50. A Noble Soul (8)
Meanwhile, at the point when Magic Society Chairman Aryumun and Namuhwaran’s elder, Suhaksan, encountered one another.
A small clearing at the far edge of the World Tree.
Chirp, chirp—!
This clearing, where sparrows chirped and leaves rustled softly in the breeze, was tucked away in such a remote corner that people rarely came looking for it.
“Khrrgh….”
And in the secluded rear of that clearing.
Someone lay sprawled on an old, weathered bench, dead drunk.
With nothing but a single sheet of newspaper thrown over himself, unable to even gather his senses in his stupor, he looked utterly pathetic.
“Ahjussi.”
Apparently people did come by this deserted place now and then, because a girl with pointed ears happened to pass by and, unable to just leave him there, spoke to him.
“Khuhhh….”
But there was no answer.
“Ahjussi!”
“Ghk!”
When the girl shouted once more, the newspaper dropped to the ground with a flap, revealing the man’s face.
The scraggly beard growing in sparse patches like scattered pepper and his tangled curly hair made him look like the very picture of an unemployed drifter. His round ears showed that he was human, and his shabby clothes proved that he was a beggar.
“Whaaat….”
He scratched roughly at his head with hollow, dark-circled eyes and pushed himself upright. The girl pinched her nose shut and took a step back.
“Ugh, you smell like alcohol….”
“Mmm. And what are you?”
“What about you, Ahjussi?”
“Me? I’m….”
Only then did the man raise one hand.
It was still smeared all over with blue-stained liquid.
“What’s that?”
“Blood.”
“Blood? Blood is red.”
“Maybe for you elves.”
“Human blood is red too. You’re human, Ahjussi.”
“Me? Do I look human to you?”
When the girl nodded, the man finally burst into a hoarse laugh.
Did that innocent girl in front of him know? That the identity of the blue blood on his hand was, in fact, the fresh blood of a mad dark mage who had spent more than ten years selecting only virgins to slaughter.
‘Well… he was the sort who deserved to die.’
His name was the Dark Mage Slayer, Cheollibeon.
Though Cheollibeon himself was a dark mage, he lived as one fleeing from dark mages.
Was it because he was a slayer of dark mages?
Not at all. That was just a hobby of his, and for weak dark mages to be weeded out was simply the natural order of things, so there was no particular problem there.
However…
Long ago, he had challenged the Dark Mage King and been defeated, and that was why he now lived as a fugitive.
A dark mage who challenges the king cannot return alive.
He, a weakling, had dared to covet the seat of the strong, and the price for that should have been death—but disgracefully, he had fled.
So it was only natural that even now he still lived unable to show his face.
“Hm, it’s quiet here.”
He was a little tired from the intense battle he had fought recently, but fortunately, there were no pursuers here.
He was already sick of the bothersome act of staining his hands with blood, so it worked out well that he could rest for a bit.
“It’s always quiet here.”
“Well… not in that sense. But it is quiet. You don’t have any friends, do you?”
When Cheollibeon asked with a crooked grin, the girl shrieked.
“I-I do!”
“Who?”
“Ch-Chico….”
“That your family mutt’s name?”
“It’s a cat!”
“Puhahaha! A cat is your friend? What a funny little brat. Elves live for hundreds of years, and you’re going to spend all that time playing alone—”
Shiver—!
As Cheollibeon cackled and talked to the girl, his senses suddenly went taut.
Crack—!
At that instant, a massive rock wall rose from the ground and enclosed both Cheollibeon and the girl in the shape of a dome.
“Wah?!”
As the sunlight was blocked out in an instant, the girl fell backward onto the ground with a thump.
“D-did you do that, Ahjussi…?”
“Well… yes, I guess.”
It was indeed Cheollibeon’s power.
But it was not something Cheollibeon had willed.
The earth had sensed a threat and acted of its own accord to protect him.
‘So that’s… battle spirit projection.’
It was a very peculiar kind of technique, used only by a very small number of mages even in Aiter—too structured to call it not-magic, yet lacking any incantation, making it hard to call it magic either.
‘A battle-spirit projection broad enough to cover the entire World Tree.’
After dismissing the rock wall, Cheollibeon cracked his stiff neck from side to side.
‘…So they know I’m here. Looks like someone troublesome showed up.’
Since he had a pretty good idea who it was, the corners of Cheollibeon’s eyes sank.
‘Aryumun Bleusun. What a pain.’
The thought that that damned mage had chased him all the way here made his head begin to throb on its own.
“Haa, I could really go for some alcohol.”
And Aryumun was not the only problem he had to worry about.
‘That bastard… where the hell is he, anyway?’
Chasing a single dark mage all the way to Namuhwaran’s Orchard had been one thing, but once he got here, the signal had cut off exactly clean, and even after days of searching he had still not found him.
Then again, after staying here this long, it was only natural that a heavyweight pursuer like Aryumun would come after him right away.
For more than several decades now, Cheollibeon had lived as a fugitive and had never once stayed in the same place for more than a day.
“Hm, I think I know where he is… but man. I wonder if it’s really okay to fight.”
Cheollibeon slowly lifted his gaze to the sky.
A dense blue tree canopy covering the entire heavens. This gigantic World Tree, towering up so high it pierced even the clouds, possessed a will of its own, and even Cheollibeon found the idea of rampaging here deeply burdensome.
‘Though I can’t say I like how strangely quiet Lord World Tree is, either….’
Whatever the reason, there was no harm in being careful.
“…Ahjussi.”
“Hm?”
Lowering his gaze, he saw that same girl from before looking up at him with eyes full of curiosity.
“Ahjussi… are you loved by the earth?”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“I’ve never seen a mage who handles the ground the way you do. I can hear it. The earth likes you. It moved of its own will.”
“Are you going to keep saying weird things?”
“It’s true.”
“Enough. Get lost.”
“Huh?”
After Cheollibeon said that and waved a hand dismissively as he started walking off somewhere, the girl reached out in alarm.
No matter that it was a clearing, this was still a branch of the World Tree. If someone took a wrong turn onto a strange path, they could easily fall.
“That way is a cliff—!”
The girl hurried after him shouting, but it was already too late.
“…Huh?”
She thought it was too late.
And yet, from the tree trunk, a thick pillar of earth was summoned forth and became his stepping stone, forming a path for him.
That clumsy, crooked, twisting pillar of brown earth clearly did not look like something shaped by human will, but something nature itself had thought up and created.
“Waaah….”
With shining eyes, the girl watched Cheollibeon’s receding back.
And she imagined that if a spirit of the earth truly existed…
it might look something like that.
After that day, I spent three full days in Iphanel’s garden before suddenly realizing that I had forgotten something.
It was something very important, and yet at the same time trivial.
‘Attendance!’
Today was Monday.
A school day.
I, who had been meditating in Iphanel’s garden, hurriedly bolted out of the garden, and at that exact moment a white owl that had been circling in the sky came wobbling down and smacked into my head.
— Kyaak!
“Ghk!”
The owl screamed at the same time I did, and I barely managed to catch it by the ankle as it tumbled painfully toward the ground.
“Ugh, my head….”
It was the first time I had seen one in person, but I had a good idea what it was.
‘Stella Safety Management System.’
If a Stella student went out on a mission or for some other reason and then failed to return, a magical owl would follow the tracking device attached to their uniform and come after them.
These things were endowed with stealth magic above 7-Class and space-penetration magic, so no matter how great the distance, they could move instantly, and even if something happened, they almost never revealed themselves.
The fact that I could see this owl…
might partly be because my senses had improved too much, but probably also because this owl was just kind of stupid.
— Kku… kkukku….
The owl made a strange noise, lifted its head again, stared straight at me, and then spoke in a booming voice.
— Baek Yuseol! Student Baek Yuseol! Since you failed to return by Sunday without special cause, demerit points will be assigned!
“No, there were circumstances to all this—”
— However! If you are currently in danger, press 111!
— If you are in a special situation that prevents you from returning, please press 112!
“Where exactly am I supposed to press?”
The owl spread its wings.
Flap!
There, mounted beneath them, was something resembling the number keypad of a telephone dial.
After a brief hesitation, I pressed the 112 dial, and with a hiccup-like sound, the owl shot high into the sky and headed off somewhere.
It would probably return to Stella Academy and report that I was in a situation where I could not presently come back.
“…Did that take care of it?”
It really was a good system, but it was still inconvenient.
Part of me wished Alterisha would hurry up and invent something convenient like a cell phone.
‘…Though for that, she’d probably have to invent satellites or transmission towers first.’
After finally catching my breath, I sat down on the ground.
Saaaaa….
The blowing wind seemed to awaken every cell in my body into sharper sensitivity.
Only three days. It had only been three days,
and yet the person I was then and the person I was now felt like two completely different people.
It wasn’t as though I had suddenly gained some dramatic superhuman strength.
But it was true that all of my stats had grown evenly across the board, so I supposed I was allowed to feel a little proud.
‘This is the true value of Crimson Spring March.’
Thinking back on it, I really had been stupid.
In the game, since the Blessings of the Twelve Divine Moons could not be applied creatively, I had thought of their value as nothing more than something like “extra elemental effects.”
Blue Winter December only increased resistance to ice-type attributes, and Crimson Spring March was just for increasing mental force.
But…
had I not already felt it several times by now?
Kkotseorin, who had been granted an excessive amount of the Blessing of Crimson Spring March, possessed the ability to enchant everyone around her, and I, too, had been able to use that blessing creatively to read other people’s psychology.
To think I had let the power of the Twelve Divine Moons—a power with such endless potential—go to waste all this time.
‘…Right now, the one I need to make use of first is still Silver Age November.’
Even in the game, it had been one of the abilities whose secrets were least revealed, and no player had ever reached the top rank and unlocked its true power.
But for me, that might not be so difficult.
A game character could do no more than grow through pure grinding, but I was in reality, so I could feel it and use it with my actual body.
[Blessing of Silver Age November Lv.1]
- Sensory perception increased by 40%
- Mental force increased by 12%
- Ability not yet unlocked.
‘Tick-tock, the silver time that flows away.’
What a ridiculous skill.
To think it was one of the most special among the Twelve Divine Moons, a blessing born from the power of time itself, and yet all it did was grant me a few stats.
Even in the original game, it had always looked like this, so I had simply shrugged and not paid much attention.
I was an idiot.
If I had only thought about it a little more deeply, I would have tried to unlock that unopened ability.
How? The question brushed through my mind for only an instant, but it honestly did not seem all that difficult.
As long as Crimson Spring March was with me, self-reflection was not especially hard.
‘…Staying just a little longer should be fine.’
Kkotseorin had probably returned to Elder Suhaksan by now and was discussing countermeasures going forward.
Now that we had found out that Iphanel was the cause, she might already be preparing magic to purify this place.
Then what should I do?
‘Since I’ve already missed school anyway, one more day should be fine.’
There’s a strangely mystical phenomenon where, right before you’re late for school, your heart is in a panic—but once you’re already late, you somehow feel calm instead.
That was exactly how I felt right now.
Maybe it was because I had skipped the whole day entirely,
but it felt as if I had just let everything go.
So just one day.
I decided to remain in Iphanel’s garden for just one more day.
Two days should be fine, right?
— Read only on MugenCodex —
