"Sigh. This is hard."
It wasn't being dramatic; it was genuinely exhausting. Formula Magic is still magic. Even though I only taught it to those who already had the basics, stimulating the nerves and forcing mana into them to engrave Formula Magic was an incredibly arduous task.
It's cold out, and I've been wandering around outside too much. Still, Formula Magic isn't something you can do in front of everyone, so trying to do it secretly made it all the more exhausting.
"Sir, the bathwater is ready."
"Is it? Now I can finally relax a bit."
The maid suddenly came in to announce. I welcomed the news I'd been waiting for and got up.
This land of the Sorcery Federation has a cold climate, but thanks to magitools, one can enjoy all sorts of luxuries. Bathwater is a prime example. In other places, you'd have to chop firewood and build a fire to boil water, but here, you just click a magitool and warm water flows out.
To operate a magitool, you need a substance that stably contains mana—alchemical silver or High Crystal. However, the Sorcery Federation is the land where High Crystals are easiest to obtain in the world. Because the atmosphere and mana are stable, High Crystals are preserved longer.
Since alchemical silver, with its excellent stability, is too precious to waste, it's used as currency, and an economy has formed that trades using High Crystals as fuel.
In other words, simply becoming a magician who can create High Crystals is enough to achieve economic freedom. It's not for nothing that people are desperate to become magicians.
I can't create them with Formula Magic, but who knows. Formula Magic is still magic. Perhaps, upon reaching a certain realm, I might even comprehend White Magic.
"Good grief. Why am I living so busily when I'm supposed to be enjoying wealth and glory? I must be the busiest person in the Sorcery Federation."
As I sighed and prepared for my bath, the maid puffed out her cheeks and retorted.
"You're wrong! I'm the busiest, constantly following you around and taking care of everything!"
"You're just using your body. Teaching Formula Magic, giving lectures, making you do maid work. I use my brain in many ways, so I have it harder. Don't you think brain-intensive jobs get paid more for a reason?"
"I use my body more! Since baths are for relieving physical fatigue, then I should bathe first!"
"My, my. No respect for hierarchy. If you're a maid, act like one and just do your supporting duties."
Using my authority to dismiss her, I went into the bathroom and submerged myself in the hot water.
The Celsius Territory overflows with clear water. This land, where magic dealing with crystals is developed, draws pure moisture from the atmosphere to use, and controls the temperature of water using the rules of the freezing and boiling points.
The freezing point in normal conditions is 0 degrees. However, in the Celsius Territory, the freezing point changes depending on the street of the magical prestigious family under the protection of the great Celsius. I heard it goes up to around 8 degrees. Utilizing that, just drawing in and releasing water is enough to control the temperature of this Celsius Territory.
Well, that's also a luxury you can only enjoy if you have mana or High Crystals.
"If it's Formula Magic, even if I can't heat a whole bath, I should be able to warm at least a water bucket."
Certainly, compared to White Magic, Formula Magic is at the level of child's play. But even that alone would be an eagerly wished-for blessing for some...
I was halfway submerged in the water, deep in thought, when the bathroom door burst open and the maid poked her head in.
"Sir! A message came!"
"It must be Senior Avant-garde. Bring it here."
"Yes!"
The maid covered her body with a robe, trotted over, and handed me a resonance crystal. I just reached out and grabbed it. As soon as I inserted the resonance crystal, Avant-gard's voice echoed.
[Hues! Are you okay? Are you safe?]
"I'm safe, of course. But did something happen? Your greeting is a bit different from usual."
Avant-gard used to ask if my research was going well or if I'd learned a lot of magic. Suddenly asking about my well-being. Did something happen?
[Uh, um. It's nothing! As long as you're safe.]
"It doesn't sound like it's nothing."
[It's really nothing! You don't need to worry!]
Seeing her stubbornly insist, it seems like something big actually happened. Well, whatever. I can't know what they won't tell me. Mind reading doesn't work either.
"I'm curious, but I'm far away from the Floating Fortress, so I have no way to find out, and even if I did, it wouldn't be of any use. Alright. I'll hear the rest of the story in person after climbing the Gate of Ascension."
[...Right! Junior, that's the spirit! Hurry up and come up!]
We weren't face to face, but I could vividly picture her glowing with excitement and chattering away. I do need to go up quickly.
After finishing our miscellaneous chat, I pulled out the resonance crystal. Beside me, the maid, wearing only a robe, was shivering from the cold. I handed her the resonance crystal and asked.
"Why are you shivering over there?"
"...Why do you think! Because it's cold!"
"If you're cold, you can just put on some clothes and come in."
"You're undressed too, sir, so it would look weird if only I were dressed!"
"But does you also being in a robe make the picture better? What kind of picture are you even painting?"
An erotic painting? Well, it's not a loss for me.
"Since you're already in a robe, do you want to come in?"
"C-come in?"
"If you're okay with it."
"Ugh, it's not that I dislike it, but... I'm not mentally prepared yet..."
What mental preparation when you've already come in wearing just a robe. I said nonchalantly to the maid who was hesitating and watching my reaction.
"Just think of it as attending to my bath. Otherwise, you have no reason to be there."
"...You told me to do it!"
Clutching her robe, the maid carefully stepped into the bathtub.
It seemed even the sturdy and healthy maid had accumulated considerable fatigue. Her stiff body loosened as if melting in the hot water. Water droplets rolled down her slightly flushed skin.
"To think you've been enjoying this luxury all by yourself, sir. How cowardly!"
"What can I do about being talented?"
At my response, the maid spoke as if dumbfounded.
"Wow, look at that shamelessness. Your acting skills are so outstanding that even actors would cry and leave!"
"The actors I know don't cry."
When I said that to the actress right in front of me, the maid's atmosphere shifted slightly.
She was a bold maid—simple, tenacious, and occasionally showing cheeky behavior. Freckles typical of a country girl slightly covered her pretty face, and her braided hair was full of the sense of daily life.
She was a maid who clearly took on hard work, anyone could see.
With her hair undone and draped inside the bathtub, she looked like an entirely different being.
"Sir."
"Yes?"
"Since when did you know?"
Hilde, having momentarily set aside her role as a maid, asked me. I answered obediently.
"From the beginning."
"I wasn't even playing a specific person; I just came pretending to be an ordinary maid. You could have not known!"
"Even if you say that, I already figured it out, so what can we do."
"Haaah. I thought as much. My disguise was quite pointless."
Hilde scooped water with a dipper and poured it over her head. As the flowing water washed away her hair color, the freckles covering her skin melted and disappeared. It was like a caterpillar shedding its skin and metamorphosing into a butterfly. Soaked with water, Hilde bloomed like a flower in full bloom.
With a prim expression, Hilde, having removed her disguise, splashed the water from the opposite side of the bathtub.
"Father must have been living comfortably all this time? Meanwhile, I was in this faraway land of the Sorcery Federation, barely making ends meet."
"Still, it's a relief you seem to be doing well in your own way."
"Aren't you curious about what hardships I've endured?"
"I am curious. I was thinking I'd listen once things became a bit more relaxed."
"Pfft. Not curious at all, I see."
That's because I'd already read her thoughts.
Lankart, who came to the Principality to find me, discovered Hilde disguised in my form and brought her to the Floating Fortress. But Hilde was also expelled from the Floating Fortress like I was, and came all the way to the Celsius Territory to find the Descent Site for contact.
"Lankart was looking for Father, so I came thinking that if I followed the Floating Fortress, I might find you. But I didn't expect you to be playing teacher, keeping a woman by your side, and living in comfort and luxury."
"What did I even do? I just hired a maid, and you make it sound like I indulged in luxury and pleasure."
"Hmph. Aside from me, it seems you've also acquired a local mistress at the Floating Fortress?"
"Senior Avant-gard? She's a very helpful senior. I owe her a lot."
"This is what ticks me off! Always smooth-talking, always ready to slip away, just fishing for connections!"
Hilde discontentedly extended her leg and poked my stomach. Under the transparent water, her white leg extending beneath the robe swayed faintly.
"So. Father. What are you doing, even coming down from the Floating Fortress?"
"I'm teaching people Formula Magic."
"That's what you're doing right now. I mean your ultimate goal."
"Ultimate goal? I don't particularly have one."
Then Hilde raised her eyes slightly, tightened her robe, and crossed the bathtub toward me. The water reaching up to her chest sloshed. In the narrow bathtub where it was hard to even avert my gaze, the skin visible through the gap of the damp robe caught my eye.
Hilde came right up to my nose and asked.
"Really? Are you really, without any goal at all, simply doing volunteer work teaching Formula Magic?"
"For now, that's about right."
"Knowing that Formula Magic is black magic, banned in the Sorcery Federation?"
I know it well. But still. That's from the perspective of order.
"Hilde. I'm not as deep a schemer as you all think."
"Heheung. That's the hardest thing to believe out of everything I've heard so far~."
"No. Really. The reason I taught Formula Magic to the common folk is because I thought they needed it."
Hilde, who had come right up to my nose, tilted her head.
"Children with talent needed teaching appropriate for them. So I gave it. They could awaken mana sensing and get one step closer to White Magic."
"Yes, you did."
"But children without talent can never achieve enlightenment from this short period of teaching. If I put in the effort over a long time, they might become White Magicians too, but I won't do that. Because it would be forcing a change on them when they don't even desperately want it."
That's not education; it's modification. Changing someone according to my will without caring about their wishes is putting the cart before the horse.
"However, to survive in this cold and harsh land, magic is necessary. You need magic to operate magitools. At that point, Formula Magic can become a pretty decent alternative."
In the Sorcery Federation, where magical rules govern the territory, even a small magic can yield great effects.
It's better to have more tools. Even if it's Formula Magic. When I stated the obvious, Hilde was convinced, but there was a separate problem.
"But, Father. The Celsius family and the Floating Fortress won't allow that."
It was an obvious question.
Formula Magic is black magic. It's considered taboo in countries around the world, including the Sorcery Federation. Only a country as unscrupulous as the Military Nation permitted it; elsewhere, merely learning it could result in the death penalty. Hilde pointed out that fact.
"The Sorcery Federation is a nation of White Magic. To them, black magic is a stain on their magical civilization. They'll hunt down not just you, Father, but everyone who learned Formula Magic and eliminate them. Formula Magic is a technology not tolerated in this order."
"Can't we just make them tolerate it?"
"What?"
I'm not particularly trying to challenge the order. Nor am I trying to deny it and open an age of barbarism.
I'm simply saying that even order is a tool.
"Why must I be the one to change? Isn't it enough for the order to change? Order isn't an eternal, perfect entity. Compared to the order that varied by region, by country, and by the flow of history, humans are far less changing."
I am the King of Humans, but a petty criminal. I've broken countless rules, and I've leaped over the fences of laws with a snort.
Actually, it's more accurate to say I remained the same and the laws arbitrarily drew lines, but.
Even though I've lost power and become trivial, I am an entity of concepts. Humans might change me, but I won't be changed by humans. That's the resistance and homeostasis possessed by the human species. Because I lack power, I'm insufficient to protect it, but even so, I adhere to pure humanity.
Because I am the King of Humans, not the King of Order.
"Heheung~."
As if she found me amusing, Hilde wore an endlessly cheeky and bratty smile. In that state, Hilde came a little closer to me and whispered in my ear.
"I, you see, after meeting you, Father, I've developed a wish."
I know. I read it. And I'm agonizing over it.
Whether that's a wish I can grant. A wish I'm not sure I should even grant.
"You are thoroughly 'human,' Father. You don't care about values that never fade, virtues that never tarnish. You only consider the human heart."
Naturally. Value is assigned by humans, and beauty is judged by humans. Without humans, there is nothing.
Stating such an obvious truth is incredibly difficult.
"Yuel gathered all the good things in the world to create a nation. But, that nation had only one flaw. It had no faith in people. Was it because Yuel possessed clairvoyance? Because she saw all the filth and ugliness of humanity? Because if she didn't monitor and bind them, their distortions would ruin everything."
Hilde's cheeky smile diminished. Tracing a gentle curve as if recalling something precious, Hilde muttered like that.
"But, Father, you are full of faith in humanity. What kind of nation would someone like that create? What would happen if you restored what the Military Nation eliminated the most?"
Hilde leaned against me with a voice heated and wet like the bathwater. Through the single thin robe clinging tightly to her, I could feel Hilde's burning passion. It was as if I could feel her heartbeat.
"I will help you with all my body and soul, Father. My soul and body, everything—I'll dedicate it all to the King of Humans."
She is clinging to me desperately. She is desperately wishing for something from me.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have lured the Elder in my place in the Principality.
Instead of returning to the Military Nation, she wouldn't have stayed in the Sorcery Federation to wait for me, who might not even come.
"Please, show me."
What does it feel like to become someone else's wish?
Hilde is purely anticipating what I will do. Because what I'm trying to do is her wish. It was quite easy to do as she wished.
***
"W-we've contacted the guest room, but there's no confirmation."
The magician belonging to the Celsius family answered with a troubled expression.
He was an outstanding magician, enough to join a magical prestigious family. He was the type of human who reigned at the top of the pyramid. Possessing outstanding intellect, he was full of confidence and arrogance.
"Elysia said she'd be here. She said she arranged a room for him in the Celsius mansion. A man named Hues. Have you really never seen him?"
However, the true 'chosen one' who came from the Floating Fortress was different.
A girl who called the highest output of the Celsius family, Blue Tower Lord Elysia Celsius, by name. In front of Shay, who had landed wreathed in tremendous mana, he had no choice but to take a low posture.
Himself as he perceived himself, and himself having to bow his head. Unfamiliar with that gap, the magician's attitude kept creaking.
"I'm sorry, no, I apologize. However, the Celsius family keeps track of the personal information of all visiting magicians from the Floating Fortress. If there's no record, it means they never visited."
"Really...? Alright. If Hues shows up, relay it to the Blue Tower."
"You don't even know who that person is..."
Ignoring the grumbling magician, Shay leaped up. The wind surging from the sky pushed Shay upward.
In an instant, Shay soared about 100 meters, looked down at the sprawling Celsius Territory, and muttered.
"That's strange. She should be here."
She had taken a brief moment to come down from the Floating Fortress, but couldn't actually find Hues. Blue Tower Lord Elysia said she had prepared a room and facilities for Hues, but it seemed Hues had gone off track. Shay, having come up empty, looked around.
"What is he doing, that Hues. He should have at least left contact information."
Should I look for him? The thought briefly arose.
Shay has the Seven-colored Eyes. If she used the Seven-colored Eyes to scour the Celsius Territory, she could find him quickly. It would be a bit troublesome, but still.
Or she could scatter money. This Celsius Territory was full of magicians, and merchants and wanderers who came for the Descent were also numerous. If she sprinkled money among them, she could quickly grasp Hues's whereabouts.
Or, she could ask a sound-series magician to produce a sound that would blanket the Celsius Territory.
Several methods simultaneously came to mind. Her body moved to immediately try one of them. Just as the seven colors were about to dye her eyes, Shay suddenly steadied herself.
"...Tch. Useless thoughts. It would make it seem like I'm desperately trying to find Hues."
She had no immediate business. She just came to meet him on a whim. Shay, who was contacting the Demon God Temple from the Floating Fortress, was doing much more important work than Hues, who was preparing for the Gate of Ascension.
Right now, the Floating Fortress was noisy. Because of the Descent? That too, but also because a guest had arrived along with the Descent.
The return of Saint Rene's relics. Because a delegation had come demanding that, they were stirring up the Floating Fortress.
It was information Hues would be curious about, so she came to tell him in person. But he didn't even leave a contact number. Shay turned her head with an inevitably displeased expression.
"Hmph. If he doesn't hear it, it's his loss."
I want to find him. I want to see him. But I shouldn't find him. Hues is busy. To become whole, he needs even more winds. More people's hearts—.
Complex and scattered thoughts cross her mind. Before even reviewing those thoughts, Shay muttered with sheer stubbornness.
"If he can't even climb the Gate of Ascension, just watch. I won't let him off."
Glancing briefly at the Celsius Territory, Shay returned to the Floating Fortress as she was.