No sooner had my words left my mouth than Clovis's eyes shook with a visible tremor.
Was he surprised?
Or did he suspect I had some ulterior motive?
Either was fine by me.
Because between the two of us, only I knew the other's hand.
"…Sir Argent will be accompanying me, you say?"
"Yes. I don't mind going alone, either."
"May I ask why?"
"Is there really a need for a reason? It's simply that it wouldn't set a good example for the Archmage Lord himself to involve himself in such a personal matter, so I thought I'd take the burden upon myself."
It was hardly a personal matter.
Though it was also true that it didn't need to be something Clovis himself handled.
Before he'd even taken up the post of Archmage Lord, the members of the Magic Association had usually formed their own parties to investigate sites where Chaos Mana had broken out, then returned on their own.
When I pointed that out obliquely, Clovis's face twisted sharply.
*He must be burning with impatience.*
Even in the original story, Clovis had been unusually obsessed with Chaos Mana.
The reason was that he suspected the power of Chaos Mana would be necessary to reach the 8th Circle—and beyond that, the 9th Circle, a realm no one in history had ever attained.
That was because of the sheer, overwhelming quantity of mana Chaos Mana possessed.
And in the course of that obsession, while investigating the village of Rosemill after it had been corroded by Chaos Mana, he would come across Yuria.
Yuria had been born with the Star's Blessing known as Gluttony—an overwhelming ability that, in exchange for the loss of emotion and cognitive faculties, allowed her to fully absorb any and all power, whether mana or divine strength, into her body.
Because of this, when Yuria became caught up in the Chaos Mana incident, she fully absorbed the near-infinite mana that Chaos Mana possessed into her body, gaining a mana capacity so overwhelming that no archmage in the entire story could ever hope to match it.
Clovis grasped this the instant he saw her.
He would bring her back to the Magic Tower, turn her into a living weapon, and periodically siphon off her power in his attempt to reach the 8th Circle—until he was eventually caught red-handed. That was the main thread of that particular arc.
"Well, if you're willing, I'd be grateful. This one's been far too busy with the Tower's official duties, and I was just about to look for someone else to send."
"Is that so? Then this works out well."
Grita, with no idea of her disciple's true intentions, accepted readily, thinking it a good arrangement.
While I smiled inwardly in triumph, Clovis's expression crumpled sharply.
He even shot Grita a fierce glare, as if silently begging her not to interfere.
Such a disrespectful boy.
One shouldn't give a look like that to a teacher as revered as her.
"What do you say, Sir Haven? Since Sir Grita has spoken so, why not leave this matter to me?"
"…No. We'll have to depart as early as this very dawn. Could I really burden the guest of honor at today's gathering with something like that?"
Not a single lie touched his tongue, and yet he managed to spout such flattery so smoothly.
But I had no intention of losing to him in shamelessness either.
"Ha, a burden? As your junior, it would be my pleasure to ease your burden, senior. Besides, I was starting to find this whole gathering rather uncomfortable. This gives me a perfect excuse to slip away, so if anything, it works out well for me."
I answered with a hearty laugh that didn't suit my personality at all, and I could see, even with the naked eye, the strain building in Clovis's clenched fist.
Ha, look at those veins popping.
At this rate he might actually take a swing at me.
If I pushed this far, it would be difficult for him to argue further.
And in truth, before I regained the memories of my past life, that overly earnest, awkward personality had genuinely been mine.
I recalled that among the members of the Magic Association, there had been more than a little gossip going around like, "That kid's smart, but his social skills are a bit…"
For the first time today, I actually felt grateful for the twenty-two years I'd spent living as a bookish loner.
"Very well. Still, I do have duties to uphold as Archmage Lord, so this time, let's say you'll be accompanying me."
"As you say. Then when do you plan to depart?"
"As soon as preparations are complete, I intend to leave immediately. In an hour—no, in two hours, come out to the front of the lodgings. I'll have a carriage waiting."
This bastard had almost said "an hour" but hastily corrected himself.
It might have just been a slip of the tongue, but I decided not to point it out for now.
"Understood. I'll see you then. My travel fatigue hasn't fully worn off, so I should rest in my room for now."
"And what about the celebration banquet? The old fogeys went through the trouble of bringing in fine liquors from every region just for this."
As I turned to leave, my teacher clicked her tongue and grabbed hold of me.
I wasn't averse to drink myself, so the mention of fine regional liquors did pique my interest for a moment.
"Just the two of us need to go, so why don't you enjoy catching up with the others, Teacher. I brought back a bit of liquor myself on the way here, so perhaps you could hold a little reunion with your old classmates."
But there were more important matters at hand, so I declined as gently as I could.
I'd expected that drunkard of a teacher to brighten up at the mention of the liquor I'd brought and welcome the idea eagerly.
"Tch, ugh. And here I came all this way just to celebrate you. Honestly, what a stiff, uptight boy."
Instead, she clicked her tongue with an unexpectedly disappointed look.
No doubt she'd wanted to use the drinking as an excuse to brag about me among her fellow old-timers.
"I'm well aware that you're always looking out for me, Teacher. I'm grateful, as always."
"Ugh, disgusting. If you have time to say things you don't even mean, go get some sleep, even if just for a while. You'll be worked to the bone running around out there."
"Yes."
It wasn't as if I hadn't meant it, though.
With a wry smile, I left the meeting hall and made my way briskly back to the lodgings.
*Something's off about all this, I think.*
Clovis's earlier attitude had left an unpleasant feeling nagging at me, so I set an alarm for thirty minutes later and lay down on the bed.
*Bzzzt-bzzzt!*
Then, in time with the alarm blaring, I rose early and stepped outside—
"Y-you're already up?"
Just as I'd expected, this madman had been about to abandon me and send the carriage off without me. I managed to catch him red-handed, as if I'd possessed the spirit of a patrolman on the beat.
Gotcha, you little rat.
***
Rosemill was located roughly three hours southeast of Arcanel.
By the time I woke from my nap in the pre-dawn carriage and we arrived, the place had already been transformed into something that could hardly be called a village anymore.
It seemed there had been a massive assault by monsters influenced by Chaos Mana, because at the village's entrance lay corpses bleeding out on the ground, and residents wandering about in a daze, out of their minds.
That the casualties had been limited to this much was only because it was such a small village—had it been even a mid-sized or large city, the sight would have been far more gruesome.
"So this is the aftermath of Chaos Mana."
"Is this the first time you've seen it firsthand?"
"Yes."
Exchanging brief words, the two of us walked through the middle of the fire-ravaged village.
*Splash!*
With every step, water came pouring down from every direction like a waterfall, extinguishing the flames.
"Just in case, I'll search further for survivors. Sir Haven, please take that side."
"Do be careful. There may still be monsters lurking somewhere nearby."
"I'll keep that in mind. See you shortly."
We agreed to split up and search the village separately.
The moment Clovis vanished from sight, I dashed—without so much as a backward glance—into the maze of burnt-out houses.
"There has to be someone here somewhere…"
I tried spreading my mana as wide as possible to search for signs of life, but perhaps because of Chaos Mana's influence, there was simply too much ambient mana in the air, making it nearly impossible to distinguish the presence of a person.
In the end, as the saying goes, the thirsty man digs the well—so I forced myself to endure the strain building in my chest and rummaged around here and there.
"Kreeeeeek!"
*Crack!*
Every now and then, a monster that had been hiding among the ruined houses leapt out at me, but before it could even touch me, it crumbled to dust and vanished.
Come to think of it, though, there were fewer monsters than I'd expected.
Had they moved elsewhere since all the people here were already dead?
No, that couldn't be it.
The influence of Chaos Mana still lingered heavily in this place.
To begin with, those creatures weren't drawn to humans themselves—they were drawn to beings that held vast amounts of mana.
They weren't creatures that killed to eat humans; they killed humans to feed on their mana.
So there was no way creatures like that would have already relocated their territory…
*…Wait, mana?*
As my train of thought continued, a small insight struck me, and my eyes widened.
Drawn to vast quantities of mana, was it?
There was exactly one such being here, wasn't there?
I quickly spread the mana I'd withdrawn back out and attempted to sense the surroundings again.
While finding a single person amid all this Chaos Mana might be difficult, a cluster of multiple monsters gathered together would be something I could locate regardless.
"There."
And sure enough, near the outskirts of the village leading up toward a secluded back mountain, I sensed something small but clearly several creatures—presumably monsters—clustered together.
I dashed toward the spot immediately, and from far off, I could already hear shrieking cries.
"Kreeek!"
"Kyaaaack!"
"……."
When I finally arrived at the scene, an unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.
Monsters swarmed densely, like some kind of dust cloud—but the problem was that these very monsters were, one by one, crumbling into dust right before my eyes.
Much like moths and insects drawn to a bonfire's flame, only to have their wings burned away and be reduced to ash.
And at the very center of it all, playing the role of that bonfire, sat a girl, arms wrapped around her knees.
Dead.
That was the only thought that came to mind the moment I saw the girl.
Eyes reflecting nothing at all.
An expression that seemed to have lost not just any will or attachment to life, but emotion itself.
Even though breath still lingered in her, it no longer belonged to the living.
Making no attempt whatsoever to flee from the monsters closing in on her, the girl leaned against the stone wall as if simply waiting for death.
The burn marks covering her face, the bruises and scrapes scattered across her entire body from being dragged and scraped—she didn't seem to feel even a trace of pain from any of it.
*Shhhk…!*
But unfortunately, it seemed the heavens had no intention of granting her wish.
The monsters rushing toward her, hoping to grant her the final period at the end of her life, crumbled the instant they touched some invisible barrier, disintegrating without leaving even a single fragment behind.
"…Yuria."
Without meaning to, her name slipped from my lips.
Even though I knew I shouldn't—we hadn't even exchanged introductions yet.
It was simply that the sight of her was so pitiful that it came out unbidden.
"You. Who?"
Whether I should call it fortunate in the midst of misfortune—
Yuria looked up at me with eyes that held almost no wariness at all.
No—to begin with, a child in her current state probably had no capacity for wariness left in her at all.
A girl who could calmly accept even death itself—why would she find it strange that someone had simply called her name?
Without waiting for a response, I took a step forward, and then another, closer to Yuria.
"Don't come. You, too, die."
At that, Yuria raised a hand—little more than bone at this point—weakly in front of her, as if to hold me back.
Even if her own death meant nothing to her, she couldn't stand to watch someone else's, could she?
It was a heartbreaking thing to witness.
I carefully reached out and took Yuria's hand in mine.
Perhaps she hadn't expected me to remain unharmed, because for the first time, her lifeless eyes seemed to widen, just slightly.
"It's alright. I'm not weak enough to die from something like that."
"…You. Mage?"
"That's right. My name is Baal Argent. Have you perhaps heard of it?"
"Mm-mm."
Yuria shook her head.
Well, of course she wouldn't have.
I'd hoped to reassure Yuria as much as possible, using the weight of the Argent name if necessary, before bringing her along—but it seemed I'd have to take the more straightforward approach after all.
"Not to boast, but I'm a fairly well-known mage in the world at large. I'm also a member of House Argent, a duke's family."
"Duke? Noble?"
"That's right. You know quite a bit."
"Why is someone like that here?"
"As you can see, I came to help deal with the damage caused by Chaos Mana. Though it seems I've arrived far too late…"
I swallowed the rest of the sentence and looked back at Yuria.
"It seems you have nowhere to turn to for shelter."
"No."
"Then would you come with me?"
"Why?"
Was she wondering why I would show her such kindness?
Normally, if a child who had suffered something like this received such an offer, at least a small flicker of hope might light up in her eyes.
But Yuria simply tilted her head, as if genuinely, purely curious.
"I happen to be looking for a disciple, as it turns out."
"Disciple? I, can't use magic."
Honestly, I nearly burst out laughing at that.
According to the original author, one of the three people called the greatest talents in the entire story had just said something like that.
"There isn't a single person in this world who could use magic from the very start. I was the same way."
"Then… magic, will you teach me?"
"If you want. Is there any particular magic you'd like to learn?"
"There is."
That was unexpected.
Wondering what it might be, I leaned in to listen, and Yuria pointed a finger at me, as if accusing me of something.
No—more precisely, at my chest.
"The mother who abandoned me said this. That I don't have emotions. That's why she said I was scary."
"……."
"But I don't know what scary is. I don't know what this thing called emotion that Mom talked about is, either."
There wasn't the slightest rise or fall in her voice.
It felt, somehow, like listening to a robot or a doll speak.
"So, I want to learn it. Magic that awakens emotion. Is there such a thing?"
"There is."
"Really?"
"Of course. There is, indeed."
There is.
No—even if there isn't, I'll create it.
Hadn't I learned that firsthand, not so long ago?
The miracle that Lyriette had brought about.
If that wasn't magic, then what else could it possibly be called?
And now it was my turn to bring that same magic into being.
"Then I'll follow you."
"Are you sure? Not that I'm one to ask, given I'm the one who suggested it."
"It's fine. And…"
Still with that same emotionless gaze, Yuria looked down at her own hand, which I had continued to hold onto the entire time, and spoke.
"You're the first one who's held my hand."
I decided to take that as the very first emotion Yuria had ever shown—joy.
