Book 14 Chapter 6

Episode 26

The Beginning of the Hero Party's Journey, The King's Flesh (3)

"Lin! This side is all done too."

The first conflict with Lystar began at the end of their first battle. I'm not sure if it could truly be called a conflict, though.

"Used a bit of magic, and they all died."

"Oh, you killed all of them?"

Lystar came back with about twenty bound bandits loaded onto a cart, with the dawn sky as a backdrop.

Truly the strongest…

It's the monstrous strength befitting a hero who has undergone physical modifications. Who would win if she arm-wrestled Link?

"About fifteen of them just died when I used one spell. The remaining twenty ran away, so I took care of them."

"Kyugyu!"

The villagers turned green and pale at the sight of the corpses, so it was really annoying, but I was directly burying the bodies in the open field using telekinesis.

It's not a boast, but it's already been five years since I walked the path dreaming of becoming the strongest wizard. I've already become adept at burying bandit groups that served as magic sandbags.

I wasn't expecting it, but I thought I'd at least get an exclamation of "It's good that you're not bothering the villagers."

"Yo, what are you doing?"

But Lystar pulled out the bodies I had haphazardly thrown into the pit, one by one, and laid them out in a row in the open field.

"They're not dead animals; it's pitiful to bury them all together."

Lystar looked back at me with a somewhat sad gaze.

"Perhaps it's a final mourning? There's also self-reproach, thinking that if I were a perfect hero like in fairy tales, this wouldn't have happened."

That self-reproach felt as if she was blaming me.

She probably had no such intention at all.

At that time, being a thirteen-year-old kid, my self-awareness was very strong.

"Are you serious? You must not know the meaning of the word 'pitiful'. They're scum who torment and rob others. There's no room for sympathy."

"Of course, there are scum who enjoy harming others, as Lin evaluated. But there are also people who become thieves because they have no way to live, are too hungry, and their families are hungry. As Lin knows, it's a time of turmoil right now. On top of that, [The King's Flesh] has spread."

Lystar replied that way.

Even digging graves for them with a shovel she brought from the village.

Thanks to her monstrous strength and skill, she dug them incredibly fast.

"Anyway, doing this kind of thing is wrong."

"It's true that it's wrong. So they should be justly punished by law. Not everyone is born into blessed circumstances like us."

Those words were so absurd that for the first time in my life, a hollow laugh escaped me.

"Know what you're talking about. I was born in the slums. I don't even know my parents' faces. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I was born into the most cursed environment."

"So the Dean took you in, Lin?"

"That's right."

Lystar stuck the shovel into the ground and straightened her back. She wiped away the drops of sweat running down her forehead.

"Then he gave you a chance."

Through the gaps in her flowing blue hair, golden eyes like sunlight stared directly at me.

"To Lin, a chance to live a new life."

Honestly, the moment I was about to retort… what flashed through my mind was the light the Dean showed me that day when I was eight.

- Now, follow me.

I couldn't tell if he showed me the light or came to me as light, but clearly, that one moment changed my life itself.

"Lin, I'm not talking about non-killing. That's practically impossible. Even if the villagers had killed thousands of bandits, I wouldn't have said a word. I would have even praised them. Because for them, that method is the best."

"But why are you saying something to me then?"

"You have power, don't you? The power to subdue without taking a life."

It was the first time my eyebrows shot up at someone else's words.

Since learning magic in the Magic Tower, no, even before learning it… I had never been refuted by anyone.

The Dean is an exception. I never even thought of talking back to him.

"What do you want me to do then…"

I'll admit, I was honestly sulking.

As I grumbled in a resentful voice, Lystar covered the first grave with her shovel and spoke.

"It's not hard, Lin. Think of sharing the heart the Dean gave you with others, even if just a little."

I couldn't concentrate on any book all morning after that argument ended.

Lystar ended up digging and covering all 28 graves. Now the villagers have taken her to treat her to lunch.

I didn't go.

My appetite had completely vanished.

In the open field, where the stench of rotting corpses hung in the air, I dangled my legs and read a grimoire.

Even though the words in the book weren't entering my head and I was just looking at the book, that Sbal jerk flew around in front of it without a clue.

"I didn't do anything wrong."

"Kyugyu!"

"Hey, you Sbal, what do you know?"

"Kyugyugyu!"

"I killed them because they deserved to die. What's wrong with that?"

Living in the slums, I realized something. People can't be fixed and reused.

Trash is forever trash.

People don't change, and those who made a living by backstabbing others will spend their whole lives doing just that, won't they?

- Lin… your power, that innate talent, shouldn't be used to harm someone like that.

No matter how many times I refuted Lystar's words internally… all that came back was the memory of the Dean's tears on the day of the rank examination.

- I've always told you that the owner of magic gifted you that power to protect others and cherish them…

If… if the Dean hadn't taken me in back then, what kind of life would I have been living?

Sitting by the restaurant district, smelling things, would I have continued to live by correcting the calculations of owners trying to cheat people?

Even if I survived due to sympathy when I was young, by this age, there was a 99.999% chance I would have been dragged somewhere and beaten to death.

- To Lin, he gave a chance to live a new life.

Was I wrong? Should I give a chance if I can? Was the belief that people can't be fixed applied like self-loathing?

No, absolutely not.

I won't change myself. I'm not wrong. But right now, the reason I'm closing the grimoire, standing up, and deploying a magic circle on my palm is…

"Imbuing Earth attribute magic with the rune of 'membrane' (a covering surface)."

Because if Lystar were to get disappointed in me because of this action and tell me to go back, that situation would be extremely embarrassing.

How would I return to the Magic Tower?

If I returned in just a week and said, "I was expelled from the Hero Party," gorillas like Giselle would mock me for years.

"Kyu, kyugyu!"

It's just… for that reason.

This is absolutely not an admission that I was wrong.

"What, don't you dare give such an impure smile to your master, who is like the heavens."

Lystar piled earth over the pit that I hadn't finished burying. And then, using telekinesis, she poured a cascade of small stones onto all the graves, creating cairns.

"It's annoying to do this every time. I'll have to come up with a suitable magic spell specifically for minnows…"

Ah, my sugar is low.

I should go eat something too.

But my nose is itchy because of the dust.

"Achoo."

* * *

Returning to the open field, Lystar saw the simple yet nicely constructed cairns.

"As expected, I suppose…"

Lystar knelt on one knee, and gently touched the stones covering the graves before smiling serenely.

"Dean, you were right."

After the era of turmoil began at the border with the Demon Realm, the Papal Court had issued an expedition order to Lystar as well.

Lystar immediately announced the summoning of mages for the Hero Party across the Empire.

She already had connections with Fride, the Dragon Priestess, and Kyess, the archer, so now she needed a mage who could provide area-of-effect firepower from the rear.

Many mages gathered.

But 'that person' was different.

While everyone spoke of their talents, aptitudes, and careers with fervent eyes, 'that person' approached Lystar with incomparably sad eyes.

- I am Atlante. The Dean leading a school of magic in the northern frontier. The Osarius School, though you probably haven't heard of it…

Lystar was not particularly knowledgeable about the magic world.

Just as mages don't know much about other sword schools besides the Empire's best eight sword schools, the One Saint Seven Swords (一聖七劍), Lystar also didn't know much about families and schools that weren't the Magic Houses or the Seven Great Schools.

Still, courtesy must be maintained. Respect, because it is the most important thing in human relationships.

- It's an honor to meet you. Please call me Lystar! You look incredibly young, and you're an Atlas (3-star) mage, one of only 150? Do you perhaps have any intention of joining the expedition?

Lystar was happy to see Atlante offer a poignant smile. Because she liked to see people smile.

After exchanging greetings, Atlante hesitated for a long time, unable to open her lips.

Like someone who has to reluctantly hand over something incredibly precious, something they wish to cherish in their arms for their entire life, to someone else.

- …Hey, she's the Dean of the Osarius School.

- …The Osarius School? Isn't that where the youngest Glados (4-star) mage in history was produced this time?

- …The Dean is also incredibly young?

The whispers of the mages were heard so clearly by Lystar, whose five senses were amplified dozens of times more than an ordinary person's due to physical modifications.

What an amazing person…

Yes, she does seem strong enough to rival 4-star mages. It's a bit concerning that her magic power isn't specialized for combat, though.

- Hero, I have… a very, very lovely, cute, and intelligent disciple. She is already a 4-star mage. Could you take her with you?

- A 4-star mage, and a child? Isn't that practically the highest rank, with only ten of them in the Empire? How old is she?

- Thirteen years old.

For a moment, Lystar was flustered.

Thirteen years old? Does this person understand what she's saying?

The place she was going was the most brutal land in the world. It was a battlefield.

'How should I politely refuse this…'

Lystar thought it best to speak clearly, even erasing the smile from her lips.

- No matter how talented she is, she's too young to go to the battlefield. If you want to get rid of a troublemaker, there must be many other ways.

- I hope you don't misunderstand. That's not the reason. I, I too… don't want to send that child to the battlefield… I want to keep her by my side always. I want to… but…

From Atlante's voice, trembling with suppressed tears, Lystar could see her sincerity.

- She is clearly intelligent and excellent, but so intelligent and excellent… if she grows up like this… she won't be able to grow into a fine adult.

Her voice, barely squeezing out in gasps, was mournful, filled with lamentation.

Ah, so this is why…

She hesitated so much to speak. She pondered until this very moment, even facing me.

Because she didn't want to send her out of her embrace…

Didn't want to send her anywhere…

But had to send her…

To have someone who loves her so much, I thought she must be an incredibly blessed child. I became curious to see what kind of smile a child who grew up receiving this love would have.

- Since childhood, she has occasionally subjugated the abyss, and this time, after running away from home, she subjugated Sbalargh and returned. Her practical experience would be several times more than the mages here.

- Oh my, really? Sbalargh?

- I have already taught her everything that can be taught at a desk.

Oh, right… As the conversation reached that point, the story of the boy 4-star mage who had caused a stir in the Empire came to mind.

Although that commotion was quickly overshadowed as the era of turmoil began, Lystar had also heard the news. Should I call it a sense of solidarity between fellow 'youngest ever' individuals?

Dean Atlante added one last thing.

- Our Lin is…

With a voice so very, very sad.

- My precious Lin is…

With eyes so very, very pained.

- She is a child who will become the spring breeze that ends the world's winter… She just hasn't learned how to become that yet. How to use the power she possesses…

The amount of that sorrow and pain seemed to prove the immeasurable depth of her affection for her disciple.

- So, Hero, couldn't you now show that child the world? She will absolutely not be a burden…

That was it.

The epilogue of that master and that disciple.

And also, that was the prologue of the story of these two people: the Hero walking in the twilight of her life, and the Mage greeting the dawn of his life.

- Alright, I'll meet him. But it's neither I nor the Dean who will decide. It's the child.

Lystar carefully placed the stone she had picked up, stood up, and smiled gently while gazing at the sky.

"Dean, he's already learning well. It would have been wonderful if you could have seen these graves Lin made."