Dang~
Da Da Da-
Dang-Da Da-!
A lively tune played in the air.
The note flowed smoothly through the air as two thick fingers gracefully pressed the piano keys.
Dang-Da Da-!
It was a simple tune, and yet… it played wonderfully in the air.
The tune continued to play for several more minutes before finally coming to a stop.
“Good, you’ve improved quite a lot.”
“Ah, master.”
Scratching the back of his head, the young child looked down embarrassingly.
“You weren’t able to play the tune in the past but look at you now. You’re becoming smarter and smarter by the day. How about it? Do you feel the changes?”
“…I do.”
The child replied, his voice sounding a little deeper than it had been in the past.
A couple of years had passed since the day he had been brought into the room and trained with his master. He was now thirteen and his body had undergone several changes. He was bigger than he was in the past, his frame larger and his muscles bulkier.
“This is all thanks to master.’
The child’s thoughts were now clearer than before.
He could speak fluently, and he absorbed all information like a sponge.
And all of it was due to the miraculous drug his master had fed him. Without his master, he’d be nothing.
“Tell me what the changes are. How strong are you now?”
“…I’m not sure, but I am on the verge of developing a domain.”
“A domain by the age of fourteen? Not bad, not bad at all.”
The child, who was now a teenager smiled happily.
“I’ve done my best.”
“You’ve far exceeded my expectations. I think it’s almost time for you to go out.” “Out?”
A look of excitement flashed in the teen’s eyes.
For the past few years, he had been stuck within the room, training and learning every single day. A day hadn’t gone by where he didn’t think about the outside world, the place where he came from.
He wanted to see grey skies outside.
He wanted to feel the cold once more.
…And most importantly, he wanted to breathe in the fresh air of the outside world.
“With your newfound powers, you’ll soon be facing more responsibilities, my child. It won’t all be sunshine and rainbows.”
“It won’t…?”
“It won’t.”
The master shook his head, walking towards the teen who now stood taller than him.
He pressed his hand against the top of his head.
“You’re still too naive, but with your newfound intelligence, I know you’ll see through what you couldn’t see through in the past. It’s only then that you’ll take over.”
“Eh?”
The master smiled.
“…The day won’t be far when you become the next head of the House of Astrid.”
*
“So the energy is about to run out of the box and it won’t be long before the puppets start to
attack this place too.”
“…That’s… correct.”
The old man nodded his head while fiddling with the box in his hands.
“How long do you think the box has?”
“A day… maybe two?”
“What?”
I covered my forehead, feeling a headache coming.
“…If that’s the case what was the point in making us go through everything that we went through?”
Sure, we were now more resistant to the threads, but what did that even matter? I was sure we’d be able to last a couple of days.
“You wouldn’t last that long.”
“Uh?”
“…The mental deterioration that… with each thread multiplies with each string on body. Your mind… it will become very foggy.”
“Okay.”
But I still felt like we’d be fine.
Staring at the old man who seemed to have aged even further, a thought occurred to me.
‘Maybe, rather than ensuring that we’d last more, he did it because he can’t last very long.’
He wanted to create hope.
In case he wouldn’t last, he wanted for us to last.
Perhaps, we were the last hope he had in solving this entire situation.
‘Haha.’
This old lunatic.
…He really was shy.’
I looked around me and saw Kaelion and Caius show similar understanding looks. The old man paused and frowned before he clicked his tongue.
“Three idiots, you are three idiots.”
Crossing his arms, the old man sat down on the ground with his legs crossed before sighing.
“Was I hoping for too much? Why did I getting idiots like them in my last moments? Should I
just giving up all hope?”
With a resigned look, he pursed his lips.
“…I should give up.”
I shook my head at the sight of him.
So not only was he a lunatic and a shy person, but he was also a drama queen. The more I got
to know the old man, the more eccentric he appeared.
In any case,
“What should do now?”
“Mhm?”
“…You said that you had an idea about the mastermind. Since we only have a couple of days left until the box runs out, shouldn’t we try to figure out how to find the mastermind or
escape this place?”
“Ah, right.”
Stroking his beard thoughtfully, the old man opened his mouth as if to speak, but then
hesitated. His eyes seemed to search the air for the right words, before closing his mouth
again in silence.
Looking up at us, he licked his lips and closed his mouth again.
“No, it’s not time yet.”
“What? What do-“
Tap, tap.
Tapping onto the ground beside his, he closed his eyes.
“Rest for now. I’ll let you know when it’s time.”
From that moment forward, he stopped speaking.
I tried to say something to him, but…
“Uarrkh―!”
His loud snores drowned out my voice.
Left with no choice, I could only sit down on the ground and rest.
What else could I do?
*
When one becomes smarter, the world becomes different in one’s eyes.
Everything suddenly looks more clear, and they start to pick up the underlying things they
previously couldn’t in the past.
“Hey, isn’t that…?”
“Oh my god, it’s that guy. I thought he had died.”
“He’s that retard.”
People he once used to think of as nice people suddenly didn’t feel so nice anymore.
From their words, facial expressions, and actions.
It all suddenly became clear.
‘… They were making fun of me.’
But why?
Why would they make fun of someone for being a little stupid?
What was wrong with being a little stupid?
“How are you doing? I thought you had died. Did you get better at cleaning? Is that where you lef-“
“Is it fun?”
“Uh?”
“…Is it fun to laugh at those unable to think properly? Attacking someone for what they lack is
the lowest display of power one can have.”
A stupid person was still a person.
And there was no greater disability than the inability to see a person for what they were truly
worth.
“What sort of non-“
“I’m no longer the same as I was in the past. I can see through your words, expressions, and meanings. I am smarter than you will ever be, and the same is true for my power.”
Words flowed out of the teen’s mouth.
The more fluently he spoke, the
shocked the people became.
It was a memory the teen deeply imprinted in his mind as this marked the day he changed.
The day people learned to value him not as a stupid person, but as a smart one. “You have nothing that I want, and I have everything that you would want. I want you to keep
watching me. Watch as I climb a spot you’ll never reach. Watch as someone you once made fun
of becomes the very thing you wished to become.”
With such words, he left.
…And he stayed truthful to his words.
With the aid of his master’s pill, he was able to rise up in power very rapidly. He became
stronger by the day, and smarter at the same time.
He became so smart that everyone around him looked stupid.
‘I can see it now.’
That was also when he understood.
‘…I can see why people used to make fun of me.’
He didn’t know when, but he had also started to laugh at them like they once started to laugh
at him. But that wasn’t the thing that hurt the most.
The thing that hurt the most was the fact that he also found himself laughing at how he used
to be.
That hurt.
It hurt so much.
With brains, he started to learn of other emotions.
He learned of arrogance, and his previous naivety dissipated. All sorts of intrusive thoughts
entered his mind, leading to endless obsessions.
He tried to get rid of them, but the smarter one was the more obsessed they became.
Suddenly, he felt trapped within his own mind.
‘I’m slowly falling apart and losing sight of what makes me… me, and it scares me. I don’t want to not
be me.’
It almost felt like he was looking at life through a window.
Still, he found a way to clear his mind once more.
He saw a light within the dark tunnel of his.
‘…It’s close, I can feel it.’
The tunnel to the next tier.
The fabled Zenith.
So long as he could cross that level, he could be free.
If only…
“I… don’t have much time to live.” Things always happened unexpectedly.
“I am so happy with what… you became.”
His master.
“You’ve exceeded all my previous hopes, and I hope you’ll lead the House into an era of
prosperity…”
The one man who had nurtured him into what he was, died at the age of sixty-seven.
From that point forward, he became the Head of the House of Astrid.
That day…
His prison sentence extended.
*
“Wake up—”A low voice shook me out of my dreams. When my eyes opened, a long thick
beard appeared right above me and I almost had a heart attack.
I was just about to complain when a hand pressed against my mouth.
“Keep your voices down.”
Looking up, I saw the old man staring up with an extremely serious expression.
My heart sank then.
‘What is happening?’
When I looked around, I saw Kaelion and Caius stare in the same direction as the old man with
similar expressions to his.
For them to act like this…
“…It’s almost time. Get yourself ready. It’ll soon be time for you three to leave this place.”
Before I had the chance to speak, the old man spoke over me.
“I… don’t have much time left.”
His voice shook, but it was clear.
“…It’ll be over once it gets me, but… this is also the best time for you to solve this.”
He lowered his head to look at me.
“With all its energy focused on me, the puppets will not be very reacting. Free them and let
them and bring them out of this place.”
My eyes widened in realization.
This guy…
“But you- “
“It’s okay.”
The old man smiled.
“…I am the Head of the Household. It is my job to make sure everyone is free, even if it costs
em life. Em have been prepared all along. I just didn’t have the people to help me. Who
would’ve thought three idiots would showing up all of a s.. sudden?”
He chuckled and looked at the three of us individually.
“Em is happy to have met you all.”
For a moment, his image overlapped with that of the child in the first vision.
He…
“…If one needs to be stuck, let it be me.”
…Never knew who the mastermind was.
He had been lying the entire time.
From the start, he planned on sacrificing himself.
He waited until the very last moment when all focus was on him to get us to free everyone and
leave this place.
From the very first moment, he saw no hope in himself.
He pushed his hand forward.
Bang-
The door blasted open, and I felt a powerful force push me up.
“Go.”
“Ukh…!”
In the last moments, I turned around to see the old man smiling. Right then, several dozen threads manifested from above, all latching onto his body.
The last thing I heard before getting pushed all the way up was his frail, yet proud voice. “Free… them all, idiots.”