Lily slammed her hand on the desk and abruptly stood up.
“It’s unbelievable!”
This was the second time she shouted, but the astonishment in her voice hadn’t diminished at all.
“Arthur being a descendant of yours? Where did you get such a lie?”
“Look at this first.”
The Chancellor waved his hand.
Then, from a corner of the bookshelf that occupied one wall of the Chancellor’s office, a piece of paper flew over.
Upon receiving the paper handed over by the Chancellor, Lily realized it was a photograph.
“What is this…”
The photograph captured a cheerful woman smiling brightly.
Her gray hair shimmering in the light and her intelligent gray eyes.
Lily instantly understood that this person was somehow related to Arthur.
Even her cheerful smile that seemed to brighten up the surroundings was similar.
“…Who is she?”
“My wife.”
Lily frowned and looked at the Chancellor.
“What, do you think I didn’t get married?”
“…”
Sensing the silent agreement, the Chancellor clicked his tongue.
“…Anyway, it was a few hundred years ago.”
Even now, when he closed his eyes, the memory of those days came vividly to mind.
The happiest time in his life spanning several hundred years.
Recalling that time, the Chancellor subconsciously smiled warmly.
Momentarily wiping the smile, he opened his eyes and said in a rigid tone.
“Arthur’s name comes from mine. To be precise, he might be Arthur Carpendel Junior or Arthur Carpendel III… it’s been so long I don’t even know which generation he belongs to.”
At that, Lily shook her head.
“I can’t acknowledge it. You could be lying.”
“Would I lie about having descendants?”
“Perhaps you’re trying to manipulate me through Arthur.”
“…True.”
Indeed, it had been his intention until he knew the truth.
“It isn’t like that anymore.”
“Did you do that before?”
“Even now, thinking about whose daughter you are makes me shiver.”
This time, Lily was speechless.
Lily also despised the type of actions the Chancellor referred to regarding “who” deeply, so if the man before her was his victim, there was nothing Lily could say.
The Chancellor then spoke to such Lily.
“Anyway, now that I know Arthur is my descendant, I have no intention of harming him. I would like you to take note of that.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
“Guess I need to show you rather than explaining a hundred times.”
The Chancellor concentrated.
Then chains floated above the Chancellor’s body.
The golden shining chains were visual representations of all his oaths.
From the ones that had faded with time to the ones that were still fresh and shining.
Lily observed the most recent one, placed at the top.
“I, Arthur Carpendel, swear by my soul and my name, that I will do everything for the safety, peace, and happiness of my descendant Arthur Carpendel.”
Lily had a bewildered expression.
“…A soul oath?”
“Yes. Is that convincing enough for you?”
If something can’t be trusted when a person stakes their soul, then what can?
“To protect Arthur means to protect you as well.”
Lily gave him a questioning look.
“It’s only natural. Honestly… though I don’t like admitting it much, it seems Arthur cares deeply for you. So, if something happened to you…”
Arthur would definitely lose his mind. Both Lily and the Chancellor knew that.
“Therefore, I’m also willing to do my best to help hide your true identity.”
“What about your friend Hypnos?”
“Friend… well, we can deceive Hypnos sufficiently. The problem is…”
“…Nodens, right?”
“Yes, Nodens.”
Though an Elder God who advocates for horizontal relationships, everyone knows the practical leader is none other than Nodens.
Whether by force or by power, Nodens is the entity in the Elder Gods that should be most vigilantly watched.
“The planet you were on is a place Nodens visited several times, and many people trust him. If rumors about you spread, it’s only a matter of time before you’re found out. I heard you had an argument with Nodens?”
Lily nodded.
“I nearly got wiped out.”
“…What?”
Humans might not know, but the current universe and dimensions are the battlefield of a great power struggle.
The power struggle between the Outer Gods and the Elder Gods.
In terms of strength alone, the Outer Gods had a significant advantage.
The so-called Deputy King Yog-Sothoth, lurking at the boundaries of dimensions, was an asymmetric power in his existence alone.
Of course, there were entities more problematic than him—”It”—but “It” is a being transcending all boundaries.
The issue was that the real leader of the Outer Gods, Deputy King Yog-Sothoth, didn’t get involved in the war.
Yog-Sothoth wandered through collapsing universes and dimensions, maintaining the balance of the expanding dimensions.
Though few entities within the Outer Gods knew the specifics of his actions, there’s a saying that if he were to stop, all dimensions would rapidly fall into ruin.
Therefore, Yog-Sothoth must be excluded from the forces.
By excluding him, the strength between the two forces became balanced.
So, the situation was precarious, and the fact that it nearly got to the point of annihilation was surprising.
“Nodens must have gone mad. Did he intend to start a full-scale war with the Outer Gods?”
“I don’t know.”
The Chancellor fell into deep thought.
Nodens’ sudden attack.
Nyarlathotep’s interest.
The heavyweights of the great powers that bisect dimensions had somehow exerted direct or indirect influence on the dimensions.
‘Was it just a coincidence of events? Or a harbinger of something bigger?’
Suddenly, the Chancellor recalled the prophecy of the Necronomicon that he had last interpreted.
‘…Could it be?’
Something broke the Chancellor’s reverie—it was Lily’s voice.
“…Are you done?”
“What? Did I hear wrong?”
“Are we done with this?”
Though the Chancellor had mountains of questions remaining,
“…Yes, we’re done.”
He decided to ask the rest later.
Besides, he was starting to worry about his descendant waiting outside.
“By the way, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell Arthur about this discussion.”
“To what?”
“I don’t want Arthur, who’s getting along just fine, to be disturbed unnecessarily.”
The content that his remote ancestor was alive and was the Chancellor of the Academy wasn’t something easily digestible.
“Besides…”
The Chancellor glanced bitterly at Lily.
“He seems perfectly happy already.”
Arthur with Lily truly seemed happy.
It was as if he was observing his own past self in the photograph alongside her.
The Chancellor didn’t want to unnecessarily burden Arthur with difficult questions while he was so happy living what appears to be an ordinary life.
He would stay in the shadows, protecting Arthur so he could experience the happy everyday life the Chancellor himself hadn’t.
Lily silently nodded and deactivated the barrier.
Then, she gave the Chancellor a complicated glance before opening the office door.
“Are we done?”
Arthur, who had been waiting at the Chancellor’s office door, approached.
“Yeah, we’re done. Let’s go get lunch.”
“Isn’t it a bit late to call it lunch now…?”
“Then we’ll delay dinner.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Lily, who instantly transformed into a cat, and Arthur who cradled her in his arms.
Arthur bowed his head to the Chancellor.
“Then, I’ll take my leave. Thank you once again for your help.”
While observing Arthur’s bowed head, the Chancellor struggled to move his lips.
“…Yeah, enjoy your lunch.”
Not wanting his heart to become more complicated by continuing to look, the Chancellor ended the conversation there and closed the door.
At the closed door, Arthur looked down at Lily.
“<What was discussed in there?>
“Just… a talk about my identity.
“…Is that so?”
Arthur felt there was something suspicious about Lily’s attitude but,
“<Isn’t lunch more important? Is there anything specific you're craving?>
“Everything Lily makes is delicious, so I can’t choose.”
“Hmph, isn’t it obvious I’m a great cook then?”
Lily with her head held high, and Arthur smiling at her smugness.
It was clearly a topic diversion, but Arthur decided to go along with it, trusting that Lily would tell him if it were something dangerous to his person.
“<Hmm... I feel like having Old One today.>
“That’s ‘Old One,’ right? Consider it ordered.”
After Arthur and Lily left, in the Chancellor’s office.
Though the Chancellor had been in a similar situation before, something felt different this time.
It was like… it somehow felt…
“Lonely.”
The Chancellor gazed down at the photograph he held in his hand.
Tracing the cheeks of the woman in the photograph, the Chancellor let out a deep sigh.
“…I thought all the connections to you were severed. And yet, even after centuries, they remain unbroken.”
The Chancellor closed his eyes again and reminisced about the past.
The happy times, and the “hounds” that cruelly cut everything short.
That night, he left his young daughter alone in order to escape from those “hounds,” and even after all this time, it remained a thorn in the Chancellor’s heart, no matter how much he justified it as an act of love.
Still, whenever he thought about leaving his daughter behind, his chest would ache.
The Chancellor got up from his seat and went to the window.
Lifting the empty teacup, he chuckled to himself.
This teacup, hastily filled with plain water moments after inviting Arthur, still contained clear and transparent water droplets gathered at the bottom.
With a flick of his hand, the Chancellor began to boil the water.
Heaving a deep sigh while listening to the bubbling sound, the Chancellor recalled a scene from before he returned to the Academy.
A blizzard-laden night.
Grumbling to himself against the unexpected snowstorm as he trudged along, he arrived in front of an iron window.
Lifting his head, the Chancellor stared at the sign above the iron window.
The faded blue sign read,
“Blue Peace Orphanage.”
