The Wizard Community (2)
The Wizard Community.
There had once been a tower here, after all. It was known as the Wizard Tower — until the Carpathia Empire of All Humanity was founded and an imperial law was passed decreeing that no building could stand taller than the Imperial Palace, which was how things ended up like this.
—As of now, that is.
The Imperial Palace stood eight stories tall. It was a frustratingly ambiguous height — ambiguous enough that those forced to build below it had every right to complain, but no one dared voice grievances against the imperial family, and so the years simply drifted by as they always had.
Still, for a village crowded with mages, the only thing lacking was height. The settlement itself was quite expansive.
"What the hell is that smell?"
Alec grumbled. As they drew closer to the village entrance, something musty and strange hung in the air. Yona's face had stiffened with her own inner tension, and the smell was proving impossible to get used to.
A great arch stood at the mouth of the village. Words were carved into it — Welcome to the Wizard Community — though whether this really was a village of mages or something else entirely remained rather hard to say.
Near the entrance, Kayak suddenly came to a halt.
"Kayak?"
The moment Yona turned to him, Kayak broke into a grin and looked back at her.
"Well, then. This is where we part ways."
"Huh? Oh."
At his words, it finally dawned on Yona that their journey together ended here. Kayak's destination had never been the Wizard Community in the first place — from here, he was to skirt Lake Cantasia and press on northward to the North Cantasia River. He clearly had no intention of entering the Wizard Community with them.
"You're leaving right from here?"
"Better that way. You two head into the village, and I'll make for that road over there."
"I see…"
Yona turned to look where Kayak was pointing. A road branched away from the community entrance, and a pale veil of mist still lay settled over it, stretching into the distance.
"So how long will you be staying out there?"
"Good question. Never thought that far ahead. Well, I'll go see the chief's face first. Then my family's faces. See whether the little ones are doing well."
"…Your kids?"
At that, not only Yona but Alec too wore a look of outright shock. His kids?
"You mean your children?"
"Yes, my children. Whose else would they be?"
"…You were married?"
"For over fifty years now."
Fifty years — so how many of those had he spent wandering the wilds as an adventurer? Yona's shocked expression melted into an awkward one.
"…So your wife raised the kids alone?"
"That's how it goes. Children are raised by their mothers. That's how it works, even among you humans, isn't it?"
"Oh, for god's sake, what are you talking about? The mother raising the kids alone? That's nonsense, seriously."
Yona whirled around to face Alec. Her features were hardly gentle to begin with, and with her eyes narrowed up into a glare, she looked downright vicious — so much so that Alec flinched instinctively the moment he met her gaze.
"Hey, Baldy. What do you think?"
"A-about what?"
"Do you think kids should be raised by their mother alone, or by both parents?"
What is this crazy woman on about now?
Alec, dumbfounded, found himself reflecting on his own childhood. His father and grandfather were forever away from home, off digging herbs, so the house sat empty more often than not. As a result, Alec had spent far more of his early years with his mother.
How to properly control his monstrous strength. How to react in an emergency out on an adventure. Things like that — he'd learned them all from her. It was also around then that he'd learned his family had been matriarchal for generations.
"…By their mom, I guess?"
The words slipped out before he could think. Yona's eyes flared even wider.
"Wow, unbelievable. I traveled with these people. If I'd known sooner, I'd have dumped the lot of you on the roadside!"
Only then did Alec realize he'd picked exactly the wrong answer — but it was far, far too late.
"Anyway, stay healthy. If I finish up early, I'll come by to visit. And if I don't, you two can come find me. Tell them you're Kayak's companions, and they'll treat you well."
"Be good to your wife, at least!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Alec, sounds like you've got some work cut out for you."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!"
Leaving Yona sputtering behind him, Kayak turned away. Alec gave him a light wave, then grabbed Yona by the head and forcibly hauled her around to face forward.
"Quit making a scene and let's get inside. Who's going to be happy with us carrying on like this right at the village entrance?"
"But Kayak, that whole—!"
"Every household has its own circumstances. Just let it slide."
But still— Yona kept grumbling as Alec took her by the hand and led her toward the village entrance. Then, feeling her hand slip suddenly from his, he glanced back — and Yona waved him onward briskly, as if to say go on, lead the way.
Grabbing my hand out of nowhere like that.
Yona watched Alec's back as he sauntered ahead, shoulders squared, for just a moment — then pouted and followed after him.
The village had no guards to speak of, and neither watchtowers nor fences were anywhere to be seen. All they felt as they stepped through the entrance was something sweeping over their bodies, a strange tingling sensation.
But the moment they passed inside, the scenery changed so abruptly that Alec and Yona stood frozen, mouths agape, staring straight ahead.
There was a tower.
A colossal tower, easily thirty stories tall at a glance, loomed before their eyes. It stood tall and massive enough to make the point emphatically — this place was not the world of men, and the empire's laws did not apply here.
Floors one through five spread out in wide, disc-like curves. Beyond the fifth floor, the tower narrowed sharply, its floors rising straight up like a great pillar; then, after soaring skyward for a long stretch, it widened again near the top, until the uppermost floors were unmistakably slim and compact.
Around the tower's base, shops of every kind — general goods, clothing, tools, restaurants — had gathered in a wide ring as if to encircle it, and crowds of people bustled among them, lending the whole place a lively energy.
"Wow…"
It felt like stepping into another world entirely. From the outside, there had been no hint of this tower — just a humble village, with barely a tall building to be found. For the scenery to transform so completely the instant they passed the entrance was nothing short of astonishing.
As Alec stood gawking, mouth hanging open as he looked around, Yona jabbed him in the ribs again.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Quit it, you're embarrassing me. Stop gawking like that. You look like a total country bumpkin."
Chastised by Yona's scowl, Alec cleared his throat and shut his mouth. But wondrous was wondrous, and his eyes kept darting around no matter how he tried to settle them.
"…Hey, Yona. Where do we even start?"
Yona had no answer. Become a man again. Receive a magical procedure to do it. That was the goal — and all Alevian had told her was to go to the Wizard Community.
She'd figured she could just waltz in and explain herself at some reception desk — after all, it was called the Wizard Community, right? Now she had no choice but to admit her thinking had been far too naive.
"Let's try the tower. We'll go to the tower and explain that we came for a procedure."
After a moment's deliberation, Yona made her decision. She hadn't come here on holiday. As long as she had a purpose, there was no need to worry about anything else.
"Then that looks like the entrance over there."
Where Alec pointed, an enormous glass door stood — clearly the tower's front entrance. Glass on that scale had to cost a fortune.
Yona swallowed hard and started toward it, with Alec hurrying close behind.
The most numerous race in evidence, unsurprisingly, were the elves. With their long ears and striking beauty, elves enjoyed the advantage of long lives that let them devote centuries to the study of magic — and they seemed to make up a considerable share of the Wizard Tower's population as well. Roughly three in every ten people passing to and fro appeared to be elves. But gazing at them, Yona shuddered and muttered:
"Why are there so many Alevians here…"
Every single one of them had eyes that looked somehow unhinged, which kept reminding her of Alevian and leaving her vaguely unsettled. And the fresh memory that she still owed that very Alevian a kiss made her shudder all over again.
"Th-this is the place… right?"
"Looks like it."
Yona and Alec stood before the Wizard Tower's entrance, glaring up at the doors. Passersby glanced at them, some even chuckling under their breath, but the two were so fixated on the doors that they didn't even notice.
The doors really are enormous—
They looked about twice Alec's size. Made entirely of transparent glass, they offered a clear view of everyone moving within, and the sight of all those people hurrying to and fro made Yona feel slightly daunted.
"…Let's just go in. We can't do anything standing out here."
"You do realize that's the fifth time you've said that?"
Alec's jab left Yona speechless. She'd been repeating "let's just go in" for a while now without actually going in — because, truth be told, she was a little scared.
"Come on, let's go. I'll take the lead. Honestly, what a coward."
Unable to watch any longer, Alec strode forward, and Yona reluctantly trailed after him. The glass doors, fitted with wooden handles, slid smoothly open on their own the instant Alec's hand touched them.
Alec jolted in surprise, but Yona was unexpectedly unfazed. Automatic doors like that were something she'd seen plenty of in her old world.
Inside, the space was far vaster than it had appeared from without. The lobby was so expansive it dwarfed even the dining hall she'd seen in Ceres's mansion, and from its much higher ceiling hung chandeliers aplenty, studded with glowing stones the size of an adult's finger, all radiating soft, beautiful light.
Crowds streamed through the space, each clutching armfuls of parchment and books as they hurried off somewhere, while Alec and Yona stood in the middle of it all, craning their necks and taking in their surroundings.
The walls on all sides were decorated with enormous bas-relief murals of legendary beasts of every description — the grandeur of it was almost absurd. Chairs were packed tightly along both walls, apparently waiting rooms, and judging by their sheer number, the Wizard Tower drew plenty of visitors from outside in addition to its permanent residents.
At the very center of the lobby stood the reception desks. They looked like several large brown wooden tables joined together, and at each one a pair of receptionists stood side by side, greeting approaching visitors with practiced smiles.
And among them, one desk stood empty — the only one, staffed by two women who appeared to be human rather than elves. Alec pointed at it.
"L-let's go over there. That looks like a reception desk."
"Yeah. L-let's do that."
Yona agreed, and the two of them made straight for it.
"Welcome to the Wizard Tower. What brings you here today?"
A young woman with a face full of warm smiles addressed Alec. This wasn't his part anymore, so Alec jabbed Yona in the side with his elbow.
"I know, I know… quit rushing me."
Face rigid as stone, Yona forced a smile onto her lips — the kind that looked as though a squeaking noise might escape her at any moment, or that she might start twitching outright — and slowly opened her mouth.
"Um. I'd like to become a man again."
Alec let out a long, long sigh.