He opened his eyes.
In front he could see the face of Myu who had fallen back to sleep. After covering her body with a gown, he placed a blanket over her body.
Despite having finished the experiment, he did not leave. As if stapled on the ground with a nail, he stood still for a long time.
Even though he wanted to walk forward, his feet refused to leave the ground and his blank mind did not know where he was supposed to go.
Passing through his mind were many things.
In the distant past, there was a time when he had dreamed of this instant; that there would come a day where he would discover how to send the baby dragons back home; that strenuously trying to the brink of death would some time end this loathsome regression.
That was what he used to think in the past,
But that day never came.
Later he was lost, thinking that such a moment would never come to him. It was when a failure was followed by another failure as a sense of defeat was built upon defeat.
In those times, even the dreams during his sleep would tell him that such a moment would never come. Waking up, he would show resentment at the non-existent gods. How wretched is it, that I cannot even achieve what I want in my dreams?
Getting angry changed nothing.
After that, he no longer felt a sense of defeat even from failures. It later made him think that cutting the chain of regression was something that cannot be done by a mere individual human.
His heart no longer felt rushed after letting go of his greed and emotions. Some time in the future – whether it was possible or not no longer mattered – something would surely come up along the road. He started to bear such carefree thoughts in his mind.
But nothing came up along the road.
His life was a voyage.
The world surrounding him was a vastly large and wide ocean, and a night sky of the first lunar phase with not a single twinkling star. There was no current in the water with everything beyond a one-inch mark being dark; crying out one’s loneliness was not even met with an echo; and shivering through the endless coldness of the night waiting for a non-rising sun in vain.
It was a wintery night at the ocean.
Even the direction to head in was vague. No-one in the world told him anything.
He was all alone.
But even then, he proceeded on.
Inside the dark world, soaked by the storm, knocked apart in the tempest, and sometimes withstanding the tackles of the enormous monsters.
He proceeded forward. He had to go forward.
And today, just then.
His partially wrecked ship managed to reach a port.
“…”
Yu Jitae looked down at his two hands and tried moving each of his ten fingers.
It wasn’t the time to be excited yet…
There was still a long road ahead of him. It was still night outside and some things could not be seen through the veil of darkness.
It wasn’t the time to rush things, and there was no reason to create a fuss.
“…”
Sitting next to Myu, he closed his eyes. He restarted his stopped heart and also began pumping his paused lungs.
He went over the situation again.
There were a total of 9 ‘authority organs’ inside the [Origin Fragment]. From those, the two most important organs in sending the baby dragons back home were [Emergency Summon] and [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection].
[Emergency Summon] contained the coordinates of the other world, Askalifa and the [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] contained the ‘power’ that could force an intersection between the distant dimensions.
Easier put, [Emergency Summon] was the navigation while [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] was the engine.
However, the two organs were being protected by the [Will of the Ancient One] and this was something that could not be broken that easily. But in this experiment, Yu Jitae had finally managed to crush through the Will of the Ancient One that was protecting the [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection].
Something strange was that it wasn’t broken purely thanks to Yu Jitae’s abilities. The Will of the Ancient One blocking the road to [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] had a crack on it already.
This was presumed to be due to Myu being a mutant dragon.
Thanks to that, he now knew the operating principle of the engine that would send the baby dragons back home as well as its functioning mechanism.
However, his attempt at crushing the [Emergency Summon] using the same method was met with a failure. The [Will of the Ancient One] protecting it was as tough as usual and could not be broken with ease.
All he had to do now was break through the [Emergency Summon] to find the coordinates of Askalifa where the baby dragons would be returning to and…
He knew how to approach the problem.
Now he needed to find a day to change the powers protecting Myu into a comprehensible shape using [Conceptualisation (SS)] and dive into the world.
This was something he had already mentioned to Myu.
And in that world, if he could successfully untangle the [Will of the Ancient One], that would mean both the navigation and the engine would be ready.
And, that would in turn mean…
“…”
A night sky faded by the curtain of darkness. At the tip of the horizon, he could finally see something – not the countless ports of deserted islands that he had seen multiple times but something definite that was urging him to come.
“…”
It was when he was sitting on the spot quietly imagining the future that a message was sent to his watch.
[Oscar Brzenk: Do you have time?]
It was the message of the long-awaited guest.
***
A man with blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the office with light enveloping him.
He was world’s official Rank 1, Sovereign, Oscar Brzenk.
A few months ago, Yu Jitae had asked him to look for the Vintage Clock, which had disappeared somewhere, because a sovereign was the one chosen by Providence and was the only existence that could enter the [Temple of Providence].
Like a knight being granted the title by a king, a superhuman would be granted the position of a sovereign by Providence at that place. Yu Jitae had also become a sovereign once in the past and that was why he knew about that area.
The [Temple of Providence] was an extremely occlusive location that even Yu Jitae could not approach. Therefore, Oscar Brzenk was the only one in this current time that could look for the traces of the disappeared Vintage Clock.
They shared simple greetings but Oscar Brzenk did not have a good look on his face.
“The Judges of Providence were blocking the entry to the Temple.”
Judges were the ones protecting the Vintage Clock.
It was a bizarre turn of events.
“Judges blocking the entry to the Temple?”
The Judges were the ones that decided on the right and the wrong within Providence and what was wrong would be given to the sovereigns to take care of. They were like teachers giving homework.
There should have been no reason for them to interfere with the entry to the Temple.
“Seems they really don’t like someone.”
Despite saying that, Yu Jitae was quite puzzled because Oscar Brzenk was like a model student as a sovereign.
“Yes. They really don’t. Those inflexible guys ignored the procedures, threw things at my face and fought between themselves. They even expelled me to an outside dimension for three months telling me to not get involved in this matter. It is not easy to be hated like that…”
Yu Jitae, who knew the workload of a sovereign, gave a hazy smile. Those that knew about everything would even say as a joke that after slaves at a corn farm and PhD students come sovereigns.
However, Oscar Brzenk added with a serious look on his face.
“Not me, but you.”
“What? You mean me?” Yu Jitae replied.
“Yes. What in the world have you done?”
“Are you saying your entry to the Temple was blocked because of me?”
Oscar Brzenk turned all the more serious.
“As I’ve said, I’ve been in exile for 3 months thanks to someone. The Judges were, as is commonly said, out of their minds. I know the ‘Lord of Time Providence’ cherishes you so I’ve never brought this up but now I must. What in the world are you?”
Yu Jitae gave a slight frown. Slowly, he swept through his lower lips with his fingers.
“Time traveller.”
“Damn it. This is not the time for jokes.”
Oscar Brzenk smiled as if it was absurd.
A few seconds went by.
Yu Jitae still had an indifferent look on his face, and Oscar Brzenk’s smile turned rigid with time.
“……Who is aware of this?”
“I have said it to the houseowner.”
“Chaliovan? Did that gossip-lover stay quiet?”
“Even a stray dog knows how to value its life. More importantly, I want you to share more stories about the Temple of Providence.”
Chaliovan does not die, and that was the reason he had a loud mouth. Yu Jitae was implying that he could kill him so Oscar Brzenk had to swallow his curiosity to continue.
“There is nothing much else to say. The road to the Temple of Providence was blocked so there was nothing I could find.”
“How meaningless of a time have you spent. Is that the conclusion after several months of searching?”
“Three months of which had gone to waste thanks to someone.”
“Then tell me a little more about that at least,” said Yu Jitae.
“About which?”
“It is true that I’ve done things here and there that would incite hatred, but none of it should have affected the Judges.”
Oscar Brzenk shook his head.
“I have no idea about the details. But the feeling I received…”
He carefully chose the right words and added.
“…They seemed ‘infuriated’ in the literal sense of the word.”
“How does it make sense for a Transcendent Authority to be infuriated?”
“That’s what I am getting at. They do not have a personality, and yet they were angry as if they did.”
It was strange.
A ‘Transcendent Authority (EX)’ was different from an existence.
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] agrees.>
Even though they might act as if they have a personality, it simply does not exist in their design. An authority was shaped like an articulately crafted machine and was different from an existence.
To be exact, if one wanted to become a ‘Transcendent Authority’ even for a split second, they had to erase everything they had as an ‘existence’. That was one of the reasons why Yu Jitae could not become a Transcendent Authority.
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] admits.>
So the one called Key blabbering right now was not actually the ‘Key’. Same was with the one that appeared in the shape of a black cat – they were not [Key (EX)].
It was the same for the ‘white bird’ who flew across the Vintage Clock’s Workshop, endlessly conveying its will to Yu Jitae. That too was in fact not [Vintage Clock (EX)].
This was something he realised a long time ago.
‘Transcendent Authorities’ were the ones supporting the world’s Providence. There was no way that such existences would act like a child, like a friend or like a parent or a teacher.
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] consents.>
Then what are you?
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] keeps it to itself.>
That was how it was always like. Even the Vintage Clock was the same.
In any case, those ‘existences’ that represented the personalities of the authorities while living off them tended to affect the surroundings as well. Looking back at the time he was a sovereign, that was probably the case.
So why in the world were the Judges angry?
What made the subordinates serving the king infuriated…
Going down his line of thought.
His intuitions led him,
To the worst possible scenario.
“…”
His hazy gaze lowered down to the table in front. Drenched in an icy bucket of cold water, his emotions sank as he felt blood flowing out of his head.
Something that should never have happened might have occurred.
As delicate as the topic was for Yu Jitae, so was it for Oscar Brzenk who had become a sovereign by being granted the title from Vintage Clock.
The middle-aged man with gold hair and blue eyes in his 40s groaned, thinking of the unthinkable result that might be within the Temple of Providence. Without saying anything, and without any expression, he was furious despite not being moved by his emotions.
There was no target for his fury. It might be because of Yu Jitae, or the Judges, or perhaps some other being outside of his comprehension.
Fury without a direction was like a void. The sovereign dispersed his emotions with a long sigh.
The subordinates serving the king revolting as a group:
It might be because something had happened to the king who taught them personalities.
There was nothing certain yet.
“I shall look into it once again. I will contact you as soon as I return.”
“Are you trying to play around for another 3 months?”
“Damn it. Stop saying such a horrendous thing. It felt as horrid as being soaked in some disgusting garbage. I would love to face away from this but there is nothing else that can be done.”
Yu Jitae called him as he was about to stand back up.
“Hey.”
“What is it.”
“Head to the dimension, [Hill of Stars] and take the [Key to the Mechanical Garden].”
“Key to the Mechanical Garden?”
“Think of it as a master key for the Temple of Providence. You should be able to recognise it immediately since it is an incredible artifact.”
<[Key (EX)]: ME?>
No.
<[Key (EX)]: SAD.>
“…At least it will be able to open the back door of the Temple for sure, so use that if you must.”
“How do you–”
It seemed that he was about to ask how he knew all that but changed his mind after remembering the word ‘time traveller’. Waving his hand, Oscar Brzenk disappeared into the golden veil of light.
Left alone, Yu Jitae slightly felt something resembling a sense of loss.
In his mind floated the white bird who was flying across the Vintage Clock’s Workshop. The small and white bird who had become his friend from his youth. The guy disappearing meant that Yu Jitae had lost his oldest friend.
This was what Vintage Clock said immediately before it disappeared.
[You will. Definitely. Become happy.]
What did it know, and what did it see?
Since it had been with him for a very long time, Vintage Clock should know the form of ‘happiness’ that he was yearning for. However, the standard of happiness was something that differed for every existence.
Then what was the ‘definitely happy’ Yu Jitae in Vintage Clock’s vision looking like?
Ending his line of thought, Yu Jitae raised his body.
It was now time to go find the answer to that question.