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Jeongjae, who had succeeded in translating Moriarty’s notebook, roughly outlined the story in his mind. All the events began when James Moriarty discovered that a supernatural being known as the ‘Unicorn’ was still alive on Earth.

At that time, the British Empire’s ships touched every corner of the globe. As colonial plantations thrived, countless people left the British mainland in search of new lands. Naturally, many poachers, more focused on turning any rare creatures they found into cash rather than preserving their biological value, sought after these creatures.

The powerful beast, the Unicorn, was not a creature that could easily be captured by humans. However, the world Jeongjae found himself in was quite different from this Caprice continent, as the mana that formed the atmosphere was almost sparse. The Unicorns, weakened from not absorbing magic for many years, had become easy prey for humans armed with guns.

If those poachers had been just simple ruffians, the situation might have been a bit better. They might have only gone so far as to dissect a corpse to sell or have made a meal of it without recognizing its value. But the white captain who successfully captured a Unicorn was one of the professional pirates operating with Moriarty’s support.

The captain, who had captured the Unicorn in the forests of South America, decided to sell the extraordinary creature to a crime lord who might pay a good price rather than killing it or disposing of it on his ship. He was well aware that the ‘Professor’ had an interest in rare creatures, artworks, relics, and anything peculiar, and was willing to pay a high price.

When James Moriarty saw the Unicorn brought alive to London, he was overjoyed to discover that its horn was real and purchased the creature at a high price. Until that moment, Moriarty had no knowledge of the Unicorn’s identity, but after slightly grinding its horn into powder and discovering the immense energy it possessed, he began to sense its extraordinary potential.

Moriarty concluded that utilizing the Unicorn’s magic could even help him achieve his long-dreamed ‘world domination.’

“Hold on, may I ask a question?”

Margaret interrupted Jeongjae’s summary and raised her hand, standing up. Jeongjae, who had been nodding while reading the contents of the summarized notes, replied.

“Uh, what question do you have?”

“Are Unicorns still alive in your world? Is it true that only Unicorns survive in a world without elves, orcs, and dragons? This is a creature that has already gone extinct here in Eramenia!”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen one in my life either.”

“That’s peculiar. Perhaps the Unicorn might have found living in a world with too much mana less safe than one without it. Please, continue.”

Jeongjae nodded in agreement with Margaret’s words and continued sharing his summary.

Although Moriarty had managed to acquire the Unicorn, the existence of such a rare creature’s trade would inevitably leak information somewhere, and it was only natural for hunters to pick up the scent of that information. The news of James Moriarty purchasing a ‘horned horse’ at a high price reached Sherlock Holmes, who had planted spies in the alleys of London, and Holmes showed great interest in this unique news.

While Moriarty discovered that he could continuously extract dangerous powers from the creature called the Unicorn, sadly, the extraordinary energy extracted from the Unicorn’s horn powder could not maintain its form for more than a short time before it was destroyed. Eventually, Professor Moriarty succeeded in devising a mana storage device, the ‘Moriarty Machine,’ to retain that power, using it to begin accumulating the strength of the Unicorn.

“Isn’t there a production method for that machine in here?”

Margaret interrupted again with another question. Jeongjae nodded with a regretful expression.

“I don’t know. There are so many terms and sentences that I can’t make heads or tails of. Even as someone whose mother tongue isn’t English, I can’t decipher it. If it were more like formulas, I could somehow attempt a translation, but most of it is written in Moriarty’s own language…”

“That’s unfortunate. So, there might be clues regarding what the Demon King is after hidden in the parts that failed translation?”

“That’s highly likely.”

“Then the notebook becomes an incredibly important asset that we must protect. We have no idea when we might succeed in interpreting its meaning, and we can’t know what might happen if that information falls into the hands of the Demon King.”

It was information that couldn’t just be destroyed or allowed to fall into enemy hands. Anyway, Jeongjae realized that with just the clues in the notebook, he couldn’t replicate James Moriarty’s masterpiece.

After developing the Moriarty Machine, James Moriarty continued to successfully harness the powers of the Unicorn, but eventually, Sherlock Holmes got a whiff of it. Though Holmes didn’t fully understand the research Moriarty was conducting, he sensed that something extremely dangerous was underway and, with the help of his brother Mycroft, ambushed Moriarty’s residence for support from the British government.

Although they didn’t succeed in capturing Moriarty or gathering evidence against his crimes, during the shootout, Holmes accidentally shot and killed Moriarty’s Unicorn. With the death of the Unicorn, Moriarty could no longer accumulate mana, and to eliminate any evidence, he incinerated the corpse of that rare creature, starting to devise plans for world domination with only the extracted mana left.

In fact, the relic known as ‘Harriet’s Glasses’ was originally an invention of Moriarty, and it was an item that Holmes had seized when he broke his alliance with Moriarty and exiled him from the Empire. Given that Moriarty had plotted to dominate the ravaged world with magical power using the precognitive abilities of those glasses across three world wars, it wasn’t hard to understand why Holmes would steal those glasses away.

“After that, the former Hero and the former Demon King waged a fierce battle against each other, and in the end, it was after a fierce brawl by a waterfall that the Demon King’s Unicorn mana exploded, opening a passage between the two worlds and sucking in both of their souls.”

Margaret succinctly summarized Jeongjae’s story. Jeongjae nodded while handing over the notebook he had translated.

“That’s the story. For more detailed information, read it directly. Except for the complex machine design details I mentioned earlier that I couldn’t quite grasp, I should have translated everything properly.”

“I’ll take it to my father and confirm it together. Thanks for the valuable information. And while listening to your story…”

Margaret, who carefully accepted the notebook Jeongjae handed over, suddenly slumped down in her chair, looking exhausted.

“I’m getting curious about your world. You said guns, right? The one that killed the Unicorn.”

“More precisely, it’s a pistol.”

“You called it a small cannon.”

“A small cannon that can fit in your hand. Most people would find it hard to hit a target with that, but I feel like you’d be superb at it. For some reason, I have that feeling.”

Jeongjae pretended to hold a pistol in his hand. Seeing Jeongjae’s gesture, Margaret mimicked the act of holding a pistol and shook her head with a smile.

“I don’t think it will be easy. If it’s really as small as you say and can fit into a pocket, then the barrel must be quite short. The longer the barrel, the easier it is to hit a target. I’m doubtful that a barrel that short could defy the effects of the wind and get the bullets to fly right.”

“Well, that’s why everyone says it’s hard to aim a pistol properly. But our world doesn’t have magic, right? The people who make them are probably considering how to create more accurate weapons all day. They must have thought of ways.”

“That seems likely. Humanity never fails to progress when it puts its heads together and focuses on something. As for cannons… if those weapons are useful in that world, they’ll naturally develop.”

Now that I think about it, the Audrich Empire had very few quantities of gunpowder and cannons, but I had never heard of Eramenia using cannons even once. Suddenly curious, Jeongjae asked Margaret.

“Margaret, doesn’t Eramenia have cannons?”

“No, not at all. There has never been and likely will never be one.”

The Eramenian princess answered firmly. Jeongjae nodded.

“Surely, being a forest race, you’d have some aversion to firearms.”

“That’s exactly the reason. We don’t know how to make gunpowder, but we absolutely detest using fire for anything other than cooking. To fairies, fire is frightening and something to be overcome. In fact, there’s almost no culture of using strong flames in cooking either.”

Despite this, Jeongjae was receiving quite a lot of hearty meals since coming to Eramenia, but he had already noticed that, compared to the other fairies, he was the only one being served meals requiring more fire, which seemed like a special treatment for a guest. Just as Jeongjae was nodding in understanding of Margaret’s words, she started rolling her eyes nervously and stuttered.

Noticing something strange in Margaret’s expression, Jeongjae decided to speak up.

“What’s wrong, Margaret? If you have something to say, just say it.”

“This story must not be leaked outside. At least not until the war is over.”

“I understand. You can trust me.”

Margaret’s serious tone made Jeongjae’s demeanor grow solemn as well. Taking a deep breath, Margaret set her determination.

“In this invasion, I plan to fight fire with fire. For that, I will need your help.”

“Uh… when you say to fight fire with fire, what exactly do you mean?”

“I mean it in the most literal sense. When the enemy’s flames come bearing down, I’m thinking of starting a fire using your fire magic to manipulate the flow of wind with magic, minimizing the fire’s damage.”

“You want me to set the forest ablaze in Eramenia?!”

Jeongjae exclaimed, shocked. Margaret bit her lip and nodded.

“I can’t think of any other method. The fire from a dragon and your fire magic have the same properties. Once they start spreading, they’re not easily extinguished until that dragon is caught. But if over ten dragons come flying, it’s practically impossible to hunt them all down. The only way is to at least injure them severely and then drive them away.”

“So, you want me to use the magic circle for fire magic to create a fire in the forest to block the spread of dragon flames?”

“That’s also asking you to create a sort of barrier with your flames. If there’s nothing to ride, fire cannot spread. And besides, if what stands in its way is the fire magic maintained by another being’s mana, even a dragon’s breath would not be able to feed off your flames to grow any bigger. I’ve thought about this quite a bit, but there really doesn’t seem to be any more effective way.”

Jeongjae was genuinely surprised. Though he had somewhat adapted to the human world, he still wasn’t nearly as bad off as other fairies, yet Margaret absolutely detested fire. Even when she had to set fire to the village for a scorched earth policy or used fire magic against an enemy, her face would reveal an uncontainable mix of disgust and aversion that was hard to hide.

That’s why Walter was always extremely cautious and delicate when he brought up using fire magic in front of Margaret. Even though she had never rejected a warrior’s strategy for personal reasons, she had never liked the idea of burning something with fire.

Jeongjae understood just how difficult it was for Margaret to propose this idea. The elves had such a deep aversion towards firearms that they wouldn’t even touch them despite knowing how to make gunpowder. It was obvious that there couldn’t possibly be any type of weapon capable of setting fire to the forest in dire straits.

“I get it. I’ll do it. Just set a place where I can hide properly. If the other fairies misinterpret my intentions and attempt to attack me, it would be troubling.”

“Don’t worry about such things. You shouldn’t worry about how the fairies will criticize you afterwards.”

Margaret confidently stood up, thumping her chest.

“I will take all the responsibility. I will bear all criticism, blame, and resentful glares for deciding to set fire to the forest. So just follow my orders without worry. I will make sure no fairy can blame you for that.”

“Margaret.”

Jeongjae’s voice was heavy. Feeling the powerful emotion mixed in his voice, Margaret furrowed her brows.

“What is it?”

“Accepting your proposal is my choice. Even if that might be a command, whether to follow it or not is still my choice. Likewise, if setting fire to Eramenia is necessary, that is also my choice, and the responsibility for that choice must lie with me.”

Margaret’s eyes widened at Jeongjae’s words.

“I couldn’t even properly look at the magic of that fire, but I don’t want to run away from the responsibility of having done it. Walter understood from the very beginning that I was that kind of person. Margaret, I believe you would understand me better than anyone else.”

“That’s right. Of course. I had forgotten. I’m sorry.”

The fairy princess spoke, avoiding Jeongjae’s gaze shyly.

“I’m really sorry, Park Jeongjae. I became so absorbed that I forgot something so important. I usually seem oblivious, but I would never push my actions off onto others, no matter what happens. I can’t believe I forgot that part of you that I cherish the most.”

“There’s no need to go that far…”

“Then let me tell you what you want to hear.”

Margaret placed a hand on Jeongjae’s shoulder.

“Please do me this favor. If I ask you to set the forest ablaze, then do it, and if I ask you to fight against the dragons, I hope you’ll fight for me. Whatever you do, whatever fight you partake in, bear the responsibility for your own actions. However, if a burden becomes too heavy for you to carry alone, call for me. I may not be able to take your burden away…”

Margaret removed her hand from Jeongjae’s shoulder and gently patted his back.

“But as a friend, as a ‘friend for now’, I will share that burden with you.”

 

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