The updraft was much stronger than what was felt from above.
It was not only difficult to regain balance, but also so cold that one could lose consciousness if they dawdled too long.
Why is the sound of the wind so loud again?
Although Mephistopheles shouted something from behind, it was completely inaudible.
But the biggest problem is...
'This... is not going to be easy.'
It was not easy to wield language easily, as it consumed considerable mental strength just to hold onto one's sanity.
Concretizing images required a high level of concentration.
In such dire situations, it was inevitable to find it difficult.
"[Step... Arar]!"
Elric gritted his teeth and spread out the mana field widely.
Instead, the magic he invoked this time was not the familiar 'levitation' or 'gliding' he had used before.
Those would only hinder in such a place.
He wanted to substitute with an image grasped on the spot.
A staircase in the air.
He had thought of creating an invisible bridge from the point where he was falling to the midsection where the granite was located, so that he could cross it directly.
『If those ancient martial artists saw this, they'd foam at the mouth calling it 'empty gazing'. Ha, hahaha...!』
Ignoring Mephisto's sighs mixed with incomprehension, Elric reached the midsection in one go.
"Phew...!"
As soon as Elric touched the ground, he breathed a sigh of relief that seemed to dispel all his tension.
"Phew. I really thought I was going to die."
If he had slipped even for a moment, he would have died without a doubt.
It was as if he had visited the threshold of the underworld for a very short time.
His spine was stiff. Despite the cold weather, his clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
"Heh, hehehe."
Nevertheless, laughter bubbled up uncontrollably.
A laughter mixed with a sense of accomplishment, pride in what he had achieved, and the thrill of it all.
『What a gutsy guy.』
Mephisto just shook his head in disbelief.
'Even among demons, no, among the kings of demons, there can't be anyone as reckless as this.'
With such thoughts in mind,
Elric stood up and took a slow breath.
Pressing down his still pounding heart, he approached the granite cautiously.
"At first glance... It just looks ordinary. Hm."
Even when seen from the edge of the cliff,
Apart from the fact that the granite was placed in the middle of the cliff, it didn't look much different from a mountain lodge built for hunters to comfortably stay in.
It had a modest size, a triangular roof designed to prevent snow accumulation, and small windows. That was all.
From atop the cliff, even under the amazed gaze of the 'Blue Snowflake' tribe chief, who occasionally managed the place, there wasn't much snow piled on the roof. Despite being several hundred years old, the wood didn't look particularly worn.
Elric used mana scan, hoping to discover something unusual, but he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
So, as he reached towards the door of the granite.
'It's locked.'
In an instant, Elric's eyes narrowed.
Lock.
An ancient trick that could only be unlocked by entering a predetermined mana pattern.
The magic circle seemed to be installed internally rather than externally.
'What could the password be?'
Elric briefly entertained the idea of attempting to hack it, but ultimately dismissed the thought. Even if the algorithm combination might be more straightforward than modern ones, it was unlikely that the descendants, who were not even proficient mages, could easily unlock it.
However, on the flip side, there must have been a combination that descendants could potentially remember.
Elric tried entering mana patterns using words that came to mind.
Melvinger, magic noble family, magician, demon king, demon hunter...
But no matter how he tried to combine them, it was all in vain.
Wondering if it had anything to do with the king associated with the legend of the supposed friend, Elric even asked Mephisto for the name, but the lock remained silent.
"...Hm."
Elric continued to rack his brain, fearing he might freeze to death right in front of the granite if he stayed like this, hoping for some other solution.
But after over an hour, no answer came. Then suddenly, another idea struck him.
'What if it's not the mana pattern that's needed, but a key?'
"...No way?"
Elric pulled out the Magical Amulet he had hidden in his coat and brought it to the door.
In an instant.
Paaat!
Clack-
A dazzling light burst from the door and then receded.
Elric, with a bewildered expression, alternated his gaze between the Magical Amulet and the door.
If it was this simple, there was no need to be so nervous. He felt a bit unjustified.
But now that it was certain this place was a family hideaway, he smiled happily as he prepared to enter.
"…?"
Remembering that Mephisto hadn't spoken a word all this time, Elric turned towards him.
『...Feels somewhat familiar. Was it the abode of the 'Winter Sage'?』
Mephisto muttered quietly, lost in thought.
"Winter Sage? What's that?"
Elric didn't miss the opportunity to ask, but Mephisto remained tight-lipped, refusing to offer any response just like when he asked about the king associated with the legend. His determination not to answer was written all over his face.
However, Elric, not being a fool, could easily deduce that the Winter Sage mentioned by Mephisto likely referred to his ancestor.
Yet, there was something else he was genuinely curious about.
'What could possibly be the connection between the king of legend, my ancestor, and Mephisto? I wonder…'
Elric briefly toyed with the idea of using a combination of coaxing and pleading to get Mephisto to talk, but he decided against it. He didn't want to risk damaging the last bit of respect he had left.
'No matter how much I tease someone, I should at least respect their boundaries.'
As Elric entered the interior, he couldn't help but imagine that if Mephisto had heard him, he would have called him crazy. Slowly, he stepped inside.
And then...
"Wow."
Unconsciously, he let out an exclamation of awe.
With the sight unfolding before him, all the questions related to Mephisto vanished into thin air.
The interior was nothing like what he had seen from the outside.
Shelves stretching endlessly with books, each spanning over dozens of meters.
The musty smell of ancient tomes, likely numbering in the tens of thousands, filled the room.
It was definitely not a size that could fit into a small granite like Moak.
'Space overlapping, climate control, pattern detection... plus automatic restoration to prevent damage. Can such things be possible on this scale?'
With this magnitude, it couldn't simply be called a 'hideaway'. It was more like a library.
'It might even rival the Central Magical Library or the Imperial Library…'
Elric couldn't help but feel his chest swell with pride at the thought of how impressive his family's heritage truly was, and how much deeper the power of the magical noble families ran than what was known to the public.
Feeling elated, he happily explored the interior of the library.
For Elric, who had been addicted to reading since childhood, this place was nothing short of paradise.
* * *
"'Fundamentals of Magical Doctrine' is here? I thought it had been out of circulation for a while... If I take it out, the academic community will be buzzing. 'Tome of Infernal Skills,' 'Secrets of the Warlocks,' 'Treatise of Laws'? Our ancestors really did collect a lot of magical texts. Huh? There's even a 'Gospel of Satan'?"
Elric's face was filled with amazement as he scanned the titles of the books.
Even just looking at them, each one seemed to be quite remarkable.
Starting from those already known to have practical applications, to grimoires containing spells themselves, to magical techniques of faeries and beastmen not widely known in the human world, and even to the dark arts designated as forbidden knowledge, it seemed like almost every book related to magical studies was here.
However, there was a disappointing aspect.
"They're all replicas... Hm!"
They all had the same handwriting and were made of contemporary paper.
Nevertheless, considering the remarkable contents, it seemed like they were meticulously transcribed alongside genuine originals...
'Did the Winter Sage transcribe all of these? All of this material?'
Elric cast aside his lingering disappointment and thought positively.
In truth, just having access to the materials here would greatly expand his subconscious horizons multiple times over, more than enough to leave a lasting impact.
As a magician, he had obtained an invaluable treasure trove.
'Well, I'll have plenty of time to look through these in the future. For now, I should focus on finding information about the Magical Amulet.'
Elric searched primarily for documents related to his family's history, especially those concerning their ancestors.
However, many of the documents lacked titles, so he had to spend a lot of time examining each one to read even a bit of their contents.
『...』
In the midst of all this...
Mephisto stood in the middle of the library, quietly surveying the interior.
* * *
Days passed.
After almost completely neglecting food and drink, Elric spent four days meticulously examining the books.
"...I found it."
Finally, Elric managed to find the book he had been searching for.
It was a worn and thin volume tucked away in a corner, even amidst the deep recesses of the shelves.
However...
Its contents were anything but ordinary.
「We were originally just a group of scholars pursuing the ultimate power of magic.」
「But at some point, driven by a thirst for greater power, we became tainted by dark magic and caused great harm to the world, only realizing our mistakes too late...」
"It's exactly the same... as the voice I heard back then."
Elric murmured softly, recalling the voice he heard when he first obtained the inscription in the Magical Amulet.
"To correct the wrongs and atone for the past, that's why we were created, why our family came into being."
「To correct the wrongs and atone for the past, that's why we were created, why our family came into being.」
"That's our family's duty, to eradicate demons."
「That's our family's duty, to eradicate demons.」
Even though he hadn't experienced it firsthand at the time, the impact had been so strong that he remembered every line, every tone of the voice vividly.
And now, the contents of the book matched that voice perfectly.
Elric flipped through the pages as if he were possessed by something.
In hopes of finding more content behind the voice, and...
「And if we devour magic and continue to do so, won't we eventually reveal our true selves? Then, true magic may bloom on this land, and that could be the destiny bestowed upon our family by the heavens...」
「...Then what is it to devour magic? It means we willingly swallow what is corrupt, empty, and wild. If we can swallow and digest it properly, wouldn't that also be a new harmony of magic?」
「But to execute this, several conditions are absolutely necessary.」
「First is a sincere desire for righteousness, second is unwavering determination, and third is a calm and peaceful mind. These are necessary to resist all temptations and desires...」
Suddenly, Elric felt a sensation as if his vision was spinning.
「Devour magic.」
「Swallow magic.」
「Drink magic.」
It felt as if the words were popping out of the book, dancing around each other.
Though Elric suspected it might be hallucination, he somehow felt he understood the hidden meaning within them.
Then, as the letters shattered into pieces, his mind rang loudly.
『Eat, swallow, drink. Take in all magic and hold it within you. Thus, rise with new magic!』
At that moment, the magic book glowed brightly.
『To have read this book means you have passed all the mentioned conditions and successfully consumed the first magic through the trial and guidance of the magic book.』
『From now on, it shall truly begin.』
As the words finished, something happened.
"…!"
Elric snapped back to reality.
And as he looked down at the still shining magical amulet, the residue that had covered the magic pendant began to fall away like dust.
Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, each layer peeled off to reveal a completely different appearance from the original magical pendant.
In the shape of a '卍' character.
Four protruding parts, each adorned with emerald, ruby, sapphire, and diamond in a clockwise direction, exuded an elegant charm.
'What's changed…? What's different?'
Elric marveled at the altered magical pendant, feeling its surface, but he couldn't discern the change within himself. So he tried to sense his magic.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
The world surrounding Elric suddenly flipped.
And then.
"You must be the distant descendant promised to inherit our legacy."
A venerable gentleman stood before Elric, smiling warmly.