[V2C13] Monsters of the Crystal Territory
Translated by Jodas 2: Daily Lives of a New Teacher and the Apprentice MagesIt was a perverse forest.
Each of the trees that made up the forest, from their roots to their leaves, were made of crystals, and the ground was covered by a thin layer of crystals like frost on a winter morning.
The crystals refracted a faint rainbow glow, and when the light shone upon them, they glistened colorful sparkles. The sight was breathtakingly beautiful.
However, there was no hint of the life that should be flourishing in this place. Neither decomposing leaves nor sprouting buds: a crystal forest where time appeared frozen—that was the Crystal Territory.
Another reason this forest felt lifeless was the complete lack of animals.
The mana density in the Crystal Territory was extremely high, and creatures without a tolerance for that would not be able to live long here.
Two silhouettes walked through that forest of crystals towards the world outside.
One was a beautiful blond man. He wore a silk dress shirt and other fashionable clothes, draped by a mantle as black as night. A sweet smile with hints of kindness and a carefree attitude rested on his refined countenance.
The other form was a small boy with silver hair. He wore a much simpler white tunic. Thin icicles dangled from the hems of his clothes.
They were not people. These were Monsters who merely took a human-like form.
With each step the Monsters took, the frost-like crystals on the ground cracked and shattered. Regardless, the Monsters seemed to pay it no heed. In the Crystal Territory, broken crystals would soon reform.
Without decay or rot; without new buds or sprouts; the forest of crystals would always maintain the same form.
However, as the Monsters kept walking, the further they got from the center of the Crystal Territory, the more the crystals decreased.
The trees made of crystals soon became trees with crystals stuck to them. And, as the crystals around them dissipated, the mana density accordingly thinned out.
There was no clear line dividing the Crystal Territory from the outside. There was a transitional band of land that appeared to be an ordinary place with crystals mixed in.
They called it the Boundary Territory. It was where the territories of Monsters and humans intertwined. However, the influence of the Crystal Territory was still evident here.
Walking a little further, to where the crystals had mostly disappeared from their surroundings, the blond Monster in the shape of a gorgeous man placed a hand on his chest and whispered.
“Oh, I don’t feel the usual pain and draining feeling anymore. How are you holding up, Jack?”
“I don’t feel any pain either, Jill.”
The Monster in the form of a silver-haired boy smiled childishly.
The blond Monster held out one hand with a flourish.
He enjoyed acting with full awareness of his body’s form, from his fingertips to his toenails.
“Excellent, then we shall dedicate this day as a day to remember. The day we confidently walked out of the Crystal Territory!”
“Haha, remembering is lovely. Our daily lives have been so stale, so this is all the more lovely.”
“Isn’t it? That said…..”
Jill sighed as if to pour out his discomfort, and placed a hand on a nearby tree.
The tree creaked as his white-gloved hand scratched at the tree to take a chunk out of it.
Jill dropped the piece of wood on the ground, and looked devastated.
“Ahh, I’m so much weaker I can’t believe it~……..”
The stronger a Monster was, the more mandatory it was for them to live in an area with high mana density.
In order to spend any amount of time outside the Crystal Territory, they needed a shackle to limit their strength.
“I thought these Crystal Rivets would weaken me……. And I’m in the sunlight too……Ahh, my skin is going to peel. I need blood……”
“Should we go cook a human?”
“Hmm, even though the Chancellor told us not to stand out too much~…….”
Jill hung his head in discontent, then defiantly puffed out his chest and shouted forcefully.
“I……. haaaate that guy!”
Jack clapped his hands together and jumped up and down like a child.
“Wow, what a coincidence! Me too! I want to turn that guy into an icecube, but….. The King said I can’t, that’s the only reason I haven’t yet.”
“I let him live because he made the Crystal Rivets, but if not for that I would have cut him to pieces years ago. That guy’s got terrible tasting blood.”
“You sucked him?”
“Just a taste.”
“Wow~”
The Monsters locked eyes and smirked at each other. Like children planning a prank.
The blond Monster, Jill, blew a kiss in the direction of human settlement.
“Then, without further ado, let’s go cook ourselves some humans! I love you~ humans. Mwah, mwah!”
“Let’s go, Let’s go! If I’m going to hug them, I’d rather a kid than a dying old man. You know, kids are a lot warmer!”
“Me as well, I would rather suck the blood of a young girl than an old man~…….After all, it was humans themselves who decided that ‘vampires like the blood of virgin girls.’”
The blond Monster, Jill, stopped his feet and turned around, the crystal forest reflecting in his crimson eyes.
The forest where time had stopped, the Crystal Territory, was the last bastion of the surviving Monsters.
(However, it is not a paradise. Not at all.)
Such a claustrophobic, dull place could never be their paradise.
After all, there were no humans there. The humans that Monsters loved, depended on, were obsessed with.
—Monsters could not exist without humans.
For precisely that reason, even though the Monster population was decimated by humanity, they continued to pursue humans. Until the very end.
“—We are the children of the abyss. That which was born from the works of humanity. Thus, we cannot help but desire them. Our wish will rot us, our wish will end us. Even if we are the last one remaining. Even if we are the last one remaining……”
This song which sang of the Monsters’ insatiable thirst, was not written by a Monster but by a human.
Jill loved the artistry of this human who wrote such a song in pity of Monsters from the bottom of his heart.
Art and creation were treasures of humanity that Monsters could not possess. Jill wanted them.
The Monster that took the form of a handsome young man sang gleefully as he walked.
“Even if we are the last one remaining. Even if we are the last one remaining……”
That said, Jill was rather tone-deaf, but Jack was used to it, so he said nothing about it.
Midday on the day of the extracurricular lesson. After Tia and the others finished their morning group lesson and had lunch at the dining hall, they gathered in front of the Wedge Tower’s main gate.
The sunlight shining through the clear autumn sky filled her with energy, and she felt an urge to sing, but Tia covered her mouth and held back her songs.
(I won’t sing today…… keep it in, keep it in…….)
The mages of the Investigation Office that they will be tagging along with were skilled at investigating the traces of Monsters. There was a chance Tia’s true identity could be revealed through her words and actions.
Wren made a strange face at Tia as she held her mouth closed.
“Tia, are you feeling alright? You’re not piyo-ing at all today.”
Sevil folded her arms and nodded.
“Indeed. I haven’t heard a even single piyopp today.”
She almost unconsciously chirped a ‘pirorororo…..’ but Tia kept her hands over her mouth and limited herself to human language.
“NOTATALL!”
Hütter, their chaperone, mumbled to himself skeptically.
“…….How did we get to a place where ‘piyo-ing’ and ‘a single piyopp’ made perfect sense……?”
In front of the main gate, three mages of the Investigation Office had already gathered. All three were men in their thirties or forties. They all wore clothes that were easy to move around in, and carried bags on their backs.
Wren whispered, probably thinking the same thing as Tia.
“Looking at them, they don’t really look like mages. None of them are even holding staves.”
Definitely, Hütter was the only person here wearing a robe.
Said Hütter spoke in a knowledgeable tone.
“A staff is just one kind of magical device used to assist you in controlling mana……..Alright, who can tell me: what is a magical device?”
This was his way of reviewing the lesson they’d had this morning. Tia, Wren, and Sevil all answered simultaneously.
“Tools that work with mana!”
“Tools that activate a given effect by conducting mana through a precisely engraved magical formula!”
“Weapons!”
“Tia: 70 points, Wren: 100 points, Sevil: 50 points!” Hütter breathlessly gave out points, then lifted his glasses and continued.
“Tools to assist mana control are the most stable when in the shape of a rod. The most stable and easiest to use are ones about length of your forearm.”
That was why staves for beginners tended to be around that length.
Soon, once they started practicing mana control, Tia and the others would probably also use one.
“However, guys who are good at mana control can use magic without a staff, so they’re not strictly necessary……..That means, the folks from the Investigation Office here are all talented at controlling mana.”
The men from the Investigation Office blushed.
Tia also noticed that Hütter wasn’t carrying a staff either.
“So you’re also good at mana control, Mr. Hütter!”
Hütter chuckled proudly to Tia’s words. He smiled confidently. He must have been so good at mana control it wasn’t even a question.
“People who are good at controlling mana don’t need a staff……but long staves are a bit of a different story.”
“What’s different about long staffs?”
Tia recalled the mages she’d seen in picture books. She recalled them holding really long staves.
“Long staves are items made for advanced mages. They’re harder to use, but accordingly, they make it easier to layer on specialized effects and you can tune them to amplify or limit mana output. That’s why if you see a mage with a long staff, remember that that means they are an advanced one. By the way, in the Kingdom of Ridill next door, the length of your staff is clearly defined depending on your rank.”
Tia could easily visualize Hütter’s trivia.
It sounded like the coolest mages of that neighboring country had really long staves.
(I wonder how long they are? Do they go all the way up to the ceiling?)
Tia envisioned a mage holding a staff long enough to scrape against the ceiling. It would definitely get in the way.
The powerful mages of that nearby country must have real problems dealing with their long staves. Tia committed that to memory.
“Amazing, Mr. Hütter. You know so much!”
“Well, if you hang around the Mage Association for long enough, of course you’ll pick up things like that……y’know?”
Hütter raised two fingers on his right hand and struck a pose, holding those fingers up to his face.
It was a cool pose that showed off his wingtips. Tia decided she needed to try it sometime.