Chapter 12

Chapter 12

After that, the Hustein family fell.

Part of it was because their grand mansion had been smashed by some mysterious assailant, causing tremendous losses. But the greatest cause of their fall was that, because that assailant had taken the source formula of the magic scroll, they could no longer produce magic scrolls.

“The stock of magic scrolls is starting to run low...... Just when do you intend to supply us with the formula? We can only produce magic scrolls if your side provides the formula!”

“Th-That is...... If you could wait just a little, just a little longer.......”

“So how long are you telling us to wait? If you signed a supply contract, you should supply it on time! Do you know how much loss we are suffering because of your side right now?”

After the protests continued, the Hustein family had no choice in the end but to reveal to their clients the fact that “the source formula had been stolen, so they could no longer provide the magic scroll formula.” At that, lawsuits for damages from their clients followed one after another, and the Hustein family was saddled with an enormous debt.

“What are we to do? No matter how I think about it, there is no proper way out.......”

“Family Head, should recovering the source formula not be our first priority for now?”

“How are we to recover it when we do not even know where or who that mysterious assailant is?”

“What I mean is that we should recover the magic scrolls circulating on the market and replace the source formula with the formulas inscribed on them. They were copied from the source formula in the first place, so surely we can manage something?”

“Oh......?”

For a moment, it seemed as though hope had appeared, but they soon realized that, for now, it was impossible. The moment it became known that magic scroll production had completely stopped and supply was no longer possible, the price of the remaining magic scrolls soared sky-high. To the point that even renowned magnates did not dare consider buying them.

It would have been good if, at the very least, there had been any highest-grade magic scrolls personally produced by the Hustein family that had not yet been sold...... but those had all been gone for some time since the mysterious assailant attacked the grand mansion.

It was uncertain whether the mysterious assailant had personally taken them all along with the source formula, or whether they had burned away together when the mysterious assailant destroyed the grand mansion. What mattered was that Hustein could find no way at all to restore the source formula, and had forever lost the family’s glory that had continued for nine hundred years.

And so, the Hustein family, which had remained firm even as the dynasty changed several times, vanished behind the curtain of history.

***

Somewhere in deep mountains layered upon deep mountains, at one corner of the edge of a craggy cliff that soared high into the sky.

Lying sprawled there any which way, I muttered to myself for what must have been the countless time already.

“Ah...... the research assignment...... I need to finish it.......”

To do that, I first had to get up and return to the Magic Tower. But my body, with neither motivation nor energy, sagged limply and showed no sign of moving at all.

Ah, I really don’t want to do anything. Repeating only that thought in my mind day and night, I quietly groped for the box I had tossed aside beside me. It was the box containing the source formula of the magic scroll.

I didn’t know why I was like this. I had finally recovered the formula that had been stolen from me, and though he was a descendant, I had said everything I had to say to “that” Hustein, so shouldn’t I feel refreshed? If I had relieved the grudge that had clotted in my chest for more than nine hundred years, I should be happy and exhilarated, even overflowing with energy.

That should definitely be the case...... So why did I have no motivation or anything else, and instead just wanted to die alone like this?

“If Master didn’t keep giving me research assignments...... I would’ve died long ago.......”

But these damned research assignments only kept being added and showed no sign of ending at all. Even when I put them off because I had no energy, Master’s Notebook flashed and flapped around, making a fuss and telling me to finish them quickly.

***

☆★P.S. 1★☆ Do not keep putting it off because you lack motivation. Untie the knot you tied!!

☆★P.S. 2★☆ Completion urged within this year at the latest!!!!!!!!!!!

☆★P.S. 3★☆ Absolutely forbidden to put it off until year-end just because I said within this year!!!!!!

☆★P.S. 4★☆ Complete without fail!!! Giving up midway forbidden!!!

☆★P.S. 5★☆ Even if you seem to lack energy, it is bound to arise once you begin, so do not put it off!!

***

Master, just how long do you intend to keep rolling me around? I’m just about to hit a thousand years of living like this. Your unworthy disciple can only feel bleak, wondering if he’ll end up living eternally while thinking only of dying alone. Maybe I really do have to quit this damned Magic Tower or something before I can stop being rolled around.......

Should I just jump from this cliff I’m lying on instead? Compared to the Magic Tower, the altitude is a drop in the bucket, but at this height, I might still be able to die well enough.

Even as I thought of death alone like that, I had no motivation to actually put it into action, so I merely looked down from the cliff. Beneath the sheer cliff, a sea of trees with not a single sign of human presence spread out.

And in one corner of it, something strange suddenly appeared, flickering.

“Huh? What is...... that?”

At a glance, it looked like spatial movement magic. But what business would someone have in deep mountains like these that they would go so far as to use spatial movement magic to come here? As for me, I had merely collapsed and sprawled out because I had no energy while returning to the Magic Tower, so that was one thing.

I did not know who it was, but I hoped they would simply go away without bothering me. I was not in a state to handle anything right now. Even if they picked a fight, I had no energy or strength at all to respond. Even if they discovered something like my existence, please just pretend not to know. Do not even talk to me.

While thinking this and that, I suddenly realized that strange thing was somehow odd for spatial movement magic. When I looked more closely, it was definitely strange. Because the formula had strangely twisted a concept and manifested it, the world line had deviated from its original trajectory. Should I say the world point was returning to a location where it had been in the past......?

What is this? Why is it doing that? Did they accidentally copy and paste the wrong design code? No, how do you make a mistake like that? It’s a simple formula where you only have to modify the coordinates. Where is there even room to make a mistake?

As I kept laying out those thoughts alone, the flickering thing wavered like a haze and poured out a mass of something gray. After I peered at it for a moment to figure out what it was, strange, unidentified creatures soon began rampaging inside the forest.

“Wh-What...... What are those now?”

Had I become so unmotivated that I was starting to see strange things too? I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but they were still things whose identities I could not determine. The only thing I could at least know for certain was that, like that strange formula, their world lines were twisted and their concepts themselves were distorted. Perhaps because of that, their appearances were also strangely warped.

Those look like they have errors. Can living beings manifest while carrying errors? That makes no sense. Being born deformed would be one thing, but what kind of living being in the world manifests with errors? Such a thing should not be possible.

That was clearly the case...... and yet for some reason, those things had clearly manifested, and were even alive. How was that possible? Was there some kind of design that made it possible? No, but...... such a thing should violate the order of the world.......

***

[Research Assignment] No. 703083-455 ☆★Newly Added★☆

＃001. Field Investigation of the Anomalous Phenomenon Site

→ Check everything that appears even slightly related!!

→ Take measures to minimize damage caused by the anomalous phenomenon as much as possible!!

＃002. Collection of Related Samples and Design State Check

→ Extract and analyze design code from the collected samples!!

→ Identify where the problematic parts are and what errors they are causing!!

＃003. Investigation of the Cause of the Anomalous Phenomenon

→ Do not stop at identifying the cause. Prepare countermeasures for it as well!!

→ If there is a collaborator, be sure to seek cooperation!! (Handling everything alone is forbidden.)

***

“Ah, aah, ah...... another research assignment.......”

Honestly, Master. My master had once again noticed my curiosity with ghostly precision and added a research assignment....... Though I could not know for certain, it probably meant something like this.

-Look at that. Motivation and energy are things that can arise at any time, even when they are absent. Has something made you curious? Has something appeared that you wish to learn about? Then you must research it. Yes, you, of all people.

You are right....... Your unworthy disciple is moved to tears by your grace, vast as the sea, and will go be rolled around by this newly added research assignment without complaint....... To be honest, it is a phenomenon I have never seen in my life, so I am curious.

Thus, in a truly rare occurrence, I jumped from the cliff without grumbling about the newly added research assignment. My body, pulled by gravity, was wrapped in levitation magic and floated through the air like dandelion fluff.

When I rode the gliding wind like that and moved toward the target point, the strange creatures noticed my presence, stopped milling about, and showed hostility toward me.

“$%^＊&^%$%^$%＠＃＠$＊!!”

With an incomprehensible roar, they attacked me. Whenever some gray thing of indeterminate size - perhaps because of the errors, the distortion was too severe to distinguish it well - flew in, the space-time around it warped strangely.

I did not know for certain, but I judged that if I got caught up in that, problems might occur with my own form itself. As if my guess had been correct, the surrounding scenery that briefly entered my vision distorted with strange errors the instant those attacks missed it.

It seemed these errors affected not only the individual entities but also other things around them. If I left this alone for long, this whole area would become a complete mess.

I could not allow that. I opened my eyes wide and deployed a formula, and the purple formula spread across the sky spun round and round before dropping onto the strange creatures. They did seem to have some kind of self-preservation instinct, because they attempted to counterattack, but this was a foolish choice.

“＠＃$%＠%＃^^$%＊$＃!?!?!??!”

Before they could even realize the problem, the bodies that touched the formula were disassembled and transformed into the form of design code. The design code containing the origins of each living being’s birth, its innate traits, characteristics, and the causal relationships it had accumulated while living became a blueprint and spread out before my eyes.

The moment I confirmed it, I had no choice but to frown without realizing it.

“What is this? Why is the design code in this state?”

Some of the design code that should have been there was missing, and most of what did exist was so twisted into a mess that it could not even be recognized. How could they manifest in this state? It was something that went against the order of the world.

If that was the case, such things should not exist. If something like this was tolerated, it could possibly lead to the collapse of the world. I had to quickly identify the cause that had produced things like this and do something about it, whether correcting it or completely deleting it.

Then first...... I should investigate that strange formula that caused these creatures to appear. I did not know what kind of idiot had deployed that formula, but I would thrash them as much as I could and make sure they could never deploy a formula like that again. Burning with motivation like that, I leaped into the undergrowth in search of the location where the formula had appeared.

And what I found there was a young man lying unconscious.