『Midnight Scholar (U)』 was a unique incarnation-type Soul Imprint manifested by Tristan Alabur. While it didn’t directly help in combat, it was still an ability anyone would envy.
Born from his desire to study even while reducing his sleeping hours, this Soul Imprint activated only when its user lost consciousness.
Once activated, a specific type of incarnation would appear—usually in the form of a semi-transparent Tristan, or multiple Tristans. These incarnations would carry out whatever tasks their master requested, mostly chores or studying.
The knowledge and experience they accumulated would then be transferred directly to Tristan the moment he woke up.
In short, it was an ability that allowed him to study both day and night.
Tristan Alabur, the owner of this Soul Imprint, had a [Mind] stat of 18. That was high enough for him to summon multiple incarnations at will. It allowed for far more efficient learning than when he was awake and fully conscious.
Of course, maintaining incarnations consumed a small amount of mana even while he slept. If he were to remain unconscious for a full twenty-four hours using sleep magic or similar methods, he would eventually wither away and die.
“………”
Tristan, who had been asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. Immediately afterward, the four incarnations that had been studying in the imperial library dissolved into particles of light and were absorbed back into him.
“Hmm. I got some good studying done today.”
The old man nodded in satisfaction.
Doctors and priests alike had repeatedly advised him to use only one incarnation at a time, warning that overusing them could damage his health. But Tristan showed no intention of seriously considering their advice.
The path of magic is endless, no matter how far you walk. New theories and papers appear every single day.
Driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Tristan wanted to absorb every bit of that vast information. On top of that, he had recently been stimulated by a newly emerged talent. He could no longer hold himself back.
“Well, if a mere mortal like me wants to stand on the same stage as geniuses, I’ll have to keep pushing until the moment I die.”
Countless faces of geniuses flashed through Tristan’s mind, filled with fine wrinkles. The ones who had left the deepest impression on him lately were, of course, the young couple from the Blispiel Clan.
The old man chuckled softly and left the room.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three spells Chesa cast each struck different targets. She was no longer the same person who had once relied solely on having an absurd amount of mana. Her spell control had improved to the point where she could accurately hit fast-moving targets.
“Excellent, Lady Chesa. Your fundamentals are solid. It’s rewarding to teach you.”
“………”
Tristan applauded and praised her. Valerie, who had been standing beside her master, watched the scene with an unreadable expression before quietly leaving the training hall. I glanced at her retreating back and spoke.
“You should pay more attention to your top disciple.”
“Master Stroke, please understand with your generous heart. That child’s competitive spirit is just as strong as her talent.”
“I can see that.”
I shook my head.
Right after news spread that we had annihilated the Dragon Horse Cult without any support from the Magic Kingdom, Valerie had challenged Chesa to a formal duel.
The result was, needless to say, Chesa’s victory.
Given the difference in levels and traits, it was only natural.
What concerned me more than the obvious outcome was the change in Valerie’s attitude after the duel. She had started appearing at the training hall every day at the same time, quietly watching Chesa train.
“Consider it Valerie’s own way of showing goodwill. She’s not very honest with her feelings.”
“She’s a cute kid.”
Chesa smiled faintly and nodded.
From the way she spoke, it seemed she had already noticed Valerie’s goodwill, unlike me. In the original story, the two of them had been as close as real sisters. Their personalities simply meshed well, so it wasn’t strange.
Tristan spoke up.
“It’s been about a year now, hasn’t it? Valerie has been paying quite a lot of attention to you two since around that time.”
“…To our clan, you mean?”
“No. I’m not talking about the Blispiel Clan. To be precise, she’s only been paying attention to Master Stroke and Lady Chesa.”
Only to us?
When I gave him a puzzled look, Tristan explained.
“It was around the end of year 984, I believe. A letter arrived from the Wiblet Empire. It stated that they had decided on a match for Valerie Lacroux, a distant relative of the imperial family.”
“Hmm…”
Come to think of it, during the banquet the Emperor had called me over and brought up the topic of marriage.
I had thought it was just a passing remark, but it turned out Valerie had actually been the intended match. Combined with the fact that Chesa and I had been engaged since childhood through our families, it seemed there was some strange connection between me and the Lacroux family.
Tristan stroked his long beard as he continued.
“As you know, you flatly rejected Emperor Eliodoro’s proposal. Valerie apparently interpreted that as ‘I won’t even look at anyone unless they’re a mage on Lady Chesa’s level.’ She seemed quite offended.”
“…Lady Valerie seems to have misunderstood. I rejected the marriage alliance proposal itself. I didn’t even properly hear the details—specifically, who the other party was supposed to be.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
I answered calmly, but inwardly I was clicking my tongue.
Valerie Lacroux was a genius mage famous throughout the Prima Continent. Since she wasn’t even the direct heir to the Lacroux family, countless major powers would have sent her love calls once she finished her studies.
For Emperor Eliodoro to have personally arranged such an outstanding prospect as my fiancée… it seemed his close relationship with my grandfather, Dibble Stroke, hadn’t been empty words after all.
Chesa looked at me and said,
“You rejected her without even listening properly and ended up letting a future Twelve Heroes-level mage slip away.”
“…It’s fine. Even if I had accepted back then, it wouldn’t have turned out well in the end. We’re already in an alliance with the Lacroux family anyway.”
If things went according to plan, we could bring her to Elanore for free once she finished her studies.
After leaving the training hall, we walked through the bustling streets.
Along the way, we saw skeletons repairing buildings under the direction of several mages. Linia frowned slightly at the sight.
“Come to think of it, how did they ever think of using the dead as labor? The risks must be enormous.”
The undead race emitted an impure energy called death qi, with only one known exception. In places saturated with death qi, powerful undead such as ‘Life Trackers’ could naturally spawn. To prevent this, followers of the Circulation God, who governed death and reincarnation, traveled across the continent performing purification and funeral rites.
Even though the Circulation Church carried an unsettling image, there was a reason they still commanded the public’s reverence—the activities of their priests were directly tied to the safety and well-being of ordinary citizens.
Chesa explained,
“In the Magic Kingdom, they gather the undead at the temple every two days and purify the death qi accumulated in their bodies. They use a large-scale artifact called the River of Purity (S+).”
“I see…”
Thanks to this workaround, the Magic Kingdom possessed a level of labor force that would make even most empires envious. However, it had also earned them the hostility of the Holy Nation. Still, their relationship was better than that of the Wiblet Empire, which was why branches of the Life Church and the Thousand Gold Church existed here.
We wandered through the capital Propst’s shopping district and bought gifts for our clan members. As dusk began to fall, we entered a respectable restaurant we had chosen as our meeting place.
Guided to our reserved private room, we found a familiar figure already waiting.
“So the famous figures who crushed two of the most notorious cultists on the continent have finally arrived. You’re a bit late—newlywed life must be quite enjoyable.”
“More than I expected.”
It was Sinisha, the Iron Mask, along with his servant Luberck. I sat across from them and placed the Model Garden of the Phase (S-) I had recently obtained onto the table.
“…Interesting. An artifact from the Magitech Empire era? I don’t know its exact purpose, but if it went to auction, it would easily fetch at least two hundred platinum coins. So why are you showing this to me?”
Having instantly appraised the item’s value through his trait 『Greedy Gaze (A)』, Sinisha asked. I explained the artifact’s function to him.
Model Garden of the Phase (S-)
- Spell: 〈God Simulator〉
- Indiscriminately reads records engraved in space. The amount of information collected is so vast that a means of identification is required.
〈God Simulator〉 was, as the name suggested, a simulation spell. It used the user’s input to construct desired scenes. The input was naturally provided through its second function—spatial record reading.
“So what exactly are you planning to investigate with this?”
Instead of answering, I took out the lamp containing Irumokwi and placed it inside the semi-transparent cube. My mana-infused hand passed through the cube as if it were water.
Something suddenly rippled and emerged from the lamp resting inside the cube. It was none other than the accumulated records of the clone’s activities. The walls of the Model Garden rapidly absorbed it.
= Aaaagh! What the hell are you doing, you damned bastard!
Along with the high-pitched scream, the lamp began to shake violently.
Since the entity created by 『Split Messenger (U)』 was treated as a structure rather than a living being, no character sheet appeared for it. That was why I had assumed the Model Garden would also recognize the clone as a valid target for record reading.
“I want to read the experiences of the guy shouting inside the lamp right now. Use your ability.”
“…I see. So that’s what this is about.”
If I read Irumokwi’s (clone’s) memories through the Model Garden and then used Sinisha’s unique skill on top of that, I could reconstruct the past with near-perfect accuracy.
〈God Simulator〉
The moment the spell activated.
A basement-like scene materialized inside the cube.
Redial (U)
Immediately afterward, a semi-transparent incarnation appeared behind Sinisha. It stood nearly two meters tall, dressed like a gentleman in a bowler hat and suit. Its pure white face was eerily featureless, lacking eyes, nose, and mouth.
“What exactly do you want to investigate? Skip the details—just give me keywords.”
“Demon Terpartizan and Crown Prince Yustasio.”
“Got it.”
Fwoosh! Countless threads of string shot out from the fingers of the incarnation, Redial. The shining threads moved busily, sweeping through the inside of the cube.
A mechanical voice flowed from the egg-ghost-like face of the incarnation.
「Stage 1. Construction… omitted.」
The basement had already been constructed inside the cube by the 〈God Simulator〉 spell.
「Stage 2. Search」
Inside, the slime-like body of the doppelganger could be seen writhing. That was Irumokwi’s true form as a polymorphic being. The scene fast-forwarded as Irumokwi moved back and forth, then suddenly returned to normal speed—the exact moment Crown Prince Yustasio appeared.
「Stage 3. Playback.」
Inside the cube, the two beings that had come into contact began to converse.
…I am Yustasio Wiblet Leonor, the legitimate successor of the great Wiblet Empire. What kind of monster are you?
‘Ah… so you’re a member of the imperial family in this area. I am Mork, a polymorphic mage who has long studied ancient mysteries. I came here because I was interested in the underground cavity beneath this imperial palace.’
Irumokwi’s clone, calling itself Mork, and Yustasio had an intriguing conversation.
These were facts I hadn’t been able to learn because the contractor Yustasio had fallen into a coma and Irumokwi had kept its mouth tightly shut.
“…So the Wiblet Empire has been hiding the existence of a demon for a very long time.”
What mattered here was that knowledge of Terpartizan had been passed down through successive imperial heirs. In other words, Emperor Eliodoro also possessed far more detailed information about the demon in the basement than Yustasio did.
“…So we’ve finally caught a thread.”
Our next destination was once again the Wiblet Empire.