Chapter 68: Is This Really Okay…? (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 68: Is This Really Okay…? (1)
The absurdly small-scale Ice Crystal Flower Spear vanished on the spot in less than three seconds.
In terms of practical combat, this Self-Embodiment was essentially useless.
'My mana…….'
With just that single act, Alon felt his mana hole go completely empty. He realized anew what a reckless, nonsensical thing he had done when he fought the Outer God six months ago.
'I should have been grateful just to be alive, honestly.'
With that thought, Alon looked at the Dragonkin who had been mocking him until just moments ago.
Even though it was merely a dark silhouette with white holes where the eyes and mouth should be, the Dragonkin’s expression was vividly clear.
As if unable to believe its eyes, it stood there with its mouth agape, staring at the spot where the magic had just been manifested.
[H-how? You clearly don't know anything about Heart Image or—]
It muttered, sounding as if the world no longer made sense.
Seeing it so shocked, as if its lifelong common sense had been shattered, Alon reminded it of the most important thing.
"Keep your promise."
The Dragonkin’s expression contorted.
* * *
For a moment, it screamed that Alon had lied to it and that the promise was void.
However, when Alon pointed out, "Are you, a being of your stature, really going to break a word you gave yourself?" it began to groan as if carrying all the world's worries.
[Mas……ter……]
The words were forced out through the sound of teeth grinding together.
……Of course, the tone seemed to hold far more murderous intent than the respect the word usually implied. Alon, feeling a sense of catharsis, nodded inwardly with satisfaction.
[Do you truly…… not know what a Heart Image is?]
Alon nodded at the Dragonkin's subsequent question.
"I don't."
[……It doesn't seem like you're lying.]
"What exactly is a Heart Image that you're making such a fuss about?"
At Alon’s confused question, the entity seemed to ponder for a moment before explaining.
[As I told you before, magic was originally created to approach 'Laws.' It’s the same for Phrases, Hand Seals, and Sentences.]
[However, there is one difference. While Phrases and Hand Seals can be used by understanding their meaning and grasping their essence, Sentences require more than that.]
The entity sat on the edge of the desk and continued.
[As I said last time, a Sentence is a key to reach the Law that a Magus has carved into this world.]
"I heard that last time…… but if, as you say, Self-Embodiment can only be used if one knows the Heart Image, then why did you tell me that Sentence back then? According to your logic, I wouldn't have been able to use it even if you told me."
The entity answered Alon’s skeptical question immediately.
[That is both right and wrong. As I said, a Sentence is a key, but in the end, it is also a Sentence meant to interfere with a Law. In other words, it can be used as a key, but it can also be used to twist a Law.]
Alon nodded.
In fact, he had used the Ice Crystal Flower Spear in a different form even before achieving Self-Embodiment.
And he now understood which Law the Sentence 'Fame of Snow Mountain' twisted.
"So it has two uses."
[Exactly. Primarily, it’s a key for a Magus to approach the Law they carved, but it can also function as a Law itself.]
The Dragonkin continued its explanation.
[However, as I’ve said many times, a Heart Image is required to use Self-Embodiment. A Heart Image is, in essence, a memory.]
"……A memory?"
When Alon tilted his head slightly, the entity hummed in thought before speaking.
[Yes. Everyone talks about inheriting history or inheriting knowledge, but the conclusion is memory. The memory of the moment those Magi first created the Sentence to approach that Law.]
[That is what is absolutely necessary to use a Sentence as a key—what I call a Heart Image. That is why I said it made no sense.]
The Dragonkin frowned and added in a low voice.
[Because in this world, neither the Heart Images nor the Magi who would pass them down to successors remain.]
"……."
A brief silence followed.
Soon, however, the Dragonkin’s sigh broke the quiet.
[That’s why I don't quite understand. How on earth did you succeed in Self-Embodiment?]
It looked at Alon with a questioning gaze, but naturally, there was nothing he could say.
After all, Alon himself didn't know how he had used Self-Embodiment.
No, strictly speaking, he knew the method.
He formed the Hand Seals, spoke the Phrases, and uttered the Sentence.
With that, Alon had succeeded in Self-Embodiment.
But that was inconsistent with what the Dragonkin was saying.
Contrary to the explanation that inheriting a Heart Image was essential for Self-Embodiment, Alon had no memory of ever inheriting one.
That wasn't all. There was a massive discrepancy between the Dragonkin's common sense and Alon's.
First, Alon had been using magic by forming Hand Seals and reciting Phrases and Sentences, but most of those were utilized after Alon had gained knowledge by reciting the Phrases himself.
In other words, he had grasped the meaning of the Phrases through direct experience without prior 'understanding.'
Yet, the entity before him clearly stated that Phrases and Sentences could only be used if one 'understood' them.
Essentially, what it said meant that the very way Alon had been self-teaching magic was impossible.
"……Before I address that, there's something I want to tell you."
[What is it?]
Alon soon conveyed his doubts to the entity.
After listening to Alon for a while, the entity……
[……Does that even make sense?]
It stood there with its mouth hanging open, genuinely unable to comprehend.
"But that is how I've been doing it. Even now."
At Alon’s answer, the entity let out a hollow laugh as if the situation was absurd and tried to say something.
Rumble—!
"?"
Alon looked puzzled as the tower suddenly began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
[……It seems time is up.]
"……Time?"
[The duration I can manifest isn't very long, so it seems the connection is breaking.]
Alon instinctively furrowed his brows at the explanation, but the entity smiled as if to reassure him.
[Don't worry too much. If you come back in about five days, we can talk again. I'll tell you what you're curious about then. And—]
[—If possible, find 'Sparrow's Staff' and try using magic by receiving Phrases and Sentences from the fellow inside. You'll be able to talk to him if you inject mana.]
"……Sparrow's Staff? ……Is it an ego weapon?"
[Rather than a weapon, it's a slightly crazy guy who planted his own personality into the weapon. Get the Phrases and Sentences from him.]
"……According to you, Sentences are essentially secret techniques. Will he give them up so easily?"
[Don't worry about that. The guy inside is someone who regrets to death that he couldn't leave a successor. He'll probably be delighted to teach you.]
"……."
[I'll be looking forward to it. If what you said is true, then with just Phrases, Sentences, and Hand Seals—]
The entity flashed a thin smile once more.
[—It means you can perform the magic of every Magus. And—]
You might even be able to push 'them' back, it added, before vanishing in an instant.
"……."
Alon stood in silence, facing the empty air.
* * *
A short while later.
Having emerged from the ruins, Alon was deep in thought inside the returning carriage.
He hadn't heard the secrets he was originally curious about, which was his main purpose for visiting today, but his interest had already shifted away from those secrets.
The secrets weren't much of a risk anyway, considering Alon had to stay in the Colony for about two weeks because of the Colosseum.
Instead, Alon was retracing the words the entity had spoken today.
'……That magic cannot be used in the first place unless one understands the Phrases, Sentences, and even Self-Embodiment…….'
It was a thought he had replayed several times already.
'I don't think that Dragonkin would lie, so how did I use it?'
He pondered it over and over, but naturally, no answer came for something he didn't know.
'There seems to be something to it…….'
While harboring a slight doubt, he soon changed the subject.
'Sparrow's Staff…….'
Fortunately, Alon knew where the Sparrow's Staff the Dragonkin mentioned was located.
'It should be in the royal treasury of the Colony.'
It was information he knew because he had entered the royal palace several times through quests to retrieve items.
Of course, knowing it was there was one thing, but Alon had never once brought the Sparrow's Staff out.
Its performance was the worst among the items in the treasury.
'……Its performance is a bit disappointing to choose over the items I originally planned to take.'
However, he had no intention of ignoring the entity's words either. After agonizing over it for a long time, he decided.
'I suppose it can't be helped. ……First, I'll have to register as a Colosseum fighter when I arrive.'
He decided he would participate in the Colosseum this time to obtain the Sparrow's Staff.
And so.
"Mentor!"
"What is it?"
"Pet my head."
"……Your head?"
"Yes!"
As he stroked the hair of Seolrang, who had pressed her head against him—
"……."
"Huu—"
—Or rather, while his hand stayed still and she moved her head back and forth to enjoy the petting herself, they arrived at the Colony.
And then.
"……Hm?"
As soon as they entered the Colony, he felt that the atmosphere was incredibly restless.
In fact, he looked puzzled when he noticed that there was almost no foot traffic within the Colony, but only for a moment.
Alon, who was traveling by carriage toward the guild, stopped the carriage when he realized that a massive crowd was gathered all along the Colony's central street.
It seemed impossible to drive the carriage through the central street.
Furthermore.
"Lady Seolrang, it seems we'll have to wait until the crowd passes."
A Beastkin, who had apparently checked the path ahead, immediately reported the situation, and she looked at Alon.
After a moment's thought, Alon spoke.
"……Let's get out and watch while we wait."
He stepped out of the carriage, as the bustling scene naturally piqued his curiosity.
A massive crowd stood lined up on both sides of the central road, as if the entire population of the Colony had gathered.
Just as Alon stepped out of the carriage and pushed through the crowd to see a carriage approaching from a distance.
"Stop."
A mercenary blocked his path.
The mercenary, who looked menacing at a glance, gave Alon a nudge with the hand holding his sword and spoke.
"No one is allowed near Lord Milanon."
A blatant warning.
Only then did Alon realize that despite the dense crowd, this specific area was kept empty by mercenaries. He then looked at the man inside the mercenary line.
A noble who looked arrogant at a glance, adorned with various ornaments as if he were a high-ranking aristocrat of the Colony.
He seemed to have heard the mercenary's words, as he glanced at Alon, smirked, and looked away.
"……."
Just as Alon was inwardly scoffing at the noble's petty sense of entitlement.
CRACK—!
The mercenary, who had been blocking the way with a stern expression just a moment ago, vanished and crashed into a grocery store.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The eyes of the gathered crowd turned toward them all at once. The mercenaries who had been forming the cordon also began to move before they could even grasp the situation.
But in that moment.
Zap—!
BOOM! CRASH!
The mercenaries trying to approach Alon were sent flying spectacularly into the air and crashed into buildings.
"S-Seolrang!?"
Milanon, the noble who had been smirking just moments ago, recoiled in shock at the sudden appearance of Seolrang.
"Aaaaaaaagh—!!!"
Soon, he began to scream as Seolrang grabbed him by the head.
And then.
"He was laughing at you, Mentor. What should I do with him?"
Alon was left speechless by the sight of her turning back to him with a beaming expression, so different from the way she looked at Milanon.
The sight of Seolrang holding the noble's head as if she might crush it at any moment, simply because he had mocked him before Alon could even stop her……
"Should I just kill him?"
It was certainly cathartic in its own way, but he thought it was a bit much.
……At least on a street crowded with this many people.
"……."
As Alon was wondering how to handle this, he turned his gaze at the sound of the surrounding murmurs.
He soon realized that the white carriage that had been traversing the crowded street had stopped right in front of him, and at the same time, he could identify where the carriage had come from.
'Is it the Holy Kingdom?'
Just as Alon, spotting the Paladins, had that thought, the door of the stopped carriage opened and someone began to step out.
A girl wearing black mourning clothes embroidered with red patterns.
"……Hm?"
For a moment, he tilted his head, feeling that her face was strangely familiar.
"C-Cardinal—!"
Alon heard the voice of the noble Milanon, who was calling out to the girl while his head was still held by Seolrang, and instinctively sensed that the situation was about to get complicated.
To anyone who hadn't seen the preceding events, this situation looked like Alon and Seolrang were bullying an innocent noble.
As Milanon put on a soulful performance, making a pitiful face as if to exploit the situation, Alon wondered if he should clear up the misunderstanding.
However, contrary to Alon's expectations, the girl who stepped out of the carriage did not head toward Milanon.
In fact, without giving the noble a single glance, as if she had no interest in him whatsoever, she walked straight toward Alon.
"Eek—"
Passing by Seolrang, who let out a yelp as if she had realized she was in trouble and began wagging her tail furiously, the girl approached Alon and took his left hand in both of hers.
And then.
"It’s been a very long time."
The moment he met the red eyes revealed as the smiling girl opened them, he realized.
That the girl before him was none other than—
"Teacher."
—Yutia Bloodia.
In the street where the murmurs had died down, replaced by shock and silence, she smiled wordlessly.