Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Shamshir
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The world I had been gazing at suddenly severed. The view from the sky looking down at the ground shifted to one sitting at the banquet table, looking up at the elf man. Just like before, nothing was visible within the elf's body.
'He's closed it off again.'
"Such bold eyes. This should be enough, though."
Words laced with insight into Arcana. And yet, he had shown me his inner world. If there was no regret, it would be a lie. But what I gained was no small thing. Insights and inspirations filled my mind, tangling complexly, birthing countless questions and answers on their own.
"That's enough."
Innumerable calculations presented possibilities. But for now, it was impossible. It wasn't a spell that could be cast lightly. A space severed from the outside world was required. The precondition was the ability to deploy large-scale barrier magic.
Summoning the inner world came after that.
'Even summoning it would be problematic.'
Summoning the inner world wasn't without issues. It meant dragging the world a mage harbored inside out into the open. If damage came to this world, the mage's world would suffer as well. If the space severed from the outside couldn't be maintained, my world might even be devoured by the existing one.
However, even accounting for those risks, it was an incredibly alluring space. Bringing a world existing in the mind's eye into reality meant wielding godlike power in that world, after all.
'A tempting double-edged sword.'
"If you truly understand."
The elf, casting an intrigued gaze, opened his mouth. Propped against the armrest with his chin resting on his hand, he smiled faintly as mana swirled behind him.
"Your senses surpass anyone else here."
A silent stir spread at the elf's words. No one spoke, but they were all busy shooting astonished glances. The elf lightly tapped the armrest. The agitation encroaching on the surroundings quickly subsided.
"I sensed a free wandering in the winds cloaking your body. You're not one to stay in one place, so it's a pity we can't keep you in Hayar."
Clap!
The elf clapped his hands and said.
"Eat and drink your fill."
The next morning. Waking up late, I noticed the atmosphere inside the massive palace felt slightly different from yesterday. There was no bustle of movement. The voices carried on the wind were exceptionally calm.
People had left. They'd been frantically preparing for departure yesterday, and sure enough, they'd slipped away in the early dawn today.
Stepping out of my room in fine silk robes, I walked while combing my hair down. Perhaps because I'd washed it with the perfume Lenila brought as a gift before sleeping. My hair, which had started splitting at the ends, had regained its luster.
'Maybe I should dress up a bit.'
How long had I walked with such idle thoughts? Before I knew it, Durel had approached and was quietly walking beside me. I turned my head slightly to meet his gaze, and he bowed his head in greeting.
"You've become beautiful."
Beautiful. It wasn't an odd compliment for a ten-year-old girl to hear.
However, my self-awareness as an adult man was stronger. Durel, the one giving the praise, seemed oblivious, but for me, the recipient, it felt terribly awkward. Especially since I'd just been idly thinking about dolling up a little.
The saying that the mind follows the body naturally came to mind.
'No way.'
I shoved the thoughts filling my head into a corner with a sigh.
"When do you plan to leave?"
"Well... probably soon?"
At Durel's question, I looked out through the large window. I spotted Lenila busily running atop the beautifully manicured flower beds. She was coming from the distant main building to the annex where we stayed.
I smiled lightly and said to Durel.
"Durel. Bring the Warden Stick."
"Yes..."
After Durel left to fetch the Warden Stick, the patter of footsteps announced Lenila's arrival.
"Lumia!"
"Perfect timing. I have something for you."
"Something for me?"
"Yeah."
Soon, Durel returned with the Warden Stick. I checked the one wrapped in fine cloth and handed it to Lenila.
"Whoa... this... this? Huh?"
Lenila was a mage too. The moment she held the Warden Stick, she realized what power it contained. Surprise, shock, doubt, then shock again. Her expression changing multiple times in a short moment looked quite amusing.
"Wh-what is this...? You're really giving it to me?"
"Yeah."
Lenila was the first to approach without prejudice and say let's be friends. Leaving such a friend behind made it hard to tear myself away. Though it held an incomplete Mana Circle, it would undoubtedly be a great help to her.
"This... this is super valuable, right...? Is it okay to just give it away?"
"Of course. Lenila's my friend."
"U-uwu..."
'I can't teach her the Mana Circle itself...'
The Mana Circle was the heart of my magic, the Infinite Archive School. Lenila had said she didn't belong to a school and didn't know, but since she was part of the massive organization Hayar, I couldn't share my magic with her.
'It would spread like wildfire...'
So, this Warden Stick was the substitute.
Lenila had come to the annex this morning because her father had also gone out on expedition. Even Vasek was absent. With no one to rein her in, Lenila followed me and Durel around all day, chattering nonstop.
The mages who had gone out returned that evening. Against the pitch-black sky, the mages who appeared had grim expressions. They exuded a heavy, solemn air, so outsiders like me and Durel couldn't approach.
"The situation doesn't look good."
"Unbelievable. Hayar's forces aren't inferior to the Council's. For them to fall to mere non-mages..."
"Durel. You got dragged into it too. Twice, even."
"That's..."
"That's?"
"Cowardly bastards... They dug traps and waited, it seems."
Had he erased the memory of his own capture? Truly mage-like behavior. A chuckle escaped at Durel's suddenly altered attitude.
At that moment, Lenila, who had been weaving through the mages, ran toward the main building with a tearful face.
Watching her, I quietly called Durel.
"Durel."
"Yes?"
"Ordan. You can't see him either, right?"
"Yes..."
"Even without Vasek here."
"He's invisible to my eyes as well."
"Hm..."
It was a night with an excessively bright moon. If it were dark and we couldn't see Lenila, it would be one thing. But the image of her running off tearfully lingered in my sight.
The returned mages soon set out again.
El Karsum, Shamshir, black ropes, kidnapping, capture alive, traps. Words carried on the wind provided clues to the situation. The mages who hadn't returned probably weren't dead. They wanted to capture mages alive as much as possible.
So, Lenila's father, Ordan, had a high chance of being alive too.
In the early dawn, I slipped quietly out of the annex. My steps led to the main building. Normally, outsiders were forbidden from entering the main building at this hour. But with most mages joined in the rescue operation and out on expedition, no one was there to stop me.
'Lenila...?'
Right after entering the main building, I headed to Lenila's room, tilting my head. Arcana-engraved eyes detected no trace of her.
Not in the main building, not in the annex. Not even in the small garden. I'd come to comfort my grieving friend, but the one needing comfort was nowhere to be found. Quite the predicament.
'No way...'
Suddenly, an ominous premonition circled my mind.
"Entry to the main building at this hour is prohibited."
A voice I'd grown familiar with. Turning toward it, the elf in platinum robes, Hayar's leader, stood there.
"Where's Lenila?"
"Not here."
"No way..."
Silence was affirmation. I glared at the expressionless elf's face.
"Why didn't you stop her?"
"I didn't know."
"You call that an excuse..."
"It's already done. I would've stopped her if I'd known, but yelling at me won't solve anything."
He was right. My emotions flared momentarily. I exhaled slowly, calming them. At the same time, a question arose. Hayar's strongest mage was this elf before me.
If he had stepped in, this might have been resolved easily.
"Why didn't you..."
"Why didn't I go myself? That's what you want to ask."
"..."
"I cannot leave this place."
His calm voice scattered on the wind. Insight struck from his words. Vasek's words suddenly resurfaced. A space entirely different from the outside, where the sense of time and space distance applied differently.
Vasek had described the barrier's interior that way.
"You're bound here...?"
"Your phrasing is apt. Bound to distorted time and space, as it were."
The moment I realized it, an immense distance separated the elf and me. This wasn't a living being. It was no different from magic moving with will.
As I took a large step back to turn away, four shimmering pillars dropped squarely before me.
"Fragments of my mana. When you arrive there, plant them in the cardinal directions. The wider, the better. I gave them to others too... but no one used them."