NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32
“Ah, esteemed wizard.”
“Yes?”
It was the moment I was about to hand over the promised payment for the Ice Horn Sword to the blacksmith after checking the sword’s condition.
“Say, can you do me a favor?”
“A favor?”
“Yes… seeing your shimmering starlight reminded me of a long-forgotten memory.”
The blacksmith began to stutter and weave a tale as if recalling an old memory.
In his story, he was still a young man, a hopeful adventurer traveling across the vast desert.
“I saw it there. The wide night sky. The shimmering starlight sprawled across that endless sky.”
It’s quite an intriguing story.
I settled down opposite the blacksmith and lent an ear to his tale.
Some might say it’s just the ramblings of a drunken fool.
But I wanted to hear his story. There was no particular reason.
It was just that the expression on the blacksmith’s face as he reminisced looked so joyful.
“It was a beautiful sky. Back then, I wandered the desolate desert, a companion to the starlight of that sky.”
“Was it more beautiful than the night sky outside?”
“It was infinitely more beautiful. I learned there that stars could flow like rivers, just like the magic you contained within that sword.”
“Magic…”
“Yes, it was magic. The starlight led me like an enchantment. And then I met…”
“Who did you meet?”
“I met my master.”
“Oh…”
“He struck iron right in front of me.”
“Without saying anything special?”
“Well… I can’t remember what kind of conversation we had. Anyway, he kept hammering away. He hammered and hammered, and then something amazing happened.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t be shocked. Beneath that hammer, radiant starlight began to flow…”
With that, the blacksmith let out a long yawn.
The awful smell of alcohol wafted out.
“And then?”
“And… ahem…”
The blacksmith could not answer my question properly.
He had begun to nod off from the drink.
Even when I tried to engage him, he was silent.
I clapped my hands in front of his face, and only then did he start blinking.
“Oh dear… I’m getting old and tired… now, where was I?”
“You were saying your master was hammering away at the night sky.”
“Oh, then that’s where I left off… Let’s see…”
The blacksmith staggered to his feet and headed into the back of the shop.
Worried that he might fall again, I followed him, and he pulled out a small dagger from inside the shop and handed it to me.
“Could you deliver this dagger to him…?”
“This dagger?”
“Yes. If you promise to do so, I won’t accept my payment.”
The blacksmith left those words and slumped back down.
And then he began to snore.
I looked down at the dagger in my hand.
Would he remember what he had just mumbled when he sobered up?
Even if I wanted to grant his request, it wasn’t just a simple task.
A blacksmith wandering the desolate desert under a flowing starry sky? Which direction was that supposed to be?
Still, it was a great chance to save some money.
We’re talking about a job worth not just a few but dozens of gold.
I left the smithy and looked up at the night sky.
Was it because I listened to the drunken man’s tale? The stars in the sky seemed to twinkle as if flowing towards a distant place.
An adventurer’s journey is often spontaneous.
I made my way to the inn and donned a large bag.
The streets after the coming-of-age ceremony were bustling with festivities.
Joyful laughter, wine, and food overflowed, with dazzling displays tempting the eye.
I brushed it all aside and headed toward the station where the carriages were gathered.
Though it was late evening, the station was crowded with people.
I approached the group of coachmen and asked.
“Is there a carriage to the desert?”
The coachmen looked taken aback by my question and fell silent.
But soon they burst into laughter.
“There’s no carriage that goes directly to the desert. You’ll have to go through several cities!”
“The desert? Which desert are you talking about?”
It was the only question from a coachman who didn’t mock me.
I looked at him and said.
“I heard it’s the place where the stars flow like rivers.”
“Shelter of the Stars?”
“Is that the Shelter of the Stars?”
“If that’s the only trait you mention, then I can’t think of any other place but the Shelter of the Stars.”
“Then it must be there. Does your carriage go that way?”
“Unfortunately, my carriage doesn’t go that far.”
“I see…”
The coachman looked at me and tossed the cigarette he had in his mouth onto the ground.
The lighted butt floated lightly in the cold winter breeze, revealing a small ember.
“Are you leaving right now?”
“Is the carriage running?”
“That’s why I’m standing here, isn’t it?”
“What’s the fare?”
“Thinking of paying without even knowing where you’re going?”
“Where does it go?”
“Hairan Plateau. It’s close to the Shelter of the Stars you mentioned.”
“I’ll take it.”
“The price is 1 gold.”
After handing the coachman 1 gold, he pointed to a large carriage in the corner.
The carriage was already filled with passengers, but they made space for me as I approached.
As I looked around inside the carriage, I was taken aback.
A familiar person was sitting inside.
“Uh…”
“Oh…”
How could I forget someone with such a large build?
He still had a giant axe strapped to his back.
It was Angul, who introduced himself as a half-orc warrior.
He seemed to recognize me too.
“Hello, Mr. Angul.”
“Uh…”
He must have forgotten my name.
As I boarded the carriage, I told him my name.
“I’m Seris.”
“Oh, Seris…?”
The person who reacted to my introduction was a woman sitting in the corner of the carriage.
She had a sturdy-looking longbow slung over her back.
“Do you know me?”
“No, not really. Today, a wizard was looking for someone named Seris near the inn. Did you meet that wizard?”
A wizard is looking for me?
Could it be Mage Tower Rain? Or maybe Isolin?
Either way, it wasn’t good news.
I awkwardly smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, well. I met him earlier.”
“I see~”
With that, the woman closed her eyes.
She seemed to be trying to sleep.
There were quite a few people inside the carriage like that woman trying to catch some Z’s.
“You still look the same, Mr. Angul.”
“Yeah. Um…”
Angul was still carving wood sculptures with a small chisel.
This time, he was sculpting a magnificent eagle.
As I continued to survey the inside of the carriage, the coachman sat in his seat and shouted.
“We’re departing! Everyone hold on tight!”
As night fell, the carriage I was riding in quickly left the capital of the Karma Empire among other carriages.
With the loud sound of hooves, the large castle began to fade away.
I pulled out a thick blanket from my bag and wrapped it around myself.
Spending the night on this carriage in the cold winter breeze was quite the ordeal.
The other passengers also curled up just like me, wrapped in blankets.
The jolting of the carriage and the biting cold wind made it impossible to sleep well.
I drifted in and out of slumber, waking each time the carriage bumped.
I don’t know how much time passed.
As I began to blink my blurry eyes, the sun started to rise beyond the vast expanse of white snow.
The long night had come to an end.
“Ah…”
In that moment, I realized one change.
The mana circle, which had been quietly circulating around my heart, completely merged with the starlight.
On my 14th birthday, I had perfectly absorbed the tranquil mana of the sea.
“Huff…”
The calm breath and the flowing sea mana gently spread out, pushing against the white snowy field like waves.
*
Inside the Mage Tower, Rain spent her time training and was called by her master.
If it were any other day, she would have evaded the call by pretending not to be there, but today was different.
Her master had come to summon her in person.
“W-What is it…?”
“Read this.”
The old wizard handed a document to his disciple.
The document was a report from a young wizard’s mission.
“This is…”
Rain read the report handed to her by her master.
At a glance, it seemed like a normal report, but upon closer inspection, she noticed something strange.
“Seris came into the Mage Tower?”
“Does that seem likely?”
“If that’s the case…”
“It seems this girl named Seris is impersonating a wizard from the Mage Tower.”
Rain began to sweat as she heard her master’s words.
Impersonating a wizard belonging to the Mage Tower was a severe crime.
In severe cases, one could face a lifetime in prison.
Rain thought.
She was a naive girl from a rural village. Seris wouldn’t know how serious the crime of impersonating a wizard was.
Rain genuinely worried for the little girl named Seris.
“It seems you were right about your words.”
Only now could the old wizard believe his disciple’s words, which he had half-jokingly dismissed earlier.
Of course, he still couldn’t be sure about the starlight mana the little girl had shown.
“W-What should we do…? If Seris gets caught…”
“Not a problem. If the content of that report is true.”
“But…”
The old wizard waved his hand lightly.
Then the messy clothes scattered around Rain began to lift into the air and were sucked into a large bag.
“Master?”
“Seris will be seen as a wizard from the Mage Tower on a secret mission.”
“What do you mean…?”
“It means we have to move quickly to make that happen.”
The old wizard thought.
At first, he brushed it off as a coincidence. He thought his disciple was exaggerating.
He had gone looking for this girl named Seris, only to end up with a wild goose chase.
However, a single report lent credibility to Rain’s words. If the report’s content was true, it meant that the girl named Seris had grown to the point of being able to wield the manavolt, a symbol of battle mages, and could compete with a Death Knight, all within less than a year of awakening her mana.
How could one let such a wizard escape? Naturally, they must capture her and take her as their disciple.
“I’m heading to the Karma Empire.”
The old wizard left the Mage Tower with his young disciple.