The Reincarnated Archmage’s Journey

Chapter 104 : The Spark That Was Lit (2)

Chapter 104: The Spark That Was Lit (2)

Day 61! Nothing suspicious is still visible! That’s all for the report! Now for the question!

Is there a way to inconspicuously mix Flewd into a single element? Assuming a situation where fire has to pierce through water, a way to overcome elemental affinity without being found out. Since vacation starts tomorrow, you must reply! Then, please enjoy your vacation!

I stopped by the secret room connected to the library in the morning and checked Banshi’s note.

Banshi marked each note with “Day X” like that, reporting to me as if she were writing a diary.

Up until now, the 61st day, she said nothing particularly suspicious had appeared, which was reassuring.

‘Come to think of it, even in 5th Class, I only felt Sylarid’s presence on the day I advanced, and after that it disappeared completely.’

Life in 5th Class was just as peaceful.

Whenever Banshi left a note like this, I would check it and burn it on the spot.

An action taken just in case, for security.

However, today was the day Banshi asked about magic for the first time in 61 days, so I couldn’t burn it.

I picked up the pen and left a reply to Banshi.

You’ve been like this since 1st Class, but why do you keep putting Flewd inside a single element? Do the opposite—coat the surface of the single element with Flewd. That way, the elemental affinity disappears, and people who see it will just brush it off thinking you’re simply strong.

I finished writing and placed the reply back into the bookshelf where it had been.

Starting tomorrow, summer vacation would begin.

The reason she asked me this was probably to practice in her hideout cave in the Underworld.

‘Well, you can’t exactly practice Flewd at school.’

Perhaps her duel with Sparkle had ignited her motivation, because the note she left showed an especially strong will.

Leaving the note behind like that, I vanished without a trace.

A few hours later, a man stepped into the secret room.

It was Draco Former, the Vice Headmaster of this school, dressed entirely in black.

‘I knew about this place, but this is my first time coming here like this.’

It was a place whose existence he had known through Headmaster Etar.

But today, due to business, he had come personally in this unusual manner.

Specifically, to retrieve a spellbook to give to Rezi at the tavern in the Underworld.

After moving the injured Impel to the tavern’s basement, Former and Etar prepared an alternative plan.

To foster Rezi, who had newly become a Sculptor, into a more complete mage.

He was a Fire Elementalist.

Thanks to Vise, he had achieved dazzling progress, but he was not yet perfect.

However, Etar couldn’t stay by his side to guide him, and it was also impossible to assign that role to Impel.

Impel was currently in a state where his life was not in danger, but he was unable to recover the consciousness he had lost.

Thus, Etar decided to deliver the Ed Family’s spellbooks to Rezi so that he could develop on his own, and instructed Former to bring the book to him.

“But this place is a mess…….”

Etar had said that the last time this place was used was about 100 years ago.

That much time had passed, so dust had piled up heavily, and there was no sense of organization at all.

“Hm?”

Former suddenly looked down at his feet.

“…….”

Clear footprints were imprinted in the thick dust.

Wondering if they might have been made when he entered, Former checked the entrance he had come through, but the same trail of footprints extended in front of the other entrances as well.

The place Former had descended from was the library of 6th Class.

Yet identical footprints were stamped in front of the entrances leading to 1st Class, 2nd Class, 4th Class, and 5th Class as well.

More precisely, except for 6th Class, the paths leading to the other entrances had been used so frequently that the hazy dust had disappeared, leaving only faint impressions of footprints.

‘Strange. They said it hadn’t been used since 100 years ago. And yet 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Class?’

The only people who would use this place would be mages of the Ed Family—in other words, teachers or professors of this school.

‘How odd. Well, it’s not something to worry about right now.’

Thinking that, Former picked up a single Ed Family spellbook to give to Rezi.

Former himself had never seen an Ed Family spellbook.

He had lived in the Draco Family, and unlike Impel, he hadn’t separately learned the Fire Element.

So when he heard that it was a book written personally by the family head, Etar, a very long time ago, a sudden desire to read it welled up inside him.

And then.

Chwararak.

As he quickly flipped through the pages, just to check the condition of the book.

Flutter.

A thoroughly folded note fell from the book onto the floor.

“……?”

Former quietly examined it.

Day 61! Nothing suspicious is still visible! That’s all for the report! Now for the question!

Is there a way to inconspicuously mix Flewd into a single element? Assuming a situation where fire has to pierce through water, a way to overcome elemental affinity without being found out. Since vacation starts tomorrow, you must reply! Then, please enjoy your vacation!

You’ve been like this since 1st Class, but why do you keep putting Flewd inside a single element? Do the opposite—coat the surface of the single element with Flewd. That way, the elemental affinity disappears, and people who see it will just brush it off thinking you’re simply strong.

That was what was written on the note.

At that moment, Former’s eyes expanded enormously.

“Flewd…… Elementalist?”

An Elementalist already extinct in this era.

To be precise, officially, they had disappeared with the exception of the surviving members of the Emmet Family who were hiding in the Underworld.

In truth, they undeniably still existed in this era, but they never revealed themselves.

The moment their existence was discovered, what awaited them was nothing but black death.

That was why they could be called Elementalists who did not exist.

And yet…….

Judging by the contents written on the note, the Flewd Elementalist—believed to have vanished—existed in another place unknown to the Sculptor.

Former examined the contents of the note even more carefully.

“Day 61, nothing suspicious is still visible……. What does this mean?”

The first sentence sounded as though someone was monitoring something.

It looked like a briefly written journal.

And beneath the writing left by the mysterious person was a reply explaining how to use Flewd.

Which meant that two Flewd Elementalists were currently present at the Ed Branch School.

“Who left a note like this……?”

This was a matter that had to be reported to Etar without condition.

However, since he did not know who the parties involved were, Former decided to lie in wait in the secret room to find out their identities.

Former put the note back into the book and returned the book to the bookshelf where it had originally been.

Then he once again closely examined the footprints leading to each class’s entrance.

‘No one came through 6th Class. Those footprints were made when I came out.’

After reaching that conclusion, he hid behind the entrance connected to 6th Class.

After finishing her afternoon duties, before heading down to the Underworld, Banshi stopped by the secret room.

“Mm-hmm-hmm!”

Humming to herself, she pulled an Ed Family spellbook from the shelf.

Out of her entire daily routine, this was the happiest time for Banshi.

Because it was the time she communicated with Arkis Aimer.

Moreover, today she had left a question about building up Flewd usage from the basics, and it was time to receive the answer.

“Oh! It’s here!”

Looking at Artel’s reply contained in the note, Banshi nodded her head.

“Mmm, I see. Ah, now I get it. Why he said to apply it to the surface, too. Why couldn’t I think of something so simple?”

The meaning of the reply Artel left was truly simple.

Up until now, Banshi had put a trace amount of Flewd inside the Fire Element.

But when it encountered the opposing Water Element, and if the opponent was stronger than her, that flaw would be exposed.

Since the surface was Fire Element, the Fire Element disappeared, leaving only Flewd inside.

If the spell she cast vanished yet still pierced through the opponent’s water, it would undoubtedly seem suspicious.

On the other hand, if she covered the surface with air and filled the inside with the Fire Element, she would be attacking with a spell that had no elemental affinity, so there would be no reason for the Fire Element to disappear.

What was visible was a single element of fire, but in truth, its outer layer was Flewd, which had no affinity.

She completely understood why Artel had written, ‘people who see it will just brush it off thinking you’re simply strong.’

Affinity was something that could sufficiently be overcome through sheer capability.

He meant for her to take advantage of that.

“As expected, Lord Arkis. How could I not fall for you when you’re like this?”

Humming again, Banshi left a reply addressed to Artel.

She wrote it directly beneath the reply Artel had left.

As always, though it was a short note, she put her heart into it, carefully forming each letter while softly voicing the words as she wrote.

“Lord Arkis, thank you. I’ll go practice and come back. And please enjoy your vacation! When this vacation ends, you’ll be going to 6th Class, right? It would be so nice if you waited there for me!”

With a bashful smile, Banshi tucked the reply containing her small wish into the book and left the room.

Drreuk…….

Immediately after Banshi departed, one of the doors opened.

It was the entrance connected to 6th Class, where Former had been hiding.

Former wore an expression as though his soul had completely left his body.

“Just now…… what I heard…… was that really right……?”

The four letters, Arkis.

It was undeniably a name that had come from Banshi’s mouth.

Yet, as if in a dream, Former doubted his own ears.

Because he had never imagined, even in his dreams, that he would hear that name here.

The Clear White, Arkis Aimer.

A man Etar had desperately searched for traces of, even staking his life to form the Sculptors.

And yet that very person was, out of the blue, currently at the Ed Branch School.

Especially since Banshi had spoken aloud while writing her reply, Former had heard everything she said.

He was also able to easily deduce that Arkis Aimer was currently in 5th Class.

On top of that, when Banshi left, he confirmed which class the entrance she used was connected to.

The entrance leading to 4th Class.

With that, all the footprints left in front of the entrances to 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Class were fully explained.

They were the classes Banshi had passed through, and 5th Class was where Arkis Aimer was.

“I have to…… tell him……!”

Clutching the problematic Ed Family spellbook to his chest, Former hurried out like a man who had lost his reason.

Even as he left, he did not forget to thoroughly check that the note was still left exactly as it was.

“……This, this…… really…….”

Former immediately delivered the Ed Family spellbook containing the note to Etar.

That was after explaining everything—the contents of the note and the fact that the student who left it was Banshi from 4th Class.

Etar’s hand holding the note trembled violently as he gradually began to lose his composure.

At the same time, the scenery outside the headmaster’s office also changed.

At least one fortunate thing was that it was the backdrop of a red moon that appeared when he was in an extremely agitated state.

“Then…… does that mean the Artel…… the student we were so eager to expel…… was actually Lord Arkis……?”

Figuring out who Banshi had been in contact with was not difficult.

From 1st Class onward, the only person who had always been stuck to Banshi’s side was Artel.

“But Headmaster…… hadn’t you already noticed something about Student Artel before? That…… when Mihael and the Nohill family heads lost their memories.”

“Uh…… that.”

Only then did Etar calm down slightly and begin to explain.