Starting in Type-Moon, but a Magical Index Mage Chapter 5

When Hecate spoke of the disaster, her expression was far from pleasant. As she described it, Mephistopheles understood why she looked so grim.

The destroyer of civilizations, World-Eating Comet, had appeared and discovered Earth. It sent one of its offspring, a Comet Probe, toward Earth while it continued wandering the cosmos.

Though it was merely an offspring, like a tiny worker bee in a hive, its power was devastating to Earth.

Around 12,000 BCE, the Comet Probe landed on Earth and the Moon. The Machine Gods beyond Earth were the first to strike back, for they themselves were a cosmic fleet. Unfortunately, the Comet Probe blew them apart directly, and they could not hold it off for long.

Afterward, the Comet Probe, the individual known as Sephar, began devouring Earth's civilizations. Gods from different regions were defeated one after another. No one could stop that massive entity, which existed for the purpose of destroying and consuming civilizations.

Had the Star Sword forged from the planet itself not appeared in the end—the holy sword created by Gaia, Earth's consciousness, a weapon born from the sorrowful wishes of all living beings on this planet—then Earth would not have survived. Even though Sephar's shell could withstand the heat of a star, it was pierced by that sword.

It was because of this that the Machine Gods, having lost their physical bodies, had no choice but to continue existing as pure conceptual gods. From then on, they were bound by even greater restrictions and could no longer display much of their power on Earth.

Sephar's destruction also brought about the division between gods and humans. From then on, the Age of Gods rapidly declined, while humanity's importance on the stage of Earth steadily grew.

"The future should belong to humanity," Hecate said.

"The future does belong to humanity." Mephistopheles nodded in agreement.

Then he took a step back and bowed deeply to Hecate. "Thank you, beautiful lady. Thank you for telling me these hidden secrets."

"They are not really secrets. I am simply curious what you intend to do now that you know all this."

The corners of Mephistopheles's lips lifted slightly. "I want to see whether I can turn this story into a magical formula."

Hecate: ???

Trade

Hecate had absolute confidence in magic, because she was the goddess of magic and possessed an incomparably profound understanding of it.

Yet precisely because of that, when the man from another world voiced his idea, she could not help revealing a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean? Do you want to create new magic from the history I told you? But is that really possible?" She raised an eyebrow, disbelief coloring her voice.

"Even if you truly created something based on that history, would it not merely be some sort of tool that reenacted scenes from the past?"

Hecate spoke according to her own understanding and had great faith in her guess.

This was not arrogance. As a god, the way she cast magic was fundamentally different from that of mortals. She could directly touch the Root, and that ability gave her an understanding of magic far beyond ordinary people.

However, the man before her was a traveler from another world. His identity was unusual, so she had to take every word he said seriously.

Moreover, that mystery stirred her curiosity and made the Mephistopheles before her seem especially interesting.

"You have successfully piqued my interest, Mephistopheles." Her lips curved upward into a warm, radiant smile.

That really sounds like something a domineering female CEO would say. Mephistopheles quietly mocked her in his heart, then replied with a light laugh.

"It is truly my honor to receive the expectations of a chief god of civilization. If my father knew, he would probably think I was daydreaming."

Hecate asked curiously, "Why daydreaming?"

"Because it would be difficult to prove. He might think there was something wrong with my head. After all, among magi, problems such as excessive water in the brain causing logical issues are not exactly uncommon."

Mephistopheles explained, his words revealing a subtle opinion of magi as a group.

Hecate keenly caught that.

"You are prejudiced against magi? But are you not a magus yourself? Oh, I understand. You are distinguishing magecraft from magic. You mean that you are not a magus, but a mage."

"Indeed. In my world, we call what was performed in the past and present magic, while what belongs to the future is called magecraft. As humanity advances, many things that once could only be accomplished through magic can now be achieved through tools and techniques."

Mephistopheles gave a simple explanation, and Hecate immediately understood.

There was no need for excessive explanation. Once a portion had been explained, Hecate, as the goddess of magic, could understand everything.

And from Mephistopheles's words, she gained an increasingly clear understanding of the future.

Thoughtfully, she said, "Then does that mean the future world will be an age in which mystery gradually vanishes and the gods hide away?"

"On that question, I choose to remain silent." Mephistopheles shrugged, but his attitude had already said everything.

Hecate did not press him for an answer. She merely sighed softly and looked toward the sky beyond the temple. "Since Sephar appeared, mystery has been fading. The age when the gods hide away will arrive sooner or later."

Changing the subject, she brought up Mephistopheles's view of magi again. "But what about your prejudice? Mages who pursue the Root might commit some extreme acts as mystery fades, but surely you cannot judge them all alike?"

"Mages pursuing the Root always end up doing things that make them detestable when mystery keeps fading. Even as they constantly lose their own foundations, they maintain their arrogance toward other schools.

"And I can say this much: perhaps not the majority, but at least twenty or thirty percent of them are like that. The upper ranks managing magi nowadays are all that sort of people as well."

As Mephistopheles spoke, he smiled unusually brightly.

"To be honest, I was not exactly a good child in my father's eyes. He wanted me to study magecraft, but I ran away and attended human schools unrelated to mystery. For that, he wanted to cut off my allowance.

"If he knew I had refused to study magecraft because of that prejudice, he would probably throw me out of the house."

It was merely ordinary family talk, yet Hecate listened with ease. It was as though she had personally seen a warm household, a father and son whose relationship was enviable.

However, Hecate was ultimately a god, an entity that had once been mechanical. She caught the hidden information within Mephistopheles's words.

"A magus, yet you consider yourself a mage. Why is that?"

"That is a secret. Perhaps I will reveal it in the near future." Mephistopheles smiled without answering, confidence filling his eyes. Even though he was facing a god, he showed no trace of compromise.

Seeing this, Hecate did not continue questioning him. "You are very confident. Is it because of your secret?"

"That is right. Precisely because of my secret." Mephistopheles gave a mysterious smile.

Hecate no longer forced him to reveal more and instead asked, "Is your secret related to that remarkable equipment on you?"

"It is indeed related." Mephistopheles nodded.

Hecate fell silent.

That garment looked somewhat unusual, yet otherwise ordinary. But the defensive power it displayed had shocked even Hecate. It seemed to exceed mortal limits and reach the domain of gods.

Its protection even matched the standards of the distant past, when the bodies of the Titan gods still existed—when those mechanical bodies could attain defensive capabilities far beyond those of the gods currently on Earth.

This was not someone she could casually seize and coerce. Hecate understood that, so she chose cooperation and chose to wait.

Of course, she also felt that cooperating with him would be a more pleasant matter.

Hecate smiled, brightly and warmly. "I look forward to the day you reveal your secret. In these long years, I have gained one more thing to anticipate."

The very act of waiting already made Hecate very happy.

She gently raised a hand. A dim light appeared and slowly descended before Mephistopheles. He reached out and grasped it. The glow faded, leaving behind only a ring.

It was a dark, or rather black crystalline ring. Simply looking at it made one think of the night.

"A small gift. It should save you quite a bit of trouble. However, different city-states across this land worship different gods, so you must still be careful."

The ring looked beautiful, but more importantly, it contained Hecate's aura and magic. It was Hecate's marker.

As long as he displayed it, others would know that Mephistopheles had ties to Hecate.

It was like proof of status and could indeed save Mephistopheles quite a bit of trouble.

Mephistopheles looked at the ring gratefully. "This is rather precious."

"No need to be so polite, though it is not without conditions." Hecate looked outside. Following her gaze, Mephistopheles saw Medea waiting beyond the temple, boredly kicking pebbles.

"Her future is full of hardship and tragedy." As Hecate spoke, her eyes seemed to cross time itself and see the future.

"You truly are a responsible teacher." Mephistopheles understood what she meant and nodded gently. "I will find a way to resolve it."

Hecate nodded in satisfaction. Her figure gradually dissolved into the air as she left and returned to the divine realm.

Mephistopheles did not linger either. He turned and walked out of the temple, then greeted the girl in the distance.

"I'm here."

The girl immediately stopped kicking stones. She turned around excitedly and called out happily, "Mephistopheles, you came out!"

"Yes, I came out. I have finished discussing things with Goddess Hecate. It is time to go."

Medea immediately walked over and carefully examined Mephistopheles from head to toe. Only after confirming that he was unharmed did she breathe a sigh of relief, then puff out her cheeks.

"You should have told me beforehand if you were going to do something like that! You scared me half to death!" Medea complained, her cheeks faintly red. Clearly, Mephistopheles's actions earlier had frightened her badly.

"Though Goddess Hecate has a good temper, she is still a god. You should not have been so reckless!"

"Yes, yes, I understand. It was my fault. I will remember that."

Mephistopheles went along with her words, but his attitude did not look very sincere, making Medea deeply doubt whether he had truly remembered her warning.

At that moment, she suddenly noticed the ring on Mephistopheles's right hand. The moment she saw it, she was startled.

"That ring?! Did Teacher give it to you?"

"Yes, Goddess Hecate gave it to me. She said it was a small gift." Mephistopheles smiled and extended his hand, displaying the ring more clearly before the girl.

Medea stared at the ring and froze completely.

"Th-this is a divine mystic code! As the ring of the goddess of magic, it can let you refine magical energy and cast magic more easily. It can even contact Teacher herself, allowing you to use a portion of her authority!"

"In other words... I can use this ring to pretend that I am Hecate's priest?"

Medea immediately nodded. "When we cast magic, we generally rely on our connection to gods and directly use the Root to cast it. But that method usually relies on the gods' power to achieve, similar to a contract. Your ring can be considered a contract. It is something ordinary people could only dream of obtaining."

I see. In other words, it is a program. With it, I, a mortal, can cast magic tied to the authority represented by a god. I wonder whether it will still work when I return to the future. Mephistopheles silently thought as he removed the ring.

Meanwhile, Medea continued explaining.

"You come from somewhere else, Mephistopheles, and you are unfamiliar with this place. With this ring, if you travel to other city-states in the future, even if their beliefs differ, they will show you some respect once they see Teacher's gift!"

"Indeed. That must have been the purpose." Mephistopheles smiled and put the ring away.

Medea froze at that action.

"The ring only works when you wear it. Why did you take it off?"

"Because there is no need. Or rather, there usually is no need. I will take it out only if I encounter something I truly cannot handle."

Medea stared blankly at him for a long while before asking, "Then before you reach the point where you truly have no choice, what method do you plan to use to solve problems?"

"Why, state the facts and reason things out, of course. If I truly cannot reason with them, then I will just beat them until they accept my reasoning."

At that moment, Medea finally gained a new understanding of this handsome, gentle-looking young man, who appeared so peaceful at first glance.

Whether it was suddenly cutting his wrist inside the temple to offer flesh and blood as a sacrifice, or the things he had just said, all of it showed that the man called Mephistopheles possessed a personality—or rather, habits of behavior—that did not match his appearance at all.

He was reckless!

No, I have to keep an eye on Mephistopheles from now on. If he keeps being this reckless, who knows how much trouble he will cause! Medea silently thought before saying, "Mephistopheles, if you go anywhere else in the future, remember to tell me!"

"Sure."

"I know you must have your own ideas, like places you want to go..." Medea intended to continue persuading him and ask him to take her along, but she froze halfway through.

She had already prepared herself to be rejected and had even thought up arguments to persuade him, but they had all become useless because he had agreed to her request so easily.

"Huh?!"

Seeing Medea's astonished, clearly disbelieving expression, Mephistopheles asked, "What is it? Did you not ask me to take you along when I go elsewhere? I said sure. Do you not want to come with me?"

"N-no, that is not it. I just did not hear you clearly earlier. Of course I want to come along. You are a guest who has only just arrived, and as someone familiar with this region, of course I must take responsibility!"

Medea puffed out her chest, though her figure was nowhere near as ample as the Medea Mephistopheles knew.

"I am the princess of Colchis. I will definitely make sure you enjoy traveling through this region!"

"Then I will be relying on you, beautiful Princess." Mephistopheles smiled as he watched her search for all sorts of excuses.

That gaze made Medea blush. She quickly walked several steps ahead, leaving her back to Mephistopheles and unwilling to let him see her reddened cheeks any longer.

If he kept looking at her like that, she felt her heartbeat would grow faster and stronger until she could no longer suppress it.

This is so strange. Why is this happening? Could it be because... As she silently pondered, even her pace unconsciously quickened.

Mephistopheles watched her back, smiled, and followed after her.

Heracles

Whenever Medea had free time these days, she would run to the small house not far from the temple. At that moment, as usual, she was heading there.

What greeted her eyes was a wooden house that had already been renovated several times. Unlike the crude dwelling from the beginning, it now looked far more splendid.

With two floors and a small yard surrounding it, the wooden house was anything but simple. At the very least, it was much better than the homes of ordinary farmers.

In the yard, freshly washed clothes hung out to dry, while smoke slowly rose from within. Catching the fragrance in the air, she knew the owner of the house was preparing lunch.

"Mephistopheles!" Medea happily waved and greeted the man sitting in the yard, fiddling with an iron skewer in his hand.