Quit The Hero Party

EP.60 Withered (3)

“Excuse me? You have a way?”

Kalt tilted his head.

A method to find the medium that entered the Otherworld? Even if this mage could do things that others couldn’t, Kalt deemed it impossible.

After all, they are from completely different systems…

‘The medium that entered the Otherworld, even a spirit mage contracted with the Spirit King can’t pinpoint its location, right?’

Even the authority of that system could not accomplish such a feat. They could draw the medium out from the Otherworld, but they wouldn’t know where or how it would pop out.

‘It must be like that…’

Kalt looked at Raniel. She was still leaning on her chin, gazing at the forest, as if searching for something.

‘…She’s not someone who speaks empty words.’

Could there truly be a method?

Kalt paused for a moment, then continued speaking.

“…Is it possible to pinpoint the medium in the Otherworld?”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then how—?”

“Kalt, can I tell you something interesting?”

Instead of answering, Raniel started on a different topic.

“I was once chosen as a medium for the Altar, you know?”

“…Excuse me?”

Kalt’s eyes widened.

“When was that?”

“Of course, it was after you left. And… it’s a story after facing that calamity.”

Raniel shrugged her shoulders and continued talking. Her eyes remained fixed on the forest.

“At that time, I was a bit out of it. I wasn’t in my right mind. Considering what I encountered, it’s probably natural. And, that bastard Kyle was causing a ruckus too.”

That son of a bitch had thrown a fit about quitting everything.

Muttering to herself, Raniel sighed.

“That coward probably thought that was an opening.”

“…An opening, you say?”

“Yeah, an opening. A chance to brainwash and dig in. And in reality, it was indeed an opening. I fell into a dream.”

A dream.

Those mages who were selected as mediums and barely returned at the end of consciousness all voice it in unison.

The dream was sweet.

Waking from that dream is absolutely impossible.

Kalt recalled those words and asked.

“…So, you woke up just before consciousness?”

“Huh? No, that would be too late.”

“Excuse me?”

Raniel laughed.

“I woke up not long after falling into the dream. When I compared it later, I had walked about ten steps.”

“…Is that possible?”

“If it was my first time seeing the Altar, maybe. But… I had roughly grasped the structure of the spell, and honestly, it’s simple.”

She spread her fingers.

“What’s the reason for not wanting to wake up from a dream? Because everything you want is there.”

Tuk, tuk, she tapped at her chest.

“But I had nothing.”

“Excuse me?”

“I didn’t have what I desired in that dream.”

Kalt asked her.

Then what was it that you wished for?

“Well, there were many things… but regardless.”

Raniel answered.

“I couldn’t obtain it from the past.”

—

Reflecting on her past was a mysterious experience.

Resti observed a dream with her increasingly clear consciousness. She understood that this was a dream. However, she couldn’t fathom its principles.

‘Something feels blocked.’

Her thoughts were limited.

There was a sense of restriction in her thinking direction. It felt as if she were under a spell of some sort related to the mental realm.

‘…What does it feel like to be under something?’

■■ Category Spell.

■■ Category ■■.

■■■■ ■■.

‘…I don’t know.’

It felt like something might have surfaced, but it slipped away quickly. It kept pulling her back into the dream.

The thoughts she could summon were limited.

As she repeatedly recognized and forgot that fact, Resti blinked. The scene she saw when her eyes opened and closed was different.

When she opened her eyes, she saw flames.

Fuel was constantly thrown into the blazing fire. The flames were extreme emotions, and the logs were biased memories.

– Is this all you can do?
– You can’t.
– Why is that?
– Is that all there is?

When her eyes opened, what she saw were cold gazes.

Regardless of whether it was Resti’s own mistake, those gazes remained unchanged.

– That’s not a place for you.
– You don’t belong there.
– Compared to the Ashen Mage, you…

The chilling gazes, the gossip, echoed in Resti’s ears.

The stares looking down upon her choked her neck. No one saw her.

In contrast, what about the other side?

Resti closed her eyes.

– Impressive, Resti!

A warm voice reached her.

An Elder was there, stroking her head. Only happy memories resided in that place.

– Yes, that’s how it should be.
– You have talent, Resti.

What her opened eyes revealed was dreadful.

What arose in her closed eyes were joyful memories.

The contrast was stark.

Which side to choose was obvious.

Resti closed her eyes again.

However, it was different from before. She unconsciously opened one eye.

‘Something.’

Why did she only open one eye?

‘It’s not enough.’

Just the past isn’t enough to fill something.

She felt an unquenchable thirst for something that wasn’t filled. It felt like something crucial was missing.

Resti felt a thirst.

She wished for something.

What that was, she could not discern.

—

“Something that can’t be obtained from a dream? Isn’t anything possible in a dream?”

“Normally, yes. But spells are a bit different. Spells that interfere with the mind are incredibly complex. You can’t create something from nothing.”

Tuk, tuk, Raniel tapped her head.

“In the end, it only creates from what’s in the target’s memory. It’s more akin to a recollection spell than a dream. They probably drew a Constraint Circuit triggered by closing and opening one’s eyes.”

“I’m not well-versed in spells…”

“Simply put, it’s like this.”

She said.

“The past tends to be romanticized. It makes you think that everything you want is in that past while recalling it.”

“……”

“But, you know.”

The Ashen Mage spat.

“Mages can’t do that.”

Her gaze was fixed far away.

“The Elder told me, my Master told me that Mages shouldn’t do that.”

—

Feeling thirst, Resti viewed her past.

To fulfill her desires, the dream painted a finer landscape. Even the tiniest memories were drawn up and displayed before Resti.

Memories with the Elder flowed by.

The memories of her joy had already run dry. The spell pulled up slightly older memories.

– …If so.
– This time…

Many things surfaced and vanished.

Yet, Resti’s thirst remained unquenched.

The spell sensed that.

It pulled up even more memories.

Past memories flooded back without restraint.

“Resti.”

And memories are never intact.

Sometimes they are distorted. Sometimes they are forgotten. Memories are like that. However, the spell does not grasp the intricacies of such memories.

“Resti, lift your head.”

It merely draws up memories.

Among the memories it unearthed, there existed something Resti had forgotten long ago.

A memory she hadn’t calmly listened to, swept away by emotions.

A memory she had remembered merely as a scene.

Ultimately, the spell drew that memory up as well.

“Look at me.”

Resti gazed ahead.

She saw the Elder lying in a hospital bed.

‘This is…’

It must be a memory just before the Elder lost consciousness. In that final moment, the Elder had called Resti into the room to tell her something.

‘What did we talk about then?’

Resti couldn’t recall it properly.

The memory steeped in sadness was incomplete. This time, with a calm mind, Resti looked at that memory.

“I have something to say.”

The Elder’s voice lacked strength.

It was a voice devoid of vitality, but the gaze looking at Resti did not lose its light.

“I have a friend named Raniel. It seems she’s far away now, but she was the one chosen to be the next Master of the Ashen Tower.”

Thus began the story that had not been heard at that time, seeping into Resti’s ears.

“I had something to say to that friend. It was when she was struggling as the next Master.”

The Elder continued.

A way of speaking different from usual, a voice bearing words he had never said before.

“Resti, a mage needs to be selfish. No matter what others say, you must run wild in the way you want.”

At the time, Resti didn’t hear that story.

“I know. I heard about what happened out of curiosity when you were at the orphanage. That’s why I came to find you. You had summoned a familiar that hurt the children, right?”

At that time, Resti could only hold the Elder’s hand and cry endlessly.

“The price of curiosity must have been high. The cost of unleashing your talents would have been heavy. Untamed talent can sometimes be poison.”

It was like that back then, but not now.

Resti listened attentively to the Elder’s words with her eyes wide open. She heard the last thing he left her.

“But, that’s no longer the case.”

The Elder reached out.

“You have become capable of handling everything you possess. You simply could not ignite the flames due to being imprisoned by past memories; you are already a great mage.”

That touch swept through Resti’s hair.

“Do not be captivated by the past, and run only looking towards the future. That is the duty of a mage.”

The Elder met Resti’s gaze.

“You should try it until you are satisfied.”

With that last word, the Elder’s hand fell.

That memory is the last.

Leaving behind the desire to return to the beginning once more, Resti opened her eyes. There was no need to look anymore.

Resti.

With her eyes open, she asked herself.

Am I satisfied?

The memories of the past three years lay before her. Memories that had curled up and fled. Resti uttered them while staring straight at them.

“No.”

Resti spoke.

“I’m not satisfied.”

—

“A mage must be selfish.”

Raniel said.

“Run wildly as you please, and while you’re at it, destroy everything others have built until you’re satisfied, building your own way of magic.”

She said with a smile.

“Don’t be captivated by the past, and live looking towards the future.”

Then she added.

“So, I had no time to be caught in the past. There was nothing I wanted there.”

“That… wouldn’t other mages think the same? Yet other mages…”

“Well, first of all, you need a decent amount of mental strength. That’s basic, buddy.”

“Oh…”

Kalt shook his head.

“Then we’re back to square one. From what you’re saying, it sounds like the student here was selected as a medium, right?”

“Indeed.”

“A mere student, it’s difficult to expect her to have such mental strength, isn’t it? She’s still a child.”

“Yeah, even that coward probably thought so. And that’s exactly where the mistake lies.”

Raniel sighed.

“Kalt, I’m not sure you really understand.”

“Excuse me?”

“The one who endured three years in the Tower. There’s no way her mental strength would be lacking. There, you can’t survive with a sane mind.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Mages, especially mages of the Ashen Tower, you see.”

She pointed at herself with a mischievous smile.

“Are usually prickly and somewhat messed up.”

—

Blink.

Resti opened her eyes.

Her eyes, when closed and opened, were different from before.

In her gaze, a faint shimmer of light danced. The light was platinum. A brilliantly shining platinum light nested in Resti’s eyes.

The light chased away the darkness.

The world turned pure white.

In the purifying white world floated many circuits. They were black. They weren’t the circuits Resti had drawn.

‘These are the spells forming this dream. And the spells that hijacked my body.’

The moment she saw it, she understood the circuits.

Though she couldn’t trace them, she could see how they were conveyed to the Star.

Her eyes had always been that way.

They read the flow of mana.

She grasped the structure of the spell at a glance.

Reaching out towards the spells connecting to the Star, Resti gently redirected their trajectory. One by one, the spells began to unravel.

Her mind cleared.

Her vision started to open up.

Tuk, tuk, tututut!

As she unraveled the spells one by one, Resti thought.

‘I messed up the exam.’

Her first thought was surprisingly that.

Yet she didn’t feel much about that fact.

So what if she messed up?

She felt a little disappointed, but that was all.

‘It’s not like I couldn’t solve anything; I solved some bits.’

At the very least, that professor would overlook it. She’d read the answer sheet and evaluate it. Even if the evaluation was harsh, it was fine. Perhaps she might be disappointed, but it was still okay.

After all, someone was seeing her.

If they just acknowledged her, she’d have another chance.

That was enough for Resti.

‘Others didn’t even bother to acknowledge me.’

She endured such treatment for three years.

‘I’ve lived among those gazes all this time.’

Finally, someone saw her.

Now, she stood at a starting point.

Perhaps, someone would acknowledge her.

‘Am I satisfied with that?’

Resti relentlessly tore away at the last spell she was holding. Tututut, the circuits dismantled with a sound.

“Don’t joke with me.”

She hadn’t shown anything yet.

There was no way she could be satisfied.

“Give it back.”

That’s my body.

The platinum mana exploded and spread outward.

—

“See?”

I pointed at my hand.

It was the circuit I had connected to another place. It was shining brightly.

“I told you it would work out somehow.”

“What is this…?”

“What do you mean?”

I stand up, feeling the mana of someone else flowing into the circuit I inscribed.

“This means it’s our turn now.”

Then I reached out toward Kalt.

“Track it down, dog nose.”

“Do you realize how rude that expression is?”

With a sigh, Kalt put his nose to my palm. After sniffing a few times, he looked up.

“I remembered.”

“That’s why I called you a dog nose.”

I shrugged my shoulders and pointed into the forest.

“It’ll pop out for a moment from the Otherworld.”

I counted the time with my fingers.

“In about a minute. Can you pinpoint it in that time?”

“What do you take me for?”

Kalt pointed to his own nose.

“Ten seconds will be enough.”

---