Mad Old Man

“Are you talking about Leonard's house? Is he a ghoul?”

Lynch asked, but the mad old man merely smiled without answering, causing Lynch's heart to sink completely.

Clearly, the “little ghoul” the mad old man was referring to was Dr. Sven.

So... this woman who had traveled halfway across the world was actually a ghoul? No wonder she turned down invitations from all sides to return here; it seemed she was a member of that nearby tribe.

Yet something didn't add up. Historically, she was supposed to have been killed in the ghoul invasion, and she was also the one who had advocated sending someone for help.

A tempest raged in Lynch's mind, yet his expression remained calm as ever. “You say she's a ghoul,” he asked impassively, “do you have any proof?”

“None. I just happen to know, and felt like mentioning it to you. Why would I need proof?”

“Hm? Weren't you staying here to investigate her?”

“Her? I suppose that's part of the reason,” the mad old man replied candidly, making no effort to hide anything. “She's the apprentice of the old arcanist Leonardo. When she traveled Middle Earth, she came across a book. I'm interested in this book—or rather, my master wishes to obtain it.”

“The Lord of a Billion Radiance?”

“Uh, actually it's Aforgomon, but you can understand it as Yog-Sothoth as well. There's no difference to you anyway; just treat them as one and the same, no need to split hairs.”

Lynch more or less understood. It was probably similar to the Milt siblings, worshipping another avatar of Yog-Sothoth. Still... “What book?”

“The Necronomicon.”

“What on earth?” Just from the name alone, it sounded sinister. Lynch assumed it was some kind of mystery documents.

“The musings of a madman, recording much of what he understood of the world's true essence.” A mad glint flickered in the old man's eyes. “It is the most profound tome in the world. Much of what is written within touches upon ultimate truth—far beyond what mortals could ever read.”

“Isn't the Lord of a Billion Radiance supposed to be all-knowing?” Lynch asked, puzzled. “Why would he want to read this book?”

“???” The mad old man looked utterly bewildered. “I never said Master wanted to read it. I only said Master wants to find it.”

“Uh, alright, my bad for assuming.” Lynch sighed. “So Dr. Sven knows the whereabouts of this book?”

“Both she and Leonardo have seen it. She only read a few pages, learning some obscure arcana from it, but Leonardo read the entire thing.”

“Hm? Didn't you say it's not something mortals could ever read?”

“And that's why Leonardo died, perished on his journey.” The mad old man showed an envious expression. “That's the price of reading it, but I imagine he must have been utterly satisfied.”

No wonder Dr. Sven's arcana seemed so powerful, and with rather peculiar names. Lynch nodded and followed up, “So have you obtained the book's whereabouts from Dr. Sven?”

“Nope, I certainly couldn't get it.” The mad old man tossed his tangled hair, speaking nonchalantly. “But Master will obtain it in the future, so there's no need for me to rush right now.”

“Then what are you still doing here? Didn't you say you don't need to look for the book?” Officer Natalie couldn't help but press. “You shout your warnings every day; you must know how dangerous this place is.”

“I never said I wasn't needed, only that I certainly couldn't get it,” the mad old man chuckled. “I stayed here to wait for you. Otherwise, who would go looking for the Necronomicon?”

Huh?

The four looked at each other, their minds struggling to process his words for a moment. But Lynch, tempered by all kinds of wild tropes from his previous life, was the first to catch on.

“Are you saying Aforgomon created this current situation just so you could tell us, and have us find the book for him?”

“You really do understand! That's wonderful,” the mad old man said cheerfully. “So Master had to let this version of me... and once I knew certain things, under the disturbance of information, things would automatically change. There isn't even a need to ‘do’ anything; merely knowing is enough to bring about the change. Do you understand?”

“I... can vaguely grasp it.” As Lynch spoke, his expression suddenly turned grave. “Wait. ‘This version of you’? So you know your current state?”

“I can't understand it, but that doesn't matter, nor do I care.” The mad old man chuckled foolishly. “After all, I'm a madman.”

The four exchanged glances, unsure of what expressions to even make. After a brief hesitation, Lynch confirmed, “So he wants us to get the book's whereabouts from Dr. Sven, return to our era, and track it down?”

As Lynch spoke, his thoughts raced. The more he thought about it, the more bizarre it felt, yet he had to admit that it seemed entirely feasible—provided no one had intervened in the intervening thousands of years.

“Yes, precisely that.”

“But why should we do that?” Lynch rubbed his hands together. “Just thinking about it tells me it's rife with danger. Why should I take that risk?”

This time it was the mad old man's turn to look bewildered. Scratching his head in confusion, he said, “Aren't you... trying to get the Miracle of Light from Tawil at'Umr, the All-Knowing and All-Seeing, inside the Silver Gate?”

Huh? Right, they were actually one and the same.

Lynch was dumbfounded. So all of this was connected?

What in the actual fuck.

“Once you borrow that item, you certainly won't be able to return it, so asking you to help find something in exchange is only fair, right? Besides, the process has already been arranged for you, which ought to be the hardest part—for this very purpose, Master even had me come to this city several thousand years ago. Moreover, if you want to enter the Silver Gate, without the help of the Great Race of Yith, you would definitely be swarmed by the hounds. Now you don't need to worry about that anymore. Once you find them, they will definitely help you.”

Lynch had no rebuttal. In truth, ever since realizing that this was all an ongoing serialized chain of events, he knew he had no choice but to agree to the deal. Even so, he pressed on, “Still, won't we run out of time? Back in our era, we have no idea when we might need to use the Miracle of Light.”

“Master mentioned that the whereabouts of the Necronomicon will serve as the deposit. Finding it after you've made use of the goods works just as well; you wouldn't be expected to go right away. Besides, if you manage to learn anything from it once you find it, that's entirely yours to keep. Master won't mind.”

“Fine, we agree.” After a brief discussion among the four, they decided to accept the deal. “However, you have to answer some of our questions. What exactly is going on with the current state of this place? Why would an established historical storyline change? Did Aforgomon create it?”

“Even Master cannot create history. This should be called... another trajectory, perhaps?”

“Another timeline or a parallel world?”

“Yes. Under certain circumstances, it would still happen, yet at this moment in your cognition, it hasn't. It's something like that,” the mad old man explained with a pained frown. “If I were to make you understand it, you'd probably have to go mad a few times. Do you really want to know?”

“No, we don't want to know in the slightest,” Lynch said, shaking his head vigorously. “Then what on earth happened in the city? Who's stirring up trouble? What's the deal with Dr. Sven, and what's going on with the ghouls?”

“Regrettably, I know, but I cannot say. Once you become aware of certain information, the trajectory of everything will change once more. So you'll just have to figure it all out yourselves. All I can say is that from a certain perspective, that little ghoul isn't a bad person.”