chapter_0011

11 – Legal Mage ‘Sharen’

11 – Legal Mage ‘Sharen’

The empire is hell.

If you were to ask the people living in the empire right now, every single one of them would answer the same way.

The emperor is dying, and the royal family is neglecting the people in their pursuit of the next throne.

The lords endlessly plundered the people for their own luxury and goals, driving them into war.

Unable to endure any longer, the people fled from their hometowns.

Some became fugitives, some were killed by monsters, and some turned to banditry.

They were merely struggling to survive, yet the people became more tormented and more pained.

If this isn’t hell, then what is?

“Please save me!! Please, I beg you!!!”

“Please… please don’t touch this child.”

“Kehehe! Just think about what you’re doing!”

Under the cover of night, this mother and daughter fled from their hometown.

They escaped to a territory where they could live somewhat like humans, avoiding plunder, but what awaited them was not a guard or a monster, but a bandit.

“Hmm? Who are you!?”

The bandit, excited at the prospect of having fun after a long time by ambushing the mother and daughter, turned around at the feeling of a gaze from behind.

There stood a figure in a brown robe, holding a red staff.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you don’t want to die, get lost!”

The bandit shouted as he drew his sword.

Then, a chilling voice flowed from within the hood that concealed the face.

“If you don’t want to die, then step back.”

Ignoring the warning, the bandit charged forward.

What followed was instantaneous.

Whoosh!

“Gaaah!!!!”

Before even reaching the brown robe, the bandit was engulfed in flames in an instant.

The flames that flared up in an instant turned the bandit’s body to dust without leaving a trace, and the world fell silent once more.

“I told you to step back…”

The magician who had used the flames approached the mother and daughter.

At that moment, as the wind blew and the brown robe fell away, there stood an elf with surprisingly beautiful short red hair fluttering in the breeze.

The little girl, forgetting that she had almost died at the sight of the most beautiful being she had ever seen, was left speechless.

“Are you okay, little one?”

As the red-haired elf magician approached, the girl finally regained her senses and responded.

Bowing her head repeatedly as her mother had taught her, the girl shouted.

“Thank you for saving us!! Magician!!”

“Thank your mother. It was her desperation that summoned the Spirit and allowed me to help you.”

“Yes! Thank you, Mom!!”

“Really… really! Thank you for helping us, Magician.”

“It’s nothing. I merely did what I had to do.”

Her name was Sharen Lirisia.

A half-elf magician wandering the empire.

The reason she roamed the empire was to help people.

By nature, elves did not interfere in human affairs.

They were a race that lived in their forests or learned magic in the Magic Tower.

But she could not remain idle.

She could not just watch as the empire, her father’s world, crumbled and people suffered.

In the end, she broke her promise with her master and plunged into the human world.

To help people, to stabilize the empire, she used her abilities as a magician, but what she saw was humanity’s ‘endless greed.’

“Um… if it’s not too much trouble, where are you going, Magician?”

“Hmm, where should I go…”

She had traveled through many territories in the east and west.

Some welcomed her, while others rejected her.

But she didn’t care about that; she used her magic to help people.

She healed the sick, defeated monsters, and made the land fertile.

As she helped people, the lords and nobles ruling those lands naturally sought her out.

Whenever it was for the sake of helping people, she was always ready to cooperate.

But they wanted her to help ‘themselves,’ not ‘the people.’

They did not see the common folk as people like themselves; they wanted her to use her magic solely for their own benefit.

In return, they promised her treasures, and she was disappointed by their greed and left them.

Even after that, she continued to wander the empire, helping people.

She believed there would surely be someone with genuine goodwill who wanted to change the world, and she kept traveling to be that person’s strength.

Bards praised her for this.

They sang of the half-elf red magician who traveled the world helping people.

Before long, people began to call her with respect and reverence.

They called her ‘Crimson Sorcerer Sharen.’

Thus, ten years passed.

In elven time, ten years is a very short period.

But in human time, it was enough for a person’s resolve to wear away.

Having witnessed human greed for ten years, she began to understand her master’s words and wanted to give up on humanity.

“Um… Magician… if you have nowhere to go, come with us!”

“Come with you?”

“Yes! We are heading south right now.”

“South? What’s there?”

She had only been in the east and west.

Thus, she didn’t know much about the south and north.

At her words, the little girl shouted excitedly.

“The bards told us! They say there’s a paradise in the south!”

“Paradise?”

Sharen did not believe the girl’s words.

Rumors from bards were usually exaggerated.

“They say there’s a very kind and great lord there. He gives a lot of money to the common folk and takes in all the fugitives, and… oh! He even jumped into the sea to save the common folk during a storm!”

“He jumped into the sea during a storm?”

Sharen was a little surprised by the girl’s words.

She had heard tales of lords fighting dragons or single-handedly slaying a hundred bandits.

But this was the first time she had heard of a lord jumping into the sea to save common folk.

“There, the people are kind, and everyone works together to defeat bandits and live peacefully. We are heading there!”

“Such a place exists…”

A place where the lord protects the common folk and the people unite to create peace.

That was the world she had dreamed of.

But she found it hard to believe.

Having believed in the countless songs sung by bards, she had traveled through many territories.

But faith always disappointed her.

“If the Magician has nowhere to go, come with us!!”

Sensing her hesitation, the girl clung to her and said.

Seeing the pure and clear gaze, sadness welled up within her.

She too had once held hope for the world.

But now she was disappointed in everything, and even hesitated to save this mother and daughter.

How had it come to this?

Why had it turned out this way?

Was it truly an inevitable fate that the human world would become unhappy, as her master had said?

Then at least…

At least she thought she must protect this girl.

If she traveled with them, the girl would not be harmed.

Moreover, if the paradise was just a rumor, she could take them to her Magic Tower and save them.

“Alright… let’s go together.”

“Yes! Mom! The Magician is coming with us!!”

At her words, the girl joyfully ran to her mother.

Sensing the intention to protect her, the mother continuously expressed her gratitude.

Thus, she headed south to a part of the empire she had never been to.

Sharen set out on a journey with the mother and daughter.

She learned their names as well.

The girl’s name was Laila, and her mother was Aila.

Sharen headed south, protecting them.

The journey was not easy.

Bandits came every two days, and monsters like goblins and slimes attacked them.

Sharen thought that if she hadn’t been there, they would have died within a week, and she felt glad she had accompanied them.

Two weeks passed in this manner.

She began to feel something strange.

‘(The Spirits… are happy.)’

As they traveled further south, more and more Spirits began to rejoice.

Spirits were sensitive to human emotions.

And elves could sense the emotions of those Spirits.

This was also the reason she had left behind countless lords.

No matter how much the lords tried to hide the suffering of the common folk, she felt all their pain through the Spirits.

That’s why she left, and that’s why she traveled alone.

Yet now, she felt the Spirits singing joyfully like birds waking in the morning.

This feeling… had been a long time coming.

“Sharen, you’re smiling. Is something good happening?”

“I smiled because the Spirits are happy, Laila.”

“The Spirits? Ah! It seems they’re happy because we came!!”

“Hehe, perhaps.”

Feeling the happy emotions of the Spirits after a long time, Sharen began to enjoy her journey with them.

It was a wondrous experience.

As they traveled south, the bandits began to dwindle.

The number of rejoicing Spirits started to increase, and monsters no longer attacked.

And finally, they arrived at that place in the south.

“Wow!! We’ve arrived, Sharen!!!”

“……”

Sharen would never forget that sight until her dying moment.

Countless people had fled to this vast land, risking their lives, filled with hope.

There were warm hands welcoming them.

She felt the hope and joy they experienced, and there were Spirits flying in the blue sky.

It was truly a ‘paradise.’

That day, one of the greatest magicians of the Novarens Empire, the Crimson Sorcerer Sharen, arrived at Cron’s territory.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

A state-level magician has arrived at the territory.

I can imagine the protagonist on the verge of tears from joy.

Thank you for reading today as well!!