Chapter 78
500 gold coins were only the beginning.
“What kind of thief are you! You’re trying to take that for only 500 gold coins? 600 gold coins!”
“Hah! You’re just as shameless. I’ll bid 700 gold coins!”
“750!”
“800!”
The numbers climbed like crazy.
“1,000 gold coins! We’ve got 1,000 gold coins!!”
Before long, it had broken into four digits.
Even that still wasn’t the end.
1,100, then 1,200, and 1,300...
The higher the numbers climbed, the more my head throbbed.
“...What on earth is that.”
Money really does start to feel warped.
Only a few months ago, the money I got from the lord after crushing the wyverns that attacked the village was three gold coins.
...And yet a doodle I scratched out in a little over ten minutes is turning into enough money to live off for the rest of my life without lifting a finger. It’s a strange feeling.
“Something... feels off.”
“What now? Of course it is. Student Lunaris, you underestimated magicians’ thirst for knowledge.”
Dean Raymond snickered at my muttering and replied.
“If it means gaining magical achievement, if it means glimpsing the truth even a little more, magicians are the sort who won’t hesitate to spend every last coin they have.”
“At that rate... you don’t seem very interested yourself, Dean.”
“Well, I hate to say it, but honestly, I want it too.”
He said that if he weren’t my teacher, he’d have jumped into that mud-slinging brawl.
Dean Raymond smiled wryly, arms crossed.
“Of course, I don’t expect any magical achievement from it. Just for the rarity of it being the first grimoire written by the youngest archmage... 1,500 gold coins sounds about right.”
Coincidentally, the bidding had just passed 1,500 gold coins.
Even so, the momentum never died down, and the numbers kept climbing.
Dean Raymond looked down at the frenzied magicians below the window and said coolly.
“What a pity. There’s no way they’d be able to handle natural mana just by looking at that.”
“...”
“I’ve watched from the side the whole time, but Student Lunaris’s magic isn’t something you can learn just by looking at a few equations and a few spell formulas.”
“Well... if you want to put it that way, it’s a matter of sense and intuition.”
“You know it well. What could a bunch of talentless nobodies possibly learn from that grimoire?”
“Well, I suppose that’s true.”
*
“Guest in VIP Room 1! Sold for 2,153 gold coins!!”
Only after the leading digit changed once more did the frenzy finally come to an end.
The fact that it wasn’t a neat round number made it seem like they’d squeezed out every last coin they had.
Amid applause and cheers that seemed to shake the auction hall.
My gaze was fixed below.
A corner of the general seating on the lower floor.
I saw the mage in seat 145, who had been bidding against me for Nebula’s egg, quietly stand up amid the commotion.
“...Dean, I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Huh? Where are you going all of a sudden? We still need to settle the accounts soon...”
“I’ll be right back.”
Actually, I had no reason to chase after that person.
A black mage? Sure, they’re the ones cast as this world’s absolute evil.
They’re the kind I’d be happy to have disappear for the sake of my pleasant lazy life...
But that doesn’t mean I have any particular reason to take the lead in exterminating black mages, does it?
If I got tangled up in it the wrong way, it’d only be a hassle.
Anyway, bounty hunters short on cash or adventurers hungry for glory would catch them on their own. I hear the Imperial Mage Corps has already marked them as a priority target.
Most of all, I’d already gotten my hands on the monster egg tied to the main event, so there was even less reason to pick at a scab and make trouble.
...But.
-Found you.
That was what his lips had mouthed.
And that just irritated me for no good reason.
If I have anything to feel guilty about, I’m the type who can’t sleep at night because it bothers me.
So, I’m just going to ask and come back.
Just confirm it.
And then I’ll pull out quickly before it turns into a hassle.
I concentrated mana beneath the soles of my feet and sprang straight up with a thump.
Up ahead, I saw the hem of a black robe disappear around a corner.
I kicked off the ground once more and sprinted down the corridor.
“Hold it right there...”
My words never got to finish.
Because the mage I thought would just keep going had stopped right behind the corner.
As if he’d known I was coming after him.
“...”
Instinctively, I tore at the air and wrapped mana around my fist.
If he tried to pull anything, I was going to hit him with an instant-cast spell on the spot.
“It’s an honor to meet you.”
His behavior completely threw my expectations off.
Instead of casting a spell, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head toward me.
As if he were a knight paying homage to a king.
The natural mana wrapped around my fist slowly dissolved into a wisp of smoke.
“Uh... haven’t we seen each other somewhere before?”
“This is the first time we’ve met face to face today.”
“So you’ve seen the back of my head a few times before this?”
“Heh-heh! I won’t deny it.”
When I narrowed my eyes and asked, he burst out laughing without lifting his head.
“You’re a black mage, aren’t you?”
“Didn’t you already come here knowing everything?”
How shameless.
He didn’t even seem to have any intention of hiding who he was.
Whether he was just that bold.
Or just plain out of his mind.
“Answer me. What are you here for?”
“Well~ as you can see, I came here to do a bit of everything. Secure a top-grade monster egg, keep tabs on the Magic Tower...”
He trailed off and lifted his head slightly.
Under the deeply pulled hood, I could make out the corners of a smirking mouth.
“And while we’re at it, we might as well eliminate that little future archmage brat who could become a potential threat to us. Kihit!”
“...Then the attack on the magic train a few days ago was your doing too.”
“Oh—of course. It failed, though.”
He snickered and went on.
“I’m truly glad the attack failed. I hadn’t realized the archmage candidate would be you.”
“...?”
“No, come to think of it, maybe failure was only natural if you were the one we were up against.”
Before I knew it, I was frowning.
The way he was acting oddly familiar toward me was deeply unsettling.
At this rate, it makes me seem like the mastermind of this world or something.
“The same goes for Nebula’s egg, too.”
As I tilted my head this way and that, the black mage clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
“If I’d known the one bidding for it was you, I’d have given it to you willingly.”
“...?”
“That monster would shine more in your hands than in mine.”
With that, he suddenly took a heavy leather pouch from inside his robe and set it gently on the floor.
“Please accept it... as a token of apology.”
The clink of metal against metal.
Those were gold coins.
“Sorry, this is all the cash I brought. It’s probably around 100 gold coins.”
...Hey, where’s the other hundred?
If you’re going to give me something, give me all of it.
“I’d like to talk more deeply, but given the place, I should be taking my leave.”
He brushed off his robe and stood up.
By then, a black mana stone was already in his hand.
It looked like he’d casually grabbed it while taking out the pouch of gold coins.
“I hope I can properly greet you next time, in a quieter place.”
The moment the mana stone in the black mage’s hand shattered.
Dark mana billowed up like smoke and wrapped around his body.
-BEEEEEP!!
At the same time, detection spells installed all over the corridor activated, and a blaring alarm echoed through the halls.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I hurriedly reached for the black smoke and tried to warp space, but I was a step too late.
“Who’s there!”
“Section C exit, black magic detected! Requesting backup!”
And the guards in the auction hall were a good ten paces too late.
By the time the black smoke cleared, the black mage had already vanished without a trace.
“Ah! Aren’t you Lunaris Evermoon!”
“Are you all right?!”
The guard captain, who had come rushing over in a panic, asked, looking ashen.
“We just detected black magic in this area... what on earth happened?”
“...I found a cockroach that had snuck into the Magic Tower, but it got away in the meantime.”
I stared into space for a moment, then casually picked up the pouch of gold coins on the floor and said.
“N-no way, that guy was a black mage?!”
I gave a quiet nod, and the guard captain’s face went white as he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“You! Tell the host about this at once! And you, report to the Elders’ Council that a black mage has infiltrated the place!”
In the middle of the corridor, with the guards bustling about, I stood quietly and mulled over what the black mage had left behind.
-It’s an honor to meet you.
-I’m truly glad the attack failed.
-Next time, I hope we can greet each other properly in a quieter place.
It was as if he were treating me like someone above him.
I had clearly chased the black mage to clear up my unease, but instead my head only became more tangled.
I thought there was nothing about this world I didn’t know.
But maybe what I knew wasn’t all there was.
“Damn it. There goes tonight’s sleep.”
*
“Princess, a letter has arrived from the imperial palace.”
“From the imperial palace?”
Princess Celestina closed the book she had been reading and looked up.
The envelope the guard captain respectfully handed over bore the imperial seal clearly.
Could it be a forced recall order?
Or... could His Majesty be gravely ill?
The princess swallowed dryly and cut the wax seal open with a paper knife.
Her expression, tense at first, gradually softened as she read on.
By the time her eyes reached the end, a faint smile spread across her lips.
“She finally did it.”
She folded the letter neatly and set it on the table.
“It seems Luna passed the Magic Tower’s evaluation.”
“That means...!”
“Yes. It says an archmage investiture ceremony will be held at the imperial palace soon.”
Even the usually stoic guard captain couldn’t help but marvel at the news.
“Incredible. To rise to the rank of archmage at that age—it’s unprecedented in history, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It’ll be a record that won’t be broken even centuries from now.”
Princess Celestina wore a delighted expression as if it were her own achievement.
“Then the letter must be asking whether you intend to return to the imperial palace. Will you go back for a while?”
At the guard captain’s question, Princess Celestina’s fingertips twitched.
Her gaze lingered on the letter on the table for a moment before turning to the window.
“...No. I don’t think I’ll go.”
Princess Celestina shook her head.
“If it were up to me, I’d want to congratulate her in person by handing her the robe myself, but that would be difficult.”
“Your Highness...”
“You know why I can’t return to the imperial palace, even during vacation.”
A bitter smile touched the princess’s lips.
The place she had chosen to avoid being swept up in brutal power struggles was this very academy, Eltreon Academy.
“If I went back and even pretended to be close with Luna... they’d definitely be wary of me.”
She had used her studies as a pretext, but in truth it was no different from taking refuge to avoid her other siblings’ eyes.
“I’ll congratulate her later, after the investiture ceremony ends and she comes back.”
Princess Celestina rose from her chair and walked to the window.
When she threw it open, the lukewarm summer night air brushed past her cheeks.
The night sky over Eltreon Academy was especially clear.
Countless stars were set in it like jewels, shining brightly.
The princess cautiously reached out her hand toward the night sky.
Starlight spilled through her spread fingers.
“Really... isn’t that a little too fast?”
The princess’s eyes trembled.
While she herself was trapped inside the cage called the academy, holding her breath.
Luna, Lunaris Evermoon, had already soared high up into the sky.
She had become a moon brighter than the stars in that unreachable sky.
“I wish you’d slow down just a little...”
Princess Celestina clenched and unclenched her fist at the unreachable air, letting out a self-mocking laugh.
“I’m a little afraid that before long I won’t even be able to see your back anymore.”