John stared, his eyes wide. "That's- you- huh?"

"So you know what this is. Then, consequently, you must wield it. Or will you deny this once again?"

"Just because I know about something doesn't mean I have anything to do with it," John said defensively. "Like, I've heard that there are people who are interested in marrying kids. That doesn't mean I want to interact with those people."

"An… interesting allegory," Sofya said, slightly taken aback. "Regardless, I feel you are not being completely honest with me. You wield this power, do you not?"

There was a moment of silence. John wasn't sure how to respond. He was busy trying to figure out what to say. However, one thought eventually emerged from the mess in his brain.

"You… so you've sided with the Demon King," John said quietly. "You can't deny it anymore."

"That is possibly one of the strangest things I expected you to derive from this conversation," Sofya said, her tone betraying her surprise. "I was hoping to garner some of your trust, but…"

"My trust? Are you stupid?" John frowned. "The last guy to wield this shit was sick in the head! That motherfucker was making meat puppets! He got off to that shit! Do you even know what that energy does?"

"...no," the dragons said quietly. "Would you be so kind as to enlighten me?"

John forced himself to calm down. The situation had somehow been reversed. He was getting increasingly frustrated, while Sofya maintained a calm and composed attitude. Getting riled up was the last thing that should be happening at the moment. Unless—

[Infinity is disabled for the time being. Please wait a little longer.]

"Are we fucking for real?!" John yelled, punching the ground. "Ok. Calm down. Calm down."

"Are you… alright?"

"I'm not crazy. I'm not… yeah," John muttered, successfully calming himself down.

Right, all he could do for the moment was collect as much information as possible. Riling himself up wouldn't do anything here. He'd already played far too many cards in his hand, and his opponent still held a good number of unknown variables.

It was time to change that.

"Alright. Let's say I believe you," John said, his voice flat in tone. "Let's say you're genuinely just doing something that won't harm these kids. Why all the secrecy? What's the point?"

Sofya shook her head. "Look at how you've reacted. Do you truly believe I would avoid scrutiny?"

"But you're the headmaster-"

"I am their equal. Scholaris was never meant to be a place of superiority. What happened with Hikari was a shame, but we should all be mentors with the sole purpose of raising new generations of students."

"Does letting cultists in have anything to do with that?"

At that, Sofya's expression darkened. "No. I do not know how this has happened. The events regarding the cultists should've never happened."

John tried to stabilize his breathing without the dragon noticing. Things were going along well. He had no idea if she was lying or not, but she seemed genuine. At the very least, she wasn't trying to kill him or anything, something he now had to be wary of.

"Alright. I don't suppose you'll tell me what you need these kids for?"

"...I would not like to speak of it. To do so may give me a hope I should not have, and that… I apologize."

John frowned. A hope she should not have? Just what in the world—

Oh. Oh, great. Yeah, she was telling the truth. Hopefully, she had yet to realize John knew this.

"Alright. Last question, then."

"You do not wish to question my answer?" Sofya smiled. "Thank you."

"Sure. Whatever. Your power. Not mana. The one you just showed me. How did you get it?"

The headmaster frowned, closing her eyes. "That's- it was given to me. Anonymously. A gift, supposedly, one that would grant me a wish. I was suspicious at first. After all, it was just a small red orb. So I analyzed it, but… I couldn't figure out what it was."

"You just took a pill without knowing what it was?"

"Foolish, I know. But… well, it paid off, did it not? I still wonder where it came from, but… well, if all goes well, I will not question it."

"And if it doesn't go well?"

Sofya's expression turned dark. "Then I will take responsibility to the best of my ability."

"Things going wrong with a dragon can be pretty awful, you know," John pointed out. "You're basically a demi-god, aren't you?"

"There are those who can put me in check. I hope you will be one of those."

"Me? How?"

"You understand the purpose and origin of this power, do you not? That makes you more knowledgeable in this field than I. Even if you truly cannot wield this power… well, I hope you may advise those around you."

The headmaster stood up, preparing to leave. The door swung open, but before she left, she turned back. The cuffs around John's limbs fell to the floor with a clatter, stunning him.

"Wh- huh?"

"A sign of goodwill. I do not expect you to trust me. But I believe you are a kind being, John Quarta. Or, at the very least, one who is not evil. Besides, your sister would be saddened if you were put under a good amount of duress, would she not?"

The door closed behind Sofya, leaving behind a very confused John.

~~~

Three days had passed, and Prota was no closer to deciphering John's notes than she'd been before. This wasn't working.

To make matters worse, she'd been going out with the sole intent of searching for clues. Traces of strange mana, souls being in places where they shouldn't be, or clumps of mana in underground areas, anything that might give her a hint. So far, there was nothing, but that wasn't what was bad.

It was the fact that the rumours were still spreading.

Now, there was no Draco to blame. Yes, he'd technically started the rumours, but Prota didn't know that. All she knew was that she was still getting nasty looks. Whispers behind her back, students avoiding her in the halls, all sorts of things that were reminiscent of her time on the streets. She had yet to be actively attacked, but it didn't matter.

The feelings were slowly creeping back.

With no John to ground her, her mentality was slowly breaking down. The only thing keeping her going was her desire to find her brother; without that goal, she might've relapsed back into a shell.

Even with that goal, she might relapse anyway.

Today, she'd decided to spend more time in her room. She understood that it was her peers that were causing her to break down, and she was wise enough to know she needed breaks. She couldn't break out of the chains that held her down, but she could do her best to ease the tension of her bindings.

Instead of using the paper she'd given Destiny, she went back to the original note John had left in the system. The fact that there'd been a notification meant he'd sent it, surely. There was something he wanted her to figure out, something he wanted her to understand. She was a little mad he hadn't simply given her an answer, but there had to be a reason he hadn't done so.

She had to figure this out on her own.

Destiny had already cleared Arthur and Aurora. Their roommates had confirmed they'd been in their rooms at the time of John's disappearance. This left the Mystics and the headmaster.

All three were people Prota didn't want to investigate, but was there a choice?

Going back to the page of notes, she scanned John's scribbles once more. For some reason, Sofya's name had a bunch of question marks next to it. For that reason, Prota had analyzed every little thing John had written about Sofya, but there wasn't anything that stood out.

She was a dragon. She had a daughter. She was the headmaster. She'd founded Scholaris. All of these were things that made her unique, perhaps, but none of that seemed suspicious in any way. Prota couldn't understand why these were things John had felt the need to write.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Lupin and Leora weren't any better. They were members of Jinae's organization, but John had scratched that off. Was that supposed to mean he didn't think that was true? Or was that supposed to mean it was no longer a relevant point?

Prota sighed as she closed her eyes. No wonder John felt so hard to understand. If this was how his thought process went, his mind simply worked different than others.

She had to get herself into his mindset. Doing this would be bad, but letting John die would be worse. She had to picture the world as a [Story]. Everybody around her was a [Character]. Lupin, Leora and Sofya were potentially bad guys in this story of hers.

If she were writing a book, which one would she want to be the villain? What would be the most surprising thing she could do?

Unfortunately, she'd never written a book before. She didn't know what the answer to that question was.

Her eyes snapped open. Thinking in terms of [Story] wouldn't help here.

What Prota didn't realize was that having John's mindset would've helped her find the answer. Bias was still something present within her emotions, and bias was stopping her from finding the right answer.

In terms of pure logical weighting, Sofya was the most suspect. Lupin and Leora had something going for them, and that was the fact that John had already suspected them of being cultists. The fact that they'd been cleared once meant they wouldn't be used as red herrings again. Had John been present, he would've eventually realized this, but he was gone and already knew the answer to this puzzle.

Even without that understanding, there was simply the fact that John had far more notes for Sofya than he did for the Mystics. If John was leaning toward something, it was usually what he would go with. Prota knew this. Unfortunately, her appreciation toward Sofya was blinding her, preventing her from pointing her out as the guilty one.

The pieces of the puzzle were there. Prota was simply having a hard time putting them together.

But with time, she would get it. The question was, would she do it in time?

~~~

John had received increasingly favourable treatment over the past few days. He still had yet to be let out of his cell, but the meals Sofya brought were of good quality, and she came in often to chat.

To his surprise, she avoided talking about [Deus Ex Machina] energy unless he brought it up first. She did, however, often ask about his life in another world. The dragon seemed so earnest that John couldn't help but speak of his experiences, not just in his past life, but in lives in all sorts of worlds.

"So you're telling me… an infinite number of worlds exist?" Sofya said with sparkling eyes. "That anything is possible?"

"Well, have you heard of the multiverse theory?" John shrugged, sipping at a cup of tea. "There's two sets of worlds. This… this is actually stupidly annoying to explain."

"I believe I can understand the theory," Sofya assured him.

"No, not scientifically. Just… the logic doesn't really make sense, because two contradictory things can be true at the same time. Things can be impossible until someone decides they're possible, and then after that, it's always possible."

"I beg your pardon?"

John sighed. "Do you have pen and paper?"

Sofya stepped out of the room, the returned with the things John had asked for. He put the paper on the ground and began to draw series of venn diagrams.

"Ok, each little thing I draw is a universe. A universe can be defined as a physically bound world; as long as you have infinite time and infinite speed, you can reach any part of a universe."

Sofya nodded.

"Now, a multiverse is a collection of universes. You cannot physically reach another universe from your universe, but depending on the multiverse's laws, you can use quantum tunneling, portals, lightspeed, time travel, whatever, to reach another universe."

"Interesting. Very interesting," Sofya muttered. "This has been a proposed theory, but to hear it…"

"Now, the problem here is that there are sets of multiverses," John said, frowning. "Now, this is where things get complicated."

"Oh?"

"Are you aware that the hero is summoned from another world?"

Sofya nodded.

"Now, by my definitions, the world the hero is summoned from and this world as in two different universes. A multiverse of sorts. However, there is another multiverse that exists, both containing the hero's world and this world, but in that multiverse, a different set of things might happen."

"...what?"

The dragon was a little lost. John sighed. This was the problem with [Stories]. Every little daydream a person had turned into a [Story], and each [Story] was its own little world. This version of his [Story] was an offshoot of the original [Story], the one where Destiny was the hero and defeated the Demon King. A multiverse was required to have Destiny's Earth and this world, but then another multiverse had been created when John had came and messed things up.

Things got even more complicated when a [Story] acknowledge multiverses and time travel, because alternate realities made by fans would create sets of multiverses, infinite sets of infinity, on and on…

Great. Well, he had time to explain such a thing.

"Alright, let's put it this way. Let's say, in multiverse A, the hero wins, and peace is restored. However, in multiverse B, the hero loses, and demons take over."

"Is that not more in line with time travelling?" Sofya asked.

"You know about that? Great. There are some multiverses where time travel creates alternate realities, some multiverses where time travel rewrites the current reality…" John sighed. "Like I said, different places operate on different rules."

Should he just reveal the truth? That this world was nothing but fiction? That would make things easier to understand, but… no, there was no point in doing so. He didn't need to go that far in the first place.

"I see," Sofya said, staring intently at the drawings John had made. "How fascinating."

"This doesn't give you, like, an existential crisis or anything?"

"No. Although, I will say, it's a little hard to wrap my head around," Sofya smiled. "Just how did you find this out?"

"I made it up."

John stared at Sofya with a straight face. However, instead of being stunned, like John had expected, Sofya just laughed.

"I see," she said, standing up. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. Thank you."

"...why does any of this matter?" John said as Sofya approached the doorway. "I don't care if you know this or not. It doesn't change anything. But why are you so curious?"

The dragon stopped, turning back. "Well, the pursuit of knowledge is something any good scholar should have. Is there a reason to this? I suppose not, at least not in the way you're thinking of. I do not wish to do anything with the things you have taught me. It is simply to satiate my curiosity."

With that, the door closed, leaving John alone again.

~~~

Prota lifted her head. She was tired. Way too tired.

Tired of dealing with the constant stress of John going missing, tired of trying to figure out what he'd tried to tell her, tired of her classmates' whispers behind her back…

She was tired of being alone. She'd often call out to John, only to remember he wasn't there.

So when a knock came on the door, her heart lifted, hoping it was John. She knew it wasn't possible, but she wanted to believe it was. Unfortunately, it was only Destiny. Still, it was better than no one.

"Hey. You don't look too good," he said worriedly. "You… no, I won't ask that. I thought I'd let you know I talked to our professors. As far as I can tell, they aren't involved. Mr Lupin and Ms Leora have actually been looking for John. They can't seem to find anything, though."

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Um… do you mind coming with me?"

Prota's head came up.

"Look, I know what the students are saying about you. It can't be easy. But I can't detect demonic mana. Nobody can. We normally need devices for that, but if it's weak, it won't pick up on it… but you can, right?"

Demonic mana. Right, why hadn't Prota thought of that?

What if it really was just cultists all along?

"We would've asked the headmaster, but, well…" Destiny pulled out the sheet of paper Prota had given him. "She was someone John was suspecting, right? He must've been looking into her, if he was trying to figure out her weaknesses."

Prota flinched. She'd seen that. In the notes were questions about whether or not dragons had weaknesses, and if it should be looked into. She'd ignored that. John had a habit of analyzing all of his opponents. It was necessary, since he didn't normally have a way of taking honest fights.

But now that she thought about it, he hadn't been looking into the weaknesses of anybody else. Why had he singled out the headmaster? Why was he looking into a dragon's weakness specifically?

The answer was complicated. John understood Mystics to an extent, and he was also cautious of Sofya due to the fact that she'd exposed him against his will. Unfortunately, neither Prota nor Destiny knew this.

Fortunately, the wrong formula was pointing them to the right solution.

"Prota," Destiny said quietly. "I know the headmaster has taught you a lot. She's been your mentor. I'm not going to say you can't come along. We both know how that worked out last time. But… I'm not going to ask you to come, either. I hope cultists are the culprits. That would make things much easier. But if we have to fight her…"

Prota shook her head. Sofya was her mentor, yes.

But John took priority.

"Come on. Let's go check out the island."

~~~

Now that more than a week had passed, John was nearly confident that Sofya didn't have any ill intentions. He was still wary of what was going on; his pride wouldn't allow him to be tricked. But his heart was telling him that this might just be a misunderstanding.

And that made him nervous.

He was now considering the potential outcomes of Sofya being innocent. One outcome was that there was a bigger, badder threat on the way. This threat might kill Sofya and take the [Deus Ex Machina] energy, which would suck, but it was inevitable that John would have to fight something.

The worse option, however, was that Sofya was truly innocent and that no threat was on the way. If that were the case, what would John do?

"Hey, Zero," he said quietly. "Is it possible to extract [Deus Ex Machina] energy without… actually, how is it extracted?"

There was no reply.

"Fine. Be like that, bitch."

Still no response. Well, that must've meant the knowledge John required was off limits. Great.

What if he had to kill Sofya? How would that make Prota feel?

No. How would that make him feel?

He hated to admit it, but he'd gotten far more sentimental during his years as a student. If it had been him during the Town of Beginnings, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill Sofya for his memories. Even if he didn't get any comprehensible memories, the ability to get some more [Deus Ex Machina] energy would be a huge boon. It didn't matter if the dragon was innocent or not. She was a [Character].

But now, John wasn't so sure that was the right thing to do. He wanted to reclaim what was his. His heart, however, told him to wait.

"Hey!" he called out.

A few minutes later, the door opened.

"Is something the matter?" Sofya said, worried. "You've yet to ask for anything."

John grimaced. If he did this, he'd be giving away information to a potential enemy. But at this point, he was choosing to trust her. If he wound up looking like an idiot, then that was fine.

"Your powers," John said, his voice tense. "Do you know what they do?"

~~~

Prota didn't like what was coming next. She could feel knots tying themselves together in her stomach. Still, it was better than falling into despair.

That didn't mean it felt good.

Lupin and Leora had been summoned as well. After explaining the circumstances as well as John's theories, the two Mystics had readily agreed to help, should Sofya truly be the culprit behind the kidnappings.

No one wanted it to be true. But at this point, it would be better than never finding the culprit at all.

The headmaster had been absent from campus for quite some time. Nobody questioned it, since she was the headmaster, but in light of recent events, it only added to the suspicion.

Right now, though, it only served to help, since they'd need to check her office.

The door swung open without a sound. They stepped in, but nothing felt out of place. There were no magic devices, no magic circles, nothing that might give them a clue. Nobody could sense anything out of the ordinary.

That was, except for Prota.

It took everyone a few minutes to realize the little girl had been frozen in place, but when they all turned back, they found her staring with wide eyes at nothing in particular.

"Prota?" Destiny frowned. "What's wrong?"

She couldn't say. She didn't know what to tell them.

But in the air, in this office, were the ever-so-faint traces of John's unique energy. This wasn't proof that the headmaster had kidnapped him.

On the other hand, it was more than enough to let Prota know what would happen next.

"...it's her," she said quietly.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.