The Foreigner on the Periphery

Minjun and Del were holding a secret meeting with King Endelion.

At that very moment, Asiph-1 was floating bare-bodied in the vacuum of space.

'Hmm, I don't think it's here either.'

The bishops believed the Pope was preparing at the fleet's next destination, just as usual.

But the reality was different. He was currently in a dimension much further away.

Instead of crossing the dimensional barrier just once as he normally would, Asiph-1 had repeated the process quite a few times to arrive here.

It was the place he had recently visited with his creator: the center of the dimensional system.

The location of the Committee Headquarters and the residences of the ancient races.

'Should I Teleport one more time?'

A moment later, he reappeared at a distant coordinate, having pierced through the vast, pitch-black expanse of space.

A white flash flickered in Asiph-1's eyes as both the material world and the spirit realm entered his field of vision simultaneously. He was observing a much broader area, using the exact method Minjun had frequently employed in his younger days to track extraterrestrial criminals on Earth.

Even though he lacked a spacesuit, let alone magical protective gear, he suffered absolutely no damage. Asiph-1 marveled at his physical form once again.

'Did Mother plan to gift Father a planet-destroying weapon?'

She had clearly poured an exorbitant amount of personal wealth into it—a sum that would have been burdensome even for the Princess of Endelion.

Despite the ultra-low temperatures—an environment that would make even a dragon suffer without Magic—he actually felt comfortable.

He had not explicitly confessed this to his creator, but the truth was that Asiph-1 had felt no pain whatsoever even when he set his own body ablaze to punish himself in the past. He intended to keep this fact a secret going forward as well.

Regardless, it simply meant his body was that remarkably sturdy.

'Huh?'

His gaze, which had been cast over the spirit realm, fixed upon something.

The scenery of the spirit realm overlaid the vast expanse stretching between the planets.

Asiph-1 could see the spiritual waves traversing that space. Even if other races attempted the same feat, it would be impossible for them to interpret the contents of each spiritual wave or categorize them by type. They were incredibly anomalous, and deciphering them was vastly more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

Asiph-1 wouldn't have even perceived them if Del hadn't taught him beforehand.

'Isn't that it?'

What he had been searching for all this time was a wavelength containing a specific pattern.

When ancient races communicated with other dimensions, they sent signals routed through the spirit realm.

And among them, that one was...

'The unique wavelength of the Endelion royal family! Found it!'

Even without a clock, Asiph-1's superhuman senses pinpointed the exact current time.

Asiph-1 had begun his search the very moment the tense meeting between his parents and his maternal grandmother commenced, and he had finally caught a lead.

'Let's track that trail!'

He needed to trace it back to the source before the transmission was cut off.

To the place where the king resided.

There was a reason he had to resort to such a complicated method. The planet where the Endelions gathered and lived no longer orbited in a fixed trajectory like it did in the old days when Asiph-1 was actively operating. Yet, it wasn't nailed down to a single location either.

Asiph-1 grumbled.

'Moving the planet's location at whim whenever they feel like it. Those cowards have become even worse than before.'

At some point, the other ancient races—namely the Kavite and the Todd—had also become completely unable to visit the tentacle monsters' planet.

Tracking the planet's real-time location was nearly impossible. If they felt their trail was about to be discovered, they would simply alter their movement pattern and fling the star to yet another entirely random location.

Asiph-1 gathered the abundant vitality that Minjun had breathed into him. He was currently brimming with more power than at any time since his resurrection. It was all thanks to the livestock barn set up inside the spaceship.

Just as he was preparing for another ultra-long-distance Teleport.

'...Huh?'

A bizarre sensation.

'What is this?'

It felt as though something planted deep within his physical body was reacting.

It felt like he had lost his connection to someone.

Yet, conversely, it also felt as if he had just established a new link with someone else.

'Could it be... did something happen to those two?'

Asiph-1's expression hardened.

   *

Yumtus and the bishops gathered inside the command ship, their faces etched with deep anxiety.

Beyond the closed door they were staring at lay the avatar and the Holy Mother. The latter of the two was currently in a very dire condition.

The three-eyed ones were not the only ones distressed over her.

"=Yumtus... is the Princess really going to be okay? What if she dies?="

"=Hey, don't say ridiculous things like that! You're going to make me cry too.="

"=Is she badly hurt? How did it happen? Is that why the ground rumbled earlier?="

Small tentacled creatures were clinging tightly to Yumtus's back like a cluster of barnacles attached to a sea rock.

They were the bravest Endelion among the 168. The rest were too terrified to leave their rooms, despite worrying for Del.

Even though they had grown accustomed to Yumtus and the priests, exposing themselves to an outside area teeming with them seemed to be an entirely different level of terror. It was much like how a person who could calmly handle a few snakes after frequent exposure would still be horrified upon seeing a snake pit swarming with thousands of writhing serpents.

Someone murmured.

"=If the Princess isn't here... we won't be able to meet our moms and dads, either.="

That wasn't the only reason they were sad, but they clearly couldn't shake the thought.

Yumtus couldn't bring himself to reply. He simply couldn't tell them, 'Actually, those tentacle monsters you think of as your moms and dads will, if they're lucky, turn into a salt mountain range boasting twenty-six ridges. If they're a bit unlucky, they'll suffer in some ambiguous form that is neither plant nor animal. And if they're truly unlucky, they'll be captured and tortured even after death.'

He swallowed those thoughts and said this instead:

"Do not worry. The avatar is tending to her personally, so she will certainly make a full recovery. The plans of a god never go astray."

A child muttered in a voice full of worry.

"=But... I learned in school that there is no such thing as a god.="

The moment the child grumbled those words.

The other children freaked out and instantly spat out a barrage of warnings.

"=Hey! Hey! Stop! Don't! Quit it!="

"=You idiot. Don't you know that talking about whether gods exist or not is strictly forbidden in front of Yumtus?="

"=Yeah! He's going to preach to us for hours again like last time!="

But contrary to their fears, Yumtus couldn't subject them to his tiresome 'hell for non-believers' sermon.

This time, he couldn't bring up the story—long branded by the children as a ridiculous and absurd lie—that rebelling against God would lead to eternal suffering in hell.

It was because the door had just opened.

"O avatar!"

The priests all fell to their knees in unison to show their respect.

With the Pope absent, the god had revealed himself directly before the people.

The children wiggling on the bishops' backs instantly retracted like sea anemones hiding their tentacles! They concealed themselves completely. Perhaps due to a child's unique intuition, they had always been afraid of Minjun.

Yumtus was the one to speak to the god on their behalf.

"Is the Holy Mother alright?"

Minjun slightly furrowed his brow.

"I've saved her life, for now."

A wave of relief spread among the priests.

They vividly remembered the horrific scene they had witnessed today. It had looked like a landscape dropped straight into an erupting volcanic zone. It was quite literally a picture of hell.

In a truly gruesome sight, it wasn't the ground that had been splitting open, but the Holy Mother's flesh, and what had been spewing out from those fissures was not lava, but her blood.

The priests had mobilized completely, unleashing their Divine Power. It was intense enough to look as if a golden dome had formed around Del.

Their efforts managed to slightly slow down the process, but they couldn't reverse the bursting and shattering of the Endelion's physical body, which spanned several kilometers in radius.

Just then, a single streak of light flashed, standing out even amidst the glare of the Divine Power.

While the bishops had bought time, Minjun had burned Talent.

"Her soul has safely anchored for now, but..."

Minjun explained. The problem was the condition of the doll Del had prepared.

It was imperfect in many ways.

"I'll need to tinker with that Homunculus a bit more."

Minjun ordered the priests to bring a few precious materials. Most were the types the ancient races had already stocked up in the cargo hold, so they could be prepared without much difficulty.

The avatar took them and returned to Del.

   *

In her dreams, Del saw the past.

At that time, she was completely frustrated after hitting the wall of reality.

- Changing the world is impossible.

The 'body renewal factory terrorism and rescue operation' she had attempted to make her voice heard by the people had ended in failure. Her kindred's horrific atrocities were still being continuously perpetrated.

After finishing her penal labor and regaining her memories, Del realized that even with her status as the royal successor, the things she could actually accomplish were strictly limited.

- Even if I become king, would anything get better? More importantly, will the day I ascend to the throne ever even come?

The successor of an ancient race was closer to a back-up plan prepared for emergencies. The day the Mother King died a natural death from old age would never arrive.

Furthermore, she didn't even want to hold out and wait for that day. Because in order to live that long, Del too would have to sacrifice someone. And she could say with absolute certainty that the sacrifice of just one or two people wouldn't even come close to being enough.

Then, was she going to just grow old and die like this?

- No, there's something I need to do before that.

Like a lingering attachment, someone's figure flickered in her mind.

'Cain!'

At the time, Del had discovered that he belonged to the primordial race, but she was still unaware of the secret that his body was real, not an artificial prosthetic.

Even amidst her despair, she hardened a single thread of resolve.

'Let me spend the rest of my life giving him his freedom.'

Once she helped him escape from the Committee's clutches, he might even regain his lost memories as time went on.

Therefore, Del secretly mobilized her available wealth to construct a Homunculus.

And onto that, she overlaid one more shred of her own hope. It was a wish with an incredibly slim chance of coming true.

- This body... even if I manage to finish it, will I ever actually get to use it?

Before her eyes was the body of a woman, molded to perfectly mimic her appearance from her days as a prisoner.

- It might be nothing but a waste of effort. This project might just end up being an idle sketch fueled by memories.

Yet Del couldn't stop trying.

If she someday completed both Homunculi and confessed everything to him. And if she suggested they throw everything away and run off together.

Would Cain accept it?

Del gazed at the doll.

The very next moment, her consciousness was sucked into the doll. Up until just a second ago, she had been looking at the Homunculus, but now she was looking at the world from inside that Homunculus.

At the same time, Del's consciousness was hurled into an even more distant past.

- Don't panic, and just listen calmly.

The setting was Ashtal.

The dimension where the two of them had tied the knot as husband and wife.

Sitting across from her in the kitchen of their small home, Cain had suddenly spoken while they were celebrating their eightieth wedding anniversary.

- Del, I paid the Committee the 300,000 Talent I've saved up as a tax today.

It was truly news like a bolt from the blue.

Wearing her human facade, Del asked back.

'What?!'

Cain calmly explained the story he had heard through Telesia.

The Committee was planning to downsize and reorganize the prisoner units dispatched to Ashtal at the time. They planned to gradually reduce the numbers starting that very year, and those selected would be relocated and reassigned to other dimensions.

Cain wanted to remain in this dimension more than anyone else. If only one of them—Del or him—were reassigned, the couple would be forcibly torn apart. Even if both were reassigned, the odds of them being sent to different dimensions were vastly higher than the odds of them moving together.

The news that ninety percent of the prisoners currently stationed in Ashtal had to leave this dimension within the next three years had thrown Cain into despair.

However.

- They said they would guarantee we could stay here if we paid 150,000 Talent per person.

It was a system that hadn't originally existed. It was entirely reasonable to suspect their intentions, but he had no choice but to fall for it, fully aware it was likely a trap.

The cost for the two of them to remain together, with a special gift tax exemption applied, was 300,000 Talent.

And at the time, his prisoner account balance was 310,000 Talent.

Del's face turned deathly pale as she listened to his explanation.

'You paid 300,000 Talent just so you wouldn't be separated from me?'

Cain smiled.

- Yeah, it's a gift for you.

She asked back.

- If staying together is guaranteed, for how long? Indefinitely, as long as we want?

There was no way the Committee would show such goodwill.

The guaranteed period was a mere 100 years.

Then what about after that? If they wanted to stay together after 100 years, they would have to pay Talent all over again. What if the Committee raised the price?

- This isn't going to work.

She repeated to herself.

This wasn't a fundamental solution.

If things kept going like this, Cain would never be able to save up his severance pay. He still hadn't confessed how much he needed, but it was undoubtedly an absurd sum.

He had squandered such a massive amount right when he needed to save every single penny?

- If huge sums keep draining from your account because of me... eventually, you won't even be able to pay your living tax, and you could face Soul Erasure.

This could never be the way.

The prisoner, Del, made a decision.

- Cain...

She had to leave him.

And to ensure he wouldn't be left with a single trace of lingering attachment, this 'separation' had to be entirely deliberate and utterly irreversible.

The moment she solidified that thought.

Flash!

Light entirely flooded her vision.

   *

"Sh-she's opened her eyes!"

A shock akin to her consciousness being violently hurled back into reality.

Del let out a groan.

Immediately afterward, voices and mental waves poured in from all around her like a tidal wave. The people cheered at the fact that she had regained consciousness. They each tossed out a word one by one.

"Holy Mother!"

"Oh, you're awake!"

"As expected, there isn't a single flaw in the avatar's plans..."

"=Princess! Princess! Look at me! Can you see me? I'm right here!="

"=She's awake! She woke up! Grandma didn't die!="

Del struggled to blink her eyes. Slowly and heavily. The sensations across her entire body overflowed in chaotic disarray. It felt similar to the state she had been in right before losing consciousness, yet also distinctly different. That is to say, it felt different from the sensations of an Endelion who had Polymorphed into a human.

Her vision blurred and cleared multiple times as her focus shifted. The very first thing she saw was the ceiling of the sickbay inside the Mothership, followed by the priests of the Elahu-Praga Church and the Endelion children. Their expressions were a tangled mix of worry and joy. Faced with this familiar yet alien sight, Del felt her mind go blank for a moment. The nervous system stimuli currently enveloping her were tinted with a kind of color she had never experienced before.

Regardless, one fact was absolutely certain.

'I survived.'

It was only natural that her senses were this chaotic.

Because her body had changed.

'My soul was transferred into the Homunculus.'

He had ended up saving her life after all. Even though the doll had been incomplete, he had modified it into a vessel capable of housing her soul.

Del slowly moved her eyes. Her gaze swept past the faces of the people weeping tears of joy.

And there, just over their shoulders.

"..."

Minjun was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, silently looking down at her.

Wearing an expression vastly more complicated than anyone else gathered here.

For a moment, the two of them simply stared at each other like that without saying a single word.

   *

A few hours after Del had opened her eyes, just as King Endelion had predicted, the Committee's formal negotiation proposal arrived via Spirit Realm Communication. The details weren't much different from what they had already heard.

And the Committee received Asif-666's reply incredibly swiftly. It was a type of pre-recorded video message. The committee members, who had gathered in one place to watch it, were momentarily thrown into a panic.

It was because the scene on the screen looked as though the three-eyed priests were pruning a light pink tree suffering from a pest infestation.

It didn't take long for the committee members to realize that it wasn't a tree. The bug-infested bark distorted, and a frail voice seeped out from the crevices. Enunciated syllable by syllable in a truly hair-raising tone, it was spoken in the native language of the Kavite.

"Kill... me...!"

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