Great Wizard Transcending with Mythology - chapter 38

Episode 38

Before the regression, the reunion with Rachel was truly the worst.

Blood flowing like a river, corpses strewn about haphazardly, and demons scavenging through those corpses.

And.

“Ah, ah….”

Dumbfounded, Rachel stood at the center of that tragedy, trembling and soon collapsing to the ground.

“Ka, Kyle….”

Her gaze turned towards me, her empty eyes filled with astonishment at my appearance.

“Ka, Kyle? Oh, it’s been a while. Since we met in the family… I think it’s the first time since then…”

“You…”

“Is this perhaps a dream? It must be a dream. Why all of a sudden…”

Rachel was not in her right mind.

Until now, her wishes had somehow always come true.

Even her flawed theories had resulted in surprisingly good outcomes, and her charisma, despite its flaws, had saved countless people.

There had been several conflicts along the way, but still, things had somehow worked out well.

To put it bluntly, this incident was just one failure out of a thousand successes.

999 successes, 1 failure.

But the problem was that the price paid for that one failure was too cruel.

“Kyle… I, I…”

“Calm down. Don’t move.”

It was a time when the family was falling apart, and I tried to calm her down and resolve the situation.

“It’s not your fault that your people died. It’s Jormungand. That damn demon intervened.”

“Ah, ugh….”

“So calm down. You can’t help what’s lost, but you can prevent the situation from getting worse.”

I tried to calm her down, but it wasn’t easy.

“I…”

Half out of her mind, Rachel looked at the corpses of her family members in despair and began to sweep them away.

And behind her, in that state.

– You’re too late.

With a faint voice, a hooded figure resembling a serpent slowly appeared.

As if painted with ink, the space turned pitch black and soon the figure placed its hand on Rachel’s head.

– The plan is complete, and your struggles are meaningless, human.

Slime oozed from its hand, covering everything.

Damn it… Who is this guy?

“Jormungand!”

– Failure is your destiny.

The slime covered the despairing Rachel, covering all the blood and corpses in the area.

– Submit.

He chuckled, saying.

– To the birth of mother of despair.

With those words, a chilling arm emerged from the slime.

Squelch!

Once called ‘Rachel.’

…It was the birth of a monster that would deceive and destroy countless humans as Jormungand’s daughter in the future.

—

“…Tsk.”

As soon as I woke up in the morning, I clicked my tongue without realizing it.

Why would I dream such a nightmare? Today seems like it’ll be a tough day.

It’s gotten better now, but before the regression, nightmares like this were normal.

The time to be swayed by such things has long passed.

I immediately shook off those thoughts and got up.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“I’ve been having them occasionally lately.”

“Ah, I see… That must be tough.”

A sighing voice.

I chuckled and shook my head at hearing that.

“Well, it’s nothing much. Just sometimes I remember the past and stuff.”

“You must have had some bad experiences in the past. I see…”

“Yeah, bad experiences…”

Wait, hold on.

Who am I talking to? It’s absurd, so I quickly turned my head.

“Good morning, Your Highness!”

Rachel was there.

“Oh, damn, you scared me!”

I jumped in surprise without realizing it.

Who is this? What’s going on?

How did she casually come into my room and greet me in the morning? It’s even more surprising that she’s the one I saw in my nightmare.

“Why are you here again?”

“The door was open.”

“…The door?”

No, that can’t be right, but even if the door was open, you can’t just come into the Duke’s bedroom.

“Oh, but I didn’t come in here for no reason!”

“Then why did you come in?”

“I thought you called me?”

“…Did I not just say I don’t care?”

“Yes, but still.”

With that, Rachel bowed and left the room.

Alone again, I let out a small sigh and got out of bed.

It’s morning.

It’s been two days since Rachel came here.

She quickly adapted to the mansion and surprisingly got along well with people.

Of course, it’s not surprising.
I’ve seen her like that before she regressed.

“Well, even if that’s the case, it’s not like she should just come into the bedroom…”

Well, in this case, we can consider it normal because she came in response to my nightmare.

…But wait a moment.

“Rachel.”

“Yes?”

Whether she heard me or not, she leaned her head forward again.

“No one stopped you on the way here? I mean, even if you tried to stop them, someone must have tried to stop you.”

“Oh, that?”

Rachel chuckled at my words and said, “Well, I avoided them.”

“…You avoided them?”

“Yes, I managed to avoid them somehow if I tried to avoid them. I’m used to hiding my presence.”

“Used to it?”

“Yes.”

For a moment, my brain froze at Rachel’s words, as if she were saying it snows in winter.

Count Slain.

What kind of thing is your daughter is doing is that?

Why does a noble lady have a halo effect on hiding her presence?

Ugh, let’s not think too deeply about it. It’s just a loss for me. Yeah.

It’s not like I didn’t know it was like this, damn it.

Then, as if suddenly remembering, Rachel said, “Oh, and I didn’t just come to say good morning!”

“Hmm?”

“You mentioned ‘truth’ last time, right? You told me to think about my own truth.”

“I did.”

Whatever this she does, the results are good.

I can’t understand the process at all, but still, she always produces one definite result.

That means.

“I finished it!”

With those words, Rachel handed me a disk about the size of her palm.

The disk I received was engraved with bizarre formulas that I couldn’t understand what was what.

It’s so messed up that I doubt if this really works.

‘This is…’

I instinctively put mana into the chaotic disk.

Zing!

A clear hologram appeared above the disk with a whirring sound.

And the moment I realized exactly what the hologram was, laughter flowed out of me without realizing it.

“Haha!”

It’s not an easy task to perfectly induce the result of the “truth” Rachel came up with.

It’s truly random.

To borrow Ji-soo-won’s words, it’s like a random gacha.

It might have some function, but it could also be completely useless to me.

But.

‘This is a jackpot.’

Honestly, I didn’t think I would win right away, but I did.

“Did… did I do well?”

Rachel asked me cautiously.

Of course, my answer is predetermined this time as well.

“You did well?”

I quietly raised my thumb.

“You’re the best today.”

This hologram appeared in the world even before the regression.
The title is “<Owl>.”

The purpose of this hologram…

…is the “Jormungand Cult Detector.”

It was the function I needed more than anything right now.

* * *

After receiving <Owl> from Rachel, I immediately summoned Lepentier to my room.

“My lord, you called for me.”

He seemed a bit disheveled, perhaps from his recent spar with Kadrak and the Soul.

But that appearance was rather dignified.

It seemed like he had provided a good stepping stone for Rachel’s growth and was also utilizing it well to grow himself.

“Yeah, good you’re here. I have some urgent matters to attend to.”

“If there’s something I can do…”

“Do you remember what happened at the orphanage last time? We went together and cleaned house.”

“…!”

Lepentier’s face noticeably stiffened at those words.

Well, of course.

The scene at that time must have been something he could never tolerate in his personality. Just thinking about it would make his teeth grind.

“My lord, could it be that the cultists who caused that incident are…”

“No, I’m not sure myself. Those kinds of people should know how to show themselves subtly.”

The cultists who still serve Jormungand must be hiding somewhere on my territory.

That day, we dismantled the orphanage and prevented them from conducting a ritual using Soul Stones, but it wasn’t a complete eradication.

“As you know, those things are like cockroaches. Even if you think you’ve exterminated them, they’ll come out somewhere else.”

“…Yes.”

“To completely eradicate such elements, it’s not enough to eliminate them one by one.”

Their cult must be consolidated, and their base of operations must be destroyed.

It hasn’t been easy so far.

It was also secretive, and I wasn’t sure how they would react when I took action.

But now it’s different.

Although it wasn’t my intention, with Rachel coming to my side and blossoming her talents, I now have a way to manipulate their actions.

“My lord, if you can tell me the method, even if it costs my life, I will tear them apart!”

Lepentier’s eyes flashed fiercely.

I said to him.

“No, why so fierce? I’m not intending that. If you’re going to tear them apart as you please, you might as well just gather the Shield Knights and go.”

“…Ah.”

“Think about it. Why would I want to accompany a knight without weapons on a journey?”

After blinking his eyes for a moment, Lepentier answered my question.

“Is it because… of my role as your escort?”

“Reasonable logic. But no.”

“…I don’t understand.”

“That’s right.”

To be honest, the ‘reason’ why Lepentier would be curious right now is quite complex and strange…

“No matter how much I think about it, Shield Knight isn’t suitable for a female disguise, right?”

“…”

Lepentier stopped at my words.

As if he had heard something he shouldn’t understand.

“…My lord?”

“A knight with exceptional skills to impersonate Rachel is needed, but we don’t have a female knight in our family. It’s regrettable.”

If it were the House of Swordsmanship instead of the House of Magic, there would have been female knights, but unfortunately, we are the House of Magic.

There are female wizards, but no female knights, unfortunately.

“What can we do then? Shall we use the fragile Rachel as bait?”

“No, I mean… My lord? Rachel isn’t particularly fragile…”

“Then let’s call her expensive.”

“…”

Although it seems like some explanation has been omitted in the process, in any case, I plan to use Rachel as bait to lure in the cultists.

As I just said, Rachel is expensive.

I think everything will be fine, but just in case.

Then someone has to imitate Rachel.

By eliminating one knight of our Order at a time like this…

“There’s no one left but Lepentier.”

“No, my lord.”

“It’s okay. This is something only you and I will do. Let’s just pretend it is.”

“No, my lord. Really!”

I put my hand on Lepentier’s shoulder, who seemed to be about to have a fit, and said.

“Lepentier.”

With a bright smile.

“A knight is criticized by the lord. Do you understand?”

“…”

I patted Lepentier’s shoulder and said.

“There’s a saying, Lepentier.”

“No, my lord.”

He seems to have been broken since earlier, repeating the same thing over and over.

“Crossdressing is the most manly act because only a man can do it.”

“…”

I said again to encourage Lepentier.

“Today, Lepentier, you will become the most manly man. Understand?”

“No, but…”

“I understand?”

“…Yes.”

Lepentier nodded with a bewildered expression.

Yes, a knight is criticized by the lord if he is criticized him.