Chapter 535

Chapter 535

"Isn’t it obvious? Back then, I was broke, but now? Not anymore. I’m pretty well-off these days." Thesaya grinned, peeking out from the side as the divine power around Charlotte also faded away.

"That’s all your family’s money," said Ian.

Thesaya nodded nonchalantly. "My family’s wealth is my wealth. Besides, I get a monthly allowance from the mainland anyway. Though I guess that might not be the case for a while."

"Yeah, right." Ian shook his head, lightly shaking his left arm as if to dust it off.

Meanwhile, Thesaya finally released Charlotte from her hug and stepped back. "I won’t tell you to save it since you barely write more than a few words anyway. But you'd better reply this time. If you make me wait another six months for a letter, I swear—hey, what are you doing?"

Thesaya blinked as Charlotte suddenly grabbed her belt, one hand clutching both the scroll and her tail.

She glanced at Thesaya and answered, "Figured I should give you a farewell gift too."

"Wait, you don’t mean that sword, do you?"

"I do." Charlotte unhooked the jagged blade from her belt.

"It’s my spoil of war, so it’s mine. Take it. The Great Chieftain’s sword will serve as a fitting symbol that Erenos is an ally of the beastfolk." Charlotte pressed the jagged sword, scabbard and all, into Thesaya’s arms.

A dry laugh escaped Thesaya’s lips. "Right. What did I expect from you? This gift is so very you, Kitty."

"If you’re so unhappy with it, then just forget—"

"Taking back a gift is the worst thing you can do. You know that, right?" Thesaya slapped away Charlotte’s outstretched hand.

Fastening the scabbard to her belt, she added, "I’ll hang it in my room. It’s big, ugly, and perfect."

Despite her words, her hands moved quickly and sure, making Charlotte snort softly.

Just then, Ian, who had approached, lifted the pack from her shoulder. "So, if we just follow this road, we’ll reach the Deep Forest, right?"

Charlotte, who had paused for a moment, readily lifted her arms to let him and answered, "That’s right. This is the most direct path. There’s nothing in between. You should be able to reach the edge of the forest in half a day if you’re fast."

"Excellent," Ian said, taking a step and handing the pack to Thesaya this time.

As Thesaya took the bag with a pout, he looked back at Charlotte. "Well then, see you again."

"Yeah. See you again, Ian," Charlotte said with a nod, unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes.

Ian gave a small smile and turned away. With the fang greatsword slung diagonally across his back, he began to walk.

"You’d better come running if I call for you, not just Ian. You said you would," Thesaya quickly added, shouldering the pack under her cloak.

As Charlotte looked at her, she wiggled her eyebrows. "Why no answer? You promised."

"I did. But don’t call me for no reason," Charlotte replied, then smacked her lips in distrust.

"God, you sound just like Ian sometimes," Thesaya muttered with a mischievous grin before turning to follow. Unlike Ian, she kept glancing back, waving several times until Charlotte’s figure finally disappeared behind the trees.

A bittersweet smile tugged at Charlotte’s lips as the two friends vanished from sight. For a while, she just stared down at the Scroll of Correspondence and her tail resting in her hands. At last, she set the scroll on her left forearm and wound her tail tightly around it, binding it in place.

"Phew…" She let out a long sigh, swinging her left arm.

Tap, tap!

Charlotte spun around and kicked off the ground, running as if to shake off any lingering feelings, toward the distant jungle where her people awaited.

***

As Charlotte had said, the road was completely deserted. The scenery, somewhere on the border between forest and grassland, continued, and the path itself was bumpy, as if long neglected.

"My feet hurt. We should’ve brought a horse," Thesaya muttered around the time the gloomy sky began to darken. For someone who had said such a cheerful goodbye, she’d been quiet for hours, trudging along in silence.

I hope I’m wrong, but I have a feeling it won’t be that long before we meet again this time.

Ian didn't break the silence either. After days of listening to Thesaya and Charlotte chatter non-stop and telling them the long story of the Black Wall, Ian was in no rush to break the rare stretch of silence.

Of course, Thesaya had no intention of staying quiet.

"Come to think of it, I don’t think I did much this time. I said I’d show you my skills, but it was just you and Kitty who did all the hard work." She stretched and looked at Ian.

Ian clicked his tongue softly before replying, "Well, that spell you pulled off was plenty impressive. And you barely looked tired afterward, even with that scale of magic."

"It wasn’t anything special," Thesaya replied nonchalantly. It wasn’t humility, but rather a statement born from confidence in her abilities.

Ian let out a soft laugh. "You’ve really become a spellcaster, Thesa."

"Don’t put it like that. I haven’t even shown you what I can really do yet," she said with a small, smug smile.

"What, you’ve started learning high-tier magic now?"

"Of course. Apparently, I pick up spells insanely fast. Could be because I’m a vampire… or maybe…" Thesaya’s eyes suddenly took on a meaningful glint. "Maybe it’s thanks to drinking so much of your blood before I became an elder."

"What’s this all of a sudden…" Ian began, frowning, but he paused. He was presumed to be of the White Mage lineage, after all.

"The more I learn spells and study theory, the more I realize just how incredible you are, Ian. And the reason why you try so hard to hide the fact that you’re a mage."

Thesaya, sensing the change in his expression, curled one corner of her lip and whispered, "The spellcaster who regularly taught me spells told me this. The knowledge of each magic tower was clearly once a single whole that was shattered and scattered, but it’s been modified and added to for so long that it’s now completely different."

Lucia would love to hear this story, Ian thought with a faint sigh, nodding absently.

"From how to condense magic to how to combine spell circuits in the mind’s eye. It’s like a completely different language. There are so many fragments added to prevent spells from being leaked that it’s now impossible even for archmages to distinguish them. You know what that means, right?"

Of course, Thesaya paid him no mind.

"No. I have no idea."

Thesaya’s lips twitched as if she had expected him to say that. "It means that after a certain level, it becomes impossible to learn the magic of a different color. Because everything from how to handle magic to how to construct spells is different. Your mind just rejects it."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Of course, the old spellcasters probably added a bunch of other tricks, too. Even now, they make you take an oath, right?"

I don’t even know what that oath is.

Ian let out a silent, dry laugh. Thesaya clearly assumed he knew much more than he was saying—and it was only natural. In this world, the notion that someone could wield magic simply by pouring in a few skill points was far less believable.

"So what, you want to open up my head and take a look, too?"

At Ian’s suggestive remark, Thesaya burst out laughing. "As if! You’d die, Ian. I’m just curious about whether you’re really a descendant of the White Mage. Or if you’re him himself."

Ian wet his lips before replying, "Well, until recently, I’d have said no without hesitation. But now, I’m not so sure anymore."

He’d always known this question would come from her eventually. In that sense, she was actually much later than he had expected. Perhaps the joy of meeting him again and her worry for Charlotte had left little room for other thoughts. Of course, hearing what he had gone through beyond the Black Wall would have taken priority.

"I might really be a descendant of the White Mage." Ian looked at Thesaya, tilted his head slightly, and added, "Truth is, I don’t know a damn thing about spell theory."

"Ian, please. What kind of joke is that?" Thesaya waved her hand, but her laughter soon faded.

She stared blankly into Ian’s eyes and asked, "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"That’s impossible. Then how do you use all those spells?"

"I just do."

"Huh?"

"I just use them."

Thesaya’s eyebrows shot up. She blinked a few times and finally added, stammering, "So… you mean you literally just use magic?"

Ian nodded calmly. He didn’t mention the skill window because that would mean going all the way back to the story of how this world was originally a game he used to play. No matter what, he couldn’t make her doubt the very world she lived in. Besides, he’d long since decided what kind of answer he’d give if this question came up.

"Well, Diana manages just fine without any real theory, doesn’t she?" he said casually.

"That’s completely different!" Thesaya shot back, eyes wide. "That kind of spellcasting isn’t real magic. It’s just copying the simplest working circuits, memorizing them, and pasting them into your mind. No understanding, no control, basically the same as using a magic tool. But you—"

Thesaya paused, frowning at Ian. "Wait, does that mean all the spell circuits are engraved on your soul?"

"My guess is about the same," Ian replied with a nod. It was the most plausible hypothesis in a realistic sense. Of course, it was recorded not on his soul but on his status window.

"No… but… that’s impossible," Thesaya blankly muttered.

Ian shrugged. "Impossible or not, you’re looking at it happening."

"Gods…" she breathed, half dazed

Ian continued walking without another word. He felt a sense of relief. Though Lucia and Yog now knew a certain amount about him, he had just confessed another secret he had been holding onto all this time.

"You must never, ever speak of this anywhere, Ian," Thesaya said after a long silence, her tone unexpectedly serious.

He glanced at her as she continued, "I’m sure you already know, but. If the mages find out that so many spells are engraved on your soul, they’ll all lose their minds. It could be worse than just dying."

"Don’t worry. That won’t happen. In the first place, who would look at me and think I’m a mage?"

Not looking like this, anyway, he thought with a dry, crooked smile, lifting a shoulder.

"You just have to keep your mouth shut," said Ian.

"Of course. I’m a pointy-ear who knows how to repay a debt. Good heavens, I knew it. That blood I drank was no ordinary blood!"

She looked at Ian with sparkling eyes and added, "There must be a trace of Ian’s blood left in me. That’s why I was able to learn spells so quickly. I have no proof, but I’m sure of it. Inside me—"

"That’s enough. That’s even scarier."

Any more and she’ll start talking about being blood relatives.

Thesaya tilted her head. "Why? I like it. It means it’s not just the traces of those damn vampires left in my body. Besides, there’s never been a pointy-ear like me, and there never will be again!"

Right, well, you definitely are one of a kind.

Thesaya let out a pleased sigh. "That’s a load off my mind. Now that you are back, everything’s been resolved. My worries, my questions, everything."

"Then all we have to do now is find our way. I think the forest is getting closer," said Ian.

"Huh? Oh, you’re right." Thesaya looked around as if just realizing it.

The trees were gradually getting taller and denser. If Maro Tel was an exotic jungle, this was closer to the familiar forests of the mainland.

Looking at the dark, quiet forest, Thesaya murmured, "Let’s just go straight in. It’ll be safer there."

Ian just nodded and kept walking. He wasn’t tired anyway.

It wasn’t long before Thesaya said, "Actually, there was something else I was going to say after we parted with Kitty."

"What now?"

After all that talking, there’s still more?

"Might just be my imagination, but after that fight with the beastfolk, my magic seemed to recover faster than normal. Way faster. And I wasn’t syncing with the Tree or Life or anything," Thesaya said cautiously.

Ian’s eyes narrowed. Thesaya looked at him and asked, "Didn’t you feel it, Ian?"

"Not really. I hardly used any magic," he replied.

"Really? Then I guess it was just my imagination. I was wondering if this was also an after-effect of the Black Wall falling." Thesaya shrugged and looked away again.

"You might have felt it correctly," said Ian.

Thesaya paused and looked back at him.

Meeting her eyes, Ian added, "The twilight of magic started the day the Black Wall rose."