Chapter 126
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Vacation (4)
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Whiiiirrr...!
The ricocheted mana bolt struck the mountain ridge. It unleashed a vivid explosion visible even from afar.
I zoomed in on the impact site with the SZX-9500 Mana Optics Microscope. A deep crater had formed, but the enemy seemed to have already fled.
No need to pursue. Instead, I pulled out my smartphone and sent Gustav the current coordinates along with a message.
[Secured Miller Adams recruit and item. However, had a tail.]
My goal wasn't pursuit. Just secure the recruit and the item.
Gustav replied immediately.
[Gus: Confirmed. Passed to client. Their people heading your way soon. Handover requested.]
While waiting for them, I resumed my consultation with [A].
[Ready?]
[A: Yes. Sorry for the slow replies. Even expressing my feelings in words is hard right now.]
[No problem. Then, to continue: what misunderstanding?]
About five minutes passed like that.
Thud-thud-
Regular footsteps. From the darkness of the mountain path, three men in suits emerged. They glanced back and forth between Miller Adams, whose right hand was blown off, and me.
"...We'll take custody. Where's the item?"
The leader-looking suit asked while restraining Miller Adams. I stomped firmly on the ground. The leader nodded. The other two suits rushed over, and I stepped aside.
They dug into the earth.
Boom-!
There was a mishap with a mana landmine exploding, but they quickly unearthed the box.
"Got it."
I eyed it. A human hand was definitely inside there, but for some reason, Treasure Hunter kept reacting to it.
The suit leader spoke.
"Yes. Confirmed. Payment incoming shortly. Thanks."
He turned to leave but suddenly glanced back at me.
"Gustav said you're a mage."
Tricity's standards for mages were pathetically low compared to the Mage Tower or capital. Anyone who could handle mana rituals decently got treated like one.
"I don't trust anyone in this city who claims to be a mage... whatever."
He looked toward the ridge where the sniper had been moments ago.
"Two mana bolts. No, one. You precisely reversed the enemy's ritual and bounced it back, huh."
Mana ritual aftereffects lingered for quite a while unless deliberately erased.
Which meant this guy had sensed the residual mana traces in the air, reconstructed the trajectories in his head from those faint clues, and pieced together what happened.
In other words—I'm a 'real' mage.
"You might actually be the real deal. No idea why a real one would stick around District D, though."
The real deal telling a fake he might be real.
"Swift work. Congresswoman Lamil Bara will be pleased."
They left, and I sat on a rock midway up the mountain.
"Hoo..."
I reopened the ongoing consultation session.
Late at night. Elise stared blankly up at the sky. Clear midday. She watched the clouds drifting between the trees, their fluid dynamics reminiscent of magic.
[It's a personal misunderstanding. I thought someone had special feelings for me, but it was just a ridiculous delusion...]
Elise tapped away on her smartphone keyboard.
Embarrassing to even explain the misunderstanding, but if she couldn't confess her true feelings, it wasn't counseling.
[I'll Handle It: Hm. Then it might be easier. People don't dwell on thoughts of others for long. You might obsess, but the other person has likely already forgotten.]
"..."
Words to the effect that she was the only one obsessing too much.
Well, Sion hadn't mocked her even when revealing he was Secret Santa.
No, he never mocked anyone to begin with.
That's the kind of guy he was.
Elise took a deep breath. Her stuffy chest began to ease.
[Curious. Why did I even have that misunderstanding?]
Human thoughts and emotions were harder than magic.
Did she go blind once fixated? Despite the obvious 'Secret Santa' reason, she'd deluded herself into thinking 'he likes me'—what an idiotic, moronic nutjob she was—
[I'll Handle It: Well, humans tend to unconsciously project their own desires or familiar patterns onto the unknown.]
Elise's mouth fell slightly open.
So her subconscious had wished Sion Askal liked her?
Ridiculous.
She hurriedly typed on her phone.
[No way.]
[I'll Handle It: Why not test if it's ridiculous or not by taking action? Better than fuming pointlessly or doing nothing.]
Caught off guard, Elise sat up. Another reply followed.
[I'll Handle It: One sure thing: people whine 'I don't even know myself,' but knowing yourself is still easier than knowing others.]
Elise read his words.
Knowing yourself is easier than knowing others, at least.
"...Yeah."
Too true; she murmured blankly.
She placed the phone on her chest. Her heart felt much lighter.
This is why people get counseling.
Elise had never experienced anything like it. No room for talk. No one to confide in.
As heir to House Petra, she'd been drilled in etiquette since age two, infused with the 'philosopher-king' ideal of multifaceted perfection and noble duty.
Counseling was utterly impossible.
"..."
A strange thought crossed her mind.
If Yael had a outlet like this. If he could confess his heart to someone like she was now.
Might he not have fallen into his current wretched state?
Elise picked up her phone again.
[Sending payment.]
She checked her account.
9,120 Ren. Her pocket money after monthly investments.
She converted it all to department store gift cards and sent them.
This person was worth it.
Nine 1,000 Ren department store gift cards.
Having received a whopping 9,000 Ren for the consultation, I descended the mountain path.
But my vision kept shaking.
My feet seemed to multiply to four, then three, then two, then four again.
Cough-!
I staggered, coughing up a handful of blood. Dark red droplets spread across the road. I stared blankly at the patterns.
Ding-
My phone alarm rang.
[Gus: Mission complete confirmed. But you. Lato, that psycho mage, acknowledged you? How? Tell me over drinks later.]
That mage was Lato, huh.
Looked way different from my memory, but then he really was a psycho. The kind whose eyes rolled back from magic obsession, modding his whole body into machinery.
I walked on without replying.
Thud—tripped on a rock.
Was the ground rushing up or was I falling?
My body hit the dirt.
Face buried in stone and soil.
Couldn't breathe. My dantian burned like fire. Backlash from overusing Perion and mana rituals simultaneously. Pain on another level.
Rustle-!
Suddenly, a shoe planted right in front of my face.
Enemy?
Or just a passerby?
No time to think.
Body going limp, consciousness fading.
I slowly closed my eyes...
...And opened them.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
"?"
I blankly surveyed the surroundings. Thick oil smell. Bright white sunlight poured through the window.
Morning already.
"What."
I slowly sat up.
"Krrk."
Body felt shattered, but I forced myself to stand on both legs. Opened the door.
"..."
The interior looked familiar.
In fact, it was the place I'd visited just yesterday.
"Awake?"
Muahwan.
Akane sat at the counter, reading a book as she spoke.
"Your face mask's quality is impressive. Stays on even unconscious."
I fiddled with my face. Scar at left eye corner—still Dale Knife.
"But the key is the 'ears.' Everyone fusses over eyes, nose, mouth, but neglects ears. Ears are like fingerprints for humans; 99% distinguishable by ear shape."
I dropped the disguise entirely. Akane lit a cigarette and asked.
"Body alright?"
"...Yes. Did you save me?"
Akane raised an eyebrow.
"Overusing rituals without Mana Body does that."
Mana rituals strain the body heavily. Why most ritualists activate Mana Body when deploying rituals or spells—to filter mana backlash via belt and strings, i.e., One Belt Four Lines.
"You lack belt and strings, so unavoidable."
Akane poked my sore spot.
"Not all bad, though. Means using mana raw, without filtration, processing, or dilution. Boosts ritual reactivity, coordination, deployment speed immensely. Just high risk of body breaking, like yesterday."
"...Were you watching?"
"Do I look like I have that much free time?"
Akane pulled a travel bag from under the counter.
"Lamil Bara. She commissioned me too."
"Mm. But why tomb robbing? What's in the corpse?"
Packing odds and ends into the bag, she answered.
"Lamil Bara's grandfather was a high-realm mage. Lately, weird rumors spread: his realm built on spirit liquid, so stewing and eating the corpse surges mana capacity and alters mana nature."
"...Harsh usage. That's why Lost Paradise showed interest too? To stew the corpse?"
Akane, shaking skin toner and lotion by her ear to gauge remaining amounts, froze.
She turned to me.
"Lost Paradise?"
"Yes. Lost Paradise."
"..."
Lost Paradise was a rift in the underworld. Think of it as a dungeon somewhere underground. Invitation-only entry, and even then, life-risking. Another danger zone apart from the underworld proper—literally a dungeon.
Home to continent's worst outcasts, criminals, and 'no-longer-human' beings...
Or so they say; I'd never been.
"Lost Paradise, huh."
Akane pondered briefly, then...
"Aha."
Nodding to herself, she slammed the bag shut and hopped over the counter, slinging it on.
"Where you headed?"
"Lost Paradise."
"...Pardon?"
With that, she breezed out of Muahwan.
"What the..."
Ding-
Phone notification right on cue.
"Ah. Right."
Libra Nurturing Program.
"Forgot about this."
Invited by Bellingham Kanta at semester start.
Nurturing Program. Typically for college students, hosted by megacorps and great houses. Purportedly offers top-tier training, education to continent's promising youths.
Libra's was especially popular and well-regarded, so Elise was at the Hanging Gardens today too.
Just over ten high schoolers invited to this elite program: Rae, Elise, Soliet, Gerkken, Kain, Mel... rest all college students.
"Hanging Gardens is so pretty~ Right, Eli~?"
Elise just shrugged at Rae's words. No desire to praise another house.
"Huh? What's that."
Rae stared somewhere, eyes widening. Elise ignored it.
"It's Sion?"
"What?"
She whipped around.
Sure enough, Sion was there.
Libra black card in one hand, duffel bag in the other.
"Why's he here?"
Same question on Elise's mind, but someone approached him.
Soliet.
Rae smirked, eyes narrowing.
"What's this~? Eli. They look kinda close now, huh?"
Elise fidgeted before replying.
"...Yeah."
She didn't really care.
Now, she just hoped—truly, slowly—for things.
For Sion Askal's life to finally fall into place, even now.
"Whoa! Eli, look over there!"
Hanging Gardens Sector 3. Dorm entrance for program participants.
"It's Bellingham Kanta!!!!!"
Rae's eyes turned to hearts at the gray-haired handsome guy.
"Loud."
She said that, but to Elise, he seemed plenty perfect.
Member of the Golden Troika ten years ago.
Bellingham Kanta. Theia Esil. Akane Kedjen.
Bellingham smiled faintly at somewhere. Elise followed his gaze.
Sion Askal.
He stared blankly back at Bellingham.