After Veric disappeared into the storeroom with Artunis, Roxana was the first to speak up.

“Professor.” She clasped her hands and blinked up at him with round and curious eyes, the very picture of innocence. “I heard that you married into the Sattari family. That must be her, right? I didn’t know you had such an incredible wife!”

Professor Raoul hesitated, but ultimately, he didn’t deny what Roxana said.

His relationship sure seemed complicated. I changed the subject before Roxana could poke at any more of his sore spots.

“Professor, you said this would be a quick meeting. With four of us here, how long will it take now?”

Professor Raoul mustered up a faint smile. “It might feel long when you are in the room with her, but it will be short once you step out of the door.”

“How does that work?”

“Artunis is both an apostle and apostate of the Secret-Keeper, so some of her laws require a closed room to take effect.”

Everyone nodded as if this made sense, so I resigned myself to my ever-growing list of things to look up.

Roxana turned her curious gaze to me next.

“And how are you, Acacius? What have you been doing? I heard that your family has been blocking off all attempts to contact you.”

So Linden and Cynara had been doing some work after all. “I don’t like being bothered.”

“Not even by the other noble families?”

“What makes you think anything good comes out of being contacted by them?”

Roxana laughed. Behind her, Professor Raoul coughed and covered his mouth, like he was stifling a laugh as well.

“Then do you know what they’ve been doing lately?” Roxana asked.

Was she probing me for news, now? “You’re very informed, Roxana. You probably know more than me.”

“Ah, what can I do about it?” Roxana sighed. “People get along with me well, so they just tell me things naturally in conversation, you know? I’m sure that they’d share more with you, too, if you paid more attention to them.”

“I pay attention,” I said. “But why should I do anything about it?”

Although I didn’t want to make new enemies, forming close relationships as “Acacius Duval” would only bring trouble later on.

Roxana sidled up to me with a warm and earnest smile. I shivered and took a step back. “Don’t be like that, Acacius. It’s good to get along with others; didn’t you help us a lot in the Fantasm World? That’s why I want to do you a favor. Why don’t you stop by the Dragon Shrine soon?”

It felt more like she wanted something from me…

Still, it was true I needed to learn more about the Dragon Shrine. Having a priestess to guide me through would be pretty useful. “Let’s talk about this afterwards,” I conceded.

Roxana revealed a satisfied look. “Of course.”

She didn’t push me any further. Instead, she began chatting with Professor Raoul, asking after his well-being before launching into a lively story about the recent influx of visitors to the Dragon Shrine.

Luka made eye contact and moved towards me. I frowned and turned my back as I sat down at a desk, but it didn’t stop him from pulling up a chair to sit next to me anyways.

“Can’t you tell I don’t want to talk to you right now?” I said, irritated.

He nodded.

“So why are you still here?”

Luka thought for a moment and said, “I felt like your previous words made a lot of sense.”

“What words.”

“Even if I can tell, why should I do anything about it?”

I was struck by the strong urge to hit him over the head.

Luka, heedless of my feelings, continued, “I also wanted to ask what you want to do with the Fantasm World.”

Right, he had half the authority over it or whatever. I guess I actually needed to coordinate with him about this.

“I plan to raise some butterflies in the caverns and I don’t want those activities to be disturbed. Why? What do you want to do?”

“I thought it would be good to keep as a personal shelter and escape route.” He cast a glance at me. “If no one else interferes with it.”

Fuck, that was actually a really good idea.

“How about you take one half of the island, I take the other, and we don’t touch each other’s areas?” I suggested.

“Splitting the caverns is complicated.”

“Then give me the caverns, the mountain they’re under, and that research institute. You take the rest.”

“Is that okay?”

“I made the offer, didn’t I? Don’t waste my time.”

“Then let’s do it like that.”

Wait, really? That was like handing over all the research value of KP-04 to Acacius’ hands, wasn’t it? But seeing Luka’s completely unbothered attitude, I wasn’t sure how to ask. Maybe he had some other plans in mind.

Forget it, as someone who was dropped into this world like two months ago, I really didn’t have the qualifications to comment on the impact his choices might have.

“Also,” said Luka. “Why did Artunis pick Veric to talk to first?”

Why did he ask me that like I would have the answers. “How should I know?”

“Don’t you have a guess? I’m… still worried. Things are a bit rough for Veric right now, so if she was targeted…”

He lowered his head as he trailed off.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, choosing to look out the window instead of at him.

“If I got to question a bunch of people at once, I’d go in the order that gives me the best information advantage. Veric is a straightforward and idealistic person, so I’d target her first. She seems like the easiest person to get answers out of here. Then I’d probably go with you. I could say something like, ‘Veric said everything already, so we’re just confirming with you,’ and bait you with the stuff Veric touched on but didn’t go into depth about, and you’re an overly trusting idiot so you would probably go along with it too. After that, I’d go with me or Roxana. Well, Roxana likes showing off, so that might make her easier to handle…”

“So the most difficult person to talk to is you?” Luka filled in.

I scoffed. “I’m not saying that. But if you’re going to talk to two liars who like keeping their cards close, you’d dig up as much information as you can first, so you can catch anything they try to pull. Isn’t that the basics? Anyways, I doubt Artunis will target Veric any more than the rest of us, so just worry about yourself.”

“It sounds more like I should be worrying about you.”

“What, not a word for poor Roxana?”

“Veric will worry about her for me.”

I was momentarily speechless.

Before I could say anything else, the storeroom door creaked open, and Veric walked out, looking a bit tired but otherwise in good shape. Spotting Luka, she made a beeline for us and said, “Luka, she wants to see you next.”

Luka glanced at me. I shrugged.

After Luka went in to talk to Artunis, Veric took his chair very naturally.

“So, what did you two talk about?”

“Nothing much.” At her disappointed look, I teased, “Why, you wanted some juicy gossip?”

“More like I wanted you two to get along.”

I inwardly grimaced and changed the subject. “Right. About the other day… You waited outside my hospital room for a while, didn’t you? Thanks.”

“It’s not much compared to what you’ve done for us.”

“Okay, let’s not hold a competition here. How was your interrogation with Artunis?”

“It wasn’t that bad. She wanted to hear about what happened from my perspective, and she had really detailed follow-up questions about Tiziri.”

“Nothing else? Nothing strange?”

“Nothing I can think of… I guess it felt a little weird opening the door.”

I clicked my tongue. “It feels stranger that there’s nothing that stands out.”

Was her promise to Professor Raoul actually that effective?

We chatted a little more before Roxana called Veric’s name and enthusiastically waved her over to talk. That finally freed me up to read through the history book I’d brought along.

According to the book, the mild weather in Iyiria’s mainland made it an agricultural breadbasket, and its position at the crossroads between three continents made it a prosperous location for trade. Before it was formally established as a nation, it often switched hands between the Lemirian Empire — its neighbor on the continent of Izuron — and the Saivanad Empire, its trading parter across the eastern strait. Occasionally, a king from the southern continent of Osayis would bare their ambitions; however, the relative distance across the sea meant their conquests didn’t reach as far or last as long.

Then, about three centuries ago, a new Fantasm World appeared in Iyiria: SP-01, the first and only known Fantasm World of the synchronization-purification frame. It was a world of scientific innovation and medical marvels, allegedly possessing a panacaea that could restore any body and cure any disease.

Iyiria’s neighbors, of course, went mad.

The Fantasm World was solved, and the solvers were killed before inheritance rules could be set, so the Fantasm reverted back to its initial unsolved loop. The Fantasm was solved again, and those solvers were killed again. Finally, a brief truce was set up so that one representative each from the three great powers could solve the Fantasm together and create inheritance rules that the three powers agreed on. Once that was done, they went to war.

During that time, it was, of course, the common people of Iyiria who suffered.

Their food and homes were taken, their lands burned, their families conscripted, their bodies used to test the limits of SP-01’s medicinal technology. The panacaea was used to forcefully purge their pain, resentment, and sorrow until they could not even conceive of their suffering.

It was this curious dearth of suffering that drew the attention of one of Signifier’s seven Hierarchs, the Dragon of Sorrow. On the day that would become known as the Dragonsday Festival, the Great Dragon descended upon Iyiria and took the lay of the land.

That was as far as I read before someone rapped the desk with her knuckles to catch my attention.

It was Artunis.

“Studious, aren’t you?” she remarked. “Get up. It’s your turn.”

“Did the others all go already?”

She nodded. “And you’re the last.”

According to the clock on the wall, it hadn’t been more than fifteen minutes. I snapped my book shut and followed Artunis silently. At the door, I placed a hand on the doorjamb and glanced back at the others. Their expressions looked normal, and they seemed fine. Roxana even gave me a cheeky wave. Was this really okay?

Professor Raoul met my eyes and gave me one last reassuring nod.

Resigning myself, I stepped through the door.

The storeroom was lined with shelves, half of which were packed full of neat rows of books, the other half of which were occupied by carefully labeled boxes. In the center of the room was a sitting table surrounded by comfortable couches where people could easily rest and have a conversation together.

Artunis kicked the door shut and took a seat on the sofa. She took out her box of cigarettes and placed another stick in her mouth.

The number of cigarettes in her box didn’t seem right…

“Don’t worry too much. You aren’t in trouble,” she said. “This questioning is simply to obtain and confirm information related to the criminal Tiziri, a disciple of the disbanded School of Katsouli.”

A small flame appeared over the tip of her index finger as she held it to light her cigarette. She took a long drag before exhaling a plume of wispy white smoke. A strong, woody scent filled my nose.

“Let’s begin with the moment you met Tiziri. What happened?”

Artunis questioned me about the overall events in KP-04, but the majority of her interest was reserved for Tiziri, the abilities she’d displayed, and her psychological state as well. She interrogated me about how I’d come to suspect her, the conclusions I’d reached about her, and any other speculations I had about her.

When I got around to how Professor Raoul defeated Tiziri, Artunis smiled. Maybe because that put her in a good mood, she didn’t press for details on how I broke Professor Raoul’s contract card. When it came to how Luka and I solved the Fantasm, she was more persistent, but I had absolutely no desire to recount that experience in detail for anyone, ever.

By the time I finished my account, she’d gone through another two cigarettes. Her box was almost empty.

“Your performance certainly didn’t shame our noble status,” she remarked. “I suppose I should congratulate you for your recent qualification for the Duval headship as well.”

I nodded. Couldn’t say thank you if I wasn’t particularly grateful. “Do you plan to capture Tiziri? How much of a threat is she right now?”

Artunis scoffed, ashing her cigarette carelessly on the table. “Oh, I intend to capture her, alright. But she’s no easy catch. Doubtless she’ll find some burrow to hide away in until she finds the right opportunity to act again.”

“So how much should I worry about her in the near future?”

She glanced at me with a scornful smile. “With your current strength, there’s no point in worrying at all.”

That was probably true, but it didn’t make me any happier to hear it.

“Now, before we wrap up, I have two more topics to address. First, what do you know about Luka’s background?”

Why Luka? “Not a lot.”

“Having been through a life and death crisis together, you must have learned something.”

Yeah, that he was a self-sacrificing jerk. “What exactly do you want to know?”

Artunis took a drag and blew out a cloud of smoke. “Commoners don’t usually have last names, do they? Much less last names hidden by the Secret-Keeper. Even though immigrants from the Far East tend to keep their family names, Luka is an orphan. No known parents, discovered as a child after the war. He shouldn’t have one.”

Why had Acacius been able to write his last name in his last will, then? “Sounds complicated,” I said neutrally.

She narrowed her eyes. “If you’ve any smarts at all, you’ll pay attention to this for your own sake. Who knows what kind of legacy he carries with him.”

I nodded seriously. “I’ll remember that.”

“See that you do.”

She took another drag of her cigarette.

“Now, for my final question. Neither of us will leave the room until my doubts are resolved.” Her pale blue eyes flashed, and I tensed in my seat. “How could some weak and immature brat like you manage to lead everyone to victory? I find it hard to believe that it was mere intuition and deductive acumen on your side.”

I clenched my jaw. “Why are you crediting so much to me? Don’t you know that everyone helped?”

“Don’t be obtuse. I speak, of course, of prophecy.”

Just what was with this world and their obsession with prophecy? If everyone in Kosmonymia was so willing to believe in that kind of crap, they’d be scammed out of everything they owned and still help the swindler count the bills.

“Madam Artunis, you realize that I nearly died multiple times, don’t you? Don’t you think I would have avoided this field trip entirely if I had any prophetic ability at all?”

“And yet, at the end of the endeavor, you are alive and well with a new Fantasm World in hand. The scions of the noble houses are indebted to you for your life-saving grace. Doubtless you’ve received an achievement title as well. You take me for a fool if you claim that the outcome was not worth the risk.”

It pissed me off that even if I felt like the outcome was totally garbage, from the perspective of this world, she was probably right. “Do you suspect anyone who has a little bit of success in life?”

“Plan on denying it until the end?” Artunis looked at me with a half-smile. “Fortunately, I never count on others to answer willingly.”

[Inevitable Survivor] flared. I immediately bolted for the door, but the handle refused to turn, no matter how much I rattled it.

When I chanced a glance back, Artunis had pulled her pistol out of its holster. With a leisurely spin and flourish, she leveled it at my head.

“This is our first formal meeting, is it not? Let’s see if you truly have the skill you claim to have. The process shall be reasoning, and the subject shall be me.”

I raised my hands hastily. “Okay, okay, but first, why don’t we—”

Artunis pulled the trigger with a bang.

My skull buzzed and my ears rang. I clutched at my forehead. Nothing was bleeding, nothing hurt. But somehow, something cool and dry was spilling out from between my fingers. Dark blue ink dripped onto the floor, writhing until they formed into words.

She’s not afraid of Professor Raoul finding out? The box of cigarettes was nearly full when she arrived. It’s almost empty now. She’s been smoking. Must have been in this room. No scent in the room or on Veric when she came out. No ash on the table or floor before I came in. Disposal of evidence. How?

I staggered and caught myself against the wall. I felt weak and unmoored, like I was about to spill right out a hole in this body. The world spun, and more words leaked down to the floor.

The clock outside and watch inside. Time passing at different rates. Couldn’t hear anyone talking inside the room when I was outside. Closed room. Secret-Keeper. No one knocking after the gunshot. She controls what can be perceived inside once the door is shut.

“Stop it!” I snarled, reaching out with my free hand smearing the ink. “That’s not what I said!”

Artunis clicked her tongue and beckoned with her hand. The ink leaking out between my fingers increased in volume and snaked across the floor, forming words out of my immediate reach.

She’s done this before. Doesn’t care as long as no one finds out. She wants answers from the others. She’s done it to them too. They didn’t show any sign of it. They forgot. She erased the evidence. Once they left the closed room, she could change what they perceived too.

I couldn’t control the way my half-formed thoughts would manifested as sentences, and because of that, they kept becoming statements, even when I wasn’t sure of anything. More than Artunis shooting me, more than her breaking into my head, I hated her most for this. I staggered forward, but with a gesture of Artunis’ hands, the ink scattered far away from me, writing across the walls and ceiling where I couldn’t reach.

Think, Eunseok! There had to be a way to cut off her skill at the source! Something in my titles…

The one whose symbol was tattooed on my shoulder, the one I didn’t want anyone to see.

The skill Artunis used on me counted as a kind of mental effect, right? So, if it forced me to break my rule and tell a lie…

The danger changed after she promised the professor she wouldn’t do anything. But she doesn’t listen to him. Doesn’t respect his wishes. Is one of the reasons for his awful titles. She only intended to listen because if she didn’t, he can still find out somehow. Not through observation. Something else.

No, as long as I could convince myself it was about to force me into a lie!

His titles. If she betrays him again…

Artunis narrowed her eyes. “This won’t leave any lingering effects on you. Since you’ll be healthy and unharmed afterwards, it’s not going against his wishes.”

Liar.

Right. And the person you were would affect everything that you did.

Even her skill must have been affected by it. After all, I was careful with my words, so I would have used more questions and qualifiers to articulate myself, but Artunis was an assertive person who acted and judged quickly, so instead it kept coming out as assertions and statements.

So, if a liar’s skill kept pulling carelessly formed sentences out of me, wouldn’t she turn me into a liar right along with her?

The tattoo of the burning tree on my shoulder finally flared. A fiery sensation branched up my arm and neck like lightning, straight for the “wound” in my head. Instead of blue ink, a white-hot flame spilled out from between my fingers. With a cry, I tore my hand away. The flame ignited along the ink like it was a trail of alcohol, burning it all away until there was nothing left. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath until the pain subsided.

When I finally opened my eyes, Artunis was staring at me coldly.

“You are definitely not a prophet,” she said. “Otherwise, you would have known not to let me see those words.”

This crazy bastard, blaming me for what she decided to do? I took a few unsteady steps away from her, leaning on the wall as my dizziness slowly faded away.

“Are you satisfied? Can I go now?”

Artunis curled her lip. She spat her cigarette onto the ground and ground the embers out beneath her heel.

“Even if you aren’t a prophet, your head is a bit too good for someone opposed to the Sattaris. Pity I can’t take care of you while you’re here.”

[Inevitable Survivor] prickled. Fuck my entire life.

Artunis checked her watch and adjusted the time. She materialized a dark blue key in her hand and inserted it into a lock on the door that hadn’t been there before.

“Once I open this door,” she said, “let everything concerning the last two questions be erased. Oh, and all evidence of smoking, too.”

She turned the key and opened the door. [Keeper of Forgotten Wrongs], where it was tattooed on my ribs, began to burn.

The smell of smoke vanished; the discarded cigarettes and ash disappeared like an illusion. The remaining ink stains on my hands and clothes were gone, too.

Without [Keeper], maybe I really would have forgotten everything.

I quickly straightened up and adjusted my expression to mild annoyance and aversion. As Artunis held the door open and turned back to me with an indifferent mien, I mustered all my calm and walked out in a leisurely, unhurried pace.

Somehow, despite my racing heart and the cold sweat on my back, I made it out.

“All done, Raoul,” Artunis said, strolling out after me. Her voice softened. “No harm has been done to your students, as promised.”

Professor Raoul gave a faint nod, but he still scanned me up and down. I was sure that if I showed even a hint of something wrong, I could drive the wedge between him and Artunis even deeper.

But that would mean exposing to Artunis that I remembered everything.

I gave the professor a slight shrug and a nod.

Professor Raoul exhaled and his shoulders relaxed a bit. He didn’t quite smile at Artunis, but it was close.

“Thank you, Artunis.”

The way they looked at each other, it was like no one else was in the room. You could almost see them as the loving couple they might have been.

Professor Raoul was pretty foolish, huh? Trying to protect his students from Artunis when he couldn’t even fend for himself. There was no way she wasn’t keeping other things from him, too.

Still… if he hadn’t been here today, who knew what she would have done?

As Professor Raoul locked up the storeroom and classroom, I pretended to look out the window while steadying my composure. Once he was done, we said our goodbyes and watched him leave. Artunis followed along closely behind him, looking all the world like a guard escorting their master… or their prisoner.

Ignorant of my inner turmoil, Roxana came to my side and slid her arm into mine with a smile.

“Now it’s our turn to talk. How about going out for a bite to eat?”

I wasn’t exactly in the mood anymore, but Veric was glancing at us out of the side of her eye, and Luka was watching us outright. It wasn’t hard to see they were interested.

“Just the two of us?” I said, just to be obtuse.

“All four of us, silly.” She leaned forward with a pout. “Come on, it’ll be my treat.”

Well. If there was anything I liked, it was spending other people’s money and getting free food. I definitely needed something to relax my nerves after all that.

“As long as you don’t ask me too many questions,” I said with a sigh. “I think I’m done with them for the day.”

Roxana pulled a face. “You think it’s just you? I’m done for a lifetime!”

“It’ll be nice to relax with some snacks,” Veric said, glancing at me with a smile. “Come on, let’s go.”

Luka also nodded at me. “It’ll be good to have you.”

The way they were acting, you’d think we were friends or something.

“So what’s the plan?” I said. “Where are we going?”

With a sly smile, Roxana said, “There’s this new place I’ve been hearing about lately…”

I let them pull me along, listening to their lively chatter as we went.

Chapter 38 Chapter 40