“What’s going on?! Explain this!” Heartia rounded on Colgon when they were left alone in the room—he didn’t touch him, though. You could tell what distance would be dangerous from looking in someone else’s eyes. Colgon’s distance might have been a lot farther than Heartia’s. Still, he pressed forward. “Where did Tish disappear to? Why were we left behind—”
“That’s for the priestesses to decide. Like I said earlier, you need their assistance to move anywhere within the sanctuary. No, assistance isn’t right... It’s more that you need to submit to their control.”
“So the priestesses are in charge here?” Heartia asked the unflappable Colgon. He felt like he was being watched, so he glanced around.
Colgon quickly denied it. “No. There are beings the priestesses can’t control here in the sanctuary too. The Ayrmankar, the founding sorcerers.”
“Founding sorcerers?”
Colgon frowned in response to Heartia’s question. His expression showed a slight bewilderment. “How to explain... Where should I start for you to understand?”
“From the beginning!”
This was likely an unexpected dilemma for this man. He finally removed an arm from his cloak and placed his hand on his forehead. It was a deliberate gesture, like checking if he had a fever when he already knew he did.
Even his muttering sounded vaguely feverish. “Where is the ‘beginning’ for you? I have no idea...”
“Seriously, as far back as you can go! I don’t understand anything that’s going on here! Half-assing it isn’t gonna help me.” Heartia’s tone was almost boastful.
Colgon only grimaced harder. “I... I see...” he said lethargically. “Azalie’s disappearance, then.”
“Oh, I know about that.”
“...You’re an annoying one, you know that?”
“Gee, never thought I’d hear that from you.” The two of them quipped at each other expressionlessly before Heartia cleared his throat in order to clear the air between them. “All I heard was something about this continent being destroyed or something. And Krylancelo was doing something to try to stop it, so I was supposed to help him by—” Heartia suddenly stopped before he blurted out what Azalie had asked him to do.
Luckily, Colgon didn’t seem to have caught on. He nodded and softened his expression somewhat. “If you understand that much, then it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine! I don’t know any of the details! Like, why are we at the sanctuary? I don’t understand why I was brought here.”
“You teleported here directly? You must not have seen it, then. The monster known as the goddess of fate will be manifesting directly above the sanctuary sometime within the next ten days. If it appears fully, the continent is doomed.”
“That’s stupid,” Heartia said, but Colgon ignored him and continued.
“The sanctuary doesn’t possess the power to stop the goddess. You know what the Ayrmankar barrier is, right?”
Heartia shook his head. Colgon sighed, obviously annoyed that he had to explain, but he explained anyway.
“Long ago, the dragons stole sorcery from the gods. In order to escape from the gods, they fled to Kiesalhima. This is a myth, but it’s not far from the truth. The dragons covered the continent in a barrier, establishing a boundary of logic that the gods could not penetrate... Well, never mind all that. In any case, things were secure for a time after that, but there was a flaw to this grand spell.”
“A flaw?”
“The barrier was created by immortal spellcasters called the Ayrmankar, the founding sorcerers. Put simply, they were the beings who codified sorcery as it exists today. The group consisted of one member of each dragon race. There was also a founding human sorcerer, but they weren’t involved in the creation of the barrier, and we can’t expect any help from them.”
Heartia did his best to keep up with Colgon’s fast-paced explanation. “So...?”
“If sorcery was created by the dragons, it means there was once a world without sorcery. The Ayrmankar thus act as a sort of linchpin to manifest sorcery in this world. They will never die or even grow old. As they function as the root of all sorcery, they are able to make use of the most powerful of spells. It must have gone to their heads. They didn’t understand that even their power had its limits.”
“Hmm?”
“Their power wasn’t enough to cover the entire continent. The barrier wasn’t perfect. There’s a gap in it wide enough for the gods to break through. And one such goddess is attempting to do exactly that now.”
“Huh...”
“...I can’t help but feel like you’re mocking me with each response of yours.”
“Really? That’s the first time anyone’s said something like that to me.” This time, it was Heartia’s turn to look puzzled.
Colgon took a breath, his expression turning rather melancholic. “This must sound completely ridiculous to you.”
“Yeah. I mean, you say the world’s ending in ten days, but... I’ve got a date the week after next, you know?”
“I see. You should look forward to that, then. I’m an agent working to prevent that calamity, and I’m still hard at work now. Therefore, the world will not be destroyed. I can guarantee you that. Which means you can go home.” Colgon spoke not confidently but frankly.
Heartia cocked his head and groaned before saying, “You sound like my subordinates when they hold stepladders steady for me...but I’ve never once felt secure on one of those things. Weird, right?” Colgon didn’t say anything in return, so Heartia gave him a look and kept going. “And where’s Krylancelo, anyway? He’s not with you?”
“No. Just so you know, I’m not working with him. I offered him up to my employer as a substitute for me. He’s just distracting friends and foes alike. No, maybe there was a different reason... In any case, I don’t imagine he’ll agree with the way I’m doing things. He’s always been like that.”
I see... Heartia mused to himself. It seemed Azalie’s request wasn’t total nonsense.
Heartia put a hand on his heart to indicate himself. “Then just so you know, I don’t intend to work with either Krylancelo or Azalie.”
“Is that decision based on personal feelings?”
“Yeah, it is. I mean, who is it who let Comicron die?”
“It might have been me. If I had participated in the first squad sent after Azalie five years ago, we would have dealt with the witch before she had time for any of her petty schemes. Then Master and Comicron wouldn’t have had to die, and I bet Krylancelo would have come back right away. That would have been the best option for limiting the changes within the Tower as much as possible,” Colgon said matter-of-factly.
Heartia opened his eyes wide and Colgon smiled grimly like he’d said something clever. “In that case, your enmity would be directed at me,” he said. “That’s all those emotions of yours mean. A scorpion’s always pointing its barb at something, so the scorpion’s the only one who cares where it’s pointing.”
“...Master said the same thing.”
“He said it to me too. Apparently, a wealthy friend of his enjoyed sayings like that and shared quite a few of them with him. In any case, I didn’t accompany the group that went after her five years ago. Master was afraid I’d kill Azalie. I was afraid I’d lose to her. For better or worse, she could only be a threat...” Colgon muttered before looking around in search of a chair, but there was nothing that could even be called furniture in the room. Having no other option, he leaned against a wall and bent his legs as if it were the back of a seat.
Heartia watched him for a moment before asking, “Is that comfortable?”
“It’s comfortable for me.” Colgon didn’t seem to be joking. He wasn’t the type, of course.
Heartia considered it for a moment before adopting the same position against the opposite wall. He quickly gave up. “There’s no way. That’s exhausting.”
“It’s comfortable for me,” Colgon repeated stubbornly. After a beat, he said thoughtfully, “You’ve never been afraid of me.”
“Neither were Comicron or Krylancelo,” Heartia said.
Colgon nodded neutrally, but still narrowed his eyes like he didn’t quite understand. “That’s true. It’s not like I went easy on you, though.”
“I could tell.”
“If you still can’t forgive Azalie, then you should take this opportunity to use her as you see fit. You should be the one to decide your role in this.”
“...Huh?” Heartia was caught off guard by the conversation suddenly getting back on track.
Colgon ignored his confusion and knocked on the white, unadorned wall as if signaling something. “This is the sanctuary. It’s a dangerous place. What do you think they eliminated in order to preserve the purity of these white walls? It’s the sort of place where you learn the answers to questions like that.”
“What do you mean?” Heartia asked. His question felt inevitable, like some terrible premonition had forced it from him.
Colgon was silent for a short time. He didn’t do anything, but Heartia had the impression the man was trying to measure something about him. The room remained unchanged, as deserted as it was before.
Still, whatever measure he’d made must have been satisfactory. Colgon nodded. “Looks like the priestesses have forgotten to keep an eye on us. Leticia must have put them in an awfully tight spot. That’s convenient. I’ll give you some information now, while I have the chance. But before that...” He stood from his sitting position and murmured, “I’m exhausted...”
“I don’t get you.” Heartia’s posture crumbled, and it was instead he who seemed tired.