At the end of the Starting Month (January), cold still blanketed Alingen, but the dark green forest outside
Before the tall, ornate black iron gates forged in the ancient magic empire style,
"Neither of the two Evans gentlemen are here. They both went to Lentat. Which one are you looking for?" the iron golem replied in its metallic, emotionless voice.
Woods was taken aback. "There are two of them? Um, I'm looking for Mr. X. Wait—didn't they both go to Lentat? When did they leave? What for? Approximately what time will they be back?"
In his haste, Woods nearly attempted to communicate with the golem by thought alone before catching himself just in time.
His barrage of questions caused the red light in the iron golem's eyes to flash rapidly, as though it might explode at any moment.
"Yes, they both went to Lentat. They left an hour ago. I don't know what for, and I don't know when they'll return." The iron golem finally sorted through the sequence of questions.
An hour ago? Evans had already arrived in Lentat long since. Woods pressed his black top hat in mild vexation. Lentat was the capital of the Holm Kingdom, ranking among the top ten on the continent in both area and population. Without knowing what Lucian had gone to do, it would be difficult to track him down quickly—even asking a "Diviner" to cast a legendary astrology spell would yield no precise location without more information.
"When Mr. Evans—Mr. X—returns, please pass along a message for me. Our Common Archanist Monthly would like to publish his paper in this month's end-of-month issue, and we ask him to reply as soon as possible. If he has time, it would be best if he came to our headquarters." In the bone-chilling cold wind, Woods exhaled several puffs of white breath, then climbed back into the carriage.
…………
Lentat, second floor of the Oak Restaurant.
In a private dining room, Lucian gazed through the window at the beautiful night outside, where snow as light as goose feathers drifted down. He watched people moving through the heavy snow—some hurrying along, some strolling side by side, some childishly catching snowflakes, some bending to scoop up snowballs...
Across the small dining table sat Ignat, introduced by K. He was a fourth-level Archanist and fifth-ring Elemental Mage, his temples slightly grayed. Tall and gaunt, his features were especially pronounced, as though skin clung directly to bone.
If K hadn't warned him in advance, Lucian would have guessed Ignat was around fifty. In reality, Ignat was over a hundred years old.
At seventy, he had spent all his savings on an expensive magic ritual to extend both his life and his mental clarity, and he seemed likely to live many more years. Yet his magical level had been stuck at the threshold of the high tier for a full sixty years.
Ignat's light brown eyes swept over Lucian and K. He raised his glass. "To our pleasant dinner."
After the toast, K took another sip of "Sky Blue" before heading to the washroom, apparently having a poor tolerance for alcohol and showing signs of nausea.
Watching K's retreating figure disappear behind the washroom door, Ignat turned with a smile. "Evans, I skimmed your paper before dinner. I must say, its strengths and weaknesses are equally obvious, making it highly worthy of discussion. Unfortunately, this issue of Elements has already been set to include all papers presented by Archanists and mages at the Annual Conference."
Just as Lucian was about to make another appeal, Ignat swirled his wine glass. "However, K is about to become Mr. Larry's disciple, and Mr. Larry and I are on very good terms. Since he brought you to me, I can't very well do nothing as a pioneer in the field of Elemental Magic. So, I plan to suggest to Editor-in-Chief Lavane that we shouldn't delay other mages' valuable submissions just because of the Annual Conference, making them wait in vain. It would be best to appropriately expand this issue's page count. Of course, whether my suggestion will be adopted faces many difficulties, and much effort will be needed."
Lucian's eyes lit up. Was Ignat saying he intended to have Lucian's paper included in the expanded portion of Elements?
But Lucian didn't rush to speak, waiting quietly for Ignat to finish.
Ignat's gaze turned to the window, watching the young couples huddled together beneath the alchemical arc streetlamps outside. He sighed softly. "This is the finest stage of life. How wonderful it is to be young. Ah, I'm old. I've lost hope of becoming a high-level mage through my own strength and knowledge. I can only turn instead to a few miraculous magic rituals from the ancient magic empire. Unfortunately, the materials for these rituals are extremely difficult to find and prohibitively expensive."
Having said this, he fell silent, savoring a glass of red wine from the vineyards near Lentat, a smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.
At first, Lucian didn't understand why Ignat was lamenting these seemingly unrelated matters, but he quickly grasped the hidden meaning: if there were many difficulties to overcome, how could some cost not be expected?
After a moment's thought, Lucian chose his words carefully. "Mr. Ignat, sometimes with a bit of good luck, Arcane Points aren't so hard to come by. My last new spell, for instance, received a citation from His Excellency the Grand Archanist, and the returns were quite generous."
Ignat regarded Lucian with an approving look. "Young people are always full of drive and daring. An old man like me can't compare. I'm only three hundred Arcane Points short of buying the Crown
"I wonder if Mr. Ignat would be willing to accept my financial support? I wouldn't want to see a pioneer brought to a standstill by money troubles." Lucian spoke words that nearly made him gag himself, but having his paper published in Elements would be far better than The Common Archanist Monthly—among Elemental and Alchemy mages who regularly handled all manner of magical minerals, there was a real chance of discovering new elements!
Ignat raised his glass toward Lucian, his smile warm and refined. "To our success."
When K returned, he was delighted to find Lucian and Ignat chatting happily together.
…………
Perhaps Ignat was simply very efficient, or perhaps Elements had already decided to expand its page count and he had merely seized the opportunity. Either way, when Lucian and K checked out of the hotel the next day, the acceptance notice from Elements had already arrived in Lucian's hands.