Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Why Are You Coming Out From There
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Chapter 16. Why Are You Coming Out From There
1.
9:30 PM.
Thirty minutes until the library closed.
It was quite late, but the mana lamps illuminating the reading room showed no sign of dimming.
That was because of the two students still reading their books.
Noa was one of them.
She was diligently reading the book that Librarian Ervan had brought her earlier. And in doing so, she learned a few new facts.
'The bloodline of Rudric refers to the descendants of Kazan Rudric, the great hero of the ancient desert kingdom.'
This much was as expected.
After all, they shared the same surname.
This bloodline of Rudric had built their own independent force in the desert, forming an organization that went beyond a mere tribe.
'...The Desert Cult.'
The group the Empire called "heretics."
Of course, not all heretics were of Rudric's bloodline, but the book stated that a significant portion of the cult's upper echelons consisted of them.
'Rudric's bloodline upholds the will of their ancestor Kazan, aiming to transform all beasts in the world into magic beasts.'
This matched the Desert Cult's objective exactly.
It was the reason the heretics were a thorn in the Empire's side.
Not just the Empire—any kingdom plagued by battles against magic beasts would view this goal with disdain.
'That's why the Empire plans to wipe out the Desert Cult root and stem.'
They had built a massive front line along the southern border adjacent to the desert for this very reason.
'But...'
The Empire's armies had ventured into the desert a few times before, but they had never reached the cult's stronghold.
There was only one reason for that. The special magic beasts commanded by the Desert Cult.
'Rudric's Familiars.'
These were beings once directly commanded by Kazan Rudric himself. Among them, the three strongest were collectively called Rudric's Familiars.
And now.
The book Noa was reading contained information on Rudric's Familiars.
'Unfortunate monsters that have been repeatedly sealed and released over long ages.'
However, thanks to the immense power they had accumulated in the process, they surpassed the highest magic beast rank of 9-stars and were now classified as off-scale.
The list of familiars was as follows.
*The monstrous bird that spews eternal flames.
*The endlessly multiplying venomous serpent.
*The white wolf that hides in the mist.
Of these, the cult commanded only two: the monstrous bird and the serpent. The last one mentioned, the "white wolf," had vanished along with Kazan, its whereabouts unknown.
But then.
Noa, who had been scrutinizing the section on the white wolf, suddenly widened her eyes.
'Huh?'
Her eyes blinked in surprise.
Her gaze was fixed on the description of the white wolf. It read:
The white wolf born from the mist is said to wield the power of mist freely. If a thick mist rolls in accompanied by a wolf's howl, it means the white wolf is nearby.
'Wait a minute, this seems...'
Familiar? It looks just like a magic beast I know.
The protagonist of the subjugation event scheduled for next month's mock battle. The powerful magic beast that breaks free from its seal and rampages wildly.
'The Mist Wolf.'
The "white wolf" part matched perfectly, to start with.
And it freely manipulated mist, with mist rolling in accompanied by a wolf's howl—just like the Mist Wolf.
'That means...'
There was only one implication.
The "white wolf that hides in the mist" and the "Mist Wolf" were the same entity.
In other words, it was one of Rudric's Familiars.
This was information she had never known as a gamer.
Noa's mind grew tangled in complexity.
But that lasted only a moment.
She quickly regained her composure.
'...Let me sort this out.'
Rudric's bloodline are the descendants of Kazan Rudric.
Most of them belong to the Desert Cult heretics, and their goal is to transform beasts into magic beasts in line with their ancestor Kazan's will.
'Next, Syrphi Rudric.'
A classmate in the same class.
Based on the information gathered so far, she was very likely a descendant of Kazan.
And that implied Syrphi might be from the Desert Cult heretics.
'Then why did Rudric's bloodline bother enrolling in Arsen Academy?'
There must be something they were after.
When she had first started reading the book, she couldn't even guess the purpose of enrolling. But now, an idea had formed.
'The white wolf that hides in the mist.'
The magic beast set to appear in the mock battle.
Wasn't it connected to Rudric's last familiar somehow? Perhaps they intended to unseal the white wolf and subjugate it again.
If they succeeded in subjugating the white wolf, the Desert Cult would control all of Rudric's familiars.
But there was one thing that bothered her.
'If Syrphi is such an important figure, she should have been mentioned in the original story, right?'
Yet she wasn't even referenced.
Noa had never heard her name before, and the Desert Cult didn't appear in the original main storyline at all.
As she grappled with this new question.
Knock knock!
Suddenly, the sound of someone tapping on a bookshelf rang out, snapping Noa from her thoughts.
"Ten minutes until the library closes. Please wrap up and prepare to leave."
Librarian Ervan's voice.
Has time passed this quickly already?
Noa stood up in surprise. She then looked at the book she had been reading.
'I've almost finished it, but...'
Still, better to borrow it.
There might be parts she missed, so she planned to read it slowly again. As she picked up the book and turned.
She came face-to-face with the other student across from her.
"Oh?"
A girl clutching a swordsmanship manual to her chest.
It was Ivela, the future Sword Princess.
Noa was startled—who would have thought the other student in the reading room was Ivela. Ivela also looked a bit surprised.
But only for a moment.
Noa raised her hand. Since they were classmates, she intended to greet her.
However, at that instant.
"...!?"
Noa's eyes suddenly widened.
She felt a violent twisting in the flow of mana.
And that wasn't all. From the east, a massive surge of mana came rushing in like a wave.
Crash!
Was it due to the overwhelming force that suddenly poured in?
The mana lamps lighting the reading room shattered.
Darkness followed. Unaware of what was happening, Ivela looked around in confusion.
"What? Why all of a sudden...?"
Meanwhile, Noa, who understood the situation, was less panicked than Ivela.
But that too only lasted a moment.
When she belatedly glanced out the window, her face filled with shock.
"Th-that's...!"
The direction of the eastern forest.
A pale mist was billowing thickly from there. Soon, faint wolf howls could be heard.
This phenomenon was exactly what should have happened a month later.
In the mock battle event.
It matched perfectly with the "Mist Wolf" breaking its seal and emerging.
2.
9:30 PM.
While Noa was engrossed in her book in the reading room.
Someone had ventured into the sparsely populated forest. A girl with gray hair and glasses. She knelt deep within the woods.
The girl's identity was a freshman at Arsen Academy.
Sylphi Rudhina of the General Department.
But that was merely a fabricated identity and name for her purpose.
Her real name was Syrphi Rudric.
The only daughter of the 29th High Priest leading the Desert Cult and one of the most wanted heretics by the Empire, a direct descendant of Rudric's bloodline.
To put it bluntly, the reason she enrolled in Arsen Academy was to pull out the stake right before her eyes.
"..."
A massive stake half-embedded in the ground.
This stake, carved from blue rock, was a device to suppress and seal the power of a certain magic beast slumbering here.
'The white wolf that hides in the mist.'
One of Kazan Rudric's three great familiars.
Syrphi's goal was to pull out this stake sealing the white wolf's power, subjugate it, and return to the cult.
For this alone, she had risked everything to enroll in Arsen Academy.
'It was really tough.'
She had to launder her name and nationality.
And fabricate a suitable backstory from nothing.
Even then, getting into Arsen was no easy feat.
Those with unclear identities weren't even allowed to take the entrance exam.
As she struggled.
An unexpected stroke of luck arrived. A great noble of the Empire had made contact with the cult.
'Count Dermore.'
A man who approached the Desert Cult solely to resurrect his dead daughter. Thanks to the letter of recommendation he provided, Syrphi managed to enroll in Arsen Academy safely.
Anyway, she had gone through all this hardship for a reason.
'To become the next High Priest of the Desert Cult, one must gain the recognition of Rudric's familiars.'
Rudric's familiars were the cult's divine beasts.
Without their recognition, one couldn't even qualify for the successor's trial.
Unfortunately, Syrphi had failed to gain the acknowledgment of the monstrous bird and the serpent.
There was only one option left.
To obtain the recognition of the last familiar, said to be sealed in the eastern lands of the Mana Spring, Arsen: the white wolf.
'I know how to unseal it.'
The white wolf that melts into mist was sealed by eight stakes inscribed with all sorts of spells. Thus, removing all eight stakes would break the seal.
Fortunately, five of the stakes had already rusted away and vanished over the long years of neglect.
'I took care of the remaining two.'
Now, only one left.
The one right before her eyes.
'But the problem is...'
The sheer amount of mana required to pull it out.
The previous two had been manageable. After pouring mana into each for about three days, they came out easily.
'This one was different.'
The moment she touched the stake, in just five seconds.
All her mana was forcibly drained. That's why Syrphi was now kneeling, her strength sapped in one go.
At the same time, she intuited it.
Pulling this stake would require far more time and mana than the others.
'If I could, I'd just yank it out by force.'
Of course, that was unrealistic.
To pull out this massive stake, she'd need to be a legendary giant at least.
'Or someone like Ullan.'
The name that popped into her mind made her chuckle.
'Ullan Bator.'
The barbarian student who ended up in her class.
Ullan had made a strong impression from the first day of the entrance ceremony. Honestly, back then, she hadn't wanted to be in the same class as him.
The reason was simple.
To unseal the white wolf, she needed to move as stealthily as possible, and being around Ullan would draw too much attention.
'But then I got swept up in the rapids with him.'
The so-called Mana Spring disappearance incident.
Now that she thought about it, she had truly thought she was going to die back then.
The Mana Spring, as taught in the Desert Cult, was described as an endless abyss, a hellish place.
Embarrassingly, her tears hadn't been acting—they were real.
But that passed quickly.
When they discovered the ruins connected to the cave and realized they were from the ancient desert kingdom, fear gave way to interest and curiosity.
'I still don't understand why desert kingdom ruins were in the Mana Spring, but...'
In the end, entering those ruins had been fortunate for Syrphi.
When they faced three trials inside.
Syrphi underwent the trial of talent and discovered she had a gift for taming magic beasts.
'Of course, it's not perfect yet.'
But having the talent was something.
This gave Syrphi strong confidence. Confidence that she could tame the white wolf.
So after escaping the ruins, she immediately began working on unsealing the white wolf.
'Oh, right. Come to think of it...'
There was something nagging at her.
The rune Ullan had received as a reward. Looking at it made her feel a strange sense of familiarity and nostalgia.
'Have I seen it somewhere before?'
She racked her memory, but nothing came up.
Still, it was just curiosity. So Syrphi quickly brushed it aside.
The stake before her was what mattered now.
'I'll focus only on this for the time being.'
It wouldn't be hard.
She just had to keep at it like before.
She had also set a special spell on the ground to detect any tails—anyone stepping on the earth would be immediately noticed.
And so far.
No tails.
'If I can just break the white wolf's seal...'
She planned to demand its loyalty as payment for freeing it. Then leave the academy and return triumphantly to the cult.
Dreaming of that bright future not far off.
Syrphi stood up. To return to the dormitory before it got too late.
But she didn't know.
That someone had been watching her actions from the trees all along.
3.
After Syrphi completely vanished from sight.
A massive tree a short distance from where she had been shook once. Moments later, a huge figure dropped to the ground.
Boom!
With a short boom, it stood up.
It was Ullan, who had been perched in the tree the whole time. He lightly stretched his stiffened body and gazed in the direction Syrphi had disappeared.
"What a shame. I was going to say hello."
Honestly, he had wanted to.
She was one of the few friends he had made at the academy.
But he held back. He was currently under suspension, and contact with others would violate his restrictions.
"Can't be helped."
He couldn't break his promise to the inspector.
He'd just casually mention running into her in the forest later. With his thoughts sorted, Ullan looked around.
"This place has no fruit, though."
No fruit, not even trees.
Just barren-looking ground and a blue stone stake.
"Hm? A stake?"
Why was this here?
Ullan tilted his head.
Then he noticed something. The stake had been partially pulled out but left like that.
"Did Sylphi try to pull it and give up?"
Come to think of it, she had gripped it with both hands and then knelt down. Like she tried to pull it but collapsed from the effort.
He didn't know why she wanted to pull it, but coming here alone in the dead of night to do this meant it was important.
Ullan stared at the stake for a moment.
Then he made up his mind.
"Guess I'll pull it out for her."
She'd be happy next time she came.
With that simple reasoning.
Ullan dusted off his palms. As he reached to grab the stake.
"Hm?"
He felt a strange sensation.
What was it? Like it was clinging to his palm, trying to suck in his spirit?
But in the end, it was futile.
Ullan's spirit as a master was hardened like a solid body. No matter how it tried to absorb, it wouldn't budge.
So Ullan ignored it.
Instead, he wrapped both hands around the stake and poured strength into his arms. His arm muscles swelled massively. Thick veins bulged as the stake began to shake slowly.
Groan! Grind!
The stake pulled out bit by bit amid the vibrations.
It surprisingly took a lot of strength.
'No wonder Sylphi couldn't do it.'
Even Ullan was using nearly all his power; with Sylphi's strength, it would have been impossible.
Good thing he pulled it for her.
Ullan tensed from his waist to his back and yanked the stake out with all his might.
Crunch! Pop!
The stake came out cleanly.
Soon, the reason it had taken so much effort became clear.
It had been buried deeper than expected. The part above ground was less than half of half the buried portion.
"Anyway, this should satisfy Sylphi."
As he casually tossed the stake nearby.
Suddenly, an anomaly occurred.
Rumble! Boom!
Intense vibrations from underground.
That wasn't all. Centered on where the stake had been, an incredibly thick mist began to spread densely.
Awooooo—!
A wolf's howl followed.
Not just one. It was the sound of dozens of wolves howling in unison. Ullan tilted his head at the ominous situation.
"Were there wolves in this forest?"
He hadn't seen a single one on the way here.
This wasn't even a place wolves could live.
For that, there needed to be prey like rabbits or deer, but the eastern forest had none.
But his puzzled expression didn't last.
Suddenly, Ullan's eyes sharpened. He sensed a familiar presence beyond the mist.
"...Magic beast."
The aura of a magic beast.
A particularly powerful one at that.
Ullan gripped the monster bloodstone axe on his back and stared piercingly into the mist.
"I don't know what's going on, but..."
The ground shakes out of nowhere, mist rolls in thickly, wolves howl.
And now a magic beast shows up?
Honestly, he had no idea what was happening.
But one thing was clear.
With a magic beast right in front of him, there was only one thing to do.
"Eliminate it, and it'll be resolved."
To solve a problem, just remove the source.
With that utterly simple mindset, Ullan stepped into the mist.
His axe gleaming fiercely at his side.
Chapter 16. Why Are You Coming Out From There