Chapter 108
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: The Name of Mana (4)
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A quiet stillness hung over the alley, in stark contrast to the street's clamor. It felt like it could swallow any story whole.
A horned rabbit puppet even taller than me blocked the alley entrance, casting a shadow without a single ray of light overhead.
In the midst of it all, the rabbit's red eyes glinted unnecessarily bright.
I felt a slight twinge of intimidation but didn't show it. Instead, I pushed up the chin of the horned rabbit puppet.
"Why is the wandering troupe still here?"
"Oh...... The earnings have been good."
Berthrot removed the puppet head, revealing his sweat-drenched face.
"Still? It's been over a month."
"Mm, we're planning to move to another area soon. Just a few more performances."
Berthrot looked down at me, his eyes sparkling.
"You have to come to this one. I messed up a lot last time because I was so nervous. I've been practicing hard. I won't be nervous this time."
"I'm leaving Elgrace in two days."
Berthrot's eyes widened in surprise with an "Eh?" I let out a small sigh.
"That was the plan all along. Once my business here is done, I'll move on, touring around."
"Where to?"
Berthrot asked with innocent eyes.
I started to say, "Over the Quint Mountains to Kirk Volcano......" but clamped my mouth shut.
What if I tell him and he follows?
As I eyed him suspiciously, Berthrot shrugged.
"What? I'm just curious."
"......Northwest. Over the Quint Mountains."
Berthrot stroked his chin, murmuring "Hmm, oho."
"Heading to the old empire, huh. Crossing the mountains by carriage won't be easy."
"Carriage? No, you can't even ride a horse over the mountains......"
I reflexively replied, then glanced at the troupe's ornate carriage.
"You're not thinking of chasing after me, are you?"
My voice lowered, and Berthrot flinched in panic.
"No, not exactly. Our troupe needs to head to a new area soon too. We each suggest places and decide. Everyone's fine with anywhere."
"You're going to cross the Quint Mountains by carriage?"
I asked incredulously.
Those mountains take over a week on foot, and he wants to try with that massive carriage?
"In dragon form, grab the carriage and fly......"
"Berthrot."
I grabbed the fluffy scruff of the horned rabbit's neck with both hands.
Berthrot knew full well he was talking nonsense.
"Who knows your true form?"
He rolled his panicked eyes at me.
"......Mage Danian, Jina, the leader, and Liberic."
The first three were all members of the Magos Wandering Troupe. I remembered seeing them during the performance.
Danian was a mage specializing in illusions, and Jina was a petite girl skilled with a sword.
"Good. Don't let anyone else find out. Avoid danger, live safely and normally like you are now, mingling with people. You have plenty of mana for a while, so no need to strain yourself chasing me."
"That's true, but......"
Berthrot trailed off with a lonely expression.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, I let my guard down slightly—only for the rabbit's massive pink arm to wrap around me in a hug.
"Wait, I can't breathe......!"
Every breath pulled fine hairs into my mouth by the handful.
I coughed and twisted to escape, but I couldn't overpower his strength.
"After waiting so long, I finally met you, and it feels such a waste to part like this. Berkis didn't even help me, but you—my master, no, Liberic—gave me mana and Eckronium......"
"What? Berkis didn't help? I sealed him away."
I flailed in the rabbit's embrace before finally lifting my head. My mouth itched like I'd swallowed a wad of fur.
"I asked Berkis for mana, but he ignored me."
"What?"
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard.
Berthrot looked puzzled, as if my surprise baffled him more.
"Liberic's here, so of course Berkis is too, right? We even talked......"
"What do you mean? Talked where? When?"
A chill ran down my spine as I grabbed the rabbit's collar.
He flinched and stammered.
"Somewhere in the old empire, I think. I don't remember the exact place. Before meeting the leader. I only heard Berkis's voice—he wouldn't help me when I was low on mana."
"Was it really Berkis's voice? Maybe you misheard?"
As I pressed him harshly, Berthrot shook his head vigorously.
"I can sense mana, remember? It was Berkis's mana. I could never forget it. I asked where my master was, but he just laughed and vanished......"
Impossible.
I released his collar limply.
I already knew the regression seal and separation barrier of the sealing sphere were weakening. One fragment had even fused with my heart.
But Berkis's ego still being alive? That was entirely different.
I thought he'd shattered and vanished after being trapped in the sealing sphere.
His body and mana scattered, enduring all this time...... That tenacious will still surviving?
"You really don't remember the place?"
"Uh, yeah. I wasn't in my right mind from lack of mana. If I hadn't met the leader and Danian, I couldn't have kept my promise to my master......"
Berthrot said he'd joined the Magos Troupe with their help in the old empire and traveled the world since.
They'd come here accepting his wish to go to Cornik, where he encountered Kaela amid the ruins.
"Bell! Help me out here!"
A man's plaintive voice called from the street.
The leader clutched snacks and flyers in one arm, precariously balancing a large instrument with the other.
"I have to go."
I straightened Berthrot's puppet head for him.
"Like I said, I can't make your performance, Berthrot."
"......Okay."
The giant horned rabbit's head nodded sadly. I placed my hand on his fluffy belly.
"Forget about Berkis too. I'll...... find and eliminate him."
"Got it. It's just...... he wasn't that bad a guy. You know?"
I couldn't help but chuckle.
Not that bad? The guy who ordered you scrapped and wouldn't help when you needed mana.
And you still say that?
"Berthrot. We'll meet again somewhere else, someday."
"See you, Liberic."
We parted as if we'd meet again in a few days.
The pink horned rabbit then hurried to help his beleaguered leader amid the crowd.
Just before the instrument hit the ground, the rabbit leaped nimbly to catch it, drawing "oohs" from the onlookers.
I turned away and headed back into Atram's Tool Shop.
Wedin was still pacing before the holy magic tool display. His picky scrutiny would take time.
Having lost interest in magic or holy tools, I gazed with a heavy heart at the Magos Troupe's wagons gradually receding into the distance.
Berthrot's claim of talking to Berkis wouldn't leave my mind.
With his mana so low, it could have been a hallucination. I couldn't even say if such a thing was possible.
Maybe he mistook someone else's voice. Or sensed wrong due to mana deprivation.
The strong conviction that Berkis's will couldn't still be active made me deny every possibility.
I shook my head, trying to keep my thoughts objective.
Berkis's will wandering around. What the hell is happening in the old empire?
Guess I'll have to go check myself.
Soon after, Wedin returned with a fist-sized Lamp of Life and three or four small rubiols.
He'd decided on both types after all.
After paying, we stepped outside to find the troupe's wagons and lively music fading into the distance.
Pink fur still clung stubbornly to my robe, no matter how I shook it.
Wedin laughed, asking if I'd hugged the horned rabbit. Infuriating, but I had no comeback.
"No, it needs to be looser here. The variability is too high."
"I believe the high variability stems from making it looser, Sir Miles."
"That's......!"
Agnes had grown enough to stump Miles even in magical discussions.
His face flushed, Miles rolled his eyes to buy time before speaking again.
"It's a kind of flexibility, this. Got it, Agnes? Without this leeway, there'll be more work later."
"Don't worry. I can work 52 times more efficiently than you, Sir Miles."
Agnes said this as she walked to the center of the control room.
In her elegant dress, she glowed faintly, instantly stabilizing the wavering barrier.
"Ugh, Liberic...... I feel utterly useless."
Miles approached with a shocked face and plopped into the opposite chair.
I smiled and handed him a cup of warm tea.
This control room was for recording, analyzing, and adjusting mana flows, housing Agnes's core—the blue Eckronium.
"How can she say she's 52 times better than me......"
Miles sipped his tea, voice trembling.
"Because she's the Dragon Vein's mana itself. Consult her on whether to add leeway in adjustments."
"Haa, fine...... For her to say she's 52 times better than me with that face......"
Miles nodded slowly, seemingly regretting crafting Agnes in that form.
I left him to his regrets and watched Agnes stabilize the barrier.
My role here was over. Neither Miles nor I could handle it as swiftly or efficiently as she.
The limit was that Agnes didn't understand the sealing sphere.
When I told Miles I'd move the sealing fragments to another space, he said to do as I pleased.
But he earnestly begged me never to tell him the location or let him find out.
As long as they were somewhere in the mirror barrier, he didn't want to know where.
I understood Miles's fear of the sealing fragments.
But someone had to know, so I explained them in detail to Agnes.
"Regression Seal and Separation Barrier...... Yes, I know of them."
Good. She'd mastered advanced magic theory despite short learning time.
"Thanks to those two spells, these are just pebbles. The fragments and mirror barrier don't affect each other. Understood?"
"Yes. Indeed, these so-called red sealing fragments are like old sofas or teacups. No mana or unusual energy is felt."
I nodded in satisfaction and peered into the garden's small stream.
Several reddish stone fragments mingled and tumbled among the pebbles.
"That's been the case so far. But who knows what changes time might bring. So...... I'm thinking of linking these fragments to the mirror barrier."
Agnes tilted her head curiously.
"Linking...... what do you mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
I drew in mana and lightly snapped my fingers in the air.
A fierce wind whipped through, fluttering clothes and hair. The green garden transformed into something entirely different.
Agnes and I now stood inside a sphere.
This space held no real furniture or illusory decorations.
Golden runes densely covered every surface from ceiling to floor. Between us lay only the sealing fragments.
"What are these runes?"
Agnes looked around in surprise.
"I prepared them in advance, hoping they'd help with what I'm about to do."
"You said linking."
"Yes."
I pulled the fragments into the air above us with mana.
"Step back a bit, Agnes."
She retreated a step, face slightly tense.
I still wasn't sure if tampering with this was wise, but there was no other way......
I opened the separation barrier within the sealing sphere.