Lee Gitae (1)
A pigeon from the Crown Magic Tower, sent by Valter, arrived at Vilheim Magic Tower.
“Chief Roimdel! An urgent message from the Crown Magic Tower!”
A mage rushed into the meeting room.
“Let me see it.”
Roimdel lifted his head with a tired expression. He had barely managed any rest for several days after the battle with the crystal golem, as he’d been consumed with restoring the magic tower.
“They say the aerial monster at the Crown Magic Tower has been defeated. There were casualties, but Chief Valter and the mages are safe. However…”
The mage trailed off.
“However?”
“It says Tower Master Grace lost consciousness after casting a Complex Fusion spell. His mana circuits are severely damaged, and Chief Valter is personally escorting him to the capital city…”
“What did you say?”
Roimdel shot to his feet.
“Complex Fusion? Grace?”
His voice carried unmistakable disbelief.
“Yes. Apparently he created a new spell by combining Mana Block and Wind Chains. In the process…”
“Damn it…”
Roimdel clenched his jaw.
“To that extent… Inform his disciples immediately, and we’re going to the capital too. No—call them here right now. I’ll tell them myself.”
“Yes… Understood.”
Five minutes later, Lia, Alberte, Sophia, and Carlos entered the meeting room.
“Chief Roimdel, you called us in such a hurry…”
Lia asked, her face full of anxiety.
“Sit down.”
Roimdel spoke heavily.
“Did something happen to Tower Master…?”
Alberte asked with a tense expression.
“Grace…”
Roimdel paused, then let out a deep sigh.
“He succeeded in defeating the flying monster at the Crown Magic Tower.”
“Really? Then is Tower Master on his way back?”
Sophia said brightly. But Roimdel’s expression remained dark.
“In the process… he created a Complex Fusion spell.”
“Complex Fusion?”
Carlos tilted his head.
“It means fusing two fusion spells together again. It was only supposed to exist in theory…”
Roimdel continued.
“In the process, his mana circuits were severely damaged. He’s unconscious now.”
“...What?”
Lia’s face went pale at those words.
“Unconscious? What do you mean, unconscious…? He said he was coming. He said he’d return for sure… why…”
Her voice trembled. Tears began to spill from her eyes.
“Calm yourself, Lia.”
Roimdel said quietly.
“Chief Valter is escorting him to the capital personally. Lord Arkanus will treat him himself. I’m heading to the capital as well. What about you?”
“We’re going too!”
Lia answered at once, wiping away her tears.
“Of course we have to go. Tower Master…”
Alberte nodded, his face hardened.
“Then let’s depart at once.”
Inside the carriage as it set out, Roimdel thought to himself, That young man saved the empire twice over. Now it’s the empire’s turn to save him.
***
Inside the carriage bound for the capital, Valter was still looking down at Grace, who had yet to regain consciousness.
Pale face. Ragged breathing.
“……”
Valter silently checked Grace’s pulse. It was weak, but steady.
He’s holding on.
But there was no telling how long he could keep that up.
“Hold on a little longer, Grace.”
Valter murmured softly.
“We just need to make it half a day to the capital. Lord Arkanus is waiting.”
Every time the carriage jolted, Grace’s face twisted in pain. Valter supported him as carefully as he could, trying to lessen the shock.
Complex Fusion…
Valter recalled the scene from that day once more.
The beads glowing silver. The moment the two fusion spells were woven into one, blood pouring from Grace’s entire body.
To endure that kind of pain…
Valter’s fists trembled.
“Why would you go that far?” he asked, but there was no answer.
I can’t just stand by and watch when I’m able to act…
Grace’s words surfaced in his memory.
“That was all he said. A madman willing to risk his life for reasons like that… but because of that madman, we’re alive. The Crown Magic Tower, the hundreds of thousands of people in the north…”
The carriage kept running.
Time passed. The sun set and rose again.
At last, the capital’s walls came into view in the distance.
“We’re almost there, Grace. Just a little longer…”
Then it happened.
Grace’s body suddenly convulsed.
“Grace!”
Valter caught him in a panic.
Blood spilled from his mouth, and his breathing grew even more labored.
“Damn it! Driver! Faster! As fast as possible to the imperial palace!”
The driver lashed the horses. The carriage surged forward even more violently.
Please… just hold on a little longer…
Valter desperately checked Grace’s condition. His pulse was becoming irregular, and his body temperature was dropping rapidly.
“At this rate…!”
He immediately drew up his own mana.
He had already exhausted most of it in the battle not long ago, but he had to pour in whatever remained.
Green mana flowed from Valter’s hands and enveloped Grace.
It wasn’t a fundamental cure, but it was at least emergency treatment that could keep him alive.
Crackle—
But at that moment, something strange happened inside Grace’s body.
The shattered mana circuits rejected Valter’s mana.
“Ghk…!”
The backlash of mana surged back through Valter’s hand. He ground his teeth and endured.
No, I can’t give up…!
Sweat rolled down his forehead.
Forcing mana into a body already pushed to its limit was dangerous for him too.
But.
“You risked your life for us… and I can’t even do this much?”
Valter poured in every last drop of his remaining mana.
Kwaaaa—
The green light completely wrapped around Grace’s body, and the irregular pulse began to steady little by little.
“Hah… hah…”
Valter leaned back, breathing hard. He had exhausted all his mana.
But Grace’s condition had passed beyond the worst of it. At least he should be able to hold on until they reached the imperial palace.
“The capital gate!”
The driver’s shout rang out.
Immediately after, the imperial guards stopped the carriage.
“Halt! State your identity!”
“I am Valter, chief of the Crown Magic Tower! I must urgently meet with Lord Arkanus, the imperial chief mage!”
The urgency in Valter’s voice made the guard’s eyes widen.
“Chief Valter…? One moment, please!”
The guard hurriedly sent a messenger, and before even five minutes had passed, an imperial mage appeared by teleportation.
“Chief Valter! Lord Arkanus is waiting. I’ll guide you at once!”
“Move!”
The imperial mage opened the carriage door and checked Grace’s condition. His expression hardened.
“His mana circuits are nearly—”
“I know! That’s why I’m in a hurry!”
“...Yes! I’ll guide you at once!”
Climbing into the carriage, the imperial mage shouted to the driver, “To the imperial palace infirmary! At maximum speed!”
The carriage burst through the gate and began racing down the capital’s main avenue.
Using the imperial mage’s authority, every checkpoint was bypassed, and anything blocking the road had already been cleared away.
“Move aside! Emergency imperial patient!”
At the imperial mage’s cry, people in the streets hurriedly made way.
The carriage raced without rest.
It cut through the center of the capital, passed the noble district, and at last the massive golden gates came into view.
The main gate of the imperial palace.
“Open the gate!”
At the imperial mage’s command, the enormous doors slowly swung open.
The carriage entered the palace and crossed the wide garden before stopping in front of a white stone building.
The imperial palace infirmary.
“We’ve arrived!”
The moment the carriage stopped, Valter leapt out, carrying Grace in his arms.
An old man with white hair was already standing at the infirmary entrance.
Arkanus, the imperial chief mage.
“Valter.”
A low, majestic voice sounded.
“Lord Arkanus…!”
Valter hurried forward.
“Please hurry! Several mana circuits have ruptured, and I performed emergency treatment, but—!”
“I know. Bring him inside.”
Arkanus nodded and opened the infirmary door.
At the center of the spacious white chamber stood a massive treatment table, and the walls were lined with intricate magic circles.
“Lay him here.”
Valter carefully placed Grace on the table.
Arkanus approached slowly and extended his hand toward Grace.
The moment his hand touched Grace’s forehead, a faint light spread outward.
“……”
A silence passed.
Arkanus’s expression grew more and more grave.
“This is…”
He slowly lifted his head to look at Valter.
“Six mana circuits are ruptured, and two of them are major ones. Worse, there are thousands of hairline fractures throughout the entire circuit network…”
“Can you treat him?”
Valter asked urgently.
Arkanus did not answer. Instead, he looked down at Grace again.
“I heard he succeeded in Complex Fusion. Something that existed only in theory…”
“Yes. Thanks to that, the Crown Magic Tower survived. This young man… risked his life to save us.”
Valter’s voice trembled.
“So please… save him. If it’s you, Lord Arkanus, surely you can.”
Arkanus let out a long sigh.
“...I’ll do what I can.”
He placed both hands over Grace’s body.
“But I can’t guarantee anything. Damage like this… even for a seventh-circle mage like me, it’s the first time I’ve seen anything of this scale.”
The treatment began.
Silver mana flowed from Arkanus’s hands and enveloped Grace.
Arkanus closed his eyes, and his consciousness seeped into Grace’s mana circuits.
This is…
What he saw was horrific.
Mana circuits were like the body’s blood vessels. For a mage, they were as vital as life itself.
And yet Grace’s mana circuits looked like a battlefield.
Two major circuits were completely severed, and six were half ruptured.
Even the ones that seemed intact at first glance were, on closer inspection, covered in thousands of minute cracks.
How is he still alive in this state…?
For an ordinary mage, even a single ruptured major circuit would have been fatal.
Yet Grace was enduring with three severed already.
An unusual constitution… or is he simply holding on with sheer willpower?
Arkanus gathered silver mana.
He began by rejoining the severed circuits, sealing the ruptured sections, and filling in the cracks.
Crackle—
It was no easy task. The moment he tried to reconnect the circuits, the surrounding fractures began to widen even further.
As if sewing up an old piece of cloth only made it tear more.
“Hmm…”
Arkanus groaned.
This won’t do. I have to change the order.
He revised his approach.
Abandoning the plan to reconnect the severed circuits first, he decided to repair every tiny crack before anything else.
Slowly. Very slowly.
Like weaving a spider’s web, he meticulously filled each crack one by one.
Time passed.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
“……”
Valter stood in a corner of the infirmary, watching in silence.
Sweat was visible on Arkanus’s forehead.
If even a seventh-circle grand mage was struggling this much, it meant Grace’s condition was far worse than anyone had imagined.
Please…
Valter clenched his fist tightly.
It was after four hours had passed.
“...First stage complete.”
Arkanus murmured softly.
Every tiny crack had been repaired.
But that was only the beginning. The real problem was the two severed major circuits and the nine that were half ruptured.
Then, at that very moment, Grace’s disciples from the Fusion Magic Tower arrived at the imperial palace infirmary.
“Tower Master!”
As the infirmary door flew open, Lia’s urgent voice rang out.