The Blank's Back Page (II)
Stopping the outer gods was impossible with human power alone.
Having reached that conclusion, the ancient humans created gods of their own.
The Ascended.
Five heroes who transcended humanity. They accomplished what had once seemed impossible.
The gate to the other world closed.
The sinister outer gods retreated behind the veil, and the ash and mold that had covered the world dried up and crumbled away.
The Demon Realm was driven from this land.
But the chaos did not disappear.
Because of the Ascension ritual, a massive gap appeared in history, and civilization regressed several centuries.
To correct this problem, the five Ascended intervened in the mortal world from time to time, guiding humanity.
Revelations.
People believed those voices were divine revelations. They worshiped the five beings as gods.
The Divine Era.
Since beings from a higher plane guided humanity like shepherds leading lost sheep, the present age naturally came to be called that.
"…Can I ask a question?"
Woojin suddenly spoke.
In response, golden letters formed in the air.
—Speak.
"How do you know all this? You said the Ascension ritual erased an entire era."
Because of the ritual, most of the memories and records of the world had vanished.
Yet the golden words now conversing with Woojin seemed to possess complete knowledge of the forgotten age.
How was that possible?
"Are you one of the Ascended?"
Perhaps those golden letters themselves belonged to one of them.
But—
—No. Beings of higher dimensions dislike communicating in this manner.
"Really?"
It seemed his guess was wrong.
Woojin repeated his earlier question.
"Then what exactly are you?"
—A trace left behind by an era.
Even if one writes something with a sharp quill and later erases it, leaving the page blank…
The pressure of the pen remains imprinted on the page beneath.
This ancient ruin was both a shelter prepared by ancient humanity in anticipation of destruction and a repository of knowledge.
—In preparation for the Ascension ritual, ancient humanity attempted to leave records in many forms to pass down to future generations. Some of those attempts were successful.
Creak…
A strange metallic sound suddenly rang out.
Turning toward it, they saw a small brass doll waving its hand as if greeting them.
An alchemical doll.
It was the same one they had seen during the second trial.
That brass doll managed laboratories of the ancient empire and personally crafted various kinds of potions.
Remembering the alchemy of the old era and passing it down to later generations—that was its role.
Clack, clack!
Footsteps echoed.
A slender metal mannequin approached, dancing gracefully.
It was the magical doll from the third trial. Its movements were elegant like a swan.
Preserving and passing down the etiquette and culture of the old era—that was its role.
—As you can see, some magical dolls did not lose their memories even after the Ascension ritual ended.
Many records had been lost, but the magical dolls that possessed self-awareness had managed to preserve their memories.
Woojin responded,
"So you're a doll as well?"
—Something similar. I am the heart of this ruin and the administrator who oversees all the dolls. The final arrangement left behind by the mage Talos.
Talos had left these legacies for future generations.
In preparation for the day when the world might once again fall into danger.
The time had come.
That was why this underground ruin had revealed itself—to help the humanity of today fight against the Demon Realm.
—Find me.
Somewhere in the north lies the final legacy.
With those words—
The golden letters floating in the air and the glowing mural scattered and vanished, as if they had never existed.
The lamps lit again, illuminating the room.
Woojin muttered to himself,
"…How are we supposed to find it?"
He had been about to ask for directions, but the golden letters had already disappeared.
Were they supposed to search the entire Demon Realm for the treasure?
As he was thinking that—
Clap, clap!
Suddenly, applause echoed.
The metal mannequin clapped its hands to draw everyone's attention, then began walking somewhere.
It seemed to be signaling them to follow.
Woojin and the others walked behind it.
The mannequin pressed a book on one of the shelves.
Click.
As the spine was pushed inward, a hidden button clicked.
Like solving a code, the mannequin pressed six or seven different books in sequence.
Then the wall slid open—
Revealing a hidden treasure chest.
What's inside?
There was no reason to hesitate.
Representing the group, Duran opened the chest.
Inside were a thick book and a metal sculpture about the size of an adult's fist.
Everyone's attention turned to the sculpture.
It was a mouse, crafted from three types of metal—gold, silver, and copper.
"…This is pretty cute."
Claire murmured with a smile.
As if it understood the compliment—
Creak!
The metal mouse suddenly raised its head.
It twitched its nose as if breathing.
Then it opened its mouth and yawned lazily.
It looked as though it had just awakened from a long sleep.
The people around them were startled, but—
Woojin, Claire, and Duran remained calm.
They had seen something similar recently.
"It's similar to the snake bracelet I have," Claire said.
"I see. Judging by its appearance, this mouse sculpture must also be a type of magical doll."
As they discussed it casually—
The mouse turned its head and stared directly at Claire.
"…Why is it only looking at me?"
"Maybe it chose you."
Just like the snake bracelet had chosen Woojin.
Perhaps this mouse was also selecting its master.
To test the idea, Claire cautiously extended her hand.
The mouse sniffed her fingers repeatedly.
Tap!
It leapt onto her hand.
But it didn't stop there.
It ran up her arm and climbed onto the top of her head.
The mouse scurried left and right energetically, stepping hard on the crown of her head each time.
"Th-This actually hurts…"
Claire groaned.
The mouse was small, but since it was made of heavy metal, each step hurt quite a bit.
Better move it somewhere else.
Woojin reached out and grabbed the metal mouse by the scruff of its neck.
The creature immediately protested.
"Squeeee!"
The mouse squealed and flailed its limbs wildly.
Among all the dolls they had encountered so far, this one seemed to possess an unusually strong sense of self.
What should I do with this thing?
Just as Woojin was pondering that—
…Swoosh.
The steel mannequin extended its hand toward them.
As if asking for the mouse.
Come to think of it, this mannequin was also a teacher of etiquette. Hoping it might teach the mouse some manners, Woojin readily handed the creature over.
"Squeak! Squeeeak—!"
The mouse cried out pitifully as it was taken away.
Peace returned at once.
Claire let out a sigh of relief.
"That mouse earlier… it's not really my style."
"Same here."
Why would they place something like that inside a treasure chest?
There must have been a reason for it, but honestly, the little thing was just troublesome.
Naturally, their attention shifted elsewhere.
To the thick book that had been inside the chest along with the mouse.
After putting on thin leather gloves, Duran carefully took out the book and opened it.
Duran was a short dwarf, so the others around him could easily read its contents as well.
"…Is this a spellbook?"
"It seems so."
A book containing magic from the forgotten age.
It was a treasure that couldn't be exchanged even for gold.
Duran smiled with satisfaction and muttered,
"Heh! I was disappointed when everything turned out to be blank notebooks… but at least we managed to salvage one."
"That gives us something new to research."
"We should take it downstairs and copy it immediately! If we transcribe several copies, we can send them to the Magic Tower as well."
The mages chatted enthusiastically among themselves.
But Woojin felt something was strange.
Claire seemed to feel the same.
"Why is this book the only one intact? All the others became blank notebooks."
"Good question."
Because of the Ascension ritual, the contents of every book in the library had evaporated completely.
So why was this one an exception?
Duran thought for a moment before answering.
"Perhaps the magical dolls wrote this book after the Ascension ritual ended."
"Is that possible?"
"It's too early to be certain."
They hadn't even finished reading the book yet, so it was too soon to draw conclusions.
Woojin responded,
"Why not check the introduction or the final page? The author's name might be written there."
"Not a bad idea."
The Tower Master accepted the suggestion readily.
Duran carefully flipped through the pages.
Looking at the opening section, a sentence caught his eye.
I dedicate this book to the enemies of the distant future.
— Vr
It was a strange sentence.
"…What does that mean?"
"Well… 'Vr' is most likely the initials of the person who wrote this book. It might even be a nickname."
If the book contained initials, that meant it was highly likely written by a person.
"And why do you think that?"
"Dolls don't usually try to show themselves off. Of course, there are exceptions like that mouse earlier… but most of them aren't like that."
"I'll show you an example."
Saying that, Duran rummaged through his travel bag and pulled out an old book.
Woojin recognized it immediately.
"That's the item we obtained from the second trial."
"Sharp eyes."
After clearing the second trial, Woojin's group had obtained two items: a snake bracelet and an old book.
The book contained detailed recipes and manufacturing methods for potions from the ancient era.
The mages of the Magic Tower had spent several days struggling to analyze it.
Duran opened the alchemy book.
"As you can see, there are no initials in the introduction. And look at the handwriting. What impression do you get?"
Woojin examined the writing closely.
The letters were neat and textbook-like.
Their size and spacing were perfectly consistent, and the lines of text were aligned as if written along invisible guides.
It looks like it was printed by a machine.
After confirming that, he examined the ancient spellbook they had just discovered.
Its handwriting was elegant and stylish.
Compared to the previous book, it felt far more individual and human.
And it even had the initials Vr written in it.
From this, one could infer—
"The alchemy book was likely written by a doll, while this spellbook was probably written by a human."
"That's the same conclusion we reached."
The mages believed it was difficult for the alchemy text to have been written by a human.
It was likely printed using magical type or written by a magical doll.
In contrast, this spellbook was handwritten—making it far more likely to have been written by a person.
Naturally, a new question arose.
"Who is this person named 'Vr'?"
Woojin asked.
The Tower Master thought for a moment before answering casually.
"Probably just one of the mages from the ancient era. There's no need to worry about it too much. He's probably long dead and buried by now."
"I'm still curious why this book survived."
"Well… perhaps there was some kind of trick to it."
The Ascension ritual had not erased all knowledge.
When exploring ancient ruins, books from the era of the ancient empire were occasionally discovered.
This spellbook was likely just one of those rare exceptions.
"Let's head back and start researching it," Duran said. "We can think more about it afterward."
"Understood."
They were curious, but there was no choice but to leave it for later.
Just as the Tower Master said, there were no clues yet.
So the group left the place together.