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nFollowing Irea's advice, Layn looked at the mountains and the nearby walls. But as he continued to stare at the vast landscape outside of the valley… nothing really happened.

n

"Just keep staring. I don't know the exact time, but soon the barrier will be closing.

" Noticing the strange expression that appeared on Layn's face, Irea calmed him down. Taking a look at her face for a moment, the archmage could see an expression of great expectations and anticipation.

n'I guess there is nothing wrong with just staring at the mountains.' Once again heeding the girl's words, Layn fixed his position on the ground, resting his arms behind his back. With his eyes now glued to the sight behind them, he was ready to see what was this matter all about.

nBut nothing happened.

nYet, for Layn it didn't really matter. With each passing second, his translation spell continued to improve. With every single word that the people around him spoke, his own language improved by leaps and bounds. And first of all, he couldn't make any move even if he wanted to.

n'Dog's luck, huh.' Brooding over this crazily unfortunate situation of his, Layn stopped really caring about waiting for some sights to happen. In the end, against the ancients, he was currently powerless.

nAs of now, his translation spell sapped the majority of the energy that his makeshift rope could absorb. Unless he would find a greater source of magic stones, there was hardly any way for him to improve. And while fighting with monsters would be the easiest way to grow his potential, he could survive in the desert only for so long.

nOn the other hand, those ancients really caused the archmage to worry. Even if they were far weaker against the monsters, their specific set of abilities made them an extremely bad match for Layn.

nInstead of relying on the wild magic power around them like mages of the future, they seemed to somehow absorb those scarce amounts in the air and slowly refine their bodies with it.

nWithout any fundamental knowledge about those techniques, even Layn couldn't really tell how strong those ancients were. Those few hints that he always took for granted to let him discern the other's strength were nowhere to be seen in those new companions of his.

n

"It's starting.

" Pulling Layn out of his deep thought, Irea stared right ahead. With her back facing the inner gate, she directed her eyes directly at the gate. Contemplating the rough but delicate beauty of her profile for a moment, Layn looked in the same direction.

nOnly to see the desert behind the walls slowly fade away.

nIt didn't disappear completely. By the time the changes stopped occurring, it seemed as if a night began all over the desert simultaneously. With the vast expanses of the sands suddenly hidden in the deep shadow, Layn finally directed his attention to something far more important.

nEven though he didn't know anything about the local techniques, he could still feel the fluctuations of magic in the air. After all, Layn wasn't an archmage for nothing!

nBut the scope of what he saw in the astral dimension of the world, astounded him.

nTo even begin to compare, only the disaster that he caused himself by invoking a gran arcana was close to the amount of energy that separated the desert from the world on the other side of the walls. This veil of magic was so insanely dense, that its usually invisible appearance still managed to block most of the light from travelling between the two sides of the barrier.

n'What a pity…' Just a single look at this insane barrier managed to raise Layn's hopes only to shatter them immediately afterwards. It wasn't as if the air where the barrier now stood was rich in the magic conducting element. It was some kind of innate, overbearing force pushing this insane amount of magic to the world, forcefully feeding the area with the purest form of energy.

nIn other words, if Layn dared to touch it, he would be instantly fried to the bone!

n'Now that I think about it…' With both the conducting element and such raw, unrefined energy appearing in his thoughts at the same time, Layn wouldn't be an archmage if he didn't notice one thing.

n'If I were to introduce the conducting element to the air…' Just a single image of the disaster that would occur if such an overwhelming amount of energy would be released to freely travel through the world was enough to send a powerful shiver down Layn's spine.

n

"Now it all makes sense…

" So shocked by the sudden realisation, Layn even forgot about his own translation spell.

n

"What does make sense?

" Sitting right beside him, Irea looked at Layn's face with a strange look in her eyes.

n

"...

" Instead of jumping in panic, Layn simply remained silent for a moment. Only once a few seconds passed did he breathe a mouthful of air, before slowly releasing a deep sigh.

"It's nothing. I just understood something strange.

"

nLeaning his head down, Layn took yet another huge breath, before suddenly lean to the back, to the point where his head hung to the back.

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"Aaaaagghhh.

" This time, it wasn't a sigh. It was a powerful whine of someone incredibly annoyed and disappointed.

"And I just realised how pointless my ideas were. What you saw in the desert… Consider it a lucky stroke. Outside of that, I'm incredibly weak.

"

nSlowly standing up as to not alert the others, Layn looked once again at the inner side of the barrier, before decisively turning around. Rather than looking at a place he wouldn't enter, it was better to focus himself on what stood ahead of him.

n

"Weak? Are you kidding me? Even with the ten of us…

" Hearing Layn's excuse, Irea instantly reacted with a sour expression appearing on her face.

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"I still don't remember much,

" Layn cut her off, raising his hand as if he was back in college. With what he just saw, there was no longer any point in hesitating. He returned to the past to change the future, not to idle away. And with what he saw about the ancients so far, the easiest way out of his current situation was already written in a certain sacred book.

nA sacred book that he cherished so much in his childhood years. The same sacred book that pushed him into joining the military first, and then the Hero's party.

n

"The adventure of Layn the archmage and his associates.

" Muttering under his nose, Layn couldn't stop a smile from creeping on his face. The image of this old, tattered book appeared in the archmage's head. But this time, instead of the name of the ancient hero, it was his name decorating the titular page.

n

"Excuse me?

" Looking sharply at the archmage, Irea made Layn move his eyes on her.

n'Now that I think about it…' Taxing the girl's face with a thoughtful look, Layn smiled once again. It seemed that she finally overcame her fear of him.

n

"It's nothing. Just one of the old, stupid memories.

" Openly sharing his smile with the world, Layn noticed the queue moving up.

"Shouldn't we move forward a bit? I'm quite eager to see what lies on the other side of those walls.

"

nPointing his chin at the inner part of the fortifications, Layn finally regained his energy. Not the magical one as annoying as it was, but at least the one that drove him to push himself with everything he got!

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"Moving back to the point, you can consider what you saw on the desert… as my trump cards. While I'm still not sure about several points myself, I have a feeling that…

" Taking a short moment to let the pressure build up a little, I smiled gently.

"It feels as if I was under the tutelage of someone incredibly powerful… But I was never taught the basics. That might be the reason why I feel so weak when you guys take me for a monster.

"

nRather than avoiding the issue, it was better to just address it directly. Even though it was a risky bet, if Layn were to go all in without any regard for the morals or collateral damage, the abundance of the people around him as the endless source of energy behind him would let him fight his way off. That was the main reason why he dared to make this bet.

nBecause even if everything were to go awry, he would still have some kind of way out.

n

"Oooh!

" Spreading her eyes wide, Irea looked at Layn as if he was some kind of a chicken laying golden eggs. But it wasn't the first time when the archmage experienced this kind of looks. The moment right between the defeat of the demon lord and his marriage to that cheating princess. Upon returning to the royal capital, a lot of young women looked at him like that.

nAs if he was an ownerless sack of gold wandering right in the arms of someone in desperate need of some coins.

n

"That actually makes some sense. Now that I think about it, you moved extremely slowly back then.

" Appearing out of nowhere right beside the archmage, the leader of the ancients put a thoughtful look on his face as he looked down into Layn's eyes.

n

"Well, that's only a guess of mine, so I hope you won't get your hopes too much. Even if I'm right, I somehow ended up stranded in the desert, without my memories… So I can't even be sure that such a teacher actually wished for me to remain alive.

" Rather than coming up with something new, Layn basically quoted line after line from his beloved book.

n'Is this just a coincidence?' Thinking about it, Layn couldn't help but feel weirded out by how fitting those words of the novel were for his current situation. But it was still too early to draw any premature conclusions.

n

"I understand. Consider it a favour, but you can tag along with us for now. We might not be the greatest party in the world, but we can definitely pull our weight. Whether this decision of mine will end up curing a favour with a senior expert will be my bet.

" Finally revealing a smile on his face, the leader of the ancients brought his hand forward.

n

"Let's be in each other's care from now on!

"

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