52. Field Training (6)
Hawol Plains, Lotus Inn.
At this mysterious inn—built atop a gigantic lotus blooming in the sky and serving as a landmark for weary adventurers—there was one gambler who used to come around like a regular customer.
“You mean that white-haired old geezer? Lately he hasn’t shown up at all.”
“Who knows. Every time he came, he swept the whole table clean, so honestly it’s better this way.”
“At this rate, I hope he never comes back. He completely ruins the game.”
No—
there had once been a gambler who used to come.
For some reason, however, he had completely vanished of late, and no one could find any trace of him. But in a place where gambling had become a form of entertainment, no one felt any desire to search for the whereabouts of a gambler who won every game he played.
“My lady. It seems he’s nowhere to be found. After that day, his trail vanished completely.”
It had already been two weeks since the search began for the gambler presumed to be Silver Age November.
With no progress in the situation, they had finally resorted to asking around at the Lotus Inn as a last line of hope, but as expected, no one knew anything.
“……That’s troublesome.”
Zeliel touched her lips and stared at the inn with an expression stiff as stone.
The people around her furtively hid away their cards and dice, watching her mood.
It was Zeliel herself who had once swept away every single piece of vice-ridden gambling in this place, so although gambling had later become legal to a certain degree, people still felt the need to be cautious around her.
“Let’s move somewhere else. I think everyone’s feeling self-conscious because of me.”
“……Ah! Yes, ma’am!”
The mages following her looked slightly startled when such unexpected words came out of Zeliel’s mouth.
Until now, Zeliel had never cared in the least about others, and yet now words considerate of other people flowed naturally from her lips.
Returning to the exclusive VIP room of the Byeol Cloud Company on the top floor of the Lotus Inn, Zeliel sat down at her desk and let out a sigh.
Had it been around a month already?
Ever since the day Silver Age November had appeared to save Baek Yuseol, she had been tracing his whereabouts steadily, trying to uncover where he had gone—but no matter what she did, she could not find him.
It was strange.
Up until recently, she had at least been able to discover some trace of him.
Silver Age November liked living mixed in among ordinary people, and if one simply asked around a little, he was not impossible to find.
And yet recently, from a certain moment onward, Silver Age November had vanished completely.
Zeliel opened the lock on her drawer, took out a yellow file, and from inside it pulled out a photograph.
The far eastern part of Aither, the Easters Tableland.
Heavenly Dragon Cliff.
This place, so dazzlingly beautiful that it had once refused the footsteps of humanity for a hundred years after being eroded by black magic, had recently been said to have been utterly destroyed.
Indeed, in the photograph, the Easters Tableland no longer retained even a trace of the beautiful Heavenly Dragon Cliff it once had. It looked as though several meteors had fallen there, or as though a giant had trampled it flat.
‘I was told at least two magical presences above 9-Class were detected here.’
The investigation had concluded that Silver Age November’s last trace had headed toward the Easters Tableland, so it would not be unreasonable to infer that he had clashed with someone there, ruined Heavenly Dragon Cliff, and then disappeared.
‘Could it be…… that he died there……?’
No.
There was no way.
Silver Age November was an omnipotent being who dealt with time. He was not someone who would die so easily.
If so, then he must have hidden himself for some other reason……
“My lady.”
While she sat in silent contemplation, a secretary arrived and handed her some documents.
“Professor Yeon Hwayeon of the Starlight Blossom Tree School of Magic has sent a letter.”
“Ah.”
Professor Yeon Hwayeon was one of the High Elf mages tied to the Byeol Cloud Company, and in truth, was practically one of Zeliel’s close aides.
Because of that, Zeliel held the authority to interfere in certain matters that occurred within Starlight Blossom Tree, a school that could almost be called the finest fairy academy in existence.
Until now, she had not needed to involve herself in any of them.
But recently, one certain matter had drawn Zeliel’s interest.
[Stella Academy Exchange Students]
The exchange student program between Stella, the magic school of humans, and Starlight Blossom Tree, the magic school of the fairies.
It was an annual event, so there should have been nothing especially different about it—but this year, Zeliel found herself unusually interested in the list.
Slowly scanning down the exchange student roster, Zeliel’s gaze stopped on one particular name.
Baek Yuseol.
His name was not listed among the exchange students.
If Zeliel simply picked up her pen and spent no more than three seconds on it, she could have brought Baek Yuseol over herself.
But she did not.
Perhaps Baek Yuseol already had a busy schedule. She should not interfere with him.
It would be better to meet him in person later and ask what he wanted, rather than forcing the matter now.
“Ah, come to think of it, my lady.”
“Yes?”
“It seems Student Baek Yuseol recently entered the Pung Empire. I believe it was for a Stella dispatch mission.”
“……Is that so?”
Zeliel’s expression hardened.
It would have been nice if he had said even a single word before coming to the Pung Empire.
Was making one phone call really so difficult?
No, it could be.
He was living a very busy life.
One incomparable to someone like herself……
Was he not living a life of far greater worth?
If anything, it would be more shameful that someone like her should take up Baek Yuseol’s time.
Even so—
‘Seeing his face for just a moment……’
Surely that much would be all right.
Thinking that, Zeliel rose from her seat.
Finding Silver Age November was urgent, yes—
but something even more important had come up.
“Did everyone listen to the briefing properly?”
At those words from Dok Cheolgwang of second-year Class S, Flame made a dumbfounded face.
“What briefing?”
When she asked back, Dok Cheolgwang thumped his chest with his fist and declared:
“To understand the enemy with your heart, unleash the burning passion within you, and smash them to pieces! That is the supreme method for dealing with monsters.”
“No, where exactly is the passion in that?”
“In your chest!”
“You want us to explode that? Then we’ll die.”
“A man has two passions!”
“I’m a woman.”
“Passion knows no distinction between man and woman. I shall share one with you.”
“I don’t need it!”
Flame recoiled with an expression of absolute revulsion.
Of all people, Dok Cheolgwang had ended up as the assistant for the monster-hunting mission.
His character was not all that bad, but his way of fighting was so unbelievably crude that accepting him into the party felt……
deeply questionable.
“You guys fine with this?”
When she asked in a tired voice, Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang nodded indifferently, while Pung Harang gave no reaction at all.
“I don’t mind.”
“I think that senior is fun and nice, though?”
She had no idea what exactly they found acceptable about him.
“Ah, whatever. I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.”
Stretching lazily, Flame took in the surrounding scenery.
The nation built upon the wind, the Pung Empire.
It was said to rival even some fairy kingdoms in beauty, and just breathing in its clear air gave her the feeling that all her stress was melting away.
“Hey, Pung Harang. This is your hometown, right? Don’t you have, like, a tourist course or something?”
“Mm! This is indeed my hometown! And there is a very fine tourist course.”
Dok Cheolgwang suddenly cut in and pointed somewhere with his finger.
It was a dark cave that looked dangerous at a glance.
“That place.”
“……What is that?”
“I do not know. But it looks fun!”
“Excuse me, Senior……”
What kind of lunatic even was this?
While Flame stared at him in disbelief, Hae Wonryang stepped in to mediate.
“We do not have time to look for tourist attractions. We need to find the monster, kill it, and return as quickly as possible. And as an added measure, we must also prepare for that ‘unexpected unforeseen situation.’”
“Ugh…… true enough.”
Still, it would have been nice if they could have played around a little.
If Baek Yuseol had been here, he might have gone, “Huh? Sure. Want to mess around a bit before we go? Maybe just a little? No one would notice, right?” and sided with her opinion.
“I think sightseeing sounds a little fun too……”
“Quiet.”
Ma Yuseong was the only one who at least seemed willing to take Flame’s side, but even he was immediately shot down by Hae Wonryang.
‘Still, this party composition is amazing…….’
Ma Yuseong and Dok Cheolgwang filling the knight positions.
Hae Wonryang, the best bishop possible, and Pung Harang too.
Wouldn’t they be able to smash apart even a boss monster above 4-Risk without any problem?
“Sigh…… fine. Let’s finish this quickly and go have fun with whatever time’s left. Hey, local. Lead the way.”
Pung Harang nodded and looked off at the distant cityscape.
‘……The air does not feel right.’
Was the reason he felt this uneasy merely from stepping onto the soil of the Pung Empire because the succession ceremony was drawing near?
Though he was the heir of the powerful Pung family, strongest among the Seven Houses of Wind, Pung Harang’s position was truly unstable.
Born as the youngest among seventeen siblings, it had almost never been likely from the start that the inheritance rights would fall to him.
Not only was he caught in political strife with other families, his footing within his own house was already creaking beneath him.
‘……This is no time for pointless worries.’
He laughed bitterly at himself and moved after Flame.
Anella di Polanche.
That was the false name Anella used in order to infiltrate Stella.
To be precise, the name Anella itself was real—but for some reason, her actual given name had gone into the alias.
She supposed that was just the sort of thing Black Mages did.
Though, as she herself was still one of them at present, she was hardly in any position to criticize.
“Anella. Get a hold of yourself.”
Startled by the voice, Anella turned her head.
A Black Mage with a grotesque appearance, his whole body studded with horns, was staring at her with threatening eyes.
“You failed the Stella infiltration mission spectacularly, and lately you’ve been refusing every mission entirely. You haven’t even been taking in magical blood…… You aren’t entertaining any foolish thoughts, are you?”
“N-No! Nothing like that!”
Anella frantically shook her head.
It had already been a month since she had stopped absorbing human magical power out of disgust for her life as a Black Mage.
She had thought that if she quietly shut herself away, refusing all missions, no one would notice—but it seemed her previous mission failure had marked her quite thoroughly.
“You have a new order. If you reject this one too, Black Kingdon will not be pleased. Even so, will you refuse?”
“No……”
Twisting her braided pigtails around her fingers, Anella hesitated.
Considering that the reason she had kept this hairstyle, which did not suit a woman in her forties at all, was Black Kingdon, the irony of it was hard to miss.
Because she feared Black Kingdon more than anyone.
And hated him more than anyone.
“If I refuse…… I’ll die, won’t I?”
“Yes. If you were any other Black Mage, you’d have died several times already. I truly do not understand it. That Lord Black Kingdon still keeps a useless and worthless bitch like you alive.”
Anella had grown disillusioned with life as a Black Mage, but escaping that fate would not be easy.
Black Kingdon had planted the seed of a Black Mage in her body, so if she tried to run too far away, her heart would burst and kill her.
‘Endure just a little longer.’
Before leaving Stella, Baek Yuseol had told her exactly that as he handed her a tiny talisman.
Could Anella even begin to guess that this ragged little object, which looked torn and ruined and wholly bereft of any power at all, was in fact the “Wraith’s Vengeful Spirit Talisman,” a mythical-grade artifact?
Unfortunately, though, at present, the Wraith’s Vengeful Spirit Talisman had completely exhausted its power and no longer had any ability left.
She had no idea why Baek Yuseol had given it to her.
Still, he had told her that if she kept holding on and endured with this talisman in hand, she would eventually be able to escape this fate that bound her like a shackle.
And so she would endure it stubbornly.
“What…… is the mission?”
“It’s nothing difficult. The Witch King has started moving. I’ve no idea why it’s suddenly wandering around so much, but it’ll probably just be a clone anyway.”
“T-The Witch King?”
The moment Anella instinctively grabbed at the hem of her skirt, the Black Mage looked irritated.
Most Black Mages cast aside such useless emotions once they became what they were.
That idiot woman was a disgrace to their kind.
“Tch. Pathetic. The Witch’s current location is the Pung Empire. Go there and monitor it. That is the order Lord Black Kingdon has given.”
“You’re giving a mission like that…… to someone like me? I already failed a mission, and I’m nowhere near the level needed to monitor a Witch……”
Any mission related to a Witch should have been impossible to carry out unless one was at least a 7-Risk Black Mage.
At Anella’s trembling voice, the Black Mage slowly curled up the corner of his mouth.
“You still don’t get it? It means go there and die. Though if you run, you’ll die too. Best of luck, you idiot Black Mage.”
“Ah……”
A wave of dizziness hit her, and Anella clutched at her forehead.
‘A Witch…… the Witch King……’
She could not believe it.
As a Black Mage, the moment she so much as let her presence be felt nearby, the Witch would surely kill her in an instant.
‘So really…… they’ve abandoned me like this……?’
Was her final value nothing more than figuring out the Witch’s true nature and then dying?
Was that truly all she amounted to?
‘No. If I think about it, of course that’s only natural……’
Could a Black Mage who refused missions and did not even drink human blood really still be called a Black Mage at all?
From Black Kingdon’s point of view, there was probably no longer any reason to keep Anella alive.
So this was his meaning, then:
be useful one last time, and then die.
Rather than simply bursting her heart in an ordinary way, he intended to use her like a tool until the very end, then throw her away.
Should that perhaps be called fittingly Black Mage-like?
Anella slowly turned her head and gazed at the sunset sinking over the ruins of the Balkamik royal house.
‘Can I…… really become human again?’
Clutching the talisman tightly to her chest, she bit her lip.
If only she could meet Baek Yuseol one more time.
‘……No. Think positively. Just a little longer. Hang on.’
She was not dead yet, and there was no guarantee she would truly die.
Forcing a smile onto her face, Anella clenched her fist tightly and thrust it high into the air.
Had she not already realized that despair and hopelessness did nothing but eat away at the soul?
She could not stop here.
“I’ll do whatever I can! Fighting!”
— Read only on MugenCodex —
