Hermit Wizard

Chapter 46

Condition of Trust (1)

The desire to fill the psychological deficiencies would be more like a spontaneous impulse that a highly intelligent creature normally had. Eraser thought that the root of his own race’s abilities would eventually be the principle of expanding and stimulating those desires. The desire to trust and depend on was linked to the desire to escape doubts and anxiety when seeing the upside down—the desire to fill in the heart’s gaps devastated by negative emotions.

It became the prey for Eraser and his people. Absolute and overwhelming trust in someone. Psychological dependence left no room for denial or suspicion. Eraser’s race called this mental factor a prerequisite for brainwashing – The Seed of Domination. It wasn’t a coincidence that the Truth-Seeker used the same word as the one they created to open the channels. Eraser speculated that it was well-intentioned naming. The choice of words might reflect the psychological deficiencies and complexities of the people of his own race.

Jealousy and envy toward the Truth-Seekers who were closest to God among mortals. Yet, because they want to be like them, they might have stolen one of several words that symbolize the Truth-Seekers.

“Thousand Lord, I’ve heard from brothers and sisters who were patrolling near Yeouido.”

To the thoughtful Eraser, a middle-aged man crawled on his knees and fell down, stretching his limbs to the floor at his feet. Eraser didn’t know the Korean language that that man spoke. Still, he stared at him, who has already been brainwashed by Eraser himself and had erased all mental barriers with his twenty-three eyes. He picked up the meaning of the accident and saw the meaning of his words.

Besides the naked, superficial consciousness that had been revealed without barriers, a visualized form of a man’s consciousness and an image that spanned the boundary between the unconscious was visible to Eraser’s eyes. Those aggregates that could be seen without brainwashing the other person were emotions, memories, and old habits that determined how to think. Unlike the soul, with only words to be explained as mine, it looked like a lump of colorful light that filled the man’s head.

And what fills the man’s head with the most overwhelming size at this moment was what Eraser called the Seed of Domination. It was seen as a golden glow in Eraser’s eyes before brainwashing a man. After replacing the object of trust and dependence with Eraser, it turned into pitch-black, filling the man’s head and flowing down.

=What did they say?=

With the supreme majesty and solemn weight, he answered telepathically. Originally, this man and most of the humans who lived in the facility had the Seeds of domination toward the same object. The deep dawn of the day when Eraser stepped down from the barrier and looked around, the golden glow leaked out of the building and caught his steps.

The God that these puppets, who call themselves Thousand Years members, believe in was literally the Lord who ruled over a thousand worlds. Some of the humans couldn’t accept the sudden changes in this world, and they seem to have created a religion that believes that all these changes are the trials and tests of God. Regardless of the origin, it was clear that God, the central point of religion, didn’t exist. This is because humans pretending to be the highest priests in the group didn’t have a handful of divine powers. Furthermore, among the hundreds of believers who gathered at the facility and lived in groups, one of the fake priests couldn’t be brainwashed because of the lack of Seed of domination.

Even if the Thousand Lord were a real god, the divine power that a priest can borrow would be of little concern. A God who can influence only a thousand dimensions wasn’t as great as a deity. While Eraser was thinking about this, the man spoke with his eyes closed, with his forehead on the floor, without daring to look up at him.

“They found a suspicious person. It’s near the shopping mall, not far from the Channel. A man suddenly appeared, and they’ve been tracking him ever since. After observing with the mysterious eyes of the Thousand Lord, they can see that he is constantly attracting Mana.”

Found it.

Geerrrrrgh—

Eraser burst into laughter.

***

Eraser instructed to divide the followers who were pursuing the wizard in the field into two groups. A group to be bait, and a group to continue hiding and observing. Eraser smiled with satisfaction as he watched the man in front of him making a rushed phone call with the believers. Then he thought.

He found it faster than he thought.

After getting the information he wanted from the United States, Eraser made a plan to start a search around the Channel of Mapo Bridge to find the traces of the demon species found in this country and the wizard who summoned them. When he arrived in Korea and went to the Channel immediately after breaking up with the unknown group, Eraser’s move was forced to stop due to unexpected disturbances. Still, on the one hand, it was a half-success in itself.

A huge barrier that didn’t allow his own entry. What kind of wizard could maintain such a huge and powerful barrier…? At the same time, other life forms such as humans could enter without any hindrance. As soon as he found it, a thrill flowed through his body. Indeed, he was convinced that the wizard must have been the one who could summon the demon servant. His own target would surely be within this barrier, in this enormous magical fortress that the wizards of this world, who were still weak, wouldn’t even notice.

Instead of making the wizard wary by touching or shocking the barrier’s wall, Eraser quietly stepped back, looked around, and found this religious facility. And he brought the brainwashed humans into the barrier to patrol the area. He forcibly opened their eyes to mana circuits. He raised their stamina to walk without rest so that everyone would lose their lives within a week. Like the ones, he used as his pawns when he escaped from the United States.

After all of them died, he was thinking of looking for another group. Fortunately, the tail was caught before that.

=Make the bait group lure the wizard out of the barrier. Awkward words will raise his doubts, so run outside the barrier after the attack. I’ll give them more power. After completing the mission, you will not be able to bear the divine power, and your life will end. However, in the afterlife, you will live in the most blessed land of the worlds I rule. =

“Oh, it will be a great honor, Thousand Lord…”

The man trembled with emotion as if it were a blessing. Looking down at such a man, Eraser continued.

=If they fail to escape, do not resist anymore and be captured. Then, a group that was in hiding will trace the captured group to his base. =

Considering the properties of general wizards, when they see an unknown target who attacked them, they will try to capture it and reveal their identity and background rather than immediately removing them.

=You must be waiting in advance near the boundary of the barrier. Keep the hidden group observing and continue reporting the situation. Now, go. =

Eraser muttered inside as he stepped out of the building with a middle-aged man who would be the scene’s members’ contact point.

‘It would be easier if the wizard had the seeds of dominance like these. Well, the probability of that would be slim.’

***

Yusu came to me after discussing the details of the contract with the village. It seemed that the village didn’t get permission for all the contents discussed. We decided to add the disputed clauses later and agreed-upon contents which were completed in the contract. The most important thing for me was the prohibition of hostilities and the need to teach me the magic of Maek. The first may be because there was nothing to lose over there, and for Maek’s magic, it seems that they didn’t think I would learn it properly anyway.

Of course, this way is different. I had Parvache. No matter how unfamiliar it was, once the principle was taught, it was no longer magic if Parvache didn’t understand it. Meanwhile, Parvache was very satisfied that the size of strange objects such as Speech Dissolving Pearl, precious metals, and other material costs wasn’t reduced but adhered to the original proposal.

The content that wasn’t approved by the village was a part that prescribed more explicit content. As long as the big frame was finalized, we could take the time to adjust them—conditions such as who would teach me magic, for example.

“Now we just have to seal it.”

In front of the magical paper, the revised contract was read aloud again. The words of the covenant flowed out when Mana was blown into the paper. Spreading two contracts on the floor with only a seal on a blank sheet of paper, I magically signed on them. Then Yusu held a ceremony to borrow the village’s authority momentarily. After that, he pressed the tip of his elephant-like nose against the paper once. As he lifted his nose, a magical seal glowed on the contract.

“It’s over now.”

“It is.”

He and I shared a signed contract. Honestly, it wasn’t about whether I fully believed in them or not. There were many stories I hadn’t heard yet, and I hadn’t even seen the village called White Deer. But I believed in this contract. The contract judged that it was the truth that Yusu was recognized as the representative of the village called White Deer. After the contract’s signing, the multiple presences linked to this contract informed me that the White Deer village wasn’t a fictional place.

“I will make arrangements for delivery of the first batch of support items soon. It would be better to have more discussions there about how to teach the magic.”

“Then, all three of you are going back to Jeju Island, right? …Are you going to fly?”

I asked while glancing at Mrs. Pearl, who was still lying unconscious.

“Please leave Mrs. Pearl for now. Anyway, I don’t even have any inventory of flying in the sky. When she wakes up, wouldn’t it be better for the three of you to move back to your house? They probably have their luggage there.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

I realized belatedly and nodded. We should stop at my home anyway. Yusu looked at us.

“I have nothing left behind, so I’ll go back to White Deer first.”

“Aren’t you going with them?”

“I have work to do tomorrow, so I must reach White Deer today. I have to use a special method.”

“…Like that teleportation?”

“Exactly. If I use that method, I can’t move with them, so I should go first.”

I was going to say that they could get on the plane, but I swallowed it. Well, he was going to teleport, and I think the plane must have caught their eyes. However, if I interact with them in the future, someday this may cause some inconvenience, and not everyone will teleport like Yusu. I thought I had to teach them how to get to Jeju by plane. Then they will preach among themselves.

“Ah, well… it was nice to meet you.”

“I’ll see you again. I’ll do my best to quickly come to an internal conclusion on the terms that haven’t been discussed yet.”

“Please contact me whenever need be.”

After hearing that the magic of invisibility would naturally be released if he moved away from me, Yusu ??turned to a human once again and approached Garam. After a short conversation between the two, Yusu walked somewhere and disappeared. Looking at the direction he had disappeared, I asked Garam.

“Why didn’t you just leave for Jeju Island and walk that way?”

“…It takes a lot of effort to move through people’s dreams, like the way Brother Yu came from Jeju Island. We fill our strength by gathering dreams while moving around and pick one of our own people sleeping in White Deer to move there.”

“The sun is still bright, and there aren’t many people sleeping. You must find someone who is taking a nap, right?”

Parvache, who was watching it happen, asked Garam.

[The magic you use… is it the one that made a dream come true?]