Book 5 Chapter 10
제112화
Did they smell the aroma of the food I was cooking, or was it thanks to the warmth of the cozy tent?
“Mmmngh…”
Casena Page seemed to murmur a short sleep-talk, then bolted upright in a daze, staring blankly at her hands.
“Are you awake now?”
“Huh? Oh! I think I had a really strange dream…”
“Casena, Casena, Casena.”
Casena, who had finally let out a sigh of relief as Pipi rubbed its head against her cheek, soon went pale as the people around her came into view.
“B-b-beastmen…?!”
That seemed like a normal reaction, but just as I was about to quickly caution her before she committed a blunder, Casena's eyes sparkled.
“Are they really, really beastmen?!”
Oh? At that innocent and naive reaction, Beduel and Barlzen were more surprised than even Rain.
No, could this even be described as innocent? If it were an innocent reaction, shouldn't she be trembling all over with fear?
The shock didn’t end there. She crawled over and touched Barlzen's wolf ear, who was glaring at Casena with his arms crossed, then smiled brightly.
“T-this hairless brat! Are you crazy, do you want to die?!”
Startled, Barlzen hastily stood up, shaking off Casena's touch and growling, but Casena's eyes were still sparkling.
“What… Young Lady, aren’t you scared? They’re beastmen, you know?”
“I’m not scared! Why would beastmen be scary?”
“???”
Upon hearing the inside story, Casena had never been taught that beastmen were cursed creatures. I admired Madelia Page’s foresight.
Moreover, since she was six years old, her interactions with peers, tutors, and other people had been virtually cut off, so there was no opportunity for strange rumors to reach her.
Instead, Casena harbored strange fantasies about beastmen, which went something like this:
“It’s strange how old adventure books often feature stories of meeting beastmen, but they’re not in the recent ones!”
“Adventure books…?”
“So, I planned to go myself and meet beastmen to write an adventure book once my leg got better! But now I’ve met them like this!”
A gap in adventure books…
Indeed, something must have happened. If I go below the barrier, I’ll definitely have to investigate.
“Anyway, I’m hungry! What’s this smell?”
“It’s just finished. Just a moment.”
It was also the moment ‘Rain’s Special Charcoal Grilled Soup’ was showcased to the world again after a long time. As I served a plate full, Casena drooled.
“Mr. Barlzen, would you like some too?”
I offered Barlzen the ‘Rain’s Special Wood Charcoal Skewers’ that I had made for myself. These were so delicious they could be called a finishing move.
“Me too, give me some of that too!”
“Not for you, Young Lady.”
Barlzen instinctively sniffed at the savory smell but haughtily turned his head away at Rain’s question.
“Hmph, meat is all the same meat. How can you become a warrior eating only stripped-off flesh like that?”
“Uh…”
“This is why those hairless ones are like this. A true warrior must eat any state of meat without hesitation and supply nutrients.”
“Still, please just try it once. We’re not fighting now, are we?… Or do you still not trust me?”
I really, really didn’t want to eat it, but as the brat looked up at me like that, a strange pang went through a corner of my heart.
I looked at Beduel for help, but Beduel merely nodded, indicating I should take it, let alone help me.
Damn it… Fleeing from an attacking enemy is a warrior's disgrace. In the end, Barlzen watched Casena swallow a chunk of meat from the soup and gulped.
“M-m-delicious! Rain, this is super delicious!”
“Isn’t it?”
That pale purple brat is shoveling it down without any ill effects, so it doesn’t seem to be poisoned. In that case, let me try some…
‘Hmm, h-h-h-h-h-h-h-hmm───?!’
A shock like lightning storming through my mind, a dizzying sensation from the intense signal reaching, no, emanating from the taste buds on my tongue.
What is this smoky aroma?
And this savory taste?
Does meat juice even taste like this?
I was only dealing with the waves of questions surging in my head, but the heavy weight in my grip suddenly vanished.
“Gasp.”
Startled, I realized the truth. I had eaten all the meat hanging on the skewer without even realizing it.
“Would you like another one?”
“Me! Give it to me first!”
And watching the brat grin while looking at the empty skewer, I felt like I had somehow lost, and anger flared up.
“Ridiculous. It was so tasteless that I just swallowed it all at once. Who would eat such a thing anyway? Only the Undead would enjoy gorging on it.”
“Is that so? It was my masterpiece… I apologize.”
“No, you idiot! I just said it like that. It’s not that bad… Yes, it was delicious, you bastard! A man shouldn’t get upset and gloomy over a few words like that!”
“Then, would you like another one?”
“…”
Barlzen subtly glanced outside the tent, then very slightly shook his head as if no one should see. Rain and Pipi chuckled, which made him erupt in anger again.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Barlzen get along so well with someone. And human children, at that.”
In this strange situation—no, this situation that should have been normal—even Alakish, who always maintained dignity in her expression, raised an eyebrow.
「These are truly strange children.」
“Indeed.”
Beduel, who was sitting next to me, replied with a surprised voice, then smiled gently.
“So, it's not bad.”
***
After the short commotion, I explained the current situation to Casena Page.
Everything that happened at the Holy See was true, and we were transported here by the power of Karenden (probably), and we were able to survive with the help of Alakish.
It was a bit worrying, but Casena accepted the situation more calmly than expected.
Instead, she approached Alakish familiarly, asking various questions, which once again surprised everyone.
I heard later that she had been envious of Yoshuhar and me chatting familiarly at the Holy See. And she was disappointed that I hadn't introduced her.
“What's important is from now on. Listen carefully.”
“Uh, huh!”
“Currently, the beastmen are under a serious misunderstanding, and that misunderstanding has led to conflict after conflict, bringing them to the brink of war with humans. Your help, Young Lady, is absolutely crucial here.”
Casena, who seemed to nod instantly, then tilted her head.
“But a misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?”
At this point, I had no choice but to glance at Beduel and Barlzen, but Beduel soon nodded, indicating it was fine to tell her.
So, I carefully relayed the story I had heard from Beduel—the bond between Enuel and the assault squad, and the loyalty passed down through generations.
I worried if I had missed any parts, when Casena suddenly burst into tears, nodding vigorously and crying out in a stuffy-nosed voice.
“I, I got it…! I, Rain and I…! We’ll help Barlzen…! Just, just trust me…!”
I knew she had a one-dimensional and simple personality, but to this extent…
But perhaps such a simple nature is more effective in moving the warriors' hearts.
It was clear to anyone that not only War Chief Barlzen but also the warriors standing guard outside the tent, eavesdropping on the conversation, were deeply moved (they couldn't hide their expressions).
“W-who asked for help? I don’t need it! Receiving help from hairless brats like you is a warrior’s disgrace!”
“No, no, we’ll help you…!”
“I said I don’t need it! Ugh, gross! Where are you blowing your snot now?!”
“No! I said I’d help you!!!”
“Hey, get off me! And you bastard, why have you been touching my ear since earlier?!”
His tone was still sharp, but the hostility that had flowed from Barlzen’s eyes and tone when we first met was miraculously absent.
I thought persuading Casena would be the biggest challenge, but to think I would actually receive help.
The world is truly full of unexpected situations, which makes it so beautiful… As he thought this, the boy pulled himself one step higher on the staircase leading to truth.
Socrafres.
– You can inherit the progress of ‘Unique Magic’ research from your surroundings.
– Progress 50% -> 53.8%.
Rain and Pipi looked at each other and smiled as they watched Casena, clinging to Barlzen’s back, squabbling, and a smile also bloomed on Alakish’s lips.
‘Strange children with the scent of gods…’
Her smile then turned to the dragon egg, which she carried carefully on her back and never let go of for a moment. It was Alakish's alter ego and the vessel of her daughter's life.
‘My daughter, I hope someday you can also emit such a scent.’
***
Over the ten days that the Durankus tribe prepared to depart, I became quite close with the tribe members.
This was because Barlzen, despite his grumbling, introduced each member and even allowed us to greet them, and the tribe members, perhaps finding it strange themselves, gradually lowered their guard.
Of course, the power of ‘Rain’s Special Wood Charcoal Skewers’ also contributed, but I won’t elaborate as it might seem petty.
“What is this?”
“Ah, this is ‘Delicious.’”
“The food’s name is ‘Delicious’?”
“The food’s name is ‘Rain’s Special Charcoal Skewers,’ but I thought you might not know the word ‘delicious,’ so…”
“?”
Truth be told, I could never admit that I almost got branded as a lunatic and lost all trust by joking around like that.
Fortunately, an opportunity to regain trust did come, and that was the attack of the Undead on the sixth day, when a blizzard was raging.
“Th-the Undead!”
Harbadonia, affected by the Mountains of Madness, practically coexisted with the Undead, which is why the warriors slept during the day and were active from evening.
Perhaps thanks to growing up in such an environment, the combat style of the beastman warrior squad led by Barlzen was quite impressive.
“They dared to come in droves!”
They simply engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Undead. They just fought, exchanging blows.
A combat style that involved using their massive physiques, sharp teeth, and claws to tear apart the Undead’s limbs, incapacitating them…
Ordinary human soldiers would stab a few times with their spears and swords, then scream and rush to flee from the Undead’s tough vitality, but the beastman warriors were truly experts in fighting the Abyss.
Watching Barlzen pierce an Undead’s heart with his claws, then bite off the head of one that rushed from behind with his maw, made me let out a hollow laugh.
“This isn’t the time to be admiring!”
“Right. Young Lady, don’t use magic.”
“Why?”
“Right now, it’s a chaotic battle, the most difficult situation for a battle mage, where you could accidentally harm our allies.”
“What about you?”
Me? I’ve experienced situations like this to the point of nausea back in my Lin days.
So, no problem.
Fireballs born from my palms soared high into the sky, then split into countless fragments, raining down on the Undead like meteor showers. No problems with coordinate calculations.
*Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh────!*
The embers, precisely aimed at their legs, worsened the Undead's mobility, and the fire that fell to the ground rose as walls, restricting their passage.
“Not bad!”
Proudly, the beastman warriors whistled and gave a thumbs-up.
Casena then used telekinesis to hit an Undead in the face with a stone and shrugged her shoulders as if showing off.
But when no one reacted, she gave them a snobbish, sidelong glance.
“What?! Why aren’t you giving me a thumbs-up?!”
Am I supposed to praise that?
As the beastmen awkwardly scratched their heads, Casena puffed out her reddened cheeks and began to hurl various objects with telekinesis.
“No, stop! Stop it! We were wrong! Here, a thumbs-up!”
That commotion was brief; Alakish, who had gone out to survey the terrain and returned, let out a single burst of flames, completely wiping out the Undead.
They say she's an absolute lifeform, and at times like this, I feel the difference in class as a fellow lifeform… an overwhelming gap that makes it impossible to even feel jealous or frustrated.
Still, perhaps that struggle wasn’t in vain, as trust soared after that day. And one troublesome task increased.
“Teach me fire magic too!”
“Pardon?”
“Teach me fire magic so I can fight like Rain too!”
“You said you didn’t want to be taught before, even when I offered.”
“Just teach me if I ask!”
It was quite annoying, but it was an emergency, so it seemed wise to make Casena a part of our fighting force.
Well then, shall we begin intensive fire magic training?
「Hmm?」
But then something happened that made my teeth grind with envy.
Alakish, who had been watching my training with interest, saw Casena’s bloodline limit and taught her a few Draconic words by breaking them down into rune structures.
Casena even started casting immediately. As she drew runes in the air with her fingertip, intense flames were born, spewing massive heat in all directions.
“Did you see? Did you see?!”
Casena smiled brightly and looked back at me.
I was so surprised I couldn't answer immediately. She was using at most one or two runes, but with power comparable to a 3rd-star magic…
I tried to imitate it roughly, but the runes derived from Draconic were similar to the chant-type Althygma used by witches, so I gave up.
There had never been a day I envied the Page bloodline as much as today. Damn it, I want to learn from a True Dragon too. Where else would I get such an opportunity?
“It seems more powerful than what Rain used last time?!”
“I guess so…”
I replied limply, and Alakish, perhaps thinking I was sulking, gently placed a hand on my head (Alakish sometimes did un-Red Dragon-like things like this) and shook her head.
「She merely has a peculiar talent for handling Draconic, unrelated to the Emitsa bloodline. Ah, or perhaps it is precisely because of that bloodline.」
Excuse me, were you trying to comfort me?
Still, finding that the progress of my unique magic had increased in my journal, which I had casually opened, brought some comfort.
“Wow, 53.8%!”
Day after day passed in this manner, and soon it was the dawn of the tenth day.
Since the beastmen's migration involved disassembling their entire village of tents, the spot where the village had stood was simply empty on the tenth day.
Chief Beduel sprinkled the blood of a walrus caught that morning onto the former village site and offered a short blessing.
“El Duira Tur Quiousveira (May the sun illuminate our path).”
“““Durciel (So we wish it to be).”””
The expressions of the beastmen leaving their homeland, which had been the tribe’s sanctuary for a thousand years, could not be called bright. Even Barlzen occasionally looked back.
I deeply understood the emotions they felt, as I still remembered the day I left the magic tower of the Osarius School and the sense of loss I felt then.
“You’ll be able to come back, Barlzen.”
“Come back? When? How? Now that the Abyss will devour everything.”
“On the day the Abyss finally ends.”
Barlzen scoffed as if dumbfounded, then gently tapped the back of my head as if to say not to worry (it was truly unexpected, so I couldn't help but be greatly surprised), and then commanded the warriors to form an arrowhead defensive formation.
At that moment, I paused and looked north, towards the Mountains of Madness, a mountain range that blasphemously pierced the sky at the end of the world and stretched endlessly in both directions.
‘The Mountains of Madness…’
Why?
The sound of the wind swirling around those wondrous, forbidden snowy mountains sometimes sounded chillingly eerie.
Like the ominously played flute music of ancient times… Each time, the hairs on my back stood on end. But I wasn’t afraid.
– You cannot stop the erosion of the Abyss. You were merely chosen to deliver it.
We’ll see about that.
Despite how I look, I am a Archmage.
I resolutely raised my fist towards the mountain range, then ran towards Casena Page and Pipi, who were waving their arms ahead, urging me to hurry.
***
…Whoooosh…
Somewhere in that mountain range, glowing eerily as if bewitched by a demon, in the spatial-temporal abyss where mortal consciousness cannot reach and immortal eyes cannot perceive.
As the primeval monstrosity writhed in eons of agony and let out bloodcurdling screams, the dreadful Abyss exploded, and the dimension trembled.
The source of this endless suffering lay in the seals of <The Ones That Came> that bound the king's limbs.
The seals were generally chain-shaped. The chains were like the sun, emitting intense heat that could not be looked at directly by mortal eyes, instantly incinerating everything they touched.
Wrapped in thousands of layers of these chains, within the forbidden space-time transcending dimensions, the king had groaned in unceasing torment.
But even these seals could not be eternal before the kings' immortal authority and the absolute Abyss.
Little by little, step by step, slowly.
The power of erosion that had been gnawing at the structure of the chains over a long age, at this very moment, snapped one chain, significantly weakening the fabric of the seal.
Du…
…Abiras…
…………Graam Shar'kas…
Through the rift in space-time where the chain broke, the forgotten king’s decree flowed out, heading towards the mid-slopes of the mountain range, barrenly covered in ancient perpetual snow.
The absolute thought, strangely swirling and tinging the clouds with complex radiance, reached a boy who was impaled on an ice wall, his heart pierced by a wedge of light.
As the thought rushed in, the wedge of light became darkly eroded, eventually lost its power, and shattered into countless light sources.
「…」
This land was an untouched snowscape where only isolation, desolation, and the silence of eternal demise had lingered for a thousand years.
But the moment the boy’s eyes, fallen in the snow, half-opened, the ultimate Abyss surged, and the screams of all manner of beasts, crying madly and fleeing, shook the mountains.
Meanwhile, within the body of the boy who quietly rose, something like cobwebs wove blackly, instantly restoring all the tissues and organs around his pierced heart.
「Eurtiema, ron Shar'kas al broos.」
The primordial language the boy respectfully declared while prostrating himself towards the thought can be interpreted as follows:
O King.
Your Shar’kas is here.
If anyone who lived in the age of gods had witnessed this desperate sight, they would have fled with all their might, screaming:
It has awakened, it has awakened.
The Spider’s Baekdoryeong (Lord) Shar’kas…