The AI Archmage - Chapter 88

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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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AI Grand Mage Episode 88

“……That’s how it turned out.”
“I see.”
Lumia nodded in acknowledgment.
For context, she was currently hanging a banner.
Welcome to Marquis Rostery’s Visit!
Lumia remained frozen in the exact posture she’d held while hanging the grandiose banner, then spoke.
“So the Marquis left without stopping by here, then?”
“He did pass through the village.”
“…….”
Lumia scratched her cheek, staring quietly at the banner she held in her hands, then quietly began rolling it back up.
“Ahem.”
Lumia spoke to those around her as if nothing had happened.
“Everyone! Let’s take this all down!”
“Ugh.”
Barean and Maxwell grumbled as they began clearing away the decorations one by one with magic.
In moments, the Blue Tower had returned to its original state, and with the Tower thus restored, Lumia continued.
“So what happened? Did the Marquis perhaps say something about the Blue Tower?”
“Ah, well, we agreed to receive some filial support.”
“……?”
She didn’t quite understand what Sion was talking about, so she decided to let it pass.
The trick is not to take everything this seriously.
How could we receive filial support? (X)
Oh! So Sion must have done something truly commendable for his father! (O)
This was Lumia’s thought process regarding Sion.
“So you’re planning to go handle the Marquis’s commission right away?”
“That would seem to be the case.”
Sion nodded.
There was no real reason to hesitate, and it didn’t seem like it would be particularly difficult work.
‘……The fact that it’s connected to Belusian does bother me a bit, though.’
With that thought, Sion’s gaze reflexively turned toward Lumia.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
For now, he decided not to mention anything related to this.
It wasn’t certain enough, after all.
Discussing Belusian would come later—once he had solid confirmation of what had brought ‘him’ to this place.
Sion settled the matter to that extent and continued.
“So for now, I’m planning to head over there. Since it’s nearby, it shouldn’t take long.”
“I understand.”
“And surely you wouldn’t want me going alone?”
Watching Sion speak so naturally, Lumia quietly prepared herself mentally.
It hadn’t been that long since she and Sion had become close friends, but she’d learned enough from experience to know what was coming.
“I’ll come with you.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m ready to accept whatever you say from this point on.”
Lumia spoke to Sion with bold determination.
“So, what are you planning to do this time?”
“Nothing major.”
Sion scratched his head and continued speaking as if it truly were trivial.
“Tower Master, don’t you think the students have been living far too busily all this time?”
“On the contrary, they haven’t been playing enough, have they?”
Of course, that was less a matter of their own choice and more a result of the Blue Tower’s prior state as an educational institution that had scarcely functioned at all.
But such facts didn’t particularly matter to Sion.
Whatever Lumia said, Sion had his point to make.
“My heart has been troubled. These students are at an age when they should be enjoying their youth, and yet we’re forcing them to study.”
“No, well, if anything, you were the one who started pressuring them as a teacher first——.”
“That’s not important.”
“So it’s not important, then.”
“The main point is, I’m genuinely heartbroken about all this.”
“I see. You’re heartbroken. I understand.”
Lumia decided to empathize quickly with Sion’s earnest feelings.
In situations like these, empathy matters more than truth anyway.
“So, Sion—who’s been thinking so seriously about your students’ youth—what exactly do you want to do?”
“A field trip.”
……
This answer wasn’t easy to understand.
But Lumia laughed.
This was how you absorbed Sion’s strengths—by accepting things like this.
Lumia was a Tower Master who was growing.
“A field trip, then—exactly where?”
“To the Master’s workshop, the one my brother went to find. I’m quite curious about it.”
……
“Of course, this isn’t some shameful scheme to use the students as hunting dogs to search for my brother under the pretense of a field trip.”
“A shameful scheme, you say.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, I trust everything you say completely, Sion.”
She didn’t look like she trusted him one bit, but Sion decided to take it at face value.
“By the way, Sion?”
Just then, Serentia, who had been collecting the magical decorations hanging all around, spoke up.
“When you say a field trip, you don’t mean every student in the Tower, do you?”
Of course not.
The students with good attendance records seemed like the ones to take, perhaps just those…….
“No, they all should go. We can’t show favoritism to certain students.”
“……All of them?”
“Yes, everyone.”
At that, Serentia glanced sideways at Lumia and gave her a meaningful look.
– We should probably stop this, don’t you think?
– Is that even possible?
– Ah…….
Serentia’s eyes met Lumia’s in rapid exchange, and then she squeezed them shut.
And so she chose to accept the fate bearing down upon them.
“……Will they at least come back in one piece?”
“……Hmm.”
“Sion?”
Serentia looked at Sion with desperate eyes, but Sion merely gazed up at the sky.
“Students must be trained to be strong, mustn’t they?”
……
Hearing this, Serentia closed her eyes silently once more.
She had come to understand.
Before this immense flow of fate, her own will meant nothing at all.
And so, spontaneously, a field trip for the Tower’s students was decided upon by the Tower’s leadership.

* * *

……Hmm.
Tult was rather anxious lately.
In truth, compared to the past, the situation was good enough that there was no reason to be anxious at all.
But that was only Tult as an individual; once you looked at his family, the story changed.
The Bazenia Merchant House.
As the eldest son of the Bazenia family, Tult bore the weight of his family’s expectations.
Until now, Tult had believed he was living up to those expectations.
And truly, he was.
Word had spread—through whispers and conversations—that Tult had defeated Hayden.
What? Our son defeated the Red Tower’s successor in a magical duel?!
That night, when Tult’s father heard the news, he threw a celebration like nothing else.
And in the process, Tult had naturally become the material for a Grand Mage who would shoulder the family’s future.
The problem was.
“That’s not even me…….”
The truth of the matter was that it wasn’t actually Tult who dominated Hayden in that magical duel—it was Sion.
Tult’s magical skill? Not bad.
But compared to Sion, it was laughably mediocre.
Since then, Tult had practiced magic relentlessly, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reproduce the magic Sion had displayed that day.
“……How in the world is a computation of that magnitude even possible?”
Tult recalled the memory from that time.
The fact that Sion had cast magic using Tult’s body had certainly been of great benefit to him.
His understanding of magic had increased dramatically, and remarkably, even his physical constitution had improved.
It was truly a stroke of fortune.
But separate from that, the direction Sion had shown that day still eluded Tult’s grasp entirely.
No, before he could even grasp it, he wasn’t sure it was possible at all.
He’d been training diligently, organizing his enlightenment in this way.
“Come on, let’s go on a field trip.”
Without any warning whatsoever, the announcement of a field trip left all the students rigid.
“……A, a field trip?”
“That’s right.”
“Where to?”
“There’s a workshop or ruins or something nearby. It does have some danger level to it.”
“We’re going to a dangerous place?”
“That’s what field trips are like.”
……That doesn’t sound right at all.
The students looked up at Sion with exactly that expression on their faces.
But Sion was undaunted.
And watching him, Tult had a sudden realization.
‘I need to pack.’
Looking at him, it was clear—this teacher wasn’t telling them to prepare.
“That means…… we’re going right now, doesn’t it?”
Briella, who had been listening quietly, murmured this to Tult.
And the moment her words ended, Sion’s followed.
“Let’s depart.”
“Okay. Got it.”
Briella nodded quickly and began rummaging through her belongings.
“I always carry survival tools on me for exactly this reason.”
“Could you share some with me?”
Eira, who had been listening quietly beside them, edged closer to Briella and asked.
The students already here were certain that Sion’s “field trip” didn’t mean the word in its literal sense.
“……I trust you, teacher.”
In the meantime, Tult steadfastly voiced his confidence in Sion.
“After all, you’re doing this to help us. Worrying about survival tools—you all really do lack faith…….”
“Listen, there’s no need to worry. The survival rate is quite high.”
“Do you have any extra survival tools?”
The moment Sion spoke, Tult swiftly changed his tune and asked Briella for supplies.
Briella gave him an incredulous look, but Tult spoke boldly.
“I want to live.”
“……Right.”
Briella was already accustomed to this side of Tult.
Wasn’t that the kind of thing that made a classmate worth knowing?
In any case, the students were dragged along to the field trip that Sion was hosting.
“Do we actually get a choice in this field trip?”
“Do you think we do?”
There really wasn’t one.

* * *

[Splendid, Human.]
‘What is it now?’
[To gather and lead so many people out this quickly. Most people couldn’t manage such a thing.]
At Akasha’s words, Sion wondered what had gotten into her to say something like this to him.
Then Akasha continued.
[I shall look forward to your good care of my precious artificial body.]
“……”
It seemed Akasha had resolved to remain a retainer for some time to come. Of course, Sion found satisfaction in her growth.
‘Humanity has taken root.’
Though it had little to do with humanity proper, Sion thought of it that way regardless.
[That aside, the number of students exceeds one hundred. Is there a particular reason you’ve brought them all along?]
“I believe one practical encounter is worth more than a dozen theoretical lessons.”
Sion continued with an air of indifference.
“In a situation like this, it’s best to bring as many as possible.”
[Hmm……]
“If my predictions are correct, this affair will prove quite valuable for my students.”
Sion trusted Akasha’s analysis.
Therefore, he was half-certain that Belusian was involved in this matter.
And inwardly, he had some notion of the direction things would take.
“Every mage desires to witness the magic of a Grand Mage.”
[That would mean…… the Workshop that Altair’s brother seeks has a connection to Belusian’s magic?]
“Presumably.”
And this too was a judgment born from being Altair.
A judgment born from being Belusian’s close friend.
Some might call it an absurd, far-fetched notion.
“No matter how I think about it, that man seems to be calling to me.”
[Interesting…… A close friend long departed from the world?]
“Yes.”
Sion answered with certainty.
“He’s the sort to do it.”
Sion knew Belusian well.
He knew his humanity, and he knew that Belusian was far from perfect.
‘That man is, in the end, one of the Continent’s finest Grand Mages.’
And such Grand Mages possess an insight no ordinary person could fathom.
With that thought, Sion followed the compass toward where the Workshop lay.
“Hmm……”
Sion walked on, watching the compass needle move busily.
The students wore bewildered expressions but followed without question.
How much time had passed?
“Here.”
Sion stopped and looked around.
“Um, Teacher……”
Eira spoke hesitantly.
“I don’t see anything.”
“I know what you mean.”
Sion murmured the words and bent down to examine the ground.
The grass bore clear traces of trampling.
It meant someone had passed through here not long ago.
[Based on probability assessment, the likelihood that this trace belongs to Altair’s biological brother is considerable.]
‘That would be right.’
Nothing was visible in the immediate vicinity.
The traces broke off abruptly.
Naturally, unless the source of these traces had simply vanished, something was amiss.
And then, in that moment.
“Ah-ha.”
A smile bloomed at the corner of Sion’s mouth.
Something quite familiar had come into view beyond his gaze.

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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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