### Chapter 506 – Room 207, The Gate Room – The Third Trial ‘Miskatonic University’ (8)
—
– Kim Ari
“Ugh!”
I strained to maintain my balance as my ankle twisted, causing my body to lean to the right.
— Pushhh!
This time my whole body threatened to fall backward, but Mooksung caught me just in time.
“Are you alright? You seem to be making a lot of mistakes.”
“It’s been a while since I used them. A couple more hours of practice and I’ll get the hang of it.”
“Seriously, I feel like these wing boots are too finicky. They’re touted as ‘common tools,’ but honestly, you’re the only one who can float off the ground without a struggle!”
“Well, I think if you put in about a month of dedicated practice, anyone could use them!”
I wasn’t even sure if we had that much time.
Regardless, I spent more time getting accustomed to controlling the wing boots.
While I was at it, Sophia, who was watching with interest, spoke up.
“How fascinating.”
“…”
“I’ve seen the shoes every time we go to storage, but I didn’t know they were so extraordinary!”
“…”
“Your master couldn’t use them, so why can you?”
How was I supposed to explain this?
That shared tools like the wing boots or protective suits are only for the hotel party?
Your master isn’t allowed because she’s like a 0.5 ally without the ‘participant’s qualification’?
That would just be ridiculous.
So I kept quiet, and Sophia didn’t press the issue further.
To shift the conversation, Mooksung confirmed a few details.
“So, Sophia, your mother’s name is ‘Lee Eunsol,’ correct?”
“Yep.”
“You lost your mother to the black knight and your aunt, um, Valentina?”
“Exactly. She was an ordinary human and passed away long ago.”
“So you met your ‘master’ while on the run with Valentina. Around the same time, your master also took Lucas under his wing.”
“That’s right.”
Sophia seemed to see the meeting with her master as a mysterious coincidence, but to me, it was anything but.
With the second trial taking place against the backdrop of ‘medieval Europe’ and being related to ‘witch hunts,’ it was common knowledge before entering Room 207.
Sophia’s ‘master’ must have been wandering through Europe, searching for Eunsol and Elena all along.
However, back in those days, with poor transportation and no internet, they likely failed to find Eunsol and Elena in time.
“My master was truly a mysterious person! Of course, if you think about it, my mother, who could see the future and commanded Peru, was incredible as well…”
“…”
“Master was capable of switching bodies and was proficient in various forms of magic.”
“Outside, only the Dean, I mean Lucas, seems to be known. Why is that?”
“The Dean handled all external affairs. I can be a bit… off-putting in appearance, you know?”
The Dean had become famous externally because Lucas, being an ‘adult male,’ took charge of all public activities.
Given that it would be hard for Sophia, a seemingly young girl, or Yumi, who could switch bodies, to step into the spotlight, it made sense.
“Getting back to magic, mastering ‘life’ was your master’s specialty. Neither Lucas nor I have properly grasped life magic.”
‘Life magic’ is a power we all know well.
Proficient in various forms of magic?
This must be a skill acquired after enduring countless ages.
‘The power to switch bodies.’
Only Yumi and Kain among the hotel party can pull off something like that, and Kain hasn’t even started his trials yet.
Thus, Sophia’s and Lucas’s master must be Yumi.
Thinking this way cleared several questions, though new ones sprung up.
“Was your master never with someone else?”
“Someone else… You’ve asked repeatedly about the ‘boy’ since earlier, but no, there wasn’t.”
At the time Yumi took in Sophia and Lucas, Seungyub was already gone.
Of course, with the time gaps between trials, it wouldn’t be strange if he had aged and passed away.
Considering Yumi is a sort of ‘mental parasite,’ she could survive by endlessly copying and pasting her mind even if Seungyub died.
After all, Yumi’s integration as an ally happened in such a manner.
“But, but!”
“What is it?”
In the next moment, Sophia’s face flushed slightly, as if she were a ‘girl’ indeed.
“My master sometimes spoke of an old ‘lover.’”
‘Lover’… huh?
Seungyub, after all that fuss over Yumi, has finally found some fulfillment, huh?
To think Yumi could remember after hundreds or thousands of years, if we manage to escape Room 207, it’ll likely send chills down our spines.
“Heh!”
“Is that lover the boy you’re looking for? I’m curious—who is he?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
That’s a thought for later.
As I tried to organize the information I’d gathered from Sophia over the past few hours, she asked me a question.
“I have something I want to ask you guys too.”
“…”
“Who are you? Why did my mother predict that you would appear hundreds of years later, and why has my master been waiting for you?”
Mooksung and I simultaneously pressed our lips together.
Without revealing information about the ‘hotel,’ there was no way to explain, but talking about the hotel was utterly off-limits.
As I pondered how to navigate this tricky situation, Sophia dropped a strange hint.
“Well, I have a rough idea of what’s going on.”
“A rough idea?”
What does she mean by that?
What could she possibly speculate?
“Combining the information my master has shared over the years and my recollections of my mother, I came to a conclusion after having long discussions with Lucas.”
“A conclusion?”
“You two are the real priests of Horus, right?”
“…?”
In an instant, I almost tumbled off the wing boots in shock.
Mooksung, who had been sipping coffee, stared at Sophia with his mouth half-open.
Us? Priests? Of Horus? Isn’t Horus Kain?
Sorry, starting today, does that make Kain the priest??
“…”
As I thought deeply, I began to understand why Sophia reached this conclusion.
Horus could see the future.
Eunsol and Yumi claimed to see the future.
These alluded to a fateful prediction about Mooksung and me stepping into the picture.
This sequence of events couldn’t merely be explained as magic.
Even now, with both Sophia and Lucas having attained the level of high sorcerers, they couldn’t see the future.
It’s only natural. Eunsol and Yumi have never actually seen the future, and Kain didn’t foresee the future through magic.
Since it can’t even be explained with magic, the only explanation left is… a god.
“…”
Just as Mooksung had done earlier, I subtly twisted the conversation.
“Your master had also been a priest or deity of Horus, right?”
“Similar, yet different.”
“Could you elaborate?”
After contemplating some distant memories, Sophia answered.
“In terms of consistently spreading Horus’s beliefs, one could indeed consider him a priest or a believer. In front of laypeople, he preached, similar to a modern-day Christian priest or Protestant pastor.”
“…”
“However, he showed another side when he was around Lucas and me.”
In front of clueless laypeople, he acted like a priest.
But in front of Sophia and Lucas, who were more trustworthy?
“…He used to mutter, barely masking his thoughts. Horus is an extremely incomprehensible being.”
“…”
About that, both Mooksung and I nodded in agreement.
It wasn’t always this way before, but since gaining insight, Kain doesn’t seem human at all anymore.
From the time he could brainwash thousands with the power of inheritance and shoot heat rays with a mere gesture to now, he’s become something else entirely.
“It didn’t feel like he thought like a god. More like he spoke as if meeting a person he had genuinely encountered.”
He indeed has met them—because he has.
“And… he held resentment too.”
Huh?
“He resented him?”
“He said Horus ruined everything.”
“…Tell me more.”
“He mumbled that the seeds Horus had sown had twisted the ‘gate’ horrifically.”
I felt bewildered.
What did Kain do thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt that Yumi has resented for thousands of years?
“Lucas learned about ‘the anger towards Horus’ from his master.”
“…”
“So don’t mention that you’re the priests of Horus in front of Lucas. He might suspect but, let’s not provoke him unnecessarily. He’s not going to be as friendly towards you as I am.”
“I see…”
After some prolonged silence, Mooksung emptied his teacup, then asked one last question.
“Sophia, it seems you have complex feelings regarding Horus, so I won’t push further. But, you can guess that we are your master’s ‘allies,’ right?”
“That would make sense.”
“Could we possibly meet him?”
“Master is….”
“I’ve heard he’s still alive. Though he doesn’t seem to be quite himself.”
“Eh? Did I say something like that?”
“…You hinted at it when talking about your master earlier.”
“I did? That’s top secret… Did I slip up?”
Sophia tilted her head in confusion.
In the past, when Lucas was rampaging, he had spoken along these lines while talking to Sophia.
“Master, that idiot who sought Horus until his dying breath, do you still think it’s respectable?”
“Lucas, the master isn’t dead yet—”
Interpreting that, it seems Yumi is alive but not quite normal.
However, this information was acquired before rewinding time, so it makes sense for Sophia to be flustered.
After all, she’s aware of things I never told her.
It seems Mooksung made a slight misstep, but fortunately, Sophia didn’t press any further.
“That’s right. My master is in a very ‘strange’ condition.”
“Strange condition? I’d like a more detailed explanation.”
Sophia wore a slightly perplexed expression for a moment.
She looked like she was struggling to explain something she didn’t fully comprehend.
“Debris. Fragments. Shards.”
“What?”
Debris, fragments, shards.
Weird words that seemed odd to apply to a person.
Then Sophia directed a question at us instead.
“Ari, let’s say a person is a plate.”
“Are you being metaphorical?”
“The plate broke.”
“….”
“The plate shattered into hundreds or thousands of pieces and scattered across the world.”
“…”
“If Lucas and I somehow managed to gather a few pieces and put them back together, could we call that the original person?”
In an instant, various thoughts raced through my mind.
Yumi shattered into hundreds of pieces and scattered across the world?
What kind of power could do that to a person?
Unlike me, Mooksung responded relatively calmly.
“Miss Sophia. Whether it’s remnants or shards of your master, I’d like to meet him regardless.”
“…Alright. I’ll show you the way. I believe your master has been waiting for you two.”
*
New York Harbor, the terminal destination of the Atlantic route on the New Continent.
—Whoooooo!
With a loud horn, the massive steamship, Pathfinder, began to dock at the port.
Captain Edgar Hoover had his sailors relay the joyous news to passengers that their long voyage was finally at an end.
Of course, as is often the way with the world, not all passengers were the same.
There were those who had scraped together their savings for a measly third-class seat while the gentry lounged in first class, reeking of fine cigars.
Also, among the special passengers, there were always ‘more special passengers.’
What if they were a delegation of priests sent directly from the Vatican?
Even the captain, who usually lounged around because of his ample belly, couldn’t remain idle.
“Ha ha! Welcome, priests! To the New World!”
“Captain, thank you for your kindness during the journey. Can we disembark soon?”
“Of course! Just a little paperwork left to finish.”
Edgar smiled slyly as he pulled aside the curtain of the first-class window.
Soon, the majestic skyscrapers of New York appeared beyond the Hudson River.
Even snobby European gentlemen would lower their pride in front of those skyscrapers!
For the captain, this was a necessary act to instill love for his great country and take pride in being American.
“…What do you think?”
Sadly, instead of the enthusiastic response Edgar had hoped for, the priests revealed only the apathy they’d shown throughout the journey.
“Captain, you did well. Now, everyone, pack your bags—”
“Wait a minute.”
A low, quiet voice.
Yet, it was a voice that commanded the attention of everyone present.
With just the single word ‘wait,’ the young man, looking somewhat dazed, leaned back in an elegant wooden chair.
Soon, an older priest cautiously approached him.
“Are you alright? Did you perhaps receive a ‘revelation’—”
“No, no. Just, just had a moment of random thoughts. Just thirty minutes.”
“Understood. Captain! Can we disembark in thirty minutes?”
“Y-Yes, of course!”
It was not the first time Edgar experienced anything like this.
Yet, the spectacle before his eyes was truly baffling for the ordinary American Edgar Hoover.
Why on earth would high-ranking priests from the Vatican bow to a young Asian who looked barely in his teens?
Just before the priests were set to disembark, the captain finally mustered the courage to speak.
“Uh, excuse me, priest!”
“Hmm? What would you like to say?”
“May I ask for that person’s name?”
“…”
“Oh, never mind! I don’t mean to pry—”
“Fortuna.”
“Excuse me?”
“Farewell. Thank you for your kind hospitality during our long journey.”
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