Hall of Senya

He could not tell exactly when these images were from, but they seemed to depict his companions just before they left for Helmuth. The Vermouth before him did not have the Moonlight Sword.

'I have fewer scars, too.'

In his previous life, Hamel had been covered in scars. They densely marked the body beneath his clothes and armor, and his face had borne many small scars as well. Half had come from his years as a mercenary, and the other half from Helmuth.

The “Hamel” before him had almost no scars on his exposed skin. His expression was surly, but his eyes were not yet all that bleak. His relatively presentable appearance meant this was before all the shit he had endured in Helmuth.

“... He's handsome.”

“Isn't he? I've seen him countless times myself, but Lord Vermouth really is handso—”

“I meant Sir Hamel, not my ancestor.”

Mer's eyes wavered. Her mouth fell open as she looked back and forth between Hamel and Vermouth.

“Are you insane?”

“My ancestor is, uh, handsome, sure. But Sir Hamel... uh... has his own charm, doesn't he? That... untamed? Wild? Sort of... beastlike...”

What the hell was he saying? Eugene clamped his mouth shut, overwhelmed by self-loathing. That feeling was intense enough, but Mer's stare, which plainly said she found him pathetic and absurd, made him feel even more embarrassed.

“... I'm just saying.”

“You have very peculiar tastes.”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“Untamed? Beastlike charm? If that's your taste, how about Moron instead of Hamel? He looks more like a bear than a person.”

“That's going too far. He's not a bear. He's a monster.”

“True enough.”

Mer did not dispute that either. She regarded Moron's bulging muscles with disgust before finally looking away.

“... Aside from the portrait, is there no image of Lady Senya? Like these?”

“Can you remember what you look like without a mirror, Eugene?”

“If she was leaving these behind, you'd think she could have stood in front of a full-length mirror once and left an image of herself, too.”

“I suppose Lady Senya didn't want to go that far.”

Mer gave a small chuckle.

“She didn't seem particularly interested in leaving a portrait, either. So, what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“I don't know much about it, but you're seventeen, and your mastery of magic isn't particularly advanced. For you to have come here... those arrogant mages must have seen extraordinary potential in you.”

“Probably.”

“There's no need for false modesty. Even without it, reading just one of the grimoires kept here will make you realize how insignificant your talent is.”

Mer looked him over, her expression brimming with pride.

“And that doesn't apply only to the Hall of Senya. Including Lady Senya, no fewer than nine mages have their names enshrined here in Akron.”

The royal library, Akron. No fewer than nine archmages had floors bearing their names here, just as Senya did.

The highest floor, the fifteenth, was the hall of the Magic King who had founded Aroth. The eleventh, below the Hall of Senya, belonged to the Battle Mage, known as the father of combat magic. The tenth was the hall of the great spirit mage who had been the first human to contract with a Spirit King.

“The second through fourth floors hold assorted grimoires. Those are also precious, advanced works carefully selected by successive tower masters. Of course, you must have the makings of a genius to have been admitted here, Eugene, but the magic stored in Akron belongs to geniuses who had already fully developed their abilities.”

“I imagine so.”

Eugene nodded calmly. He knew what Mer was getting at. Objectively speaking, his knowledge of magic was still shallow. He had somehow gained access to Akron, but he could not teach himself from its grimoires the way he had with the introductory books at the Red Tower.

“Can you use magic, too?”

“I can't teach you.”

Mer shook her head.

“I have no reason to, and the system programmed into me strictly forbids passing on magic. Over the centuries, many mages have tried to do something about me and Witch Craft, but none of them managed to change anything.”

Mer fell silent for a moment after that. She folded her arms, looking conflicted.

“The magic I'm permitted to use... amounts to removing dust from this hall and clearing away small bits of rubbish. Would you like to see my magic?”

“Yeah.”

“Then try breaking into Akron without an entry permit. If you do, I'll appear before the familiars on the other floors and kill you.”

“Does it have to be that way?”

“If you don't like that option, you can attack me and Witch Craft. If you have a particular death in mind, I'll do my best to accommodate you.”

It did not sound like a mere joke. In any case, learning magic directly from Mer was impossible. After a moment's thought, Eugene headed toward the elevator.

“Even if you can't teach me, couldn't you at least give me some advice about magic?”

“That's restricted, too. If I could kindly guide people through magic to that extent, wouldn't all of Aroth's archmages have mastered Witch Craft?”

Witch Craft was as notorious as it was great. One could not even examine it without entering Akron, and among the archmages who visited, not a single one had yet fully mastered its magic.

“If you really need advice... hmm... Eugene, what circle are you?”

“Third Circle, if I had to put it that way.”

“That's all? Seriously?”

“I only started learning magic a little over two months ago.”

“Hmm. Considering how long you've studied, that is rather prodigious. Even allowing for that, you're still woefully underqualified.”

She had been laughing and joking with him until moments ago, but when it came to magic, her manner was cold and derisive. Somehow, that reminded him of Senya, too, and Eugene chuckled.

“What do you mean by Third Circle ‘if you had to put it that way’?”

“I haven't formed any separate circles.”

“Don't bullshit me.”

“I'm serious. I don't have circles. I use my cores like circles.”

“... Is that a Lionheart magic formula?”

“I don't think so? I don't know how Vermou—my ancestor used magic, but the Lionheart main family has no magic formula of its own. I can't speak for the collateral branches.”

There were countless collateral branches of the Lionheart family. They apparently had little contact with the main family, but some specialized in the study of magic.

“Hmm... Then did you develop your current magic formula independently? Or did you draw on advice from other mages?”

“I made it on my own.”

“Hmm. Hmmm...”

The elevator doors opened. As they descended to the twelfth floor, Mer stroked her chin in thought. The elevator moved so quickly that her deliberations soon ended as well.

“Well, it seems you aren't terribly underqualified after all. I thought your family name must have played a considerable part in getting you into Akron.”

“It probably played some part.”

“I very much approve of that honesty. Seeing your magic would tell me more quickly than hearing about it, but for now... what sort of magic interests you?”

“Going to give me advice?”

“I can't teach you magic directly, but I can point you in the right direction.”

“Magic that helps in a fight. Spirit magic would be good, too.”

“What a crude ambition.”

Mer clicked her tongue as she followed Eugene.

“The tenth floor is the hall of the great spirit mage. Its owner was the first human to contract with the Water Spirit King.”

“Learning there won't let me contract with the Water Spirit King, though.”

“That's true. Innate compatibility matters when contracting with spirits. Most of the magic stored on the tenth floor... involves applications of water spirits' power.”

“Then it won't be much help to me. I prefer wind spirits to water spirits.”

“That's not something you can choose just because you want to... Well, understood for now. If you want magic that helps in combat, the eleventh floor is the ideal choice. Its owner was the archmage known as the father of combat magic.”

“Anything specific you'd recommend?”

Eugene asked as he stopped in front of Witch Craft.

“I'm not quite sure what you mean by fighting. Do you intend to fight using only magic? The Lionheart main family is renowned for its martial arts, isn't it?”

“I'll use magic, weapons, all of it.”

“How arrogant.”

Mer chuckled. Even allowing for the potential of youth, the idea of training in and employing both magic and martial arts seemed preposterous.

“In that case, the floor below the tenth would be better. The magic on the tenth floor chiefly concerns applications of combat magic and modifying spells to suit the circumstances. In other words, it's incredibly difficult. Though that applies to all the magic here.”

“What's on the floor below?”

“Simple but powerful magic. The spells of a fire mage and an ice mage who competed as rivals all their lives. Ice magic pairs well with water spirits... but since you prefer wind spirits, you would be better off learning fire magic.”

For all her grumbling and mockery, she did give him solid advice.

“If you become reasonably proficient in fire magic, visit the seventh floor, too. The magic there is unimaginably difficult, but once mastered, a single spell is powerful enough to wipe out armies and nations. You know what Meteor is, don't you?”

“Sure. A spell that brings a meteor shower down from the sky.”

“Was it about five hundred years ago? Back when wars between nations never ceased. ‘Disaster,’ the owner of the eighth floor, annihilated several armies with Meteor, his specialty. Akron is the only place on the continent with its complete spell formula.”

Meteor. He did not know whether he could learn it, but it certainly interested him.

“The sixth floor has spatial magic. If you want to fight with martial arts as well as magic, I recommend that, too. Perfecting Blink alone would give you an absolute advantage in magical combat.”

Blink. A short-range teleportation spell. The distance one could travel depended on the mage's ability, but Senya had often covered dozens of meters with a single Blink.

Listening to Mer's advice, he was beginning to see a direction. He could Blink from place to place, swinging a weapon or casting spells. If he could do just that properly, he would surpass the heights he had reached in his previous life.

'In my previous life, I couldn't even create a flame, let alone use Blink.'

Adding what he had been unable to do in his previous life. The prospect filled Eugene with delighted anticipation.

“... What about Witch Craft?”

“Mana operation optimized for circles. The resulting amplification of magical power. Efficient simplification of spell formulas. Omitting incantations. Manifesting multiple spells through divided consciousness. It also involves programming spells into the unconscious mind for storage, so they can manifest instantly as circumstances require, or react independently to external stimuli.”

“...”

“The most remarkable part is the ideal operation of circles. Most mages use circles nowadays, but Witch Craft's circle magic formula is vastly superior to ordinary circles. Think of it as producing the utmost power with the least possible mana.”

“Sorry, but none of that makes any sense to me.”

“Of course it doesn't. If you could understand it just by hearing about it, Witch Craft wouldn't be called the greatest grimoire in the history of magic, would it?”

Mer grinned and puffed out her chest.

“So how do I read it?”

“Close your eyes and reach out. Then channel your mana into Witch Craft... and you should be able to read it.”

Reach out? Eugene stared at the sphere of light wrapped in dozens of rings. Looking at it alone would not help him understand, so he stretched out his hand as Mer instructed. He brought it close to the softly glowing sphere, but felt no heat.

He did, however, sense an enormous amount of mana. Ignoring the shiver that raised goosebumps on his skin, Eugene drew out his mana through the White Flame Formula. Was he supposed to simply pour mana into it? Or should he operate his makeshift circle as he did when casting magic? Still considering those questions, he began pouring in mana.

Every sensation in his body abruptly sank away. He heard nothing and could smell nothing. Startled, he opened his eyes, but could see nothing either. Mer, who had been right beside him, was nowhere to be seen, and he could not sense her presence.

“Huh.”

He tried to speak, but the sound did not reach his ears. It did not even resonate inside his body. Only then did Eugene begin to grasp the situation.

This was a world within his consciousness. His physical body did not exist here. By connecting to Witch Craft, he had been drawn into the depths of his own mind.

'It's like a dream... but different.'

He could not control things as he could in a lucid dream. Nor was he seeing the unpleasant hallucinations of a dream demon's fucking antics. All he felt was overwhelming helplessness. With no physical body, he could not move.

Among his blocked senses, only one remained awake.

His sensitivity to energy, which allowed him to sense mana. This world within his consciousness brimmed with it. Though the place itself lay within Eugene's mind, Witch Craft's mana had engulfed his consciousness and formed an infinite sea of mana.

In this sea, Eugene's will amounted to less than a speck of dust. He could not even float or drift as he wished. All he could do was observe and wait.

'I can... move a little of the mana.'

A little?

'Right. This is the mana I currently possess.'

Eugene focused on the mana he could move. Within this sea, it was as tiny and feeble as his will. Would withdrawing it let him escape? Probably, but Eugene did not try.

He had not seen anything yet.

At last, the mana—the sea—moved. Before Eugene's eyes, that immense wave formed a single ring.

A circle. The lone circle seemed to turn slowly, then suddenly accelerated until its rotation was too fast to perceive. With every turn, the mana filling this world followed its rotation. Then the circle began dividing, one at a time.

In the system that classified magical attainment by circles, the highest level was the Ninth Circle.

But the dividing circles did not stop at nine. The moment the tenth appeared, the mana following their rotation formed an immense line. The ten circles scattered. Their rings unraveled and intertwined, forming one enormous circle, which filled with infinite mana.

That alone was astonishing, but the phenomenon did not end there. Countless circles formed within the enormous one. One, two, three, four... Eugene gave up counting. The circle that had drawn forth infinite mana created infinite circles within itself. They kept dividing, intertwining, scattering, dividing again, intertwining...

He was merely watching, yet that alone shook his consciousness. An optical illusion that exhausted his mind and made him dizzy. No, it was not an illusion. Within that circle, infinite circles truly were dividing, intertwining, and scattering over and over.

'I can't understand it even when I see it.'

It had made all the magic he had studied throughout his life feel like child's play.

That was what Lovellian had said.

A fragment of truth.

That was what Melkith had said.

They were both right. His consciousness wavered. The changes wrought by those infinite circles, the possibilities they held—Eugene could not fully comprehend any of it.

But this much he knew for certain.

Senya the Wise was the most brilliant and powerful mage in human history.

'Wait...'

His consciousness began to collapse. Eugene instinctively understood what was about to happen. Unable to endure any more, his mind was pulling down its shutters.

'I don't want to pass out... Wait, no.'

[“You might want to wear a diaper.”]

[“Why?”]

[“You might wet yourself.”]

Melkith had not been joking. When had he last... gone to the bathroom...? Eugene desperately clung to consciousness, but in this world linked to Witch Craft, his mind was utterly powerless.

Resistance was impossible.

'Please, my magnificent body. Don't.'

Please don't wet yourself.

Praying fervently for that, Eugene passed out.