TYND 124
by Cherry“Then shall we go inside to eat?”
“Okay, let’s.”
Rothy looked regretful, but readily agreed with the single-minded determination to warm his beloved’s hands.
“Kking-Kking, I’m leaving now. See you tomorrow.”
Woof!
“Be good to your master tomorrow. That way, your master will eat in a warm place.”
Theon scratched Kking Kking’s nose, who was wagging his tail and waiting patiently until he acknowledged him, and gave him a reminder. Kking Kking answered with a woof! but it was uncertain how well he understood.
After saying goodbye to the trainers, they left the kennel. While returning to the main building, Rothy complained about how difficult and arduous the training was.
“I should search through ancient language dictionaries and give the soon-to-be-born puppies fancy names.”
“Was it that hard?”
“Yeah. I was young, so I can understand, but why did Theon nod at Kking Kking…?”
“Hmm.”
“If I could talk to my sixteen-year-old self, I would advise him never to give a cute puppy with a cool name like Blane a name like Kking Kking.”
“If you met sixteen-year-old Rothy, you wouldn’t be able to say such things. He would nod without resistance, saying, ‘Give him whatever name you want,’ if you wished.”
“I think I was raised too preciously.”
It was a statement that no one who knew Rothy would agree with. He was abused by Yolone Sirin for a full six years after being taken into his hands at the age of ten. Being pampered a little in recent years doesn’t make someone who was raised preciously.
“You need to be pampered for another five thousand years.”
“Five thousand years? I’m really looking forward to it…”
Rothy, who was beaming, shook his head and changed to a determined expression.
“I need to be wary. I mustn’t become an arrogant, dogmatic, and tyrannical Archduke consort because I’m being pampered too much.”
“Rothy being tyrannical. That would be very cute.”
Rothy’s round eyes became even rounder. He even stopped walking, as if shocked. Theon roughly guessed why Rothy was acting like this. He stopped walking as well and spoke again.
“Very cute indeed. Please, do be tyrannical?”
“……!”
He could hear his heart pounding.
“That’s right. Theon would think even my tyranny is cute. That’s why I need to be even more wary. It’s a really worrying thing…”
Theon thought Rothy was so cute that he swept back his hair and kissed his round forehead. He felt a sense of urgency to get inside because of his warm body temperature. Theon had to be wary of this kind of thing.
Five years have passed since Rossiare was launched in the North.
For any organization, especially one that studies and researches the advanced field of magic, five years is an extremely short time to produce any results.
Magic, from the beginning, is a field that requires long-term research with a distant perspective, and whether they are members of a magic organization or mages of the Magic Tower, they embark on the path of a mage with the determination to produce only one result before they die.
Naturally, Rossiare has not yet achieved any significant results, and all the mages who are paying attention to Rossiare accepted that fact as a matter of course.
If there had been results, there would have been an uproar. It would mean that the Great Mage Rothy Sear Palsen was giving direct help, not just providing support. A disgraceful stigma would have been placed on Rothy as well.
Thus, all the mages took Rossiare’s lack of results for granted, but the problem was that Rossiare was located in the North.
“I heard they haven’t even been able to make a single special Magic tool, even though His Highness has been supporting them in every way?”
“I heard the highest-ranking mage in Rossiare is only Rank 4. That’s about an Aura Shimmer in terms of swordsmanship.”
“Not even an Aura Controller level? Well, well. It’s hard to say this to a place that His Highness is sponsoring, but at this point, it’s already a failed organization.”
“Magic is useless after all. It’s difficult to learn, and even if you barely learn it, you can only create a tiny flame. We should be producing swords and bows with the money used to train mages.”
The Northerners, who didn’t know much about magic, were greatly disappointed in Rossiare and other magic organizations. Theon and Rothy had explained many times that magic was different from Aura, that they had to look further ahead and wait patiently for longer, but they couldn’t uproot the prejudice that was already ingrained in the Northerners.
Gus Tio, the head of Rossiare, became increasingly anxious at the voices of dissatisfaction coming from everywhere. He was currently fifty-four years old. He had been immersed in magic since he was young and had studied magic alone in solitude. Five years ago, when the Great Mage Rothy contacted him, saying that he would create a magic organization in the North, he thought that everything would go well from now on. He thought that the Northerners would finally start to take an interest in magic, and that the number of aspiring mages would increase explosively.
But only the interest from other regions besides the North was hot, and the Northerners were still not interested in magic.
In order to attract the attention of the Northerners, there had to be visible results.
Currently, Rossiare was researching the production of a heating Magic tool that anyone could carry around at all times. They thought that the Northerners would feel the need for it if it was practical, given their nature.
If it was developed, all the Northerners would enthusiastically welcome it, but judging from the current research results, it was still a long way off.
He knew that it was greedy to produce results in just five years. He also knew that they could show the results someday. Rothy also didn’t put any pressure on him and told him to take his time.
Nevertheless, Gus Tio couldn’t help but feel anxious and uneasy as the head of the magic organization representing the North. And at this time…
“We have been put in charge of the hunting competition’s wooden dummies!”
As Lord Rothy decided to participate in this hunting competition, he entrusted the wooden dummies entirely to Rossiare. It was a task entrusted by someone who was like a savior. This was another opportunity for Rossiare.
“We must show the power of magic to the Northerners at this hunting competition. Magic that is so flashy and explosive that they will gape in amazement!”
When the head said that in the conference room with bloodshot eyes, the mages were enthusiastic.
“That’s right! We must show off magic that is so outstanding that they will say, ‘So this is what magic is!'”
“How much more will they look down on the wooden dummies made by the mages they looked down on? Let’s make it so that they can’t succeed in catching even one this time!”
“How about implanting Magic tools in the wooden dummies? So that magic is activated when touched. So that it looks like the wooden dummies are casting magic!”
It wasn’t just the head who was anxious because there were no results; the mages were the same.
Amid the flood of ideas to trick the Northerners, one person raised their hand.
“Um… excuse me?”
Gizeh Matritsha, a young mage from the Southern Academy who came to the North with the intention of promoting magic in the North. What kind of idea would the young, promising talent who had already reached Rank 4 suggest? All eyes were focused on him.
“Well, first of all, if the wooden dummies cast magic, that would be the same as monsters, not beasts, so I don’t think that would work.”
“Ugh.”
“If we raise the difficulty so that they can’t catch even one, I think people will say that magic has failed.”
“Damn it.”
“I think we should just make the dummies as Her Highness, the Archduke Consort, used to do, just as we have seen…”
It was the right answer, but the mages shook their heads and denied it.
“That’s just what we think. The Northerners are different. After hearing that Rossiare is in charge of this hunting competition, everyone is burning with the desire to find fault.”
“So, if we just do what we used to do and don’t make any mistakes…”
“I’m telling you, it won’t work. If it’s the same, they’ll criticize us for not making any progress. There has to be something special that is different from the hunting competitions so far.”
The other mages, except for Gizeh Matritsha, were already out of their minds.
The mages put their heads together and discussed how to showcase magic. Unfortunately, the idea of the wooden dummies casting magic was scrapped. It was a level that was impossible for their abilities. Instead, opinions gathered towards magic traps.
Even in the past, traps were created at the hunting competition venue, such as digging pits or installing booby traps. The idea was to give those traps magic that would change the color of their hair or hang them upside down in the air.
Gizeh Matritsha thought that this level would be okay as he listened. Given the nature of the Northerners, they might become interested in magic if they got caught in a magic trap out of spite.
As he felt relieved at the progress, Gus Tio came up with an idea while he was drinking orange juice.
“How about setting off fireworks at the opening ceremony of the hunting competition?”
“Fireworks? Are you talking about firecrackers?”
“Flame magic. Not just firecrackers, but shooting a giant bomb into the sky.”
Splash. Gizeh Matritsha spat out the orange juice he was drinking.
“Excuse me, Head, are you crazy? Are you saying we should shoot a bomb into the sky above the Palsen territory?”
“Ah, not a bomb, but a celebratory firework. I misspoke.”
“It’s too late to correct yourself now. Your dark intentions have already been revealed!”
“The opening ceremony of the hunting competition is also the biggest event where nobles, commoners, participants from other regions, and spectators gather. On that day, we will fill the sky with flame magic that is more spectacular than any firework the people of the Empire have ever seen. So that the blue sky is entirely dyed red, so that the Northerners can only blankly admire the magic.”
“Flame magic is strictly a combat-type attack fire attribute. It’s dangerous to use it in front of people.”
“Are those people just ordinary people? They are humans who have come to participate in the thrilling and spectacular Northern Hunting Competition. The more dangerous it is, the more enthusiastic they will be.”
“In the first place, how can we fill the sky? Even I, who am Rank 4, can only create a flame the size of a fist.”
The mages’ expressions darkened at Matritsha’s words.