Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 27 - Magic and Sorcery

There wasn’t a scary red window full of errors like last time, but the result was still the same: it knew nothing.

「Requesting a re-search!」

Even when Zero, who was fuming, tried searching again, the result didn’t change.

[No search results.]

[We recommend searching again with similar keywords.]

‘Feels kind of like a big portal site.’

I had no idea that all the information of this world was organized like a library in the form of a database. According to Zero, the gods up there have recently taken an interest in the latest update technologies, so the system took on this form.

[Do you have nothing you wish to search?]

Zero refused to give up and knocked once more on the door of re-search.

「Ugh, re-search for any connection between magic and sorcery!」

[No search results.]

「Aaaaargh!」

Angry, Zero threw his staff at the status window.

The tiny staff, smaller than a stick candy, passed through the translucent status window and fell into my hand.

「How can a system that governs this world say it knows nothing! This is so annoying!」

Zero, whose pride was hurt, flopped down and threw a full-on tantrum.

I couldn’t stand listening to his short arms and legs flail around while he whined, so I stuck a cookie in his mouth.

“What can we do? The system says it doesn’t know.”

“But! T-then that means… I’m useless.”

Zero mumbled around the cookie in his mouth.

His small ears and cotton-swab-like tail drooped.

He always acted all important as the manager in charge of the possessor, so things not working out must’ve made him feel awful.

He was so upset he even teared up.

I patted Zero on the head with my index finger to comfort him.

“It’s okay. You handled all the side-quest requests I asked for and even got approval for the rewards. That alone was a huge help to me, you know?”

At my words, Zero—who had been shedding big chicken-egg tears—lifted his head with a quiver.

「R-Really……?」

“Of course. You’re better than you think, so don’t get all gloomy. Honestly, sulking doesn’t suit you at all.”

「What?」

Zero, offended, puffed cookie crumbs everywhere as he snapped back.

“Yeah, getting all worked up fits you more.”

「Ugh, seriously.」

Grumbling, Zero turned his back on me and started scarfing down cookies again.

I took a moment to recall the chilling error warning on the red status window I saw before.

Malicious words, clear even among all the useless symbols.

I wish you’d all just die

That was likely a message from someone who had the power to cause errors in the status window.

‘So they already know about me, someone different from the people of this world… and Zero, too?’

If so, that was bad.

The unknown enemy knew of my existence, while I knew nothing about them.

I didn’t know what they were scheming using this zombie incident, but right now the culprit had the advantage. They could slip past Zero’s system network, hide information, and even crash the status window—proof enough of their power.

‘At this rate, this is dangerous.’

I wasn’t certain, but I decided to put at least some faith in Ruth’s theory.

To do that, I needed Zero’s system search window.

“Hey, Zero.”

「Hmph, what.」

“If finding the direct cause is impossible, can you search magic and sorcery instead? Especially sorcery.”

Zero, who had been shoving cookies into his mouth like he was trying to calm himself with sugar, nodded.

「That’s easy. This world is under my jurisdiction, after all. Hand me my staff.」

When I placed the staff politely into his hands, Zero opened the search window again.

[What do you require?]

「Search for explanations of magic and sorcery.」

[Request accepted.]

[Displaying the information in front of the user.]

There wasn’t even a loading window. The information appeared instantly.

[Magic]

[One of the five main powers of jurisdiction SP-384723.]

[Magic is defined as the act of handling the mana that lies within humans blessed by mana.]

[Those able to use magic are called mages.]

[All mages must go to the Mage Tower—the cradle of mages—immediately after awakening to mana. This is the rule.]

[Inside the Mage Tower, mages spend a set amount of time with a mentor to learn magic. Those who break this rule are not recognized as official mages.]

[90% of magic users are officially recognized mages from the Mage Tower.]

[Noble-born magic users may instead attend an academy where they learn magic and become official mages. These make up the remaining 10%.]

[Mages may have one of six attributes: water, fire, wind, earth, light, and darkness.]

[Those who can use all attributes are called all-rounder mages, and they are promising candidates for the next Tower Master.]

[The Tower Master is chosen from the most skilled mage of the era, and if there are multiple candidates, a magic duel is held to decide the successor.]

[The possible careers for mages are……]

‘This is long.’

Knowing how magic was portrayed in Flower Path of the City, I quickly skimmed and moved on to the section about sorcery.

Sure enough, everything about sorcery was completely new information.

[Sorcery]

[One of the five main powers of jurisdiction SP-384723.]

[Unlike divine power, mana, or affinity for spirits—abilities that must be awakened by being chosen—sorcery is determined by one’s innate talent, much like aura.]

[It is the least recognized and most closed-off among the five main powers.]

[Its place of origin is Quina, a tribal union nation built in the desert.]

[Sorcery is divided into two types depending on its nature: white sorcery and black sorcery.]

[White sorcery has a good nature that benefits people, while black sorcery has an evil nature that can harm people.]

[White sorcery ranges from small things like combining herbs and talismans to large-scale rituals involving the descent of transcendent beings.]

[In contrast, black sorcery requires the sorcerer to pay a price directly, or it is activated through a sacrifice.]

[In SP-384723’s world, black sorcery is despised. Because of this, sorcerers are the fewest in number among the wielders of the five main powers and are easily shunned.]

[A representative branch of black sorcery is curses.]

[Those who learned black sorcery usually met miserable ends, but in Quina—the birthplace of sorcery—both types are encouraged to develop.]

[In countries other than Quina, sorcerers are avoided, and many people who are born with the talent for sorcery go their whole lives without ever knowing it.]

Among the explanations about sorcery, what caught my eye most was undeniably the mention of curses.

‘Curses…….’

Seeing a zombie apocalypse unfold like this, it really did feel like a curse from a god.

But there was one thing I could say for certain—that wasn’t it.

Because Zero’s higher-ups were exactly those gods.

“Zero. You said your higher-ups know nothing about this zombie incident, right?”

Even when I asked again just to be sure, the answer was the same.

「Yeah. There are gods who sometimes get carried away and change the flow of a story on a whim… but they’re super rare. And since this zombie incident is a major disaster, the higher-ups thoroughly checked whether any gods from other worldlines interfered with this world’s order. But all they found was that no god intervened.」

‘So that means the gods have nothing to do with this.’

「It’s strange…… If a god didn’t interfere, then this distortion must have been caused by an entity living within this world.」

At present, only one highly intelligent species was still alive in this world.

“Humans?”

「Yeah. The fae are practically at the brink of extinction, so they don’t count. They don’t even have greed—those guys hid themselves completely just to avoid being hunted by humans.」

But how could mere humans pull off something like this?

I couldn’t imagine it.

‘A system only someone like Zero can use, and the ability to… modify a disaster-level zombie virus using magic or sorcery? Is that something humans can even do?’

It didn’t seem like something a single person could manage.

‘A group? A nation?’

“Ughhhh. The more I think, the less I know.”

I grabbed my head and collapsed onto the desk. Zero came over and patted my shoulder.

“Ughhh. Zero. You really are the only one who takes care of the possessor—”

「Get up. You said you were gonna use that blue-haired magician to go gather food.」

My touching moment just got smashed to pieces, huh?

‘Right… What was I expecting from you….’

“I know, okay? I know. Our food is running out.”

Do you think your constant pop-up warnings with graphs of our dwindling supplies aren’t obvious?

So this is the life of a K-possession protagonist—endless labor!

“Ughhhhh.”

As I stretched out my stiff body and got up, Zero sternly reminded me:

「Bring back lots of sweet snacks. You’re not just gathering food, right?」

“…….”

Excuse me, gods up there?
Why does this manager from the Administration Bureau—who doesn’t even need to eat—go absolutely wild for sweets?

Isn’t this just exploiting a possessor’s labor? Huh?

“Hey, I was planning to check out the restaurants in the capital, but even for you, this is ridiculous, don’t you think?”

「Just consider it running an errand while you’re at it.」

“…Wow.”

Annoying little brat.

I knew I couldn’t stay holed up in the duke’s manor forever, so going out was expected—but asking me to casually bring back snacks too? Unbelievable.

“What if I die out there?”

「You won’t. Not as long as I’m with you.」

See, he could be touching—if he stopped there.

「If you die, I have to write an incident report. They said I’d have to handle the aftermath all by myself without any time off.」

So annoying. Painfully so!

‘What a food chain we have here.’

I gather food using Ruth, and Zero eats part of it.

“Fine, fine. I’ll just use a skill and check the outside situation.”

Thanks to wiping out all the zombies that approached the Kearon manor, and leaving the corpses lying around, the other zombies seemed to sense danger here and stopped coming.

It was good that the manor was less threatened now, but long-term, this defensive strategy was a losing game. So I was planning to form a small team and go outside.

‘I hope there are still many living humans left who can fight with us…’

But after seeing the zombie horde that took over the imperial palace, I didn’t have high hopes.

“Sage’s Eye!”

As I called the skill name, the status window popped up.

[Please select the item or person whose information you wish to read.]

“Show me on screen any surviving ‘humans’ in Agatha, the capital of the Empire of Caladia.”