◈ Chapter 313. It Is Time for You to Reclaim Yourselves (2)
Tick!
A pale, slender finger lightly nudged the cone hat lying on the desk. One turn, two turns, three turns……. The cone hat spun round and round without any sign of stopping, having long since departed from the laws of physics. But there was no one who would be surprised at the sight.
“Hmm.”
The one listlessly playing with the cone hat was none other than the Archmage, Jesse Hainnes. The cone hat was Jesse’s symbol, practically her other self.
Ever since Jesse had become famous for her hidden class, Archmage, she had never shown anyone what she looked like without the cone hat. Not even her companions from her Shining days.
Was it because she was shy?
Because she did not want to show her face?
Or, on the contrary.
Was it to imprint the cone hat as her trademark?
All sorts of speculation followed Jesse.
Unfortunately for the public’s expectations, however.
Jesse was not the owner of such sensibilities.
Jesse murmured as she watched the spinning cone hat.
“How is it? Dizzy, isn’t it? How about you start cooperating soon?”
Mages.
Possessors of emotions and abilities far removed from those of ordinary folk (凡人). Why else would jokes about the character of mages be so widespread even in the Magic Tower, where mages gathered, despite everyone knowing it was spitting in their own faces?
And among those mages.
Jesse had been recognized as a vessel worthy of an Archmage.
As if revealing her qualifications, Jesse raised the end of her words.
“Considering all your ages, you really shouldn’t overdo it, you know?”
The previous Archmages inside the cone hat.
Jesse was threatening them in her own way. The Archmage—no, the Tower Master—who had spoken to her from within the cone hat no longer existed.
She had expected changes to occur in the cone hat during the process of separating the Tower Master’s consciousness. Though she had not expected the progress of the Archmage class quest to suddenly come to a complete halt because of it.
“Hmm.”
Jesse had been threatening the cone hat for several days now. Part of it was also out of resentment. After all, the more she thought about the wicked scheme and treatment of trying to use her merely as a vessel for an Archmage, the angrier she became.
“Even like this?”
But still, there was no answer.
Gently.
Tick!
“How about now?”
Jesse flicked the cone hat with her finger once again. The cone hat spun even more violently from the mana transmitted through her finger. It seemed this would be a long-term battle.
“Don’t regret it later. Think carefully.”
Jesse’s gaze moved from the cone hat to the monitor.
-What do you think, expert? Is there a chance of winning this fight?
-Well. I’m not sure it can even be called a fight in the first place…….
Breaking news was being broadcast on the screen that filled the wall. Intensifying confrontation between Raymond Sean and Lee Hoyeol……. Jesse, who had been watching the headline, revealed her displeasure.
“Why is Raymond Sean first?”
A player’s privilege. Even for Jesse, who was not bound by language barriers, it was not easy to understand South Korea’s national rule of alphabetical order without an explanation.
“VBC? Guess I won’t be doing an interview.”
After that mutter, enough to make someone at the broadcasting station’s liver turn cold for a moment.
The next breaking news arrived.
It was the news that Hoyeol had cleared one hundred rifts in less than an hour.
“…….”
Jesse said nothing. There was no need for words. Jesse had experienced Hoyeol’s magical realm firsthand when she faced the rampaging Tower Master’s body.
It was only natural, so it was also natural that she was not surprised. But at the anchor’s voice delivering the next breaking news, Jesse flinched. It was news about the Magic Tower, which she had not entered for some time.
-This is breaking news that just came in from the Magic Tower. It is said that a pure-blooded magical race, a Descendant of Twilight, has revealed herself at the Magic Tower. For more details, we go to our correspondent at the Magic Tower…….
“!”
It was information Jesse had also encountered through the emergency update.
But she had not paid much attention to it.
Though she was interested in the magical race, she had judged that, for the time being, it was more important to make the Archmages inside the cone hat open their mouths. That thought had not changed until just now.
-“I am Mary, Descendant of Twilight.”
The woman who introduced herself as a Descendant of Twilight.
Until she confirmed that woman’s face.
To be precise, until the moment of Hoyeol’s declaration of war.
Until she realized that the woman standing far behind him.
Had been Mary.
-“In order to find my use, I came from the Arcana Continent to set foot upon your land, the land of adventurers. From today onward, I will prove my worth step by step.”
The Arcana Continent.
A pure-blooded magical race, Descendant of Twilight.
She set foot on this land for the sake of her use…….
“……!”
As Jesse continued her thoughts, she suddenly reached out to find her smartphone. The mana trace she had left on it so she would not lose it was helpful at times like this.
Snap—the release of mana.
The smartphone immediately clung to Jesse’s hand.
When she checked, countless notifications had piled up.
-I miss you~~~♥-When are you going to meet me?
-I’m really hurt :(After skipping past Camilla’s flirtations, which boasted more than half the share, she saw a message that had arrived from Jim Joshua, the director of AAU’s North American Western Branch. Jesse’s eyebrows twitched subtly.
“……
It’s related to the Archmage class quest?”
A proposal discarded during the development stage.
Because of that, only the basic settings remained.
However, now that the Descendant of Twilight had been confirmed to actually exist.──────An opportunity for infinite growth for Miss Jesse Hainnes…….──────The rest omitted.
Jesse immediately rose from the soft sofa.‘Infinite growth, huh. That’s exactly what I wanted.’She muttered inwardly and straightened her clothes.‘I was feeling frustrated as it was.’The day she heard that the Giant Alliance had entered the Hundred Thousand Caves of the Zero Mountains together with Hoyeol.
Jesse had felt as though she had fallen behind.
When one thought about it, Hoyeol had given her the opportunity first.
That day, when they had stood side by side against the Tower Master’s body.
Hoyeol had shown her considerable consideration.
She felt as though she had not been able to repay him.‘It felt like I’d hit a wall.’In order to break that wall.
Jesse had even tried clearing rifts alone.She had struggled to manifest 『Magic』, something completely different from [Skills], and thanks to that, though it was still impossible to use in actual battle, she had reached a level where she could manifest magic in daily life.
Thud—As if proving it.
The spinning cone hat stopped at Jesse’s gesture.
It floated gently into the air and settled atop Jesse’s head.
Jesse looked at the screen once more.
“……
Descendant of Twilight, Mary.”
A being related to the Archmage class quest.
Now that she had realized that fact.
Jesse headed to the Magic Tower without hesitation.
There was nothing problematic about that action.
However, Jesse Hainnes.
If there was one fact she herself did not know.
“……!!”
Players, and even the mages of the Magic Tower.
Enough to draw everyone’s attention.
Unlike usual, Jesse was expressionless.
“Is that Jesse Hainnes?”
“Feels like it’s been ages since we last saw her…….”
“Why does she look so serious?”
“Could she be connected to this somehow? She’s not just anyone, she’s the Archmage, Jesse Hainnes. There might be a quest involving the pure-blooded magical race…….”
Such a mood could not help but be conveyed to the person concerned.
The Crystal Hall.
Developed along a different path.
Mary, who had been swallowing her admiration as she looked at the Magic Tower that had reached the essence, halted.‘Was there an adventurer who knew me?’The only places where Mary could be said to have stayed on the Arcana Continent were the spacetime social hall and the silent southern sea. No adventurer had ever entered those places.‘Am I……. becoming sensitive?’There were more than enough reasons for her nerves to grow sharp.
Even in the past, when she first entered the Demon Realm, which was completely different from the Arcana Continent, she had suffered quite a bit because of her distorted senses. On top of that, hoping for this damned body to be in good condition was something that went against conscience.
The cigarettes she had burned every day to escape the whisper of the ill omen had now become debt collectors, and it was time for them to collect the mental strength they had advanced to her, principal plus interest.
Mary recited inwardly.‘This isn’t the time to have my attention stolen for no reason.’Claudi had said so.‘That I have worth.’That twilight mana and magic might be able to save the Arcana Continent and the world of adventurers. Mary was happy. At last, it felt as though she had found a way to repay her debt to Claudi.‘Then, until this rotted body holds out.’No, until the day Claudi discovered the worth of twilight.
Mary resolved that she would endure no matter what happened.
Of course, she knew it would not be easy.
But had she not already prepared herself?
Mary soon prepared twilight magic. Twilight mana surged from Mary. Violet light was already rippling in Mary’s vision, but the view of those watching was different.
“It seems she’s started something……?”
“Look, Senior Bangrit. You’re a senior in pure mana studies, aren’t you? Even if I can’t see it, shouldn’t you be able to see it? The mana that must be rippling!”
“Even if you hound me like that, what I can’t see is what I can’t see, Senior Bensh……!”
Because Mary had announced it, they simply.
Assumed she was manifesting twilight magic.
With the audience’s insight, they could witness neither twilight magic nor mana.
“Oh dear.”
All the seniors.
Even the chief mage Marcelo was no exception.
It was only natural.
Unless one was a transcendent being—to be precise, unless one had manifestation power great enough to form a Circle—it would be difficult even to witness 『Twilight』. Because it was magic of a different dimension.
In that sense, Claudi was remarkable.‘Magic, swordsmanship. And even realms I do not know.’He had shown himself to be versatile in the truest sense of the word.
However, at this moment, the one Mary had to be surprised by was not Claudi.
The Crystal Hall.
With both Hoyeol and the Tower Master absent.
There should have been no being capable of witnessing twilight magic and mana.
And yet someone murmured.
“……
The mana is violet?”
The one who reacted before anyone else was Mary.
“……!”
She wondered if there was a mage with outstanding manifestation power, but that was not it. The one who had seen through the fact that twilight mana had a violet hue was a face that was at least not entirely unfamiliar to Mary.
Yes.
The player she had been watching closely just moments ago.
It was Jesse Hainnes.‘What is this?’The flow of her mana did not feel as though she had formed a Circle.
So how could she witness twilight mana?
As Mary thought, she flinched.
There were two possibilities she could think of.
One was that the girl
-to Mary, considering her age, all humans were boys and girls
-was of the twilight bloodline. However, was the girl not an adventurer from an entirely different world, not an Arcanian?
Then there was only one other possibility.
Mary’s eyes calmly sank.
“The vessel of an Archmage.”*Busy, busy.
After clearing one hundred rifts, I stopped by the Yusra Kingdom. I had returned to reality and even shown my face at the Magic Tower, but I had not done so in the Yusra Kingdom.‘In any case, written explanations are the problem, aren’t they?’At the Magic Tower, I was the chief.
At Yusra, I was the general manager.
Since I had positions, wouldn’t it be nice if I could just handle things flexibly? Of course, even if I grumbled, Granfell’s principled nature had no such thing as special treatment according to rank.
Only after the sun had set did I return to the Magic Tower.
“You’re late, Chief Lee.”
The top floor of the Magic Tower.
What greeted me was a lump of fur sprawled across the floor.
The cat, the Tower Master, scratched his head with his hind leg and spoke.
“A rare thing, isn’t it?”
I looked at the cat hair drifting through the air and answered coldly.
“I was not late.”
“Then?”
“The sun merely fled from me.”……
You really do have a talent for spouting bullshit so seriously, don’t you?
The Tower Master stared at me.
Then, he licked his front paw with his tongue.
“It’s good that you remain as consistent as ever.”
At times like this, it was fortunate that the Tower Master had an indifferent personality. Why, whatever bullshit I said, he just accepted it and moved on, didn’t he? Still, embarrassment was embarrassment…….
“As of this moment, I shall return to my position as chief.”
In any case, since I had informed the Tower Master, who was technically my superior, of my return, I should hurry back to my office. Just as I made that decision and quickened my steps, the Tower Master added to me as I turned my back.
“Your guests are waiting outside. Chief Lee.”……
What, I have guests?
Wait, then did they hear the bullshit I spouted about the sun fleeing or whatever?! While I was inwardly horrified, the Tower Master yawned and continued speaking.
“They fled from me so as not to disturb my sweet sleep, though.”
That, that……!!
That bastard is mocking what I just said, isn’t he?
This is why I hate cats.
It’s not just the flying fur; their outsides and insides are different, aren’t they?
“I understand.”
Of course, I could not show it outwardly.
With a complicated heart, I left the top floor.
When one said guests in the Magic Tower, who else could they be but mages?‘First, it won’t be Marcelo.’There was no reason for Marcelo to come looking for me on the top floor.
Then was it the Shadow Mercenary Corps receiving treatment in the Healing School’s annex? Had they recovered noticeably while I stayed on the Arcana Continent? Considering the time difference, I wondered if Senior Bellier had overexerted herself, but.
That was not it.‘Ah.’In front of the office.
The one waiting for me was Mary.……
I had completely forgotten.
Reality was bound to be unfamiliar to Mary. She would have no particular place to stay, yet my thinking had been short. She would be worked hard from now on……. No, she would have many hardships ahead of her. I had been negligent in my treatment of her.
While I realized my mistake.
I saw a familiar silhouette beside Mary.
To be precise, a familiar hat.
Of course, I shamelessly opened my mouth.
“Given the circumstances, I shall omit prior appointments.”
At those words, Mary and the cone hat—Jesse Hainnes—looked at me.
Yes, until they opened their mouths.
I had not imagined it.
Never in my dreams did I think my etiquette education would bring about such a disaster……!
The two of them bowed politely at the same time.
“Have you returned, Lord Granfell?”
“It’s been a while, Chief Lee Hoyeol!”
“……
Lee Hoyeol?”
“……
Granfell?”
“??”
So it has finally turned into a catastrophe……!