The Tragic Journey of Alpheas and the Cost of Knowledge

"Erina, this can't be happening. How could this be…?"

"Honey, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? What do you have to apologize for? What do you mean…?"

"Because I'm a fool."

Alpheas realized it.

He had tried to change his wife.

Why had he forgotten her words, that she was beautiful just by existing?

"No, no! Why apologize? What's there to apologize for? It's me! I was the fool! It was my fault!"

Erina shook her head.

A world full of reason and logic. Her husband had lived in such a world.

'Thank you.'

For the brief moment they were together, for the happiness of being able to leave with everything.

"Honey! Open your eyes! Please, I was wrong, honey!"

Alpheas pulled Erina's face toward him as her eyes closed, and he wept bitterly.

"Ughhhh! Honey! Honey!"

In that tragic scene, Arcane lowered his head.

'Why?'

All the data pointed to success. It wasn't a surgery, nor was there any problem with the clinical trials.

'Why?'

What was so different about the human brain compared to animals?

At that moment, a dull thud echoed.

Looking up, Alpheas had slammed his head into the wall.

"What? The light of the Mirhi family? Light? Light!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Alpheas slammed his head into the wall three more times, his body bouncing back like a rubber ball.

But he immediately got up and charged back toward the wall with full force.

"Arrogant Alpheas!"

Bang!

Clump hurriedly grabbed Alpheas. If left like this, he would be doomed.

"Alpheas! Snap out of it! What are you doing?!"

"Let go! Damn it! Ughhhhh!"

Even Clump's strength was barely able to stop Alpheas's desperate struggle. It was as if he were rushing toward death, burning his very soul.

And then, in the next moment, a shock hit, and Alpheas's pupils contracted as he lost consciousness.

"Erina… Erina…"

Even after losing consciousness, Alpheas continued to call his wife's name, and Clump couldn't hold back his tears.

Erina's funeral was held.

Only the direct family of the household attended, and Alpheas was prevented from joining by his relatives.

They hadn't even had a proper wedding, and there were no children. In the end, the two of them parted ways as strangers.

Alpheas sat, motionless, on a distant hill, gazing at the funeral.

Then, as the sun began to set, he suddenly stood up and began walking somewhere.

The place he arrived at was Arcane's dungeon.

The remnants of the countless experiments he had done with his wife over the past two years remained.

"Erina…"

Alpheas took a can of oil and began pouring it around the lab.

The moments he had laughed and chatted with her felt as vivid as if they had happened yesterday, and tears flowed down his face.

Throwing the empty oil can on the floor, Alpheas leaned against the wall and sat down.

'I must end it here.'

Why had he failed? What had he not known?

No matter how much he thought about it, the conclusion was clear.

'We… we violated the domain of the gods.'

Arcane entered.

"Have you come, Alpheas?"

Not even invited to the funeral, this place had become his wife's tomb.

"I'm sorry about Erina. For now, take care of your mind and body. After that… we'll continue…"

Arcane words trailed off as he caught the smell of oil. He turned his head in shock.

"Alpheas, you didn't…?"

Alpheas stood up.

With just one fire spell, the lab would disappear.

"What are you doing?!"

"Master, this was something we should never have done from the start."

"I understand that you've become weak from the death of your wife. But the experiment succeeded! Destroying this place would be to forsake even Erina's sacrifice!"

Alpheas shook his head.

"No, it's a failure. All the data is normal, yet Erina died. That means there was something we couldn't even verify as humans. We were ignorant and arrogant. If we continue the experiment, more victims will only emerge."

"Isn't it the job of a wizard to uncover those things? Even if it's the domain of the gods, I will uncover it. The records here are mine!"

Alpheas thought for a moment.

He understood Arcane's mindset because he himself was the most arrogant person in the world.

'But this can't go on.'

What Erina had left was not just an experimental record but an insight born from instinct.

'It's like fighting the gods with human lives at stake. It was a battle we could never win from the start.'

Alpheas, casting a fire spell, said,

"The records of this lab were also achieved through Erina's death. I will undo everything."

"Alpheas! You…!"

At that moment, a spark landed on the oil, and the lab immediately ignited.

Thousands of documents, magical devices, and alchemical substances turned to black ash.

"No! No!"

Arcane couldn't leave.

He had to put out the fire. No, even if it meant losing everything, he had to preserve the experimental data.

In the midst of gathering papers, a vaporous substance caught fire and exploded.

The entire lab was blown away, and the fire, pulling in air violently, surged through the tunnels.

"Ughhhhh! Alpheas! I won't forgive you!"

Arcane ground his teeth.

The most painful thing wasn't his own death but the fact that he had lost his life's masterpiece just before completion.

What Arcane felt after Erina's death didn't matter to him—Alpheas would remain the arrogant man he always was.

'I will survive. I will survive and get my revenge. Wait, Alpheas!'

With revenge in mind, Arcane survived and used all his resources to search the continent, but no one knew where Alpheas had gone.

Seven years later, Alpheas reappeared at the Ozent family's estate.

"Alpheas! Hey! What the hell happened to you?"

Clump stared at Alpheas, who had become a completely different person.

His once neat face was gone, replaced by a wild look with a beard. He wore ragged clothes, and his skin was as dark as if it had been overexposed to the sun.

Clump took Alpheas to the bathroom and washed him.

There were numerous scars on his body, some from wild animals, some from torture, and others clearly self-inflicted.

"Were you looking for a place to die?"

Alpheas, with wet hair covering his face, didn't respond. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"I didn't really think about dying. But I didn't think about living either. I just wandered around."

"…I see."

"I heard. You became an official investigator. Congratulations."

"Between us, congratulations are unnecessary. I was the last of my peers to do it."

Clump awkwardly responded.

He wasn't proud of his achievements when his friend had been through hell.

"I'm sorry. This is the only place I have left. I'm in your debt."

Looking at Alpheas's gaunt back, Clump couldn't help but wonder.

Where did it all go wrong?

A man who had once been the rising star of the magical world was now a homeless drifter with no noble connections.

After a bath, a meal was prepared. Alpheas, possibly because his stomach had shrunk, couldn't eat much.

Clump knew that Alpheas didn't come here just because he had nowhere else to go.

In the study, Clump poured out some alcohol.

Alpheas didn't even glance at the drink. But for a brief moment, his sharp gaze—just like seven years ago—flashed.

"Tell me. I assume you're here because the wandering is over. You must have something to do. If I can help, I will."

Alpheas spoke bluntly.

"Just lend me 100 million gold."

"100 million… gold?"

It was an enormous sum.

Of course, Clump had earned the right to inherit the family by passing the official exam. But even as the heir, there were limits to the amount of investment.

"I'm not asking for all of it at once. I'll withdraw it over four years. I'll hire a financial advisor. If I set the monthly limit to 7 million, it should be manageable without major hits. I'll pay interest too. But no compound interest. Instead, I'll make the annual rate 20%. I should be able to repay the principal after one year."

The terms of repayment were up to the lender, but Clump didn't mind.

He knew Alpheas had likely thought of the optimal conditions even before coming here.

In the end, it meant Alpheas expected to make 80 million gold in profit after four years, excluding the principal, and Clump was more curious about how he planned to do that.

"What's your plan? Did you develop a new magic?"

Alpheas shook his head.

"I no longer have passion for magic."

"Then what do you plan to do with 100 million gold?"

"I'm going to build a school."

"A school?"

Clump's eyes went wide.

The man who once thought he was the best between heaven and earth was now planning to teach others.

"What are you thinking…?"

Tears ran down Alpheas's cheeks as he spoke, covering his face with both hands.

"I will never… allow someone like me to exist again. I'll teach students, atoning for my sins until the moment I die. I'll live gnawing at my own pain, so that talent isn't crushed by a single moment of mistake."

Clump's eyes reddened too.

Bastard, Erina. Alpheas would probably never forget her.

But because of that, the decision was easy.

If Alpheas's suffering could be transformed into someone's growth, maybe one day this friend, who had once dreamed of happiness rather than success, would smile again.

"Alright. I'll lend it to you. 100 million gold."

And so, Alpheas built a magic school named after himself in Creas.

During the construction, he worked as a wizard, paying off the interest, and at night, he studied to earn his teaching credentials.

And four years later.

Alpheas Magic School's principal, Mirhi Alpheas, fully paid off the 180 million gold debt to the Ozent family.

Once the effect of Abyss Nova wore off, Alpheas's eyelids slowly opened.

"Master…"

"..."

Perhaps all his memories had returned, but he remained silent for a long time.

The 40 years of repeated setbacks must have felt long and heavy to him.

A genius who had lost his light.

Sad couldn't bring himself to speak.

Humans live with hope because they don't know the future, but Alpheas already knew his reality.

If he regretted his choice to become an educator, his personality could change completely.

"Sad."

Alpheas closed his eyes. A tear fell down his cheek.

"Thank you."

Sad sighed with relief at his gentle tone.

"Are you alright, Master?"

"Of course. I'm sorry for speaking harshly to you. But that was the old me."

"It's fine. I'm sorry. I thought something bad might happen to you, so I wished you would just remain as you were…"

Alpheas patted Sad's shoulder.

"Your judgment was correct. Perhaps that was for the best."

"Master, then…?"

Sad became anxious again.

"Yeah. It's definitely not a memory I want to recall. That was the life I lived. But…"

Alpheas turned to look at Erina's portrait.

As he remembered the moment they met at the ball and confessed his feelings, a gentle smile crossed his lips.

"No matter how painful life is, sometimes we live just to hold on to one moment."

"I see."

Sad understood.

The woman named Erina would remain as an eternal pain in Alpheas's heart, but also as the most beautiful memory he could never discard.

"Master, the one behind this is Arcane. Right now, Teacher Etella…"

"I had a feeling since the moment it happened. There's no time for explanations. Let's move."

As Alpheas walked toward the door, Sad followed behind.

They had overcome the first major hurdle, but the real challenge was now.

The entire student body had fallen under Arcane's grasp.

'Please, we mustn't be too late.'