Labyrinth City Mesugaki Pawn Shop

24. Collision (3)

Can entropy be reversed?

“Isn’t it a funny story that even the monkey hand, which is said to grant all wishes, does not know the answer? Cluck.”

If the increase in entropy is likened to growing older, reversal is a concept close to a miracle, like going back in time and turning an old man into a baby again.

That must have been the reason why Hayden had the idea of turning back time in the first place.

Because the act of turning back time itself produces the same result as the reversal of entropy.

But the monkey’s hand was half a penny that Hayden couldn’t fulfill his wish.

“Of course, I didn’t make a conclusion based on that alone. Tried it once with another one. Again, it was a very simple question that could be answered with a yes or no.”

“What did you wish for?”

“Are all the non-trivial zero points of the zeta function on a straight line?”

“Chew.”

It is the world’s most difficult problem and a highly recognized problem that even I, who was not interested in mathematics, know about.

It was the Riemann Hypothesis.

I hit my forehead at the question that seemed to drive me crazy. Damn, that’s why the monkey hand was about to explode.

‘f*cking wizards’

Wouldn’t he have said that if the monkey’s hand were here right now?

Why does it seem like every person I meet is missing one or two screws in my head?

“So I concluded that monkey hands cannot grant all wishes. What is omnipotence in not being able to properly solve this proof?”

“What if I just asked for a lot of gold…”

“Huh? Isn’t that not very fun?”

“Ha… No.”

I’ve given up on understanding this mage.

“And above all, it is dangerous.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know what the moneylenders on the black market who pay 130 percent interest a year have in common with monkey hands? It means mortgaging the future.”

“It means paying the price.”

“It is not an ordinary price. 2 Do you know how the man who playfully begged the monkey’s hand for a gold coin got the money?”

“How did you get it?”

“My son died and 2 gold coins came out as compensation for the death.”

“…..”

It was a heinous price to pay.

“It’s only 2 gold coins and that’s the price.”

“If you solved the reversal or proof of entropy properly, would you pay the price, Mr. Hayden?”

“Isn’t that natural?”

Hayden muttered quietly, his eyes shining as if they were stained with madness.

“I should have listened to that answer even if I had to sell my soul. That’s what a wizard is.”

“Eh… I don’t really want to do that, Master…”

Beans!

A staff that flew from somewhere hit Yerica’s head hard and was sucked into Hayden’s hand.

“Uhhhhh…”

“Tsk tsk, it seems like the basics of being a wizard aren’t even there. If it’s for the truth, it’s not enough to jump into a fire with oil on it! “

Yerica muttered through her tears.

“…. Frame.”

Beans!

Leaving Yerica, who was crying a lot, I carefully summarized the story I heard from Hayden.

It may not make every wish come true, but that doesn’t mean it should be underestimated.

The wish Hayden suggested is just abnormal, but probably pretty much anything can come true, maybe that’s why everyone coveted it so much that various stories came down to the Mage Tower.

However, there was a difference between what I went through and what Hayden said.

“Le Garete…”

Then, what the hell is Legarete that went back to the past? I definitely had vivid memories. Legarete of the changed past passed on through the holy sword.

“If time cannot be turned back, then what happened to Legarete?”

“It’s a simple story. I’m not going back to the past.”

Hayden pointed at Yerica, who stood stiffly.

“Mental pollution.”

“Eh.”

It was Yerica, pointing at herself with a somewhat unfair expression.

“Mental pollution actually starts from something insignificant.”

Having said that, Hayden took out a fairy tale, placed it on the palm of his left hand, and clenched his fist.

“Yerica, where do you think the coin is?”

“Uh…Well, of course it’s the left hand.”

“Wrong.”

There was no coin in his open left hand, but rather a coin protruded from his right hand, which was pointing to his left hand.

It was a simple coin magic. A magic trick that he pretended to put in his left hand and took it with his right hand.

“Why did I just think there was a coin in my left hand?”

“Of course Master held it in his left hand and pointed at it…”

At that, Hayden tapped his forehead.

“The basic concept of mental pollution starts from deceiving the other person. Now, where will you be this time?”

Hayden and Yerica, who took the same action again, of course pointed to their right hand, but the place where the coin came out was their left hand.

“To deceive the other person is to force one’s thoughts, but the trick is to keep the victim from not knowing that it is coercion. So that the other person who does not know that it is coercion is mistaken.”

Hayden, holding the coin once more in his left hand, reached out to me this time.

Once with the left hand… Once with the right hand… Shouldn’t it have been placed in the same place one more time?

“Wouldn’t it be in the right hand?”

At that, Hayden spread his left hand, and the coin was not visible.

Since it’s not the left hand, the only remaining correct answer is the right hand, but Hayden smiled incomprehensibly.

“To instill the illusion that it must be in either hand, voila, this just poisoned you.”

There was no coin even in the open right hand.

“…Huh?”

Hayden clenched and opened his fist again, and the missing coins reappeared in both hands.

No, what the f*ck did you do!

“The things I did to give people the illusion of turning back time weren’t as difficult as I thought. If I have enough time and conditions, I can do it as much as I want. That poor disciple was also caught in it.”

“Me, me?”

“Will you tell me about Legarete, student?”

“Master’s most outstanding disciple, and the youngest witch in the Mage Tower-“

“Wrong or not?”

Hayden’s eyes looking at me were strange. She sighed as if she knew everything and told me the truth.

“Rga Lethe was sentenced to death at a young age and lost all her magical abilities. It is true that she became Lord Hayden’s disciple, but because of her punishment, she came down from the Mage Tower. So she never became a witch in the first place.”

“…Yes? What is that”

I finally understood when I saw Yerica’s expression that I couldn’t understand.

Unlike me, who had been through everything from the beginning, it must have been out of the blue for her situation, who was suddenly swept away by the monkey’s hand.

Yena is Seonjeong’s daughter. I wonder if it’s the same feeling.

Hayden’s description of mental contamination was not so grandiose.

It was all that other thoughts and notions were quietly inserted without the other person knowing.

But the problem is that it gradually colors the surroundings.

To the point where he considers a lie to be true without even realizing it.

I was accepted as Hayden’s apprentice, but because of polio, she didn’t come out of the Mage Tower, but just slipped in her memory that she became a witch by winning.

“…It seems that changing the surrounding environment and planting false memories is a much more convenient method than turning back time. After all, the target will mistakenly think that it has gone back to the past.”

“That’s right, but after all, changing everyone’s memories would be impossible no matter how hard it is, so we limited it to the city like this.”

Before entering the Magic Tower, I could only see the blue sky, but now I realized it. What does that gray hemispherical membrane covering the entire city mean?

“In that sense, you can be considered really strange.”

“…Yes?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange? Even with the barrier created by the wizards of the Mage Tower with great care, it is merely maintaining the status quo. Those who could not resist were caught up in mental pollution without exception. But why…”

Hayden’s eyes were shining with curiosity.

“Are you alone with all your memories intact?”

“That’s right…”

I tried to talk about the reason, but my mouth was blocked.

Why? Why do I have all those memories?

Come to think of it, it really was. There was no reason why I could keep the memory intact.

I was the closest to Legarete when she made her first wish, and I was the only one who noticed the anomaly as we returned to the plaza. But why anywhere? Assumption was not included.

Since it’s just a game, it’s only natural that I, who is in the position of the main character, remembers everything. Looking back now, there was no reason or ability for me not to lose my memory.

Even saying it was the influence of the holy sword didn’t match.

The only time I got the holy sword was after visiting Walundr’s shop on Blacksmith Street.

[Holy Sword Ascalon Status Over First Second ＜ /B＞Wish-False World ＜ B＞Resistance Success!]

I couldn’t even see it as an effect of this. Because the role of the holy sword simply showed Legarete’s changed past.

“Even when I went to greet you in front of the Magic Tower, it was difficult because it was constantly being eroded. It’s really strange that you’re trying to dig into your memory even in the area affected by the barrier, but you remember everything intact… Well, it’s not impossible. I have some examples, would you like to hear them?”

Hayden raised his index finger.

“First, the caster deliberately excluded you from the sphere of influence. It’s not common, but it’s not particularly difficult. It’s just a matter of handling it as an exception. I meant to ask you to remember your former self.”

“I don’t think that’s…”

I didn’t think the person who made an exception for me to remember would be able to pull my neck out so mercilessly.

Besides, Legarete puts a bear hug around my neck!

“… Judging by the expression, it’s really not.”

“You’d rather believe that Ye Rika becomes her witch.”

“Umm… I see.”

“No, what’s wrong with me?!”

Leaving Yerica, who couldn’t bear to run towards me and ran wild in her place, Hayden continued.

“Then, the second thing is to have something with anti-magic power enough to negate the effect.”

“Except again.”

As I said before, the Holy Sword was obtained later and did not apply at all.

“Then there is only one thing left. It’s under the stack limit of Mental Pollution.”

“Overlap limit…What is it?”

“After excluding the external table structure of mana and the complex circuit type, it is necessary to return the single structure of contamination… I will not understand the difficult words anyway, so I will explain briefly.”

A difficult term is also a no-brainer.

“If you are affected by the mental pollution of the higher level, the mental pollution of the lower level is naturally lifted.”

“Only one type of mental pollution is applied?”

“Exactly, only what occurred in one subject is applied. If I cast Mental Pollution on you, all of Yerica’s Mental Pollution will not be applied and will naturally dissipate.”

One piece of mental pollution per person, like a whole chicken.

“The reason the monkey hand’s effect doesn’t put any restrictions on your memory is because you have something bigger at stake. It’s not omnipotent, but the monkey hand is one of the most dangerous and powerful fetishes, and if you look for it in your current situation, there’s only one thing that can dispel it.”

Hayden glanced to the side. My gaze also followed him. The place I looked at was just a wall with nothing there.

Hayden, not knowing what he was looking at, quietly whispered to me.

“Hey, are you hated by the elves?”

******

Floren cautiously left the room.

Both Einheri and Yerica were having a heated discussion on the topic of mental pollution, so I didn’t notice that they were slipping in.

Hayden pretended not to know her even after seeing her like that, but passed on.

“Einheri, Einheri.”

It was definitely the first man I saw today.

She suddenly reached out from her carriage and kidnapped Yerica, until she calmly called her own name, which was a series of surprises.

I thought it was just a brief happening.

“Einheri, strangeness,”

I realized it only after getting on the carriage and sitting next to him.

A strange feeling emanating from Einheri. It was so faint that it seemed like it would disappear any moment, but what emanated from his forehead was the unmistakable scent of the World Tree.

“Family, meeting?”

It didn’t belong to other elves, it belonged to Floren’s family.

The main role of the seal was to find a desired object, especially as a way to find the location of a family anytime, anywhere, with a strong nature of insurance.

…Of course, there’s nothing that can’t be used as a follower scent to chase enemies.

The beginning was simply a ritual to leave a finger on the body, but once contact was made, it was a kind of magic that left a fragrance in the soul of the target beyond the body, and it was a kind of magic that could never be extinguished.

But for some reason, the scent of the world tree that emanated from Einheri’s forehead was extremely faint.

I thought of a few things that could make the World Tree less fragrant, but there was no way Einheri had come into contact with those things.

In the first place, they were in a place that normal human men couldn’t go.

But it didn’t seem like the monkey hand that Hayden had been talking about could have any effect.

In terms of magic and shamanism, there is no fetish more valuable than the World Tree, which is responsible for the circulation of resources in this world. I couldn’t.

Then there was only one thing left.

Something that has a strong influence in this world enough to invade the power of the World Tree.

Religion.

“What is the relationship between Einheri and the goddess?”

Questions piled up in Floren’s mind.