Chapter 389

“Where are you going?”

Leo looked at me with eyes full of anxiety. Seeing that, I became certain of one thing. He was worried I’d go off and get myself into trouble again—personally, I didn’t think I’d ever caused any trouble, but that was definitely the look of someone watching a guy who somehow managed to stir up trouble everywhere he went.

I rolled my eyes and pointed outside. Leo narrowed his brow firmly and replied.

“No.”

“Why not? What’s with you? Are you my teacher?”

“I’m your friend.”

“True enough. But that has nothing to do with where I go. Just wait three hours.”

“No. And you’re not getting the blood either.”

“…….”

I let out a long sigh and leaned my head against the sofa.

“Fine. Then I’ll stay here.”

I pointed toward the hallway in the distance. Leo glanced at the many doors lining it before fixing his gaze back on me.

“I’ll stay in your room. Just give me the blood.”

“This is my room.”

He gestured around the living room we were in.

“Who said I didn’t know that? You’ve got another room inside your room. I’ll stay in the study you lent me earlier.”

“What are you planning to do? I let you use it because I know you hate sitting in the living room all day—not so you could sneak off and do who knows what.”

“I think you’ve got a strange definition of sneak off. I told you everything.”

“No.”

Leo answered firmly, leaning toward me.

“You haven’t told me what you think you’ve figured out, Lukas. Did you find a way to save Heike?”

A way to save Heike? Not yet. I’m not a doctor.

All I’d done was trace everything we’d learned back to what I believed was the root of the incident. If I could identify the cause, perhaps there would be a way to turn things around—and maybe save Heike. But before I could answer Leo’s question, I first had to find out whether that cause could even be removed. I wasn’t even certain my deduction was correct. That was exactly what I needed to verify now.

I shook my head and answered calmly.

“There’s nothing I can tell you with certainty right now. I have to consider the possibility that my deduction is wrong.”

“If it is, we’ll correct it when we find out. Just tell me first.”

“I can’t.”

Perhaps my answer sounded too stubborn, because Leo narrowed his eyes.

“Why?”

“Because you…”

I started to answer, then fell silent.

Your words from that day keep replaying in my head. You said it was our duty to stop Pleroma’s prophecy from coming true. And ever since you resolved that ‘the life I lose is yours’—a resolve I still can’t fully comprehend—I haven’t been able to tell you.

I have the Extra Chapters. You don’t. What if you throw yourself into danger in the real world trying to help me?

“…….”

Then again, it wasn’t as though Leo couldn’t reach the same conclusion himself. My theory wasn’t based on information only I knew—it came entirely from information I’d already shared with him. So he might figure it out on his own. Even so…

I didn’t want to be the one who set that in motion. It would be better if I gathered information from that world first. Rubbing my forehead, I stared at the floor before speaking quietly.

“Because I understand how you feel now.”

“…What?”

“That’s why I can’t tell you. Satisfied? Now give me the blood. I’m going to take a warp mailbox and a notebook into your perfectly safe room’s study, lock myself in, and have a perfectly safe meditation session before coming out.”

Leo let out an unconvinced laugh.

“…If you’re taking the mailbox, that’s not meditation. Besides, can you really verify everything in three hours? That doesn’t sound possible.”

“You’re right. Of course it isn’t. This is just the first step.”

Leo closed his eyes with the look of someone who had expected exactly that.

“…Then why do you need the blood?”

“Like you suggested before, I want to get a better grasp of Ismailov’s nature.”

In truth, I was planning to enter the Extra Chapter… but it wasn’t exactly a lie.

When I looked at him after getting no response, Leo wore a look that said he wasn’t entirely convinced, though his expression hardly changed. The moment I blinked, he turned around, unlocked the room farthest away, and went inside.

A little while later, he returned carrying a vial of blood. I smiled at him as he silently handed it over.

“Thanks.”

“Wait.”

Leo stopped me just as I was about to get up.

“What now?”

“I’ll help you drink it.”

“No!”

Before he could even finish speaking, it felt like my soul had left my body. The texture of the glove that had pressed down on my tongue earlier came rushing back to me, followed by Abraham’s unsettling grin.

“Stop. Seriously, stop. No.”

“What? Why?”

“My common sense has shattered and is raining down from the sky…”

“…What is that even supposed to mean?”

“I’ll handle it myself. You don’t have to help.”

Leo looked at me in silence for a moment before asking quietly, “If you can control yourself, then maybe you don’t need my help. But what if something goes wrong after you drink Ismailov’s blood?”

So that was what he was worried about. It was probably the same reason he’d come up with the insane idea of making me drink 220 ml of blood before. After a brief pause, I shook my head.

“I’ve already confirmed it’s safe. I drank it right before I fell into the river.”

“…….”

Silence settled between us. I stared blankly out the window before Leo finally spoke.

“I figured as much.”

“…Right. The Senior doesn’t know, does he?”

“He didn’t say anything. He probably thinks your mouth got cut during the fight.”

Hopefully that was true. There had been two reasons I jumped into the river. One of them was to destroy the evidence. Whether I lost consciousness from the shock of falling into the water or from having my mana drained by Ismailov, I would’ve blacked out either way, so I figured I might as well wash the blood off my mouth while I was at it.

I removed the metal piece from behind my ear and placed the subjugation artifact into Leo’s hand.

“I’ll be taking this off for a bit.”

“Says who?”

“…….”

Stubborn bastard.

Ignoring his automatic objection, I wrapped his fingers around the artifact and closed his hand over it.

“Just bear with it for a little while. My heart starts racing whenever I drink blood. I’d rather you didn’t pick up on that.”

“Bit late to worry about that. You were already acting strange twice earlier today.”

“Exactly. That’s the problem. …Wait, why are you being so specific? Don’t you have work to do?”

Leo gave me a hollow smile and raised an eyebrow.

“Come to think of it, you still haven’t told me what happened.”

“…….”

That would be Abraham once and Narke once. I suppose I should be grateful my heartbeat spikes only when I drink blood. Either way, I had no intention of letting him know about either incident. Pretending not to understand, I gestured vaguely and waved him off.

“See you in three hours.”

I stepped into the study and locked the door behind me.

The potted plants scattered around the room somehow reminded me of the bastard I’d just left outside, which was mildly irritating, but there was nothing I could do about it. I sank into the high-backed chair, set the warp mailbox I’d taken from Nikolaus’s desk in the living room onto the table.

Clack—

The first thing I had become certain of after drinking Abraham’s blood today was this: Extra Chapters didn’t all work the same way. Especially S Stages.

Both Abraham’s Extra Chapter and Ismailov’s were S Stages. Abraham’s had a corrupted title and wouldn’t open at all. Ismailov’s, on the other hand, had an intact title—and had opened, if only briefly.

In Abraham’s case, drinking more of his blood didn’t change the Extra Chapter at all. That could have been because I still hadn’t drunk enough, but it was also possible that simply drinking more blood wasn’t the condition needed to unlock it.

Ismailov’s Extra Chapter, however—the one that had opened for just a moment…

‘It’s worth testing.’

I smeared a drop of blood onto my fingertip, sealed the vial tightly, took one long, steady breath, and brought my finger to my lips.

Whoosh—

“…!”

A blizzard. Again. Sunlight reflected off a world of pure white, stabbing at my eyes.

Frozen snow crystals slipped beneath my eyelids. It felt as though my lungs were freezing solid. A child with black hair, blue eyes, and a fur hat grabbed me by the shoulder.

“…Are you alright?!”

“Gah—”

I gasped in surprise, and the next instant my eyes flew open in the study once more. The scenes had changed so abruptly that I couldn’t immediately tell what was real anymore. It wasn’t until I took a couple of steadying breaths that I finally came back to my senses. Then it hit me, and I let out a laugh.

‘So that’s how it works.’

Unlike Leo, Mecklenburg, or Abraham, Ismailov’s Extra Chapter opens in proportion to the amount of blood I consume.

I took a long breath, swallowed another half-mouthful of blood, and quickly sealed the vial.

Whoosh—

“…Maybe it’s because it’s so cold? Your eyes unfocused for a second—I got worried. Are you alright?”

The same child I had seen earlier pulled me a little closer, looking bewildered. Just moments ago I had been standing in the warmth of spring. Now I was facing the biting winds of midwinter, and I couldn’t even move my jaw. On top of that…

‘…Right. Damn it.’

Wasn’t I a child now too? My cheeks felt noticeably fuller than before. It wasn’t just that my face had gone numb from the cold—even the way my facial muscles moved no longer matched what I was used to. Feeling my head spin, I judged my age from the size of the footprints in the snow and the fur gloves on my hands before giving up and looking at the young Ismailov in front of me. He was obviously just a kid. I probably looked the same. There wasn’t much point dwelling on it.

Pulling myself together, I dug up the only Russian words I knew—I’m okay and thank you. The moment I spoke, Ismailov’s eyes went wide, and he clapped both hands over his mouth.

“You spoke?”

“Hm?”

“You finally talked to me! ———!”

Throwing his arms wide, Ismailov spun around in circles before tossing his face toward the sky. His reaction was so over the top that I could only stare at him in confusion.

Wait… was I supposed to be the silent type? Had this world’s Lukas Askanien actually chosen not to speak?

‘Sorry, but that persona ends today.’

Ismailov was so excited that he bounced around before plastering himself to my side. I felt strangely disconnected from myself as I was pushed back so easily by the body slam of a kid barely 140 cm tall.

At the same time, I felt just as detached from this childhood version of Ismailov.

‘This feels strange.’

To think this was Ismailov as a child. The tighter my chest felt, the harder it became to breathe.

Anyway, I had questions to ask—but there was one major problem. I knew English, French, German, and, after coming here, Latin and Greek as well. Russian, however, I couldn’t speak at all. After moving my lips in hesitation, I finally asked my question in German.

“Are we… going to class?”

“Hm?”

“Class. Class… class.”

I cycled through every foreign language I knew, trying to find one he understood. The moment I switched to Greek, he clapped his hands.

“We’re going to prayers now.”

“Me too?”

“Of course! You’re a student here now too.”

“I’m not feeling well. Can I sit this one out?”

“Huh?”

“Not going. Sick. Achoo… ugh. Anyway, can’t I?”

“No! You’ll get in trouble. Really, really big trouble. We have to pray seven times a day.”

Ismailov gripped my arm tightly, looking genuinely frightened. I forced a smile that refused to come as I looked at the child’s cheeks, flushed red from the cold. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

No matter how I looked at him, this little boy didn’t seem like someone who would grow up to become that Ismailov. It reminded me of how I’d felt about Gerda Assmann. Pleroma had ruined countless lives beyond repair.

This wasn’t the time to dwell on that. I turned straight to Ismailov and asked the question I’d come here for.

“By the way… what’s your name?”

Mikhail Vladimirovich Ismailov. Since Pleroma had brought him in as their so-called messiah, that name was obviously an alias. I needed to know the name he’d originally been born with.

Ismailov frowned slightly.

“Don’t you remember? I already told you…”

“Sorry. I’m not used to Russian. Could you tell me one more time?”

“Ю́рий———.”

He kept talking, but I couldn’t make it out. Damn it. Native pronunciation. ‘Yuri’ was the only part I understood. I grabbed his sleeve.

“Could you say it one more time? Slowly?”

Clang, clang—

“———!”

The ringing bell and the loud shout ahead made me flinch. Orthodox monks were calling out to the children, waving them over. Ismailov—or rather, Yuri—grabbed my hand and broke into a run.

“Come on! Prayer’s already starting!”

As I ran after him, I memorized every letter written on the monastery buildings. I couldn’t read the Russian alphabet, but memorizing it first was better than nothing.

“Hurry, Lukas!”

I was Lukas here as well. Yuri grabbed me from where I stood at the entrance and dragged me into a small chapel off to the side. After yelling at me to hurry, the monks immediately started lecturing us not to run once we’d stepped onto monastery grounds.

‘Seriously…? I’m in the body of a kid who can’t be older than elementary school, and I’m getting scolded for running…’

Ridiculous.

Stepping into the chapel only brought another problem. I swallowed as I looked around the interior. It felt familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.

‘Well. Looks like I’m in trouble from the very beginning.’

I was familiar with Christian culture—even if I was an atheist—but that only extended to Catholicism and Protestantism. Eastern Orthodoxy was another matter entirely.

Let’s see what I actually know about the Eastern Orthodox Church.

It’s the world’s second-largest Christian denomination. After the Great Schism of 1054, the universal Church split into the Western and Eastern Churches, and the Eastern Church later came to be known as the Orthodox Church. Just as Catholicism is centered on Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy is centered on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

That’s it. That’s everything I know. My knowledge of Orthodoxy doesn’t go beyond general trivia.

So… how exactly are you supposed to pray here?

‘Hahaha…’

Do I know the answer? Of course I didn’t. The best I could do was sneak glances at everyone else and imitate them. The students lined up inside the chapel closed their eyes. After following suit for a few minutes, the monk standing at the front began to speak.

“———.”

It sounded like a common prayer with Jesus’ name in it. Unfortunately, Jesus was the only word I could recognize. The Russian students repeated each line after the monk. Then I heard a familiar name spoken in an unfamiliar accent.

“Lukas.”

I cautiously opened my eyes. The monk was pointing at me, sternly saying something in Russian. Yuri leaned over and whispered, “He’s asking why you’re not joining in.”

“――.”

The monk sternly reprimanded Yuri. As every student in the middle of prayer turned to look at us, Yuri cautiously answered in Russian. I couldn’t understand everything, but since the word “German” kept coming up, it sounded like the monk was telling him not to speak German here. Yuri, in turn, seemed to be explaining that I wouldn’t understand him otherwise. Then again, that was only a guess based on the three words I actually recognized.

In the end, the monk won the argument. Yuri lowered his head with a dejected look, while the monk pointed at me and launched into a long speech. By now, the students had completely stopped praying. The monk simply stood there, looking at me as though he expected me to recite the prayer.

‘Hmm.’

I glanced out the window, confirmed that the sun’s shadow was at its shortest, then turned my attention back to the suffocating chapel.

Sorry, but I have no idea what prayer the Orthodox Church uses at noon. More importantly, praying wasn’t my priority. I needed Ismailov’s full name, the name of this monastery school, and a few other pieces of information.

‘All right.’

Thinking I’d be able to learn one person’s name without much trouble had been my mistake. I didn’t speak the language, I was far too young for anyone to take my arguments seriously, and unlike what I’d done in Mecklenburg’s Extra Chapter, there was no abandoning school here.

In that case, I’d just leave, do my research, and come back. Let’s get out.

“…….”

I said let’s get out.

Nothing changed. I stared blankly for a moment before realizing what had happened and closing my eyes. The amount of blood I drank determined how long I was allowed to stay—but I couldn’t leave of my own accord.

‘If I drink too much at once, I’m screwed.’

And if I couldn’t leave to escape… no, study first… then I was screwed too.

I looked at the stern middle-aged monk and desperately searched for an improvised solution. Whatever was going through his head, he clearly expected me to stand there and recite a prayer in Russian. I had neither the intention nor the ability to do that.

Which left me with only one option: find out whether negotiations would work when you looked like a child who wasn’t even ten years old. So I copied the monk’s solemn expression, straightened my face, and opened my mouth.

“Teacher?”

Whoosh—

“…!”

I jolted awake on the sofa.

‘That timing is incredible.’

So that was all half a mouthful of blood bought me. I immediately got to my feet and pulled every book on Orthodox Christianity and liturgy from Leo’s shelves.

Twenty minutes later, after committing their contents to memory, I took another half mouthful of blood and entered Ismailov’s Extra Chapter again. My vision was dark. Just moments ago I had been standing. Now my forehead was pressed against someone’s chest. Small hands were patting my back. When I looked up, I saw the monk and Yuri talking with grim expressions, both pointing at me.

“———! ———!”

“…――.”

“――? ———!”

What’s going on? The monk waved his hand at me. At that moment, Yuri hooked an arm around my shoulders, sprang to his feet, and hurried me out of the chapel in an awkward half-support, half-drag.

“Where are we going?”

“So I wasn’t imagining it earlier when we came back from the village! You looked like you fell asleep standing up back then too. It was only for a reeally short second, though~”

Yuri was so excited he practically skipped as he dragged me along. I could more or less understand why a kid who looked no older than an elementary schooler would be thrilled. Kids liked any excuse to wander around during the day.

That, however, wasn’t what mattered to me. Right now, what mattered was learning this kid’s name—and everything else I needed to know.

“So where are we going?”

“You suddenly went all wobbly like this~ The teacher said you should stay in the infirmary for the rest of the day. That’s where we’re headed.”

“…What?”

Wait. Did that mean I wouldn’t get to see Ismailov today?

I couldn’t afford to wait an entire day. I wasn’t sure I even had enough blood left for that. If we had to part ways, then I had to ask him everything I needed to know now. I hurriedly grabbed his arm and started to turn him around. Or at least, I tried to. Yuri caught me by the shoulders and spoke in an unusually serious voice.

“This is our chance.”

“Sorry, but there’s something I need to ask you.”

“No, listen, Lukas. This is more important.”

“Is it? I don’t think so.”

“It is!”

Yuri blinked rapidly and leaned in until his face was right in front of mine.

“Did you hear what I said?”

“…No.”

This wasn’t the time for this. I frowned and swallowed hard. Grinning mischievously, Yuri scooped up a handful of snow and tossed it into the air.

“I convinced him that since you don’t understand the language, I had to leave with you too! We’re skipping class today! Yayyy~”

I stared at the elementary schooler in silence before scooping up some snow myself and throwing it into the air.

“…Yay~!”

Good. I’d bought myself some time.

Now all that remained was to get proper answers out of this elementary schooler before he ran off in some completely unpredictable direction.