“I shall not apologize!”

“Vaalyun!”

We were now back in the dining area, to which Marna was currently reproaching the Captain for his impulsive actions. Apparently during the fight, Marna had set off toward the Elven King—her father—in order to get an explanation for the duel. Arriving at his quarters, she found that he hadn’t said anything of the sort. Meaning that, Captain Vaalyun himself, decided that the duel was just and necessary. To the extent that he’d falsely invoke his King’s word.

Seems like a rather serious offense, doesn’t it? Putting false words in your own King’s mouth... I hope this doesn’t lead to some sort of serious punishment for him.

“Listen, Vaalyun.”

Marna’s tone was accompanied by a weighty atmosphere. I gulped in nervous anticipation as she then continued.

“If you wished to test out Sir Albel’s capabilities to that extent, you should have just properly asked him. In a way worthy of your position and in a less antagonizing manner. Most of all, Father was looking at me as if I were talking in demon-tongue, or even gibberish! You made me out for a fool before him!”

“Huh?”

With the downward slack of my jaw, I remained staring toward her in now puzzled awe as my internal shock verbalized itself into a single word.

Hold on for just a second. Is that really the main issue here?! Your Captain just falsified an order from his King! A fictitious order to fight or even severely wound your supposedly summoned Effigy, you know?! I wouldn’t say, “Execute that man this instant!” or anything like that—but are we really just going to sweep that under the rug?

“My apologies, Princess. I didn’t mean for that to happen to you. Even so, I will still forgo an apology toward that human. A necessary amount of pressure and animosity was required after all. A deep and lingering nature within every life form only truly shows itself when its back is against the wall.”

At my previously arranged seating from before the duel, I watched on across as the other two stood near their own seats. As the Captain stated his overall objective, he then moved once more from their side of the table and near my immediate right.

“I also didn’t feel anything that could be considered worthy of being our Effigy—our hero—manifesting from this human prior. That being said, he thoroughly convinced me otherwise. You fought well, human.”

As he proclaimed this, he extended the palm of his hand outward and toward me in what seemed like a gesture in acknowledgement.

I guess we really are going to just sweep that under the rug, aren’t we?

Raising from my own seat, I decided to accept it anyways. I had no reason to further be at odds with the Captain, and I could also understand where he was coming from initially. As a prominent protector of one’s kind—one had to be cautious of all others in order to prolong their people’s peace.

If only he had been a bit gentler with it though. From what I saw, he was intending on striking with full force! There was a real and distinct intent to kill in his swing earlier!

“Ah, you were also a pretty formidable opponent yourself. I guess that’s what should be expected from those who thrive in the Outer Region—!?”

As we shook hands, his grip immediately tightened and drew me in with a short and tense pull. His height over me was easily another head length—no, possibly two or more than that. He continued to look down on me with eyes as menacing as ever.

“With that out the way; I won’t let you outdo me next time with your trickery, human mage.”

I could only give an awkward smile at his humdrum-coated declaration. I wanted no part in what it implied and the thought of having another match with him just sent a shiver down my spine.

“Aha, I see...”

“Mm! There was never any reason for you to even doubt Sir Albel in the first place, Vaalyun. The fact that I trust him should have been more than enough to speak volumes toward his worthiness.”

As the Captain separated from near me, Marna’s smile beamed at the resolution of our confrontation.

“That may be the truth, but even your eyes aren’t omnipotent, Princess.”

“They aren’t, but they see just the necessary amount in a situation like this. That aside! How about we drop this tedious conversation and finally have our meal, hm?”

We all returned to our seats, yet, I couldn’t completely shake off the Captain’s and Marna’s prior conversation.

I wonder what he meant by that? Is there something special about her eyes after all?

Marna's eyes may have resembled the Goddess’, but they definitely didn’t feel as sinister as Eve’s. Both held that similar golden hue—enchanting and all-absorbing—but Marna’s gaze differed in a way I couldn’t give an explanation for.

Well, at the very least, it’s definitely easy to get lost in her eyes. Hm, what the hell am I even thinking right now...?

A whiplash of embarrassment took to my face for a slight second as the maids shuffled their way throughout the room. They had now replenished the table with fresh food due to our previous outing. Due to a wide variety of unrecognizable dishes, I was feeling a bit stumped on what to grab first. And oddly enough, I didn’t have to give it much thought as one of the maid’s seemingly realized this and walked over to me with an already completed plate.

“Oh? Thanks...”

As the purple-haired maid bowed slightly without a word, she returned back to the opposite side of the table and near Marna who had already been overly indulging herself.

I didn’t think I was showing my indecision on my face to that degree. I swear, these maids are weirdly perceptive—especially that purple-haired one. Well, whatever. Let’s just eat.

Our meal time finished without any more issues, and by the end of it, I felt sluggish as I slumped back into a post-gluttonous trance. Apparently, that had only applied to me though as the insatiable Marna was already asking the maids for desert and questioning them about lunch.

Do people even normally ask for desert during breakfast? Ah, my stomach. I ate way too much that even thinking about it is making me nauseous.

During the meal, I would finish a plate and then somehow—another would appear. I wasn’t even able to resist it either as everything that was given to me was too delicious to pass up. Thus, I now remained bloated to the point where I didn’t want to move in the slightest. It felt as if the chair under me would become my new home for the time being. Elven cuisine was definitely quite an experience.

“Now, shall we get to the rest of your questions, Sir Albel? I’m sure your mind is much clearer now than it was yesterday, right? I’ll try and quell all of your concerns to the best of my ability.”

Shifting my line of sight to the source of the trance-like voice, I was now greeted with the more dignified demeanor of Marna once again. I sat in silence for several seconds, trying to determine what I should ask first until I came to my decision.

“You said yesterday that there were signs of other Effigies already being summoned throughout the world as of recently, correct? Could you possibly go into more detail about that, please?”

As an apparent Effigy myself, my curiosity couldn’t ignore the fact that there were others in a similar situation after all.

“Yes, according to our ancestor’s scriptures, the unnatural occurrence of summoning Effigies— or heroes—has been an event dated back an entire millennium. That being said, there’s only been two recent events of a set of Effigies being summoned. The previous one was over two decades ago, whereas the current one, has finished taking place over the course of a single year.”

An entire millennium, huh? To think that this world has been active for that long—or even longer. Not only that, the most recent set of summoning Effigies aren’t even that far apart. Hm, wait a moment.

“Hold on, a set? Finished? Is it correct to assume that you’re implying that it’s a determined number?”

“Very astute of you to notice, Sir Albel. It’s exactly that.”

As she lifted her cup of tea from the table, she gazed at its contents as she swayed it ever so slightly.

“For reasons beyond what we currently know, the old scriptures state that there is only a certain number of spots available for summoned Effigies. And once that limit has been reached, the world itself closes. We’ve long since concluded that this means that there will be no more outside intervention or assistance during this time period.”

Marna ceased speaking for a single moment before continuing on as her eyes now locked onto my own.

“This also means that you have occupied that last remaining spot, Sir Albel.”

It was a lot to process, especially with what I knew before arriving upon Aerith.

No more outside intervention? She’s implying that Effigies can’t be summoned after a certain point, right? So, does that mean that the Goddess Eve can’t mingle in Aerith’s affairs after that period of closing then? Is that what the closing fully entails?

Marna’s explanation only furthered my desire for more answers. Something didn’t sit right with me about what she had been telling me. I was originally supposed to be teleported—not summoned—after all.

Unless, could that mean something else entirely? Was the Goddess attempting to intervene in some way by teleporting me here instead?

“Marna, this may sound like a weird question, but has there ever been an Effigy that was teleported into this world? One that wasn’t summoned by a ritual.”

A short pause came in between my question and her response, seemingly due to her giving it some thought.

“From what has been recorded on all previous indications; no. Every single Effigy that has arrived into this world has been at the behest of a ritual—a summoning.”

Marna’s claim held weight based on the evidence of her people’s recordings. Which could only mean one thing.

Maybe I really was summoned here instead then? It would have been one thing if I were teleported to a place that wasn’t already attempting to summon an Effigy—but I wasn’t. Everything lines up too perfectly in regard to that.

It felt as if I were hitting an immovable wall with that train of thought for now. I decided move on thanks to that.

“Is the reasons those previous Effigies were summoned also recorded? As in, what dangers they were summoned and tasked to face?”

A question that stemmed from being curious toward hearing an example and knowing what Effigies had to deal with in the long run. I dabbled in assumptions earlier—with war and all—but I hadn't actually heard why they were usually summoned outside of this peculiar situation that was the chaotic era ahead. I was already under the impression that my own task was still associated with that same chaotic era as well.

“To an extent. Though, the reasons probably won’t be what you’re expecting.”

Marna’s expression seemed to say that I should be ready to be disappointed as she continued.

“To put it simply; this is the first set of Effigies that have been summoned to potentially deal with a threat of this nature. Previous reasons before this have been centered around someone performing the ritual for their own significant gain. In doing so, it’s as if it—the will of the world—activates a series of summons all together. The world finds a reason to bring forth the remaining set of Effigies.”

She was implying it was a domino effect. One dictated by the world itself.

Summoned regardless of how petty their task to be given is, huh? And in turn, a summoning spree occurs. This whole thing sounds ridiculous.

I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of it all. Against one’s will, an Effigy could be given a task that goes against their nature and beliefs. A duty wrapped in pettiness, greed, and potentially even savagery. Such a thought begged the question; could they just ignore their duty? And after asking her that, Marna responded with a slight smile.

“An Effigy can indeed neglect a duty that is forced upon them and goes against who they are.”

Despite the world forcibly bringing together the set of Effigies, hearing her state such brought some relief to my mind at least.

I personally don’t feel compelled by any foreign force as of yet myself either. So that makes sense. That being said, what exactly happens to the Effigies after the task is completed?

Given that Marna said the world shuts itself after a certain number of Effigies, that could only mean our numbers had to be reduced in one way or another.

“Do those scriptures also happen to have any record of what happens to those same Effigies afterwards?”

A look of sincere regret covered Marna’s face as I asked her this.

“Sadly, they do not. It’s said that they simply disappeared—vanished—without a word. With no traces, remnants or anything left over. Not a single indication on where they went, what happened nor why exactly.”

A daunting reveal left her lips. Aerith had seemingly been a world where Effigies held varying importance in the form of their duties—tasks given at random—only to then vanish like a distant memory. A millennium of scriptures, and yet, not a single explanation. I couldn’t help but swell up in apprehension as my hand tightly gripped at my chest.

Even while I was given a whole new life to live, that life will be forfeit one way or another once my job is done here, is that it, Goddess Eve? Well. It doesn’t matter for now, I guess. All I can do is live to the fullest in Aerith until then.

Taking a moment to breathe, I inhaled and exhaled deeply in attempt to clear my mind of those lingering thoughts. It was pointless to think about the ending when I had yet to even start the beginning after all.

“Is there anything else you’d like to know, Sir Albel? You’ve gone quite silent, are you okay?”

Marna’s calming voice then lightly shook me out of my apprehension as she held a worried expression on her face now.

“Ah, sorry. I’m fine. I was just sorting through my own thoughts for a second. Another question, huh? Oh, that’s right. Do we know the number of spots available?”

If there was a determined number, then there must have been at least an estimate if nothing exact.

“Yes, including you, all 14 available spots have become occupied. Every prior recording has held that similar amount.”

From there, she explained in a bit more detail. All 13 others were currently still active—as in alive. The Elven evidently took note in whether a summoning ritual was successful or not all across the lands. If one of the Effigies had perished too, one normally wouldn’t know unless the summoner themselves made official note of it, usually within their circle.

Would the summoner really release that sort of information though? Depending on their reasoning for the summoned Effigy, that could bring about a rather undesirable result, right?

“If you’re wondering about how we divulge such information, please don’t forget—we are the sole practitioners of Divination arts. We always find a way.”

Marna disclosed this with a rather unnerving and telling smile. One that severely contrasted with her usual smile that accompanied her normally bubbly disposition.

The Elven take their gathering of foreign intelligence rather seriously, I see... It makes sense given that they’d like to remain as a neutral and hidden race. That aside, she’s starting to convince me that she really is a mind reader. Especially with those eyes.

“Well, I guess my next question would be...”

There was still a lot I needed to ask her in regards to the current structuring of the world, Aerith. Feeling overwhelmed with our prior discussion, I decided to instead move on for a bit as a change in pace. In order to learn about the side of Aerith that I didn’t currently know enough about. My knowledge was based on the perspective as a player from MO after all. My expertise also resided primarily toward the dungeons scattered throughout the land and the monsters that inhabited them.

From what she could tell me, Cretho was still in hostile relations with the country north of them—Isluna. Unlike the game though, Isluna’s western neighbor, Ospus, had created an alliance between each other fairly recently. This surprised me immensely. Like Cretho, Isluna’s population held a very high concentration of humans. A very small part of that though, had been demi-humans who had migrated overseas from the eastern nation of Espen.

That doesn’t make any sense at all...

Ospus was a country of demon-kin, or Dis, and strictly only that. Like the Elven, they normally were against associating with humans, or even demi-humans, but were also very vocal and direct about that stance.

Ospus and Isluna. If this really is a recent development, that could just mean that the stagnate war between them from the lore could easily flip on its head finally... I wonder if this has anything to do with the summoning of the Effigies? Rather, if one of them are somehow involved...

We continued discussing minute details, as time made its way into the early noon. Just as the Captain reacted in a similar fashion, Marna had also been rather surprised about the fact that I was a Wizard who made use of Divination magic. She had heard about it from the Captain shortly after our fight.

“Is it really that surprising?”

“Mm! It definitely is. Wizardry in a human is always rather basic, even more so than other races. From what Vaalyun has told me, your spells were quite eccentric too. Not only that, but you can use Divination arts as well! Hehe. You truly were destined to be summoned here, Sir Albel.”

I could even catch the Captain nodding from the corner of my eye in agreement.

“Even though it was involved with trickery, it was still masterfully played. I’ve never seen or heard about a human who uses Divination arts. At least not during my lifetime. It won’t work on me next time though!”

“But is the current state of magic really that simple?”

“Very much so. Magic is infinite in form, in that it doesn’t hold any restrictions. Unlike someone who has mastered the way of their weapon—their techniques can only branch out so far. Anyone who is even slightly proficient in what lies beyond the basics of magic tend to be held in high regard. No matter their race.”

According to Marna, magic was boundless. I could only question what that meant internally. Despite being able to see your status, there was no direct way of seeing health or mana like in MO. It was more of an intuition thing. Magic was tied to mana, but based off of Marna’s explanation, magic didn’t have any limitations. Did that also apply to the way mana worked?

Could I actually be able to manipulate spells beyond the normal means, or even create my own magic?! There’s only one way to find out.

The start of an unstoppable force propelling forward, unfettered and all. One imbued with raw curiosity.

“Sorry, but I’m going to test something out for a second. So, please, don’t be too alarmed.”

“Sir Albel?”

As I began immediately focusing my magic—my mana—into my left hand, I tried to imagine a certain spell you normally couldn’t manipulate unless you branched into that specialized area of magic. It was a rather simple spell that a Wizard would normally learn in their early levels, called [Electric Bullet]. A ball of raw magical energy with lightning properties. Once you went down the path of a specialized Elementalist, you’d be subjected to the bulk of more difficult lightning-based spells like [Chain Lightning] and so forth. That was usually the normal progression of specialized, strong spells and as a Wizard, you’d get a small taste of the elements via weaker spells.

But by going of what Marna just implied...

As the small, electrified orb of magic nested in the palm of my hand, I imagined forcing more mana into its center with the intention on growing the orb. [Electric Bullet] was often used as a method of singling out a monster in a group in order to avoid fighting several of them at once. I similarly liked using it to prod at monsters as I passed by in order to round them all up together. It was low consumption and incredibly quick.

“Oh? Would you look at that...”

I had already been lost in my experiment as I muted out any noise that hadn’t been coming from the orb. It wasn’t every day that I had a chance at tinkering with spells that I had come to love using over the years during my time in MO after all.

“Sir Albel?!”

“What in the world are you doing, human mage?!”

As the orb intensified, it began to slightly grow in size. As I stretched out my hand, its size then increased tenfold—as well as what felt like the strength of it and its mana consumption rate.

Geez. I can definitely feel it draining me of my mana at an incredible pace now. But...there’s still two things I’d like to find out before I run out!

I was now standing up on my feet by this point, and while most of my focus remained on the orb, I drew out my stave with my other hand. I then immediately activated [Divination] and [Point of Invulnerability]. The former would help guide me, whereas the latter allowed for a certain part of my body to escape damage for a very, very limited amount of time. I would now be attempting to collapse the expanded orb into a condensed ball of electrified force. To a size potentially smaller than its initial conception.

Be calm. You won’t screw this up. Reduce the magical input at the center, focus on the reshaping and condensing, then stop after counting to...six? Okay. Sounds like a plan!

“One...two...”

I counted aloud as I waited in anticipation for the next moment. Unbeknownst to myself, the two others across from me had lifted themselves from their own seats.

“Princess! Get behind me, immediately!”

As the Captain gestured toward her in frantic manner, Marna hadn’t moved her legs nor the selective focus of her attention.

“No, it’s okay, Vaalyun. It looks like Sir Albel has it under control after all. Hmm, I see...”

As the ball began to shrink within my hand, the magical force leaking from the process began making short and uncontrollable bursts of energy outward. The long sleeves of the garments they had lent to me had begun to tear and rip apart. Using [Point of Invulnerability] had been the right choice after all.

“And six!”

I immediately stopped any and all processes of magic and mana funneling from within me. A complete shutdown. As the orb came to a stop, a quick burst of air took to the room. Eying my palm, the small orb sat neatly at the center. It was seemingly stable, but for who knows how long. Regardless, the result was an outstanding success and my mana reserves were almost completely spent. There was still one last thing for me to test out though.

Now, I should... Hm? Wait a second. Where am I even supposed to send this now? Ah. I’m still in the dining area too!? I forgot!

Lost in my curiosity and pursuit toward an end result, I hadn’t given much thought to the after. Yet, as if she could feel my internal panic, one of the maids had already opened the window some ways near me. I immediately rushed toward that same window as I then sent the [Condensed Electric Bullet] toward the sky blocked by several branches. It shot through said branches in the way, completely vaporizing them in its wake. I then activated the final step.

“Expand!”

Immediately the small orb expanded massively in the distance, disappearing as it slammed into what seemed like a barrier around the city. A sigh of relief and satisfaction escaped my throat as I felt as if I had achieved my end result properly.

Whew. Now that was an enlightening experiment. Seems like Marna was right after all. Good thing that overly perceptive maid thought ahead too, or else I wouldn’t have known where to put it in that moment. Not thinking about that beforehand was definitely a mistake.

“Sir Albel!”

“Hm?!”

My body jolted and phased into standing stone as Marna’s voice smacked against my eardrums. I was once again reminded that I was still in the dining area of the Elven Castle.

“Marna, I...”

“That was definitely an incredible and lovely display of magic proficiency, but doing something so dangerous!? You should know better not to use magic indoors. You practically had Vaalyun readying to grab me and run off.”

“Now, Princess... I don’t think I was that—”

“Furthermore! The maids had just put out some fine refreshments. If you had destroyed their hard work, even I wouldn’t have let such an act slide. Not even for you!”

Marna pouted in my direction in seemingly lopsided temper. I couldn’t actually tell if she was truly angered or not toward my rash impulsiveness. If anything, it felt more attached to the safety of her desserts.

So that’s what you’re really mad about, huh? How gluttonous.

“Sir Albel.”

“Ah, right, you’re entirely correct... I’m deeply sorry about that display! I swear, it will not happen again!”

“Mm! That’s good to hear.”

Quickly bowing in a panicked and apologetic manner toward Marna, her voice had initially sent a chill down my spine as she called my name. She had flashed another telling smile in my direction, followed by an affirmative nod in response to my apology. Luckily, she had dismissed my reckless behavior without making it into too much of an incident. As one prone to blind impulse on curious whim, I would definitely need to make sure to reflect—and possibly look into shackling that troublesome habit.

“Now, how about we continue with our discussions, hm?”