Beatrice

Ragnarok lies in the waters of the Southern Sea.

The star I always gazed at from my homeland. I nurtured my dreams while watching those blue-black waves… only to learn that my mortal enemies are hiding there. My feelings were complicated.

“Nadia.”

-Yes?

“What do you think would happen if the Magic Emperor and I fought?”

-If what you currently possess is… what I’ve seen, then you would win, Administrator.

Though she added a caveat, it was still an immediate response.

“What makes you think that?”

-As you know, I’m a management-type ego who has assisted administrators from the closest position.

“And?”

-I couldn’t see his true form. If that’s the case, there’s only one answer. He’s using the Akashic Records to hide his existence. Directly interfering with the Akashic Records… though strangely there was no administrator authentication code… in effect, he’s doing the same work administrators used to do.

Just as I had noticed that the Magic Emperor wasn’t 7th Circle, Nadia had also noticed that fact.

‘Directly interfering with the Akashic Records…’

That was probably similar to what the god’s fragment within me had done when preventing water’s destruction. Of course, the Magic Emperor couldn’t be as remarkable as that, but the difference was one of quantity, not quality. In any case, the type was similar.

If the Akashic Records were an ocean, what the god’s fragment had done was take a submarine and navigate through it while performing waterproofing construction. In comparison, I was at most using a bucket called [Simulation] to scoop up a little of that water. And the Magic Emperor’s level… would be at least strapping on an oxygen tank and diving. Even if it doesn’t leave a single trace in the ocean, it’s incomparable to scooping with a bucket. Even if that bucket isn’t just any bucket but a water tank, it still wouldn’t work. Actually getting into the water and splashing around outside are completely different matters. Yes. The issue isn’t quantity but quality.

“Someone like that still hasn’t been able to clean up Ragnarok…”

This was my concern.

Currently, the only visible tail of the Outer Gods is Ragnarok. But that place is a dragon’s den. If I rashly entered, I’d be torn apart without leaving even a bone fragment.

“I’ll need preparations.”

A few spirits wouldn’t put me at ease.

* * *

“Have you finally found time for a conversation with me?”

A silver door appeared in mid-air, and a beauty with black hair and red eyes entered.

It was Kaisel, the vampire lord who had followed Beatrice.

“…This is an unpleasant place.”

She surveyed my laboratory with a sweeping glance.

Equipment and records piled up like mountains. But her eyes lingered on the mage, Shado and the lich contained in capsules.

She especially stared intently at the lich.

“I was hoping you’d call me… you’re not planning to dissect me, are you?”

From her perspective, vampires and liches would be completely different, but she knew well that to us mages, they’re nothing but the same Night Calamity.

Wariness swirled in her eyes.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. Those guys are also backlogged research subjects. I can’t handle adding more long-term research projects.”

“…Should that make me feel better?”

Though she said that, Kaisel subtly came and sat in front of me.

Kaisel, wearing restraints created from <Sowing>. Looking at her like this, she seemed just like a person. A pretty person.

But her true nature was different. The moment those restraints were released, she would become a singularity where black and red magical power converged. Her current reason and emotion would disappear, transforming into a weapon crazed with slaughter.

‘In her current state, she’s unusable.’

Unfortunately, just like the spirits, she had almost no memories of the past. She occasionally reacted to certain keywords, but that was all.

It wasn’t particularly regrettable. Now that I could learn about ancient information through Nadia and the Shadow Library… so Kaisel in her current state was nothing more than a parasite that required periodic supplies of human blood. For someone who was 6th Circle wizard-level, possibly even higher combat power, to be playing around like this was absurd.

“Don’t worry. But you do need to earn your keep.”

“Earn my keep?”

“Right. Let’s do a few simple experiments first.”

“W-wait a minute. Earlier you said adding research projects would be too much to handle…”

“I said long-term research projects. I never said I wouldn’t do short-term research. Don’t worry. I won’t dissect you.”

“I-I’ll kill you if you touch me!”

Kaisel jumped up with a pale face and backed away. But with her power sealed, there was nothing she could do. Her face was painted with despair.

“D-damn it… I should have followed Beatrice when she escaped…”

“Don’t be so dramatic. This is something you’d want too.”

Hesitant, retreating steps.

Ah,

I shouldn’t do this.

This is kind of fun though.

* * *

It was an old assignment.

A topic that had begun at Arsenal #7 in the Guardian’s Graveyard.

When I requested a scorched earth operation to completely collapse Arsenal #7, the main ego responded like this,

‘I just recieved a scorched earth request. However, 3rd level administrators do not have scorched earth request authorization. I request approval from a higher authority.’

‘I am aware that no higher-ranking authority exists at the base. I request that you obtain approval through the administrator network.’

It was then that I first heard the term ‘administrator network.’

What egos normally use to verify information for themselves is the ‘main ego.’ Since it had already gone down, access to the main network was impossible.

But the main ego at Arsenal #7 was confident that the administrator network hadn’t gone down. Of course it would be. That was a network used only by gods. Just as they believed in the immortality of gods, they believed in the eternity of the administrator network.

At that time, I responded to the main ego’s request to access the administrator network like this,

‘I swear on the Akashic Records. I cannot use the administrator network.’

It wasn’t a lie, so there was no burden. I couldn’t use something I didn’t understand… but looking back now, I think it was rather reckless.

Of course, I meant ‘(I currently) cannot use it,’ but for someone else, it could become ‘I don’t have that ability.’ From a mage’s position, who needed to show confidence in everything, I had essentially driven a nail into one of my own possibilities.

Was that why?

No matter how busy I was, throughout that long period of time, I had lived without even thinking about the ‘administrator network’—something that sounded significant just from its name. This too would have been a word-spell if it was one.

‘I need to correct this now.’

When I had said those words, my level was around 2nd Circle? In those days when I wasn’t particularly noticed by magical powers. Now that I had reached the realm of 6th Circle 5-star, I could definitely overturn it.

‘My magical theory is still far from sufficient.’

The realm shown by the god’s fragment and demonstrated by the Magic Emperor. I still don’t know how to reach such a realm. My magical theory merely stops at squeezing out mana to call upon records from the Akashic Records. It cannot explain how to directly access within it and modify records.

It’s like the difference between me, who enters with an ID and password to use predetermined functions, and a developer who opens the code directly and inserts easter eggs.

Honestly, at my current level, calling myself an administrator feels hollow.

I can’t raid Ragnarok in such a half-baked state.

“Grrrr…!”

Right. So. Show me your secrets.

How can I directly access the Akashic Records?

Is that related to something called the administrator network?

“Now, now, calm down and try to control your power.”

“Graaaah!”

Vertically slit pupils. Black magical power covering her entire body.

Kaisel, who had become a Night Calamity, was bound to the operating table, thrashing wildly.

“Can’t you hear me? Hmm… this should be effective.”

The operating table before me was equipment from the dimensional workshop that had been unlocked when I became 6th Circle. The second divine tool given to me after ‘The Anvil Itself.’

‘Divine Body Sculpting Equipment.’

Since divine body refers to the body of gods—in other words, magical power—this was equipment for sculpting magical power. So it’s not dissection.

“Please work.”

I approached Kaisel with the silver scalpel emitting light.

But was this related to the ‘administrator network’?

I don’t know.

I don’t know, so I’m trying it out.

If I do something, I’ll stumble onto something.

“Graaaah!”

Kaisel’s sharp fangs bit at the empty air.

Bloodlust extended in streams.

If stares could kill, I would have died a thousand times already. Haha.

* * *

A wide, dark room. It wasn’t that there were no furnishings, but everything was dark and dreary. If not for the bright and colorful bed placed in the center, it would have looked like a desolate warehouse used by criminals for murder.

On the bed, a white-haired girl held a teddy bear and hung her head low.

“Saint. Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

The person that Ragnarok’s Agent of Destruction, the Saint, spoke respectfully to.

Ragnarok’s ‘Prophet’ smiled faintly and sat in front of Beatrice.

Her voice was young. A slender woman. That was all that could be discerned. Wearing a pitch-black robe and pulling up a pitch-black hood, she showed only her eyes. Looking at just her eyes, she seemed like a normal person, but the madness that occasionally flickered white between her pupils made anyone facing her tense.

“Where did we leave off… Ah, yes—what was the emotion you felt toward that Evan fellow… we had talked up to that point?”

Beatrice replied expressionlessly without raising her head, like someone who couldn’t feel emotions.

“Yes. I was quite confused at that time. Having spent a long time together, I was quite relaxed.”

“So you didn’t kill him? At that time, Pathfinder was in great confusion, and Evan had no weapons. A knight without weapons can be crushed as lightly as an ant, and yet…”

Despite avoiding detailed mention, the Prophet spoke as if she had been watching the entire situation.

Beatrice’s eyebrows moved slightly, but her agitation wasn’t detected. Beatrice slowly raised her head. She looked at the Prophet and spoke.

“I couldn’t think of such things at that time.”

The Prophet’s eyes slowly examined Beatrice.

Again, that flickering white.

“You mean you wouldn’t now?”

“I’m thirteen years old. You should make such judgments, Prophet. I was taught that a wizard’s words carry weight.”

I’m young, so I might not know my own heart. I don’t want to earn the hatred of magical powers, so I’ll be careful with my words. It was a clever answer that slipped away.

The Prophet’s eyes flickered white, moving faster.

“I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I won’t ask anymore.”

The Prophet apologized in a gentle tone and didn’t ask further.

However, Beatrice knew very well that this wasn’t the end.

The Prophet would have already made plans.

Such questions were merely exploration to adjust the details of those plans.

Ragnarok’s three sacred treasures.

The Holy Grail was stolen by Truth Tower.

What remained were Mimir, the Well of Wisdom, and the Dragon Heart.

The Prophet managed Mimir, and the Saint possessed the Dragon Heart.

She could never purge Beatrice. Not if she didn’t want Ragnarok’s complete dissolution.

But…

‘This woman would find some method to avoid purging me while still accomplishing something. Some method I can’t even imagine…’

Because she couldn’t know what it was, Beatrice was always afraid.

“By the way… the Well of Wisdom told me. Familiar faces are coming.”

“Familiar faces?”

“Pathfinder. Isn’t that welcome?”

“There’s nothing welcome about…”

“You should be welcoming them. It’s an opportunity to repay the humiliation the Agent of Destruction suffered.”

The Prophet’s eyes curved into crescents.

“Seven wizards in their fighting force.”

Ah…

The carefully maintained indifferent expression had already crumbled. Beatrice swallowed hard. Her rough throat made even swallowing painful.

The Prophet looked down at such a Beatrice, rolling her flickering white pupils, and spoke.

“Even double that number wouldn’t be enough… hahaha.”

Even while laughing, her eyes never left Beatrice for a moment.