Shining Gold (9)
Beyond the thick fog, the salty tang of the sea drifted across the beach in the early morning. At an hour when even the usual crowds of tourists were still lost in sleep, a woman ran along the shore, panting with effort.
“Hek! Heek! Hiiiek!”
“Don’t make so much noise. That just drains your stamina even more.”
“Hiiieek!”
Ayoung kept running despite the pained groans escaping her. Serpina jogged beside her without breaking a sweat.
“We… came all the way… to the beach… and you’re still making me do this!”
“The whole point of this kind of training is to build it into a daily habit. Watch your footing on the sand.”
The two of them were running on the beach—more precisely, on the soft white sand. Anyone who played on a sand-covered playground as a child knew that sprinting across deep sand was far more exhausting than running on pavement. Ayoung didn’t even make it halfway the distance she usually managed on normal roads before she threw in the towel.
“Don’t just collapse. That’ll only make it worse. Walk if you have to, but keep moving.”
“Hiiieek…”
Ayoung trudged along, barely able to speak. By the time her ragged, dog-like panting had finally calmed, the sun had risen high enough to cast sharp shadows across the sand.
“Huh?”
Now that she had caught her breath, Ayoung began kicking lightly at the sand with the toe of her shoe. She suddenly sensed something odd and looked around. It was quiet. Even if tourists tended to be relaxed in the mornings, there should have been at least a few people out by now, trying to enjoy the seaside during their short break.
“Sunbae, is this place…”
“That’s right. It’s the hidden white-sand beach I told you about yesterday.”
It wasn’t that Serpina had deliberately brought her here. It had simply been a coincidence. They had gone for a casual run and ended up in this exact spot.
“Heh. I can definitely feel something special about it.”
“Really? I thought it might still be too difficult for your current level. In that case, can you tell where the center of the magic circle is?”
“Um, well…”
Ayoung widened her eyes and scanned the area, trying to locate the center. But no particular spot stood out to her. Just as Serpina had suspected, her skills weren’t refined enough yet.
“I’m sorry. I think it’s somewhere around here… but I can’t say for sure.”
“Around here, huh. Well, you’re not too far off. Still, if you want to improve your accuracy…”
While Serpina was teaching Ayoung how to read the center of a magic circle, a voice loud enough to be obnoxious rang out from the side.
“Whoa! If it isn’t the beauty from yesterday!”
The owner of the voice was the madman they had met the day before. Even on the open beach, his voice seemed to echo with deafening volume. It was a good thing his voice was at least tolerable; otherwise Serpina might have unconsciously cursed him on the spot.
“And today you’ve brought another beauty with you!”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Nice to meet you! What a coincidence running into each other again! Would you like to enjoy the sun with me today?”
The madman, who was still wearing actual clothes for once, rummaged through his pocket and pulled out several band-aids.
“Here! These go on your chest! These ones are for lower down…”
“Put those band-aids away.”
A day passing had done nothing to change Serpina’s answer. She rejected him flatly in a single sentence, and Ayoung shook her head vigorously beside her.
“Hmm! If you don’t want to, then I won’t force you!”
Even in the midst of his madness, the politely insane man didn’t push others. He put the band-aids back in his pocket and promptly stripped off every piece of clothing he was wearing. Of course, what lay underneath was nothing but healthy tanned skin and a few strategically placed band-aids.
“Kyaa!”
The brazen exposure made Ayoung shriek in embarrassment instead. The man who had actually stripped simply closed his eyes, trembled with delight, and basked in the warmth of the sunlight.
“Mmm~ Just as I thought, the mana from a sun that has only just cleared the horizon is truly exceptional!”
Ayoung glanced at him from the corner of her eye and whispered to Serpina.
“Sunbae, he’s a pervert. A genuine, full-blown pervert.”
“What did I tell you? It’s exactly like I said, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t expect it to be this accurate!”
“Hey!”
Ayoung jumped at the sudden loud call and answered reflexively.
“Nyeehet?!”
“If you two didn’t come here to enjoy the sun, then why did you come to this place?”
“We were just doing morning training and ended up running all the way here.”
“Hmm! Starting the day with training is an excellent attitude! However, you mustn’t come here! Our Sun Research Society has rented this area for the week!”
Serpina cut into the conversation.
“You guys rented it? Why?”
“That’s a secret! It’s an important matter!”
“Well, I can more or less guess. You’re planning some kind of experiment, right?”
At Serpina’s guess, the madman covered his mouth with his hand, eyes wide with shock.
“No way! How did you know?! Are you perhaps saboteurs trying to interfere with our experiment?!”
“Your guild is literally called the Sun Research Society. If you say you’re doing something important outdoors, wouldn’t it be weirder to think of anything other than an experiment?”
“…Hah! Now that you mention it, that’s true!”
The man looked genuinely surprised. It was becoming questionable whether someone like him should even belong to a group with “research society” in the name.
Serpina took a slow look around the area. There was more magic power than when she had seen it yesterday afternoon. The magic circle was still less than half complete, but it was enough for her to guess what kind of experiment they were attempting.
“You’re gathering mana in order to materialize it, aren’t you?”
“……!”
This time no words of surprise even came out. The madman simply stared at Serpina with eyes as round as saucers, his expression one of pure disbelief.
“H-how did you know? We haven’t even started drawing the materialization section of the circle yet!”
“If you weren’t planning to materialize it, there would be no need to set such precise coordinates just to gather mana. It’s not being used for any other spell, and if you don’t have any magic prepared to store what you gather, then materialization would be the most plausible goal.”
Serpina pointed to three spots on the white sand.
“There, there, and over there. The circle looks a bit warped, see? It probably got messed up by the tide. You should fix it before it gets any worse.”
“Huh? Yes, sir!”
Even with a dazed look on his face, the man obediently went to check the sections of the circle Serpina had pointed out. A short while later he returned, eyes sparkling as if he had seen a glowing dinosaur.
“It was exactly as you said…!”
He looked ready to grab Serpina’s hand in gratitude. She smoothly hid her hands behind her back.
“Thank you so much for telling me! If I had found out later, it would have caused so many more problems!”
“It’s fine. I only said something because it was bothering me.”
“Haha! Thank you for your consideration in not making me feel indebted! However, I am also a mage! I cannot simply ignore a favor received! If it’s all right with you, I would like to offer some repayment!”
“Repayment? Will that take long?”
Serpina glanced at Ayoung. Ayoung pulled out her phone, checked it, and shook her head.
“It’s almost time for Heerin to wake up.”
“You heard her. Looks like it won’t work right now.”
“I see! Then it cannot be helped! I will prepare something so that I may give it to you properly next time our schedules align! Oh, may I ask your names?”
“Serpina. This is Choi Ayoung.”
“Lady Serpina and Lady Choi Ayoung! Understood! I am Kim Taein, imda!”
“Geumtaeyang?”
“Yes?”
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
He certainly was blonde and tanned. From what she had seen so far, he didn’t seem like a thug, at least.
After finishing their introductions with Taein, Serpina and Ayoung returned to the pension.
“Sis! Sis! Where did you go?”
“Morning exercise.”
“Whoa, that’s amazing! I could never wake up that early!”
“Kids just need to sleep well.”
Serpina patted Heerin’s head and headed for the shower. She hadn’t actually broken a sweat from that amount of running. Still, standing under the water in a daze had its own pleasant feeling.
When she came out after washing up, Heerin’s family was in the middle of breakfast. The menu was simple sandwiches that could be eaten easily. Heerin chewed diligently with her small mouth and asked her mother.
“Mom! What are we going to do for fun today?”
“Heerin, do you want to go see the dolphins?”
“Dolphins? Yes!”
Heerin was already so excited that her feet were tapping restlessly under her chair. Her mother smiled gently at the sight.
Heerin’s father turned to Serpina and Ayoung.
“What about the two of you? Would you like to come along?”
“Ah, I…”
Ayoung glanced at Serpina. Serpina answered lightly.
“I’ll pass.”
Unfortunately, if Serpina went along, she would only ruin the tour. It was easy to forget because Heemang was so calm around her, but even the tiny amount of dragon fear that Serpina unconsciously released was enough to keep wild animals from approaching.
If she joined Heerin on the dolphin tour, the poor dolphins would simply flee. Ayoung hesitated at first, but after hearing Serpina’s reasoning she fidgeted for a moment before deciding to join the dolphin tour.
“Then what will you do while we’re gone, Sunbae?”
“Me? Hmm… I guess I’ll just wander around the restaurants.”
Tourist-area restaurants often overcharged without shame. Some places even refused to serve solo diners no matter how many portions they ordered. But that had nothing to do with Serpina. Just like the man renting out parasols yesterday, the restaurant would soon receive a suspicious call from someone in power.
A short while later, the group headed to the dock. The small boat for the dolphin tour set sail, and Serpina, now alone, wandered into a nearby restaurant.
“Oh.”
And inside she saw the place absolutely packed with mages.