The Boundary of Dreams (16)
Late morning, warm sunlight pouring down. I stepped out of the lodging and began to walk. The others had already left long ago to enjoy their free time, leaving the area wrapped in quiet. I had no particular interest in sightseeing and had planned to simply stay inside until it was time to return. That is, if not for the figure walking far ahead in the distance.
…
That someone kept glancing back, unable to hide her discomfort.
“W-why are you following me…?”
Yeon Minha finally spoke up, her voice small and edged with irritation. The face of the girl who had been walking ahead of me carried a faint trace of displeasure.
“What if something happens while you’re wandering around alone like that?”
“…I’m Yeon Minha. I’m not that weak, you know? Even if a whole pack of black mages jumped out, I could kill them all—”
“No.”
Yeon Minha puffed her cheeks in clear annoyance and glared at me.
“It’s unnecessary worry. Even if there were enemies, only an idiot would cross that wide-open wilderness. The drainage channels and sewers are strictly patrolled by the Ho-seo Han-nong troops—”
“Still no.”
“Then at least take off that conspicuous anti-particle suit…”
“No.”
When she had granted the group free time earlier, everyone had stared at her in surprise. Yet who could have guessed she had been nursing this kind of ulterior motive? She had mentioned yesterday that this was her first time stepping outside the capital. Perhaps it was only natural she would feel this way.
She wore a fluttering beige dress and a wide-brimmed straw hat that hid her face as she strolled through the streets. The heavy, cumbersome anti-particle suit she had arrived in yesterday had been discarded long ago. Since she had changed, she was demanding the same condition from me. In any case, public security appeared stable, firearms had no effect on mages to begin with, and she possessed the confidence that she could subdue most enemies if they appeared. That was the basis of her decision.
But this was one thing I could not yield on. I wanted to accommodate her requests whenever possible, yet there was always the chance of that one-in-a-million scenario. Of course I hoped this peaceful landscape would continue, but it did no harm to have at least one person remain on guard.
“…Ugh.”
At my firm refusal, Yeon Minha’s expression wilted in an instant. The gloom, however, did not last long. The time we had spent together already stretched into double digits. These days I could more or less read her mood from the smallest clues.
Today, Yeon Minha’s movements were unusually light. Her eyes, brimming with curiosity, darted everywhere without pause, and her bouncing steps looked ready to launch her into the sky at any moment. I kept a slight distance, allowing her to savor the scenery.
She paused before a flower shop to admire their beauty, then wrinkled her nose in open disgust at a stall displaying dissected fish. She became completely absorbed in a silent film playing on the park’s outdoor stage. She examined a mysterious steam-spewing machine with intense focus, only for her attention to be stolen instantly by colorful birds flashing their wings as they flew past. Then she blew on a warm red-bean bun, chewed with small, careful bites, and nodded repeatedly in satisfaction. If anyone happened to look, she would instantly restore her lofty demeanor, yet a small crescent smile still lingered at the corners of her lips.
The status and social authority she originally possessed were completely hidden beneath the wide-brimmed straw hat. The person before my eyes was simply a girl for whom everything was unfamiliar and new.
Before I knew it, I too had been drawn into that familiar, ordinary landscape.
“W-what… why…”
“…It’s nothing.”
Yeon Minha flinched at the feel of my gaze and shot me a sidelong look. When I shook my head, she began humming a light tune again and let her feet carry her wherever they wished.
Before long the surrounding scenery gradually darkened. The sun had nearly touched the horizon, and the light of the moon and evening star began to sparkle in the sky. Yet Yeon Minha’s face clearly showed reluctance to leave. She kept glancing at the barrier, then at me, alternating her attention.
…
Come to think of it, what had the flower-shop owner said to her earlier? That the sunset viewed from atop the barrier was absolutely breathtaking. My memory really is sharp.
“…Let’s go.”
“…Ahem. It would be a shame to miss it, that’s all. Yeah.”
The face she made while adding excuses that weren’t even necessary could not have looked brighter.
We climbed the stairs leading to the top of the barrier side by side. Soon a landscape unfolded before us in which the vivid red sun poured out its final twilight in every direction.
“Wow…”
A reflexive sigh of wonder slipped from Yeon Minha’s lips. It was certainly a sight difficult to witness near the rugged terrain surrounding the capital.
“Visitors from the capital? The scenery of the no-man’s land is quite beautiful, isn’t it?”
At the voice that addressed us, I turned to see a pair of patrolling soldiers approaching. Yeon Minha instantly adopted her characteristic prickly, cat-like expression and took several steps away from them. Responding to the men naturally fell to me.
“…It is quite beautiful. But when you say no-man’s land, does that mean no one truly lives south of the barrier?”
“Hardly. That isn’t why the name was chosen. It simply carries the meaning that those who live there are no longer to be treated as people.”
The soldier wearing a friendly expression spoke words that were rather chilling.
“Criminals and mutants often flee into the no-man’s land to escape pursuit. The PLF rebels who were defeated several years ago did the same.”
“You don’t subdue them completely?”
“Haha, the no-man’s land is as vast as all the southern administrative districts combined. Capturing those who flee there is nearly impossible. Moreover, unlike black mages who can tame demonic beasts with magic and slip through the gaps, a mage’s field stimulates high-ranking beasts, making entry difficult from the start.”
After that he poured out words like a fish in water. From his eyes and manner, it seemed we had arrived at just the right moment to relieve his boredom.
“Furthermore, beyond there lies the territory of a special-grade monster species known as the ‘Lord of the Southwest Plains.’ It’s a Dartigas variant whose size is comparable to the height of this very barrier. Still, according to the scouts, its lifespan is nearly over. Once that happens, we may be able to push forward with development more aggressively than now.”
While listening to the soldier, complete darkness had settled around us.
“Unlike me, this fellow is a native of the south. He was demoted for drinking on duty, yet these days he’s busy drinking and scribbling with this guy all the time. Haha.”
“Ugh. How disgusting.”
They slung arms around each other’s shoulders like close friends and exchanged words. The soldier repeatedly clenched and opened his fist, pulling a comical face.
“Sometimes we see them holding gatherings beyond the wilderness. While standing night watch, red fireworks will suddenly shoot up beyond the horizon—bang, bang—”
A colossal multi-layered magic formula, painted in blood-red, is etched across the sky. It is so enormous that it covers all of Jinling and the surrounding area, its edges impossible to see.
But as if on cue, small explosive sounds cut his words short. Sharp red light shot into the air, then fired off at regular intervals in every direction as though signaling something. The feeling was completely different from the emergency flare magic we had used during training. Even from a distance, the ominous red energy seeping outward was palpable throughout my entire body.
And unlike what he had just said, the fireworks had not erupted from the wilderness but from a point inside the city barrier.
“…Is that what you meant? But it looks like it came from the city center, not the wilderness.”
“…Yes. Correct. It may be a signal from spies operating inside. There’s no need to worry too much. Everyone already knows there are still hidden agents, and His Excellency the Governor captures them the moment they reveal themselves, so—”
-Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
The soldier frowned and muttered, but his words were once again scattered by another burst of explosions. This time the red light rose from far beyond the wilderness.
“…Today is rather strange. I should report this first. You two should descend the barrier quickly—”
The next instant, with no time to even draw breath, a massive resonant vibration like a deep hum began to echo continuously from all around. Light surged simultaneously from the towers installed along Jinling’s barrier. They were the ones the chief technician had explained to me yesterday—the towers that used weather magic to supply moisture to the surrounding crops.
“What is this? The moisture-supply cycle was supposed to be tomorrow, not today. Did the technicians make a mistake…?”
With the continuous stream of sudden events, the soldier’s face grew increasingly stained with confusion. Before he could even finish speaking, ominous red lights identical to the earlier fireworks began pouring into the sky from multiple towers.
Soon a gigantic blood-colored multi-layered magic formula was engraved across the heavens. It was so vast that it easily covered all of Jinling and its vicinity; its edges could not even be seen. Once it finished forming, the blood-colored formula scattered into the air. Particles followed its traces, gradually reconstituting into a new substance and manifesting.
Yet it was not the predicted rain clouds. A sticky, fishy mist crept out from the gaps where the formula had been inscribed, slowly spreading until it blanketed every direction in an instant. The once clear, open view was now blocked by the blood-colored fog; it was impossible to see even an inch ahead.
The blood-colored magic formula meant only one thing: the manifestation of black magic.
-Kwaaang! Boom!
-Ratatat…!
Below the barrier we stood upon, red light flashed from various points across the city, accompanied by the sound of something exploding.
-Kwaaang!
“Save… ugh!”
“Someone… someone…!”
With vision cut off by the fog, only the sounds of magic and gunfire scattered chaotically in every direction. The screams and shouts that rang out evoked a scene straight from hell. My hair stood on end and my senses sharpened to a razor’s edge. The atmosphere of the northeastern front that I had forgotten for a while crawled up my spine once more.
-Ting!
With a sudden metallic sound, blue light flashed and flickered along the curves of Yeon Minha’s body. Her field had reflected a stray bullet fired from the city.
“W-what is this…?”
Yeon Minha looked around in confusion, murmuring.
In this fog, no one could grasp the full situation. It could be a temporary riot or act of terror—or the worst possible moment we had never wanted to arrive might have come. Either way, remaining in such an exposed location was the height of stupidity.
“Let’s go down. It’s dangerous to stay here. First we’ll join up with the other students and assess—”
I gathered particles and constructed the first path of the Predictive Eye. I was about to lead Yeon Minha back down the stairs we had climbed when, at the same time, the sound of someone panting heavily came from the direction where the soldiers we had been speaking with had stood.
“Cough…!!”
They were the pair who had been joking with arms around each other’s shoulders as if they were sworn brothers only moments ago. Yet the chest of the man who had been talking excitedly—the one demoted from the capital—had been pierced from behind by a blade glowing with red energy. The blade protruded straight upward. The man, wearing an expression of disbelief as he gasped for breath, soon dropped his head limply in death.
The one who had pulled the blade from his chest now approached us. His eyes glowed with the same ominous red as the energy clinging to the blade.
“Didn’t you call him a friend?”
“He was. Until just now. Since he died for the greater cause, I’m sure he went satisfied.”
The black mage who had been pretending to be a soldier casually wiped the blood from the blade onto his glove and spoke indifferently.
“…This is why I can never bring myself to like you reds.”
The moment I uttered the word PLF members hated most, his eyebrows twitched. He immediately dropped into a stance as though ready to charge at any second.