The Bound Island
Her suggestion that they head to her quarters hadn't been a joke.
The moment they arrived, Yen retreated to her room to change into comfortable clothes. Emerging, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, chugged it down, and smirked at Muzark, who was sitting on the sofa.
"What's so interesting that you're looking around like that?"
"Just thinking it's cleaner than I expected."
"Probably not as clean as your place."
"Mine isn't clean. It's just empty."
Having virtually no personal belongings, Muzark's quarters had no way of getting messy. Yen's, on the other hand, were neatly organized, with various items like board games and books carefully categorized and stored.
It was a level of domestic order that was hard to reconcile with her usual erratic behavior.
"You were always the one visiting me. This is the first time I've ever come to yours."
"Ahaha. Is that why you're so tense?"
"It's not really tension. More like..."
He had simply realized anew how closed off Yen had been until yesterday. Despite having spent a considerable amount of time together, it had been difficult to imagine what she was like in her private moments.
Her oversized T-shirt and short shorts fit her image perfectly, but a quiet calm underlay her easygoing demeanor. The manic, eccentric impression he had once glimpsed was beginning to fade.
"Let's go with that."
"How vague. That's a terrible way to talk."
It was an observation better left unsaid.
"Well, I don't usually let people in. It's not just my home; not many people ever intrude on my private life. Pretty selfish, right? Considering I stomp into other people's lives with muddy boots whenever I feel like it."
"You sound proud of it. If you know you do it, maybe show some restraint."
"I'm actually a bit frustrated about it myself. It's not like I consciously try to avoid people, you know? But for some reason, a lot of people find me hard to approach. Or they're just the type I can't stand."
He could guess why they found her difficult. No matter how much she smiled, there wasn't a shred of sincerity in it. Since Yen herself likely approached most people with calculating motives, she had no right to complain.
"I thought you'd be the former, too. But things change surprisingly easily."
Yen murmured, sounding genuinely intrigued. Up until today, she had envisioned several ways her relationship with Muzark might end, and this was by far one of the most amicable.
However, there were still unresolved issues.
"I still don't trust you completely. Now that we've settled the debt of my life, what's left between us? Your personality changing overnight, how you knew my goal... it's all just one big question mark."
She grabbed a piece of paper from the table and strode over to Muzark. Then, she extended her hand—not her right hand, which held the paper, but her empty left hand.
"If you truly want my trust..."
Yen blinked mid-sentence.
It was because Muzark had taken her hand without a moment's hesitation.
"Shouldn't you let me finish talking first?"
"Once I make up my mind, I don't back out."
"Look at you. How do you know I won't do something to you?"
"It's not like you're going to eat me alive."
Caught off guard, Yen cleared her throat awkwardly a couple of times.
"...I'm going to cast a spell now."
"What kind?"
"A spell to weed out liars."
"Oh. Quite a convenient spell."
"It doesn't work on fools or madmen, though. It judges perception, not objective truth. In other words, if you truly believe the Empire will fall tomorrow, saying so won't register as a lie."
Muzark silently endured her searching gaze. This was simply the price he had to pay for talking his way out of a crisis. Besides, trust that was hard-won tended to last longer.
Soon, a cool sensation spread across his palm. Glimmering particles of light leaked from their joined hands, dispersing into the air. Yen stared deep into Muzark's deep blue eyes and asked:
"You have secrets you can't tell me. Correct?"
"Yes."
"Are those secrets capable of harming me?"
The question revealed yet another facet of her character.
Contrary to appearances, Yen was quite cautious—even fearful.
To put her mind at ease, Muzark spoke with firm conviction.
"My secrets exist purely to protect myself. I have no intention of harming anyone. I harbor absolutely no hostility toward you, and I'm deeply grateful for all the help you've given me so far."
After a brief silence,
"Is this enough?"
Muzark smiled awkwardly. As if on cue, the tension melted from Yen's face. She let out a hollow, relieved chuckle and was the first to let go of his hand.
"Yeah, that's enough."
Yen sighed, looking much more relaxed.
As an aside, Muzark possessed an excellent memory. When he heard her explanation of the spell, he was instantly reminded of something Yen had rambled about back in the mine.
"Spells that affect the mind all have severe side effects and are highly advanced. I don't think you have that kind of skill."
That wasn't all.
Some time ago, Yen had referred to herself as "junk." It wasn't just self-deprecating talk; whenever she actually cast magic, her physical condition deteriorated for a while, visibly so.
The conclusion was obvious.
The "lie detector" itself was highly likely a lie.
He swallowed the suspicion, which was close to a certainty, and buried it deep inside.
There was no need to stir up trouble for no reason.
"Alright. Time to give a present to my admirable friend."
"Did you really go through all this trouble just because you didn't want to give it to me for free?"
"Geez. This is why I hate quick-witted guys."
Only then did Muzark receive the paper from Yen. It was a dizzying array of unfamiliar geometric shapes and mathematical formulas. As his head began to spin, Yen plopped down on the sofa right next to him.
"This is the magic formula Claude Regan left behind."
"This is magic? My eyes are going to pop out."
"Ah. You did say you don't know magic theory, right?"
Yen began her lecture, looking slightly excited.
"Modern magic is mostly made up of mathematical problems and solutions. What you need to know is that a mage's individual magic circuit acts like a sheet of paper. We only consider a spell 'properly learned' once the magic formula is engraved onto the circuit like a tattoo."
"W-what?"
"Just listen. In the past, magic circles and rituals were the mainstream, but their convenience and casting speed are overwhelmingly inferior. On the other hand, if you engrave the magic onto your circuit, you can cast it with ease."
The concepts she explained weren't overly complex. It was just that looking at the actual magic formula made his head spin.
"Well, the old methods are still used sometimes. There are large-scale spells that a circuit can't handle, and mages don't bother engraving spells they don't use often, or spells where casting speed doesn't matter."
"Hmm."
"The capacity of a magic circuit is limited, so you can't just tattoo formulas onto it indiscriminately. Anyway, filling your circuit according to your needs—whether for combat or research—is the foundation of modern magic."
Strictly speaking, this technique was called Memorize.
However, because this technique had become so widespread in the modern era, "learning a spell" had become synonymous with "memorizing a spell."
It was essentially a mage's signature specialty.
"Life is short, and the magical path is infinitely profound," Yen added, stretching her arms. "Anyone would be forced to pursue efficiency. It's just the natural flow of the times."
"They pursued efficiency so much that it ended up looking like some kind of code."
"The difficulty of the theory has nothing to do with what I just said. Though, trying to Memorize a high-level spell will make you suffer two or three times as much. Just glancing at this, it looks incredibly complex."
She hadn't given it to him expecting him to learn it right away. It was merely a goal to motivate him.
"I believe this is the knowledge Claude Regan obtained from Harmensales. Even if it's hard to measure its exact value, I can guarantee it's no common, low-tier spell."
Yen chuckled at the sight of Muzark staring at the magic formula with a dead-serious expression.
"I'll take my time teaching you. In magic, the more you rush, the more you lose. If you accidentally engrave the wrong formula, you could damage your circuit."
"..."
"Normally, engraving magic is done with extreme caution in a safe place after thorough research. So, what I'm saying is, have some patience."
While she poured out common knowledge of the magic world as if she had been holding it in all this time...
What is this?
Muzark was witnessing a bizarre phenomenon. He had been reading down the magic formula just to familiarize his eyes with it, even if he couldn't understand it, when the equations and geometric shapes began to squirm on their own.
The ink marks resting on the paper rose like heat haze. The ink coalesced, shaping itself into a new form. It was a three-dimensional image, like a hologram.
"Dark magic isn't my specialty, but believe it or not, I'm a self-made mage. At least when it comes to theory, I'm confident I wouldn't lose to even the Director..."
Yen's voice continued to drone on. She showed no sign of noticing what was happening right in front of her. It was as if the hallucination was visible only to Muzark.
Before long, the ink formed a complete object.
An abyssal sea rendered in thick ink. An island submerged on the seabed, a deeply sunken fortress. And a massive iron chain binding the entire island.
The moment he perceived them clearly—
Bubble, bubble!
The chained island crumbled into a flurry of bubbles.
The ink settled back onto the paper, returning to its chaotic equations.
Nothing seemed to have changed from before he saw the hallucination.
Yet, Muzark could sense a distinct change.
Something had coiled itself inside his chest, not outside.
He realized that, without his knowing, a new magic had been engraved onto his circuit.
"Hey. Are you listening? I know you're focused, but right now—wait, what?"
Yen, who had been about to lecture him further, widened her eyes to the size of saucers.
"Y-you... how...?"
A tangle of black threads was unraveling from Muzark's fingertips. It was unmistakably magic. A new dark magic, entirely separate from his innate Cryptofetica.
Muzark was just as shocked as Yen, if not more.
Since he had no way to explain it, his options for words were limited.
"It just... worked."
"There's... no way? That's impossible!"
"I don't know either. Seriously. Want to run the lie detector again?"
Witnessing a situation that defied all common sense, Yen's mind raced with wild theories.
Did he actually have some connection to Claude Regan and learn the magic beforehand? Is he actually a grand mage hiding his identity? Or does this have something to do with his contract with Harmensales?
Amidst the flood of questions, one clear emotion surfaced.
"Dammit. I wasted my life studying magic."
"Uh, well. I guess it's normally really hard?"
"Of course it is, you shameless bastard!"
"Hey, watch your mouth."
Yen glared at Muzark as he protested his innocence, but as she did, she read the mix of emotions on his face. He looked flustered and genuinely worried.
"Why do you look like that when you just got a free spell?"
"Because even I would think, 'What is wrong with this guy?'"
"At least you're self-aware."
"Damn. Just when I thought we finally smoothed things over, nothing comes easy."
Rather than rejoicing over learning a new spell, he was worried their relationship would sour. Watching him, Yen felt a strange, ticklish sensation. It was awkward, but not entirely unpleasant.
When did that stoic block of wood become like this?
Yen shook her head with a groan.
"Whatever, forget it. Come to think of it, you were weird from the very beginning."
"Unbelievable. Look who's talking."
"Shut up. Just show me the magic in detail."
Muzark obediently manifested the magic. Since the spell was engraved onto his circuit, he could summon it as easily as his Cryptofetica. Yen stared intently at the tangle of threads emerging from his fingers.
"It looks more like a summoning than a transmutation. I think it manifested in an incomplete form because of a lack of proficiency, mana, or both. I wonder what it looks like when cast properly."
An image of the completed spell already existed in Muzark's mind. The iron chains binding the island. Right now, it was nothing more than a pathetic bundle of threads, but one day, it would become a set of unbreakable chains.
"Can you tell just by looking at it for a second?"
"It's my specialty. If a penniless beggar wants to become a mage of Yellowline, they need a trick or two to show off. Not that it's a past I'm particularly proud of."
While Muzark marveled at her insight, Yen let go of her remaining doubts. Muzark's magic was heavily steeped in the clumsy awkwardness unique to beginners.
If even this was an act, she might as well just let herself be fooled.
Looking at it from another angle, Muzark was a fascinating subject of study that stimulated a mage's intellectual curiosity. He was well worth keeping close.
"Since we're at it, maybe I should teach you some other spells too."
Yen imagined a potential future.
If Muzark was a mage capable of climbing higher...
Perhaps their relationship would last a little longer than she had expected.