Chapter 1332: Designed Transcendence (10)

A quiet mansion, where dusk had settled.

Twilight, with an orange sunset unfolding outside the living room window.

Crackle!!

Blue current flashed along the electrical wires installed on the mansion’s wall, making the circuit breaker twitch.

The circuit breaker, where blue lightning flickered, rattled and shook slightly before its door clicked open.

From inside, a fox spirit emerged, tiptoeing out.

[Ugh, it took longer than I thought. Organisms, really….]

Muttering, yet diligently, it tidied up the wires and devices around the circuit breaker to leave no trace.

Almost half a day had passed since it visited District 49 with Aris and returned from shopping.

Davi had returned home in the blink of an eye, traveling along the electrical wires running through the mansion.

A Cybernetic Spirit is an ethereal being that can freely move between reality and Cybernetic Space, existing in both simultaneously.

If needed, it could move at the speed of will along the wires, traversing the entire city at any time.

This was why Davi hadn’t worried about leaving Lennok alone while spending time with Aris.

[Master… he wouldn’t be awake yet….]

From the second floor, where a barrier was set, there was still no sign of movement.

Its master usually either woke up during the day or slept for another day, waking up the next, so there was no need to worry.

Thinking so, Davi stealthily made its way to the bedroom, creeping up the ramp to the second floor.

Even though it was an important task, it had left Lennok’s side for a short while, so as punishment, it planned to sleep in Lennok’s bedroom all day today.

Whether that was a punishment or a reward to Davi was unclear, but since such criteria were set by Lennok, not Davi, it didn’t matter.

Just as Davi, thinking this, silently rolled into the bedroom, rubbing its paws on the floor to muffle the sound—

It froze on the spot, seeing Lennok leaning against the window by the bed, looking outside.

[…Ah.]

Whooshh…!!

A warm breeze blew in from outside the window.

An orange sunset poured from beyond the setting sky.

Lennok, who had been sitting on the bed looking outside, spoke without turning to Davi.

“You came back a lot sooner than I expected, didn’t you?”

[M-Master….]

“You went out for a change; you should have played around a bit longer.”

Lennok closed his eyes, resting his chin on his hand.

“I wouldn’t have said anything even if you had played around more.”

Surely, Lennok hadn’t woken up from his sleep while Davi was briefly away.

This was an unprecedented situation: Lennok, who never woke until Davi roused him, was awake on his own.

It was an anomalous pattern that hadn’t occurred once since he returned to Vulcan after completing his recent work.

Caught off guard, Davi uncharacteristically stammered, shrinking back.

[Master. That is, well….]

“I’ve known Aris for a long time, but sometimes I’m surprised by her unexpected sides.”

Lennok calmly said, extending a hand toward Davi.

“I knew she was interested in you, but I never imagined she’d call you separately just to talk. She has a strangely good initiative in these matters.”

[….]

He already knew that Aris had taken Davi?

Unable to make any excuses, Davi hung its head low and climbed onto the bed, following Lennok’s gesture.

Hesitating, then with a cautious rub of its face against Lennok’s knee, Davi spoke in a timid voice.

[I-I’m sorry… for leaving your side so carelessly….]

“Not really. I’m not saying this to scold you.”

Lennok hugged Davi.

“You can always come back to my side, can’t you? And there wasn’t any security issue with the mansion.”

[But….]

“I was just a little surprised that Aris asked you to do something I couldn’t ask of you, and you accepted.”

Lennok murmured, stroking Davi’s head and averting his gaze.

“Perhaps, true potential ultimately begins from somewhere beyond my own grasp.”

[….]

Lennok surmised that Davi had little interest in humans, and perhaps even held less favorable impressions.

However, because Davi’s existence held great meaning for Lennok, he hadn’t forced interactions with others, nor did he disregard the spirit’s will.

But today, Davi had accepted Aris’s request and spent time outside with her, just the two of them.

He didn’t know what the two had talked about or what conversations they had, but Lennok didn’t feel the need to find out.

Ultimately, Davi’s ‘independence’ wasn’t something Lennok could directly control or force.

He had merely confirmed that someone else’s help, not his or Davi’s, was needed.

[Master….]

Davi hesitated, then asked quietly.

[Do you… wish for me to leave your side someday?]

“…No.”

Lennok closed his eyes.

“Even if everything fails and turns to naught… I wish for you not to disappear.”

[….]

“Perhaps, I merely want to prepare for the one-in-ten-thousand chance of failure, starting now.”

Lennok said softly.

“Because I want you to live, even if it’s like that.”

Unlike others living in this world, Davi was the sole being Lennok had created through his own will.

It was a Cybernetic Spirit existing in this world purely because Lennok himself desired and willed it.

Perhaps, in the eventual end of this world, there might be no fault or responsibility attributable to Lennok.

However, Lennok bore a greater responsibility for Davi’s existence than for anything else.

For Davi’s birth into this world and its eventual encounter with the same end as others, was none other than Lennok’s will.

He didn’t regret it. This Cybernetic Spirit had always been an excellent companion to Lennok, more so than anyone else.

But if all these endeavors Lennok was undertaking were to fail meaninglessly.

If Lennok, too, were to be unable to resist and kneel before the coming end someday.

Even in preparation for that time, Lennok wanted to teach Davi how to live without relying on him.

If Davi could survive, even like that, after the end arrived. If it could remain in the Imaginary Dimension or Cybernetic Space and observe what came after the end.

Even that alone would mean Lennok’s life up to now had held meaning.

Because he now believed that if Davi could become Lennok’s answer, even in that way, it would be enough.

[I don’t… want to….]

Davi murmured.

As if confessing its never-before-revealed true feelings.

With difficulty, as if for the first time, trying to defy Lennok’s command.

[I don’t… want to, if I don’t have Master….]

“…I see.”

For a long time, Lennok silently stroked Davi’s head.

Davi also kept its mouth shut tight, rubbing its head against Lennok’s knee.

How much time passed until the sunset faded and the sky grew dark?

Lennok, opening his eyes as if gathering his emotions, smiled and gently squeezed Davi’s cheek.

“It’s not like I enjoy saying things like this either, you know?”

[Bwhee-hee-hee.]

“Alright, let’s talk about something else. After I woke up, I thought about it, and although it’s been difficult to make time, we’ve stayed in this mansion for too long.”

Lennok said, pulling the tablet from beside the bed.

“Considering we’ve periodically moved residences, I’m thinking of moving to a new hideout soon. What do you think?”

[I unconditionally approve!]

Davi, instantly invigorated, stiffened its tail and leaped up.

[That Elixir. It dared to visit Master’s nest without permission!! Such a misfortune must never happen again!!]

“No. It’s not particularly because Aris’s visit bothers me that I want to move… and anyway, my house isn’t a nest.”

Lennok, looking at Davi thrashing on his lap with a wry expression, raised the tablet.

“Anyway, while you were out, I looked through catalogs and found some candidate locations. Let’s look at them together and discuss. Before, we had to find common ground due to budget and various conditions, but since the Magic Tower stabilized, our situation has improved a lot, hasn’t it?”

[It’s not just ‘improved’.]

Davi, snorting roughly, glared at the tablet with gleaming eyes.

[It’s been three years since I started playing with the stock market of foolish organisms, gambling money to make more money…!!! We have all the ammunition we need. Everything has been for this very moment!!!]

“…I’m sorry, but can you calm down for a bit? You’re starting to scare me.”

The Magic Tower’s item business was stable, and Vulcan’s stock market was on an upward trend.

With the victory in the subjugation campaign and the publication of the fourth thesis, the amount of capital flowing into the mega-city had already reached astronomical levels.

Naturally, Lennok’s assets, accumulated through continuous investment in Vulcan, were snowballing.

Cashing out a portion of these and investing in a new residence wouldn’t be a bad choice.

However, the ‘new nest’ Davi envisioned seemed to be worth far more than that.

[The scale needs to be at least three times larger. We need to select a district where Master’s laboratory can operate concurrently, and in case of emergency, the entire area can be remodeled to ensure safety….]

“Davi?”

[Equip it with anti-gravity engines so it can move in an emergency, and design all facilities and components of the mansion to be disassembled and reassembled, turning it into a palace….]

“Davi, just listen to me for a moment—”

[Ah, no good. We still need a lot more funds to properly decorate the nest…!!!]

Davi suddenly stood up on all fours, staring at Lennok with blazing eyes.

[Master, don’t worry. I’ll bring in more budget for you…!!!!]

“No, that’s not what I meant—”

Flash!!!

With a sharp flash of lightning, the Cybernetic Spirit vanished from sight.

Lennok scratched his cheek, looking at the empty spot where Davi had just been, having connected to Cybernetic Space.

He wanted to foster Davi’s independence, but it seemed to have manifested in a rather strange direction.

“I suppose I should meet with Aris sometime later….”

Lennok, sighing, stood up and went downstairs to the first floor of the mansion, rummaging through the kitchen.

When Davi returned from Cybernetic Space, it would automatically summon itself to Lennok’s side. There was no need to wait.

It was late, nearing evening. He finished washing up belatedly, prepared to go out, and then left the mansion.

His mana and will-thought, depleted from the battle with the Grand General, hadn’t fully recovered, but there were still things he needed to do.

“A story about the Prohibitions released with the collapse of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”

Among the matters in his inbox that Davi had summarized for Lennok, this news particularly caught his eye.

Lennok checked his schedule, summoned a silver staff, gripped it, and began to walk.

As Lennok stepped out of the mansion, his gaze turned toward the darkening evening sky, and the moment he slowly raised his mana—

With a sharp flash of lightning, Lennok’s body vanished from the spot.

“Please allocate all documents related to the Forbidden Frontier Project to the responsible departments now.”

“District 49 continues to require administrative personnel. As the floating population steadily increases, the city government plans to implement focused management.”

“We are continuously increasing government-affiliated hires each quarter. As soon as personnel are supplemented, we need to urgently complete their training and deploy them to the field….”

The City Government Building, located in District 5 of the mega-city Vulcan.

A blonde boy sat alone in the vast office, answering calls coming from all directions with a smiling face.

He picked up and put down one of the ten neatly arranged telephones, while with his other hand, he ceaselessly reviewed and signed documents.

As signed documents piled up on the desk, dozens of secretaries bustled about, delivering them to various departments—

Then, upon seeing the black-haired young man standing behind the Mayor, they froze in place as if turned to ice.

…!

“A-Adamant Thunder!!”

“Ah, so you’ve finally arrived?”

Separately from the secretaries, whose expressions turned pale with surprise, the boy glanced back, still holding a phone in one hand.

Vulcan Mayor Arjis Ormeon waved away the hesitant secretaries with one hand, then looked up at the impassive face of the wizard.

“It’s been almost two days since I sent an official request for a meeting, so that was cutting it close. Oh, perhaps a Grand Mage has no concept of time?”

“You should consider yourself lucky Jenny hasn’t cut off the city government’s lines.”

Lennok looked down at Ormeon, leaning on his staff as he walked.

“She seems to have been angry with you ever since the improvement ceremony.”

“Ah, the Tower’s Administrator… she has every right to be.”

Ormeon nodded, a sheepish expression on his face.

“Due to a shortage of personnel in District 49, quite a lot of work has been delegated to the Magic Tower. Even with the authority transferred along with it, she’s probably quite overwhelmed.”

…

“She has a bit of a temper, but among the people I’ve worked with, she’s one of the most capable. Is Kaiser’s bloodline really that different?”

The boy shrugged.

“I don’t really want to bring up bloodlines in clerical work like this, but as one gets older, prejudices tend to grow stronger for no good reason. Please bear with me if it offends you.”

“Your workload seems heavy enough to make you ramble nonsense.”

Lennok said, looking at the mountain of documents piled in the office.

“Are you handling all of these by yourself?”

“These are tasks that accumulated while I was away. And some can only be approved by the Mayor’s authority.”

Ormeon smiled and picked up his pen.

“Well, I suppose it’s all my karma, so I’m just quietly holed up, working. But it’s not a workload a normal human could endure. If I weren’t in this body, I’d probably be struggling quite a bit.”

“It seems there was an agenda item regarding the Prohibitions among all those accumulated tasks.”

Lennok put his hands in his pockets, watching Ormeon stop signing.

“So, what is it you want to say? If it’s something you need to tell me directly, without using the lines, it can’t be an ordinary matter.”

“Hmm, I was actually about to explain it.”

Click, the boy put down his pen, spun his chair around, and stood up.

“Shall we talk outside first? It seems the time has come.”

“Time?”

“There’s an event everyone has been waiting for, not just in this city, but across the entire Eastern Continent, isn’t there?”

Saying so, Ormeon headed toward the open balcony located at the back of the office.

“An Ascendant from the Outer Lei Clan has landed near Vulcan.”

Fwaaaah-!!!!

Above the City Government building, a dark night sky stretched.

Above the night sky, where starlight should have been twinkling, a mysterious turquoise aurora unfurled.

The majestic sight of a curtain of light, said to appear only in the polar regions, hung over Vulcan, engulfing the entire city.

Between the vast curtain of aurora, a gigantic silver crescent moon slowly rotated, emitting light.

An auspicious light, luminous enough to unconsciously captivate even Lennok, who had followed Ormeon out.

“That is….”

The silver crescent, wreathed in aurora, rotated, radiating auspicious light.

It was as if the light of the aurora was being contained within a giant silver bow, drawn back like an arrow on a string.

Taking the crescent moon as her bow, drawing its string, and unleashing her will across Vulcan’s sky like an aurora.

Just as Lennok was quietly marveling at this overwhelming transcendence, reminiscent of a natural phenomenon—

“Dadam’s mana is said to be as transparent as a mirror, as clear as lake water, and reflects everything as it is.”

The Mayor, gripping the balcony railing, spoke.

“It holds the essence of nature, like a plant that has lived for a long time, and those who bask in its mana are said to reveal a part of their true nature.”

….

“Just like my current appearance, you see.”

The boy, leaning against the railing, smiled and pointed at his shadow.

The boy’s elongated shadow, illuminated by the aurora’s light, had transformed into a strange, unknown shape, no longer that of a young boy.

A shadow that swayed like a soft fluid, as if it had lost its human form, or perhaps shed it.

But Lennok, after staring intently at the boy’s face, slowly turned his gaze away.

“I know an Ascendant is coming to Vulcan. What does that have to do with the matter of the Prohibitions?”

“Well, it’s a matter I needed to tell you about before Dadam arrived in Vulcan.”

The boy looked away.

“As I said earlier, it’s a bit of a close call, but it should be fine if I explain it now.”

“You’re talking as if you’ve accomplished something, even though you haven’t explained anything yet.”

“Well, I suppose it’s partly my fault for not writing a more detailed email.”

The Mayor shrugged.

“Let’s get to the point. Have you heard the news that the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors were recently conquered?”

“…Why do you ask that?”

“A genius named Evan Martinez succeeded in conquering it, and the process seemed quite boisterous. The entire continent is stirring from the aftermath of overturning the entire Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”

….

“Thanks to that, the news spread all the way to Vulcan, causing quite a stir in society… but the problem is that its aftermath isn’t limited to just international affairs.”

The Mayor smiled.

“As the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors vanished, many of the Imperial Palace’s Prohibitions bound there were released. With the seals and restraints gone, hidden ruins are appearing all over the continent.”

“…The Imperial Palace’s Prohibitions?”

At that moment, Lennok, who had been looking up at the aurora, paused slightly.

If the Prohibitions released with the collapse of the Demonic Realm belonged to the Imperial Palace. And if that was why Ormeon was mentioning it now.

“Yes. Precisely the case you’re thinking of has occurred in the mega-city as well.”

The Mayor, arms crossed, smiled and tilted his head.

“Simultaneously with the collapse of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, an [Ascension Relic] left by the Imperial Palace was discovered somewhere in Vulcan. That’s precisely why Dadam is visiting Vulcan right now.”

….

“According to our findings, the Ascension Relic is an ancient ruin from the primordial era, excavated by Left Prime Minister Yuseong and then bound by Ars Nova’s Prohibitions… in other words, a ritual altar for receiving the qualifications for ascension.”

The boy, having said that, casually asked, as if simply greeting him good evening.

“So, that being said, do you… perhaps, despite the lateness, have any intention of becoming an Ascendant now?”