Ch.2020. One Step (2)

At Daphne’s words, everyone in the room’s expressions turned to bewilderment. From George, who was usually expressionless except for occasional frowning, to Nella who was already scowling heavily, and even to me. I heard footsteps behind me. It was Daphne approaching.

“You…”

“Apologize for that comment right now.”

It was a side of her I’d never seen before. I could feel slightly violent mana leaking from Daphne. The wooden floor of the office creaked. Regardless, the Holy Sword spoke to me in its usual flat voice. If anything, it seemed slightly amused.

“[Your companion is quite fierce. Didn’t they say that quiet people are truly frightening when angered?]”

I just realized she was such a fierce person myself. The light that usually shone in Daphne’s eyes had now disappeared. I also noticed for the first time how deep purple her eyes were.

“You’re quite amusing yourself. Since you’ve already offered your body to the hero, are you pretending to offer your heart too? Did you think I’d be intimidated if you came on strong?”

Nella raised her mana, retorting with equal intensity, determined not to back down. The mana emitted by this magic user at the edge of the 5th circle threatened to shake the entire room. The two forces leaking from Daphne and Nella engaged in an invisible power struggle.

“At least Ilroy wouldn’t accept your body even if you offered it.”

As Daphne looked Nella up and down while speaking, Nella’s face contorted to an artistic degree. She hesitated, stepping half a step back with her face turning bright red.

“Let’s do this then. Instead of just talking, why don’t you attack me right now?”

At this rate, my office would collapse. I raised my mana as much as possible to intervene between these two overwhelming presences.

“Nella, watch your mouth. And both of you, unless you’re planning to blow up the central street of the royal capital, that’s enough.”

“Ilroy!! So this is how you’re going to be!”

I let out a long sigh. I was already uncomfortable having said something that offended Daphne, and if she angered me further here, I didn’t know what I might say. Just as I barely managed to control my anger, George’s low voice was heard.

“Then, how about this?”

All three of us turned our attention to George at once. Not having expected to be the center of attention, he cleared his throat to suppress his embarrassment.

“We were planning to check Daphne’s abilities and coordinate with her today anyway. Rather than wasting manpower fighting each other, why don’t we head to the outskirts together and verify while hunting monsters?”

At those words, Nella nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Yes, George. For once you’ve said something right. After all, what matters is confirming who’s more useful in actual combat, right?”

I looked at George. He slightly raised his hand apologetically, but I could let it slide this time. That’s because Daphne was also wearing an expression that suggested she wouldn’t back down. I trusted Daphne. If she was willing to do it, I wouldn’t step in to stop her.

“Daphne.”

I called out to her, and Daphne answered without looking down at me, continuing to glare at Nella.

“I don’t mind. Let her try whatever she wants.”

Daphne was confident. Therefore, I didn’t try to interfere with her will. From now on, this was Daphne Ephiphone’s fight. Trusting her was the best I could do. In response to Daphne’s answer, Nella gave a sneering smile as if finding it ridiculous.

“You? You who are barely at the 4th circle seriously want to face me?”

“You can give up if you’re not confident.”

Daphne answered with a stern expression, ignoring Nella’s laughter. Nella snorted once more and folded her arms.

“Fine, then whoever objectively helps the party more stays, and the useless one just walks away. There’s no option of working together. Your first impression today was the worst.”

Daphne didn’t bother to answer. She just continued to glare at Nella with those angry eyes devoid of their usual light. The two stared at each other for a long time, and the standoff continued until I got up from my seat and strapped the Holy Sword to my waist.

“…Let’s change locations first.”

Saying that, I sent the party members out of the building first. Watching Daphne’s fluttering light pink hair as she walked out, I narrowed my eyes. Though Daphne didn’t know it yet, from my perspective, she was just one step away from breaking through her wall.

“[Do you think this confrontation with that magician will be an opportunity to break her wall?]”

I just thought it might be the catalyst. An opportunity and catalyst to find the courage to take that insufficient one step. Even if she couldn’t defeat Nella Tarr, I was prepared to keep Daphne in the party despite the threats.

“[Setting aside how you saw through her talent. Do you keep protecting Daphne because you believe her talent will someday reach the highest level?]”

Maybe so.

I furrowed my brow while handling the Holy Sword. Perhaps it was as the Holy Sword said, or there might be another reason. Perhaps I had started to see her as more than just a talented magician or a character in a novel. As someone who breathes, laughs, and cries. A person of flesh and blood, someone I had begun to think of as my companion.

A cool breeze passed by after the rain. I slowly moved my steps while watching Daphne walking with a hardened expression.

==

“Don’t interfere.”

Nella seemed considerably disappointed that the testing ground was merely the forest on the outskirts of the royal capital. She cracked her neck and began releasing the mana she had accumulated. Ilroy and George said nothing, preparing to handle any monsters that might slip through.

“The fact that I have to undergo such a comparison is humiliating in itself.”

Nella said, glancing at Daphne. A 4th circle magician? Nella didn’t sense anything special about her. The only notable thing was her appearance, which made Nella even more furious inside. That hero and the knight standing beside him.

‘I’ll make you regret this.’

Nella resolved as she drew up her magical power. She planned to overwhelmingly defeat that pink-haired girl, then leave the party claiming she had lost interest. And after sufficiently enjoying the sight of George or Ilroy trying to stop her, she would return with the upper hand in the party.

‘They can’t recruit a magician better than me.’

Making them realize this clearly would make controlling the hero’s party not just a dream. Perhaps the hero bringing in this magician was actually a good opportunity for her.

The two magicians stood side by side at the front of the group and began making their way through the forest. The weather was good, so visibility wasn’t bad.

Screeeech-!!

With a sound that scratched the ears, giant insect monsters revealed themselves. Without hesitation, Nella converted her magical power into a spell and clenched her fist. A blue light surged from the ground where the monsters stood, and ice pillars shot up, impaling them.

“Watch carefully.”

Nella turned around with a sneering smile. Daphne seemed to have tried to cast a spell, as she was stretching her right hand forward. But no magic manifested from her fingertips.

“You just stay still,”

Nella’s words reached Daphne, but she simply ignored them. Others’ words no longer had much impact on Daphne. She glanced back at Ilroy, then closed her eyes. She kept reaching for what was pulsing in her heart.

.

When had it started? When had she first felt something ticking like a clock spring in her heart?

Daphne realized it was a mana circle when she was just ten years old. With every breath, the mana in the air joyfully settled in Daphne’s body, and the circle spinning in her heart became more solid and clear as time passed.

Learning magic was enjoyable. Even without books, Daphne could circulate mana within her body and manifest it as phenomena in the world.

.

Boom-!!

Nella Tarr’s magic exploded. With a flick of her finger, the charging Hornhogs were engulfed in a pillar of fire and burned black. Nella looked down at the dead Hornhogs with contempt.

“I’ll finish this without you having to step in.”

Nella said as she walked forward relentlessly, deeper into the forest. Whenever monsters appeared, sparks flew from Daphne’s hands, but before her efforts could yield any tangible results, Nella’s magic was already complete. This time it was a simple concentration and release of magical power. The barrage of magic power like lightning left holes all over the monster’s body.

“The sight of a supposedly 4th circle magician trembling before me, unable to cast magic.”

Nella sneered. Monsters continued to charge, and each time they were killed by Nella’s barrage of magic, piercing their heads.

“Right, I think I’ve heard your name at the Adventurer’s Guild before.”

Bang-!

Another monster met its death at Nella’s hands. Nella wasn’t even looking in the direction she was casting her magic anymore. Her gaze was fixed on Daphne, who had lowered her head after failing to cast magic again.

“Weren’t you that strange magician who wandered from one adventurer party to another, unable to properly use magic? Always getting kicked out from wherever you were accepted.”

.

The first expulsion was from the village.

Monsters invaded the village. I remember it was probably a giant ash-colored bear. Remote villages outside urban areas, not being places where monsters frequently inhabit, lack defenses against them. A dangerous monster like an ash-colored bear crossing over was by no means a common event.

The village men went out to stop the ash-colored bear. If they left the village, they would have nowhere to go. And so, the men died. The clock spring inside Daphne whispered. You could defeat that thing.

So, she used magic.

The ash-colored bear disappeared without leaving a trace in this world.

Whether it was expulsion, or the fear directed at her, or rejection. She didn’t think about what happened afterward. It wasn’t necessary. Just to recapture that moment’s sensation, the feeling of magic leaving her hands, Daphne closed her eyes.

.

Crackle!

Magic tried to manifest in Daphne’s hand again but failed. Nella now ignored Daphne and began massacring monsters with magic as if venting her frustration. Another monster appeared. Nella, seemingly untired, began constructing another spell.

Crackle!

Magic tried to manifest in Daphne’s hand again but failed. This time, she reacted even faster than Nella. Nella frowned and glared at Daphne.

“This girl…”

Her reaction speed was getting faster and faster. Although she failed each time, the presence of the blooming magic was no joke. At this rate, who knew what variable might occur.

Nella urgently called out to Ilroy.

“Isn’t this enough?! Do we need to see more?”

However, Ilroy just shook his head and slightly raised one corner of his mouth.

“It’s not over yet.”

.

At first, what she feared was rejection.

The premonition that she wouldn’t be accepted. Eyes that never looked at Daphne as a person even if they accepted her. Even among such people, Daphne feared being rejected. Daphne was driftwood that had lost its roots. A wanderer cast out from the place she was most attached to, a patient suffering from aftereffects with nowhere to go.

And then, she met Ilroy.

‘Daphne, let’s go.’

That hand that grabbed her wrist.

‘I’ll believe in you. And I’ll wait until you finally believe in yourself.’

The words telling her he believed in her, and the conviction and trust in his eyes. That hand that lifted her from the rock where she had been stagnant. The eyes that blinked in surprise when she doodled on the bandage, and the bitter smile he showed soon after.

‘Daphne.’

The voice that called her with a familiar resonance, so casually. A faint smile.

She didn’t want to lose it. She wouldn’t lose her place. The chains binding Daphne’s legs began to loosen one by one.

What does expulsion matter? Even though I was born and raised there, those villagers abandoned me. I have no reason to cling to them.

What does the magic tower matter? That professor didn’t properly teach me anything, just kept me locked up in the laboratory.

I have no reason to hold onto adventurers who didn’t believe in me. There’s no need to try to mix with those who deliberately spread bad rumors.

If these past memories drag me down further, I won’t be able to stay by Ilroy’s side. I had to give at least minimal repayment to the person who taught me trust. The person who first faced Daphne Ephiphone as a human being. I couldn’t remain a coward afraid of people anymore.

Clang.

There was a sound of something breaking. Not the ominous sound of a glass breaking, but a sound that felt like a liberating feeling of breaking iron chains. Tick-tock. The clock spring in Daphne’s heart, which had been stopped for a while, began to spin fiercely. The mana ring that had stopped at four began to build a new ring, using the debris of the broken wall as nourishment.

Tick.

The moment the fifth ring was formed in Daphne’s heart, all the mana that had been leaking from her suddenly vanished as if evaporating. Instead, a light cluster that had never formed in Daphne’s hand began to bloom with a destructive momentum. It was the precursor to a destruction-type spell.

One step.

Daphne moved forward. Nella turned her head at the sudden magical momentum rising behind her.

Lightning Bolt.

Daphne’s lips moved slightly, and

BOOM!!!

A streak of lightning extending from her fingertips incinerated every being in front of her.