The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

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Turning back time a little.

Mirenia was floating in the air above the forest, overlooking the crescent-shaped mountain range—the Selen Mountains.

The Selen Mountains stretched to cover about half of the Nogana Republic, forming a natural fortress that made it difficult to reach the Restamia Kingdom to the east without going through Bargia in the north or along the southern coast.

No one had anticipated that they would dig under this iron wall of earth. It was surprising even for a country known for earth magic.

If there was a geographical advantage on Nogana's side, it would be the massive lake on the western side of the Selen Mountains. Therefore, the exit of the underground passage could probably only be opened towards the south where there was no lake.

"If they were to make an exit, it would be around here..."

Viewing the huge lake from the sky, Mirenia sent her threads running through the forest area.

Mirenia's threads were thinner than spider silk, yet stronger and more sensitive. If they detected ground vibrations, they wouldn't miss even a single mole. They should have immediately noticed the march of an approaching golem army.

But—

"It would be troublesome if you did anything unnecessary, Your Excellency Millennium."

"—!?"

She turned around reflexively.

Without her noticing, a man was standing behind Mirenia.

He was a man in a tailcoat, wearing a silk hat and carrying a cane.

He was looking at her with a dubious smile.

Not only had he approached Mirenia's back without her noticing, but he was also floating in the air as if it were natural. He was clearly no ordinary person.

The man bowed politely and smiled awkwardly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Your Excellency. I am called 'Knight'."

It was probably an alias, but such things were trivial.

The problem was the glimpses of hostility.

"Who are you? What business do you have here?"

"I have come to stop Your Excellency's intervention."

"...You knew about my actions?"

"Yes. My Master foresaw that Your Excellency would surely act on your own."

"Master? Whose pawn are you?"

"I apologize. I do not have permission to discuss my Master's identity."

Knight bowed cheerfully.

His gentlemanly yet somewhat mocking attitude caused a slight irritation.

"...Whoever you are, if you block my path, I won't show mercy."

"How harsh. However, my role is to delay Your Excellency, so there's no need for restraint from the start."

"I see. Then perish."

He clearly knew about the existence of Millennium and seemed intent on opposing her with force. It was obvious he was no ordinary opponent.

Mirenia immediately manipulated her steel threads, wrapping them around Knight.

"Oh my, I can't move."

"If you quietly return, I'll let you go. But if you resist—"

I'll cut you to pieces.

Mirenia was about to say that, but something unexpected happened.

Knight grinned, and then he melted.

Knight, who had become like a liquid, fell several meters before undulating and returning to his original form.

Even Mirenia was surprised at this.

"...A liquefaction skill? You seem to have something rare."

"Physical attacks don't work on me."

"Nonsense—'Refinement'."

"Oh!?"

If it's a state-change skill, then I'll counter with a state-change skill.

Mirenia, who had limited Knight's body to a solid state without touching him, once again sent out steel threads to entangle Knight.

"That trick won't work on me."

"As expected of the Grand Master, this is harsh... However, do you think I came without knowing your powers?"

Suddenly, Knight's eyes glowed.

In that instant, Mirenia had a terrible premonition and reflexively took evasive action.

Something like light grazed Mirenia's right cheek as she twisted her upper body, flying past behind her. Blood flowed from her cheek.

What was that just now?

It must have been some kind of skill, but she had never heard of a skill that shot beams from the eyes. Moreover, if Mirenia hadn't avoided it, it would have penetrated her head, likely causing instant death. Both its power and speed were extraordinary.

A cold sweat ran down her spine.

"...Who are you?"

"As I said, I am 'Knight'."

"You still refuse to tell me?"

He was a more eerie opponent than she had imagined. Underestimating him could be fatal.

In that case, there was no need for caution or information gathering.

Mirenia made an instant decision and activated her trump card while keeping her steel threads deployed around her.

"'Creation and Thought Manipulation'."

"...Oh?"

Without the steel threads even touching him, Knight's body froze.

This was the skill that had demonstrated Mirenia's overwhelming dominance as the leader of all adventurers for eight hundred years—"Numerology 3: Creation and Thought Manipulation."

Its effect was an extreme-level skill that "can manipulate the actions of all living beings at will, and for inanimate objects, can completely control them by dividing and bestowing one's own life."

Mirenia was a royal existence—her crown name recognized by God was "King of the Living."

In this world, there were almost no living beings that could resist her will.

Unless they were also a royal existence, it was nearly impossible to escape Mirenia's control. As far as she knew, only Ruruk and the Dragon King could escape her at present.

"So this is the power of the rumored 'Living User'... This is troublesome."

"Be quiet. I'll end this quickly."

She converged the steel threads deployed around her towards Knight.

The ultra-thin blades that could cut even iron at Mirenia's will were about to slice through Knight's body without resistance—or so it should have been.

But just before that, an impact struck Mirenia's abdomen.

"Not quite."

"Gah!?"

It was a heavy blow.

Although Mirenia was a level-capped immortal, her status wasn't particularly high for certain reasons. Because she had the power to control the movements of all living beings at will, it was rare for her to even be targeted in battle.

Moreover, receiving two attacks from the same opponent was something that hadn't happened since her Master's special training.

Spitting blood and blown backward, Mirenia immediately activated "Creation and Thought Manipulation."

While there was a restriction of "actions" for others, she had complete control over all life activities for herself. There were no limits to her healing.

However, even after recovering from the damage and regaining her posture, an intense pain still remained in the core of her body.

Mirenia was shaken by this completely unexpected development.

"W-What happened..."

"Hehehe... My role is to delay Your Excellency."

Knight laughed with complete composure, spreading both arms.

His right arm was detached from the shoulder and was floating near Mirenia. However, not only was there no blood from the cross-section, but its interior was filled with metal and magic stones.

It was clearly a prosthetic arm. Moreover, it was a high-performance prosthetic arm-type magical device that could be remotely controlled.

"You, don't tell me that body—"

"Hehe, you finally noticed? That's right, my entire body is prosthetic. A difficult opponent for Your Excellency to fight, isn't it?"

She had been outmaneuvered.

This guy seemed to have prepared countermeasures against Mirenia beyond her imagination.

Such an abnormal body modification was insane. One wrong step and he could have died. Even if the modification was successful, he probably wouldn't live long.

"Now, what will you do? The power of the 'Living User' doesn't work on me, you know?"

"...Indeed, I'm surprised."

"Aren't you? I worked hard for Your Excellency's sake. It would be great if you could die with me—"

"Then, how about this?"

Mirenia activated "Creation and Thought Manipulation" again.

If the body parts were non-living, then this time she could control them by dividing and bestowing her own life.

It carried risks, but the freedom of control was far superior to when the opponent was a living being. She could move them within the controlled space like her own limbs, ignoring not only the body's range of motion but even gravity.

This way, there was no chance of receiving a counterattack.

Mirenia was confident... but however.

Knight had prepared countermeasures against Mirenia beyond her imagination.

"Just as the Master said. You are too kind."

"...What?"

If there was a miscalculation on Mirenia's part, it was that Millennium had been known as the "Living User" for too long. Even if her true identity wasn't revealed, "information about the Grand Master" had accumulated, been analyzed, and even her weaknesses had become known.

Knight, who had lost all freedom of his body, laughed.

"If you have that power, wouldn't it be much stronger to forcibly make others fight? With that kingly power that no one can resist or oppose, you should be able to subjugate all living beings in the world. If you did that, surely no one could defeat you. But you continued to fight on the front lines yourself. The reason for your failure is your foolish sense of responsibility as a king."

"Don't tell me, you—"

"It's too late now. Goodbye."

Knight's body exploded.

The explosion itself was small. It was clear that either an explosion formula or a self-destruct device had been built in.

Knight's body scattered into pieces, falling into the forest pulled by gravity.

Mirenia, stunned by the suddenness of it all, was suddenly struck by intense pain.

"Ugh..."

It felt like her heart had been pierced by a stake.

The bestowed life force doesn't return when the target is destroyed. This meant that Mirenia's life force container—her maximum value—had decreased. The maximum value of life force cannot be restored through healing. No matter what she had tried, it had never returned before.

She had been completely outmaneuvered.

Unable to bear the tremendous pain, Mirenia also fell towards the forest.

She managed to manipulate her steel threads to prevent crashing into the ground. While groaning in pain and gritting her teeth, waves of discomfort like being hit in the brain and organs washed over her.

As she lay on the ground sweating profusely, her eyes met with Knight's fallen head.

His face wore a mocking smile. He was undoubtedly dead, but he seemed satisfied, perhaps because he had accomplished his goal of stopping Mirenia.

It seemed she had been confronted by a troublesome man, though she didn't know whose puppet he was.

"D-Damn it..."

Mirenia desperately struggled to hold onto her fading consciousness.

But it seemed the lost life force was too great.

Eventually, her limit came, and her vision faded.

—It was shortly after that when something like a cocoon of light enveloped the unconscious Mirenia and disappeared.

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I was seriously troubled.

Could I go to sleep now?

Mirenia's condition had stabilized considerably. Thanks to Punisuke, her fever had gone down, and she was showing almost no signs of distress. Punisuke had finished his job and was asleep on the sofa.

The night was getting late, and I was starting to feel sleepy too.

After pondering for a while, I decided it would be okay to take my eyes off her in this state.

It's OK to sleep.

So the next problem.

Where should I sleep?

Punisuke was sleeping on the sofa, and I didn't want to disturb the hero of the nursing effort.

As for the bed, Mirenia was sleeping there. The bed was wide enough that I could sleep at a distance without touching her, but... Mirenia Damuren was a proper lady and a widow. She still had strong feelings for her late husband.

If she woke up and found me next to her, there might be various misunderstandings. This time, a light punch to the stomach might not be enough. Hmm, what should I do?

...But I'm sleepy.

In the first place, this is the room I rented, and it's my bed. Mirenia is the one who's wrong for sneaking in and sleeping here without permission.

Having made that judgment, I changed into my favorite pajamas (with cat ear hood) and sat on the opposite side of Mirenia.

Her sleeping face looked very peaceful, and she looked like nothing more than an ordinary little girl curled up in sleep.

"...Hey. Don't pat my head without permission."

A cold voice spoke.

Mirenia had slightly opened her eyes. Had I woken her up?

"I'm sorry, it's just a habit. Good morning, are you feeling alright?"

"You seem quite used to sleeping with women. ...Well, I'm not in perfect condition."

"You don't seem even a hair flustered either, Mirenia-san. ...Don't push yourself. There's water by the pillow."

"How old do you think I am? I'm not young enough to be conscious of the opposite sex. ...Thank you. I'll have some."

"No, no, you're still plenty young compared to the Master. ...Well then, excuse me for lying next to you."

"Hey, were you making age jokes about the Master? Didn't you get struck by lightning? ...Well, it's your bed after all."

"I'm used to the Master's punishments. The trick is to think of nothing when you're being electrocuted. ...Huh? Mirenia-san, haven't you shrunk a bit?"

"With that personality, I'm surprised you survived living with the Master."

Exasperated, Mirenia then silently stared intently at her own hands and feet.

...Clearly, her body had become smaller than it was during the day.

When we met, she was about the same size as Elen, but now she had shrunk to about the size of a five-year-old.

"One more time... no, this might be the limit..."

"Did you perhaps drink something like Apotoxin?"

"What's that, some kind of poison? I didn't drink anything."

"You know about Apotoxin!? Don't tell me Mirenia-san has memories of a past life!?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Reincarnation after death is the privilege of 'transcendents'. I haven't received the blessing of Wilmis God like you have."

She casually knows about the transcendent skill.

And it seems she's received reports about me. Since the Stoania Guild Master knew, I suppose it's only natural.

In that case, there's no need to hide it.

"If I may ask, do you know of any other transcendents besides me?"

"...Not now. Karina was one in her past life, though."

"I see— Wait, Karina as in the Sage of Logic? She was a reincarnator!?"

Surprised, I accidentally raised my upper body.

Karina — also known as the "Sage of Logic."

It's one of the most famous names in the world.

Mirenia looked at the ceiling with a nostalgic expression.

"That's right. She said she had memories of her past life since she was a child. My husband was quite concerned about it too. I don't know the details, but it seems she came from a world where logic was quite advanced."

"...Did you hear her past life name?"

"Why are you suddenly so serious? You can only reincarnate after you die in this life, right? Surely you haven't received Wilmis God's blessing twice in a row?"

"Please, if you know, could you tell me? It's important."

"...Don't tell me, you..."

Mirenia's eyes widened.

I don't intend to casually reveal my own secrets either. But if the Sage of Logic who died eight hundred years ago was a reincarnator, there's a high possibility she was a classmate.

But I can never meet that reincarnator again.

If it was Kujo Aika, who was a close friend of Saaya and Nagi, I would have to ask Mirenia to keep quiet. I want to avoid anything that would make them sad, even a little.

"...I see. Truly a 'Child of Mystery'."

Mirenia muttered as if understanding something.

"But what will you do if you know? Even if you knew Karina's past life, everything is irretrievable now. Even you don't have the blessing of Kianus God — the 'Retroactor', do you?"

"That's precisely why. Because there are lives that can never be saved again, I need to know."

Our eyes met steadily.

After a moment of silence, Mirenia was the one who gave in.

"...Very well, as thanks for taking care of me. Karina's past life name was apparently 'Misaki'. She said she died when she was still a student."

Misaki... Nijue Misaki.

I remembered immediately because I had seen it on Koneru's list, but her face was still vague in my memory. I think she was a plain and quiet girl like me... Honestly, that's about all I remember.

But, I see.

It wasn't Kujo. There's still a possibility she's alive.

That's a relief...

I was about to breathe a sigh of relief — when I suddenly realized.

I quickly clenched my fist and raised it.

"W-What are you doing!?"

I punched my own face with all my might. My lip split and blood came out.

Mirenia was flustered by this sudden act of self-harm.

I'm an idiot.

What am I feeling relieved about? What am I feeling at ease for? Just who do I think I am?

Did I think it was okay to never meet again if it was a classmate whose face I'd forgotten? That's not right.

Whether it's a classmate I barely knew or someone I knew well, there are many people who would be sad to never meet again. What right do I have to discriminate like this, who do I think I am? I shouldn't be judging based solely on how important they were to Saaya and Nagi!

"I'm such an idiot!"

"H-Hey, stop it!"

I really am a child. I'm still just a kid.

I don't know if Nijue Misaki was happy after her reincarnation. At the very least, she became a great existence, spoken of as a sage. Even we who reincarnated into the future know that she lived a tumultuous life full of love and adventure. She probably wasn't unhappy.

But still.

She might have had friends she wanted to meet too.

She might have been lonely.

To measure that by my own standards and indulge in self-satisfaction is such a shitty way of thinking—

"'Creation and Thought Manipulation'!"

My body froze completely.

It was only for an instant that I lost all freedom of movement, but in that brief moment, Mirenia had tightly hugged my head to her chest. Like a mother protecting her child.

This time, it was my head being patted.

"That's enough now. If the Master saw you like this, she would be sad."

"...Yes."

I felt a little guilty.

My battered face was roughly healed in an instant.

As soon as the wound healed, Mirenia immediately released her arms and freed me. She looked over my face to check if any wounds remained, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"If you're going to hit, couldn't you hold back a little more?"

"...I'm sorry."

"No, I was careless too... Was Karina's past life perhaps your lover?"

"No, she was someone I only knew by name."

"I-I see..."

Mirenia was suddenly taken aback.

Without knowing the circumstances, she probably couldn't understand the reason for my self-loathing. Let's just pretend it was a fit.

"Anyway, thank you for telling me. It helped."

"Is that so? Then that's good."

"More importantly, it seems your condition has improved enough to use skills."

"It seems so. Oof."

Mirenia got off the bed, making an old lady-like sound.

Although she could use skills now, she was still a bit unsteady, perhaps because her legs weren't fully strong yet.

And when she stood on the floor, it was clear that she had shrunk in height.

"'Threshold Compilation'"

Mirenia casually cast a perception manipulation spell on herself.

She intends to act as Chairman Millennium again.

"Mirenia-san, wouldn't it be better to rest until morning?"

"I can't. There's no time for that."

"...Is there some kind of emergency? Can I help?"

She's clearly not in perfect condition, yet she's trying to go out already.

As a fellow royal existence and junior disciple, I thought I should offer help if there was anything I could do — but.

"I don't need your help."

It was a clear rejection.

But it wasn't bravado or mockery.

I could see a steel-like, firm sense of duty in that small back.

"...But,"

"Thanks for taking care of me. I'll repay you someday. Well then."

Mirenia leapt out into the night darkness from the window.

Manipulating her threads, she flew away like a bird in an instant.

When she disappeared from sight, I closed the window.

"...In the end, no explanation at all, huh?"

From the beginning, it didn't seem like she was going to say anything, but it looked like she had no intention of telling me why she was sleeping here, why she was clearly weakened, or about her shrunken appearance — nothing at all.

I'm completely out of the loop.

It's like she's cold, or rather, she doesn't care about my feelings at all.

I don't know if I would be useful, but even if I could be, I felt a strange stubbornness that she would never let me get involved.

Well, I understood in just one day that she's not honest and is quite stubborn.

But still, that back of hers seemed very similar to a certain someone's.

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Author Notes:

  Afterword Tips ~ "Creation and Thought Manipulation" ~

  ["Numerology 3: Creation and Thought Manipulation"

   > An extreme-level numerology skill imbued with the authority of Blatt, the Third God of Life and Death.

   >> Able to manipulate the biological actions of living beings at will. Also, by dividing and bestowing one's own life to inanimate objects, free manipulation becomes possible. There are no restrictions on oneself, and all life activities can be manipulated.

   >>> While it allows control over the actions of all life in this world, as a trade-off, one becomes unable to create new life. The lonely master of puppets.]

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