that level of power, though~''

''Well of course, as I said before, it's insurance. The diary said that when 'the time' comes, all the spirit kings will be gathered together. But the description was vague. Probably the person who wrote the diary died without knowing the 'time'.

That's where I asked the doctor about why he called me here.
You didn't call me here just to talk about Sarah and Patrick, did you?

Thank you for your help the other day.

No....

"The other day" was probably a reference to the Imperial one.

"But that was too much. Do you have any idea what they said to me afterwards?

"They" being the students who had gathered there.

How could you possibly know that?　I've been out of the greenhouse for a long time now. And I'm not in the same league as those guys. I don't know what rich people think.

So....

Then the teacher gets a little irritated.
But you don't know what you don't know, so it can't be helped.

'Some of those students were entered in this competition against the school. And some of them were block qualifiers, you know?'

I replied absent-mindedly.
Then the teacher let out a sigh.

'They've abstained. They said they didn't want to be involved in any more games against the school. And they said they didn't want to serve anywhere.

'Hahahaha!　You're good enough to qualify, but you're scared of blood!　Hahahaha!　A masterpiece, isn't it?　But it was good, wasn't it?

What does that mean... what does that mean?

Then the teacher narrowed his eyes and said in a pointed tone of voice.

'Great people from all over the world come to watch the matches against the school, don't they?　So you can't show me your bad stuff?　It's a good thing we were able to sort it out early on, isn't it?

'Some of those who abstained were the top performers in their classes and some were the top of their grades, you know! And you're going to use that as one word: 'bad stuff'!

Apparently, the teacher is angry.
But.....

You don't have any love for your students after all, do you?

What?

'Of course I don't have any either. I had no feelings for them. Other than displeasure....

That was in retaliation for those guys.
He told Toa and Nem and Sufilia to get out.
I'm not going to forgive him for that, even if it was a fearful overstatement.
I had to make it clear which one was out of place.

'But I think it's better than the doctor. After all, if they had gone down that path, they would have been dead for sure. It's a good thing they realized that early on. This is a win! win! for both the teacher and them.

Wait a minute? ...What are you talking about?　What you were saying at the time was--

'--that was the real deal. All of it.

Then the teacher gave him a dumbfounded look.

'You don't really think the Empire would do that?　A war that involved the entire continent is hundreds of years old now!

Apparently, he knew about the war the Empire started a long time ago.
I didn't even know about the legendary party that ended that war until I looked it up.

''I don't know if it involves the continent or not. That part was a bit of a leap, but there will definitely be a conflict, right?　Because isn't that what this world is all about?　To begin with, when there is a simple weapon called magic around, it's easy to start a war.

You say that as if it were something else, don't you?

'Well, it doesn't matter either way to me. I'm not on the side of justice. It was an accident that I saved Radshausen, and that was an incidental part of saving Toa and the others.

Isn't this Sierra's country?

''Well yes. But I didn't save that country itself. It's for Sierra, Toa and Nem. Well, I stayed there for a rather long time, so I have a lot of memories, and I think it was a good result.

Then I felt a little bit of relief from the doctor, albeit a subtle one, there.
I don't know what made me feel relieved........
I wish I knew more specifically about this ability as well, but I guess that's not how it works.

''But still, that was wrong. They are kids who have never been 'out' yet. It's too early to know. There is a certain order to everything. And not everyone can do everything the way you can. Everyone lives at their own rhythm, you know?　And yet you are ... cruel. That was cruel.....

He said he would abstain, but his participation would have been under a magical contract.
What would happen to the students?

'It can't be helped because that's the way the world is in the first place. Besides, the world is going to get a lot crueler from now on, right?

"...talking about it again?　I'm done with that. I'm tired of hearing your prejudices.

You don't believe...

It should be at least a little uncomfortable, right?
No, a little bit of discomfort?
I don't know.

'It's true that there was something wrong with that country a few years ago. But...

'I've only been making it look funny for a few years now. I can see that now.
--That's right!　I have one interesting story to tell you!

Funny story?

Then the teacher asked back that, and he looked dumbfounded again.
It seems that my heartfelt intentions have not reached the teacher.
Well, that said, I don't even want her to understand me.
But the teacher taught me a lot of things, so....

And I don't want to hide myself too much anymore.

'What do you think the world is, doctor?'

The world?　You're going to ask me that again out of the blue?

When I asked him that, he was troubled by the question.
And he was looking at me as if he were looking at a stinky object.

Do you know about the other world?

Another world?　You mean the other world?　I understand the words and the concept itself, but...

He says so matter-of-factly, as if I were an idiot.
From his point of view, I must be a child, too.
But whatever the case, it's easy if you know the concept.

'Then we're talking fast. This is an interesting story for the teacher. I'm sure........

'Yes, I won't hold my breath. There's a lot of uninteresting things you talk about.

"Hahahahaha....

I returned an amiable smile.

'Perhaps you're the kind of person who keeps the knowledge you know to yourself. So I'll tell you.

Then the teacher raises a question mark.

'The summoning of the brave conducted by Greberg. The 21 brave men summoned by it.
--I am one of them.

"...

When I said this, the doctor froze, spinning his mouth.
His expression is surprised.
His cheeks are twitching, too. But I can't see anything else.

I spoke the rest of the story before the teacher could calm down.

'But there was a bit of a situation when I was summoned, and as a healer, I was deemed useless and incompetent. And then Aries, who was a princess at the time, destroyed me with transference magic. Well, in a manner of speaking, I was deported. So let me ask you, teacher, what is the other world to you?

But the doctor was in the middle of trying desperately to keep his cool, surprised.
Apparently, he spoke too quickly.

'Hahaha!　You seem pretty surprised, don't you?　But you're exaggerating. It's only a brave man, so why are you so surprised?

'How could it be good?　Um, I'm a brave man, okay?

Then the doctor calmed down, albeit slowly.

'I've heard stories I didn't think you were the missing brave?　No wonder--

The doctor was surprisingly quick to trust me.
He didn't even ask back.

But it's not because you're brave that you're strong.　I was a healer to begin with, and I was the weakest. Hahaha!

'Enough ... and then what?　What do you want me to do with it?

This world is a 'different world' to us brave men. But now it's just a 'world'...

Yes.
The other world that was previously a dream is no longer a dream.
And it became a real world.

'But I recently met a doctor named Romero, and he told me some strange things.

Strange?

'Yes. I thought about it for a while. I thought about it and thought about it, but I didn't understand what Romero meant. But....as it turns out, what Romero said was pretty simple.

By Romero you mean Dr. Romero?　I know that person because he's famous and I know him... but what did he say to you?

'Well, like I said, the story is simple, I seem to have had a disease called otherworldly syndrome.

The otherworldly syndrome?

'Yes, as soon as I was summoned, I must have realized that this world was a different world. And then I got the world I'd always dreamed of, and I thought to myself: "I don't want to destroy it. --I don't want to destroy it."

Romero was always talking about it.
And he said we were very much alike.
But only like.

Strictly speaking, you didn't want to lose it. Strictly speaking, you don't want to lose it, because once you have it, the more important it is, the less you want to lose it, especially if you're weak. Even more so if you're a weak person. I didn't want to lose it. Then something happened to my status.......my base value dropped significantly.

'Did your baseline drop?　How can that be.... You mean you were afraid to interfere in this world because you didn't want to lose it?

That's what I'm talking about, Mr. Principal.
He understands quickly.

''Well, I don't know what's deep, but what do you think? ........But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that, at the same time, a condition called "otherworldly syndrome" appeared on the screen. In other words, I was suffering from a disease. On status--

Then the teacher seemed to have lost the meaning of the words I was saying.

'Well could you say it a little more clearly?'

But I tell the rest of the story in no uncertain terms.

'One day, I was completely cured of the otherworldly syndrome. Then my baseline jumped up. I thought about the reason and decided it was all due to the otherworldly syndrome. But it wasn't. Romero told me that it was a misinterpretation of my status.

Misidentification?

'Yes. In other words, my lowered baseline value has nothing to do with the otherworldly syndrome. Because the cause is the fear of losing...............................that's what Romero said.

'You mean, Nito?　What do you mean by that?　I was talking about the Empire...

But my status is normal. Do you have any idea what this means, doctor?

I'm not sure...

I left the doctor's doubts behind and told him the end of the story.

'Romero ... said that there is no other world. That's simply because he doesn't know what the other world is. But other worlds do exist in reality. The fact that I'm here is the best proof that I'm here........so my status is normal.

'So!　What does that have to do with the story of the Empire?!

'We all live for selfish reasons. It's the same with empires. I don't know what their mindset is, but they're trying to move the world. No, they are moving it now. Just the way they want it.

'Moving it? .....

Then the teacher gave me a difficult look.
Is he looking back at my story?

Something will come to this world in the future. If something comes to stand in the way of the empire, and even if the empire is defeated, in the end it will be the same. It's not just one empire; there will be another empire. That's what this world is about. As long as there are those who seek their own convenience in the world--

When I finished, the teacher let out a big sigh.
Then he gets up from his seat.

In the end, he doesn't understand what I say.....

'Huh I was an idiot. I listened to you seriously I'm not interested in conspiracy theories. Because I live in reality!　Unlike you, right?

The doctor let out another sigh, deliberately and disgustedly.

'Sir, I did answer your question, didn't I?　So ... they're good to notice. People get used to it. It won't take more than once or twice, but in time, Robert will get used to it, just as I have. And when the "moment" comes, you will thank me. I'm glad that I realized that at that moment... I heard that on the battlefield, a moment of hesitation can be fatal.

Then the doctor closed his mouth, as if to stop the conversation.
Then he was silent for a while.
The only sounds in the room were mine and the doctor's breathing.

''Well I'm asking you about why the empire is going to start a war ... that's what I'm asking about. From the beginning, right?

'I've already answered your question. If you want more information, please give me all the information the doctor knows about The Abyss.

That's ridiculous. I knew you were wrong. You'll get your ass kicked, won't you?

Then the teacher said this and left the room in an irritated manner.

''Utterly hysterical........''

He didn't understand....

The king's shield is on three people. One of them is Lage.
And the other two, perhaps those two, like Raju, have also been sent to some country as spies.
If so, something else will happen in the future.
And it will gradually increase in scale.
The end result will be war.

Is this a leap of faith?

I can't help but think that Rathhausen's war is somehow orchestrated.
Because with a power as strong as the Empire's, he could drop Razhuisen right now.
That Raju's magic power was rather one of the best I've ever encountered.
It was impossible last time because I was there, but the fact that the Empire sent those two to this academy, to this academy, shows that it's a known fact that I'm no longer in that country.
Then I should go and drop them off now.
But the Empire doesn't do that.
Strange.........
Radshausen must be trapped.
Maybe..........

So I should go help Sierra?
But would Sierra want that?
He refused to do anything about us in the first place........

Now..........I don't have an answer for you....

'In that case, shouldn't we think about it? .....

Above the field that could be seen from here, Patrick and Alice were engaged in a battle.

Come to think of it, Patrick is a prince, right?
So is it safe to not go back to the country?

I watch Patrick's game with these questions on the side.