Chapter 14

“You’ll need time to organize your thoughts. Look at the books inside and calm your mind. I’ll step out for a bit.”

The room Al Terua left behind.

Quilbion crumpled himself into a corner and hugged his knees.

The goblin devouring a student, Al Terua continuing their meal despite witnessing such grotesque sights, and most of all…

Twella, who’d gained invisible power like the goblins.

What exactly had happened?

Twella had become able to hide enormous power within that small body of hers. He didn’t know how that power would manifest, but if she set her mind to it, she could probably subdue a goblin like those in the cafeteria in an instant.

He’d confirmed with his own eyes what it meant to have different talent.

Quilbion ruminated on the secret conversations he’d shared with her.

When they’d learned this world was false, when they’d suffered stomach pains trying all kinds of food, when they’d first discovered apples and rejoiced—Twella had been with him through it all.

Those words she’d said, that disappearing would be better than being left alone.

Recalling the now-meaningless words from the past, he let out a long sigh.

“I wanted to protect her.”

He could only laugh at being told he’d be a hindrance rather than a help. If he’d seen even a sliver of possibility, he would have said he’d go with her.

He raised his head. The back of his skull touched the wall with a thud. Thud, thud, thud. Feeling the shallow pain, he organized his emotions.

I can’t cling to something that won’t work.

Quilbion picked up a book lying on the floor, following Al Terua’s advice.

Some books were densely packed with text, while others were filled only with pictures.

Inside were bugs—no, animals—he’d never seen in his life. Creatures that would exist beyond the sky wall.

Quilbion’s hand stopped.

Pig.

Along with a tingling sensation, a memory bloomed.

Himself feeding pigs in a pen. Unlike this place, the cold wind was harsh and white crystals—yes, snow—fell there.

“Outside.”

If he followed Al Terua, could he get outside? Could he solve all the problems of this false world?

His train of thought bent in a different direction.

Al Terua was someone he had no choice but to trust. If he were in league with the goblins, if he was deceiving them even now, then there was no hope at all.

So doubting his will to escape was meaningless.

The problem was possibility.

Could they really overcome this?

Al Terua had said Twella was the key.

Twella had gained enormous power, but would that alone be enough?

Quilbion looked at the Sun outside.

That goblin rising as if to touch the sky wall also possessed power as great as Twella’s.

More than that.

This place was the area where ordinary students lived.

In the western territory where the special children lived, there would be other goblins.

Al Terua had said it. That people who learned sorcery became precious material.

The Ascetic goblin he’d seen in the cafeteria had devoured a student. The act of eating must mean it helped that unidentifiable power called ‘nark.’

Dozens of special children living in black robes.

Wouldn’t the goblins who consumed those children possess greater power than Twella?

The image of Twella devouring a goblin suddenly came to mind, but he shook his head vigorously to dismiss it.

“There aren’t nearly enough people.”

All Ascetics except Al Terua were goblins. That meant the only ‘humans’ preparing to escape were Al Terua and Twella—just the two of them.

There might be other students he hadn’t identified, but the only key Al Terua had mentioned was Twella.

Could two people face all the goblins?

Warrior, battle, having it out.

Al Terua’s plan seemed to contain no concepts like ‘quietly’ or ‘secretly.’ They would fight and win, then break down the wall and advance.

Quilbion set down the book and grasped the talisman lying at his feet.

Why did I have such futile thoughts? Why did I give up?

He focused.

He wouldn’t be able to build power in a short time like Twella. The fact that he’d be a hindrance might not change either.

Even so, he had to hold on.

So that in a critical moment, he could be even a little help to Twella.

Quilbion recalled Twella grabbing and pulling him on the stairs. He thought of her supporting him with her body despite the danger.

“At least I can do that much…”

Blue light sparked from the edge of the talisman.

Quilbion stared at the light and continued focusing.

*

Al Terua watched Twella with arms crossed. Floating above the stream, she was sinking into her inner self at a frightening pace.

The nark Twella controlled touched the mana. The minimum units of power drawn by the nark arranged themselves precisely, creating wind.

From a gentle breeze to a gust that made trees sway—it took less than three minutes.

Twella’s body, which had been floating about 50cm in the air, descended. Her shoes didn’t sink into the stream but created surface tension and floated on the water.

“How was it?”

“Excellent.”

Al Terua watched the mana escaping the nark’s influence and scattering freely.

“I knew the wind arts of the White Form would suit you well.”

She’d absorbed it to near perfection in just one hour. Twella’s talent really was extraordinary.

“I’ve mastered up to chapter 4 of the introductory section. Can I move on to the intermediate section now?”

“It’s better to approach after becoming more familiar.”

“We don’t have enough time.”

“If you rush and fail, you won’t even be able to use that little time you have.”

Mid-conversation, Twella staggered. Her shoes, which had been stepping on the water’s surface, sank into the stream and got wet.

“Ah…”

“See? Just because you’re excellent doesn’t mean rest is unnecessary.”

Twella came out of the stream. Al Terua offered a towel, but she shook her head.

“I’ll rest for just 5 minutes. Then my nark will recover.”

“Nothing helps increase capacity as much as emptying it out.”

After Twella sat on the ground, she assumed the lotus position.

“You’ve already gotten used to it.”

“It’s uncomfortable. But when I sit like this, my nark responds a bit more easily.”

“The demon-subduing posture has benefits from that form alone.”

Twella closed her eyes and regulated her breathing.

Al Terua confirmed the whirlpool of nark surging within her.

The day after succeeding at phenomenon induction, she’d grasped the movement of nark and even mastered the basic sorcery of Sitpin’s Yellow Form.

Like a vessel with no capacity limit, she was containing everything about sorcery within herself.

What a brilliant human being.

Al Terua snapped their fingers. The moment the sound rang out, the nark dancing inside Twella vanished.

No, it appeared to vanish.

“Perfect. No goblin will be able to detect the nark awakened within you.”

“What about you, Ascetic?”

“Me?”

Al Terua heightened their eyesight. They examined Twella with only discernment, sorcery’s basic ability.

An ordinary girl.

A state without even a trace of sorcery’s scent.

“Even with the naked eye, it’s difficult for me to identify.”

“What if you use sorcery?”

Al Terua pressed their pinky nail against their left eye and said quietly, “Form.” Minta’s White Form art manifested.

Mana called by the nark subtly gathered near their eyes.

Though they possessed an identification ability at a higher level than discernment, they still couldn’t discern Twella’s power.

“I can’t tell.”

“Is there no possibility at all of being discovered?”

“At least among the goblins I know, there won’t be any who can recognize your power.”

“What about goblins you don’t know, Ascetic?”

Her eyes were sharp with anxiety.

Al Terua gave an awkward smile.

“I can’t completely rule out the possibility of discovery. There will always be risk factors. But your ability to control nark has surpassed my common sense. It would take sorcery of the Green Form, and at the level of the final section at that, to see through you…”

Al Terua continued while looking up at the sky wall.

“There doesn’t seem to be a goblin of that level here. If there were a goblin who’d reached the Green Form within this surface realm, I would have discovered them first.”

“But you couldn’t recognize the nark inside me. There’s still a possibility you’re being deceived.”

“Yes, I won’t deny it. But even so, nothing changes, does it? We still have to capture those things and escape from here.”

It wasn’t a situation where they could hide even if discovered.

This was the surface realm.

The goblins’ world.

The edge of a cliff with nowhere to run.

Twella also looked up at the sky.

“I can tell now. How solid that wall is. No, I even question whether it can be broken through at all.”

“We have to try.”

“You’re quite the optimist, Ascetic.”

“Well, isn’t that better than being a pessimist?”

It wasn’t that Al Terua didn’t know why Twella was grumbling. She was worried about Quilbion.

But it felt somewhat unfair. After all, they’d danced to Twella’s tune.

“I separated Quilbion from this work just as you requested, didn’t I? I’ll take good care of that child, so how about you stop being irritable?”

Twella smiled bitterly.

“Do you really think Quil has given up?”

“His spirit seemed somewhat broken.”

“No. It won’t be like that. So please hold him firmly, Ascetic. Make absolutely sure he doesn’t do anything strange.”

“…Something else appeared in your eyes, I see.”

For a moment, Twella’s pupils were dyed a pale green light. It was a mystical color.

When Twella blinked, her pupils regained their black color.

“About those eyes—we can’t know how things will turn out for us?”

“I can’t see what I want to see. I just see certain moments regardless of my will.”

“An unbelievable ability. To glimpse the future. That’s a power only permitted to orc tribe shamans passed down through single-person transmission. Is this what it means to receive fate’s favor?”

They were enviable eyes. Al Terua was quite curious about how they worked. Was there no way to obtain them separately? Or perhaps by extraction…

“Ascetic.”

Al Terua flinched and emerged from their thoughts. Even if they were tempted, how could they think of such a cruel method?

It was strange. Feeling unnecessarily sorry, they couldn’t look at Twella’s eyes.

After silently surveying the surroundings for a while.

Twella threw out a question.

“What was your beginning, Ascetic?”

“Beginning?”

“Yes. Our beginning was opening our eyes inside a room. We had no memories of the outside at all. But you’re different, Ascetic. You said you regained your memories by controlling the Purple Form arts.”

Memory.

Al Terua recalled ‘how’ they’d come to be here.

“How I first came here was…”

Twella, who’d been listening to the story, shook her head.

“No. Not here.”

“Then?”

“The beginning you remember, Ascetic. What’s your oldest memory?”

“Hmm, my oldest memory.”

“Do you remember the moment you were born?”

Al Terua shrugged.

“Ordinary humans don’t remember the moment they’re born. They can’t remember anything from when they were nursing infants, and things start remaining in the brain from early childhood onward.”

“Are your childhood memories vivid?”

“I don’t remember everything, but special events remain in my mind. Like when a toy I cherished broke, or when a neighborhood friend I was close with fell ill…”

Twella uncrossed her legs and stood up.

Her direct gaze felt somehow sharp.

“Are those memories really yours, Ascetic?”

“Why? Did you see something with those eyes?”

“No, it’s rather because I see nothing at all.”

See nothing at all?

Al Terua scratched their cheek and was about to ask what she meant, but Twella walked toward the stream as if she had nothing more to say.

They called out toward the retreating Twella.

“Don’t tell me you’re doubting me?”

“I don’t know. But it’s certain that you’re also included within fate, Ascetic. So all I can do is train.”

Twella’s body floated up once again.

Al Terua let out a small sigh and stood guard over the surroundings.