Chapter 25. The Choice (4)
I stood before a vast forest.
Thick green foliage blotted out the sky, sunlight shattering into fragments as it filtered through the branches.
Suddenly, a memory from 500 years ago flashed through my mind.
“The Eternal Forest……”
[It is now used as the base of the Eternalism school.]
Before the Kirchheis family established a training ground within their territory.
This was the forest where Ulfric had personally built a house and lived while teaching trainees.
The name Eternalism had originated here.
‘To think I’d return here like this.’
As I lost myself in thought, someone emerged from the forest.
It was an old mage with a snow-white beard reaching down to his chest.
“Oh ho, it seems our dean pulled off something this year. Come in, child. What’s your name?”
A familiar face.
I bowed my head slightly and replied.
“I am Kirian Kirchheis. It’s an honor to meet the esteemed Archmage of White Flame.”
“Hmm? Kirian……?”
The old man’s eyes widened slightly at my introduction.
He looked surprised.
Stroking his beard thoughtfully for a moment, he muttered.
“Biat didn’t just do something impressive—she worked a miracle. Heh heh……”
The Archmage of White Flame, Elman Bykers.
This elder, whose eyebrows hung low enough to nearly cover his eyelids, with sharp eyes glinting beneath them, was the former dean of Eternalism.
Now he served as an advisor in his capacity as a senior elder.
Unlike Biat Panayul, Elman Bykers was a mage who had made a name for himself.
[Even so, this old man reached 8-star as a high mage. He didn’t earn the title Archmage for nothing.]
That also meant he was the unfortunate soul who never quite reached 9-star, now little more than a forgotten relic.
Had the dean achieved Spellmaster, Eternalism wouldn’t have declined like this.
“Goodness! Look at me rambling on without offering you a drink after your exhausting exam. Come on in—let’s chat until the dean returns.”
Elman turned and gestured toward the forest.
The trees, dense as a folding screen, parted left and right, revealing the hidden vista within.
A secret realm concealed deep in the woods.
Ulfric’s mansion.
‘That hasn’t changed at all either.’
[Indeed. It’s been ages since this one last saw the Eternal Mansion. Unauthorized beings can’t come and go freely, after all?]
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
I gazed at the building nestled in the forest and slowly advanced.
The stone mansion Ulfric had built with his own hands had served as both the Kirchheis expedition’s training ground and a fortress against the demonkin.
Stepping inside revealed a chaotic scene.
“Welcome to the Eternal Mansion. Sit wherever you like.”
“……Yes, sir.”
The room was crammed with magical tomes, artifacts, and experimental tools.
Another unchanged detail.
One might say it was fitting for Ulfric’s descendants, who lacked any talent for tidiness.
[They’ve just been lazy for generations. Tsk tsk tsk.]
As the guardian spirit clicked his tongue, Elman trudged through the mess and plopped onto a worn sofa.
As soon as I settled into a seat, the questions began.
“Kirian, why did you choose Eternalism?”
“……”
“I know you took first place in the tomb with overwhelming results. The exam scores are sent here too.”
Lifting my gaze, I spotted the scoreboard.
The participants’ rankings hung from the ceiling of the Eternal Mansion as well.
So he couldn’t help but ask the moment he saw my name.
‘Why come to Eternalism when you could’ve gone to Extremism, considered the strongest school?’
I gave a simple answer.
“Because I want to be like Holy Hero Ulfric. He’s the person I respect most.”
A blatant lie.
The truth was the exact opposite.
‘That bastard betrayed everyone to gain the Demon King’s power.’
Ulfric’s fall.
The truth known only to me among humans now, a grudge I alone harbored.
I had to repay it.
‘To succeed in revenge, I need to analyze him thoroughly.’
This place preserved intact all the research materials Ulfric had amassed before gaining fame.
How he trained to become an Allmaster.
And his weaknesses.
It held the most detailed records on my enemy.
‘Maybe I can even figure out why he decided to become the Demon King.’
That’s why I chose Eternalism.
But I couldn’t reveal my true intentions to Elman, so I brushed it off as admiration for Ulfric.
The old mage pondered for a moment before speaking.
“I’m curious what you mean by ‘be like him.’”
“To grow as strong as Ulfric. I want to become an Allmaster too.”
“Heh heh……”
I chose the most childlike response possible, and the elder gave a wry smile.
“I’m sorry to say, studying in our school might be far from what you expect.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re too far behind. We’re still clinging to glories from 500 years ago. We’ve barely advanced at all.”
“……”
“I worry we might hold you back. It’s been nearly a century since a talent like yours joined us.”
I swallowed a bitter smile at his words.
I was the one still living in a time 500 years past.
But I didn’t dwell on it long.
At least not now—I didn’t want to indulge in sentiment.
“It’s fine. I chose Eternalism myself.”
I answered Elman briefly and moved on to the next question.
“Who will be my instructor? I heard first-year trainees from other schools live with their assigned professor.”
With only about three entrants per year, space wasn’t an issue.
So first years, who had much to learn, often boarded under their professor’s supervision.
But Eternalism was a bit different.
[There were no entrants last year, and only one the year before. On average, less than one per year. What a waste of this massive mansion……]
Put nicely, it was spacious; put harshly, deserted.
I might even follow the curriculum alone in peace.
‘I have plenty to do on my own anyway. That’d suit me fine.’
Just leave me alone this time, please.
Elman stroked his goatee and murmured.
“Professor assignments are the dean’s prerogative, so I can’t say for sure, but Schud will likely take you. He’s a mage who worked at the Imperial University until last year.”
“……”
“The dean agonized over the cost, but with promising trainees like you joining, it was easier to decide. Studying under Schud will give you a solid foundation in Eternalism.”
[Schud? Sounds familiar……]
‘Hold on, Hiern.’
I cut off the phoenix and tilted my head.
Something felt off in what Elman had just muttered.
Not “you,” but “you all.”
As if predicting more trainees would arrive.
And the next moment—
[Hmm?]
‘Damn.’
Hierniorn flinched, and I scowled.
I’d sensed new presences outside the mansion.
The door burst open, and Biat Panayul entered, flushed with excitement, dragging two more people behind her.
Faces I recognized.
“……Kirian.”
“Hey! Don’t you know my name? I’m Lorang Hoyd! Let’s be friends!”
One was Mihaden, the one I’d bickered loudly with.
The other was the foreign kid who’d snagged third place at the last moment.
In other words, second and third place.
The two greeted me awkwardly—one familiarly, the other clumsily—and took seats.
No way……?
‘They didn’t follow me here, did they?’
My ominous hunch proved right.
When Elman posed the same question to them, they answered:
“I chose Eternalism because I want to catch up to Kirian. I don’t think I can compete properly in other schools.”
“I wanna have a hotshot classmate! My mom said it super loud! Gotta do it!”
Ridiculous answers.
But the elder mage and dean smiled warmly, leaving me to stare in stunned dismay.
‘I wanted to live easy alone.’
[Fat chance. Blame your own popularity.]
Damn it.
The Tomb of Books and Swords had closed.
After dismissing the blood kin, Rohvak returned to his office, scratching his forehead as he muttered.
“Ha! Unbelievable. Eternalism, of all places!”
“……”
“Bastion, does this make any sense to you? Choosing that decrepit school over mine!”
“……”
Though his lord raged, Bastion merely listened in silence.
Rohvak was the type who wanted to keep everything under his thumb and mold it to his liking.
‘He spent ages on this, only for it to be ruined……’
No answer would calm his temper.
Yet unexpectedly, Leonir, sitting quietly, managed to shift his attention.
“If I may, Father, I think it’s for the best.”
He even claimed it was fortunate Kirian had rejected Extremism for Eternalism.
The patriarch’s face twisted instantly.
“What? You call that a good thing?”
“Father, don’t just shout—think it through. Kirian’s results this year were unprecedented. Every dean was salivating. So what would Garnas think?”
Garnas, the second son fiercely competing with Leonir, had his favorite child training in Extremism for three years now.
If Kirian—a nobody who’d monopolized the spotlight—had joined Extremism—
“Garnas would’ve crushed him before you could even swing a hammer. You know he’s capable of it.”
“……”
Rohvak clamped his mouth shut.
Leonir’s words rang true.
He’d wanted Kirian in Extremism to keep him close and shape him as desired.
But if he broke before being touched, it’d all be pointless.
“Since it’s done, just watch.”
“I have no choice anyway. He’s out of my hands now.”
Not even the family head could interfere with school assignments.
All they could do was observe.
Still, a sigh escaped him.
“Even so, Eternalism of all places. Tsk!”
“The Eternalism school……”
“Hasn’t changed. Still obsessed with the Kirchheis Family’s Seven Riddles. They’ll be at it eternally, it seems.”
—The Kirchheis Family’s Seven Riddles.
Terms for ancient, unsolved research passed down from time immemorial.
Of the seven, only one solved.
500 years ago, by Ulfric: the Riddle of Gluttony.
Countless researchers devoted lifetimes, yet the remaining six endured unsolved.
“I heard the entire family once fixated on those riddles.”
“Yes. But no gains. Even our finest theorists wasted their years.”
A waste of the Kirchheis legacy.
Perhaps the six were impossible delusions.
Now treated as stale legends.
“Eternalism can’t let go. Others abandoned them, but those fools still charge in like moths to flame.”
“Then Kirian will……”
“Soon enough. The smarter they are, the more they’re drawn in. What an expensive moth he’ll make. Damn it all!”
Eternalism disciples obsessed over the Seven Riddles because their goal was Holy Hero Ulfric.
Like him solving one, they sought to solve another and reach his heights.
Yet none had ever matched him.
Not in 500 years.
“No helping it. Before he turns moth……”
“What if Kirian solves even one?”
Leonir murmured, lost in thought, another face flashing in his mind—one who’d challenged unsolvable riddles.
“Solve? Madness.”
“Just speculate. You must’ve imagined it.”
Glare fixed on his eldest, Rohvak relented grudgingly.
“10-star.”
“Pardon?”
“10-star after 9-star! Deaf already?”
Leonir’s shock was natural.
10-star from the patriarch’s lips was the realm called God’s Domain.
“Is that possible?”
“Fool, since Ulfric, our family’s accumulated countless insights. 9-star is natural. Stretch imagination further—why not beyond?”
“……!”
“All empty delusions, of course.”
Moth or demigod.
An extreme fork.
From a great Spellmaster’s mouth.
Whichever came, it would become reality.
Leonir, deep in thought, finally spoke.
“I’ll adopt Kirian. As you said, Father.”
“What? Now?”
This time Rohvak scowled back.
But Leonir ignored it.
“Bastion, you’re close with Kirian’s nanny, right? Tell her to move his things to my house. We’ll take over her employment too—pass that along.”
“A misunderstanding, sir. Jenice and I aren’t that……”
“Then get close now. Don’t be such a prude.”
Leonir teased Bastion lightly.
But a faint, inexplicable wistfulness lingered in his eyes.
Leonir rose casually as if to leave, but Rohvak grabbed him.
“You’re not doing this over Demiph, are you?”
“No.”
Leonir shook his head firmly.
“Just seizing a chance for an excellent heir. I’ll expedite the adoption.”
“……”
As the patriarch’s eldest, childless, Leonir had never wielded full influence.
Now he declared an heir.
A shift that could upend Kirchheis politics overnight.
“Well, at least that’s good. It’ll motivate the underlings…… Might even aid the great cause.”
Alone now, the old patriarch chuckled softly.
Finishing his thoughts, he took up his pen and scrawled new orders.
The contents read thus:
— Review procedures for adopting Kirian to Leonir.
— Observe the child closely.
— Provide maximum support for any needs.