Chapter 80 : Designated Humanity
Chapter 80. Designated Humanity
An androgynous face, impossible to tell whether male or female.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a bookstore employee at Labellum. And also a phantasm of Designated Humanity. Just like you.”
Just as the angel had examined something behind Yul, Yul was able to partially perceive the presence beyond the angel’s shoulder as well.
Although described as Humanity, to Yul, it was perceived as a being closer to a god than a human
“Is this reality?”
“No. This is part of the Sanctuary. You can come here when a specific existence exists in a specific space in reality.”
“So you need the knowledge to recognize the existence of this space.”
“That’s right.”
‘Presence of knowledge’. Yul realized that it was a system similar to the technology used by the Ktazars.
A place where no one could find it unless they knew of the existence of the bookstore called Labellum and sought it out.
And that Labellum cannot be found by anyone unless a scholar like Lucian discovers its existence in ancient books.
Is there any meaning in a book that can only be found by a specific few?
“What is Designated Humanity?”
“Hmm. How should I put it. Do you know about unique magic?”
“Yes.”
Special secret arts that followed a completely different trajectory from what was normally considered magic.
“117,800 years ago, Designated Humanity and the Sanctuary were created by the unique magic of the first mage in human history. Does that answer your question?”
“……!”
The angel spoke with a kindly expression.
“Why are you here?”
“That’s a secret!”
“And what is this place?”
“A bookstore! I have spoken out of courtesy until now, but from here on, I have no obligation to answer you. Customer, if you are not going to buy anything, would you please leave?”
“……There’s a book I’m looking for. It’s called The Gray Baran.”
“Ah. So that book is finally leaving.”
The angel rose from their seat with a bright smile. Every time they passed by, something like white feathers fell, only to be absorbed and vanish the moment they touched the floor.
Is that really an angel?
Yul followed behind as they walked deeper into the bookstore. From the outside, it looked like a small space, but inside it was as vast as a grand library.
“There are an incredible number of books in the Sanctuary.”
“It’s a place that has existed longer than human history. Now then, The Gray Baran. Is this the book you’re looking for?”
Yul intently observed the book that the bookstore employee(?) took out from the massive bookshelf.
Even through Yul's Interpretation, it was written as The Gray Baran. Upon receiving the book and flipping through the pages, he confirmed that a small card was enclosed inside.
“This is the one. What do I need to pay?”
“A portion of your Karma will suffice.”
“That’s actually better.”
[Current Karma: 10,001,138]
Since getting involved in the Frangia Kingdom’s civil war, his Karma had been increasing by the thousands, which had been bothering him. This was perfect.
“Payment complete, customer.”
As thousands of points of Karma vanished in an instant, Yul felt pleased.
[Current Karma: 10,000,038]
“Do you know the ability of that card?”
“No. I don’t really know. I’m just running an errand.”
Seeing that, the employee said,
“Do you know that the card is a key to a certain location?”
“A key?”
“And one of the card’s abilities is the power to curse enemies.”
“A curse? Tell me more.”
“Hehe. That’s a secret.”
Everything’s a secret with you. It didn’t seem like they intended to tell him, no matter how much he pressed. Then maybe it was time to change the topic.
“I’d like to access this Sanctuary again.”
“Do you want Labellum, or the Sanctuary?”
“Isn’t Labellum the Sanctuary?”
“Labellum is a fragmented part of the Sanctuary. And the Sanctuary itself is not a single, wholly accessible space.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Sanctuary maintains an independent system, but it is fragmented by regions. To enter from reality, each fragment requires a different entrance.”
“So to enter Sanctuary No. 1 and Sanctuary No. 2, you’d have to find separate entrances in reality?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“That’s complicated.”
“Labellum only requires knowledge of its existence, but other places each have their own unique entry conditions. One other Sanctuary I know requires passing through point A and point B by ship. After passing through A, B, C, D, and E, you must move to point A, D, C, E, B for the door to open.”
“So you have to pass through specific spaces in a certain order……. Got it. I’ll look into that later.”
Yul felt the need to visit Frangia together with Lucian someday. He was curious about the secrets tied to this card as well.
“Thank you. Please come again.”
Yul left Labellum. The strange three-dimensional sensation that had enveloped him vanished, and he felt as though he had returned to reality.
“What a bizarre place…….”
Just moments ago, he had been in a fantasy world, but now the stench of sewers and the stale air of people assaulted his nose, making it feel unmistakably real.
Yul watched Lui’s coronation from among the commoners. He had no intention of involving himself in the inner workings of Frangia’s power.
“Soon, His Majesty will ascend the throne!”
“Let’s go see!”
Even as he conducted the coronation, Lui spotted Yul standing far off and waved at him.
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty!!!”
“Waaaaah! His Majesty is looking this way!”
“There is nothing but victory for him!”
“We shall call him the Victory King!”
“Victory King !”
“Victory King !”
Following the Sun King came the reign of the Victory King .
‘He only won once, what do they mean Victory King.’
There were probably plants mixed in, shouting like that. People were always quick to latch onto a title.
Watching them, Yul finally felt certain that Lui had found his proper place.
Now all that remained was to repel the enemy and truly earn the illustrious name of Victory King .
* * *
After Lui took power as king, an official council meeting was held. Yul was also present, in the capacity of an advisor.
‘At this point, Martin Ferrand is basically handling all the actual advising.’
Yul was really just sitting there like an emotional support doll, stabilizing Lui’s nerves.
Of course, that was just a figure of speech—he wasn’t truly doing nothing. His influence over the other advisors had grown compared to before.
‘Count Yul of Provence was a Seaborn capable of Polymorph?’
‘But why is a Seaborn on land?’
‘Is it even acceptable for a Seaborn to hold a count’s title?’
All sorts of questions and thoughts were circulating. However, the overwhelming size and performance he had displayed on the battlefield had instilled a mix of wariness and respect among the king’s advisors.
“Your Majesty, we’ve received word from the Ivory Tower.”
“What do they say?”
“They congratulate you on your ascension, and at the same time, they offer to send war mages.”
“War mages from the Ivory Tower?”
Eyes widened all around the council chamber. Godfrey Bache frowned as he spoke.
“War mages, now of all times? What were they doing until now?”
“They say there were no Ivory Tower war mages in Lothar’s army. They also claim that they maintained neutrality in order to wait and serve the true king.”
Yul crossed his arms and said,
“If Lui had lost that campaign, they would’ve kept their mouths shut and pretended they didn’t know a thing.”
“I think the same.”
Lui agreed, and everyone present shared the same thought. Martin Ferrand stepped forward.
“However, Your Majesty, our magic strength is negligible compared to the enemy’s. Even now, we should reinforce ourselves by bringing in the Ivory Tower’s war mages. At this point, we must accept any troops, no matter who sends them.”
“I know. Tell them we’ll pay the mage hiring fees after the war. If they don’t like that, then we won’t take them.”
With that, Lui nodded.
Lui’s staff hired the Ivory Tower’s war mages and absorbed some of the defeated remnants into their own army.
Their total force actually increased, reaching around twenty thousand.
Opposing them, the Duke of Dawn’s army numbered roughly thirty-five thousand. It had originally been close to fifty thousand, but they had rushed out in haste.
When news arrived that they were advancing toward the capital’s outskirts, the people of the capital began to tremble with anxiety.
Even dispersed, the Duke of Dawn’s forces were still formidable.
But rumors were spreading among the populace—that a gigantic Seaborn was flying through the sky and crushing the enemy.
With a face resembling that of an orca, some even claimed that the Sun King’s guardian deity had returned.
With the guardian deity protecting Frangia, everything would be fine—so the stories went.
Meanwhile, Yul grew curious about how he could make use of the curse ability said to be embedded in the card.
He let his magic flow into the card. In response, he sensed the magic traveling along fine internal circuits.
“This feels like some kind of information storage device. But how does that connect to a curse?”
He detected an empty space inside. Yet he couldn’t understand at all how it related to curses.
He had imagined cursing the Duke of Dawn with this and dropping him in one blow, but maybe that was wishful thinking.
When magic was input into the card, fragments of information flowed out and settled into his mind.
‘Godfrey Bache is commanding the army, and Martin Ferrand is advising him—it’s stabilizing just fine. I’m not really needed.’
Yul stared at the card for a while, then, growing bored, began copying things into a book.
The information was extremely fragmented. He couldn’t extract what he wanted. And it possessed a bizarre nature.
“Huh? The ink dried.”
When he tried to reread something he had written once before, the letters had completely vanished, as if they had evaporated.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Yul closed his eyes and sent his intent remotely to Lucian.
It wasn’t transmitted with message-like clarity—more like a vague conveyance of intent—but Lucian could understand that Yul was calling him.
-Lucian, look at this.
Lucian, who had been studying at his desk, focused his mind on Yul’s distant signal and peered into his field of vision.
When Yul showed him the book containing some of the information extracted from the card, Lucian was struck with overwhelming shock and immediately vomited.
-Wh-what? What’s wrong?
-D-dan-ger-ous.
Lucian immediately cut off the shared vision and conveyed this to Yul.
-Black, letters, like this, ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■.
An expression of intent saying that, to his eyes, it looked as if the text had been censored.
Their Synchronization was too low for precise communication, but Yul could clearly understand one thing.
‘These characters look different to me than they do to Lucian.’
If someone without the proper qualifications read it, it seemed to appear as censored blocks and inflicted severe mental shock.
If merely glimpsing it briefly through Synchronization was enough to induce vomiting, then someone seeing it directly with their own eyes would suffer overwhelming informational contamination. That was the curse.
‘Then I should show it right in front of the Duke of Dawn.’
It might be possible to eliminate him precisely, without major sacrifices.
The question was whether Lui would accept this method. Yul went to see him when he was alone.
“Lui, what would you do if your uncle suddenly dropped dead?”
“Then the war would end, so that’d be good, right?”
“And if you could make it happen with your own hands?”
“Are you talking about assassination?”
“It’s an assassination that leaves no traces. No poison, no magical residue. You’d just need to write your uncle a single letter.”
“Kill my uncle with a letter? Even for a Seaborn, is that possible?”
“If it’s possible, then what?”
Lui answered without hesitation.
“Then let’s do it immediately. A cowardly move? Who was it that cowardly stabbed the rightful succession in the back in the first place.”