The Ancient Civilization Hypothesis
The scholars from the South each wanted to visit such different places that we decided to split up. Adela headed for the guild cafeteria, Neon for the guild library, and Arash for the guild training grounds. As everyone scattered according to their own interests, I took the opportunity to wander around the guild and familiarize myself with its layout. Since I was particularly interested in the guild itself, I didn't linger in any one spot but moved between several areas instead. I'd already toured every space an adventurer could access, so my attention naturally drifted to others roaming the guild like me. Their clothing suggested they weren't from the North. A few appeared to be from the Central region, but most wore styles I'd never seen before. People from other regions? Whenever our eyes met, I offered a light greeting and continued on my way.
After wandering like that, I finally reached the training grounds. The headquarters was massive, yet the areas open to adventurers were surprisingly limited, so I figured I'd work up a good sweat here until my companions finished enjoying themselves and returned. The interior of the training grounds was incredibly spacious. Seeing it packed with people drove home just how many inhabitants the North truly had. It even made me think that the Edenberg branch, which could rival this place, was pretty impressive in its own right. Well, with Vergo as branch manager, it's no wonder Edenberg isn't exactly small either.
As I looked around for a good spot to train, Arash—who had arrived before me—spotted me and raised his hand in greeting.
"Did you hear the news and come running with your blood pumping too?"
"What news?"
When I made a puzzled face at the cryptic remark, Arash explained.
"I heard they're holding an unlimited sparring event at the academic festival this time."
"Unlimited sparring?"
"Yeah. You step into the arena and keep dueling until you lose. It's not a major event—just a small, impromptu one they threw together."
"They're doing that at the academic festival?"
"It doubles as a festival, so they planned it to entertain the crowd. Besides, the academy and the guild have always worked closely together, right?"
I nodded, convinced by Arash's reasoning. That made sense. No wonder the training grounds were unusually crowded. It looked like everyone had heard about the unlimited sparring and was training hard to place well.
"This makes it tough to train properly," I muttered.
"No matter how big the training grounds are, with this many people packed in, it's hard to train the way you want."
My training involved working with my summons, which required plenty of open space, so this was especially inconvenient. It was a shame, but I decided to save the training for another time and left the grounds.
"Might as well visit the library, then."
The library was on the second floor of the headquarters, so a short walk brought me there quickly. It was enormous. The massive library—too vast to take in at a single glance—contained everything about the Northern ecosystem.
"It's several times bigger than the Edenberg branch."
Our branch only compiled information on the area around Edenberg, while the guild headquarters gathered data from across the entire North, so it was only natural. The scary part was that even this place was nothing but a speck of dust compared to the academy. The knowledge accumulated by scholars over a thousand years couldn't possibly end at this level.
Since there was nothing to lose as a user, I leisurely browsed for books worth reading.
"They have Weapon Mastery… should I read the Northern weapons manual? Or maybe the Northern Monster Encyclopedia? Maxwell's Introduction to Ecology looks interesting too."
While I was skimming through books with the intention of light reading, I sensed a presence behind me. At the same time, an elderly man with a kindly face appeared. As if drawn by something, the old man spotted me and his expression filled with emotion.
"Oh, ooooh! Such a brilliantly radiant Mystery!"
He approached cautiously, as though he'd discovered a rare jewel, then began circling me. I stared at him in confusion. It was true that I possessed a Mystery, but how could he tell?
"Who are you…?"
It wasn't something visible on the surface, so normally he shouldn't have known unless I revealed it myself. Yet the old man had immediately sensed my Mystery and reacted with intense excitement. Reading my gaze, he seemed to realize his rudeness and cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Ah, my apologies. It's been so long since I've seen a beautiful, luminous Mystery that I got carried away. I am Urek, a Mystery scholar from the South."
"I'm Argo. If you're from the South, that explains how you sensed my Mystery."
From what I'd heard, Westerners could manipulate ocean currents while Easterners used the wind to live closer to the sky. In the same way, Southerners supposedly possessed the ability to sense or handle Mysteries, so it wasn't strange at all that Urek had noticed mine. More impressively, he'd come all the way from the South—that was quite a long journey.
Since this was a rare and interesting connection, I decided to chat for a while to pass the time. At the sound of our conversation, Neon and a woman wearing glasses approached.
"What are you doing over here?"
"Sir Urek! I was wondering where you'd gone, and here you are?"
The woman seemed to know Urek; she looked at him with a slightly pouty expression.
"No matter how fascinating someone else's Mystery is, you shouldn't be rude."
"Don't worry, I already received permission."
"Permission? You just took a casual nod as consent and ran with it."
While listening to the back-and-forth between the man and woman, Neon leaned his head toward me and whispered.
"Who are these people?"
"Scholars from the South, apparently."
"Ah, from the South?"
At the mention of their origin, Neon gazed at Urek with curious eyes.
"Are you here for the academic festival?"
"That's right. The Northern academic festival is quite famous among scholars."
"But aren't the fields of study in the South and North completely different?"
"Even if the fields differ, there's always something to learn from each other."
Neon let out a small sound of admiration at the wise response. Just as Urek said, the North valued ecology and history while the South emphasized Mysteries and magitech, but that didn't mean there was nothing to gain by interacting. Neon acknowledged his own shortsightedness.
"I was being narrow-minded. My name is Neon. I'm currently working as an official black mage."
"An official black mage! I never imagined black mages could operate in the North."
"I'm Silvia, a magitech engineer. I had the exact same thought. To think there would be a black mage in the North."
"It just sort of happened."
Neon gave an awkward laugh at the two scholars' reactions. After all, he hadn't expected things to turn out this way either. Thanks to that twist of fate he'd escaped his wandering days and become an official black mage, but it had involved quite a lot of suffering. Recalling those memories, Neon smiled with a look that carried many layers of meaning.
"It's more manageable than you might think."
"...It looks like you've been through a lot."
"H-hang in there."
Having seen that smile, the two scholars awkwardly averted their eyes. They didn't know the details, but they could tell something incredibly complicated had happened, so they didn't feel comfortable asking.
Watching the exchange, I decided to change the subject to break the awkward atmosphere.
"Speaking of which, they mentioned that achieving great results at the academic festival brings tremendous rewards, right?"
"Indeed. From a scholar's perspective, the rewards are so tempting they make your mouth water."
"I heard that if you present good results or interesting research at the academic festival, you can receive help from the scholars."
"It's an incredibly attractive reward—especially the fact that taking first place grants you the assistance of the entire academy."
It really was an appealing reward for scholars. Even though it was only once, receiving help from the entire academy was equivalent to gaining support from scholars spread across the entire North. It would be incredibly useful when preparing large-scale projects or research.
Once the familiar topic came up, Urek grew visibly excited and explained with enthusiasm.
"At this academic festival, I'm aiming for third place."
"That's aiming quite high, isn't it? It looked like scholars from many other regions have come as well."
"I brought a paper that's practically guaranteed to place in the rankings."
Oh? If he was speaking with that much confidence, he must be very sure of himself. I showed my curiosity. Of course he would keep it tightly sealed until the festival to prevent leaks, but I still wanted at least a hint.
"Then what do you plan to do with the third-place reward?"
"Prepare for my next research, naturally."
What a true scholar. I was impressed that he intended to use the prize money from the festival to fund his next research.
"Could you at least give me a hint about what you've prepared?"
"A hint?"
At my question, Urek pondered for a moment before looking at me.
"Well, someone with as much Mystery as you wouldn't go around spreading information carelessly."
After seeming to consider it briefly, Urek shrugged as if it were no big deal. He checked that no one was nearby, then whispered quietly.
"The hint for the paper I've prepared for this academic festival is..."
As Neon and I leaned in close to listen, the hint that emerged was completely unexpected.
"The ancient civilization. More precisely, it's a hypothesis regarding the vanished ancient civilization. I plan to present this to gain sponsorship and the support of other scholars."
Having said that, Urek straightened his posture with a triumphant expression. His face seemed to say he was certain we'd be shocked by his story. But after seeing our reactions, both Urek and Shinshia looked puzzled.
"Why are you all making those faces?"
"What a relief."
"Relief?"
"The timing is just too perfect."
"Hm?"
We let out sighs of relief and shook our heads at Urek's words. We'd expected it would be difficult to find, but we'd obtained a hint far too easily. Honestly, I'd thought I'd have to spend weeks digging through mountains of books with Delian, but it seemed I wouldn't have to go through all that trouble after all.