The Disciple's Gift
The three of them set back out for Cavelon after felling the monsters.
Thanks to Dreck, who drove the carriage with surprising skill despite his hulking frame, no one's backside had suffered yet.
Now, where were we?
The sudden monster ambush, followed by Tiana pulling some outlandish technique out of nowhere, had completely knocked the conversation out of his head.
It had seemed fairly important, though, so Sian furrowed his brow and quietly tried to puzzle it out—
"Allow me to return to your earlier question about my revenge..."
Tiana spoke up, careful and measured.
Only then did Sian remember what they'd been discussing. Right—why she was here, and whether her revenge had succeeded.
But judging from Tiana's crestfallen expression, things hadn't gone well.
She couldn't seem to bring herself to say it, starting and stopping several times, before finally steeling herself. She closed her eyes and spoke.
"I'm sorry, Master!"
Thud!
Whinny!
Tiana dropped to her knees and slammed her forehead against the carriage floor.
She hit it hard enough to startle the horses.
Then again, since the floor didn't crack, by her standards that probably counted as a gentle bow.
No, focus. Not the time for pointless thoughts.
He'd only asked whether she'd gotten her revenge. So why was he the one receiving an apology?
The Calamity Tiana spoke of was her target, not his. He was confused—
and then she opened her mouth again.
"I have... not yet reached the level of strength needed to defeat the Calamity."
Hearing the grief-stricken edge in her voice, Sian thought:
Is that... something to apologize for?
It wasn't as if the Calamity were the family dog. She hadn't said "I failed to defeat it" or "I fought it and lost"—only that she hadn't yet grown strong enough to bring it down.
She might be the only person in this world who would apologize for not yet being strong enough to slay a Calamity.
Meanwhile, up front, Dreck's shoulders had begun trembling at their conversation.
Did she just say "Calamity"? Or did I mishear that?
A Calamity. A monster treated as the equivalent of a natural disaster—a living threat to humanity itself.
And here they were, talking about it as if there were some possibility of actually taking one down.
As an adventurer, he couldn't help but be stunned.
"......"
Dreck stole a glance backward.
A dozen questions crowded his mind, but this was decidedly not the atmosphere for asking any of them.
So he began driving as quietly as he possibly could, and listened.
And so her explanation continued.
To summarize: the Calamity that had wiped out Tiana's homeland was a beast of an entirely different tier.
People lumped all but-unkillable monsters under the single banner of "Calamity," but among those bearing the name, a vast gulf of power existed.
Just as there were natural disasters like floods or droughts—things one could brace against with dams and preparation—and then there were volcanic eruptions, against which no preparation was possible at all.
And...
The thing that had swallowed her whole village was the eruption kind—a Calamity among Calamities, what one might call a Special-Grade Calamity.
It was not the sort of existence a mere human could handle just because they'd had a single breakthrough.
"When you, Master, granted me permission to take my revenge, I believe you did so because you judged that I could defeat the Calamity. But I... have not yet brought that creature down. Which means I have betrayed your faith in me."
"......"
No—I just told you to go because I wanted you out of my hair.
Watching her speak with utterly grave sincerity, Sian felt a twinge of guilt.
"For the crime of betraying your trust, Master, I have no excuse, even with ten mouths to speak with. But if you would grant me only a little more time, I swear I will never disappoint you again!"
Thud!
Tiana knocked her forehead against the floor once more, murmuring her pledge.
Sian watched her in silence. His impression was simple.
Why are you talking like a mid-boss begging the final boss for more time and budget?
What exactly was he, in her mind, that she believed someone so dripping with raw talent had disappointed him?
She had gone statue-still, forehead pressed to the floor, unmoving.
As if awaiting his verdict.
......
If he said here, "It's fine—you never actually taught me anything anyway..."
something told him things would get very complicated.
In the end, the best answer Sian could give was:
"I believe in you."
That was all.
And if those words gave her the strength to actually topple a real Calamity someday, well—that would be a happy occasion in its own right, wouldn't it?
Tiana lifted her head, tears welling in her eyes at his words.
"M-Master... you believe in me that much...? I will never, ever betray your faith again."
She wiped her eyes before the tears could fall, and burned with fresh resolve.
Dreck, absorbing every word of the exchange as he drove, thought to himself:
Wow. Sian Hyung-nim is way more of a big deal than I thought.
Forget S-rank—his standard was apparently taking down Calamities.
It was proving to be a journey of steadily deepening misunderstandings about Sian.
By the time Sian, Tiana, and Dreck were nearly at Cavelon's gates—
back in the village where Sian had lived...
A month had passed since he vanished, but the villagers merely assumed his business was running long.
Not a soul had imagined he'd left the village for good.
And then—
A woman strode with utter confidence toward the empty house.
Bang!
She flung open the door of Sian's home with great fanfare and declared:
"Master! Your greatest disciple, Selene, has returned!"
The bearer of the Magic Wheel Eye—Selene.
Flushed with excitement at the thought that she could finally receive instruction in forbidden knowledge from her master, she had thrown the door open—
"...Master?"
—but Sian had already left the village, and only cold, still air greeted her.
No matter where she looked, there was no sign of Sian, and even the traces of his daily life had grown faint.
Estelle, her maid and attendant, swept her gaze across the house and immediately reported her findings to her mistress.
"It appears the house has been empty for over a month."
If a person had actually been living here, dust would never have accumulated like this, even on the floor.
When they asked the villagers where Sian had gone, young and old alike offered only the same answer: they had no idea.
"......"
"You look disappointed, my lady."
Estelle let out a soft laugh.
She had never seen Selene sulky like this, not since childhood.
"Of course I'm disappointed. What do you think I rushed all the way back here for?"
Her expectations had swelled at the thought of finally receiving the knowledge needed to touch the very origins of the world.
Estelle gazed at the empty house and spoke up.
"Could it be that he's left the village?"
He had always been strangely indifferent to possessions, so it was conceivable he'd abandoned everything behind—
"No, that can't be it."
But for some reason, Selene answered with absolute conviction.
Estelle had her guesses, and when she asked why, Selene declared:
"Because I told him I was coming back here! If Master had left, there's no way he wouldn't have left me a single message."
Faced with such bold self-assurance, Estelle nodded and accepted it.
Anyone else, and she'd have called it baseless confidence—but her mistress was the one exception.
Still, having hoped so fervently, Selene let out a deflated sigh and quietly gazed at the house where Sian lived.
Then, suddenly, as if something had struck her, an exclamation point practically popped up over her head.
"Estelle."
"Yes, my lady."
"We must prepare a surprise gift for when Master returns."
"A surprise... gift?"
"Exactly."
She nodded and pointed a finger off toward somewhere.
Estelle followed the line of her fingertip with her eyes and blinked.
"Sian's... house?"
What did his house have to do with a gift?
Did she plan to do something with the belongings inside it?
Estelle tilted her head in confusion—
"Don't you think it's far too shabby a dwelling for the home of my master, Selene Vesperia—a great transcendent being?"
"...Well, when you put it that way, I suppose it is."
Estelle nodded along in agreement.
Selene was virtually guaranteed to become the youngest Great Mage in history.
For such a prodigy's master to carry any dignity, he ought to at least be a Great Mage of the current generation, or a Tower Master.
If word spread that a man of that caliber lived in such a modest house, he'd earn nothing but ridicule.
Having reasoned it that far, Estelle caught on to Selene's intent and looked at her.
"My lady, don't tell me...?"
"Until Master returns, I'm going to turn this place into a place truly fit for learning magic!"
Magic required a great many things.
Mana stones to start with, of course, along with reagents and all manner of materials harvested from various monsters.
There was no way all of that could be stored in Sian's little house.
A simple warehouse would have sufficed, but now that things had come to this, Selene had decided they might as well build it properly.
"It's not as if I'm only staying here for a short while."
Genius or not, she didn't imagine touching the origins of the world would take only a few years.
At a minimum, she'd be here close to ten years.
Rather than endure discomfort the whole time, it would be far easier to invest the effort now and build something lasting.
And if I put magic to work, it won't even take that long.
The tedious details could simply be handled by hiring workers with money.
House Vesperia, a famed lineage of mages, already operated a trading company to procure all manner of rare materials—and that alone brought in staggering profits.
"But wouldn't that be less a gift for Sian and more of a gift for yourself, my lady?"
Estelle asked with unnecessary sharpness.
But—
"This will also serve to announce Master's greatness to the world, so it hardly matters! Besides, if I learn faster, isn't that ultimately good for Master as well?"
"...Very well. I shall contact House Vesperia at once and request they send workers."
Realizing that her mistress, having decided everything in an instant, was not to be stopped, the lady's attendant simply resolved to go along with it.
Selene nodded in satisfaction at Estelle's answer and began mulling over what exactly to build.
A dedicated underground reagent storeroom is an obvious must, and should I build a mana-refinement tower too? If I'm going to be delving into forbidden knowledge of seals, something like last time could happen again—I'd better install an automatic defense system as well.
Deep in planning the expansion(?) of Sian's house, she abruptly stopped, as if remembering something, and fell into thought.
Come to think of it, he supposedly has other disciples.
According to the villagers: Elina, Tiana, and lately even someone named Astria.
Three more besides herself, apparently.
Well, obviously I am Master's greatest disciple, but...
As fellow students under the same great transcendent master, extending them a small courtesy would do no harm.
First, she would transform the grand mansion that she and Sian would primarily use into an environment ideal for magical training—
"And a separate training grounds built outside should do it."
So she murmured, with the magnanimity of one bestowing charity.
And thus, from the very next day, the village where Sian had lived began to bustle with an endless tide of people, as if it had suddenly become a great commercial city.