Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Trajectory: Celestia (2)
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A girl shrouded in noise gazed at me.
The space around her had shattered in an unnatural way.
It was impossible to make out the form of the eyes that existed beyond it.
Yet even so, I was certain the girl standing before me was looking right at me.
I could feel her gaze.
And I could feel her obsession directed toward me.
More information than my eyes could discern was flowing into me.
Countless emotions, too vast for words, echoed throughout the entire space.
I opened my mouth as I stared at the unidentified something before me.
“You… who the hell are you?”
Those were the first words to leave my lips.
In response, the girl shrouded in noise turned a page.
Rustle—.
The page of a grimoire with a familiar title flipped over.
From her appearance, I sensed a somehow familiar air.
“A terribly insignificant name to explain to a great mage.”
“…….”
“Rather, I’d like to hear the tale of the mage who resides in the library.”
A faint smile played on the girl’s lips as she brought up the story.
With a mischievous lilt mixed into her voice, she continued flipping through the pages of the grimoire in her hand.
Her demeanor reminded me of the time I’d spent alone in the library.
Flipping through books had become second nature.
Even in the middle of a conversation with someone else, I’d never let go of the book in my hand.
In an empty space, turning the pages of a grimoire alone, erasing the solitude of being the only one left through reading.
For some reason, my own image as the master of the Phantom Archive Celestia overlapped with the girl before me.
“I don’t much care for answering questions with questions.”
As I replied to the girl before me, I took in once more the vast space surrounding her.
A familiar habit.
And an alien landscape.
One possibility flashed through my mind.
“Sorry if my answer didn’t sit well with you.”
The girl before me spoke again.
“I’d really rather you didn’t hate me, so forgive me.”
An apology came from her lips.
Hoo—.
White breath spilled from my mouth as I let out a sigh.
A piercing chill emanated from the vast forest blanketed in white.
It was far too cold for any human to survive there.
Even I thought that staying too long in a place like this might freeze me solid.
“I’m in a position where I need you desperately. I’d like you to understand that.”
“If that’s what you want, then answer my question first.”
“Expressing it in words is… incredibly— incredibly difficult for me right now.”
The girl shifted her gaze as she said this.
Creak—.
An eye floated over the noise traversing the space and moved.
A red eye stared at me.
“————.”
Soon, an incomprehensible language poured from her lips.
What should I even call this sound resounding in my ears?
It was far too alien to call it human speech.
Too crude to even call it language.
Yet despite that, its meaning came through crystal clear.
I grimaced at the name burrowing into my ear, then shook my head to dispel the hallucination.
“Enough. We’ll stop there with the name.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
The smiling girl turned another page in the grimoire.
Rustle—.
The familiar sound of paper turning echoed in my ears.
As I listened, I looked at the title of the grimoire in her hand.
—Arrival of the Thunder God.
One of the “dangerous spells” I had once created myself in the library.
The girl read the grimoire I had made, a gentle smile on her face.
Stroke—.
Her hand brushed over the page of the ancient grimoire.
“A mage’s inspiration uncovers a single spell, and the magic thus created is infused with a single mystery.”
“…….”
“The history a mage has built. The trajectory of their life. The karma of their fate. The first law granted here is that the magic forged from all of it pulses, lives and breathes, and possesses will—.”
Crackle, crackle—.
Another burst of noise rose from the grimoire where her hand touched.
Creak—.
A red eye bloomed atop the grimoire and gazed at me.
An alien eye.
A gaze that seemed somehow affectionate stared at me intently from beyond the plane.
“This child in my hands is one such miracle—the mystery known as magic.”
Stroke.
The girl’s hand gently caressed the grimoire’s page.
Like stroking a child’s head, her touch full of affection passed over the grimoire.
A living grimoire—.
That was how the girl described the book in her hands.
Along with her affectionate touch, a voice carrying only meaning resounded in my ears.
“This child… is terribly afraid that the one who gave it a name will leave.”
Vivid emotion spread through the language.
It was magic in itself, with the power to stir the human heart.
The echo lingered in my chest.
Amid the overflowing emotions, I had to face the girl’s question.
“I want to soothe this child’s loneliness.”
“…….”
“Hey. Why are you trying to leave this library?”
That was the content of the question the girl posed to me.
It was about why I was trying to leave the library.
“The reason I’m trying to leave—.”
I quietly repeated her question in my mouth.
The reason I wanted to leave.
And the reason I had to leave.
I might have come too far down the road already to find it.
All that remained to me now was the mission the me of the past had inscribed.
“Don’t you need to stay in the library for the sake of the children left behind?”
“…….”
“The library must have a mage to establish its ‘rules.’ Is leaving the library really the right choice?”
As I listened to the girl, I quietly looked up at the sky.
Beneath the landscape of a white forest sprawling out.
A single bird, dyed white, flew by.
Stretch—.
I reached out toward the flying bird.
But the bird flying far away didn’t land in my hand.
My fist, grasping at empty air, remained in place, mocking me indifferently.
“…….”
I stared at my palm, which had grasped nothing.
It felt just like looking at myself now, leaving a faint bitterness in my mouth.
Rustle—.
The girl turned another page.
“I don’t want you to hate me. But even so, I wish you wouldn’t leave this place.”
And her lips continued with one more line directed at me.
“What can I offer you now?”
I faced my empty hand.
Right now, I held nothing in my grasp.
A brief moment of contemplation came over me.
A small thought added to my palm, which held nothing.
Does a great mage create great magic?
Or does great magic lead the mage?
I didn’t even know which was right.
But there was one thing I knew for certain.
“Fortunately, the experiment doesn’t seem to have failed completely.”
That I, here, was a great mage.
Stretch—.
The girl in white raised her head.
“You noticed after all, huh?”
“At the very least, it was half successful. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to escape Celestia even in a dream.”
I smiled back at the girl before me.
It seemed the experiment hadn’t failed entirely.
The dream I was facing now was unmistakably a momentary rift created by the professor’s experiment.
Crack, craaaack—.
As proof, the landscape of the world before me was slowly crumbling.
“I’ll give you an answer to your question.”
In the world blanketed in white, I gazed intently at the girl before me.
Crack, craaaack—.
The space filled with white light shattered, revealing the familiar sight of the library beyond.
The girl whose name I didn’t know.
Toward her, I gave the answer she had been waiting for.
“My role is to create magic.”
“…….”
“And the way out of here will be one more ‘spell’ that I create.”
Crunch—.
Dozens of noises bloomed in the empty air.
Lonely eyes gazed at me.
With an affectionate voice, the girl bid me farewell.
“That’s exactly the kind of personality that makes these children love you so much. Still, next time we meet, I hope I can hear a kinder answer.”
Rumble, ruuuumble—.
Beyond the collapsing world.
I closed my eyes as I heard someone’s farewell from there.
The short dream ended.
It was time to return to the library.
* * * * * *
Boom! Booooom—!
Amid the dark red flashes ravaging everything in all directions.
Raintas grimaced and covered his ears against the resounding thunder.
It was a sight he’d never seen before since joining the Extremist Magical Research Society.
Crackle, crackle—.
A human silhouette wrapped in black lightning.
A body slowly crumbling while floating in the air, its fierce gaze shifting.
It was far too horrific to call human.
Its collapsing flesh burned black as it unleashed mana in every direction.
— …….
Booooom—!
When the unidentified something wrapped in light swung its arm through the air, black mana erupted along its path.
A straight line of flashing light shot forth.
The surging beam melted everything in its path.
The process took only an instant.
Sizzle—.
All that remained where the flash had passed was thick smoke, bearing witness to the aftermath.
“……Insane.”
Raintas watched, a thick curse and sigh escaping his lips.
Gulp.
Raintas swallowed unwittingly and let go of the sword at his waist.
What his eyes beheld now was no chimera created by the professor.
A monster brimming with immense mana.
No, even that might not suffice to describe it.
“Professor… what the hell did you create?”
—Cataclysm.
It was a calamity hard to believe had been made by human hands, unfolding there.
Boom! Rumble!
Fierce thunderclaps shook the earth.
Thunder spread clearly along every path it took.
Could he dare stand against it with his own skills—?
Raintas shook his head at the thought.
To claim he’d protect the professor against a monster like that would be arrogance.
Click—.
Beside Raintas, who had accepted his own limits, the professor adjusted his monocle and spoke with a serious expression.
“Raintas. Time for Plan B.”
“What’s Plan B?”
Raintas voiced his doubt at the professor’s words.
Plan B.
It was the first he’d heard of it.
The professor looked at him like he’d asked something ridiculous.
“What else? Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“……What?”
Right after Raintas’s bewildered voice echoed.
Clank.
The professor pulled the lever all the way and began packing up the luggage beside him.
Ha—.
Raintas let out a short sigh and pointed at the professor’s “failed creation” far in the distance.
“What about that thing?”
“The self-destruct sequence has started, so it’ll collapse on its own soon enough. Besides, how long could something like that last with that much power?”
“You sure that’s fine? What if it lasts longer than your calculations?”
Eyes tinged with subtle distrust fixed on the professor.
He shrugged it off like it was nothing.
The professor’s hair swayed over his monocle.
He smirked at Raintas and tossed back a reply.
“Even if it lasts longer than calculated from this distance… all it could do is advance a bit further toward the Church’s holy city, Partia—what else?”
Heh heh heh—.
The professor’s eerie laughter echoed across the mountain ridge.