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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 11: The Mage『Sharon』
The Empire is hell.
Ask any citizen living there now, and they’ll all say the same thing—every last one of them.
The Emperor is dying, and the royal family, drunk on ambition, is too busy fighting over the throne to care about the people.
Lords, obsessed with luxury and self-interest, bleed the populace dry and force them into endless wars.
The people, unable to endure it any longer, flee their homelands.
Some became fugitives.
Some were slain by monsters.
Some turned to banditry.
All they ever wanted was to survive. But the more they struggled, the deeper their suffering became.
If this isn't hell, what is?
“Please!! Someone, please save us!!!”
“Please... just spare this child... I beg you...”
“Heh heh! Depends on how well you beg, doesn’t it?”
In the dead of night, a mother and her daughter fled their hometown, slipping into the shadows.
They ran, hoping to reach a land where they might live with a shred of dignity—somewhere beyond the reach of greed and cruelty.
But what awaited them wasn’t a border patrol.
It wasn’t a monster, either.
It was something far worse in moments like these—A bandit.
“Huh? ...Who the hell are you!?”
The bandit, giddy at the prospect of some late-night ‘fun,’ suddenly felt a chill.
He turned around.
Standing there was a figure in a brown robe, holding a crimson staff.
“Whoever you are, back off unless you’ve got a death wish!”
He drew his sword, shouting.
Then came a voice from beneath the hood—low, cold, and sharp enough to slice through bone.
“No... it’s You who should leave, if you want to live.”
The bandit ignored the warning and lunged forward.
What happened next was over in an instant.
Fwoosh!
“Aaaaargh!!!”
Before he could even touch the robe, the bandit was engulfed in flames.
The fire bloomed violently, leaving no trace of him—no scream, no ash. Just silence.
“I told you to stand down…”
The mage who’d conjured the flames turned toward the mother and child.
Just then, a breeze swept through, pulling back the brown robe.
Beneath it stood an elf—her short crimson hair whipping in the wind, breathtakingly beautiful.
The little girl, stunned by the radiant sight before her, forgot that she almost died. She was speechless.
“Hey, kid. Are you alright?”
As the red-haired elven mage stepped closer, the girl finally came to her senses.
Just like her mother had taught her, she bowed again and again and shouted.
“Thank you so much for saving us, Mage!!”
“Thank your mother. Her desperate plea called the spirits. I was only able to help because of that.”
“Yes! Thank you, Mom!!”
“Truly… Thank you. Thank you so much, Mage.”
“No thanks needed. I simply did what had to be done.”
Her name is『Sharon Lirisia』.
A half-elf mage, wandering the Empire.
She traveled the Empire for one reason—To help people.
Elves, by nature, did not meddle in human affairs.
They lived in their forests, or studied magic within their secluded towers. That was their way.
But she couldn’t just sit back and watch.
She couldn’t ignore the suffering in the Empire—the world of her father—as it crumbled before her eyes.
So, in the end, she broke her promise to her master and crossed into the human world.
She entered it hoping to help, to bring stability to the Empire using her skills as a mage.
But what she found was the bottomless greed of mankind.
“Um… excuse me, if it’s not too rude… where are you headed, Mage?”
“Good question. I wonder… where ‘should’ I go?”
She wandered through countless territories across the East and West.
Some places welcomed her, others rejected her.
But she didn’t let that stop her. Wherever she went, she used her magic to help.
She healed the sick, drove away monsters, and made barren lands fertile.
And naturally, when word spread, the local lords and nobles came looking for her.
If it meant helping the people, she was always ready to cooperate.
But they didn’t want her to help the people.
They wanted her to help ‘them.’
They didn’t see their subjects as people like themselves.
They wanted her magic—powerful, rare, and unearned—for their own ends.
In return, they offered her gold and jewels.
Disappointed by their greed, she left them behind.
Even so, she kept wandering the Empire, helping wherever she could.
She still believed—no, she ‘had’ to believe—that someone, somewhere, truly wanted to change the world for the better.
And for that person, she would offer her strength.
Minstrels sang of her.
Not just as a traveler or a helper, but as the crimson-haired half-elf mage.
Over time, people began to speak her name with admiration and awe.
They called her the『 Crimson Mage, Sharon』.
And so, ten years passed by.
To an elf, it was nothing.
But for a human? Ten years is enough time for a promise to fade, for hope to wear thin.
For ten years, she had witnessed the greed of humankind.
And slowly, she began to understand her master’s warnings… and felt the urge to give up on people altogether.
“Hey, Mage… if you don’t have anywhere to go, come with us!”
“Come with you?”
“Yeah! We’re headed south!”
“South? What’s there?”
Sharon had only traveled through the East and West.
She knew little of the North or South.
At her question, the child’s eyes lit up, and she shouted cheerfully.
“The bards told us! They say there’s a ‘paradise’ down south!”
“Paradise?”
Sharon didn’t believe it.
Bard tales were almost always exaggerated.
“They say there’s a great and kind lord who lives there. He gives money to his people, welcomes refugees, and—oh! One time, they say he jumped into the sea during a storm to save his citizens!”
“Jumped into the sea? During a storm?”
That surprised her.
She’d heard stories of lords who fought dragons or slew a hundred bandits alone.
But one who dove into a raging sea to save his people? That was new.
“And the people there are kind! They all work together to drive off bandits and live in peace. That’s where we’re headed!”
“A place like that…”
A lord who protects his people.
A land where people stand together to build peace.
That was the world Sharon once dreamed of.
But… she found it hard to believe.
She had followed so many bard songs before, and each time, her hopes had led only to disappointment.
“Mage, if you don’t have a place to go, come with us!!”
Sensing her hesitation, the girl clung to her and pleaded.
And in those innocent, unclouded eyes, Sharon felt a pang of sorrow.
Once, she too had hope in the world.
But now… now she felt hollow.
She had been let down too many times.
She even hesitated to save this mother and daughter.
How did it come to this?
Why did it turn out this way?
Was her master right?
Was it truly the nature of the human world to fall into ruin?
If so…
At the very least…
At the ‘very least’, she would protect this girl.
If she traveled with them, the girl would stay safe.
And if this so-called ‘paradise’ turned out to be just another lie, she could always bring them back to her mage tower.
“Alright… I’ll come with you.”
“Yay! Mom! The mage is coming with us!”
The girl ran back to her mother, beaming with joy.
The mother, sensing Sharon’s quiet resolve, bowed again and again in gratitude.
And so, Sharon set out for the South—a part of the Empire she had never seen before.
＊ ＊ ＊
Sharon set out on the journey with the mother and daughter.
She learned their names—the girl was called Laila, and her mother was Ayla.
She guarded them as they headed south, but the journey was anything but easy.
Bandits showed up every couple of days, and monsters like goblins and slimes weren’t far behind.
Sharon knew if she hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have made it a week.
Grateful for her own presence, she kept moving forward with them.
Two weeks passed on the road, and the hardships only grew.
Then she sensed something unusual.
‘(The spirits... are rejoicing.)’
The farther south they went, the more the spirits seemed to celebrate.
Spirits were sensitive to human emotions, and elves could feel those feelings.
This was why she had left the many lords behind.
No matter how much the lords tried to hide or ignore the suffering of their people, Sharon could feel their pain through the spirits.
That was why she had left and traveled alone.
But now, the spirits sang joyfully, like birds greeting the morning.
It had been a very long time since she had felt this.
“Lady Sharon, you’re smiling. Is something good happening?”
“The spirits are happy, Laila—that’s why I’m smiling.”
“The spirits? Ah! Maybe they’re glad we came!”
“Hehe, maybe so.”
Feeling the spirits’ happiness after such a long time, Sharon began to enjoy the journey with them.
It was a strange, wonderful experience.
The further south they went, the fewer bandits appeared.
The number of joyful spirits grew steadily, and monsters no longer attacked.
Finally, they arrived at that place in the south.
“Wow!! We’ve arrived, Lady Sharon!!!”
“......”
Sharon would never forget the sight, not even in death.
Countless people, full of hope and risking their lives, had fled here.
Warm hands welcomed them.
She could feel their hope and joy, and spirits flew beneath the blue sky.
This place was truly a『Paradise』.
That day, Sharon, the Crimson Mage—one of the greatest mages of the Novarens Empire—arrived in the territory of Cron.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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