Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

After some time, Allen and his group continued moving towards Mount Nicaea. The carriage couldn’t make the remainder of the journey, so they had no choice but to walk.

‘I wonder what kind of quest Julius is going to do.’

Allen was currently on a two-week probation. He, as well as Pan—the probationary knight who’d refereed the duel—and Julius.

The reason behind which was simple.

The probationary knight wasn’t fit to take charge of his supervising role designed to prevent careless mistakes and sudden accidents and as a result of this, a major accident could have taken place.

Although their father rarely showed his anger, he had punished each of them.

‘I can’t tell if it was because of our random confrontation or because of Julius’s close call.’

So, Allen and Julius were both under house arrest for two weeks on opposite sides of the house. Pan—who had done nothing but get himself involved with them—was fully punished, receiving 500 hours of nighttime duty and intensive training.

Allen made use of this time and secretly left the mansion to take the potions that Julius had gotten. He had blocked the entrance to his side of the house under the pretext of training to hide that he had escaped, and he rode a shabby carriage and moved around less-populated roads to avoid being tracked.

Now it was time to taste the fruits of their labor.

“I’ll go over it from the beginning. From here, we’ll split up.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you have the map I gave you? Inellia, Linbelle, you two will start from the southeast and go northwest.”

Inellia and Linbelle replied with eager faces.

‘I guess she’s calmed down now.’

Linbelle had returned to how Allen normally saw her.

“We’ll do it.”

“Yes!”

In the mountains behind Elle Round, he took all the potions that bastard gave him.

‘I want to see Julius’s flustered expression later—’

It would be impossible to see it in person. Allen felt a little regretful at that fact but felt some satisfaction at just the mental image.

“Well, I’ll meet up with you both in six hours.”

“Good luck, sir.”

“Thank you. Inellia, there’s nothing here that could harm you, but… don’t let your guard down.”

“You don’t need to worry.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Allen felt the two pairs of eyes on the back of his head and flew away.

He didn't have enough time to take all the potions while at the mountain.

* * *

Nine people were seated at a small round table in the center of the white-marble-tiled common area. And around it, there were countless seats that not even hundreds of people could fill, encircling the round table like those of an opera house.

However, while most of the seats would typically be empty, they were all filled.

From the most powerful sorcerers in the land and the Masters of magic towers, to leading sorcerers of different schools of thought and Rank 4 sorcerers—the figures occupying the seats were more than qualified to be called mid-class sorcerers. 

Clamor, clamor.

“Do you know why the emergency call was sent out?”

“Well… it’s not like a gate has opened somewhere.”

“Hm, well… maybe? But if that were the case, would there be any reason to hide the reason for the summons until now?”

“That is true.”

Most of them didn’t know why they’d been called there. They exchanged their greetings and speculated over the reason behind their being summoned. Francisca, sitting in the corner of her seat and clinging onto her gigantic robes, was struggling to resist her boredom.

‘I shouldn’t have come.’

Even if she’d tried to avoid the magic tower, though, she was forced to follow because of her grandfather's insistence that a sorcerer should obey their duty.

‘I finally found the person I’d heard of in the prophecy.’

She’d only ever seen one prophecy. Because of the prophecy, her grandfather became a sorcerer for the Reinhart family at her request, and she herself worked tirelessly to become a Rank 4 sorcerer as well—and after a long period of hardship, she finally found the main character of her prophecy.

‘Why do I have to be held here for a month?’

Francesca's angry eyes rolled over to a young man sitting near the round table. She went deeper into her robe, hiding herself.

It’d be difficult for her to bear it, otherwise.

How much time had passed?

Bang!

“How long are you gonna keep us waiting? Barden!”

Pardell—one of the seven Masters of the magic tower of fire—shouted, turning towards the center of the table at the Master of the magic tower of light, who was likely to have ordered the convening of this meeting.

“Alright, Barden, isn’t it time to tell us? It wouldn’t be any fun if you called us here for no reason~”

“Y-yeah, m-my research is b-backed up n… now. H-how long are you g-going to make u-us w-wait?”

Subsequently, Skyna, of the mutation school of thought, and Marghol, of the restriction school of thought, spoke.

After that, the sorcerers who were tired of waiting followed suit and started complaining to Barden.

“How long are ya gonna keep quiet, Barden?”

“Don’t forget, an emergency summons needs to have a good reason behind it, Sorcerer Barden.”

“There’s a limit to our patience, Tower Master.”

Barden, who’d been silent for a while, opened his mouth once he’d judged the atmosphere to be ripe enough.

“Yes, that’s right.”

At his reply, the noisy community went rather quiet.

The sorcerers.

Even apart from the schools of thought with which they were familiar, they were highly knowledgeable and composed intellectuals. 

“There must be a good reason for issuing an emergency summons.”

“Knowing that, you still kept silent until now? For a month! No, two weeks above that have passed, even. You must have grounds for wasting that time.”

Pardell, with his violent personality, stared at Barden with a threatening look.

“Yes, of course there was a good reason—a reason for issuing an emergency summons all while hiding the impetus for it.”

Barden, however, did not blink an eye at Pardell’s threats and immediately nodded. Pardell gave a short huff and shut his mouth. Even if his personality was rather explosive, he was still a sorcerer. He was ready to listen to Barden in order to hear his ‘good reason.’

…And that reason was when it would really be 'justified.’

“I’m sure you all know what kind of person the first Master of the magic tower of light was.”

They all nodded.

Why did he call an emergency summons without giving a reason?

“He was one of many who taught the First Warrior the knowledge of light, and he sacrificed his own life right before the fall of the ancient empire to keep countless systems of magic from being forgotten.”

Because all of them respected the first Master of the magic tower of light, at least outwardly.

It would be no exaggeration to say that the reason why modern magic had developed so much was all thanks to the first Master of the magic tower of light. If Pardell—who was famous for his violent personality—had issued an emergency summons, would he have seen even half of the number of people here?

If even only a quarter of the people had come, it would still have been a lot.

“Following his will, our school deals with light, studies it, and explores what light is for a lifetime. There are a lot of artifacts associated with it.”

Everyone knew all this already, but nobody cut him off.

Because they thought there might’ve been a reason behind his saying it.

“That’s why we are sensitive to darkness. Or, to be more exact, why we are sensitive to magi.”

Crash!

“No…”

Pardell subconsciously jumped up and looked at him.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Their brilliant minds had come to their conclusions, even though he hadn’t yet finished speaking.

“A few months ago, I detected magi in two separate locations on the continent.”

As he uttered those words, countless eyes stared at him in astonishment.

“……!”

“……!”

Barden was unsurprised, however, because he’d anticipated their response. He hammered it in, confirming that what he’d just told them wasn’t a lie.

“Magi, who’d disappeared since the overthrowing of the first king.”

Silence engulfed them.

* * *

“A wooden box in the middle of five trees… Ah, I found it.”

Shaking the dirt off of the box, Allen opened its lid. Inside, there, wrapped in a soft cloth, was a glass bottle containing a dark-blue liquid.

“What’s the effect of this potion?”

Glug, glug, glug.

Allen opened the black book, turning the pages quickly. The part that he’d read appeared.

「Julius followed the map that he’d received as a Quest Reward…」

“Not here.”

After turning a few more pages, something caught his eye.

「Inside a wooden box, there was a potion called [Blue Meteor Rainstorm (A)]. 57 years ago, this potion…」

After skipping the details of the potion’s creation, he found the information he was looking for.

「The effects of the potion were simple: it absorbed mana from the user’s surrounding space into their body, improving and stabilizing their mana circulation…」

“…Hm, it isn’t really working for me.”

For Allen, who’d already gained the abilities of that of a giant, improving his mana circulation or increasing the amount of mana he could use was of little use.

“It would’ve been nice if it were something that could increase my affinity or sensitivity to mana, instead…”

But even though it was useless for him, that didn’t mean he could leave it behind. Just because he didn’t need it himself didn’t mean that nobody else would need it.

“I’ll give some to Inellia and Linbelle and keep the rest.”

Just as Allen was about to take the wooden box, he heard a voice.

⟬I found it! Yay, I found it! What did I say? I told you I'd find it!⟭

A high-pitched voice.

He turned around to see an antique sword flying through the air.

“Vestla.”

⟬I told you I could read maps! Why did you doubt me? Aren’t I so good at this? Hurry up and apologize! Let’s hear it!⟭

Allen smiled bitterly and spoke:

“Yes, I’m sorry for doubting you.”

⟬Yeah, be more careful next time! I mean, who can’t read a map?⟭

Vestla laughed triumphantly, shaking the blade of her sword, as if pleased with Allen’s apology. A map marking the location of the potion hung by a string tied to her handle, fluttering.

Her gaze, which had been lingering around him for quite some time, turned to the black book.

⟬Did you read the book again? Isn't it just blank? Dontcha feel like there should be something in it…?⟭

“…Well, I don’t know.”

⟬Hmmmm… Well, whatever, I'm not that obsessive, so I won't ask about it anymore. Do I hear a ‘thank you’?⟭

“Thank you for your troubles.”

Vestla couldn’t read the contents of the book—or, more specifically, she couldn’t see them. The book appeared to be blank inside, with nothing written.

‘I can read all of the contents, but I can’t read the title.’

But she could read the title, and then she couldn’t read the content. Allen didn’t know exactly what it meant, but it was clear to him that she was somehow connected to the black book.

‘I don’t know exactly what part of her is connected to it, but…’

Since she didn’t seem to know either, he’d have no choice but to figure it out for himself.

* * *

* * * 

Allen, naturally filling up the hole that he’d dug to find the wooden box, asked:

“So, what did you find? Moonflower? Broken Eagle Statue? A cave, or something?”

Allen was able to find out the location of the objects that Julius had found during a certain period before the regression via the black book. Everything was described in writing, however, so it didn’t list the exact locations.

‘It’s lucky that the characteristics of the place where the potion was located was described so well.’

Thanks to that, he was able to estimate their locations by combining that information with the maps that their family had. However, the problem was that their search radius was too wide. It’s why he’d split up with Inellia and Linbelle.

‘We wouldn’t have had enough time to go around and get everything if we went together.’

There were too many places to look.

Inellia could move quickly, and she had experience as a hunter—so she wouldn’t have a hard time searching.

As soon as Allen split off from them, he began to search the mountain with Vestla who seemed to be having a hard time. Fortunately, she was able to fly, so she could aid their search from overhead. Meanwhile, Allen could use the information in his black book to look around.

Because she understood the black book, he could overlook her strange behavior, staring into space.

At Allen’s question, she shook three times as if to disagree, and began to speak:

⟬Hey, there’s a spot on the top of the map with an ‘X’ on it.⟭

“…An ‘X’?”

Wouldn’t the map have only displayed a mark somewhere around the location of their target?

“No, it can’t be…”

It was where he’d given up.

A place where that bastard, unlike how most would traverse through such places, speedran for a Quest Reward.

That was why that place was only marked with an ‘X.’

“You found the Spring of Spirits?”

⟬Yes, that’s right!⟭

“…And it wasn’t even marked properly?”

⟬I mean, I found it, right? Sigh, I’m the only one here, right?⟭

“Didn’t you say you read the map to find it?”

⟬Huh? Um, so, anyway, isn’t it fine since it’s been found? Let’s go! Are you not gonna go?⟭

Allen looked back at her, staring at her intently and begging her to go, and answered:

“…Yeah, but that’s not the important thing here.”

If she’d really found the Spring of Spirits… 

“Then… Please guide me.”

He was willing to overlook her white lie.

⟬Follow me so you don’t get lost! I’ll leave you behind if you do!⟭

Allen quickly followed Vestla, heading deep into the mountain. Mount Nicaea—located close to Elle Round—was home to nothing dangerous enough to stop Allen, allowing the two to move smoothly.

As they did, suddenly curious, Allen asked her:

“How did you find the Spring of Spirits? Honestly, I didn’t even think it’d be possible to find it…”