Chapter 33: It Was Truly a Good Thing to Break It Back Then part 2
The deeper she delved into her past, the more entangled she felt with the Grand Temple and Saintess Kaphia.
And one more thing.
“…Baroah, the previous Tower Master, who didn’t even bother to clean the dirtied silk robe but kept the ruby pendant meticulously intact before returning it.”
Fay arrived at a significant and terrifying realization.
‘I’ve been wrong from the start. Baroah was the Tower Master at the time, wasn’t he? There’s no way he didn’t know the true nature of that pendant. If that’s the case, could he have intentionally given me the pendant, hoping I’d awaken by myself?’
Why did he insist on giving me even the pendant, which had negative connotations?
‘If the reason I need to figure out the cause of my inability to wield magic and the names Morgana and Morgan le Fay is tied to the ruby pendant, then…’
As soon as she thought of it, her troubled heart was suddenly relieved. There were countless unsolved mysteries, but only one key. Fay had to find it herself!
She ran straight to Baroah’s room. As soon as she arrived, the tightly closed door opened wide as if it had been waiting for her, but Baroah was, as usual, nowhere to be found.
However, she didn’t feel lonely.
He must have foreseen that she would return to this room someday!
Fay entered and looked directly at the blue ice statue, then declared,
“Baroah! I don’t resent you. Whatever the truth surrounding me is, I’ll uncover it with my own hands. After all, a mage is someone who seeks the truth!”
The blue ice statue stood firmly in its place.
“Whether you’re watching over me or wandering somewhere, I will find you. And I’ll thank you when I do.”
The silent ice statue almost seemed like Baroah’s alter ego.
“I’ve become a mage, just as you named me! To carve out my new fate.”
She had seen it in the old magic book.
Morgana, Morgan le Fay. Both names were those of mages who derived their power from water. By giving her that name, Baroah had left a huge hint that she had the potential to become a mage.
She smiled shyly.
“…I’m not sure if I’ll be a great magician yet. But I’ll try. I promise I won’t be consumed by the flames of anger. Someday, we will meet! I will find you, Baroah!”
There was a time when I doubted whether you were Sir Lucius. But no matter whether that’s true or not, it doesn’t matter. I will find you!
Fay ran out without looking back. There was so much she had to do.
As Fay disappeared, the door to Baroah’s research room slammed shut automatically.
And then, the blue ice statue seemed to finish its duty, developing a small crack before shattering into pieces and falling to the floor.
* * *
Fay, leaving Baroah’s room, immediately had the broken ruby pendant investigated. There were many people obsessed with research in the Mage Tower, so the results came back sooner than expected.
“Where did you find this ugly thing?”
“Huh?”
The Fine Echoes said this must be a powerful magical suppression tool, right?
“Oh, it means it’s an old item. It’s assumed to be a relic used a few hundred years ago. It looks like the pendant’s other components were recently replaced, but the jewel itself is from that time.”
“Is that so?”
“But the jewel has traces of a powerful spell. It suppresses the user’s magical powers and only allows the ruby to be influenced by the magic of fire.”
“Huh? Then wouldn’t it actually help weaker mages?”
Fay’s eyes widened, but the researcher shook his head.
“No. Because this pendant controls the wearer’s mana, it prevents any innate magical ability from being expressed. If it’s worn for too long, the side effects might change the wearer’s appearance or even prevent them from ever realizing they are a mage.”
“So, they end up living as an ordinary human?”
“Exactly. There are records of this pendant being used in the Grand Temple of the Supreme Deity a few hundred years ago to suppress a mage whose abilities conflicted with the temple’s ideals.”
“…”
“This is a terribly vile object. While the gem is now damaged and no longer effective, if someone kept holding onto it, even someone with immense talent would eventually be forced to live as an ordinary human.”
“…So that’s what it was. Thank you.”
Fay left with the object, bidding farewell.
After learning the truth about the ruby pendant, she returned the object, no different from a monstrosity, to its rightful place.
Then she stared intently at the mirror that Kassel had given her. Leaving Kassel’s appearance aside, this pale pink hair of hers, so distinctly different from that of the Klein Duke and his family, and even Maurice…
It felt so foreign compared to them…
‘If the magic in the ruby pendant is fire magic, then my unusual hair color can be explained. Could it be that my hair color has changed since birth?’
Fay wished that she was wrong in her thinking.
How could such a conspiracy have been planned and executed in the Grand Temple of the Supreme Deity, the symbol of peace and gentleness? If it’s true, it’s an unbelievable story.
‘I wish I could find if there was a portrait drawn during my time in the temple.’
Regardless of the conclusion, there was one person who stood out as the mastermind.
Dott, my friend Dottricia, wasn’t that person. Behind the scenes, there was a cunning shadow mage.
‘Saintess Kaphia!’
The figure she desperately recalled was kneeling and praying quietly in front of the statue of the Supreme Deity.
