Chapter 242
Chapter 242
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: The Mages' Night (4)
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Raniel always wore gloves.
Dozens of pairs of the same kind were built into the lining of her robe, etched with expansion circuits. It was a habit she'd carried over from her days in the Ashen Mage Tower.
"Why do you always wear gloves? Got OCD or something?"
Remia had once asked her about it. In response to the germaphobe accusation, Raniel peeled off her gloves, splattered with monster blood.
"Not quite OCD, but the texture's just... gross. You wouldn't get it, shooting arrows from afar."
Crunch, crack!
Raniel crushed the skull of a lion-like beast with her bare hands. Pinkish slime splattered onto the ground with a wet splat.
"Eugh."
Remia grimaced.
Raniel shrugged and continued.
"Up close, you gotta smash heads a lot. Without gloves, it feels nasty. Hands get sticky, messes with drawing circuits."
"Then just intercept with spells. You're a mage, not a boxer."
"Gotta save mana. And in tight spaces, this is easier."
Raniel shook her hands lightly.
Drip, drip. Blood fell to the floor.
"Well, calling it OCD isn't totally wrong. I always glove up to smash anything not human."
She shot Remia a sidelong glance as she said it.
"...Why're you looking at me?"
"You really gotta ask?"
"Guess to a human like you, us elves don't even count as people."
"Crazy bitch."
When smashing something not human, she wore gloves.
That's what Raniel said—and that's how she acted. Even after retiring from the battlefield.
"You're crossing the line."
And she still did.
Snap.
Raniel tugged her gloves taut.
The snug brown leather molded perfectly to her slender fingers. The creases along her bent knuckles looked ominous.
"W-Wait a second!"
The ancient dragon mage tried to explain.
He thrust his hands forward, ranting to prove his innocence.
"You're terribly mistaken. I did make the girl sit, yes! But! There's a most noble reason behind it..."
But the more he spoke, the more he reeked of guilt. Cold sweat beaded on Yormun's forehead.
Hic.
Yormun glanced at the girl slumped before him.
The girl named Chloe was hiccupping. She looked like a frightened little rodent—anyone could see she was terrified.
Terrified of whom?
Yormun. Himself.
Why was she slumped on the floor?
Because of Yormun. Again.
Yormun swallowed hard, sweat dripping.
"...Anyway, it's a misunderstanding. I have no lewd intentions like you imagine..."
"No misunderstanding. I saw it."
Thwack! Yormun's head snapped to the side.
His gaze landed on Cardi, arms crossed. Cardi shrugged.
"The senile lizard did trip Chloe, and he did scare her. No misunderstanding."
He sneered at Yormun.
"Now even laying hands on girls thousands of years younger than you. Typical you, Yormun."
"Slander...! Utter distortion!"
Yormun raised his voice, but it did no good.
Raniel finished assessing and kicked off the ground.
"H-Hiiiiek!"
Yormun screamed.
Bam!
A punch that could shatter stone walls slammed into Yormun's face.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Things settled down ten minutes later.
Belnoa and the Black Tower Lord took Chloe outside. Yetual's lengthy lecture accompanied them, and Belnoa accepted it silently.
It was clearly his fault.
Still dazed, Chloe was practically dragged away by Yetual. Left behind were three people.
The Great Sage, Cardi van Armiel.
The ancient dragon mage, Yormun van Draconic.
The sage, Raniel van Trias.
Three mages who had etched massive strokes into history gathered, yet their talk was utterly mundane.
"Spicy. So damn spicy. You really a mage? That punch power..."
Yormun muttered in injustice, icing his swollen right eye.
"I said it was a misunderstanding. I can tell right from wrong. Geez..."
"Didn't seem like a misunderstanding. Good job. Felt refreshing."
Yormun glared at Cardi, who just snorted and looked away.
"Misunderstanding or not, you deserved it. Right?"
"...Can't argue with that."
Yormun sighed.
Raniel sighed too, eyeing Yormun squatting with his ice pack.
"...So, why?"
The reason was the real question.
"You're not the type to act without thought, even if playful and flighty. What were you thinking?"
She couldn't fathom it.
Why had the ancient dragon mage raged at the stars before Chloe? What was the origin of "Glethus," and why did it touch his reverse scale?
Unable to grasp it, Raniel asked.
"......"
The ancient dragon mage fell silent.
Cardi, standing nearby, spoke up.
"Said she resembles his first love."
"...First love?"
"Yeah. Same reaction with Glerea. This lizard called her aside during his Arcadia visit, same scene."
Asked her name.
Expressed rage.
"Then tried to lay hands on her. Lucky Ganikalt and I arrived in time..."
"...Again, misunderstanding. Just checking her soul form."
"Bullshit."
Cardi sighed.
"...Thought the lizard was senile back with Glerea, but seeing Chloe... makes me rethink it a bit."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Voice, appearance, even soul form—too similar. Hard to call coincidence. Know something, Yormun?"
A sharp gaze pierced Yormun.
Finally, Yormun sighed and spoke.
"...Not coincidence."
He eyed the starlight drifting nearby.
"Not just Glethus. Souls of similar form are born occasionally. From your face, Raniel, you've met a few too."
Yormun looked at Raniel.
She nodded slightly.
"Probably granted star-related talents?"
"...Yes."
"Right. Stronger tendency in those gifted by stars. Perfect vessel forms are set."
A soul form suited to hold stars.
In other words, the perfect vessel.
"Stars know that form. That's why they meddle in human births and cycles. Despite my warnings, over and over."
Of course, Yormun added.
"Not easy for stars either. Requires tricky conditions. Souls not perfect from birth, refined through enduring life—can't even imitate those."
Like superhumans.
He muttered, continuing.
"Still, stars always crave perfect vessels. Perhaps like the Demon King you oppose."
Raniel frowned.
"...That's."
"Intentions differ. Just saying. Glethus's soul was near-perfect. So stars imitate it."
Yormun narrowed his eyes.
Raniel asked.
"...Does that disgust you?"
"Inevitably."
Anger leaked through clenched teeth.
Condensed fury filled his voice.
"Glethus's life ended. Her story concluded perfectly. She was content, and sadly, I let her go."
Bloodshot vertical pupils.
"I could have saved her but didn't. Could have held her soul but didn't. She wanted it that way. That day, place, moment—her story ended."
Grind. Yormun ground his molars.
"Reproducing that soul form to create lookalikes... mere desecration. Right, old friend?"
The ancient dragon mage.
The stars' oldest friend.
He glared at the circling starlight. A platinum ring appeared in his slit pupils.
Shimmer.
The starlight scattered briefly, as if fearing the dragon's rage.
"Not just me thinking that. You too, Cardi?"
You'd understand.
Yormun eyed Cardi that way. Cardi closed his eyes.
"...Dunno."
Opening them, Cardi said.
"Just reproductions, separate beings. Chloe isn't Glerea. Your Glethus even less. Distinct entities."
"Even with star meddling?"
"Even then."
Cardi answered firmly.
"That child is her own being."
"...I see."
Yormun smiled bitterly.
"Couldn't see it that way."
He wouldn't bend his stubbornness.
The ancient dragon mage could empathize, but not be swayed. Millennia-old values don't shift easily.
"Sigh..."
The ancient dragon mage exhaled deeply.
"That's it, then. Just felt off, overreacted. I'll be careful."
As he wrapped up, Raniel, who'd listened silently, spoke.
"That's all?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"Feels like more."
"Don't dig deeper. I don't seek your understanding."
The ancient dragon mage drew a line.
Raniel withdrew her suspicious gaze at the boundary. Instead, another question.
"Then who do I resemble?"
A lingering doubt from the talk.
Her own uniqueness—maybe star interference?
"...Meddling in human births isn't easy. In tens of thousands of years, barely thirty-seven."
Yormun smiled wryly at her question.
"And I suspected first."
"...Pardon?"
"Didn't think your prowess natural. You suspect too, right?"
Yormun looked at Cardi.
Cardi affirmed with silence.
"Far beyond human limits. 'Talent' doesn't explain it. You, Ganikalt, Belial."
Ordinary humans achieving divine feats.
"Ironically."
Yormun chuckled.
"They meddled in nothing. Born unseen, seized all eyes with achievements."
He declared.
"You resemble no one."
Thus.
"Incomprehensible."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Guess we delayed the festival.
See you at the magic conference.
With that, the ancient dragon mage left. I watched his back for a while. He was hiding something, skipping key parts.
"Stars always crave perfect vessels. Perhaps like your foe, the Demon King."
Stars have purpose.
"Intentions differ. Just saying."
He didn't name it.
'And that drawing-lines tone.'
Like we're different from you.
"What do you think?"
"Dunno. Like the lizard said, I'm perpendicular to stars."
"Even you don't know everything."
"If I did, I wouldn't be here. I'd smash the stars now."
Cardi quipped.
I chuckled unwittingly.
"Gets Khelrham."
The more I understood stars.
The deeper I delved.
"Better if they didn't exist."
Doubts about their value.
Cardi showed no reaction to my mutter. I just assumed he thought similarly.
"Don't say that aloud anywhere."
"I know better."
We stood there a while.
The barrier dissolved into the air, and soon crowds would flood in.
Staring blankly at the street.
"Oh, right."
I clapped, turning to Cardi.
Come to think, something to show him. I pulled a magic tool from my robe.
"Made this. What do you think?"
Cardi turned it over, eyes narrowing in surprise.
"Arcadian magitech. How'd you recreate it? Needs white mana stones for circuits, and pure ones don't exist now."
"Patched with blue ones."
"...Impressive. Arcadia tech revived in modern times."
"Not alone."
I smiled.
"Ashen Tower's next Lord, Resti Elenoa. Made it with her."
"I see."
Cardi smiled faintly.
"Right call rebuilding the Ashen Tower."
The founding Ashen Tower Lord, Armiel.
The mage I'd admired as a child.
"Excellent."
I often forgot amid his overbearing old-man antics, but Cardi was Armiel.
Praise from the great founder? Not bad.
"Honored, Armiel."
"Don't call me that."
Even his endorsement. Perfect for the magic conference submission.
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