Journey to the Magician's Forest
The day of the first-year Class C field exploration had arrived.
As the students gathered at one edge of the courtyard for a headcount, the low murmur among them steadily grew louder.
Every gaze in the crowd was fixed on one man — a figure jutting out from beyond the neat rows of students like a stone poking out of place.
He had black hair and a rather rough-looking countenance, and several of the students already knew his name. From his very first day at the Academy, he had been a topic of conversation — for good reasons and bad alike.
"Before we begin the exploration of the Magician's Forest, I will introduce the person who will be joining us for the next two days. Everyone, attention."
"Yes, sir!"
Professor Wilhelm — the stern-looking man who served as Class C's homeroom instructor — clapped his hands and drew every eye toward him. Truthfully, he hardly needed to; all the attention was already his.
He cleared his throat once, then gave the male student standing beside him a slight nudge forward. A wordless demand: introduce yourself, already.
"I'm Bell Dinauer, from Class E. I had a lot of questions about the field exploration, so I decided to come see it for myself and used my observation pass to tag along. I'll be in your care for the next two days."
Clap, clap.
A ripple of applause spread through the crowd — applause that carried very little sincerity. Or, to put it more precisely, all the applause except for a single person's.
"Student Elua?"
"Yes, Professor."
Rone, who had been grinning at Bell, stepped forward calmly at the professor's sudden summons.
"I understand the two of you are childhood friends. For the duration of the exploration, you'll be partnered together so that you can assist Student Dinauer."
"Understood!"
Rone, who usually showed nothing but composure in the classroom, answered with considerably more energy than usual — all the more amusing given how hard she was trying not to let it show.
Before long, Bell left Wilhelm's side and walked over to stand beside her. Her mouth split into a wide, goofy grin, and she looked up at him with eyes that practically dripped honey.
"Bell. You really came?"
She'd known in advance, of course, but she hadn't quite believed it was actually possible for him to join Class C's field exploration — and so her joy showed no sign of fading.
"What, did you think I was lying?"
"A little? Hehe."
Watching Rone giggle with such guileless delight, Bell felt a flicker of something almost like resentment. Here he was, eaten alive with worry over Bartel's appearance — and there she was, smiling like she was off on a picnic with a childhood friend.
And yet, looking at that smile, he could feel the tension in his chest loosen, just a little. If she could still smile so breezily after this whole affair was over... maybe he'd actually be grateful for it.
"Who does that guy think he is, acting all chummy with Elua?"
"I know, right?"
"Childhood friends? Damn it. The world is disgustingly unfair."
"Exactly. I don't get it — why couldn't God have given me a childhood friend like that?"
Doing his best to ignore the envious voices of the boys behind him, Bell boarded the carriage that pulled up shortly after, Rone at his side.
It would take quite a while to reach the Magician's Forest, which lay to the northwest of the island. Just thinking about keeping up with Rone's endless chatter for the whole ride made him feel like his energy was already draining away.
The Magician's Forest.
This vast grove — known to some as the Forest of Spirits — stood in the northwestern reaches of Delos Academy Island. Its dense canopy of trees kept out most of the sunlight, and the region had developed an ecosystem so distinct that it alone on the island received rainfall, giving the land the character of a veritable wetland.
Consequently, the moment a visitor set foot here, they were greeted by the scent of damp grass after rain.
While the carriage rolled onward, Professor Wilhelm recited a brief overview of the forest's history — and then, glancing around at his students, posed the most essential question of all.
"Does anyone here know why this place is called the Magician's Forest?"
The hand that shot up boldly belonged to a female student with light green hair and a bright, open face.
"Yes! I do!"
"Good. Student Sistina, go ahead."
Enya Sistina — so knowledgeable about all manner of things that her friends of the past month had taken to calling her a walking encyclopedia of trivia. At her entrance, appreciative cries of "Ooooh!" erupted all around.
Wilhelm, too, knew his student's strengths well, and he nodded along with a distinctly expectant expression. At his encouraging bobbing of the head — go on, then — Enya spoke with confidence.
"It's because of the Archmage Astesia, who is said to have lived in this forest alone before the Academy was founded."
"Correct. Do you know anything more?"
"Yes, sir. The mage Astesia wished to leave proof of her existence in this forest, so just before her death, she distilled the essence of all the mana she had gathered in her lifetime into a special flower before passing on. That flower, which blooms only once every ten years, is what we now know as the Blessing of Astesia."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
It was, quite literally, an answer that could have been copied straight off the pages of a textbook. Wilhelm gave a short burst of applause and added a note of explanation.
"Just as she says. And it has become an Academy tradition that, once every ten years, the new students enrolled in that particular year retrieve the Blessing of Astesia during their field exploration."
The Blessing of Astesia was no ordinary flower.
It was a legendary elixir born from a decade of the forest's concentrated life force mingled with the essence of mana left behind by the Archmage in life. After all, the former Emperor Tristan Arcadia had been freed from what was called an incurable illness thanks to the Blessing of Astesia itself.
'The problem is, that's not the whole story.'
At that moment, Bell — who had been listening to the conversation from one corner of the carriage — narrowed his eyes.
The information they had just recited wasn't wrong. But it was only the publicly known, surface-level account.
In truth, while the Blessing of Astesia did possess medicinal properties, its real value lay in the vast reserve of mana contained within.
And with good reason. Mana, above all else, was the wellspring of power spread across everything — not just people, but nature, beasts, and spirits alike. The Blessing of Astesia was a seed, and then a flower, that had sprouted at the heart of the forest where all of that was preserved, drawing in the surrounding mana as it grew.
Which meant that the mana sealed inside it was of a scale almost impossible to imagine within the realm of humanity.
This was precisely why Bartel, a member of the Followers, had strained every sinew to claim it in the original story.
The Followers' master — the root of all evil, sealed away for eternity after being thwarted at last by the Sword Saint: Alzeros. To awaken him anew, they required a pure, uncorrupted essence of mana, and the Blessing of Astesia was the most fitting target imaginable.
'And because they failed to deal with it properly, all hell broke loose again.'
Recalling the original story's plot, Bell clicked his tongue.
During the Magician's Forest arc, Arden's heroics did succeed in stopping Bartel, and the Academy did manage to bring the Blessing of Astesia home. But because there was no immediate use for it, it was left in careless storage — and when word of it reached the Followers' ears, it became the catalyst for their assault on the Academy itself.
As the memory sank in, a sigh escaped Bell's lips of its own accord.
"Whew."
"Bell? What's wrong? Are you carsick or something?"
Rone, who had already noticed something off about his expression, seized the moment to ask after him. For some reason, the shadow on his face had been deepening the closer they drew to the Magician's Forest.
"Maybe. I do feel a little dizzy."
Forcing a smile, Bell thought that he'd honestly rather it were carsickness. Motion sickness would vanish completely with a good nap.
The affair he was worried about, on the other hand, wouldn't fade with sleep — it would come leaping right up to meet him the moment he woke. Utterly hopeless, either way.
Hearing his answer, Rone stamped her feet in a small bustle, at a loss for what to do.
It was then that a male student who had happened to overhear their exchange turned around.
"If it's motion sickness, have this. Bell Dinauer, was it?"
He was a young man with red hair and a rather lean face, carrying a bag noticeably larger than anyone else's. From it, he rummaged out something and held it in his hand: a single round tablet. Bell could tell instinctively that it was something effective against motion sickness.
"Oh, thanks. Sorry, what was your name...?"
"Aldric Billmeier. And don't worry — I'm not some commoner playing tricks on you. You can take it with a clear conscience."
Aldric waved his hands as if to say come on, take it, a playful smile on his face. Bell didn't actually have motion sickness, but turning down a gift freely offered would have been its own kind of rude, so he accepted it and popped it straight into his mouth.
"Ugh — that's bitter as hell."
"Medicine's supposed to be bitter. You wanted it sweet?"
The moment Aldric saw Bell's face scrunch up as he chewed the green tablet, he burst into a fit of giggles.
Watching the two of them, Rone's eyes lit up as if she'd just had a brilliant idea, and she dug through her pockets. Out came a small, individually wrapped yellow candy — she'd packed it to snack on whenever her mouth got bored during the forest exploration — and she held it out to Bell.
"Bell, I've got candy. Want this instead?"
"I want to ask if you think I'm a child... but thank you. Don't mind if I do."
Bell hastily unwrapped the candy she handed him and slipped it into his mouth. The moment the sour hint of lemon and the familiar sweetness of candy spread across his tongue, his flattened, bitter-coated tongue felt like it uncurled again.
Before long, as Bell rolled the candy around his mouth, the entrance to the forest came into view, drawing steadily closer.
"Should've taken it a bit sooner, huh?"
Aldric checked Bell's complexion with an embarrassed smile. At this point, the motion sickness medicine hadn't even had a full ten minutes to work. Accounting for the time it took for the drug to absorb into the body, it was fair to say it had been practically meaningless.
"I'm fine. If anything, it's a good thing."
Still, Bell shook his head slightly as if it were no matter, calming the pounding of his heart, which had begun to quicken as the forest drew near.
'If only this incident could resolve itself as easily as that.'
Just as easily as a bitter aftertaste washed away by a single piece of candy.
He wanted to settle the Magician's Forest affair without incident and return to the Academy. Right now, that was the grandest wish he had.