Chapter 173 – Containment
#173.
To begin with, the Gaon party could not meet Cheon Jae-hee.
I was only able to receive the letter that was left behind.
Chorin, who was trudging towards the gate, turned her head to look up at the tall gray building before groaning.
“That’s too bad. I didn’t expect her to be away.”
Currently, Cheon Jae-hee is said to be wandering around the world with his teacher Lienkel Heinrich, broadening the base of his thinking, accumulating knowledge, and learning magic.
After wandering around for a few months, he returned to the Mage Tower and stayed there for about a week to organize his magic knowledge, take a break while absorbing it properly, and then go out again.
This is why she was nicknamed the fantasy witch in her previous life.
For those who don’t know, Cheon Jae-hee was someone who appeared out of nowhere one day.
It’s unfortunate that we can’t meet, but now that we know the situation, we have no choice but to promise the next one.
“Sister, cheer up. We’ll see you later anyway. I heard that genius-hee has great magical talent? When he reaches a certain level, won’t he stay here? Right? Master!”
“Okay. Even before the return, it should be fine since he has been living in the Mage Tower ever since he appeared once. … So you don’t have to be too disappointed, Mr. Chorin. Let’s come often. Got it?”
Gaon, who greeted Hayeon, wrapped Chorin’s shoulders and comforted him.
Then, Chorin also patted her on the cheek and replied vigorously, as if she thought it was rude to keep the atmosphere down like this.
“Gaon is right. Isn’t this just an opportunity? We can meet anytime, so wait! Then go back now. Jaehee works so hard, I can’t fall behind!”
Chorin rather thought so, so she walked forward with her courageous steps as if her motivation was rising.
The two stared blankly at her back, met eyes, smiled, and followed her to the central building where the gate was located.
This was the capital’s Mage Tower main structure, and the buildings representing the seven attributes were wrapped in a circle.
Their overwhelming majesty showed how much influence they wielded within the empire.
Cho-rin and Ha-yeon looked around, saying that they were strange even after seeing them before.
After a while, they reached the gate and immediately returned to Barrymore Manor.
***
“Then I will go.”
Gaon, who briefly exchanged greetings with the party, left the building and hurried to the church.
After returning to the Barrymore estate from the capital and taking a day off, Gaon visited Antonio to confirm one fact.
Arriving at the office following the priest’s guidance, Gaon knocked and went inside.
“Long time no see. Please sit here.”
Antonio sat at his desk in the office and looked through several documents, then approached Gaon and pointed to the sofa next to him.
His face was tinged with doubt and concern.
They must be worried that the demons might appear again.
“The reason we met this time is nothing different, we wanted to ask about what happened when we requested the dispatch of guardians the other day.”
“At the time of the dispatch request? Did you have any problems?”
There were a lot of problems.
However, that is not what Antonio is asking, is there a serious problem that he was unaware of, or was just passing by?
Gaon shook his hand and said, “Don’t worry.”
“No, I just have a question. Isn’t the reason why they refused to dispatch guardians at the time because of the demons?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Is that, really?”
“Yes? What do you mean by that?”
“It is literally. Did demons really appear?”
It’s not because I have some lingering feelings about the past.
It’s just that in his memory, that is to say, in his previous life, there were no demons appearing at that time.
If that had happened, he wouldn’t have bothered to subdue the doppelganger, and would have taken his time a little more leisurely.
Antonio, who was embarrassed for a while, read his will in Gaon’s sincere eyes and answered calmly.
“It was true. A rift opened near a city in the southeast, and a few vampires came over and caused trouble. Contrary to the stories handed down in the tradition, they said they had a hard time finding it because they were able to work in broad daylight.”
“A vampire… Okay. Thank you for answer.”
“But why are you asking that?”
Antonio seemed to be curious about what happened in the past, and it was difficult to find any connection with Gaon.
While Gaon was wondering what to do, he decided to look around.
“It’s just weird. If they were going to invade, they would come on a larger scale, but now they come too scattered. Other monsters also pour out in thousands when the rifts open, but it seems like there are too few of them.”
“Hmm… Certainly it is. But for whatever reason, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Just looking at it this time, if the Doppelgänger King and the vampires came out together, there would be tremendous damage one after another.”
“Yes, that’s right. Then I’ll just get up. It seems that you are too rude to look at your work.”
“It was a good conversation for me too. See you next time.”
Gaon bowed briefly to Antonio and left the church.
‘The future has changed.’
To be precise, it was different from the future he remembered.
Of course, the existence of another regressor was telling the difference between her previous life and her current life, but it is a serious problem that changes occurred even in events she did not intervene in.
It’s not just like the butterfly effect, it means that the history of this world itself is flowing differently.
The timing of all the important events he remembered could have been jumbled up and unpredictable.
My head is dizzy because of complicated thoughts.
Gaon sat down on a nearby bench and muttered blankly, observing the people passing by.
“Is it true that I did a regression?”
It’s a question I’ve had from the beginning.
That this world might actually be a fantasy you see before you die is an inference based on objective facts, not an escape from reality.
At the time of the 1st playthrough, he returned because of the light he found in the ancient ruins.
However, at the time of the second playthrough, the ancient ruins were empty, and even at the end, during the fight with the Dimension Eater, the dimension was broken and only lost consciousness.
I still can’t forget the last sight I saw at that time.
‘Ten districts.’
What I saw through the broken dimension was too absurd to be reality, and too real to be fantasy.
Therefore, it cannot be easily shaken off.
Other than that, there are many strange things.
Another is how two regressors can exist.
There is only one light in the ancient ruins. And he confirmed that the light had disappeared in his previous life.
So, are there two lights?
It’s not just one or two things that take us to think that way.
In order for the two of them to return at the same time, it is said that they must simultaneously discover and contact the light that will be in a different place, but it was questionable whether such a coincidence was possible or not.
Or does it mean that even though the time of contact with each other is different, the time when they eventually return is the same?
So, where did the person you contacted first exist in the meantime? Does it stay asleep until then and then move the soul to the past?
Gaon’s brain, which had become complicated with too many thoughts, began to heat up.
As I was trying to conclude a fact that couldn’t be concluded with the current information, of course, I kept hovering in the same place, and the more I did, the more my head hurt.
Continuing his thoughts, Gaon let out a long sigh and stood up from his bench.
“Once, later.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s really a regression or not.
He has only one goal. To stop the Dimension Eaters and save the world from destruction. Even if he thought about it, he couldn’t keep his eyes on something useless.
Instead of questions, Gaon crossed his path, filling his head with future events.
***
One day in late autumn, just before winter.
Gaon came to the Mirnia Merchants to meet Lena.
“How have you been doing?”
“Hey, I’ve been fine. What do you want to see anyway?”
“You are in too much of a hurry. But to get to the point, Mr. Gaon said that the information he entrusted to you the other day came. This is a letter from the Queen.”
Lena immediately shrugged her shoulders and shuddered at Gaon’s request for her business, then took a well-sealed letter from her arms and set it down on her table.
If it was the job I was entrusted with the other day, it must have been information about another regressor.
I’ve been waiting for sometime, but it seems that I’ve had a lot of trouble digging up information. It was only natural that the Hunters were on the closed side.
Placed in a rather unfortunate position within the Union, they usually build their own village and gather there.
Outsiders did not come in and out except for the guild members who occasionally came and went to secure supplies.
It was Lucipheon who brought the information, albeit belatedly, so he could do it.
“… Say thank you.”
“Huh, the queen asked me to see you sometime. She asked me to talk about some other business.”
“Is that so? Please tell me that you will come to see me in a month.”
“All right. See you later.”
After taking her letter, Gaon exchanged greetings with Lena and returned to her residence.
Two months have passed since we signed a business partnership with Louisiana. During that time, the Barrymore estate was busy.
Once manpower support came, the amount of excavation in the mine exploded, and as a result, the time it took for Chorin to inject magic also increased.
And in return, the Barrymore family’s financial power also increased exponentially.
Thanks to this, Priscilla has now risen to an absolute position that no one can compete with within the family, and can expand her business at will without needing to notice any more.
The mines have already doubled from what they originally had, so the top of Barrymore will grow bigger and bigger.
‘Then let’s read it.’
Gaon, looking back on his achievements, shook his head to shake off his thoughts, then opened the letter and read the information.
Name, age, and gender. And the environment in which he grew up was written.
‘Isabella Martinez.’
It was a strange yet familiar name.
Not surprisingly, her surname, Martinez, was very popular.
When a conflict broke out between the Hunter District and the Pentra Empire, the name of the person who stood as a representative was Dominic Martinez.
In fact, her family ties also indicated that she was the granddaughter of Dominic Martinez.
Dominic Martinez dies after suffering from the aftereffects of psychic shock, equivalent to mana regurgitation for Aura users, in a confrontation with Austin Chevrons, who was the representative of the empire at the time.
Martinez and Chevrons.
The two families can be seen as enemies.
And the burning vengeance in Isabella’s eyes at the time. It was very easy to predict where it might be headed.
“… I have to go to the capital.”
I think I need to meet Louisiana and have an additional discussion.
