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Eltman Eltwin still remembered his fateful meeting with Baek Yuseol, as if it just happened yesterday.
He was investigating the area after receiving a tip about a powerful dark mage that showed up in the north. It was snowing heavily. Finding nothing, he decided to head back to Stella when he saw a small figure in a wide plain.
A brown haired boy with a brown coat, looking no older than 12, was straightening his body.
'A child? In the middle of a snow storm?'
Then, he saw the child disappeared in a flash of golden light, and appeared again a few meters ahead. He staggered, probably disoriented before repeating his actions.
Eltman realized what spell it was, after observing the boy for a while.
It was Blink, a forbidden spell due to how dangerously uncontrollable and mana consuming it was. Many high class mages tried to master it, but gave up, deciding that it was not worth it.
And yet, this boy managed to control the Blink's spell direction without being frozen during cooldown.
'This boy has potential.'
As the boy stopped to catch his breath, Eltman made his presense known to him.
"You sure are fascinating."
The boy looked at him with wide eyes, surprised and wary as Eltman approached him. Stella Academy purely evaluated and admitted students based on magical abilities and talents, regardless of background and academic level.
With that in mind, his offer came naturally.
"I'll write you a recommendation letter, so come take the exam at my school later. You'll receive bonus points."
He disappeared after saying those words.
That was six years ago, a blink of an eye to someone who lived for over three centuries.
When Eltman heard about the news of a Blink mage singlehandedly clearing a Risk 7 Persona Gate in the northern region, he knew that it was Baek Yuseol. He was glad to know that he was still working hard.
'Though it seemed that his situation is more perilous than I thought...' he thought as he approached Baek Yuseol's hometown. He came personally, as a statement to the rest of Aether that Baek Yuseol was still a Stella student, even if he missed the entrance ceremony. Many organizations expressed interest in the teen, including other magic academies. Eltman's presence would serve as a deterrent to the Dark Mage Cult remnants, too. No doubt that they were looking for a chance to strike again, especially when the Blink Mage was vulnerable now.
The Stella Knights were dispatched due to detecting that Persona Gate, although by the time they reached their destination, the Persona Gate's wave pattern was gone. They did fought the dark mages with Baek Yuseol, however.
The village's defense wall and towers, damaged by the siege a few days ago came within his line of sight. Eltman arrived at the main gate and the Stella Knight who was notified of his arrival stood to attention. "Headmaster Eltwin, Senior Stella Knight and leader of this expedition, Baydo, at your service!"
"May I know what happened? Just tell me what you saw."
At that, Baydo started to recount the battle...
Three days ago. It was snowing.
The Stella Knights arrived at the outskirts of the village, and as soon as they got off their horses they ran into dark mages trying to flee at the sight of them.
"It's the Stella Knights!"
"What do we do now, we're surrounded!"
The Knights made quick work of the dark mages, and were quite surprised at their number and risk level. There were more than a dozen of them, most of them were Risk 3, and a few were at Risk 4 or 5.
'And there are more of them in the village ahead!'
As they got closer to the village the sounds grew louder. There were signs of a broken protection barrier, the defense walls and the main gate were damaged, though they didn't detect any Persona Gate anymore. The Knights saw villagers hiding in their houses, with some boldly tried to watch from their windows ('The houses have barriers,' Baydo noted) as they fought their way to the village square, where a fierce battle was happening.
A group of mages were exchanging spells with a larger group of dark mages, illuminating the battlefield as bright colours clashed with dark miasma. While outnumbered, the mages managed to fight the dark mages to a draw. Among the mages, a haggard brown-haired teen in a long black coat, who was holding a bloodstained sword stood out to Baydo, and a mage was talking to the boy with a worried expression. Then, the teen suddenly held his sword handle with both hands, and bent his knees slightly.
'What-'
A flash of gold.
"AAARRGH!!"
The dark mage in the front of the group was stabbed through the chest. The teen pulled out his sword, and spun around to swing it at the dark mage that tried to attack him from his back. He parried the dark mages' attacks, which vanished as he slashed rapidly. Then, he disappeared, resulting in the dark mages' spells missing him and reappeared to slash at another dark mage in flashes of gold. All the while, the teen stayed out of the mages' lines of spells, not interrupting their dynamic in battle.
'Blink spell? Wait, now's not the time!' Baydo admonished himself. The Stella Knights joined the fray, and the dark mages quickly dwindled in number. Soon, they managed to surround the remaining dark mages near the damaged defense walls.
Realizing that this was a lost cause, some of the dark mages suddenly charged towards them in the different directions and released a powerful attack, causing a chain of rebound explosion among some of the mages. The remaining dark mages took this opening to flee.
As magic spells flew at the dark mages' retreating figures, Baydo tried to close the distance with advanced Hyper Jump, and the young swordsman did the same with Blink. However, the swordsman staggered and fell before they could catch up to the dark mages.
"Oi, are you alright!" Baydo yelled as he helped the swordsman up. On a closer look, he looked very exhausted, with heavy eyebags. He had injuries of various severity on his body but nothing fatal. 'He looks so young.' The teen groaned in pain while clutching his head. He took a few deep breaths before asking weakly, "Are- are they gone?"
Baydo looked at the dark mages' disappearing figure, then answered, "Yes, they are gone."
The young swordsman let out a sigh of relief, then his eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious.
"The mages that came before us said that he joined the battle as soon as he cleared the Persona Gate, and insisted to fight when they protested." Baydo looked marveled as he said that. "I can't believe that he could still fight like that after pushing himself to clear a Risk 7 Persona Gate, in two days!"
"What happened after that?"
"The villagers came to take the kid to the hospital, while we, the Stella Knights checked the region and neighbouring villages for dark mage activities. The other villages were attacked too, just on a smaller scale. Their barriers too held up until the dark mages suddenly retreated a day ago, probably to focus their forces on this village.”
As Baydo finished his report, a middle-aged man with greying hair, who introduced himself as the village chief greeted them, although he looked overwhelmed.
"Hello, I'm Eltman Eltwin. The Headmaster of Stella Academy. I trust that you know why I'm here?"
"H-Headmaster Eltwin! Y-Y-Yes, of-of course I do! P-Please f-f-follow me!" the chief stammered as he led them in.
Compared to the last time he saw the village, the size and population had increased. Eltman saw other mages still at around, probably trying to find the dark mage remnants, though some were observing the infrastructure. The broken main gate and walls surrounding the village had runes on them, and closer inspection revealed that those runes were for a magic barrier. "Y-Yuseol reinforced it with his friend, around three months ago, she's a wandering Class 3 Mage, h-he said," said the chief. "It h-held on long enough for us to h-hide and a-arm ourselves."
"Do you know her name?"
"I-I only remember h-her first name is Aiselle, what is her last name again? M-Mo- something, I think."
'So Baek Yuseol is friends with Aiselle Molf? Interesting...'
There were runes and charms on some houses too, and the villagers were busy cleaning up the mess or repairing their houses. He sensed that some of them were wearing magic accessories, emitting fairly strong mana for their sizes.
"Yuseol made them, h-he said they are not as p-powerful as he'd liked, but w-w-we thought that it is impressive!" "It is," Baydo chimed in, considering his circumstances.
As they walked through the village with the chief, some villagers stopped their activities to look at him discretely, while the children openly gawked at him. He smiled at them, hoping that it will put them at ease. A few children ran away, however Eltman heard one of them said, "We need to tell my mom!" to her friends before they did.
The chief told him, "T-The kids probably went to the hospital to n-notify the head nurse."
To fill the silence, the chief told them about how the dark mages sieged their village. At first, Baek Yuseol went out of the defense walls to slay the dark mages and the villagers covered him with his magic defense tools from the towers, built a couple of years ago at the intervals of the walls. The women, elderly, and children were evacuated to houses that had protective barriers. After they trapped Baek Yuseol in the Persona Gate, they continued to keep the dark mages away from the defense walls. The barrier broke after they sieged for two days and the villagers retreated, still throwing potions at them in hopes to slow them down, just as the mages and Stella Knights arrived.
He also talked about how the dark mages had been terrorizing them for years, though their attempts had escalated in recent years due to Baek Yuseol actively fighting them back, culminating in the large scale attack on the villages. He said rather adamantly, that it was not the Blink Mage's fault.
"If-if anything, we sleep better at night knowing that he's protecting us! M-Many people from other villages and refugees settled here because Yuseol is h-here, and t-trading between villages is more stable and frequent with his protection. A-Ashamed as I am to rely on a child to protect us, e-especially since he lost his parents almost three years ago, t-to the dark mages..." he trailed off somberly.
He remained quiet after that, until they reached a small hospital with signs of expansion in recent years. The Class 9 Mage could sense that there were paparazzi around, though they didn't dare to come close, obviously intimidated by his powerful presence. Eltman thought to himself as Baydo stood guard at the entrance while he entered the hospital with the chief.
'I can already imagine the headlines tomorrow.'
"Yuseol just woke up this morning, you're in luck! His recovery speed is quick, as always."
The head nurse reported that his three-day-coma was due to him overexerting himself fighting the dark mages non-stop, after not sleeping for two days. That was to be expected.
'It was still impressive, how quickly he cleared it...'
Persona Gates were mysterious portals leading to parts of a Hidden Realm, summoned by dark mages. They were dangerous, even experienced mages faced a lot of trouble clearing. For example, a Risk 3 Persona Gate could only be cleared safely by at least five Class 3 mages. The Mage Association set a baseline of one Class 4 Mage and seven Class 3 Mages for said risk level, with the time taken was approximately a week. The monsters in Persona Gates were from another dimension, so time was needed to engage with them and observe their habits to develop strategies based on their weakness and characteristics.
A high schooler, clearing a Risk Level 7 Persona Gate alone, in just a couple of days? Practically unheard of.
'And yet it was Risk 7, even the Stella Knights detected it.'
"It has been a long time since we last met, Baek Yuseol. You have grown taller. Congratulations on clearing the Persona Gate."
Baek Yuseol was covered in bandages, and he was still pale due to fatigue. His bedside table had a lamp, a pair of glasses, a pen, and blank papers, while a sword hung on the wall next to the table. He tried to bow to him, still lying in bed.
"I am honoured that you are here, Headmaster Eltwin. While it's true, I was also lucky that the dark mages didn't try to kill me in the Persona Gate, like their attempt six months ago."
Dark mages could enter Persona Gates with unconventional means rather than usual entry points, so many mages lost their lives in Persona gates to their ambushes.
"No one ever cleared a Risk 5 Persona Gate alone, let alone Risk 7. Don't sell yourself short, Baek Yuseol."
The teenager smiled, and some colour returned to his pallor.
"Let's get to the point then, Baek Yuseol. What do you plan to do next?"
He looked down at his hands resting on the bed sheets. After a moment, he said, "If you asked me a week ago, I would confidently say that I had everything under control. The protective barriers and equipment I left should be enough for the village to stand against the dark mages until I could make arrangements for better protection, or to improve my creations from resources unavailable to me before, after attending Stella."
Baek Yuseol cut himself off, looking dejected. "Look at how well that turned out, I was too naïve. My arrangement was lacking. I didn't realise their plan to trap me in the Persona Gate until it's too late to dodge. I thought that...the defense would be enough." Completely ignoring ('or not realizing?') the fact that it was due to his arrangements that his village was still standing.
'Such a heavy burden, on his shoulders.'
Silence filled the air for a few minutes as Baek Yuseol mulled over his thoughts, before he continued.
"After I recover, I need to do maintenance on the protective barrier around the village and replenish the stock of Alchemy items exhausted in the attack. I should also patrol around to check for traces of dark mages in the area. The chief probably already sent someone to check on other neighbouring villages, so I need to verify with him later." He paused to look at Eltman.
"These tasks will take at least two months, so I can't immediately attend Stella-"
"Baek Yuseol, what do you think of making your village a mage's territory?"
Baek Yuseol pushed his nose bridge with his hand, before stopping himself, and answered.
"I had thought about it, years ago. The mages I could think of in the northern region that could do so are the Grand Duke Selphram of the Ice Spirit Plateau Fortress and Principal Bilek of Azure Frost Magic Academy, in Trkalanta. But I can't travel there, the Arctic Iceberg Mountain is still quite far and more extreme than our climate, the eternal blizzard made it difficult for train travel, and the mountain range has a lot of powerful monsters. I can't risk it. There is also high likelihood that they will not agree to it, not when they already have their hands full with the monsters in the mountain."
"What about Stella, then?"
He answered, "That's what I'm planning to do after getting to Stella. The academy is big, there should be someone willing to hear me out."
"What I mean, Baek Yuseol, is the Stella Academy itself."
The boy looked shocked at that offer while Eltman continued, "While your village is quite far from Arcanium, I would like to offer your village and it's surrounding area to be under Stella's protection."
The Blink Mage looked at the Headmaster in the eye, as if trying to see what Eltman was thinking. Not breaking eye contact, he asked guardedly, "What's the condition?"
"You are a very talented individual, just your mastery over the forbidden Blink spell would have secured your future as a mage. But you didn't stop there, you still continue to work hard to walk the path of 'Chivalry', hone your battle senses, and study Alchemy, all for your dedication to protect people from dark mages and dungeons. It would be a great loss for Stella Academy to let go of someone like you, Baek Yuseol. Besides, you will need Stella's protection too, now that your reputation as the Dark Mage Slayer is well known. "
"Dark Mage Slayer, that moniker is... a bit too much."
Even as he said that, Baek Yuseol realized that his safety was compromised too, at Eltman's statement. He contemplated a bit before nodding to himself.
"Headmaster Eltwin, I am inclined to take your offer, let's call the chief in so we can discuss about it together."
As Eltman expected, the chief quickly took the offer. The three of them discussed the details of the arrangements for the region to be under Stella's protection well into the evening, and closed their deal just as the head nurse came to notify them that it's time for Baek Yuseol's check up and he needed to rest ("That child will work himself to a stupor if no one's watching him!").
As Eltman left the hospital, he told Baydo about their decision, and Baydo suggested, "We will stay here and help cadet Baek Yuseol with his arrangements, then he can come with us to Stella, to prevent unexpected events."
"Very well."
Baydo suddenly said, "Baek Yuseol is remarkable, Headmaster Eltwin. I can't imagine how he did all that."
Eltman thought back to the boy, who despite all the odds against him, still made something incredible out of the hand that fate had dealt him, and agreed, "Indeed he is."
With that, Eltman left the village, the same way he did six years ago.
(Soon, Eltman Eltwin announced to the public that the region around the Dark Mage Slayer, Baek Yuseol's hometown was under Stella Academy's protection, along with pictures discreetly taken by the paparazzi of the Headmaster and Senior Stella Knight in front of the hospital. Once again, the public bursted into uproar.)