The Eccentric Archmage
The moonlight that faintly illuminated the night was blocked by the leaves, leaving the forest pitch black. With nothing to rely on but my own eyes, I had no choice but to keep moving forward. I advanced one careful step at a time, even my breathing measured and quiet. Disturbing the magical beasts that lived here could cost me my life, so once inside the forest, caution was the only option.
Grwaaaaargh!!
The occasional roars of magical beasts made me want to hide, but the knights pursuing me terrified me far more. Fear. That was the only emotion left to me. Now I was truly… alone in the world. No parents to protect me, no loyal butler, no knights. The realization made my body tremble. But I couldn’t stop. If I stopped walking, I would die.
Cold.
I pulled my clothes tighter against the chill and kept walking, yet the cold refused to leave. Perhaps it wasn’t my body that was cold, but my heart. I forced my weakening resolve back into place and quickened my pace. I couldn’t rest. At least not until I escaped this forest. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down or halt my steps. Letting out a long breath to steady myself, I scanned my surroundings and took another step forward.
@
In this world, if you asked what was most powerful, most people would say magic. Swordsmanship was powerful too, of course. But unlike magic, anyone could pick up a sword and train. You might never surpass the wall called Sword Master, but with effort, anyone could learn to wield a blade.
Magic was different. Without even a shred of talent, without the slightest mana sensitivity, you could never even begin. No matter how brilliant your mind, if you lacked the gift, the study of magic remained forever out of reach. That was why it was so incomprehensible, and why it was so powerful.
Those with talent for magic could begin their studies, and the greater their talent, the more lavish the treatment they received. Such was the way of this world. As both a mage and an Archmage, Ophelia lived without the slightest inconvenience. Because of that, she was bored.
Some called magic difficult. But Ophelia, born with innate talent and a brilliant mind, understood the discipline the moment she laid eyes on it. She didn’t merely comprehend it—she mastered it completely. Anyone who saw her called her a genius.
Archmage Ophelia. For her, nothing was difficult. Nothing was impossible. So she turned her gaze elsewhere—to the long-vanished art of spirit summoning.
Spirit summoning was both fascinating and enigmatic to her. Its foundation lay in resonance with spirits. Yet mages, who wielded mana, feared spirit arts. Unlike the rational, logical discipline of magic, spirit summoning was ambiguous and strange. They feared what they could not explain rationally and grew anxious over what defied logic. Thus, mages began to reject and suppress spirit summoning, openly denying its very existence.
As a result, the overwhelming number of mages gradually erased spirit summoning from memory until it faded away. In the present age, many believed it was nothing more than an ancient discipline. Everyone taught the same thing, and as people stopped believing in spirits, the spirits themselves slowly vanished from the world.
That was why Ophelia had no choice but to study spirit summoning. No one surpassed her in magic anymore, so there was nothing left to learn. Forging her own path had never been difficult for her, so she began researching the unknown field of spirit arts.
Yet even she, hailed as a magical genius, possessed no talent for spirit summoning. Resonating with spirits? Such vague, imprecise concepts were beyond her understanding. So Ophelia waited—for someone with talent in spirit summoning to appear.
“……So sleepy.”
Ophelia muttered as she slowly blinked. Her fiery red hair swayed gently with each yawn, matching her short-tempered nature. Relying on a small, dim light, she had been reading, but eventually closed the book and gazed out the window with bored eyes.
Ophelia was not the type to wait idly like others. Nor was she sociable enough to go searching for someone with spirit talent. Instead, she wandered the continent’s forests in hopes of meeting spirits directly.
Forests. If there was anywhere spirits loved most, it would be the forests. Ophelia called them the places where natural energy was most abundant—their sanctuaries. Today, as usual, she had strolled through the woods using the spirit detector she invented, then returned to her makeshift shelter with a sulky expression.
“Damn spirits and their ridiculously high noses.”
She couldn’t help cursing the absent spirits. They rarely showed themselves to anyone but their chosen contractor, and those they chose always possessed overwhelming talent for spirit arts. From Ophelia’s perspective—chosen by mana but rejected by spirits—she could never meet them no matter how much she wanted to.
The spirit detector and the so-called Spirit Summoner Detector she had created after analyzing their traits had never once reacted. She didn’t know whether it was because she had never encountered a spirit or a Spirit Summoner, or because her device was broken, but Ophelia believed in her work. Why? Because she had never failed at anything—except using spirit summoning itself.
Though her understanding of spirit arts surpassed everyone else’s, she lamented her lack of talent to actually use them. With a sigh, she slowly closed her eyes. Leaning back into the soft, swaying sofa, she decided that if tomorrow brought no results, she would move elsewhere, and surrendered to the approaching drowsiness.
Grwaaaaargh!!
“……”
What disturbed Ophelia’s near-sleep was none other than a magical beast in the forest. She often skipped sleep while absorbed in research, so she despised having her rare moments of rest interrupted. Some might find it strange that she lived in the forest yet paid no mind to the beasts’ roars, but to Ophelia it was nothing. She possessed the power to slaughter them all in an instant. The reason she left them alone was simple: there was no need to destroy the ecosystem just for the sake of her nap. It absolutely, definitely wasn’t because she found it troublesome.
……Anyway, it wasn’t.
That didn’t mean she showed them mercy by doing nothing, however.
“……I warned them clearly.”
The reason the magical beasts in the forest had been quiet lately? Nothing special. Ophelia, whose mana was so vast and powerful it could be mistaken for a dragon’s, had given them a warning. Make unnecessary noise at night and their heads would fly. Overwhelmed by her power, the beasts had obeyed and stayed silent for a while—until today, when they ignored her warning and howled once more.
“Haa.”
When it came to research, Ophelia was as curious as any other mage. She approached her studies with patience and persistence. But that didn’t mean her fiery personality was hidden. Her true nature was short-tempered, quick to explode over the smallest things.
Ophelia drew a deep breath and rose calmly. Yet despite her composed movements, her expression was twisted like a demon’s. Face contorted with irritation, she rubbed her cheeks and slowly stepped outside her cabin.
“Which idiots are wandering into the forest at night without a shred of sense?”
The magical beasts weren’t foolish enough to ignore her warning. If anything, they understood warnings better than humans. They knew instinctively that offending this powerful being would cost them their lives. So if they were howling now, it meant someone else was disturbing the forest—some human who had entered despite the night and the beasts’ displeasure.
If a pointless death occurred in the forest, things would become troublesome. So Ophelia stepped outside in silence. She would spare their life, but—
A little scolding should be fine.
Just a tiny bit of discipline. Really, only the smallest amount.