Chapter 114:
Chicken Nanban
BY THE TIME LYDIANNE had broken through her shell and crawled into the world, her mother was gone. The only person she could call family was her father, a mage who wasn’t related to her by blood. He’d purchased her egg from an adventurer.
Dense forest surrounded the tower that was both the mage’s research facility and Lydianne’s home. That was the whole world she knew. Whenever her father headed to town to restock the tower, it took days. The mage left Lydianne in charge, and she sometimes found herself lonely.
Ever since she was young, Lydianne’s father had told her she mustn’t ever leave the tower. The one time she’d gone to a nearby town by herself, she was met with screams of terror, and people had chased her with weapons.
After that, Lydianne had decided to learn about who and what she was. She soon realized why things went as they had. Her father had gathered all kinds of books in the tower, and within them was the reason Lydianne could never leave.
According to her father’s books, a lamia was an evil monster with a human woman’s torso and a snake’s tail. Lamia attacked humans; they seduced men, then killed and ate them. Although Lydianne had never once considered eating someone, as she looked down at her black, snakelike body, she realized for the first time—she was a lamia.
After that, she’d made peace with living in the tower, diligently helping with her father’s research. Her father was a half-elf, and they lived centuries, so he’d undoubtedly outlive Lydianne. She swore she’d continue her lifestyle until the day she died, so when her father suddenly perished of a cold, she was completely at a loss.
Fortunately, the tower supported chickens and a garden, so Lydianne and her father could sustain themselves. She could live there as usual for a while, but it wouldn’t last forever. Before he’d passed away, even her father needed to head to town for a few days every year. He’d traded magic stones and paper, medicine he’d made, and medicinal herbs for salt, cloth, and metal tools. Those were hard to find where he and Lydianne lived.
Her father had abandoned the human world, but he knew how to interact with them nonetheless. But Lydianne had no such knowledge or experience.
Lydianne was intelligent, so she knew she’d either live like a monster—like the feared lamia she was—or humans would hunt her down. Her heart sunk at the thought. She was well-read but not world-wise; she knew nothing about the worlds of humans or monsters, nor about the mysterious door that sometimes appeared in the garden.
And so, the day she feared finally arrived.
✦ ✦ ✦
It had all started with a story from Cain’s master. When they set out on their journey, he’d told Cain about a sage who lived in seclusion. He hadn’t given Cain many details but said the sage was a friend of his own master and was a gifted half-elf mage who’d already lived a century.
The mage had built his own tower in the countryside, living there in isolation to avoid the world’s cacophony while conducting research. Mages often resided away from the hustle and bustle of normal folk, polishing their magic alone.
As a half-elf, he knew he’d never be accepted in the human world, regardless of his talent and renowned family. The mage simply saw no value in pursuing magic alongside younger humans with less skill; in the tower, he lived a completely self-sustained life.
However, mages who desired more knowledge, or to exchange techniques, took dangerous pilgrimages to visit cloistered practitioners of magic. Cain, Jack, and Terry were childhood friends-turned-adventurers who often went on laid-back journeys together; this time, they’d decided to visit this mysterious mage.
“So, we’ll meet him and learn some stuff?” asked Jack, the strongest of the three.
“Yup, that’s the plan,” nodded Cain. “But…”
He thought back on what he’d heard the other night in the village where they stayed. Apparently, the mage they were visiting usually came down from his tower each year during the festival to trade for goods he needed. Last year, however, he hadn’t shown up.
Hearing the hesitance in Cain’s tone, Terry—a village chief’s son who’d learned swordsmanship on his own—asked, “You think he might’ve passed away?”
Cain nodded. “Yeah. Master said he was a mage who lived out in the wilds…but he also said to beware the mage’s ‘legacy.’”
It wasn’t uncommon for talented mages to die from injuries, sudden illness, or old age. When that happened, though, it was possible they’d leave behind more than just a corpse. Things like security golems, magical beings raised for research, and demons summoned from other worlds commonly lurked in a mage’s tower. You could even find that the late mage themselves had been left alone so long they were undead.
“So, basically, we have no clue what’s waiting for us? Hell yeah!” Jack grinned in anticipation—after so many adventures with his friends, he seemed convinced of his own invincibility.
Terry, on the other hand, was always cautious. “He might just be in the middle of something and not have made it to the village. Obviously, though, better safe than sorry.”
“Anyway, let’s go check,” Cain said, glancing at his reliable friends. “We won’t find anything out just sitting here.”
The trio of adventurers made their way toward the mage’s tower.