Chapter 215 - Someone’s Master (2)

“Ugh.”

I clutched my forehead, pressing my fingers firmly into the bone. The headache faded, and my senses slowly returned.

'Right. I’m inside a [trauma] right now.'

This was another world. No, it was a play, assembled anew in imitation of a world.

The actors didn’t know they were actors, and the props didn’t know they were props, but everyone coming and going here was effectively a part-time employee hired for the performance.

'I’m inside the Tower Master’s... [Ja Sujeong’s trauma].'

For some time, I had been peeking into Ja Sujeong’s life.

How much talent she had been born with. The absurd ways she had broken through political attacks. Whom she had befriended, how she had gained power, and how she had finally taken even the dragons’ authorities...

'The Tower was created through the dragons’ authorities.'

Now I could say that with confidence.

'And it wasn’t built with just one authority. An authority governing [essence], one governing [memory], and one governing [time]. Perhaps still more Dragon Emperors. It’s an integrated system... fashioned by layering the powers of many Dragon Emperors.'

THUMP.

A heart that wasn’t mine beat to my rhythm.

'I’m the first person to unravel the Tower’s structure!'

Was it answering that pounding in my chest?

Even inside the trauma, the Tower’s voice readily responded to my discovery.

[Congratulations. You are the first to discover the Tower’s structure!]

[An additional bonus will be awarded if you accurately describe the authorities (skills) supporting the Tower’s structure.]

[Can you identify the four fundamental skills that constitute the Tower?]

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

'Ja Sujeong captured three dragons.'

Recalling the scenes I had witnessed, I murmured inwardly.

'One of them was the Earthbone Dragon. A Dragon Emperor with [the authority to store memories]. When someone approaches the Earthbone Dragon, their memories are placed in a box.'

I considered the Earthbone Dragon’s authority.

'And that box has no fixed [size].'

+

[Earthbone Dragon’s Skull]

Rank: SSS+

Effect: Stores the memories of the living. Stored memories are placed in a ‘box.’ This box can only be destroyed by the owner of this skill.

As long as the box remains intact, you can produce a body inheriting the same memories as many times as you wish. The body can roam the world, accumulate new memories, and ‘update’ the box with these experiences. With your permission, of course!

Even if the person’s body is destroyed, the box suffers no damage. Grant those around you the privilege of immortality.

※ However, the memories of a destroyed body cannot be updated to the box.

+

I thought.

'People living outside can enter the Tower at any time.'

But those who entered left everything outside behind and brought nothing but their bodies.

Like me. Like Markus Kallenberg. Like the director.

Like everyone else.

'The only thing you can bring into the Tower is [yourself].'

In other words.

'What if the Tower is one enormous box?'

I snapped my fingers.

'And we’re what’s stored inside it?'

The moment I entered the Tower, [my memories] were stored in [the enormous box called the Tower]. With my memories entrusted to it, I traveled through the worlds inside.

'That gives the Tower complete possession of the information of everyone who enters.'

The more I thought, the more certain I became.

'This also explains how I could regress four thousand days!'

Each time I went back a day, the Tower I belonged to was restored to the previous day’s [data restore point]. After four thousand repetitions, the Tower had gone back to a restore point four thousand days earlier.

During that process, however, my skill had ‘updated’ only my data in the Tower.

- Restore data to the point four thousand days earlier.

- (Additional code from the skill) Preserve the continuity of the individual named Kim Gongja.

That was why I could regress without losing my memories.

'Good. Then the Tower is one enormous memory box. Our memories aren’t inside our brains, but inside the Tower. This is a Great Library storing memories! No, a Great Library of souls. That’s one aspect of the Tower’s true nature I’ve deduced. How’s that!'

The Tower’s voice responded immediately.

[Correct.]

[You have successfully passed the first gate.]

[The Earthbone Dragon’s box forms the Tower’s outer boundary.]

Okay.

'Traveling between worlds must work on a similar principle.'

I had traveled between the worlds of [Tales of Sormwin Academy] and [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon].

Strictly speaking, that movement was probably closer to a ‘transmission.’

'What’s hard to understand is how [Tales of Sormwin Academy] or [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] came to be incorporated into the Tower, just like us...'

Frowning, I pressed a hand between my eyebrows.

As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, the nobles around me began chattering.

“N-now that the viscountess is receiving a ducal title, we’ll have to call her Duchess, won’t we? It feels as though she’s a little farther away...”

“Hmm. Ja Sujeong permits anyone to call her anything, so long as she likes it. Coming up with a pet name to share might be a surprisingly good idea.”

“A pet name...”

“You must have heard them often, Marchioness. Ja Sujeong calls Viscount Sim Anchal [my princess], and the Duke of the Ultimate Sword [my husband]. Those names belong exclusively to them. Perhaps you could come up with one too.”

“It’s a little embarrassing when someone else hears it...”

“But in return, Ja Sujeong dotes on you.”

“I’ll have to think about it...”

I wanted to tune them out, but it was difficult.

Every word of that conversation concerned the Tower Master.

People kept dropping information about the master who had created this world. Even if it was nothing more than idle chatter, I couldn’t help being interested.

'I need time to organize my thoughts.'

Then I realized that [the current me] possessed an ability to do just that.

Mana flowed within my body. More precisely, my entire body was made of mana. I hadn’t seen a mirror, so I didn’t know what I looked like, but this person’s flesh, blood, bones, and limbs were all merely constructs of mana.

In short, the brain was no different.

『Consciousness—Acceleration—Time.』

The nerves in my brain absorbed mana and transformed.

The speed of my consciousness changed as I wished. If I wanted, I could probably even transform this into [a body that didn’t need to breathe]. Whoever owned this body was undoubtedly an incredible monster.

'Hmm.'

Good. Time had slowed.

Marchioness Snow Rabbit and Viscountess Pure Black God moved sluggishly, as though set to 0.1x playback speed. My body had slowed along with them, but my consciousness maintained its pace. In a world moving at a far more leisurely stride, I continued my deductions.

'Whether it’s [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] or [Tales of Sormwin Academy], a world can’t walk into the Tower on its own two feet. It isn’t like us humans. How did she bring an entire world into the Tower?'

I racked my brains hard.

Yet I still couldn’t picture it.

'Seriously, how do you move a world into the Tower...? Unless you make an identical one.'

I narrowed my eyes.

'Make an identical one?'

My heart pounded.

'Right. Is there any need to shove a whole world into the Tower? Wouldn’t it be enough to recreate a world exactly like [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] inside it? My memories are recorded in the Tower to begin with. A world would only need to record its time in the Tower too.'

That was possible.

It was far easier to imagine than physically cramming a world into the Tower.

'But...'

Two problems still remained.

First, the Earthbone Dragon’s box [stores the memories of the living]. That was what the skill description said. Leaving aside whether a world was alive or dead, it was difficult to call a world itself [a living being]. A world surely wouldn’t decide on its own to enter the Tower.

Second was none other than—the Tower Master’s personality.

“...”

The Tower Master turned her head and looked toward me. Fresh mischief lingered in her bright smile.

Violet eyes.

It was a color far too lowly to reflect anything. To meet her gaze, I had to get past the color of her eyes, peel away the faint white surface, and only then barely reach those jewel-like eyes.

Her eyes seemed to open their jaws like a snake and swallow mine. Impossible. There was a considerable distance between our seats and the throne. And yet I felt as though Ja Sujeong were looking at me from right in front of my nose.

“An interesting scent was drifting over from here.”

Far away, Viscountess Ja Sujeong pursed her lips. Parted them. Formed words. But those words came right up to my face and stirred the insides of my ears.

'Aura speech.'

I swallowed. Somehow she had seen through the fact that I had set my conscious time to 0.1x, and she sent her aura flowing at precisely my speed. The owner of this body was a genius archmage. But Ja Sujeong was a monster.

“What interesting thing are you going to show me, my second adviser? My staff in the rear? Even when Adviser Eternal River does nothing at all, you’re entertaining enough to be one of the few sweet nectars that soothe my tedious life. But is there something especially, exceptionally interesting going on?”

“... I was contemplating the Tower’s structure, Viscountess.”

[The subject’s sense of self is being opposed.]

[Continuing the trauma recreation!]

I had tried to speak in Gongja’s voice, but my lips moved on their own and my tongue turned as it pleased. Becoming a courteous noble, I folded both hands neatly before me.

“The Tower’s structure?”

Still openly displaying her affection for His Majesty from afar, Viscountess Ja Sujeong tilted her head.

“Do you mean the Platinum Tower? Ah, well. Its structure certainly is unusual. It was a building used by a dark ruler before the kingdom’s founding, so it was designed very spaciously, very tall, to allow dragons to pass through...”

“Not this tower.”

“Hmm? Which one, then? The Tower of Supplication? Oh, the Underworld Tower I conquered this time?”

“I am contemplating the structure of the [Tower] you will build, Viscountess.”

“...”

At that moment, Viscountess Ja Sujeong rose from beneath the throne.

“Viscountess Ja Sujeong?”

The king looked up at her from his throne, seeming somewhat taken aback.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. There is something I must briefly discuss with a fellow member of my faction...”

“Hmm. Very well. Take your time.”

“Your grace is boundless. I shall stretch each second apart from Your Majesty into ten within my heart, so that upon my return, I may behold you with a heart already steeped in longing.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong turned away.

TAP.

Her clothing was slit on both sides. Her long skirt trailed behind, leaving a trace of fabric along her path. She had dressed not as a noble, nor as the future duchess, but solely as [the king’s concubine]. Viscountess Ja Sujeong had enough power and connections to impose such attire upon this sacred assembly hall.

“Now, Adviser Eternal River.”

The most powerful noble in this hall where all the nobles had gathered.

She was my master, and I was her retainer.

While the other nobles addressed me by the kingdom’s official title of [baron], only Viscountess Ja Sujeong called me by my position within her household: [adviser].

“Unless someone has just stuck a skewer through my ears, I certainly, unmistakably heard you say [Tower]. Ah, Marchioness Snow Rabbit and Viscountess Pure Black God, would you give us a moment?”

“Oh, yes. Viscountess...”

“Understood, faction leader.”

Ja Sujeong bent down and kissed Snow Rabbit’s forehead. Though her face reddened, Snow Rabbit giggled happily and hurried away from her seat.

Ja Sujeong raised her left hand and offered it to Pure Black God. As though it were only natural, Pure Black God knelt, kissed those fingers, and licked them. Then, apparently satisfied, she gave an impassive “Hmm” and left her seat.

“...”

“Aren’t they adorable?”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong covered the lower half of her face with her sleeve and chuckled.

“So, I heard you mention the Tower, Adviser. As far as I remember, I’ve never once told you about my plans for it. I haven’t told anyone. That makes me a little confused. Don’t tell me you had the power of foresight?”

“... No, Viscountess. I possess no power of foresight.”

“Of course. There’s only one person in the kingdom who can see the future: young Divine-Eyed Seer, practicing celibacy in the desert. I don’t know why that bastard is so intent on protecting his virginity when he’s a man. Last time, he told me with the most serious face, ["If I stop being a virgin, this world will be destroyed"]. Does that make sense, Adviser? He’s just bullshitting to get rid of me, isn’t he?”

“...”

I listened attentively with my hands folded neatly before me.

Her Ladyship was naturally talkative. Once she began, the conversation branched in ten, a hundred, a thousand directions. At such times, the best course was simply to wait for her to return to the subject herself... as the owner of this body knew.

“Ah. Anyway, the Tower.”

Just like now.

“If it isn’t foresight, then Mind Reading? That would be harder than foresight. As you know, Adviser, my mind currently has at least four layers of barriers around it. The place where I’m planning the Tower is inside the first layer—my deepest interior, in other words. Not even Zai would know, would they?”

Zai was the Duke of the Boundary’s real name.

There was only one person in this kingdom who could casually use that name: Viscountess Ja Sujeong, standing before me. She was also the only person whose head hadn’t gone flying after speaking it.

The Duke of the Boundary possessed the ability to read people’s minds. It was therefore only natural that she should suspect me: [How did you learn of a plan within me that even the Duke of the Boundary couldn’t read?]

“Viscountess.”

“Yes, my adviser. My adviser whom I call my adviser, but who is always my second adviser, and who hopes someday to strike the back of your senior’s head and become my only adviser.”

“Might I suggest reversing your thinking entirely?”

“Oh? Entirely?”

“It is not that I have [already] foreseen the Tower, Viscountess. The Tower has already been completed, and according to its logic, we are experiencing this situation [after the fact].”

“...”

Her violet eyes widened.

She looked left once, then right once. Then she tapped her lips with the index and middle fingers of her left hand.

“Wow.”

That was all the time Ja Sujeong needed to organize her thoughts.

“That’s fucking awesome.”

“...”

“Let’s confirm this first. Adviser, have you come from the future? That is, from a future where I’ve already built the Tower and am running it successfully?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s impossible. Even if the Tower is built, you will never know that the [Tower] exists. The only people in this world who will know of it are the Golden Dragon, the Earthbone Dragon, the Glacier Dragon, the Duke of Black Flame Dragon, and finally, Viscount Sim Anchal. No one else can know. ... Hmm?”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong stroked her chin.

“I see.”

Then she grinned.

“You aren’t Adviser Eternal River, are you?”

“...”

“You must be someone else possessing Adviser Eternal River’s form. Oh, hmm. So this sort of thing does happen after all. How entertaining.”

“... Yes, I am not this person. My name is Kim Gongja.”

“You aren’t from this world either, are you? I’m so certain I could pull out my intestines and cut out my gallbladder to stake them on it.”

“Yes, that’s correct. I am... a hunter in the Tower named the City of Heavenly Ascent.”

“A hunter? Ah, so I ultimately decided to go with that term. The City of Heavenly Ascent. Does the outside world have a name too?”

“Uh, hmm. I have heard a constellation call it the Spire World...”

“...”

At the words Spire World, her violet eyes narrowed strangely.

“It seems this isn’t entirely a coincidence.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Ah, when I said it was nothing, I didn’t mean it really was nothing. I simply said it to get under your skin. Now curiosity has taken over your right and left atria and set them pounding, hasn’t it? A heart is healthy when it pounds. Since I’ve given you the gift of health, you should properly thank me.”

“...”

I understood.

This person talked an incredible amount.

And she didn’t merely talk a lot. She knew exactly how to grate on my nerves.

“But how did someone inside the Tower cross over into the past like this? It’s so remarkable, the possibility so remote, that I can scarcely believe it.”

“I haven’t crossed into the past, Viscountess.”

“Meow?”

New information: the Tower Master sometimes imitated a cat.

What utterly useless information.

“This isn’t your world, Viscountess. Nor is it mine.”

“Then what is it?”

“This is merely a recreated dream. A reconstructed memory. Viscountess, I am currently inside your trauma.”

“...”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong blinked.

“How?”

“I have a skill. Whoever kills me, I can glimpse the trauma of the person who killed me. That’s what it does.”

“What’s this? That sounds like a fucking fun skill. If someone proposed making a skill like that, I’d immediately welcome it with both hands. But, Mr. Kim Gongja. If this is my trauma, does that mean [I killed you]?”

Slowly.

Viscountess Ja Sujeong tilted her head to the left.

“That’s nearly impossible. Unless you’re the World Germ... the evil god among evil gods of other worlds, I don’t intend to kill people from other worlds. I’d sooner let them kill me.”

“The Spire World.”

I spoke the name of the world where the director had lived, where Kim Yul had lived, where I had lived, and where a certain middle school student named Ja Sujeong had lived.

“There is someone there exactly like you, Viscountess.”

“...”

“I asked her to kill me. For no other reason than to meet you, Viscountess.”

Silence.

Viscountess Ja Sujeong stared up at me. Her face was utterly expressionless. She let out a nasal “Hmm,” scattered her breath with an “Oh,” and finally nodded, saying, “I see.”

“How interesting.”

She reached out and caressed my cheek.

“Quite. Extremely interesting.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong smiled brightly.

“You probably have very little sense of the outrageously unlikely coincidences you’ve passed through, weaving thread-thin errors into a possibility to reach this place. No, to summon me here. But let me commend you, Mr. Kim Gongja. You have accomplished a miracle.”

“...”

“Yes. So today is my [trauma]. Well, that’s entirely plausible.”

Her breath drew close to my face.

“So?”

“...”

“O hero who has made his way through a miracle. What would you like to do here?”

“I... want to know what kind of person you are.”

I swallowed.

“The person who built the Tower... who came to build it. I want to know what kind of person she is, what kind of life she is living. That’s why I came all this way.”

“Hehe.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong’s eyes half closed.

“How adorable.”

Then she slowly released my cheek.

“Very well. Please watch what sort of human I am until you’re satisfied. As it happens, the person you’re possessing is Baron Eternal River. My adviser. It is Adviser Eternal River’s duty to follow me wherever I go, at any time, so no one will find it suspicious if you remain at my side.”

Viscountess Ja Sujeong looked back at me.

“Now, follow me, Mr. Kim Gongja.”

Then she held out her hand.

“I’ll introduce you to my world.”