Let us take Legarda’s skill, “Summon Sea Dragon,” as an example.
A long body like that of a snake, and an enormous size.
The two horns rising from its forehead were both the devices and the core by which it handled all manner of wondrous powers, and the densely sprouting blue scales were incomparably hard.
A divine beast that controlled the weather and ruled the sea.
It possessed abilities more than sufficient to be called a dragon, and the qualifications to be one.
But in the end, that was all it was—a divine beast.
A sacred animal.
Such creatures possessed outstanding physical abilities or innate powers, but that did not make them anything beyond that.
—But the Dragons called true dragons are different.
A race born already as the strongest beings.
Demigods said to have been created as the guardians of the world.
The progenitors of magic, supreme life-forms said to possess infinite mana—that was the race known as Dragons.
—That is why I still cannot understand.
How the guardians of the world.
How a war with dragons in it could possibly have been lost.
Was this thing called the Abyss truly that powerful?
It was a question that always followed whenever the topic of the war of the past came up.
After all, Purnel had become a Specter before the Abyss invaded, and had only grasped the situation through stories he heard from time to time.
“And dragon-speech magic has been compiled into a book……”
The title of the book in Hio’s hand clearly contained the word “Dragon Speech.”
And perhaps she had heard Hio’s mutter.
Isidore approached his side and spoke.
“You can read the ancient language.”
Hio nodded, his gaze still fixed on the book.
“I’m a magician.”
The obvious answer to the question.
“Lord Hio Pavlenko.”
After looking at Hio for a moment, Isidore slowly bowed her head.
Her head lowered with great courtesy and respect.
The noise stirring inside at her sudden action stopped dead.
Had they not forgotten, in their excitement at the thought that he truly was a magician?
That they had suspected and guarded against him being a magician, and had ultimately made him prove it.
From their perspective, it might have been an unavoidable procedure, but the fact remained that it had been rude.
Moreover, this was only the beginning. They were now in a position where they had to ask Hio for a favor.
For Arilleiya’s mission was bound to the beginning of magic.
Hio Pavlenko’s magical knowledge was absolutely necessary.
“Would you hear our story?”
The lowered head of the noblest elf, a courteous request.
And yet, far from looking servile, she seemed instead dignified.
Even in this situation, even with a clue to their thousand-year mission before them, her attitude did not waver.
Her tone was elegant.
Only the slight strength entering her neatly folded hands was something even she likely could not prevent.
Had she not been trying to solve an answerless problem for a very long time?
Had she not been sacrificed under the name of mission?
In a situation that had seemed as if it would remain forever in place, she had finally become able to take even one step forward.
And so, cautiously but with force, she addressed Hio.
However.
“Just a moment.”
Hio ignored Isidore and looked around. Noblest elf or whatever else, his mind had already wandered somewhere else.
Everything he had seen on the way down to the third basement floor had been ancient magical texts.
Most of them concerning dragons, at that.
They were certainly interesting magical books, but was it not a little lacking?
Knowing that the real thing was always in the deepest place, he pulled out the green necklace hidden beneath his clothes.
This was the symbol of House Pavlenko, which had always shown him the way.
Isidore asked, puzzled by Hio’s behavior.
“By any chance, are you looking for something?”
“I’m going to the floor below.”
Upon hearing the answer, she spoke with a rather awkward expression.
“Ah, I did not mention it. The Magician’s House ends at the third basement floor.”
She did not know in what era or by what method this Magician’s House had been built, but this place ended at the third basement floor.
It was only natural.
The records that had been passed down spoke only of up to the third floor, and there was no device for inserting magic crystals on the third basement floor either.
No one had considered that there might be a floor below this one.
But even at Isidore’s words, Hio did not stop searching and answered offhandedly.
“Well, I can see why you’d think that.”
At the same time, his feet moved toward his target point.
“After all, even among magicians, the number of people who could use the fourth basement floor was extremely limited.”
As he said so, he raised his staff.
Gathering mana formed a pattern.
When the precise pattern reached the precise point, the sound that rang out once more was now fairly familiar.
Swaaaa— The roots of the tree spread wide of their own accord, opening a passage leading even deeper down.
A space that had not opened for more than a thousand years, a space no one had known of, opened far too easily.
And so, even from the mouth of the ever-composed elf, a sound of bewilderment finally slipped out.
“…Pardon?”
Just how many times had she been shocked today?
There was another floor beneath the third basement floor, which she had naturally assumed was the end?
It was information not even found in the books recording Arilleiya’s thousand-year history.
How did Hio Pavlenko know such information as if it were only natural?
“No, it is clearly written that the third floor is the end……”
“Because the fourth floor was a place that could not be made public.”
Hio lightly shattered the common sense of the noblest elf and descended below as if it were only natural.
The fourth basement floor was the space where the portal was located.
In other words, as long as one could handle magic, one could use this to travel to Tetradia or anywhere on the continent.
Even so, there were several reasons he had openly opened the fourth floor in front of the elves.
For one, this was a space no one but him could open anyway, and there was also something he wanted to test, but the biggest reason was……
He could not hold back his curiosity right now.
Arilleiya, the mysterious island shrouded in secrecy for a thousand years.
The Magician’s House, secret even there.
And among all of that, the fourth basement floor, hidden most secretly of all.
Just what was there?
What was here that it had been hidden so tightly?
Hio’s steps headed down. His eyes full of anticipation, he looked around the fourth floor.
The first thing that entered his eyes was, as expected, Tetradia’s familiar portal.
A portal quite different in shape from the portals used in Arilleiya.
And.
“Of course.”
A single book placed in front of the portal.
The moment Hio confirmed it, a smile began to spread across his lips.
A single book of value higher than anything else.
A magical text that, had it been released during the age of magic, people would not have hesitated to go to war to possess.
This was.
〔A Preface to Kreutzwald-Style Necromancy〕
The originator of black magic and necromancers.
A magical text written by Kreutzwald himself.
“I’m starting to get the gist of it.”
Dragon-speech magic.
And Kreutzwald’s necromancy.
He could roughly guess what had to be done.
* * *
Freya stood with pride practically overflowing from her face, one hand planted firmly on her waist and her chest thrust out.
『I told you Uncle Hio was definitely a magician, didn’t I? (๑'ᵕ'๑)⸝*』
Above her head, the sentence she had written earlier shone brilliantly and refused to disappear.
Arilleiya Island, the Magician’s House.
The fourth basement floor, which had not opened for a thousand years.
The elves and Freya were gathered there in a tight little cluster. Legarda was beside them as well.
“You were right, Lady Freya. I apologize for not believing you.”
Freya waved her hand at Isidore’s words.
『Not at all! I know how difficult magic is too, so I can understand!』
“I see. Thank you.”
They were currently waiting.
Before the portal on the fourth basement floor.
They were waiting for Hio Pavlenko, who had vanished through it saying he had something to test for a moment.
“This teleportation stone seems similar to the ones in Arilleiya, yet many parts are different.”
“It’s larger, yet more intricate. And there’s no space to install a magic crystal, either. Was it used by the magicians of old?”
The other elves were all gathered in front of the portal, looking at it.
For them, today had been full of wondrous things.
Isidore watched them for a moment before turning her gaze back to Freya.
“When Hio Pavlenko returns, I intend to make a proper request of him.”
『The mission… you mean?』
“Yes.”
Arilleiya’s mission.
The destiny passed down from their ancestors, from the war a thousand years ago that had allegedly brought the world to the brink of destruction.
It had taken hold deep within their souls and was passed down among the people of Arilleiya like a curse.
『I’m sorry… If I had done better……』
Isidore smiled gently at Freya, who lowered her head gloomily.
“No. Lady Freya, you have done astonishingly well. You were the first to form the shape of a 1st Circle.”
『But I can’t awaken the main body with only this much.』
The destiny given to every person of Arilleiya.
It was to awaken the last dragon sleeping far below, deep within the island.
In a place unfathomably deep, where it had slept for an impossibly long time.
Their ancestors had foreseen that the Abyss would one day descend upon this world again, had put the wounded dragon to sleep, and had hidden it deep within the island.
So that one day, before the coming destruction, they might be able to oppose it.
So that in an age that had even lost magic, the dragon might become hope and defeat the Abyss.
With that desperate wish, they had hidden the sleeping dragon and sealed Arilleiya.
『I should have done better……』
And Freya was a fragment of that dragon.
A very small part of that overwhelmingly vast soul.
A young soul that had not been separated for even a few years.
That was why it had been possible for her to learn even a little magic, but it had not been easy.
“Lady Freya. There is no need for you to shoulder so much burden alone.”
It was what Isidore had always emphasized while caring for the young soul.
That this was not your task alone.
That it was something all of us must accomplish, and that was why everyone would help.
As if to prove those words, they had truly done their best.
They had stayed up day and night to research magical theory.
They had continued endless experiments to find a way to create a Circle while not deviating from the fundamentals of magic.
Though what they had barely managed to create was a half-finished 1st Circle… inevitably, Freya’s sense of burden had only grown heavier.
“This time, we will surely be able to awaken the dragon.”
They had thoroughly prevented outsiders from entering Arilleiya, but the people of Arilleiya had ceaselessly wandered the continent.
To find even the slightest clue about magic.
They had gone anywhere there were rumors related to it.
And the result had been unconditional failure.
Those who claimed to use magic had all been nothing but braggarts, clowns, or swindlers.
But now it was different.
A real magician had come.
Someone who could lessen Freya’s burden and guide that soul back to the main body.
Someone who could fulfill Arilleiya’s thousand-year destiny.
“I will persuade him no matter what.”
Isidore firmly resolved herself.
If necessary, even if she had to kneel.
Even if she had to bow her head, she would absolutely obtain Hio Pavlenko’s cooperation.
『Me too……!』
Gripping Isidore’s hand tightly, Freya made the same resolve.
『I’ll help too! ヽ(•̀ω•́ )ゝ』
Isidore smiled at that once again.
“First, I will speak to him, and then……”
Before she could even finish speaking.
Paaaa—
A pure white light spread through the space of the fourth floor.
The source of that intensely bright light was none other than the portal.
The magician, Hio Pavlenko, had returned.
The magician appeared abruptly with the bright light.
Wearing that same pointed hat and holding a staff taller than himself, he muttered under his breath.
“This one’s a failure……”
And at that very moment, Freya went dashing toward Hio.
Still not letting go of Isidore’s hand, which she had been holding tightly, she arrived before Hio and immediately put the resolve she had made moments ago into action.
Calling to Hio with utmost desperation.
『Uncle Hio!』
She dropped to her knees right then and there.
Of course, because she was still holding Isidore’s hand.
“……”
The noblest elf, dragged along by Freya’s hand, ended up kneeling in bewilderment.
She looked small, and she was in fact small, but Freya’s foundation was a dragon after all, so her strength was greater than one might think.
Isidore weakly plopped down onto her knees beside Freya.
Right in front of Hio Pavlenko, no less.
『Please save us! ̗̀(ꀬ⏖ꀬ∴)』
At that, Hio scratched his head.
“…Huh?”