The empire’s winters are cold.
Even in the southern regions, it doesn’t mean it isn’t cold.
Besides, this is the winter of the mountains.
You have to prepare to get through the harsh winter safely.
“Phew… Home really is the best.”
Of course, that saying didn’t apply to Hio and Berga.
That’s because this Magician’s House, which existed long before Berga was even born, was filled with all sorts of magical devices.
Not only did it regulate temperature and humidity, it even had a device that automatically drew up water and purified it—something you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the empire.
It was a luxury even the noble families couldn’t enjoy.
Thanks to that, Berga was able to survive dozens of winters alone, and it seemed he owed it once again this year.
“Old man. I’m here.”
Berga was lying in bed, as if dead.
He had seemed to be getting better for a while, but after a few days, he fell ill again and still hadn’t recovered.
“Oh dear. You left the soup again.”
Frankly, it was an inevitable result.
Even before meeting Hio, Berga’s body had already been ruined. Awful nutrition, an unbalanced lifestyle, lack of exercise, and old age.
He had given up too much to turn back now.
“Come here, Hio.”
Hearing Hio’s voice, Berga beckoned with his thin hand.
“Yes, old man.”
As Hio sat by the bed, Berga rummaged through his belongings and took out a green necklace.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A necklace? It looks expensive. I didn’t know you had something like this.”
It was Hio’s first time seeing the necklace.
A tree pattern was intricately carved into the softly glowing green gem.
It was clearly a valuable piece of jewelry, and even in the game, Hio had never seen anything like it.
“It’s the symbol of the Pavlenko Family. Of course, I’m not of the bloodline… My master was a true member of the Pavlenko Family.”
Pavlenko.
A family said to have once been the greatest.
A legendary family that reached the peak with magic alone.
Of course, that was only their claim, and there was no evidence to support it.
Speaking such words carelessly would only get you labeled insane.
“Now, it’s yours.”
Berga pressed the green necklace into Hio’s hand.
“My master, Gerret Pavlenko, could not leave an heir and called an orphan like me Pavlenko, but somewhere in the world, there must still be a true Pavlenko bloodline. If you have this, perhaps one day you’ll receive help from them.”
Both Berga, who said it, and Hio, who heard it, knew full well that the odds were much higher that wouldn’t happen.
That’s why Berga’s true feelings were in the next words.
“Well, honestly, I hope you just sell it.”
“Come on, do I look like that much of a scoundrel to you?”
“I mean it, Hio.”
Berga’s tone and expression were so serious that Hio became quite earnest as well.
“If you sell that, you’ll get a decent price. Then go to the city. You’re still young and smart, so with a bit of money, you can do anything.”
“…So you want me to go into business now?”
“If you can, you should. Do you want to end up like me, ruining your life chasing empty dreams?”
Hio silently looked down at the necklace in his hand.
‘How… How did it come to this?’
‘How could someone so proud of magic collapse so utterly in an instant?’
[Hidden Trait: Violence is Forbidden! (Endurance: 47 / 1000)]
“You should leave this house now. With me gone, there are no more mages in the world. Forget everything and live a normal life.”
Magic is a field with no substance, no efficiency, no brilliance.
It’s a remnant of the past, long abandoned.
He had refused to acknowledge that his whole life, and this was the result.
But……
“Old man. Can you get up? Want to take a walk?”
Despite Berga’s heartfelt words, Hio was once again saying something off-topic.
“Hio.”
“No, I mean, let’s just get some fresh air and take a walk. It’s chilly outside, so dress warm.”
Still, it wasn’t a playful mood, so Berga forced his uncooperative body to move.
‘Wasn’t it Hio who, until now, wouldn’t even let him go outside, saying it was too cold and hard?’
“…Alright then.”
Hio supported Berga and helped him put on his coat, then handed him his cane.
That’s how poor Berga’s health was.
“The air’s cold, so don’t take off your scarf even if it feels stuffy.”
“Alright.”
Supporting Berga, Hio slowly led him out of the house, one step at a time.
The snow from a few days ago was still piled up in places, and perhaps because he liked the pure white scenery, a smile appeared at the corner of Berga’s mouth.
“It’s nice.”
“Nice? Do you know how hard I worked shoveling the snow in front of the house?”
“Hahaha……”
To be able to take a walk so leisurely—how long had it been?
Even after living here for decades, he’d never had the leisure to truly appreciate the snow-covered landscape.
That’s why… he didn’t want Hio to suffer such an unhappy life.
“Hio.”
“Yes.”
“…I’m sorry.”
He’d forced Hio to become his disciple, and now he was telling him to forget magic.
He knew it was shameless, but what could he do?
This was the best he could do.
“I kept thinking about it while practicing magic. There’s something… off between the patterns, you know? Like there are gaps. I thought maybe I should fill those in……”
Just as Berga was about to seriously apologize, this foolish disciple kept saying only what he wanted.
Not even listening to the words, ‘Forget about magic now.’
“Hio.”
“And about the patterns too. Don’t you think something’s off? I feel like there’s a twist somewhere.”
“Hio……”
“There’s so much to study, but nowhere to use it, so I don’t even know where to start fixing it.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to stop. It’s all my fault, so just forget about magic……”
“That’s why I want to try.”
“…What?”
Berga stopped walking and looked at Hio.
***
The two left a long trail of footprints in the snow.
“I don’t really care about magic’s greatness or proving anything. I just want to see it through to the end.”
If… magic were to advance, and he could cast a far higher level spell instead of this low-rank magic.
If it combined with his own traits, what kind of effect would it have?
“In other words… I’ll complete the ultimate magic. Isn’t that what you’d understand?”
As Hio spoke with a faint smile, mana began to leak from around him.
The gathered mana drew patterns, and the different patterns formed a circle.
To Berga, it was a very familiar Magic Circle.
Low-rank magic: Fire.
Fwoosh—A flame sprang up, hovering and burning at Hio’s fingertip.
“Small, insignificant, and powerless.”
Hio withdrew his mana, and the tiny flame died out so feebly—flick.
“This is the current state of magic.”
Once again, mana gathered around Hio.
He drew the same patterns and formed the same sequence.
The same Magic Circle was completed.
“And this is the magic of the near future.”
[Skill—‘Fire’ is activated]
What were those blue flames burning fiercely in the sky?
“The world will look up to magic, admire it, and praise it.”
The immense Blue Flame, as if it could swallow a mountain, rekindled the fire in Berga’s cold heart.
“No matter what, I’ll make it happen.”
Berga gazed quietly up at the sky, his eyes filled with mystical fire.
“So please, don’t say anything you don’t mean.”
A single tear slid down the wrinkled corner of his eye.
“Master.”
Berga gazed up at the blue sun for a long time, as if he didn’t want to miss the echo of those last words.
As if closing his eyes would snuff out those blue flames.
He didn’t move a muscle until Hio’s mana was completely spent.
‘What thoughts did you have as you looked up at that?’
What feelings made you shed those tears? In the end, Hio never asked.
That night.
Berga, who had fallen asleep, never opened his eyes again.
If there was any relief, it was that he wore a deep smile on his lips, as if he’d dreamed a good dream.
[Hidden Trait: Violence is Forbidden! (Endurance: 669 / 1000)]
There was no funeral.
No grand event like that.
***
In a sunny spot, Hio dug the earth and laid Berga there, dressed neatly in clean clothes.
He covered it with soil and set up a gravestone a short distance away.
[The Great Archmage. Berga Pavlenko.]
The letters were crooked from carving with all his strength, and the gravestone was rough, but it was a decent enough grave.
“…It’s cold.”
Exhausted from digging the frozen ground and carving stone, Hio trudged back toward the Magician’s House.
The empty, desolate house.
“No wonder the old man lost his mind and charged into the Cobalt Domain.”
They hadn’t spent that much time together, but the house felt so empty.
Still… it would never become like the dungeon in the game.
The Last Mage’s Tomb, which was a dungeon in the game.
Berga was gone, but this place would never be the Last Mage’s Tomb.
Because now, Hio himself was the last mage.
“Let’s clean up and go.”
He cleaned the bed Berga had lain in just a day ago, and tidied the kitchen where they’d eaten together just a day before.
It had only been a day, but so much seemed to have changed.
[Hidden Trait: Violence is Forbidden! (Endurance: 679 / 1000)]
“Tsk…! Stop daydreaming and think about how to get to the capital.”
First, he planned to meet Sirbert.
‘Didn’t he say he’d visit soon?’
There were so many things to ask.
Why hadn’t he cleared Abyss First Floor?
How was he able to live a double life as Korean Nam Tae-min?
Was there a way to log out that Hio didn’t know about?
There were many things to ask, and if it was the Sirbert Hio knew, he would answer them all sincerely.
“…Before that.”
Suddenly, something came to Hio’s mind, and his expression twisted slightly.
“It’s bothering me.”
He took a green necklace out of his pocket.
The very necklace he’d received from Berga, said to be the symbol of the Pavlenko Family.
“Why can I feel mana from this?”
Even Hio, with his genius trait for mana sensitivity, could barely sense it unless he focused extremely hard.
It was that faint, but there was definitely a trace of mana coming from the necklace.
Moreover, to be able to control such faint mana meant it was the work of a true master.
‘Was the Pavlenko Family really a great magical family in the past?’
It was so impressive that the thought came naturally.
Perhaps neither Berga nor his master, or even anyone above them, had ever noticed this mana.
Thinking that, Hio gripped the necklace and headed to the basement.
He intended to tidy up the chaotic basement, filled with Berga’s traces.
But then—
‘……?’
A strange sense of incongruity.
It was a feeling he’d never experienced coming down to the basement before.
The difference from before was that Berga was gone, and…
‘The necklace…?’
That he was holding the Pavlenko Family Necklace.
Realizing that, Hio looked down at the necklace in his hand, and it took him a moment to identify the source of the unease.
“What is this…”
From the green necklace, a thin thread was emanating.
A thread of mana, visible only to Hio.
That thread was pointing to a corner on the third basement floor.
No matter how he moved, it only pointed to that one spot.
“…No way?”
With a sense of anticipation, Hio brought the necklace to the corner wall, following the thread.
Kugugugung—
With the sound of massive rocks grinding, the wall split open on both sides.
Through the gap, a staircase leading even further down appeared.
“There was a fourth basement floor?”
It seemed the Magician’s Tomb still held hidden secrets.