Eternal Flames of the Pilgrimage Path
A fierce wind brushed against my cheeks.
Below, faint clouds and snow-covered mountains stretched out in the landscape.
The empire's scenery had only existed for me as sentences in a novel—picturesque images from my imagination.
"Whoa...!"
"Isn't it truly magnificent?"
Marcus, the leader of the Silver Fox Merchant Group, smiled from the coachman's seat.
And he was absolutely right.
"It's really pretty...."
As we crossed the mountain range piled high with eternal snow, the full vista unfolded before us.
The cold snowdrifts that had reached our feet abruptly stopped at the ridgeline.
Beyond them lay vast blue grasslands stretching to the horizon and rivers sparkling in the sunlight.
It was like an Impressionist painting or a panoramic photo.
A completely different palette from the North, where white was the only color.
Gazing at the beautiful landscape, a line from the novel naturally popped into my head.
'Every land in the Solarium Empire is blessed.'
It was the opening sentence of The Sun Rises in the Empire Too.
Back when I read it, it hadn't really resonated, just seeming like descriptive fluff.
But now, deeply appreciating the novel's hyper-realism, I turned to look behind us.
"What's that?"
"It's the pilgrimage path following the footsteps of the Continental God 'Aether'."
In the rear, along the narrow passes climbing the mountains, bright bonfires reminiscent of sunlight burned brilliantly.
Even in the raging wind, those flames didn't flicker—they shone radiantly.
"Are those lights magic?"
"No, they're not. They say this path, unmanaged since the founding of the empire, has remained in the exact same state for centuries. The temple priests call that grace 'divine power'."
"Ah...."
Magic was my one and only hobby—and job, sort of—but knowing it wasn't magic only piqued my curiosity more.
Traces of real divine power!
It was a foreign concept to me, who'd lived my whole life as an atheist.
I can't pass this up.
I lightly vaulted over the carriage railing and leaped off.
Our current position was high in the sky, level with the clouds.
"Wh-where are you going?!"
"Go on ahead! I'll catch up!!"
I waved brightly in response to Marcus's shout from the increasingly distant carriage above.
The intensifying wind pressure enveloped my body.
"Wooooowwww."
Just opening my mouth let air rush in and out wildly, making weird noises.
Fun.
My heart soaring. The thrill of freefall.
Grabbing my flapping clothes, I barely managed to look down.
The ground rushed up at tremendous speed.
The pilgrimage path, which had looked like mere dots, grew larger in my view.
Yet I felt no fear at all.
"Wheeeee."
I said, 'I'm falling!'
Ignoring the words that rarely came easily, I extended two fingers and swiped at the space below me.
Image rising. A transparent net.
For me, magic meant freedom.
It let me roam the frigid Northern territories at will.
It saved me from the threats of magic beasts beyond the border.
It even made me money!
And now, freedom of action.
I visualized the image, closed my eyes mid-fall through the sky.
Focus. Magic forming swiftly. I manipulated the mana in the space below me to create a net with infinite elasticity.
At the same time, I gently lifted my body with the surrounding mana.
Slowly, even slower.
—Sploosh.
Just before touching the ground, the mana-woven net bounced my body once, twice.
And I landed lightly on the earth.
"Ruen!!"
As I dusted off my clothes with the back of my hand, Yriel's shrill voice echoed from the sky. Extremely urgent.
—Thud.
The moment her voice reached me, platinum hair whipping in the wind crashed right beside me into the ground.
"Wha—what?"
As the swirling snow cleared, Yriel's form came into view.
Yriel's face was buried in the dirt, her protruding butt trembling pitifully.
"D-did you die?!"
No, this kid's a super strong mage. The Magic Tower Master!
In that instant, all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.
Like, the capital's Magic Tower Master goes missing after heading North. Or found dead in a remote area.
All headlines that could drag the North into massive diplomatic trouble.
The one silver lining: no CCTV or anything like that exists here.
As I swallowed hard and approached what I assumed was Yriel's corpse,
"I'm not dead!"
"Wha—what.... Whew, good."
Yriel popped her head out of the ground with a pop and lifted it up.
Below her golden eyes, her face was flushed red.
"It hurts.... I was trying to copy you, Ruen, but it's really hard...."
"When it's this dangerous, just do it your way...."
"I have to practice!"
Fortunately, she must have managed some deceleration by the final landing.
Surely she has her own way to slow down....
I let out a sigh of relief and looked ahead.
The steep pilgrimage path.
As if proving how rarely it was traveled, not a single small footprint marred the snow piled around the narrow trail.
"No snow accumulates here at all."
Yet, as if someone maintained it periodically, the path itself was pristine and smooth.
Yriel shook her head, brushing snow from her face.
"I've never been to the pilgrimage path before. Have you, Ruen?"
"Me? First time too."
I crouched down beside Yriel and ran my finger along the ground.
Not a single grain of dirt stuck to my fingertip.
"Weird...."
Definitely not magic.
The surrounding mana flow was perfectly stable.
On the pilgrimage path, I felt something alien—warmth—instead.
"This is definitely divine power. It smells just like at the monastery."
"Really? So the Continental God really exists...."
Well, yeah, even the original male lead got healed perfectly by a 'saintess's' single heal, no matter how broken his body was.
I thought it was too contrived when reading, but seeing it in person? Makes sense.
"The Continental God definitely exists. But I don't believe."
Yriel sprang up from her spot and declared.
"It exists, but you don't believe?"
"Yes!"
It was such a random statement.
Meeting my puzzled gaze, Yriel continued.
"Knowing and believing are vastly different."
Our eyes met again, her smile carrying a glint of firm will—or conviction.
"Hmm.... I get what you mean."
So, for Yriel, the 'Continental God' and 'divine power' were like natural laws.
Like how someone who knows the Earth is round doesn't need to pray for it to be round.
Or how knowing gravity exists means you don't pray every morning, "I believe gravity will be here today too."
It exists, obviously. And because it's obvious, no worship needed.
Very mage-like perspective.
Of course, from my standpoint, the very existence of a 'god' with clear proof was mind-blowing.
"But isn't that heresy?"
"Eek... Please keep this a secret.... The temple folks might string me up if they hear...."
Yriel fidgeted, reaching to grab my hand but then glancing at her dirt-caked one from face-planting and quickly wiping it on her clothes.
"Hmm. I'll think about it."
"Ruen, I want to live.... I don't want to be skewered...."
Her pouty tone dripped with desperation.
I knew the Golden Light Magic Tower Master had overwhelming magical prowess, yet even Yriel feared the temple.
"Are the heresy inquisitors that strong?"
"Very. But more than strong, their persistence is super annoying...."
"Ah."
It sounded like she'd dealt with them before, but I didn't pry.
Instead, I looked up at the sky, spotting the carriage already far ahead.
"Where's Marcus by now?"
"About... 7 kilometers?"
"...What's a kilometer?"
I felt my pupils shake violently.
"Uh, wh-what.... Huh?"
"...?"
Yriel's utterly innocent expression showed she genuinely had no clue.
Oh, right. Medieval setting.
They nailed the historical accuracy—no metric system yet.
"Roughly 7,655 yards...."
"Really? I didn't notice while riding, but it's fast!"
I just nodded at Yriel's exclamation.
Yards and pounds.
So humanely medieval.
Sighing secretly so Yriel wouldn't notice, I levitated my body.
I've seen enough. Time to head back to the capital.
Entrusting myself to the floating sensation, I raced through the sky toward the carriage once more.