Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: The Signal of Fate
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“But in terms of the overall framework for using power, Kasena might actually be closer to that person than you are.”
If anything, Kasena seemed more flustered by the assessment than I did. Alakishi waved her hand as if to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Of course, she’s still far too lacking to compare to that person, but it means I can see that potential in her.”
Alakishi explained that she’d taken note of how Kasena had pre-drawn a magic circle in her palm to respond to sudden situations.
But wasn’t that evaluation a bit outdated? Most Remidier-type mages left indexes on their pages to prepare for such scenarios.
As I pondered that, Alakishi uttered a dragon word, and in sequence from her left and right and behind her back, blades of flame, sword edges, and arrowheads took form.
“As I recall, Karenden always approached battle in this manner.”
“……?”
“From as few as four to as many as ten…… He would pre-construct the powers he judged necessary for anticipated situations like this. Ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.”
What the hell……? I let out a disbelieving chuckle, and Kasena pinched my elbow.
“Don’t just stand there marveling, Rain—explain it!”
“It’s just…… some ridiculous method. I couldn’t imitate it even if I tried. No mage could, probably?”
“Even my mom?!”
Of course. Chancellor Madelia is below me in rank, after all.
If I explain it in terms of Remidier-type magic usage, it’s like floating paper with 90% of the magic circle already drawn in the air, then completing the last 10% whenever needed to activate the spell.
Since the magic isn’t fully constructed, it’s only natural that you can easily tweak runes or adjust equations on the fly to fit the situation.
‘It’s not just floating the necessary spells. More like having tools at hand? Tools that can be swiftly assembled.’
The clear limitation of the Remidier type lay in its inability to perfectly control variables.
It’s easier to think of it like a puzzle: instead of a piece that fits perfectly in the spot, you’re forcing in one that’s only roughly similar?
But the method Karenden used…… it was like it compensated not just for Remidier’s flaws, but even those of the Yorhen type.
Still, no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Magic is either activated or not activated, right? It’s not dragon words—so how is that even possible?”
Alakishi explained patiently, as if scolding me.
“The power you call magic is originally the same as the miracles Karenden wielded—the miracles used by the fairies. It’s just been systematized to be easier to use.”
Unlike humanity, who could only wield the miracles of Tersia, the firstborn fairies could handle the miracles of all the gods.
The thunder god of Terbel.
The bloodlight god of Shurigan.
The spear-moon god of Maxensia, and so on.
Of course, unlike magic, these were rare privileges, usable only by the anointed judges and priests who poured oil upon them.
Back in my Lin days, I’d once seen the ‘Wandering Judge Simian,’ and its power was miraculous enough to live up to the name—immensely potent.
And now, those miracles were the same lineage as magic?
The fairies had always mocked humanity, saying we had no right to miracles, so we’d made do with imitations called magic.
“But aren’t miracles and magic fundamentally different? Miracles are prayed for. Magic is calculated.”
“No. The power received from the gods via the Mother of Light is all origin power. Not the realm of reason, like calculations or computations.”
Origin power? Isn’t that the power FakeWarriors use to awaken their ultra-star swords?
Does it connect even higher, all the way to the divinities of the [Warm Ones]? I should’ve asked Rista for more details.
Alakishi, lost in thought for a moment, suddenly looked at me.
“Yes, now I think I understand. Why you, unlike Kasena, can’t handle dragon words.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“You try to control power too rationally. The power of the gods or dragon words isn’t like that. It’s about desiring, yearning, and receiving.”
Desiring and yearning?
Kasena had desperately wanted to walk, and thanks to her bloodline limit, she was relatively free from the domain of mathematics—that’s why she’d quickly grasped how to use dragon words.
Hmm…… Is it an extension of what Aunt Chancellor said: ‘Magic is about infusing the heart’?
“No need to rush. Think calmly, think again, and the answer will come.”
“Sigh…… Even if I live an incredibly long life, it’s only to a hundred. I can’t help but feel impatient.”
“No, it’s fine. With your disposition, you’ll reach it someday. You carry the same fragrance as Lady Karenden.”
Alakishi smiled gently and patted my head three times lightly. Kasena crossed her arms and nodded vigorously.
“Yeah! If it’s you, Rain, you’ll get there! You’re super smart!”
At the time, amid the embarrassment, I couldn’t understand why Alakishi mentioned disposition instead of intellectual sharpness or technical skill.
But looking back later, wasn’t that the signpost leading to truth itself?
A lantern guiding toward truth, deciphered and shared for me by a true dragon who had lived since the era of origins, after deep, deep thought.
But the reason I only realized it much later might be because, shortly after, I received something far more precious.
* * *
Our trio’s camp setup always followed a clear division of roles.
Alakishi would light fires around us like barriers (dragon-word landmines that ignite if the undead appear), securing the camp’s safety. Kasena would watch and imitate to learn.
Meanwhile, I’d cook simple meals over the central campfire using game Pipi hunted or ingredients Griffion provided.
“Alakishi?”
But today felt a bit off.
I thought she’d gone to set up the barriers with just Kasena and Pipi, but Alakishi stayed by my side, watching my work intently.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just observing how this ‘cooking’ is done to commit it to memory.”
Huh, a true dragon cooking?
As I mentioned before, dragonkin absorb essence from nature the moment they mature, so they don’t eat separately.
Alakishi had only tried skewered meat once because Kasena kept insisting, but I’d never seen her eat since.
“Are you planning to cook? Why?”
It was so novel that curiosity bubbled up, and I asked lightly, but Alakishi stayed silent for a long while.
In this northern forest beyond the barrier, where no birds chirped and no insects buzzed, the only sound was the pines rustling in the wind.
Only when Kasena returned did she turn forward the basket she carried so preciously on her back and placed her hand on the dragon egg inside.
“My daughter will have no memories to serve as a lantern in her heart.”
“……?”
“In this frozen empire, there are no friends to share her childhood with, no landscapes to cherish in her heart. She’ll be born and live in a land of only cold, fear, and madness.”
Alakishi stroked the egg with a wistful touch and gave a sad smile.
“But if I, however clumsily, could make her food with a genuine flavor…… wouldn’t that give her at least one memory to treasure?”
I was speechless in that instant. What could I possibly say?
Though she’d never shown it, Alakishi had suffered through those thousand anguished years here. That’s why she worried.
About her daughter’s life, doomed to eternity alone in this land just like hers…… with her kin far at the southern edge.
- Lin.
- Lin.
- Master.
- Lin.
Perhaps because I knew the grief of one whose lifelong bonds were all severed, a pang ached in my chest.
“Come with us, Alakishi.”
Was that why I blurted it out for the first time in my life, without a second thought?
“The surveillance north of the barrier is impossible now anyway. Even the beastkin are withdrawing, right?”
“……!”
“The Fire Dragon might place you somewhere better. If they tell you to return? You can just go back then.”
Kasena, at a loss in the heavy mood, nodded frantically.
“Yeah! Come with us! Who’s gonna say anything?”
Alakishi’s golden dragon eyes seemed to widen with some hopeful spark, only to sink powerlessly.
“Impossible. The mission given with a dragon’s name is absolute.”
“I have ties to the Fire Dragon. It might work out. For real.”
“Enough. I believe she gave me the name Alakishi (mission) knowing this life.”
Her voice was markedly different as she gently placed her hand on my head.
Dragons receive their names at birth. And they live lives matching those names. (For reference, Yoshuhar means benevolence in dragon words.)
Within that life’s direction, the name Alakishi had received was cruelly harsh. A mission—live and die only by the command given.
“Still…… your feelings truly gladden me.”
Then, suddenly beaming with a full smile, she let out a “Puhuhu,” chuckling.
A red dragon smiling was startling enough, but bursting into laughter like this was utterly bewildering.
“Hehehe, asking this Alakishi to go south together. You two are the first humans to say such a thing.”
Everyone had taken for granted that she watched the abyss here……
At that moment, was the imagery rising in Alakishi’s mind like spring sunlight amid a quiet bell toll a mere daydream?
Somewhere in a miscanthus field bathed in dazzling southern sun, her, her daughter, Rain, and Kasena laughing and chatting as they headed toward the legions in the south—a dreamlike scene.
A dream that could never come true, a reverie, and thus so beautiful, so heartrending…… Alakishi gave a wry smile.
“That’s why the fact that I must part from you tomorrow feels indescribably regrettable.”
Rain and Kasena dropped their gazes, lips pressed tightly in misery.
Alakishi had done everything for us, yet all she could offer in return was teaching her to cook—her own powerlessness infuriated her so……
The red dragon always carried the scent of firewood burning on a winter day, but today it felt all the more fleeting and sorrowful.
“Then, shall we try cooking right now?”
If so, I’d do what I could now. So Alakishi could make the best food for her daughter.
That would be my gratitude.
A modest offering to the dragon who had upheld her mission for a millennium, who had protected and guided us this far.
“Yes, I’ll watch closely and remember.”
“No. Cooking is something you have to do yourself.”
“……I’ll try it later when I’m alone.”
“Tsk, come on! You have to do it together. Here, follow my lead.”
Alakishi hesitated, embarrassed by her clumsy hands, but soon picked up food prep, cooking methods, and marinating techniques.
By the time dusk tinged the world, the arctic rabbit skewers were done.
Mine were aesthetically perfect, while Alakishi’s had skewered meat askew and charred black spots.
“Alright, let’s eat!”
Where I might’ve hesitated thinking of her dragon food disaster, the untried Kasena bravely(?) grabbed two skewers and bit into them one after another.
Watching Kasena chew with bated breath, Alakishi’s expression felt refreshingly novel, drawing a smile from me.
Then, after savoring like a gourmet and finally swallowing the chunk, flowers bloomed on Kasena’s face.
“Wow, it’s really delicious! Both of them!”
Alakishi looked at me in disbelief, her face blank. I picked up one of hers and said,
“The one who taught me magic often made me cook too. She said the core principles of cooking and magic are similar.”
“Cooking and magic?”
“Both are about infusing the heart…… I’m sure you can make great food too, Alakishi.”
Alakishi met my eyes in surprise, then nodded with a distant smile.
“Yes, I hope that’s true.”
Just then, a rustle came from the bushes behind.
With the barrier up, how……? Kasena turned first and gasped.
The next moment, staggering into view before us was a wolf. I muttered,
“White wolves……?”
That was the signal of fate, it seems.
The faint, fleeting bond that had blossomed in this frozen land sending its sign just before severance.