TL/Editor: raei

    Status: 5/week mon-fri

    Illustrations: none

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    ''Been a while.''

    Having just returned from a brief outing, Ian felt refreshed.

    [How have you been?]

    [...You''re back.]

    In the empty soul world, Maronius''s soul listlessly greeted Ian.

    Ian looked around curiously.

    Last time he''d seen a mini-world composed of various memories.

    As if his will to live had been crushed, the soul world he returned to had become quite desolate.

    [Have you thought about it?]

    [Yes... I''ve thought a great deal.]

    He''d probably focused on whether it was right to change his past memories.

    Ian had shown Maronius an altered version of his ''dark history''.

    That experience had given Maronius''s soul tremendous shock.

    Whether positive or negative, they''d have to hear about that now.

    [I...]

    Maronius''s soul said.

    [Will cooperate with you, Wizard Ian.]

    Ian nodded.

    As expected.

    Maronius''s soul readily promised cooperation.

    [Show what you showed me to my other selves too.]

    [I will, Maronius.]

    #

    The research progressed smoothly.

    Using the cooperative Maronius soul, Ian began uncovering the archwizard''s memories one by one.

    ''Good thing Elia left lots of items.''

    There were many objects that could extract Maronius''s memories.

    In the memory world, Ian slowly collected Maronius''s memories.

    [Wait! Who are you...]

    [It''s me.]

    [...? What? You''re me?!]

    As Ian intended, the cooperative Maronius soul acted as a key to open entrances to other soul worlds.

    Working like a kind of key.

    [Let''s show our memories to this wizard.]

    [Impossible. Have you forgotten already? Everything ahead is just painful memories.]

    [I know. But that will change now.]

    [What do you...]

    Ian gestured.

    The other Maronius soul froze in shock.

    [Liria...]

    Because a red-haired woman appeared gracefully.

    [I am Wizard Kira.]

    [...]

    [I can show you what you wish to see.]

    Maronius blankly stared at Kira.

    He seemed to think Kira might be the real key.

    Ian nodded.

    Maronius''s secret: Has a red hair fetish.

    Better write that down when I get back.

    [...Very well. I''ll show you my foolish past memories.]

    [Thank you.]

    Thanks to the other soul''s persuasion and Kira''s presence, Ian could examine Maronius''s memories.

    His young memories, well.

    They flowed similarly to records left by other researchers.

    ''After fighting with Liria.''

    After a huge fight with Liria, Maronius ran away in anger.

    He actually left to enlist in the imperial army.

    Though an impulsive decision, the army surprisingly liked Maronius''s action.

    They felt young man''s spirit or something.

    Though formal enlistment was impossible, he could work as a helper doing odd jobs.

    Maronius decided to stay with Lupus''s unit.

    He roamed distant foreign jungles, fighting barbarians with Lupus.

    His sword skills never improved, but he gained strange minor abilities instead.

    [You''re at it again there?]

    [General.]

    Maronius smiled awkwardly at Lupus.

    [So. Can you still hear the ''voices''?]

    [Not still.]

    Maronius looked up at the great primeval forest and said.

    [Always, General.]

    [Good thing I can''t hear them. I can''t sleep when it''s noisy.]

    Lupus dismissed the ''voices'' Maronius heard as hallucinations.

    But to Maronius they were anything but.

    The ''voices'' had saved him from death.

    Maronius thought the ''voices'' must be guardian angels sent by heaven.

    [The shamans knew about the voices.]

    [Shamans? Did you talk with barbarians?]

    Maronius answered clearly.

    [Yes, General. I''ve been learning barbarian language lately because I had questions.]

    Lupus marveled.

    [Incredible. You learned a new language in just weeks?]

    That''s right.

    Unknown to himself until now, Maronius had exceptional language sense.

    An incredible linguistic talent beyond just genius.

    That talent.

    Would later elevate Maronius to [archwizard] status.

    [The barbarians call the voices I hear ''Mana''.]

    [Mana?]

    [Yes. Mana is a force sleeping equally in all things, responding to human will and able to communicate.]

    Lupus scoffed.

    [I know you''re an odd one, but don''t take barbarian legends too seriously.]

    The empire had such people spouting nonsense too.

    Frauds calling themselves occultists, claiming to study mysteries like digging up hidden roots.

    Mysteries?

    How could you study something inherently incomprehensible?

    Lupus''s thinking represented the average imperial mindset of the time.

    The Golden Empire people who pursued rationality and reason despised irrational thinking about mysteries and occult.

    Maronius was the same.

    [''Mana'' isn''t an unknowable force.]

    Like a proper imperial, Maronius started organizing the barbarians'' arbitrary theories.

    [''Mana'' moves according to world principles.]

    [Though I can''t explain those principles yet, they clearly exist.]

    [From now on, I''ll call it ''mystery''.]

    Maronius talked with barbarian shamans, studying the principles behind their magic.

    Based on the 101 characters barbarians used-

    Water, fire, sky, earth, light, darkness.

    He named each principle shamans experienced and struggled to express how they moved.

    Thus Maronius created the first [Maronius language].

    ...Letters that even Ian could read.

    [Carl.]

    [Haha. You know it!]

    Carl. Carl of the sky.

    One of the ''thousand magic characters'' (really 1000) Ian first learned when starting Maronius language.

    From that day, Maronius began researching how to convey his will to ''mysteries''.

    The first wizard-

    Had begun pioneering the path of wizardry through his own power.

    ---

    [1. raei: Inside Out is a disney movie! Pretty good one.]

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