‘What in the world is Space?’

Whistle’s first master had given an explanation that he couldn’t understand.

He’d said it didn’t matter if I didn’t know, but still, shouldn’t I at least know something if I’m going to use this power?

—The change that happened to you has awakened Whistle’s lost power.

‘But the change that happened to me…’

Until now, it was always Whistle who had changed.

Whistle would absorb power, Whistle would evolve and gain new strength.

But this time was different.

‘What exactly changed in me?’

Luca himself didn’t particularly feel any change.

The only things he noticed were the lingering rotten smell in his mouth and his body feeling a bit lighter.

Other than that, he couldn’t feel anything.

“Master. Did you get something from my first master?”

At that moment, Whistle asked.

Her appearance hadn’t changed, but for some reason, she seemed more mature than just a while ago.

Luca thought over the question briefly, then answered.

“A peach.”

“… Huh?”

“I received a peach.”

When he said ‘peach,’ Whistle fell silent, struck speechless.

“She said it was a fragment of your power. Called it ‘Space’, I think.”

“Space…!”

Whistle’s eyes went wide.

Then she spread her wings wide open.

“Master! If you can use that properly, you’ll be invincible!”

“Didn’t you say the same thing about the power of clouds?”

“I-I did?”

Whistle, flustered, but quickly regained her composure.

“Master. If you have ‘Space’, you can literally have infinite power!”

“Infinite power, huh. That sounds preposterous.”

“But it’s true. Space is the greatest power among the powers of the sky. Because it means the sky itself.”

At the words ‘the sky itself,’ Luca suddenly remembered the sensation of being in the middle of the universe when he got the power of Space.

“Lightning, Cloud, rain, wind, snow, sun. And encompassing all these, ‘Space’. These are the seven powers of the sky.”

“Huh…”

He’d known there were seven powers of the sky.

He’d seen it in the setting book of Celestial Etherna and in Whistle’s growth journal.

But what exactly constituted those powers hadn’t been listed.

‘Cloud, rain, and snow are basically the same, aren’t they…?’

He knew it wasn’t right to think scientifically in a fantasy setting, but such thoughts couldn’t help but arise.

Luca cleared his mind and asked,

“So, does Space let you use the other powers too?”

“No. Although it contains all the powers, Space is both everything and nothing. Space alone can’t do anything.”

“Then why did you say it makes one invincible?”

At that, Whistle started to say something, then cocked her head.

“Good question. Why did I say that, again?”

Yet again, another case of memory loss.

Luca let out a long sigh.

“Fine. I wasn’t expecting much anyway.”

“Oh… Ah! But instead, you can do something like this!”

Saying so, before Luca could stop her, Whistle created a cloud and pulled out Martin’s demonic eye from inside.

Then she swallowed it whole.

Gulp—.

“…?!”

Luca was so shocked he couldn’t say anything.

Whistle had previously said that absorbing a demonic eye was still impossible.

She’d also struggled when she absorbed the devil stone, so it only made sense.

But now, seeing her suddenly swallowing the demonic eye was bound to be shocking.

“Hm… It will definitely take some time to digest.”

“… Are you sure you’re okay?”

Unlike when she had barely survived absorbing the devil stone, Whistle seemed absolutely fine.

Luca made a slightly uneasy face at that.

“The sky accepts everything.”

“Accepts everything…?”

Luca looked dazed for a moment.

“Yup! Space can accept anything!”

“…!”

Luca immediately realized the significance.

‘Storage?!’

The protagonist’s signature power, storage.

It felt similar.

‘W-wait. Can this be real?’

It was a shock, as if he’d been hit on the head.

Even if it was a coincidence, obtaining such a similar power to the protagonist’s was astonishing.

Luca checked with her.

“Then, can you use the power of the demonic eye now?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

Whistle tilted her head, and Luca pressed further.

“You absorbed the power of the demonic eye, so can’t you use it as is?”

“No way. If you drop a single drop of water into the sea, it just becomes seawater. It’s like that.”

“…?”

Luca didn’t immediately understand, but then sighed and said,

“So… you can turn other powers into part of the power of the sky, but not the other way around?”

“The power of the sky means everything, so everything becomes the power of the sky.”

“Tsk. Make it simpler. It’s hard to understand.”

Luca clicked his tongue.

‘So, does that mean Space converts the energy of what it absorbs into the power of the sky?’

If so, it was different from the protagonist’s Storage.

Storage let you use what you put in as is.

“Well… still, it surely is a useful ability. Is there a limit to how much power you can absorb?”

“The power of the sky can accept anything, but your body, the one using it, still has limits.”

“So I can only absorb as much as I can handle. Still, that’s not bad.”

Luca clenched and unclenched his hand.

He couldn’t fully feel the power of Space yet, but if he could use it, it was certainly a useful power.

‘And with this… fighting Albino might actually be a stroke of luck.’

Luca’s eyes sparkled.

It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to fight Albino,

He was doing it only because he had to, to obtain Bern.

He wasn’t planning on starting a losing battle, but it was definitely a risky plan.

But now, with the power of Space on his side, the situation had changed.

Now, Albino’s White Noise looked like delicious prey.

“Luca! Are you ready?”

Just then, Ottbo returned.

Behind him were Hav and Moula.

Luca glanced at them.

“You two are coming as well?”

“But before that, Luca, will you come back after going?”

At Hav’s question, Luca shook his head.

“No. If I come back, there’s a high chance Albino would trace my movements, so I’ll just go straight back.”

“Then we’ll go with you.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you two to stay and protect the village?”

He thought it’d be better if the two stayed to defend the village.

But Hav just shrugged.

“Master told us to just go.”

“Huh?”

Then Bern appeared behind them and added,

“If the real Albino comes, it won’t matter whether they’re here or not. They’d be far safer by your side. I don’t want them put at greater risk by the villagers’ stubbornness.”

“That’s true.”

“And there’s nothing left for me to teach them now. They both seem to have found their own research direction.”

Bern gave a wry smile and patted Hav and Moula’s heads.

“You two will achieve even greater research than me. So don’t waste your time in a place like this—go do the research you want to do.”

Vmm vmm!

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

Luca checked it quickly.

—The hint has been updated.

[The Eccentric Alchemist, Bern Doyner]

—Meet Bern Doyner’s disciples. (○)

—Meet him personally with Bern Doyner’s disciples. (○)

—Gain Bern Doyner’s trust. (○)

—Help Bern Doyner overcome his trauma. (○)

—Protect Potro Village. (X)

It seemed that some conditions had changed.

‘I see. Originally, I was supposed to protect Potro village and gain Bern Doyner’s trust, then help him overcome his trauma from the Hyperhemia experiments, erasing his potential as a villain.’

By solving the previously hidden hints, their forms had changed.

Ultimately, the most important was protecting Potro village.

Just protecting Potro village at the end seemed to fully eliminate his chance to become a villain.

‘His trauma probably stemmed from the constant failures no matter what he chose—perhaps he overcame it by leaving the responsibility to me, his subordinate.’

By escaping the burden of decisions and responsibility, he seemed to have overcome his trauma.

On top of that, perhaps seeing his students Hav and Moula grow in decent ways gave him hope that his teaching wasn’t all in vain.

‘Not bad.’

Thinking so, Luca gave Ottbo a little nudge.

“Ottbo. Then could I ask you a favor?”

“A favor?”

Ottbo looked puzzled at the mention of a favor.

In this situation, he couldn’t imagine what Luca might want.

Luca spoke calmly.

“Make an investment for the growth of this village.”

“… What?”

Ottbo stared at him blankly at Luca’s sudden words.

“This will now become one of our organization’s bases. So surely you can spare some sponsorship for the development of our base?”

“O-our organization?”

“Yes. Our organization.”

At the words ‘our organization,’ Ottbo’s eyes went wide.

As Luca subtly emphasized it again, Ottbo’s face brightened.

“You’re right! If it’s for our organization, I have no choice!”

Ottbo immediately opened his wallet and looked at Bern.

“How much do you need?”

“… You mean money?”

Bern, thrown by the sudden turn, quickly started calculating.

Seeing as the village was busy just surviving, he’d never even thought about how much would give them some wiggle room.

After a rough calculation, Bern’s expression grew serious.

It was more than he’d expected.

‘Should I ask for less?’

He hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell Ottbo the real amount—he’d need that much to lay the foundation for the organization anyway, so might as well be upfront.

“With about this much, I think we could establish a decent foundation. Is that alright? At least as much as you can spare…”

Ottbo cocked his head at that.

Bern swallowed nervously, waiting for his answer.

It was shameless, but honestly, the more he got, the more he could achieve, so he was feeling hopeful.

After thinking it over for a moment, Ottbo immediately pulled several cash exchange cards out of his wallet and handed them over.

“Then I’ll be generous and give you this much, so use the rest sparingly.”

“…!”

They were again very flashy cards.

Bern gaped as he accepted them.

‘He’s giving all this money at once? Even if he’s a noble, for a kid like this…?’

Luca had also been surprised at the sight of those colorful cards and whispered to Ottbo,

“… Aren’t you overdoing it? Didn’t you just buy an auto-carriage?”

“No. That carriage was a gift for enrolling, and I still have some leftover S-class celebratory allowance and last month’s allowance.”

“… Wow.”

Once again, all he could do was marvel at Ottbo’s resources.

“Well then, we’re off.”

“Right. Take care, all of you. And thank you. I’ll put this money to good use.”

With Bern’s thanks, they left the village straight away.

Since they’d already said their farewells to the villagers, the four of them boarded the auto-carriage and headed for Bizen.

During the day, Ottbo drove as fast as possible, and when he rested, they switched to Baron Max’s auto-carriage for travel by night.

“This is faster than I thought.”

Luca looked at Baron Max’s auto-carriage with wonder, and Ottbo said self-consciously,

“I modified it a bit.”

“What?”

“The drive magic was old, so just a few tweaks improved efficiency a ton.”

That was why Ottbo had worked so hard to modify the magic stones until Luca woke up.

When it came to drive magic, his talent was unbelievable.

As Luca looked at him in amazement, Ottbo shyly changed the topic to Hav and Moula.

“Don’t you two feel a bit regretful? Leaving the village without even resting properly?”

“Hm? Ah… well…”

Hav scratched his cheek at that.

“… Honestly, after living in the city, coming back here was tough, so I wanted to go back as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. It was hard to adjust.”

Luca laughed wryly, remembering the meals in Potro.

“How did we even live in a place like that? When I make it big, I’ll turn it into a city.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I dunno. First… I’ll name the territory ‘Irid’ and think about it then.”

Hav blushed slightly as he said that, seemingly embarrassed.

Luca gave a small smile at that.

Hav’s temporary surname was, after all, ‘Irid’.

* * *

By using two auto-carriages, they reached Bizen at an unbelievable speed.

Of course, Ottbo’s efforts played a big part.

But when the four arrived at Bizen, they were horrified.

“What… happened here…?”

Bizen, nearly in ruins.

The countless bodies and collapsed houses created a bleak atmosphere.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“!”

At that moment, a thundering rumble was heard somewhere.

“Everyone, prepare for battle.”

At Luca’s command, Hav and Moula each pulled out their weapons.

Ready for battle, the party ran toward the source of the noise.

Boom! Boom boom!

Even as they ran, more explosions rang out.

With each blast, waves of magic power and tremors surged through the ground.

There was something ominous about this strength.

‘… I might have to use the power of Space before I even face Albino.’

It seemed a bit early for Albino’s officer to have arrived here already.

Even so, he hadn’t expected to meet someone with this much power already in a place like this.

Depending on the situation, it might be best to retreat.

Just as Luca thought this and reached the area near the roaring explosions—

Flinch!

“?”

Luca froze.

The figure in the distance looked strangely familiar.

“L-Luca. Isn’t that hair color…?”

Next to him, Ottbo asked in a panic.

But Luca felt the same.

Because the man swinging his sword over there had the same hair color as Luca.

“… Brother?”

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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