Side Story 42. [After Story] Journey to the Capital (2)
Outskirts of Crossroad.
Along the well-maintained walking path, fitting for a tourist city, Lilly and Sid were taking a stroll.
Sid pushed Lilly’s wheelchair from behind in silence. Lilly, too, kept her eyes down and said nothing.
“…”
“…”
The awkward silence was broken when Lilly finally spoke.
“Son.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Why do you want to leave this place?”“…”
“What’s been bothering you?”
When Sid hesitated, unable to answer right away, Lilly spoke again, stumbling a little.
“Is it… me? Have I been making you uncomfortable?”
“Sorry?”
“If you feel like I’ve been clinging to you too much, then—”
“No!”
Sid quickly denied it.
“That’s not the reason at all.”
Lilly swallowed hard, then continued.
“If not that… is it because of what I said before? About how I’m still waiting for your father? Is that frustrating for you?”
“That’s…”
“I know it’s foolish of me. But this is my—”
“That’s not it either.”
Sid denied it again.
“Of course, it is frustrating that you’re still waiting for Father, but that’s not the biggest issue.”
“Then what is the biggest issue?”
“You, Mother.”
Sid hesitated for a moment, but then spoke honestly.
“It’s painful to watch you never consider your own happiness.”
Lilly turned to him with a dazed expression.
Sid continued.
“To you, I’m precious. The memories with Father are precious. And this city you’ve worked in all your life is probably precious too.”
“…”
“But I want you to realize that you are the most precious of all.”
Sid repeated with more strength in his voice.
“To yourself, Mother—you should be the most precious.”
“…”
“But as long as I’m here, you’ll keep living only for me. That’s why… I want us to try being apart for a while.”
For her child, Sid.
For the memory of her vanished husband.
For the city of Crossroad, where she had worked all her life.
Lilly had always worked and devoted herself. She’d never stopped running.
Live for yourself…
That’s why Sid’s words were so precious. But would he understand?
That a mother could never separate her identity from her child. How could she explain?
That she’d been doing her best to find her own kind of happiness. How could she make that clear…
“While I’m at it, I plan to study more at the Ivory Tower in the Capital. I want to dig deeper into magical theory.”
“…”
“Will you try to stop me…?”
“No.”
Lilly smiled faintly.
“If you’re firm in your decision to leave the provinces and head to the Capital, how could I possibly stop you?”
“…”
“A mother shouldn’t hold her child back.”
“You’ve never held me back, Mother. You’ve always been the one pushing me forward.”
That’s why he was leaving.
Because he felt guilty, always being pushed forward by his mother.
He wondered—if he disappeared, would her life, which he had unintentionally blocked, finally open up?
“I’ll come back soon.”
Sid said it like he was making a promise to himself.
“It won’t take long. I’m just… going away for a little while.”
“…”
“So while I’m gone… I want you to try living for yourself, just once.”
Lilly slowly turned the wheelchair around and spread her arms toward Sid.
“Son.”
“Yes.”
“Let me hug you once.”
Sid bent his knees and embraced his mother.
The mother and son held each other tightly.
Lilly stroked her son’s now broad shoulders for a while, then whispered.
“No matter how far you go, don’t forget that I love you.”
“I’ll never forget.”
Sid whispered as he gently patted his mother’s now small shoulders.
“And you—don’t forget that I love you, either.”
“I won’t forget. Never…”
Mother and son held on, unable to part for a long time.
Even though it wasn’t the first time Sid had left Crossroad. Even though they’d often been apart while he traveled the world.
Somehow, this time felt like it would be an especially long farewell—and so, they clung to each other, just a little longer.
On the way back to New Terra, Ash had some new company.
National Mage Sid, and the Cross family’s twin heirs—Emerald and Sapphire.
During the long journey to New Terra, they gradually became acquainted with Princess Stella.
At first, Stella was wary of them.
But she soon adjusted.
She kicked Emerald around like a fool, got along famously with Sapphire, and listened to Sid’s fascinating stories about magic.
Over the course of several weeks, the children became fast friends. But when they reached the Capital, they had to part ways.
Each had their own path to follow.
Stella returned to the palace, Sid headed to the Ivory Tower, and Emerald and Sapphire were off to the Academy.
“Your Highness! Please remember me! I swear I’ll become your personal knight!”
“Ugh~ just hurry up and go already, you dumb blonde.”
As Stella heartlessly kicked Emerald away, Sapphire was clinging to Sid.
“Brother Sid! Even if other vixens flirt with you in the Capital, you must! Firmly! Reject them! I believe in your fidelity!”
“Wait, why do you believe in my fidelity…”
Fools as they were, Emerald and Sapphire’s antics made both Ash and Serenade laugh heartily.
Lucas, however, pressed a hand to his forehead, clearly distressed.
After parting ways with the group, Sid headed straight for the main tower of the Ivory Tower.
There, he planned to continue his research on ancient magic, using it as his new base of operations while continuing his mission to retrieve the remaining fragments of magic scattered across the continent.
When Sid arrived at the Ivory Tower and was escorted inside by the waiting guards—
“Welcome.”
In the first-floor hall of the tower, a circle of aged scholars sat waiting for him.
“The Everblack Empire’s only certified mage. The National Mage, Sir Sid.”
“…”
Though he sensed the gazes directed at him were far from friendly, Sid calmly stepped forward.
He walked to the center of the scholars gathered in a circle. Toward the raised platform that had only a single chair placed upon it.
“The Mage of Memories. The Mage of Ruins. You have many titles… but of them all, I find this one most fitting.”
A middle-aged woman with sharp features spoke in a cold tone.
“The Mage-Killer.”
“…”
“The one who goes around erasing the final traces of the world’s remaining magic… the heartless, bloodless last magocrat.”
Within the Ivory Tower, opinions on handling magic remnants had long been divided.
Dearmudin had taken the stance that they should be cleanly eradicated for the safety of future generations. But there were just as many who believed that if a fragment could be preserved, it should be.
Currently, the consensus within the main tower leaned toward the latter. That these remnants, being part of historical record, should be preserved.
For someone like Sid—who took the lead in erasing them—it was difficult to expect a warm welcome here.
“Rather than killer…”
Sid didn’t flinch.
“‘Undertaker’ would be a more accurate description.”
“You…”
“Also, my views differ somewhat from my master’s.”
Sid slowly looked around the room.
“If the magic remnants themselves bear no malice, I don’t destroy them. There’s a lingering mana pool in the forest near my home, but after examining it personally, I judged it harmless to people. So I left it alone.”
The expressions of the surrounding scholars seemed to brighten for a brief moment—until Sid continued coldly.
“However, if I sense even the slightest potential threat to people, I’ve destroyed them without hesitation.”
“…”
“I’ve destroyed far more than I’ve left untouched.”
In the air that turned hostile once again, the same middle-aged woman asked in a low voice,
“And how do you discern that? How do you determine which fragments are dangerous and which are not? By what standard do you make such judgments?”
“Because I can feel it. You may not be able to sense them at all, but I can interact with those remnants directly.”
Calmly. And mercilessly.
Sid declared this while looking at the old mages of a bygone era—who could no longer use magic themselves.
To their gritted teeth, Sid added,
“And beyond that, I verify each fragment’s potential threat using the theory my master taught me. Based on that final evaluation, I decide whether to preserve or erase it.”
“…!”
“You may supplement the theoretical parts, if you like.”
With those words, Sid shrugged off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair. Then he loosened the knot of his tie.
“You’ve received the data on the fragments I’ve processed so far, haven’t you? So—shall we begin reviewing them now?”
Rolling up his sleeves, Sid glanced around the room.
“Let’s see if I’ve ever been wrong, even once. I welcome your esteemed opinions.”
Faced with the young newcomer’s open challenge—
The old mages’ faces simultaneously twisted with fury, contempt… and a flicker of joy.
“Very well. Let’s see what the youngest disciple raised in the backwoods by the Grandmaster has to offer…!”
Thus began a symposium that would last several days.
Among those chasing after what had already disappeared, in a world where magic was fading—they still held onto their mage’s pride.
Imperial Academy.
A blonde boy and girl stepped down from the carriage. Emerald and Sapphire scanned the wide courtyard with their cold green and white eyes.
Already dressed in their new uniforms, they looked, on the surface, like two figures from a painting.
Their appearance caused a stir among the students near the gates. As with most kids their age, romance was always the hottest topic of interest.
But while curious stares and murmurs poured in from all directions, Emerald and Sapphire interpreted them quite differently.
“Heh… as expected.”
“They’re looking down on us, just because we came from the countryside.”
Completely misunderstanding the situation, the twins straightened their shoulders proudly and began walking, drawing on their inner fighting spirit.
The commotion only grew as they passed through the gates and into the courtyard. It wasn’t even entrance season, and the Academy didn’t typically accept transfers.
New faces mid-term were almost unheard of.
Special Admission Students.
With that title, the twins walked toward the Academy’s main building, exchanging glances.
“You ready, Em?”
“Of course, Sap.”
They both extended their fists and bumped them together in the air between them with a solid thump.
“This school… we’ll bring it to its knees—”
“Consider this a clean takeover…!”
It was the moment when what could’ve been a sweet, wholesome school-life rom-com for the twins took a brutal genre shift.
Guided by a staff member to their assigned classroom, they exchanged a firm nod in front of the door.
BANG!
With synchronized kicks, they burst into the classroom and shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Who’s the boss of this class?!”
“Forget the class level! Who’s the top dog of the first years?!”
“Starting today, this Academy belongs to us!”
“If you don’t wanna get wrecked, you’d better behave and become our underlings—!”
The students inside, who had just been laughing and chatting cheerfully, all recoiled in shock and stared at them.
And then—
“…”
Standing at the podium, the homeroom teacher—who had just been encouraging the class to warmly welcome the two incoming transfer students—stood with their mouth hanging open.
Seeing the teacher for the first time, the twins scowled fiercely and shouted again.
“Are you the boss of this class?!”
“Cut the chatter! Let’s settle this with a fight!”
…And thus unfolded the first day of the Cross siblings’ transfer, forever marking them as the “Storm Transfer Duo” of the Imperial Academy.
After that, the children of heroes from the Monster War began enrolling one by one from across the continent.
And three years later, when Princess Stella herself enrolled at the age of thirteen—
The Imperial Academy descended into a battlefield of schemes and intrigue, of war and love, not unlike a real warzone.
But that—
Is a story for another time.
–TL Notes–
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