By the time Irina finally had enough peace to sit down and think, she had already begun to regret the decision. Not because anything particularly bad had happened, quite the opposite actually.
She sat quietly within the endless library, both legs folded beneath her as she stared at the shelves stretching farther than her eyes could see. The familiar silence surrounding her should have been calming. Instead, it made her think.
Let's see... where did it even start going off script again?
That was the problem with relying on the novel, but she faced that realisation with Megose already. Yet still, the sheer idea that three entire new pathways existed threw her off completely. So much that the mere thought of ever meeting someone of her pathway didn't even—ever—cross her mind before.
For the longest time, the novel had been—and still was—her greatest advantage. She knew what was supposed to happen, who was supposed to appear, which people were dangerous, which events could be avoided, and which ones absolutely could not. Even when she couldn't interfere directly, simply knowing what came next had allowed her to prepare herself, even if said events presented themselves with slight differences.
Tingen had been chaotic, but manageable. She had met Klein, Leonard, Dunn, Daly, Old Neil, and the others. She had learned more about the world she had once only read about, discovered the strange connection between herself and Alexandria, and started using the Sefirot to her advantage. She had even encountered Amon far earlier than any sane person would have wanted to, and oh boy, wasn't that a day to remember—and fear.
Chuckling quietly to herself, she couldn't help but shake her head at the memory. To keep my thoughts at bay, I only thought about being a Nighthawk and the spicy novels I had borrowed from the library... I even called him handsome to his face! Multiple times as well! Kinda... I was just thinking it, but it was Amon, so... also, it was more like I was thinking of a lot of random stuff just so that I could keep my thoughts from spiralling and mentioning the original novel, now that would've definitely put me in trouble...
Not the reason why I'm here! Focus Irina, focus!
Drawing in a calming breath, she relaxed further into the plush couch. The sea. Keeping track of the multiple events was easy for a while. Except for when I derailed at Bansy Harbor, but that was my own curiosity. Yet still, nothing major really changed even then.
At first, Irina had simply followed Klein's journey, helping where she could while trying not to interfere with events that she knew were important.
And, of course, there was Danitz.
Irina stared blankly at the small table in front of her. Danitz.
Her lips twitched. She remembered the first time she had thought of putting him in a maid outfit—and then when it had actually happened.
It had been an entirely reasonable decision. At least, that was what she had told herself.
The black dress, the white apron, the frills, the gloves, the ribbon, and finally the headband had all come together perfectly! Danitz himself had looked utterly resigned to his fate while Irina calmly adjusted the clothes and fixed his hair.
Then Klein had decided right that moment to open the door, and the pirate had looked as if his soul had left his body
The resulting silence had been magnificent, and Irina basked in it while using her clown-inspired magic to keep her exterior calm while adding the final touches to the headband. To think the outfit was paid for with HIS own money as well!
Danitz had immediately panicked, stammered that it wasn't what it looked like, and fled into his room as if the mighty Gehrman Sparrow himself had become the least of his problems. And he's terrified of Klein, yet he dared to run away from him that day!
Irina still remembered the expression on Klein's face. Honestly, that alone was worth it. She smiled stupidly at the event.
But the amusement couldn't last forever.
There had been more serious matters to deal with shortly after, ones she had never seen before in the novel.
A Beyonder of an unknown pathway, a sequence five nonetheless.
At first, she had assumed the problem was simply that she didn't recognize the person, but that assumption had lasted approximately five seconds.
The moment her eyes landed on him, it became obvious that his pathway was something completely unknown. His abilities, particularly the lantern and those strange chains, were completely outside of the realm of information she possessed. His ability to absorb the spirituality—permanently increasing his own—and even the soul of corpses was already terrifying enough. The fact that he could slowly do the same to living people was infinitely worse.
And those chains are another problem entirely. She had tried to analyse them with her spirit vision and received almost nothing. That alone should not have been possible.
Her ability to obtain information from objects had never failed her like that before.
Klein eventually reached her same conclusion, that being that the chains were probably living creatures rather than ordinary objects, more likely part of the beyonder's own body, which only made the entire situation more disturbing.
But the worst part came later, and it was Klein's words to her when they were both alone. Apparently three pathways had appeared roughly fifty years ago: Bookworm, Sentinel, and Adventurer.
Irina had stared at him in silence. She still remembered the sensation perfectly. It wasn't simply surprise, no, it was the horrible realization that the foundation she had been standing on had cracked beneath her feet—again.
Her own pathway was one of them, which, in hindsight, should have been obvious. Far be it for her pathway to be singular like the Wheel of Fortune. The likelihood of having an adjacent one should have been clear to her long ago.
Sighing, she let her body fall sideways and land on the decorative yet soft pillow. Megose's inevitable arrival and Klein's unexpected one as well completely stopped me from thinking long-term.
The Bookworm pathway wasn't something ancient and well-established that she had somehow forgotten. It was part of a group of three relatively new pathways, connected in ways she had never known about.
And, according to what Klein had learned from Azik, every ten years certain beyonders would suddenly receive knowledge concerning these pathways. They would obtain the formulas and names of the sequences up to their current one, along with the names of the next two sequences.
That alone was completely unheard of on her part, but Irina immediately understood the more dangerous implication. A beyonder of any other pathway had absolutely no use for them, not personally at least. But what they could do was sell it, or give it to someone else.
All of this led to one singular realisation. A mid or high-sequence beyonder of any of those 3 interchangeable pathways always had a similar or even higher beyonder backing them.
So much for being a convenient little side pathway she had luckily been born as. Stupid past me for not asking more questions to Dunn or putting two and two together.
But the icing on the cake had come not even a week later, and it was her damn necklace. Irina's gaze slowly dropped to her chest. That stupid piece of pretty, cleanly cut green glass just sat there looking harmless. Utterly risible!
It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary piece of jewellery, something that could easily be overlooked among countless other objects. Even when she had examined it herself, she had found nothing unusual. Klein had divined it in Sefirah Castle and received the same result.
No spirituality. No obvious abnormality. Nothing. Nada. Nix!
And they had both been wrong.
To think that this ridiculous necklace contains not one, but three—goddam THREE—sequence one characteristics! One for each of those interchangeable pathways: Bookworm, Sentinel, and Adventurer.
Or more accurately, Equilibrium, Sanctuary, and Void.
Sighing loudly, she turned her gaze to the ceiling's endlessly swirling mass, remembering the knowledge she obtained when first absorbing the gem. I only wanted to travel the spirit world with Klein, yet I ended up absorbing this piece of glass by mistake. I guess all the names, potion formulas, and rituals up to sequence one for all three pathways are the right reward for that scare.
Right. Wonderful. I just casually have three sequence one characteristics sitting inside a necklace that neither spirit vision nor divination can detect.
It was an excellent card, that was true.
It was also an excellent way to attract higher sequence beyonders that were very much stronger than her and Klein's combined strength.
At the very least, she now only needed the ingredients, which Klein had found later at a gathering and bought for her, leaving her in his debt due to her lack of funds.
Well...
On the bright side, Alger is terrified of me, so maybe he'll give me some money if I ask kindly? Or should I demand it instead? That would definitely fit my identity of Goddess-stuck-in-a-human-body far better!
A sudden laugh burst from Irina, dragging her thoughts back to the present.
The memory had resurfaced so vividly that she couldn't help herself. Alger Wilson, the Hanged Man, a pirate captain, had squealed when she simply tapped his shoulders.
Irina covered her mouth, trying—and failing—to calm down. Oh, great Heavens, may the Goddess forgive me, but I'm going to remember that forever!
But, sitting just nearby, Danitz had apparently witnessed enough of the interaction to construct an entirely different reality.
Irina still wasn't sure how his mind had managed to travel from "Alger is terrified of Elena" to "Elena is Gehrman Sparrow's girlfriend and is cheating on him with Alger." There wasn't even a logical bridge between those two conclusions, but Danitz had somehow found one.
According to him, they had even walked away hand in hand like lovers.
Irina had nearly choked when she first heard the story.
Ahh... good memories indeed. I should get back on track though. I owe Klein seven thousand pounds. Standing up on the couch, she leaned over its back to look down at the small stack on the ground.
"Barely a thousand..." She whispered to herself, definitely not enough. For perhaps the first time since arriving in this world, she had genuinely encountered a financial crisis.
Cushioning her head in her crossed arms, she let her gaze travel to a random bookshelf at the side. I can hunt down some pirates while disguising myself as someone else, that way Elena can remain a "weak" persona in the eyes of others, and I can have my great reveal when in a dangerous situation. I wonder if that will work with the idea of being a "forgotten mage".
I wonder if there's some other ways to make money, like for example... she pursed her lips, thinking hard of a possible way, but this wasn't the modern world where she could simply guugle a question and receive an answer. Nor was the internet available so she could create some kind of service, like maybe something in education, or business, or politics, or entertainment, or... entertainment.
This world could definitely do with some more of it, it's not like Roselle managed to plagiarize everything. He did introduce the idea of a maid outfit, though.
He truly was a man with his priorities straight, huh.
Her brain decided that Danitz wearing that same black and white frilly dress was the most appropriate image to think of at that moment.
A smile slowly appeared on her face.
Maybe I should put him in that dress again. I wonder if I can make some money off of it...
She paused, her smile dropping. No, that is completely unethical, and most definitely pirate abuse.
At the same time, she remembered his proud expression when he had accused her of cheating on Gehrman with Alger.
A moment later, the smile returned, even wider than before.
On second thought...