Chapter 68
“Subspace magic is really fascinating, isn’t it?”
Department Head Raymond had brought a very powerful card.
A private room of my own, plus a mobile bedroom.
This is... revolutionary, isn’t it?
“...Could I hear more about that?”
“Hehe. I was just looking through the catalog for this year’s regular Mage Tower auction, and it seems an ancient grimoire called The Book of the Microcosm will be up for auction.”
The Department Head smiled comfortably and continued.
“It’s a book containing the essence of spatial magic. With Student Lunaris’s talent, just reading it might be enough to find a clue to building subspace.”
“But that sounds like it’d be insanely expensive.”
If it was up for auction, I couldn’t even begin to imagine the price.
“Don’t worry!”
But the Department Head thumped his chest, telling me not to worry.
“If you’ll just go to the Mage Tower with me! I’ll give you that book as a gift!”
“...”
I quickly did the calculations in my head.
Leaving my sweet dorm room for the Mage Tower would be a pain, but... considering all the little perks and benefits, it really was a good deal.
“Hmm—well, I’ve been cooped up in my room, so I am getting a little bored anyway.”
I stretched and got to my feet.
“I might as well go out for a bit of fresh air.”
*
It seems a new Archmage is about to emerge in the Belhart Empire.
A dark, secluded chamber where the candlelight flickered faintly
an impersonal voice settled over the continent map spread across the table.
“...Is that reliable information?”
At the old man’s cracked voice, the shadow bowed its head as it melted into the darkness.
“It’s a message from the ‘eyes’ we planted inside Eltarion Academy.”
“Hmm—”
“Since the Archmage Raymond Cloud has unofficially acknowledged it, it seems to be reliable information.”
“Well, that old fox may exaggerate, but he doesn’t lie...”
On this continent, the weight carried by the title ‘Archmage’ was anything but light.
It was not merely a title given to whoever handled magic better than anyone else.
Someone who could take on legions alone, overturn the terrain, and sometimes even defy the laws of heaven.
A walking natural disaster in human form.
That is what an Archmage is.
“This is a serious problem.”
The old man caressed the name ‘Belhart Empire’ etched on the map with a wrinkled hand.
The vast territory on the map, too large to be covered even with one outstretched hand, proved the empire’s strength.
It was already an empire that held the continent’s hegemony.
If one more force beyond their ability to handle were added.
“The balance of the continent might be thrown off.”
That would also mean their place to stand would disappear.
“Have you identified the one who will become the new Archmage? What sort of person are they?”
“...Hard as it may be to believe.”
The man in the shadows paused for a moment before finally speaking with difficulty.
“Apparently, it’s a first-year student who entered Eltarion Academy just this year.”
“...”
The wrinkled hand roaming over the map twitched.
The chamber’s air turned icy in an instant.
“A first-year? A brat barely sixteen has crossed the wall of magic?”
“I was skeptical at first too, but after cross-checking the information, it proved true.”
“Hah...”
The old man let out a dry laugh.
It was a laugh mixed with shock and fear.
An academy first-year. Barely mid-teens.
At such a young age, they had already grasped the laws of nature and risen to the rank of Archmage.
If that child kept growing at this pace?
What kind of monster would they be in ten years, in twenty?
In fifty years, in sixty years...
‘Perhaps I’ll even get to see the end of magic itself.’
And the end of that power would inevitably be directed at everything outside the empire.
“The name?”
“Lunaris Evermoon, a female student in the Department of Magitech.”
“I think I’ve heard of her. I remember Raymond, that fellow, making a racket earlier this year, going on about some Archmage candidate or whatever.”
At the time, I thought he was just puffing himself up again, as usual.
In just one semester after enrolling, she had reached the level of Archmage.
-tap, tap.
The old man’s index finger tapped the map slowly.
He seemed to have a lot on his mind.
“Before the Mage Tower and Belhart formally grant that little brat a title and turn them into the empire’s puppet... we should make a move.”
Soon, blood-red eyes flashed in the darkness.
“Have you confirmed their route?”
“It appears they’ll soon board the magic train and head to the Mage Tower to be certified as an Archmage.”
“The magic train, huh...”
A thoughtful murmur drifted from the old man’s mouth.
“That is truly unfortunate.”
A wrinkled finger traced the railway running from the imperial capital to the Mage Tower.
“The road to the Mage Tower is long and arduous. Those mage bastards probably want to act like ascetics or something, building their tower on top of such a steep mountain range.”
His voice was as flat as if he were saying it would rain today.
But no one here failed to understand the meaning in the old man’s words.
“Accidents happen often on roads like this. Don’t they?”
*
“We’ll be traveling to the Mage Tower by ‘magic train’!”
Inside a luxury carriage headed for the outskirts of the imperial capital.
Department Head Raymond, sitting opposite me, began enthusiastically reciting the travel itinerary.
“First, we’ll take this carriage to the station, then board the only magic train in the empire! No, the only one on the entire continent! We’ll ride it all the way north to where the Mage Tower is~”
The Department Head’s eyes sparkled like a child going on a picnic for the first time.
“Hehe—train travel, huh... It’s been a very long time. Listening to the clattering while watching the scenery slip by outside the window is surprisingly romantic.”
Romantic, my foot.
The scenery would probably just be dense mountain ranges, and bouncing along a mountain road would end up torturing my backside, so it would only be annoying.
Above all, with my lingering memories of commuting in subway hell during my previous life, I couldn’t feel the slightest emotion at the word train.
“Yaaawn...”
At my indifferent reaction, the Department Head awkwardly coughed.
“Actually, a mage of elder rank like me can travel directly through warp gates...”
“Then that’s how we should go. Why take the train? What a waste of time.”
“Because Student Lunaris doesn’t have the authority yet.”
The Department Head shrugged as if there was nothing he could do.
“I can’t just leave my student behind and go ahead alone, can I?”
“...”
“But don’t worry! If you get officially recognized as an Archmage this time, Student Lunaris, you’ll be acknowledged as an elder too and get a warp gate permit! Ohohoho!”
“Ah... yes...”
I nodded vaguely.
In any case, once I went and came back this time, I wouldn’t be coming anywhere near the Mage Tower again. I couldn’t help wondering what the point of that was.
“A-anyway, Student Lunaris! This is your first time hearing about the magic train, right? It’s an amazing vehicle that concentrates the Mage Tower’s magitech!”
Since my reaction still wasn’t very enthusiastic, the Department Head suddenly launched into technical boasting.
“Even when it carries hundreds of people and heavy cargo while climbing a rough mountain road, you can’t help wondering how they built it.”
He made it sound like some incredible invention, but to me it looked like nothing more than a waste of money.
The magic train was the Mage Tower’s technological showcase and the very embodiment of budget waste.
I seem to remember that each run made a month’s budget for an average territory vanish outright.
It all came down to the fact that it ran by burning expensive mana stones as if they were firewood. Without the Mage Tower, they never would have even considered it.
There was no more inefficient means of transportation than this. It was nothing but self-display by the magic-obsessed nuts of the Mage Tower, who knew nothing of the real world.
The reason the magic train line connected only the imperial capital and the Mage Tower, and nothing else, was absolutely not because it required some special technological feat.
...Come to think of it.
You can’t talk about trains without thinking about terrorism.
Kyle, the protagonist of the original story, was a mage too, so he used to visit the Mage Tower about once a year.
And every time, he dutifully boarded the magic train.
He never once arrived there normally.
A griffon running onto the tracks.
A magic train derailment.
An unidentified group hijacking the train.
And plenty of others.
Even the episodes that came to mind were nothing but one troublesome hassle after another.
Of course, Kyle wouldn’t be on the train that the Department Head and I would take...
Still, I couldn’t relax.
“Department Head.”
I straightened up, then looked the Department Head straight in the eye.
“By any chance, when was the last ‘accident’ on the magic train?”
“...Excuse me?”
“Like a derailment or an explosion. Or maybe someone attacked the train.”
At my blatant question, Department Head Raymond’s eyes rolled around.
The Department Head broke into a cold sweat and averted his eyes.
“Miss Lunaris, you’ve been reading too many novels. For an imperial facility to suffer such a mishap...”
“Don’t avoid my eyes.”
“...Ahem. Well, since it’s classified as a magical device, minor malfunctions do happen from time to time.”
The Department Head mumbled the rest while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
“Over the past three years... there haven’t been any major accidents ‘officially.’”
“And three years ago?”
“No, that wasn’t an accident....”
I narrowed my eyes and pressed him harder.
I never trusted the phrase ‘X years without an accident.’
If it were actually true, that would be an even bigger problem.
In academy stories, a train that had never once had an accident suddenly causing trouble the moment I boarded it was just ‘business as usual.’
“Ah, that’s an ancient story!”
In the end, the Department Head raised both hands as if surrendering and began making excuses.
“Fifteen years ago, when the tracks had just been laid, attacks by resistance fighters or monsters were frequent... but now the defense system is completely in place?! Really!”
“...”
Yeah, perfect.
The Department Head had set the flag perfectly with what he just said.
“I want to go back to Linea Hall...”
“All of a sudden?!”
Sitting in the rattling carriage, I rubbed a hand over my face in exasperation as I sensed the future ahead.
It looked like this trip wasn’t going to be comfortable.