Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Apprentice Mage: Lua Polaris (1)
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The apprentice mage of the Blue Tower, Lua Polaris, had never been good at gauging her distance from other people.
When exactly had she become this way?
As far as she could remember, she hadn't always been like this.
Was it from the day her master first scolded her?
Or maybe after her last remaining classmate advanced in rank?
At some point, she had started becoming awkward around people.
And that hadn't changed even now.
“…….”
In one corner of the library, which carried an air of antique elegance, sat a desk.
Lua gazed at the black-haired young man seated across from her.
He had sharp features and an exotic look about him.
He glared at the book in his hand, lost in thought.
Scratch, scratch.
Around him, several books floated in the air, and pens moved on their own, scribbling notes without their master's guidance.
He had been sealed away here for over three hundred years, hadn't he?
It seemed that an archmage who had lived for centuries could pull off such feats without batting an eye.
Lua watched him with eyes full of admiration for only a moment.
Soon, her voice trembling slightly, she spoke to the archmage before her.
“Um, excuse me…….”
Her small lips parted, letting out a brief phrase.
At her words, the young man's gaze turned to her.
The moment that sharp gaze fixed on her.
A chill ran down Lua's spine, as if she were facing an archmage centuries old.
Ah-.
The words she had been about to say faltered and scattered.
How exactly was she supposed to broach the subject with an archmage who had been sealed in this library for hundreds of years?
For that matter, what should she even call him?
Like Craton, should she address him as "senior"?
Or "Archmage"?
"Master"? "Librarian"?
Lua's mind spun in confusion for a brief moment.
Before long, the young man, who had been waiting for her response, spoke first.
"Is something wrong?"
He said this while picking up a cookie from the plate in front of him.
The crunch of the cookie breaking echoed in Lua's ears.
Fortunately, the archmage had extended a hand first, allowing her to relax a little.
"Um… how should I… address you……?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't told you my name yet."
Her question directed at the young man.
He pondered for a moment.
Hmm-.
After a short deliberation, he addressed Lua, who sat across the desk from him.
"Just call me Johan. It's better than some strange title."
“……Yes, Johan.”
—Johan.
Lua mulled over the archmage's name, which she was hearing for the first time.
It felt strangely fitting, yet somewhat detached at the same time.
Still, knowing his name made her feel much more at ease.
Now she knew exactly what to call him going forward.
“…….”
Having finished her conversation with Johan, Lua turned her gaze back to the book in front of her.
One of the volumes she had found in a corner of the library.
The book before her eyes was a research journal detailing studies on mana storage.
Mana charging and discharge through mana accumulation rituals.
It was also a subject that her master and Blue Tower mage, Lefel Kreight, had been persistently researching.
‘It's similar to Master's research.’
It seemed the archmage before her had pursued similar studies long ago.
Though it looked like that research had concluded with some success quite some time back.
‘There's no way I can fully grasp all this today anyway.’
For Lua Polaris, who wasn't even a full-fledged mage yet, mastering this thick tome in a single day was impossible.
Still, she figured she should at least read as much as she could understand.
With that thought, Lua began turning the pages of the book in her hand.
Rustle, rustle-.
The pages of the book in her hand slowly turned one by one.
Her weary gaze, visible beneath her witch's hat, continued scanning the contents.
As Lua's eyes delved deeper into the journal's entries.
At one point, she realized that her master, Lefel Kreight's, research direction had gone astray somewhere.
“Ah…….”
Johan's research journal was far more accessible than she had expected.
The results of every trial and error the archmage had encountered.
It detailed in depth the reasons for his past failures and the improvements he had made.
And among them were insights into the very research her master was currently pursuing.
Lua's face filled with profound bewilderment as she read the journal.
Her gaze, fixed on the journal, lost its focus and wandered quietly.
“…….”
“…….”
Her wandering eyes met Johan's once more.
The black-haired archmage was sipping tea and picking up another cookie from the table.
A brief silence settled between the two whose eyes had met.
Swipe.
Amid the silence, Lua's gaze drifted to the cookie in Johan's hand.
A cookie giving off a savory aroma.
Beneath Johan's hand sat a plate brimming with cookies in vibrant colors.
"Is something wrong?"
“……No.”
"If you want one, help yourself."
Johan picked up another cookie, his voice casual.
It wasn't the direction Lua had in mind, but it wasn't a bad outcome for her either.
"Yes, please."
Lua didn't refuse Johan's offer.
She took a chocolate cookie from the plate and popped it into her mouth.
The crumbling texture in her mouth was incredibly sweet.
At the very least, it was undoubtedly the most delicious thing she had eaten all year.
* * * * * *
Tweet, tweet-.
Lua Polaris, the apprentice mage, opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping outside the window.
In her original village, roosters would have crowed at this hour, but unfortunately, the Blue Tower didn't keep chickens.
Instead, the cries of ground-dwelling birds woke her every morning.
Ugh-.
Lua stretched her tired body, her face blankly staring into space.
Had she dozed off while working on her advancement thesis all night?
Her body felt utterly stiff and unyielding.
“…….”
Her gaze, fixed on nothing, drifted downward to the thesis.
The paper she had been writing last night was smudged with what looked like drool from sleep.
Blink, blink.
She blinked, staring intently at her own work.
Her dazed eyes lingered on the thesis below for quite some time.
Swipe-.
Lua's hand pushed the ruined paper aside to the corner.
It was paper she couldn't use anyway.
Rather than dwelling on this, it would be more beneficial for her future to ponder something more productive.
For example, matters concerning the vast library housing the sealed archmage.
"A dream… was it a dream? No, it felt too vivid to dismiss as just a dream."
Lua caressed her pale cheek with her hand, recalling the library's scenery.
—The Phantasmal Library Celestia.
The archmage who had introduced himself as Johan had said the library was called "Celestia."
Moreover, it was filled with countless magical tomes and theories of magic.
Invaluable resources rarely seen anywhere else.
Even in the Blue Tower, only mages granted access to the upper levels could hope to obtain a few such volumes.
Yet the Phantasmal Library Celestia had its shelves packed tight with them.
"And he definitely said… he'd reward us if we brought him the magic he wanted."
On top of that, the archmage overseeing Celestia had made one proposal to her and Craton.
If they brought him the magic he desired from the outside world, he would grant them a reward commensurate with its value.
There was only one reason the imprisoned Johan craved magic so desperately.
To find a clue to breaking the seal binding him and escape to the outside.
He wished to shatter the seal that had suppressed him for over hundreds of years.
"Hmm……."
A mage sealed away in a powerful barrier for centuries.
And the illusory library he inhabited.
As Lua pondered the archmage she had met last night, a dangerous possibility crossed her mind.
‘If he's an archmage who had to be sealed away centuries ago… wouldn't everyone be in danger the moment he's freed?’
Wouldn't it be safer for everyone if such a powerful mage remained sealed?
That idle thought lingered in Lua's mind for a moment.
Soon, she shook her head vigorously, dispelling the notion.
The Johan she had seen was a figure who would notice even irreverent thoughts.
It would be better to think more constructively than that.
"Ah… oh, right! I have to write it down before I forget!"
Just like that, a bolt of realization struck Lua amid her absurd musings.
The contents of the research journal she had seen last night.
The journal's details, now fading into hazy memory, resurfaced.
She had to jot them down before they vanished from her mind.
Otherwise, last night's efforts would be for nothing.
Flutter-.
Lua grabbed a nearby sheet of paper and hurriedly picked up her pen.
Dipping it in ink, she began scribbling frantically on the page.
"Mana accumulation spell… overlapping circuits… mana field interference……."
Scratch, scratch.
As Lua Polaris's pen danced busily.
Another hectic day at the Blue Tower began.
* * * * * *
Lefel Kreight, a full-fledged mage of the Blue Tower.
He wasn't particularly renowned in the tower.
In a place gathered with exceptionally talented mages, he simply didn't stand out.
However, he took great pride in his ability to teach apprentices.
After all, nearly all the disciples he had taken in a decade ago had now earned their "full-fledged mage" badges.
With the sole exception of the one still lingering in his lab, that is.
"Tsk tsk, what a pitiful girl. That's the fate of mages intoxicated by their own talent."
Apprentice mage Lua Polaris.
She alone still bore the apprentice badge in Lefel's lab.
Moreover, the theses she produced were uniformly mediocre and utterly nonsensical.
She was far, very far, from passing her advancement exam.
As such, Lefel had long since stopped paying any attention to her desk.
"I wonder what nonsense she's scribbled this time."
But today, of all days, Lefel stood before Lua's desk.
Normally, he would have walked right past it, but his visit today was mere whim.
Swipe-.
Lefel's hand lifted a sheet of paper from Lua's desk.
Had she just scribbled it down in a rush?
The writing on the paper conveyed a sense of urgency.
“…….”
What absurd drivel had she written today, he wondered.
With that thought, Lefel's gaze scanned the paper in his hand for a moment.
Soon, as he read his disciple's thesis, his face hardened rigidly.
Whoa-.
A short exclamation escaped Lefel's lips.
His eyes, fixed on the thesis, gleamed with unmistakable greed.