Chapter 59: Each One's Path
Except for a few, the condition of the injured improved with each passing day. This was thanks to Ella advancing to a 4th-tier priest and being able to utilize healing prayers, but among them, the one who recovered noticeably fast was none other than Calix.
"Didn't you say your bones were broken? And you're already walking around."
"It's bearable."
"Ha, a recovery rate that exceeds the bounds of human capability."
As the Dwarf Basim let out a low exclamation, Adrian responded with a psh laugh.
"Wouldn't that be the power of mana?"
The Prince of Latia had hit the nail on the head. Calix's 'Core' was pushing mana to throughout various parts of his body. The mana firmly filled in the cracked bones and regenerated the damaged muscle tissue by compressing it more densely.
His physical balance hadn't been fully restored yet, but the moment he completely recovered, he would display efficiency incomparable to before.
Realizing that the time to leave the forest was imminent, Royce gathered all personnel at dawn. While the Mountain Rabbits secured those who had difficulty moving onto their backs and tied them with cloth so they wouldn't fall off, sunlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, urging the captain's decision.
"It's time to move now."
Time to part ways.
Just as he was about to approach the mage to bid farewell, the other party made the first move.
"To you who wander the paths, may righteous intent remain before you."
Having finished speaking, Yelayen slowly bowed and made eye contact with each of the mercenaries with his blue-gold eyes. His appearance exuded a strangely human fragrance while simultaneously possessing an alien dignity.
Royce also deeply bowed his head and returned the greeting.
"We sincerely thank you for your help. We wish good fortune on the investigation team's path ahead as well."
However, immediately after, the Mountain Rabbits' captain hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking.
"However, perhaps... May we ask where we should go?"
The other party was one of only seven mages in the world. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime meeting. That must have been why. He felt the desire to seek advice from the old man who exuded a mysterious atmosphere.
The mage before him returned an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry and move forward. I can tell you the way, but I cannot tell you the direction of life. In the end, it will flow according to the natural order."
At those words, Royce suddenly realized, and his face turned red. The very fact that he had tried to hear from another person where to go was wrong. As he said, the answer to life was something one decides for oneself.
He bowed his head again and muttered lowly.
"...I apologize."
"No. Just the fact that you realized that makes you an excellent leader. My mind is at ease."
Yelayen accepted the apology with a pleased look, then suddenly step- moved his feet toward Calix. The young man seemed busy taking care of the old man who had lost his memory.
"Gregor, one side of your pants has come down. Your waist string must have come undone."
"Hm? Is that so? But cook comrade, isn't the gentle breeze so refreshing!"
"That's true. But we have to leave soon."
"...Already?"
The one with physical difficulties was taking care of the one whose mind wasn't fully intact. Just seeing this, one could know Calix's character.
Yelayen hears the sound of the wind singing. In the forest, no—the mana of nature rotates with him as its central axis. If the 'Core' built in the young man's heart hadn't glared at him, it would have reacted much more fiercely.
From any perspective, an existence worth looking forward to. So the mage willingly opens his mouth. He shouldn't intervene directly, but a story that could be a small help would be fine.
"Calix. How much do you know about mages?"
"Mages... Well. Honestly, I don't know much."
"We live in various forms. I walk around borrowing the appearance of an old man, but differently from that, there are those who changed their form according to what they yearn for. There are mages who live as flames, and there are those who choose to live as beasts. This place, the Storm Forest, is also like that."
Calix tilts his head. He knew that Yelayen occasionally spouted absurd words, but this time he couldn't even grasp the intention.
"The Storm Forest, you mean..."
"The Circulating Mage, Leatus. In the ancient language, it means 'Endless Flow'. Long ago, she made a decision to block the shadow cast over the eastern continent. She threw her soul to sow seeds in the barren land and sprinkled rain of mana to establish a lush forest. Some said she was mad, but... It was all her choice. She became a barrier blocking the shadow by her own will."
He belatedly realizes what the other party is explaining. Who is the true owner of the 'Core'?
The Circulating Mage, Leatus.
She was also one of the mages.
"The Storm Forest—"
"No, she has left. This forest will no longer be any threat, nor any barrier."
"......"
"There's nothing to worry about. Instead, she left hope for tomorrow. Didn't she plant a seed in someone's heart?"
Once again, utterly incomprehensible words. But he doesn't ask back. He simply gazes into the other party's eyes for a long time.
The mage psh laughed.
Calix felt an unknown warmth in that laugh.
"Well, it's fine if you don't understand yet. However, remember this."
He suddenly raised his finger and pointed northwest.
"When the time comes, go to the mountain range in the northwest there. There's another mage like me there."
"Another mage?"
"That's right. His temper is truly terrible beyond measure... But if you just tell him one phrase, he'll quiet down."
"What—"
"Say exactly, 'I'm going to kill Yelayen', without leaving out a single syllable."
"......"
The moment he couldn't distinguish whether it was serious or a joke, before he could give an answer, Yelayen burst out in hearty laughter and left.
It was their last conversation.
***
On the other side of the Storm Forest.
The Mountain Rabbits keep their mouths tightly shut and look in the direction opposite to the Astria Kingdom. In their view, far away, they see the mage's party heading toward the Shadow Lands. Yelayen, Adrian Deconti, and Raven Saitz were walking without hesitation.
"...The investigation team can't be just three people, right?"
"Idiot, didn't they say they sent royalty from across the entire continent? There must be at least ten. Who's worrying about whom?"
"No, I'm saying this because the surrounding scenery is brutal."
At Basim's rebuke, Zahira retorts sullenly. Indeed, the mercenaries were overwhelmed by the sight unfolding before their eyes.
The neutral region between the Astria Kingdom and the Shadow Lands, Umbra.
They had heard that no human kingdoms dared to establish themselves there because monsters were actively at work, but seeing it directly was different.
"...It's worse than what I heard."
"Right. The ground is completely stained a reddish-brown."
"What the hell, why are there so many dark clouds in the sky..."
"Disgustingly ominous. It's nothing but hell."
After some time of silence, Vice-captain Marik opens his mouth to redirect their attention. While the investigation team's mission was noble, it wasn't their portion to bear.
"Captain."
"First, we'll circle west. We need to bring back the comrades who left ahead. And then..."
Royce answers without hesitation.
"We go north."
Neither a clear strategy nor any special revelation was mentioned, but no one raised objections. Through repeated crises, the Mountain Rabbits' unity had become firmer than ever, as solid as their reduced numbers.
"Leader comrade, are you finally going to settle accounts? You speak so splendidly."
"...Gregor, what do you mean, settle accounts?"
"Well, you have the promissory note (a slip of paper with a specific amount written on it) received as payment from that island nation prince! To express going to convert it into money in such a refined way! I'm truly impressed! That's just like you, leader comrade!"
"......"
Of course, only Gregor remained unchanged.
And soon, the Mountain Rabbits circled around the edge of the forest and left, while in the distance, the investigation team's journey continued in a different direction.
On their respective paths, different destinies intersected.
***
Inside the Umbra region.
The mage Yelayen, true to his title of 'The Pointing Mage', leads the party on the right path. On top of a large rocky hill, a white flag was fluttering.
It was the appearance of a new investigation team member.
"Look over there! It's the flag of the Elvra Holy Empire!"
"Mm, Bishop Isabella, is it?"
As Raven Saitz shouted in a voice close to a scream, Adrian nodded his head and naturally pushed his back.
"Raven, wouldn't it be better if you went to greet her?"
"Me, sir?"
"As a member of the Saitz Ducal House, you have that qualification."
"Yes, of course!"
The duke's son dashed out without looking back. There was no need to worry that he might commit any rudeness.
Bishop Isabella was a 5th-tier priest. Since she was in the stage between Blooming and Full Bloom, there wouldn't be much difference from the 4th tier, but... they knew politics. Sweet-talking the eldest son of the Saitz Ducal House would be no big deal.
So Adrian Deconti lets out a small sigh. Finally, it had become a situation where he was alone with the mage.
It was a good time to start a conversation.
"Don't you feel regret?"
"......"
"I mean Calix. Letting that child go like this."
Whiiiiiii—
In the midst of this, he felt Umbra's chilly air through his cheeks. From beneath the ground, mana seeped out in beads. Old grudges were staining the earth a reddish-brown. However, the mage pays no mind and silently moves his feet.
That much silence flowed for a long time.
Adrian waits with patience, then opens his mouth once more.
"I heard you're a relatively young mage. Which means the time when you were human isn't that far away."
Only then did the mage react with a short sigh.
"Even that was hundreds of years ago."
"Perhaps so. However, do you know that old records remain in Latia's royal court? One of them was left in the handwriting of the founding king."
As soon as the words finished, Yelayen's blue-gold eyes shook very minutely. A gust of wind passed through, parting his robe.
"According to the records, the hero Ranita didn't see mana through a Neutral Accelerator. She was the daughter of a mage, they say. Did you know?"
For a moment, memories buried for a long time surface. Ranita's small, warm hand, her breath that seemed about to extinguish at any moment. Her blue-gold eyes that resembled him.
Only the name remained, and his daughter's face had grown faint, but... The warmth he felt that day still slumbered deep in his heart.
"And also, there's another very old oral tradition. The story that a child born between the two heroes, Ranita and Ashapel Raimund, survived. Of course, it's only a legend, not left in official records."
"...What are you trying to say?"
Adrian greets Bishop Isabella from a distance. He raised his hand high and waved, but his mouth didn't rest.
It was a voice that was lowered but filled with conviction.
"I just thought this. Could a human like this just plop- fall from the sky? His skills were outstanding for his age, but above all... Didn't he make the massive mana that covered the forest his own?"
"......"
"Yes, I felt it too. There are only two heroes who completely disappeared without a trace. Whichever of the two it is, I thought this fellow inherited that power. And that can only be explained by one possibility."
He concludes very cautiously yet resolutely.
"Calix is... A descendant of Ranita. He's also your descendant. Am I correct?"
For a long while, Yelayen said nothing.
He simply closed his eyes very slowly.
The wind blew again. Memories had grown faint, and emotions had been covered by even more dense years, but... something throbbed from deep within his heart.
However, he is a mage.
Long experience wears away emotions.
He soon looked at Adrian with an expressionless face.
"He has his own path. A path different from mine."
"...Is that so."
Those words were both denial and affirmation. The best answer a mage could give. Adrian didn't ask any further.
The words he had to convey were finished, and he had heard the answer he needed to receive.
Yelayen quietly turned his head. The hem of his cloak scattered, embracing the wind. His footsteps have no wavering. Like those of one advancing toward destiny, they were heavy yet calm.
However, the wind followed behind him, carefully collecting the emotions imprinted in his footsteps.
Quietly, very quietly.
It picked up love and longing, and pretended not to see despair and grief as it let them flow away.