The Reincarnated Archmage’s Journey

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ed Etar had come down to the lower world for a short while during the break.

“Quite uncomfortable.”

Creak, squeak.

I muttered a slight complaint as I pushed my wheelchair.

I could not use my legs, so I moved around in a wheelchair.

Even during breaks, I normally did not come out to my own school often.

Part of it was due to my physical inconvenience, but the biggest reason was the things that monitored me.

But today, I had to come down because of a special meeting.

Despite it being morning, I headed to a shabby tavern.

From the outside, the tavern’s door was tightly closed, but as I stopped before it, the door opened from within.

“You’ve arrived, Lord Etar.”

The owner, with a thick white mustache and curly white hair, stepped out and bowed his head in greeting.

“The guest? Did he come early? Or is he not here yet?”

“He already arrived and has been waiting. Please come inside.”

Thus, guided by him, I entered a room in the dark corner of the tavern.

“Master.”

Inside the room was a young man armed in armor, with deep red hair and red eyes.

As soon as Etar appeared, the young man—who had been sitting and waiting—sprang to his feet.

“Long time no see, Impel.”

“Then please feel free to speak comfortably. I will keep watch outside.”

The tavern owner left the room after greeting Etar.

Clack!

The sound of a lock fastened from outside was heard, but neither Impel nor Etar paid any mind.

For the two of us, that sound was familiar.

“So, Impel. Any unusual movements lately?”

“None.”

“Hm…… I don’t know how to interpret that……. Staying inactive for too long is suspicious in itself.”

“I feel the same. But since I am also in a position where I cannot move openly…….”

Just as the two men were continuing their serious conversation, my Mob vibrated.

Checking it, the call was from the Vice Headmaster of the Ed Branch.

“That’s strange. He’s never contacted me during a break—why suddenly at this hour……?”

“Who is it, Master?”

As Etar’s expression twisted with discomfort, Impel grew tense as well.

“The Vice Headmaster.”

“Ah, I see.”

Knowing who it was, he let out a relieved expression.

“I’d better take this.”

“Yes, understood.”

Thus, Etar answered the Vice Headmaster’s call.

“What is it, Vice Headmaster?”

—Headmaster, I believed the matter was grave and contacted you urgently.

The Vice Headmaster’s voice carried his seriousness intact.

“Speak.”

—A student has appeared who searched for the book you mentioned, Headmaster.

“……What?”

Etar’s expression shifted from discomfort to seriousness.

Impel, too, focused on the voice coming from the Mob.

“《Beginner’s Guide》. Are you saying there is a student who searched for that book?”

The Mob implanted in a student’s body had been extensively modified since 300 years ago.

The headmaster and Vice Headmaster could know whom a student contacted or what they searched.

But secretly activating the Mob in a student's body, eavesdropping through the Mob, or tracking their location was impossible.

They could not modify it to that extent.

Although Archis Eimer’s master, Alarize Petra, had created the device merely for the convenience of students, that pure purpose had been lost long ago.

One of the Vice Headmaster’s duties was to observe students’ Mobs on Etar’s behalf.

—Yes.

“Who is it?”

—A student named Artel of Class 0. He is in his fifth year in that class. Asking his homeroom teacher, Teacher Reji, it seems he was not a diligent student. I was told he slept through every class.

Class 0 meant a student who had not yet found an element.

And five years.

He was one of the students most likely to be expelled this winter.

—What should we do?

‘How did a Class 0 student know the name of that book?’

Was it mere coincidence?

Class 0 had many books with similar titles.

《Wizard’s Guide》, 《Elemental Guide》, 《A Guide for Beginner Students》, and so on.

Especially 《A Guide for Beginner Students》 was a book commonly read by Class 0 students.

It was highly likely he searched incorrectly.

It was impossible to believe that a Class 0 student would know the exact existence of that book.

Etar guessed it was simply a coincidence.

But he quickly realized even that made no sense.

Because Etar had programmed a specific question to appear when searching for that book.

It asked for the author’s name.

Only by answering the author’s name precisely would the location be revealed.

Especially since the name Alarize Petra did not appear in the Class 0 curriculum.

Meaning, the student named Artel currently knew a name he had never learned in class.

The moment Etar had waited 250 years for had finally arrived.

“Once school starts, keep close watch on that student. As you know, I cannot move personally, can I?”

—I think even during break, watching him would not be a bad idea.

“No. During break, there is no supervising teacher, so it would be strange for a Vice Headmaster to wander around—and in Class 0, no less.”

—Ah, that was careless of me.

“So let’s do it after school starts. I cannot move freely, but you can.”

—Understood. I will act once school begins.

The Mob call ended there.

“That…… book—isn’t it the one you’ve spoken of before, Master?”

Impel, who had listened along, asked out of curiosity.

“Yes, but for it to appear from Class 0. I clearly set it so only someone who knew precisely could search it……. Could it be coincidence?”

When the long-yearned situation finally came before oneself, did one not first doubt whether it was real?

Such was Etar’s current state of mind.

“No way. You set the barrier so tightly. It must be the one you’ve been waiting for.”

Impel spoke as though making a wish.

“I hope so as well…….”

The student certainly knew of the book’s existence.

But in one corner of Etar’s heart, an inexplicable unease kept creeping up.

If—by the slightest chance.

If by some abysmal probability, that student had searched for the book merely because all the coincidences had aligned—what then? That anxiety gnawed at him.

It was a matter upon which the future of many mages—including Ed Etar himself—depended.

He had thrown his hopes toward this single possibility, and if it all came to nothing, the emptiness that would follow would be irrecoverable.

Such a worst-case scenario must never be allowed to happen.

“I suddenly remembered him…….”

Whenever he felt uneasy, Etar always recalled his master’s face.

***

Kiena had clearly succeeded in summoning.

Although it was not a physical divine creature, it was certain she had summoned a living entity through magic.

It was a level just near a 1st Circle Mage.

“Maybe different types are possible too?”

With her confidence soaring, Kiena brought more books of varying kinds.

Most were fairy tales or animal encyclopedias that had nothing to do with magic.

Chirp, chirp!

Meow.

Woof woof!

Although she still only produced shapeless, brightly glowing spheres, the cries from those spheres matched completely different animals.

‘Kiena will have no problem.’

Now that Kiena knew she was a summoner, she would pass the exam in the second semester.

‘Now the only one left is Hei.’

I made the wind blow, and Kiena summoned spheres.

Hei, perhaps feeling motivated, closed his eyes and desperately tried to manifest magic.

I could see how hard he was trying through the tension in his brow and the trembling of his body.

He was giving it everything he had.

Thus, the first day of training ended with unexpected success.

Training continued from then on.

Even though Kiena had already mastered summoning magic and her promotion was assured, she still came to every training session.

And she applied herself even more earnestly.

Perhaps because she saw such immediate results before her eyes, she didn’t view training as difficult—it looked as though she genuinely enjoyed it.

After two weeks, Kiena’s summoning magic formed actual shapes.

Though it was only close to the level of a 1st Circle Mage and not yet a perfect divine creature, she could now summon animals flawlessly.

The small bird she summoned perched on her shoulder and tickled her cheek with its beak.

“Kya haha, that tickles.”

How long had it been since I’d seen a mage so delighted over basic magic?

Even in my previous life, I had always guarded a sealing stone at the darkest peak, so seeing such a pure expression of joy felt strangely refreshing.

But I could not relax entirely. Hei still showed no progress.

‘I think he needs some guidance.’

Once again, I would have to step in a little.

“Hei, what comes to mind when you try to manifest magic?”

“Just black.”

He had found a path, but there were no signposts.

Meaning he had no certainty about where to go or whether this was truly the right path.

At such times, giving a signpost was best.

If that path really was his, then just seeing the signpost would naturally lead him forward.

“Wait a moment.”

I took a blank sheet of paper and returned to the garden.

“Hei, don’t close your eyes—look at this paper and imagine painting it with the color you want. When I did that, the wind blew.”

Among this group, my body—Artel—was the most inferior student.

If I acted like a model student at once, it would raise suspicion, so I guided him naturally by saying it was how I practiced.

“Mm.”

Hei stared at the paper intently.

To help his concentration, I held the paper up and took a few steps back.

“This is harder than I thought…….”

A frustrated voice from Hei.

Thus, morning training ended without results.

After we all ate lunch at the cafeteria and began afternoon training, an hour had passed when—

“I did it!”

At the center of the paper I was holding, a tiny black scorch mark had appeared.

“I did it! Kiena! I did it too! Artel! Amazing! When I did it just like you said, it worked right away!”

“Wow! Congrats, Hei!”

Kiena and Hei literally bounced in place with joy.

I examined the paper first.

‘Strange. He said he liked the color black…….’

This was unmistakably fire-element magic.

The inherent color of the fire element was red.

He had awakened an element completely unrelated to his favorite color, black.

And Hei was certainly a fire elementalist.

The book my master had written was nearly absolute in accuracy.

If a student answered with a specific color, they always awakened that element.

But now, an anomaly had occurred.

“…….”

The black scorch mark in the center of the paper.

Was the black he liked perhaps referring to this burnt color?

Fire itself was the harmony of red and yellow, but once extinguished, only black ash remained.

It seemed plausible.

‘Well, they achieved results, so I suppose I should be satisfied.’

Both students succeeded within two weeks.

Just as I expected.

‘Now I can follow Hei’s element and pretend to be a fire elementalist as well.’

Since Kiena was a summoner, I could not guide her.

Even if I had been an Archmage in my previous life, there was a clear boundary between elementalists and summoners.

Elementalists could not use summoning magic, and summoners could not handle elements.

Thus, Kiena would need to advance on her own.

‘She studied diligently, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about.’

She was a genius of understanding who managed to summon in thirty minutes just from reading my master’s book, so she would be fine alone.

Hei had the slowest growth, so I planned to imitate a fire elementalist while guiding him.

Fwoosh!

“Wow, I thought I was a wind elementalist, but I was also a fire elementalist?”

He said this as he summoned a small flame sphere.

“Artel, you’re the same element as me!”

Hei, especially overjoyed, rushed toward me and hugged me tightly.

“Urk……!”

Hei’s strength momentarily knocked the breath out of me.

‘Why is this kid so strong?’

Come to think of it, he had passed the entrance test for the Sword Academy as well.

Even though he was a mage, his body was solid and full of strength.

So it hadn’t been mere luck after all.

“Hic…….”

But in the midst of the festive mood, Kiena suddenly collapsed onto the ground and began to sob.

“Why are you crying all of a sudden, Kiena?”

“I’m just so happy……. We can stay at the school for five more years…….”

They were tears of joy.

Thinking she had gained five additional years moved her deeply.

Hei seemed to feel the same, his eyes reddening.

‘The pure hearts of young students…… adorable.’

“It’s all thanks to you, Artel! Without this book, we would still be struggling, wouldn’t we?”

Kiena soon brightened again and lifted the book.

Though the cover was worn, in that moment, it seemed to shine brilliantly.

‘Thank you, Master. Because of you, two students can now walk the path of a mage.’

Surely, if my master were watching this scene, he would be smiling in satisfaction.