Chapter 647: Black Magic, White Magic, and Gray Sorcery - 6
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 647: Black Magic, White Magic, and Gray Sorcery - 6
The princess of Celsius, perched atop the ice giant, clapped her hands lightly at my answer. It wasn't a difficult question, and she too had expected me to get it right.
“Correct. His name is Olaf. He was a tiny snowman left behind by a distant ancestor of mine before their death.”
Hearing that, I took another look at the ice giant.
Its lower body was far larger than its torso. Black pebbles were embedded in its body like buttons, and branches resembling fingernails hung from its fingertips. The window where Elcia had appeared was the giant's mouth, and above it, two round pieces of pitch-black obsidian served as its eyes.
It was a colossal and terrifying sight, but upon closer inspection, it still had enough features to be called a snowman.
“It would have been much cuter if it were small. Being this big just makes it scary.”
“Oh, my. You can't see Olaf's charm? Then again, I suppose that's the extent of a commoner's aesthetic sense.”
This wasn't about aesthetics. It was trying to crush me with a hulking mass of ice.
“That's enough chatter. Second question.”
The ice giant raised its arm again. I flinched, looking at the shattered ground. It had missed before, but only because Elcia had twisted its trajectory at the last second.
“The time limit is before the fist hits the ground. If I answer correctly, Olaf will divert his fist... Is that the rule?”
CRASH. Immediately after, the ice giant's fist slammed into the ground a good distance away. A deafening roar that sent a chill down my spine echoed through the ice.
“Correct. That wasn't the question I posed, but I'll count it as a correct answer. Now, shall we move on to the third question?”
…It seemed she didn't plan on stopping after just one or two questions.
“A relic left behind by a mage before their death contains a portion of their unique magic's power. This one… what is Olaf's power?”
How was I supposed to know that? I may have mind-reading, but a relic is an object. I can't read the thoughts of an object! At best, I can only read people's minds.
Ah, right. I didn't have to read the object, I could just read the person's mind. Watching the giant's fist draw closer, I shouted urgently.
“Rolling a snowball?”
CRASH. I was right again. The ice giant's fist landed a little closer than before.
“Correct. Was the hint too obvious?”
“Judging by the branches and buttons, your claim that it was a small snowman wasn't a lie. That means the ice giant must have 'grown,' right? Just like rolling a snowball to make a snowman. The relic's true power is probably the ability to absorb crystals of the same kind to form a larger one.”
The Celsius domain was overflowing with warm ice. Even a small snowman could absorb the surrounding snow and ice to become a giant.
The way that ice giant… that snowman moved was also by repeatedly disassembling and reassembling itself, all while maintaining the form of a ‘snowman.’
“Quite impressive. Now, the next question.”
Another question? I’d play along if it were just a few, but this was getting to be a lot.
“Excuse me, but may I ask just one thing?”
The ice giant's hand froze mid-air.
“What is it? You've answered well so far, so I shall grant you the right to ask me a question for once.”
“Well, about your questions... A question should be something the other person might not know. Right now, this is just idle chatter. Is this really the best you can do?”
There was a bit of provocation in my words, but I was also being sincere. Elcia was beating around the bush, avoiding the core issues as if just testing the waters. If this was the so-called aristocratic way of speaking, I had nothing more to say. But my time was precious, too.
I wondered how the arrogant lady would react to my words.
“Hmph. How confident. And here I was, being considerate of you.”
Elcia simply laughed off my provocation.
“I thought some context was necessary for the questions, but if you insist on refusing it, let's get straight to the point. Now, the final question.”
Elcia tapped the windowsill. The ice giant slowly clasped its hands together. Shards of ice and snow floated up on their own, enveloping its fists. In an instant, the ice giant's clasped hands grew to a size comparable to the ice castle itself.
“In this barren, forsaken land that even the sun has turned its back on, what is it that established the Rule and continues to bestow its grace upon the ignorant masses to this day?”
As the giant's fists began to fall the moment her question ended, I recalled the time I looked down upon this land from the Floating Castle.
The territories, cut into perfect squares as if by a tailor. The great magic houses at the center of each. And the ‘unranked’ zones on the borders of those squares, where the Rule did not reach.
And the unique ‘Rule’ of this Celsius domain, one with a clear and defined range.
How was the Rule maintained? How could a Rule created by a human cause such an abnormal phenomenon in this land?
The answer was right in front of me.
“The first head of the house, Kelvin Celsius.”
Elcia's smile faded, and the falling ice fists didn't even twitch. That meant my answer was wrong. For now.
I deliberately muttered just quietly enough that it would be hard to hear.
“...’s relic.”
RUUUUMBLE.
The mass of ice slammed down beside me, and a tremendous shockwave washed over me.
A mist rose from the shattered ice. In a world now so thick with fog I couldn't see an inch in front of my face, a shadow flickered.
The ice giant lowered its arm. Elcia Celsius descended, walking down it lightly as if it were a staircase. She asked with a frown, “Surprising. That is the correct answer.”
“Is it that surprising that I got the answer right?”
“The opposite. I'm surprised that someone who could deduce that much would question this structure.”
Elcia waved her gloved hand lightly. Celsius and Pascal—she created a simple difference in air pressure to naturally disperse the ice mist. As the mist cleared, Elcia Celsius was revealed.
They said she was her sister, and she did resemble the Blue Tower Master. However, she exuded a completely contrasting aura. Her elegant, gentle movements, her long, slender hair that looked as if spun from crystal thread, and her feminine one-piece dress made her seem in many ways the antithesis of the Blue Tower Master.
“Would you care to answer what our ancestor's unique magic was?”
There were clues. I answered without much hesitation.
“The Rule of this domain. The abnormalities in its freezing and boiling points.”
A castle built of ice that doesn't melt, and a network of pipes circulating between the interior and exterior maintains the temperature throughout the land. The cold land, under the Rule created by a single human, froze warmly, retaining its heat.
The Celsius domain developed from the very beginning by utilizing that abnormal phenomenon. Naturally, the Rule must have been born at the same time as the domain itself.
Elcia nodded.
“My ancestor, who once wandered these lands, awakened to their magic and settled here. Their unique magic was the power to freely traverse states of matter, trapping and releasing heat. Thanks to our ancestor's sacrifice and effort, warmth took root in this cold, barren land. The Celsius domain became the most prosperous city in this entire wilderness.”
Elcia swirled the scattering ice particles, shaping them into a model of the city. A city huddled together like penguins around a towering ice castle. The Celsius domain.
Gazing down at the miniature city she had created, Elcia flicked the ice castle with her finger.
“But if our ancestor were to pass away, the domain they had so carefully cultivated would surely revert to a land where humans roamed like beasts.”
The ice castle melted away, and the surrounding villages were engulfed in a raging blizzard. A city maintained by the magic of a great figure was doomed to perish with their death.
“Worried about the future, our ancestor made a solemn decision before their death. They declared that even if their body perished, their magic would remain.”
“They left behind a relic, didn't they?”
The crumbling ice castle rose once more. No, it became even more splendid and prosperous than before. A relic neither rests nor sleeps. With its power, the city flourished even more.
“Unique magic changes the rules of the world itself, but a relic merely reproduces one of its wielder's abilities. To use a relic, one needs mana... That is why we of Celsius foster mages to protect the family and the relic, thereby maintaining the Rule of this domain.”
A genius at the dawn of magic and their relic. That was the reason for the birth of this unique order of great magic houses and their Rules. To survive in the cold, harsh lands of the north, an order that had never existed before was created.
…That was what I had learned so far.
“Now do you understand why the domain cannot accept black magic?”
And from this point on was what I was about to learn. Elcia rebuked me with a cold demeanor.
“Standard Magic? It's not bad, I suppose. It seems suitable for the ignorant masses who don't know how to use their heads to learn with their bodies. I'm sure it's quite useful in some backward country.”
“...A person from one of those 'backward countries' might be offended to hear that.”
Hilde, who's hiding nearby, is probably debating whether to smack you on the back of the head with a displeased look on her face. Walls have ears, you know.
“However, black magic is an extremely personal power. Its mana is difficult for anyone but the user to wield. Almost no black mages ever learn unique magic. In a way, black magic itself is their unique magic.”
The physical body has its own unique properties. What is medicine to one can be poison to another, and even when looking at the same thing, people perceive it differently based on their life experiences and knowledge.
That is why a black mage, who uses their own body as a medium, can neither understand nor be understood by anyone else.
A black shadow fell over the model Elcia had created.
“Black mages cannot contribute to the Celsius relic. Their mana would only eat away at this domain. If the ignorant masses don't even make the effort to learn white magic, the domain will eventually be buried in cold and suffering, and disappear.”
The black shadow corroded the ice castle from its foundations. The castle, which had been maintained by white magic, was soon swallowed by darkness and vanished.
Finishing her spell, Elcia chided me for my foolishness.
“Do you now see how foolish your absurd ideals are?”
The mages of the Mage Federation weren't simply a group of selfish power-mongers. If power was all they cared about, they would never share opportunities with the commoners in the frontier school districts. On the contrary, they would hide their knowledge and try to monopolize it.
And yet, for all that, they didn't actively try to spread it. They maintained a structure where a talented few seized even greater power.
The reason was the relics.
Because you need relics to establish the Rules, you need white magic to maintain the Rules, and you need those Rules to survive.
Mm. Okay. I think I've learned everything I need to know.
Now that I understood the background…
“There's one thing I'd like to ask.”
I had to ask how things would change. They couldn't live like this forever.
“Your sister. Does the Blue Tower Master share your opinion?”
Elcia's expression changed. Unlike when she was pitying me and posing her questions, her face now held nothing but pure displeasure.
“...I will give you a chance to explain to me why you bring up that child here.”
“A relic isn't a Divine, is it? It will wear down and disappear someday. The end will come. Are you prepared to face that day?”
The unique magic of a Divine is engraved upon the world itself. That's why a Divine's relic remains eternally powerful.
But what about an ordinary relic?
A relic is still an object. It may hold mystical power, but it has no ability to protect itself. It can be easily damaged or weathered, eventually losing its function.
I pointed that out.
“Hmm... So you're one of them? I judged you to be an idealist, but I see I was mistaken. It can't be helped. Even someone as rational and logical as myself cannot comprehend the thoughts of a madman.”
Elcia scoffed, revealing her hostility toward me.
“It's not a problem.”
Elcia waved her hand lightly. The thick blizzard that had enveloped the area cleared in an instant. Elcia spun around as she climbed back atop the ice giant.
“Because we don't just have one relic.”
In the revealed ice castle, countless people had gathered.
Countless ice sculptures were staring me down. The self-proclaimed snowman, the ice giant, was among them, along with a bird with glittering crystal wings, and a flame glowing inside a transparent lamp.
Relics, each with a different power, and the ‘Celsius’ who wielded them, had me surrounded.