Chapter 33
Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Will Beyond the Door
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Amidst the horde of zombies filling the cavern...
A massive fox enveloped in silver flames rampaged wildly.
Every time the fox thrashed about, a storm of flames swept through the cavern.
'How in the world is that possible?'
Gildard could only gape in astonishment at the sight.
Combining multiple spells into one?
Even as a 5th Circle mage, Gildard had never heard of such a thing, let alone imagined it.
No matter that they were secret arts from the same family.
They were spells cast by different mages, already fully formed and unleashed for attack.
To merge such spells and create an entirely new one...
'And its power has grown even stronger.'
What was truly remarkable was that the combined spell's power exceeded the sum of the individual spells' might.
Each flame storm the fox unleashed was in no way inferior to Gildard's own magic.
Yet even as the number of storms increased, they showed no sign of weakening.
At this point, it was clear that during the brief moment Jeon had touched the door,
he had witnessed something beyond it.
'What on earth did he see in there?'
But what could it have been?
Something that allowed him to wield magic beyond the common sense and rules of spellcraft—a magic transcending magic itself.
As Gildard marveled inwardly,
the silver-flamed fox rampaging among the zombies suddenly halted.
It wasn't exhausted.
There was simply nothing left to burn.
"Good work."
-This was nothing.
Silver, having completed its task, exchanged a light greeting with Jeon before dispersing into the air.
To be precise, it shed all the flames around its body and reverted to its original small form.
-Kyaaang!
The cute bark Silver let out as it returned to Jeon's arms echoed through the cavern.
It was as if that cry signaled the end of the battle here.
The expedition members, who had been staring in a daze, finally snapped out of it.
"Uh... so..."
But regaining their senses didn't mean they had processed what they'd just witnessed.
None of them knew what to say next.
"Hm, that was an impressive spell. Truly impressive."
"Thank you. But it wasn't a spell I created alone. Without all of you, I couldn't have pulled it off."
Even expedition leader Kundle was the same.
It was astonishing enough for lifelong students of magic like the mages.
For knights, it was utterly incomprehensible.
They offered some praise, and Jeon responded graciously,
but none could find the right words to follow up.
"Did you... go beyond the door?"
Following Kundle's lead, Gildard—who had somewhat adjusted to Jeon's surprises—posed the question.
"Yes. I did."
Jeon's matter-of-fact reply sent dozens of questions flooding Gildard's mind all at once, leaving him momentarily flustered.
What exactly was that spell he'd just cast?
How had he merged multiple spells into one?
How had he preserved their original defensive functions in the process?
Why had the power increased even further?
And so on.
But above all, there was one thing he had to ask first.
"What... did you see?"
As Gildard asked, everyone around—including himself—fixed their eyes on Jeon's mouth, awaiting his answer.
"What I saw beyond the door was the will accumulated by the Silvermont mages."
"Will...?"
Gildard's face filled with question marks at Jeon's response.
He'd heard the answer, yet it only multiplied his curiosity.
"I'd love to explain in detail, but breaking it all down would take too long. I haven't even fully sorted it out in my own head yet."
Jeon knew full well his answer would only deepen their questions.
'I was the same way.'
Merimoo had been like that, and so had the giant Silver at the end.
Every time Jeon asked, their vague responses only grew his curiosity without resolving it.
But looking back now, he realized those were the best answers possible.
'There's too much to unpack verbally.'
Receiving the Silvermont mages' will meant inheriting the unified determination of over a hundred mages—and the experiences they'd built pursuing it.
Even if it had been fed directly into his mind rather than told as a story,
it would still take ages to recount. And Jeon himself hadn't fully organized it all yet.
Answering their questions one by one right now was nearly impossible.
"More importantly, we should get out of here first."
"Ah, right."
The zombies were all down, but the stench of them burning was overwhelming.
There was no reason to linger. Jeon gathered the still-stunned expedition and led them out of the ruins.
Once outside, the group took a brief rest and regrouped,
then headed straight for Alexar Silvermont's mansion.
Normally, they'd scour the ruins for valuables, secure anything worth taking, and handle other measures—taking much more time.
But everything gained from these ruins was in Jeon's head, so there was no need.
All he had to do was sort it out on the way.
"You're back sooner than expected."
Alexar was slightly surprised to see the expedition return ahead of schedule.
It almost seemed like they'd failed and rushed back.
"Did you succeed?"
Alexar cautiously asked about the raid's outcome.
The entire expedition beamed as they replied.
"Yes, we succeeded."
"Oho! Impressive. Truly impressive. You all worked hard."
He'd worried because of their early return,
but the news of success brightened Alexar's expression too.
"So, what was beyond that door?"
But the moment Alexar asked his next question with a cheerful face...
"Uh... well..."
The expedition's bright expressions turned ambiguous as they all looked toward Jeon.
Alexar followed their gazes and fixed his eyes on Jeon as well.
Sensing the attention on him, Jeon opened his mouth in response.
"Beyond the door was the will accumulated by the Silvermont mages."
"Will?"
Like everyone else hearing it,
Alexar looked at Jeon with a face full of bewilderment.
But this time, Jeon's thoughts were organized enough to explain.
"Could I speak with you privately for a moment, Your Grace?"
Jeon cautiously requested a private audience.
Alexar stroked his chin thoughtfully, but not for long.
"Hm... Very well."
The "will of the Silvermont mages" piqued his curiosity greatly, so he nodded and accepted.
"You've all done well. Rest now."
At Alexar's words, the expedition members exchanged farewells and left the study.
A few seemed a bit disappointed not to hear the details,
but Jeon had forewarned them on the way back that he'd report to Alexar first, so they departed without much lingering.
"Now, tell me."
Once everyone was gone,
the private talk between Jeon and Alexar began in the study.
"Your Grace, may I ask something first?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"How much do you know about Silvermont magic?"
"Silvermont magic..."
Alexar paused at Jeon's question.
Truth be told, he wasn't well-versed in magic.
He was a man obsessed with the sword, one who'd only wielded it his whole life.
"Honestly, not much—probably less than you about the family's spells. But one thing I'm certain of: our family's magic isn't superior to our swordsmanship."
It was both the pride of a Master-level knight
and the common external view of Silvermont.
Their swords were mighty, but their magic merely adequate.
"Do you know how that came to be?"
"If you're asking about the family's history... I know there was conflict between those who wielded magic and those who took up the sword. The sword-bearers stayed in Rengle to protect the family, while the mages left the kingdom for the continent."
Thus, the sword-bearers who remained rebuilt the weakened house and restored its prosperity.
But the mages who left soon faded from history books—not just in Rengle, but across the continent.
No one even knew if they still existed.
"The will I saw beyond the door was theirs—the mages who left back then."
"Their will... remained in the ruins?"
It was beyond imagination.
At first, hearing "accumulated will," Alexar thought it might be some spellbook left by the mages.
But Jeon's next words astonished him even more.
"They used a specific spell so that, upon their deaths, the strong wills they'd harbored in life would gather at that ruin."
"Is such a thing... possible?"
A spell to preserve the will of the dead.
It sounded like forbidden dark magic at first glance—hard to believe.
"It wasn't like dark magic trapping souls. It was just their strong wills and mana, fused with fragments of their life experiences, accumulated there."
Unlike dark magic that forcibly binds human souls,
this was different. If it were the same, a being like Silver—born from their gathered wills—couldn't exist.
"If their wills were gathered there, what did you see through them?"
It was a string of unbelievable facts, but Alexar decided to accept it for now.
Seeing that, Jeon inwardly felt relieved.
'If I'd told Gildard this, we'd be debating the mechanics for hours.'
Gathering and unifying human wills?
Impossible without Rune Magic.
Alexar's lack of deep magic knowledge let it slide; any mage like Gildard would have erupted over this alone.
In any case,
With Alexar accepting it, Jeon found it easier to continue and answered his question.
"First, what I saw was the family secret arts built by the Silvermont mages who ventured to the continent."
"Secret arts?"
"Yes. Not the ones remaining in the family now, but the ones they each advanced and accumulated."
With the focus on swordsmanship, the surviving secret arts hadn't advanced much since the mages left.
But what the mages had built was entirely different.
Their magic was of a level to overturn the world's mediocre assessment.
"So, I'd like to compile it into a spellbook."
"A spellbook?"
"Yes. To organize what I've gained, and to repay Silvermont for all their support."
Jeon had received tremendous aid from the Silvermont family.
A 5th Circle mage tutoring him for two months,
unsparing support for a costly ruin raid with massive resources and manpower.
True, it was payment for his deeds,
but it felt too great to dismiss as mere compensation.
'Reviving the family's magic aligns with their will too.'
Even after leaving, the mages had always worried their abandoned family's magic might decline.
For Jeon, inheriting that will, leaving a spellbook was only natural.
"Heh, I knew you were no ordinary lad from the start... but to become such a great benefactor to the family."
"Not at all. It's only right. Now, onto the second thing I saw."
"Ah, yes. Go on."
Perhaps because the first revelation was so huge, Alexar's expression was more relaxed for the next.
'This is where the real bombshell comes.'
But in truth, what followed was the truly crucial part.
The prior was just "I found magic." Now came the real truth.
"Long ago, when the family split between sword and magic users and conflict arose—do you know why it happened, Your Grace?"
"Hm? Just a lack of understanding between them, as far as I know."
That was how family history recorded it, as far as Alexar knew.
But Jeon shook his head firmly at the answer.
"No, that's not it."
"Then there was another reason?"
A hidden family history even the family head didn't know?
Alexar asked back with intense curiosity, and Jeon spoke with an even more serious expression.
"Your Grace, are you aware of the Luin Church?"