Rania van Trias.
The weight of her name is unimaginably heavy. Just mentioning her name brings countless privileges, and even noble families bow their heads before her.
Of course, it’s for good reason.
She hails from a prestigious family, the Trias lineage, which has given rise to Ashen Mages and has gained even more fame through countless achievements in thwarting calamities. Titles like Sage, Wise One, and Guide are attributed to her.
“Hero, Rania van Trias.”
Now, she carries the title of Hero as well. It is astonishing for one person to hold so many titles, and it is also exceptional for someone to achieve such feats.
In short, it means something unbelievable.
She makes the unbelievable possible.
What Rania van Trias does has always been such. When it was announced that she would conduct her final lecture at Apuria, student reactions were polarized.
Some were excitedly unable to sleep at the thought of receiving wisdom from the great mage holding titles like Hero, Wise One, Guide, and Sage.
Meanwhile, others who have faced the nightmare of Apuria feared what she would leave behind as her final legacy.
The responses were extreme, but both had in common the fact that they lost sleep over it. The former were mostly new students, while the latter had learned directly from the nightmare of Apuria.
Thud.
A multitude of students gathered for her lecture.
The scale had grown so vast that not just the entire student body, but also renowned mages from outside assembled, and Rania van Trias slowly made her way to the podium.
Thud.
With each step she took, her ashen hair fluttered in the breeze. As she ascended the podium, receiving numerous gazes, she scanned the crowd before slowly opening her mouth.
“Nice to meet you.”
Just a short phrase.
“I am Rania van Trias.”
Her earlier lectures included tedious explanations about being an assistant professor at Apuria Academy and teaching Mana Trading Studies, but now there was no need for that.
Rania van Trias.
Her name held that much weight now. Comparable, if not heavier, than that of Raniel van Trias… so she merely mentioned her name.
“From now on…”
As silence filled the hall, she began to speak.
“I will start the lecture…”
With a round of applause.
“Balance.”
Just like when she first taught.
Brilliant starlight filled the surroundings.
2.
Hours of lecture lay ahead.
The beginning was not much different from her first class. She discussed the basics of magic and the three stages of spell manifestation. In other words, she spoke of the starting point of all magic.
Perfect foundations.
Complete spells emerging from perfection.
Even this alone garnered admiration, and the new students attending her lecture for the first time looked dazed, but… she had no intention of stopping there.
“This is just the foundation.”
She smiled.
“Next comes application, doesn’t it?”
From that point onward, the lecture began to change.
She spoke of things no one had ever heard before. This was the path that Raniel van Trias had walked, and the story of where Rania van Trias would tread in the future.
The foundations of spells.
Applications stemming from those foundations.
From application and adaptation to transformation.
From transformation to reduction and simplification.
And back again to the beginning from simplification.
She narrated the path she had traversed. The path walked by one called Sage. Something of immeasurable value. Something every mage has coveted at least once; she displayed it all before everyone without accepting any price.
The journalists’ hands moved quickly.
Their activated magical tools buzzed about.
But more quickly than that, the eyes of the students moved, their fingers scribbling notes. It was a contrast between those recording information and those learning to learn. With a gentle smile, Rania continued her lecture.
She spoke of her life.
In the circuits she drew in the air, and in the principles of magic she explained, her life was interwoven. She revealed everything she had built up without hiding anything.
As if to say, “Try it if you can.”
Some gasped in surprise, others expressed admiration, some muttered about the life of a Hero, while others wondered if one must do this much to be called Sage, feeling despondent.
‘…I’ve lived a challenging life.’
So much so that even she felt this way. Living a life not taking the easy path but walking only rough and difficult roads had been exhausting. Yet, she had gained so much in return.
“Lastly…”
At the end of the road.
A tower built up from the end.
“I want to show you this.”
A Superhuman, the one who breaks down walls.
“Magic is about acquiring the power to twist the principles through a deal with stars. In other words, it’s like ‘buying’ rights, isn’t it?”
Hyper Calculation.
“But when you strip it back a layer… its essence is simpler than you think. Is there anyone here who has studied law? Or seen a thick book compiling the laws of the kingdom?”
She raised her hand with a smile.
“The world is similar to those law textbooks. It’s filled to the brim with all sorts of rules, principles, and taboos against what shouldn’t be done. And the ultimate goal of magic is…”
She twirled her finger.
“Correcting the sentences engraved densely in the world. Manipulating the principles at will.”
Mana did not surge.
No one felt the flow of mana.
Yet the spell was ‘manifested.’
“Like this.”
Zing, a sound as space tore apart.
A flash connecting the earth to the sky appeared suddenly, widening the eyes of the audience. No one could understand what they just saw.
And rightly so.
What appeared before their eyes was fundamentally not a spell. It was not the magic they commonly used. Without a moment’s gap, what manifested existed as a mere phenomenon rather than a miracle.
Natural rather than artificial.
Thus, it was accepted as part of the principles.
Pointing at it, Rania spoke.
“This is the truth you seek.”
The place where mages aspire to reach.
“Researching the essence of the world, principles, and truth is the ultimate goal of a mage… so this is likely the goal you aspire to as well.”
The mage who reached that place spoke.
“I have just walked the path I showed you. I took a step into the realm you call truth.”
However, Rania smiled gently.
“This is my path.”
The path I have walked.
The path that suited me.
“It’s not to blindly follow me nor to claim that the path I walked is absolutely correct. It’s simply to show that such a path exists.”
Now that she understood not to force it upon others.
“There isn’t just one road to the answer. There are countless paths. Everything you walk in magic is not the wrong way.”
Countless paths.
“If you pursue the truth.”
Countless lives.
“If you look toward the same place and keep walking without giving up, that alone will have worth.”
Rania van Trias smiled.
“Believe in yourselves and keep forging ahead.”
Clap, she clapped her hands.
“That’s all.”
After a brief pause, cheers erupted.
3.
She concluded her final lecture at Apuria.
After the class ended, she called over students she had been keeping an eye on to discuss, … waiting for the completion of her conquest, offering special lectures over the next few days. But that is a tale for another time.
No.
Despite that, I chuckled at the persistent voices of the students.
“You want me to learn this?”
“No. Professor, wait.”
“Gahhhhh!”
Belnoa screamed.
“The ultimate battle mage?”
“The term ultimate really resonates.”
“Like this? Huh? Ugh!”
Lac, who had misused it and broken his arm, rolled on the ground screaming. It seems it will take some time for him to master it properly, but they are clever kids, so they’ll grasp it soon.
“The First Braver…?”
“The enemy I should defeat.”
“Ah, the one I saw then.”
To Ayla, I spoke of the direction her talents should head.
And about the hidden behind-the-scenes figure she needed to understand.
“The truth that appears when you peel back a layer.”
“A world built on principles. Can I also see the scenery you showed us from the podium then?”
I positively responded to Resti’s question and shared more details about the last scenery I had seen. When she asked if I was going far away, I nodded with a bittersweet smile.
It seemed I indeed needed to journey far away.
Resti’s determined voice saying, “I’ll definitely catch up to you,” still echoed in my ears. I mulled over her figure as I moved on.
Thud.
“Hero.”
Waiting to see me off for the last time was Chloe, the fellow Hero. Her eyes were weary from the intense training over the past ten days, yet Chloe handed me a neatly folded set of clothes with a smile.
It was the completed attire of the Hero that had been presented to me earlier. Among them was the robe, completed only in the end. The robe’s design was quite satisfying; not quite on par with the first Master of the Tower’s robe… but still, it was something.
“I can barely give it a passing score.”
The moment I muttered that, the alchemists from the Royal Capital standing with the knights widened their eyes. I chuckled and waved at them.
“Just kidding. I really like it. Honestly.”
Flutter, I donned the robe. Finally completed, I lightly dusted off the attire and let out a short breath. I gave Chloe’s head a soft pat as she handed me the outfit.
“Did what you learned help?”
“It helped a lot, Rania Professor.”
“Then, I’m glad to hear that.”
Chloe, as if having a lot to say, repeatedly pursed her lips. After some thought, what she finally voiced was a short, simple sentence.
“I’ll catch up soon too.”
Catching up, huh.
I smiled and nodded.
“Sure, I’ll be ahead.”
I took a step forward, passing by Chloe.
Looking around, knights lined both sides. They were guarding the path I would be taking. From the heart of the royal capital to the road leading out.
I walked along that path.
Behind the knights standing guard, many watched me. Merchants running shops in the square, the fruit vendor, passersby strolling along the road—they all gathered, their numerous gazes upon me as I walked.
The wind blew, fluttering my Hero’s attire.
The strand of hair tied back danced with the breeze. Winter had finally ended, and spring had arrived. On this day, precisely two years after I threw in the towel with the hero party, I set out on my next journey.
“… Seriously.”
I chuckled.
I abandoned the post of Ashen Master, became the sage of the Hero party. I threw in the towel as the sage and became a professor at Apuria Academy. Then, round and round, I ended up back in this place.
Abandoning the professor role, I became a Hero.
Thanks to that damn Kyle, how many jobs have I thrown away? As I pondered such pointless thoughts, I soon spotted a carriage at the end of the road. A carriage heading to the battlefield.
Thud,
I stepped onto the carriage.
“Let’s go.”
The long vacation has ended.
Now, it was time to return to the battlefield.
As a Hero, not a Sage.
As Hero, Rania van Trias.
– End of Part 1 –
