X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the ServerThey bought two new bags at the shopping district. They were ordinary backpack size.
Inside, space expansion magic had been cast.
Even after putting in all the luggage they’d brought to Arkabia and the new things they’d bought, the bags weren’t even a third full.
They also had lightweight magic, so they were light.
“With these bags, even if I put in all the stuff I left behind, it’ll still be light.”
Renki seemed to really like the bag.
Hay also thought this bag was the best purchase they’d made.
Even the luggage left at Stan’s house seemed like it would all fit in just this one bag.
Since they could reduce everything to a single bag, he couldn’t help but like it.
“Got all your books?”
Stan asked.
Renki nodded and opened his bag to show him.
Inside were over ten magic textbooks Stan had given him to study.
The books Renki had received alone were worth well over a hundred gold coins outside.
“Want a few more books?”
“No! I’ve already received plenty.”
“Just wait. I don’t need them anyway.”
Stan said, stepping away, and came back with three more books.
He could see the cover read “Understanding Healing Magic.”
He shoved them into Renki’s bag even as Renki said it was fine.
“When your master gives you something, you take it gratefully.”
“Right, Renki. It’s not like it costs anything, so there’s no reason to refuse.”
Lorelai chimed in from the side.
Stan had disliked Renki at first, but now he looked after him fairly well. Though he still pretended to be indifferent.
“But you didn’t buy much, did you? You made money, and magic items are cheaper and better here. Wouldn’t it be a loss not to stock up?”
Stan was right. Hay hadn’t bought many things here.
Aside from the bags, a sturdy new cloak, shoes, and the pocket watch he’d bought a while ago, most of it was consumables he’d use up.
He’d stocked about a hundred Flame Message scrolls at less than half the outside price.
“That’s true, but there’s no need to buy things I don’t need on purpose.”
Magic items were quite expensive outside, and carrying them around made you an easy target for thieves. He wanted to avoid that if possible.
Besides, he had plenty of money now, and it wasn’t something he needed right away. If he needed it later, he could just buy it outside.
“You don’t know how to spend money.”
Stan clicked his tongue. Hay couldn’t really argue with that. It was true.
“Is all your luggage packed?”
Lorelai asked. Renki was closing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.
Hay grabbed his staff and casually put on his bag.
“Looks like you’re all packed. Let’s go.”
Hay checked his watch for a moment. He’d planned to leave at three, but it was already past 3:20. Stan led the way out, and Lorelai followed.
“Why don’t you just stay home? The hill is going to be hard to climb later. That chair doesn’t even have a motor.”
“No. I don’t know when we’ll see each other again, so I should see you off properly. Renki, can you grab the chair while we go down the hill?”
“Of course.”
Renki readily nodded and took hold of the wheelchair handles. Stan stopped trying to dissuade her and led the way.
On the way to the gate leading to Lake Dia, Lorelai and Renki chatted playfully behind them.
At a glance, the two looked like close siblings.
“Come to think of it…”
“Hm?”
Stan looked back at Hay’s muttering. Hay shook his head and said it was nothing.
Hay felt that Renki’s attitude toward Lorelai was different from how he treated Meylin or Rick at Nudan.
Lorelai clearly spoke down to Renki, and Renki was polite to her, but there was a sense of mutual respect.
Maybe it was because Lorelai had also been a servant.
After walking for nearly an hour, they arrived at a small plaza where the “Gate” stood.
To reach Lake Dia, where the entrance to the Mirror Labyrinth was, they had to pass through this Gate.
And everyone coming from outside had to come through it too.
The Gate looked like a triumphal arch. None of the people crossing the small plaza went through it; they all walked around the side.
Because no one knew when the “Gate” might open.
On each side of the Gate, three Guardians stood with their backs against the pillars.
“We greet the Judge.”
The six Guardians bowed in salute to Stan. Stan nodded absently.
“Would you like us to open the Gate now?”
“Yeah, open it.”
At Stan’s command, the six Guardians chanted spells and formed hand seals in order. Six layers of magic circles appeared, and soon golden doors materialized.
Hay had been unconscious when he’d crossed over from the Labyrinth, so this was his first time seeing the Gate. He admired the elaborate reliefs carved on the doors.
“I guess it really is time to say goodbye.”
Lorelai said wistfully.
“Take care, Lorel. Work hard on your rehab.”
“Of course. Next time we meet, I’ll be standing on my own two legs to greet you, Mr. Styles.”
Lorelai smiled brightly at Hay’s words.
“Goodbye, Renki.”
“Stay healthy, Lady Lorelai.”
Renki grinned and nodded. Lorelai’s lips twitched, then she opened her arms.
The two hugged. Lorelai patted Renki’s back and said,
“Eat well, sleep well, and grow up well.”
Renki let out a small laugh at her words.
“Yes, I will.”
Stan opened the Gate. Beyond it, the beautiful scenery of Lake Dia came into view.
“Enough of that, let’s go. It’s past four.”
Only then did Lorelai release Renki from her embrace. Stan was first through the Gate, and Renki followed.
As Hay stepped through, a voice reached his ear.
[“…death sentence.”]
Hay flinched and turned back to her.
Lorelai waved, smiling.
“See you again.”
The Gate to Arkabia closed behind them.
* * *
Grena, who had been watching her son and his guests leave through clairvoyance magic, sighed and dismissed the magic circle.
In her hand was the Book of Truth.
“What will you do now?”
Chesaya asked. He had been watching the Arkabia Gate beside her.
There was concern hidden in his dry voice. Grena bit her lip.
“Wouldn’t it be better to show the book to the Tower Master as I suggested? We don’t know what kind of magic it might be.”
“It’s not magic.”
Grena said, opening Lorelai’s record in the Book of Truth.
More than twenty pages were blank.
She had definitely recorded it, yet not a single character remained. But she could feel that the record was there.
When she ran her fingertips over the pages of Lorelai’s entry, she could read something like lingering thoughts.
Jealousy, sadness, shock, joy.
They just weren’t written in letters.
In the hundreds of years the Book of Truth had been used, this had never happened before.
A record containing only emotions, not text.
“Hellheim’s disciples are all peculiar.”
Grena closed the Book of Truth and turned around.
“Lorelai isn’t in good health, so she’ll need someone to help her until Stan comes back. Assign one Guardian. Dennis or Celine, whoever has a connection with her. Tell them to report immediately if there’s any change in Lorelai’s body.”
“Understood.”
Just then, a Flame Message bloomed in front of Grena. She snatched it and unfolded it at once.
“It’s Mr. Kailon.”
“Is he returning?”
“He says he’s joined up with Lexa. He’ll be back soon…”
As Grena read through the Flame Message, her expression hardened slightly.
After a moment, she burned the paper with magic. The paper vanished without even leaving ash.
“Chesaya, release Chen Kailon in a week.”
“Release him? So suddenly? The elders are already upset about the reduced sentence. If we suddenly release him…”
“As long as we strip him of his Arkabia mage qualifications and issue a deportation order, they won’t have anything to say.”
Grena sat down and crossed her legs.
What Hay had asked her before leaving weighed on her mind, but it didn’t matter.
After all, she wasn’t the one who would be the compass.
“And recall everyone sent to the Hellheim pursuit squad, except Judge Danai and his interrogators. Too many people are out there. Ah, Stan will be returning his Judge badge soon, so it’d be good to summon Aksham in advance. It takes a long time to get here from Mount Hoena.”
“Is something going on?”
“Nothing.”
Grena shrugged.
“I just don’t like the way the world’s been going lately.”
Chesaya closed his mouth and nodded.
He had served her for over twenty years, and in that time, Grena’s instincts had rarely been wrong.
Whenever she said something like that, some headache-inducing incident would break out, either outside or inside.
The most recent one was Hellheim’s prison break.
“Yes, understood.”
Chesaya bowed politely and withdrew to handle the tasks.
Grena sat staring blankly at the Book of Truth, then took out a Flame Message scroll.
She picked up a quill, hesitated for a moment, and wrote a long letter.
* * *
They crossed the nausea-inducing portal, seen off by Illyan and Jiwena at Lake Dia. Hay, pale, wiped his face and sighed.
The colorless world he’d returned to after a month.
Hay looked around with a sour expression. They were standing on a hill made of glass.
“I hope we get through this time without any trouble.”
Hay muttered under his breath. Then Stan suddenly motioned for him to be quiet. His face looked serious, so Hay closed his mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
When Hay asked in a whisper, Stan let out a deep sigh and spoke in a low voice.
“Hey, do you happen to bring misfortune wherever you go?”
“What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”
Renki, standing in the middle, looked back and forth between them with a bewildered face.
Stan grimaced like a man who wanted to curse very badly.
“This is just bad luck. Why of all places did we have to land here?”
Stan grumbled and moved both hands.
A compass formed at his feet, and then a red band appeared around the waists of all three.
The band connected Stan, Renki, and Hay.
“What is this?”
“The safety measure you mentioned before. A lifeline.”
Stan withdrew his hands and placed one on Hay’s shoulder.
“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. You can fly, right?”
“I can.”
“Can you make all three of us fly?”
“No, that’s hard.”
Flying others was still difficult for him.
“Then summon your spirit and carry us.”
“Nora?”
“Not Nora.”
“Silape?”
Stan nodded. That wasn’t hard.
Silape, a Sylph that had evolved into a higher spirit, had a back wide enough to hold five grown men.
“But why?”
“We need to get out of here at full speed.”
Stan jerked his chin toward the ground.
“A thousand glass birds.”
…Xenobia.
“I’ll cover you from behind. You just run following the compass, no matter what.”
What they were standing on wasn’t a hill made of glass.
It was a sentinel.
Damn.
“Alright.”
Hay closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and lifted his head.
“…Silape.”
At Hay’s call, a violent wind surged around them.
The shapeless wind transformed into a massive griffin in midair. Soon, color began to seep into its body. Its form wasn’t all that different from a Sylph’s.
Only, it wasn’t a baby griffin anymore.
Instead of cute fluff, it had glossy feathers, the head of a proper bird of prey, front claws sharp enough to tear anything apart, and the sturdy, imposing body of a lion.
The summoned Silape spread its huge wings left and right and lifted its head.
[“This body has arrived…!”]
A sharp eagle cry rang out. Stan and Renki clamped their hands over their ears in surprise.
“Shut up, Silape!”
Hay yelled, flustered.
At the same time, the glass birds that had been sleeping beneath their feet stirred…
“…We’re screwed.”
They began to rise into the gray sky.
Your next favorite story awaits! Don't miss out on Crow's Golden Fragment – click to dive in!
Read : Crow's Golden Fragment
