Chapter 143 - Inquiry (3)

There was something alien about this place.

The sky was dull and dark despite it being midday. The land beneath it was no ordinary ground, either. It consisted of a knobby shell, as hard as earth, that did not crumble apart.

Upon that mysterious land stood a temple. Not an ordinary temple, but one built of black bricks that matched the dark sky, rising in proud defiance.

And within it were two figures.

It was impossible to make out exactly what they looked like. Seated across from one another at a black round table in the center of the temple, both had concealed their bodies beneath robes, as though hiding their identities.

The only difference was that one was swathed in bandages even beneath the robe, while the other had humanlike lips visible in the shadow of the hood.

The figure whose lips were visible broke the silence first.

“I have no idea how much longer we’re supposed to keep this up.”

He continued, plainly dissatisfied with the situation.

“Look, Wrath. Isn’t this a waste of time? Let’s get it over with. We can handle this ourselves without even waiting for Them to arrive, can’t we?”

The other figure, who had remained silent, answered that relaxed, bored, yet impatient voice.

“What is it you think we can do, Pride?”

Wrath’s voice was different from Pride’s. Pride’s was unmistakably a man’s voice, but Wrath’s was not. It was so distorted that one could hardly tell whether it belonged to a man or woman, an elder or a child.

Still, Pride continued as though it were nothing out of the ordinary.

“What else? Bring about destruction. Honestly, if all of us apostles made our move, it would be over. Those idiots outside are just sitting comfortably, thinking they’re strong.”

Wrath stared at the savage smile beneath Pride’s hood before answering.

“Surely some of them are not.”

“You don’t think we, who have received power from the great Original Sins, would fall to the likes of them, do you?”

“... Pride, we need only do our work.”

“Ha! Our so-called work amounts to sitting around. How long do you intend to keep doing this? All we’ve done is sow the ‘seeds,’ then spend more than ten years waiting because of that strange barrier that only recently disappeared.”

Pride sighed in dissatisfaction with their present situation and rose from his seat.

“Where are you going, Pride?”

“Where do you think? If the rest of you won’t act, I will.”

“... I don’t recall giving you permission.”

Wrath’s words challenged him.

Pride, who had been wearing a broad smile just a moment before—

---!

—stood before Wrath in the next instant.

CRACKLE!

At the same time, chillingly black lightning descended from the sky. Dividing into dozens, then hundreds of strands, it stopped above the Sin of Wrath’s head.

That was not all. The previously intact black temple had been reduced to a pitiful ruin in an instant by the Sin of Pride.

Pride had mounted the round table at some point, and lightning crackled in the hand he thrust toward Wrath’s face.

“... I don’t believe you’ve ever been my superior, Wrath.”

“...”

His expression was sinister, his voice cold. But Wrath gave no answer, merely looking up at Pride.

“Tsk.”

After maintaining the standoff for some time, Pride finally withdrew his lightning first and turned away.

“Where are you going?”

Wrath asked calmly. Pride returned to his relaxed manner as though nothing had happened.

“If none of you will do it, I have to. I don’t know what you or the other apostles are thinking, but I want to meet Him soon. So—”

He grinned.

“I'm going to retrieve the seed.”

Once more, a broad smile spread over his face.

Pride strode out of the temple without hesitation and pulled off his hood. Silver-gray hair was revealed, along with a pair of ears visible among the strands.

“Now, then—”

He slowly stroked his chin as he headed out of the black temple.

“—has it been ten years? No, twelve.”

He chuckled at his own muttering. A strange light soon ripened in his eyes.

“Shall I see how well the seed—no, my younger sibling—has grown?”

With those murmured words, he vanished.

CRACK!

Leaving behind a single bolt of black lightning.

####

About three weeks had passed since Alon made his peculiar agreement with Penia Kraisinne.

“Ah, judging by how the mana arrangement changes here, it seems to bend like this.”

“Which means—”

“It’s an amplification seal.”

“I see.”

Alon was thoroughly enjoying himself. His magical research with Penia was going exceedingly well.

In fact, ‘going well’ hardly covered it.

“Then this one—”

“Ah, since the arrangement changes into a disassembly structure, I think it’s reduction rather than amplification.”

“It deliberately reduces the power?”

“Yes, but in return, the molecular structure of the mana is intertwined... To be precise, I think it forms hooks. In that case, even spells that can’t be combined might allow limited use together.”

This was proving far, far more valuable than researching magic on his own.

After nearly five hours of magical research and discussion again that day, Alon said,

“... Let’s stop here for today.”

“Ah, yes...!”

Watching Penia nod eagerly, he found himself reevaluating her.

‘Who could call this woman a person with a rotten personality?’

“Sister.”

“What is it?”

“Um, apparently bandits stole the magical reagents being delivered here.”

“What? Those fucking bandit bastards, again—!!!!”

At the sight of her shrieking “Aaaaaagh!!!” the moment she heard her younger brother Pelin’s report, he hastily withdrew his opinion.

‘... No, that description was right after all.’

“Um, my lord?”

“What is it?”

“Excuse me, but may I leave the estate for a day or so...?”

Penia asked with a tense expression, as though requesting an enormous favor. Alon nodded lightly.

“... I don’t mind.”

“Ah, really...! I just heard that bandits stole the magical reagents being delivered here, so I wanted to deal with them—”

Despite his nonchalant response, she began offering a lengthy explanation. He had thought their shared magical research had built some camaraderie, yet even now she struggled to say something this simple to him.

Alon felt awkward for no particular reason.

“... Go ahead. And you don’t need to ask my permission whenever you leave.”

“Ah, really...!? I was certain I had to...”

“...”

Penia hunched in on herself and fidgeted. Once again, Alon felt like a criminal keeping coding slaves somewhere in Southeast Asia.

“That isn’t necessary. Go ahead.”

“Ah, yes...!”

Penia Kraisinne immediately seized Pelin by the scruff of his neck and strode out.

“Why am I...?”

Pelin’s oddly mournful voice rang out, but he disappeared, helplessly dragged away by Penia.

A little later.

“My lord.”

“What is it?”

“Nothing, it just seems you finished a little early today.”

“Well, today was for organizing things.”

After answering Evan, Alon looked down at the papers. The stack contained records of numerous hand seals.

Alongside the seals he already knew and those discovered through his research with Penia were the abilities, arrangements, and applications of still other seals.

“Wow, you did all of that in three weeks?”

“Yes.”

“... There really is a lot here.”

Evan’s mouth fell open. Alon shrugged.

“I’m not finished yet.”

“There’s this much, and you’re still not done?”

“That’s right.”

He looked down at the papers again.

What he had conclusively established over the past three weeks were the paths mana traveled and the mana arrangements produced by each seal.

But he had reached a more important realization: how seals changed the molecular structure of mana. That was also where he had found his first real lead toward the multiple seals he had been considering.

Until now, forming two or more seals for a single spell had usually caused its manifestation to fail or ruined the spell itself. That had remained true even when he began seriously researching seals after Rainicius told him it was possible to use several at once.

Recently, however, Alon had discovered a lead, small though it was: among the mana bonding structures that changed with each seal, certain seals fit neatly together.

He had also discovered that seals combined in this way formed structures entirely unlike anything he had seen before.

“... There is still much to do.”

Despite his indifferent voice, satisfaction shone in his eyes as he slowly reviewed his research journal.

Until now, he had never understood why the mages in novels willingly ventured into deadly places no better than hell just to obtain a single research journal.

Now, he thought he understood.

“By the way, my lord, shouldn’t you be leaving soon?”

Evan’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Where?”

“Lartania. Didn’t you say you would stop by? You said you needed to go to Coloni, too.”

“Ah, right.”

“Didn’t you already send letters?”

“Ah.”

Alon nodded without realizing it. Right, when he had just started researching with Penia, he had sent letters to Rine and Seollang saying he would visit soon.

Only now did he remember that fact.

“... They’ve probably arrived at their end by now.”

“Then we should get moving, too.”

‘... I should finish this first and prepare some tasks for Penia.’

He looked regretfully at the magical research journal in his hands and added,

“... We’ll leave in two days.”

“I’ll make arrangements accordingly.”

####

The desert city of Coloni.

Unlike the streets, which were always bustling with the excitement of the colosseum, Seollang’s office tended to be quiet.

Apart from training her guild members, Seollang generally slept whenever she had nothing to do. Until now, she had never departed from that pattern.

That was why Lime, a member of the Golden Mane Tribe who also served as Seollang’s secretary, found the sight before her unfamiliar.

Seollang, who ought to have been sprawled out languidly, had become quite excited after receiving a certain letter.

“Guildmaster?”

“Hmm?”

“You seem excited.”

“Of course I am!”

“... May I ask why?”

Lime was curious. What sort of letter could make Seollang clutch it so dearly, her ears perked up?

At the question, Seollang looked down at the letter for a moment, then said,

“It’s finally time to hear his answer!”

“His... answer?”

“Yes! Mentor promised to give me one! Two years ago!”

Her face lit up with the most radiant smile.

While her secretary Lime grew even more bewildered by the incomprehensible answer that left out every important detail, Seollang murmured,

“I hope he gets here soooon—”

She smiled softly, her golden tail swishing eagerly.