Audit Team of the Union (1)
“In fact, they said it wasn’t long ago that my world got involved in dimensional interference. Well, it started before I was born as a female hatchling, at least.”
She said that before she hatched from the egg, there began to be a sudden change in the winds.
“It was a place where different species lived together.”
To only sum up the intellectual beings, there were humans, Elves, and dragons in order of large populations.
“It was no different from any other world. Humans cultivated, Elves assisted us, and Dragons freely lived as they please. Aren’t you the same, too?”
“…”
“Anyway, it was 100 years before I hatched from the egg that the world became strange. Unlike us and the Elves, the chances of humans being born with Mana Heart were extremely slim. About one in a thousand years.”
“A Mana Heart? Ah, do you mean Mana Core?”
“The center of the Mana circulatory system in the heart. Yeah, you guys call it Mana Core?”
Euclid took out hidden treasures and items all over the lair and stuffed them in storage magic. I wasn’t sure if it was a tribal instinct to accumulate and cleverly hide their wealth, but it seemed to have meticulously hidden her little assets.
The dragon continued to explain her situation as she packed her belongings.
“But at some point in time, a tremendous amount of humans started to go around spewing auras from their swords. My dad thought, ‘did they become crazy all of a sudden?’ or so he said.”
She said that strange things didn’t stop there. There even appeared humans who used magic spells that only dragons or high-ranking elves could learn before. They even began to use spells that their origins or roots couldn’t have learned or discovered as if they had fallen from the sky.
“Human beings weren’t the only ones that turned weird. There appeared something called a “Gate,” which we had never seen before. And those collapsed as well. Humans went into it to hunt and brought back crystallized Mana Hearts as trophies. Only later did the other species found out that that was the beginning of a phenomenon called a tutorial.”
But the only ones to Awaken were the humans that were the most prolific beings in the world, and there was no Awakened among Elves or dragons.
“When the Gates collapsed, monsters suddenly flocked out like a horde, so it was a bit annoying, but my kind wasn’t bothered too much by it. They’re very private by nature and usually keep to ourselves. We’re not even interested in what the others do among us; all the more, we would not be interested in what the humans do.”
She rolled her eyes and said as if she remembered something.
“Oh! Before that, they said that those who were so scared they couldn’t even get near our lairs became a pain in the ass. That was because of their taunts that they would become a dragon slayer after they had Awakened. But every time they did that, all they really did was send sacrifices to us and bake few human countries as a whole. After that, they went quiet. It wasn’t a big deal, or so they said.”
“…”
“It somehow still bothered some, so there were a few that studied about the system, but they failed to figure out the principles. The least bit of knowledge about the system I have right now had been acquired thanks to them.”
It was an experience story that was different from the account of any world I had heard in my previous life.
“Shall we go back to the dimensional interference, then? As time went by and as we entered the second half of the tutorial, the ‘tower’ appeared, and humans started climbing it.”
The dragon continued.
“I heard that on the last floor, the Awakened had to make a choice, I think? Whether to proceed with the main quest or close all Gates to go back to what it was before.”
I nodded.
“That’s right.”
“People in our world chose the latter.”
It was an unexpected remark.
“What?”
“Instead of moving on to the main quest, we concluded agreeing to return to the original state.”
It was the same choice made by Earthlings in my previous life.
“Why? Did the population decline too much? Did it reach a point where there weren’t enough fighters to hold out in the main quest?”
“No, this part is actually a disgrace to our species, but…”
Dragon’s disgrace?
“The Elder who was in charge of us as our Lord at the time… and his irritation finally exploded. I think it was said that there were a lot of Gates open around that guy’s lair. He got angry that he couldn’t live because of the noise and tried to push his way out of it.”
“…”
“The one who wanted to go back to his old peaceful life was an ancient dragon. They couldn’t win over him even if all the Awakened humans rushed in and confronted him all at the same time.”
The story had quite an unexpected flow to it.
“In the end, humans lost the war against the Lord, and he, who took over all the human kingdoms, threatened the Awakened to climb the Tower of Choice and to close all the Gates. He said that otherwise, he was going to grill all the people he had taken hostage.”
Eventually, humans declared abandonment of the main quest regardless of their will.
It was after that that the problem occurred.
“As the system promised the humans, all the Gates were closed. It was the year I was born from the egg. But then… something even stranger started to happen.”
It was said that they witnessed the event that marked the beginning of the disaster in the capital of a human kingdom.
The world shook, everything bent and liquified like it was melting in the water, and the space of hundreds of kilometers in radius disappeared in an instant as if it were cut out with a knife.
Since then, similar incidents had continued throughout the world.
The perfect world began to deteriorate as if the flesh of a living creature had been sliced and cut out piece by piece. It was no different from all limbs being torn.
“From that point on, the result was that our space was ripped off all the way down to where my lair was.”
Fragments of such a lost world created a middle dimension.
Then, dungeons were created in those middle dimensions.
I felt like my head was ringing because of the unexpected story.
‘Looking at it, even in my previous life, I only knew that there existed a phenomenon called dimensional interference, but I’ve never heard of an alien race that went through it. What if the reason was… that it happened only in a world where all the gates had closed?’
If so, did that mean the Earth of my past life was destined to go through something similar to Euclid’s world later on, even if our plans had been successful?
My thoughts deepened.
*
“First of all, how about changing your looks?”
If Euclid moved around the Earth with Hibiki’s face, except with shaved eyebrows and hair, it would attract more attention than necessary.
“Hmm? I don’t care. But… I can’t think of any particular human face. I’ve never seen one this close either.”
After a moment of thought, she looked at the faces of the three of us carefully.
And then…
Paht!
Euclid’s face, as she appeared after the flash of light, had completely been changed.
But then…
“Huh? It looks very familiar.”
Nate tilted his head.
“… She mixed the faces of the three of us in moderation.”
“Oh, yeah! No wonder… I felt quite keen to the eyes, but they’re the same as mine!”
Euclid’s body and facial contours were in the same condition as Hibiki’s, and the upper part of the face, including the eyes, was modeled on Nate, and the lower part was copied from my face.
It might seem strange if one had unilaterally synthesized it that way, but she had found the balance without making it look awkward. Indeed, she was a great wizard.
Weeing!
I opened the [Door of Hope] and entered the coordinates to return home. For me to take the dragon outside, it had to be judged as my property, so she needed physical contact. I took Euclid’s hand and led her to the blue gate.
“Hmm? Hibiki, why are you glaring with such a scary look?”
“… It’s nothing.”
I heard the pestering conversation between the two behind me, but I had no time to look back.
-You need 60,000 Mana Cores to transfer one human and one dragon to the destination dimension.
I knew it was going to be expensive, but that was too much!
It was fortunate that there was a core left unabsorbed in case of an emergency, but that was not a small amount for me either.
“Wow, I’ve never seen an artifact that works this way before.”
The dragon admired the portal without knowing how I felt inside.
“You’ll have to pay for this entrance fee.”
Without knowing the fate ahead of her, the dragon looked just carefree.
*
It was a few days after returning to Earth that the Audit team of the Union contacted us.
Adam was banned from entering Earth from the moment they landed on our dimension and reached out to me. I wasn’t really that surprised because it was all as I had expected.
I thought they might come into contact in a deserted desert or a hill, but surprisingly, they chose a very humane method.
“Welcome.”
“I have a reservation under the name ‘the auditor.'”
“Oh! Your company has already arrived before you. Please come this way.”
Despite my expectations, they booked a restaurant in Seoul and called me.
When the door of the room opened, three people, who looked like ordinary humans, were sitting on chairs waiting for me. I couldn’t help but be nervous as I could vividly see Mana fluttering and seething even from beyond the wall.
The staff who guided me closed the door again and left without recommending the menu or taking orders.
The tallest of the three men spoke. A clear language that went through interpretation magic flowed from him.
“You don’t have to worry about that human coming back. Even if we sit here for hours, that door won’t open again, so sit back and relax.”
It meant that they had already taken a lot of measures to keep any intruders out.
The man sitting right next to him smiled and spoke afterward.
“To ensure the psychological relaxedness of the subject, we are going to continue our queries while maintaining the appearance of a species like you. We also chose a place where you can feel comfortable. We could have proceeded with it at Mr. Seo Jin-Wook’s residence if you wanted to…”
“No, I didn’t want that.”
“It is as they said so.”
I calmly threw my glance at the Mana Cores, curled up in the hearts of the three.
‘They are powerful beings leaps and bounds beyond Adam and the observer we met in China!’
The system determined the ranking of dungeons, items, and skills, but it followed humanity’s standards to let the people know which humans were of SS-Class hunters or SSS-Class hunters.
The minimum standard for SS-Class hunters was at least 30,000 Mana because that was enough to be the top 0.1% of humans.
However, what if we expanded the scope to a non-human species?
‘Even if ten Earth-standard SSS-Class hunters rush in on them, they wouldn’t be able to beat even a single one of them.’
I ran a simulation in my head. What if I was dealing with them all at once with my pure power?
‘Maybe I deal with one of them, but I’m definitely going to die in the hands of the other two. It’s a sure loss.’
I calmly reviewed the plan I discussed with Adam.
I had to do my best to prevent my opponents from noticing that I was the successor.
“As you may have heard in advance… we would like to hear what happened between you and ‘Mercadius.’ Don’t be too nervous and speak comfortably. The Union is not a group that exists to harm the tutorial dimension. Rather, it exists for the exact opposite of that notion.”
Maybe the Union was like that.
However, the members who composed it, the grudge that the ‘Albanos’ carried, were a different dimension.
“That’s what I heard from Adam. I’ll give you as much detail as I can about what I’ve experienced.”
I adapted the story and told them all the details I could, leaving out contents about the skill, [The Successor’s Eyes], that I had and about the regression. According to my report, an unidentified person came into contact with the Celestial Dragon Guild people and tormented them with his unique skill.
I also took out the part that I was under a curse.
After hearing all the explanations, the auditors were lost in thought for a moment. They then finally brought up the main subject.
“Thank you for your cooperation. Then… I’d like to ask you about one last thing.”
“What is it?”
“According to a report sent to the federation headquarters by an observer that died here, it said the observer had an experience of using the [Observer’s Eye] skill against Mr. Seo Jin-Wook and failing.”
“…”
Finally, the thing that I had been waiting for had arrived.
The observer, who died, might not have known about the successor, but it was surprisingly easy to determine the successor if someone knew about the information in advance.
The skill [Observer’s Eyes] could never work on the successor. Therefore, the being would be unconditionally considered a successor until it was proved that other skills had similar effects.
Albanos were said to be the ones that could pour out their hatred and grudge of their species based on charges alone. By exploiting the audit team’s status, they used creative means to finish me without them being reprimanded.
“To determine the authenticity of your testimony so far, scanning you with [Observer’s Eyes] is the most conclusive way. So, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings… I don’t know what means you’ve taken, but can you put it down for a while?”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“The key to blocking the [Observer’s Eyes] skill. Whether it’s an item or skill… please deactivate it for a while.”
“…”
I made an expression that showed that it was complicated.
Then they exchanged glances with each other. He asked me a question with a wicked smile around his mouth.
“What’s wrong? It’s not that difficult….”
I shook my head and said.
“No, it’s very difficult.”
There was a strange light in his eyes.
“Why is it so difficult?”
“As you said, I know why [Observer’s Eyes] doesn’t work for me. But it’s impossible to stop it at will or temporarily disable it.”
“… Hmm.”
The Albanos species, covered in human shells, spoke as if they wanted to hasten my confession.
“Can you tell me why?”
I purposely made an expression wherein my pupils were shaking and looking thirsty.
In that manner, as I let the silence flow as if I was dragging on-
I finally spoke in a way that told them I had made up my mind.
“It is because the power that is protecting me originates from a great being that continues to exist for a very long time.”
“… For example?”
Their faces were full of expectations as if I was finally revealing the answer they wanted to hear.
Their expression froze instantly afterward due to the words that followed.
“The power that protects me from the [Observer’s Eyes] comes from the great being that oversees magic.”
“…?”
“Please keep this a secret. The one that protects me is the reciter of the forgotten spell and the original wizard.”
“… Could it be?”
“Yes. That is right. I am destined to be the incarnation of the magic god, Igras-Sho.”
I spoke confidently with a face full of reverence.
“I think the reason why the observer’s skill didn’t work is because of the divine power within me.”
Then, the man who had been silent so far replied with a frustrated voice.
“Lies! There’s no way that a divine being would pay such keen attention to the native of a dimension still in the tutorial stage…!”
I replied hastily, cutting his words.
“This is the proof!”
I extended my fist in front of them.
“What do you mean– No way!”
He hesitated, then spit out the words I was expecting to hear.
“Sacred scars?!”
At that moment-
With perfect timing, blood started to drip from the three scars, laid side by side on my hand.
Comments