Walking the Moonlit Sky
I don't know how to use magic that changes my appearance. Transforming one's own form is a higher-tier art than most people realize, bound by more restrictions than you'd expect. But that didn't apply to me. I had Leksan, who could fashion any body I wanted.
Leksan melted Lagmal's corpse, and before long he had completed the face I had described. The Mage of Ruin, Zorbanof. An old man of considerable bulk — looking nothing like a mage despite being one — took shape before us.
"Damn it. Reduced to helping with this kind of crap."
Leksan was thoroughly annoyed at having to help me. For all his complaining, though, he followed instructions without much fuss.
"I never thought I'd see that face again."
Sernida looked at me with a thoroughly sickened expression. That reaction alone told me just how infamous Zorbanof's name really was.
"So you're going to destroy a school. Walking the same path as your master, I see."
"My master's will isn't mine. But I imagine he'd at least approve."
He treated mages who belonged to schools like empty husks, after all. If anything, he'd praise me for it. He certainly wouldn't object.
"I'll ask you this now — you don't have a problem with me tearing down Praeon, do you?"
Sernida was next in line to become head of the School of Fire. Given that, my declaration that I would erase the school might not sit well with her.
"Ha."
Sernida let out a laugh of sheer disbelief.
"You've forgotten something, haven't you? I am a woman who was betrayed."
A deep emptiness sat in both her eyes. It was grief for a past that could never be undone.
"What meaning could the School of Fire possibly hold for me now? Those people would come running the instant they heard I still lived."
From Lagmal's conversation, the School of Fire had erased everything related to a certain individual. That individual had to have been Sernida. I didn't know what had happened between them, but the School of Fire had tried to wipe out everything connected to her. At this point, her relationship with them was over.
"If you want my help, you'll have it. There is still some old affection left, after all."
A crimson blaze bloomed in Sernida's palm. She had only just become a mage again, and yet the mana she refined was of remarkable purity.
"Burning it down with my own hands wouldn't be so bad either."
I'd gained a reliable ally.
"All right, then."
I left Sernida where she was and stood before the door.
"Stay hidden for now."
It wasn't time for her to act in earnest yet. Mana spread from my magic tool gloves and veiled her from sight. At the same time, I opened the window.
True to the Silent Blood, Urgaz was crawling with knights. Among them, there would be those with a keen sense for presence. So I intended to make sure they knew — to show them exactly what kind of death their master had met today.
The condensed mana transformed into presence. The aura I had been holding back erupted all at once, exploding outward and swallowing the entire mansion. It was the presence of a being so distant, so overwhelming, that any knight would feel their blood run cold. As it swept through the estate, countless flames reacted at once. Every last one of them had sensed me.
In that instant I saw them change direction and come running toward this room. They knew the place where that presence had flared was where their master would be. I stepped onto the window frame and gathered wind mana at the tips of my toes. The wind became a foothold and lifted me into the air. From the window, I slowly stepped onto those platforms and walked through the sky.
Under a moonlit night, there is no one in this world who can walk the air. The only ones capable of such a thing are mages. The knights gathered below stared up at me with vacant faces. Even a dog that had chased a chicken onto a rooftop wouldn't look this helpless. They could do nothing about the man walking above the mansion they were supposed to protect.
"Th-the Marquis is gone!"
Someone inside the mansion called out Lagmal's disappearance. But his voice never reached the knights. Not a single one of them could stop me. Perhaps they understood that. Before long the commotion in the mansion died, and only a hollow bewilderment remained. The lord they had spent their entire lives protecting had been erased by the mage now walking away as if he owned the night.
The sky drew closer. Mages could reach even these heights, and still their greed had no end. To those who sought to create their own worlds, even this sky was too small a realm. I sighed at the thought that I was one of them — and still my eyes burned.
Today, in this moment, chaos would erupt among the mage schools. Zorbanof, the man who had destroyed several of them. They would panic and raise a fuss, saying he had appeared. But they wouldn't know. They wouldn't know that someone even worse than the one they feared was about to stretch out his hand.
And so I walked on into the moonlight, and left Royalheim behind.
The next day, after the morning sun had risen, Seranea and I were waiting at the monster hunter guild. Wolfgar was still missing. I was deep in thought, wondering just where he could have gone. Lagmal hadn't seemed to know Wolfgar at all. Just in case, I had spent the night going through the names of the shadows recorded in his ledgers, but they didn't know Wolfgar either.
"Which way did he wander off this time..."
I was sighing when I noticed Seranea fidgeting beside me. For some reason she had her hands clasped together and her face scrunched up in concentration.
"Seranea, what have you been doing this whole time?"
"I'm trying to feel my mana. I have mana now too, you know!"
Could she really feel mana just by doing that? Judging by how Sernida had produced flames yesterday, the mana itself seemed complete — but I wondered about Seranea herself.
"If you want, I can teach you how to awaken to your mana."
"There's a method?"
"You just have to drown a little."
"I'll pass."
Sharp as ever, Seranea.
I clicked my tongue and kept waiting. People kept glancing our way. Not long ago I had ignored every offer, joined Golden Coral, smashed Red Hawk, and then sat down at the table with the Blue Wind Association. I was already as famous as a person could get in the Grandheim monster hunter guild. The most talked-about figure in the city had been sitting in the guild since morning. How could anyone not stare? It was something I just had to endure.
"We're certain Wolfgar came out of the Monster Front, right?"
Seranea spoke while I was swallowing another sigh. After returning from the Urgaz mansion, we had done our own asking around. As a result, we had heard about Wolfgar from the guards at the Monster Front. The information was that he had left the Monster Front and headed outside.
Guards are the profession that sees the most people. They often catch criminals as well, so they remember specific details about a person with unusual sharpness. Someone carrying a short spear and a long spear, with the look of a country boy. The only person who matched that description was Wolfgar.
"Yeah. It's certain."
It couldn't have been anyone but Wolfgar. That was why we had decided to wait at the guild instead of the Monster Front. If Wolfgar had returned, he would eventually show up at the guild. And so we had been waiting for him, endlessly, with nothing else to do.
"It's been a while, handsome."
A familiar voice came from beside me. I lifted my head toward the sound, and there stood a man who looked like he was from another country. Ran, of the major team Shadow Moon. The man who had administered my exam.
"Ran. It's been a while."
I answered lightly, and Ran smiled.
"You became a massive celebrity overnight. I was shocked when I heard."
Judging by his reaction, the news had reached him a little late. Had he been away somewhere in the meantime?
"Yes. A few things came up."
"Among the newcomers who've come to Grandheim, I don't think anyone's become as famous as you."
"I just did what needed to be done."
"Fair enough. I always thought Red Hawk couldn't be left alone forever."
Ran gave a short laugh and pointed behind him.
"More importantly, I'd like to introduce you to some people. Do you have a minute?"
A recruitment pitch? I had originally planned to use Golden Coral as a shield, but now that I was the team leader myself, talk of merging teams was the kind of thing that came up all the time.
"I'm sorry, but as for a team merger—"
"No, that's not it. I genuinely want to introduce you to some people. You know them, actually."
"People I know?"
If it was someone I knew in Grandheim... I thought for a moment, and then my eyes slowly widened. I looked back at Ran, and he grinned. The moment I saw that reaction, I knew who he meant.
"Ilekdra, my senior — he's with you?"
Ran's eyes smiled as if to say I'd gotten it right. The three notorious delinquents. A connection that had existed since Laoren had found its way back to me once more. I almost shot up from my seat without thinking, then hesitated. I still didn't know whether Wolfgar was alive or dead. The situation wasn't one where I could just follow along to indulge my own happiness.
"You've got a companion you're looking for. That country kid from back then."
Everyone remembers Wolfgar as a country boy, huh.
"Yes, that's right."
We'd already been searching for a while, so everyone knew. There was nothing to hide.
"As for that — a lot of people besides you are out looking for him right now."
"What?"
"You need to understand how famous you are. The people trying to curry favor with you aren't just one or two, you know?"
I hadn't expected that. Ah. Of course. If you wanted to get on my good side, finding Wolfgar was the fastest way. Just as Ran said, I apparently had no idea how famous I actually was. Or how to use that reputation, for that matter. Was it because I had spent my whole life being looked down on as a cleaner? Years had passed, and I still hadn't shaken the habits of those days.
"Of course, Shadow Moon is searching too."
"That's good to hear."
"As far as we're concerned, we're desperate to get our hands on talent."
Hearing that put me somewhat at ease. Other people would be far more capable of finding someone than I was, given how little I knew of Grandheim. It was a much better approach than sitting around in the guild like this.
"You need a chance to catch your breath, don't you? And to see some old acquaintances while you're at it."
The three notorious delinquents. They were people I missed as well. We had only been connected for a single day, but it had been a good connection. On top of that, we shared the bond of being Dreygan's disciples. I wanted to talk with them again — if only to ease the guilt they must have felt that day.
"Let's go, Haren. These are the people you've been looking for all this time."
Hearing Seranea, I finally stood up. Wolfgar wasn't going to appear just because I sat here. In that case, it was better to add even one more pair of hands to the search.
"If you'd lead the way, Ran."
Hearing my answer, Ran broke into a bright smile.
"Let's go, then."
It was time to meet the bonds of the past once more.