Book 7 Chapter 9

Chapter 158

[Dear Master Rin,]

She must have repeated reading the beginning of the letter, supposedly written 27 years ago, at least seven times. The letters blurred and fractured, making it impossible to read.

It was the same handwriting as before.

Although it had become more graceful and mature than when I first taught her to write, her habits and quirks remained unchanged.

[I write a letter to you today, Master. When I wondered why you wrote letters to the Magic Tower every day, Master Friede explained it to me like this:

A letter is an expression in writing of certain feelings that can only be contained at a specific moment, in a particular period.

But it is incredibly perplexing.

Because no matter what I did on any given day, what I went through, whether it was spring, summer, autumn, or winter, the feelings I harbored for you, Master, and the words I wanted to say were always the same.]

Stopping mid-read, I rolled the scroll back up and sat alone for a long time in the sultry night breeze of a summer day.

I just sat there, alone.

Barely letting out shallow breaths, it was only after Pipi flew in through the wide-open window that I realized I was crying.

"Rin, don't cry, Rin, don't cry."

Pipi flapped its bandaged wings in front of my face, and I quickly wiped away a tear, shaking my head.

"I'm not crying, Pipi. Just for a moment… dust got in my eye."

"Dust, dust, dust."

I laughed miserably, rested my cheek on Pipi's head, and it gently pecked my cheek.

"Tureina wrote a letter."

"What did it say, what did it say, what did it say?"

"I'm not going to read it."

A letter is something exchanged by those separated by time and space. I can go meet her now. Because we live in the same time, the same space. So.

"I'll go meet her in person and talk to her. Then I'll read it to Pipi too."

Once is enough, a farewell through letters. I suddenly remembered the Dean Auntie's face. And the students from the Osarius faction too.

"I don't know if Tureina will recognize me like you do…"

She seemed to not remember not only Pipi but even the texture of my soul. How would she react if I said, "It's been a while"?

She's not an easy opponent, to the point where I couldn't use the magic that made Pipi recognize me (she's on par with me 300 years ago), and now I can't even use water magic.

And… when I meet Tureina again, who has committed heinous acts, will I really be able to scold her? Strictly speaking, wasn't it all because I made an absurd promise?

'Lady Yerisera, you're leaving it to my judgment? What exactly do you want me to do?'

I thought about what Dean Auntie or Rista would have said if someone else had been trapped in ice and I had become obsessed with dark magic.

All night long, I sat with Pipi on a hill where the summer breeze gently caressed the trees, grass, flowers, and our hair, gazing at the night sky and thinking.

The answer did not come to me until the moment the night ended, but the twilight, as always, mercilessly and precisely illuminated the world.

"Hey."

And as the birds woke up and chirped at dawn, Rista appeared…

No, the hair brushing the wind was golden, and her eyes were a transparent turquoise, like carved jade. It wasn't Rista, it was Myria.

Even in a simple tunic without any adornment, her beauty was exquisite, like a spring flower. Just like Rista.

"She's the one who saved us in <Aurelinople>."

Before I could feel relief at seeing her safe, I sensed the presence of someone next to her who felt less like an old acquaintance and more like an ill-fated connection.

"They say he was originally Ruzaihyen's chief dark wizard, but I don't really know about that. If it weren't for him, I would have died. He's also the one who gave me and Pipi first aid with his spells."

He was a tall young man wearing the dark blue robe characteristic of a dark wizard and an iron mask with no distinguishing features.

I couldn't see his face because of the iron mask, but I could definitely feel something else.

An intense magical power that sent thrilling chills down my spine, and a massive venomous aura that made Pipi instinctively spread its fiery wings… I know this energy.

"You, you are…?"

A voice, born of complex emotions that I couldn't define myself, surged forth. It was a voice filled with both welcome and perplexity, and an uncontrollable fury.

Did he read those complex thoughts?

The fellow let out his characteristic annoying sneer, then pushed back his robe hood, unfastened the iron mask, and revealed his face.

"Hmph. Seeing as you recognized me at once, perhaps that flattery about me being the most respected wizard in the world wasn't a lie after all?"

In the dawn sunlight, as his dark blue hair swayed, exquisite features, as if cut directly from a painting, were revealed.

I know this guy.

The name of this outrageous fellow, who could be said to have brought a grand finale to my last tumultuous school days, is…

"…Balensidis?"

* * *

In the area around Mount Divine Fire (神火峰) of the Red Mountains, dark clouds had never gathered since the Age of Origins. The temperature was always too high for eternal snow to cover it.

This was due to the sacred heat circulating around the mountaintop, but now, only chillingly dark clouds lingered above it.

The dark clouds, composed of a deep abyss, writhed like worms, spreading wider and wider, severing the world from the light of the sun and moon.

[Do you see the landscape of that beautiful old world?]

The ethereal body of a girl, whose form was constructed from dark blue shimmering haze, walked through the grand archway of the Belrakior (Blessing of Fire) Temple and spoke.

[Most humans are living peacefully without any particular doubts. Unaware that this world is not its original form.]

The girl was speaking to a red-haired baby, bound by chains on the temple's Palantir altar, revealing its fangs.

"A-gbooh."

On the altar, an abstruse and complex magical array was drawn, painful to the eyes, with the baby placed at the 'entrance' of the central circle and a frozen boy at the 'exit'.

[That world was a truly perfect world. A world where no one suffered, where the sorrow of parting didn't exist. A world where all humans lived freely according to their instincts!]

"A-ghbaaat!"

[It was such a perfect world, but then lackeys calling themselves "Light" came pouring in! Then they mumbled something about wanting to free you from your shackles…]

The girl, who had been gazing contentedly at the dark clouds gradually eroding the blue sky stretched across the horizon, spun around.

[Humans, with only their primitive brains, fell for that temptation. In the end, the world changed so unreasonably.]

"Ar-eut?"

[But do you know what's funny? Humans want to become like the old kings and nobles. Do you know that all the noble titles in the current Empire are directly taken from the old era? And what about the widespread slavery on the Adrion Continent?]

"Eroo!"

[You dragons, who received orders from the Light, wanted to implant a new civilization, but humans are returning to the civilization of the old era.]

The girl approached the baby with bouncy steps, then caressed its face with a gesture imbued with chilling killing intent.

[It's the instinct of regression. Regression. The world you forcibly, coercively changed is trying to return to its original state.]

As that hand gesture slowly began to tighten its grip around its windpipe, the baby dragon cried out roughly and struggled, but the chains' binding could not be overcome by an infant's strength.

"Abaat, Abaat, Abaat, A-baaat!"

[Look outside. The day your era ends, the era will return to its original state. The future will sink back into the abyss. Just as it did in the past. Sweeping away all your stench that has deeply permeated this world—]

"—Don't you dare touch it."

Then, cigarette smoke, flying in from somewhere, roughly wrapped around the ethereal body's wrist and pulled it back. The arm detached from the ethereal body.

[Oh, right~ This was an important tool for Tureina's wish.]

Elamas, the youngest of the Black Church's three pillars, giggled, but Tureina's expression, with a pipe in her mouth, was even gloomier than usual.

- Tureina, Tureina, Tureina.

That parrot… what was it?

No, who was it?

It felt like someone I shouldn't forget, but I couldn't remember… All I felt was a sense of loss filling my soul, and an inexplicable guilt for what I had done back then.

[Oh dear~ This looks like a problem.]

Perhaps seeing traces of chaos, perplexity, and hesitation in her eyes, Elamas approached and placed a hand on Tureina's cheek.

[Tureina, the things you've done with us so far have been tremendous miracles in this world. You changed a century alongside Big Brother Zernix.]

"Let go of my hand."

[But now you're thinking of backing out? You decided to take the first step in correcting a world fallen into chaos, and if you give up, it will disrupt what I intended to do, and then the world will remain in confusion, won't it?]

Unlike when she touched the baby dragon, it seemed like a very gentle gesture, yet the dark, swirling obsession in her deep eyes, and her fanatically incessant muttering voice, were terror itself.

"I told you to let go of my hand."

The cigarette smoke fiercely diffused, then twisted and tore off the ethereal body's limbs. The dissipating ethereal body smiled broadly.

[Seeing that this cruel nature remains unchanged, there's no great need to worry… but if you ever think of disappointing me, you'd better be prepared.]

Only after the overwhelmingly oppressive ethereal mist disappeared did Tureina take a deep, shaky breath and wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.

Then she turned her head toward where she felt a gaze, toward the baby dragon looking up at her with innocent eyes.

The baby dragon, with a little 'awoo', seemed to tilt its head, then widened its eyes as if realizing something, pressed its chained hands together in prayer, and closed its eyes. Just as the boy who once looked at Tureina's statue had done with sad eyes.

"Are you praying for blessings for me?"

Tureina asked as if amused.

Perhaps because she was once a shaman who lived in the Age of Dragons, there was still a trace of respect for the Dragonkin beneath her animosity towards the Mad Dragon.

"You truly are a gentle race from birth. Withdraw your hands. I am not worthy of such blessings."

"Awoo?"

"I, Tureina, am a wicked woman. I killed thousands of powerless and innocent people without any hesitation."

"Aah?"

"Was there any great cause for it? No, there wasn't. It was entirely for my own petty wish."

The woman's eyes, murmuring so sadly, were directed not at the baby dragon, but at the face of the boy lying beside it.

She had never forgotten.

She could never forget.

To the being she had tried not to forget, no matter what, but now had mostly forgotten everything else about, except that face.

"Just for a small wish… the first and last I've ever harbored in my life."

* * *

"They say if you're cursed, you live long. I wonder how much cursing one has to endure to survive a fight with Tureina."

Balensidis said.

He brazenly extended his hand as if to congratulate our reunion, but after hesitating, I stood up and instead planted my fist directly into his face.

And then I was flustered.

It was a strike delivered before I had fully recovered, my balance still wobbly, and without proper force. I had naturally expected him to dodge, but Balensidis took the punch directly.

"Hey, what's wrong all of a sudden?"

Myria, who had been blinking blankly, approached in surprise, but Balensidis spat blood and raised a hand to stop her.

"It's fine. A reunion with this guy is actually normal if it's like this."

How dare he show that brazen face to me? Because of him, what happened that day, and what I had to go through.

I couldn't say that.

There was no way I could say it.

How could I, who hadn't even sorted out my feelings about what to do with Tureina, condemn this guy who was her subordinate? On top of that, this fellow saved me twice.

"You, you were alive, Balensidis…"

For some reason, which I couldn't even understand myself, my voice trembled as I spoke.

No, his left arm… Was it because I saw the sleeve fluttering emptily where his left arm had been, the one he himself blew off to let me go that day?

So he didn't die because his betrayal wasn't discovered back then.

"It seems your expectations were off. I'm indescribably happy to disappoint you."

Balensidis displayed the quiet smile he had worn once before, at the school festival. I bit my lip, suppressing a hollow laugh, and said.

"Yes, thank you for disappointing me, you bastard…"

Without needing any explanation of his background, this guy is a scoundrel of the highest order. He is that publicly, and yet personally, I couldn't bring myself to hate him. There's no need for me to explain why either.

An ambiguous relationship where I couldn't welcome our reunion, nor could I draw a sword and treat him as an enemy. That was the distance between him and me.

Standing awkwardly in an indescribable atmosphere, I was the first to speak.

"Was the 'master' you mentioned back then Tureina?"

"Yes."

"And that's why you were proficient in both spellcraft and magic."

"Precisely."

"But why did you betray Tureina?"

"Is that a question of whether I betrayed her because of you?"

"Half right, half wrong."

"It was a decisive catalyst, true. But this too is half right and half wrong."

"I'm not in the mood for word games."

"Me neither. You may not believe it, but I was under her from the start with the intention to betray her."

Rather than celebrating a reunion, we exchanged dry words, and I couldn't help but look at Myria. What is this?

"It was Balensidis here who was providing information about Tureina and Ruzaihyen, whose whereabouts had been unknown since the Black Spot incident."

The clear answer came from Yuliana, who appeared with a pipe in her mouth. Balensidis slightly bowed his head in deference.

"You said you were priestesses… were you that close?"

"No, that person and I have different purposes. We only recently found out we were priestesses of each other."

"Purposes?"

"I am the 'root' Tureina cultivated for secret work. On the other hand, that one is the 'flower bud' she raised for external symbolism."

Tureina's dual actions of raising excellent disciples in both light and darkness seemed to have made even those involved scratch their heads.

"This guy is much darker inside than he looks. Nobody knows what he's truly up to."

As I poked Balensidis's temple with my index finger in warning, Yuliana blew cigarette smoke between Balensidis and me, separating us.

"I couldn't fully trust him either, so I placed a geas on him. He accepted it docilely."

It was doubtful whether a mere geas could be effective against Balensidis's power. But then again, the other party was also a shaman with immense spiritual power…

"It's my guess, but I don't think Tureina ever intended to completely destroy the world."

Yuliana continued, exhaling cigarette smoke with a bitter expression.

"Just seeing how she personally nurtured someone like me to become a shaman… if she had wanted the world's destruction, she would have built a world full of human trash."

"…"

"From the very beginning, all she ever wanted was to resurrect Rin and live with her. That's just what morphed into an evil obsession after encountering the abyss."

I recalled Tureina.

Her face, laughing brightly as she called out, 'Master.'

"Anyway, Balensidis, can you really fight your old comrades?"

"It won't be a problem, as I never considered them comrades. If you think I might betray you, you can simply activate the geas and kill me, can't you?"

When Balensidis replied in a mineral-like tone, Yuliana smiled meaningfully.

"Indeed, would a mere geas kill you? I don't think so. It might inflict a little damage, though."

Yuliana also seemed to have a rough idea of Balensidis's skill.

As mentioned before, even by Rin's standards, this guy is an incredible master, and without needing further explanation, he was used by Tureina as her chief dark wizard.

Balensidis let out a low sigh and touched the spell formula of the geas etched on his neck.

"I merely saw new possibilities in dark magic, the power to spark a revolution of equality in this currently stagnating world… I have no intention of unleashing the old nobles."

Then what was the Black Spot incident?

I was about to retort sarcastically but closed my mouth. At that time, he must have been nothing more than one of Tureina's pawns.

We cannot go against the current now… Was that what he meant back then?

"Shaman-nim."

It was around that time that witches in red pointed hats appeared from the direction of the sanctuary.

"Everyone is gathered."

Yuliana, who had nodded, gave me a deep look before turning to move in that direction.

"So, you've decided what to do about Tureina, haven't you?"