Chapter 64: An Unexpected Event (11)
When one thought of a wizard, what would come to mind?
People often vaguely imagined them locked away in a dim room where sunlight barely entered, hunched over a desk, clutching thick tomes.
That statement was, in a sense, half right and half wrong.
Indeed, until just a few generations ago, wizards were considered explorers of sorts, philosophers, each wandering in search of their own truth and enlightenment while spreading knowledge….
They were regarded as beings akin to seekers.
However, the great waves of war overturned such perceptions from the ground up.
The Great War, which was said to have set half the continent ablaze.
Starting with Talia Poas, who proved just how useful wizards were on the battlefield, and passing through numerous major incidents and remarkable figures, the very meaning of what it meant to be a wizard had been overturned.
Those with even a little knowledge—
Even the students of the Academy, for instance—knew well that wizards were not confined to dark rooms. When necessary, they could be deployed to the field, and sometimes even stood on the frontlines.
In fact, even at Wands, where wizards were trained intensively, physical training was mandatory.
So then, why on earth was I recalling such trivial stories?
“Hoo, hoo….”
“Haha, young man, you really ought to exercise more.”
Unlike me, who was starting to get out of breath, Yeriel Poas showed no sign of struggle at all, and seeing him made me feel nothing but self-reproach.
Yeriel Poas.
Disciple of Archmage Edas.
Likewise, disciple of Archmage Windy May, and said to be the closest to becoming the next Archmage….
A veteran wizard, and the current headmaster of Arpentia Academy.
…Yes, a veteran wizard.
Yeriel Poas was an old man who would be turning eighty in just a couple of days.
Yet he was vigorous to the extreme, and his forearms, peeking out from his sleeves, were covered in lean muscles and scars great and small, like those of a seasoned warrior.
But those details hardly mattered.
What shocked me was that I, not anyone else but me, had less stamina than that elderly man.
‘Do I need to increase my training hours?’
With a sigh, I spoke to him.
“My apologies, huff… I’m lacking.”
“No, no. Anyone coming here for the first time would naturally react that way. All the more so if one isn’t a wizard.”
Rather than accept my apology, he encouraged me instead, while glancing around.
This place was filled with strange energy, incomparable to what I had experienced in the Dungeon Field Class just days ago.
If I had to describe it, it felt as if sticky threads were clinging all over my body.
As if guessing my condition, Yeriel spoke in a warm, reassuring voice.
“Mana that is overly abundant often turns into poison. Wizards at least know ways to release some of it back outward, but for those who aren’t wizards, such places are many times more difficult to endure.”
Saying that, Yeriel slowly waved his hand.
At his gesture, roots broke through the ground, wriggling until they shaped themselves into a small chair.
“Let’s take a short rest. You followed me with more endurance than I expected, and I ended up pushing too hard without realizing it, haha.”
“Yes, understood….”
Following his suggestion, I sat on the chair and pulled out the water flask I had brought.
At the same time, Yeriel pulled something out from behind his waist.
Even here in the forest, the smell was pungent enough to sting my nose, but I pretended not to notice and lifted the flask to my lips.
“Hoo….”
“To reach the heart today, we’ll have to walk diligently.”
Yeriel, having quenched his throat with something clearly not water, shrugged his shoulders.
“It would be easy enough to use magic all the way like before, but… since our goal is the center, that’s another story. No matter how tiring it is, from here on, we must walk on our own two feet.”
“Yes.”
My clear answer seemed to surprise him slightly, for he asked again.
“…Aren’t you curious why? Honestly, I thought you’d have asked by now.”
“Headmaster, you wouldn’t go to such trouble without reason. I thought there must surely be a proper one.”
“Hmm.”
He gave me a peculiar look before soon nodding.
“I think I understand a little why my junior took a liking to you.”
“You mean Professor Windy May?”
“That’s right. Come to think of it, if you become her disciple… that would make me your mentor’s mentor.”
Muttering as if it hardly mattered, he once again took a long drink.
The strong stench drifted all the way over to me.
After downing another swig, he suddenly said bluntly,
“Take good care of my junior.”
“…Did you misspeak?”
“No, I said it as I meant it.”
Yeriel spoke in a quiet voice.
“Outwardly, she acts arrogant, even like a child, but in truth she is gentle and deep-hearted. She also carries many scars.”
He let out a small sigh.
“As her disciple, I wished to support her by her side, but in truth, what she needed was not another disciple, but a student. I knew that better than anyone. The details aren’t fit to be spoken here….”
As he muttered, before I could reply, he let out an embarrassed chuckle.
“Ah, now I’ve gone and sounded like a senile old man rambling.”
With a groaning sound, he patted his back and, in a cheerful tone, said,
“The mood’s too heavy. Let’s change it up a little—how about a funny story?”
Declaring he’d go first, he laughed lightly.
“This is a bit embarrassing, but once upon a time, I was caught by the Academy guards.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, the report was that a vagrant was secretly living inside the Academy. And I looked every bit the vagrant back then. Because of me, a rule was established requiring all professors and disciples to rest and bathe at least once every three days.”
“Ah… I see….”
“…Hmm. Was that not amusing?”
Muttering sheepishly, he said, “Well then, how about this one?”
Before speaking again, he tilted back his flask one more time.
“Why do you think a perilous place like the Forest of Secrets exists inside the Academy?”
“……”
“Oh, that look tells me I’ve hit the mark. Indeed, it’s a question everyone must wonder at least once.”
With a chuckle, Yeriel grinned at me.
“It’d be boring if only I spoke. Why don’t you give your answer this time, disciple?”
Disciple, he said.
I swallowed a wry smile and recounted one of the common rumors.
“The Forest of Secrets is vast and untouched by human hands for ages. Because of that, I’ve heard it is filled with rare herbs and materials. Isn’t it to secure a steady supply of those?”
“Conventional, but because of that, a disappointing answer.”
“Earlier, Headmaster, you said this place was a mana-rich leyline. Then is it to make use of that?”
“That too is a conventional answer.”
I thought for a moment before speaking.
“…To hide something?”
Only then did the headmaster give a small nod.
“Half correct.”
Smiling wistfully, he added,
“It was also the answer I gave my master when I was young.”
“By master, you mean Archmage Edas, correct?”
“That’s right.”
He nodded again as he replied.
“According to my master, when Sage Arpentia first founded the Academy, he strongly insisted it be built here, around the Forest of Secrets. At the time, people considered it incomprehensible eccentricity… but thanks to the Great Emperor’s full support and the weight of his name as a Sage, he pushed it through and saw his will carried out.”
“And that reason was to hide something?”
“As I said, it’s only half the answer. My master too was curious, and even asked Sage Arpentia directly. And do you know what the Sage answered?”
I shook my head.
Imitating someone’s tone, the headmaster said,
“Well… because it’s fun?”
“…Excuse me?”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard.
“That was his answer. He simply said he did it because it was fun.”
“……”
I couldn’t say a word.
Seeing me like that, he nodded as if to say he understood.
“I know how you feel. I reacted the same way when I first heard it. My master, too.”
How many times had I heard him grumble that the Sage was full of nothing but oddities?
Murmuring with nostalgia, he shrugged.
“Anyway, that’s not the important part. The important part is what you mentioned before—‘is something being hidden here?’”
“Headmaster, then you know what that something is….”
“Mm.”
The headmaster deliberately interrupted my words in a grave voice.
“…Do you, as my mentor’s mentor, know what that something is?”
“You may think it wordplay, but I too only know half.”
Perhaps being called “mentor’s mentor” felt strange—
He wore a peculiar expression and nodded.
“…Lian Gwendil. Let me pose you a question here.”
“Please do.”
“Those who can enter the Forest of Secrets are extremely limited. All the more so the center.”
Yeriel cast a glance at the sky before continuing.
“At the outskirts, though rare, those with certain qualifications and skill may be issued permits. But not for the center.”
Three of his fingers extended.
“Only three groups may enter: those granted qualifications, those who receive permission after strict review, and those corresponding to the Sage Arpentia’s message. None others.”
Not even royalty could break that rule.
He paused, then said,
“This is also the solemn decree of the Great Emperor.”
Saying his digression had gone on long enough, he folded his fingers one by one.
“First, myself, and my junior Windy May, and Deiare. Then the direct bloodlines of the Three Dukes. At present, these are those whose qualifications are clear. What do they have in common?”
I too fell silent for a moment.
In my mind appeared the image of the one who had led me here.
At the same time, like a click in my head, the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place.
No matter that he had said with his own mouth that he would grant the request, how had he been able to come directly into this forbidden area?
He had said, “those corresponding to the Sage’s message.”
Sage Arpentia.
The Room of Secrets.
Talia Poas.
“…The Wolpen Knights.”
“Correct.”
Yeriel grinned.
He shook his nearly empty flask, and the liquid inside sloshed faintly.
“Do you know the reason Arpentia Academy was founded?”
Without waiting for me to answer, he continued.
“At the end of the war… the knights’ numbers had already fallen by half. Some, gravely wounded, did not last long. Others cast it all aside and vanished into seclusion. Still others quarreled with comrades who had once been as close as brothers and left. In the end, only four remained at the Great Emperor’s side.”
It was a famous tale.
They became the founders of the Three Families, guardians of the Empire, while one became the Emperor’s advisor.
“What I say now is not recorded. I too heard it from my master.”
Downing the last of the flask, Yeriel drew a long breath.
“All mourned their fallen comrades. In time, each found their own way to cast off the grief… but one. There was one who could not.”
“That was Sage Arpentia?”
“Quick-witted.”
He nodded slowly.
“Does it surprise you?”
“No. The death of one close is hard for anyone. Neither Sage nor Hero is bound to be unmoved by it.”
“For a moment I forgot you were a disciple.”
For an instant, I wondered if he was mocking me, but the gentle smile on his face said otherwise.
Rather, he seemed impressed.
“In any case, the Sage pleaded with the Great Emperor. To establish a place that would carry on the spirit and will of the Knights, his comrades. And to ensure they would not be forgotten.”
“Then, could it be…?”
“It is exactly as you think.”
He nodded.
“That is why Arpentia Academy was founded. The reasons told to the public were attached later. In truth, it was built to honor his comrades and comfort their souls.”
“…Then what lies at the center?”
“A very different kind of question from before.”
With a chuckle, he said,
“Why not guess? I think you’ve already realized to some degree.”
“…A tomb.”
I whispered quietly.
“The tomb of the Heroes, the Wolpen Knights. Their mausoleum lies at the center.”
“Correct.”
He clapped his hands dryly.
Before I could say anything, all at once every hair on my body stood on end.
“―――――――――――!!!”
“Ghhk?!”
“Hoho.”
A roar that seemed to shatter the sky.
I nearly toppled backward off the chair, but Yeriel swiftly caught me.
“W-what in the world is that…!”
“Wherever the famous are buried, grave robbers are sure to appear.”
Yeriel began to speak further, but I could not reply.
The sky was darkening.
No—something so immense it blotted out the sky was looking down upon us.
In this life and my past one, I had never beheld such majesty. All I could do was stare blankly upward.
“Then, naturally, there must also be guardians to protect the tombs from those grave robbers.”
So saying, Yeriel Poas and I lifted our eyes together.
There, glimmering golden scales and spreading vast wings, a dragon was gazing down upon us.