Chapter 417

After a long-awaited tour of the surroundings, sometime in the middle of the night.

'I always think this, but Earth really is a place I can never get used to, no matter how much I see of it.'

Even so, the place I stepped into next was now a fairly familiar private space of my own.

'I can even see starlight beyond the ceiling with the naked eye.'

I returned home.

While I hadn't been paying attention, overgrown grass and dust had taken over the grand mansion. Of course, I knew absolutely nothing about maintaining a garden, so no matter how messy the front yard became, there was ultimately nothing I could do about it for the time being.

Rustle, rustle.

A convenience-store plastic bag hanging from my arm rustled as I walked.

For reference, just before parting ways with my companion, I had given in to her earnest request and bought several kinds of porridge.

'I don't think I bought a microwave again, though.'

Now all I had to do was go inside and heat up this retort abalone porridge.

But there was no way I could eat in a place this dusty.

So first, I needed to clean up a little.

'The cleaning tools that came free when I bought the appliances... they should be around here somewhere.'

As various plans formed in my head, my body quickly sprang into action.

Sshk, sshk, sshk.

Worried that I might end up cleaning after draining my mana, I used the tools I'd stored away just in case and swept the floor a little.

I also gave the built-in table a quick wipe with wet wipes, an essential item for anyone living alone.

'It's really hard without magic.'

It was inconvenient, but for now I wanted to move my body and organize my thoughts, so I continued with these primitive tasks.

'Hmm.'

As I worked, the first thought that came to mind was this.

'By the way, that woman ended up having to make a long-distance drive in the middle of the night.'

Surely she wasn't afraid an alien might subject her to bodily modification, right?

'Our house has plenty of rooms. There are blankets too. Of course, the fact that they're all only for one person is a bit of a problem.'

It seemed Seonwoo Yeon simply wasn't comfortable sleeping at someone else's house.

As a result, the unfortunate situation arose where the guest had to spend money on gas just to drive home alone...

But what could I do?

In the end, it was her own choice.

'The one reassuring thing is that Seonwoo Yeon is a B-rank superpower. At least there's no chance she'll die in a car accident.'

Since it wouldn't have cost much mana anyway, I almost cast a [Surveillance] spell on the human.

But I stopped myself.

'Now that I've cleared the table, it's about time to warm up the porridge...'

Alone in the empty house, I set the table by myself.

The convenience-store porridge placed beside canned beef jangjorim made for a rather humble meal.

'Why does the porridge shop near my house only stay open until seven?'

But just as I was about to consume two months' worth of nutrients, someone's bold remark suddenly resurfaced in my mind.

Are you really okay with that?

Those were the words Seonwoo Yeon had said just before we parted ways.

Of course, it would be wonderful to witness the extinction of monsters while still alive.

Is that so?

If the only way to achieve peace is for Giryeo-ssi to suffer harm, then that's a bit......

Do you think so?

If the concept of mana suddenly disappeared, that would cause its own kind of chaos too.

In short, her point was that stability achieved through someone else's sacrifice felt deeply unsettling.

But putting the native's warm concern aside for the moment, there was one point from that earlier conversation that needed to be addressed.

I never said anything about eliminating mana too, you know?

Eradicating a Gisimche and eliminating mana were by no means the same thing.

'Humanity has already been exposed to mysterious forces.'

Mana, in particular, is an energy that responds strongly to perception.

For reference, it was safe to say Earth would never again become a world entirely without magic.

Besides, a considerable amount of mana had already spread through the atmosphere.

'At the current level of human magical studies, that concentration isn't likely to decrease anytime soon.'

Even if the Gates disappeared, countless new superpowers would continue to emerge for some time.

As humanity gradually adapted to magic, they would eventually develop extraction techniques of their own and begin generating the additional mana they needed.

'Honestly, the future isn't difficult to predict.'

I could never make the very concept of magic disappear.

This place had already become a planet where evolution had begun.

So all I intended to do was drive out the Gisimche—the parasites feeding on humanity...

'Hmm.'

Just a few months ago, even thinking this way would've been unthinkable.

It seemed my mind had somehow stopped working properly.

'Or maybe not? Perhaps my brain has just gone stiff after starving for magic for two months.'

They said a turtle had gotten a plastic straw stuck in its nose.

Or that countless fish had died after becoming tangled in fishing nets discarded by boats.

Honestly, just like those Earthlings who always prioritized their own lives even when hearing stories like that on the news, humanity had always been a firm second priority for me.

'Compared to right after my reincarnation, I suppose I've become a little more emotionally attached to them.'

Even though it would inevitably be difficult, I'd still have to deal with those invaders from space somehow.

I continued thinking while eating the microwaved instant porridge.

'If just one of them can cause this much damage, and good kids like Jeong Haeseong end up dying again, it's going to be seriously annoying--'

I even found myself hoping that people like Gu Seohyeong's children—and their children after them—would never be pricked by the thorn called Gisimche.

How on earth had I become so attached to these aliens?

'If they at least looked normal—like jellyfish or something—I wouldn't complain. Why did I have to get my nose pierced by such a disgusting species?'

Still, one way or another, I was determined to carry out a genuine environmental cleanup.

'Then again, I couldn't exactly keep feeding those parasites forever!'

As with every task in the universe, the real problem was never the table of contents, but the content itself.

I spent a moment making calculations in my head.

First, to clarify, in this world I was somewhat lacking if I wanted to call myself an Archmage.

Above all, this body was far too weak.

To borrow an expression I'd once seen online, "glass cannon" described it perfectly.

"S-Seonwoo Yeon-ssi, how many more years do you have left to live?"

There wasn't nearly enough time to wait for a more highly evolved being than Kim Giryeo.

But I'd long maintained that as long as I had the right tools, I could carry out a biological cleanup on my own.

Exactly.

To display power worthy of an Archmage, I needed to equip myself properly.

'At last, the time has come to reveal my true specialty.'

Golem!

The tool I'd been talking about needing all this time was, in fact, that.

And to properly explain just how remarkable golems were, even a thirty-two-page newspaper wouldn't be enough.

I could send one into an orchard to spread fertilizer in my place.

Or if my legs grew tired, I could simply ride one around without a care.

'Come to think of it, cars serve that role on Earth, don't they?'

Golem engineering was truly like light and oxygen to a mage.

Besides, just imagine how enjoyable the process would be if I created a golem on Earth.

Cows, pigs, horses, sheep—these terrestrial mammals were creatures Alpha-Uri had never seen in their entire lives.

And Alpha-Uri mages had long enjoyed modeling magical constructs after creatures found in nature.

'There's already a specimen in this world that's almost a perfect model—how could I not copy it?'

If I had to create a golem entirely from scratch, starting from every joint's range of motion, it would be a real headache.

'As expected, imitation is the answer.'

Honestly, I was overflowing with motivation to make one.

'...'

But there was one problem.

I had none of the materials needed to build a golem.

'My pain control is still working perfectly fine, so why do I suddenly have ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a headache...'

Seriously, after all these years, what was this?

Was I pretending to be some struggling young artist?

'I can't make any progress because I don't have the materials.'

I pulled out my phone and belatedly searched online marketplaces.

But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find any golem materials that matched my plans perfectly.

On top of that, every [Infinite Power Core] had been snatched up by various buyers, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary individual—not a corporation—to purchase one.

'With the existing [Core] items, there's no way I could assemble multiple golems.'

Considering everything, it seemed the most urgent thing I needed to do was "search."

More specifically, I needed to enter various Gates and see whether there was anything useful inside them.

But then another obstacle suddenly occurred to me...

'Wait.'

Come to think of it, entering interdimensional passages required a government-issued license.

And I had spectacularly retired only a few months ago.

'Damn it.'

So after quitting my job with such fanfare, was I now in the position of having to ask for my license to be reinstated?

"_"

Embarrassing...

For the record, I wasn't actually feeling that emotion.

The word had simply flashed through my mind at random.

'I wonder just how ridiculous the association president will be.'

But what else could I do?

It seemed I really did need to prepare myself beforehand.

And since it still wasn't the right time to enter a dungeon, I decided to deal with that matter first while I was still riding the momentum of having worked through my grief.

***

A few hours later.

A weekday afternoon.

Inside the office of a guild leader somewhere in Seoul.

"Oh my! What should I do?"

A certain human let out her habitual exclamation.

"Come to think of it, we're completely out of coffee beans! I ordered more from overseas, but they usually take forever to arrive."

"Aha."

"Then what should we do? Should I make some instant coffee for now?"

"No."

Korea Magic Tower.

I never thought I'd live to see the day when this guild couldn't serve its devilish beverage.

'I got lucky.'

I relaxed the muscles that had been tense and soon settled onto a nearby sofa.

As the conversation so far had made clear, I had finally emerged from a long period of seclusion and appeared before an acquaintance again.

Seo Esther.

Even though the three billion won the president had sent was still being deposited into my account on schedule, I had vanished completely for two full months without saying a word.

"First of all... I sincerely apologize for being out of contact for so long."

"Haha. It's okay. It's okay."

I had decided to resume the tutoring sessions with Seo Esther that had been postponed for so long.

Fortunately, however, Earth's sorcerers were among the most understanding creatures in the universe.

'Or maybe not. Even if she's smiling like that on the outside, could she actually be grinding her teeth on the inside?'

It wasn't stated outright, but since this director and I were connected through the Neo Sisters, she'd probably already heard about everything that had happened.

"Please, don't worry about it. I'm the one who should apologize for bothering someone who's supposed to be resting..."

Her voice was very gentle.

But she was an Awakened with the [Curse] attribute.

In other words, she had surely taken this matter to heart.

If I broke our appointment again, I'd have to be prepared for an all-out fight.

'Calling it a "fight" is practically a joke, but still, I need to get myself together and do things properly from now on.'

At the very least, I would make sure to fulfill my obligations for the money I'd been paid.

And just as I hardened my resolve—

"Ah! And there's something I wanted to mention while you're here..."

An unexpected subject suddenly came up.

"It's the epic item we acquired from [Sin Classification]. It's finally about time to put it up for sale."

"Hmm?"

"Recently, the difficulty of the Gates has stabilized quite a bit. I even heard that international auctions are being held on a larger scale than we'd expected."

Right.

Come to think of it, there was that capitalist schedule to deal with as well.

"First of all, you'd obviously know this already, Giryeo-ssi, but our country can't sell powerful poison items domestically."

"?"

"Oh, right. Because of that reason that's even awkward to mention."

Snort.

Around that time, I quenched my thirst with the plain water the guild leader had handed me.

I quickly sifted through the information in my head, trying not to look too absent-minded.

'I don't understand a single thing she's talking about...'

Still, considering I had absolutely nothing to say in response, the reason Esther was referring to must have been some incident reported in the news four or five years ago.