Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Mages of the Northern Forest (2)
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I followed along the school fence before slipping into a side path. The shortest route to Althur Tower.
My steps were light, but my heart felt heavy.
Hmm, I see. Grain and Weddin might end up leaving Prion...
A week ago, I'd heard that White Guard Knight Petron Lesis was heading to the royal capital of Elgrace in the Lesion Kingdom for diplomatic purposes. Father had told me.
And apparently, Father and Clemence would be accompanying him.
It wasn't an ordinary occurrence.
As a Blue Guard Knight, Father was in charge of the knight academy and training grounds, so he almost never left Prion.
But this diplomatic delegation was meant to discuss the Lesion Kingdom's knight training programs and the establishment of a branch of the knight academy.
That made sense.
But what about Clemence?
She'd entered general school and had no connection to Prius or the knight order's duties.
The only guess I had was that since her grandfather, Petron Lesis, was Lesion royalty, she must be involved somehow too.
So I'd invited Clemence over to the house, planning to hear the details from her and Weddin over dinner tonight.
The fact that Grain and Weddin were going along as the delegation's medical staff... well, that was something I hadn't seen coming.
As I emerged from the side path, I reached the lower edge of the northern forest.
Cold, crisp air brushed against my cheeks. When I breathed out, white vapor escaped my mouth.
The northern forest in winter looked utterly desolate, with its bare trees and snow-blanketed ground.
The city was on the verge of spring, but it seemed like this place would need another full season before spring arrived here.
I walked along the winding dirt path between the trees.
It was a route most people rarely took. Even the mages of Althur Tower were the same.
They only came and went between the tower and its surrounding annexes, never venturing deep into the dense northern forest.
Luwen had once pointed to the northern forest and told me it was a place only oddballs visited.
He definitely knew.
He knew his master, Claus Sage, had a cabin deep in these woods.
'Liberic.'
The familiar voice echoing in my head made me stop in my tracks.
The dry bushes to my right rustled, and a silver wolf poked its head out.
"Ash. You done with your work?"
'More or less.'
Ash gave a casual reply and started following me.
I chuckled a bit as I stroked the soft fur of its neck. It used to dodge my hand like it was a nuisance, but now it seemed to have given up a little.
"How's Airan doing? Come to think of it, I haven't seen her in ages."
'Still busy as ever.'
"Yeah, figures..."
Luwen and Airan had gotten so swamped lately that it was hard to even catch a glimpse of them.
They had knight order dispatch missions on top of their original research, plus barrier-related duties now.
Their workload kept piling up, but the number of mages was dwindling.
When I'd entered the knight academy, there had been thirteen in the magic department, but last year's new magic students numbered barely ten.
So the remaining mages had no choice but to get busier.
"Not much progress on the research, I bet."
'Pretty much.'
Ash responded indifferently, showing no signs of regret or impatience.
Airan had been studying Ash for three years now.
Aiming to figure out what Ash "was," why it had become this way, and how to turn it back into a human.
It was my wish too. Though Ash itself didn't seem all that interested.
As Claus's cabin came into view, Ash bounded ahead.
Claus's cabin was in the deepest part of the northern forest. The surroundings were utterly quiet, and hardly anyone ever bothered coming all the way out here.
It was secretive enough that I could even sneak peeks at long-lost imperial magic knowledge.
The wooden cabin was two stories tall, spacious and sturdy despite its humble exterior.
I tugged at the cabin door. Locked.
Hmm, out somewhere?
Claus's schedule was as unpredictable as his words and actions.
'He's inside.'
Ash, who had somehow climbed onto the second-floor roof, informed me.
Well, yeah, he's probably just sleeping it off.
I unlocked the door with the key.
The moment I opened it, midday sunlight pierced the dusty interior, illuminating it starkly.
"Ugh."
I grimaced and waved away the thick cloud of dust billowing up.
The first floor, meant to be a simple kitchen and living room, had long since devolved into a junk storage shed.
Books, discarded magic tools, empty bottles, bowls—everything was piled in disarray.
We tried cleaning it up sometimes, but leave Claus alone for more than a day, and it reverted to this state.
I opened the first-floor windows and hauled the trash outside.
Through the window, I saw Ash lazily stretching in the cabin's garden.
I smiled at the sight and headed up the stairs inside to the second floor.
The second floor held two research rooms.
The door to the right room stood wide open. It served as Claus's bedroom, research lab, study, office, and dining room all in one.
Currently, it was doubling as his bedroom.
Claus lay sprawled in the middle of the room, dead to the world.
The sight made a sigh well up, but I swallowed it down.
No wonder I'd smelled booze from the first floor.
Claus was snoring away, clutching a bottle that reeked of strong liquor.
He'd been away for a few days because of exams, and this was the state of things...
I drew the curtains first and flung open the windows.
Even with the windows wide, the stench wouldn't budge. A whiff of ventilation did nothing against that potent alcohol smell.
Claus frowned at the sunlight hitting his eyelids and rolled over.
"Master? Time to get up."
I pried the bottle from his grasp.
He always grumbled about being an old man, coughing and wheezing, but in truth, he was incredibly healthy, energetic, and stubbornly willful.
On days without anyone nagging him, he'd drink heavily, pass out, and sleep until someone woke him.
I shook his shoulders, clapped in front of his tightly shut eyes.
I even yelled right in his ear, but nothing worked.
About ten minutes later, I gave up on waking him and started clearing the scattered bottles, food scraps from snacks, empty plates, and cups from his room.
This was the kind of cleanup Luwen had been handling all along. If I'd known earlier how his neat freak tendencies started, I could've helped sooner.
"Huh."
As I tidied up, something etched into the floor came into view.
Beneath Claus's legs and some discarded bottles—a magic circle I'd never seen before.
I shoved aside the scattered books and paper stacks, and mana rose, forming a small barrier.
Inside it floated a fist-sized red chronium, glowing faintly.
Heh. Interesting.
I settled in and peered into the magic circle.
Thread-like mana connected from the red chronium to the innermost central array.
Beyond that were reinforcement spells, and the ring around them stabilized the barrier.
Most intriguingly, this tiny barrier blended imperial and kingdom magic.
Extracting mana from the chronium used imperial methods, but the utilization was kingdom incantations.
A few conversion incantations in the center deftly bridged the two systems.
Such a concept didn't exist in kingdom magic and had been impossible to implement...
Yet Claus, a kingdom mage, was pushing to overcome that limitation.
"Looks convincing on the surface, doesn't it? Huh?"
I turned to see Claus, now awake, stroking his scruffy beard.
His white hair stuck out wildly, his face flushed. The clothes draped haphazardly over him were painful to even look at.
I gave up on lecturing him and followed his gaze back to the small barrier.
"Looks good to me. Seems stable enough..."
"Nah, it's crap. Efficiency's way too low."
Claus shook his head irritably.
"Damn it, stayed up two nights straight making that garbage, and look at me—out of my mind. The conversion incantation worked, but after that? Zero progress."
"Hmm... But the conversion magic succeeded, right? Could just expand on that."
"Easy to say."
Claus grumbled as he groped around for a bottle. Realizing I'd cleared them all, he let out a deep sigh and hauled himself up.
"I'm gonna wash up. You take that and see if there's any external incantations you can swap for imperial ones."
"Got it."
Claus stretched as he thudded back down to the first floor.
I picked up the barrier's red chronium and stood.
Across the hall was the research room assigned to me.
It had originally been Luwen's, but I'd taken it over after becoming Claus's apprentice.
The modest room held just a large desk and chair, a small bookshelf. In the center, a basic magic circle for research experiments gleamed clearly.
It was what Luwen had used as a student, perfect for testing various kingdom spells.
Alright, let's see.
I tossed the red chronium onto the magic circle. Dazzling mana spread out, unfurling the exact same barrier as in Claus's room.
I wasn't advanced enough yet to fully decipher his spells. For the unknowns, I'd have to dig through books as I went.
I pulled up a chair and began analyzing the barrier Claus had made.
Claus had started seriously researching imperial magic three years ago.
With me—or rather, using my knowledge.
Our needs aligned perfectly.
I had imperial magic knowledge but needed time to retrain and adapt without prying eyes, officially immersed in magic.
Claus, meanwhile, needed someone to teach him imperial magic from scratch. In this place, I was the only one who could.
Our research and training happened solely in this small, remote cabin, so neither Luwen nor Father knew about it.
I taught him imperial magic as thoroughly and patiently as I could, but Claus struggled immensely.
Imperial and southern kingdom magic differed completely in methods and systems.
He had to regress to a total beginner, reshaping everything.
Having been steeped in the old ways, it was brutally tough. He'd even grumbled that amnesia would be quicker.
After endless effort, a year to move mana by will alone, without incantations.
And only today had he linked it to another incantation.
Getting this far was impressive enough to praise, but mentioning it would just set him off...
I infused the small barrier with visible mana to enlarge the incantations for clarity. The rune-and-script magic circle expanded, dominating the room.
A flick of my finger sent it spinning in various directions. I scrutinized the characters and patterns, jotting unfamiliar incantations with a pen in my other hand.
Unlike the interior, the external incantations were purely kingdom magic.
Written in cursive by a kingdom mage of advanced knowledge. Plenty of characters I didn't recognize.
That one... looks like something from affinity theory.
I noted down every unfamiliar character. I'd look them up in books later.
Then, without warning, the door burst open, and Claus barged in.
One hand clutching bread, the other a cup of water, he froze, eyes bulging.
"What the hell did you do to my barrier!"
His near-scream had me bursting into laughter.