Infinite Mana (15)
Serpina's group arrived in Shinsi. Narel looked around at the underground city and let out a gasp of wonder.
“Wow… so this is Shinsi.”
She spoke as if it were her first time here. Serpina asked,
“You’ve never been?”
“No. I’ve been too busy with work. I received reports long ago that a city called Shinsi had been built in Korea, but this is my first time seeing it in person. It’s been running smoothly without any incidents, so I never really had a reason to come.”
Negin, who had been walking beside them, let out a satisfied little huff. “That’s right. We’ve been working our butts off. What problems could there possibly be?”
“For someone who says that, we sure had one hell of a mess this time.”
“Hey, Serpina. Is this really our fault?”
“Then whose fault is it? Narel’s?”
“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant…”
In truth, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. You couldn’t blame the victim for being in the wrong place when terrorists came crashing in. It was just a joke. If the people involved hadn’t been an absurdly strong person (physically) and an absurdly strong person (socially), Negin might have been able to enjoy the banter. As it was, she was simply sweating bullets.
While Serpina and Negin bantered back and forth, Narel’s eyes never stopped scanning every corner of Shinsi. Serpina finally asked her,
“What are you staring at so hard? Is there something special about this place?”
“Ah. Benefactor… Yes, there is. Everything here is special, if I’m being honest. Look. The buildings are full of light, and the streets have streetlamps shining everywhere.”
Serpina followed Narel’s pointing finger and took a proper look around the city. Just as she said, the streets were filled with artificial illumination. Since Shinsi was an underground city, the lights were always on like this.
“What about it? You can see this kind of thing anywhere.”
In fact, compared to the human world’s lights, Shinsi’s were rather shabby. The buildings weren’t very tall, and many of them were old structures that had been left standing.
“No, no. It’s common in the human world, but this sight is incredibly rare in the magic world.”
“Huh?”
Narel pointed at a nearby streetlamp. “Because to produce light like this, you need electricity. And electricity requires power plants. Those are huge facilities. It’s difficult to build something that big in secret, and even after it’s done, securing the fuel to run it is no easy task.”
“Can’t you just use magic?”
“Who would bother using carefully honed magic just to light a streetlamp? Mages with a lot of mana have too much pride for that kind of work, and there are far more lucrative jobs available. Mages with little mana can’t even learn electric magic in the first place. So other magic cities either secretly draw power from distant plants or desperately try to train specialized mages. Either way, they can’t afford to burn electricity as freely as we do here.”
Narel’s explanation was easy to understand. Unless you were someone like Serpina—who had no magic she couldn’t use and possessed infinite mana—generating electricity with magic wasn’t simple. But once that was clear, another question naturally followed.
“Then why is it so bright here?”
“That’s because…”
“It’s all thanks to me!” Negin suddenly puffed out her chest and jumped in. “Do you know what my signature magic is? ‘Rotation.’ Rotation.”
“That’s right. The Witch of Rotation is quite famous among witches.”
“…Hey, Branch Manager. Could you please stop calling me by that title?”
“Why? It sounds cool.”
“Ah. Well…”
Negin fumbled awkwardly for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, where do you think my magic shines the most?”
“Where?”
Serpina answered immediately. It wasn’t that she had picked up on Negin’s desire to be asked—she simply found thinking about such things too much trouble. Still, Negin shouted with excitement.
“The power plant, of course! My magic can spin turbines without even boiling water!”
“…Is that supposed to be impressive?”
“It’s completely different! Totally different! This is why amateurs are the worst!”
Lee Hogwang added some weight to Negin’s story. “Most of Shinsi’s electricity comes from the generators Negin keeps running. That’s how we can live down here without it feeling dark.”
Serpina and Narel, who didn’t know much about power generation, couldn’t fully grasp how impressive that was. Still, they could tell it was something amazing, so Serpina reached out and patted Negin on the head.
While they chatted, they arrived at the Wolha Association building. News of the attack on the Branch Manager must have spread like wildfire, because a huge crowd had gathered nearby. It looked like half the residents of Shinsi had shown up.
From within that throng, a group pushed through the crowd and approached. It was the security force from the Shinsi branch of the Wolha Association. Unlike when they had seen them before, the guards were now fully equipped with what looked like magical gear and were visibly on high alert.
The head of security, Captain Yoo Chul, stepped forward and gave Narel a respectful bow.
“I am Yoo Chul, Captain of the Security Force for the Shinsi branch of the Wolha Association. I’ve already been briefed by the returning personnel. Would it be acceptable for us to take over escort duty from here?”
“That’s fine.”
“Thank you. Where would you like us to escort you? Would you like to see the prisoners first?”
“No. I’d like to rest for now. Keep the prisoners alive, but that’s all.”
Narel decided to rest first. Although she had briefly closed her eyes earlier, that had only been enough to keep her from passing out. She needed proper rest to fully recover.
“Understood. We’ll take you to the VIP suite. It has a bedroom prepared, but if it’s uncomfortable in any way, please let us know immediately.”
Yoo Chul’s attitude was impeccably polite. Serpina was inwardly impressed, realizing just how high Narel’s position had become.
Meanwhile, Negin watched Narel’s retreating back and shuddered. “Instead of handing out punishment right away, she deliberately gives them time to stew in their own fear…! As expected of the Branch Manager!”
“Wait, I don’t think that’s her intention… or is it? Maybe?”
Serpina tilted her head. At least during the time when Narel had been learning magic from her, she hadn’t been the type to torment others like that. She would simply deliver harsh punishment instead. Still, a thousand years was a long time even for a dragon and a high elf. There was no telling what changes might have occurred.
Serpina said nothing.
…….
The prisoners’ sentencing began a day later. An assassination attempt on the Branch Manager—one that had nearly succeeded—was unprecedented in the Association’s history. Even other branches sent representatives using expensive long-distance teleportation just to witness it.
Serpina looked at the long-distance teleportation magic circle and smacked her fist into her palm.
“I knew it looked familiar.”
Now that she had heard Narel’s story and looked again, it was obvious. This magic circle was a modified version of the dimensional travel array Serpina had once created.
Narel spoke with a hint of embarrassment. “This was the best I could do with my abilities. I couldn’t overcome the fundamental limits of the magic.”
The weight limit on what could be transported. That had been the limitation of Serpina’s original dimensional travel magic, and it remained the limitation of Narel’s modified long-distance teleportation spell.
“This is plenty impressive. You built and managed the entire Association while squeezing in time to create this, didn’t you?”
Serpina calmly praised Narel’s hard work. Narel smiled inwardly. The praise somehow sounded like Serpina was saying, ‘Of course you couldn’t produce results on my level.’ It was something she had often experienced while learning magic from her in the past. Back then, as a high elf, Narel had still possessed some pride, so it had secretly stung. It didn’t take long for her to realize that flaunting her race in front of a dragon was pointless.
After a little more time passed, everyone who needed to be there had gathered. Narel headed toward the makeshift courtroom. Though calling it a courtroom was far too gentle a term. In what court in the world did the victim personally hand down the verdict? Besides, human laws held little more than reference value in the magic world. What mattered most was power. And here, Narel was the strongest person socially. Physically, she was second.
In the courtroom, the captured prisoners waited for the end with resigned expressions. One had still been looking for an opportunity until the very last moment, but the moment he saw Serpina standing beside Narel, he lowered his head in defeat. All except one.
“Branch Manager! May I say one thing!”
The leader of Wolf Fang, Kurta, shot up from his seat and shouted. Countless staves were immediately pointed at him. He ignored them completely and continued.
“I know this is my end. If it’s the end anyway, can’t I at least say one thing?!”
“Go ahead,” Narel permitted.
The tension eased slightly. Kurta, now the center of everyone’s attention, stared straight at Serpina beside Narel and declared,
“You there, white-haired woman! Fight me!”
“……?”
Serpina, who had simply come out of boredom to watch, pointed at herself with a blank face. Kurta gave a big nod, confirming she hadn’t misheard.
Serpina asked, utterly dumbfounded, “Didn’t you guys get your asses handed to you by me in the first place? What do you mean, fight again?”
“That was with magic! Fight me with your bare body, without magic!”
“……?”
Why is this guy so brazen about it? Even Serpina, who was usually hard to faze, couldn’t help but fill her head with question marks.
“If I’m going to die anyway, I want to die fighting! If you grant this request, I’ll spill every piece of information I know!”
“…Benefactor. You don’t need to listen to him. We have plenty of ways to get the information anyway,” Narel whispered to Serpina.
She was right. But Serpina stood up anyway.
“Nah. This sounds fun.”
It’s been a while since I stretched my body a bit.