Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 155
>Chapter Title: I Am Your Downfall
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I asked about the "Fairy Dance" just one day before we arrived at the academy.
"What's this Fairy Dance thing?"
"...After days of silence, that's all you have to say?"
"Shh, keep your voice down."
"......"
I shrugged and glanced around.
It was a dim evening.
The mad dog had stepped away for dinner.
Ah, and by mad dog, I meant Shine.
Whatever that bastard had picked up from the Sword God's tomb, we'd been dealing with petty quarrels nonstop during the journey...
'A real mad dog, alright.'
I'd kept my mouth shut these past few days to avoid giving him any excuse.
Absolutely not because I was still hung up on what happened with Lortel. No, purely to not provoke the mad dog.
So, after scanning the surroundings for a while like that,
I confirmed Shine had gone pretty far off and opened my mouth again.
"So, about that..."
"The Fairy Dance."
"Yeah, I was just wondering why you're so into it."
Truth be told, I wasn't that interested in the Fairy Dance or mana oversaturation phenomena.
Adventurers might get all itchy about mysterious events like that, but to me, they were just unusual natural occurrences.
Like hail in summer or flowers blooming in winter—something you go, "Huh, that's weird."
But seeing Parun like this raised some questions.
'What's the big deal with the Fairy Dance that he's so obsessed?'
Parun was the type to devour magic tomes on the spot, yet here he was, staring at a not-even-that-thick stack of papers for days. It was intriguing.
Parun fixed me with an inscrutable gaze, then folded the papers away and looked up.
"If I explain it purely as a phenomenon, it's a beautiful spectacle."
"A spectacle?"
"Yeah. Mana oversaturates and aurora-like lights shimmer over the lake. They say it looks like fairies dancing, so they call it the 'Fairy Dance.'"
"...? Mana saturates enough to become visible?"
"Not quite. The aurora isn't mana—it's a byproduct of the mana oversaturation."
In other words, mana oversaturation triggered some magical phenomenon.
But so what? What did that mean?
"The key point is that the Fairy Dance might not be a natural phenomenon. Easier to show you."
Parun straightened up and formed hand seals.
He muttered an unintelligible incantation, and I tilted my head in confusion at the sight.
Mana in the surroundings was reacting, so he was clearly casting, but it was rare to see a mage of Parun's caliber using hand seals and spells.
And it didn't seem like high-level magic either.
Parun finished casting soon after.
"Here, look."
"That's..."
Parun gazed at the translucent hexahedron floating before him and continued his explanation.
"It's a barrier spell. Embarrassingly basic, but sufficient to demonstrate. Now, I'll pump mana into the inside of this barrier."
Soon, blue mist began filling the hexahedron.
It filled completely with the blue mist, the color gradually darkening to the deep hue of ocean depths.
That was when Parun spoke.
"It's a barrier that visualizes mana. Now you pump mana into it."
Without a word, I infused mana into the hexahedron.
A mage of Parun's level could easily fill something that size, but maintaining the barrier must have limited him.
Anyway, after a while like that,
Kkiiik—kkiik!
The hexahedron began trembling as if an earthquake had hit.
The mana was oversaturated and couldn't hold.
"You're artificially inducing mana oversaturation inside the barrier?"
"Not inside the barrier."
"...?"
I tilted my head and kept infusing mana, though doubt crept in.
'Not inside?'
So, how much mana did I pour in?
The barrier started cracking—craaack, craaack. That's when Parun's voice came.
"Stop."
I halted the mana flow and silently took in the scene.
Parun closed his eyes, formed hand seals again, and chanted to manipulate the barrier formula. Mana began bursting from the barrier right then.
Kugugu—
A torrent of mana overflowing momentarily.
Once it escaped the barrier, the visualization faded, so the flow was invisible, but my senses caught its wild surge clearly.
And that's when.
"...Oh?"
I finally understood Parun's words: "Not inside the barrier."
Sasasak, sasak—
Around the mana-spewing barrier.
Lights twinkled.
At first, one, then two sporadically, the light particles soon scattered in bursts, multiplying rapidly.
After a while like that,
"Huu—"
Parun sighed, dispelling the barrier and lifting his eyelids.
"This is the true nature of the Fairy Dance."
* * *
I stared at the enchanting sight for a moment before shifting my gaze.
Like a mirage, the aurora had vanished completely. Parun's soft voice drifted over the space lit only by campfire glow.
"Of course, this is just a hypothesis. The Fairy Dance doesn't occur in fixed locations."
"It happens in different spots each time?"
"Yes, but there's one commonality. It always happens over a lake. But no one knows which lake. And another thing."
"...?"
Parun erected another barrier.
Faster than before this time.
"It's a spatial distortion barrier. It hides or conceals a specific area. What do you see?"
I quietly observed the air.
Visually, you couldn't even tell the barrier was there, but sensing with my mana perception revealed an incongruity.
"The flow feels off."
"And?"
"Look close, and you see curvature. Like... transparent glass placed there."
"Right. We call these spatial anomalies. But in the Amera region, such anomalies aren't visible."
"Then it's not a barrier?"
"Could be."
Parun nodded calmly.
His mouth opened again after a moment.
"There are all sorts of hypotheses for why it only happens in Amera region's lakes. But even if not a barrier, the consensus leans toward it not being natural."
There could be many causes.
Ancient ruins, or artifacts yet unknown to the world.
So.
"That's why it's worth researching. Of course, it won't be easy. Other great houses have studied it for centuries without success."
Hearing this, I grasped the significance too.
'If it's a barrier, it opens new magical frontiers. Even if another cause, still plenty of research value.'
Even if it turned out natural contrary to expectations, no issue.
We'd have discovered another law of nature unknown to us.
Now that I thought about it, the Fairy Dance piqued my interest too.
Not like other mages or adventurers wanting to dig into it, but the truth was intriguing all the same.
Finally, I voiced the question lingering in my mind.
"But why 'Fairy Dance'? The appearance suggests other names could fit. Some fairy legend?"
"Who knows. That's beyond my interest."
"Hmm, got it."
Classic Parun.
He shuts down any talk straying from magic.
Ignoring all mysticism, fixated solely on magical interpretations—that's the model mage of this era.
That's when Parun spoke.
"Interested, by any chance? If so, I can delay sending those papers. It's a once-in-decades event—seeing it firsthand isn't bad."
A generous offer.
But I shook my head firmly.
"Haven't gotten a wyvern yet."
I'd realized it clearly during this Lortel trip.
Meeting Damian... fine, but Henji and the Trial Gate, then the headmaster senior and the Great Forest.
The misfortunes aligning so perfectly were no coincidence.
So, until I got a wyvern, I'd play it safe for a while.
The young patriarch had said as much.
'Other great magical houses are already moving fast?'
Would Decullan sit out something this intriguing? Not a chance, in my view.
Those guys would scour back-alley trash bins if food was scarce.
Of course, they didn't eat everything they found. First, they grab it and ponder.
Eat it, or not?
If not?
'Toss it so no one else gets it.'
Anyway, even if not Decullan, getting tangled with other great houses meant trouble.
Better avoid if possible.
"Then I'll go to Amera Lake alone. Been a while since I gave the assistants work."
"......"
Not consideration after all?
Bait to get me to Amera Lake with him.
"What about Infinite Chain?"
"Grasped the basics, but still lacking. Should finish over break though. But..."
Parun eyed me sharply.
"Why the obsession with Infinite Chain? Looking for something specific? Like a grimoire..."
Still suspicious, huh.
I sighed deeply at Parun's piercing gaze.
"Anyway, you'll finish over break?"
"Yeah. Tell me if you need it then. I'll help for a fair price."
"No big..."
Anyway, Infinite Chain could wait. Right now, priorities were Divine Heavenly Origin Art and circles.
I tidied up before the mad dog returned.
Pulled my sleeping bag over and gently closed my eyes.
Shine returned soon after.
"What was that? Thought I heard the barbarian speaking?"
"Beats me."
Parun had dropped formal speech with Shine before I knew it. Shine, oblivious, ignored it and probed my presence.
Sniffing me out like a hound tracking prey, his cold breath tickling my hair.
After scrutinizing a while.
'He gone?'
As I cracked an eye,
Shine's chilling voice rang in my ear.
"Barbarian, how long do you think you can hide? Remember this. Some things can't be avoided. We call them fate."
"......"
"I am your downfall."
With that, the mad dog turned away.
I shifted restlessly and swallowed hard.
'...Damn it.'
Gotta head to the Blandoga house ASAP.
Whether Shine was my downfall or not, he was definitely sharpening his blade.
Thus, the eerie night passed.
And we entered the city of Hazen.