Chapter – 26
The woman was staring intently at me and the two children.
Oh no. This is a big problem.
The thought came to me involuntarily.
She was the type of troublesome character who simply couldn’t leave alone anything that caught her interest, be it an object or a person. Wasn’t the very start of the ‘Immortality Experiment’ episode solely due to her curiosity?
And I had a gut feeling that her interest had now shifted to me.
She was a woman who could summon a mana sphere the size of a meteor with just a few syllables of incantation. It was an attention I absolutely couldn’t handle in my current state.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I unconsciously met her gaze head-on.
Her face, which looked like it might pounce at any moment, also seemed slightly confused. The mana near the woman rioted, as if voicing her thoughts.
Rizeuin didn’t miss that.
Whoom. A precise wave, originating from the staff Rizeuin held, spread through the cavern. Immediately after, Calam Kasturuna, enveloped in crimson mana, disappeared.
Contextually, it seemed to be a type of isolation barrier spell that forcibly ejected a target from the space. Normally, it wouldn’t be an easy method to succeed, but it seemed she had been quite distracted.
Phew. I felt like letting out a sigh, but the situation didn’t permit it.
Calam Kasturuna would return immediately. I had to find some countermeasure before that.
“I’ve driven a spatial anchor into this laboratory’s coordinates, so she won’t be able to break through easily. Ten minutes at best, though,” Rizeuin said.
He looked like he had many questions for me, but given the circumstances… He too knew that finding a way out took priority over curiosity.
“I won’t ask how you did it,” he said, referring to the removal of the black ceiling. “Considering she’s a mage I can’t hope to match, this is quite a shock. Thank you. If you hadn’t resolved that black mana, we wouldn’t have gotten off so easily. If we had let that run its course, who knows what might have really happened.”
“It wasn’t planned.”
“No need for modesty. The bigger problem now is your safety. Judging by the interest she showed in you at the end, the chances of her targeting you are greater than targeting the two of us. If you’re caught, the outcome won’t be good.”
“I’ll just have to manage somehow.”
“I don’t think she’s someone you can just ‘manage’ against. How about coming with us and entrusting yourself to the Tower Lord? If it’s the Tower Lord, he would certainly be able to stop her.”
It was a clear gesture of goodwill. Rizeuin was worried about me.
The Tower Lord.
Certainly, he had the power to stop Calam Kasturuna.
If he weren’t in a state where, due to a long-standing illness, he couldn’t set a single foot outside the Magic Tower, I would have readily nodded.
But no.
I didn’t have time to waste, holed up inside the Magic Tower out of fear of Kasturuna.
I was pressed for time.
“That won’t be possible. However, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“Please teleport me this time.”
Just like he had done to Calam Kasturuna.
I requested a spatial leap.
Rizeuin grimaced for a moment, then fiddled with the edge of the square glasses he wore.
“For a mage of her caliber, tracking the traces of the spell and pursuing you wouldn’t be that difficult. I think it’s dangerous. Moreover, spatial magic isn’t my specialty, so I can’t control distances beyond a certain point. At the very least, you won’t end up fused with an inanimate object and exploding or anything, but…”
“Even so, I ask you. Far away. As far as you possibly can.”
“If that’s your wish. Understood.”
Rizeuin summoned crimson mana once more.
In an instant, red runic characters were engraved on the floor around me, and with a humming sound, they enveloped me.
Rizeuin, who had been chanting with his eyes closed, spoke as if all preparations were complete.
“It’s done.”
“Ah. One moment. There’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”
“Please, speak.”
I pointed with my finger to the two children who had been the immortality test subjects.
It was a burden my current self couldn’t shoulder.
Leaving them without any measures felt unsettling.
“Could you take care of those children?”
“Even if you hadn’t asked, I intended to look after them. They’re interesting. Ah, don’t worry, I won’t do or order them to do anything dangerous.”
“Thank you.”
“Then, what should I call them?”
“Huh?”
“Their names. I can’t very well just call them ‘test subjects’ like in the journal, can I? You should give them names.”
“……”
I observed the children.
Their pale, blue-tinged eyes, just like when we first met, now held a bit of vitality as they looked at me.
The sight of the identical twins, with their perfectly matching faces and bodies, staring back at me with wide, attentive eyes was both cute and burdensome.
Names.
I recalled the light that flashed blue like a gemstone even in the deep darkness, just before I was about to split the child in half.
The sparkle in their eyes.
“Let it be Lapis and Lazuli.”
“Lapis Lazuli? Not bad.”
“It just came to mind, for some reason.”
『Load.
Proof of Existence.
‘It will be quite amusing later to see if he can guess which name belongs to which.’
You have gifted a single word to the nameless children.
To bestow a name upon a living being is akin to having its existence permitted by the world, and it is also like providing direction to one who has none.
For beings who lack the very will to live, it might be a form of salvation.
They will now build various connections based on what they have received from you.
-
The Children of Lapis Lazuli will remember you, who granted them life.』
What kind of message is this now?
There was nothing left to resolve.
I gave Rizeuin a signal.
It meant I was ready to go.
Rizeuin saw my gesture and nodded.
Spatial Transition.
I wondered where I would end up.
It wouldn’t be somewhere deep in the mountains or right in the middle of a pack of orcs, would it?
Well, even if it were, it wasn’t like I had no ways to handle it.
And right at the moment before the leap, Hyacinth, who had been silently staying out of the conversation, spoke up urgently as if he had just remembered something he’d forgotten.
“Ah, speaking of names, what’s your name?”
Come to think of it, we never introduced ourselves.
My name. I briefly considered whether to tell him, but soon decided against it.
It wasn’t due to feelings like shyness.
It was because I didn’t want my name—my fame—to spread widely just yet.
In a way, I had saved the Magic Tower and the city of Cainedea, and if things went according to plan, I would be involved in major incidents in the future. I thought that if I attracted people’s attention each time, my freedom of movement might be restricted.
For various reasons, it was more comfortable to operate in the shadows.
Especially, I absolutely wanted to avoid being treated as a hero.
So I said:
“I’ll tell you next time we meet.”
Immediately after, the world shattered like a thin pane of glass hit by a stone.
“It seems it’s time for me to leave now.”
The old man stood in the center of the training ground, where a shallow wind blew and sand scattered across the floor, and announced so.
He had said it right after sheathing his sword.
The young man opposite him, Kang Joo-hyuk, looked baffled by the old man’s words.
It was understandable, as the old man’s declaration had come without any warning.
Unlike insect communication, human speech, when stripped of its context (head, chest, abdomen), often becomes unrecognizable.
“You said if I could withstand ten bouts until dawn, you’d give me a present.”
It was true that he had just withstood the old man’s tenth sword strike.
He had said that.
But wasn’t that just the usual playful remark he made every time they sparred?
Joo-hyuk thought this, then soon realized.
This was the first time he had ever exchanged ten rounds with the old man.
Meaning, from the very beginning, the old man had intended to tell him to leave once they crossed swords ten times.
Joo-hyuk voiced his rising question.
“Have you nothing left to teach me?”
“Hmm?”
It wasn’t arrogance, but a genuinely pure question.
The old man pondered the meaning, or rather, pretended to ponder, then soon grinned slyly.
“Tell me, what do people in this world call me?”
Sword Star.
As Joo-hyuk uttered the title, the old man said nothing more.
He seemed to consider that a sufficient answer.
Joo-hyuk realized his question had been quite presumptuous.
His sword had never even managed to cut the hem of the old man’s clothes.
“To reach the stars, one must first look at the sky, and to look at the sky, one must first stand on the ground.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you should go out and see the world, you blockhead. You’re no longer at a level where you’d just get stabbed by a blind swordsman and die pointlessly on the road.”
Although the old man phrased it humorously, it was actually a remarkable thing to say.
These weren’t words for someone who had only held a sword for half a year now.
Although he often didn’t seem like it, the old man was the continent’s greatest swordsman.
Even for an Otherworlder, his talent is truly phenomenal, the old man thought.
“I hear there’s a young lady following you around these days? To this old man’s eyes, she looks quite lovely.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oho. Miss Isabelle will be heartbroken. It seems she has feelings for you. She has a good heart, doesn’t she? Is there some other problem?”
“I don’t have time for such things.”
“What else are you doing, being so busy?”
The old man chuckled heartily.
It wasn’t untrue; Joo-hyuk engaged in absolutely no productive activities besides swinging his sword.
Eating, sleeping, swinging.
That was the entirety of his routine.
Like a man possessed by the sword.
And it was behavior that reminded someone of a certain someone.
Joo-hyuk neatly adjusted the disheveled black martial arts uniform, messed up from the spar, and asked, still bluntly:
“How strong have I become?”
Joo-hyuk was skilled at not showing emotion, but to the old man, he was still just a green youngster.
A master of the sword was also often eloquent, and sometimes seemed to possess the supernatural ability to read the opponent’s mind until the very end.
The Sword Star struck at his unguarded feelings.
“It seems you’re still concerned about Woo-hyun, aren’t you?”
“…….”
A crack appeared on his usually expressionless face.
Even though it wasn’t much different from usual, this mean old man saw right through it.
A single spring rising in arid land naturally stands out all the more.
“Compared to Woo-hyun before he left, even three skilled swordsmen attacking him at once would have been an easy victory for him.”
What a pity. A real shame, the old man thought.
If he were someone without any qualms about lying, he could have taken this rare opportunity to tease him more. What a pity.
Meaning, the old man’s words were the truth.
Just hearing that, Joo-hyuk visibly relaxed.
Finding this disagreeable, the old man poured cold water on him.
“Before he left, that is. Who knows? Perhaps he encountered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and has become so strong that someone like you is no match for him now.”
Although he thought it was nonsense, given Woo-hyun’s growth that had consistently defied his expectations, the Sword Star thought it might just be possible.
So it wasn’t a lie.
It was absolutely not said just to mess with this humorless man.
…He might be right.
This machine-like man showed emotion on rare occasions, and it was usually related to Woo-hyun.
To be more precise, it was related to swordsmanship prowess.
Having a rival to burn for is a good thing.
The old man recalled the word ‘competitive spirit’, which had long since vanished from within himself.
“Where do you plan to go? Do you have a place in mind?”
“To the Kingdom of Nisesphorm.”
“Eh? Isn’t that Miss Isabelle’s homeland? So it is that kind of relationship after all?”
The old man knew it wasn’t that, too.
The two didn’t quite fit the mold of a typical man-woman relationship.
The old man said things he didn’t really mean because he found it amusing to see Joo-hyuk’s face contort yet again.
