Chapter 20 – Bookstore Veronica (One)

Two pairs of footsteps echoed.

They moved forward, toppling the quiet piled up in the bookstore.

“Your clothes changed? You were wearing a raincoat yesterday.”

Ray answered Veronica’s question without hesitation.

“I threw it away.”

To be precise, burned it.

Because while wandering the streets, he might run into the man from the basement.

The clothes he wore underneath were also changed to relatively clean ones, thanks to Philip.

His impression was completely different just from that.

Perhaps finding it intriguing, Veronica kept glancing back at Ray.

“I told him about you. That you used Magic. That you were a big help chasing the other kids. And that you’re looking for the Rainbow—.”

“Did you tell him anything else about me besides that?”

“No. Just those three things. Actually, you didn’t tell me more about yourself either.”

Ray nodded.

When mentioning the person called grandfather, Veronica’s Vessel was steeped in a thick emotion of trust.

Still, it was too early to let his guard down.

The Wizard with the Monocle.

The Wizard from the basement.

Every Wizard he had encountered so far carried high risk along with negative emotions.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor.

While walking down the creaky wooden corridor following Veronica.

“…….”

He spotted two small faces peeking out from the far end of the corridor.

Boys around 7 or 8 years old.

The wariness emanating from their eyes was quite convincing.

The two boys ducked their heads the moment they made eye contact with Ray.

Veronica looked at the spot where the boys had disappeared with a somewhat pitiful expression and said.

“They’re younger brothers I lived with at the orphanage. Grandfather picked them himself. Me, Molta, Yulphin. Like this.”

“To teach them Magic?”

Veronica’s eyes widened as she spoke in a startled voice.

“How did you know?”

…Well, because you said you learned Magic from your grandfather.

“Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a reason to take in orphans. And you also said you learned Magic.”

There were orphanages in Sector 50 too.

Though with poor facilities and abuse, they weren’t much different from prisons.

Veronica nodded as if she roughly understood.

“I see. Well, there were no real adoptions at my orphanage either. Everyone who came took children away for some other purpose.”

The boy and girl continued walking and arrived at a room at the end of the corridor.

“Here. Grandfather is inside.”

Veronica knocked on the door and spoke into the room.

Knock knock.

“Grandfather Graham. Ray is here. The child I told you about yesterday.”

A faint voice came from inside telling them to come in.

Click.

Opening the door revealed the scenery inside the room.

Ray followed Veronica into the room.

It was a room neither small nor large.

Just a window and a few pieces of furniture, but it didn’t feel empty.

‘So this is him.’

The old man sitting up in the bed by the window.

The Presence he exuded filled the entire room.

The old man leaned back against the headboard and settled his posture.

“Sit down.”

The words were directed at Ray.

His tone was natural, as if he had met Ray before.

“Veronica, you wait outside.”

Veronica, who was heading towards the chair in front of the bed following Ray, flinched.

She spun around and scurried out of the room with a reluctant look, her gaze fixed on Ray until the moment the door closed.

Ray sat in the chair.

The old man looked at the boy.

The boy looked at the old man.

“…….”

The old man’s gaze was sharp, belying the apparent frailty of his aged body.

Simultaneously, a sense of exhaustion that couldn’t be hidden seeped from its depths, probably due to the illness he was said to be suffering from.

The old man was the first to speak.

“First, thank you. For helping Veronica chase those guys away. It’s something I should have done, but as you can see, my body isn’t in the best shape.”

“It wasn’t really a difficult task.”

Ray gave a mechanical reply while observing the old man’s chest.

He saw Rings.

As many as three.

Fewer than the Wizard with the Monocle, but for his current self, it was an impossibly high level.

He shifted his gaze to look at the emotional Vessel.

Red anger. Orange comfort.

Yellow excitement. Green fluster.

Blue indifference. Indigo melancholy.

Dazzlingly diverse colors.

Also, emotions that were impossible to feel simultaneously.

Looking closely, one could tell it wasn’t actual Mana pooled there, but colors etched onto the Vessel.

The many emotional storms proportional to the time lived had left traces on the Vessel.

Usually, those who were older or had lived a denser life than others fell into this category.

For Ray, they were a type from whom it was hard to read precise emotions.

The old man continued slowly in a dry voice.

“Right. I heard you have many questions for me.”

“I’ve been looking for a Wizard continuously.”

“Aren’t you a Wizard too? According to Veronica, you used Magic quite skillfully.”

“I don’t know much.”

The old man chuckled with a kkeul-kkeul sound.

Then, with an inscrutable smile, he said.

“Answering questions isn’t too difficult. If they’re about Magic, that is. But wouldn’t it be polite for you to reveal who you are first?”

It wasn’t a wrong statement.

He would have shown the same reaction if he were in the other’s place.

“…I’m Ray.”

For now, he only gave his name.

He observed the other’s reaction.

He didn’t want information about himself spread into the world as much as possible.

“Alright. Your name is Ray. Where are you from?”

“…….”

He had hoped the other would let it slide, but of course, that was wishful thinking.

Ray hesitated for a moment before answering.

The old man watched Ray and then spoke.

“You seem to have quite a story. If you’re hesitant to answer, how about we do this?”

“Do what….”

“A simple game related to Magic. Each round, the winner can ask the loser one question. I’ve also become a bit interested in you after hearing Veronica’s story.”

The old man wiggled his finger.

The Mana at a point in the air rippled greatly.

Multicolored Mana clumping together, drawing a vortex.

It didn’t mix completely, maintaining each color.

‘Usually, when you mix that many colors like that, the Mana repels each other immediately.’

Ray admired the old man’s skill in handling Mana.

The old man also showed a reaction.

“Oh-ho. Your sense for Mana is indeed excellent. Seeing you react right away.”

“If it’s a game, what kind are you talking about?”

Ray asked quietly.

Truthfully, he wasn’t keen on the game.

No matter how hard he tried, the probability of not winning against a Wizard with three Rings was high.

Therefore, he planned to steer the conversation and get information another way.

But he changed his mind.

The skill the old man showed was immensely appealing.

What kind of Magic would he use?

What other abilities was he hiding?

What kind of game would such a person propose?

It was the intellectual curiosity about Magic and Mana that the boy had harbored since childhood, an irresistible urge.

Inquisitiveness overcame wariness.

In other words, that was it.

It wouldn’t hurt to at least hear what kind of game it was, right?

Perhaps noticing that subtle shift in the boy’s attitude, the old man smiled faintly.

“It’s not a difficult game. I often play it with Veronica too. It’s also helpful for practicing Mana control.”

The old man returned all the clumping Mana to standby except for a portion.

And he gathered the remaining Mana.

Whoom—

The result of the colors mixing in was a deep gray.

Following his gesture, the Gray Mana moved to position itself precisely in the air between the old man and the boy.

“Right. Can you feel the Mana between us now?”

Ray nodded.

He could feel it, of course, and also see it with his eyes.

“Mana is composed of various kinds of elements. You could say they are the ingredients of Magic.”

An explanation that suddenly continued mid-conversation.

Yet, it didn’t feel that abrupt.

“Different Magic uses different elements. Elements meeting each other can also create new elements.”

It felt rather natural.

As if this time had been arranged from the start for imparting knowledge.

The moment the word ‘element’ came out, all of Ray’s senses jolted awake.

Ray focused all his nerves.

So as not to miss a single word the old man said.

“What’s between us now is the Element of Sustain. It’s an element that plays a big role in Magic maintaining constancy without being affected by external factors.”

Each word pounded against the boy’s heart.

“Also, due to its property of trying to maintain constancy, it’s among the hardest types of elements to move—.”

“What’s the element next to it?”

Ray couldn’t help but ask.

Because the Mana he saw before him was of two kinds.

At a glance, it seemed like just the deep gray Mana.

But looking closely, one could tell through a faint boundary that the Mana was divided into two.

Deep gray.

A slightly deeper gray.

It might look like one connected color to some.

But for Ray, who distinguished all colors sensitively, they were completely different colors.

The old man stopped speaking abruptly.

He narrowed his brow as if reconsidering Ray’s question, then soon widened his eyes.

“Just now… what did you say?”

Greatly shaken emotions rose vividly over the colors painted on his Vessel.

Surprise. Disbelief. Excitement.

The emotions Ray read from the old man.

‘Did I ask the wrong question?’

Should he gloss over it?

No, that’s not it.

The doubt churning in his heart right now was the kind he couldn’t bear without resolving.

“The element next to it. You didn’t tell me its name.”

“Huh….”

A breathless sound escaped.

The old man looked at Ray, furrowing his brow and narrowing his eyes.

His face said he simply couldn’t believe the current situation.

“You definitely said ‘the element next to it’ just now.”

“Yes.”

“You mean you sense not one, but two elements?”

Of course he did.

He felt it. He saw it.

“Yes. Two.”

“Huhahahahaha──!”

Ray’s decisive answer.

The old man suddenly burst into laughter.

Bending over, even shedding tears.

“Huhaha─! Cough─! Huhat, cough─!”

Despite his poor physical condition causing him to cough, he showed no intention of stopping.

During that time, various emotions swirled chaotically in his Vessel.

How much time passed like that?

The old man raised his head with reddened eyes.

A regretful mutter flowed from between the old man’s cracked lips.

“Graham. All this time, it was wasted effort. I didn’t need to search hundreds of orphanages. The real gemstone was in a place like this. But fate is truly fickle. To arrange such a meeting when I have so few days left.”

The old man, having shaken off the remnants of his unfinished laugh, took a steadying breath and looked at Ray.

“Judging by your words and actions, you don’t seem to have learned Magic systematically. I’m becoming even more curious about what kind of child you are.”

“So, what’s the name of the element next to the Element of Sustain?”

Ray’s appearance, urging the question.

The old man let out a wry laugh as if he had truly met his match.

“That’s not something to reveal easily; it takes away the fun. Wasn’t I in the middle of explaining the game? Let’s save it for a question you can ask.”

“…….”

“Right. Returning to the explanation, there exists a sphere, a clump of two kinds of elements combined, between us now. The rule is simple. The person who pulls this sphere and settles it into their own palm wins. How about it?”

A moment of thought.

Ray opened his mouth.

“Can I try handling the Mana for a bit?”

“Sure. As much as you like. For fairness, the sphere’s starting position will be much closer to you.”

Deep gray Mana.

A color he had never created before, but for some reason, it felt familiar.

With the old man’s permission, Ray focused his mind and moved the Gray Mana.

Whoom—

Definitely a stiffer feeling compared to Mana of ordinary colors.

‘This much is worth trying.’

Ray recalled the sensation from that time.

The moment he took control of the Mana Veronica had lost hold of.

That Mana was also quite a hard color to move, and the distance was actually much farther than now.

But it wasn’t hard to handle.

The Gray Mana probably wouldn’t be much different.

Of course, considering he had to contend with the old man over the same Mana, the difficulty skyrocketed.

But if the starting position was adjusted.

Then he thought there was enough chance of winning on his side too.

Ray made his decision.

“Alright. Let’s start the game.”