Chapter 6: Growing Stronger
‘…A member of the Elfordo Knights… though they were annihilated long ago’
A brief moment to catch a breath.
Words from a companion that came out the moment he thought there was no turning back.
Roan still remembers the name of that order.
Of course he did.
‘Thank you. For treating me as a friend—me, who had been warped from being alone for so long.’
Because it had been a dying wish.
Cedric Lowell.
The one chosen as the vessel of a Transcendent, and a knight of ill fate who met his end because his companions—unable to recognize what he was—failed him in time.
***
"Actually."
On the road leaving.
Roan, who had been happily treading the dirt path, brought up the topic out of nowhere.
"Jane, you're not weak."
"You're saying that now? What, because it looked like I was fuming?"
"No. I mean it sincerely."
Roan's voice was serious.
Jane's abilities were at the very top tier of the current continent.
A scorching flame beam that engulfed 2 people at once. She was a mage who could complete its incantation in an instant.
"Most mages would be beneath your feet."
"Hmph, you think that's going to make me feel better?"
"But if you were fighting someone who isn't a mage!"
"…What?"
"You'd be taken down before you could even begin the incantation. It would be precarious against monsters too."
Because these were things he had actually lived through, the examples came out naturally.
Though the expression of the person listening was souring in real time.
"Ha, is that so? What a lovely thing to hear."
Jane, a crooked smile on her face, stared directly at Roan.
"As it happens, perfect timing. I was curious about the ability that put Velrog—that fastidious man—in his place."
Jane stopped walking.
"Want to have a go? The way you talk, you seem confident."
"Confident? I'm always confident."
Roan smiled pleasantly.
Because he had been aiming for exactly this reaction from her.
‘Give her just a little push and she charges right in.’
"Fine. There's an open clearing if we go a little further. Let's go there."
"…You mean where the Mage Tower students train?"
"That's the one!"
"Are you insane? Fighting in front of the students?"
Of course.
‘Because from what I remember, it's there.’
The Lumen Crystal.
A magic item that stores pre-inscribed incantations and greatly increases the casting speed of magic.
‘When I actually found it, I didn't even know what it was.’
An item obtained during the age of annihilation after fighting a Transcendent.
Found by chance, used by chance, and its effect experienced by chance.
‘Jane handled the Transcendent well, but she got taken down in the end. She herself was the limit.’
Back then there had been no time and no knowledge of how to use it—but now, that was not the case.
"Alright! Let me know when you're ready. I'm fine anytime."
"Hmph, I was ready far sooner than you."
Jane, not yielding a single word, opened her hand.
Whoosh!
The blazing fire that rose was no ordinary thing.
"I haven't seen it directly, but I know you're strong. So!"
Cutting herself off mid-sentence, Jane began her incantation.
She was fast.
Finishing the entire incantation in under 3 seconds, Jane activated the magic.
Portals opening around her body.
Long lances of flame shooting out from within them.
All 8 of them surged toward where Roan stood.
―Thwoom!
KABOOM!!
Bang!!
A tremendous sound erupted as dirt and dust burst outward.
"I won't go eas—"
"Alright, that's one."
A spine-chilling sensation at the back of his neck.
If that sword had swept through as it was—
‘Dead.’
Just imagining it made goosebumps prickle.
But without showing that, he continued the sparring.
***
"Alright! How's that? Exactly 10 times."
Exactly 10 times.
The dodge-and-ambush was only the very first one.
All of the remaining 9—block and counter.
He had blocked every one of her spells, as if mocking her.
"Th-that's cheating! Again! What are the odds of a mage on the battlefield facing someone like you!"
"Ah, there's no such thing on a battlefield."
Jane flinched.
Because the weight behind those words was something distinctly different.
But only for a moment.
Roan shifted the mood in an instant, clapped his hands once, and changed his position.
A reasonably flat and wide stone.
The place where the Mage Tower students used as a resting spot, right in front of it.
"Alright! Then last one. If you lose this, you're training with me from here on, deal?"
It was phrased as a question, but it was already as good as decided.
But what could she do! She had said she'd follow along herself!
"Fine. Then… I'll use a proper spell."
She began her incantation.
This time, it was a longer incantation than before.
Accordingly, an immense amount of mana from her small body began gathering at her fingertips.
"Oh…!"
The condensed mana began to take the shape of a sphere.
A sun of blazing flame that looked as though it could easily swallow dozens of people.
In his previous life, the flame magic Jane had been most confident in.
‘…Still has some rough edges, though.’
There were more lacking parts compared to his previous life.
The form was not fully complete, and the oppressiveness and heat it radiated fell short of what he remembered.
Though every student in the vicinity had their jaws dropped.
"Hmph, your feet are planted to the ground. This spell is a little much for you too, isn't it?"
She didn't wait for Roan's answer.
She threw it immediately.
―Rooooarr…
With a bizarre roar, the enormous sun bore down on Roan.
There was no sign of it deflecting off the shield.
‘Oh no, was that too strong?’
A belated flash of alarm.
She rushed toward Roan.
…He was fine.
"What? You're fine?"
Half relief, half irritation.
And as Jane checked his condition, her gaze naturally landed on what was behind him.
The stone chair where the students had been sitting and resting had reacted to the mana and risen like a slab.
"Ahaha! It worked. That's what I was aiming for."
"…What is this."
"Something to help you grow."
Bewilderment filled her eyes.
And in the middle of it, something conspicuously eye-catching was floating in the air.
‘A rune stone…?’
Jane's eyes widened on their own.
As if by instinct, her hand reached out to grab it—then dropped.
Because rune stones were dangerous without knowing what magic was carved into them.
"You know roughly, don't you? That it's not an ordinary stone."
But in spite of her caution, Roan took it out without a second thought.
"W-wait! You idiot! Do you know what magic is inscribed in a rune stone—"
"I know."
"…What?"
"I know all of it. One of the people who founded the Mage Tower long ago hid it as a research piece. A rune stone that shortens incantation."
—The Lumen Crystal.
At his words, Jane scoffed.
"What a ridiculous thing to say. Do you think shortening an incantation is that easy?"
"Try it yourself and you'll see."
Roan threw it to her.
Jane caught it with a feigned reluctance.
In that instant, the tips of her fingers burned hot.
"—…"
As a short chant escaped her lips before she knew it, the rune stone began to react.
The inscriptions on that small stone transformed, as if breathing to life, into the characters of her own incantation.
"You…"
"Isn't that more interesting than me right now? Try it first."
She was right.
Jane turned her gaze back to the rune stone.
Then she incanted.
Using her sharp mind to deduce and skip over the inscribed passages.
And then—
"Huh."
A fireball erupted from her fingertips.
Whoosh!!
A nearby practice dummy was engulfed in flames.
Jane looked down at her own hand blankly.
"…It actually shortened. No—it feels like it just skipped entirely."
"How is it?"
"How is it, he asks…"
Jane looked at Roan.
An expression mixing wonder and astonishment.
"How do you know things like this? Everyone who uses this place had no idea. To begin with—who are you?"
"Me?"
Roan pointed to himself with a confident thumb.
"The person who will absolutely never let you die!"
At that, Jane's expression twisted.
"That's genuinely embarrassing."
"Anyway."
Roan moved past her words.
"I won the bet, didn't I? From now on we're training at every stop along the way, right?"
"Hmph, like I'd forget. The Elfordo Knights—I remember that too."
Speaking curtly, yet fiddling with the rune stone.
‘But be careful. You might get absorbed into the rune stone—’
Roan was saying, then shook his head.
She'd manage on her own.
And even if she did get absorbed, this time he could protect her.
"So? Where are we going?"
"Greyhill Fortress."
A fortress under imperial jurisdiction—one that had already crumbled.
"…That's quite far from here."
"Right. That's exactly why it's perfect."
What does he mean by that.
As Jane looked puzzled, Roan immediately gave his reason.
"We can practice handling the rune stone on the way."
"Are you underestimating me? Learning how to use a magic item—I could finish that in a single night."
At those words from Jane, Roan nodded.
‘I missed this back-and-forth—was what he was thinking, but Jane was reading it entirely differently.’
"Don't underestimate me so casually!? I only lost because of my class disadvantage! In an all-out melee, I can win without question!"
"Sure, sure."
Those words, as if accepting everything she said, grated on Jane one more time.
***
―Bang!
"Nnggh…"
A groan.
Her head had gone numb from the repeated practice.
The rune stone had also exploded right then and there—if Roan hadn't knocked it away in advance, she could have been hurt.
"…So."
Jane opened her mouth, as if embarrassed about her mistake.
"Are there people like that at Greyhill Fortress too? Like the ones who were underground."
The labyrinthine basement of the Mage Tower and the heretics of the hidden Floor 10.
Jane's eyes gleamed on their own.
Because of the yearning for adventure that was inevitable for anyone living across the continent.
Seeing that, Roan said boldly.
"I don't know!"
"…You were acting like you knew everything, and now you suddenly don't?"
"I genuinely don't know. The second companion is a wandering knight. They were drifting across the continent after the order was annihilated."
"Then how are you going to find them? That order was annihilated 2 months ago. They'd have gone quite far by now."
"That's right."
That's exactly why!
"We need to go further in that direction. The place where Cedric Lowell's traces are most prominently left behind is there."
Cedric Lowell.
At the name being spoken, Jane murmured it.
"…Doesn't sound like anyone famous."
Not a name that appeared in newspapers, not a name that made the rounds in rumors.
She had assumed that since he was choosing someone, it would naturally be a strong person—but perhaps not?
"Not famous yet. On top of that, they're headstrong, and they put up thorns against people's goodwill."
"What. That sounds worse than me."
"Even so! When that Lowell grows, they'll be someone incredibly dependable."
Why?
"Because the armor they wear—grows with them."