Akatsuki Translations

 

Lynne was bad with her grandmother.

 

As the head of the Leyline family, Lynne’s grandmother was very busy. Serving as a priest in the temple, venerating the spirits, and at the same time being part of the lineage of practitioners of the Magic of White, she was required to contribute to various cities.

 

Her busyness was natural. Although she held the lowest rank of 【Nuu】among those with official ranks, as a priest, she was given various authorities and rewards, which meant she also had great responsibilities to bear.

 

Perhaps because of this, her expression was always stern, and she never showed kindness to her family.

 

Of course, she was strict with Lynne too. As a child of a priestly family and a person of the Lineage of White, any inappropriate behavior would be immediately met with a thunderous rebuke. Like other family members, Lynne never had a comfortable relationship with her grandmother. Even if it was necessary, to Lynne, her grandmother was nothing but a source of fear.

 

However, there was one thing about her grandmother that Lynne liked.

 

　―― Make sure you watch how I draw and learn from it. -Rainkami

 

It was when her grandmother taught her the 【White King Formation】

 

By now, various applications of the White King Formation had been discovered and utilized, but the most basic part still inevitably required knowledge of the original White King Formation. Therefore, instruction from the grandmother, who was the most adept at handling the White King Formation, was an essential lesson in the Leyline family. Children of the Leyline family always first received instruction from the head of the family.

 

Lynne liked the 【White King Formation】drawn by her grandmother.

 

A magic circle is just a means to activate magic. Writing the formula and forming it into a circle to create a phenomenon. That’s all it is. But as with anything, when mastered and refined, a certain beauty resides in it.

 

The White King Formation drawn by her grandmother was the same. At least, that’s how it seemed to Lynne. Presumably having repeated it throughout her life, every single character of the formula was without the slightest disorder, and the many overlapping symbols were as if measured to be exactly the same. The process of completing a single magic was beautiful.

 

Of course, there were others in the Leyline family who could use the 【White King Formation】besides her grandmother. However, by this time, the original 【White King Formation】was being used less and less because it took too much time and effort. Most people quickly gave up on it and focused on its applications instead. Even if they created it, it couldn’t compare to her grandmother’s.

 

Her grandmother’s was the most beautiful. That’s why Lynne secretly followed her grandmother when she went to work, until she was found and a fist rained down on her head.

 

――If you’re that interested, then follow me. Today is a once-in-a-decade day. -Rainkami

 

After a lengthy sermon, her grandmother took Lynne to a certain place.

 

It was the underground space of the 【Temple】that existed in all urban areas.

 

――Where is this? -Lynne

――This is the ‘First Place.’ -Rainkami

 

Continuing down a long, long staircase, and then appearing in a vast underground space.

 

 

Lynne gasped at the sight of the White King Formation, drawn using the entirety of the land and space beneath the city’s core temple. A giant White King Formation covering the entire area of the temple would undoubtedly be a magnificent sight. However, what truly shook Lynne’s heart was the trajectory of the White King Formation that was drawn.

 

The lines, treating the underground space as a canvas, showed signs of being layered multiple times upon inspection. Countless times, dozens, hundreds of times, traces were left where magical power was infused and spell patterns were engraved.

 

Magical power dissipates. The same is true for magic circles that are fixed into the world as spell formulas. Like all things, they deteriorate, fade, and eventually decay over time. This is inevitable.

 

However, there were no signs of fading in this overwhelming White King Formation in the massive underground space before her.

 

Not even the slightest unraveling. This was because efforts were made to prevent it from weakening and fading.

 

Repeatedly layered to ensure it would never be impaired.

 

The persistence was evident in every trajectory of the White King Formation. There was history in it.

 

Lynne trembled. She felt as if the fine hairs on her entire body were standing on end.

 

――Be sure to watch -Rainkami

 

Said the grandmother, continuing the ritual that had been repeated many times.

 

Tracing, layering, and refining the trajectory of the giant White King Formation. Her movements were almost like dancing. She continued this, on and on. Even a regular White King Formation, which normally requires over an hour, would naturally take a far longer time given this scale and range.

 

Starting from morning, through sunset, and until midnight, the grandmother continued drawing the White King Formation endlessly. During that time, she neither ate nor drank, nor did she sit down. Her grandmother was already quite old. Normally, she used a cane, walked with a bent back, and had a tottering gait. It was hard to believe this was the same person. With a fierce expression, it was clear she was pouring her heart, her very life into it.

 

Lynne continued to watch. She kept watching her grandmother’s figure, her dance, her life.

 

 

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――This White King Formation is a substitute for the 【Barrier of the Sun】. It’s a manifestation of the rampancy of magical supremacy. -Rainkami

 

The Barrier of the Sun, given to humans by the One True God, the Sun God, Zerudia, requires an enormous amount of prayers from those who can communicate with spirits. Therefore, in this world, those who can communicate with spirits hold power. They gather in temples, offer prayers, maintain the barrier, and receive blessings from the spirits to enrich their cities.

 

In contrast, the【City of Sin, Lust】is a city of magical supremacy. Some even prioritize magical skill over the depth of communion with spirits for priestly positions. But, normally, this would be impossible. City management cannot be sustained by magic alone. In this world, magic is not that omnipotent. Spirits are the key to maintaining the human survival zones.

 

Humans have yet to escape from the cradle of spirits.

 

Therefore, this city, which places magic above all, is an anomaly.

 

This anomaly, this impossibility, was made possible by this.

 

An act of God, the Barrier of the Sun’s proxy. It was the secret art passed down by the 【Lineage of White】, embodying the power of God in human hands, if only for a moment.

 

――The Leylines, we have been maintaining them ever since this city was born. -Rainkami

 

　――Grandma too? -Lynne

 

　――Yes. Ever since the first Leyline was taught by the White Witch. The kind witch, we have been continuing ever since. -Rainkami

 

Ever since.

 

A hint of pride was visible in the stern expression of the grandmother. Lynne understood it well. She was proud, too.

 

It was immediately apparent that the White King Formation spreading before her was no trivial matter.

 

Why the White Witch gave the extremely complex and labor-intensive White King Formation to the Leylines, why the first Leyline continued to inherit this White King Formation. It became clear.

 

It was to protect as many people as possible, to the limits, to keep reaching out.

 

This White King Formation is the culmination of that will and wish.

 

As a duty of the priests who protects the people,

 

Sworn upon the pride of the Lineage of White,

 

To guard the lives of the family we live with

 

Various feelings, wishes, prayers, Lynne could see them all.

 

Until now, she had thought the White King Formation drawn by her grandmother was beautiful, and she felt affirmed that her thoughts were never mistaken.

 

――But you know, I will be the last one to continue this. -Rainkami

 

Therefore, her grandmother’s following words were a shock to Lynne.

 

――Why? -Lynne

――It’s too harsh. There’s no one to inherit it. It’s just not the right time. -Rainkami

 

Times have changed. The City of Sin, Lust, is now the leading magical nation on the continent. The magic of the Lineage of White has branched and evolved. There have been many more practitioners who could even be called sages.

 

As a result, the era no longer needed to rely on intense magic like the White King Formation, which seemed to carve away at one’s life. Even without magic reaching the White King Formation, it had become possible to substitute it with several other lesser magics.

 

“So, this White King Formation is over,” said the grandmother.

 

In her eyes, there was sorrow and resignation. She had given up, thinking it was impossible.

 

――What will happen to this place then? This White King Formation? -Lynne

 

――…It will be erased. -Rainkami

 

Erased.

 

It would disappear, vanish. These lines, history, life, wiped clean. As if it never existed.

 

From the first Leyline to her grandmother, the baton that had been continuously passed down would be cut off.

 

――No way. -Lynne

 

That voice, unusually strong for the typically quiet Lynne, emerged from the depths of her belly.

 

　――Lynne?” -Rainkami

　――Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not!!! -Lynne

 

In front of her astonished grandmother, Lynne, with her uniquely small stature, emitted overwhelming energy and shouted.

 

　――I will inherit it!! I will follow in grandma’s footsteps!! -Lynne

 

On the brink of giving up everything, the head of the Leyline family, Rainkami Nuu Leyline, found her successor.

 

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In the end, Rain and Lynne were comrades with the same aspirations.

 

The head of the Adventurers’ Guild, Aransa, and her family were concerned about Lynne under Rain’s guidance, but they were all mistaken. After all, Lynne was the one who took the lead and continued to receive her guidance.

 

All of this was to inherit and protect the White King Formation of the Leylines, a tradition from the first generation.

 

To safeguard and pass on the crystallization of those prayers.

 

They, and all the previous heads, continued their efforts despite being criticized for doing things deemed unnecessary or inefficient.

 

Strangely, or perhaps not, each head had inherited this aspiration in some way. Even without any sort of brainwashing education in the Leylines, curiously, there was always a child from the next generation who spontaneously took the initiative to inherit the soul of the Leylines.

 

The same was true for Lynne’s case. She continued her studies without anyone telling her to do so, dedicating herself to mastering magic that was scoffed at as ‘useless.’

 

So that she could be there when needed, one day.

 

To prove that the efforts they had inherited and polished were not in vain.

 

Lynne’s aspiration to become an adventurer was also to get closer to that result. She would never be able to prove it by just staying safe within the confines of the city.

 

She wanted to show that the prayers offered by the Leylines through generations were right.

 

As the value of the 【Original White King Formation】was increasingly questioned day by day, and as her grandmother, who was also a comrade, gradually weakened, she grew anxious. But then, her grandmother died. Losing half of what drove her, Lynne was supposed to be in a daze.

 

That was until her family kept repeating that none of them could use the magic of the first Leyline.

 

“Ly-Lynne.” -Durnan

 

“…Prove it.” -Lynne

 

Before the rampaging Lynne, all the relatives and family members were silent. It was unprecedented for Lynne to display such intense emotion. And even though she had stopped throwing things, she was still enveloped in furious anger, continuously “snapping.”

 

“I’ll prove the greatness of the White Witch and the Leyline’s 【White King Formation】.” -Lynne

 

“N-no, of course we understand th—” -Durnan

 

“That’s not what I mean.” -Lynne

 

Lynne, perhaps unable to contain her anger, denied her father’s placating words in a strangely staccato voice.

 

“Merely using convenient aspects is not proof of greatness.” -Lynne

 

“Calm down, please. First, sit down.” -Durnan

 

“I won’t sit. I am calm.” -Lynne

 

Her eyes were completely fixed. Her brothers and sisters felt as if they were looking at a wild beast on the verge of, or rather currently in the midst of, running amok.

 

“I will prove the greatness of the 【White King Formation,】the greatness of what the Leylines have inherited. I will make it known to the world. I will make you all understand.” -Lynne

 

Bang. She placed her small feet, characteristic of hobbits, on the table and raised her staff with an angry expression. The whole family and relatives instinctively recoiled at the sheer grandeur and aura of her anger.

 

“I am the Leylines.” -Lynne

 

Lynne Nuu Leyline, the new head of the Leyline family, had suddenly arrived.

 

 

 

 

“…Things have really gotten crazy, Durnan.” -Boron

 

“You’re bleeding from your head, uncle.” -Durnan