◈ Episode 402. Equivalent Exchange (1)
The Magic Tower.
A private room of the healing school.
What stood in for warm sunlight was Bellier’s smile.
But lately, the private room had been utterly gloomy.
It was probably because of the firmly shut office door.
The adept mage, Cle, let out a sigh. ‘You are pushing yourself too hard, Lady Bellier.’ The greatest concern of the adept mages of healing magic?
It was not research for the next regular conference.
Nor was it entering the Arcana Continent.
It was none other than the safety of the senior mage, Bellier.
For several months already.
She had not stopped her research to find a way to purify the corrupted dragons who had swallowed the fruit of the World Tree.
Slide.
Cle’s gaze turned to her own research on the desk. The document titled 『Cultivation Method of the Elixir Herb』.
Thanks to Chief Lee Hoyeol’s help, which was far more than she deserved.
There had been great progress in her research.
She had even discovered the important information that a fully grown elixir herb transformed into a spiritual medicine.
That was why Cle had volunteered to help Bellier with her research.
The seed of the World Tree.
Since it was originally supposed to bear the exceedingly precious Fruit of Good and Evil.
Perhaps its properties had something in common with the elixir herb. If so, perhaps her research could be of even the slightest help. She had worried over it in her own way.
“Phew.”
But it was not easy.
“……
I wanted to be of help.”
“Cle, shouldn’t you at least get some rest?”
“Hm?”
“It’s a study even Senior Bellier hasn’t been able to easily find an answer to. It’s only natural that adept mages like us won’t find the answer right away just because we overexert ourselves.”
Concerned gazes.
Under those gazes, she touched her roughened skin.
The adept mages were right.
Bellier Yusia.
She, too, was one of the brilliant talents of the present Magic Tower. After all, the high-quality research she presented at every regular conference was evaluated as having greatly advanced healing magic.
Compared to her, Cle herself was.
“…….”
Nothing more than an adept mage who had not even managed to bring a single study to completion. The gap in talent. And if one added the gap in experience accumulated as a senior mage and an adept mage on top of that…… ‘It’s only natural that I can’t be of much help.’ Perhaps she was doing something meaningless.
But Cle knew.
That time would not wait.
“No, I’ll try just a little longer.”
Even in the moments when she was discouraged.
The evil fruit the dragons had swallowed.
Was staining them with evil.
And further still.
Slide.
Her gaze turned toward the senior’s office.
“Senior hasn’t given up either, has she?”
Even though there had been no particular results.
Bellier’s heart had not broken.
So Cle could not give up either.
Ssssk.
Before she knew it, Cle was alone in the private room, calmly writing down the cultivation concept of the elixir herb on parchment. It was nothing more than unfinished research, but it contained information she had obtained from none other than Chief Lee Hoyeol.
──────
The elixir herb requires an immense amount of life force during its growth process. If it absorbs sufficient life force and nutrients, the elixir herb transforms into a spiritual medicine. If we were to consider the seed and fruit of the World Tree by substituting them into the relationship between elixir herb and spiritual medicine…….
──────
Step, step.
“Phew.”
Cle held the parchment in her hand and paced in front of Bellier’s office door. Worry came first—what if, far from being helpful, it only interfered with her concentration?
Gently. ‘This is the best I can do.’ In the end, Cle carefully slipped the parchment into the crack of the door.
For the first time in a long while, she left the private room of the healing school.
And heard the news spreading throughout the Magic Tower.
“Pardon? I-Is that true?!”
When Cle asked back, Jibril, the Magic Tower’s social butterfly, nodded.
“Have you ever seen me lie, Cle? It really is true. The imperial capital, Antonium, has been sealed off! The adventurers who returned to the Magic Tower through portals had gone pale in the face……!”
It was ominous news.
The chatter did not reach her ears.
With a heavy heart, Cle returned to the private room of the healing school.
It was to retrieve the parchment she had slipped in. ‘……She must already be troubled by the news as it is.’
Shake, shake.
No matter how she thought about it, she still lacked confidence.
Confidence that her research could be of help.
She could not make Bellier waste time on needless information.
Cle had just moved toward Bellier’s office.
“……
Huh?”
Wide open.
The door to Bellier’s office was open.
The parchment she had placed in the crack of the door was nowhere to be seen.
Bellier asked the adept mage who had been keeping watch over the private room.
“Where is Lady Bellier?”
“You didn’t run into her? Of all times, it was right when you stepped away……”
“Why? What happened?”
“Senior Bellier’s entry into the Arcana Continent was approved. They said she would be leaving the Tower together with Senior Matisse Dean Karl and Senior Bensch William……. Ah!”
The adept mage relayed an important message.
“She told me to tell you, Cle, that it was all thanks to you.”
“……
Thanks to me? What was? Don’t tell me?”
“That’s right! It seems she found some kind of clue in your research. How should I put it, vitality returned to her face for the first time in ages? You can tell just by how bright the private room has become, can’t you?”
“……
Is that really true?”
Cle flinched at those words.
The reason she had hesitated, pacing in front of the office until the very end, was clear.
It was because she had not thought of a fundamental solution.
Even if, by some stroke of luck, her idea had hit the mark. ‘It isn’t easy to obtain a life force vast enough to make a whole sprout grow from a seed of the World Tree that has already been corrupted. Its very origin is different from an ordinary elixir herb…….’
In the midst of her worries, Cle’s pupils trembled.
“……!”
On the desk of the open office.
The magic book Bellier had left open entered her sight.
Because its title amplified her ominous premonition.
『The Pinnacle of Healing Magic / Author: Reras Til』
*
Reras Til.
He was an extreme healing mage.
One could say he was different in nature from her, as well as from ordinary healing mages. During a lecture on healing magic once, she had even said this.
-“It is puzzling, isn’t it? His personality and ideas, which were extreme to the point of being radical, seem like the exact opposite of healing magic. Naturally, I also don’t particularly like Reras Til’s research. Especially since his end was, how should I put it, all too typical of a Magic Tower mage.”
The pinnacle of healing magic.
Reras Til had died to prove his research. The sight of it was exactly like being burned to death after drawing near the truth that was like the sun.
But her prejudice had changed. ‘I never thought the day would come when I would be grateful to you, even if Cle might not be.’ As Bellier swallowed those words inwardly.
Suddenly, a growling sound tickled her ears.
Nam Taemin had activated [Berserk] and leaped up to the height where Bellier was levitating. Bellier flinched in surprise. As expected of an adventurer. His growth speed was fast.
“To the rear……. Get back.”
The aftermath of Berserk.
Compared to the past, when he could not even speak human words, let alone use honorifics, it was an improvement, but his speech was still curt. However, Bellier did not mind.
Instead.
She recalled the common sense of adventurers.
Which she had learned according to Chief Lee’s teachings.
“By rear, you mean that, don’t you? I heard adventurers have a kind of common sense. Those with excellent defense and life force take the front, while those who can support them wait in the rear……. Right. Tanker, dealer, healer. Am I correct?”
At Bellier’s question, Hisagi and Leoni nodded.
But Bellier instead shook her head.
She was truly grateful for their consideration.
“However, did you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“That the Magic Tower is called an existence beyond common sense on the Arcana Continent?”
It was Prozhnax, filled with killing intent.
Was it saying it would not even permit a trivial conversation?
From its wings, a cold wind poured out as if tearing through skin.
At this moment, by the common sense of players, Bellier was in a dangerous position.
However.
Flash.
Bellier’s green hair billowed, then soon spread warmth throughout the area. It was not warmth in name only, but warmth that truly touched their skin—no, warmth that touched them as a system message.
[Warmth maintains your body in optimal condition.]
“……!!!”
That was not all.
Sssss.
The warmth Bellier emitted was completely offsetting Prozhnax’s cold. Color returned to Nam Taemin and Leoni’s faces. With a buff like this, they would be able to move their bodies without minding the cold.
Tap, tap.
Instead of expressing thanks, they rushed forward.
Prozhnax extended its claws toward the Quirnberg Machine Tower.
Because the entire machine tower was made of silver.
Originally, it should have inflicted considerable damage on the corrupted evil dragon, yet.
Hisagi’s eyes narrowed. ‘Of all things, their compatibility had to mesh like this.’
Creeeeeak─!
The sound of gears creaking scraped at their eardrums.
Because frost had formed on the gears from Prozhnax’s cold.
The movements of the Quirnberg Machine Tower could not be normal.
Before long, his gaze turned toward Bellier. ‘And this isn’t something we can simply be happy about.’
Because he was a magic spearman, he could recognize it.
A moment ago, Bellier, who had received Prozhnax’s cold wind, must have undoubtedly consumed a considerable amount of mana. After all, she had withstood a blow from a dragon delivered with sincerity.
Hisagi clenched his teeth quietly. ‘……Does she, a senior of the Magic Tower, believe in us?’
Could they play an active role in the battle against Prozhnax to the extent that they deserved the [Warmth] buff? Hisagi could not be certain. But he could not disregard Bellier’s judgment.
Tap.
He kicked off after the two.
Kraaaaaa─!
Prozhnax finally brought down one of the Quirnberg Machine Towers.
Bellier watched the Holy War Alliance charge toward the roaring creature.
Without realizing it, she smiled.
“So that was why you all ended up so battered?”
The desperate battle against Yunaxus.
Bellier had personally healed Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leoni, the trio.
Thanks to that, she could guess.
Even if they were freed from the cruel cold, they would not last more than a few minutes.
“I have taken the lesson of the First Dragon-Demon War to heart.”
When dragons set foot in the Magic Tower’s Crystal Hall?
In truth, she had felt relieved.
Because she had thought there would never again be a day in her lifetime when she would exchange magic with such absurd monsters. But life truly did not go as one wished. Of course, she had no intention of feeling resentful.
“That would not do, would it, Marcelo?”
If everything had flowed only according to what had been decided.
You, who had suffered from a terminal curse, would by now……
No longer be a person of this world.
That was why Bellier intended to fulfill her role.
A way to purify the dragon corrupted after swallowing the evil fruit.
She had gained inspiration from the letter Cle had left behind.
Elixir herb, and spiritual medicine.
If one recalled that relationship……
A vast life force. Yes, if it were a life force vast enough to make even a corrupted and rotted evil fruit sprout. Perhaps it might be possible to make a sprout of the World Tree emerge even from the evil fruit and suppress the dragon’s corruption.
“Theoretically, it is more than possible, Cle.”
Bellier smiled.
“Even if Chief Lee’s help was involved, it is admirable.”
However, Cle had added that the problem was that such an immense life force could not be obtained. But Bellier knew. To be precise, after searching through all sorts of books, she had remembered.
Reras Til.
The pinnacle of healing magic.
The cause of Reras Til’s death recorded in the Magic Tower was as follows.
『Reras Til manifested healing magic at its extreme. He converted his body and mind, all of them, into life force, and manifested the pinnacle of healing magic close to the truth…….』
No one could know whether it had truly been close to the truth, but considering the meaning the truth held in the Magic Tower, its power had effectively been proven.
“Then, shall we begin?”
Bellier intended to manifest that pinnacle.
“Bellier Yusia’s final healing magic.”
The reason she had poured out mana from the beginning?
It was simple.
It was the pinnacle of healing magic that offered body and mind instead of mana.
There was no need to leave precious mana in her body.
Bellier’s healing magic enveloped the Holy War Alliance, who were being pushed back.
Sssss.
“You are the future, after all.”
Even if they were absurdly weak right now, adventurers had potential. Of course, she did not think they would be able to grow as much as Chief Lee Hoyeol.
“Shouldn’t you at least become our chief’s hands and feet?”
Therefore, Bellier intended to help them with all her might.
So that they could build experience.
Yes, until her mana remained.
Until she manifested the pinnacle of healing magic.
But as said before.
Nothing flows as one thinks.
Was it because she had suddenly poured out all the mana she possessed?
“Hup.”
Gush—
The moment she held the blood surging back up her throat in her mouth.
A voice came to her.
“I will ask you, Senior Mage Bellier Yusia.”
“……!”
“The principle and every step of the process for purifying the evil fruit.”
“……
Chief Lee?”...
Wait a moment.……
What did you say?
Extreme healing magic that had to be manifested at the cost of one’s life?!
[Last Adventurer: You do not die on the Arcana Continent. Upon death, you immediately return to reality and cannot access the Arcana Continent for a set period of time.
- Cooldown: 24 hours]
No, if that was the case, you should have told me!