"You can control the Heart of Winter, then."
It wasn't that I hadn't expected it. To be precise, I didn't think the Northern Wizards, including Knox, had joined hands with Lorenz out of pure goodwill. If the 'Heart of Winter' was completed according to their plan, they would be able to obtain eternal life. Knox wanted to transcend even death to satisfy his endless longing. That heart must be his most important goal right now.
However, it wasn't something easy to make. Knox's research on this had lasted for hundreds of years, and countless people had been sacrificed. Even so, they still couldn't leave this cold land to avoid their corpses rotting, let alone achieve eternal life.
"What you expect is usually correct. You're smart," Knox said with a smile, as if he was making fun of me. "Of course, our arrogant Emperor finally thinks he has taken possession of this lawless land. Will you keep the secret?"
Lorenz was an enemy, and Knox was also an enemy. If the two of them fought, I would welcome it. However, if I had to choose one of the two to deal with, I wasn't sure.
"I will consult with Your Highness and decide."
"Ahaha. You were going to put a condition that you keep a secret!"
"You must have thought it didn't matter anyway."
"That's right." Knox pressed my shoulders and laid me down on the test table. The cold air peculiar to iron beds flowed into me. "You have a lot of questions for me today, right?"
I nodded as I remembered last night's conversation. "To be honest, I have to think about where to start."
"Well, think about it slowly. I'll ask you questions first." He looked at me with a cautious gaze. It was more like looking at a magic item than looking at a person; it seemed to be filled with emotion. "Kid, you said you were a hamster. Can you freely transform several times a day?"
"...No, it is not."
Knox narrowed his eyes and looked into my eyes. "Can you see into the future?"
"Yes."
"Can you survive only by changing that future and interfering in the affairs of this world?"
'What the heck? How does he know that?'
I had never said that I was dead, and I was moving to come back to life. He never said anything about that. It was also a clue that made it easy to catch a weakness, and if I had to tell him, the way to release it was to get even one more piece of information.
"You have to answer." Knox gently grazed my neck. I felt like my neck was burning.
"...Yes."
He was silent for a moment. As he thought about something, he circled around me. However, it seemed that the information obtained from me was organized in his own way.
Knox's thin lips fluttered several times. Seeing him mutter things like 'mediation', 'embodiment', and 'master', it seemed clear that he was thinking about me.
"This is a personal question, boy." Knox placed two pale gemstones at my bedside. Rather than gemstones, were they more like fist-sized stones? Then he quickly recited a few spells in a language I didn't understand. The stones began to tremble.
"What's the name of your power?"
"...."
"The power to break the providence of the world, the power to break fate and pioneer. That power is called 'an incident.'"
I stared at Knox. The stone was still shaking like crazy. How did it work like that? I didn't know. Even if he explained it, I didn't have the confidence to understand. It's just that intuitively, that power was some external force that resembled my power and his power. I just felt it.
"I'm not surprised."
"Because I already knew."
"As expected."
I wasn't obligated to answer his questions obediently, but since I had heard something, could I tell him about it?
'It's not great.'
I responded as calmly as possible. "Miracle."
Knox pursed his lips and repeated my answer. "Miracle, huh."
"Yes."
He picked up the stone with a casual hand. Then he handed me a stone. "Squeeze it."
'What is it? Isn't it dangerous?' When I glared at him instead of accepting it obediently, he chuckled and laughed.
"If you are nice, I will reward you, so hurry up."
"Am I an app?"
"Isn't it? It's so small."
"You're ignorantly big! And isn't this short?"
"But it's better than me..."
"Give it to me, that's it." I quickly snatched the stone from the ugly bastard's hand.
Cold air gushed out from the cold stone as if it had been carved out of ice. It flowed into my body on the table. As I held it still, the blue light began to fade away. It was all gone. The faint light remained, grown to a certain extent.
"About 8. No, it's closer to 9%?" Knox muttered.
'8 percent? 9 percent? What is that...?'
'Wait, my miracle percentage is... now.'
[Current miracle figure 88.1%]
'…Did you measure this?'
I didn't know what the principle was, but I felt like I was being caught inside somehow, so I got goosebumps. I asked, waving the stone slightly in front of him. "So, what's the prize? Please explain the principle of the experiment. Why should I cooperate with strangers like this? If it's for a beginner, it should be easy enough for you to understand."
"I've never explained it to someone who has so little knowledge of magic." Knox smiled slightly. 'Oh, I just want to hit him.'
"Medium."
"Yes?"
"It's a medium, you. To be exact, your body. That hamster."
"It's a northern vole."
He is the Grand Duke's precious companion. Of course, hamsters and northern voles look similar.
"Anyway, it's no different in terms of being a beast in this world." Knox shook his head, as if that wasn't the point. "The boundaries of the world are supreme. It's not that I don't know about the existence of other worlds... Just because you want to move a being to another world doesn't mean you can do it easily. It means."
"Isn't there an accident or a miracle? So you didn't come over, did you?"
"Well. No matter how great a miracle or an accident is... Breaking down the walls of the world twice, I can't. If a world is imperfect, I don't know."
Something came to mind at those words. According to Knox... Could it be that this world is an imperfect world? In my standards, this place was more like a kind of fantasy.
Seeing my serious expression, Knox pressed his forehead with his index finger and smiled. "This is an issue that needs more research. So don't worry too much, kid. You have to find out what is forbidden in the Nan Palace to solve your intuition, so you have to quickly understand this principle. The point is not how great a 'miracle' is, but that the world you came from and the world you are in now are imperfect, and the world that surrounds you?"
"What about that?"
"I said I was a medium. Bringing your existence to this world without shock means that the medium is the northern vole. In other words, it is also called the incarnation body. In order to reduce the repulsion of souls in this world, your soul is first planted, and then your original body is gradually increased and brought out."
'Is that why the skill name is 'Import'?' It was a somewhat convincing explanation.
I slowly sat up and nodded. "That's plausible."
"There must be someone who can help you. You don't seem to have a talent for magic, so it's not about using it, it's about communicating and getting help."
Anyway, I'd spied on the System and my conversations a few times, so I guess I expected it enough. I nodded as I looked at the stone that had completely lost its light.
"He's a good guy."
The System responded happily to my words.
[(＾Ｕ＾)ノ]
However, Knox was different. His face, which was always disoriented, had a cold, expressionless look that was rare. He shook his head and asked me, "Do you really think so?"
I replied sullenly, "Isn't it worse than that?"
"It's just that you and I feel that way because your and my wills are conflicting."
Knox bowed to me. His white hair fell like a curtain, creating a shadow over his face. "Kid. Do you trust your colleagues?"
[o(TヘTo)]
[Your Friendly System!]
A blue light flashed between Knox and my face, then shook violently because of his interference.
"It's a bit too much to do with a colleague. That's not a person."
"He talks to me normally."
"You can leave traces of your personality. Rookit is the same way. To be precise, only 'will' or 'purpose' remains. The rest were empty."
"I don't know what you mean." All the words about wizards, such as sorcerers, are abstract. I looked at him with a sad expression. When I answered, Knox giggled and laughed, as if he didn't expect it.
"That means giving up the expectation that you're a complete person or a person, kid. I advise you not to believe it sincerely."
"...."
"A desperate heart can be prey. Gradually ruined, wielding according to the great will, you're going to be reduced to a tool."
"Like you?"
Crazy about academic enthusiasm, he abandoned all his humanity and struggled to obtain eternal life. A monster. In my eyes, Knox looked just like that. Swallowed up by the desire to know something, it only destroys the surroundings endlessly.
However, Knox shook his head excitedly, as if he didn't really want to agree with me. "It's more like a 'funeral director' than me. He's on the verge of being completely ruined. Now the coffin doesn't even come out of. Thanks to that, other guys are taking on all the work."
"...."
"I guess I'm going to die of curiosity, but I can't do anything more than that. I'm still asking today's question. I didn't, so I can answer about three things."
Knox smiled as he bared his teeth. "Choose carefully."