Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Eon's POV: ]

I wasn't sure if he would actually be around or not but the obvious presence that he was not even trying to hide gave it away.

"What gave it away? The cold and the soil wouldn't be the only things."

He was asking about the location and how I figured where this place was.

He knew I was smart and had good deductive capabilities but there was still a lot that even I should not have been able to tell.

I surely said how I had figured it out, but he knew there was something more to it. He knew me pretty well so he also knew I was just trying to get his attention by saying something that he already knew many people other than me might have already figured out already.

There were a lot of things here that pointed at many things and there were a lot of guests here that were even smarter than me, perhaps had more experience than me and were so extraordinary that I could only look up to them and admire them.

He knew just how well they had made this place so deducting what this place exactly was should not have been possible even to those great geniuses.

But I figured it out, and he wanted to know how.

"Well…"

It's not easy, I'd certainly say that. And if not for my cursed memory I would have forgotten about this as well.

"The path."

What simply gave away the exact location of this place aside from it being on the western continent was simply the path that we took to get here.

"Just like the rest of us, others should have also taken a unique path."

We went to a dessert first, then we went to some calmer place, then to some humid place, then to some cold place, then to a proper windy place, and lastly, we passed through places that had a unique environment.

There was no need to pass through such diverse environments. There was no need to even go all around the world just to misdirect us.

Even if they had directly brought us here or just passed through some certain gateways connecting this place, it would have been difficult for any of us to figure out what this place was.

This primordial volcanic region was not the only hot place in the west. This could very well have been some volcanic island of northern sea, some outskirts of the demonic plains, some plateau of scorching lands of the east, or somewhere in the central region where there still are some inactive volcanoes present.

This place could have very well been under the earth somewhere very deep that it was too hot to maintain this kind of stable environment.

If that were the case, a shield like this one would have been more justifiable.

It could have been any hot place in the west and there would have been no need for them to bring us through so many different places.

In the first place, it was ineffective and costly going around so many places so… why did they do it?

Was it simply because they wanted to make it complicated?

Surely even the headmaster wouldn't have enough resources to do something like that for so many attendees.

"There was no need to pass through so many environments, but since we did, our body and senses adapted to the unstable environments and temporarily became insensitive to the 'change' of environmental factors."

Since it was something very natural and very inherent, even the individuals like our grandparents who possessed blessed and experienced bodies did not find this artificial garden as strange as me.

Even Rein, someone that could see the true nature of everything and knew all of this was fake and was astonished by the barrier above us did not feel anything weird when we got here.

"You tried to perform spontaneous artificial conditioning… but you should have taken someone like me into account."

Thanks to my unique body, I had the power to control Solnova. And it was a kind of power that was more raw and pure in nature than the other kind of energies.

My cursed memory made me very sensitive to the 'change' since it naturally compared anything and everything with the past experiences so, when I am in snow, I think every time I have felt snow.

When I am in a warm place, I think about every time I have been in a similar kind of warm place, and when I am experiencing something for the first time, my mind compares it with every freaking kind of thing it could possibly compare it to and practically, I don't really have any control over this process.

I've grown cold to it with time, and though painful, thanks to Lucy, I've learned how to manage it a little in the past few years.

"Oh… I see."

The headmaster knew how this cursed memory worked– being able to remember every single second of your life was not something good. Especially when it's as sensitive as mine.

Sure it has some upsides, but the downsides are just too much.

It's not every day that I get a goodnight's sleep without a headache.

"Don't think too much about it though, headmaster. And you. Stop that please. Just at least relax for a little."

Headmaster was surely worried about me and what might happen to me, but there was nothing for him to worry about.

There was nothing we could do about this problem anyway, and Rein. She was tense and worried all this time already, but hearing how I figured out where we were thanks to my memory just made her even more worried.

"If you act like that for a little longer, we are going to have a long chat and will miss the preparation time. Do you want that?"

"...! Wait! We have to go through these things-."

"Then calm down."

If I had Anna's power to calm people down and make them feel refreshed even if it was forcefully, I would have used it on her at this moment.

Sadly, I did not have that, so she will have to work it out with a normal kiss.

"Anyway, as I was asking, can we have a look outside? I really wanted to see the crimson landscape of infamous western hell."

The headmaster was looking down at me now, right in my sincere eyes that really wanted to have this experience.

"Hmmm…"

He looked deep into my eyes that wanted it, and then in the still worried eyes of Rein who was looking at me as if I was some kind of a lunatic.

She knew if these were actually the lands of Dhargni then the environment out there would be something that the two of us who were still nowhere near the level of our grandparents could never handle.

Despite how strong we were, we were still weak. I know that already. But, missing this precious chance would be the same as missing out on an opportunity to meet a dragon.

"You really want to go out, hun?"

"Yes."

I really wanted to go and have a look out there.

It was said that the creatures in these lands, even in the outskirts of these lands, were so strong that even someone like the headmaster would have difficulty facing them.

These lands were also home to not one, but a group of calamity bringing creatures called [Hell's guards].

There was no way to fight those creatures, so they had been restricted to their territories by the 'forces of nature'.

I wanted to at least see one of them.

"I see…"

Of course, it would not be possible without the permission and help of the headmaster since, well, without him protecting us with his powers, neither of us might even survive for a minute in the environment out there.

"Well, it is not going to be possible today. I still have a lot of matters to attend to."

There was a smile on his face, so he wasn't saying that it was going to be impossible.

He did not deny me outright as he would at my dangerous request like this one.

"Tomorrow will be fine, right?"

And if he was directly saying this, it means he also wants to show something out there.

"Tomorrow is great, yes."

Mr. Crow was still following along with our conversation, somehow.

He did not know many things that we were talking about, things about my memory, things relating to my request, or why we even have such profound understanding with one another.

He was the headmaster of the grand academy of Hope. Even the emperors of this world could not talk with him as casually as we talked about.

'From the look in his deep eyes, I can at least tell he knew the two of us had some kind of special relationship but he must not know the depth of that relationship.

That was the only way to explain that surprised look in his eyes hidden behind his crow mask.

"Then…"

He placed his hand on both of our shoulders, and turned us around towards the big gates in the centre.

"Go and rest. I can tell you'll faint tomorrow if you don't rest today. Tomorrow starts the big day."

He pushed both of us a little, and waited for us to start walking.

This was his way to tell us to go inside since there were still other guests coming– and with outside chatting like this, he knew the arrival of the others that he was masking with his perfect illusion spells would become difficult.

"Don't push yourself too much, headmaster. Please look after yourself a little as well."

I had brought a treat for him, so I first turned around and handed it to him before bowing to him and saying our goodbyes.

He was working hard, and since Mr. Crow worked hard as well, I gave him some snacks that he might enjoy before bidding him goodbyes and finally walking inside the door to the underground.

'He was an interesting person. I had to set the foundations now if I wanted him in the future.'