NOVEL WEB Ch. 9.9
"I can manage flames and lightning-like things pretty well, but the one that is called familiars... summoning magic, was it? I don't know that, and it seems difficult. Something about borrowing the power of spirits and fairies."
"Hmm. That's something for future training, but you know, that thing that leaves round marks—that's extremely special, and there are rarely any who can manipulate it. No wait, don't be hasty. You mustn't use it here."
Though the Elder Master was hard of hearing, missing front teeth, and senile, he seemed to be an experienced magic user and shared knowledge Safi had never heard. He explained that the technique of leaving round holes was a type of earth-attribute magic that normally required advanced training.
"The last time I saw it was, let's see, when I was praised as a peerless beautiful youth, in peaceful times when there were no great wars. A short person who suddenly appeared in this town, also calling himself a black magician—though he was a man—demonstrated it like showing off a trick and excited the townspeople. It was like magic, but the power was real, creating darkness like the underworld from his palm."
Though some information was unnecessary, the expression about creating darkness like the underworld was skillful, and Safi liked it. She definitely wanted to borrow and use it in the future. As thanks, she created a small black sphere in her palm to show them.
Everyone gathered in the Hall of Lamentation was amazed. At the same time, the secret treasure stone shone even brighter. Red like crimson flames, giving the illusion of being hot. According to the Elder Master, this was proof that the magic creating darkness was earth-attribute—a force that affects minerals and such.
"Oh, young lady, that's a dangerous thing. Put it away quickly. That might not break things but rather be something dangerous that swallows everything."
As told, Safi immediately made it disappear. The completely dull black sphere was curious and gave an eerie, ominous impression, but it was indeed rather like a little magic trick.
The Elder Master didn't mention the black sphere further and placed the blazing rainbow stone on a pedestal. It was a way of enshrining befitting a secret treasure. No mystical phenomena occurred like a single ray of light extending the moment the stone was placed and mysterious ancient characters floating up—it simply changed through seven colors from red to orange to yellow.
Safi was disappointed, but even the seven transformations were enough to surprise those around. As the Elder Master had said, the vivid red color was its first appearance, and no one in the white-robed group had ever observed it before. The rainbow stone harbored its seventh color, revealing its true form here.
Even so, it merely shone flashily and was only interesting to look at. While ignoring the voices of joy around her, the black magician lost interest. But then she noticed that illuminated by the stone's light, a plain picture like a map hung on the back wall.
It was a large stone tablet. Pictograms showing mountains and rivers, with meaningful star marks. It was definitely a map showing something, and Safi had seen it before.
"Are you interested? That's a stone tablet excavated about three hundred years ago, said to be a very precious artifact, but we don't know much about it. Some castle lords explained it as a power map of an ancient great nation, while some priest insisted it was a map showing the location of secret treasures."
The white-robed guide explained. Safi recognized the mountains and rivers at the right edge of the stone tablet. She pulled out a scroll from the hem of her robe and compared it with the pictograms before her. The scroll Safi had hidden contained a map with many cipher-like notations.
"It seems similar in some ways, and yeah, there are parts that look completely unrelated too..."
What concerned her were the star marks. They lacked consistency, sometimes located mid-slope on mountains or near river sources. For now, she marked her scroll using the stone tablet as reference. The surrounding white-robed figures, including the Elder Master, peered at the scroll the black magician had spread with curious faces.
In addition to mountains and rivers, it had notations showing lakes of various sizes and settlements. What was distinctive was one thick line. It meandered complexly, bent at right angles in places, and had some sections that were dashed lines.
"What kind of map is that?"
"It's called a pilgrimage route. It's a path that pilgrims walked long ago. The Lost Pilgrimage Route. It was very important, and long ago many people competed to walk this path. Now, apparently no one remembers it anymore, but even this city is along the route."
The priest looked at each other and asked among themselves if anyone knew about pilgrimages, but there were no related records or traditions. What was this Lost Pilgrimage Route?
"So you're saying, young lady, that you're traveling that pilgrimage path alone?"
"Yeah, something like that. I'm a traveler, but to put it more stylishly, yes, a pilgrim. It's a journey to restore the Lost Pilgrimage Route."
Safi skillfully finished copying and rolled up the map, storing it in the hem of her robe.
It didn't seem to be a topic that interested the priest. They lived in this fortress city prepared to be buried here, and rarely ventured outside the castle. They were settlers living lives completely opposite to travelers. They showed no further interest in the stone tablet's mountains and rivers or the ancient map's pathways.
The Lost Pilgrimage Route. It was said to be a road where even aged magicians once walked silently, dragging their staffs. Ancient memories had faded, clues were few, and it was doubtful whether traces could be found. And what awaited at the destination...
A long, endless pilgrimage journey where it wasn't even known if there was an endpoint. The black magician girl Safi was merely standing on tiptoe at a place still close to the beginning.
< Arc 1 "The Prisoner of Spiral Castle Marks Ancient Maps" Complete >
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The prologue closes like this. Walking the "Lost Pilgrimage Route" and restoring it becomes the purpose of the journey.
After this, she receives hospitality in the Hall of Lamentation, but with the night growing late, only the insomniac Safi and the unusually energetic Elder Master are awake. He has a loud voice. She also received various souvenirs as thanks for returning the jewel.
Act 2 begins on the road west from the fortress city, where she encounters a dangerous character.