Ch.41The City of Three Magic Towers. Ortus (7)

Two days had passed, and during that time, their skills had improved exponentially—quite literally.

In fact, this was to be expected. They were mages who had applied for early graduation and possessed the skills to have that request accepted. If they combined their powers, taking down a battler like me would be child’s play.

Until now, I had been suppressing their talent with the wall of experience, but once they steeled their resolve, their natural abilities quickly overwhelmed my experience.

From the beginning, I was alone while there were five of them, so they could beat me one-sidedly without giving me a chance to get close. On an open battlefield, I might have been able to manage somehow, but in the confined space of a classroom, it was impossible.

Five spell casters brimming with talent versus one battler with nothing but ridiculous endurance…

Who wouldn’t say the latter had no chance of winning?

I thought so too, and Professor Felice shared the same opinion.

“I have nothing more to teach you now. Your graduation requests have been approved.”

“Really?!”

“Yes. Now go out there and kill some people or something.”

They received the graduation certificates they had been yearning for, and with that, my request came to an end as well.

Professor Felice wrote the four characters for “Request Completed” on my form, and after receiving it, I had a brief conversation with her.

“That wasn’t as difficult as I expected. The Guild Master said they had absolutely terrible tempers.”

“They actually do.”

“Then why didn’t they show that temper to me?”

“Maybe because you threw a chair before speaking?”

“Oh.”

So throwing a chair is the way to subdue bad tempers… Good information to have.

Anyway, with this, I had now become a Charcoal-rank adventurer, which meant I would be regarded as someone who could be trusted even with dangerous tasks, beyond just being a competent adventurer.

Of course, there’s still a big difference between Firewood rank and Metal rank.

“What will you do now? Stay in this city a bit longer?”

“I suppose so. I have some shopping to do.”

“What are you buying?”

“A spatial storage. I already have one, but it’s defective, so I want to get a proper one.”

“I see.”

This city of Ortus has three magic towers.

Naturally, it was a place where all kinds of magical tools, including spatial storage items, sold like hotcakes. With three magic towers, competition among artificers was fierce, resulting in generally high quality.

That meant I could get good quality at a reasonable price, which was welcome news for someone like me with a substantial amount of money.

“You… said your goal was to visit all the famous sites across the 13 continents, right?”

“That’s right. I’m planning to head in that direction.”

“…Then you’ll have no choice but to travel back and forth along the coastlines.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

The 13 continents were discovered and named by ancient humans.

They were survivors from the destroyed old Earth (those from Mars and Venus apparently went elsewhere) who traveled in a clockwise direction on a massive ark converted from a spaceship, discovering continents along the way. Because of this, Centrum, located in the very center, was the last to be named.

They split into 13 groups and settled on each of the 13 continents, and soon 13 distinct cultures blossomed across these lands.

That was the era of the 13 Kingdoms, which continued until just before the rise of the Ancient Empire.

But nothing can last forever.

During the time of the 13 nations, the sun and moon had not yet risen again, and the world suffered in eternal darkness and cold.

As the nations prospered, the evil minions of darkness grew jealous of their prosperity and waged countless wars, continuously devastating the fragmented human civilization.

Then, the most powerful human hero, Nariakira Saburo, sacrificed himself and ascended to become the sun, vowing to burn eternally to illuminate the world. His wife, Maria Taylor, also ascended to become the moon to prevent humanity from being blinded and the earth from burning due to her husband’s light.

It was then that a day was established as 36 hours, seasons and months were created for the first time, and the calendar system was established.

Afterward, humanity united under Nariakira Ichika, the adopted son of Nariakira Saburo, and successfully waged all-out war against the minions of darkness who were burning under the sun’s radiance.

Thus ended the era of the 13 nations, and what we commonly call the Ancient Empire—the “Nariakiran Empire”—was founded.

The Empire endured for an astonishing 300,000 years, and it was during this time that Karyl, Medina, Logos, and Moneta first ascended to the thrones of the Four Great Deities.

At that time, the Nariakiran Empire naturally worshipped the Emperor as a living god (since his father had ascended to become the sun and his wife had become the moon), and because of this, they were extremely wary and considered it taboo for mortals to become immortal, or more broadly, for humans to become gods.

The Empire lasted for 300,000 years, but all nations eventually fall.

Decadence, corruption, injustice… the stagnant Empire gradually began to decline. The imperial family’s arrogant and harsh rule, believing themselves to be descendants of gods, caused the people to turn their backs, and soon the Blood God Karyl ascended, followed by Medina, Logos, and Moneta in succession.

With the Four Great Deities ascended, the Empire lost the vigor to govern the vast 13 continents, and soon apostles blessed by all four deities beheaded the Empire’s leadership. The provincial governments and rebel forces, having lost the central government, engaged in civil war for a staggering 50,000 years.

This 50,000-year period is called the “Age of Solar Eclipse,” as people of that time believed that Saburo, the main deity of the fallen Nariakiran Empire, was shedding tears watching his empire crumble, and that during occasional solar eclipses, his wife Maria was wiping away his tears.

Finally, after 50,000 years of civil war, the Nariakiran Empire remained only in ruins, relics, and records, and both sun and moon worship declined into minority religions—neither heretical nor pagan, but with few believers.

The calendar system we use today, A.P. (After Perish), marks its first year from when the last remnants of the Nariakiran Empire perished.

And the adventurers’ guild to which I belong was directly contracted with the Four Great Deities by Nariakira Kenta, the last emperor of the Nariakiran Empire, which further diminished support for the imperial family as people said the descendants of the sun and moon had been blinded by blood, desire, curiosity, and petty money.

In the end, the direct imperial lineage was completely extinguished with him. During the Age of Solar Eclipse, provincial governments hastily enthroned new emperors, but they offered no vision beyond “returning to the glorious past.”

Thus, the fragments of the Empire fell along with their arrogance, and now in A.P. 1200, even that mighty empire is simply called the “Ancient Empire.”

I first learned about this after fully mastering reading, when I read a book called “The History of the World” at Parcival’s city library.

At that time, I was completely fascinated by the Nariakiran Empire that had ruled the entire world, and I sincerely lamented its downfall.

But now that I’m older, I understand that even the imperial family of that great empire were merely humans.

If they were truly gods, then they were incompetent; if they were humans, then they were arrogant. Either way, the empire’s downfall was inevitable.

“…Are you listening to me?”

“Hm? Ah… sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment… Where were we?”

“Your journey. I was saying you’ll probably need magical assistance.”

“Magical assistance…?”

“You can’t use magic, but that’s limited to spells. If certain marks are inscribed on your body, you too could use ‘magical functions’—not as powerful as spells, but still useful.”

“…You mean mark magic?”

“Oh. You know about it?”

“Many adventurers in Parcival use it. I couldn’t afford it though. Since it’s a port city, mark magic that lets you light fires on ships and create fresh water is very popular there.”

“Hmm…”

At my words, Felice slightly puffed her cheeks.

She was probably sulking because she couldn’t explain it to me.

“Only those under 20 can puff their cheeks like that.”

“Tch.”

Good. Now it’s clear that she’s older than 20.

Anyway, after deflating her cheeks, she wrote something on a piece of parchment and handed it to me. Judging by the magical circle on the wax seal, it seemed to have some kind of magical security measure.

“If you take this to my friend in Dreisen, you’ll be able to get marks inscribed on your body too.”

“Is it like a letter of recommendation?”

“You could say that. Judging by your personality, even if you form a party, others will eventually get tired and leave, which means you’ll end up having to do everything yourself.”

“Ugh…”

Having just received a heavy dose of truth from Seriya, I could only agree with her words.

I accepted her letter of recommendation and headed toward the Adventurers’ Guild.