Chapter 64 - St. Jansk University and the Chamber of Secrets (7)

There was no flash surging toward his eyes, no spectacular explosion. Naturally. Those only followed when there was something to explode. What could possibly explode beneath this ground, with groundwater flowing through it?

RRRRUMBLE...!!

But there were tremors. The shock of that massive destruction now filled the entire underground cavity. Ivan turned, axe in hand.

“...!!!!”

Elpihera was shouting something, her face a cocktail of terror, fury, and bewilderment.

Ah, his hearing was blocked.

But he had no intention of restoring it. There had been no explosion, but the thunderous noise would still be reverberating through the entire cavern. Noise beyond a certain threshold disrupted concentration.

“Cast a protective spell.”

Ivan enunciated each word for the elf, then settled into his stance again.

The earth rumbled low. He saw cracks splintering through the ground beneath his feet.

“It will collapse soon.”

“...!! !!! ...!?!”

He had been trained to read lips. One glance told him that the elf was frantically swearing at him.

What concerned him was the possibility that she might say she did not know how to cast a protective spell. Anything else required no attention.

He reached out and wrapped an arm around Elpihera’s waist.

“!!!?!”

Was this your plan all along?! You bastard!! You ordinary human!

He had no idea what that last expression was supposed to mean, but it was presumably another elven insult.

“Protective spell.”

Ivan gave that brief reply, then added,

“And do not close your eyes.”

He threw himself off the cliff.

“If you see the flow of mana, keep track of it. Do your job. Everything else is mine.”

He did not know how much force her protective spell could withstand. Veolgrin’s had been sturdy enough to block even a single blow from one of the Seven Dragon Generals.

Even if hers fell short of that, it ought to stop small stones from striking them.

Trusting in that, Ivan looked up at the ceiling, feeling a peculiar weightlessness over the dark abyss.

RRRRUMBLE...!!

Another tremor struck, and the precariously cracked epicenter burst apart. Earth and enormous slabs of rock began pouring down into the abyss after them.

* * *

Don’t close her eyes...?

Elpihera glared at this deranged old man-monkey—he was neither—and struggled to wipe away her tears.

Wind blasted her face. Her hair, once her pride and joy, was already filthy with dust and kept slapping against her face in the wind.

“Mmph, mmph!”

She could barely breathe. Thunderous noise filled the cavern, and she was falling endlessly with nothing beneath her feet, weightless. Managing even a protective spell in these circumstances was nothing short of a miracle.

How could she possibly muster any more concentration?

“There’s no way I can do thaaat!!”

No human with the slightest understanding of magic’s mysteries and wisdom would dare ask such a thing. What was this stupid monkey even...

[“If you are even half as accomplished as your father, your ability is already beyond question.”]

Ah...

This human had said he had stood on the same battlefield as her father. Though his shabby appearance had inspired no confidence whatsoever.

She had only come along because the eldest son of Viscount Eastvelfen’s house had vouched for him.

The claim was obviously a lie, but it would let her put a political noose around a privy councilor’s eldest legitimate son. That was the full extent of her resolve when she had agreed.

But after seeing this, she could no longer imagine it was a lie. Anyone capable of causing such destruction with his own physical strength would have been more than qualified to stand beside her father in the last war between the races.

Which meant...

‘Your father would have handled something like this with ease.’

That was what his faith in her abilities meant.

Just as she had followed him on Oswald Eastvelfen’s assurance, this man was watching over her with faith in the abilities of “Veolgrin Grikencos.”

‘Father... Father could have done it, but...’

Elpihera struggled to open her eyes. Wind lashed mercilessly at her face, but she forced up the corners of her tear-filled eyes.

She was an elf. An elf of the Kallion archipelago, the noblest and most powerful race in the world.

And among those elves, she was the daughter of Veolgrin, said to be one of the greatest mages since the Age of Myth.

She recalled the words her father had always repeated throughout her childhood.

[“Magic is the study of shaping fantasy into phenomena.”]

[“Elpihera. Magic builds a staircase to the heavens for mortals standing upon the earth.”]

[“So give form to your mental image.”]

“Heaven...”

Elpihera murmured, glaring at the cavern’s lofty ceiling, beyond which the sky lay.

Gather mana to reach the heavens.

“Earth...”

Stand upon the dust of the earthly world, yet keep the mind upright. And so—

Humanity. Give upright form to a mortal’s mental image, set a staircase of intent against the sky, and take one more step forward.

Heaven, Earth, Humanity. The Three Powers. Unifying these three aspects of intent was the foundation of the magic Veolgrin had devised.

“Aaaaaah!!”

Just as she was mapping out the spell, an enormous rock came hurtling down toward her head.

She frantically twisted to evade it, but there was no chance. She was suspended in the middle of an abyss. She was falling.

There was not even time to cast levitation magic. Her protective spell could not stop a falling rock that size!

She was going to die.

Sudden terror blinded her. The intent with which she had struggled to regain her composure and sculpt her mana scattered.

All she could do was watch death approach, sniffling in terror.

And then.

KRAAAASH!!!

An axe blade swept through the air. That single blow shattered the boulder into countless small stones, scattering them harmlessly in every direction.

As gravel rained around her, she continued trembling, terror still lingering in her body.

Then a voice sounded beside her ear, low and calm, utterly out of place in this situation—and all the clearer for it.

“Steady your intent. Weave your magic, and find the mana in this space.”

“But, but how am I supposed to do that! I, I... I...!”

“Elpihera.”

“Sniff...?”

A strong hand held her around the waist. Her waist was slender and slim enough to fit entirely within one arm’s embrace, and his hold was firm and steadfast, as though promising to drive away the terror shaking her whole body.

Without realizing it, Elpihera leaned against that warmth and sniffled.

The voice continued. Low, husky, and gentle.

“Embrace fantasy, and bring forth phenomena.”

“Those... words...”

“Forget that you are Veolgrin’s daughter. You are already complete in your own right. Elpihera. Look within yourself, and build your mental image upon the earth.”

“You... You...”

“Everything else is not your responsibility. Your safety, your life, your fear. Leave all of that to me. That is my job. You need only do what you can.”

That alone is what I expect of you.

Everything else is my task.

Amid her shaking vision, only his eyes, blazing blue, looked straight at her.

“Trust me as I trust you. As Veolgrin did. Even before your father, I never once failed to do my part.”

“Y-your name... At least tell me your name.”

There was no way her father would never have mentioned a man like this. Somehow, even in these circumstances, Elpihera felt that hearing his name would put her at ease, and she murmured the request.

Ivan turned his gaze away without concern. Knocking aside another falling boulder, he whispered in a low voice.

“Ivan.”

“... You know that’s a terribly unimaginative alias, right?”

“I know.”

“Humans...”

Ivan was the most common name in Krasilof. From tenant farmers to nobles, it was everywhere. It was even out of fashion now, so common that not even serf families would give it to their children.

But that was enough. Elpihera smiled in relief.

Entrusting even her life to him, with nothing but faith.

All she had to do was find a single thread of mana.

It was not difficult. To call even this difficult would disgrace Veolgrin’s name—no, the very name of elf.

Elpihera. Flower of the Fairies. Having received such a name from the greatest man in Kallion, she had to prove herself worthy of it.

She wove mana.

She gave form to her intent and built a staircase toward the heavens.

Legs planted upon the earth, intent rising, reaching the great heavens.

The mystery called magic—its secrets always had their source in the sky. Beseeching the ancient wisdom that must lie beyond it, she wove mana to perceive the principles of the world.

Mortals’ fantasies, vague fancies, the imaginings within their minds—she gathered them at her fingertips and shaped them into phenomena.

“I can... see it!!”

“Where?”

“Ahead, straight ahead...!”

“Where ahead?”

“All of it!! It’s everywhere in front of us!!”

WHOOOOOSH...

A violent storm she could feel even as she fell. As the mana revealed itself, vast billows came into view, and winds within the vision sent her thoughts into disarray.

She had failed to notice this? No, that was not it.

This was magic that revealed itself only to those capable of perceiving it.

“My goodness... This scale... This intricacy...!!”

A vivid blue curtain of magic rippled before her.

Faced with that overwhelming vista, the exact opposite of the dark abyss, Elpihera could only stare blankly, forgetting even to close her eyes.

“Excellent.”

Ivan’s voice sounded briefly above her head.

Then Ivan launched himself from one shattered rock to another.

Held in his arm, Elpihera let out a shrill scream, trembling at the approaching mana.