Episode 126 – Vacation (4)

Vacation (4)

Whiiiiii……

The reflected Magic Bullet struck the ridge of the mountain, causing an explosion visible to the eye.

I zoomed in on the impact point with my SZX-9500. A deep crater had been formed, but the opponent seemed to have already fled.

There was no need to pursue. Instead, I picked up my smartphone. I sent my current coordinates and a message to Gustav.

[Miller Adams and the item are secured. However, there was a tail.]

My goal is not to pursue and kill. As long as I keep the item and target secure, that’s enough.

Gustav replied immediately.

[Gus: Confirmed. I’ve informed the client. Their people will be dispatched soon. Please hand it over.]

While waiting for them, I resumed my consultation with [A].

[Are you ready?]

[A: Yes. Sorry for the late reply. Even expressing my feelings in words is difficult right now.]

[That’s alright. So let me ask again – what misunderstanding is it?]

About five minutes must have passed.

Thump- Thump-

Regular footsteps. Three men in suits emerged from the darkness of the mountain path. They looked alternately at Miller Adams, whose right hand had exploded, and me.

“……I’ll hand him over. The item?”

The man who looked like the leader, still grasping Miller Adams, asked me. I stomped on the ground with my foot. The leader gestured. Two other men in suits rushed over, and I stepped aside.

They dug up the ground.

Boom-!

There was a momentary explosion of a magic mine, but they quickly found the box and pulled it out.

“It’s here.”

I looked at it. Indeed, a human hand was contained inside, but for some reason, the ‘Treasure Hunter’ kept reacting.

The suit leader spoke.

“Yes. Confirmed. The payment will be made shortly. Goodbye.”

He was about to leave when he suddenly looked back at me.

“Gustav said you’re a mage.”

The standard for a mage in Trick City is infinitely lower than in a magic tower or a monastery. If you can use Magic Spells to a certain extent, you’re treated as a mage.

“I don’t trust anyone in this city who claims to be a mage…… Well.”

He glanced at the mountain ridge. The place where the guy who had just sniped at me had been.

“Two magic bullets. No, one. Did you accurately reverse the enemy’s formula and reflect it back?”

The remnants of Magic Spells linger for quite a while. Unless artificially erased.

So, this man detected the traces and trajectories of the lingering magic in the air, reconstructed those subtle clues in his head, and grasped the situation.

In other words──he’s a ‘real’ mage.

“You might be real. I don’t know why a real one would stay in Section D.”

A real one, saying to the fake that he might be real.

“Quick work. Senator Ramil Bara will also be pleased.”

They left like that, and I sat down on a rock in the middle of the mountain.

“Phew……”

I reopened the consultation session that had been in progress.

* * *

Late at night. Elise was blankly staring at the sky. Clear daylight. She was watching the movement of the clouds flowing between the trees, resembling the fluid dynamics of magic.

[It’s a personal misunderstanding. I thought someone had special feelings for me, but it turned out to be a ridiculous delusion…]

Elise tapped on the smartphone keyboard.

It was embarrassing to talk about the misunderstanding, but if she couldn’t honestly confess her feelings, it wouldn’t be a consultation.

[At Your Service: Hmm. In that case, it might be more straightforward. People don’t think about others for very long. You might obsess over the thought, but the other person has likely already forgotten.]

“……”

The argument that she was obsessing too much on her own.

Indeed, Shion had no sign of mockery, even when revealing himself as the Secret Friend.

No, he doesn’t mock anyone in the first place.

That’s the kind of person he is.

Elise took a deep breath. Her stifling chest seemed to gradually calm down.

[I wonder why I had such a misunderstanding.]

The thoughts and emotions of a mere human are more complex than magic.

Is it because when one gets obsessed with something, they become blind? Despite the too apparent reason of ‘Secret Friend’, I, who misunderstood that ‘he likes me’, am a fool, a lunatic-

[At Your Service: Well, humans tend to think in their favor or towards what’s familiar to them when faced with the unknown.]

Elise’s mouth slightly opened.

So, did her unconscious harbor the wish that Shion Ascal liked her?

That’s ridiculous.

She hastily tapped on her smartphone.

[That’s ridiculous.]

[At Your Service: How about you move and check whether it’s ridiculous or not? It’s better than getting angry for no reason or doing nothing.]

Blushing Elise sat up. [At Your Service]’s reply continued.

[At Your Service: There’s one thing for sure. People sometimes whine that ‘I don’t even know myself’, but knowing oneself is somewhat easier than knowing others.]

Elise read his sentence.

Knowing oneself is easier than knowing others.

“……Yes.”

She blankly replied because it was too accurate.

She placed her smartphone on her chest. Her heart felt much more at ease.

This is why people seek counseling.

Elise had never had such an experience. She didn’t have the luxury of conversation. She didn’t have anyone to confide in.

Having received education on manners and etiquette from the age of two as a child of the Petra family, and having been instilled with the ‘Stoic Philosophy’ that pursues multifaceted perfection as a noble, counseling was an impossible dream.

“……”

Suddenly, a strange thought crossed her mind.

If Yael had had a channel like this. If he could confess his feelings to someone like she was doing now.

Could he have avoided his current downfall?

Elise picked up her smartphone again.

[I’ll deposit.]

She checked her account.

[9,120]

9,120 Ren. The pocket money left after deducting the financial products she invests in every month.

She converted all of it into department store gift cards and transferred them.

This person is worth that much.

______________________________________________________________________

Nine 1,000 Ren department store gift cards.

Having received a whopping 9,000 Ren as a consultation fee, I am walking down the mountain road.

But my vision keeps shaking.

My feet become four, then three, then two, then four again.

Cough-!

Staggering, I coughed. A mouthful of blood flowed. Dark red droplets spread on the pavement. I stared blankly at the pattern.

Ding-

My phone alarm rang.

[Gus: I confirmed the mission completion. But you. Lato, that psycho-like mage recognized you, didn’t he? How did you do it? Tell me over a drink later.]

So that mage was Lato.

He looks a lot different in my memory, but if that’s the case, he’s a real psycho. A psycho who modifies his entire body with machines due to his obsession with magic.

I walked without replying.

Thud- I tripped over a rock.

Is the ground coming towards me, or am I falling towards the ground?

I fell flat.

My face was buried in rocks and dirt.

I couldn’t breathe. My Magic Core felt like it was on fire. It was the side effect of overusing Perion and Magic Spells simultaneously. It was a pain of a different dimension.

Rustle-!

Suddenly, someone’s shoe landed in front of my nose.

Is it an enemy?

Or just a passerby?

I don’t have the luxury to think.

My body is stretching, and my consciousness is fading.

I slowly closed my eyes……

……I opened my eyes.

It was an unfamiliar ceiling.

“?”

I looked blankly around. There was a strong smell of oil, and bright sunlight poured in from the window.

It was morning already.

“What the.”

I slowly sat up.

“Ugh.”

My whole body felt like it would break, but I forced myself to stand on two legs. I opened the door.

“…….”

The interior was familiar.

No, it was the place I had visited just yesterday.

“You’re awake.”

Selfless Coffin.

Akane was sitting at the counter. She was reading a book and said,

“The completion of your facial disguise is quite high. It doesn’t fall off even when you lose consciousness.”

I touched my face. There was a scar on my left eyelid. It still meant Dale Kal.

“But the most important aspect is the ‘ear’. Everyone cares about the eyes, nose, and mouth, but they neglect the ears. Ears are like wrinkles on a person, 99% of humans can be distinguished by the shape of the ears.”

I completely removed my disguise. Akane lit a cigarette and asked.

“Is your body okay?”

“……Yes. Did you save me?”

Akane raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what happens when you overuse a formula without a Magic Body.”

Magic Spell puts a heavy load on the body. That’s why most mages turn on their Magic Body when they deploy a formula, or magic. They try to filter the reaction of magic through the belt and lines—One Belt, Four Lines.

“You didn’t have a belt and lines, so you had no choice.”

Akane poked at my sore spot.

“But it’s not all bad. It means you use magic directly without filtering, processing, or dilution. In that case, the formula’s response, coordination, and deployment speed greatly increase. However, there is a high risk of your body breaking down like yesterday.”

“……Were you watching me?”

“Do I look like I have that much time?”

Akane pulled a travel bag from under the counter.

“Ramil Bara. That man also asked me for a request.”

“Hmm. But what’s the point of grave robbing? There was something on the body.”

She replied as she packed various things into her travel bag.

“Ramil Bara’s grandfather was a high-ranking mage. But recently, a strange rumor spread. They say that if you boil and eat his body, which was built with essence, your magic power will surge, and the origin of your magic will change.”

“……The usage is quite harsh. Is that why Paradise showed interest? To boil and eat the corpse?”

Akane, who was shaking the skin lotion bottles near her ear to figure out how much was left, suddenly stopped.

She turned to me and asked.

“Paradise?”

“Yes. Paradise.”

“…….”

Paradise is a rift in the underworld. Think of it as a dungeon somewhere in the underworld. You can only enter if you are invited, and even if you are invited, you have to be prepared to lose your life. It’s a danger zone different from the underworld, literally a dungeon.

It’s home to the most heinous criminals, the ones who have been ostracized from the continent and have become ‘beings who are non-human’……

That’s what they say, but I’ve never been there personally.

“Paradise.”

Akane, who seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, suddenly.

“Aha.”

She seemed to understand on her own, and she slammed her travel bag shut. With it slung over her shoulder, she hopped off the counter.

“What, where are you going?”

“Paradise.”

“……Excuse me?”

Leaving that word, she briskly left Selfless Coffin.

“What the…….”

Ding-

The notification of the ringing smartphone.

“Ah. Right.”

[Libra Nurturing Program Schedule Notice]

Libra Nurturing Program.

“I had this.”

I was invited to it at the beginning of the semester by Belingham Kantar.

* * *

The nurturing program. This program, typically for university students, is hosted by large corporations and major families. It aims to provide promising individuals from the continent with opportunities for top-tier nurturing, training, and education.

Among these, the Libra Training Program is top-rated and well-regarded, so today, even Elise is at the Aerial Garden.

There are barely ten high school students invited to this top-tier program. Layla, Elise, Soliette, Gerkhen, Kain, Mel, and the rest are all university students.

“The Aerial Garden is really beautiful, isn’t it, Elly?”

At Layla’s words, Elise merely shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t particularly want to praise another family.

“Huh? What’s that?”

Layla, looking somewhere, widened her eyes. Elise didn’t pay any attention.

“Isn’t that Shion?”

“What?”

She hurriedly looked in that direction.

Indeed, there was Shion.

He held a Libra black card in one hand and a duffle bag in the other.

“Why is he here?”

Elise had the same question, but someone else approached and stood next to him.

It was Soliette.

Layla narrowed her eyes and smirked.

“What’s this? Elly, don’t they seem to have gotten close?”

Elise hesitated before answering.

“…Seems so.”

She didn’t really care.

All she could do now was hope, very slowly.

That Shion Ascal’s life would finally get on track, even now.

──Welcome to all of you participating in the Libra program.

“Wow! Elly, look over there!”

The 3rd Section of the Aerial Garden. The entrance to the dormitory for the training program participants.

“That’s Belingham Kantar!”

Layla made hearts with her eyes as she looked at the handsome man with grey hair.

“Quiet.”

Even though she said that, to Elise’s eyes, he was a rather perfect man.

He was a member of the Golden Trio ten years ago.

Belingham Kantar. Theia Esil. Akane Kedzen.

──First, we will assign numbers for the smooth progress of the program.

Belingham looked somewhere with a small smile. Elise also looked where he was looking.

Shion Ascal.

He looked back at Belingham expressionlessly.

──We will assign them randomly, so everyone should now wear the ‘smart watch’ that I will distribute…