Chapter 63: Starlight and the Search for Seris

Beep—

The first thing I noticed was a strange ringing in my head.

Like waking from a deep sleep, my consciousness returned, and my dulled senses began to revive.

“O…”

Blinking my hazy eyes, I pressed my hands against the ground and rose.

My sense of balance was off, causing me to wobble repeatedly, but I managed to stand upright.

As my blurred vision focused, the surroundings became clear.

I rubbed my forehead and looked at the scattered items on the ground.

Jerky, soaked with water and swollen, was mixed with black scales, scattered all around.

Torn bundles of paper lay stuck in the mud, black ink leaking from them.

My bag…

That’s right. The things strewn about were the contents of my bag.

I reached behind me and felt an unfamiliar emptiness.

Even the sword I had strapped to my back was nowhere to be found.

As I searched for my belongings, I noticed Nightmare lying limp on the ground.

“Nightmare!”

Nightmare’s sleek body was covered in mud, but it didn’t seem to be injured.

I tapped its face, trying to rouse it.

“Are you okay? You’re alive, right?”

I felt the warm breaths escaping from beneath its nose, confirming it was alive, but I couldn’t shake my anxiety and continued to tap its face.

How much time passed, I wasn’t sure.

At some point, Nightmare’s face scrunched up, and it abruptly sprang to its feet, seemingly regaining consciousness.

Whinny!

The startled creature looked around anxiously, but it quickly assessed the situation and wagged its tail as it approached me.

Its unharmed movements reassured me that it wasn’t injured.

I patted Nightmare’s head and surveyed the surroundings.

A soft darkness blanketed the area, pierced only by a pale light that illuminated it.

I looked up at the sky, but the blackened expanse held neither stars nor a moon.

It wasn’t just the sky that felt strange.

There was an odd mix of landscapes: a sprawling desert, a dense forest beyond it, and a snow-covered mountain looming in the far distance.

In the opposite direction, a river, shimmering in the hues of sunset, flowed calmly.

A place where day and night, desert, forest, and snowy peaks coexisted… This wasn’t listed in the guidebook, and even Selion had never mentioned a place like this.

“For now…”

After glancing around, I reached a conclusion: I needed to find my belongings first.

Without my sword, encountering a monster would spell trouble.

I began searching the area with Nightmare.

Eventually, I found a few scattered coins buried in the mud, a torn leather bag, a spellbook bound in chains, and a leather pouch containing seeds.

However, it seemed that my sword and the Stormbringer strapped to Nightmare’s body had been flung much farther away.

With the bag torn, it wasn’t feasible to carry most of the scattered items.

Besides, there wasn’t much left worth salvaging.

Reluctantly, I unraveled the chain, securing the spellbook to my belt.

“It looks like we’ll need to go farther.”

Snort.

I left the muddy area with Nightmare and headed into the sand-covered desert.

The pale light from the blackened sky made the sand shimmer like platinum.

As we traversed the desert, I noticed something sparkling amidst the sand.

Nightmare, too, seemed to recognize it and dashed toward the light.

Each step Nightmare took stirred up clouds of dusty sand.

When we arrived, a long stick was protruding from the ground, its shape oddly familiar.

“This is…”

I jumped off Nightmare’s back, frowning as I gripped the stick with all my strength and pulled.

Slowly, a massive blade emerged from the sand—a greatsword, Stormbringer, which I had received as a token of honor from the tournament.

Perhaps it had absorbed mana during the storm; faint sparks of lightning flickered along its blade.

It wasn’t my usual sword, which was disappointing, but at least I now had a weapon to protect myself from monsters.

I experimentally lifted the massive blade, which was larger than my own body.

“Haaah!”

The mana circle in my heart spun rapidly, and the warrior’s mark glowed on the back of my hand.

Despite this double reinforcement, the weight of the enormous sword was still too much for me to handle.

Swoosh!

Swinging Stormbringer, I realized one thing: in my current state, wielding this great sword with my usual techniques was impossible.

Still, it was better than being unarmed.

I channeled more mana into the blade, causing faint lightning bolts to spark from its surface.

Crackle!

Without much effort, the blade crackled with blue lightning as soon as I infused it with mana.

That would suffice for now.

In the worst-case scenario, I could use the massive blade as cover and fire lightning bolts at my enemies.

I wouldn’t be using it as a sword but as a chain lightning launcher.

Snort.

Nightmare took a step back, looking displeased as I approached with the enormous blade.

The weight of the weapon seemed to bother it.

But what could I do? It wasn’t like I could carry this unwieldy weapon myself.

I strapped Stormbringer to Nightmare’s side.

After wandering through the desert for a long time, I still couldn’t find my original sword.

Sighing, I stopped and stroked Nightmare’s mane.

“Where do you think we should go?”

Nightmare wagged its tail in response, as if to say it didn’t know either.

It was clear it had no idea where we could find a way back to the base.

With no destination in mind, I aimlessly roamed with Nightmare.

Occasionally, I came across monster tracks, but there were no signs of people.

In this place where day and night blended into one, the concept of time grew fuzzy.

I didn’t know how many hours had passed since we began wandering.

The long shadows cast before me remained unchanged, meaning the position of the shadows hadn’t shifted at all.

“Haa…”

A wave of mental fatigue washed over me.

I frowned and glanced up at the sky. If only there were a moon or stars, it wouldn’t feel this oppressive.

At that moment, I thought of the shimmering starlight.

Why had I been so frustrated?

I let out a self-deprecating laugh and ran my hand over my forehead.

Nightmare looked up at me curiously, as if finding my behavior strange.

Closing my eyes, I began to channel my mana.

The sphere of starlight formed above my heart began to spin, creating a thin band around it.

Until now, I had been manifesting magic from another world in a way that suited my preferences.

While the power of the magic might vary, I always brought to life exactly what I had imagined.

So then…

Wouldn’t the reverse also be possible?

I recalled the time I lit starlight in the desert.

I envisioned crossing a platinum-lit desert while striking two small stones together.

All it took was a minuscule amount of mana.

The faint, swiftly rotating starlight began to move, completing its preparations to appear in this world.

When the mana infused with the user’s desire invoked a miracle and that miracle materialized in reality, it finally became known as magic.

Clink!

The moment two small fingers met, a crisp sound echoed, and a tiny guiding star appeared.

“Wow…”

I gazed at the starlight floating above my hand.

When I envisioned the place I wanted to go, this star would finally begin to move.

That’s the kind of magic I had created.

Looking at the twinkling star, I made a wish.

Just like wishing upon a shooting star falling from the sky, I hoped to leave this place and return to the base where Selion was waiting.

At that moment, the starlight began to move.

Leaving a long tail in its wake, the starlight was my guide, leading the way.

Watching its motion, I had no doubts.

The moment a magic user questions the miracle they’ve created, it ceases to be magic.

I grabbed Nightmare’s reins and raced after the starlight.

“It’s not here. Seems like it doesn’t exist in this place.”

“Hmm…”

“Master?”

Rain looked up at his master.

The aged and wrinkled face was serious, and his sharp eyes gleamed.

“That sword… is it really that fascinating?”

“It’s not of human craftsmanship.”

The old magician murmured, examining the dagger in his hand.

Its blade gleamed, reflecting the sunlight streaming down from the sky, and faint starlight shimmered on its surface depending on the angle.

But Rain wasn’t particularly interested in the small dagger his master held.

“When did you even buy that?”

“I heard there was a blacksmith who captures the essence of stars, so I went to see.”

“Now’s not the time to be chasing rumors like that! Aren’t you going to find Seris?”

“Haha…”

The old magician burst into laughter at his pupil’s grumbling.

He, too, had been following the trail of the girl named Seris when he came upon the blacksmith known for capturing starlight.

The blacksmith shared brief tales of his adventures with the old magician, including crossing the desert following a tiny star.

At first, the magician dismissed the tales as mere sales talk.

But the moment he saw the dagger crafted by the blacksmith, he couldn’t help but believe every word.

“Master! Hurry up!”

Ignoring his disciple’s urging, the old magician smiled faintly, holding the dagger up to the sunlight.

His gaze was tinged with nostalgia.

“Haa…”

Faldrin wiped the sweat off his forehead and adjusted his grip on his sword.

His palms were torn and bleeding from swinging the sword without rest.

“Uh, Faldrin…”

“Oh, welcome.”

Faldrin looked at the approaching female priest.

She hesitated, enchanted by the faint smile on his lips, then shook her head and spoke.

“I found some information about the girl named Seris you were searching for.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It seems she left this city shortly after the monster extermination squad set out. Based on the direction she headed, it looks like she went to Greenfall…”

“Greenfall…?”

“Yes, the land of the orcs.”

“Haa…”

Faldrin let out a deep sigh.

As a newly promoted knight, he could go anywhere within Obrein, but to leave the country, he would need formal permission from the state.

And he knew.

There was no way they’d send a knight to a foreign land just to chase after one girl.

The priest, watching despair cloud Foldrin’s face, cautiously spoke again.

“Um… Is she that important to you?”

“Yes. She’s the one who gave me a reason to live again…”

“You want to go to Greenfall, don’t you?”

“If I could…”

“Then I think you might have a chance. Recently, traces of dark magicians were discovered in Greenfall.”

“Dark magicians…?”

“Yes, and they’re planning to send an investigative team to look into it…”

Before the priest could finish her sentence, Faldrin had already rushed out of the training ground.

A smile had returned to his face.