A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special - Chapter 84

Episode 84. He Makes His Decision (6)

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With Azest, Fram, and Romantica gone, only Jord and Dezir remained in the hospital room.
The continent’s sole 7-Circle Mage and master of the Magic Tower, possessing the highest technical prowess on the land.
The trials he had endured to reach such a position were surely beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
That was why he always carried himself with composure. In any situation, he handled matters with a steady hand, never showing a hint of agitation.
Yet the Jord who sat before him now bore an expression far grimmer than his usual demeanor.
The hospital room fell silent.
Clap.
The moment Jord’s hands came together, the faint hum of activity from the hallway ceased entirely.
Dezir immediately recognized that he had deployed Silence Magic.
Having unfolded a 2-Circle spell without calculation, Jord pulled a chair closer and sat, his gaze fixed on Dezir.
Their eyes met. The way they looked at each other seemed to pierce through to the very soul.
After a long silence, it was Jord who finally broke it.
“From the atmosphere, it seems you haven’t told them yet.”
Dezir gave a quiet nod.
“I sensed you knew, Tower Master. Since everyone seemed unaware, I thought it best to wait until I had a precise understanding of my condition before saying anything.”
“Recovery is impossible.”
Jord’s tone was conclusive.
“The finest physicians and Priscilla have all reached the same judgment. With present-day medicine, restoring vision to your left eye is beyond our capabilities.”
Dezir’s left eye perceived nothing. It was complete blindness.
It felt as though it didn’t exist at all—weightless, sensationless.
“Is it an artificial eye?”
Dezir touched the area around his left eye. There was sensation there. If nothing occupied that space, his party members would surely have noticed.
“No. The organ itself hasn’t suffered physical damage.”
Dezir rose from the bed and walked toward the mirror on the wall.
At first glance, there appeared to be nothing amiss.
But upon closer inspection, his left eye was clearly unable to focus.
When he shielded his right eye with his palm, darkness enveloped his vision.
Observing him, Jord continued.
“The treatment was flawless, yet sight never returned. The physicians did everything they could to determine the cause, but even they could not find the answer.”
Dezir slowly opened his eyes that had been shut.
A throb ran through his head. The pain from that moment lingered like a phantom. The sensation of his entire body shattering. The anguish of being torn asunder.
Dragon Magic.
In the Shadow Labyrinth, Dezir had been able to discern the formula through Reverse Engineering, but deployment was another matter entirely.
A truth he had come to know with certainty through this ordeal.
Dragon Magic was undoubtedly far more potent than any magic devised by humans, but it was never meant to be wielded by human hands.
To command a force beyond one’s control always demanded a price.
‘A price whose reason I cannot fathom.’
Those unaware that what Dezir had used was Dragon Magic would find it impossible to even speculate about his condition.
Dezir understood instinctively. This was the cost of treading into the dragon’s domain.
He had channeled power beyond comprehension, and he had paid the price.
Yet Dezir could only draw a breath of relief.
‘It ended with merely this.’
In truth, he considered it cheap.
If the cost of one eye was the salvation of everyone’s lives, it was a fair bargain. That would suffice. He harbored no regrets.
He meant it with absolute sincerity.
‘But the real matter at hand is…….’
Jord observed him with profound gravity, and his bearing made it clear he had something else to say.
Having confirmed that Dezir appeared entirely composed, Jord slowly parted his tightly pressed lips.
“Dezir, there is something I must verify with you.”
As Dezir had anticipated, Jord’s visit harbored a hidden purpose.
Now came the heart of the matter.
“Where should I even begin…….”
From the prolonged battle and excessive Mana expenditure, Jord looked considerably older than when Dezir had last seen him.
“Your entanglement with the Magic Tower was hardly ordinary, I’ll say that much. You warned the Tower of the Outer’s attack, brilliantly repelled them, and protected the Grade 2 Mana Stone. But to be frank, I suspected you of being Outer at that time.”
The circumstances had aligned far too perfectly.
“You claimed it was through intelligence…… but I couldn’t trust that explanation. It seemed far more credible that you were Outer, laying groundwork to earn my trust. So I tried to distance myself from you by offering financial compensation and wrapping up the matter quickly.”
Dezir recalled the proposal from Prelude, a mage at the Aureli Branch. It had been Jord’s instruction.
“But you…….”
“Refused it and suggested chess instead.”
Jord’s expression brightened momentarily as he recalled that time.
“Yes, chess! That was truly unexpected. I had no way to refuse. My curiosity couldn’t be suppressed by reason. Thinking back, you seemed to see right through me in an unsettling way.”
His tone grew progressively heavier. Then it sharpened like an awl.
From that shift in tone, Dezir could discern what Jord was about to do.
‘He’s interrogating me.’
Jord was methodically moving his pieces toward checkmate.
“You defeated me and made a deal with me. Setting aside trivial smokescreen offers like sponsorship, what caught my eye was the technique you presented. The technology you offered was generations ahead.”
“I’m confident in my magical prowess—I yield to no one in that regard.”
Act.
Don’t waver.
“Yet before you enrolled at Hebrion Academy, you were hardly such an exceptional mage.”
Dezir grew unsettled.
“How did an ordinary student before entering Hebrion Academy acquire such Reverse Engineering ability? How could you have known of Outer’s plans in advance? And how did you come to know techniques generations ahead? No matter how I investigated, the questions surrounding you wouldn’t resolve.”
“…… You had me investigated.”
He’d expected suspicion. But an investigation—that he hadn’t anticipated.
Jord spoke almost apologetically to the slightly betrayed Dezir.
“Don’t look at me that way. As Master of the Magic Tower, I simply did what was necessary. I will eliminate any element that could threaten the Tower.”
Jord’s expression remained unchanged. Yet Dezir felt the atmosphere in the room had become noticeably more threatening.
The Mana in the Hospital Room was moving—positioning itself to deploy magic at a moment’s notice. Jord wouldn’t be unaware that Dezir would notice this.
‘A warning…….’
Jord continued.
“I’ve entertained another hypothesis. What if the real student Dezir Armang is already dead, and you are an Outer impostor? Then the Professor Bridgette who recommended your admission to this academy would also be……. You need not hear more.”
Dezir immediately grasped the implication of Jord’s words.
Jord was rushing toward a false conclusion that could explain the abnormal situation.
“So I ask you now: what is your true identity?”
Dezir was genuinely torn.
Dodging evasively with Jord was impossible. Yet no explanation came to mind that could convince him. There was no way out.
‘If I don’t clarify myself here, I become Outer.’
And not only that—Bridgette would fall under suspicion too. To prevent that, Dezir had no choice but to tell Jord the truth.
A truth he’d never told anyone.
‘A return to the past.’
It was a fact no one would ever know unless Dezir revealed it himself.
Dezir wrestled with the decision.
‘Should I tell him? That I’ve regressed through time?’
Should he explain everything from the Shadow Labyrinth onward to the present?
‘It’s complicated.’
Dezir had never spoken to anyone about what had happened to him. The reason was his concern about the variables such a revelation would introduce.
Variables had to be minimized at all costs. Knowledge of the future was his most formidable weapon.
But if variables altered the future, he would lose that most powerful weapon. That was something that absolutely must not happen.
The variables that had already emerged were troublesome enough; he wanted no more.
‘Perhaps someday I can tell him. But not now.’
Once Dezir had decided and lowered his head, Jord spoke.
“So you cannot answer.”
“…… I apologize.”
He had determined he could not speak.
Dezir looked up at Jord cautiously. Yet his expression was strangely calm—nothing like what Dezir had anticipated. Caught off guard by this unexpected reaction, Dezir found himself asking.
“You won’t press further?”
“I would have, two weeks ago.”
Two weeks ago.
That was precisely before Tadeneuph appeared.
“But now I think—what good would it do to doubt you at this point? You’ve sacrificed yourself repeatedly to save countless people and succeeded in protecting them. If you were truly Outer, there’d be no stupider version of Outer.”
Jord smiled faintly as he spoke.
“My instinct tells me to trust you. And when I entrusted you with all my Mana, I resolved to believe in this groundless intuition.”
Her instinct as a sage spoke clearly. Dezir Armang was a man worthy of trust.
His true identity remained a mystery, yet through his actions alone, she could discern his sincerity.
He had risked his own life to save others—a truth no one could deny.

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