Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Sign Here, Battle Mage! (3)
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“Resti Eleanoa.”
That was the moment Kalt muttered the answer.
Kirrrk. The door creaked open. The one who stepped in was the hound who had been in charge of monitoring Kelrhalm until moments ago.
“Senior, I’ve come to report on today’s rounds.”
“Any special matters?”
“Ah, they summoned one student. It seemed to be about a special lecture...”
“They’re really throwing themselves into these classes.”
Kalt let out a sigh.
Was it nostalgia for the fallen scholarly city of Artia that had drawn him all the way to Aphria?
“So, who was the student they summoned?”
“Resti Eleanoa.”
Thud. The fan slipped from Kalt’s hand.
“...Who did you say?”
“Pardon? Ah, Resti Eleanoa. The next Ashen Mage Tower Lord... the primary target during that Skeval assault incident...”
Not even waiting to hear the end of it, Kalt rose from his seat. He snatched the dagger pouch from the desk and jerked his chin.
“Location.”
“...Pardon?”
“The place where they summoned the student. Where is it? I trust you upheld the rule against leaving students alone with Kelrhalm in sealed spaces.”
His subordinate nodded slowly and gave the location.
With an order to assemble all the remaining hounds, Kalt quickened his pace.
Ominous.
Something felt ominous.
Kalt gnawed at his lip as he broke into a near-run.
2.
Madman.
It had been fully a century since he’d been branded with that derisive moniker.
He had long surpassed the limits of his allotted lifespan. The day he bathed in spirit blood, Kelrhalm had gained a lifespan as long and enduring as that of the fairykin.
A life approaching immortality.
Yet it was a life utterly devoid of meaning.
A life he had never wished for held no value.
Kelrhalm simply let this forcibly prolonged existence drift by. Time in motion held no significance. His life had already ended a century ago, alongside the destruction of Artia.
‘Meaningless.’
A century lived propped up by madness.
‘Meaningless, and thus only emptiness remains.’
A century spent resisting the pull of insanity.
‘How nostalgic.’
Kelrhalm reminisced.
Of a certain day from a hundred years past.
Of the era when he was hailed as a sage, not a madman.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Aren’t the stars truly beautiful?”
“That again, Celestia?”
The pinnacle of Artia’s symbolic scholarly tower.
There lay a garden. It was not one tended by the tower’s master, who cared for nothing beyond instructing students.
“Beautiful and bright, yet impossible to fathom. Beautiful precisely because they are unknown.”
A girl gazed at the stars in the night sky, her eyes sparkling.
Celestia von Artanim.
She beamed radiantly at the garden she had cultivated with her own hands. It had been over a decade since Kelrhalm had taken her in. From the beginner classes to the graduates... she had come nearly every day to tend it.
“Of course, this garden is beautiful too.”
“Is there anything that doesn’t look beautiful to you?”
“Ahaha, is that so?”
Giggling merrily, she leaned back against the bench. Kelrhalm shot a sidelong glance at the girl seated beside him and posed a subtle question.
“...You seem nervous.”
“Well, yeah. In ten days, I’ll have to leave this place. After more than ten years here.”
“That’s the rule of Artia.”
Do not remain trapped in Artia.
See the wide world.
Experience much, and learn much.
Those were the rules decreed by Artia’s overseer, Kelrhalm. Even for this prized disciple of his, he had no intention of making exceptions.
“You’ll keep tending this garden after I leave, right?”
“I was planning to hand it off to my secretary.”
“Do it yourself for once. You’ve got plenty of time.”
Kelrhalm gave a wry smile.
“True. Once you’re gone, I’ll have more time on my hands. Half my day went to teaching you.”
“But there were results, weren’t there?”
A girl who commanded five top-tier spirits.
The era’s mightiest spirit conjurer.
One could fill a sheet or two just listing the titles ascribed to her. Kelrhalm, who had raised her, shrugged his shoulders.
“It’ll depend on what you make of it.”
“You just can’t give proper praise, can you?”
“It’s late. Head inside. Don’t you have that speech as student representative tomorrow?”
Grumbling, Celestia rose from her seat.
She walked toward the garden’s heart, where moonlight bathed the flowers. Propped on his chin, Kelrhalm watched her retreating figure.
A child no different from a daughter, raised over a decade.
Gazing at the girl who had grown so much that it was time for her to leave his side, Kelrhalm wore a faint smile. You’ve grown well. Swallowing such embarrassingly sentimental words, he opened his mouth.
“Celestia.”
“Yes, Master?”
Moonlight-glazed flowers twinkled.
Celestia turned amid the blooms.
“Why do you call?”
Her light purple hair, braided in twin tails, gleamed softly. Eyes of the same hue fixed straight on Kelrhalm. Starlight dwelled within those eyes. Platinum shimmered amid the violet.
The Watcher who read the stars’ intent.
Stella, the child beloved by the stars.
What feats might this girl—bearing two blessings from the stars—accomplish beyond Artia’s walls? What achievements would she forge, and what radiant future would await her?
Imagining it all in his mind.
Indulging in delightful fancies at the mere thought.
“As always.”
Kelrhalm spoke.
“Just as you have until now, trust in the stars. They will light your path ahead. Sturdy companions for your journey.”
After saying that much, Kelrhalm fell silent for a moment. After brief deliberation, he continued.
“You’ve done well thus far, Celestia. Congratulations on your graduation—a little early.”
He offered an awkward smile.
Seeing it, Celestia ducked her head and let out stifled giggles. When she lifted her gaze again, her smile shone brighter than ever.
“Thank you for everything until now, Master!”
That smile.
That smile, gleaming beneath the moonlight.
“Ahh.”
Unforgettable, even after a hundred years.
Kelrhalm closed his eyes. He tilted his head back. Countless scenes streamed before him. A nightmare—an endless saga of descent.
Burning Artia.
The white-haired woman cursing the stars.
The girl betrayed by the stars, abandoned, trampled, and ultimately plunged into the muck.
Recalling that entire history.
Remembering the irreparable words he had left behind.
And finally, that abhorrent star.
“......”
Kelrhalm opened his eyes.
Not the scholarly city of Artia. A hundred years after its fall, the vista of Aphria—the finest magical academy.
And.
“Did you summon me, Professor Lertia?”
Before his eyes sat a single girl.
A girl with light purple hair and eyes.
A girl who resembled the Celestia of his memories.
“Resti Eleanoa.”
Gazing upon her, Kelrhalm spoke.
“Do you know Celestia von Artanim?”
Who are you?
3.
Combat Magic Department special training week.
“Hng, hng.”
As students’ cries of agony echoed, Lania van Trias strolled the campus, humming to herself. The students were diligently pushing through their training. As expected of Aphria Academy, a gathering of true talents.
‘They’re improving day by day.’
The students’ growth was swift.
They had solid foundations to begin with. Though ignorant of their origins, they had studied Battle Mage arts for quite some time.
Spell Stock.
Melee combat founded on strike spells.
Mastery of bodily reinforcement spells.
All they had learned over those long years was far from worthless. They simply hadn’t known why they were learning that style of combat.
‘I merely taught them that.’
She had explained the origins.
Pointed them in the right direction.
And with that alone, some students seemed to have grasped the knack.
‘A faint sense of it.’
To truly make it their own, there was ultimately one path.
“All that remains is to master it through real combat.”
Mastery through real combat.
She couldn’t toss them onto an actual battlefield like she had with Rak, so she had prepared a gymnasium mimicking one as closely as possible.
‘Even I have to admit, I did a fine job.’
The trap designs she’d learned up north had proven immensely useful. Lania nodded in satisfaction.
In any case, things were progressing smoothly.
If it continued like this, humiliating Kelrhalm wouldn’t be far off.
‘...Though I do feel a twinge of guilt.’
It looked as if she were grinding the students down just to settle a personal grudge. Her intentions were hardly pure, but in the end, it would benefit them.
Things they’d have to learn someday.
Knowledge essential for survival.
Not every student in Combat Magic would face that fate, but most of them would one day stand on a battlefield. It wasn’t for her—the class’s very creator—to say... but Battle Mage had been made for soldiers from the start.
‘Plenty seem to have enrolled with that in mind.’
Aphria brimmed with scions of prestigious houses, but Combat Magic students were disproportionately illegitimate children or those of ambiguous standing within their families.
Children destined for the front lines or field work.
Children who needed to rack up merits in the field.
There were many such cases. In fact, quite a few. That was part of why Lania had been so harsh on the department.
‘...Though this time, my personal stake was rather large.’
It would lead to the students’ growth in the end, but it stemmed from her own bruised pride. Objectively, it must feel like a bolt from the blue to them.
‘I’d originally planned to teach it near term’s end or during break.’
Had she rushed it too much?
Lania halted her steps.
“Hmm...”
She glanced back.
A few students sat slumped on benches before the gymnasium, faces drained of all life. Their dazed expressions pricked at Lania’s conscience.
“Hmmm...”
A moment’s hesitation.
“Ah.”
She arrived at her answer.
‘Cloe was always thrilled with cake.’
Maybe buy them some snacks.
She turned her head again. She was headed to the café anyway. Thinking she’d pick up some treats on the way, Lania resumed walking.
Chin.
That was when it happened.
Something caught Lania’s eye. Aphria’s garden. Two figures sat there.
“...What.”
Lania’s brows furrowed.
“Why are those two there together?”
She veered off course.
And started walking again.
A little faster than before.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Do you know Celestia von Artanim?”
Resti couldn’t grasp the intent behind the question.
A new arrival to Aphria had summoned her—Professor Lertia—and upon arriving at the garden... this was the first thing thrown at her. Resti tilted her head.
‘It’s a bit out of left field, but...’
Celestia von Artanim.
The name rang a faint bell. Resti rummaged through her memories. It didn’t take long.
Resti slowly opened her mouth.
“You mean the spirit conjurer, Lady Celestia?”
“Yes.”
“I know of her.”
The first Summoner in history to command five top-tier spirits simultaneously. She had encountered the name in a book on Summoner history.
“She authored the foundational text on spiritology and contracted a top-tier spirit at a young age...”
“No. That’s not what I’m asking.”
Kelrhalm shook his head.
“What I want to know is your connection to Celestia.”
He narrowed his eyes.
The gaze held no emotion, yet something flickered beyond those gray irises.
“Are you of the Artanim line? Collateral branch? Any blood ties? Have you ever received eyes from someone? Undergone any artificial procedures?”
The questions came in a rush.
Delivered in a monotone, at even cadence—yet hard to follow. Resti shook her head.
“...I’m an orphanage graduate. I know nothing of my blood relations.”
She didn’t even know what the Artanim house was.
Celestia was just a figure from books. She gave the honest answer, but the professor before her showed no sign of satisfaction.
‘Something’s off.’
Resti frowned.
The professor’s eyes staring at her felt ominous. Empty gray voids, yet something churned wildly within.
Resti blinked.
Starlight flared intensely in her violet eyes.
Her field of vision expanded, and the professor’s form came into clearer view. And Resti beheld something she had never noticed before.
‘...Chains?’
The professor’s entire body was entwined in chains.
The chains bound something. Resti shifted her gaze to what they restrained.
‘Ah.’
Ominous.
Fierce flames, shackled by the chains. What rippled beyond the gray eyes were flames. The instant she realized it, the flames stirred faintly. The professor’s eyes narrowed.
“Those eyes.”
The chains creaked.
“Blessed by the stars.”
The creaking chains rattled as the flames surged.
“Hear this warning.”
The air grew heavy. In the suffocating pressure, Resti couldn’t so much as twitch as she stared at the professor. He extended a hand. His finger pointed squarely at Resti’s eyes.
“That abhorrent star...”
“Hey.”
It was then.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Snap. Someone seized the professor’s wrist.
The mana that had been constricting the area scattered in an instant. Resti turned to look beside her.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Lania van Trias.
She glared at Professor Lertia, eyes bulging wide.
Author's Note
Hieeek