Chapter 129: The Holy Magician’s House!

“Make way for the Apostle! Clear the road!”

“Do not block the path of the Apostle!”

‘How could such a booming voice come from such an old body?’

It’s almost laughable that all that vigor is being wasted in a place like this.

“It is the glorious day the Goddess has manifested and the Saint was born! Let this day become a national holiday…!”

“Um… Assistant Priest Herald?”

“Yes, Apostle. Please command me.”

“Can we… just go quietly?”

Herald answers with perfect formality, bowing his waist precisely as he replies.

“That is the one thing I must beg you to rescind, Apostle!”

Then, the ten High Priests following him all bow their heads in unison.

“Please rescind it!”

“Please rescind it—!”

Hio clutches his throbbing head and squeezes his eyes shut.

“The entire Holy Nation must know and remember this glorious moment!”

“This is a miraculous day, for Liphyue has revealed herself to us! Please, Apostle, allow us to share this joy!”

“Apostle!”

“Apostle—!”

“Haa…”

Right.

From their perspective, this must be the moment they’ve all waited for.

Today truly was a miracle—the day Liphyue actually manifested in a Sanctuary that had until now only held symbolic meaning.

It was embarrassing, but Hio eventually nodded.

“Fine. But let’s skip all that ‘make way’ nonsense, at least.”

That was the most embarrassing part.

There’s nothing to clear. Instead of blocking, people are already lined up to the sides, making the way as wide as possible.

Such thunderous shouts, and yet despite the packed crowds, everyone opens up a path with perfect order. It’s a sight befitting the people of the Holy Nation.

“That cannot be done! Apostle!”

“Apostle—!”

Yet these softies start wailing again, bowing their heads and claiming even that can’t be allowed.

“Declaring that nothing may stand in the way of the Goddess’s Apostle is a sacred custom and a statement of our faith…”

“On such a glorious day, we must remove even the slightest chance of anything going wrong…”

“Haa… Damn it.”

“Yes?”

“…Nothing. Let’s just go.”

“Yes! Apostle! The Apostle proceeds! Make way—!”

“Clear the path—!”

“Open the road! cough!”

A wide avenue.

It was only a short distance from the headquarters to the royal palace.

Surrounded by countless people, Hio made his way down that road.

‘News about the “Goddess’s Apostle” is beginning to spread.’

At last, they arrived at the royal palace.

Regarda and Freya greeted Hio.

“We’re heading back to Arilleia.”

So, it was a farewell.

“Right. You two have lots to do. Things will get busy.”

But it wouldn’t be a long goodbye.

Since they’d activated the portal to Arilleia, coming and going would be easy anytime they wished.

“Next time you see us, we’ll be different! Uncle Hio!”

With Freya’s spirited farewell, the two left without delay.

The newly-born Dragon and the Dragon Knight who protected her.

Those two would surely return as powerful allies to Hio someday.

Not long after the pair departed, Irina came to see Hio.

As the Holy Maiden, she was the most sacred and noble, not someone just anyone could meet. But this time was different.

“Magician! Or… Saint? Apostle?”

Having barged in, Irina seriously contemplated what to call him, making Hio sigh deeply once more.

“Just call me what you always have. I’m not a Saint or an Apostle.”

“Eh? Really? But even Cardinal Herald is making such a fuss right now?”

“Just ignore them. I’m not an Apostle or anything else.”

Even though he’d heard directly from Liphyue that he was hope, a pioneer, he wasn’t exactly an Apostle or a Saint.

“The last person the Goddess Liphyue chose was you, Irina.”

He hadn’t been told so outright. But that’s what he believed.

Irina’s extraordinary Holy Power.

She alone possessed enough might to rival dozens of High Priests.

Maybe that, too, was part of the hope Liphyue had planted.

Maybe she was one piece of a planned puzzle.

That was how he saw it.

“Ehehe…”

Chosen by the Goddess.

Irina hadn’t expected such praise from Hio, and she bashfully grinned.

Then, suddenly.

“But… last, you say?”

She caught a hint of something odd in Hio’s words.

‘Last chosen’?

‘Wasn’t that a strange way to put it?’

‘Didn’t it sound as if he were saying there would be no more choices from the Goddess?’

Hio hesitated for a moment.

‘Was it right to tell her about Liphyue’s long slumber?’

‘Was it right to tell this girl, the one the Goddess had chosen herself?’

His hesitation lasted only a moment.

His conclusion was clear.

“No, I misspoke.”

The Goddess of Hope still had to exist.

“Forget it.”

He himself wasn’t yet ready to become hope.

***

A day passed in a blur.

So much had happened in a single day.

He’d seen Regarda and Freya off, finished talking with Irina, and before he knew it, dusk had come.

At last, he finally had some time to himself.

Inside the quiet room, he looked out the window at the sunset, at the bustling city preparing to greet the night.

People sweat and labor to rebuild what had fallen and broken.

It was a scene he had grown used to—a world he had grown used to.

Maybe it was okay to feel a little pride, as long as it didn’t become arrogance.

‘Wasn’t this what he’d tried so hard to protect?’

So, from now on…

“Hio!”

A woman burst in loudly, shattering his quiet reflections.

“Sorry! Were you looking for me?”

Long black hair, a pure and graceful beauty, pointed ears.

The woman who entered was Airlights.

A brief look of surprise crossed Hio’s face when he recognized her.

“Huh? Airlights? Where were you?”

“What kind of reaction is that? Don’t tell me you actually forgot about me?”

“…Me? Of course not.”

‘Hadn’t it been a hectic day?’

Honestly, he had briefly forgotten about Airlights, planning to enjoy a peaceful moment of contemplation, but…

Looks like being lost in thought quietly wasn’t meant for him.

Of course Hio wouldn’t forget, right? Anyway, on the way here, I found a super weird place.

“A…”

“A weird place?”

“It was a collapsed building. Dark, narrow, people wandering around outside. But inside… just the two of us…”

“Underground?”

“…Yeah. And I sensed Holy Power. Isn’t this the place you were looking for, Hio?”

A dark space below a ruined building.

‘And Holy Power to boot?’

Hio sprang to his feet at once.

So much for quietly pondering—the idea didn’t suit him anyway.

“Well done, Airlights.”

This time, it was for real. This had to be the Holy Magician’s House.

“Really? Did I do good?”

“Yeah. You did great. Now let’s hurry and get over there.”

“So now you can’t do without me, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

When Hio gave her a half-hearted nod, Airlights beamed and grabbed his hand, leading the way.

“Let’s go!”

They left the palace and headed through the city streets.

Airlights walked with a bounce, as if they were out on a date.

The sun was nearly set, and people passing by shot Hio and Airlights quick glances.

Airlights had tried to hide her flashy looks under a hood, but Hio’s outfit was already attention-grabbing.

“Hey, isn’t that the Saint?”

“Looks like him, doesn’t it? Who else would go around dressed like that…?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Would the Saint walk around in public like that?”

“True, right?”

Most people just cast furtive glances, too unsure to approach.

Of course, Hio’s brisk pace had something to do with it as well.

“Hm? Saint? Did you get a new nickname while I was gone?”

“…It’s nothing, just ignore it.”

“Hmm. The Saint who controls the Undead… well, I like it! Anyway, this way.”

Guided by Airlights, they arrived at the site—a building that had completely caved in.

Compared to the other buildings, this one had collapsed far more.

Maybe it had the misfortune to get hit directly by Hio’s lightning or an energy blast during that day’s battle.

Either way, Hio considered himself lucky.

“Yeah. I can feel Holy Power seeping out.”

There was a faint trace of divinity rising from below.

And since this site had been pushed down the priority list for recovery, the rubble hadn’t even been cleared away. Even luckier.

Watching Hio’s reaction closely, Airlights clasped her hands in delight.

“This is it, right? I totally had a feeling! We’re a perfect match, after all.”

Hio didn’t know why she’d take it in that direction, but it was true—Airlights had done something big.

Assuming this really was the Holy Magician’s House.

“Let’s go down.”

***

After clearing away the debris, the entrance to the basement stairs became much more visible.

Anyone else who saw it probably wouldn’t find anything odd.

There were plenty of basement stairs in buildings.

But what if you cleared away the rubble and went down those narrow, dusty stairs yourself?

Still, no one else would have felt anything strange.

That was how it was designed.

But Hio curled his lips upward with certainty.

“Found it.”

The traces of magic were clear.

Magic had once flowed here, and along with it, a gentle stream of Holy Power.

“Magician’s House.”

After ages hidden, he’d found a new Magician’s House.

Of course, since this was only the first basement level, there was nothing especially unusual yet.

“It does look a lot like the underground space in Imenia.”

Airlights looked around as she spoke.

Airlights had once followed Hio underground in Imenia, so she was remembering that time.

Of course, even then, they’d only made it to basement level one, and she’d gotten surrounded and beaten by Claire’s group while in the body of the charmed Assistant Professor Hoppen.

“…Vicious girls.”

While Airlights hugged herself at the memory of that beating, Hio found a trace of magic leading toward the entrance to the basement stairs.

‘How could he have expected to find this so easily, after all that fruitless searching in the Sanctuary?’

He poured magic into the hidden Magic Circle along the flow of power.

As soon as the magic moved as intended, light burst from what had seemed an ordinary gray wall, forming the shape of the Magic Circle.

With a rumbling sound, the floor shook and split open.

An entrance to the second basement level appeared.

“This is… magic?”

Rather than the fact the basement had opened, Airlights seemed more interested in the glowing geometric pattern that had appeared on the wall.

She figured, naturally, that Hio would go down the stairs—he’d said as much himself.

But she hadn’t expected this sudden appearance of shining geometric patterns.

She felt like she was finally starting to understand why Hio Pablenko called himself a Magician.

“Let’s go down.”

The second basement wasn’t much different.

Unlike the completely empty first basement, a few desks and remnants of research material were left here.

“But no preservation magic.”

Everything had decayed to dust.

If no preservation magic had been used, it meant the contents weren’t important. That’s what he’d learned from Furnell.

And on this level, the Holy Power was definitely stronger than above.

Airlights’s face was slightly scrunched in discomfort.

“This won’t do. Airlights, you wait upstairs.”

That was all he could say.

It wasn’t that direct Holy Power was being poured on Airlights, but who knew what might happen with prolonged exposure?

But Airlights quickly brightened and shook her head.

“Nope! I’m totally fine.”

“Fine, huh. But I don’t know what’s on the floor below. I’ll call you if it’s safe, so just wait upstairs.”

“No. I don’t want that.”

Clinging tight to Hio’s arm, Airlights seemed determined not to leave.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

She’d always thought she was alone.

And it had never really bothered her.

But after dying, she learned just how deeply those things could wound.

The truth was, she hadn’t been alone.

There had always been someone who loved her more than she loved herself.

To realize that only after dying was a bitter regret.

Unable to move on, she stayed inside the lantern, endlessly replaying her past.

At the root of her soul, at the very bottom of her memories, she slowly realized how lonely she had been.

When she was finally left alone, she tried to convince herself she was fine, but deep down, she missed that vanished warmth more than anything.

The warmth she’d felt from Hio in the days before her death had reminded her of the past.

She could never go back to that time.

To the days when she turned away from pain, hating herself—she could never return.

Knowing that someone had loved her more than anyone in the world, she couldn’t lie to herself anymore.

Knowing the ache of deep loneliness, she didn’t want to be left alone in a cold room ever again.

Afraid of being abandoned, Airlights clung tightly to Hio’s arm with her eyes shut.

It was totally unlike her, a side of her he’d never seen, but Hio understood.

He knew the childhood that had forced Airlights to build a hard shell around herself.

He sighed softly, then nodded.

“Alright. But if the Holy Power is stronger than expected, we head back up right away.”

“Okay… Then I can go with you?”

Hio poured magic once more into the Magic Circle leading to the third basement.

The faint Holy Power that could be felt even from the surface—

It must be emanating from something down below.

“…Alright. Let’s go.”

With a rumbling, the basement floor opened up.

A new entrance revealed itself.

Holy Power, now clearly stronger.

“You okay?”

“…Yeah. Still fine.”

They descended the narrow stairs together, and soon reached the third basement.

Both Hio and Airlights stopped dead, mouths agape.

That was how overwhelming the space was on the third basement level.

“Airlights.”

“…Yeah?”

“Do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Go find Herald right now and give him a message, please?”

A vast space, opened up beneath the earth.

This was—

“Tell him to quickly build a house aboveground here. And restrict access until it’s done.”

“…Okay.”

He’d need to use this place as a base for a while.

Herald moved at once upon receiving Hio’s message.

Of course, he didn’t build the house himself, but he did make Hio’s request top priority.

“It’s the Apostle’s command! Construct a second Sanctuary!”

“Ooooh!”

The collapsed building was quickly cleared away and a new one began to rise.

Since the original building was already old and just a warehouse, the work went quickly.

“Make it gleaming white and tall! Place a statue of the Goddess Liphyue on the top floor, and on the floor below, carve the Apostle’s face!”

Herald’s grandiose plans were, of course, halted by Hio.

***

After much back and forth, Hio’s main request boiled down to: “Please stop with the theatrics and just make it a normal house.”

Herald eventually had to tearfully revise his plan, and in little time a perfectly ordinary two-story house was completed.

A new Magician’s House had been born.

At the entrance of the finished house,

Airlights peeked out through the first-floor door, her face beaming as she held a small wooden sign.

“Hehehe.”

She hung the sign on the front door, where everyone passing by could see, grinning the whole time.

The words on the sign were quite charming:

[Airlights♥Hio Newlywed Home]

Of course, it didn’t even last a day before Hio found out.

“Ah, no!”

He smashed it to pieces before her very eyes.