Chapter 83 - The Sage Who Chose Eternity Over Eternal Rest (3)

What I held in my hand was the very life of the darkness that had dyed the blue sky entirely black. The vast darkness trembled violently.

"Try moving even a little further away."

I tightened my grip.

[*Kieeeeeeh! *]

"I'll burst your heart right then and there."

The screaming darkness urgently pleaded with me.

[*Wait, f-fiiirst of aaaaall... *]

[*Puuut it baaaack... *]

A truly pathetic reaction compared to its revealed presence and status.

I chuckled and gestured with my hand.

"Come down first. My neck hurts from constantly looking up."

The darkness hesitated before descending to the ground.

Thud.

Seeing the darkness approach so closely, Arwen and Adelia reflexively drew their swords. Boris had long since nocked an arrow and was aiming right at the darkness.

They looked tense enough to violently swing their swords or release the bowstring at the slightest loud noise.

But I could safely declare there was no chance of a fight breaking out. Not as long as I was gripping its Life Vessel in my hand.

In reality, the darkness just stood there blankly like the shadow of a withered, barren old tree, only studying my reactions.

"Strange."

As I opened my mouth, the darkness flinched and trembled.

"You definitely seemed to recognize me, so why are you still hiding in the dark?"

The darkness did not answer.

So you're going to feign ignorance to the end, huh.

[*Kueeeee! *]

[*Stooooop! *]

The darkness screamed and pleaded. Only then did I loosen my tight grip on the Life Vessel.

[*Uuuuugh. *]

The darkness shuddered once before slowly fading away, finally disappearing from sight. Then, the appearance of the Mage who had been hidden in the dark was revealed. Beneath the deeply pulled hood, all that could be seen was a gaunt skull and ominously colored red light glowing in empty eye sockets; no actual face was visible.

But despite that, I was certain.

The sage bound to darkness, whose very death was mocked by the curse of an evil necromancer.

The star that had shone the brightest in the night sky before plummeting into the darkest night.

"It's been a while, Ophelia."

That she was the Mage of the White Night who had been left behind in this very place 400 years ago.

「Haa.」

A sigh slipped out.

「Your shell has changed, but that nasty temper remains exactly the same.」

I laughed at the fluent and sophisticated ancient language.

Sure enough, she saw through my true identity in an instant.

This stemmed from her innate trait, [Mind's Eye], which pierced through the essence of things—an insight that not even an Elder High Elf who had lived a thousand years possessed.

I was incredibly glad about that.

I was incredibly glad that there was at least one person who remembered and recognized my true identity. It was different from when I met that crazy Elf.

Because unlike Sigrun, Ophelia wanted nothing from me.

Rather, I was the one who wanted something from her.

I smiled out of gladness,

「Just tell me what you want.」

She acted as if she were deeply displeased.

「Let's go together.」

She let out a long sigh.

「Finding my Life Vessel first instead of me means you have no intention of giving me a choice.」

The truth was that I had secured her Life Vessel first just in case she didn't recognize me, but I didn't bother mentioning that.

Because what she said was also true.

「Honestly, you haven't changed one bit in 400 years.」

She repeatedly lamented her tragic fate, saying things had never worked out well when tangled up with me, yet she was once again forced to move according to my will.

"Y-Your Highness?"

Having wrapped up my conversation with her, I only then realized that Arwen and the others were still tightly gripping their swords and bows.

"You can sheathe your swords now."

Normally, they would have followed my words immediately, but today of all days, they rejected the order with their entire bodies.

Considering the rumors about Liches known to the world, it wasn't strange that they couldn't lower their weapons.

The Lich known to the world was the very symbol of an evil Mage, a horrific monster that despised all living things.

Of course, this wasn't true.

A Lich was simply a Mage who had their death temporarily delayed to fulfill a dying wish. Once their wish was granted, the vast majority of them would destroy their own proof of eternal life and return to the earth.

As long as their territory was not invaded, they would never harm anyone, for they were wise and intelligent Mages as well as hermits.

If a Lich caused harm to the world, it wasn't because they were a Lich, but because their original character was flawed. Thus, the worldly rumors about Liches could be considered completely wrong.

「Just because it's black doesn't mean it's dark, and just because it's dark doesn't necessarily mean it's evil. People blindly trusting the outer form over the essence is exactly the same now as it was 400 years ago.」

Ophelia spoke, clicking a tongue she didn't even have.

She seemed highly displeased that my knights were looking at her as if she were a monster.

Then again, in the past, she was like an idol admired by all the men in the kingdom, so being treated like a monster now probably wasn't very pleasant.

I shrugged and explained to Arwen and the knights that she wasn't an evil being.

Only then did they sheathe their swords.

However, they did not take their hands off their sword hilts for even a single moment until we had completely escaped the Frost Mountains, and there was nothing I could do about that.

* * *

A long while after we had left the Frost Mountains and entered the Blade Mountains, Boris suddenly spoke to me.

"From here on out, we are within the patrol range of the Rangers."

As he said that, his gaze was fixed on Ophelia.

She seemed worried that the Rangers might cause a commotion if they saw her. Or perhaps she just didn't want to see the creepy sight of a gaunt skull walking around anymore.

Ophelia made no response.

Seeing her stay still, she must have had her own thoughts on the matter. Or she had already made preparations without us knowing.

The magic of a Mage who had reached a high stage was as stealthy as the footsteps of a thief climbing a wall in the dead of night. I ordered them not to worry and to keep moving forward.

"Loyalty!"

Then we really did encounter Rangers on patrol.

"We heard you had entered the Frost Mountains. It's a relief to see you safe, Your Highness."

Whether the fact that I had gone to the Frost Mountains was already known, a Ranger spoke with a glad expression.

I instinctively flinched and looked back.

Ophelia was still a gaunt skull. But the Rangers showed no reaction at all.

They acted as if she didn't exist at all.

"Yeah. Keep up the good work."

Until the moment we parted ways, the Rangers made no mention of Ophelia whatsoever.

Such a situation repeated itself several times.

The path Boris guided us on was a route the Rangers usually patrolled, and our party encountered Rangers several times on the way back to the castle. Yet, not a single one of them noticed Ophelia's presence.

It was the same when we arrived at Winter Castle.

From passing through the castle gates and moving past the countless people welcoming us to opening the door to my room, not a single person noticed Ophelia's existence.

「I came because you asked me to, so now answer my questions.」

She spoke to me the moment the door closed.

It was a very belated demand, but I didn't find it strange in the slightest.

Mages were naturally like that.

Beings who preferred finding answers themselves rather than asking.

「The bond between soul and body is too solid to call it possession.」

Beings who would first conjure tens of thousands of thoughts for something that could be resolved with a single word.

「But calling it reincarnation feels off, too. Just what exactly happened?」

Her first question wasn't about why I had sought her out, but rather about the strange phenomenon that had happened to me.

I explained everything that had happened to me to her.

She didn't give any answer.

She simply stood there blankly, lost in thought.

Knowing full well she wouldn't move until she found the answer to the phenomenon that occurred to me if I left her alone, I clapped my hands to draw her attention.

"Satisfy your personal desire for inquiry on your own time."

I said to her as she looked at me.

"First, there's something I need you to do here."

I told her everything about the reality the kingdom faced, the treaty with the empire, and the circumstances leading up to building the Magic Tower.

And I also told her exactly what she needed to do here.

「Does it absolutely have to be three floors?」

At her somewhat bizarre question, I once again reminded her of the existence of the treaty and the reality the kingdom faced.

「Time is truly terrifying. To see the Divine Sword, once gleaming with intellect, dulled like this.」

Or perhaps entering a human body had made me unable to see the essence of things. I frowned at her sudden mockery.

But I didn't press her. I simply waited.

For her to give an explanation I could accept.

「Just because it's called a Magic Tower doesn't mean it's actually a tower.」

She spoke as if she found me amusing.

「It is merely a gateway that touches the arcane.」

Her finger pointed upward, then down toward the floor.

「There is no rule saying a Magic Tower must strictly be built upward.」

It felt as if my eyes had been thrown wide open.

"Three floors up, seven floors down?"

At my words, Ophelia laughed, her jawbone rattling.

* * *

Ophelia decided to stay in my room for the time being.

Her reasoning was that she didn't want to show herself in front of people before the construction of the Magic Tower even began.

She wasn't the type to enjoy mingling with people in the first place, and I, too, had no intention of exposing her at this stage.

Furthermore, I didn't want to brandish the weapon known as her Life Vessel over trivial matters.

The Ophelia I knew belonged to the category of people who were surprisingly easy to put to work if coaxed properly.

Just looking at her now, wasn't she working day and night, excitedly drawing the blueprints for the Magic Tower?

400 years had passed, but she was still in the palm of my hand, just like before.

But that didn't mean she was a pushover by any means.

Even 400 years ago, she was a Mage who had created six circles, and I couldn't fathom how high of a stage she had reached by now. She might have become a Great Mage who formed seven, or perhaps even eight circles.

If I treated her recklessly relying solely on the Life Vessel, she might just lunge at me with a murder-suicide intent.

The Life Vessel had to be saved. I intended to use it only when absolutely necessary.

While Ophelia was holed up inside drawing the blueprints for the Magic Tower, Marquis Montpellier was diligently conducting "fundraising" activities in The Capital.

「I have collected about half the funds.」

Hearing that he had already covered more than half the expenses, it seemed the kingdom's prestige and the nobles' personal wealth were entirely separate matters.

While I was taking care of various matters, some of the Silver Foxes who had left to carry out a mission returned.

The tragic men who had been forced to sever their Mana Circuits due to the Scoundrel's betrayal—the secret knights of the Royal House—were with the Silver Foxes.

Twenty-one men with tangled hair and filthy clothes, looking more like beggars than knights.

I frowned.

The stench of alcohol reeked from their entire bodies.

"Did you give them alcohol?"

When I asked the Silver Foxes, they made apologetic faces. But before the Silver Foxes could even offer an excuse, one of the men spoke up first.

"If we hadn't at least drank alcohol, how could we bear to look at the face of our sworn enemy!"

His heavily cracked, hoarse voice made his pronunciation a total mess, but the sheer resentment contained within was all too clear.