Chapter 136

C136: Framework (2)

There was an awkward silence in Rudger's office.

Flora flushed and panicked as he stared silently.

"Oh, no. So this is......!"

"Did you get confused?"

I spoke up to her because I didn't think the conversation would proceed if I left it as it is.

"Well, yes, I was confused for a moment."

"It's uncharacteristically for you to make a mistake."

Well, there we go.

I immediately showed her the framework, a magic trick that uses mana to form the [source code] on the palm of my hand.

In an instant, a technique consisting of white lines was created. Flora Lumos' pupils dilated when she saw it shining like crystal.

"Is it okay?"

I remembered Flora Lumos' unusual constitution.

Has she said that she feels mana in a different way? As a result, when it was excessive, it seemed that she would feel confused. It was similar to the so-called Stendhal Syndrome'.

When asked by me, Flora took a light breath and nodded.

"It's all right..."

"I'm glad to hear that."

I put forward the framework to Flora, saying so.

"Put your hand here."

She flinched for a moment as if her mistake had occurred to her, but soon reached out her hand as she was told.

When the white framework touched the palm of her hand, it disappeared as if it were absorbed in an instant like snow melting in the sun's light.

"This is the framework......."

Flora muttered as if she was amazed by the sense of the framework that permeated her hand. It must have been quite a strange feeling to sense it flowing through her body.

"This is the end of the transition. If you're done with your business, go out."

"Oh, I..."

"What's going on?"

"At that time, the trick that you showed me in your private laboratory."

"At that time?"

"Yeah, when I passed out."

Her voice was little as if she was ashamed.

I remembered what Flora was talking about.

"Are you talking about Klein's disease?"

Klein's disease it's a technique that expands the existing magic formula in a higher dimension than the one that was drawn in a three-dimensional picture.

In other words, Klein's disease itself has no magical meaning. It is just the result of an experiment that I made to see how far the mysterious power of magic can reach.

"Why do you ask that?"

"There was something else you wanted to make besides the Klein's disease."

"You must have secretly seen what was written on the blackboard at that time."

Flora glared at me in a way that meant what I said was a little ridiculous.

"How can you not see since it's drawn so openly?"

"Even so, it is not polite to see it. It was me this time but be careful with others."

"So what's the name of the magic?"

"You mean that?"

Perhaps what Flora Lumos was talking about was a more extended concept of magic beyond Klein's disease. A four-dimensional figure that is seemingly made up of two cubes, but is actually much more complicated than that.

"Tesseract. That's what I call it."

"Tesseract?"

"Other names are......Yeah, it's called a super cube."

Of course, she won't understand even if I say this. It's a concept that's hard to understand for people of this world. However, Flora Lumos asked me in a slightly trembling voice, whether she realized that the name alone was an unusual magic.

"What kind of magic is that? What are you going to do with it?"

"Well."

At those words, I muttered vaguely.

Klein disease and Tesseract are just research subjects for me. How far the mysterious power of Mana can be applied and how far it can be expanded.

A study to find out whether it can interfere with space-time, which is four-dimensional beyond the present, which is three-dimensional.

The super cube research was made in order to search for an answer to that question, and through Klein's disease, the answer to my question was decided to be yes.

So what am I going to do with this figured out answer now?

The answer was already in my mind. However, I can't tell the student in front of me honestly.

"A quest for the unknown."

This is all I can do now.

"......Don't tell me if you don't want to."

Flora replied in a slightly sulky tone, as she realized my intention.

"Anyway, I've got what I need to get, so I'll go now. Have a good day."

"Yes."

"Ah, but that kid named Rene."

Flora, who was about to leave immediately after holding the doorknob with her hand, asked me with her head slightly turned.

"Did you two know each other?"

"Me? Why do you think so?"

"It's just, I think it's something like that."

"Just. That's not the answer a wizard should give."

"......So you know her, don't you?"

I am a new teacher who has just been appointed here. There's no way I've known a freshman before entering this school. Was that a good enough answer?"

"That's right. Oh, and lastly."

Seeing that it's the last one, I think this is the main point.

"What else are you curious about?"

"Teacher, don't you feel sick?"

"Sick? What do you mean?"

"You're really okay, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I didn't really know why, but Flora still kept her suspicious gaze on me.

".........I asked you something I shouldn't have asked. Pretend you didn't hear it."

Flora shook her head as if she had asked something useless. Her hair fluttered softly as she left the teacher's office immediately.

Why do you ask me if I'm not feeling well? Are you going to bring me some healthy food?

'I don't know why you asked me that.'

When I checked the clock on one wall of my office, I thought it was a mistake.

'Oh, my. The time is already...'

Flora Lumos suddenly came to visit, and a lot of time was wasted unintentionally.

I hurried a little and left the office since it was time to go to Durman Kingdom.

* * *

"It's been a long time since I've been in this country."

Rudger, who finally arrived at his destination on a long train, muttered as he looked at the scenery in front of him.

It's been five years since the Bloody Night? At that time, it was actually the first time he had come to such a remote village as he was working in a city called Gévaudan.

"Oh, my."

Hans sighed deeply.

"Why did I have to come too?"

"Because you're the right person."

"Say what?"

"Wasn't it your job to collect information?"

When Rudger asked, Hans grumbled, "That's true."

Hans was confident in his network since It wasn't just limited to one city, but it had its influence on all kinds of countries but even so not here.

"Is there anything to get here?"

Hans looked disapprovingly at the once most beautiful village, where only debris remained. Roteng, which was burned down by the Great Fire, could no longer be called a village.

The tanned marks were all erased after a long time, but on the contrary, they were full of dense plants that were not burned by humans. Vines and mosses that cover up some of the remaining remains with the endless sound of grass bugs among them.

It was like looking at an old historical site so Hans didn't think he could get anything out of a place like this.

"But isn't it still there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Survivor."

It is said that all the villagers were killed in the Roteng fire, but there are actually three survivors and one of the three still lived around here.

"If you knew, you could've just come alone."

"Isn't it lonely to come by myself?"

"Are you saying it from the bottom of your heart?"

"Move."

"......Phew, let's do it."

Rudger and Hans walked through a thick grass road that grew to their waist. The footpath to the Roteng village was abandoned for a long time and blocked by all kinds of plants.

Rudger stretched out his hand lightly, as the wind blew and cleared the road. They combed through the ruins of Roteng Village but all they could see was the densely grown grass, and the survivor was not seen.

"Brother, didn't you throw the survivor out somewhere else? I can't find it no matter how much I look for it."

"No. I don't think so."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Look over there."

Rudger raised his hand and pointed to one side. A shabby hut was seen outside the ruins. The size was so small that it seemed safe to call it a warehouse and unlike other ruins full of vines, that house was the only one clean.

"He must be living there."

"Huh? That's weird. Why didn't I see it?"

"He hid it so that no one would come to him carelessly."

"What does that mean?"

Hans, who was wondering, saw Rudger walking first and hurriedly chased after him. When Rudger arrived in front of the cabin, he tapped lightly on the door but there was no answer.

When he grabbed the rusty handle and pushed the door carefully, it opened easily.

"Didn't he lock it?"

When he opened the door wide, a strange smell like an oil painting came from inside. Rudger, who has been active in various statuses, also had his own knowledge of art. He noticed that this smell was the smell of pigment used to paint oil paintings.

The interior of the narrow cabin was filled with sunlight flowing through the window opening on one side. He could see the dust fluttering because of poor ventilation.

Rudger saw paintings that filled the walls and floors. They were all landscapes painted in oil.

"Why are there so many paintings?"

Hans looked around the inside and since he had little time to step, he looked a little tired.

"I guess there's no one here"

"I see."

Rudger closed the door again. It was confirmed that a person was living here, but it seemed that he was away now.

As he was thinking about whether to wait until the owner came or to go where he went, Rudger raised his head slightly and looked in the distance.

"Brother, what's up?"

"It's over there."

"Huh? No, wait a minute! Let's go together!"

A faint reverberation of mana in the direction Rudger was walking slowly. The magic flowing in the wind wasn't that far away, just in a hilltop adjacent to the back of the village

On a high hill overlooking the now-defunct village, a man was sitting still and drawing something.

"Brother, don't tell me he's......?"

"It looks like we came to the right place."

It was one of the survivors of the Roteng Great Fire.

Rudger moved the steps that had stopped again. As the distance approached, he was able to see the man properly.

A weak-looking man in his 30s was wearing shabby clothes with paint everywhere but the most eye-catching thing was the black eye patch hanging around his eyes.

'Was he blind? But all the cottage paintings had colorful colors and beautiful figures.'

Even though he approached to check, the man did not look at him once. There was not even a tiny response. It was not acting because he was a really blind man.

Rudger climbed the meadow hill as if the wind was coming down and stood close to the man.

Perhaps hearing the sound of stepping on the grass, the man who was painting stopped brushing.

"I have a visitor. What brings you here?"

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your drawing."

At the words, the man smiled faintly and shook his head.

"No, I was almost done anyway."

At the words, Rudger glanced sideways at the painting. Surprisingly, the canvas contained the ruins spread out at a glance at the bottom of the hill.

"Can you see everything?"

"No, I just feel them. The smell of flying in the wind, the sound of insects and the natural energy that touches the skin. Even if I can't see, I naturally realized it after living for a long time."

The man said so, slowly organizing the painting tools while Rudger waited calmly by the side.

"Thank you for waiting. I'd like to treat you to a cup of tea.... It's going to be hard because my house is so messy."

"It's all right."

Rudger shook his head and found a suitable place to sit. But there was no room to sit around except for the right-sized rock on which the artist was sitting so Rudger stamped his foot lightly, then the ground sprang up, creating a place to sit.

"......Did you use magic?"

The artist looked a little surprised as if he felt Rudger using magic.

Rudger smirked at the response.

"Isn't that normal, too?"

"What does that mean?

Only Hans, who was eavesdropping, did not understand.

"That artist is also a wizard."

"......You've noticed. That's right. I'm also a wizard."

Rudger was able to follow the traces of painting here in the first place because he was using magic when painting. Hans' failure to find his house was the same reason because he hid the house through magic.

"I didn't know that one of the few survivors of the Roteng Great Fire was a wizard."

"I can't brag about being a wizard. It's just something I learned a little over my shoulder."

"Knowing how to use your magic in drawing it's not something that can be learned normally."

"It's a skill that I naturally realized after painting for a long time. So, may I ask why a great man like you came here?"

"Do you know about me?"

The painter shook his head at Rudger's question.

"No, I don't know who you are."

"But why did you call me an amazing person?"

"Even if you can't see it, or because I can't see it, there's something that feels more certain."

He stared at Rudger with his black eye patch.

"The energy felt by the wind, the strange power that you have and what nature is telling me. You are the hero who solved the terrible things that happened in this country a long time ago."

"I didn't know you even had spirituality."

"I can only hear a little fragmentary voice, let alone make a contract with the spirits. It's not something grand."

"It's the same for me. I'm not great enough to be called a hero."

The artist went straight to the point.

"So what brings you here?"

"Roteng Great Fire."

The man shuddered at Rudger's direct words.

"I heard there were survivors."

"Yes, I am the survivor."

"Three in total, including you."

"......."

You knew that, too. The face of the artist with the eye patch said so.

"Did you come here because you wanted to know that?"

"Who are the other two survivors?"

The sun began to set and the world turned scarlet as the sunset burned over the ridge. The wind blew in from the west and the chill of the night was felt. The shadows of the two people sitting facing each other stretched.

"I want you to tell me."