The White Wind Howls (5)
The White Wind Howls (5)
#83
"Uuuu— this man keeps staring at my chest... Lucien just wants to go home."
Hey. What the hell is this, all of a sudden.
I was so dumbfounded my mouth fell open, but now that I thought about it, she wasn't wrong.
Well.
How was I supposed to explain my way out of—
"Lucien."
"Huh, wh-what...?"
"Men are simply creatures like that."
?
For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard and stared at Estelle.
The blonde girl began defending me with an utterly shameless expression. Not that I'd ever hired the likes of her as my lawyer.
"Especially a man who has spent a long time on the battlefield with his life on the line—there is a perfectly reasonable chance his gaze will drift in a somewhat impolite direction. Therefore, there's no need to interpret that gaze as carrying any particular malice."
"Buuut... uuu... he kept lookiiing..."
Lucien glanced at my face through the gaps in her bangs, stealing little peeks.
"Lucien. Listen carefully again. This is nothing more than a biological instinct—the urge to procreate, triggered in a creature before it dies. They probably simply felt, among the three women in this room, that Lucien was the most sexually attractive. Congratulations. Perhaps this man even likes Lucien. At any rate, he's simply a pitiful creature gazing at a dream he can never reach, so as the heir of Verciel, please forgive him."
Stop.
Please stop... If you're going to defend me like that, just stop...
"You should apologize to Lucien, too. Then Lucien will probably forgive you. Isn't that right?"
"Eh... uuuu... If Estelle says so."
The whole time, Cassian watched this scene with an expression of great amusement.
Just headbutt the floor and be done with it.
"I'm sorry."
The blonde girl answered on my behalf.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry for staring at your chest so rudely."
"P... I-I'll accept your apology. Th-then Lucien will g-go with you... too!"
And so, as if concluding some kind of negotiation, our traveling companions were decided. Just as I was staring at the two of them with a half-vacant expression, Cassian, who had been spectating, spoke up.
"Good. Now that that's settled— just as I mentioned earlier, the two of you will teach this fellow the fundamentals of magic until Lily wakes up."
"Understood."
Estelle bowed her head without a moment's hesitation.
Reflexively following her friend, Lucien bent her waist as well.
"Hi, hiu... Understooood..."
***
***
The moment I stepped outside the tent, a landscape completely different from before spread out before my eyes, along with a thick, murky air.
White tents adorned with the golden lion emblem stood spaced at regular intervals, and mages in robes bustled busily among them.
Here and there, peculiar-looking devices ran on mana stones, illuminating the half-darkened sky—
Ah— this was a military encampment preparing for war. Anyone could see it was a military encampment. Yet this encampment, set before a mountain range, boasted such overwhelming majesty it could easily be called a small city built in the heart of a war zone.
"...Wow."
The admiration slipped out before I could stop it. When I was curious about something, naturally, I ought to ask.
"Are all the personnel here from House Eurasia's forces?"
"More precisely, these are the forces gathered around our family. Since our family's mages consist solely of my mother and myself."
"Gathered forces?"
"Yes. They are the force assembled by the few 'normal' orthodox mages who remain, to prepare for the unending war."
"May I ask why you specifically used the word 'normal'?"
"I did not personally bring Do-yun here, but you have likely already experienced it. The fallen mages of Arcanum—those who have cast aside even the honor of a mage."
"Do the Count Houses also number among those fallen mages of Arcanum?"
"Yes. Apart from the Hunters, two of the six families cast aside their honor and pride and began slaughtering mages like themselves. Witnessing that, many mages have already fallen into Hunter status."
......... The situation seemed fairly dire.
"So, this encampment is nothing less than the last bastion protecting the remaining mages from hostile forces. If this place is breached, the young mages will die at the hands of the enemy. And then, the world will end."
"Where exactly are you protecting the young mages, for you to say that..."
Upon hearing that, Estelle pointed at the sky beyond the mountain range. It was a mountain range I felt like I'd seen somewhere before...
The sky was hazy and hard to see, but countless thin golden threads were fluttering in the sky above the mountain range.
"It's a defensive barrier created by my mother's Unique Magic, 『Regulation』. As long as this place is not breached, the enemies can never cross into the Academy."
Ah, it seemed to be the mountain range I'd seen from the Academy. Then it was clear.
"I see. So you are protecting the remaining mages at the Academy."
"That's right, so please keep this firmly in mind. The moment the two of us are absent, this place's combat strength suffers a tremendous loss. We are staking the futures of all the mages who remain on accompanying Do-yun on his journey."
"Huu... right..."
You, at least butt in with some confidence...
At any rate, I tried to summarize. That place was the only passage to the Academy—created by Cassian's Unique Magic—and it was a battlefield.
And at that Academy, they were protecting young mages who couldn't yet serve as a fighting force. Then, only one question remained. Just why would they send not one, but two of their most critical fighting powers—the direct heirs of Count Houses—on a journey for the likes of me?
I felt that Cassian's words alone weren't a sufficient answer.
As if reading the question on my face, that woman who acted like a total shut-in spoke up.
"L... Lily is the only person who has ever gone directly to the House of the Great Ones. Li...Lily, wh-when she was ten... was called to the Gr...Great One's House once..."
"Which is why my mother is pinning her hopes on this. She says that if we take Lily and go to the First Deviant, then the two watching Dukes will provide a solution."
"Is it a house with some kind of access restriction? And why hasn't such an attempt been made until now?"
"Because Do-yun has been missing for the past several years. Furthermore, the House of the Great Ones hasn't opened its doors to anyone for nearly a hundred years. With the exception of Lily, thirty years ago."
The worst.
"So listen well. We are companions who assist in Do-yun's journey, and at the same time, we are monitors. So do not entertain any foolish thoughts, and focus solely on reaching the House of the Great Ones. If that proves impossible, we will have no choice but to eliminate Do-yun."
"..."
Well, that's a bit frightening.
"Do you have any complaints?"
"No, none. Even I don't think I'd ever be able to reach that place myself."
"You're quick on the uptake."
"Huu... uh, Lucien will also moni...tor diligently too..."
... Somehow, I felt like I could take her.
I swallowed that retort and shook my head.
***
***
#84
Before I knew it, the three of us had arrived at an empty lot. A so-called training ground.
"From now on, what Do-yun needs to do is simple."
"What should I do?"
"You just need to become stronger."
Wow! A power-up event. But how exactly was I supposed to do that?
"Do you know about the Three Elements of Magic?"
"Not really."
To be precise, I had heard them less than an hour earlier, but I had already forgotten them. Sorry, Cassian Maman.
"Then let's start from the very beginning. The Three Elements of Magic are Mental Image (心象), Manifestation (顕現), and the Netherworld (冥府)."
"......Mental Image, Manifestation, Netherworld."
"Yes. Mental Image is the earnest desire you wish to draw within your heart, Manifestation is the logical process of revealing that desire in reality, and the Netherworld is the place that collects the price left behind by all magic."
Oh.
I more or less understood. I'd have to call her Star Instructor Estelle. She should quit being a lawyer and find work as an instructor—it seemed to suit her aptitude better.
"However, I heard from my mother that Do-yun performs magic while omitting this Netherworld (冥府)."
"Honestly, I don't really understand what you mean by 'omitting.'"
"It... i-it means... your magic is not performed using mana as the price..."
?
Then how the hell have I been using it all this time?
"From what we have investigated, the First Deviant, Do-yun, possesses the Imprint of Equivalent Exchange. It is presumed to be a degraded copy of the imprint once held by the old House Florentia."
Florentia... Elysia.
A nostalgic name. Looks like they did a proper investigation.
"Imprints similar to that one exist in this world, but their characteristic is that they can substitute something other than mana as the price for performing magic."
"Is that a problem? The magic works just fine."
"Of course it's a problem. Magic is the act of conjuring a miracle that does not exist in reality. There's no way the price for conjuring such a miracle is small."
"The pre...cious things belonging to Do-yo...on could be substituted as the pri...ice..."
Oh, shit. Then did that mean my precious asset—my cock—could vanish just from casting one spell?
"For now, things like Do-yun's body will be substituted as the price, but before long, truly important things. Things like Do-yun's lifespan may be offered up as the price for magic."
That's a hard no.
"So, the goal is to pay an appropriate price, then."
"Correct. We call that process the Payment of the Netherworld."
"Then what should I offer?"
"O...obviously, manaaa... I already said thaaat... uuuu......Lucien thinks Do-yun is a du...dummy."
Right.
Now that I thought about it, it was obvious.
Back when that bastard Rubel fired her Unique Magic of flames at me, what on earth had she paid to the Netherworld? It certainly hadn't been a piece of her own body.
He'd used his Unique Magic with mana as the Netherworld price.
Even without Rubel as an example, common sense dictates that a mage pays mana to the Netherworld to cast magic. Am I an idiot?
In other words, everything I'd been doing until now was no different from forcing it without mana—faking my way as a pathetic mage by relying on just one characteristic of the imprint Elysia gave me.
"That's right. Paying mana as the price would have been the answer."
"Good, you catch on quickly. An ordinary man wouldn't have an imprint to conceive mana originating from the heart's life force, but it should be possible for Do-yun. Since you already possess an imprint."
"Does that mean I've become a real mage now?"
"It's too early to celebrate. Theory and practice are different. You've grasped the theory, so let's now move on to practice through direct sparring."
Ooooh.
With this, I'll be a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool mage!
"Alright, please go a bit easy on me. I'll do my best!"
Looking at Estelle, I took a fighting stance.
But the answer that came back was unexpected.
"Why are you looking my way? The one who will be Do-yun's opponent is Lucien."
?
"...H-hic! E-e-excuse me...pleased to be your partnerrr!"