Surprising Even Breathing

41 – Boundaries dividing talent

Are you really smiling at me?

Chase is smiling broadly at me.

He couldn’t bear to look me in the eyes, but he had a smile on his face as he looked around my chest.

“Chasey, there’s something you want to tell me.”

A night when the sun goes down and the moon rises and you lie down peacefully.

I asked with my arms folded next to the torch and a generous distance of about six meters from Chase.

Seeing my eyes at night scared me even more.

I stopped in the brightest spot around to avoid frightening her.

“Demesis-nim, you really came out.”

Rather, it was Chase who approached me.

He walked and stood near me with a moved look on his face.

The distance was reduced to 3 m.

Chase’s expression, smiling brightly, became clearer in the light.

“… … .”

I pretended not to and kept looking at her face.

Who is laughing near me?

she was the first

It was so amazing that I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“Ah! sorry! Why, why did you call me? That’s not what’s important.”

Chase, who had been standing next to me for a moment and smiling, noticed my gaze and stepped back in surprise.

I put my hands together and bring out the reason for calling me.

“I miss Demesis-nim… I’m sorry! It’s not that I want to see you. Uh, my sister says I’m close with Demesis-nim, so ah, I don’t believe it!”

She closes her eyes and screams urgently.

After admitting neatly that she didn’t call because she wanted to see her, she immediately confessed that she called because of her sister.

You mean I’m close with Chase?

You called me to prove it?

I was surprised that she thought I was close.

Embarrassed, I kept my mouth shut.

“That, right? Mr Demesis. Don’t be friends with us, right?”

Chase asks with a frightened face.

I looked alternately at my feet and at Selina standing in the shadows on the other side.

I followed her and glanced towards Selina.

“Are we close?”

Selina avoids my gaze, hiding more deeply in the unlit shadows.

I was scared and hid my tail like a rat, but I listen this way to see if we want to hear what we say to the end.

“yes. Well, we still talked a lot, Demesis-nim saved me in an illusion, and also, uh, we use the magic board among ourselves. Is this, isn’t this enough to be close friends?”

She was asking with a somewhat desperate expression.

Chase’s large, heavy glasses that slipped slightly.

His long eyelashes trembled as he looked at my feet.

I never thought there would be someone who wanted to be close to me like this.

I swallowed saliva to calm my burning heart and exerted all my might to control my magic power.

I forcibly endure the smile that rises on my lips.

I managed to control all my excitement by kicking the floor a couple of times with my shoe.

“… … .”

As my answer was delayed, Chase lowered her head and cried.

He slowly spreads his legs and tries to get away from me.

Are you afraid of me who has no answer?

I spoke in a voice that erased the agitation of emotions.

“Yes, we are friends.”

It made what she longed for.

In fact, it was what I was hoping for, even more heartbreakingly.

“Wow, really?”

“yes.”

Chase’s legs stopped moving away.

He tries to look up at me, but he fails to make eye contact and smiles at his waist instead.

“Thank you, Demesis, thank you very much.”

A voice mixed with trembling emotions.

She raised her glasses again and looked at Selina.

The orange-haired woman heard my answer and fell to her knees on the spot.

Despair was expressed from her whole body.

*

That night, Selina danced outside the tent above Yuren wearing only a petticoat.

The people at the top were severely warned not to look at them, so not everyone could see the ugliness.

But why Selina acted so crazy became a big topic within the Yuren Chamber.

“I heard Selina made a bet with Chase?”

“I heard that the loser of the bet decided to come out and take off his clothes and dance.”

“That’s why I scolded myself that night.”

The people of the upper ranks laughed and whispered about Selina’s work whenever they gathered.

“What bet was it? Why do you put up with such conditions?”

“You know that scary Dragonian prince. I heard that the scary prince and Chase made a bet on whether they were really close. Chase-sama is close, Selina-sama is not.”

“so? So how did it go?”

“Didn’t the results come out yesterday? Selina-sama danced at night wearing only a petticoat.”

Whenever Selina’s story came up, the members burst into laughter.

The high-nosed noble lady suffered such disgrace, so those who suffered from her tyranny especially liked it.

“I should have seen it myself, heck. By the way, how did Chase become friends with that scary dragon? Is that even possible?”

People were more surprised that Chase was close to Demesis than Selina danced naked.

It seemed much more difficult to get close to Demesis than to get close to a 100-meter tall giant.

“Didn’t Chase and the Dragonian prince meet outside the tent at night? That seems to have been proven. Chase-sama called the dragon.”

“Oh, it’s not normal to have a close conversation late at night.”

“Isn’t that a big deal? The fact that the young lady who was persecuted by the count’s family is actually good friends with that scary dragon.”

People laughing and chatting while chewing on dried meat.

Selina approached them with eyes like an angry wildcat.

“What are you doing here!”

“Oh, why, why? Miss Selina.”

“You guys, aren’t you talking about me?”

“Hi, I guess so, we were discussing items to trade at the Mage Tower.”

“We can talk about that later! Why are you talking here! Disperse immediately!”

She is nervous and screaming.

The members couldn’t win over Selina’s annoyance and scattered one by one, looking at each other.

“You guys, if you hear me, I won’t let you go. You can’t talk about this anywhere. Go around with a lock on your mouth. okay?!”

“Yes, young lady. We didn’t see anything!”

People running away from Selina.

She busily chased the procession until they reached the Magic Tower to crack down on the mouths of the members.

*

Finally arriving at the magic tower, they all turned their attention to the towering spire.

A very tall tower that has been built since ancient times.

The height hidden by those clouds is itself a symbol of the Mage Tower.

Around the tall gray building, a magic circle defending the magic tower was carved in an exquisite balance.

On the ground supporting the mage tower, several layers of walls made of magical power were built around the mage tower.

A wall that prohibits public access.

The tower of those wizards is their own space.

“This is the magic tower.”

I opened the window in the carriage and looked at the magic tower.

I read a lot about the magic tower through books.

The Mage Tower in history books is regarded as the headquarters of the wizard group and is expressed as the last fortress they have. In books dealing with politics, economy, and society, it is a building that symbolizes the power of wizards, and in fairy tale books full of dreams and fantasies, all kinds of mysterious magic. It was being described as an expansive space of imagination.

Looking at it with my own eyes, it is special that it is endlessly long.

However, it didn’t look like a great and majestic building like I saw in the book, it just felt precarious.

‘It looks like it’ll collapse if you hit the side, but why do wizards live in high places?’

They were people who enjoyed peril.

I don’t know what they believed and built such a tall building.

And definitely the conspicuous magic wall.

It spread out in a circle as wide as the length of the magic tower, preventing people from entering.

Outside the wall, there is a village centered on the central road.

A village where people who come to trade books or magic tools distributed in the Mage Tower stay.

Buildings were crowded around the passage that could pass through the wall.

The Yuren Merchant unpacked in the outermost village.

There is a distinction between those who trade here and those who trade inside the wall.

I got off the wagon because I had some business in there.

In order to pass through this wall, special procedures must be followed.

No one can fall for that process.

I called Chase, who was heading towards the inside of the wall together.

“When was this magic wall built? It wasn’t in the books I read.”

She was knowledgeable, so it was easy to ask miscellaneous questions.

“Yes, this wall? Originally, artifacts were piled up for defense during the Continental War, but recently they have been improved and used like a castle wall.”

After being certified that he is close to me, Chase approaches 3m without any burden.

I cradled my cane in my arms and stared at the wall with my eyes narrowed.

“Is it the magic tower defense wall? this low one?”

The wall was not that high to be used as a castle wall.

about 4 m.

From noble mtl dot com

It seems that anyone can jump over it with just a rope.

“You can see it as a boundary rather than a wall. Boundaries dividing talent.”

“Borders dividing talent?”

The meaning was unfamiliar, so I asked her for a detailed explanation.

“There are a total of 3 walls surrounding the tower, which divides the land around the tower into 4 areas. The areas divided by walls are called normal, beginner, intermediate, and advanced from the outside. The area where the magic tower is located is the high level, the area where the archmages live.”

“Normal, beginner, intermediate, advanced? How do you divide the area?”

“People who lack magic cannot go inside. If you don’t have magic at all, you’re in the normal area, if you’re a beginner wizard, you’re in the beginner area, if you’re an intermediate wizard, you’re in the intermediate area, and if you’re an archmage, you’re in the advanced area, so it’s named that way.”

Areas that can be entered are determined according to the level.

“Why are you sharing like that?”

“It’s the effect of this wall-like artifact. People pass through according to magic power, so people are naturally filtered out.”

“You mean you can’t go through this if you don’t have enough magic power?”

“yes.”

Chase said in a low voice.

I’ve been staring at the wall ever since.

I don’t like that wall.

I didn’t particularly like the boundary of this wall.

Why divide people by differences in talent.

How much difference is there between them?

People liked to separate and separate each other for various reasons.

Race, status, strength, talent.

In my eyes, that’s just it.

Those who are afraid of me all the same.

It didn’t seem to make any difference to me.

“That’s the magic checkpoint. If you pass through that place, you can enter the beginner area.”

Chase pointed to an artifact building that looked like a tunnel.

Only a few people were passing in and out of the tunnel.

People without magical powers are thrown out of the boundary of the tunnel.