Episode 1-b. The One Who Follows the Disturbance.
Magic is quite convenient.
Thanks to the swirling ash, what I always had to hide has now become a thing of the past.
I can use simple and low-powered magic just like ordinary wizards.
Now, with quite familiar hand movements, I wave, draw, and mutter, and amazing things happen around me.
To put it simply.
While magic is familiar to me, it is something wondrous and rare for others.
Sometimes I think that even I might be in a dreamlike landscape.
I lament why such great magic cannot completely erase the ash, grieving and grieving.
Then, I gaze blankly at the mana flowing in my hands and make it scatter around me.
So.
“Wow~ Can you show me just once again?”
“….”
“Just once, just once, and I’ll keep my mouth shut and be quiet, okay?”
“That’s a waste of mana. And don’t say things you can’t keep.”
There was a voice persistently nagging me, getting closer to my magic stone.
After killing and driving off all the impers, there was a shabby adventurer staring at me with starry eyes.
“But you just used magic, didn’t you?”
“I checked if there were wild beasts or a pack of impers around.”
“Then you can use it again in about 5 minutes, right?”
“….”
Despite the carriage moving forward and the forest being utterly quiet, she was the only one causing all kinds of noise.
With my mind filled with thoughts and worries, she kept chatterboxing behind me.
So.
“Wizard, wizard.”
“Ugh…, I’m sorry in advance, but…”
“Huh? What are you sorry for?”
“Please be quiet.”
“…Yes.”
Thanks to her, it was the first time I had let out a curse in my life.
After cursing, I felt magically solemn and quiet, and her crumpled figure crammed among the bags was a bit pitiful.
Perhaps a single curse had a more magical effect than the mana and spells I was emanating.
In fact, I know many curses.
The first words I heard growing up were curses, words that customers often spat out at the grocery store frequently mixed with profanity.
Moreover, the ramblings of the elderly in the market always included coarse expressions.
It’s not entirely wrong to say that the first thing people learn in a language is swearing.
I was just suppressing it because I wanted to be a good person and thought Ain wouldn’t like it.
So.
Before I curse even harsher, be quiet, Eileen.
Anyway.
What I was grappling with in my mind was how to move around without being detected in other cities, including the Duchy.
First of all, I have no identification.
I was an orphan, abandoned at birth.
So, I still have no identity.
I could get a recognition-dimming robe and necklace from the owner Janssen, and items like crystal balls that could conceal my identity, but identification was another matter.
So when I asked the owner Janssen and Ildrin about it.
“Well, the best way would be to get the guarantee of a noble. A commoner’s guarantee is meaningless, but a noble’s is significant.”
“However, since obtaining a noble’s guarantee is difficult, registering as an adventurer in the Duchy and obtaining an adventurer’s certificate is perhaps the most realistic possibility. Even if it isn’t treated as full identification, it should suffice for the time being.”
The two scratched their heads in apparent trouble and suggested methods one by one.
It’s unlikely that I would be caught by the castle guards.
With the robe, necklace, crystal ball, and several other tools prepared, it would be hard for anyone who isn’t skilled to discern my true identity, as the owner Janssen said.
So, if I could enter the Duchy over the castle wall and safely arrive only at the adventurers’ guild, registering there during a time when no skilled individuals are present.
“Wiz, wiz.”
Then it would certainly be possible.
Thinking about it, I reached the conclusion that it was quite an easy task.
However, I couldn’t think of any way to resolve the issue if, in the worst-case scenario, I got caught.
“Wiz? Um, excuse me~?”
I can’t kill innocent people.
That is my ultimate line, and my belief that I want to step towards being a good person.
So should I just put everyone to sleep and run away?
But in that case, where would I make my identification?
Could I really make one in another kingdom after failing in the Duchy?
I’m not sure.
I thought it was right to stay in the empire, but now that I’m finally outside, that fact feels even closer.
“Wiz~”
“….”
“Are you, um, hungry? I’m a little bit…heh….”
One thing is certain: I must throw that shabby adventurer I managed to carry onto the carriage into the Duchy as soon as possible.
A pest.
Incompetent.
Only noisy.
Useless.
And then.
The time to part ways with Eileen came faster than I expected.
The reason is, amusingly enough, that I was exposed even before reaching the Duchy.
I clearly stated that I would move forward, that I would follow Ain and stand beside him.
However, that resolve alone was not enough to carry me through the dark night.
Though I’ve endured more than before, there was a night when I had to release the feelings that had built up over several days.
It was a day where, due to acting with Eileen, I had to express all the emotions that had only accumulated but not been released.
In the forest, the magically refined landscape suited the term campsite best.
A pot over the campfire.
A stump serving as a chair.
Thorn bushes to prevent the intrusion of beasts and impers.
And while it’s embarrassing to say directly, a beautiful woman and a shabby adventurer.
They all harmonize well with the verdant forest, so today’s day was meant to end in such a way.
“Neah…. It was delicious today, wizard!”
“If you’ve finished, you should sleep now.”
“Yeah, I need to sleep quickly so we can set off early again tomorrow!”
After telling Eileen, who polished off the bowl, to go to sleep, I waited for her to close her eyes and drift off to sleep with a plump belly.
That way.
It would be time for me to pour out all the emotions I had been holding back for the past few days.
So she drifts into slumber.
After watching her for a moment, I stood up, nodding my head at the thorns that parted to make way for my steps, and I headed a little deeper into the forest.
As soon as the campsite disappeared from my sight.
“Hah….”
My emotions flowed out with my breath.
“Hu…”
The ash slowly rose up, and cold sweat dripped down.
Before long, my surroundings became tinted with ash.
“Ugh…”
However.
I did not immediately dig my nails into my arms and thighs.
In the hazy forest, there was a sound of crying coming from that direction, so I reached my hand toward it.
In fact, it is okay not to only release my emotions through self-harm.
The imperial capital is so peaceful, flowing so gently, that if it isn’t my body, there’s no place to release them.
However, just like those I saw for the first time the previous night, there are indeed many things beyond the empire where I can pour out my emotions.
Beasts kneel before the law of the jungle.
The unfortunate beings called impers also seek rest.
So.
I let out words while maintaining a quivering smile.
“Ash.”
“Spreading colors.”
“It leaves no trace.”
Simultaneously, an enormous amount of ash burst forth and poured in the direction of the sound.
Wherever the ash passed, nothing remains.
Not trees.
Not grass.
Neither beasts nor impers.
Not even sawdust, dry grass, or bone powder remains; everything turns to ash and disappears.
So, the mana I had saved up would be used for a massacre through the dark night.
I thought so as I removed my robe and necklace.
Simple magic is fine, but if I poured out mana like water, it was said that the inscribed magic circle would break, so I carefully took them off and placed them on the ground.
My ash-colored hair, revealed again after a long time, and my ash-colored eyes shimmered brightly in the reflected moonlight.
“Ain.”
The words that came from my mouth, as always, were sticky and fluffy.
“Ain.”
Just those two syllables expressed all my emotions, and I revealed some sticky and shy feelings.
“I love you.”
I love you.
“I like you.”
I definitely like you.
“Ain.”
I don’t know if he can fully handle this emotion.
“Ain.”
However, I will pour it out.
Ain surely told me to do as I please, so I will do what I want.
I.
“Ain.”
Once again, calling his name, I wanted to pour out all the emotions that had built up and clustered together.
“Ah…? Ugh, eh…?”
In the midst of the landscape covered in ash, a voice that shouldn’t have been heard rang out.
So, I swiftly turned my head in that direction.
My ash-colored hair swayed with the wind, and my eyes reflected the moonlight, casting a cold glow.
“W-Wizard…?”
“…Eileen.”
“Th-That, hair color…it’s ash…”
Her face gradually turned pale. It was a clear emotion of fear.
And the reason she didn’t immediately spill out her disgust was likely because she felt that she might disappear like dust in the current scene.
“I clearly told you to run away.”
“Please… s-save me… Ugh. Ugh…!”
“….”
Is that disgust for the ash? Or has she twisted her stomach with excessive fear?
One thing for sure was that she was vomiting and crying, and her steps were filled with fear as she hesitated to move away from me.
“Aaah…please, save me…! I-I won’t tell anyone…! Ugh…!”
The fact that she wouldn’t tell anyone is evident just from looking at her.
It’s a burden that a cowardly, weak, and shabby adventurer cannot bear.
So I scattered the ashes and said to her.
“You can run away. I won’t chase after you to kill you or anything. I know that you may not believe the words of the ashen one, but pack a little food and your belongings from the carriage and leave first.”
I’ll say it again, I have no intention of killing innocent people.
I must be a good person, and I can’t disappoint Ain.
“Ugh, ah…ugh….”
“I’ll stay here for one more day and then depart, so go.”
Once again, I spoke to Eileen, who was trembling as if she couldn’t believe my words.
Eileen, that shabby adventurer, finally started to crawl away, dragging her released legs.
“….”
I watched her retreating figure as I scattered my mana and killed the beasts and impers making noise around me.
It was my last consideration for her, who seemed so fragile she would perish instantly.
To put it simply.
This is normal.
Those who wrapped around me are the abnormal ones.
So, it’s okay.
After all, I should have fundamentally not depended on people.
I started this journey with the mindset that I would bear everything.
