-Trigger
Having slammed the door shut, I paced around the room, trying to steady my ragged breathing.
‘Why did anger well up inside me? What does the Hall of Magic even do?’
Even amid the lingering unpleasantness, I felt that I had acted correctly.
It seemed Oudin must have had a reason to refuse their request.
Caw!
Caw!
Caw!
The crows began to cry out.
[Oh! They said they'd promote you to a member of the Board of Directors!]
[Seems like they're in quite a hurry, huh?]
[Of course they are. The world's atmosphere has been incredibly strange lately.]
[Could black mages have started moving here too?]
‘Black mages?’
I wanted to ask the crows. What the Hall of Magic was, what those people were requesting of me, why the world's atmosphere was so strange, and about the black mages.
But if I asked them outright, the crows would surely suspect my true identity.
I was thinking I'd have to keep up the pretense from earlier—that I'd hit my head slightly—and organizing my questions when—
Voices from outside drifted in through the open window.
"Ha! It's truly filthy…… Team Leader. Do we really have to bow our heads so humbly while being treated like this?"
"That arrogant bastard, I swear. But what can we do about his outstanding ability? The higher-ups are clamoring to bring him in. Do we have any power?"
I approached the window and looked out. The men were going down the stairs and passing in front of the house. They chatted away carelessly without even checking if the window was open.
"I guarantee you, even if we come a hundred times, Oudin will probably never return to the Hall. He stormed out on his own two feet, after all."
"Don't you dare jinx it. If that happens, we're the ones in trouble."
"Ah, would that be so?"
"Still, he might think about it this time. They even offered him a seat on the Board. Wouldn't he want power if not money?"
"Looking at the state he lives in, I can't even understand how he isn't swayed by money. What kind of dump is this? And I heard these days he's even doing trivial mercenary work."
"Who knows what goes on inside his head. Anyway, he's an ill-fated bastard."
As I listened to their conversation, anger welled up inside me again.
They were spouting things no one would feel good hearing. My nape grew stiff, and my forehead burned.
This time, my own emotions were being added on top. I didn't know what the Hall of Magic was, but the thought that an organization was trying to bind me made repulsion surge up abruptly.
For someone like me who had grown up in a pseudo-religious cult community, that was something that touched a deep trauma.
A burning anger blazed from my heart like wildfire.
"I told you to get lost!"
A thunderous roar burst from my mouth. The men flinched in surprise and looked up.
A wave spreading from my heart gathered between my eyebrows, and a golden vision blazed brilliantly from my right pupil.
I stretched my hand out toward the men below. They flinched and stepped back.
The moment my fingertips aimed at the men.
Swaaaah!
Immediately, something poured out from my fingertips.
A cold chill that froze the atmosphere in an instant and spread outward.
It was a strange thing. Ice-like cold energy flowed out from me, who had been burning with hot rage.
The hot lump of energy swirling inside my body converted directly into freezing waves and spread outward.
Crack!
The atmosphere froze. When I moved my fingertips slightly, thick icicles grew along the edge of the building with a dripping sound.
When my fingertips turned direction again, sharp icicle branches like ice awls stretched down toward the men with thrusting motions.
"Uwaack!"
"Huk! What is that?"
The men screamed and threw themselves aside. They hurled their bodies into the frozen space, somehow trying to avoid the icicles.
It was when they were cornered in the alley corner. The icicles that pierced forward with fierce force cracked the road and embedded themselves deep.
Cold energy spread in all directions like frost.
Silence flowed as if time itself had stopped.
The two men lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the icicles embedded in the cement road with expressions of shock.
They weren't the only ones surprised. In truth, I was also quite astonished.
‘So this…… is magic?’
There was no doubt I had done it. But I didn't know how I had accomplished it. I had simply executed magic instinctively, without realizing it.
Fluttering wingbeats reached my ears. Huginn and Muninn flew in and settled on my shoulders. A heavy sense of relief settled on both shoulders.
[Wow! Oudin, you came on pretty strong today!]
[I really thought you were going to kill them.]
[But they're Hall mages; you can't kill them.]
[Look at their faces. They're completely out of their minds.]
The crows were laughing. I didn't know how that was possible, but they were.
I glanced back at them. Their round pupils seemed to be smiling too.
Only then did my tension smoothly melt away.
* * *
I replayed the magic execution process in my head several times, but I couldn't understand how I had activated it.
I hadn't chanted incantations like in movies or novels, nor had I drawn a magic circle on the ground. Yet magic had activated.
‘Does it activate with just will alone?’
But even that will was closer to the unconscious.
When the men touched my trauma, a wave arose from my heart, and as the burning anger froze over, it stretched outward in the form of icicles.
I got the feeling that the important thing was the trigger. That trauma carried over from the previous world had become the trigger for activating magic.
I would have to verify if that was really true, but if it were, it was a truly ironic coincidence.
Because calling me a mass of trauma would not be an exaggeration.
In any case, one thing was certain: in this world, I was a mage.
A mage, huh…… Not bad.
I had gained power I never possessed in my previous world. The tremendous power called magic.
‘Can I live a life different from before, here?’
I felt that it might be possible. But to do so, I would have to properly grasp the nature of this world.
Moreover, as a mage, I had to properly understand magic as well. I couldn't go rampaging around like a shaman.
I gazed beyond the window. The frozen alley had already melted and returned to its original form.
The men had fled long ago.
I cast my gaze a bit farther. The city was shrouded in darkness, but the splendid, palace-like building shining brilliantly remained brightly lit. The nearby sky glowed with an orange hue.
"Is that the Hall of Magic?"
I muttered as if to myself.
The colorful and splendid building, its appearance like a palace, seemed to fit the name Hall of Magic perfectly.
[What? Of course that's the Hall of Magic.]
[What on earth are you talking about?]
The crows responded, puzzled.
It seemed my guess was right. Now was the time to extract information from the crows. I asked again.
"What kind of place is the Hall of Magic?"
At that, the crows expressed their noisy surprise, flapping their wings with pattering sounds.
Well, judging by those men's words earlier, it seemed Oudin was from the Hall of Magic, so it was natural they'd find it strange.
[Does your head still hurt? Go to the hospital right now. I think you've suffered brain damage after all.]
[This is serious. You really don't remember? What is going on?]
"Brain damage? It's not that serious. My head is working fine, so don't worry. But there are a few things I can't quite remember."
I roughly glossed over it like that. Still, the crows made a fuss.
[What? You really lost your memory?]
[If you can't even remember the Hall of Magic, that's not just 'a few things,' is it?]
[Wait! Could those who kidnapped Oudin have been black mages? What if they used mental magic?]
The crows clamored on and on. I raised one hand to stop their racket.
"Enough!"
Only then did the room quiet down.
"Why are you making such a fuss? I told you it's nothing to worry about. It's not mental magic. My memories are just a bit hazy for a moment. But what of it? You guys can help me."
When I said this, the crows' expressions brightened. Of course, their black faces didn't actually brighten, but they looked pleased nonetheless.
[Ah, that's right. We're experts on memory and information, aren't we? We can help you perfectly.]
[Exactly. Oudin, ask us anything. We'll tell you everything.]
The crows spoke, filled with pride. As I had guessed, the role they played seemed similar to that of Odin's crows.
They seemed like they would be quite helpful.
"Good. Start by telling me about the Hall of Magic. What kind of place is it?"
[The Hall of Magic is an organization of mages. The greatest mage organization that all mages dream of belonging to.]
And so the Q&A began. I was able to extract basic information about this world from the crows.
Mages had existed in this world since ancient times.
They say that in the past, mages had continued through a few families. Depending on the era, there were times when mages were managed in secret, and times when they acted openly.
Usually, when the world was not peaceful, mages would reveal themselves on the front stage.
Now was precisely such an era.
From about twenty years ago, other races had begun immigrating to Earth.
The United Earth Government did not disclose to the public the reason for accepting the immigration of other races.
They merely announced that it was the best choice for Earth. Mages were at the center of the negotiations.
‘So it's a world with not just zombies, but elves, dwarves, and orcs too. A world where they live together with us.’
As I listened to the crows' story, the information settled in place like memories.
I couldn't tell if I was learning it now through telepathy, or if Oudin's memories were surfacing.
It didn't matter which. Information about this world was absolutely necessary for me.
[Around that time, mages began to organize into forces. They formed mage organizations and seized power. With the founding of the Hall of Magic.]
[Mages who had been passed down through lineages now stood at the center of power through organizations.]
The Hall of Magic was said to possess both the character of an academy that trained mages, and the character of an interest group that guaranteed mages' authority and status.
Hall mages were a privileged class treated as elites in this world.
[During your academy days, Oudin was the most excellent cadet. The top elite.]
[Exactly. You may have left the Hall now, but among Hall mages, the greatest output that everyone acknowledges is Oudin.]
The crows praised me to the point of embarrassment. Oudin's past seemed to have been quite splendid.
‘So this body is the Hall of Magic's greatest output?’
But then why did he leave the Hall of Magic?
From now on, I had to jump into Oudin's life with no choice.
To do so, I had to know everything about Oudin, another me from a parallel world.