Chapter 245
Chapter 245
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 245
Chapter Title: Wizards' Night (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"You possess the qualifications of a Guide."
The Ancient Dragon Mage's words sent a ripple through the plaza.
The titles bestowed by the primordial mage, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, were varied yet ultimately fell into a set few categories.
Sage, Wise One, Grand Sage.
These were the only three titles granted by the Ancient Dragon. Exceptions existed, but they were names affixed to calamities, best excluded.
And then.
"Guide?"
"What's a Guide...?"
"I've never heard that title before..."
"Guide? Leading? What to?"
No one among the thousands gathered in the plaza had ever heard of the title "Guide." Not the lords of the colored Mage Towers, nor the eccentric mages studying the history of magic at the fringes of the continent—none knew it.
"Walks not beneath the stars?"
"Said to be close to the truth."
"Walks a path of magic unlike any other."
The murmurs grew louder.
The mages, chattering in their own voices, turned their gazes back to one spot. There sat a single girl.
Lania van Trias.
She stared silently at the dais.
Her blue eyes, inscrutable in thought or reflection, seemed profoundly mysterious at first glance. Like a doll, the girl slowly closed and opened her eyes.
Her faintly glowing blue irises reflected gold.
The mages fell silent at the sight of the girl boldly meeting the Ancient Dragon Mage's gaze. An unnatural hush lingered for a moment.
"No more words to share, then."
The Ancient Dragon Mage spoke.
Averting his eyes from the girl, he lightly tapped the ground with his staff. A constellation of platinum stars spread outward from the staff as its origin.
The expanding starlight formed a door.
The Ancient Dragon tapped it lightly and smiled.
"I'll take my leave now. It was a delightful festival, mages who represent this era."
There were so many questions they wanted to ask.
Yet no one dared halt the Ancient Dragon Mage's steps. To block the path of one akin to a god was deemed irreverent.
But some people were different.
Amid the frozen mages, someone walked forward. A gust of wind stirred her ash-gray hair.
Tap.
The mage, who trusted neither stars, nor the Ancient Dragon, nor anything else lightly, ascended the dais. She roughly yanked the handle of the platinum door the Ancient Dragon had just entered—on the verge of vanishing.
Whoosh!
The door flew open, light flooding out.
When the light faded, the dais stood empty.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
I yanked the door handle roughly.
For an instant, my vision flashed white. After blinking a few times, my sight cleared.
A vast plain stretched before me.
Scattered across the plain were crumbled stone pillars, evoking the ruins of some long-destroyed site. Among them lay the remnants of toppled statues.
Traces of what appeared to be a temple.
I looked straight ahead.
At the edge of my gaze sat a lone mage atop the tallest pillar, smiling down at me.
"As expected, you followed. I knew you would."
"What kind of manners are these—spouting cryptic nonsense and vanishing without explanation?"
"Not the sort of tale for a public audience. Besides..."
The Ancient Dragon Mage shrugged.
"It was to show I'm not some lightweight. The mystery that occasionally seeps through lightness is what makes a being special."
What is this now?
I furrowed my brow at the Ancient Dragon's attempt to feign levity. I strode toward him.
"Stop."
His chilling voice echoed.
I halted and looked up at him.
"Don't cross that line. Listen from there. This is a realm I wish untouched by others."
"...If you hate it so much, why summon me here?"
"Because this is where I wish to share the tale."
He descended the pillar and stood before a shattered statue. Stroking it gently, the Ancient Dragon gazed at me.
"What does this statue resemble to you?"
"For starters, nothing like Delohim."
"Haha. I cherish my old friend but do not worship him. This place honors the one I truly revere."
It differed from the statue I'd seen in the Delohim Church.
That one depicted an idealized, emotionless human... but this bore a distinct feminine form.
A blindfold over the eyes.
A staff in hand.
A robe emblazoned with three overlapping circles.
"What is it?"
"The Guide of the Stars."
The Ancient Dragon looked at me.
His eyes mirrored the three circles etched on the statue.
"This is the Guide's temple. Once dedicated to me, a former Guide, and her. Now, it honors only her."
"...Her?"
I frowned.
A name surfaced in my mind. And it slipped from the Ancient Dragon Mage's lips.
"Gletus of Discipline."
Discipline (?).
"You've come to ask about the Guide, haven't you?"
I nodded silently.
The Ancient Dragon smiled faintly.
"Thus, I'll speak of her here—in the place that commemorates the most perfect Guide."
The Ancient Dragon narrowed his eyes.
Half-veiled platinum rings gleamed.
"The Guide's other names are Pathfinder. Pioneer."
Names tied to paths.
"Long ago, Gletus walked one path. At its end, she inscribed discipline upon the world. I too walked my chosen path..."
Starlight swirled around the Ancient Dragon Mage.
"And at my path's end, I hung my friend in the highest heavens."
Muttering thus, he pointed at me. No trace of his usual playfulness.
"A child who, unchosen by the stars, learned to wield them. Who comprehends stars and shadows. Who dares conceive a path none have imagined."
He whispered to me.
"I know not the path you'll guide, but heed this warning."
His golden eyes blazed blue.
"Do not break the taboo."
His stern voice rumbled like a beast's growl.
"Dare not disturb the discipline Gletus inscribed upon this world. I too am bound by it. Do not make me violate it."
Involuntarily, I stepped back.
This was the first time I'd seen the Ancient Dragon Mage bare his emotions so. Startled, I retreated...
"...That was all I had to convey."
The Ancient Dragon Mage gave me a wry smile.
"Words I must impart, as one who guards discipline, rules, and stability."
As if nothing had happened, he continued in a gentler tone. The shift in warmth was jarring.
"You left the door open just to warn me? Luring me like that?"
"It took that form, but I chiefly wished to welcome a new kin."
"...Some welcome—with that gravelly voice."
"Think of it as a bit of hazing."
The Ancient Dragon approached, jesting.
"Truth be told, beyond 'Guide,' I considered other names. The Ancient Dragon Mage's selection for the era's fourth beauty... or such frivolities."
He folded fingers one by one, listing his prepared alternatives. With each, my frown deepened.
"Finally, if you've chosen my path, then Fellow Dragon... Urk!"
The Ancient Dragon jerked his head aside.
I clicked my tongue at the sly mage who'd dodged my fist by a hair's breadth.
"...Any more, and your face won't survive. Teasing a spicy lady is thrilling, but enough."
He tapped the ground near my feet with his staff.
"In any case, congratulations on becoming a Guide. So long as you shun the taboo... I'll bless your path."
A platinum door materialized before me.
I paused before opening it, glaring at the Ancient Dragon Mage. Questions lingered.
"Does 'Guide' appear in any history books?"
"No. Only you and I know."
"Then why announce it in the plaza?"
No one would understand anyway. Why not tell me privately?
The Ancient Dragon grinned mischievously, as if it were obvious.
"To draw all eyes to you."
"...Pardon?"
"Did I not say? I want you, as 'Lania,' to thrive in mage society."
"How does that..."
Mid-sentence, I narrowed my eyes.
The Ancient Dragon continued, still smiling.
"Unknown, it feels special. It's as if the Ancient Dragon Mage declared you 'unique'... Wouldn't the mages buzz?"
"Sage" alone lacked impact, he muttered.
I sighed deeply at the Ancient Dragon Mage.
"...Ideally, may our paths never cross again."
"Ideally, let's meet often."
"Please stay away."
I flung the door open decisively.
Don't get entangled, I'd said... yet baseless conviction swirled in my mind.
We would entangle.
And perhaps become foes, depending on circumstances.
As the platinum light swallowed me, I gazed beyond at the Ancient Dragon. Standing eternally there, he symbolized immutability.
He ages not.
Changes not.
Unchanged through tens of thousands of years.
He felt like a wall. An obstructive one. Whatever lay at my path's end, it would surely be this mage before me.
Suddenly.
Such a thought struck me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The ash-gray mage departed the plain.
Leaning against a temple pillar, Yormun van Draconic sighed shortly. A bitter smile played on his lips.
"I bungled it."
He'd issued a warning.
Laid down threats.
Yet though she stepped back once... the girl's eyes never wavered.
"I never expected this to change her mind anyway..."
Beyond imagination.
He championed immutability, yet the young mage confronting him bore another immutability.
No, not immutability.
Unyielding resolve suited her better.
"Hoo..."
Yormun exhaled briefly.
He touched his eye, where three interlocking platinum rings gleamed, revealing myriad sights.
Ancient Dragon Mage, Yormun van Draconic.
Friend of the stars, bound by discipline yet blessed by all stars freely. Thus, what one blessed by stars could do... Yormun could too.
He could see the future.
Countless possible futures.
Ifs that may or may not come to pass, visible in Yormun's eyes.
"Step aside."
There stood a woman with ash-gray hair.
The wind whipped fiercely at her matured locks.
"I must return."
Her opaque eyes glared at him with fury. A voice like searing flames rang in his ears.
"No matter what."
She sought to break the gravest taboo.
There the possibility ended.
All burned away, and the ash-gray mage inevitably shattered the taboo.
That future enthroned the dragon in the capital.
'...For now, merely one among countless futures.'
Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of futures.
Just one possibility.
Less likely to occur than not, nothing certain.
Thus, discipline bound the dragon.
"I must watch a bit longer."
Nothing certain yet.
But if the signs appeared.
"Even if you don't, I'll snuff it out. With my own hands. So shut that mouth."
The fire must be extinguished.
By none other than himself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
Days after Wizards' Night ended.
The festive fervor had died down, everything returning to routine. Two girls walked a quiet corridor.
"Heard anything from the professor, Chloe?"
Stella, the child beloved by the stars.
"No, she didn't elaborate then either..."
Brave, the child chosen by the stars.
Summoned by Lania, they headed to the classroom. Unsure why together, but likely class-related.
"Ah, there you are."
Thus thinking as they walked the corridor to the room, they froze at the sight inside.
A dedicated classroom.
On a massive blackboard assembled from several panels sprawled a circuit too vast for a single glance.
"I've been waiting."
A dizzying circuit just to behold.
Complex, arcane, vertigo-inducing. Lania tapped it with her knuckles.
"Come on in."
Chloe, lingering at the threshold without entering, subtly backpedaled. Sharp intuition spurred Aila to retreat too.
"Ahem."
No escaping the professor's gaze.
Beaming, Lania crooked a finger at the pair.
"Come in."
She'd drag them if needed.
The professor's favored students swallowed bitter tears and stepped inside.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇