"By any chance… where should I go?"
I was certain, just from the feeling of it, that it was far away, but I had no sense at all of its exact location.
Now that I had gained a little sympathy, I had to ask as much as I could.
Malay let her gaze drift into the distance for a moment, then tossed out a single sentence.
"Above the Pantirhab Sea. It should be in the savage lands beyond it."
"…And where would that be, exactly?"
When I asked cautiously, Malay let out a short sigh.
"Ha… Seriously, is there something wrong with your brain?"
"…"
"Forget it. If you head straight north from here, you’ll reach the Pantirhab Sea. It’s vast, cold, and no sane person goes there if they can help it. But the real problem comes after that."
"You mean the place called the savage lands?"
"Yeah. It doesn’t even have an official name, nor is it treated like one. Everyone just calls it the ‘savage lands.’ It’s not exactly wrong, either."
Malay fell silent for a moment, then continued in a low voice.
"You have to leave the northernmost edge of the Ruendel Kingdom. Cross that sea and keep going north, and you’ll find an island. Officially, it’s an ‘exploration-prohibited zone.’ It isn’t properly marked on maps, either. You need a permit to go out there, but most of the bastards who left with one never came back."
"…They went missing?"
"Yeah. Plenty set sail and lost all contact, and there are stories that the few who barely made it back were no longer in any state to be called human."
She tapped her cane with her wrinkled fingers, then added as if tossing it in.
"On top of that, the Pantirhab Sea itself is infamous. Its currents are narrow and twisted. Just entering it is a chore, and even if you do make it in, what comes after is far worse."
The sound of the tip of her cane tapping the dirt floor came again.
"A place like that is perfect for hiding. Bastards who couldn’t get into the kingdom, who were cast out even by noble society. And among them, the Baikens had it worse than anyone."
"Why? Did they make some huge mistake or something…?"
"The previous head of the Baikens made an extremely loud mess of things. After that, they couldn’t even take part in official events, and they were wiped clean from the records. You could say they buried the name they had written with their own hands beneath their own feet."
…Just what the hell did they do for even their descendants to be lumped together and treated like trash?
I had obtained one clue, but the place I had to follow that clue to was far too dangerous.
This doesn’t exactly feel like somewhere I can go right away.
I should move after I’ve gotten a bit stronger.
Anyway, at this point, wasn’t my business here basically done?
The magic she had cast was over, and I didn’t know what she had expected, but in the end, all that remained was the conclusion that there was something defective about my body.
There was no way she would have deliberately wanted such a defective body. I wondered if there was really anything else left to say.
"By the way, what happened at the Blue Magic Tower?"
"…The Blue Magic Tower?"
"Yes. I told you, didn’t I? You have a wall blocking your growth. There’s no way the Magic Tower would have taken in someone like that. Which means the problem arose after you entered."
Ah, that did make sense.
At her words, I recalled the dream I’d had before.
Though time had blurred the memory, the final scene of that day was still vivid.
Something I should not have done, and a black existence that had only its shape left.
And…
"By any chance… do you know anything about a symbol with a human eye and a gear intertwined inside an inverted triangle?"
Malay’s fingertips stopped.
"What?"
Then she answered briefly and simply.
"Never heard of it."
It was the first time she had said she didn’t know.
At the same time as an odd relief that there were things even she didn’t know washed over me, a chill sank down to my bones.
That symbol was the last thing I had seen.
At the very edge of that bizarre dream.
At a glance, its strange form was enough to make me think of the emblem of some secret society, and that complicated, unfamiliar image remained clear in my mind even now.
"Why? Is that related to you being driven out of the Magic Tower?"
"Mm… probably."
At my vague answer, she frowned.
But there was nothing I could do either.
What was I supposed to say when I really didn’t know?
I wanted to make something up, but to do that I’d have to know at least something first.
Besides, the person in front of me was a real mage.
She wasn’t someone I could fool by mumbling my way through it.
"…Looks like some sort of restriction was placed on you."
"A restriction?"
"Yes. A restriction."
She looked me up and down as if examining me, then the corner of her mouth twitched slightly as she added one more thing.
"No matter how stupid you are, you really… make me feel like I’m looking at someone who never lived in this place at all."
At those words, my heart sank for an instant.
"…Most likely, Kroy. That sinister old coot must have pulled something when he threw you out."
"…"
Thanks to her interpreting and accepting it on her own, I no longer needed to explain.
It was convenient, but… that made it feel even more chilling instead.
Considering how my head throbbed every time that memory came to mind, maybe something really had been done to me.
Though now that I had become “someone else,” perhaps that restriction no longer functioned properly.
"…Do you know a lot about the Magic Tower?"
I had tossed the question out casually, but she was not surprised in the slightest.
Just a moment ago, she had mentioned the name “Kroy.”
Even in my hazy memories, the only person who had been called “Master” was Kroy.
If so, he was probably a high-ranking figure in the Magic Tower, and the fact that this woman knew someone like that meant she was deeply familiar with the Magic Tower as well.
Malay answered with a snort that was not quite a laugh.
"Wouldn’t you know more than I do?"
"No, it just seemed like you knew a lot."
"…The Magic Tower, huh."
She let her gaze drift into the distance for a moment.
Like someone groping through some far-off memory.
"The last time I went there was already… more than ten years ago."
Her eyes fixed somewhere in the empty air,
a low voice mixed with a faint laugh flowed out.
"Back then, there were quite a few brats like you with no promise at all."
"Heh…"
An awkward laugh slipped out of me.
Somehow, the phrase “no promise at all” felt like it was stabbing right at my current state.
"Hm."
She chose her words for a moment, then added,
"To be honest, I can’t say I know it well. I almost never had any reason to go in and out of the Magic Tower. However—"
She tilted her head slightly as she spoke.
"I do know the master of that Magic Tower. Not in a good way, though."
In conclusion, she didn’t really know anything in particular, and she was on bad terms with the owner.
I wanted to ask what kind of relationship they had, but there was no reason to poke a beehive for nothing.
Even at a glance, she clearly didn’t want to bring up that side of things.
"Then… do you only know the Blue Magic Tower?"
"No, I know those warmonger bastards too."
"Warmongers?"
"The Yellow ones. Who else would I mean?"
The Yellow Magic Tower were warmongers?
From what I knew, there were five great Magic Towers: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, and Gray.
If Blue was water, then Red was fire, and Green was wind? Or nature? Poison? I wasn’t sure about Gray.
And Yellow… just from the name, it was highly likely to be earth-type magic.
But the earth-type mages I knew felt very far removed from war.
Even in most fictional works, weren’t people on that side usually depicted as gentle?
"It was around the time those bastards were expanding their war business. They came to me too. Of course, I refused."
In short, the Yellow Magic Tower had tried to scout her, and she had turned them down.
…Why did she refuse? It seemed like it would suit her really well.
"Anyway, why are you bringing up the Magic Tower? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of sniffing around some other Magic Tower."
"What? No, no, not at all!"
I hastily denied it, waving both hands.
"Well, I can roughly understand how a blockhead like you must feel after getting thrown out of the Magic Tower, but if you do something like that, you might really be finished."
"What? Why?"
I had no intention of doing it, but… I was still curious for no reason.
"What do you mean, why? Because of the unwritten rule between Magic Towers, obviously. Do you think they’d feel good if some other Magic Tower simply picked up someone they had thrown out of their own?"
"If they were thrown out… wouldn’t it be fine? If anything, the other side would be taking some weirdo off their hands."
If you thought of it as disposing of defective goods, shouldn’t they be grateful?
"You could think of it that way, but they still learned knowledge from the Magic Tower in the first place. Who would welcome them taking that knowledge to another Magic Tower?"
"Ah…"
Right.
They said each Magic Tower had its own unique magic.
"Of course, in most cases, when someone is expelled, a restriction is placed on them like with you, so there usually aren’t any information leaks—"
Malay turned her head slightly and continued.
"But there was one incident in the past. After that, it was outright banned."
This damn world really…
What kind of incidents keep happening so often?
Then again, reality was full of incidents and accidents too, so maybe it wasn’t all that different if I thought about it.
"May I ask what kind of incident it was?"
Malay replied with an indifferent expression.
"It was really nothing special. Just some bastard who was studying at the Red Magic Tower committed a taboo and got thrown out. But then he went to the Black Magic Tower and studied hard there too, and later attacked the Red Magic Tower."
…And that was an incident that was nothing special?
More importantly, the Black Magic Tower.
I was sure I had heard that name before.
I remembered.
The Black Magic Tower incident, devil worshippers, taboo magic.
Those words had been linked together.
"Are you sure that wasn’t a big deal? Did it just end with the attack?"
"No. Around thirty mages from the Red Magic Tower died then, and even the tower master was taken down and replaced."
I couldn’t say a word.
She said it was nothing special, but at that level… wasn’t it practically a civil war?
"Ah. Perfect timing."
As if something had suddenly occurred to her, she swung her cane and turned around.
"I’ll have you run an errand."
"…Pardon?"
"There’s something I need to send to the Yellow bastards, but I can’t be bothered to go myself."
She flicked the tip of her cane toward the hut.
With a heavy clunk from somewhere, the door flew open on its own.
"The earth-colored box inside the storage room. Take it and hand it over to a man named Bardo near the western transport site."
"Wait a minute. Didn’t you say the Yellow Magic Tower were warmongers?"
"Yes. They’re warmongers."
Malay gave a light shrug.
As if it were nothing.
"But they keep their promises. They contacted me first about this. All you have to do is deliver what needs delivering. You just show your face and say a few words, and it’s over."
"…Really?"
"No, you could die on the way. But the probability is low."
"…"
Somehow, I was feeling more and more uneasy.
"By any chance… could you tell me what kind of box it is?"
"Why? Are you planning to snatch it halfway?"
"No… I need to know what it is so I can be careful with it."
Malay narrowed her hook-like eyes and glared at me.
Then she tossed out a single sentence.
"It’s nothing special. Ore."
"…Ore?"
"Well, nothing impressive. Just ore that only comes from specific regions. Things I collected while wandering before I settled here."
That seemed to be true.
Because that small box was ridiculously heavy.
Groaning, I dragged the box out and set it down on the ground.
"But are you sure… it’s all right to leave something like this to me?"
"Why not? You said you were curious about the Magic Towers, didn’t you? Without an opportunity like this, you won’t even be able to set foot near one."
…Damn it.
Now that I heard it, she wasn’t wrong.
I hadn’t even been able to enter the Blue Magic Tower, and with the other Magic Towers, I’d had no opportunity at all. At the very least, this was a chance to step across the threshold once.
"Could you perhaps tell me where the Magic Tower is…"
"Here."
She pulled an old rolled-up paper from inside her robe and tossed it to me.
I accepted it in a daze and unfolded it.
When I opened it, there was a fairly detailed map, the kind rarely seen in this world.
…If she was going this far, it wasn’t like I couldn’t go.
Her way of speaking was easy to misunderstand, but either way, I had definitely received her help.
Since I had no property to repay her with at the moment, I’d have to repay her in this way at least.
I tucked the map into my belt and bowed my head.
"Then I’ll be on my way. Thank you for helping me."
"Tch. I told you, I didn’t help you."
She was consistent to the very end.
Just as I was about to leave the hut like that,
Malay tossed out a casual remark.
"Right. You lot have been walking around with a tail."
"…A tail?"
Instead of answering, she took something from inside her robe that looked like a dried, shriveled human finger.
"A few bastards had been loitering around the village for the past few days, so I caught one or two and had a ‘conversation’ with them. Turns out they came to capture that wench you’ve been dragging around."
"…Ah."
Could they be the ones chasing Aileen?
I knew they would come someday, but to think they had followed us all the way here.
After hesitating for a moment, I gulped.
"By any chance… could you do me one favor?"
"A favor? Interesting. Let’s hear it."
I spoke quietly.
"Could you… look after Aileen just until I finish this errand?"
It was the choice to leave Aileen behind.
It would be difficult to take her along on a long journey, and the existence of pursuers had just been confirmed.
Malay had dealt with them this time, but next time I might have to face them myself.
In a land where I didn’t know what might happen, having to take responsibility for someone else’s life too was… honestly, not something I was confident about.
In that case, it would be better to leave her in a safe place like this.
Aside from that, I would have to go have a talk with Baldic.
If he came along, that would be fortunate, and even if he didn’t, he would likely work as a mercenary around this area.
He would be helpful in his own way.
Silent went without saying.
When it came to long-distance travel, that guy was a coachman, porter, and laborer all in one.
He was better than most mules.
He himself would probably hate it, but, well, considering his karma, so what?
"Hmm…"
As she pondered while tapping the floor with the tip of her cane, she finally opened her mouth after a long silence.
"…Bring her here."
"Pardon?"
"I said bring her. I’ll see her myself and decide."
The result was neither refusal nor acceptance, but postponement.
I didn’t know what she intended to judge by looking, but it was better than being driven away at the door right away.
"Urgh… Then I’ll come again tomorrow."
"…Enough. Hurry up and get lost."
Leaving her grumbling voice behind me, I lifted the box and stepped beyond the boundary.