༺ Invitation (2) ༻
“…Why?! Why?! why does this keep on happening…?!”
“…”
‘Get your shit together.’
Seeing Atalante losing her mind while mumbling to herself in front of me like that, I almost blurted that out right onto her face. Unlike usual though, I couldn’t just do that.
Because I, too, was at a loss on what the fuck was going on right now.
“It was already a disaster when the Chancellor invaded the academy uninvited, but why are you getting involved in this too—?!”
“…It’s not like I wanted to get involved on purpose.”
I responded with a gloomy voice.
“Like, I didn’t even do anything. She just approached me out of nowhere.”
“…What?”
Atalante gazed at me, practically holding her breath.
It was like she was considering a possibility she didn’t want to even imagine.
“You’re not suggesting that she is a Devil’s Vessel, are you?”
“I doubt it.”
Though there were a lot of things I didn’t understand, one thing was certain.
If she was a Devil’s Vessel, the system wouldn’t classify her as someone with the ‘good alignment’ in the first place. Systematically, it was just not possible.
“…”
But…
As mentioned before, it was endlessly impossible to deduce why she would behave like that towards me.
What could possibly be the reason for someone with whom I had no connection to act that way towards me?
“…Anyway, I don’t know the reason, but it’s clear that Her Excellency the Chancellor is currently taking a great interest in you.”
While I was pondering about that question, Atalante continued in a nervous voice.
“She invited you to dinner, along with Lady Tristan, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll prepare your clothes, so please wait quietly in the reception room until I come to escort you.”
Atalante spoke in a stern voice, as if to warn me.
Her reaction seemed to come out strong considering that she was the person who covered up all those incidents I caused in the Forge of Struggle. But this just made it even more clear on how different the weight between the title of ‘Chieftain’ and ‘Chancellor’ were.
‘…The leader of a republic and a ruler of a centralized nation are pretty different in terms of their significance.’
When it came to a comparison on the national level, both the Tribal Alliance and the Empire were practically on the same level. But that was only because of the difference in their technological advancement.
To put it in another term, the Empire had overwhelming manpower and resources, enough to match the technological prowess and longevity that the Tribal Alliance possessed, which in itself was almost at the level of science fiction.
And all those manpower and resources could be moved from just a word by the Chancellor and the Empress.
“This time, if you cause some huge trouble, I really won’t be able to protect you. So, make damn sure to behave yourself, understand?”
“…”
Look at her, treating me as if I was some kind of lunatic who’d cause trouble wherever I—
‘…Hm?’
Actually, that wasn’t entirely wrong…
Considering my track record up to now, it was hard to deny that even as a joke.
Fine, I’ll promise her that I’ll behave this time. I’d just eat—
“So you are here, Dowd Campbell!”
Before I could even finish that thought…
Someone barged into the Headmistress’ office by flinging the door open.
It was Faenol, and she seemed to be unusually hurried.
“…Faenol Lipek?”
Atalante tilted her head in confusion after recognizing the other party.
It was bizarre enough for a regular student to suddenly kick open the door to the Headmistress’s office, but it seemed like Atalante also knew that she was affiliated with the Heretic Inquisition.
After all, she skipped over any miscellaneous questions she had and moved straight to asking about Faeonol’s purpose here.
“What brings you here…?”
“That dinner! I shall go too!”
“…”
Atalante started wiping her face frantically.
And I…
Didn’t really feel like stopping her.
Before I could even promise her that I’d behave, trouble already came seeking me out on its own.
[I always think this, but unlike you, the girls around you are quite intense.]
“…”
[I got a good idea. Why don’t you gather them all together and hold something like the Greatest Devil Contest or something? The strongest one among them wins the rights to take your first—]
“…Shut up for a moment, will you?”
‘Mister.’
‘I never expected you to show the majesty of a Holy Knight or act like a respectable mentor.’
‘But please at least maintain some dignity as a human.’
‘I beg you, please.’
[Neither you nor I are humans anymore, though.]
“…”
Fuck, he got a point.
I let out a sigh and looked down at my chest.
It was the location where the Fallen’s Seal, the thing that was altering myself, resided.
“Hopefully, there won’t be a seizure soon…”
[Seizure? What seizure?]
“There are two Vessels there, you know.”
Moreover, one of them was harboring the most powerful Devil and the other one currently had the highest Fusion Rate.
If some sort of trouble occurred, even I wouldn’t be able to control the situation well.
With that thought, I gazed at the building bustling with dinner preparations in the distance.
Eleanor and Faenol were probably waiting in the dining room already, and I was supposed to join them a bit later.
[But why are you joining later?]
“Procedure, formality and whatnot, something like that.”
I let out a sigh as I replied.
“Also, they said something about how the main character of the night always comes late.”
[Yeah, I know that, if that’s the case, the Chancellor should be the last one to enter, not you.]
“Apparently, the Chancellor and I are scheduled to enter at the same time.”
[…]
Caliban let out a hollow laugh.
Being a Guardian who once served in the Imperial Palace, he quickly grasped the hidden meaning.
[…Isn’t the act of entering together reserved for lovers or spouses?]
“…That’s right.”
To put it bluntly, she was declaring to everyone around that, ‘This person is my partner, so don’t even think about getting close to him.’
Most likely, her inclination to display such things directly to Eleanor was quite strong.
[…Are you spreading around pheromones or something? What did you do to have her go this far?]
At those words, I just silently swept back my hair.
Even if it was a personal event happening in a tranquil building of the academy, eyes and ears were everywhere.
Rumors would definitely spread. It was possible that the story would be embellished and scattered everywhere as a scandal of sorts.
“…I don’t know. In the first place, I’ve never even met her before.”
[But she seemed to know you.]
“Huh?”
[The vibe she gave off made it feel like she had met you more than a couple of times. It shows in her speech and actions.]
Caliban’s words made me stroke my chin and sink into thought.
He was right. The consistent ‘hints’ she was dropping was quite obvious.
[But are you absolutely sure you don’t have the faintest idea about why?]
Caliban’s words made me frown slightly.
“…What do you mean?”
[There was someone who gave off a similar vibe before, wasn’t it? She never really interacted with you, but she acted as if you knew each other for a long time.]
“…”
I understood who he was referring to.
A certain sly woman who always wore a mask.
[Also, you kept on dropping hints that you knew something about her. Scratch that, you acted as if you actually knew who she was.]
“…It’s just a hunch.”
But…
If my hunch about that person turning into the Prophet later was correct…
To be more precise…
If that person actually ‘turned’ into the Prophet later…
It was also possible that the Chancellor knew me personally.
[…What is that supposed to mean?]
It meant that they could have met, not me, but a Dowd Campbell from a ‘different temporal axis’.
The Grey Devil said as such every time it met me. So did the Prophet. Even the Blue Devil did so as well.
Since there had been consistent precedents…
It was not that hard to assume that the ‘Dowd Campbell’ they ‘first met’ was not ‘me’.
Taking that possibility into account, there was a chance that the Chancellor probably belonged to that category too.
[…What does that even mean? Didn’t you say you were too sick to meet anyone during the period of time in your past that you had forgotten?]
“If it’s not the past, then it must be the future.”
[What?]
“For Devils, the laws of time and space aren’t absolute, Caliban.”
This was something the Blue Devil had demonstrated once. Time flowed differently for Devils than it did for others.
They had shown this through their words and actions that seemed to know the ‘future’ several times before, so it was fairly convincing.
[…If so…]
Caliban spoke in an incredulous voice.
[Are you suggesting that the Chancellor came from the future?]
“…Peripherally, that is correct. But…”
I narrowed my eyes as I replied.
“There’s also the possibility that it is ‘repeating’…”
[Repeating? What is?]
“The world.”
[…?]
Only silence returned from the Soul Linker, as if questioning what the hell was I saying. But, I couldn’t find a better explanation than that.
At the very least, the ‘truth’ of this world that I had hypothesized up to this point seemed most aptly condensed into that.
“Well, I’m not certain about it myself. For now, you can just understand it as something had came from the future.”
[…It feels like you’re teaching me about something, and the thought of that pissed me off.]
Oh, fuck off, teaching my ass.
At the current moment, it was just a vague feeling for me too.
Reflecting on my experiences and memories, the phenomena that shouldn’t be happening were due to the temporal axis being twisted. That was what I got from it.
However…
“One thing is certain.”
I knew which existence was the ‘cause’ of these phenomena.
After all, wasn’t there a monstrous entity right beside me? The one who was able to distort time and space with its mere existence?
[…The Grey Devil.]
“Yes.”
Whether it was something coming from the future, the world repeating, or whatever…
It was all related to that entity.
In the first place, that entity was the only one in this worldview with the power to cause such phenomena.
“…”
Well, who knows.
The more important question here was ‘why’ did she commit such acts?
What in the world happened in the future that, upon seeing me at this moment, Devils rushed towards me like crazy and the Grey Devil even twisted the entire temporal axis itself?
What exactly was going to happen later with ‘me’ as the center?
‘…I don’t know.’
There were too few things to go by at this present time.
For now, I should focus on the immediate issues first.
“…Anyway, whatever it is, there’s definitely something going on with the Chancellor.”
Even after delving to such deep hypotheses, ultimately, that one problem still existed.
All entities that I mentioned in the hypothesis were related to the ‘Devils’ in one way or another.
The Prophet was the Leader of the Devil Worshippers, while the Grey and Blue Devils were Devils themselves.
If that was the case…
Where and what was the point of connection that included the Chancellor in such phenomena?
While I was lost in thought about such a topic, suddenly, the voice of another tickled my ears.
“You were here.”
“Ah, Headmistress. I was beginning to think you would never—
Right as I was about to stand up with such words, I froze on the spot.
Because the person who opened the door to the reception room was not Atalante.
The moment I met those golden eyes, I stood up, as if struck by lightning.
“…Your Excellency the Chancellor?”
“I’ve come to fetch you, Dowd Campbell.”
“…Uh, Your Excellency, sending a servant would have been suff—”
“I couldn’t possibly do that.”
With a faint smile, the Chancellor quickly strode towards me and took hold of my arm.
She hooked our arms together naturally. My arm was now tightly pressed against her side in a completely plastered state.
“After all, it is you who I am taking, Dowd.”
“…Uh, Chancellor.”
For now, one thing was certain.
Entering the hall in such a state would cause Eleanor to go berserk. A one-way ticket to Game Over.
“But this treatment seems a bit excessive for someone of my status. Perhaps maintaining some distance from me would be—”
“…Separate?”
However…
When she heard my words, her tone dropped immediately. I broke out in a cold sweat.
‘I fucked up.’ That was the kind of feeling that rushed over me.
“You’re telling me to separate from you this time as well?”
“…”
Then, a sentence pounded inside my head that even made me forget the chills running down my spine.
‘…This time as well?’
This person.
What did she mean by that?
And…
The moment I met those eyes…
I instinctively realized.
What the ‘link’ between this person and the Devils was.
System Message
[ ‘Fallen’s Seal’ reacts weakly! ]
[ It reacts to target =Removed Object= ! ]
After all, being this close, the ‘aura’ swirling in those eyes was unmistakably familiar to me.
This person was a ‘Vessel’.
However…
She was a completely different type from the Devil’s Vessels I had encountered before.
[What is that supposed to mean?]
‘…She’s a Vessel, that much is true, but…’
I spoke, cold sweats started to trickle on my back, as Caliban asked with an incredulous voice.
‘She doesn’t have a Devil’s Fragment.’
[…What?]
‘There’s no Fragment and only the Authority remains. As if…’
I couldn’t get myself to finish the sentence.
But Caliban finished it for me instead.
[…As if she herself is the ‘very existence’ of a Devil?]
“…”
That was exactly how it felt.
What the fuck was happening?
With chills running down my spine, I looked at the Chancellor.
“Well then.”
Sullivan smiled brightly.
“Shall we go in?”
The Chancellor, drawing a graceful curve with her golden eyes, spoke as such.
Her smile was beautiful.
So beautiful, in fact, that it felt like a Devil’s temptation.
༺ Invitation (2) ༻
“…Why?! Why?! why does this keep on happening…?!”
“…”
‘Get your shit together.’
Seeing Atalante losing her mind while mumbling to herself in front of me like that, I almost blurted that out right onto her face. Unlike usual though, I couldn’t just do that.
Because I, too, was at a loss on what the fuck was going on right now.
“It was already a disaster when the Chancellor invaded the academy uninvited, but why are you getting involved in this too—?!”
“…It’s not like I wanted to get involved on purpose.”
I responded with a gloomy voice.
“Like, I didn’t even do anything. She just approached me out of nowhere.”
“…What?”
Atalante gazed at me, practically holding her breath.
It was like she was considering a possibility she didn’t want to even imagine.
“You’re not suggesting that she is a Devil’s Vessel, are you?”
“I doubt it.”
Though there were a lot of things I didn’t understand, one thing was certain.
If she was a Devil’s Vessel, the system wouldn’t classify her as someone with the ‘good alignment’ in the first place. Systematically, it was just not possible.
“…”
But…
As mentioned before, it was endlessly impossible to deduce why she would behave like that towards me.
What could possibly be the reason for someone with whom I had no connection to act that way towards me?
“…Anyway, I don’t know the reason, but it’s clear that Her Excellency the Chancellor is currently taking a great interest in you.”
While I was pondering about that question, Atalante continued in a nervous voice.
“She invited you to dinner, along with Lady Tristan, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll prepare your clothes, so please wait quietly in the reception room until I come to escort you.”
Atalante spoke in a stern voice, as if to warn me.
Her reaction seemed to come out strong considering that she was the person who covered up all those incidents I caused in the Forge of Struggle. But this just made it even more clear on how different the weight between the title of ‘Chieftain’ and ‘Chancellor’ were.
‘…The leader of a republic and a ruler of a centralized nation are pretty different in terms of their significance.’
When it came to a comparison on the national level, both the Tribal Alliance and the Empire were practically on the same level. But that was only because of the difference in their technological advancement.
To put it in another term, the Empire had overwhelming manpower and resources, enough to match the technological prowess and longevity that the Tribal Alliance possessed, which in itself was almost at the level of science fiction.
And all those manpower and resources could be moved from just a word by the Chancellor and the Empress.
“This time, if you cause some huge trouble, I really won’t be able to protect you. So, make damn sure to behave yourself, understand?”
“…”
Look at her, treating me as if I was some kind of lunatic who’d cause trouble wherever I—
‘…Hm?’
Actually, that wasn’t entirely wrong…
Considering my track record up to now, it was hard to deny that even as a joke.
Fine, I’ll promise her that I’ll behave this time. I’d just eat—
“So you are here, Dowd Campbell!”
Before I could even finish that thought…
Someone barged into the Headmistress’ office by flinging the door open.
It was Faenol, and she seemed to be unusually hurried.
“…Faenol Lipek?”
Atalante tilted her head in confusion after recognizing the other party.
It was bizarre enough for a regular student to suddenly kick open the door to the Headmistress’s office, but it seemed like Atalante also knew that she was affiliated with the Heretic Inquisition.
After all, she skipped over any miscellaneous questions she had and moved straight to asking about Faeonol’s purpose here.
“What brings you here…?”
“That dinner! I shall go too!”
“…”
Atalante started wiping her face frantically.
And I…
Didn’t really feel like stopping her.
Before I could even promise her that I’d behave, trouble already came seeking me out on its own.
[I always think this, but unlike you, the girls around you are quite intense.]
“…”
[I got a good idea. Why don’t you gather them all together and hold something like the Greatest Devil Contest or something? The strongest one among them wins the rights to take your first—]
“…Shut up for a moment, will you?”
‘Mister.’
‘I never expected you to show the majesty of a Holy Knight or act like a respectable mentor.’
‘But please at least maintain some dignity as a human.’
‘I beg you, please.’
[Neither you nor I are humans anymore, though.]
“…”
Fuck, he got a point.
I let out a sigh and looked down at my chest.
It was the location where the Fallen’s Seal, the thing that was altering myself, resided.
“Hopefully, there won’t be a seizure soon…”
[Seizure? What seizure?]
“There are two Vessels there, you know.”
Moreover, one of them was harboring the most powerful Devil and the other one currently had the highest Fusion Rate.
If some sort of trouble occurred, even I wouldn’t be able to control the situation well.
With that thought, I gazed at the building bustling with dinner preparations in the distance.
Eleanor and Faenol were probably waiting in the dining room already, and I was supposed to join them a bit later.
[But why are you joining later?]
“Procedure, formality and whatnot, something like that.”
I let out a sigh as I replied.
“Also, they said something about how the main character of the night always comes late.”
[Yeah, I know that, if that’s the case, the Chancellor should be the last one to enter, not you.]
“Apparently, the Chancellor and I are scheduled to enter at the same time.”
[…]
Caliban let out a hollow laugh.
Being a Guardian who once served in the Imperial Palace, he quickly grasped the hidden meaning.
[…Isn’t the act of entering together reserved for lovers or spouses?]
“…That’s right.”
To put it bluntly, she was declaring to everyone around that, ‘This person is my partner, so don’t even think about getting close to him.’
Most likely, her inclination to display such things directly to Eleanor was quite strong.
[…Are you spreading around pheromones or something? What did you do to have her go this far?]
At those words, I just silently swept back my hair.
Even if it was a personal event happening in a tranquil building of the academy, eyes and ears were everywhere.
Rumors would definitely spread. It was possible that the story would be embellished and scattered everywhere as a scandal of sorts.
“…I don’t know. In the first place, I’ve never even met her before.”
[But she seemed to know you.]
“Huh?”
[The vibe she gave off made it feel like she had met you more than a couple of times. It shows in her speech and actions.]
Caliban’s words made me stroke my chin and sink into thought.
He was right. The consistent ‘hints’ she was dropping was quite obvious.
[But are you absolutely sure you don’t have the faintest idea about why?]
Caliban’s words made me frown slightly.
“…What do you mean?”
[There was someone who gave off a similar vibe before, wasn’t it? She never really interacted with you, but she acted as if you knew each other for a long time.]
“…”
I understood who he was referring to.
A certain sly woman who always wore a mask.
[Also, you kept on dropping hints that you knew something about her. Scratch that, you acted as if you actually knew who she was.]
“…It’s just a hunch.”
But…
If my hunch about that person turning into the Prophet later was correct…
To be more precise…
If that person actually ‘turned’ into the Prophet later…
It was also possible that the Chancellor knew me personally.
[…What is that supposed to mean?]
It meant that they could have met, not me, but a Dowd Campbell from a ‘different temporal axis’.
The Grey Devil said as such every time it met me. So did the Prophet. Even the Blue Devil did so as well.
Since there had been consistent precedents…
It was not that hard to assume that the ‘Dowd Campbell’ they ‘first met’ was not ‘me’.
Taking that possibility into account, there was a chance that the Chancellor probably belonged to that category too.
[…What does that even mean? Didn’t you say you were too sick to meet anyone during the period of time in your past that you had forgotten?]
“If it’s not the past, then it must be the future.”
[What?]
“For Devils, the laws of time and space aren’t absolute, Caliban.”
This was something the Blue Devil had demonstrated once. Time flowed differently for Devils than it did for others.
They had shown this through their words and actions that seemed to know the ‘future’ several times before, so it was fairly convincing.
[…If so…]
Caliban spoke in an incredulous voice.
[Are you suggesting that the Chancellor came from the future?]
“…Peripherally, that is correct. But…”
I narrowed my eyes as I replied.
“There’s also the possibility that it is ‘repeating’…”
[Repeating? What is?]
“The world.”
[…?]
Only silence returned from the Soul Linker, as if questioning what the hell was I saying. But, I couldn’t find a better explanation than that.
At the very least, the ‘truth’ of this world that I had hypothesized up to this point seemed most aptly condensed into that.
“Well, I’m not certain about it myself. For now, you can just understand it as something had came from the future.”
[…It feels like you’re teaching me about something, and the thought of that pissed me off.]
Oh, fuck off, teaching my ass.
At the current moment, it was just a vague feeling for me too.
Reflecting on my experiences and memories, the phenomena that shouldn’t be happening were due to the temporal axis being twisted. That was what I got from it.
However…
“One thing is certain.”
I knew which existence was the ‘cause’ of these phenomena.
After all, wasn’t there a monstrous entity right beside me? The one who was able to distort time and space with its mere existence?
[…The Grey Devil.]
“Yes.”
Whether it was something coming from the future, the world repeating, or whatever…
It was all related to that entity.
In the first place, that entity was the only one in this worldview with the power to cause such phenomena.
“…”
Well, who knows.
The more important question here was ‘why’ did she commit such acts?
What in the world happened in the future that, upon seeing me at this moment, Devils rushed towards me like crazy and the Grey Devil even twisted the entire temporal axis itself?
What exactly was going to happen later with ‘me’ as the center?
‘…I don’t know.’
There were too few things to go by at this present time.
For now, I should focus on the immediate issues first.
“…Anyway, whatever it is, there’s definitely something going on with the Chancellor.”
Even after delving to such deep hypotheses, ultimately, that one problem still existed.
All entities that I mentioned in the hypothesis were related to the ‘Devils’ in one way or another.
The Prophet was the Leader of the Devil Worshippers, while the Grey and Blue Devils were Devils themselves.
If that was the case…
Where and what was the point of connection that included the Chancellor in such phenomena?
While I was lost in thought about such a topic, suddenly, the voice of another tickled my ears.
“You were here.”
“Ah, Headmistress. I was beginning to think you would never—
Right as I was about to stand up with such words, I froze on the spot.
Because the person who opened the door to the reception room was not Atalante.
The moment I met those golden eyes, I stood up, as if struck by lightning.
“…Your Excellency the Chancellor?”
“I’ve come to fetch you, Dowd Campbell.”
“…Uh, Your Excellency, sending a servant would have been suff—”
“I couldn’t possibly do that.”
With a faint smile, the Chancellor quickly strode towards me and took hold of my arm.
She hooked our arms together naturally. My arm was now tightly pressed against her side in a completely plastered state.
“After all, it is you who I am taking, Dowd.”
“…Uh, Chancellor.”
For now, one thing was certain.
Entering the hall in such a state would cause Eleanor to go berserk. A one-way ticket to Game Over.
“But this treatment seems a bit excessive for someone of my status. Perhaps maintaining some distance from me would be—”
“…Separate?”
However…
When she heard my words, her tone dropped immediately. I broke out in a cold sweat.
‘I fucked up.’ That was the kind of feeling that rushed over me.
“You’re telling me to separate from you this time as well?”
“…”
Then, a sentence pounded inside my head that even made me forget the chills running down my spine.
‘…This time as well?’
This person.
What did she mean by that?
And…
The moment I met those eyes…
I instinctively realized.
What the ‘link’ between this person and the Devils was.
System Message
[ ‘Fallen’s Seal’ reacts weakly! ]
[ It reacts to target =Removed Object= ! ]
After all, being this close, the ‘aura’ swirling in those eyes was unmistakably familiar to me.
This person was a ‘Vessel’.
However…
She was a completely different type from the Devil’s Vessels I had encountered before.
[What is that supposed to mean?]
‘…She’s a Vessel, that much is true, but…’
I spoke, cold sweats started to trickle on my back, as Caliban asked with an incredulous voice.
‘She doesn’t have a Devil’s Fragment.’
[…What?]
‘There’s no Fragment and only the Authority remains. As if…’
I couldn’t get myself to finish the sentence.
But Caliban finished it for me instead.
[…As if she herself is the ‘very existence’ of a Devil?]
“…”
That was exactly how it felt.
What the fuck was happening?
With chills running down my spine, I looked at the Chancellor.
“Well then.”
Sullivan smiled brightly.
“Shall we go in?”
The Chancellor, drawing a graceful curve with her golden eyes, spoke as such.
Her smile was beautiful.
So beautiful, in fact, that it felt like a Devil’s temptation.
