Chapter 64
"They really were a bunch of lunatics, huh?"
They intend to set the world's cycle in motion.
What could those words mean?
Simple.
Those bastards are saying they'll start a war against the entire world, just as the [Demon King] did in the past.
[We have to accept that if we want to restore the broken cycle to normal.]
"So your organization is planning to declare war on the entire world?"
As the heir to the Nebula Duchy, I learned something during my education.
Why was there no war in this world right now?
Simple.
[If we fight among ourselves now, the damage will be far too great.]
The era when knights and mages fought petty little skirmishes had long since passed.
Guns, bombs, large-scale war magic. Secret weapons unknown to other countries.
Or ability users who surpassed human understanding.
Not to mention automatons, golems, and the like.
The military strength of every country had already reached the point of overflowing.
It was different from the past.
Even the weakest kingdom had built up enough military strength to deliver a fatal blow to a great power.
The rulers of every country had realized this fact and were suppressing war.
But even so, there were clear limits.
Every country was already politically connected to the others, making the whole world a powder keg.
A powder keg that, if ignited, would shake the entire world.
"You know what that would lead to, don't you?"
A war suddenly breaks out in such a state?
I had seen a scenario like this on Earth in my previous life.
The great powers, entangled in countless interests, and a war that erupted over a single, utterly trivial gunshot.
On Earth, this war was called this.
World War.
"Many lives will be lost."
[Better than having even our souls devoured by invaders from beyond the dimensions.]
"Is there any solution other than war?"
[No. Of course, it might be possible if every country used an overwhelming amount of mana at regular intervals, comparable to a war breaking out across the entire world.]
But.
[The amount of mana concentrated in this world is simply too great.]
As the ages passed, technology for utilizing mana had developed endlessly.
But what we needed now was simply technology capable of consuming mana on an overwhelming scale.
And who possessed technology that could completely consume it as it was, without putting it to use elsewhere?
It was no different from having to use vast quantities of oil every year and dump them on the ground.
"What about seeking cooperation?"
[Impossible. Humans or other races alike—how much time do you think I've spent observing them?]
A faint emptiness began to show in the reptilian vertical pupils.
[Any being, human or other race, will betray us if it possesses intelligence. All the more so if it is someone in power.]
The history of thousands of years during which humans built civilizations and interacted with other races proved this.
Although all the races seemed to be living harmoniously now, discrimination that had festered and rotted within them still existed.
[How could we discuss the fate of the world with people like that?]
"..."
[Yes. There must certainly have been good people, like the hero who slew the [Demon King]. The hero's actions ultimately brought the world closer to ruin, but no one knew that at the time, so there is nothing to criticize.]
No.
[Rather, we should pay our respects. To the hero who sacrificed everything for the future of humanity—no, of this world.]
"You acknowledge that possibility, yet say it's impossible to trust humans—or not just humans, other races too—ever again?"
[Yes.]
Extreme.
More than I could have imagined.
Neither I nor the entity possessing Kairon's body said anything further as we looked at each other.
After some time passed.
[So I have a proposal.]
"A proposal?"
[Yes. In fact, that is almost the reason I arranged this meeting.]
Its reptilian vertical pupils began quietly studying me.
[Abel. You are the most troublesome being among the ability users we have assessed in this world. And you are the singularity of this world, as I have judged it.]
Would you consider joining us?
"..."
Join them?
[You understand by now. You know how dangerous this world is.]
Yes, I knew. Assuming all of this was true, of course.
[If my words are false, I will gladly stake my neck and soul. There is not a trace of falsehood in what I say.]
Yet, as if reading my thoughts, it dismissed my concerns at once.
[We are an organization seeking to avoid the option of destruction at the end. There is no need to worry. Some of us hate ability users, but many others hold different ideologies.]
Swish.
The entity possessing Kairon's body extended a hand as it spoke.
[Join us.]
"..."
I looked down at the hand it held out to me.
If this was about the greater good, I suppose they could claim to have more on their side.
But.
"Get lost."
I immediately raised my middle finger and spat out a curse.
A grand greater good?
Sure. Something like that might exist.
If humanity continued advancing and mana continued accumulating, the dimensional defensive wall would collapse and monsters would pour through.
To prevent that in advance, they would start a war, consume mana, and reduce the number of lives beforehand.
An extremely radical and efficient method.
But here's the thing.
"If you were going to call it a greater good, you shouldn't have used heretical power."
The drug [Mirage] incident, when we clashed with these bastards in the Empire.
During that incident, Ariel had to fight against heretical power that suddenly appeared.
After that, I personally investigated what heretical power was.
The conditions required to use heretical power, which I discovered through that investigation, left me unable to do anything but frown.
"While using a method that sacrifices other lives."
You call that a grand cause?
Are you kidding me?
It couldn't be helped.
But if we didn't do this, the world would be in danger, so although we didn't want to use it, we had to.
Well, they could trot out that tired excuse.
So what?
Would that bring back the lives of those sacrificed by such an excuse?
"Then use that precious greater good to convince the people who were sacrificed."
Then I'll cooperate.
I glared at it as I said that.
I'm not a good person by any means.
Even in my previous life, I had killed people while working for the NIS, and I had a record of killing countless people in the name of revenge.
But at least I had never laid a hand on civilians.
"By laying hands on people who had nothing to do with this, people who knew nothing, you've long since crossed the line."
If they had sought cooperation officially without resorting to such extreme terrorism, the story might have been different.
"Well, you could say that. No matter how loudly we cry out, no one listens to us. Something like that."
But here's the thing. Whatever else it is, terrorism is terrorism.
"Don't dress yourselves up in the trappings of a grand cause. No matter how carefully you wrap spoiled food, it's still spoiled."
Besides, you know everything you're saying right now is a mass of contradictions, right?
...
[I see.]
What a shame.
***
A little while later.
Having received Abel's communication, Mist and Ariel began moving to one of the many engine rooms on the train where Abel was.
The person who had gone to Bellias while possessed had long since been treated with Ariel's divine power.
Should I call it fortunate?
Perhaps because they had taken appropriate action early, the possessed people showed no abnormalities apart from brief confusion of their memories.
The unfortunate part was that, although they had planned to seal the minds of the possessed and interrogate them,
the sealed minds had disappeared, perhaps because of some special measure that had been taken.
In the first place, sealing arts that sealed the mind itself were difficult to learn, and since no one here was skilled in them, it was closer to an accident.
"Sigh..."
Ariel couldn't help but regret that fact.
She had certainly learned how to seal things with divine arts.
But as someone who usually fought on the front lines, she had treated sealing arts as a low priority; she hadn't expected neglecting them to hurt this badly.
Mist, who glanced at Ariel's self-reproachful sigh, carefully spoke.
"It's all right. It was an unavoidable accident."
...But.
"If you look at it that way, Sir Bellias and I should have prepared for this first."
If anyone was going to blame themselves, it should be all of us.
Comforted, though not quite comforted, by Mist's words, Ariel regained some composure and nodded with a somewhat more energetic expression.
Yes. Before the regression.
She had been so eager to catch the trail of the organization that had waged war against the entire world and even caused a world war before her regression that she had acted too hastily.
'Slowly.'
Let's move forward once more, slowly.
Words she said to herself every day.
Though she had rewritten her life with the miracle of regression, these were words deeply engraved in her heart as she lived in this world so different from the one before.
"Phew..."
Her mind, tangled by self-reproach, finally regained its calm.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
Thus, Ariel moved forward with a somewhat more relaxed expression.
The entrance to the engine room where Abel was eventually came into view.
Before coming here, Mist brushed off a little dust and pressed the switch that opened the engine room door.
'Hmm?'
'What is this?'
The entrance to the engine room began slowly opening.
And as soon as it opened, a scent tickled the noses of the two people.
A complicated scent that seemed like the smell of earth, or perhaps simply burning leaves, or a mixture containing the rich scent of almonds.
It was the smell of cigars.
Click.
Mist and Ariel cautiously began making their way through the engine room thick with cigar smoke.
"Hmm... This is..."
"It's the cigar Lord Abel smokes."
"Ah..."
Sniff. Sniff.
Ariel unconsciously breathed in some of the thick smoke around her.
Several complex scents. Yet, surprisingly, it was not very unpleasant.
"How fascinating. The smell of ordinary cigarettes felt quite acrid."
"That's a characteristic of cigars."
Basic cigarettes were merely harsh, without any special processing.
But cigars were different.
Special processing amplified their aroma and flavor while minimizing their characteristic foul odor.
In some circles, because of their heavy, distinctive aroma, they were even called men's perfume; that fine fragrance was a defining feature of cigars in this world.
Click.
After exchanging some small talk with Ariel, they arrived at the center of the engine room, where Abel came into view.
"Phew..."
He was seated in a chair made of smoke, staring blankly into the air, rapidly puffing on a cigar and lost in thought.
He was so absorbed that he had not noticed even Mist and Ariel approaching.
"Lord Abel."
"...Hmm? Ah, Mist."
"Is something wrong?"
Mist looked at Abel with a slightly worried expression.
Seeing her master, the master for whom she was willing to give everything, sunk in anguish was not a pleasant sight for Mist.
At Mist's gaze, Abel lightly smiled and waved his hand.
"Ah, I'm fine. I just had something to think about... Ah, Ariel. Kairon should be lying over there."
Abel pointed to Kairon's body, lying pitifully nearby with his entire body pinned down by smoke.
"His injuries are pretty bad. My ability is keeping them from opening back up, though."
Swish.
The smoke compressing Kairon's body began to loosen little by little.
The body revealed beneath it looked quite seriously injured.
"Oh my."
Quickly grasping the situation, Ariel approached the fallen Kairon and began healing him with divine power.
"Ariel. Can you focus on my voice while healing him?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Good. Bellias, you should probably come over here too... This is pretty important. Yes, right away."
[Understood.]
Whoosh.
Once Abel confirmed that Bellias had arrived, he slowly began to speak.
"Good. I have something important to tell you."
Abel began his story.
Cutting out the unnecessary parts, he conveyed only the facts he had learned from his conversation with the enemy in a plain tone.
The Hero and the Demon King.
The mana cycle broken because of that.
The dimensional defensive wall.
Ability users as well.
.
.
.
"..."
"..."
[...]
The three of them were unable to say anything after hearing Abel's words.
Naturally. Who could maintain their composure after suddenly being told that the world was in danger?
A little while later.
Excluding Ariel, who was treating Kairon, Mist and Bellias regained their composure and
began exchanging opinions.
"First, we should verify whether the truth he told us is genuine."
"Yes, I agree."
[Hmm... Then we should probably begin investigating at the Nebula Duchy first... The problem is that I don't know where to start.]
"In my opinion, how about we first speak with the other ducal families and the Empire in secret?"
After some time spent actively exchanging their opinions.
"All right, then let's do this for now."
Abel would first contact the chairman to report the incident.
Bellias and Mist would first travel to the Nebula Duchy to obtain information.
"What do you think?"
"Understood."
"Good. Ah, Ariel. How is that bastard Kairon?"
"Ah, yes. I've treated all his external injuries. He still hasn't regained consciousness, but I think he can't wake up as a defense mechanism because the possessing entity was too strong."
"Hmm. Any idea when he'll wake up?"
"I think he'll wake up by this evening at the latest."
"Really?"
At Ariel's definite answer, Abel turned toward her, took one last puff of his cigar, and slowly exhaled.
"Good. Ariel, there's one thing I'd like to talk to you about before then."
Do you have a little time?
.
.
.
After leaving the engine room, Abel and Ariel sat in chairs in a certain compartment, facing each other.
"What is it?"
"Oh, it's nothing major."
In response to Ariel's question, Abel calmly took out some snacks prepared in the compartments and slowly began to speak.
"Ariel, why don't you tell me about the secret you've been hiding?"