It’s Been 500 Years as an Extra, and the Original Story Still Hasn’t Begun - Chapter 81
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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500 Years as Just an Extra,
The Original Story Still Won’t Begin
Episode 081
“May I ask you something?”
“Hm? What is it?”
After riding Shaila again for about two hours. Since it wasn’t a full-speed sprint like in the morning, Termion, who now had some leisure, asked.
“How does Shaila find her way?”
“She smells the fragrance from natural mana. The higher the density, the richer and clearer the scent becomes.”
“Fragrance?”
“Shaila has lived with Master before, so she’s tracking a similar scent.”
Upon hearing the explanation, Termion immediately recalled the smell of demonic energy that Ailesia had mentioned.
“It’s similar to how you smell that strange odor from traces of dark magic.”
“Exactly that. You’re smart, Student Termion.”
“…Somehow I don’t feel entirely pleased about that.”
“What, you’re complaining even when I compliment you?”
What a difficult boy. Just as she was pouting her lips, Ailesia, sensing something, shouted.
“Shaila, stop!”
“Kirung?”
Surprisingly, instead of rearing up on her front legs, Shaila leaped lightly in place and gracefully turned her body to the side. It was like watching a fish swimming in water slow down.
“That’s impressive, Shaila.”
“Kyaang!”
While Termion stroked Shaila’s neck, Ailesia looked around with a slightly more serious expression.
She frowned slightly, then tilted her head in puzzlement, and narrowed her eyes while glaring somewhere.
“It feels roughly like this.”
Snap!
She snapped her fingers and nodded as if she was certain.
“As I thought.”
“What’s wrong?”
“You said there’s an area somewhere in the Mountain Range where magic can’t be used? This is it.”
When she tried to move her magical power as usual, it felt stuffy as if she were submerged in deep water. It was similar to the feeling of something heavy pressing down from all directions.
“An ordinary mage wouldn’t be able to move at all.”
“What about you?”
“What a disappointing thing to say. I’m not an ordinary mage, am I?”
Ailesia grinned and snapped her fingers again, causing a fist-sized fireball to appear in midair. It was the most basic offensive fire magic.
“It’s simple once you know the trick.”
“…That trick doesn’t seem simple at all.”
“That’s also true. More precisely, it’s not so much a trick as a matter of constitution.”
“Constitution?”
“Maybe constitution isn’t quite the right word either? Anyway.”
Ailesia waved her hand to extinguish the fireball, crossed her arms, and fell into thought for a moment.
She had roughly expected this after hearing that magic couldn’t be used, but the results of actually coming to the site and confirming it were far too unexpected.
‘To think this would be related to Master’s last words…’
The area where she was currently standing had overwhelmingly abundant natural mana compared to any other place. It was at a level impossible without artificially gathering it.
“Thanks to this, I know where to go. This should make things a bit easier.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll explain it to you step by step later. Shaila, can you sense the state of mana around here?”
“Kirung?”
“Right. The fragrance is much richer than other places, isn’t it? Head north, and keep running while choosing only places like this. Can you do it?”
“Kyaang!”
“Then let’s go!”
“Kyarrrung!”
Shaila let out a spirited cry and began sprinting like an arrow. It felt at least twice as fast as the speed she had run in the morning.
‘…Are her feet even touching the ground?’
All he could hear was the sound of wind rushing past. Despite running this fast, there was no sound of hoofbeats, making it no different from flying through midair.
“Now we can travel a bit more comfortably.”
Perhaps because the vibrations coming up from the ground had disappeared, Ailesia leisurely leaned her back against Termion’s body.
Though Termion, who was now half-embracing her, was having a terrible time.
“I’m holding the reins, I’m maintaining balance, what exactly do you think I am?”
“An autonomous reclining chair?”
“…Sigh.”
“Isn’t it an honor just to ride together with such a beauty? Why the sigh?”
“All the world’s honors have died.”
“Is this not enough? Should I hold your hand too?”
“That’s unnecessary.”
Ailesia chuckled and placed her hand on Termion’s left hand. While she was inwardly curious about how he would react this time, suddenly the position of their hands changed.
“Your hands are cold.”
“Huh?”
Termion, who had handed the reins over to Ailesia, completely covered and enveloped her hand.
The texture of leather felt through the thin gloves was quite substantial and warm. In this situation, it wouldn’t be polite to pull her hand away saying it was just a joke.
‘…It’s not even direct skin contact, so what.’
At celebrity fan meetings, you shake hands, right? When they used spatial movement to the advance base, they even interlocked fingers.
Ailesia tried to act nonchalant while wiggling the fingers holding the reins.
“Weren’t you going back to the manor to sleep?”
While she was looking at the sky near the base’s lodging, Termion approached.
He handed Ailesia one of the mug cups he was carrying.
“And yet you came prepared with tea?”
“I brought it just in case.”
“I’ll enjoy it.”
A fairly sweet and smooth liquid flowed down her throat. It tasted like chocolate dissolved in milk, but had a subtly sharp sensation.
“What is this? It’s a taste I’ve never had before.”
“It’s chocolate milk with a few drops of distilled liquor mixed in. It’s tea you drink to forget the cold.”
“Why didn’t you give me this when I came last time?”
“Were you ever out at this hour before?”
When you put it that way, there’s nothing to say. Ailesia sipped her tea with a sulky expression.
“Will you be leaving early in the morning tomorrow too?”
“Yes. We’ll depart again from where we returned today. I’ll need to assess the situation, but I think we’ll need to explore a bit more even after dinner tomorrow.”
“At night too?”
“You see that over there.”
Ailesia raised her hand and pointed toward the distant sky.
A massive curtain of light undulating on the far mountain ridge. It was always a mysterious and wondrous sight.
“We need to reach the source of that aurora.”
“You call that light phenomenon aurora?”
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t it just a natural phenomenon that appears in the sky? When you say source…?”
“Everything that appears has a reason. If that were truly a natural phenomenon, you wouldn’t be able to see it in this region at all.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“Simply put, auroras are natural phenomena that originally appear in polar regions. You’d have to go to the far northern or southern edges of this world to see them, but this is the continental center. It doesn’t make sense.”
“…I don’t readily understand.”
“You don’t need to understand it, so just think ‘I see’ and move on.”
Even if she wanted to explain more, she had forgotten all the detailed principles.
She had certainly learned it in high school, but that was already over 500 years ago. How could she remember?
Termion shook his head back and forth as if he didn’t know what was what. He thought the talk about polar regions and such didn’t matter anyway.
“So what exactly is the reason auroras appear in this Mountain Range?”
“Ah, that?”
Ailesia, who had been briefly pondering which expression would be most fitting, gave a truly unexpected answer.
“It’s because this place is a kind of Common Cemetery.”
“Common Cemetery? You mean graves?”
“Yes.”
“…They deliberately made graves in a place like this?”
Unable to readily understand, Termion’s voice was filled with bewilderment.
The Gardbale Mountains were a Perpetual Snow Zone where snow didn’t melt all year round. The only proper Vegetation Area was just a small part of the entrance area, and even that could only be seen in summer.
The area Ailesia was currently exploring was the Central Core, requiring at least dozens more kilometers from the Advance Base to reach. Transporting remains to such a place was nonsensical.
“No matter how much respect you show for the deceased, it seems excessive. Ordinary humans couldn’t even come near the Advance Base.”
“I wonder if those graves are really for humans?”
“…What?”
Without any further explanation, Ailesia turned her gaze to the quiet night Sky.
She had felt it when she first came to the Advance Base last time too. That aurora seemed to be calling to her.
It was also a feeling similar to the aura of someone Ailesia had lived with for a long time.
“The reason I came back here is because of Master’s last words.”
“Master… you had one.”
“Mm-hmm. Though they passed away quite a long time ago.”
Ailesia’s eyes, immersed in sentiment, were slightly sunken unlike usual.
Termion clenched and unclenched his unconsciously trembling hands a few times before asking.
“Did you learn Magic from that person?”
“I learned various things besides Magic. Just, I learned life, you could say.”
“They must have been a good person.”
“Hehe, that’s right. Sometimes to a degree I couldn’t understand.”
“What do you mean?”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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