The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 56

“She’s a disappointing daughter, but I hope she can be of help.”

Madellia led Rain to the highest tower on the Page family’s mansion grounds.

*It’s high. Why is it so high? Is this to prevent escape? Is she a beast?*

Saying that would be as good as asking for my head, so I asked carefully.

“What kind of person is she, that she’s kept in a place like this?”

“Kept? Hah, she’s not kept. She’s trying to isolate herself from others.”

Madellia opened the door with a sad smile.

That’s how this story began.

First, the early summer breeze gently stirred, rustling the curtains.

Books, books, books.

And a telescope by the window.

In this room cluttered with books, a girl sitting in the chair in front of the telescope turned around.

“Kasena, I’ve brought a friend. He’ll teach you a lot.”

The girl, with her lilac hair fluttering like cherry blossoms, looked strikingly out of place in this chaotic room.

Her eyes were lonely.

And so tired.

The girl, possessing a beauty reminiscent of the chill of early autumn when the leaves turn, spoke to Rain in a voice devoid of emotion.

“I don’t need it, so take him away.”

“Kasena, don’t be like that. At least greet him.”

“I won’t say it more than three times. I don’t need it. Just leave.”

The girl’s voice, without even looking this way, grew sharper. She must be suppressing her emotions as much as possible.

“Rain, greet her first.”

*Even in bewilderment, greet with courtesy, so as not to be looked down upon. That is said to be the way of nobles.*

“Lady Kasena, I am Rain Ludwig. Nice to meet you.”

The Page family was different from other magical families. If I started talking casually like I did with Crista, there would be problems.

“I can’t be nice… so please leave.”

“Kasena, it’s polite to look at each other’s faces when greeting.”

“I told you to leave!”

At that moment, Kasena picked up a compass from the desk and threw it.

Madellia’s instantaneous magic deployment must have been the product of extremely trained reflexes.

A barrier of wind unfolded, and the compass, stopped right in front of Rain’s forehead, fell and stuck into the floor, sending a chill down my spine.

But on closer inspection, it wasn’t made of iron but of wood, and the needle part was also a blunt piece of carved wood, so even if I got hit, I wouldn’t have been seriously injured.

*Why?*

It’s the kind of thing only children use. To prevent accidental self-harm. Seri used to use this when she was little. Is she so ferocious that she would hurt someone if given metal?

“Kasena, don’t─”

While Rain picked up the compass and examined it, Madellia Page tried to appease her daughter, but.

“─How many times do I have to say I don’t need it!”

Kasena threw everything on the desk haphazardly, rendering the appeasement futile. Quill pens, chalks, wax tablets, books…….

“Get out, get lost! Who said you could come in! I said get out!”

“Kasena……”

“Shut up and get out! Get out of my room!”

Hmm, she’s a complete brat.

This is hopeless.

She’s not the type of personality that can be taught… It might be right to give up cleanly here and make another deal.

*Huh?*

At that moment, I felt a sense of unease.

Kasena, who was looking around for something to throw since there was nothing left on the desk, was reaching for the books scattered on the floor.

But she couldn’t grab them.

Her body tilted and she fell to the floor. The legs that should have supported her body were skeletal with no muscles.

“Lady, could it be that your legs……”

As if ashamed to show me that, she threw all the books on the floor with an even more vehement voice.

Once this side of the floor was cleared, she moved to the other side… moving by pushing her body with both hands.

The meager, bony legs did not move. They only twitched slightly. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Get out, please, I beg you to get out……!”

After a long struggle, Rain and Madellia had to leave the room as if being chased out.

Madellia didn’t open her mouth until she had descended all the long stairs of the tower.

And after returning to the audience chamber, she sighed painfully, holding her forehead.

“As you can see, she’s like that. No one can talk to her now.”

“……”

“It’s meaningless to bring famous scholars. Their patience has its limits……”

“Your Excellency, does the young lady have a problem with her legs?”

“Yes.”

Madellia gave a bitter smile.

She downed the wine poured by the maid in one gulp and stared at the distant void as if longing for something.

“Kasena liked to climb walls and trees since she was little. She was a very lively child… I should have stopped her, even if I had to use the whip.”

“You couldn’t stop her.”

“When I called her while she was climbing the wall, she would smile brightly and shout, ‘Mom,’… every time, my heart weakened. Ah, damn it……”

Madellia let out a bitter sigh.

At that moment, a man with a gaunt figure and a nervous impression entered the audience chamber.

The moment Rain recognized him, he had to bow immediately. The emblem engraved on the noble golden robe was the blue dragon.

The Azure Dragon. One of the five *Seonjehu* [powerful lords] who rule the empire, the emblem of the Arphen Imperial family.

His ruling area is the southern part of the empire, and of course, he has a close cooperative relationship with the Page baronial family.

The man strode up to me and scanned my body up and down as if questioning me. Then he sighed and turned to Madellia.

“Even those famous for their wisdom couldn’t appease Kasena. But this child… It would be a relief if he didn’t end up fighting with her.”

“He’s not an ordinary child.”

“He’s just a child. It will only cause more pain. Please stop now.”

“Stop?”

“I’m saying, let’s just leave that child alone.”

Then Madellia, who always had a cool impression, slammed her armrest and retorted.

“Leave her alone? My only daughter is rotting away in her room like that? Are you really that child’s father?”

“What other way is there? I’ve called every witch famous for healing magic, but who has cured Kasena? No one, no one at all!”

“It’s just that those bitches were incompetent!”

“When did I say I would abandon Kasena? I love that child too! But your way is wrong. Right now, we just need to leave her alone until her heart heals!”

“That’s already been 10 years!”

At that moment, Rain had to swallow a gasp.

*Clang……*

The wine glass that hit the man’s forehead rolled on the floor. Wine and blood mingled and flowed down his face.

“Get out.”

“……”

“Get out, get out with that face I don’t even want to see! You damn bastard……!”

*Oh…… I wondered who Kasena’s personality resembled, but she inherited it directly from her mother.*

“……”

The man looked down at me oppressively with a face covered in wine, then grabbed my shoulder and warned me quietly.

“If anything happens to Kasena, I will not forgive you or your family. Keep that in mind.”

*Just tell me not to do it.*

Looking at the back of the departing man, the butler and maids hurriedly came in and began to remove the wine-soaked carpet.

“I’ve shown you an unsightly sight, I’m sorry. That guy is Yuren, my pathetic husband.”

“It’s nothing.”

“You’ll give up too, right? Don’t make that face. I won’t be disappointed even if you leave like this. It’s a natural reaction.”

Something was strange.

Wasn’t this a deal? But she’s saying I can just leave like this?

“I thought maybe a friend of her age would be different… I guess I was too hasty.”

Madellia sighed and held out her glass, and the butler carefully poured her wine.

“I can’t do that.”

I wondered why I said that at that moment.

That expression of Kasena’s that was left behind… and the eyes she had when I first saw her kept bothering me?

No, it’s just because this is a deal. It doesn’t mean much.

“It’s not in my nature to run away from problems in front of me.”

If I accept this, I can immediately clear my aunt’s name… and protect my position as chief disciple.

So I’m doing it.

That’s why I’m doing it.

This is not a meaningless emotion like sympathy or pity, but just an answer derived from pursuing practical benefits.

“I’ll try, Your Excellency. Please leave it to me.”

At that moment, a ripple arose in Madellia’s eyes, which had been looking down at the wine shaking in her glass amidst despair.

– Just wait for them to break out of their shells? Leaving children alone in that way is not education. You have to lead them to break out.

I had retorted like that to Keibon Ludwig in the past.

Then Brim stepped in. Brim was a child who had the power to always end arguments with others with a smile since his school days.

– Then let’s do this. Whichever of Your Excellency’s daughter and our son breaks out of their shell first will help the other. Wouldn’t that be okay?

At that time, I just passed it off as a meaningless question and answer, but is this how it turns out…….

“Ha.”

A hollow laugh, born from an inexplicable sense of joy, burst out.

Rain did not know the meaning of that smile, nor did he know that his steps had taken him one step closer to the truth.

The truth that accompanied him in the past and still accompanies him now guides the boy’s path with light.

Socrafres.

– You can inherit the progress of ‘Unique Magic’ research from the surrounding environment.

– Progress 44.8% → 45.0%.

>>>

Brante.

– Changes to the magic circuit have been identified.

>>>

Camitishia.

Analyzing circuit changes…….

ㆍ When the circuit is opened, ‘Mental Barrier: Wandering Worldly One’ is deployed within a 20-meter radius of the caster.

ㆍ Within ‘Mental Barrier: Wandering Worldly One’, the success rate of magic combinations using ‘Unique Runes’ and ‘Unique Mathematical Formulas’ is amplified by ‘33% → 38%’, and the power is amplified by ‘66% → 71%’.

* * *

Sunlight seeps in colorfully through the mosaic glass with the majesty of the Yellow Dragon intricately engraved on it. Even in that faint light source, this place, where the entire interior shines with gold, is the divine realm.

The Papal State, where only the Light Dragon Haraderi, one of the three divine dragons to whom the God of Light, , entrusted the management of the world, resides.

The *Jeonggyo* Council [religious council] building used by the ‘Golden Children’ was on the 3rd floor, and Elin Ludwig, sitting in the interrogation room, crossed her arms as if dissatisfied.

“No, what’s wrong with borrowing that book?! Do you even know how valuable this genius professor Elin is, huh?”

Interrogator Billjiwin, sitting across from her, sighed.

“I would appreciate it if you could understand that we don’t have time for jokes, Ms. Elin Wijak.”

“I don’t have time to argue with you.”

“Wijak, you must know how dangerous Toureina is.”

“Toureina? That person is a great figure. Isn’t she a disciple of the great mage Lynn? How dangerous can she be?”

“Very dangerous, dangerous enough to destroy the world.”

It was a middle-aged woman with black hair who opened the door to the interrogation room and answered.

In contrast to the pure white witch hat that gave a pure impression, the pipe she held in her right hand gave off a slightly delinquent feeling.

She was wearing three scrolls around her waist, which meant that this woman was the *Three-Jang Witch* [high-ranking witch], that is, the shaman of the Republic.

“Y, you are……”

Even the great Elin Ludwig lost her composure for a moment and opened her mouth wide.

Is there anyone who is involved in magic and does not know this woman?

She was a disciple of Toureina, a prominent figure raised by the great mage Lynn and the shaman Friede, and now she was the successor to the shaman’s position.

“I am Yuliana, the shaman of the Moon Halo.”

Yuliana sat on the desk and looked down at Elin Ludwig oppressively.

“I was the one who requested that you be brought here. I needed to check. Whether a big shot like you is a follower of that woman or not.”

“That woman… you mean Toureina?”

It was hard to believe that a witch who was operated under a one-on-one master-disciple system, whose respect for her teacher was different from that of wizards, would say such a thing.

“There’s no need to show that woman so much respect. That bitch has never been a righteous person.”

“……?”

“All the good deeds that woman did… were just biological experiments to achieve her own goals. That’s how I see it. And she’s still working secretly to achieve that goal.”

At this point, Elin, whose bewilderment had subsided, was able to turn her head. Elin’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Goal, what goal?”

Like her teacher, Yuliana’s eyes, staring at the distant void while exhaling thick cigarette smoke, flickered with something indescribable, like betrayal.

“The resurrection of the great mage Lynn.”