“Huh?”
Ainel asked back in a dumbfounded voice.
Was what he just heard correct? A dragon couldn’t have misheard something absurd, but Klad’s words were such an unexpected answer that he momentarily wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.
“Why magic all of a sudden? Is it because the sword didn’t work? You spoke so firmly that magic was dangerous, so how did you change your mind?”
“That guy… Jake.”
“Yes.”
“Asked me to run away with him.”
Klad exhaled deep sighs and covered his gloomy face with his right hand.
At the sight of his master’s appearance he was seeing for the first time, Ainel became even more flustered.
“Running away must mean he wants to escape from the weight of the name ‘Hero,’ right?”
“That’s… probably it.”
Since Jake was no longer a Hero, it didn’t matter if he ran away from the Hero’s duties and the pressure to save the world. There was no one to stop him from living a life unrelated to being a Hero. Of course, as long as Duke West didn’t find out he was alive.
Yet the reason he specifically brought up ‘running away’ was probably that he wanted to forcibly pull himself out of the pressure he was receiving by implementing such a symbolic action. In other words, it meant that Jake wanted to escape from the name ‘Hero’ but had failed to break free on his own. That’s why he asked for help.
Ainel interpreted this signal very positively. He’d realized the ground he was standing on was actually a bottomless swamp, and they could help him escape from there.
The problem was that Klad didn’t agree with that.
Klad didn’t want to pull Jake out of the swamp.
“He says he wants it, so why not run away with him at this opportunity? If he doesn’t like Audrit, you can just take him to Lair in the unknown lands.”
“That’s not what that guy wants.”
“Even though he himself asked you to take him and run away? If he’s avoiding his original life because it’s painful, isn’t it better to do as he wishes?”
“But he doesn’t look happy.”
This was also an answer outside the expected range.
“That guy, Jake, was happy every time he moved for the imperial citizens and resolved to save the world. He was joyful just thinking such thoughts. But this time he wasn’t.”
Jake talking about running away didn’t look joyful or happy at all. His eyes that always sparkled brightly had lost their light and sunk.
He couldn’t help Jake make a choice he’d regret for the rest of his life.
“Ancient magic or whatever, as long as it can return that guy to normal, anything is fine. I’ll return him to his right mind first and ask again. If he still wants to run away then, I’ll help him as much as he wants. But not now.”
“…Indeed.”
Klad judged that Jake hadn’t fallen into a swamp in the first place.
Does liking someone make you see things others can’t see? Ainel wanted to ask, but he didn’t since he’d only get an answer saying it wasn’t like that anyway. Instead, he nodded as if in agreement.
“Alright. If that’s Master’s opinion. Let’s do it, ancient magic.”
“But I’m going with you too.”
“What?”
“I can’t send a guy whose condition isn’t good alone.”
“If by any chance he refuses to return to the original world, Master will be trapped inside with him too.”
“I have to take that much risk.”
“You can’t use your power because of the restriction.”
“The Duke West in the memory isn’t the ‘real’ Duke West. As long as I don’t perceive them as real, whether I throw the Duke into the gutter or destroy the ducal house, the covenant won’t react.”
“But this magic circle is designed to accommodate only one life form at a time. Even that can’t be said to be perfectly restored. If you force your way in together, a major abnormality might occur in the magic circle and your whole body might be torn to shreds during transportation, let alone returning…”
“Bring it.”
“What?”
“The restored magic circle research records. You implemented it as a magic circle because you can’t use dragon language magic as is, right? Bring it. I’ll look at it for you.”
“…!”
Ainel’s eyes widened.
Dragons can use ‘dragon language magic’ that implements what they want as magic by putting will into words. So ‘magic circles’—which require gathering materials troublesomely, drawing pictures full of complex patterns, and casting magic through needlessly excessive magic power consumption—weren’t dragons’ main interest.
However, for Ainel, who had the talent of a dragon but couldn’t use dragon language magic that was only permitted to dragons, magic circles were another hope.
Even while receiving Klad’s teachings, Ainel researched magic circles without rest. Restoring dragons’ dragon language magic, also called ‘ancient magic,’ into magic circles so that mages who weren’t dragons could also use it was Ainel’s greatest interest.
Yet this was the first time Klad had stepped forward first to look at those results. The first time in the hundreds of years they’d known each other as master and disciple!
What if Master’s knowledge mixed into his magic circle? What if a pure dragon’s magic power mixed into the magic circle he designed?
It would surely produce tremendous results. He couldn’t pass up that opportunity with his eyes wide open.
“Wait just a moment! You can’t change your mind in the meantime!”
Ainel rushed urgently to the laboratory.
***
“It’s incomplete.”
That was the first thing Klad said after looking at the magic circle blueprint Ainel had restored.
Of course you would say that. Ainel, who knew that even if he brought his greatest masterpiece, it wouldn’t satisfy Klad the dragon’s eyes, wasn’t hurt by the cold assessment. Instead, he was full of anticipation for what form something that looked perfect to his eyes but looked incomplete to this person would grow into after passing through his hands.
Ainel meticulously observed and recorded every single action Klad took while examining the magic circle.
“Done.”
“Show me.”
Ainel, who received the corrected magic circle blueprint almost as if snatching it, scrutinized it meticulously as if engraving it in his eyes, even though he’d watched the entire correction process.
He thought that Klad, who had existed even before this magic was forgotten, would restore the magic exactly as it was in his memory. But that wasn’t the case. Instead of restoring the magic, Klad made correction after correction so it wouldn’t harm Jake, who was human.
Even if he was a dragon, to so easily twist magic created by another dragon and turn it into something new. Just watching that process felt like his magical knowledge had risen several levels.
“Amazing…”
“Hurry and prepare, Ainel. There’s no time.”
Klad urged Ainel without even giving him time to admire.
The method of casting the magic had changed greatly in the process of modifying it so Jake’s mind wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the magic. While making the corrections might have been his job, everything after had to be left entirely to Ainel. That meant there was a lot Ainel had to prepare.
“Increase your understanding while drawing the magic circle directly. Do you have a place to draw a magic circle of sufficient size?”
“Yes, there’s a space I made underground for research purposes. I’ll go prepare right away.”
Ainel’s voice answering Klad held just a bit more respect than before.
While Ainel prepared to cast the magic, including drawing the magic circle, Klad went to find Jake. Perhaps thinking his request had been rejected, Jake’s expressionless face after waking from sleep looked particularly listless.
“Listen well, Jake West. From now on, we’re going to enter into your memories.”
“……”
The two blue eyes blinked slowly.
He couldn’t tell if Jake understood his words, but Klad continued speaking.
“Everything that happens there won’t affect reality, but the humans in that inner world can also see you, talk to you, and harm you. Even if the wounds you receive inside don’t remain when you return, the pain and shock from them will be the same. So you mustn’t get hurt, understand?”
Of course, no answer came back.
Even though he said he would continue to be with him, all sorts of variables that even dragons had difficulty dealing with immediately occurred in a world made of magic. Klad layered twice as much protective magic on Jake as usual.
Doing this carried the risk that someone sensitive to magic power might find someone emitting excessive magic power suspicious and approach, or that he might be crushed by an amount of magic power an individual couldn’t handle, but neither was a problem that applied to Jake.
Since Jake’s own magic power reservoir was empty, even if you added everything Jake had to the magic power felt from the protective magic, it wasn’t an amount for anyone to find suspicious, nor would it burden Jake.
A dragon might find the dragon’s energy felt from the human Jake suspicious, but it didn’t matter since Jake wouldn’t encounter dragons in the world of memories.
“Let’s go.”
Klad headed to Ainel’s underground laboratory with Jake.
Ainel had spent several hours meticulously preparing the magic circle and was waiting for them.
“I’ll add the magic power to enter the magic circle. I’ll just ask you to finish.”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
Klad stood in the exact center of the magic circle and infused magic power. Then light began to faintly seep out from the magic circle.
Whooooom—
Jake, who had been blankly staring at the glowing magic circle, stood close beside Klad as if by habit.
Watching that, Ainel smiled broadly.
“We’ll be able to meet this guy’s childhood soon.”
“That won’t happen.”
Klad answered curtly to Ainel’s mischievous joke.
And both dragons’ eyes widened simultaneously.
“…Damn it.”
“No, wait!”
Whoooooom—!
Even as Klad tried to forcibly stop the magic and Ainel tried to jump onto the magic circle, the magic that had already activated didn’t stop.
The faint light from the magic circle rose up as if surging and enveloped Klad and Jake.
And without time to forcibly stop the magic, the two figures disappeared without a trace.
“…This is serious.”
Only Ainel remained alone in the room, glaring with a flustered face at the magic circle where the light had disappeared.
