Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Gratitude and Shadows
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The drinking party continued for a while, maintaining its high energy.
“Wahahaha! Is that really true, Commander? You thought the top ranker dreamed of becoming a commander?”
“……It still feels off. He clearly looked desperate to become one in my eyes.”
“No wonder you assigned him troop deployments during the war?”
“……Exactly.”
“Your Altino Gambas is ready.”
“Ah, right here.”
Amid the lively chatter, food and drinks kept flowing endlessly.
Gulp, gulp, gulp……
The group downed alcohol and snacks like there was no tomorrow.
‘Impressive, really.’
How many glasses was that already?
Ten? No, it felt like over twenty……
Grateful that Elbert was footing the bill, I quietly slipped away.
I figured they’d keep having fun on their own by now.
More importantly, I still had work to do.
Practicing the skills I’d picked up during the war.
Like [Light of Swimming] or dark-attribute mana, spatial magic, and such.
It was best to get a solid feel for these new techniques before forgetting them.
With that in mind, I started to step away.
“Leaving already?”
Someone’s voice stopped me.
Turning around, I saw Elbert looking my way, a mana cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“When did you come out?”
“Just now. Needed some air. So, heading out?”
“Ah, yeah. Feels like we’ve had enough fun. Stress is gone too.”
“……I see.”
Whoosh—
Elbert exhaled smoke from the mana cigarette and leaned against the wall.
“Then I guess I won’t see you for a while?”
“Probably.”
“Hmm.”
Step, step, step.
Elbert suddenly approached and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I have something to say to you.”
“……What is it?”
Elbert’s expression was unusually serious.
It gave me a bad feeling, but fortunately, my intuition was wrong this time.
“Thank you.”
An unexpected expression of gratitude from Elbert.
As I listened silently, he continued.
“Your words are still vivid. About how I was judging the difference between people and demons based on status…… That one.”
“Ah, right.”
I had said that to Elbert when he tried to abandon the District 7 residents.
I’d forgotten about it since, but it must have stuck with him.
“I thought it over carefully. Whether I really judged based on status.”
“And?”
“No need to think. It wasn’t just then—my whole life was like that. I was a noble to the bone.”
Elbert began spilling his realizations, as if he’d gained a lot of insight.
Honestly, I could understand it.
If I’d lived Elbert’s life, I might’ve ended up the same.
“Looking back, I was a pathetic commander. But now I’ve decided to change. Thanks to you.”
The key was that Elbert had resolved to change on his own.
“How will you change?”
Without hesitation, Elbert answered my question.
“I’ll uproot my deep-seated values. Not a noble commander, but one good for everyone. I’ll keep figuring out how. And I plan to go apologize to those District 7 residents I tried to abandon.”
“I see.”
“Yeah, so in the end, I’ll become an even greater commander than now.”
I nodded at Elbert’s ambition.
“You definitely will. A great commander.”
With that, I turned away.
From Elbert, who had been watching me silently.
And from Kayla, leaning in the narrow alley beside the tavern.
The slight upturn of her lips was probably a secret just between us.
***
“……My head hurts like hell.”
By the time I left District 2 and reached my destination, the sun was high in the sky.
Being an inner district meant the travel time had doubled.
Even this was thanks to the transit pass Elbert gave me.
Without it, I couldn’t even imagine how long it would’ve taken.
“Never doing this twice.”
Muttering that, I kept walking.
“Ah, Student Yoo Han.”
“Long time no see.”
The place I entered was Asion Academy.
Nowhere better to practice magic.
The entrance was still guarded by the same fellow who’d shown me around last time.
“Did the war go well? No injuries?”
“Yeah, it ended okay. No injuries. Oh, and the Chairman will be back soon too.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Then I’ll head in.”
Thanks to him, I entered without hassle and headed straight for the mana training room.
Clunk!
I stepped into the blinded space where I’d combined light and water attributes before, taking a short deep breath.
“Whew…… Let’s start with [Light of Swimming].”
First up: [Light of Swimming], the less daunting one.
Swish! Swish, swish!
Light-attribute mana extended from my hand, swimming through the air.
A motion perfectly matching the name [Light of Swimming].
But I didn’t stop there—I added one more step.
‘This is effective against multiple enemies.’
Splitting the [Light of Swimming] into finer threads.
Swish, swish……
One, two, three, four……
The single thread of [Light of Swimming] split into more and more.
Soon.
Swish, swish!
Swish, swish!
Dozens of [Light of Swimming] threads undulated around me.
Like a school of loaches made of light.
Before I could marvel at it.
Boom!
Thud thud thud thud!
I clenched my fist, detonating the [Light of Swimming] all at once, unleashing holy power.
Even in empty air, the power felt intensely threatening.
‘This should be good enough.’
Satisfied, I moved to the next spell.
Dark-attribute mana this time.
Of course, practicing dark attributes didn’t appeal much……
‘No choice.’
To use the spatial magic I’d learned, it was unavoidable.
Dark-attribute mana was at the core of spatial magic.
Whoooong!
A black orb the size of a marble formed at my fingertips.
Purely self-taught from watching Dershion’s spells, this was my current limit.
But.
Whooong! Whooong! Whooong!
I gradually increased the orb’s size.
My mind filled with dark-related imagery.
Losing focus even slightly felt like the darkness would devour me.
‘Focus.’
Staying calm, I poured dark-attribute mana in without yielding.
How much time passed?
The orb finally reached fist-size, and I immediately cast spatial magic.
Shoooosh!
A hole big enough for me to enter appeared before my eyes.
Pitch-black darkness inside, nothing visible.
Just looking felt like plunging into the deep sea.
Swish.
“Hah!”
I dispelled the spatial magic and exhaled the breath I’d held.
Unnoticed, my back was soaked in cold sweat.
“……That was close.”
I managed to cast it, but maintaining it long-term was impossible.
Any slip in control, and it’d go wrong immediately.
Meaning I was still lacking in handling this mana.
Then.
“Yoo Han.”
A low voice came from behind.
Startled, I turned.
“……Chairman?”
Chairman Asion Gail stood there, staring into my space.
As if he could see right through it.
His face was endlessly grim, and I……
‘This is bad.’
Realized something was wrong.
***
In the Chairman’s office at Asion Academy.
Summoned there, I sat facing Asion Gail.
He spoke first.
“Go on, tell me what happened.”
“……What do you mean?”
With nothing confirmed yet, I tried playing dumb.
“Pretending not to know?”
Asion Gail frowned.
……Looked like he’d seen everything.
“I heard it was blinded. How did you know?”
“You think I wouldn’t notice if you trapped Baal in there?”
“……That’s a bit extreme as a metaphor.”
“Metaphor or not, the point stands. No blind spell can hide that sinister mana aura. Especially not from someone as sensitive as me.”
“Well, guess it was useless after all……”
“Enough dodging. Yoo Han, explain.”
At Asion Gail’s urging, I reluctantly spilled everything.
Starting from getting trapped in Dershion’s spatial magic.
“So, you learned dark-attribute mana to escape?”
“Yes.”
“And picked up spatial magic there too?”
“That’s how it happened.”
“Hah, unbelievable.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Asion Gail drummed his chair, deep in thought.
His face said he couldn’t quite believe my story.
“To handle the same mana just from watching…… A blessing, I suppose?”
Muttering to himself, he suddenly nodded.
“One thing’s clear: if you hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t be here now.”
“Yes, it was unavoidable.”
“Right, I see……”
Asion Gail nodded in understanding.
But soon his face turned solemn again.
“But Yoo Han. That’s extremely dangerous mana. You know that?”
No, more worried than solemn.
Probably because dark attributes were close to ‘evil.’
Still, I nodded confidently.
“Yes, Chairman. I know.”
No one knew better than me.
I’d thoroughly researched mages with this as their main attribute when building my mage setup.
Yet I’d never considered it.
Because, as Asion Gail said, dark-attribute mana was truly dangerous.
“It’s not classified as black magic per se…… But it could devour you if you’re not careful. You get that?”
“Of course.”
“Hmm, alright then…… That’s enough.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m not going to stop you.”
The unexpected words startled me.
“Really?”
“Yes. What teacher blocks their student’s path? Though brief, your darkness was impressive. Even made me wary for a moment. However.”
Tap. Asion Gail paused, leaning back in his chair.
“Still, I should help you avoid straying.”
He continued.
“Guess it’s time to use that place.”
“That place……?”
“The ‘space’ I mentioned before.”
At that, I swallowed hard without thinking.