Chapter 81
－A High-Ranking Mage's Perspective: Emperas Kingdom－
A giant magic stone lies before me.
A vertical crack runs through that magic stone.
An order was issued to repair it, so the mages began their preparations.
I did not take part in those preparations. I began investigating the cause instead.
The Chief Mage, the leader of all the mages.
The one fact the Chief Mage brought to the king.
The barrier formed by the magic stone was unbroken, and our investigation had found no distortion or hole, either.
Yet an attack had reached inside the barrier despite that.
The king's face when I made that report.
His whole body seemed to radiate a refusal to believe it.
But it was reality.
No matter how we investigated, there was nothing wrong with the barrier.
Several days later, an order was issued to prioritize investigating the cause above all else.
Anguish spread across the Chief Mage's face.
Even as his assistant, I understood how difficult it would be.
How were we supposed to investigate it?
I had no idea where to begin.
Everything was normal except for attacks getting through.
How could we investigate when there was nothing strange to find?
Looking at the magic stone, I wonder in a corner of my mind whether this is simply what we deserve.
How many lives had been used to strengthen that magic stone?
Orders or not, it was the mages who carried them out.
Yes—the Chief Mage and his assistants.
Before extending his own life, the king used the mages as test subjects.
The Chief Mage and his three assistants.
The people who were killed to extend his lifespan.
Only the four of us know the exact number.
And how many lives were poured into the magic stone.
And how many lives were needlessly sacrificed before we succeeded.
Even now, I remember.
One girl in particular. To the very end, she glared straight at me without ever looking away.
Back then, I rejoiced at having succeeded in extending my lifespan and becoming superior to other people.
So... because I couldn't stand the look in her eyes, I beat her again and again.
Even so, she never looked away.
At the time, I reveled in my superiority as I watched her.
I had only one thought: strength was everything.
Since that day, everything had proceeded smoothly.
I never stopped, piling death upon death.
But now, I cannot get that girl's eyes—or the words she shouted—out of my mind.
"The world will never forgive you."
The words that will not leave my head spill from my lips.
I can tell that the mage beside me flinches.
One of the assistants who came this far with me.
The King of the Forest should have been held back by the magic stone's power.
No—we had suppressed it completely.
Then the one attacking this country now is not the King of the Forest.
That means there was a being above it—or something even higher still.
The forest is the center of this world. A being that surpasses even it...
The being our king sought probably already existed.
A being known as the King of the World.
Or perhaps the Kings of the Forest summoned it to protect the world.
This country incurred the King of the World's wrath.
As retribution for what we have done.
The guilt I thought I had cast aside is eating away at my heart.
It was something unnecessary for serving the king, something that would only get in the way if I kept it.
That was why I thought I had thrown it away.
But perhaps I should never have thrown it away.
I stare at the magic stone.
It was supposed to be the strongest, most impregnable thing in this world.
I never imagined it would develop a crack this severe.
How many more lives will be sacrificed to repair this crack?
...Will the King of the World allow it?