Black Badger - Chapter 365



Only Noblemtl

365. Flower (2)

My heart sank.

I didn’t know that Kissis’ name would come up. And I still wasn’t immune to Kissis’ name. I flinched every time his name came up.

Especially in this situation.

In a space filled with data, there is only me and the emperor.

A quiet space that is enough to make your ears fall off. The reason I was able to calm my agitated mind after looking at the data was because I had looked at this data alone a few days ago.

Footage taken by badgers infiltrating enemy territory when the leaf veins were damaged.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Kyle was not included in the data.

The leadership may have selected and provided me with the materials.

The material was covered with flowers.

The emperor began his explanation, running his thumb over the flowers in the giant photograph.

“You went to find Kisis, whose whereabouts had been unknown for ten years.”

“yes.”

He answered politely.

Something that would have been impossible without intuition.

I reminisced about the old days. Several years after I lost contact with Kisis, I suddenly began to sense Kisis’ presence. At the time, I didn’t know that this meant Cecil’s absence.

I just thought that they would be so focused on purifying the pollution that they wouldn’t have the energy to even use magic to hide their presence.

But it wasn’t.

When we arrived, all the wizards, including Cecil, were annihilated.

Where is Cecil now?

I was thinking of the painting of Cecil by Simon Diamond when the other person said:

“I didn’t tell you, but Kishis has been sending documents to the imperial family irregularly for ten years.”

“yes?”

“Document on dimensional travel.”

The emperor filled in the empty stories.

“You know that no wizard has ever succeeded in dimension travel before the world burned.”

There’s no way I wouldn’t know.

In fact, didn’t we succeed in dimension travel only at the very end? Before that, we were either eaten, or we didn’t write down the destination correctly, or the wizards collapsed while using their magic…

In the first place, up until the time I became the commander of the knights, dimension travel magic was considered a legendary magic.

It has been studied seriously since some time ago.

“Kisis insisted that he must leave this world even before he left the zodiac.”

The Emperor’s voice brought me out of my recollection.

“He told me only. He was a child who had never asked me for anything since we were little, so I remember being surprised when he suddenly asked me to drink alone with him. I waited since the sun had set, but Kissis showed up only when it was close to midnight. And as soon as I sat down, he said that dimension travel would be the only answer.”

It was from then on…

He had seen the end of the world long ago. But he only told the Emperor about it. Because many people, including myself, were desperately trying to stop the spreading contamination. So as not to break their morale.

Then, after 10 years of fighting pollution on the front lines, you probably learned about dimensional travel.

I would have followed him if he hadn’t been the commander of the knights.

I remembered what Kissis had said to me a few days before he disappeared.

‘I knew you could handle those losers.’

It was said with a crooked smile.

‘You’ve grown a lot, you little sunflower.’

“Do you know what a flower is?”

The emperor’s sudden question brought me to my senses.

I saw the side profile of my old master, who had not raised his head in the photo.

That’s what I called you here to tell you.

He answered politely.

“I have no knowledge at all because my knowledge is so limited.”

“Do you know about dimension travel magic?”

“I have little knowledge of magic.”

“There was no mana at all.”

“yes.”

There wasn’t a single drop.

I never really thought about it that deeply. In the first place, it was rare for someone to have enough mana to become a wizard.

In general, mana was so little that it was useless, and there were quite a few people like me who had none at all.

In other words, people with a lot of mana were a special breed.

I’m just an ordinary person.

“It’s going to be a bit of a struggle to fix the leaf veins.”

hmm?

What does this mean?

I couldn’t ask back.

The emperor continued his story.

“To conclude, this flower is a medium for dimension movement. When the flower blooms enough, dimension movement becomes possible through the water contained in the flower. That’s why black magicians like this flower.”

I opened my mouth.

And I tried to digest the bombshell statement that came out of nowhere.

But it is not completely accepted.

So I started by asking a question.

“What do you mean by dimension travel becoming possible? Didn’t it take several archmages to join forces to barely succeed in dimension travel? I remember that even that failed miserably several times.”

“The fact that dimension travel is possible through the bottom of the flower pond was discovered because a creature of unprecedented size emerged from the puddle.”

The emperor gave me an answer that did not fit my question.

But eventually, I will give you an answer to your doubts.

The words, “Let’s believe and wait,” continued.

“This is a phenomenon that was witnessed hundreds of years ago. The fact that remained only as a rumor for hundreds of years was confirmed when a black magician poured magic into this flower that had fully bloomed. When a magic spell suitable for a fully bloomed flower is applied, a passage leading to another dimension is opened at the bottom of the pond.”

“Then why didn’t you use this to escape the world?”

“Because I can’t decide where to arrive.”

ah.

「The amount of magic required is also considerable. Even if you try to use a flower to travel through dimensions, it doesn’t change the fact that you need a great wizard. Of course, in the case of flowers, one great wizard is enough, but there’s no guarantee that your body will be intact when you enter that place. However, with sufficient calculations, the dimension traveler can specify the desired location.」

“Any place you want… .”

earth.

“How do you think Archduke Jacques suddenly calculated the coordinates of this place?”

An unexpected question made me open my eyes wide.

I’ve never thought about this before.

The emperor tapped a flower in the photo with his finger.

“How did you think you’d found a dimension that had oxygen, water, no chance of people freezing or burning to death the moment they crossed over, and a civilization that existed?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

The emperor blinked as he answered honestly.

The other person, who seemed surprised by the unexpected answer, quickly regained his composure.

He took my pitiful answer lightly.

“Kissis and Cecil have confirmed various worlds while blooming hundreds of flowers. Of the hundreds of dimensions they have encountered, this one is the most suitable for us to migrate to.”

“You said you checked it yourself? How…?”

“Can’t we subjugate demons? It seems they sent the subjugated demons through the open dimensional gate to check. They cast various spells on them.”

ah.

“Of course, the whole process wasn’t smooth. Some people burned to death in the fire that devoured the pollution, and some fell into the flower pond and disappeared. However, there were practical benefits.”

Why didn’t you tell me all this?

Even as I harbored resentment, I had already anticipated what Kissis would say.

Because talking about it won’t change anything.

Because there was no time to explain the various background stories in detail.

good night.

So I understand why you kept silent.

I understand that he kept it a secret. He always kept a lot of things from me anyway. He didn’t even open up about his relationship with his father, which was right in front of me.

After I became the commander of the knights, we talked less. We were both so busy with our work that we didn’t even have time to have a drink together.

So, I guess I’m forgiven for now knowing this breathtaking information.

but….

“One of the things I reported to Grand Duke Jacques at the end was the existence of this dimension.”

But then why did you push me into dimension travel?

After all that hard work, you finally found your destination.

I will never forgive Kissis for that choice for the rest of my life.

Never… .

“It was immediately shared with the wizards as well.”

Kisses.

“Thanks to that, we were able to escape. While I was trying to purify the land that was eventually covered in pollution with vain hopes, that child steadily sought another way.”

I want to turn back time.

I wanted to go back to the moment right before I made the dimension shift. No more, just back to that moment. When there was only a few left before the shining dimension shift.

I wanted to go back and push Kisis into the dimension shift.

And I am left behind.

If that were the case, a lot of things would have changed.

“Cecil must have disappeared beyond the flowers too.”

The emperor’s mutterings, like a soliloquy.

Hearing that, I was pulled out of a worn-out fantasy that I’ve had too often: wishing I could turn back the clock and go back to just before dimension travel.

“I don’t know the details about why Cecil went missing.”

Then old memories took the place of the boring family.

As if the Emperor’s words were the perfect key, Kissis’ words popped out from the drawer of his head.

‘I was dragged through a dimensional portal when I opened it. I couldn’t bring her back.’

ah.

I guess that’s why they called it a dimensional door instead of a dimensional movement.

Because it didn’t disappear while opening the truth.

“However, I have accepted the documents detailing the dimension she was dragged into.”

I didn’t know this at all either.

He didn’t say a word to me.

As for Cecil’s disappearance, it was only after I had noticed and brought it up a few days after we had met again that he told me about it. After that, Kisis never mentioned Cecil again.

The situation was so urgent that I couldn’t ask in detail.

Of course, even if the situation had not been so urgent, I might not have dared to ask.

Kissis was always tight-lipped about Cecil.

He was a man who didn’t blink at all at the rumors, but he was furious at the rumors about Cecil and himself.

So, even I, who was called the knight closest to Kissis, did not know much about Cecil.

The reason she became Kissis’ escort wizard, and the detailed circumstances of her disappearance.

“You said it was a world reminiscent of the voice of a dream. Fragments of memories popping out here and there… You said you saw a world where the memories of people you didn’t know at all seemed like your own. A world of ashen gray.”

wait for a sec.

Doesn’t this somehow match up with Kairos and Shu’s description?

“It was written that it was a dimension where fragments of memories of countless things appeared and disappeared like mist, as if they were possessed by a very large dream voice.”

Could it be that Kyle is trying to find Cecil?

Or maybe, in the process of finding another dimension other than Earth, he happened to connect with the one Cecil had fallen into?

Anyway, I think I now vaguely understand why Shu was kidnapped. It might be because the dimension opens well when she’s there.

A senior born with a unique constitution… .

But how did her father end up through a portal and falling into the dimension where Cecil was?

I sat there, feeling like I knew something, but also didn’t.

First of all, I was relieved to see that the purpose of this flower that Kyle’s camp was blooming did not seem to pose an immediate threat to the people inside the center core.

But I kept feeling like I was missing something.

I understand that you kidnapped Shu, but why on earth did you do it to her?

If you wanted to take advantage of Shu’s unique constitution, you could have just encased her in a flower.

And if they’re planning on moving to another dimension altogether, why are Kyle’s side trying to expand their territory so aggressively?

Is it a long-term plan, so securing food and territory is essential?

… there is no need to fight a war if you are going to find another shelter.

I knew full well that I was foolish for still not letting go of the possibility.

Even so… .

“Maybe I still haven’t let go of my attachment.”

I was startled by the words that seemed to convey his inner thoughts.

As I turned my head towards the Emperor, trying hard to hide that fact, I saw the Emperor looking down at the pond, in the center of the flowers in the picture.

Clear water sparkling in the sky blue eyes.

“The story is that maybe he’s still waiting.”

“who….”

“Cecil.”

A short answer came back.

“Structure.”

Since a very long time ago.

“Kisses.”

***

I finished the report quickly.

“Meta meta.”

And now I was at Yoon and Ami’s house.

“Dreamy.”

Amy hummed.