A Villain's Will to Survive

Chapter 289: Ages (3)

Today, a visitor from the Floating Island arrived at my mansion.

“Didn’t expect to see you down here on the continent,” I said.

It was Astal, a name known throughout the Magical Realm and, among Addicts, the most renowned, holding the status of an elder even within the Floating Island.

The mages of the Mage Tower placed deep trust in his insight, for he was the leading analyst of magical theory and the one responsible for reviewing my own work, a respected figure of weight wherever magic was spoken of.

“Yes, I have heard of the Personnel Committee,” Astal replied as he took a seat on the couch.

Astal didn’t waste time on pleasantries because, true to the nature of an Addict, he had no interest in introductions or appearances—he was focused on what mattered most.

“I’ve read Mage Epherene’s theory, but the Floating Island disapproves of research that undermines the dignity of magic and the enigma of mana.”

“Has the mere mention of science become so provocative that even the Floating Island takes notice?” I inquired.

“It was more than a mere mention of science,” Astal replied. “The Professor’s theory borrowed scientific characteristics from carbon and recreated them using magic. But this girl, Epherene, is trying to integrate magic and science, even using the term natural science—a phrase most unnatural to our discipline.”

In the world I came from, natural science was a given—so obvious that no one thought to question it, but in this world it was a foreign concept where mana was the fundamental law of nature, not science, and while natural magic flourished, natural science was never welcomed.

“It is contrary to the will of the Floating Island. I daresay the Purger’s eyes may have already fallen upon her.”

“The Purger,” I replied, my brow tightening at the word.

“Yes, the Personnel Committee under your direction issued its punishment promptly, Professor, which will stay any premature action—for the time being,” Astal said, pulling a thesis from his coat and holding it out—it was Epherene’s. “However, should Mage Epherene persist in her research, the matter could escalate beyond our control.”

“Have you read it?” I inquired.

“Of course,” Astal replied with a nod. “Moreover, there is a particular scientist who has become something of a problem.”

As he spoke, Astal set a book down before me.

“It’s called the Theory of Relativity, and it is a piece of scientific literature that Mage Epherene referenced. The author seems determined to explain even time through science.”

Einstein, the genius of the century, was the physicist who most wondrously redefined our understanding of time and space, and now, through Comprehension, I was beginning to understand his science.

Of course, it was far from simple, but by piecing together fragments I already knew—that nothing can travel faster than light or that exceeding light speed could reverse time—and pouring mana into it, Comprehension allowed me to partially reconstruct Einstein’s theory.

“You might want to read it for yourself, Professor. The Floating Island is already considering labeling it a forbidden work,” Astal concluded.

“I never thought I’d see the day when the Floating Island would come to reject knowledge,” I replied.

Astal remained silent.

“Was that the only reason you came all this way?” I added, the sneer was unspoken but understood.

“Yes, Professor, I know you’ve turned your back on Mage Epherene, but she was your student—your protégé.”

“… Well, if there’s nothing further,” I replied, offering him a small jewelry box. “Take this with you.”

Astal looked down at the small jewelry box I handed him and tilted his head ever so slightly, as if uncertain what to make of it.

“It’s the substantiated mana stone from the Deculein and Luna thesis,” I explained.

Then Astal’s eyes trembled as the ice within them gave way to a flicker of heat—desire rising beneath the surface and betraying the spark he could no longer contain. Addicts from the Floating Island always wore the same frosted composure, but when faced with new knowledge, their reactions became almost childlike and even charming in their sincerity.

“The theory, brought to life, now resides within that mana stone. You’ll understand the full breadth of it through the thesis.”

I placed Epherene’s thesis on top of the substantiated mana stone.

“Was it you who provided the theory for manifestation, Professor?” Astal asked, his hand already reaching for it before he could stop himself.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “The work is Epherene’s—I merely reviewed it. But for now, I’ll keep it under my name.”

On the Floating Island, the funds sustaining its entire magic society came from copyright, which made magic copyright a sensitive matter.

“Is it because of the Purger?” Astal asked, his tone unreadable.

“If Epherene’s talent grows too conspicuous, it might be enough for the Purger to label her a threat.”

“Is this your way of protecting your protégé, Professor?”

Given that Epherene and I were estranged, at least publicly, there was a hint of uncertainty in Astal’s voice.

“Of course not. Epherene is both unimpressive and foolish, but she’ll need to stay alive because my theory has room to grow.”

“Yes, Professor, I understand. How widely do you aim to release it?” Astal asked, nodding after a moment’s thought.

“The entire world,” I replied.

***

… The substantiated mana stone for Deculein and Luna’s theory was released, and Astal, along with the other Addicts, examined it with precision, and within just a week they reached a unanimous conclusion that no errors were found, marking the moment the theory stood completely established.

“Congratulations! Even in our Mage Tower alone, your citation count’s over five thousand!” Adrienne said.

Citation count was a number, but not just any number, as it referred to how many mages—aside from myself—had referenced my thesis and suggested that a growing number had used portions of it as the foundation for their own research.

In other words, five thousand theses had already branched off from a single theory of mine, and at this rate, mages making a living off my work would start appearing by the dozens.

“The whole Magical Realm is talking about it~! Maybe I should do my own research on it too~?” Adrienne continued, smiling from ear to ear.

I stood in silence, staring at the Chairman’s nameplate sitting neatly on the desk.

“… Anyway! Congratulations!”

The 99th floor of the Mage Tower, which once belonged to Adrienne, stood empty today, with only her remaining there, holding nothing but a puppy in her arms.

“By this time tomorrow, you’ll be Chairman!” Adrienne concluded.

“Yes, thank you,” I replied, nodding as I brushed a gloved hand over the nameplate that read Chairman Deculein.

“Do you already have in mind who will be the next Head Professor?!”

“Yes, I do.”

Louina, Relin, and Siare were all competing for the Head Professor position, each more determined than the last, but in my mind, the decision had already been made—it was Louina.

“Oh, by the way—how do you plan to use the 99th floor?!”

“I will begin by relocating my equipment to the 99th floor.”

I’d already decided to move everything—my laboratory, my study, the archives, and even the experiment room—from the 77th floor to the 99th.

“Then where will you be heading, Archmage Adrienne?” I inquired.

“Oh! You’re finally calling me Archmage now!” Adrienne replied with a sunny smile. “Well—first, I’ll rest a bit on the Floating Island for a while! Then rest a little more! And probably just keep resting again!”

It was an unspoken tradition that Archmages did not interfere with the Mortal Realm, which was why the Floating Island had named Adrienne Archmage in the first place, as her destruction spells were powerful enough to end the continent and even other nations if she ever chose to act, and even in the original story of the game, Adrienne never involved herself.

“But I’ll drop by the Mage Tower every now and then!” Adrienne added with a smile.

“Yes, your service has meant much to us,” I replied, a slight smile rising to my lips.

“Maybe go a little easier on the killing from now on, Professor Deculein!”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” I replied, shaking my head at Adrienne’s suggestion.

As a member of the Empress’s Elite Guard, I was soon to be deployed to war in the desert where I would destroy Scarletborn and Altars in the thousands, meet with Quay to demand answers about the fate of the continent, and in the end, define the very meaning of my existence.

“Hehe. Well, I heard this Revelation thing has been the talk of the Mage Tower lately!” Adrienne said, floating it up with Telekinesis.

In Quay’s revelation, he had listed the apocalypses that would befall this continent—earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, tidal waves—and so far, thirteen of them had already come true.

“That is correct.”

However, ten revelations still remained, among them a landslide in the Empire’s western territory of Vell, a glacial cold descending upon Freyden’s lands at a level near that of an ice age, a declaration from Yuren that would send shockwaves through the world, and at the very end, God would descend to cleanse the continent, defiled by original sin.

“Isn’t this the flyer the Scarletborn’s been throwing around everywhere?!”

I didn’t answer Adrienne’s question because she always talked too much to be trusted with anything important, and I had no interest in having my words spread across the Tower by morning.

“Hmph! You’re no fun!” Adrienne added, sticking out her lip in a pout.

At that moment…

── P-Professor, we have a big problem!

A sudden shout echoed through my crystal orb, coming from Louina who was uncharacteristically shaken, and that alone was enough to catch Adrienne’s ears, making them perk with interest.

“What’s the situation?” I replied, my hand closing around the crystal orb.

── Please, come straight to the 77th floor!

Pat, pat, pat, pat—

Before I could even take a step, Adrienne had already jumped into the elevator, and I sighed before stepping in after her.

“Come on, let’s go!” Adrienne said, pressing the button for the 77th floor.

Adrienne was all smiles, her hair fluttering as she moved, and although I still didn’t know exactly what had happened, if this was her final farewell as Chairwoman in the Mortal Realm, at least she was smiling, and that was enough.

Ding—!

The moment we stepped into the corridor on the 77th floor, a rising wave of voices met us and grew louder. It was exactly the kind of noise I hated most, and Louina was there, of course, along with Relin and several other professors, while a crowd of undergraduates had gathered too, watching what seemed to be some kind of show.

“What’s going on out there?” I inquired.

“Perhaps…” Louina replied, beads of cold sweat on her brow as she pointed toward my laboratory. “It’s best if you take a look yourself…”

I stepped up to the laboratory and looked inside, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak because it was empty—not a single thing left, and it had been cleared out entirely.

The microscope, centrifuge, rotary granulator, and mana stone condenser—each enhanced with my Midas Touch—were gone, and although I’d bought them just because they were labeled highest quality and never actually used them, every last one had disappeared like they’d never existed at all.

“Ehehe!” Adrienne said, unable to hold back her laughter.

I glanced over at Adrienne.

Adrienne cleared her throat, covering her mouth, barely managing to hold back her laughter.

“… It must be her. That girl’s out of her mind!” Relin shouted, biting down his anger.

I looked over at Relin, who looked as if the blood had been washed from his face after the unprecedented incident of equipment theft from the Head Professor’s laboratory.

“Who, exactly, are you referring to?” I inquired.

“Epherene! It must be Epherene, Professor! That girl has completely lost her mind!” Relin said, his face flushed as he shouted each word.

Relin said it, and even though I hadn’t expected to, I found myself nodding as it made sense.

If it’s Epherene, then yes, only she would have the audacity—or the ignorance—to explain this, I thought.

“Even the magical alarms never sounded, Professor, which suggests the work of an insider familiar with the 77th floor’s structure and judging by the fact that not just equipment but several grimoires from the study were stolen—”

“Even the grimoires were stolen?” I inquired.

“… Oh, yes, Professor. That’s… yes, they were,” Relin replied, swallowing hard.

I felt a twinge of anger, curling at the edges of my thoughts.

Of course, if this was Epherene’s doing, I had every reason to be angry whether I felt it or not, but this sort of petty stunt didn’t suit me and, as a strategy for driving me away, it was far more effective than I cared to admit.

“A-Anyway! I can’t believe she pulled off a theft of this enormous scale!”

“… A theft of enormous scale,” I muttered.

But the more I thought about it, it wasn’t exactly petty as I began calculating the worth of what had gone missing from my laboratory, and the numbers spoke for themselves.

“It appears the stolen assets are worth nearly a hundred million elne.”

Everyone fell silent at my words—everyone except Adrienne, who let out a gasp, her mouth falling open.

“O-One hundred million elne…?” Relin muttered.

Some of the gear I’d lost wasn’t just advanced—they were artifacts, the kind that outperformed even the Floating Island’s best inventions, and if I put them on the market of the Floating Island, they’d fetch over a hundred million elne without question, though anything that drained four thousand of my mana per use probably should.

“T-Then I’ll file the report immediately!” Relin said, already halfway to the door.

The other mages glanced my way and made their exit from the 77th floor.

“Then I’ll come too! I want to see how they put out a wanted notice!” Adrienne said, following them as her giggles faded with the elevator doors closing behind her.

With the 77th floor silent, I stepped into the empty laboratory.

“… Epherene,” I muttered

There wasn’t a single piece of equipment left to fill the space, and my voice echoed off the bare walls, making it hard to believe, even for a moment, that this had once been a place I was proud of, filled only with machines of the highest quality.

“This arrogant fool.”

Flutter—

At that moment, a piece of paper fluttered down from above—not by mere coincidence but by magic—and I caught the note, and the moment my eyes ran over the words, a dry laugh slipped out of me.

This is the price for taking my thesis and my mana stone.

***

Meanwhile, in the Sanctuary of the Ages.

“… Is it really alright to take all of these?” Allen asked hesitantly.

“Why not? Deculein already went public with my thesis and mana stone like they were his own,” Epherene replied as she arranged the equipment on the 77th floor.

“But you were the one who told Professor to do that, Miss Epherene.”

“Well, nothing comes without a cost. You give a little, you take a little,” Epherene replied, her lips curling into a smile.

Right now, all Epherene could see were the machines, each one of top quality.

“Miss Epherene, they will probably put out a wanted notice for it…” Allen said with concern.

“They won’t be able to catch me as long as I stay here.”

“But that would mean you will not be able to go to the Floating Island…”

“For what these are worth, I will be fine without ever setting foot on the Floating Island again.”

With Deculein’s microscope, Epherene could observe mana particles, the centrifuge extracted pure mana from within mana stones, and with the condenser, Epherene could compress her own mana into the mana stone itself.

“I can’t believe it. How could he leave something this fine untouched?” Epherene muttered, tapping the polished machines that were barely used.

“Are you sure you are alright with it?” Allen asked again.

“… Of course my heart aches. But it’s far too late to take any of it back.”

Epherene managed a smile, but her heart was burning to ash as she couldn’t begin to imagine the depth of Deculein’s hatred—how far she had fallen in his eyes as a protégé who betrayed him and dared to strip his laboratory bare, and just picturing it made her chest ache with fear and shame.

“That’s not the only concern—if you get caught, there’s no avoiding a prison sentence.”

“There is no evidence that I did it.”

“You left Professor a note…”

“… Oh.”

Well, that’s not good, Epherene thought.

Epherene licked her lips, hesitated for a beat, then sighed and scratched the back of her neck.

Whatever—at this point, there’s no turning back now.

“I mean, what if the investigation leads to the wrong person? I may have left a note, but it’s not like there’s any real evidence I was the one who took it.”

What is she even talking about? Allen thought, swallowing those thoughts before they could escape.

“What exactly are you planning to do with all these?” Allen asked.

“First,” Epherene replied, clearing her throat. “I am going to save Knight Yulie—with these supplies, and with my magic.”

“Heheheh…” Idnik murmured, the sound echoing through the space.

Epherene and Allen both turned toward Idnik.

“Look at this, Epherene. Your report’s already gone through—and there’s even a headline that says, ‘Epherene Suspected of Stealing All Supplies Belonging to Her Estranged Former Mentor,’” Idnik said with a chuckle, holding up the Wizard Board.

“… Is that so?” Epherene replied, barely sparing it a thought as she returned to assembling the supplies.

“Yes, it even made the newspaper. They’re saying the total value of what you stole adds up to two hundred million elne.”

“I suppose that’s just about the worth… of my thesis,” Epherene replied, swallowing hard as the number—two hundred million elne—was far more than she’d imagined.

At the Mage Tower, they were nearly founding a department built around Deculein and Luna’s magic alone, with mages from every corner of the world poring over the thesis, whose citations spanned continents, and Deculein was already regarded as the elder of a rising school of thought—the substantiated reverberation of their work was nothing short of monumental.

“Well, that’s the end of your relationship with Deculein,” Idnik said with a smile. “You’d best stay on the move, Epherene—until your research is finished.”

“Yes, that was what I was aiming for, which means now the Professor won’t be held responsible for any of it…” Epherene replied, her lips tugging into a smile as she nodded.

However, beneath the bright lilt of Epherene’s voice, there was a sorrow too delicate for most to notice but present all the same.

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