Hermit Wizard
Chapter 53

Condition of Trust (8)

“I saw it hanging implicitly. Did you try to find me?”

When I asked a question, the Fake God responded telepathically without hiding the anger on his face.

=…Yes.=

It was in a state that didn’t control 100% of his thoughts or emotions. Still, the force of answering the truth unconditionally was working on him.

“How did you know? The fact that I exist and that there is a barrier here.”

He wouldn’t have seen my barrier while passing by. I didn’t know where the Channel is, but I was sure he had come to Earth through a foreign country, so I needed to understand why he was looking around.

=I received information from humans in the United States, observation record of demon species that appeared here several months ago. While heading to this country’s Channel to find the traces, I found the barrier.=

What did he mean he received the information? The United States? I asked for a detailed explanation, and the Fake God told me about the process of being held on purpose in an American facility after coming to Earth. The more I listened to his telepathy, the more distorted my expression became.

“Do you mean the information about the Mapo Bridge Channel, rather than my personal information?”

=Yes.=

“As soon as you heard the incident of the Mapo Bridge, you escaped the base?”

=Right.=

It was driving me crazy. Unless those American guys were idiots, it was like he revealed that his purpose was this neighborhood. Mapo Bridge would be his most likely destination. Wasn’t there something like special forces coming to catch this guy soon? Oh, it was so… annoying. The Mapo Bridge Channel attracted attention because of its peculiarity. Still, now I think it was like sprinkling oil on the fire because of this guy.

“No, why are you so interested in the demon species? What do you want to do, crawling all the way here, you bastard?”

Parvache, who wanted to hear the answer as much as I do, quickly ended telepathy, and he responded to me almost without delay.

=The devil isn’t the purpose. My goal is to summon the demon species.=

“More details!”

=I got information through a deal with the Truth-Seeker in my dimension.=

When I heard the words he spat out, I felt my heart sinking. Now I knew so well that I was safe and that the Truth-Seeker of this world couldn’t touch me. Nevertheless, my body reacted sensitively to that single word. My whole life so far must have made me like this. The surprise was bigger than the unpleasant feeling.

“…You made a deal with a Truth-Seeker? How?”

He continued the explanation. Truth-Seekers were often obsessed with things that mortal eyes couldn’t understand.

Should it be said to be entertainment for living a long life until becoming a god and escaping from the bondage of time? The object of strange obsession of Truth-Seekers is art such as poetry or song, or it can be a meaningless slaughter. Rarely, it might roll in a constructive direction, such as creating new materials and concepts that weren’t in the world.

It seemed that the Truth-Seeker who had jurisdiction over this guy’s world enjoyed trading with mortals, who, from their point of view, were weak. In return, what the Truth-Seeker wanted was sometimes a pretty stone, and sometimes it was a concentration of blood extracted from the hearts of tens of thousands of living things. The category and depth of information also changed according to the mood of the Truth-Seeker. In a word, it meant that all of this was nothing more than a game.

=After discovering the Channels that lead to this world first, I went to the Truth-Seeker to trade information. However, the Truth-Seeker told the story of only one human wizard, without giving any information of the civilization’s level, the distribution of the species, or the magic system. He said this is probably the most important information.=

…That can’t be?

=A human wizard with a Seed Channel in his chest. Through its seeds, he invokes the existence of a higher-dimensional being. He kills hundreds of Ashpim Giants in the third dimensionality. Judging from the circumstances, it is almost certain that the summon was not randomly summoned but were summoned by accurately specifying the dimensional coordinates…!=

[…!]

“…”

The Fake God casually spat out my secrets that I didn’t expect to hear like this. I barely subsided the urge to kill him right here. How did the Truth-Seeker who said he had a deal with him know that? There was no Fake God race in the dimension where I called the Black Kirin. It was definitely a different dimension. The Truth-Seeker this Fake God was talking about wasn’t the one from Silver Forest, but a completely different Truth-Seeker…ah!

Parvache unleashed telepathy full of anger.

[The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest…that guy!]

Aside from being compelled to answer questions, the Fake God, whose freedom of emotion and thought remained intact, speaks grotesquely.

=A-Verdag says it’s a famous story already.=

Now that I thought about it, the Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest was so kind to tell me a lot of information. If it could tell so many stories to an insignificant being like me, would it be too much for an equivalent being…that is, other Truth-Seekers? The Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest also said he had heard the news from A-Verdag that the Earth’s dimensional barriers had disappeared. Although it was no longer a hypothesis that there was a means of information exchange between Truth-Seekers in each dimension, I probably wanted to deny it.

“…You mean you want to do something with the Channel in me? To brainwash me and make me use summoning magic as much as you want?”

=Not such a simple purpose!=

The Fake God frowned as if he didn’t want to speak but eventually failed to resist his head’s coercion and continued the telepathy.

=The fact that you can connect by specifying a higher dimension means you have an Akashic record-level dimensional map.=

His eyes turned red as if they would burst.

=I tried to overcome the limitations of species through the dimensional map!=

What bullshit! Overcoming what?

=My people have been insulted as a Fake God by a race whose lifespan is longer than ours or has a strong mental ability. On the contrary, the tribe that can brainwash was designated as an object of extermination…in search of a tribe capable of brainwashing but didn’t have any information about us, our number is gradually decreasing. The species’ limits are clear. Someday it will have to fall. However, as soon as I heard the Truth-Seeker’s story, I discovered the possibility of getting out of this limit! No longer a Fake God, but a path to becoming a Real God!=

Ah, this guy…he was a total nut.

“You want to go to A-Verdag and become a Truth-Seeker?”

=Yes! Isn’t that the only way to become a Truth-Seeker and even more a God?!=

Now I knew what he was thinking. That guy was trying to get me to open a channel to A-Verdag.

“Crazy.”

But this made no sense. First of all, there were no coordinates to A-Verdag. It was a dimension that only gods or Truth-Seekers could reach. Secondly, it wasn’t as simple as going to A-Verdag. As far as I knew, being a Truth-Seeker wasn’t a simple problem that could be solved by just going beyond dimensions. Rather, I think it was right to say that you were summoned to A-Verdag only after the conditions were met.

“Your delusion has reached its peak.”

As I was listening to his bullshit, I felt angrier. Was he looking for me because of that stupid idea? Did he threaten me with such a ridiculous delusion? I barely suppressed my irritation and moved on to the next question. It was none of my business, whatever this guy misunderstood, and I had to dig up the information I needed.

“Are there any humans who know you’ve come here…other than the U.S. intelligence agency?”

Again, the answer came back almost without delay.

=In the process of my escape, there were humans who tried to capture me. It is presumed to be a separate group from the forces that held me.=

“What?!”

The Fake God continued to explain. He said that when he started to turn the place upside down using brainwashed humans, he suddenly saw signs that the entire building was being blocked under external control. But then, a third force entered the building. They brutally murdered and attacked U.S. intelligence agents, threw something – presumably an artifact to the floor. All floors of the building were blacked out, and the blockade was shut down.

kinds of artifacts in addition to the objects that caused the blackout and fought with a sense of self-possession against those who were more powerful than normal humans because of the Fake God’s brainwashing. They constantly attempted to approach the Fake God and subdue him during the battle, but the confrontation didn’t last long.

According to the Fake God, dozens or so of the third power had the seed of domination. Eventually, they became slaves to the Fake God, except those who died in battle, and he made a judgment that he considered reasonable. He attempted to abandon all brainwashed intelligence agents who would soon be out of breath by drawing more power. He headed to Seoul with these new, unidentified forces.

The Fake God had them prepare a way to get to Seoul, and when they boarded the flight to Seoul, they hid inside the plane. After arriving in Korea, the Fake God feared that his tail would be stepped on by an unknown organization and the intelligence organization that confined him if he continued to carry them. He moved without looking for a substitute to quickly get out of the United States, but now he didn’t have to.

The Fake God suggested that all of the brainwashed personnel move out of sight and commit suicide. Before that, he tried to steal the artifacts they had. It was supposed to self-destruct if someone other than the owner touched it or canceled the installation. Eraser eventually gave up their recovery. Then he headed to Mapo Bridge alone.

“Is it an unknown organization? If they had been brainwashed anyway, wouldn’t you have read all their memories?”

=Like the artifacts they used, there was a powerful magic that I couldn’t understand. Even after being brainwashed, the memory of their identity and belonging was under strong protection, making it impossible to read them accurately. What I barely got was just some pieces of information.=

“What is that?”

The Fake God answered back, fumbling with his memory.

=I couldn’t figure out the name of the organization. Just…that it is quite large, and it has existed for a very long time to be perceived in human time. The organization’s goal is to follow the will of a certain being and walk the path of asceticism.’ And to defend a specific agreement. It’s an organization that has been on its mission for such a long time, but it seems like one has been added recently.=

‘Asceticism?’ It is a familiar word.

=The newly added mission…is to regenerate an entity. Its existence is the spiritual support of this organization, the object of absolute trust, and at the same time, the object of doubtless dependence.=

From the moment I heard the word asceticism, I felt my anxiety rising again. Barely repressing my voice so that it didn’t tremble, I pushed on.

“What is that being…?”

=I do not know what kind of metaphor this is or if it is a simple expression of facts. They call for its existence…=

The telepathy containing the last word of Fake God sharpened my thoughts.

=Dragon.=

***

Deep at night in the city center of New York, a small cargo truck was parked on the street, which was notoriously the most expensive street parking area. It had been several hours since it parked there. In the driver’s seat, a man, who appeared to be its owner, sat freely in the dark, looking out of the window.

It seemed to be a private vehicle as there was no brand or company name written on the cargo hold. It was around the time when the night guards in the surrounding buildings began to wonder why someone would leave a car in such an expensive place for hours. Contrary to the security guards’ opinion, the true owners ​​were in the cargo hold, not the driver’s seat. The small container was equipment pieces, and three people sat in front of a panel full of buttons.

Matt focused on what was being heard, with his large headset in his ear. The place where the conversation actually went on was the office on the 26th floor of the building, right next to the truck’s parking lot. The high-performance tapping device attached under the mahogany desk, which wasn’t suitable for the world these days, captured all the shallow breaths that resonated in the room.

“…To be honest, I’m bored now. It’s been too long since I started because of my faith and friendship.”

The woman answered the lazily lying man’s words.

“Friendship? I thought you were in his family. Wouldn’t the word loyalty be more appropriate than friendship?”

“A lot of people are indeed loyal to him, but I’m different. From the moment I first met him, he only helped because he thought it was necessary. It was never because of his family.”

“That’s a fact I didn’t know. But your old friends wouldn’t think so.”

“I can’t do that…I want to believe that I’m completely subdued. The truth is bitter in the mouth, after all.”

“But no matter how much you fight against him, you must have been trampled badly. Eventually, you are subdued and served him as the master. He didn’t take you into his family because even if he didn’t, you were already his.”

“It’s a bitter but undeniable truth.”

The man sighed, and he laughed in a shallow manner. Those two continued talking about the man who wasn’t present there.

“Anyway, after he becomes like that…it’s very difficult for us. I’m trying to uplift his spirits somehow, but it’s not easy. We’re short of hands.”

“Now you’re telling me why you called me.”

“Yeah, aren’t you a little peculiar? There will be no resentment toward us.”

“Why do you think so? I hate you, too.”

“Hey, let’s be honest. You didn’t even participate in that old war, right? Because you don’t like those people anyway, and you were already living on an island at the time, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Now it’s different. I’m not as indifferent to people as I used to be.”

“Ah, I heard the news. Was his name Charles?”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then she answered.

“…He preferred to be called by the name Lewis.”

“A pseudonym is one of the customs that cannot be understood. Anyway, my condolences. Even though we know that it is natural as flowers bloom and fall year after year, it is not easy to endure seeing those humans who have been loved leave.”

“I didn’t expect I’d hear that from you. You have a lot of nerve.”

“That’s why I don’t get attached to people. Once in a while, when you get attached, you won’t be able to leave them forever.”

“It’s unpleasant because just hearing it reeks of blood.”

The man suddenly asked.

“Do you miss Lewis?”

“…Very much.”

“I heard he was a talented man.”

“He was a brilliant person. I didn’t understand that until he died, but he liked to study very complex counting. He also loved taking pictures. He wrote novels well.”

“Ah, you mean the novel with the heroine named after you?”

The man’s whispering laughter continued for a moment, and the woman’s sharp voice was heard.

“Stop laughing! He was serious!”

“I heard the rumor and bought the first edition and read it. Didn’t you tell him all the detail? Creating from nothing, many stories of beings are too familiar.”

“Let’s stop talking about Lewis.”

The woman’s voice sank even more than before.

“Hmmm…okay. Anyway, let’s get back to the main point. Won’t you join us? Even more, if you are interested in people again. All of this is ultimately for everyone in the world.”

“Give me time to think. Yet, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to trust you.”

“Don’t worry about that. I know enough about the conditions to earn your trust.”

The conversation between the man and the woman was cut off for a while, and by the time Matt and the other agents began to feel nervous, the man spoke again.

“Well…I hope you make a decision as soon as possible, Alice. We’re so short of hands right now that we’ve sent in an army of apprentices to serve our guests, and they’ve been turned down.”

“You’re still doing something pathetic.”

“But it’s very important. For this world.”

“…I admit it. I won’t need long to think about it.”

They then exchanged goodbyes. After confirming that the conversation was over, Matt took off his headset and threw it in a fury.

“What kind of nonsense is that?!” He exclaimed.