Genius Wizard Conceals His Origins

T/N: Edited 10/28/24.

The proposition that complete darkness comes when the sun hides beyond the horizon, like a law of nature, had ceased to be true in the Federation for more than a decade.

Around the time when the title of those who studied magic gradually changed from magicians and wizards to magic scholars…

The prophecy of a magic scholar who answered the officials’ question of ‘What use is this experiment anyway?’ with ‘In the future, you teachers will be able to tax this’ had been realized.

Magic lamps were installed throughout the Federation.

Thanks to the stars that rose from the ground and covered the earth with a soft warm color, people were able to bid farewell to darkness, their age-old object of love and hate.

Now, in the Federation, darkness was nothing more than a remnant of the past.

So when that remnant was reproduced in the tunnel immediately after the collapse, Damon panicked.

“Damn it!”

Bam!

Forgetting the risk of further collapse, he struck the ground with his fist, filled with anger.

He couldn’t see anything.

All he could see was the fear that this place could also collapse at any moment and he felt the anxiety caused by the pitch-black view.

The well-known dangers of tunnel collapse accidents further exacerbated Damon’s anxiety.

“Damn it. We have to endure in here for days? With no food, no water, and oxygen, that might run out soon?”

Isn’t that just telling us to die?

That’s how Damon interpreted it.

Then suddenly, he realized that while he was muttering like this, there was no reaction from beside him.

He shouted towards somewhere in the void punctuated by darkness.

“Hey. Gray hair. Are you dead? Say something!”

“Something… something…”

The angry voice echoed in vain.

The cavity, completely sealed due to the tunnel collapse, amplified the voice even more. The echo reverberated again and again.

But no answer returned.

“…!”

Could he be alone, left behind?

In this darkness?

At that moment, the surging anxiety finally crossed the upper limit that Damon could endure.

“Hey. Gray hair. Wh-Where are you?”

He frantically swept the surrounding floor with trembling hands.

The tunnel was only deep, not very wide.

If he was just unconscious, at least his body should be felt somewhere around here.

At least there should be a corpse.

However.

“…Not here. Hey, gray hair!”

Only the cold and damp rock was felt at his fingertips, and nowhere in the vicinity was there anything presumed to be Eugene’s body.

Damon was on the verge of going insane.

“Gray haaaair!!!”

That’s when it happened.

“Gray hair, gray hair, you’re so damn noisy. I’m trying to concentrate, so be quiet for a bit.”

The long-awaited voice came not from the left, the right, or from behind, but from ahead.

“Y-You were alive!”

“Thanks to you throwing me back. I’m examining the blocked tunnel right now… It’s a pain without light.

Light is Type II. Tsk, I should have somehow learned Type II Magic too.”

While muttering to himself, Eugene suddenly seemed to have a good idea and started rummaging through something.

Is he untying the sack of unknown contents that he had been carrying at his waist?

While Damon was speculating its contents based on the sounds, Eugene spoke to him.

“Damon.”

“Wh-Why are you calling me?”

“Come here for a sec.”

He did as told.

Although it was a struggle to even stand with his leg strength drained, having body heat nearby was much better than facing the chill of the pitch-black void alone.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Whatever you see from now on, don’t go around telling the supervisor or anyone.”

With that, Eugene ‘unfolded’ something.

The reason he could recognize that action was because light leaked out from the unfolded object.

“A glowing book…? Don’t tell me. Is this… a grimoire?”

“The letters are just glowing, so it’s not very bright. Even this will end if the mana runs out, so we have to hurry.”

“Hurry to do what?”

“What do you mean, hurry to do what?”

In the midst of a faint blue light spreading like fog, Eugene tilted his head as if it were obvious.

“Escape, obviously.”

Accidents in coal mines come in various types, from simple rockfalls to major events where the ground itself sinks.

In the case of this incident, it seemed to be infinitely close to the former.

“It seems that the ground was weak in just that part, and there were insufficient supports, so it collapsed. There’s almost no risk of additional collapse.”

“I agree.”

Eugene and Damon’s opinions aligned.

For something that had collapsed, the support structure was quite stable.

The work of digging through the tunnel again would also proceed quickly since there was little concern about a secondary collapse or ‘aftershocks.’

It’s funny to use this term for an accident, but if I had to put it into words, it was a stroke of luck.

With the tension released, Damon plopped down on the floor.

“Phew…”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? Now that we know it’s safe, we should just wait quietly to be rescued.”

There was no food or water.

If unlucky, they might have to stay in here for days.

Damon intended to preserve his stamina as much as possible until they were rescued.

“If we get exhausted and die before being rescued, it’s all for nothing, right?”

“…”

Damon stared at him intently, meaning, ‘So, you too should sit down and rest without resistance.’

However, Eugene shook his head.

“If you’re going to rest, go rest in the back.”

“What?”

“I’m going to do some pickaxe work.”

Soon after, Eugene, who had brought a pickaxe, put the grimoire in a corner and started swinging the pickaxe.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The rock crumbled, and a path started to form.

Very. Very slowly.

“Hey. Gray hair. You’ll die doing that!”

“A person can go three days without eating, and they wouldn’t die.”

“…Crazy bastard.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Damon stared blankly at his back with his mouth wide open.

No matter how you look at it, he’s not a perfect superhuman. Every three swings, he almost drops the pickaxe, and his posture has become quite a mess.

Those hands must be full of wounds and pus, like his own.

Damon thought his physical condition was no different from his own.

But while he was sitting down and resting, Eugene was gritting his teeth, getting up, and swinging a pickaxe.

“…Damn it!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Damon jumped up from his spot.

“Move aside!”

“What is it?”

“Division of labor. You take the left. I’ll dig the right.”

“We can take it easy.”

“Mind your own business.”

The sound of pickaxes doubled.

Damon spoke, trying hard to ignore the distant fatigue and the pain rising from his grip.

“Gray hair. What the hell, haaa, made you, haaa, like this?”

Eugene replied.

“I’m sick and tired of just sitting around!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The pickaxe work of the two, starting from the inside, did not end in a meaningless conclusion.

The two were rescued a day and a half after being isolated. If the blocked tunnel had not been dug from both directions, their lives would have been in danger due to a lack of oxygen and water.

Tunnel 7 resumed operation after thorough safety construction.

Time flowed on.

#August 25th. Clear.

“Are you really leaving?”

Next to the hut near the tunnel, the supervisor’s first words upon seeing me packing my luggage were a plea.

“Can’t you stay a bit longer? I’ll pay you handsomely. The senior workers in our tunnel won’t complain if it’s you.”

“That’s a bit tempting. But I’m sorry.”

I shook my head.

“I have a place I need to go.”

It was time.

Before I knew it, a month had passed since I started spending time at the coal mine in Leman. Now I had saved up a large sum of money, enough not only for train tickets but also to rent a room in Frauzen for a couple of months.

It would be nice to stay longer as the supervisor said and save up a lump sum, since I was already used to the work. If I do that, however, the day I arrive in Frauzen would be delayed by that much.

I shouldn’t put the cart before the horse.

“Then. Thank you for everything.”

“Wait!”

When I turned my back to leave, a familiar voice was heard.

It was a voice I had become accustomed to hearing next to me for over a month.

“Damon.”

“You chose the tunnel as you pleased, and now you’re leaving as you please, too. What if you ran off without a word?”

“Hahaha.”

“Laughing, are you.”

He must have just come out of the tunnel in a hurry, as his appearance and soot covering his entire body were a mess.

In that state, Damon grinned and looked at me.

“A loner like you will do well no matter where you go or what you do. Take care… Eugene.”

I opened my eyes wide.

The next moment, I smiled softly and waved my hand.

“You take care, too.”

And so, I left Leslie, the city of coal mines.

To go from Leslie Station, which is still in Oslovya, to Frauzen, I had to pass through several stations.

Fortunately, I had enough fare.

Although my funds had become more abundant than when I first got off at Leman Station, the fact that my appearance had become very dirty was a bothersome part, but this would be solved gradually.

In Frauzen, one of the three countries of the Federation, there is a city with the same name as the country.

Frauzen. The headquarters of magic.

It was my final destination.

After taking the last train and passing a few more mountain ranges, the scenery outside the window began to reflect advanced civilization instead of nature.

The city landscape is much wider and more elegant than the port city of Orris.

In one corner, there was a section where magnificent buildings and decent facilities with a long history were clustered together.

Although it was my first time actually seeing it, I immediately recalled its name.

“The Federal University of Magic.”

The forefront of magic studies.

I clenched my fists tightly.

I had finally set foot on the land of the dream I had been dreaming of under the bridge.