A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 31

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 31

Aion did not act rashly at Sien’s sudden appearance, but instead studied his surroundings with careful eyes.

‘Of all times for this to happen…!’

Both Leila and Luana had discovered the existence of the Great Spirit of Wind, Sien.
And now all three of them stood before the jaws of this dangerous entity.

Yet the Great Spirit Sien itself paid them no particular attention.

Whoooosh—

The Great Spirit moved its body slowly but with elegant grace, strolling around the Mountain Lodge.

Each time its massive feet touched the earth, the ground rippled, and the trees nearby all bent in unison toward one side.
Yet befitting a Great Spirit of Wind, the colossal form left no footprints behind.

Each time the three tails swayed freely in the air, wind spiraled in their wake.

Shhhhhhh—

Fallen leaves and windfall fruit were swept up in the vortex, cleanly clearing the area around the Mountain Lodge.

‘What does that creature intend by coming here?’

Aion had believed the matter of Dante’s dwelling had been resolved well enough.
Yet perhaps that had been his wishful thinking alone.

Whoosh—

Golden eyes swept across everything around it.

The countless wounds that remained on roof and wall and chimney.
And the traces of the past, now slowly healing.

Aion was about to speak when—

【So you’ve been making trouble lately.】

Sien’s gaze turned toward the Mountain Lodge, which Aion had finished repairing, even the roof.

【The appearance is passable now.】

‘Could that possibly be… praise?’

The words of the Great Spirit Sien sounded as if a superior were commending a subordinate’s diligent labor.

This had to be no mere illusion.
It was a decidedly positive signal for what lay ahead between them.

At least for this moment, it seemed Aion had not offended Sien’s temperament, so he chose silence instead.

Sien’s gaze shifted now toward the space behind Aion.

Toward Leila, and toward Luana, who lay unconscious and slumped over the table since Sien’s appearance.

A silence stretched between them.

【I shall permit your stay. However….】

Permission granted—but with a condition attached.
A warning, plainly spoken.

【Understand this: I will not tolerate further disturbance in this place.】

In other words, unless he wanted to be reckless, he was not to summon any more people to the Mountain Lodge.
If he acted without sense, the next flattened corpse on the ground might well be Aion’s own.

At that moment, the tip of Sien’s nose twitched ever so slightly.

【…A familiar scent.】

Golden eyes fixed upon Leila.

Leila merely gazed back at Sien with open curiosity, her expression unchanged.

【No—a mistake, perhaps.】

And that was all.

A tremendous roar split the air—a sound like the world tearing itself apart.

The trees surrounding them convulsed in unison. Branches bent as if to snap, and autumn leaves scattered in every direction.
Both Aion and Leila shut their eyes by instinct.

When they opened them again, Sien had vanished.

Then silence.

Aion placed a hand over his heart.

He exhaled slowly.

A long, shuddering breath. He felt ten years older.

“The wolf,” Aion murmured.

Leila pointed in the direction where Sien had disappeared, her gaze turning toward him.

Aion nodded silently in reply.

“A neighbor?”
“A neighbor, you ask?”
“Yes.”

He paused, weighing this absurd question before answering.

“A neighbor…perhaps, for now.”

He could not say why Sien had come to this place, but at least the killing intent he’d sensed before was no longer present.
Perhaps they could manage coexistence after all.

【Life: How remarkable… That dreadful Great Spirit Sien shows no hostility toward mankind.】
【Flame: The Wind was right. Was Sien truly not the problem?】
【Water: Then over the next fifty years, something must occur that affects Sien.】
【Earth: That one called Dante might be involved. Tell us, Wind—what do you make of this?】

The Spirit of Wind remained silent, as expected.

【Earth: …Sprawling about like that has its limits. Always absent when it matters.】
【Life: At least we’ve established his intentions aren’t unnatural.】
【Earth: Huh? What’re you talking about? Who’d want a neighbor like that?】
【Flame: …Look there, Aion.】

Aion’s gaze turned in the direction the Flame had indicated.

A corner of the Mountain Lodge.
An unnatural eddy swirled there, and nowhere else.

As Aion drew closer and examined it, he found a tuft of hair—something that resembled the fur of some enormous creature.

【Lightning: Hehehehe! A windfall! A genuine windfall!】
【Water: Indeed… I never anticipated we’d obtain such a harvest.】

As the Extreme Points rejoiced, Aion felt bewildered.

【Flame: Aion, do you understand that spirits are beings composed of pure mana?】
【Earth: They breathe mana and shed constantly—skin, scales, all of it.】
【Life: It’s the same for every spirit. Even Great Spirits.】

As he listened, Aion’s eyes dropped to the tuft in his hand.

‘Then this is…?’

【Flame: Whether Sien intended it or not, it appears to be hair she shed.】
【Water: Judging by the color, it looks like tail hair. With such a magnificent tail, losing this much wouldn’t be strange at all.】
【Earth: Listen here, why don’t you weave it into a fur cap? Channel some mana into it.】

Following the instruction, Aion poured mana into the tuft he held in his palm.

Whoooooosh—

The tuft began to glow, emanating a wondrous reaction.

‘What in the world…?’

And in that moment, the tuft dissolved into light and was absorbed into Aion’s right arm.

‘…What?!’

Ting—!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[!] You absorb a byproduct of Sien, the Great Spirit of Wind.
[!] Magical Power increases by 5.
[!] Wind attribute affinity increases.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

【Flame: Your magical power has risen tremendously….】
【Water: That’s the caliber of a Great Spirit, after all.】
【Earth: I’m half-serious about packing lunch and trailing after Sien like a puppy. You’ve gained as much mana in a single moment as you would accumulate over days of Grounding.】

Just then,

“Mm….”

Luana rubbed her eyes and pushed herself upright.

“Ah… did I fall asleep? I’m sorry….”

Then, as if remembering something she wanted to say, she let out a soft laugh.

“But you know, I just had the strangest dream?”

***

After disposing of the Brumbear Corpse, Aion’s steps led him, as always, to Aria’s Mansion.

But today, unlike usual, the entrance was bustling with activity.

Nobles’ carriages lined the drive—not just one or two, but enough to encircle the entire mansion.

And in the Garden, the retainers of each carriage stood in neat rows.

Aion paused at the sight of this peculiar gathering he’d never seen before.

‘…What in the world is happening here?’

The moment he stepped into the Garden, tilting his head in confusion, the eyes of all the assembled retainers snapped toward him at once.

Snap—!

Every gaze was sharp and piercing. By anyone’s measure, the atmosphere screamed unwelcome.

Aion paid them no mind and approached the Butler as he always did.

“…You’ve come again today, I see.”

He nodded.

“I shall inform Miss Aria of your visit.”

The same formal words he heard every time.
Aion doubted whether his visit was ever actually relayed to Aria, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He turned away from the retainers’ hostile stares and withdrew to a spot by the fountain.

With so many eyes watching, it wasn’t the right moment to attempt Grounding.

“You’ve come on quite a crowded day, Mage.”

Aion turned his head.

A man tending flowers in one corner of the Garden was looking at him. From his age, he appeared to be the mansion’s gardener.

“…And who are you?”
“Please, lower your guard—I’m merely a gardener.”

Aion considered this for a moment before answering.

“I haven’t yet earned the title of Mage.”
“Is that so? Ha… then I think even this is fitting.”

The gardener lifted his gaze from the flowers he was tending and looked at Aion.

“I’d been wondering who kept the Garden so well maintained—now my curiosity is satisfied.”
“…Though I’m tending it against the master’s preferences, it seems.”

Aion tilted his head in puzzlement.

“…What do you mean by that?”
“Everything in this mansion reflects the tastes of the young lady’s mother, Ameli.”
“Is that so? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Have you ever seen the young lady in person? Attended one of her performances?”

For a week straight, he hadn’t even heard her voice, let alone glimpsed her face. Aion shook his head.

“The young lady… she dislikes ostentatious things. These flowers are all quite far from her taste, really. They’re all imported from the Kalion Imperial Capital—not naturally occurring specimens, but artificially colored mutations.”
……
“I myself don’t care much for such unnatural things, but the young lady finds them even more distasteful. That’s why she rarely ventures into the garden, even on pleasant days.”

There was something melancholic in the way he spoke.

“What’s your name?”
“This flower? This one is….”
“No, I meant the gardener’s name.”
“Oh? Er, I-I-I-I… Have I committed some offense?”

To put the thoroughly frightened gardener at ease, Aion clarified his intent.

“I happened to overhear something quite personal, and I’d like to at least remember your name.”
“…Might you not be of noble birth, Mage?”
“Does it matter?”
“Nobles don’t typically speak to me this way. If my question was presumptuous, I apologize.”
“I am of noble birth, actually. I simply haven’t lived as one, I suppose.”

The gardener let out a soft chuckle and answered.

“My name is Toma.”
“I’m Aion. Aion of Iscar.”
“Iscar? Isn’t that the great house of the north in Labatie?”
“…Yes, it is.”
“What an honor… To think you were a scion of such a distinguished family. Forgive me for not recognizing you.”

Toma seemed oddly delighted.

“To think I’d one day meet such a noble mage.”

Aion turned his gaze toward the servants and carriages.

“But what is all this commotion at the mansion?”
“Ah, those people… It’s something that happens every weekend since the young lady enrolled at Exion.”

Every weekend?

“On days when the young lady has no classes, nobles come calling and pester her like that.”
“For what reason?”
“Various reasons. Some propose marriage arrangements, others request private meetings….”
“…It must exhaust her.”

Just then, one of the carriage doors surrounding the mansion swung open.

A portly nobleman stepped out and strode forward with purpose.

“I can’t stand this any longer! There has to be a limit, surely? What’s so difficult about showing her face once?”

His patience exhausted by the wait, he shouted with his face flushed red.

“Miss Aria! Surely you could at least come out and greet us?”
“That’s right!”
“It shouldn’t be this difficult just to see her face once….”

Voices of assent echoed from the other carriages. The nobleman, emboldened, strode toward the mansion doors with purpose and reached out to knock.

The Butler stepped into his path without hesitation.

“That would be most inadvisable.”
“Inadvisable? Perhaps I need to show you what truly inadvisable looks like before she’ll even show her face?”
“…….”

Toma leaned over and murmured quietly beside Aion.

“…And sometimes we get these kinds too.”

Aion’s brow furrowed slightly as he regarded the nobleman.
It was at that precise moment his gaze met the bloated nobleman’s eyes.

“…Who are you? What gives you the right to look at me like that?”
“I’m wondering how far this vulgar display will go.”
“……What?”

The nobleman stepped close enough to jab a finger in Aion’s face.

“Do you even know who I am? How dare you speak to me like—”

A shout came from behind.

“Lord Fredri! Be, be careful!”
“Hm?”
“That person… looks like a student from Exion.”
“…You’re a mage?”

Flinch—!

The nobleman’s hand, which had been reaching to grab him by the collar, froze mid-motion. He scratched his head uncertainly before speaking again, wounded pride salvaging what it could.

“Well, be that as it may—what kind of mage wastes his time waiting around just to catch a glimpse of some woman’s face?”

Realizing too late that he’d just spit in his own face, the nobleman withdrew with a sharp click of his teeth.

At that moment, the Butler, having received word from within the mansion, opened his eyes wide and nodded.

“Ah… I understand.”

He cleared his throat and called out in measured, formal tones.

“Aion of Iscar.”

Aion, convinced this wasn’t his day and turning to leave, stopped at the sound of the Butler’s voice and turned back.

And then,

“Please, do come in.”
“……!”

The retainers of the nobles looked thoroughly taken aback.
At the same moment, the doors of the carriages opened.

Creak—

“Now, now, wait! Just this one mage?”
“This is blatant discrimination!”

The Butler paid no mind to their outcry, addressing Aion with perfect courtesy.

“My apologies for the long wait. The young mistress has informed me that she is prepared to receive her distinguished guest.”

Nod—

A long wait, at last ending.

Creak—creak—

The mansion’s doors began to open.
Light spilled from within.
Light like a passage into another world.

The very door he had longed to see beyond—it was finally opening.

But just then—

“H-hold on! Wait! Why is that bastard—I mean, why is only that mage allowed inside? What on earth is this about!?”

Behind him, the corpulent nobleman who had kicked up a fuss before—Fredri—cried out.

……

Aion gave him a thorough once-over, adjusted his attire, then walked forward without turning back, and spoke:

“Tedious business.”

Boom—

The mansion doors shut.

The Talentless Mage Swallows a Catastrophic Future — Chapter 31

Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editorial / Production
Yeon
Cover Design
Dari

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0031

ⓒ2026, Wang Mozhi

※ This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by the Republic of Korea Copyright Act.
No part of this work may be reproduced or reprocessed in any form without the written permission of the author and publisher.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————