Book 3 Chapter 11

Episode 60

The next day, I simply walked into the classroom as usual, but for some reason, all eyes were on me. At the same time, I could hear murmuring voices.

“Huuuugh…”

I didn't know the reason, but I was so tired I felt like I was going to die, so I stopped trying to think.

My body was already in poor condition due to the <Redacavel> incident, and pushing myself because of Kasena seemed to have caused my fatigue to explode.

I immediately sat down in my assigned seat, opened a plush textbook like a pillow, and buried my head in it, when I heard haughty footsteps.

“Did you study all night? Hmph, you're not trying too hard already, are you, afraid I'll catch up to you in the final exams?”

Christa Warden said, sitting down with a gesture full of aristocratic arrogance.

“It's only natural for you to be so anxious. Because Christa Warden is right next to you.”

“……”

“Still, it's two months away, aren't you being too diligent already? Well, struggle all you want. The outcome is already set, anyway.”

Christa, who had been chattering loudly, suddenly scanned the classroom atmosphere, then whispered softly into Rain's ear.

“……Hey, is Peach doing well?”

“……”

“No, it's absolutely not because I miss Peach, it's just that if there were any problems while she was with me, I'd have to compensate for them.”

Gertrude Fenton, who had to watch her foolish antics as her attendant again today, felt a skull-splitting headache and pressed her forehead.

“Please, just pick one: either be tough or be friendly, Young Lady.”

“Pfft, friendly? She and I are rivals! I just asked what I was curious about!”

“Sigh… Just leave her be. She seems to be quite busy these days.”

“What? Do you know what she's doing?”

Then a playful smile touched Gertrude's lips.

“Oh my, haven't you heard? The rumors have already spread far and wide in the streets. Of course, they're just rumors, so they're not accurate. The classroom is noisy right now because of it too.”

“What is it? Aren't you going to tell me quickly?”

“They say a black-haired boy was caught trying to elope with the Young Lady of the Page family. Hohohoho.”

Elopement? Wasn't elopement, um, what loving couples do in novels?

Christa's face instantly flushed crimson, and she suddenly started hitting Rain's head from behind.

“You…! How dare you flirt in this sacred place of learning?! Don't you know that boys and girls shouldn't sit together past the age of seven?! If you lose to me ridiculously because you're busy flirting, I absolutely won't forgive you then, I said I won't forgive you!”

Even then, Rain didn't lift his head.

At that moment, a strange realization flashed through her mind, and her body stiffened.

‘The Young Lady of the Page family?’

Her name was Kasena Page, wasn't it? I only saw her once when she was six… I remember her being active and getting along well with Sandra Kepel.

The problem is, I know she hasn't appeared in public or private since then.

‘Then what is it? Gertrude must have played another trick.’

There was even a rumor that she had died, and Christa half-believed it. If she were alive, she would have entered <Delaite> this year.

‘Hmph, nothing to worry about then.’

She herself wasn't sure what she had momentarily thought there was no need to worry about.

* * *

“The resurrection of Archmage Lin?”

It took a full minute for Elin Ludwig's mind, which had been spinning in shocking confusion, to calm down.

“Isn't that a good thing? He's a human who achieved incredible feats during the turbulent period. Wouldn't it be good if he returned?”

Who was Archmage Lin?

He was a figure who could freely control all eight fundamental elements of magic, earning him the epithet "Elemental Master."

A genius among geniuses, he devised dozens of mathematical formulas that added practical applicability to theories that had been nothing more than armchair discussions.

The Osarius school, once a minor faction, became a member of the Eight Great Schools just by producing that boy, didn't it?

If that boy had returned alive, magic would surely have advanced severalfold, and he himself would certainly have reached the Truth and become the Third Sage.

“It's not that simple a problem.”

Interrogator Bilgwyn shook his head with a sigh. He then added, "Everything that follows is classified."

“According to Lord Haraderiman's oracle, Lin's soul has already left his body.”

“……What?”

“It's like saying that the body trapped in ice will never awaken.”

Mad Dragon Haraderiman's epithet is ‘The Radiance that Touches the Entire World,’ and he is known to grasp all events occurring in this world with his divine light.

Elin Ludwig couldn't hide a strange sense of disappointment at those words.

Every mage, reading Lin's heroic tales, used to dream of his return. They would fantasize about the day they would meet the great senior who had achieved overwhelming feats.

“That's a bit… well, very regrettable. But would someone like Toureyna not know this? And that person is already dead, isn't she?”

Then, a cynical sneer appeared on Yuliana's face.

“She's not a woman who would die so easily. There was one golden opportunity, but I missed it due to my mistake.”

“You… tried to kill your master… that historical figure? Isn't she your master?!”

“Because that was the way for the world. When do you think Toureyna started researching dark magic? It's not a short story.”

It was shocking that a disciple tried to kill her master, and it was an enormous shock that Toureyna was alive and researching dark magic.

If Elin hadn't been a genius but an ordinary person, her brain might have stopped working for at least several tens of minutes, wouldn't it?

Interrogator Bilgwyn pressed his forehead, looking tired.

“The Abyss always tempts humans with longing for their loved ones. Even someone with Toureyna's level of magical power couldn't be free from this desire, it seems.”

Yuliana gave a bitter smile.

“She was never free from that desire, not once in her entire life… That poor woman. She lived her whole life in longing.”

A moment of silence passed.

Bilgwyn cleared his throat and spoke again.

“……Anyway, Toureyna was promised Lin's resurrection, they say.”

“A lie.”

“It's based on Lord Haraderiman's oracle. In fact, if you connect it with Lin, it's not incomprehensible that Toureyna became a leader of the Black Church.”

Three Fake Warriors (FakeWarrior; false heroes), humanity's strongest soldiers, had already spread across the continent to investigate and purge the Black Church.

The Fake Warriors' full complement was originally twelve, but due to the immense human and financial resources required to train one, they had only operated with two or three members during peacetime.

“It seems something big is going to happen soon. Something that even Haraderiman cannot perfectly foresee. That's why we are so sensitive about this.”

As Elin listened to the story, she felt her body grow sluggish and her consciousness slowly slip out of her body.

‘Huh…?’

By the time she realized it was the effect of a hallucinogen mixed in Yuliana's cigarette smoke, it was already too late.

As Elin slumped onto the desk, Yuliana placed her hand on Elin's head, closed her eyes, and muttered Draconic (龍言) words.

These were simplified runes used by witches, or incantation-type Altygma Draconic, which manipulate the power of spirits diffused in the atmosphere, just like dragons.

Soon, a pure white mist escaped through the gaps in Yuliana's fingers that held Elin's head, and fragments of Elin's memories flashed within Yuliana's closed eyelids.

“How is it?”

“This woman wasn't the one who borrowed it.”

Her niece was the one who borrowed it… and this one merely did it to cover for her. Finally, Yuliana removed her hand from Elin.

“We brought the wrong person. It's not this woman. It's her niece.”

“If she's Elin Ludwig's niece, then it must be Rain Ludwig.”

“Oh, is she a famous figure?”

Interrogator Bilgwyn lightly shrugged his shoulders and wrote 'No suspicion' on the inquiry report.

“She's someone under surveillance by the Magic Alliance's Special Operations Division. When we tried to interrogate her regarding the <Redacavel> case, the Special Operations Division stopped us.”

“She went to the black market? At that age?”

“So they say. She's a strange talent. You don't really need to worry about her. If there's even the slightest hint, Dolan Slade, that meticulous fellow, will deal with it immediately.”

Unlike the interrogator, Yuliana looked at Rain Ludwig's name with a suspicious gaze.

‘She went as far as the black market to find Toureyna's books, so, indeed…?’

* * *

“You caused quite a stir yesterday, Rain Ludwig? I almost fell over when I heard you tried to elope with my adorable daughter.”

As soon as lunchtime arrived (I was planning to get some sleep), I was called to the President's office and ended up hearing this from Madelia Page.

The events of yesterday spread rapidly throughout the city. Perhaps due to her distinctive hair color and the peerless beauty inherited from her mother, the rumors seemed to have spread like wildfire.

More importantly, the Page heir, whose whereabouts had been unknown, had reappeared in public… It was a major incident that could have caused a huge stir throughout the entire magical world.

“I apologize, Your Excellency. It wasn't an attempt to elope, but a strategy… I suppose I was too impulsive.”

In truth, it was nothing more than falling for Kasena's provocation, not a strategy, but I couldn't say that.

“Is that so?”

Then a smile bloomed on Madelia Page's lips.

“Thank you so much for being so impulsive.”

“Pardon?”

“Last night, you see. I had a conversation with my daughter for almost 10 years. Her eyes shining, she said she would learn magic. She said she would learn and walk again.”

I naturally expected to be scolded, so I couldn't help but be a little flustered when I heard such words in return.

“That's quite encouraging.”

“Yes, I owe you an unpayable debt.”

My heart felt conflicted when Madelia, with a smile that contained both sorrow and joy, showed deference to me, her subordinate. I had to wave my hand in refusal immediately.

“I haven't done anything yet. This is just the beginning.”

“But how exactly do you plan to make her walk?”

“It's an electrical signal. Sending an electric current through the nervous system with magic.”

At those words, Madelia Page paced slowly by the President's office window, with a look in her eyes as if she had realized something.

“Such a method… No, but could Kasena actually use that?”

“The magic used is elementary level, 1st to 2nd star.”

“2nd star is elementary? Hmm, put that aside, I'm not talking about the level of magic itself. Applying electricity to one's own body can cause massive internal damage with even a small mistake.”

"Because you, who awakened Bell Sidias at that age, can read the magic circuits within the body, it's so easily possible," Madelia's eyes seemed to say.

“I think that depends on her own efforts, however.”

At those words, President Madelia hesitated for a moment, startled, but then shook her head almost imperceptibly.

“No, I cannot permit it. Her body is already damaged; attempting such a thing in an unskilled state would only damage it further.”

“……”

“But the results you've shown were truly remarkable. That child said with her own mouth that she wanted to learn magic?”

“To be precise, she said she wanted to learn magic and walk again with her own strength.”

“That's secondary! What's important is that she's shown an interest in magic. As she learns magic, she'll be able to see new possibilities and a future!”

Madelia presented enormous hopeful observations, spreading her hands, but… was this truly the path Kasena wanted?

“Wouldn't that be lying to the Young Lady?”

Kasena doesn't want to learn magic. She wants to walk.

Magic is merely a process, just a tool to walk again with her own strength.

Madelia, as if admitting this was her own desire, sank onto the reception sofa with a sigh.

“But isn't there no sharp solution? It's about telling her that if she learns magic and waits for the right time, it will happen someday.”

Though I said this, it's not that I entirely disagreed with Madelia's words either.

The burden on Kasena's damaged body… It was certainly a solution I had thought of too much from my own perspective.

But what is magic?

“He who asks will receive, he who seeks will find, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Magic is the path to hope, the path to the manifestation of the gods that the Black Sun Kalenden gifted to humanity. There's no way there isn't another solution.

“For now, could you give me some time? I'll try to think of an alternative route.”