novelraw Chapter 101 : Finally Meet (3)
Chapter 101 : Finally Meet (3)
Chapter 101: Finally Meet (3)
After Banshi’s interview ended, I led her and arrived at the secret room.
The moment we arrived, I pulled away the blanket covered in invisibility magic and revealed myself.
“Where did you manufacture the invisibility magic potion?”
“Invisibility magic potion? This isn’t a potion. It’s magic.”
“Ah…… so a mage of Archis Eimer’s level can even use invisibility as magic. Our family substituted it with potions.”
As Banshi said, invisibility was also possible through potions.
However, those were filled with nothing but drawbacks, and among them, the most fatal flaw was that there was a time limit.
On the other hand, if it was covered with magic like mine, the invisibility was maintained until the magic was withdrawn.
“As a former Archmage, did you think I couldn’t even do something like this?”
“That’s true. But when did you discover this place?”
“Back in 1st Class.”
When I answered, Banshi suddenly shot me a sharp look.
“Why that look?”
“If it was 1st Class, then that was when I was together with you, wasn’t it? You could have told me back then, so why are you only telling me now?”
There was a sense of disappointment lingering in Banshi’s eyes.
“There wasn’t much context back then.”
“…….”
“Anyway, I told you how to get in and how to find it, so this place is now our hideout. The reason I came looking for you until 2nd Class was to tell you this.”
“But calling it a hideout is…….”
Only then did Banshi begin to carefully scan the interior of the secret room.
Like picking up filthy rags, she lightly lifted the books scattered across the floor with just her index finger and thumb, then set them back down.
After that, she examined the books on the shelves, and only after looking at the Ed Family magic books did she open her mouth.
“It doesn’t look very safe.”
She must have thought it was one of the facilities owned by the Ed Family, so her guard was naturally high.
“That’s true. But it looks like an abandoned facility that’s no longer in use. You can tell just by looking at the condition of the books here, right?”
I replied while pointing at the books strewn across the floor.
“They’re all pharmacology books related to magic power amplification. It really feels like…… they were trying to find a specific substance.”
“Are these books valuable?”
Unlike me, Banshi was heavily influenced by her family and was a drug specialist.
Come to think of it, my former Disciple Draco Tyrant was also a pharmacologist, but if we compared pure pharmaceutical knowledge alone, Banshi seemed like she might be one step above Tyrant, so I asked.
“No. They’re all extremely ordinary books. If they were valuable, they wouldn’t have been left abandoned like this.”
As expected, this matched my initial assumption when I first discovered this place.
“How ordinary are we talking?”
“In magical terms, I’d say at most around the 3rd Circle.”
That explanation made it easy to understand.
“Then it’s nothing important, so let’s skip that. I’ll explain why I told you about this place. Earlier in the auditorium, I explained that I’m now in 5th Class, right?”
“Yes. How did you go from 3rd Class to 5th Class in just one month?”
I briefly explained what had happened in 3rd Class.
“……so Kiena and Hei were also in 5th Class. Aren’t you advancing too quickly? At this rate, you’ll graduate and go to the main academy before I even reach 5th Class.”
“That might be the case.”
“That’s quite hurtful to hear. Is it because you don’t want to take me in as your Disciple?”
It seemed that the only thing in Banshi’s mind was becoming my Disciple.
But she seemed to be obsessing over it a bit too much.
“That’s not it. Anyway, the reason I told you about this place is so that I can stay in constant contact with you.”
I hurriedly changed the subject.
“Is there some special reason……?”
“Yes, there is.”
Then I explained the aura of Sylarid that I had felt when entering the 5th Class auditorium, along with the smell of blood coming from Former’s body.
“Slaughter in 5th Class? Was it done against students?”
“No, it doesn’t seem like that. The total number of students in 5th Class is only ten. Judging by the atmosphere, it didn’t suddenly decrease, so it must have been that way from the start. That means it wasn’t against students.”
“Then who on earth……. And only you, Archis Eimer, could have sensed Sylarid’s aura, right?”
“That’s right.”
Among the mages that currently existed, I was the only one who had ever confronted him.
That might have been why I sensed it so distinctly.
It was an aura I utterly despised.
“My inference is that something is happening at this school. Somewhere we don’t know about. But I need to know. Why Sylarid’s aura was felt, and why there was even the smell of slaughter. The incident occurred in 5th Class, but I’m worried it might happen in other classes as well.”
“So you’re planning to instruct me to monitor the classes too.”
“Exactly. Since you’ll be going to 4th Class starting tomorrow, let’s begin there.”
“Then do we just set a time and meet here?”
Banshi now asked about the method of contact.
“Hmm…… no. That would be difficult.”
At my answer, she looked disappointed for some reason.
I pointed to one of the books on the shelf.
It was an Ed Family magic book.
“Only write a note and stick it inside that book when there’s something unusual. Let’s do it so I come later and check.”
“It’ll feel like writing a love letter.”
“Do you write things like someone’s going to die or that something’s suspicious, that kind of gloomy content, in a love letter?”
“That’s not what I meant, is it?”
“Anyway, let’s do it that way. All right?”
Banshi nodded and then asked something else.
“By the way, why specifically a magic book of the Ed Family? There are plenty of other books.”
“This school is the Ed Branch School, you know. And even if someone were to come in here just in case, it would be mages of the Ed Family. Judging by the professors’ level earlier and the level of my assigned teacher, even if an Ed Family mage came in, I figured they absolutely wouldn’t touch that book.”
Despite appearances, the Ed Family mages at this school were quite high-level.
That was why they thought there was no reason to look at it, since it only contained magic they had already fully mastered.
“Hmm, now that you mention it, that makes sense.”
“Alright, then I’ll be going now. Oh, right.”
As I was passing in front of Banshi, I stopped and patted her shoulder.
“Congratulations on your admission to 4th Class.”
“……Thank you.”
She said thank you, but her expression didn’t match her words at all.
Even at a glance, she looked deeply troubled.
“What’s with that expression?”
“I…… there’s something I really want to ask of you. But even if I ask, I feel like you won’t grant it……. No, it’s only natural that you can’t.”
It was the same expression she had worn when she asked me to use Linking if I ever met Etar.
No, looking more closely, she seemed even more serious than back then.
That alone showed it was a once-in-a-lifetime concern for Banshi.
“Just say it, at least.”
“Since there’s a space like this where we can meet…… it made me think…….”
She dragged it out unusually long.
This time, I didn’t rush her and just waited leisurely.
Until she spoke on her own.
At last, Banshi continued with difficulty.
“Th-that…… you said you’d accept me as a Disciple…… could you do it now……?”
“That’s strange. Didn’t we set that as the reward for when you reached 6th Class?”
“That’s true, but…….”
“What’s the reason?”
Banshi might have looked like a child on the outside, but inside she was an adult, just like me after reincarnation.
She didn’t act thoughtlessly, and she was a mage who took responsibility for the words she spoke.
So I figured there had to be a reason behind a request like this, and I asked.
“I’ll be honest with you, Lord Arkis. I…… when I saw the magic Sparkle manifested while she was excited, I got scared. Every joint in my body stiffened and I couldn’t move. That fear…… was to the point where it was similar to what I experienced 250 years ago.”
“…….”
Don’t tell me that reason was…….
“Sparkle is surely a mage much younger than I am. But unlike me, she had a family, and she must have received thorough magical education from that family. I never dreamed that someone younger than me could manifest magic strong enough to frighten me…….”
“You’re asking for my guidance to defeat Sparkle? That doesn’t sound like you. You’ll reach the 4th Circle tomorrow. You won’t have to face Sparkle anymore.”
“That’s not it. You know why I came to this school, don’t you?”
Banshi’s eyes now held firm conviction.
“……For revenge against your family.”
“Yes. I lived in seclusion for 250 years on my own, building my strength, and I thought this was enough, so I came here. But…… I was too complacent. The head of the Ed Family, Ed Etar, isn’t he a mage several times stronger than Sparkle? I realized I don’t have the power to subdue both Nylon, the 5th Class teacher who stopped her, and Sparkle. And a 5th Class teacher using Orbification…….”
That part surprised me as well.
Normally, the position of teacher was something a 6th Circle dropout went through to grasp a final chance, yet Nylon had openly manifested Orbification.
It wasn’t complete Orbification, but even so, it wasn’t a level a mere 5th Class teacher should be able to achieve.
With that level of skill, I guessed that Nylon was a mage considered elite within the Ed Family.
“I came into this school boldly to take revenge on Etar…… but with my current strength, I can’t even take down the underlings guarding Etar. Alone, I can’t do anything……. Because I don’t have anyone beside me to teach me…….”
“…….”
This was the first time I had seen Banshi show such weakness.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t understand her feelings.
Banshi had forced herself to live a bleak life for the sake of revenge, and today that goal had been snapped like a fragile flower.
But just as she said, as long as we were inside this school, there was no separate place where I could train her.
Banshi was already a mage who had risen to a certain level, so she needed education centered on powerful magic, and this narrow secret room wasn’t an environment where such training could be conducted.
‘So that’s why she said it was only natural that I couldn’t grant it.’
I could understand why she had looked so conflicted.
“Hoo, Banshi.”
I began my response with a deep sigh.
“Yes.”
“You know it too. It’s not that I don’t want to train you—it’s that there’s no suitable place as long as we’re inside this school.”
Banshi slowly nodded.
“Your target is Etar anyway. There’s plenty of time. Don’t lose your confidence over something you experienced briefly today.”
“…….”
“Still, it’s not that I don’t understand how you feel, so if you ask things like methods of magic manifestation in notes, I’ll write replies. I can’t guide you while standing right beside you. And becoming my full Disciple will be when you reach 6th Class. How about it, those conditions?”
I thought this was the best answer I could give.
And fortunately, Banshi’s expression clearly brightened.
“That’s more than enough! Thank you!”
“Alright, then I’m going now. Let’s start like that from tomorrow.”
“Yes!”
I once again covered myself with transparent magic over the blanket and wrapped it around my body. That was when—
“Oh, right! Lord Arkis! This might be out of the blue, but when you whispered to me with Linking earlier in the auditorium, it reminded me of 250 years ago!”
For Banshi, 250 years ago was when the Emmet Family was massacred.
It was a horrific memory for her, yet her expression and tone were remarkably bright.
Wasn’t that usually the expression one made when recalling a good memory?
‘Did she have a good memory from 250 years ago?’
I revealed only my face and asked.
“250 years ago?”