Underground town - guest lodgings - Richard’s room - afternoon

Waiting for Proxy in my room, it’s smaller than I thought it would but it’s big enough to be considered an apartment room. I’m sitting on a chair, positioned in front of a table. The door opens as Proxy comes in with Quincy, who has a cup in his hands.

“What is it? Proxy told me it was important,” he says, irritation coming from his voice.

“I’m sorry if we’re disturbing you.”

“No sense in apologizing. Just tell me you didn’t call me for something trivial.”

“We didn’t. We never told you the details on how we found the book, have we?”

He sits on my bed, pushing up his glass. “Hmm...Now that you mention it, no, you never did. How did you?”

“Well, it wasn’t me, it was Proxy.” This all slipped my mind since we came to this world. Not only that but many other details as well. “Proxy, we need you to go over how you found it.”

“I already told you, you even saw the hidden cabinet.”

“I know, I mean how did you find that hidden cabinet?”

“Hmm… I kind of don’t know? It’s as if my eyes were drawn to that cabinet.”

“That’s it?”

“...I think there was another feeling. There was an urge to slide it open; as if that was all I was ever meant to accomplish in my life. Remembering it, it was as if my life depended on it, but after I opened it, the feeling just erased itself.”

Why is that? He never showed any type of attachment to the book, only mild curiosity at first.

“How did it get there,” Quincy asks the same question I was going to.

“Huh?”

“How did it get there? If it was hidden, then someone needed to have put it there first.”

“You’re right, someone must’ve put it there,” I support the idea. “...Question is, who did?”

“Master Richard, may I interject?”

“Sure.”

“Proxy, when did you notice the cabinet?”

“When I was reading. This sudden feeling hit me. It felt like my brain just received an order.”

“Is that so...? Then I may know the reason for it. You were manipulated by a Source-user.”

What!? There’s no way I misheard that, she definitely said Source-user...! Hang on, it’s not impossible for them to be in our world. A while back, I asked teacher if there were Source-users in our world; she said yes. However, how did a Source-user manipulate him? If someone did, then had to have seen someone acting strange.

“Proxy, did you see someone while you were heading towards the back of the library?”

“No, I didn’t see anyone.”

“Did somebody make skin contact with you before then?” Nunnalé asks.

“Pretty sure I never made skin contact with nobody. But you said a Source-user used me. How would you know?”

“There are two reasons why I concluded this. The first: the grimoire is what would be considered a Mystica.”

“Mystica? What is that?”

“Teacher told that they’re a type of tool Source-users use to increase their abilities or use abilities out of their expertise. The common ones are usually for support, enhancing one’s abilities, or for offensive means. That’s all she told me.”

“So what can the book do?” I ask.

“From what I learned, it holds secrets that are able to affect the world,” Quincy explains.

“How do you know that?” I press.

“A man named Legion told me.”

“Seriously!? Wait, how did you meet him?”

“Oh, right… I kinda told him where we were camping,” Proxy confesses.

“Why?”

“Bit of a long story on that one.”

“You two are speaking about an irrelevant topic. May I state my second reason?”

“Sorry, continue,” Quincy excuses us, acting as if he didn’t help with the distraction,

“...The second reason: the feeling Proxy had. It was too sudden for him to have caught such a feeling. By chance, did you notice the cabinet before the feeling set in?”

“Not at all.”

“Then it only stands that this feeling was caused by a Source-user.”

“How?” I ask her.

“Source-users can manipulate their Source, even when they plant it on something.”

Proxy raises his eyebrows as his eyelids widen. “Really? Richard, can you do that?”

“I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“That is because you lack the experience and training to do so, Master Richard. However, if I am to be correct on my theory, then this person is a highly skilled Source-user.”

That must be the case. I’m only able to enhance one part of my body. It takes a great amount of concentration and mental fortitude to hold all my Source into more than one limb. Whenever I use enhancement or healing, I usually have it all concentrated into one limb, cutting off the flow to anywhere else but that one part; it’s easier to use it on one part, but using it on two parts of my body ranks up the difficulty, so enhancing all of my body requires a great amount of focus just to do it. However, having it all concentrated into one point makes it that much stronger since all the Source is focused there.

However, I can’t imagine what it would be like to manipulate Source that’s not on your body… How can someone even do that, and who are they? Actually, why did they do that? Why would someone hide it only to have Proxy to find it...? No, that can’t be…or can it? But what if it is!?

“Guys, we need to ask why that was there in the first place.”

“You mean why the book was there?” Proxy asks me.

“No, the patch of Source used to lure you into finding the book.”

“Oh yeah! Why was that there…?” After a moment, Proxy’s eyes widen. He probably reached the same conclusion as me. “...Someone wanted me to find it!” That’s right, and if that weren’t the case, all they had to do was take it from us. Since it’s a Source-user, it wouldn’t be that hard to do so. Yet, they lead him towards it. “...But that makes no sense. How the hell did they know I would find it? Even with them using Source, I needed to be there to find it. What if we never decided to go to the library that day?”

How did he know I would go to the library? Sure, whenever there’s an important test I usually go to the library to study. Proxy usually tags along with me to read in the aisle he found the book in… Usually… We usually do that! So that’s how he was able to get Proxy to find it!

“We would’ve gone eventually,” I utter out of my mouth.

Proxy puts his hand next to his ear. “Hm, what was that?”

“I said we would’ve gone to the library before the test. You would go into the aisle where you found the book since you like going back there to draw and listen to music, right?”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“Yeah, it’s a quiet spot.”

“That’s my point, it’s your habit to go there and it’s my habit to study at the library before a test!”

“Oh, I guess you’re right… Hold the phone! Does that mean--”

“...You two were being watched,” Quincy finishes.

“What!?”

That’s the only logical conclusion. Since this Source-user knows our habits, it only makes sense that he would’ve been watching us. That’s the thing, who could it be? Proxy and I never heard or seen someone with anything close to Source abilities, so this makes figuring out who was spying on us difficult. Furthermore, why would they want us to have the book? If it’s an important relic, then why would anyone want to just hand it off to us…? This is no good, maybe we’re missing something?

“Proxy,” I call. “...let’s backtrack a bit.”

“On what?”

“Hmm… How about on the night of the concert?”

“I get ya. If we’re going to remember anything, it should be from where it all started… Hey, do you remember when the back of the entrance was just opened and there were no guards?”

“At the time I thought it was odd, and I still do. Wouldn’t there have been guards there to make sure that people like us wouldn’t sneak in?”

“Maybe someone wanted to lure people inside,” Proxy surmises.

“Who would do such a thing?”

“Maybe that weirdo who attacked the opera house?”

“I have no doubts that man wanted people to come to the Opera house. No, I’m certain, cause he said, ‘the purpose of this concert is complete’. Yet, seeing how people were paying for tickets to enter the building, I doubt he was just letting anyone in.”

“Yeah, those tickets were mighty expensive.”

“Exactly, so maybe it was to control the number of people coming in?”

“Yes, I can see why,” Quincy acknowledges my reasoning. “Judging the way you told me how it went, Richard, I can support the claim. I believe he wished to control the situation of how he would handle the people in the building. If too many came, then he would have to deal with a number of potential victims that would try to retaliate. Yet, I don’t know how he was able to draw such a large number of people.”

“Me too.”

That simple variable would be one of the biggest obstacles in whatever he was planning. How would he be able to gather so many people?

“The band that was supposed to play there was extremely famous. Now that I think about it, it’s odd how fast they took off and never slowed down. Their debut was a year before the concert. The traction they had was unreal, they already had a world tour during their first year. They were killing it worldwide. Even I thought they were great. So it wouldn’t be weird for people to come and see them, despite the ticket cost.”

I doubt that their popularity was a coincidence for the concert. Maybe the guy who attacked us helped with their popularity? I can’t prove it, so this is just a theory.

Proxy leans on the wall, crossing his arms. “Yo, there’s something else that’s bugging me.” That guy had a book, remember?”

“Yeah, it made a giant hand come out of it. Seeing you getting beaten up by it was frightening.”

“You think that it was a Mystica or something?”

“Could be. But it just conjured up a red hand from it. What do you think, Nunnalé?”

“Without seeing it for myself, I cannot say for certain. However, judging from your story, it could be. However, there is an aspect that we must mention. It is about the light you saw, Master Richard. What did it do to the people? Did it kill them?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t see any blood, so it’s hard to say.”

“I see, then the topic of what happened to the other attendants is unknown.”

“You know, I don’t think that guy was planning on using that red arm thing on anyone,” Proxy interjects with an odd assumption.

“What is the basis of this claim?”

“Well, this is just an observation, but he used it more as a means of defense rather than an offensive tool. He used it to keep me away.”

He’s probably right, he never used it on anyone else from what I remember. “I see, that does sound plausible. Then maybe… I have a theory.”

“Spit,” Proxy says.

“I think the guy had no intention of killing anyone.”

“Interesting idea, but why not,” Quincy challenges my theory.

“If he had the power to summon an arm strong enough to nearly kill somebody why would he not use it on anyone else? Furthermore, do you honestly think someone would scheme to bring people together just to murder them? As for the light, I saw someone pass out when they were struck by it. Though, I don’t know why”

“Interesting… Well, not much we can do to figure that out,” Quincy shrugs his shoulders.

“That’s it? We’re just going to give up on that?”

“It is a sound notion since we are unable to determine what the light means. Any attempt on guessing so would yield no results,” Nunnalé thoroughly explains. She’s right, even if we brainstorm ideas, nothing will stick, let alone show any merit.

Quincy coughs into his hand, bring our attention to him. “...But may we go back to the topic of the man Proxy fought and the one who is watching you two? Is it safe to assume they are different people?”

“I can say so. I remember when we pulled the grimoire out of Proxy’s bag. The Source-user was surprised we had it, that shows he didn’t give it to us. But it did seem like he wanted it.”

“Then we can assume that the person who was watching you also cleared the way for you and Proxy to enter the Opera house?” Nunnalé states.

Agreeing with her conclusion, I nod my head. “Seems to be the likely scenario.”

Even if we don’t know what the Source-user, who attacked the concert, wants, we’re starting to understand our situation a bit more. This should’ve hit me sooner, but I hadn’t thought of any of this stuff in a while. But with everything we learned in this world, coming back to the topic now might have been for the best.

Averting my attention to Proxy, he’s looking to the floor with an unfocused gaze, with his hand on his chin. “...Richard, I’ve been thinking about this for a bit… I think it’s important.”

“What is it?”

“You remember when we got here, and I mean the moment we got here?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, when we got here, we had to fight monsters, right?”

“Yes…”

“Why were they there when we got here?”

Something clicks in my brain. Why were they there? It’s not like we fell unconscious when we came here; we fell from the sky, so there’s no way for them to have arrived after we did. Now that I think about it, there were scores of them when we tried escaping from the King’s Tower. How would they know we’re here… Unless someone told them!?

“Proxy, you’re a genius!”

“Wait, it’s relevant?”

“Of course! Proxy, can you remember anything else? My memories of the finer details are hazy. I wasn’t in the proper state of mind back then.”

“Hmm… All I remember is… Oh yeah, they said they had a master! Remember when we did that salute for him!?”

“Yeah, I do!”

This is starting to make more and more sense. If this master knew about us coming to this world and sent monsters after us, then that means he and our Stalker is--

“Richard, I think mr. stalker and their master is working together!”

Wow...he was able to figure that out on his own?

“As farfetched as it sounds, once you connect the pieces, it appears to be a logical conclusion. If you two were awake the moment you arrived, then that would be the case. However, we must also ask this: how long did it take for you two to arrive?”

That’s a good question. We wouldn’t know the proper amount of time it took for us to reach here since time in that void was a foreign concept. So in that line of thinking, it could’ve taken us less than a second to reach this world, or it could’ve taken hours. Even if we do determine this, who’s to say that this world and ours share the same time? I can’t say whether they do or don’t, so all I can assume is that they don’t. But even then, the fact they found us on that alter says that...um, mr. Stalker and their master is working together.

“Master Richard, the monsters, and their master most likely wanted the book.”

“Most likely, then does that mean we were acting as delivery boys?”

“The hell!? I’m nobody’s delivery boy… Okay, maybe sometimes for some of the folks who need to deliver food, and some of the corner stores back home, but not for some damn stalker, and definitely not for some weirdo who uses monsters!”

“Whether you wanted to be or not, that seems to be the case. Though, why were we chosen to be the curriers for the book?”

Nobody says anything, it seems the lead on that is a dead end.

Proxy closes his eyes and lets out a quiet hum. “Ya know, ever since that day, the monsters hadn’t shown up. I wonder where they came from?”

“Hmm… I wonder if they came from the forbidden lands?” Quincy mutters to himself.

“What’s that?”

“A piece of these lands that is, as the name suggests, forbidden.”

“What’s over there?” I ask him.

“I don’t know, it’s protected by a wall that’s as big as the kingdoms.”

“So the king is trying to keep folks away from that place?”

“Who can say. However, I had heard rumors of a researcher who managed to get inside there and came back out after the kingdom guards captured him. He said he saw unbelievable things there, things he was not sure he could understand. Saying that the creatures there were not natural; saying they were grotesque monsters.”

“So that’s where the monsters are, and where that master dude might be?”

“This is just an educated guess, so take it with a grain of salt,” Quincy warns.

If he is over there, then I guess we have nothing to worry about for the time being. He also didn’t send monsters after us, but why not? I guess we’ll never know why. Aside from that, it seems like we’re running out of things to talk about.

“It appears we’ve exhausted our topics,” Quincy states. “...let us close up this discussion for now. Richard, Proxy, this discussion was rather enlightening. It shows that we have a lot to uncover about this book, who wants it, who gave it to you, and why they used you two. I want the two of you to try remembering more details that might further our investigation. Understood?”

“I understand!”

“No problem, dude.”

Quincy sits up from my bed, pushing up his glasses. “Right, I’ll try to further my research into the book. Also, I wish to look around this town tomorrow. Richard, would you accompany me?”

“Sure, I want to learn more about this place as well.”

“Excellent. By the way, there’s another matter we must discuss… It’s about learning what the book is.”

“Did you figure something out?”

“Yes, I learned where we can learn more about it.”

I jump up from my seat. “Where!?”

“As we continue to travel toward our enemies, we’ll be close to a mansion that was mentioned in a research document that I took from the castle library. It was written to have ties to mystical items.”

“Does this mansion have a name?”

“It’s called the mansion of the Black Aisle!”