Chapter 155. I Am Your Downfall
The reason I finally asked about “Fairies’ Dance” was because it was the day before we were set to arrive at the academy.
“So what is Fairies’ Dance, anyway?”
“……After days of keeping your mouth shut, that’s all you have to say?”
“Shh. Your voice is too loud.”
“…….”
I hunched my shoulders and checked the area.
A dim evening.
The mad dog had left his seat to eat.
Ah—when I say “mad dog,” I mean Shine.
I have no clue what the hell that bastard brought out of the Sword God’s Tomb, but even during the journey, the petty picking never stopped…
‘There’s no mad dog like him.’
The reason I’d kept my mouth shut these past few days was to avoid giving the mad dog an opening.
It’s absolutely not because the stuff in Lortel left my mood twisted. Really. It was to avoid provoking the mad dog.
So, after scanning the surroundings for a while—
Once I confirmed Shine had gone quite far, I opened my mouth again.
“So, about that….”
“Fairies’ Dance.”
“Yeah. I was just wondering what it is that you’re so absorbed in.”
To be honest, things like Fairies’ Dance or a mana supersaturation phenomenon weren’t exactly my interests.
Adventurers might get itchy over mysterious phenomena like that, but to me, it was just an unusual natural occurrence.
Like hail falling in summer, or flowers blooming in winter—an “Huh, that’s kind of odd” sort of thing.
But watching Parun made me curious.
‘What is Fairies’ Dance that he’s that absorbed?’
Parun is the kind of guy who can devour most magic studies books in one sitting, so it was strange to see him staring at a stack of documents that weren’t even that thick—for days.
Parun stared at me with an unreadable look, then folded the documents away and lifted his head.
“If I explain it purely as a phenomenon, it’s a pleasant spectacle.”
“A spectacle?”
“Yes. Mana (Mana) becomes supersaturated and light halos rise over the lake. Because it looks like fairies are dancing, they call it ‘Fairies’ Dance.’”
“……? Supersaturated to the point mana becomes visible?”
“It’s not that. The light halos aren’t mana—they’re a phenomenon that occurs as mana becomes supersaturated.”
In other words, as mana becomes supersaturated, some magical phenomenon manifests.
But… so what? What does that even mean?
“What matters here is that Fairies’ Dance might not be a natural phenomenon. It’ll be faster to show you.”
Parun straightened his posture and formed a hand seal.
Then he muttered words I couldn’t understand, and I tilted my head in confusion.
If the surrounding mana was reacting, he was casting a spell—but it wasn’t common to see a mage of Parun’s caliber actually forming hand seals and reciting a spell.
And yet, it didn’t feel like he was casting high-tier magic either.
A little later, Parun finished casting.
“Now, look.”
“That’s….”
Parun stared at the translucent cube floating in front of us and continued his explanation.
“It’s a barrier spell. Embarrassingly crude, but it should be enough to explain the phenomenon. Now, I’ll push magic power into the inside of this barrier.”
Soon, a blue mist began to fill the cube.
The cube became completely packed with the blue mist, and little by little, the color deepened—past blue—until it looked dark, like the depths of the sea.
Around then, Parun spoke.
“It’s a barrier that makes magic power visible. This time, you fill it with magic power.”
Without complaint, I poured magic power into the cube.
A mage like Parun shouldn’t have trouble filling a cube that size, but it seemed he had limits because he was also maintaining the barrier.
Anyway, after some time—
Kkigig— kkigik!
The cube began to tremble as if an earthquake had struck.
The magic power was reaching saturation and couldn’t endure.
“Are you trying to artificially create a mana supersaturation phenomenon inside the barrier?”
“Not inside the barrier.”
“……?”
I tilted my head and continued feeding magic power in. At the same time, doubt rose.
‘Not inside?’
So how long did I keep pouring in magic power?
The barrier trembled so hard it started cracking—crack, crack. That was when Parun’s voice came.
“Stop.”
I stopped injecting magic power and silently watched.
Parun closed his eyes, formed another hand seal, and recited a spell while manipulating the barrier formula—then, right then, magic power began to gush out of the barrier.
Kugugugu—
A temporarily overflowing stream of magic power.
Once it escaped the barrier, the visualization effect unraveled, so the flow couldn’t be seen with the naked eye—but in terms of sensation, that violent momentum was captured vividly.
And then.
“……Huh?”
Now I understood what Parun meant by “not inside the barrier.”
Sasasak, sasak—
Around the barrier that was spewing magic power.
Light sparkled.
At first, one… two… grains of light flickered intermittently, but soon they scattered wildly and multiplied.
After some time—
“Hoo—”
With a sigh, Parun dispelled the barrier and lifted his eyelids.
“This is the true nature of Fairies’ Dance.”
I stared at that rapture for a moment, then looked away.
As if it had all been a mirage, the light halos were already gone. Only the campfire glow remained, and Parun’s voice settled softly into the space.
“Of course, this is only a hypothesis as well. Fairies’ Dance isn’t a phenomenon that occurs at a fixed location.”
“They said the location changes every time it happens?”
“Yes. There’s one commonality: the place of occurrence is a lake. But no one knows which lake it will occur at. And one more thing.”
“……?”
Parun built another barrier.
This time, it was faster than before.
“It’s a spatial distortion barrier. It hides and conceals a specific area. What do you see?”
I quietly looked at the empty air.
At a glance with the naked eye, you couldn’t even tell a barrier existed, but when you examined it through sensation, it felt wrong.
“The flow is strange.”
“And?”
“If you look closely, you can see ripples too. Like… it’s as if there’s a sheet of transparent glass.”
“Yes. We call that a singular point in space. But in the Amera region, those singular points are not visible.”
“Then maybe it’s not a barrier?”
“It could be.”
Parun nodded calmly.
A moment later, he spoke.
“There are many competing hypotheses as to why that happens only in the lakes of the Amera region. But even if it isn’t a barrier, the prevailing view is that it may not be a natural phenomenon.”
There could be many kinds of causes.
Ancient ruins, or some item not yet revealed to the world.
In other words—
“That’s why it has value for research. Of course, it won’t be easy. Other famous houses have researched it for hundreds of years and still couldn’t uncover it.”
By now, even I could grasp the meaning.
‘If it’s a barrier, it’s discovering a new horizon of magic, and even if it’s something else, it’s still worth researching.’
Even if, contrary to expectation, it was a natural phenomenon, that was fine.
That would mean discovering yet another law we didn’t know.
Hearing it laid out like this, Fairies’ Dance was a topic that even I found fairly intriguing.
It wasn’t that I wanted to dig into it like other mages or adventurers, but I was just as curious about what it really was.
So I asked the last question that had been lingering in my mind.
“But why is it called Fairies’ Dance? Just based on how it looks, it feels like it could’ve had a lot of other names. Is it because of the fairy legend?”
“No idea. That part isn’t my concern.”
“Hm. I see.”
As expected—Parun.
The moment the conversation strays even a little from magic, he closes the window on it.
Ignoring all mystery thoroughly, caring only about magical interpretation—that’s the model mage of this era.
That was when Parun spoke.
“Are you interested? If you are, we can push back delivering the paper a bit. It’s a phenomenon that happens once every few decades, so seeing it in person wouldn’t be bad.”
It was thoughtful consideration.
But I lightly shook my head.
“I still haven’t obtained the wyvern.”
In Lortel this time, I realized it clearly.
Meeting Demian… sure, set that aside. From Henji and the Hall of Trials, to Headmaster sunbae and the Great Forest—
That chain of misfortune, too neatly interlocked, wasn’t coincidence.
So until I got the wyvern, I needed to lie low for a while.
And didn’t the Young Head of House say as much?
‘That other famous magic houses are already moving quickly?’
If so, would Deculan really stay out of something this interesting? In my view, absolutely not.
If those bastards have nothing to eat, they’ll dig through a back-alley trash bin to find something.
Of course, they don’t necessarily eat everything they find. First, they grab it and think.
Do we eat this, or not?
And if they don’t eat it?
‘They throw it away so no one else can have it.’
Anyway, even if it wasn’t Deculan, getting tangled up with other famous houses and having incidents and accidents happen wasn’t good.
If I can avoid it, I should avoid it.
“Then I guess I’ll have to go to Amera Lake alone. It’s been a while—I’ll toss the assistants some work.”
“…….”
So it wasn’t consideration?
It was bait he tossed so he could go to Amera Lake himself.
“Then what about the Infinite Chain?”
“I’ve grasped the basics, but it’s still lacking. Still, I should be able to finish it during the break. But….”
Parun’s eyes sharpened as he looked at me.
“Why are you so fixated on the Infinite Chain? Do you have something you need to find? Like a Grimoire, perhaps….”
So the suspicion still hadn’t faded.
I let out a deep sigh at Parun’s piercing stare.
“Anyway, you’re saying you’ll finish it during the break?”
“Yes. If you need to use it, tell me then. If the compensation is appropriate, I’ll help.”
“Sure….”
Anyway, let’s postpone using the Infinite Chain for now. What mattered right now wasn’t the Infinite Chain—it was the New Thousand Origin Art and the Circle.
Before the mad dog returned, I started cleaning up my spot.
I pulled my sleeping bag over myself and gently closed my eyes.
Shine returned a little later.
“What is it? I feel like I heard the primitive thing’s voice.”
“I have no idea.”
At some point, Parun was speaking casually to Shine. But Shine didn’t seem to notice, and without caring, he checked my presence.
Like a dog tracking prey, he examined me from this angle and that—his chilly breath tickling my hair.
So how long did he look?
‘Did he leave?’
Just as I was about to crack my eyes open—
Shine’s cold voice rang right next to my ear.
“Primitive thing, how long do you think you can keep avoiding it? Remember this. Sometimes, there are things you cannot avoid. And we call that fate.”
“…….”
“I am your downfall.”
With that, the mad dog turned away.
I rolled slightly and swallowed hard.
‘……Damn it.’
I need to get to House Brando as soon as possible—seriously.
Whether Shine is my downfall or not, one thing was certain: he was sharpening his blade hard.
So that chilling night passed.
And we were able to enter the city of Hazen.
