“......”
Ian looked at the woman who had introduced herself as a mage. She met his expressionless gaze without avoiding it.
Overall, she was a woman with a gloomy appearance. Her finely disheveled hair looked dry and unkempt, and dark circles that seemed impossible to erase lay heavily beneath her eyes. Her skin was clean, but so excessively pale that it felt like looking at a blank white sheet of drawing paper.
At the very least, she was not the kind of person whose appearance inspired warmth. Even so, she did not seem ugly, probably because, objectively speaking, her features were closer to beautiful. Most men would likely feel their hearts race from her simply speaking to them.
Ian was not one of them. Now that he had realized the other party was a mage, the way she appeared in his eyes was closer to the identity of “mage” than “woman.” Things like gender were meaningless.
‘Is it a bluff?’
Mages and ordinary people were not easy to distinguish. That was only natural, since mages did not store mana in their bodies like those in fantasy novels, nor did they wear conspicuous outfits like robes or pointed hats. To realize that someone was a mage, one had to see them use magic directly.
Other mages were no exception. Mages did not come equipped with telepathy or some sixth sense that let them recognize their own kind. All they had to trust were their eyes and ears.
In that sense, her appearance was closer to an ordinary person than a mage. There was not a single trait that would let her swagger around saying, “I’m a mage.” Perhaps she was impersonating one just to test his reaction.
“......”
Honestly, whatever the case, he did not care. What mattered was that she had mentioned the word mage, that this was the Bureau building, and that she had recognized him.
If she already knew his identity, there was no need to put on a mask. Ian quietly turned his gaze aside, stared at the Bureau building, and moved his lips.
“You seem to be my guide. Don’t wander off somewhere else. Let’s go straight in.”
“......Coming on strong from the start, huh. I don’t dislike that side of you.”
She grinned and slowly walked ahead of Ian. Then she glanced sideways at him, as if telling him to follow.
Ian needlessly tapped the cigarette pack in his coat pocket and followed after her.
“Why is a mage handling the guiding?”
“I heard it was to avoid getting on your nerves. They probably judged that being greeted by another mage would be better than having a Bureau employee come out to meet you.”
“That’s a judgment made by someone who knows nothing about the ecology of mages.”
“Right? Mages are basically full of self-loathing toward their own kind and have strong pride, after all. They’re not exactly fond of other mages.”
She continued speaking in a tone that sounded strangely familiar. Ian felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
“But I’m not like that. I like mages. They’re fun to watch, aren’t they?”
“What a bizarre hobby.”
“I hear that a lot.”
Kim Yul smiled brightly. The corners of her mouth, awkwardly twisted upward, trembled faintly, and Ian looked down at her before asking casually.
“Are you on the community?”
The sense of déjà vu had not been a simple mistake.
A way of speaking that felt familiar somehow, even though he had never spoken to her directly. A feeling of familiarity, even though this was the first time he had ever heard her voice. If she truly was a mage, there was only one place where he could have gotten this feeling.
“Oh?”
As if he had guessed correctly, a brief flicker of delight passed over Kim Yul’s face. She stopped walking, turned back to Ian, and licked her lips.
“You’re on it too?”
“It hasn’t been long, but I am.”
“I’m saying this just in case, but you don’t mean an ordinary community, do you?”
“I mean the mage community.”
As they were walking, Ian spotted the smoking area set up right beside the entrance of the Bureau building and took out his cigarette pack. Kim Yul clasped her hands behind her back and followed him with light steps.
“Mm-hm. I knew it. Good, I’ll try to guess your nickname.”
“......Hoo.”
“First, exclude the people who verified their faces. Exclude the ones revealed to be women too. Then, hmm...... that leaves roughly ten or so.”
“You know it in quite some detail.”
“I told you, didn’t I? I like mages. I even made a list of my own. So that if I ever met them later, I could at least greet them warmly.”
Every word she said made her seem like a complete oddball. Ian shook his head and blew cigarette smoke into the air. Kim Yul stood a little distance away from him, tapping her chin with one finger as she pondered.
“Hmmm...... Who could it be? Ah, I’m talking to myself, so don’t answer. I’m going to guess it.”
“......”
“The smell you give off is...... strangely, there’s almost no cigarette smell, just a sweet body scent. Did you use magic? It’s a pretty nice smell.”
“......That’s kind of creepy.”
Ian muttered as he watched her sniffing the air. But Kim Yul paid no attention to his words.
“No smell of bugs or dirt, so you’re not related to nature. But there’s no smell of water either. That means you’re not an offshoot, but a ritual or will-type mage...... With a pleasant body scent, could you be a mage who handles spirits? Those children are sensitive to smells, after all. Or maybe puppetry?”
Saying that, she glanced at Ian.
“Dolores? Is that you?”
“Never heard that name before. Is there a nickname like that?”
“Wrong, then. Hmm, who could it be? Mmm, who is it?”
Whether she liked riddles or deductions, Kim Yul kept tilting her head from side to side with a rather pleased expression.
Since there was no reason he could not play along while he smoked, Ian sat in an empty chair and tapped off the ash from his cigarette.
“Want me to tell you?”
“Shh. I’m trying to guess. Don’t ruin the fun by showing me the answer sheet.”
Kim Yul placed both hands on her waist and spoke with an exaggeratedly stern expression. Then she swayed her hips lightly.
“A mage who joined the community not long ago. Ritual or will-type. Not spirits, and has a pleasant body scent. Mmm......”
“Leave out the body scent.”
“Come to think of it, you carry a bag around, don’t you? That’s a trait opposite to ordinary mages, who try to reduce their baggage.”
Her black eyes sparkling, she circled around Ian, who was throwing away his cigarette butt.
“A mage who carries a lot of baggage? That would be an alchemist, a necromancer, or an occultist...... Ah.”
Then, as if something had occurred to her, she raised a finger and continued.
“You’re that newbie who was bragging about making a single sword!”
Instead of answering her, Ian let out a small laugh and rose to his feet.
“And you’re Deep-Sea Angler. Am I right?”
“Mm-hm, that’s right. You figured it out pretty well.”
“The way you talk there and the way you talk in real life are almost the same. I wasn’t sure at first, but after listening for a bit, I could tell.”
The two of them began conversing in earnest as they entered the Bureau building. Perhaps because he had realized she was a member of the community, Ian’s attitude toward her softened a little.
If she had been someone he had no particular connection to, he would have simply let it pass, but the mage known as “Deep-Sea Angler” was someone he was grateful to, having offered him generous advice in various areas, including workshop creation. So naturally, his attitude toward her could not help becoming gentler.
He had known long ago that she cooperated with the Bureau, so he had thought they might run into each other one day. That time had simply come a little sooner than expected.
Well, it was not a bad thing.
If they were going to meet anyway, was it not better for it to be sooner rather than later?
Unless she acted hostile first, Ian had no need to react sharply for no reason. For now, they were colleagues of a sort, and since they were cooperating, it was right to maintain a good relationship. If only to avoid being stabbed in the back out of resentment.
“What’s your name? Like I introduced myself earlier, I’m Kim Yul.”
“Shin Ian. Call me whatever’s comfortable.”
“Ian? That’s a really unusual name. It sounds a bit foreign. Is it an English name?”
“It’s hanja. The I is the character for different, and the An is the character for peace. I’m a native Korean.”
“So it means different things feel at ease. Even if you hadn’t become a mage, you would’ve gotten tangled up with the mysteries someday. Your name itself is packed with shamanistic meaning.”
Kim Yul grinned and clasped her hands behind her back.
“In a way, becoming a mage might actually have been more beneficial for you.”
Ian inwardly agreed with those words.
If it had been back when he was ignorant of the mysteries, perhaps it would have been different. But now that he had realized there were monsters somewhere in this city that ate people, he had no desire whatsoever to return to his days of ignorance.
It was only natural. Once you realized the world around you was full of murderers, could you keep your sanity while walking around barehanded, without any means of self-defense?
Becoming a mage had been quite a large benefit. At the very least, it was no different from having secured a means to take care of himself.
‘Though the fact that that means is a grimoire written by a god out in the universe is a bit much.’
Still, since it had not caused him any particular harm yet, there was no major problem. Ian tapped the grimoire in the inner pocket of his coat with his finger as he followed Kim Yul.
And so they arrived on the first floor of the Bureau building.
Employees moved about busily, answering phones or preparing to be dispatched, exchanging briefings just before the start of their missions. Office workers walked around like half-corpses, hollow-eyed and clutching coffee.
Fortunately, not a single person paid much attention to the two of them. A few glanced their way briefly, but soon returned to their own work.
“They probably already talked about it.”
Kim Yul said as she walked with light steps.
“They must’ve told them, ‘A mage is coming today, so don’t provoke him for no reason and just let him through.’ It was like that when I first came too.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hm. Back then, I had prepared a whole bunch of things so I could kill them immediately if they touched even the slightest nerve, but in the end, I didn’t get to use a single one and went home. I was a little disappointed.”
“I can see that.”
Ian answered casually while feeling around the inside of his coat where he had originally kept his revolver.
Since he had thrown it away during his fight with the captain, he no longer had a firearm. It seemed it was about time to get himself a new one.
It had been an object he was attached to, but since he had thrown it away himself, he did not feel any great lingering regret.
Now that he had a decent amount of financial ability, buying a good semi-automatic pistol would not be a bad idea.
Thinking that as he walked, he soon arrived in front of a small conference room on the third floor. Kim Yul grabbed the conference room doorknob and turned swiftly to look at Ian.
“Everyone is waiting in here. Are you going straight in?”
“Is there anything else I’m supposed to do?”
“Probably not?”
“Then let’s go in. And if you can hide the fact that I’m an alchemist, hide it.”
Ian said as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder. Kim Yul grinned as if telling him not to worry.
“The third unwritten rule between mages. If you’re not in a hostile relationship, you don’t go around carelessly blabbing about what kind of magic another mage uses. I know it well too. Don’t worry.”
After saying that, she pushed down on the doorknob.
With a click, the firmly shut iron door opened, and the scene inside entered Ian’s sight.