Three thousand li in search of a master.
Refining magical power.
Inadequate.
Utterly lacking.
Until now, this sufficed.
But upon witnessing that person’s magic, my own manipulation of power seems childish.
Construction speed.
Like the pace of a tortoise.
Construction proficiency.
Like a tower built on sand.
Magical flow.
Like a sewer coated in sludge.
Completed magic.
No longer bearable to look upon.
What is this?
Is this the culmination of my life devoted to magic?
Have I truly been satisfied with such crude incantations?
Can one of my skill claim to be the empire’s greatest mage?
Realizing the limits of humanity.
Such a low threshold.
Why was I born into the human race?
A species this fragile can never hope to reach the heights that person occupies.
I carried that somber mood with me.
Having failed in the mission to eliminate the one known as the Nightmare, I was placed under house arrest in the mansion within the imperial capital.
Call it house arrest, but confinement is meaningless for one who can use teleportation magic.
The imperial leadership understands this, which is why they avoided severe punishment—opting instead for a nominal disciplinary measure with no real consequence.
They likely wish to retain me.
As the empire’s foremost mage, and the only one capable of wielding spatial magic, the empire would not willingly lose me.
If I were to act in a manner suggesting I had abandoned the empire, they would attempt to dissuade me through any means possible.
If that failed, an assassin would undoubtedly be sent.
The empire would not wish to lose a valuable asset, that is the truth.
Therefore, they would not act hastily to provoke my displeasure.
It is said that Builms, the summoner who survived alongside me, was dispatched to the Demon Mountains—located at the border of demon territory—under the pretext of replenishing lost familiars and training new recruits.
The Demon Mountains host powerful monsters. A dangerous region, occasionally exploited by demon schemes.
A place unsuitable for a man already near death, having lost all familiars.
Moreover, the subordinates assigned to him are all known troublemakers.
Builms was a capable officer in the empire, yet summoners without familiars are of no use.
Though I wish his life, saved at great cost, not be wasted—this outcome depends entirely on his own ability.
There is nothing I can do but pray for his safety.
Days pass in dullness, and then a rumor reaches my ears.
A spider deity-beast has appeared in the Kingdom of Salyera.
Immediate recognition.
It must be him.
Salyera borders Outs, the nation that houses the entrance to the Elro Great Labyrinth.
Distance. Days elapsed. All align.
Outs and the Empire are desperately trying to conceal it, but the rumor spreads: an imperial unit was annihilated by a single monster, and that monster was brought outside the labyrinth.
It was not brought out. But after that, he must have exited by some means.
The collapse of the fortress guarding the labyrinth's entrance can no longer be hidden.
At this timing, a monster capable of destroying the fortress—there is no other possibility.
And this is the tale of the divine beast said to have appeared in the nation of Saliera.
It is reported to repel thieves, heal the populace, and hunt monsters.
A true guardian.
An achievement befitting the title of divine beast.
Unable to remain idle, I disregarded my self-imposed penance and arrived in Saliera.
First, I transferred to the nation of Outsu—somewhere I had visited before—and from there, moved along the road.
A transfer magic that seems omnipotent, yet has the flaw of only allowing movement to places one has previously visited.
With the previous hero, the one said to be a master of spatial magic, now deceased, there is likely no one among humanity who can wield it but me.
The reason transfer magic is not used in military campaigns lies in this limitation.
The scarcity of users stems primarily from the fact that few possess the aptitude for this magic.
One in ten thousand, perhaps.
And among them, one who could perform magical constructs of a complexity unmatched by any other magic.
Without fulfilling these two conditions, handling spatial magic was impossible.
Yet that lady carried out the transfer with effortless ease.
Even I could barely perceive the prelude to the shift.
The spatial distortion was so natural.
The transfer itself seemed beautiful.
Traveling from the Outsu Kingdom to the Salyera Kingdom by carriage.
Yet there had been a minor incident upon entering Salyera from Outsu.
Something had occurred—tension ran between the two nations.
Utterly bothersome.
I have no time to waste here, peddling my influence.
Delayed slightly, but ultimately forced passage through the power of gold.
Even if only for my lifetime, I am an imperial noble.
Gold is as abundant as dust.
Above all, I have no family.
Gold used by no one but me—no matter how much, it means nothing.
At last, I arrived at the earldom of Count Kelen in the nation of Saliera, where the famed beast is said to reside.
Yet what awaited me there was something entirely unforeseen.
The sacred beast—slain by agents of the church.
That is what I was told.