The tower looked better than I had expected.
The tower below the mountain range had been fine because it was hidden in a gorge, but the basin where this tower stood was completely exposed.
And yet it was so intact.
It was a little strange, but now was not the time to look into it.
A cloud of dust was approaching.
“Let’s go to the tower. First, we need to check whether the spatial transfer facility is all right.”
We had found this tower with the Tower Master’s bracelet, but there was no guarantee that the spatial transfer facility inside it would still be intact.
If it was broken, we would have to give up on this tower too and set out again.
It was a shame to lose the “Wizard’s Flower” cultivation site we had barely managed to find, but without a spatial transfer facility, the farm in this tower was unusable.
After crossing the mountain range by spatial transfer, it had taken us a week to walk all the way here.
Even if I flew here alone, it would be hard to come straight away. And if I were discovered, monsters would swarm this place just as they were now.
As we descended the hill, Magreta warned me.
“Don’t think about sending only us away just because the spatial transfer facility is safe. If that was your plan, I wouldn’t have come with you like this.”
Since it was something I had considered, her words made me flinch.
The basin was wide.
It felt as if a small tower stood alone in the center of a massive crater.
The basin where the “Wizard’s Flowers” should have grown had become a desolate land where only sand blew about.
It looked better than the tower in the gorge covered with contaminated gray snow, but it seemed difficult to grow anything here as well.
In the end, this time too, I had no choice but to trust in magic.
Thinking that, I stepped into the basin.
“Something feels strange.”
Hanna tilted her head.
“Is the color strange?”
At my question, Hanna shook her head.
“It’s not that. It just feels strange.”
Unlike Hanna, who said it was strange, the others seemed fine.
Everyone was walking silently across the basin with expressionless faces.
‘Wait! Hanna said something was strange, and no one said a word?’
I raised my hand and stopped them.
“Something’s wrong! Everyone, stop!”
At my words, everyone looked at me in confusion.
“What is it? We’re almost there.”
At Magreta’s words, Tom nodded.
“That’s right. We’re nearly there.”
Ordinary words, but slightly awkward.
What followed was not merely awkward.
“Many died, but we still made it this far.”
When Sergeant Woo said something incomprehensible, Tom and Magreta nodded.
“It was a difficult time. Still, we succeeded. We lured them all the way here.”
“No, there’s still work left to do. We have to buy time until the very end.”
They were not the only ones acting strange.
“Is there anyone who wants to run away? The tower is right in front of us.”
Even Hanna, who had said something felt strange just a moment ago, said something absurd.
“If I’d planned to run, I wouldn’t have come in the first place.”
Magreta answered her with a smile.
The words made no sense to me, but between them, the conversation seemed to flow.
“Everyone, snap out of it!”
I shouted again, but the squad members only looked at me as if I were the strange one.
“Everyone’s fine. Captain, you’re the one who seems strange. You haven’t been done in by them, have you?”
“No way. There’s no way the captain would go down that easily.”
“But several people have been taken down that way.”
Tom shook his head, but this time Hanna sided with Magreta.
“Do we have to check after all?”
“Everyone, grab him. It’ll be bad if he starts thrashing around.”
Sergeant Woo sighed, and at Magreta’s following words, everyone raised their weapons toward me.
They were the weapons newly issued for this expedition.
A sigh escaped me on its own.
As expected, nothing ever went smoothly.
It seemed there was something here too.
There was someone I could ask at times like this.
I asked Soph.
“It seems like they’re possessed by something. This is the monsters’ doing, isn’t it?”
Contrary to my expectations, the answer came late.
It was not because he did not know.
[……It is not the monsters’ doing.]
Soph seemed to know what the squad members were possessed by.
I began to see them too.
Other people were standing where the squad members had been.
Mages clad in old, tattered clothes.
A dozen or so mages, as if they had just come through a fierce battle, were looking at me.
“Is this an illusion?”
[……]
Soph’s answer did not come.
I could not even feel Soph’s presence.
Even without hearing Soph’s answer, I knew.
This was an illusion.
I also seemed to understand why the squad members were acting that way.
Like me, they had fallen into the illusion.
The mages opened their mouths again.
“What should we do? Should we knock him down like this?”
“We don’t have time. The Akzar bastards will come crashing in soon.”
Perhaps because I had entered the illusion completely, the voices I heard had changed as well.
“It seems the captain will have to decide.”
Now they were no longer looking at me.
They spoke while looking at the man standing on the opposite side.
A middle-aged man standing with the tower at his back.
With his face covered in blood, he slowly approached me.
My body would not move.
I could not think of magic either.
All that came to mind was the thought that I had to become one with him.
The mage came right up to me.
His body touched mine.
The man slowly merged with me.
As he merged with me, the world became clear.
The old tower returned to its original state, and flowers bloomed throughout the basin.
Beautiful flowers.
They were the Wizard’s Flowers.
At that moment.
[So everyone was here.]
Soph’s voice rang out.
It was a terribly sorrowful voice.
Fwaaaah!
At that instant, like the Wizard’s Flowers, the world was dyed white.
***
When the light disappeared, I was standing somewhere else.
The place I was in was not the basin with the tower, but a desolate land where poisonous miasma flowed.
“Over there, Commander Hiram and the mages are coming.”
A beautiful voice sounded beside me.
I knew without looking.
A voice like a spirit’s—the voice of Shamara, Soph’s lover.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem there was much damage.”
From the other side came the voice of Gibor, the martial artist.
“That’s only because we drew the monsters’ attention, so they’re safe.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that. Besides, from now on, that is their role.”
I heard the young mage Esh grumbling, but at Japmel’s following words, Esh closed his mouth.
Japmel, who had fought me not long ago in a dead body.
I wanted to see what he looked like, but I could not turn my body.
It could not be helped. This was Soph’s memory.
It had been a long time since I had entered Soph’s memories.
Seeing Japmel alive, this memory was from before they met the Demon King.
The time when they traveled with their companions to seal the Demon King.
Judging by the poisonous miasma filling the surroundings, it seemed a long time had passed even after they crossed the mountain range.
As Shamara had said, mages were approaching from afar.
Dozens of mages in traveling clothes.
At the head of the mages stood a middle-aged mage.
His expression and attire were very different, but I knew that mage.
He was the mage who had tried to merge with my body before I entered Soph’s memory.
Watching the approaching mages, Shamara spoke again.
“The mages coming now are mages who took a different path from us. They are the ones who will clear the way so that it will be easier for us to seal the Demon King.”
Hearing her words, Soph grumbled.
“They’re not clearing the way. They’re people who will lure away the monsters blocking our path and die.”
Shamara scolded Soph in a quiet voice.
“Soph, don’t say it like that.”
At her rebuke, Soph immediately changed the subject.
“More importantly, it’s not as if you’re recording this somewhere…… Why are you talking as if you’re explaining things to a magic recording?”
“Because someone may be watching.”
Soph quietly cast a spell, then shook his head.
“That’s impossible. There is no magic that can evade the surveillance of me, an Archmage, and observe us.”
“Who knows?”
At Soph’s words, Shamara answered with a smile.
A moment later, the mages and Soph’s party met.
Seeing them up close, I realized I had seen about a third of them before.
The mages from the illusion.
They were standing there intact with the other mages.
The middle-aged mage at the front bowed his head to Shamara.
“Guardian.”
“Welcome.”
Shamara bowed her head to him and the other mages.
Even Esh, who had been grumbling, and the other companions exchanged greetings with the mages.
But Soph folded his arms and pretended not to see anyone.
Seeing that, the middle-aged mage gave a faint laugh.
“Good to see you.”
“I’m not especially glad to see you.”
At Soph’s words, Shamara let out a sigh.
It was a rude thing to say, but no one scolded Soph for it.
Because Soph was an Archmage, but also—
“Commander Hiram, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
“I know. He was always a twisted bastard from the beginning.”
—because everyone knew Soph’s personality.
Hearing their conversation, Soph grumbled.
“I told you to just stay hidden. We can seal the Demon King well enough on our own.”
At Soph’s words, the middle-aged mage, Commander Hiram, refuted him with a serious expression.
“Don’t talk nonsense. We’re sealing the Demon King because we can’t kill him, and you’re saying you’ll charge at him from the front without a surprise attack?”
Soph grumbled again, but his voice had grown so quiet that it was barely audible.
“That’s underestimating an Archmage……”
Leaving Soph to keep muttering, Commander Hiram spoke to Shamara.
“Then we will proceed according to plan.”
At his words, Shamara bowed her head once more to everyone.
“I am truly sorry to all of you.”
At her apology, all the mages blushed and waved their hands.
The mages looked like fans who had just received an apology from an idol.
Smiling, the mages looked upon Soph’s companions, taking them into their eyes.
After finally looking even at Soph, who had turned his head, they turned to their commander with satisfied expressions.
Seeing the mages’ expressions, the commander nodded.
He raised his staff to his chest.
The other mages also placed their staves against their chests.
The commander spoke on their behalf.
“All members of the Mage Corps wish the Hero’s party good fortune in battle.”
Shamara and Soph’s companions returned the greeting.
Shamara, who looked as if she might cry, and even Esh, who had been grumbling, all placed their staves against their chests.
Only one person, Soph, did not accept their greeting.
“Mage Corps, my ass. You’re just a ragtag bunch scraped together from the surviving young mages……”
He grumbled until the very end, but no one listened to him.
And so, the mages departed.
Watching the mages leave, Soph bit his lip.
The taste of blood filled his mouth.
“Damn it! What’s the point of being an Archmage if this is how it is?”
Soph turned around.
Toward the east, where the poison grew stronger, Soph and his companions began walking again.
Fwaaaah!
Once again, the world turned white.
I had returned from the memory.
The illusion came back into view.
[Shatter.]
At that single word from Soph, the illusion vanished.
My companions came into sight.
The tower had also become old again.
Lastly, in place of the Wizard’s Flowers that had filled the basin, magic circles were spread out everywhere.
A magic circle created by the final Mage Corps to hold back the monsters.
A magic circle into which they had poured all of their magic, their lives, and even their souls.
Grave (3)