Calvein's Forest
Even after the giant lizard had completely vanished from sight, no one made a move to leave the cave.
I could hardly blame them for their reaction. Of course they were uneasy—who knew when that colossal beast might reappear?
Still, we couldn't stay huddled inside this cave forever.
I rose to my feet and carefully approached the mouth of the cave.
"H-hey..."
Anxious voices from the adventurers drifted from behind me, yet not a single one stepped closer.
I exhaled slowly and pressed onward into the open air.
Peering outside, I found clear traces of the lizard: enormous footprints and sticky saliva smeared across the cave entrance.
Monster saliva could easily be venomous, so caution was only wise. I picked my way carefully past the viscous mess and stepped fully into the open.
"Hey—everything all right out there?"
When nothing terrible happened after I emerged, the adventurers began filtering out one by one. Their knuckles were white around their sword hilts; they were wound tight with tension.
I nodded.
"Looks like it just left."
The creature had given up waiting at the cave mouth and simply wandered off. A quick surrender like that meant it hadn't been desperate. In a forest this rich with prey, such behavior made sense. Having claimed the large water source for itself, the lizard had almost certainly been the dominant monster of the area.
"Whew... I can't take another step. How about we rest a while?"
That was Isolin, the mage. She pulled off her oversized witch's hat and wiped the sweat from her brow. No breeze stirred around her body—she clearly lacked the strength left to cast even a simple spell.
No one argued. Everyone was exhausted, body and mind.
Luna, our client, simply sprawled out on the dirt. The adventurers unpacked their gear and settled in to rest, while Isolin muttered something about closing her eyes for a moment and disappeared back into the cave.
I set my pack on the ground as well and shut my eyes.
Perhaps it was because we had fled so deep into the forest while fleeing the giant lizard, but I noticed something odd: the mana flowing through the surroundings carried a strange, oppressive heat. Heavy. Scorching. It felt as though a red-hot lump of iron were pressing down on everything around us.
This was nothing like the mana I had sensed outside. The quality was entirely different.
"Haa..."
I let out a long, thin sigh.
To form a new Mana Circle in my heart, I needed to absorb the ambient mana. Yet this hot, heavy power refused to obey my will. It was arrogant—an unyielding blaze that rejected change and forced its own stubborn path forward.
I kept trying to draw it in until the rest period ended. Even then, I failed to take the scorching mana into my body. With a sigh heavy with regret, I rose to my feet.
"Everyone, let's move out!"
We set off once more, Luna leading the way just as before. She moved without hesitation, as though she knew every twisting path through this tangled jungle by heart.
How long we walked after that, I couldn't say. By the time sweat that had dried began soaking my body again, Luna called out.
"We're here!"
I tilted my head. No dungeon entrance was visible to my eyes.
Luna drew the machete from her belt and began hacking at the dense undergrowth. After several sharp strokes, a cunningly hidden dungeon entrance revealed itself.
A massive stone door, etched with a strange magic circle and blanketed in green moss. Perhaps from the long passage of years, the great rock gate had blended so thoroughly with nature that it seemed part of the forest itself. Had we not known a dungeon entrance lay nearby, we would have walked right past it.
At the sight of the dungeon they had finally reached, the adventurers grew excited.
"Isolin? If you would."
At Luna's request, Isolin stepped forward. She produced the short wand she had shown earlier and held it out toward the enormous stone door. At once, both her wand and the magic circle carved into the rock began to glow.
I watched intently. How exactly was she dismantling that magic? I longed to move closer and study the way she manipulated her mana, but the look of fierce concentration on her face stopped me.
Time stretched. Sweat beaded on her forehead and dripped to the ground. Then a small burst of light exploded from the great stone door. The adventurers flinched and stumbled backward. I, on the other hand, stepped closer and asked,
"I-is it done?"
"Mm. Should be fine now. I severed the circuits linked inside so the magic engraved on the door can't activate... You understand what I mean, right?"
I nodded, though I didn't fully grasp it.
Isolin seemed to find that endearing; a small smile curved her lips.
"Well then—looks like it's your turn."
She spoke to the swordsmen waiting behind her. They nodded and pressed themselves against the massive stone door. Three sturdy men heaved, and the great rock gate began to move with a grinding groan.
Grrrk—!
Stone dust and clumps of earth rained down, proof that it had not shifted for ages. When the door finally swung aside, a stone staircase leading downward came into view. Moss carpeted the floor; mold blanketed the walls. Stepping closer, I caught a distinctly unpleasant smell.
We did not immediately descend. Everyone except Isolin began preparing a campsite and a meal—one last warm supper and proper rest before entering the dungeon.
Isolin alone stayed apart, sketching a magic circle on the ground near the entrance. When she noticed me staring, she smiled.
"Curious what I'm doing?"
"Yes."
"I'm drawing a magic circle that holds an illusion spell."
Once I finished helping with the meal preparations, I approached Isolin and listened carefully. She didn't seem to mind; she explained the workings of magic circles to me. According to her, a magic circle fixed a mage's spell in place, allowing its effect to remain continuously active.
"So if you just make a magic circle, you can keep using the spell forever?"
"No. For the circle to function, you have to keep supplying it with mana."
"Like a power source?"
"You're a quick study."
"Then what's this?"
I pointed to the blue powder she had been sprinkling over the circle.
"Mana stone powder. It absorbs ambient mana and feeds power into the circle."
"It absorbs the surrounding mana...?"
"It's low-grade stuff, but it should last about forty hours."
Mana stones absorbed ambient mana? Isolin continued explaining various details about magic circles, yet none of it truly registered. My mind was fixed solely on the mana stones.
"Hmm..."
When Isolin finished the circle, she frowned. Judging by her expression, it wasn't working properly. That was hardly surprising—the mana absorbed by the powder was no ordinary mana.
She tried several more times, always with the same result. In the end, the unfinished magic circle was simply left abandoned.
Everyone gathered for the meal: warm stew, generous cuts of meat, and soft bread. Luna had provided truly delicious food, just as the request form had promised.
I took my plate and sat beside Isolin.
"Isolin."
"Mm?"
"Where does one obtain those mana stones?"
"Hmm... Sorry, but you won't be able to get any."
"Why not?"
"The Magic Towers control them. Leaking them to outsiders is illegal."
I stared at her, mouth open. The Magic Towers were even more closed-off than I had imagined.
I pointed to the abandoned circle.
"Then... would it be all right if I took the mana stone powder over there?"
"That powder...? Wanting a souvenir, are you?"
"Something like that."
"In that case..."
Isolin drew a small leather pouch from her belt. Inside was more of the blue mana stone powder.
"Here."
"But you said leaking them to outsiders is illegal."
"Powder doesn't count. In a few days it turns into ordinary dust anyway. Everyone looks the other way for something this minor."
"Hah... Thank you so much!"
That evening, after the meal, Isolin's illusion magic remained incomplete, so we took turns standing watch.
During my shift, I tipped a handful of the mana stone powder into my mouth.
Isolin had said mana stones absorbed ambient mana. Her words proved true. The moment I swallowed the powder with water, the surrounding scorching mana reacted to the stones and poured into my body.
Heat surged through me in an instant. The wild mana of the forest spread its searing warmth through every limb. At this rate my body would cook from the inside.
I urgently summoned the cold mana of the Karum Mountains. Yet even the biting winds of midwinter could not cool Calvein's heat.
I bit my lip and forced the invading mana to move. Wrapping the scorching power in frigid cold, I dragged it toward my heart. The two opposing natures of mana shoved against each other, birthing a storm within me.
Clutching my pounding chest, I gasped for breath. Hot flames laced every exhale.
Fwoosh—!
At the same moment, freezing cold poured forth.
Calvein's mana was a savage tyrant. It would not harmonize. I understood instinctively that only a greater force could suppress it.
Fortunately, only a single handful of Calvein's mana had entered me. I poured every scrap of mana I could command over it. Encircled by cold starlight, Calvein's power gradually quieted, then formed a burning ring.
A new Mana Circle was complete.