The Mage Rain
The woman who opened the door carried a strange aura about her.
It was a power I could not put into words—refreshing, yet laced with an inexplicable sense of rejection.
I came to my senses a beat late and offered a greeting.
"Ah, hello."
"What is it?"
The voice that flowed from her lips was kind.
Hadn't the guild receptionist warned me that the client's temperament was eccentric and that I should be careful?
I tilted my head at the discrepancy between what I had been told and the person standing before me.
Judging by the room number written on the note, I hadn't come to the wrong place...
Could the receptionist have mixed up the room numbers after all?
While I was still turning it over in my mind, the woman spoke.
"Are you here about the request?"
"Ah, yes."
I nodded and held out the note I was carrying.
She looked it over and gave a small nod of her own, then immediately began explaining what I would need to do for the duration of the commission.
The situation was so different from what I had been bracing for that I could only feel flustered.
"The search area is the Karum Mountains. You already know the details of the request, right? You'll be escorting me for four days."
"Y-yes."
"Then I'll be counting on you."
She smiled lightly and offered her hand.
A handshake, then?
I rubbed my palm against my clothes and took her hand.
"Um, what should I call you?"
"Ah, just call me Rain."
"Rain..."
She nodded at my murmur, gave our joined hands a light shake, and turned back toward her room as she spoke.
"We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Can you find your way back here?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow."
Left alone in the corridor, I stared blankly at my hand.
I had expected to be turned away, yet she had accepted me without hesitation.
Surely she didn't have some strange taste...?
I eyed the firmly closed door with lingering suspicion.
But it was far too late to refuse the request now.
Recalling the promised reward, I turned and walked away.
Once I left the inn, I wandered here and there gathering information on the Karum Mountains—the kinds of monsters that lived there, the poisonous plants to watch out for, and the like.
Such details were easy enough to find in a shabby old bookstore.
The Karum Mountains were a region where monsters appeared, so I also needed supplies to prepare for them: smoke orbs to drive the creatures off, salves and bandages for treating wounds, and so on.
The expenses were considerable again this time, but since the items would still be useful after the mission, I did not skimp.
The next morning, when I arrived at the meeting place, my client Rain was already waiting.
She looked nothing like an ordinary adventurer.
A water-blue witch's hat sat on her head, and she wore a blue robe. On her back she carried a large wooden staff topped with a gem of unknown origin.
If anyone were to picture a mage, Rain's appearance would almost certainly come to mind.
She matched the image of a mage I had imagined almost perfectly.
When she had only been wearing the hat, I had simply thought her tastes were unique.
Apparently that had not been the case.
"Welcome."
Rain greeted me as I drew near. She chewed on her lip for a moment, then twitched her eyebrows.
Only then did I realize I had never told her my name.
"I'm Ceris."
"Right, Ceris. All ready?"
"Yes... but... are you a mage, by any chance?"
This was a world where swords and magic lived and breathed—the kind of fantasy realm people spoke of, complete with orcs, goblins, and dragons.
Yet a thirteen-year-old girl who had spent her entire life in a rural village knew nothing of the secrets that made this world's heart race.
Even though she was one of its residents.
"First time seeing a mage?"
Rain's question was as good as an admission that she was one.
I clutched my pounding chest and nodded.
She smiled faintly at my answer and gave a light wave of her hand toward me.
In that instant, a breeze rose.
It was not the cold winter wind of the port city, but a fresh, gentle breeze.
It tickled my cheek and then vanished without a trace.
I had no trouble realizing that the phenomenon had been Rain's magic.
"Wow..."
It was nothing the eyes could see—wind had no form, after all.
But I had felt it directly against my skin.
The wonder of it was beyond words.
"Shall we head out?"
I hurriedly nodded and followed after her.
As we left the port city, Rain asked all sorts of questions—most of them about me.
"Why did you choose to become an adventurer?"
"Because I wanted to see this world."
"Isn't it hard?"
"It's manageable."
She asked, but never dug too deep.
It was as if she were carefully observing an invisible line.
The fact that she never inquired about something as sensitive as family told me her personality was more cautious than it first appeared.
The Karum Mountains were not far from the port city.
Rain and I were not the only ones with business on the cold winter mountain.
People with large packs on their backs were climbing toward the peaks as well.
Herb gatherers, most likely. Their gear looked much like that of the herb-gathering uncles I had often seen in my hometown.
"This way."
"We're not taking the path?"
"Nope."
Rain did not follow the trails humans had made.
Once past the entrance, she deliberately headed into rugged terrain—toward places where no one else's feet had ever trod.
Crunch, crunch. The hard-frozen snowfield shattered under our shoes.
As we climbed, I had to stop often to shake the snow from my boots.
If the half-melted snow clung and froze solid, I would slide all the way back down the mountain.
"Hah... hah..."
Rain panted heavily as she climbed.
For an adult, her stamina seemed rather lacking.
Thirteen-year-old Ceris, who had spent her whole life running through mountains and fields, found a light hike no trouble at all.
"Y-you're good at climbing..."
"I'm used to it."
"Hmm..."
Rain, who had been making steady progress, suddenly stopped.
She looked around as if searching for a suitable spot to sit and rest.
Following my client's lead, I was about to brush the snow from a place and settle in when Rain drew the staff from her back.
Saaaah—
Wind began to gather.
Not the sharp chill unique to winter winds, but a soft, fresh spring breeze.
The gentle gust caressed the snow piled around us.
The snow it touched crumbled into fine powder and rose into the sky.
White snow-flowers blooming on the soft wind stole the eye.
The breeze itself turned white.
Then, at Rain's gesture, the pure-white wind vanished into the heavens.
"Shall we rest a bit?"
Rain looked at me with a light smile.
No one could have refused that offer.
Rain and I sat on a large boulder and let time pass.
There was so much I wanted to ask her.
Yet I could not easily open my mouth.
Mystery.
A word for phenomena that transcend power and wisdom, theory and perception.
Mystery is beautiful only when it cannot be understood.
Vague expectation and fear of the unknown mingle together.
To me, magic was exactly that.
At least until this request was over, I did not want to lose that feeling.
"Shall we move on?"
Having recovered some of her strength, Rain set off again.
They say the monsters of a cold winter mountain, short on prey, grow vicious beyond description.
The stress of starvation makes them even more ferocious.
And now, one of those starving monsters revealed itself.
—Kuuuugh!
Savage killing intent. Untamed, brutal wildness that produced an eerie resonance.
My body went stiff. It was unmistakably the monster fear I had only ever read about in storybooks.
What appeared was a pure-white mountain goat.
I doubted whether it could even be called a goat, yet the fur covering its body and the horns brought the name to mind.
I drew my sword from my back.
The chill sound and the way the blade settled snugly into my hand calmed my nerves.
Of every enemy I had ever fought, none would have been stronger than that goat.
Only someone on Agul's level might have been able to match it in raw strength.
There was no chance of winning. I was about to tell Rain to run when she drew her staff.
"Rain...?"
"About twenty seconds. Can you hold out?"
"Th—"
I was about to say that might be a bit much when the goat's charge began.
It came at me with its massive horns lowered.
Apparently the sword in my hand had provoked it.
I kicked sideways through the pure-white snowfield.
The goat did not stop. Nor did it simply charge straight ahead.
An abrupt change of direction sent the snow covering its feet spraying into the sky.
Kugugugu—! The goat's charge, accompanied by a violent trembling of the earth, made my knees go weak.
I clenched my teeth and kept running.
One small mercy: its speed dropped whenever it changed direction.
Even so, the closing distance was not something I could solve.
—Puhuuuk!
Its rough breath was right in front of my nose.
While still running, I swung the sword in my hand.
Ssshhk—!
A sharp flash stretched long and flew toward the goat.
The tip of the blade grazed its thick fur, but a sword technique launched from such an unnatural stance had little effect.
Kuguguk—!
The goat brushed past me by the thickness of a sheet of paper.
It was so fast that the delayed wind that followed nearly knocked me off balance.
The goat did not stop. It simply wheeled around and charged at me again.
Could I dodge this time? I had no idea.
Feeling a chill run down my spine, I gripped the sword tightly with both hands.
Counterattacking was not an option. The moment I thrust my blade into that overwhelming speed and mass, the hand holding the sword would break.
Dudududu—! Here it came again.
Feeling the rough tremor of the ground, I calmly exhaled.
In that instant—
Jjeojeojeok—!
The pure-white mountain goat froze solid where it stood.
Locked in the posture of its charge, the frozen goat slammed into the ground.
Only then did I realize the temperature around us had plummeted.
A cold so intense it could freeze even breath swirled through the air.
"Are you all right?"
Rain looked at me with concern.
Her staff was radiating a piercing cold and light.
"Sorry... the preparation took longer than I thought..."
Strength drained from my legs.
I simply sank down onto the ground.