The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 57

57

“Lord Rista, do you have a moment?”

Around the time Rista Alter Schirping publicly announced his search for mage companions at the Magic Guild, the ‘Story of Beginnings’ began.

“I am Atlante. I am the dean leading a school in the northern frontier. It’s called the Osarius School, you probably haven’t heard of it……”

“It’s an honor to meet you. Please, call me Rista. Perhaps you’re interested in joining the expedition?”

Atlante was momentarily startled.

Rista’s kindness was beyond the norm. He must be receiving fervent offers from the Eight Great Schools and the Five Great Families, so how could he be so kind to the dean of a small to medium-sized school?

He was more talented than the rumors suggested. That’s why she was even more certain. She could trust him with that child.

“It’s not me, but our school has a bright student. He’s already a 4-star mage. Could you take him with you?”

“A 4-star mage, and you call him a child? How old is he?”

“Thirteen years old.”

Instantly, Rista’s expression darkened.

How should he politely decline this, and what dark scheme was lurking here?

“Thirteen years old, even if he is talented, he is too young to go to the battlefield. If you want to get rid of a troublemaker, there are many other ways.”

“I hope you don’t misunderstand. It’s not because of that.”

“……?”

“He is certainly bright and excellent, but… if he continues to grow as he is now, he probably won’t grow up to be a great person. Trapped in his own world.”

The emotion that flashed through Atlante’s eyes at that moment instilled a vague sense of trust in Rista.

Was it sorrow?

Was it a feeling of anguish that she couldn’t guide his growth as a teacher until the end? He couldn’t tell, but he could clearly see the sincerity hidden in that sadness.

“He has already learned everything he can learn at his desk. So, could you teach him about the world now? So that he can become a great adult.”

That was the story of the beginning.

And the story of the end.

This story, which has not ended even after 300 years, began here like this.

“Okay, I’ll meet him once. But the decision is not up to me or the Dean. It’s up to that child.”

* * *

I don’t want to get close.

I don’t want to be friendly.

When I visited the Page mansion’s tower again in the evening, when I opened that door again and faced this hysterical girl, that was the first thought that came to mind.

“Lady, I am Lane Ludwig.”

Casena turned her head from the telescope she was looking into and glared at me.

Had she been crying all the time?

Her red, swollen eyes trembled, and she turned her head away to look at the wall and said.

“Why did you come again?”

“It’s the President’s request. I’m just a low-ranking student; I can’t refuse.”

“My mom’s forcing things is like an annual event; it’ll be over in a day or two. Just say I kicked you out and leave.”

I have something to receive here, so I can’t do that… When I didn’t leave the room, Casena looked at me as if she was dumbfounded.

“Aren’t you leaving? I told you to leave.”

“I can’t leave.”

“Why?”

“Actually, I made a contract.”

Casena had to bite her lip to suppress her rising anger. Her patience was reaching its limit.

“Contract my ass! Hey, are my words not making sense to you? You don’t know who I am, do you?”

“Hmm, aren’t you Lady Casena?”

“If you know, please just leave…….”

Lane didn’t leave.

After exchanging such arguments two or three times, Casena’s anger finally exploded.

“I told you to leave! Hey, I can kill you with just one word! Do you know that? My uncle is King Arphen and my mother is Countess Page!”

My father is Count Ludwig and my grandfather is Scalzi Ludwig… She wasn’t in the mood to listen to such words.

“I know.”

“But why don’t you listen to me!”

At that moment, Casena’s eyes seemed to tremble, and then a book flew again, tearing Lane’s forehead and causing blood to flow.

Did she think I would block it with magic? Casena herself, who threw the book, stuttered with surprised eyes and turned her head away.

“Does it hurt? If you don’t want to see more painful things, get out. You don’t have to be here unless you like listening to annoying things!”

“I have to be here. I have a contract with the President.”

“What kind of contract is that!”

“If I had to explain it, it’s a contract to make a young lady who has become a shut-in function like a human being.”

“Y, you impudent……!”

Casena went into a frenzy and started throwing all the furniture in the room at me… I used magic to protect myself here. I don’t want to get hurt.

“Who are you? Ludwig? Count Ludwig? Should I destroy that family? If I just ask my father or uncle, you’re all done, you bastard! Get out!”

“…….”

“Why are you here! Do you like me? Do you like seeing this pathetic sight? Do you like seeing a cripple crawling on the floor!”

After throwing everything, when there was nothing left to throw, Casena finally began to sob.

No, that’s not it.

Only one thing… She never threw away the telescope set up by the window where the twilight was shining, no matter what.

After the chaos subsided, Lane opened his mouth with a soft sigh.

“I didn’t come here to comfort you, and I have no intention of comforting you. I’m not that kind of person.”

If it were Rista or Friede, they would have offered words of comfort with a beautiful smile, but as I said before, I am not such a great person.

I am a mage by nature.

I pursue reason, not emotion.

Therefore, I picked up the book that tore my forehead and was lying at my feet. 『The Other Side of the Continent』, a travel book written by the famous adventurer Willang.

“Instead, I can make the young lady walk.”

Casena, who was burying her face in her hands and sobbing, suddenly raised her tearful eyes.

“I can make you walk and go to the land in this book.”

“Impossible. Spine, my spine is broken.”

“It’s called magic because it makes the impossible possible.”

“Don’t play nasty tricks! If you’re going to move my legs with telekinesis, stop it! Forcing these ugly legs to walk will only make them look uglier!”

Bell সি디어স [Bell Sidius], Lane’s eyes burned red, and soon he mathematically analyzed everything that formed in his vision.

“The shape of the magic circle is a pentagon; the runes to be engraved are fine (細; minute).”

The signals that move the body are all flows of weak current extending from the central nervous system.

If some of the organs that send that flow are broken, it can be solved with electric shock magic.

“Relax your body and just accept it comfortably. You’ll get hurt if you try to resist the force.”

Casena’s legs twitched. Casena blinked as if she couldn’t believe the reality unfolding before her eyes.

“This is the movement of the thigh; this much force moves the toes. Hmm, then if I do this…….”

The next moment, Casena stood up from her chair. Of course, those legs couldn’t support her weight, so I added a little telekinesis.

“Lies, it’s a lie. This, there’s no way this is possible…….”

As Casena’s eyes trembled convulsively, Lane sent a series of electrical signals with magic, and Casena’s legs began to walk.

One step, one step.

Like a child taking its first steps, but clearly one step, then two steps… Lane crossed his arms as if to show off.

“This is the possibility of magic.”

“……?!”

“It’s a bit awkward because it’s not my body and the young lady’s body is not intact, but you can walk like this. Now, are you willing to learn magic from me?”

In fact, manipulating other people’s nerve circuits to move their bodies like this was something I had only thought about in theory during my Lynn days.

But now it was possible.

Because I could see the flow of magical power in the body through Bell সি디어স [Bell Sidius, his unique ability]. I couldn’t help but admire the power of the bloodline limit that made the theory a reality.

“…….”

Was she embarrassed, or was she shocked? Casena, who couldn’t speak for a long time, finally shook her head, exhaling a trembling breath.

“Get out, get out! You bad bastard!”

“?!”

“Do I look like a fool to you? Playing tricks with this, this cheap illusion magic…… Get out before I kill you! Guards! What are you doing! Get this guy out!”

Eh, eh? As the escort knight who immediately ran over at Casena’s shout politely dragged Lane out, I blankly thought.

‘Is this how it turns out?’

I thought it would naturally turn out like, ‘Wow, this is magic, it’s so cool! I should learn magic too!’

“……This isn’t it?”

* * *

“Oh my, I feel so relieved that that smart aleck is leaving the Magic Tower.”

The day Lynn left the Magic Tower was unsettling from dawn.

Fellow students who had never been in a hostile relationship, even if they weren’t close, were casually spitting out such words one by one.

Forgetting the grace of being taken in and learning everything, now he’s heartlessly leaving, having fallen for the beauty of the hero and lost his mind…….

“Wow, someone must be really happy. Because he has talent, that beautiful hero personally appointed him and took him away.”

I didn’t particularly refute it. I knew very well that arguing with hostile people was just tiring.

I just quietly packed my bags.

When I left the tower, Dean Atlante and Rista were waiting in front of the school’s main gate.

All eighteen fellow students were lined up on either side of the stepping stones leading to the main gate, and this time too, they were all glaring with sharp eyes, as if they had come out to sneer.

“Lynn.”

In the silence close to mockery, the senior brother opened his mouth when I reached the entrance. His voice was trembling gloomily.

“Be careful and have a good trip. We are all waiting for the day you return.”

I doubted my ears for a moment.

When I turned my head and blankly looked at the senior brother, the eyes of the fellow students who had been busy sneering since dawn became wet with tears and shouted like this.

“I won’t forgive you if you die, you hateful brat! Let’s definitely meet again……!”

“We’ll take care of the Dean’s hysteria for you……!”

“Write letters whenever you have time! Okay? I won’t forgive you if you don’t send them……!”

As the surrounding situation, which had suddenly turned into a sea of tears, caused intense confusion, my gait became strange. No, the act of walking itself became impossible.

And as my eyes became uncontrollably hot, the world shattered dimly.

It was then that Dean Atlante deeply covered Lynn’s head with something. It was a bamboo hat.

“A mage doesn’t cry. People will look down on you.”

“…….”

“Those fools can’t even do magic well, and they can’t even act well. How can they not even last a day…….”

Whether it was to hide Lynn’s tears, or to hide the Dean’s own tears, only Rista next to her would know.

“The south is very sunny. You’ve only lived in the north, so if you don’t prepare, your skin will sting a lot.”

Lynn couldn’t say anything for a while.

The bamboo hat hid the source of the tears, but it didn’t hide the rain of tears that flowed down his cheeks and fell to the ground without stopping.

“D, Dean…….”

I had to express my gratitude.

I owed her an indescribable debt. The grace of taking me in, the grace of teaching me magic, the grace of giving a homeless orphan food and a place to sleep…….

I had to express that gratitude, but only a painful, gasping sound came out, like a beast with its lungs pierced by an arrow.

“Lynn, will you promise me?”

Putting her hand on Lynn’s head, the teacher speaks. With a voice mixed with pride, a voice stained with bitterness, and a voice filled with affection.

“Promise me that when you return, you will be a wonderful adult who can share the light of magic with others.”

That was the farewell greeting with the teacher.

And as we all know, the boy did not return to his fellow students. What returned 5 years later was only the treasure of the Archmage.

The war ended like that, and in honor of the boy’s achievements, who had his name engraved on the memorial as the Archmage of the Hero Party, the Osarius School was decided to be promoted to a Great School.

None of the fellow students welcomed that reward, which was exchanged for the boy’s life.