A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 21
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 21
Thump-thump—
The sound of the cart settling onto the ground shattered the forest’s silence.
Aion looked back and forth between the Name Plaque and Laila, then at the cart piled high with belongings behind her like a mountain.
“You’re going to live here, Laila Draconis.”
Laila said it with a dust-covered face, as though all of this had been decided from the start.
“…Wait, hold on.”
Aion raised a hand.
How many people in the world could speak so calmly about leaving the Dormitory and living in this abandoned Mountain Cottage settlement? Aion turned his gaze elsewhere.
An overwhelming quantity of luggage.
Most Excion students lived in the Dormitory, so they didn’t carry nearly this much with them.
Calling it “quite a lot of luggage” wouldn’t begin to cover it.
The belongings piled on the cart were so abundant that one worried, without exaggeration, whether the Mountain Cottage could fit them all.
“Is all this luggage… yours?”
“Yeah. Mine.”
Laila nodded, her expression unbothered.
Then, as if remembering something, she tilted her head and added,
“…Mostly.”
Aion approached the cart and began to untie the bundle sitting on top.
Out came a large Iron Pot.
“Is this… for cooking?”
“I don’t know.”
“…You don’t know?”
“I just brought it.”
Clang—
Aion set down the pot and opened the bundle beside it. This time, three old Oil Lamps without oil emerged.
Rustle—
In the sack next to that was a chair with one leg broken, and beneath it in a box lay countless metal scraps of unknown purpose.
“What is this?”
“…What is that?”
Next came a Name Plaque.
A Name Plaque engraved with a different name than Laila’s.
“This one?”
“Oh… that’s from the next room over.”
“…Why is that here?”
“I don’t know.”
For some reason, he found himself afraid to dig into the source of this baggage, so he left it alone.
Aion closed his eyes quietly, then opened them again.
This happened sometimes—whenever he got entangled with someone who brought storms in their wake.
“You… why would you do something so reckless?”
“Aion, you’re here.”
Laila pointed at Aion with her finger as she spoke.
“Then I’ll be here too.”
She said it with utter confidence.
“…A declaration?”
“Yes.”
Aion fell silent at that answer for a moment.
The reasoning was too simple to be called a reason.
Yet that very simplicity left no room for objection.
“Why did you come here of all places? This is…”
“I owe a debt.”
Laila answered without hesitation.
“I have to repay it. To you.”
“…I never asked you to repay it.”
“I know.”
Aion looked at Laila.
She blinked up at him, her expression saying she wasn’t sure what else to say.
‘That debt… it feels like the principal is growing in real time.’
Aion suppressed a sigh and continued.
“You should know—living in a place like this means letting go of all the comforts you enjoyed in the Dormitory. There’s no hot water, no heating or cooling. You’ll have to brace yourself for hardship.”
Laila fell silent at those words.
“I’m used to it.”
“…What?”
“I said, I’m used to places like this.”
Aion looked at Laila again.
Hair that faded from black roots to blue at the tips, eyes larger than seemed necessary, pale skin.
She had the kind of beauty that would be believable as the cherished daughter of some great noble house.
And such a girl claimed to be accustomed to a place like this.
It was hard to believe.
‘A variable I didn’t anticipate.’
Aion revised his plans in his mind.
If Laila remained here, it would certainly impose constraints on his actions.
Had she arrived even a single day earlier, he would have struggled to handle yesterday’s situation as effectively.
Yet another thought followed on its heels.
‘Still, things don’t always go smoothly anyway. At least I’ll have more freedom here than I had at the Dormitory.’
Aion understood well that nothing could be perfect.
“Fine.”
Aion spoke.
“But there are conditions.”
“Conditions?”
Laila tilted her head in confusion.
Aion knew this was absurd. He was neither the village headman nor had any authority to set rules.
Still, it needed to be said clearly.
“We don’t involve ourselves in each other’s affairs.”
“Don’t involve ourselves.”
Laila nodded several times.
“Yes.”
That would suffice.
“That’s all that’s needed.”
***
Bang.
And that rule began to unravel before the afternoon was even half through.
It was while Aion was mending his Mountain Cottage roof.
Bang.
The sound came from Laila’s direction.
Aion did not stop hammering.
Clang!
Clang!
“…Hmm.”
Laila’s murmur drifted on the wind—the tone of someone examining something.
Aion kept his gaze fixed and continued working.
Creak-creak-creak—
A low vibration hummed through the air.
‘Ignore it.’
Bang! Crash!
“…mm.”
This time her muttering carried more intention, and the sound of exertion bled through it.
Aion kept his eyes downcast, pretending deafness, and drove the nail forward.
Crack-crack-crack-crack—
The sound of timber warping.
‘I heard nothing. I heard nothing at all.’
Bang!
And then.
Silence.
Aion’s hammering stopped.
Perfect stillness.
Only the whisper of wind through the forest remained. The sudden absence of Laila’s cacophony left his ears ringing in the quiet.
……
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-CRASH!!!
Whoosh—!
When Aion turned his head, the Mountain Cottage Laila had marked was collapsing in a shambles of dust and debris.
……
As the dust settled, Laila stood in the wreckage, thankfully unharmed. Only the surrounding landscape had become a ruin.
Laila gazed down at the collapsed cottage for a moment, then spoke.
“The house was a bit fragile.”
She lifted her gaze toward the next cottage, her next target.
“I’ll use that one instead.”
Footstep.
Just as Laila moved toward the next cottage.
Swish—
Aion, who had descended to ground level without warning, reached out and grabbed the back of Laila’s collar.
“…?”
Laila’s feet found no purchase in the empty air.
A soft hum.
Aion held Laila steady and gazed quietly at the ruined Mountain Cottage before them. Then he spoke.
“Don’t do anything. Just support me from the side.”
Laila blinked.
“Okay.”
And that choice proved wise.
Once Laila began to assist, the pace of work transformed.
When Aion set the angle, Laila added strength. When he held it steady, she applied pressure. Their movements found a rhythm.
Work that would have taken him half a day alone moved visibly faster with both of them.
Though admittedly, the scope of the work had doubled as well.
Crack.
The sharp ring of a nail driving home echoed clearly through the air.
Something kindled in Aion’s mind.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[!] New Quest Assigned.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
『Quest: Two Are Better Than One』
― 『Quest Summary: There are times when working together surpasses working alone. You must repair the dwelling of Laila Draconis.』
― 『Objectives: Replace flooring, reinforce walls, temporary roof repair (0/3)』
― 『Reward: Vitality +3』
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Since Yggdrasil himself had effectively pushed Aion toward this, there was no reason to refuse.
‘Well, it’s not the worst situation.’
Neither of them was particularly talkative by nature.
“Hold this.”
“A bit more to the right.”
“Like this?”
“That’s it.”
Thud.
As the sun began its descent, Aion surveyed the work’s progress. Laila’s dwelling had been restored to a state where she could spend the night comfortably—much like his own room had been yesterday. The flooring was replaced with fresh timber, the most compromised section of wall reinforced. The roof was temporarily covered with cloth.
It was clear weeks more of labor lay ahead.
Ting—!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[!] Quest completed.
[!] Reward granted: Vitality +3
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Aion confirmed the quest completion notification and set down his hammer. Then he looked around.
‘…I hardly touched my own place at all.’
Most of today’s work had been concentrated on Laila’s quarters.
His own Mountain Cottage remained nearly unchanged from this morning.
‘This is exactly why I didn’t want to get involved….’
But an untouched house was practically a ruin. The thought that he couldn’t let a young girl sleep somewhere like that weighed heavier.
Aion turned quietly and began to walk away.
“I’m heading inside.”
Footstep.
But before he could take two steps, someone grabbed his collar from behind.
Tug—
Aion stopped.
It was Laila who’d seized his collar.
“…Why.”
Still gripping him, Laila pointed toward her quarters.
“Sleep here.”
“…………”
Aion was left momentarily speechless.
“…What?”
“Sleep here.”
Laila repeated herself, clearly this time—as if to say, why must I tell you something obvious twice?
Aion looked at Laila, then shifted his gaze to his own Mountain Cottage. Then back to Laila.
“…No.”
“Why?”
Laila tilted her head, genuinely perplexed.
“This place is cleaner.”
Aion gazed at the quarters she indicated.
Thanks to a day’s work, it was certainly in better condition than his Mountain Cottage.
But that wasn’t the problem.
‘This woman… far less guarded than I expected.’
Aion gently pried Laila’s hand from his collar.
“Sleep well.”
Laila blinked.
Aion said nothing more. He turned and made his way toward his own cottage.
***
That night.
Aion descended the basement stairs, oil lamp clasped in hand.
Creak—
The ancient wooden steps groaned beneath his feet. The lamp’s glow pushed back the darkness below.
The basement was larger than he’d anticipated.
Bookshelves lined one entire wall; before them sat a weathered workbench; scattered about were bundles of parchment.
Someone had fled in haste—the signs were unmistakable.
“So Dante was the one who owned this workshop…”
Aion held the lamp high and moved slowly inward.
【Flame: What is it you’re curious about?】
“What that man was doing. What he’s hiding. Why he left.”
【Flame: That amounts to wanting to know everything, doesn’t it?】
“It does. Everything.”
Aion picked up a sheet of parchment from the workbench.
Dense equations filled it. Notes that looked like the middle stages of some research.
“But how did no one know that a Great Spirit named Sien was living in Mistyveil Forest?”
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
【Earth: Well, each of us has our own reasons, doesn’t it? My permission isn’t required for where the Wind Spirit chooses to dwell.】
【Magic: A Great Spirit dwelling near human habitation is rare. By nature, they prefer isolation—they despise noise.】
【Flame: They regard humans as insects. You should have been dead yesterday, and no one would have thought it strange.】
As Aion listened to their exchange, he opened the workbench drawer. Inside lay several worn letters mixed with empty medicine bottles.
“Day of execution…?”
The words were written on one of the letters.
No date, no recipient. It seemed like some sort of secret document, but the bottom was torn away—the full contents were lost.
‘What in the world was Dante doing here?’
Aion closed the drawer and moved toward the bookshelves.
Most of the books were treatises on magical theory.
Among them were older volumes that appeared to be hand-bound.
“Why did she leave in such a hurry…?”
Aion murmured the thought aloud.
【Water】: Looking at the bloodstains, this wasn’t a gentle departure.
【Flame】: She ran. That’s the only conclusion.
“Mm…”
Aion paused mid-step at the words.
They were right.
The state of this basement wasn’t the work of someone who’d tidied up before leaving. These were the marks of a hasty departure—desperately hasty.
“If she ran… from what?”
Was it something she was fleeing from, or something she was chasing?
Aion moved through the bookshelves, running his fingers across them.
He rifled through parchment, unfolded notes, examined each letter one by one.
Only fragmented information.
Like scattered puzzle pieces—the full picture remained hidden.
Whatever had been left behind seemed unimportant.
Then, at some point, Aion’s hand stopped.
“…?”
The base of the shelving.
A narrow gap between the floor and the bookcase.
Barely wide enough to slip a finger through.
Yet through that crack, the corner of a parchment poked out, visible and beckoning.
Thud—
Aion set the oil lamp down on the floor and lay flat.
He pushed his fingers into the gap.
Fumble, fumble…
He felt the edge but couldn’t grasp it.
The parchment only slid further inward, slipping away from his touch.
【Flame】: …Do you remember you’re a mage, or has that slipped your mind?
Aion’s hand went still.
“Right. Of course.”
It came back to him then.
A soft hum—
He infused Spatial Manipulation Magic into his fingertips and stretched them out.
An invisible force threaded into the crack and drew the parchment gently toward him.
Slip—
The parchment slid free.
Aion pushed himself up and unfolded the parchment.
Then he held the oil lamp close so he could make out the words written there.
Light fell across the text.
Aion’s expression hardened like stone.
“…What is this?”
His gaze moved slowly across the parchment.
【Earth: So that fellow Dante was kept quite busy after all.】
Something was discovered in the abandoned atelier that late night.
【Flame: That’s right… The fact that he left behind the most important thing of all tells you everything.】
The Talentless Mage Swallows a Calamity-Class Future — Chapter 21
Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yeon
Cover Design
Dalri
UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0021
ⓒ2026, Wang Mozhi
※ This e-book is protected by the copyright laws of the Republic of Korea.
No part or all of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without permission from the author and publisher.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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