I Don’t Want To Be the Main Character

87. Optional Benefits (2)

1.

Dedicated laboratory.

I passed the desk, which was still messy and untidy, and stood in front of the bookshelf. The secret passage was open because the teacher was inside.

“Let’s go in.”

“……yes.”

Light.

As I uttered the magic words, a light bulb appeared and illuminated the passageway. This was my second time coming here.

I used to come here without much thought, just admiring this large-scale space distortion magic, but now, perhaps because of what Sylphia said earlier, my heart feels strangely heavy.

When I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, I saw Sylphia walking silently with an expressionless face, whose thoughts I couldn’t tell.

When I reached the end of the passage, in the pitch-black space where I had first used my magic with all my might, my master was already waiting there, carrying his luggage on his back.

“Kun Ludrick, Miss Sylphia. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“yes?”

“I called you today because I have something to brag about to you.”

I frowned momentarily, wondering what that meant, but then something suddenly popped into my head.

‘A passage to a world beyond the origin. What Ludrick said is true. Although it is still unfinished, I aim to complete it by dedicating all my remaining life to it.’

‘If this old man can’t finish it before he dies, Mr. Ludrick, finish it together with Miss Sylphia.’

When I first came here, what the Master said flashed through my mind.

That means, the identity of ‘something to brag about’ is probably… … .

“……So this is what happened in the end.”

“Huh? Sylphia, what did you just say?”

And at the same time that Sylphia sighed and muttered, the Master lifted the staff. Then, magical power spread like paint from the tip of the staff, and a magic circle began to form based on the familiar shape of the pentagram.

In fact, the hierarchy of magic could not be easily divided into several circles of magicians. However, the world used the expression ‘Great Magician’ as a common expression, and the master, the court magician. So Lorenzo Tonali was one of the magicians who best fit the definition of the Great Magician.

If he were determined to go into battle, he would not be an exaggeration to say that he was a one-man army, and he was a true wizard who was proficient in all types of magic.

What I later found out and was shocked by was that the position of court magician was secretly regarded as the ultimate weapon of the empire.

Only then did I understand why they were pouring astronomical amounts of money into such academic research… … Anyway.

“Look. The line has become a shape.”

While I was thinking like that, the Master was completing a magic circle that I had seen once and now felt familiar with.

Another magic circle was overlapped on top of the magic circle, and then a new magic circle was added again, and countless magic circles overlapped and spread out. The number of magic circles that were dizzying enough to make your head spin just by looking at them was completely overlapped, and then the magic circles became a single passage.

“Ludrick. Do you remember what this old man’s goal was that I told you about earlier?”

“A passage to a world beyond the origin… you said.”

“I remember. Although it was unfinished at the time, it has been helpful to the research you have been conducting recently.”

“yes?”

“I was reading the book you brought from the library without thinking much about it because it caught my eye, but as I was reading, I realized that a simple change of perspective solved a part that had been stuck.”

The teacher laughed heartily. And Sylphia, who was next to him, clicked her tongue and muttered quietly.

“…There are too many variables to change a fixed future. I thought it would be much faster somehow.”

Either way, the Master completed the ‘door’ with a face full of joy.

“This will be the moment of truth. The first glimpse of the truth that all wizards yearn for. Now this old man can finally satisfy his curiosity before he dies.”

“Ludrick. I have defensive magic ready to be used at any time.”

As the Master and Sylphia took turns speaking, a passage leading to a world beyond the Origin opened.

In fact, I was still confused about what was going on, but the path leading to the passageway where I had come from was filled with the same colorful colors I had seen before, and the space that was only pitch black.

A melting world.

It was exactly the same scene as I had seen before. The only difference was that while I had previously felt that I could not go through that door with my instinctive insight, this time I felt that I could easily get through.

The Master’s eyes widened between wrinkled eyebrows.

“Ohhh… Finally…!”

A colorful halo of light spread out and engulfed the area. As a wizard, you could instinctively sense the enormous amount of magical power swirling around, and the sight of it being called out was truly astonishing.

If we were to use an analogy, wouldn’t this be the feeling of elation that humans felt when they first discovered fire?

It felt strange. Even I, who had nothing to do with it, suddenly felt a sense of elation fill my whole body, and I felt a joy that was hard to express in words.

‘… …Why on earth?’

I asked myself that question, but I couldn’t figure out why. It was just that I had that feeling from the moment the door leading to the source opened before my eyes.

A strange sensation that momentarily makes you lose your senses and your gaze stolen.

And then, Silphia, who was watching the scene, quietly uttered the magical words.

“Barrier.”

Almost at the same time, a translucent magical force emerged like a protective shield and surrounded Sylphia.

Kwaaang──!!

explosion.

The enormous magical power that had been gathered around the door exploded violently like gunpowder that had been set ablaze. The explosion that occurred as the magical power burst out was so powerful that it could not be compared to an explosion like gunpowder, and it swept through the surrounding area in an instant.

“what?!”

“It’s starting slowly.”

Silphia, with an expression on her face as if she had expected it to happen, looked at me through the violent explosions beyond the shield and spoke.

“Kun Ludrick, wake up. This is just the beginning, and it will probably take an hour or two.”

“yes?”

“The court magician… It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do. The pursuit of truth was never a domain that was permitted to humans from the beginning. We can only think of it as the price we pay for breaking a taboo.”

“What are you talking about? What’s happening right now?”

“I’ll do my best to protect Mr. Ludrick, so there won’t be any trouble… and since I took action in advance, the bat woman will come and help soon. She was like that before she regressed too.”

As soon as Sylphia finished speaking, the loud explosion subsided.

And the sight that followed was shocking.

“……!”

They say that when people are so surprised, they become speechless.

“Ah… This is worse than last time.”

At the same time as Sylphia’s muttering, the Master’s figure appeared between the clearing explosions. He was standing with his back to the passage.

However, the eyes were turned upside down and the whites of the eyes were exposed, and the joints were twisted somewhere.

And crucially, no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t see that the Master was in normal condition because of the black something that had pierced his chest.

“That’s….”

“The dimensional boundary is unstable. It was originally a space where the coordinates were fixed with distortion magic, but due to the aftereffects of the court magician’s repeated experiments, the boundary is extremely unstable.”

Even as Sylphia was calmly explaining from the side, the black thing that had pierced the Master’s chest was writhing. As if it was sucking the life out of him, the tentacle-like thing that had pierced his chest wriggled, causing the Master to quickly lose his vitality.

The scattered fragments slowly began to fit together as I synthesized Sylphia’s explanation and the events that had unfolded before my eyes in the blink of an eye.

“…That tentacle-like thing over there is beyond the passage that the Master opened?”

“That’s right. And until the door closes again, they’ll try to cross over to this world, so we have to do our best to stop them. In your experience, about an hour?”

“……You knew, so why didn’t you stop it?”

“It’s too late. And there are too many variables to change a fixed future. I didn’t know it would happen this quickly.”

Even as Sylphia answered, dark, swaying tentacles were growing and multiplying across the open passage.

One thing is certain, Master, it is already too late. And I have a gut feeling that if those tentacles come over here now, something very big will happen.

“And… last time, the bat woman and I resolved it quietly.”

“Was it the same situation as now?”

“That’s right. It was lucky that the woman and I were in a position to suppress it first. If we had been even a little bit later, the entire empire would have been in ruins.”

Sylphia, who had been concentrating her power on maintaining the shield, began to generate magical power.

The magic of the dragon, known as the strongest life form on earth. Even I couldn’t bear to continue watching my master being slowly sucked through the passage while impaled by black tentacles.

Likewise, it began to heat up the magical circuits within the body.

“But I wish I had stopped it…….”

“Honestly, do you think the court wizard would have stopped just because I told him?”

“…I don’t think that would have happened.”

“But I don’t need to reveal that I’m actually a dragon that returned to the past.”

Silphia shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “What can I do when it’s already happened?” While she was staring at the sight, feeling somewhat unfamiliar, her eyes began to slowly change into those of a reptile.

The essence is a dragon.

Even if I say that I truly liked the me before my regression during the play, it doesn’t change the fact that my true nature is a dragon. In fact, if you think about it the other way around, the death of a few humans would be nothing more than stepping on a few ants while passing by for her, and for us.

When I realized that fact again, I felt distant.

So many things have happened so suddenly, and are still happening… … .

It felt strangely unfamiliar.

It was confusing.

And, actually, I still don’t really know what’s what.

I feel dirty.