I Want to Become a Mage
Recently, Seria had been sticking unusually close to me even in the Athena Academy, and it was starting to weigh on my mind. What the hell did I do wrong in my past life to deserve this?
“Lady Olivia.”
“You’re too close, Seria. Back off a bit.”
I shoved the girl who was practically glued to my side away from me.
“Why are you using honorifics when it doesn’t even suit you? Besides, the real Olivia barely ever spoke politely to anyone anyway.”
The wicked, sly mage had caught onto my weakness and was silently threatening me with it. Since my identity was already exposed, there wasn’t much I could do. And honestly, there wasn’t any real reason to keep up the formal speech.
Still, it was impressive how thoroughly she’d seen through me.
“You really are a sneaky one.”
“Actually, I couldn’t tell you before because I was preparing a few things over the past several days.”
What the hell had she been preparing this time?
“What is it?”
“Would you like a mage’s robe?”
“Is that even possible?”
A mage’s robe was proof of being a mage. Only those with official mage credentials could wear one. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t impossible to wear one, but if you got caught pretending to be a mage when you weren’t, you’d be torn apart by criticism.
What Seria was suggesting was essentially asking if I wanted to become a mage.
“If it’s what you desire, Lady Olivia, there’s nothing I can’t provide.”
She was just going to give it to me? There had to be some ulterior motive behind that smile.
“You look like you’re scheming something.”
“Oh come on, what ulterior motive could I possibly have?”
She grinned wickedly and jabbed me repeatedly in the side with her elbow.
“Wait, doesn’t accepting a robe from the Magic Tower mean I’d be joining the Tower?”
Becoming a mage of the Magic Tower meant gaining dual citizenship with the Empire. On top of that, House Ashtar maintained its own separate mage unit. The Tower itself was located within the Empire’s territory, making it a nearly neutral organization.
“Why not? With a little pull from me, getting you in would be nothing.”
“And in return, I’d end up under you, right?”
“Oh please, it’s not that big a deal.”
So that’s what she was after. Did she really think I’d just roll over and submit? She clearly planned to toy with me. No way in hell was I falling for it. Even if I wanted to go, I couldn’t. The Tower was a merit-based organization, so technically it might be possible, but there were too many eyes watching. I was also the Saint, after all.
“Besides, I’m from Ashtar.”
My bloodline was the biggest problem.
“Ah, does House Ashtar operate its own mage unit?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t impossible to join, but it would be a bit troublesome. While not on the level of the Magic Tower, the Ashtar mage unit had shown considerable strength during the war.
“It does feel a bit awkward for someone from Ashtar to join the Magic Tower. Why did you have to end up as Olivia of all people, Lady Olivia?”
“You think I wanted it to turn out like this?”
I should just be grateful I was even alive. It was similar to my time as Noah, and since this body already possessed mana circuits, if I trained a bit more in Mana Fusion state, I could probably reach Noah’s level.
“What about joining Ashtar’s mage unit instead?”
“I considered that too. But if I did, I’d feel like I’d be tied down to Ashtar.”
I’d thought about this a lot lately. At this point, Ashtar’s support wasn’t really necessary. For some reason, Katarina seemed intent on handing over her guild to me. But if I joined the Ashtar mage unit on top of that, I’d never be able to escape the family.
Well… it wasn’t exactly a bad option. Living as part of Ashtar wouldn’t be so terrible. But then the things I could get involved in would be limited, and that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Let me say it again: with the Four Heavenly Kings still out there, I couldn’t afford to live as some random noble daughter or ordinary mage.
“That makes sense. Since you’re also the Saint, you’re in quite an important position, Lady Olivia.”
“Exactly. It’s not that simple.”
“Ah, but that creates a problem for me then.”
Seria muttered with a troubled expression.
“What is it?”
“Back when you were Noah, you could have slowly climbed the ranks of the Magic Tower if you’d set your mind to it.”
“That’s true.”
But I’d gotten tangled up with the Hero Party and couldn’t properly pursue the mage route. That was probably why it had been so hard for me to make a name for myself as a mage. The real issue was that I hadn’t followed the proper path for swordsmanship or miracles (holy magic) either.
“Back then, you were from the Land of Destruction and part of the Hero Party, so it was impossible. But now you’re tied to both Ashtar and the Saint title, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
Something about this felt ominous.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to join the Magic Tower. Logically speaking, even if the Tower knows you’re of Ashtar blood, I’m not sure they’d accept you…”
Oh. Fuck.
“Ah.”
“Of course, as I said earlier, I could help you. But you wouldn’t want to rely on my help, would you?”
She was right. I preferred to do things with my own power. Even if Seria offered to get me into the Tower without any hidden agenda, I would still refuse.
“And it’s not like someone of your status as Ashtar’s Saint could become a mage under the citizenship of another kingdom or country.”
“That’s true too.”
“Can you even use magic properly right now?”
“My stamina is a bit lacking, to be honest. I haven’t fought the Demon King or the Four Heavenly Kings in this body, so I’m not sure. I have doubts about whether I could even take on one of the Heavenly Kings like this.”
I had swallowed the fragments, but as I said, they were just fragments, not the Demon King himself. My power had increased significantly, but at best it had only slightly pushed beyond the physical limits of this female body.
Just how far could I push magic in this form?
“How much of your previous abilities can you use?”
“I should be able to use almost all elemental magic.”
I hadn’t tried yet, but with my current condition, it shouldn’t be impossible.
“Without straining yourself?”
“Not sure. Something on the level of Meteor or Thunderstorm might leave me vomiting blood after one use?”
I’d probably get exhausted after casting it once. That said, fighting as a battle mage wasn’t really my specialty either. I could hit hard thanks to my strength, but I had no talent for close-quarters combat.
“They say Meteor can wipe out an entire city. If you dropped one on the capital, the damage would be so severe the Empire might even consider relocating the capital.”
I’d never even used it on them, yet they sure loved to talk. But wait… they believed the Meteor story, so why wouldn’t they acknowledge me as a Grand Mage?
“Hold on. Does the Empire know I can use Meteor?”
This was news to me.
“No, it was just speculation. They said if Noah abandoned the paths of the Sword Saint and High Priest to walk the path of a mage, that’s what would happen.”
Wasn’t this part where they were basically insulting me? Weren’t half the military officers from Ashtar territory anyway? Should I just go beat the shit out of them?
“Come on. What’s the point if I’m the one spitting blood? Noah couldn’t spam Meteors either.”
“I’d probably die if I tried using it repeatedly.”
“You just need to control your teddy bears. What are you even talking about? Plus, if you properly install mana circuits into those bears, you could control way more of them.”
The elders of the Magic Tower had once said that if Seria seriously created artificial mana cores for her teddy bears and controlled them, she could potentially command tens of thousands.
Come to think of it, I was a little jealous of Seria. If I had possessed Seria instead, I could have started as the next Tower Master.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Have you finally realized my charm? I wouldn’t mind even if you didn’t chase after me.”
“It’s not that. I was just thinking that if I had been Seria instead of Olivia, I might have started as the Tower Master.”
What would have happened if the soul Noah had merged with that day hadn’t been Olivia, but Seria? To begin with, Seria wouldn’t have been in that place, and since she wasn’t a criminal, there would have been no way to toy with her soul like that.
“Ah, so you want to become one with me on a spiritual level.”
“Even if that’s what it sounded like, I didn’t mean it in a weird way.”
It was just a figure of speech. She was probably thinking something strange again.
“The answer seems to be taking the Ashtar mage unit route after all.”
“Is that really the answer?”
I supposed I should keep it as the worst-case scenario.
“Honestly, doesn’t it not matter much right now, Lady Olivia? You already kicked the Crown Prince to the curb. And since you’re the Saint, the path to marriage is probably blocked anyway.”
“What?”
Wait, why was she treating me like someone who could never get married?
“So you want to get married?”
“No, that’s not it.”
That and this were completely separate issues. There was a huge difference between being able to marry but choosing not to, and not being able to marry from the start.
“There’s no man in the Empire who could possibly reject you, Lady Olivia.”
“The same goes for women, but whatever.”
At this point, marriage wasn’t even something I could consider. I was a firm believer in staying single anyway. But then Seria suddenly got angry.
“What exactly am I in your eyes, Lady Olivia?”
“Uh… well. A teddy bear fetishist?”
Seria hung her head. Look, I was grateful she liked me, but honestly, she really did seem like a teddy bear fetishist.
“Fine, whatever. The conversation’s derailed, but in the end, the Ashtar mage unit is the answer. Since Ashtar is one of the great houses, there shouldn’t be any issue recruiting mages. And right now, your influence is quite significant, Lady Olivia. You could become much freer.”
“That’s true, but the problem is that my mother seems intent on handing over the assassin guild to me as well.”
“Ah.”
An assassin guild was an assassin guild for a reason. Lately, with the Empire stabilizing, assassination requests had been replaced with other types of work, and it had practically become Ashtar’s private army. Yes, a private military organization. That was exactly what it meant.
Even the Church had far too many forces they’d raised. It wouldn’t be bad to use them when fighting the Four Heavenly Kings’ armies, but if possible, I’d still prefer to be a mage.
“Besides, even though I’m Olivia, I’m technically a third entity born from the fusion of Noah and Olivia. I’m also the Saint, so my feelings about all this are quite complicated.”
“Who cares? In the end, you’re cooperating with each other. You are Olivia, Lady Olivia. Even if there are remnants, it’s just Noah and Olivia combined. So it’s perfectly fine for you to claim Olivia’s rights. The way you naturally called her ‘Mother’ earlier proves it. You’re Noah, but you’re also Olivia.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t know that. That was one of the reasons, after all.
“No, I have my pride. Taking over the assassin guild would mean I couldn’t become a mage.”
“You can just accept it and operate from behind the scenes. That mother of yours— I mean, Lady Katarina— she led the assassin guild from behind the role of Ashtar’s mistress, didn’t she?”
“And?”
She wasn’t seriously suggesting I do the same as Katarina, was she?
“Lady Olivia. Honestly, at this point, becoming a flawless, perfect mage is impossible. It might be better to just accept your fate.”
“What?”
“The Saint title is pretty much just for show anyway. You could hold the Saint position concurrently while joining the mage unit. Wouldn’t that be good?”
The problem was that realistically, it was impossible. The Empire’s church where I stayed was in the capital, while the Ashtar mage unit was in Ashtar territory. Using teleportation, it wasn’t impossible, but considering the duties of the mage unit… I wasn’t sure if it was worth it. Did the Ashtar mage unit even take on many external missions? If so, it might be doable. After all, to encounter the Four Heavenly Kings, I’d need to be out in the field anyway.
“It sounds like you two are having quite an interesting conversation. Could you spare some time for me as well, Olivia?”
A familiar voice reached my ears. I turned my head slightly to see Prince Aslan. Yuria stood beside him. I’d been wondering why I hadn’t seen them lately, but his face looked refreshed and full of vitality. Why the hell was this guy looking for me?