「Pioneer—entry of ‘Hio Pavlenko’ confirmed.」
「Entering the second dungeon.」
The sight that greeted them the moment they entered the second gate was Ren Hank standing before the refugees.
- Keep order and wait!
Ren Hank stood there, his beard and hair gone pure white, leaning on a large staff.
Using voice-amplification magic, he raised his voice and shouted to the refugees.
- I am still in talks with Tetradia, so before long, all of you will be accepted!
Even at a glance, it was a lie.
Hadn’t they just seen him arguing with Abelard in a clash of opinions?
The master of the Mage Tower was clearly Abelard Pavlenko.
Even if Ren Hank was his teacher, so long as Abelard’s convictions remained firm, there would be no way to let the refugees into Tetradia.
- So endure just a little longer!
But Ren Hank proclaimed the lie without the slightest tremor.
That if they waited just a little longer, Tetradia would take them in.
So they must not abandon hope, but keep order and wait.
At that, the refugees each raised their voices in fervor.
No, listening closer, it was not fervor.
It was rage.
- Are you joking?! How are we supposed to live here any longer?!
- Do mages truly have neither blood nor tears?!
- At least the children! Please, at least let the children in!
Ren Hank bore all of that rage alone.
- ……I am sorry. Please wait just a little longer.
Though there was no need for him to do so, he willingly accepted every scrap of emotion hurled at him.
- How much longer are you telling us to wait?! With this much food, my whole family will starve to death!
- Mage! Please let us enter Tetradia!
- While our homeland! While our kingdom was being destroyed, what was Tetradia doing?!
- You cowards!
- If only you had stepped forward in time, things wouldn’t have come this far!
- Are you planning to let us all die?! Open the gates already!
The kingdom’s destruction was not the fault of the mages of Tetradia.
Even so, rage with nowhere else to go turned toward Tetradia, and Ren Hank bore it alone.
Why was he going so far?
They must have been people he had never met, and as Abelard had said, accepting all the refugees would only hasten their own destruction.
- I am sorry…… I am sorry.
Just what was he lamenting so deeply that he bowed his head and apologized?
- Just a little…… If you wait just a little longer, surely……
It was then.
Kwaaaaang—!
A thunderous roar, as if dozens of Explosions had detonated at once, rang out from the center of Tetradia.
It was not an explosion.
Nor did anything shoot upward.
But there was something that felt so immense it was suffocating.
Mana.
An enormous release of mana beyond description.
Not only Ren Hank, but even the ordinary refugees felt the force of that mana discharge and trembled.
- Abelard…… so you’ve done it at last!
Though he did not know what phenomenon it was, Ren Hank closed his eyes, as if what had been destined to come had finally arrived.
But only for an instant.
When he opened his eyes again, his face was filled with confidence, as though there was nothing to worry about.
- Do not worry!
A confidence painted over with lies.
- I am here, so all will be well. Trust only me and wait together!
* * *
- Preparations are complete.
The place where Abelard and a dozen or so mages had gathered was inside the Mage Tower, on some unknown floor.
- Once you make the decision, we can complete the transfer within the day.
Every one of them was either the head of a school or an elder of the Mage Tower.
The greatest mages on the continent during the war had gathered in one place.
The immense mana released along with that roar meant that the spatial magic they had been preparing for so long was ready.
- ……Give me a moment.
Even so, Abelard hesitated.
- Is it because of the druid, Ren Hank?
- …….
- This is unlike you as Tower Master. I know he is someone special to you, but he is old, and his magical realm is at best that of a magus. He will not aid the greater cause.
- I know, so stop.
Ren Hank’s magic was, at best, at the level of a 5th Circle magus.
That alone was impressive enough, but when considering Tetradia as a whole, neither his age nor his realm would be of any help.
- Yes. Make the rational decision. This is something we have been preparing since long before you rose to that position, Tower Master.
The dozen or so mages standing with Abelard.
The aged elders of the Mage Tower and the heads of each school were chillingly expressionless.
I had thought Abelard himself showed little change in expression, but among them, he looked almost expressive by comparison.
As someone had said, they looked like humans without blood or tears, humans whose emotions had vanished.
Did all mages who reached that level end up that way?
Was it inevitable in order to reach that realm?
- Once everything is over, Tetradia will return here.
- It is both the most ideal scenario and the most likely one. There were sacrifices from a few kingdoms, yes, but if not for this, the continent would have been destroyed anyway.
- Just like over there.
- That is why you should understand why Ren Hank is acting that way, Tower Master. Is it not an action born of ignorance?
- Even if Ren Hank is the benefactor who saved and taught you when you were young, Tower Master, this time he has gone too far.
Amid the mages speaking one by one, Abelard agonized.
Among words and actions that were rigid and cold to the extreme, his was the only expression that seemed alive and breathing.
Was that because of Ren Hank’s teachings? Or because of his original nature?
There was no way to know, but one thing was certain.
- I will go speak with him one last time.
- There is not much time.
- Do not worry. I intend to persuade him only once.
- If he still refuses to listen, you must return immediately.
- I intend to.
Abelard Pavlenko was a mage.
And not just any mage, but a great mage who had reached the highest realm of the age.
In other words, he was the most rational and cold-headed of men.
- We can waste no more time.
With those words as his last, Abelard’s body was enveloped in white light.
* * *
- Master.
Even at the familiar voice that suddenly came from behind him, Ren Hank’s gaze remained fixed straight ahead.
- Please enter Tetradia now.
Instead of Ren Hank, the refugees filling the surroundings saw Abelard and were startled, pointed at him, or rejoiced.
- I-It’s the Mage Tower Master!
- Pavlenko himself……!
- We’re saved! We’re saved!
- Please let us in quickly! Tower Master!
Without even looking at the refugees who surged toward him again, Abelard waved his staff.
At that, a curtain of mana spread out, blocking the refugees’ approach.
The refugees cried out in clamor, and Abelard did not even glance in their direction.
- The transfer will begin soon.
- I still have work left to do.
- We will cross to the other side and complete the magic.
- Look at those countless people. They are those who, chased by darkness, came all this way in pursuit of hope.
- If we complete the magic, we can end this wretched war.
- Yet how miserable would it be if even this place, which they barely managed to reach, held nothing but despair?
- You say that because you do not know, Master. The possibility is not low. This is something that was foreseen and prepared for much longer ago than you think.
- And so, I intend to become their hope.
The conversation did not face each other.
They each spoke only their own words in one direction, refusing to bend with any flexibility.
- To end the war, there is no other way. It is a sacrifice to save even those who remain. Master.
Only after those words did Ren Hank’s gaze slowly move.
The corners of his eyes were covered in wrinkles.
Eyes engraved with the depth of years looked upon Abelard.
- When did you grow so much, Abelard?
His slowly moving hand rested on Abelard’s shoulder and gave it a faint pat.
- ……Master. This is not the time. The Abyss is approaching.
- The boy who clung to my leg and bawled has grown this much before I knew it.
- Let us go to the other side together. I am saying we should move together to the end of the continent, beyond it.
- The days were so indifferent that I failed to notice you growing. That is my regret.
- We will cross over there, complete the magic, end the war, and return. So please, come with us quickly.
Though they were looking at each other, it was no different from not facing each other at all.
For Abelard was looking at the future.
And Ren Hank was looking at the past.
- Abelard Pavlenko.
What brought that conversation to an end was Ren Hank’s expression, which had at some point turned firm.
And a resolute tone to match.
- You must never forget. No matter how high your realm becomes, even if you stand in the highest place in the world, you are human.
With those words as his last, he turned his body away again.
He no longer looked at Abelard.
- Do not lose your heart. You are not a god, but a human.
Abelard, too, looked at Ren Hank like that for a moment before turning his back.
It was because he had read Ren Hank’s fiercely resolute will.
- ……I understand.
The conversation between the two ended there.
Abelard soon vanished along with a bright cluster of light.
- My talks with the Tower Master went well, so be at ease! You only need wait a little longer!
Ren Hank once again breathed false hope into them.
Though he knew full well what their future would be, he wished that at least in this very moment, they would be at ease. That they would rejoice.
He kept shouting, wishing for them to be steeped in hope.
Whether that was truly right…… well, I do not know.
But less than an hour after that, when a pillar of light rose brilliantly from the center of Tetradia.
And after the entire city, which had been perfectly intact, vanished in an instant along with it.
- It is all right! Am I not still here? Do not worry!
Ren Hank remained alone, shouting those words.
And what was reflected in Ren Hank’s eyes was
- ……It is all right. Trust only me.
Darkness approaching from far away.
The Abyss was rushing toward them.
「You have successfully cleared the second dungeon.」
* * *
There were many keywords obtained from the second dungeon.
The space on the other side that Abelard had kept speaking of.
He had said they should go together to the end of the world, beyond it.
Then was the current Tetradia in that place Abelard had spoken of?
Where was that place, and why had they had no choice but to use spatial magic to head there?
He had said they would return, so for what reason had they failed, and why had the outside of the Mage Tower become infested with Abyss monsters?
There were many questions, but that was no problem.
Because he would find out soon.
“……I’ll know once I go in.”
He had only just finished the second dungeon.
There would be many dungeons left ahead, and just as much information to obtain.
Of course, there would be things he could not find out until the very end.
Abelard, who turned away from the deaths of hundreds, thousands, tens of millions in order to end the war.
Ren Hank, who said not to turn away from the lives of hundreds, thousands, tens of millions; not to be swayed by games of numbers, but to stand and fight.
Abelard, who gave up the present for the future.
Ren Hank, who believed that because there was a present, the future could continue.
Whose words were closer to the answer?
If he had been in that situation, what judgment would he have made?
“……Let’s go in right away.”
That, at least, would remain unknowable even after he went through every dungeon.