Chapter 312 – Reunion (Two)

Inside the Imaginous Mage Tower.

A spiral staircase leading to the rooftop.

There, the sound of busy footsteps, filled with excitement and a pounding heart, echoed.

Tap— tap— tap.

Then the footsteps stopped.

Instead, the sound of panting breath echoed.

“Why, why isn’t there an elevator in the upper floors of Ray’s Mage Tower…!”

Veronica grumbled while catching her breath, leaning against the wall.

Her appearance had changed remarkably compared to before.

A girl who had recently become an adult.

Her baby fat had disappeared, making her features even more distinct, and her makeup skills had improved, looking very natural.

At that moment, a fairy flew out from Veronica’s bag.

“But isn’t that nice? The path to meet the one you love?”

“Lady Orea! L-love?!”

Veronica’s face instantly turned red.

She waved her hands in denial, but the Fairy Queen was not easily swayed.

“Didn’t you like Lord Ray? If not, why did you hold his hand last time?”

“Th-that— that was! My hands were cold, so I had no choice…!”

“And your makeup gets heavier every time you go to meet Lord Ray.”

“Th-that’s because those girls, those vixens, who come as exchange students, keep…”

Flirting with Ray.

Veronica swallowed the rest of her words.

Saying it out loud would mean admitting that her increasing attention to her appearance and clothing was a manifestation of her sense of crisis.

“So when are you planning to confess?”

“Lady Orea! If you keep saying strange things, get back in!”

“Aren’t you anxious? If you don’t stake your claim quickly, someone else might take— Oof!”

Veronica’s hand snatched the giggling, fluttering Orea and stuffed her back into the bag.

─Let me out! I won’t tease you anymore!

“Hmph, reflect on your actions there.”

Veronica, having firmly locked the bag’s clasp, began climbing the stairs again.

Soon, only the busy footsteps remained in the dim interior where sunlight filtered in.

Tap— tap— tap—

‘Anxious?’

After defeating Khum, Ray had changed.

Strangely more mature, perhaps.

Originally calm, he had become even calmer.

It was something not only she but everyone around him felt in common.

The change wasn’t bad, but occasionally, it felt discordant.

That was why.

‘…I am anxious.’

She couldn’t deny Orea’s question about whether she was anxious.

Just then, a door appeared at the end of the staircase.

The anxiety was momentarily pushed aside, replaced by excitement.

They had both been so busy with Mage Tower and Order affairs that they were seeing each other for the first time in weeks.

“Hoo.”

Heart, don’t get too excited.

Boldly opening the door, light flooded her vision, and soon the glare faded, allowing her to see the outside scenery.

And.

“Huh?”

The rooftop was empty.

“He definitely said he was on the rooftop…?”

The moment she cautiously took a step, a voice came from behind.

“Long time no see.”

“Kyaaah!”

Veronica, startled, turned around and missed her footing.

Ray pulled her flailing arm, helping her regain her balance.

“…Ray, why, why did you appear from there?”

“I was waiting to surprise you.”

“You knew I was coming?”

I came without contacting you on purpose to surprise you too.

I even took a different route, not the main gate.

Deactivated my Ring to avoid detection, didn’t use any magic.

Just as a slight sense of unfairness was about to surface.

“I can always tell where you are, Veronica.”

“Well, if that’s the case.”

Her mood instantly improved.

Moreover, the anxiety she had been holding seemed to melt away like snow.

He had said that white Mana gathered in the shape of a sun above the Vessel.

Though she couldn’t know exactly what that looked like, it was undeniable that she was a special existence to Ray.

“Every time I come, Ray, you seem to be on the rooftop.”

“This is the quietest place in my Mage Tower. Good for organizing thoughts. Looking down at the city also feels refreshing.”

Ray went to the railing.

Veronica, standing beside him, thought his height seemed to have grown again and asked.

“What were you organizing your thoughts about today? Can I help—”

“That giant I defeated at the ruins back then. Was it Khum, or was it Indiago?”

“—Um, um, um.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected philosophical topic, Veronica hastily retreated.

Just then, the bag rustled, the clasp opened, and a small being flew out.

“Lord Ray, it’s been a while!”

“Long time no see, Orea.”

“Lady Veronica had me imprisoned!”

“That’s because Lady Orea kept saying strange things—!”

After a brief commotion, Orea, who had landed on Ray’s palm, asked.

“How are your memories?”

“Still unstable.”

Fairies, giants, elves, spirits, dwarves.

Blue forests, wide plains, clear skies….

The frequency of unidentified memories of unknown origin knocking on his head was increasing.

“They feel like my memories, yet not like my memories. Infinitely vivid yet infinitely blurry.”

Everything was uncertain, but there was one fact he could be sure of.

The egg containing his current memories was covered with countless cracks.

And that some decisive trigger would completely shatter it, releasing those memories.

“I think that trigger will be the gathered Rainbow Shards.”

Five gemstones appeared with light, floating above Ray’s palm.

Orange, yellow.

Green, blue, indigo.

Missing were the two: red and purple.

“And if, as Orea said, I truly am the divine being who created the past Ancient Era.”

Ray waved his hand through the air.

“Then it should be possible to restore them to their original forms.”

The surrounding location had changed to the middle of a wasteland without any sign.

Before their eyes, disasters like flame storms, blizzards, and thunderclouds raged.

─Play with me!

─Over there! Don’t think I can’t catch you!

The innocent laughter that could be heard.

Ray looked at Orea and said.

“It means the reconstruction of the race you yearn for can be achieved.”

“No. That’s not it, I merely wish to reunite with the one who gave us new life…”

“Orea, no need to hide your feelings.”

“……”

As Ray waved his hand through the air, the location returned to the rooftop.

Veronica asked, bewildered.

“How did you do that…?”

“I wished upon the Mana.”

Ray’s Magic was increasingly surpassing common sense and limits.

Perhaps the recently completed sixth Ring played a significant role.

During the conversation about memories, Ray took something out from his pocket.

“The Compass! Is it repaired?”

“Received it from Rael yesterday.”

He took out the Bloodstone and infused it with Mana.

The Compass needle spun and stopped, pointing in a certain direction.

“Then I’ll talk to Priest Solite! I’ll probably need to be away from the Order for a while!”

“I plan to meet Redran alone.”

“That’s—”

“Please.”

Meeting his gaze, Veronica couldn’t open her mouth further.

Ray had never requested something so firmly until now.

After seeing Veronica off, Ray immediately left the Mage Tower.

Leaving without any measures would mean being surrounded by swarming people, making activity impossible, so he enveloped his entire body in Stealth Magic.

Tap tap tap—

Moving swiftly through the crowd, Ray seemed to exist alone in a different dimension.

However, Ray didn’t consider himself an alien existence.

The colorful emotions fluttering in people’s Vessels.

He now clearly understood their meanings.

Being surrounded by emotions he understood prevented the boy from feeling alienation and loneliness anymore.

How long had he walked like that?

Dreek, dreedreek.

The gradually vibrating needle completely stopped and fixed.

‘Need to go to a lower-numbered Sector.’

Once the direction was confirmed, he advanced by folding space.

Locations he had searched before flashed quickly through his vision.

Rooftops of abandoned buildings.

Underground spaces in remote empty lots.

Rock caves on the outskirts of Sectors, etc.

In all the places found by the Information Broker Nila, Stone Tablets from the Ancient Era left by the Purple Guardian were discovered.

Their number was almost in the triple digits.

It showed how much preparation had been made to convey past events to the Rainbow’s reincarnation.

─And one more thing I found out: if you draw lines between the locations with Stone Tablets, they connect in a line? From Sector 25 at the edge of the city to Sector 1 at the opposite end.

Nila’s words were true.

It was clear that after instructing the first Pope to establish the Order, the Purple Guardian infiltrated the Red Citadel and hid the Stone Tablets while moving up through the Sectors.

But what ultimately happened to her remained unknown.

‘The Stone Tablets stopped at Sector 1.’

Lost in thought while moving, Ray soon arrived at Sector 1.

As the city’s original birthplace, it boasted the most splendid and tallest buildings.

Could the Doctor’s residence be here?

When he searched before, he found no trace.

Swing—

Just as he was pondering, the Compass needle spun once more.

Following it led to a Junkyard located in the wasteland outside the city.

Scrap Heaps filled all around.

Ray felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

This place looked exactly like the one in Sector 50 where he had spent most of his childhood.

“……”

He didn’t know such a place existed outside the City of Wizards.

Was it the same for lower-numbered Sectors too, unable to process waste and just piling it in the wasteland?

After briefly observing his surroundings, Ray realized a decisive difference existed.

Whoosh──

Junk from the top of a Scrap Heap swayed by the wind rolled down and fell into the Elton River.

It drifted away.

Quickly disappeared from sight.

This was a place where things that had lost their usefulness were exiled.

Not a place where useless things piled up, like in Sector 50.

Splash— splash—

Ray, looking at the Elton River, remembered his original purpose and turned around.

The Compass needle was pointing at the largest Scrap Heap here.

Kwaaaang──!

Condensed wind burrowed into a gap and caused a powerful explosion inside.

Junk scattered in all directions.

An empty patch of land was revealed.

But Ray could see the intricate and complex curtain of Mana covering it.

‘Illusion, enchantment, space, materialization… multiple schools of Magic are layered.’

It wouldn’t be a problem.

Ray concentrated his mind and applied pressure, and all the Mana forming the Magic on the ground was swept away helplessly, as if a great wind had struck.

A door made of unknown metal appeared on the ground.

Just as Ray approached to examine it.

Click!

It opened by itself, revealing a staircase leading underground.

A trap by the Doctor? Somehow, it didn’t seem likely.

He descended the stairs.

The underground space resembled the interior of Rael Row, made of metal resembling rock.

Staircases and corridors stretching like an ant nest.

Rooms and spaces of unknown exact purpose located here and there.

The thick layers of dust suggested it had been a long time since any human touch.

‘Need to find the way.’

Just then, the Magic Lanterns on the ceiling, which had been off, began to flicker as if breathing their last.

Fizz— fizzz—

Just then, the Magic Lanterns on the ceiling began to flicker.

As if breathing their last.

At a fierce pace, continuously.

The flickering Magic Lanterns were not one but many, connecting as if guiding the way along a certain path.

“……”

After a moment’s thought, Ray followed the Magic Lanterns.

He headed deeper and deeper underground.

Traps made of Ancient Era weapons or Magic were placed everywhere, but all seemed inoperative.

There were traces of aging due to the passage of time, but the impression that they had been deliberately deactivated was slightly stronger.

Tap.

Finally, at the end of the staircase was a room neither too wide nor too narrow.

Hundreds of monitors placed on the wall at the opposite end caught the eye.

Only one of them was powered on, illuminating the darkness.

The man in the wheelchair in front of it turned his body toward this direction and spoke.

─I’ve been waiting.