Chapter 442

“What’s that?”
A small tower rose in the middle of the lake. It was clearly a structure that hadn’t been there for a long time. It tapered upward like a lighthouse, and I felt an unusual energy near the top.
Erzebet smiled grimly.
“Hee hee–it’s the work of a lifetime, built by me and my mom, and you’ll be amazed when you get inside.”
I swallowed what I was about to say. She was obviously tired, judging by the fact that she couldn’t even think of correcting her mom’s name. I was about to ask her how she was going to get there if she didn’t have a boat.
“Invisible Hand.”
“Aha.”
Erzebeth cast a spell. As she always thought, being a wizard was a convenient profession.
An invisible hand reached out and lifted her body into the air.
We traveled slowly across the lake’s blue mirror-like surface to the tower. The breeze was cool on the nape of my neck. The occasional splash of a fish created a wide ripple.
“I apologized to ——.”
Suddenly, Erzebet spoke up.
“Huh?”
“When you were talking to my lord in the parlor, I realized that I didn’t apologize to Ronan, and I shouldn’t have—.”
She was whimpering, her eyes downcast. Her fidgeting was uncharacteristically cute. After a long apology, Erzebeth bowed her head.
“I’m sorry and grateful in so many ways, and I will never forget this favor.”
“Damn, what did I say again?”
I chuckled. It was an apology and a thank you for everything that had happened over the past few days.
I can’t think of many noblemen in the world who have a bigger heart than this guy.
“Never mind. We used to like the same person.”
“Same person——Yes, that’s right.”
Erzebet smiled weakly. Her lips pursed, her gaze drifted to the sky, the blue sky that was now truly Adeshan’s.
“Not only that, but I really consider you a friend, and we seem to have similar tastes.”
“What?”
“I really didn’t mean to look at your collection, I thought maybe the patriarch had bundled it up to throw away as scrap paper, but–whoops, it’s just killer.”
I jerked my thumb up with both hands. The wad of scrap paper I’d found in the dumpster was unmistakably the omen Adrian had found under Erzebeth’s bed.
They were all drawings or cartoons before Didikan invented the camera, and I can only describe them as proof that the human imagination can be as crude as it wants to be.
“Oh, my God, what a—!”
Erzebeth’s mouth fell open. She didn’t even bother to deny how embarrassed she was. Her white face began to flush like an apple.
“Some of them are touching, and I’m impressed that all the models have dark hair. I can’t help but think that they’re all from different families, and the garter belts on their uniforms are so noble—”
“Hey, forget it, I can’t forget it right now!”
“If you give me a collection of unforgettable pictures and tell me to forget them, how can I forget them?”
“Kyaaaaah!”
Erzebeth lunged at me, reaching out like a witch. I dodged the attack with a light twist of my shoulder. Erzebeth gasped, her strength drained.
“Woohoo, that’s nice to see, are you guys getting along better?”
A familiar voice sounded at his feet.
Gazoo Adrian stood at the entrance to the tower with his hands clasped together. Erzebet and I landed in a temporary truce. Adrian turned to face me and smirked, covering his mouth with his fan.
“It’s been two days since I’ve seen you, Ronan. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Nice to meet you too, what’s all this?”
“Hoo-hoo, it’s the center of Acalusian magick. Shall we go in?”
Adrian opened the door to the tower. It was a simple outer door, barely big enough for a single person. The woman he caught a glimpse of was dressed in a shirt and long pants, just like Erzebeth.
“Is it a real lighthouse?
I followed her, puzzled. At the top of the spiral staircase, we came to a room with nothing but a single chair. The dome-shaped ceiling was made entirely of glass, etched with geometric patterns that I assumed were magic circles.
“What the hell.
I was embarrassed. Honestly, until now, it seemed like a facility for the mentally ill.
All my fevered brain could think of was Eri hitting me in the back of the head with a gag, knocking me out, then tying me to that chair and pulling out my nails one by one. I asked him if he had already done that to Adesan’s sister and her fiancé.
I was lost in thought.
“Mr. Ronan. We have two gifts for you.”
Adrian approached me, a very expensive-looking wooden box in her hand.
“You’re giving me two?”
“Yes, you have. You’ve dispelled the darkness of Akalusia, and I owe you this: my first gift to you is this Mana Tracker.”
The lid of the box was lifted. On a silk rug lay a glass ball the size of a cherry. At its center floated a single pointed needle, bobbing freely up and down.
“Mana Tracker?”
“Yes. It’s the same principle as a blood needle, but you don’t have to draw blood, which makes targeting much simpler and faster. It’s also three-dimensional, so it’s easy to find enemies above or below ground. You just press the button where the mana of the target you want to chase is floating, and it automatically collects it and activates.”
“Sounds good, I’ll put it to good use.”
I quickly grabbed a mana tracker (who thought of that name?). It was definitely a useful tool. Against Akasha, an unprecedentedly powerful opponent, getting blood was a struggle in itself. The best part was that it worked with the push of a button, no hassle.
“Thanks, that’s actually good enough for me, but what’s the second one?”
“This is the lighthouse. It took my mother and daughter a lot of thought and research, disassembling and reassembling dozens of paraphernalia related to navigation and tracking.”
Adrian said, placing his hand on the wall.
I could see the confidence in her face. Now she looked just as tired as Erzebet. Was she really a lighthouse, or something like that?
I glanced around and raised an eyebrow.
“Uhm, thanks, but I don’t have a clue what you’re writing or how to write it.”
“Hoo hoo—the best way to describe it is execution, so let’s get it up and running, would you like to sit in this chair?”
“Sure.”
I did. Luckily, I didn’t end up with a slap on the back of the head. I leaned back with my arms on the armrests. I felt a jolt of electricity through my body and everything went dark. Next, a translucent window appeared in front of my eyes.
“What the fuck?!”
I was so surprised I swore. The glass was floating in the air. I reached out my arm for something, but my hand just passed right through the window, waving in the air. It was like a ghost biting my nipple, and I haven’t used that expression in a long time.
Adrian’s voice echoed in the darkness.
“Relax, Ronan. We’re all standing where we are, it’s just an automatic blackout to help you focus.”
“There’s a ghost window floating in front of me.”
“That’s a screen for the salts. From now on, Ronan needs to be extremely focused, because even though the lighthouse is helping you think, you’re the one who’s going to have to visualize it.”
“Dye or image?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve been trying to figure out how to track down an enemy with no location and no material clues, and after three days, my Eri came up with the answer. If Ronan-sama concentrates on the object you wish to track, the landscape around it will appear in the window in front of you.”
“Uh, Mom—! I told you not to call me that in front of others!”
The reason why the mother and daughter looked tired was revealed. To Erzebet’s embarrassment, there was a thumping sound. She definitely needed to sleep.
Anyway, the functionality of the new invention was very interesting.
“That’s killer. How does it work?”
“It’s a translation of the concept of thought into mana and releasing it. The magic circle on the roof sends the mana of your memories out into the world, and it only returns if it touches a target with a matching wavelength. If you want a more detailed explanation—”
“No, it’s not.”
I quickly shook my head. Judging by the excitement in his voice, he was the kind of guy who would never stop talking if given the chance to explain.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I asked you a question you wouldn’t know anyway. Can we just get on with it?”
“Yes. I’ll be by your side to make sure you don’t have any accidents, but I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on remembering the person you’re chasing—that mage named Akasha. Until you have nothing but him in your mind—.”
Adrian’s voice grew serious. I closed my eyes and did as she asked.
Akasha’s horrifying appearance begins to take shape in the darkness. A mask that rattles like a mirror, a stature as tall as a werewolf, six skinny limbs, and six eyes that glow with malice.
“What are you, Akasha?
It wasn’t hard to focus. The bad blood across three parallel worlds was not something she could forget, even if she tried. Like the sisters in the adult magazines Erzebeth secretly reads.
Having established Akasha’s appearance, I then reflected on my fight with him. It was strange to realize that at first, I had been a one-sided punching bag, and now I was able to fight back somewhat. The struggle in the last world flashed before my eyes like a flashlight.
Ceniel exploding on a sea of red. A mountain turned into a pit with the snap of a finger. A pale castle in ruins.
In the abyss he had created, I could only fall, fall, fall.
A sword slashed through the darkness, slicing through Akasha’s leg and into the crack.
“——!”
Suddenly, there was brightness beyond my eyelids. I opened my eyes quickly and sucked in a sharp breath. A clear view appeared through the foggy window.
“This.”
An alien structure stood on a pure white snowfield. It looked like an upside-down right triangle, built with ancient technology. At the entrance, which could only be opened by password, a white-haired elf looked up at the sky with a worried expression.
I knew her.
“——elcia.”
He was a member of Nebula Clazier’s cadre, a man of faith to the end. Being a flame meant that Akasha was nearby, and she showed no sign of warning if she hadn’t already noticed.
Suddenly, I realized, I was still alive at this point.
Someone you didn’t save in your last life.
“Holy shit.”
I jerked up like a man on fire. All at once, my surroundings brightened, revealing Erzebeth and Adrian. The magic circles etched into the glass dome flashed with brilliant colors.
“Ro, Ronan?”
“Are you okay, you look—.”
The two women approached cautiously. I had just finished praying, and even as I rose from my chair, I could see the window with the landscape. I stared at it, then muttered, as if releasing a pent-up breath.
“—Father.”
“What?”
“It’s where my father is.”