Rimuru fell silent, a hint of helplessness reflected in his eyes on the car window.
Was there really nothing? Or had they planted some kind of suggestion?
"Hey." Seeing Rimuru fall silent, Liddell suddenly grew curious. "What exactly did the Director say to you? You seem off..."
"Nothing much." Rimuru sighed, his voice faint and distant. "We just talked about my family background, and he gave me a mission."
"A mission?"
"Yeah. He asked me to save the Human Order..."
Two hours earlier—
Rimuru sat down across from the Director, tense. He took a deep breath to suppress the instinct rising from his bloodline, then asked, "What do you want?"
"Child, when you were born..."
The Director got straight to the point, to his credit. For some reason, though, what he said struck Rimuru as strangely familiar.
"The whole..."
The whole forest of Lordaeron whispered my name?
Rimuru's expression turned peculiar. He almost blurted it out.
Fortunately, the Director didn't follow that strange sense of familiarity any further. Instead, he continued slowly, "All of Edinburgh was shaken by your birth..."
Edinburgh... A memory flashed through Rimuru's mind. Yes... his family's estate did seem to be in Edinburgh... But he hadn't been back there in over a decade, had he?
"173 Magic Circuits, half of them activated..."
"Wait!" Rimuru stared in confusion and interrupted him. "My Magic Circuits were activated from birth?"
"Then how did I survive?!!"
Generally speaking, magical energy was the conversion of life force and vital essence, while one's Origin and aptitude for magical attributes reflected a magus's nature and subconscious. As a result, prodigies like Sakura and Rin could cause supernatural phenomena when they first encountered Magecraft, as soon as their Magic Circuits were activated.
For example, a fire attribute might start a fire, while a water attribute might suddenly freeze everything in the area.
The Root could detect these unconscious acts and workings, drawing the attention of the Magic Association or certain magus hunters. A child who wouldn't inherit a Magic Crest or a Magecraft system wouldn't be recognized by the Magic Association under its "laws." Nor could they be sure that their potentially volatile Magic Circuits and aptitude wouldn't cause problems.
That made it all too easy for them to die young or be captured and preserved in formaldehyde as research material.
That was one of the reasons Tohsaka Tokiomi agreed to send Sakura away.
So, in Rimuru's understanding, if a baby was born with activated Magic Circuits—and nearly eighty of them at that—the only likely result was that the few precious reserves of life force they had would be converted into magical energy, killing them outright!
In such cases, they would normally receive a Sealing Designation immediately, so that... this extraordinary experimental material wouldn't go to waste.
"Isn't that the most astonishing part?"
The Director's indistinct face smiled kindly from the shadows as he explained, "You had enormous mental strength and self-control—enough to keep that spontaneous conversion of magical energy well under control. You never even manifested a single subconscious spell."
"Enormous mental strength..."
Rimuru muttered in disbelief... Mystery solved. He really had been reincarnated as a baby!
So...
"But strong self-control couldn't change anything. No one could guarantee what a baby might do the next moment, and there was no way to teach an infant how to control a Magecraft system. So the Magic Association still sent someone over."
"That person was you, right?" Rimuru blinked and quickly guessed.
"After all, the Tempest Family had always been one of the Clock Tower's distinguished families." The Director chuckled. "And you had Phantasmal Species blood, so they could only send me as their envoy to persuade the head of your family to give you a Sealing Designation."
"But the head of the Tempest Family at the time wasn't willing to give you up. He believed you were the future of the family, and that your talent would carry the Tempest name onward forever, unlike them..."
"Them? What happened to them?"
For the first time, Rimuru felt a surge of urgency. He asked impatiently.
"Before that, I'd like to ask you something, Rimuru."
The Director paused, picked up his now-cold coffee, and took a sip. "Have you ever thought about... revenge?"
"I..." By now, Rimuru was almost certain he had been reincarnated as a baby. As for why he had no memories from before, if everything the Director said was true, he had some idea.
Including how he had survived.
Seeing Rimuru fall silent, the Director sighed softly. "Mystery is fading from the Surface World, and at last, humanity has taken center stage. The Phantasmal Species have withdrawn from the competition and migrated to the Reverse Side of the World—"
He stamped his foot on the ground, pointing to the Spirit Tomb Albion below.
"When the two sides split apart and the course of the future becomes clear to us, you'll see that, somewhere along the way, humanity and the Phantasmal Species came to stand opposed to each other. Their union is something this era won't allow."
The struggle between Alaya and Gaia?
Rimuru quickly realized, still silent. The Phantasmal Species were Gaia's limbs, while humanity was the essence of Alaya.
They hadn't openly turned against each other yet. Their consciousnesses might not even have formed, but they had already become the so-called Counter Force, like the unseen laws of heaven—the tracks along which the world ran, maintaining its operation like a system.
But in the future, Gaia, representing the Earth and the Phantasmal Species, would suddenly turn against humanity and bring about Notes. Rimuru had long since accepted that as fact.
But what does that have to do with me?!!
Rimuru was thoroughly bewildered. At last, the Director wrapped up his preamble and brought the subject around to him. "So, according to the observations of the future's central system, the Tempest Family's destruction was all but inevitable. As a union of the Phantasmal Species and humanity, your family was doomed. That was also why the Clock Tower allowed a thirteenth candidate family to emerge—"
"We're a formal family now," Rimuru couldn't help correcting him.
The Director didn't mind. After all, Rimuru was the victim here, and he was still young...
"But Rimuru, you gave them hope. So they begged me to save you, no matter the cost—"
"But to overturn the Magic Association's Sealing Designation, I had to make sure you wouldn't be endangered by your Magecraft running wild, or pose a danger to others."
"Tch. So you sealed away most of my mental strength and Magic Circuits, right?"
His vast memories from his previous life had only begun to awaken recently, but Rimuru quickly pieced everything together. It was the only explanation for why just 57 of his Magic Circuits had been active before, while the rest remained dormant.
But he had to admit, he couldn't really complain. Even if he'd been born with an adult's memories and mental strength and felt confident he could ignore the danger, how could he, as a baby, have convinced those magi from the Magic Association?
At the very least, the Director standing before him had saved his life and shouldered the pressure on his behalf.
So, having learned the truth, all Rimuru could do was offer a complicated, grateful "Thank you."
"Just as I thought, you're very clever." The Director looked delighted. He picked up the coffee grinder beside him and cheerfully started grinding beans. "But there's no need to thank me. You should know that we need something from you, too."
"Hm?"
Rimuru hesitated, then said, "You're not asking me to give up on revenge, are you?"
"I understand everything you've said, and I believe your talk of the times and of destiny."
"But every debt has a debtor, and every grudge has someone behind it. It wouldn't be right to kick someone when they're down just because their destruction is inevitable, would it?"
"No, no, you've misunderstood." The Director had been interrupted several times, but he didn't seem annoyed. He calmly poured Rimuru a cup of coffee, then said kindly, "I do hope you'll all get along and stop fighting, but I won't interfere with what you choose to do."
"After all, you have a more important mission, Rimuru."
"?"
"We hope that, in the distant future, you'll change the course that leads to humanity's extinction."
The Director's words hit Rimuru like a rocket to the head, leaving him dazed with a thud!
"Sa... save the Human... Order?!"
Rimuru couldn't help spitting out his coffee!
"Cough... cough, are you serious?!"
"I'm just a magus from a fallen family. Even if I was born with incredible talent, why should I be the one to save the Human Order?!"
It was only 1987, and this guy was asking him to do the work of a future Chaldean Master?
Forget it!! Let someone else do it! He just wanted to go back to his old life!!
Chapter 15: The Director's Hopes
Rimuru's reaction didn't surprise the Director. He slowly turned the hand-cranked coffee grinder, and for some reason didn't use Magecraft, sighing as he went, "Youth really is wonderful."
Wonderful my ass!
Rimuru jumped to his feet and turned to leave without another word. "Goodbye, Director!"
With a bang, the door to the Director's office slowly and heavily... closed by itself in front of Rimuru.
"Di... rec... tor!!"
"Goodness, so impatient." The Director let out a soft breath. His slightly hoarse voice gradually grew serious. "Rimuru, you may be wondering..."
"But there are some things that puzzle us, too." The Director set down his work and turned to look at the petite girl with sky-blue hair. He spoke softly. "You're a genius. There's no doubt about that."
"But extraordinary talent also means that there must be some unknown mystery about you."
"Do you know about the Magecraft Dream Theory and the Origin Theory?"
"..." Rimuru paused, then answered without hesitation. "Of course. They're required reading in the fundamentals of individual studies..."
"Then you should know what happens when someone remains in childhood under the constant influence of magical energy, right?"
"A Witch, I suppose..." Rimuru thought for a moment, then quickly figured it out. "Like a Witch, I was born with the ability to use Magecraft... So that's why I've lived with Liddell and the others ever since I can remember?"
"Your parents loved you, Rimuru." The Director sighed. "You should know that before you were born, your family was the second-largest house in Inorai's democratic faction."
The Director didn't tell Rimuru how much his parents had sacrificed for him. They had betrayed the democratic faction and joined the aristocratic faction so they could obtain the knowledge and environment needed to protect a child Witch as she grew up. They had given up their stronghold in Edinburgh and moved to the UK, where they befriended House of Achelotte and the Kuonji family. Now that Rimuru had attended a meeting of the Lords, the Director believed he could imagine what that had cost them.
"Maybe they only did it to keep the family line alive." Rimuru tried to keep his voice steady as he retorted, but inside, he wavered slightly. He almost wanted to blurt out, Holy shit.
At last, he understood why the old Inorai woman had smiled at him during the meeting.
And the Director's words had shaken him. He had never doubted Liddell's feelings for him, whether they were friendship or love; they had to be sincere. But clearly... the help and care the Achelottes had given Rimuru over the years... hadn't been without strings attached.
In other words, they could also be considered vultures, taking advantage of the importance the Entpeste Family placed on Rimuru to swallow up much of his family's property.
But he only wrestled with that thought for a moment before he quickly regained his composure... Yes, an absolute exchange of value was perfectly reasonable to a magus.
At least these Witches had kept their promise. They had taken most of the benefits belonging to Rimuru's family, but they had also ensured his survival and safety. They had never interfered with his life—not even when Liddell became close to him.
"So what does any of that have to do with me needing to save the Human Order?"
All Rimuru wanted now was to leave. This place could answer most of his questions, but he didn't want to hear them.
Because it would only muddle his judgment and make him waver.
It was like playing a game: if you skipped the story and focused only on finishing it, it was simple enough.
But if you immersed yourself in it, and the only possible ending was a Bad End, you might not even want to finish the game.
His education in his previous life had taught Rimuru that, in a conversation, only the main point was worth considering. Everything else was just smoke and mirrors, meant to disrupt his thoughts and manipulate him with outside information.
Clearly, the Director's goal in speaking with him was already obvious—save the Human Order.
All the other truths and details, the seemingly kind and partial attitude, whether sincere or not, served that goal!
Even if he really did care about Rimuru, it was still in service of that goal. Once he understood this, Rimuru knew exactly what he had to do: bring the conversation back to its essence!
He couldn't let useless information interfere with his judgment.
"Of course it doesn't. But you should understand that, in essence, your childhood state was no different from a Witch's..."
"So you should also understand what a Witch's dreams represent, right?"
"Of course." Rimuru nodded and answered with ease. "A Witch's dreams are sparks produced by the collision of magical energy and mystery. That's why they can easily turn their dreams into Magecraft, and even pass down knowledge within them."
"But I don't have that ability..."
"That's because, under the influence of magical energy, your dreams became something else." The Director sighed. "That's also why we believe you can save the Human Order."
"What ability?"
"Revelation..."
"Huh?!"
Revelation? I have Revelation? Since when?!
How could he not know what Revelation was?! It was one of Saint Jeanne d'Arc's abilities—one of his wives!
Rimuru asked the Great Sage in his mind, dazed: I have Revelation as a talent?
"Notice: No. Recommend that you refrain from entertaining unrealistic fantasies."
In other words, what are you even thinking?
Before you continue