The Residents of the Wilderness

The Residents of the Wilderness

Just.

There are mornings like that.

When you open your eyes and everything feels unfamiliar.

The ceiling you always see feels strange, the blanket you always cover yourself with feels strange, the cool air feels strange, and you wonder: what does it mean to be alive? Who am I? A day when baseless thoughts bubble up endlessly.

Today is like that.

Is it because it’s my birthday?

As I get up, I suddenly feel like I can smell the dust of the wilderness. I find myself longing intensely for that scent, even though it doesn’t hold particularly good memories.

I touch my cheek and realize I’m smiling. No, I’m not really smiling—I’m unconsciously mimicking that expression the adults in the wilderness used to make. The smile my mother Baek Song-i and my father Baek Ho-ryang would often wear. That smile which, despite anticipating despair, simply shakes off the overnight frost and smiles anyway. That grass-leaf smile.

I try my best to make it, but it doesn’t feel right.

Even at seventeen, I still can’t make that expression they say children don’t know how to make.

Of course, it would be best not to learn such a smile at all,

But among the thousand paths before me, I can’t know which will become mine. So I should always be prepared.

It’s our destiny as mages to embrace this scattering world.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Damn. Who is it? What ruffian is completely shattering this emotional moment on the first morning of my 17th year?

Could this even be called knocking? It was downright aggressive.

Crash!

What? They’ve completely broken the door!

Sky-blue hair flutters through the broken doorway. Beside it, the bulky Monggu grins sheepishly.

“Hey!”

Yuria shouts as soon as she enters. Her face is full of mischief. My brewing anger melts away.

“Come on, Jun, let’s eat this.”

What Yuria suddenly holds out is steamed jelly cow tenderloin. The jelly cow, said to feed only on clean dew and fruit, is an exquisite delicacy that combines the richness of beef with the freshness of dessert. This particular dish, steamed and then served cold, is among the most high-end of jelly cow dishes.

“I just got it from the best jelly cow restaurant in Lanciel City!”

Yuria’s face is flushed with excitement, and Monggu solemnly takes flowers from a basket to decorate various corners of my room. No one mentions “happy birthday,” and I don’t ask what this is all about.

“Thanks. This is… it’s been a while.”

Right. It’s my birthday.

And it’s been a long time. Since the Sena School Nomad disbanded, I’ve been too busy and usually spent my birthdays alone, training. That’s right. This is how birthdays are normally spent, isn’t it? With family.

They decorate the room, and we sit around cutting the jelly cow tenderloin one spoonful at a time.

“Wow… this is delicious.”

I shake my head in amazement.

“Wow! It’s so good!”

Yuria straightens her back with excitement. Monggu silently works his spoon.

When it touches your tongue, it melts smoothly like well-marbled beef, and deep in the flesh, instead of meat juices, there’s a perfectly ripened fruit essence that gives a refreshing sensation. It’s so aromatic that even your nostrils feel enriched.

“It’s nice to have Light to burn. If there were more people like Principal Ruttle, it would be perfect. We could extract even more Light.”

Yuria mumbles with her fork in her mouth.

“Do we need more Light? Is there anything in the world more delicious than jelly cow?”

Monggu opens his dreamy eyes.

“They say the fire-flower grapes are no joke either.”

“When I tried them before, they weren’t that special?”

“Fool. Fire-flower grapes must have different grades too. What we ate wasn’t the highest grade, they said. Hah—now they’re saying jelly cows will be out of stock for a while… why do these things happen just when we start making money?”

Yuria laments, then smacks the slime wallet dangling and wiggling on her necklace.

“Hey! You’ll die if you eat this!”

The slime wallet whines with “kyuu-kyuu” sounds. Imagine a slime wallet that can only eat Light wanting to eat food… truly bewitching.

But to think we might never see such food again?

The world ending would indeed be troublesome.

“Hmm—looks nice.”

While we’re enjoying our morning, the Wizard of Refinement slips in through the broken door. He immediately tosses over a necklace. This is an informal setting, so he doesn’t bother with honorifics.

“Yo, Senior Elder. You’re quite popular. Here, I noticed you were wearing a mass-produced protection necklace that doesn’t suit your status, so I made this.”

Next came the user manual, flying through the air.

————————

<Reaction Necklace>

Created after studying Lytol the Flash Mage’s secret technique, Rainbow Shield.

Can reverse forces applied to the body. Useful for reflecting enemy attacks or reversing movements.

The Divine Mage has exceptional mobility using wind power, but when facing enemies with sufficient analytical abilities, there’s concern that wind-based movements might be predicted.

In such cases, this necklace can be used to make an unexpected move.

The maximum energy that can be reversed in a day measures approximately one destruction spell from a 6th Circle wizard.

————————

An incredible item.

Even for the renowned craftsman that the Wizard of Refinement is, this is a masterpiece special even to him—a treasure worth at least 3,000 Morning.

After tossing over such an item, the Wizard of Refinement waved his hand and left the room.

Again, there was no mention of “happy birthday.”

The Wizard of Refinement wasn’t the last. Pan-Dalus suddenly appeared, displaying an adult’s demeanor by asking “You like money, right?” and giving me 5,000 Morning. “This is the first time, and also as an investment. Don’t expect too much next time,” he added with a hearty laugh, which was also very adult-like.

Though the Wizard of Refinement and Pan-Dalus made quite an impact, everyone else who came afterward also brought heartfelt gifts.

“Th-this! It’s really delicious!”

“It’s different! The real thing is different!”

Hedric arrived with the premium fire-flower grapes that Yuria and Monggu had been raving about, and Ak-hu, Sonnet, and Kim Ji-woong, having somehow heard the news, each brought a stone—one of fire, one of lightning, and one of water. These were items I had been looking for whenever I had time since awakening Ari from the Stone of Wind. Rather than being expensive, they were simply rare.

-Wow! Wow! I smell something familiar!

Are you happy, Ari? I’m happy too. This is an opportunity to advance my stalled spirit research.

Birthdays are truly the best.

After that, large and small gifts continued to arrive non-stop. To the point where I thought I might die buried under presents.

“Give me that mass-produced necklace!”

Meanwhile, Yuria snatched the protection necklace from my neck and sorted through the gifts, picking out the ones I didn’t need, giggling all the while.

Of course, throughout all this, no one actually said the word “congratulations.” They just slipped in, handed over their gifts like returning borrowed items, and left. I didn’t say thank you either.

This is exactly what celebrating a birthday on the Star Continent was like.

They don’t say “happy birthday.”

Practicing magic means pursuing perfection. There’s no reason to celebrate the imperfection of being born and dying.

But the hearts of those who survive still want to express gratitude and affection. So they quietly come to give gifts, and those as close as family simply spend a special day together as if in celebration.

Congratulations. Thank you. Without words, those feelings are shown and repaid through actions.

It’s good.

I don’t know what the supposedly peaceful Earth was like, but I love this Star Continent where I was born and raised. These moments blossoming in a dying world are so endearing.

If Earth people could hear my voice, I’d want to shout:

Are you watching? This is what the Star Continent is like!

Jealous?

* * *

At that moment.

Near Alpinee Mountain on the 7th Continent.

The Pathfinder delegation that had departed for Alpine City was in trouble.

The fifteen mages were currently surrounded by a menacing crowd of about a thousand people.

“…Who are these people? Are they ordinary civilians?”

Lee Su-yeon, the 4th Circle mage leading the Alpine City delegation, asked her deputy.

“Yes. There seem to be about four 2nd Circle mages, a few dozen 1st Circle mages… at best, the rest are Mana Users, and most are mana beginners.”

“Ha!”

It was an absurd situation. In the Tower of Covenant, mages were common, but here in the wilderness, a mage was as good as nobility. Being admired was the basic expectation, and people naturally lowered themselves for fear of offending a mage’s sensibilities. Yet these thousand or so people had, conversely, raised weapons against mages.

It was so ridiculous that anger didn’t even come.

“What is this? Why are you blocking a perfectly good road and causing trouble? And why have you gathered like this? Are you trying to attract aggro and all die together?”

The one who answered Su-yeon’s question was an elderly 2nd Circle mage.

“We do not want bloodshed.”

It was an unexpected answer.

“Pardon?”

“We don’t want bloodshed. So we ask that you mages from the Tower put down what you’ve collected and quietly return to the Tower.”

Su-yeon frowned.

“I don’t… understand what you’re saying…”

“Don’t pretend you don’t understand! You know very well, don’t you? We know something big happened in the Tower. But we need to live too! Taking food and resources indiscriminately like that—are you saying all of us wilderness residents should just die?”

Su-yeon looked around at the delegation members. They all shrugged, equally bewildered.

“Taking food and resources? We have never done such a thing.”

“Are you going to deny it until the end? Then we have no choice.”

For some reason, the mage’s declaration wasn’t being accepted.

The atmosphere grew even more volatile.

Swoosh.

Click-click.

The sounds of swords being drawn and arrows being nocked were everywhere. Though they weren’t mages, there were a thousand of them. Rough people who had survived fighting calamities in the wilderness. The killing intent they emitted made the faces of the young mages with little combat experience turn pale.

Su-yeon’s expression hardened.

‘This doesn’t look good…’

With her being 4th Circle, they wouldn’t lose a fight, but the casualties wouldn’t be few either. And the banner Pathfinder had raised was the restoration of society—causing a mass slaughter here would make no sense.

‘What a strange situation.’

Wasn’t the dream of wilderness residents to learn magic and enter a city or the Tower? Yet they were hostile toward mages from the Tower? Suspicious of mages?

‘What on earth happened?’

At this point, she was more curious than anything.

Sigh…

Su-yeon heaved a deep sigh and spoke in a gentle tone to soothe the angry crowd.

“I truly don’t know what’s going on. Please explain in detail. Why are you doing this?”

Despite Su-yeon speaking like this, the wilderness residents still didn’t seem to believe her. The elderly 2nd Circle mage, with an expression that said ‘Fine, I’ll tell you,’ began his explanation.

“As you know, it started with the city mages…”

Two weeks ago, right after the day when people suddenly collapsed with boiling blood, incidents began where mages from Alpine City looted food and resources from the wilderness. The helpless wilderness residents had created a communication network since last week and adopted a strategy where all nomads in the area would gather to fight back when mages were spotted. The Alpine City mages suffered setbacks, and the matter seemed to be resolved. But a few days ago, they spotted mages from the Tower working with the Alpine City mages. The problem had grown more serious. And today, they had even found a delegation group clearly from the Tower… with nothing left to lose, they had decided to strike first.

‘What a mess.’

Su-yeon frowned.

‘So Alpine City has a passage connecting to the Tower of Covenant, and recently, as resources in the Tower have become scarce, they’ve been surviving by plundering the wilderness? This is terrible.’

How had mages fallen to become mere bandits…

Swallowing her bitterness, Su-yeon spoke.

“I understand how you feel. But we have no connection to the Alpine City mages. Naturally, we’ve never looted anything either. As you know, mages cannot lie. Let’s stop this here.”

The nomad crowd immediately became noisy.

How do we know you’re mages! How do we know you’re not just vagrants dressed up to look the part, pretending to use magic? Do you think we’re ignorant just because we can’t sense magical power? Do you think we’ll be fooled again?!

Su-yeon was shocked.

‘Wow. They did that too?’

It was depressing.

It had only been 1-2 weeks. In that time, the principles of the Tower had been thrown into the gutter. What should I do? At this rate, they won’t believe anything I say. Should I let them search our belongings? Would that open the way to Alpine City? No matter how much she turned it over in her mind, there seemed to be no solution. The Sun Chariot had a flight function—should they increase altitude and fly over? That would be difficult too. The Sun Chariot couldn’t reach a very high altitude, and arrows would definitely reach them. Those arrows would certainly be imbued with magical items’ power. Though crude, with a thousand of them, escaping quietly would be impossible.

‘But I can’t abandon the first mission assigned after Pathfinder’s formation either.’

While Su-yeon’s worry deepened in this dilemma, one of the angry nomads shouted.

“Now we don’t trust any mages! Right! Except for Pathfinder, where the Divine Mage resides—we don’t trust anyone!”

“That’s right! That’s right! Only the Divine Mage who saved us is a true mage! The others are just pigs!”

Once one shouted, everyone joined in the commotion.

“Compared to Pathfinder, you’re all garbage!”

“Vermin who’ve forgotten a mage’s duty!”

“Try to follow even the toe of the Divine Mage!”

“Pathfinder!”

“Pathfinder!”

“Pathfinder is the only true mage organization!”

Uh, what?

Su-yeon scratched the back of her head.

‘Why are you all suddenly like this? This is embarrassing…’