“Well, since we’re here, we should try to gather some magic stones,” I said.
“Good idea. Archmage Viol, please take charge of this one.”
“Well, all right.”
While Arshtag and Vellia forced the stone into my hands, the others were reboarding their carts and preparing to depart.
“Incidentally, Gyle, Yukka… Did you manage to locate the source of the magical energy?” Arshtag’s question made Gyle and Yukka exchange glances.
“We haven’t been able to pinpoint it yet,” Gyle said. “The giant tree we saw from the sky does have the most magical energy of anything around here. The beast attacked us on the way to the base of the tree, so we haven’t yet been able to investigate the area around it.”
“Despite being made of rock, it was very agile… and had incredible jumping ability.”
Vellia nodded.
“Gyle, lead the way. That battle took up quite a bit of our time, so we should split up and begin searching for the energy source in earnest now.”
“Roger!”
Gyle nodded briskly, then his cart rose into the air and sailed off into the deep forest. Arshtag, Yukka, and Gil all took to the air as well. They no longer showed any unease or hesitance about flying.
“Let’s go!”
Naturally, Seren was quick to follow them with a fluid motion. Despite the density of the forest, we’d blasted a flat area around us with all that explosive battling.
“That explosive magic certainly was incredible!” Seren said.
“Yes… As for wind magic alternatives to that spell, the Tornado spell also has enough power to do the same thing,” I said.
“But it seems like the addition of fire magic makes it stronger… I wonder if I, too, could one day wield that type of magic…?”
“In another two or three years, I think you could. Right now, you’re experimenting with water magic, aren’t you? I think you’ll have both wind and water magic mastered before long.”
We continued flying and chatting, and then we entered a clearing, the trunk of the giant tree before us, looming like an immense wall.
I was at a loss for words. Even from the sky, it appeared to be an exceptionally large tree. So I was expecting something big. But up close, its absolute strangeness really struck me.
The trunk was knobbled all over with whorls and lumps, an oddly textured bark that immediately set it apart from other trees. Here and there, it was covered with moss that emitted a faint, otherworldly glow.
“Incredible…” I heard a soft murmur, and I looked to my side to see Seren also admiring the tree.
“It looks very unusual, doesn’t it?” I said.
“Yes…”
“The faint light emanating from this tree… It’s sort of greenish. A rare color for magical energy to be,” I noted.
“A rare color for magical energy? There’s really a light coming from the tree?”
Right… Seren’s eye for magic isn’t so sharp. She can’t see it. Well, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Still, it feels a little lonely, not being able to share this mystical sight with her.
“Yes. A soft, pale green light, emanating from the trunk. This great tree may contain an immense amount of magical power.”
The survey team pairs were flying around the tree in their carts. They looked so tiny in comparison, it made the tree’s size stand out even more. I wondered how long it had taken for this tree to grow to such a size.
“Everyone! Come here a sec!” Gyle yelled out from the other side of the vast trunk.
“Did you find something?”
Everyone flew over to join Gyle’s team.
With magical energy this concentrated, it’s difficult to pick up on even more concentrated areas… But no doubt Gyle was able to see more than I could.
We went around the big trunk, and spotted a big, white, mass.
“Ugh…” Lady Seren blanched.
“What is it?” I looked over her shoulder and saw a big cavity in the trunk of the giant tree—the bones of many magical beasts piled up inside. “You all right?”
“Oh, yes… Sorry. It’s just, I’ve never seen this many bones in one place… I think I’m okay now, though.”
“Don’t go pushing yourself beyond your limits.”
“Okay.”
Seren smiled at me, the color returning to her cheeks. I patted her shoulder and tried to give her my best smile in return. Her own smile brightened. Adorable.
“Archmage Viol, a moment?” Arshtag called out to me, pointing to the tree’s hollow with a serious expression. “I’m wondering how many bodies were piled up here. A giant magic stone seems to have formed on the floor of this hollow.”
“It’s incredible. I’ve never seen a magic stone of such size and obvious quality before,” I said.
Up until now, the biggest magic stone I ever saw was about the size of a fist. The magic stone here was on a completely different level in terms of size and quality. The part visible above ground was practically the size of Arshtag himself. No telling how much of it might be buried below the surface, though.
“With this… perhaps…”
“Aha, Archmage Viol. You’re thinking a stone like this would be strong enough to be used as a magical device for casting our great barrier wall… Aren’t you?”
“Hmm… Oh? But I don’t remember ever discussing our need for new magical devices with you, Vellia, did I…?” I asked.
“No, but I was chatting with Old Man Euleho about it. He said he was waiting for some good magic stones, but since you’ve become a family man and all, Archmage Viol, he was saying it would be better to reduce the burden on the wall guards as much as possible… Preferably by finding a suitably strong magic stone sooner rather than later.”
“Vellia, I…”
“When two High Mages get married, it’s hard to do shifts on wall duty, especially when you factor in children…”
Vellia was married, too. And actually, it’s not that uncommon for High Mages to marry one another. We spend a lot of time in close proximity and naturally have a lot in common. However, wall duty takes up a lot of time in the form of shifts, and it can make things difficult for two spouses who are both in this line of work.
“Right… Wall duty hours are long to begin with. And it’s tough work, physically, mentally… Honestly, it’s a lot for everyone. The sooner the problem can be resolved, the better.”
“When I heard you were working on a potential magical device… I wondered if it was for us mages. But seriously, though, you newlyweds should enjoy your couple time together. If wall duty could be cut back significantly, I’d be all for it.”
“Right… You’re happily married, Vellia, so no doubt you know what it’s like.”
When I said that, Vellia laughed like I’d said something really funny. And I couldn’t help grinning too.
“For Seren’s sake… I hope you complete this hypothetical device quickly,” she said.
“Right. Well. I’ll do my best. For Seren, and for everyone else as well.”
“Please do.”
I nodded to Vellia, then turned to look at Seren, intending to make this declaration directly to her as well… But she was staring at the ground in embarrassment. Her ears and neck were red as well. No doubt she’d overheard the whole thing.
With renewed determination, I faced the giant magic stone. “This might work well for a magical device. I’ll chip a bit off and take it back with me.”
“Good idea. I’m sure you can find a ton of different uses for it.”
“Er…” Seren cleared her throat, joining my conversation with Vellia.
“What is it?”
“I mean… If we each take a bit in our cart, we can bring home quite a large amount of it, can’t we? I mean, since we’re here, and there’s a lot of us, why don’t we bring back as much as we can right now?”
“I see. Yes, that does make sense, but I don’t think we should do that on this occasion.”
“Okay.” Seren nodded right away, but I went on to explain my reasoning.
“If we bring back too much, we don’t yet know the ramifications. This magic stone might be the source of the concentrated magical energy. If we remove it, who knows what that will do to the forest and the magical beasts that dwell here.”
“Oh… Yes, of course.”
“And, if we bring a large amount of magical stone back to the capital, the capital itself might become a new hotbed of concentrated magical energy.”
She gasped.
“We should exercise extreme caution when it comes to retrieving magic stones,” I said.
“I just never thought…” Seren looked a little pale, so I gave her a reassuring smile.
Or what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
“We’ve been wondering about this forest and the concentrated magical energy here for some time now. We only have theories about the potential dangers that may be involved. But you know, the more I look at this magic stone, the more amazing it seems to me,” I muttered, rubbing my chin.
Arshtag nodded emphatically. “There’s no doubt that this is the source of the energy. The question is, how did it form?”
Yes. That was the question. But even using Identify Magic on the surroundings yielded nothing eye-catching. Although I was secretly relieved about that.
“Right. Anyway, it doesn’t seem like there’s any other magical energy sources or traces in the vicinity.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean?” Seren frowned, curious about the exchange between me and Arshtag.
“If this place formed naturally… A graveyard for magical beasts that turned into a concentration of magic… That wouldn’t be a big issue in itself. But what if someone created this place… Created it for nefarious purposes?” I posed.
Seren seemed to grasp the seriousness of that. Her face instantly tensed up.
“Well, anyway, we’ve fulfilled our initial objective and identified the source of the magical energy,” I said. “We’ll report back to His Majesty, then a conference will be held to decide what to do about it. Everyone, great work today. Because of you all, we’ve been able to achieve our long-held desire to identify the source of this mysterious energy.”
The others looked in high spirits. Well, they HAD just solved a fascinating, lengthy mystery, after all.
“Thanks to all the survey team members who’d worked so hard on this case… And thank you also to the wind mages who mastered flying for the sake of this mission.” I lowered my head. “But just in case, let’s set up an extended-length recording orb in the hollow of the giant tree. And we’ll want to have the forest patrolled regularly by individuals with Identify Magic. We’ll need to continue surveying the magical beasts around here, after all. Once we’ve reported our findings to the king, you’ll get word about the follow-up.”
The rest of the survey team nodded solemnly. I would have to make sure I handled my end of things carefully. It would be terrible if any of their hard work went to waste.