Campfire Confessions
Crackle—! Sparks burst from the fire, briefly illuminating the dark campsite before fading away.
“Boo-hoo... I hate this... I wanna go home now. I miss Professor...”
Rapi was on her knees, sobbing. I'd just taught her the battle mage fighting style, and she was whining that it was too hard.
“You've only done close-quarters combat with monsters a few times, and you're crying like this?”
“A few times!? A few times!! How many is 'a few'!!!!”
Rapi shot to her feet, furious. Unable to contain herself, she flailed her arms up and down.
“Sir Evan, you said if I didn't practice, you'd drag monsters over—and you did, you jerk!!”
That was because Rapi had real talent as a battle mage. After she took down that orc, I told her to try it herself, and she mimicked me surprisingly well. Her movements were still clumsy when it came to using her body properly. But with every fight she pushed through, Rapi's form improved dramatically. She'd held her staff too short at first, couldn't put real power behind her swings, and her motions were all sloppy.
Still, Rapi dodged every single monster attack. Even as she screamed for her life, her eyes never left the enemy. Purely in terms of insight, she was on par with a close-combat specialist swordsman.
“And!! At the end, you made me fight two monsters at once—you just threw me in!! I almost died for real!!”
“Calm down. You survived in the end, didn't you?”
“Eeeeek—!!”
Rapi picked up a rock and hurled it at me. I tilted my head slightly to dodge.
“Too slow, kiddo.”
“Aaaaaah—!!!!”
I toyed with Rapi just enough to keep things fun.
“Think positive, Rapi. You've taken down this many monsters—shouldn't that be enough to head back to the academy?”
“...”
Rapi fell silent.
“No... Professor said I need to reach at least Red rank for the promotion exam to pass smoothly...”
“Hmm. We've hunted a fair number of monsters in these three days, but the guild won't give us Red rank?”
Rapi and I had been taking on subjugation quests in the Shadow Forest for three days straight. We'd grabbed whatever requests were available and bagged around fourteen monsters, but that wasn't enough for Red?
“Most were White or low Blue quests. Even if we fill the quota, we might only hit high Blue at best.”
Low and high within Blue? So even the color-based adventurer ranks had subdivisions.
“So you're low Blue right now?”
“Mid Blue...”
Low, mid, high. Got it.
“...But why the long face? We can just take more quests. A few more rounds at this pace, and you'll hit Red.”
Did she really think she'd jump straight to Red in one go? Even for Rapi, that was too optimistic—practically freeloading.
“Um... it's not that...”
Rapi shook her head at my words. She hesitated, like it was hard to bring up.
Rather than push her, I waited for her to speak.
“...Even if you help me reach Red right now, what about next year's third-year promotion... Haah...”
Rapi was thinking pretty responsibly. For someone who blindly idolized me or boasted about becoming the next great mage.
She'd been harboring worries like this deep down.
“It's been two months since I left the academy, and my magic hasn't improved at all.”
Crackle—! The campfire flared, casting shadows across Rapi's face.
“There were rumors when I left. That an incompetent disciple was blocking Professor Ariel's path.”
“...”
“I laughed it off at first. But even after coming to Rimhold, I couldn't complete a single quest properly... My skills are still worthless... So... So...”
She couldn't even finish her sentences. Rapi's words weren't coherent, spilling out like forced confessions from deep inside.
“Lately, I've been having nightmares... Dreams where Professor Ariel calls me pathetic and exiles me...”
“...”
“And you know what's funny? Every time I wake up, I feel relieved inside.”
“...”
“Thank goodness. A useless mage like me won't hold her back anymore.”
Rapi buried her face in her knees, hugging them tight. Now I understood why she'd proclaimed herself the future great mage back in the city. It was a low self-esteem kid's way of psyching herself up to keep from crumbling.
“I see.”
“...Isn't that a pretty cold reaction...? I thought you'd say something comforting.”
“Hmm. Like, 'You'll be a great mage someday, so don't give up, Rapi'?”
“Pfft—what the heck is that?”
My lame line lightened her gloomy mood a bit. It wasn't meant as comfort, but somehow Rapi cracked a small smile.
Truth be told, I had nothing real to say to her. Her worries didn't stir much in me—just a vague 'I see.'
Rapi's concerns were the kind you could afford in this peaceful era. My timeline was different. She lived fifty years after the Abyss's fall, in tranquility. I came from the timeline where I'd barely averted a dark fantasy apocalypse.
If Rapi had lived fifty years ago, I'd have told her to shut up and grab her staff for battle prep. Five days of vacation turning into fifty years was still hard to wrap my head around.
But time had passed, so I needed to adapt to this peaceful world. First step: comfort Rapi.
“It's fine, Rapi. The great mage has no plans to exile you.”
“How can you be so sure, Sir Evan...?”
“Secret.”
“Eek—! Don't tease me!!! I finally mustered the courage to open up, and you...!!”
The gloomy Rapi was back to fuming. Yeah, noisy suited her better.
“No, really—you don't need to worry.”
The staff the great mage gave her showed how much she cared. More than that, Rapi's eyes were sharp, and her affinity for lightning mana was freakishly high.
No mentor would exile a mage with that kind of talent. She probably took it for granted herself.
Blasting endless lightning spells in close range was abnormal. To pull off what Rapi did, you'd need something special—like thunder god traits, fusion with a lightning spirit, or devouring a mythical beast's heart like the Celestial Thunder Bird.
Anyway, Rapi was a prodigy. Worrying about exile was self-deception.
She needed to realize it herself. Telling her would just poison her growth. A girl casually wielding flashy lightning magic, fretting over expulsion? No way I'd spoil that romance out of spite.
“Still... talking it out with you makes me feel a bit better, Sir Evan.”
“Glad I could help.”
...! ...!
Sounds came from beyond the bushes. Panting breaths and heavy footsteps. Focusing my sense of smell, I caught the metallic tang of blood.
“Sir Evan, what's the night watch rotation tonight? Rock-paper-scissors again?”
“Rapi. Staff up.”
I drew my steel sword. Matching my movement, Rapi jumped up and aimed her staff.
“Sir Evan... what's coming...? The guild said no nocturnal monsters in this area.”
“Not a monster.”
Rustle—!!
“Help... please help me!!!”
A blood-soaked woman burst from the bushes. She clung to her broken spear, gripping her bleeding left arm and sobbing.
“You're...!?”
“Ahh...! Mage... you're the mage! Thank goodness... sob...”
She was one of the mediocre adventurers who'd bet against us at the Rimhold Adventurer's Guild.
She introduced herself as Anna and explained what happened. Her story was jumbled, skipping details here and there. But piecing it together: her ragtag party had been on a subjugation quest in the Shadow Forest when they were ambushed.
“...Monster... monster... there's a monster... It... ate our leader... gasp—!”
Anna curled up, trembling violently.
“You're safe here with Sir Evan. Calm down. Take deep breaths.”
“Ahh... thank you, mage... ahh...”
Kind Rapi was comforting her.
“So you're the only survivor, Anna?”
“...Y-yes... y-yes... everyone got eaten— urk—!”
Just recalling it made her dry-heave.
“Sir Evan, what do we do? Should we go hunt that monster now?”
“Eh, doesn't sound like a great idea.”
The Shadow Forest was dim even by day, and at night it draped in chilling darkness. Rushing in could get us eaten instead.
“Still, maybe a light scout around the area, just in case.”
“Ahh!! No... no!! Nooo!!”
Anna suddenly freaked out, yanking at Rapi's clothes nearby.
“Why are you—!?”
Anna just kept repeating 'no.' She was hiding something.
“Anna, right? This have something to do with 'it'?”
“...!! How do you... that thing!?”
“Sir Evan, what's 'it'?”
No clue. Just a shot in the dark. I'd overheard the ragtag parties whispering about it at the guild.
I didn't know 'it's exact name or nature. But that was enough.
“...It wasn't me... I didn't agree...”
“Anna! Tell us so we can help! What's 'it'!?”
I just stared silently at Anna.
“...”
She avoided my gaze. Her pupils darted wildly, hands and feet shaking. Sometimes silence and imagination make the best questions.
Her mind was probably filling in the blanks. All I had to do was wait for her mouth to open on its own.
Anna squeezed her eyes shut. Her lips trembled, opening and closing repeatedly.
“...'It' seemed like an ordinary stone. Just a bonus item from a mage's request, along with the pay.”
Her mouth finally moved.
“A mage gave it to you, and you didn't appraise it...?”
“We couldn't... Appraisal costs a week's party funds.”
“What? Even so—”
I raised a hand to silence Rapi, gesturing for Anna to continue.
“...So we thought of it as a lucky charm souvenir. But after getting the stone, everything went perfectly.”
Luck came in waves. We got the quests we wanted. We were supposed to be last in line, but the party ahead forfeited luckily. Luck protected us during subjugations—vital spots hit easier, monsters tripped repeatedly. After quests, we'd collapse exhausted, but a short nap restored us fully. Above all, our leader awakened mana while holding the stone. He joyfully shared it with the party. And day by day, everyone who carried it awakened mana too.
“No way!! That's impossible. You can't awaken mana like that! I barely managed it with my family's help!!”
“I... don't know... We just thought it was good luck...”
Rapi yelled from the side. Even I was stunned.
On Earth, germanium bracelets were scams, but in Adenia, similar artifacts existed that aided talent awakening. But they were insanely rare. No reason to hand them to nobodies.
Ordinary stone. Mage. Bonus item.
Three keywords. I could see it clearly. This was a trick from fifty years ago—wandering sorcerers' scams.
They'd use naive youths as guinea pigs to prove their research. So the kind me back then made their bodies and heads greet each other intimately.
To keep them from loneliness, maybe send some new recruits this time.
“But Anna, we get that 'it' isn't ordinary. What does your 'I didn't agree' have to do with the monster attack?”
“...”
What was the monster ambush about, as Rapi said?
“...To win the bet, we went back to that mage.”
“You're insane!? Returning to the shady mage who gave you that thing!?”
“But!! We had no choice!! You said you'd join our party, then bailed!!”
Anna glared at Rapi with bloodshot eyes.
“That mage!! At the spot he told us, there was a horrific monster!! We all got tricked by the mage and eaten!!”
Anna kept screaming at Rapi, standing and pointing accusingly as she advanced.
“If not for you!! If you'd joined like you said at first, none of this horror would have happened!! How could you—!”
Slap—!!
Oh. Rapi slapped her.
“Wh... why...”
Anna was stunned, never expecting a slap.
“Shut up. I never said I'd join your party. You deluded yourselves, and now it's my fault?”
Slap—!
Another one, on the other cheek for balance. Good job, Rapi.
“You went back to that mage yourselves. Don't blame others. This is what you brought on.”
Anna bowed her head at the little mage's words.
“S-sorry...”
A heavy silence settled over the campsite. Rapi, still mad, sat by me away from Anna. Anna glanced around nervously.
Guess I had to wrap this up.
“Anyway, we know the full story now. And there's a monster threat, so let's camp here tonight. Night watch two at a time—agreed?”
Rapi and Anna nodded.
“Good. I can go a day without sleep, so just rotate between you two. Who wants first shift?”