Chapter 312

Chapter 312: Chapter 312

"Who’s there? Please don’t come any closer. I’ll be leaving soon..."

Mavis had initially thought that Marshall had secretly followed her and the others to Magnolia.

For one wonderful moment, she was convinced that he’d finally decided to join their adventure after all.

Unfortunately, that hope disappeared almost as quickly as it had arisen.

The voice coming from the forest didn’t belong to Marshall.

Mavis cautiously peered between the trees and discovered a black-haired young man wearing an unusual dark robe.

His hair was still damp, as though he’d just finished bathing, and there was something strangely weary about his appearance.

She examined him curiously before asking, "Who are you? Have you been cursed by Ankhseram too?"

The young man had originally intended to leave without saying anything more, but her question stopped him in his tracks.

He stared at Mavis in astonishment.

In all his years of wandering, this was the first time he’d encountered someone who immediately recognized the curse afflicting him.

"Too?" he repeated. "Have you actually met someone else who suffers from the same curse?"

"Mm-hmm!" Mavis nodded enthusiastically. "I have a very good friend who’s been struggling with it too. He’s always trying all sorts of different things to overcome the curse, and he works incredibly hard."

She looked at the young man with sympathy.

"It must be difficult for you too, right?"

"..."

The young man remained silent for a moment.

"So there really is someone else in this world burdened with the same curse as me," he murmured eventually.

"How... unfortunate."

"Unfortunate?"

Mavis tilted her head.

"My friend doesn’t seem to think of it that way. He’s actually a pretty optimistic person!"

The young man gave a faint, bitter chuckle.

"Heh. In that case, I imagine he’s still quite young. I used to be the same way, many years ago..."

His expression grew distant.

"Never mind. There’s no point talking about it now."

Mavis studied him thoughtfully.

The young man seemed to be surrounded by an almost tangible sense of sadness.

Even when he spoke calmly, there was something deeply exhausted about his voice, as though he’d endured far more suffering than anyone his apparent age should have experienced.

"Oh, right! I haven’t introduced myself yet."

Mavis smiled.

"My name is Mavis. What’s yours?"

"..."

The young man hesitated.

"I’m a Black Mage who has committed terrible sins. It’s probably better if you don’t know my name."

"A Black Mage?"

Mavis blinked, then suddenly remembered something Marshall had mentioned.

"Wait! Are you the legendary Zeref? The evil Black Mage from hundreds of years ago?"

She leaned forward with growing excitement.

"My friend told me about you before!"

"..."

Zeref stared at her.

"You even know about that? You’re remarkably knowledgeable for someone your age. I must admit, that’s quite impressive."

Then his expression abruptly changed.

"Wait! Don’t come any closer! It’s dangerous!"

Mavis had taken a couple of steps toward him while they were talking, and Zeref immediately retreated, looking far more alarmed than she did.

"Since you know about the Curse of Ankhseram, surely you understand what it means. Any living creature that approaches me could be consumed by death!"

His voice became increasingly urgent.

"Please, stay away. I don’t want to take any more lives."

"Eh..."

Mavis scratched her head.

"Um... can’t you use Spatial Magic?"

Zeref froze.

Mavis continued with an expression of innocent curiosity.

"My friend always teleports away right before his curse activates. He’s never accidentally hurt anyone because of it."

She considered the young man standing before her.

"You’ve been alive for hundreds of years, haven’t you? You must be an incredibly powerful Mage by now. Can’t you teleport too?"

"..."

Zeref felt a headache coming on.

"The warning before an outbreak is extremely brief," he explained patiently. "I can use Teleportation Magic, but there will always be a possibility that I won’t react quickly enough."

He looked directly at her.

"Are you really willing to gamble your life on whether I can teleport away in time?"

"Ah!"

Mavis blinked several times.

"Come to think of it... you’re right!"

She scratched her head again, looking genuinely surprised by the realization.

"I’ve never really considered that before."

Marshall had always managed to teleport away whenever his curse threatened to erupt.

Because she’d never seen him make a mistake, Mavis had gradually come to regard the procedure as something perfectly reliable.

It had never occurred to her that someone else might not be able to perform the same technique with comparable speed or precision.

Then another thought struck her.

"Wait... are you not very good at Spatial Magic?"

"..."

Zeref’s expression stiffened.

Mavis had somehow managed to identify the embarrassing truth with a single question.

"Every Mage has certain fields in which they excel and others in which they’re less proficient," he replied, making an effort to preserve some dignity.

"My Spatial Magic might not be among my greatest strengths, but I’ve lived for hundreds of years. It would be an exaggeration to say that I’m completely unskilled."

"So you’re not particularly good at it!"

"..."

Zeref fell silent again.

"Well, that explains everything!" Mavis declared cheerfully. "Marshall’s greatest specialty is Spatial Magic, so he can always teleport away in time. I suppose that’s why I kept thinking the curse wasn’t all that dangerous."

Zeref raised a hand to his forehead.

He’d encountered many unusual people over the centuries, but this little girl’s way of thinking was certainly among the more unpredictable.

Still, her suggestion wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Using Spatial Magic to move away whenever an outbreak approached could indeed reduce the risk of harming innocent people.

The problem was that constantly relying on teleportation would be exhausting, inconvenient, and never completely reliable.

Zeref had spent far too many years struggling with his curse to believe such a simple approach would solve everything.

He decided there was little point prolonging the conversation.

"Well, I should be going now. It was a pleasure meeting you, knowledgeable little girl."

He turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Mavis hurriedly called after him.

"Mr. Black Mage! You’re a really powerful Mage, aren’t you?"

"..."

Zeref paused.

"I wouldn’t say I’m particularly remarkable. I’m merely an ordinary failure who has accomplished very little despite living for so long."

"Don’t be so gloomy!"

Mavis clasped her hands together and smiled brightly.

"As long as you’re alive, good things can still happen! If you spend every day looking miserable, you’ll scare all your good luck away!"

Her green eyes sparkled as she looked up at him.

"Mr. Black Mage, do you have some free time right now? Could you teach me some powerful Dark Magic?"

Zeref blinked.

Mavis continued eagerly, "I want something with really impressive destructive power! There’s an enemy I absolutely have to defeat, and I need help becoming stronger!"

"..."

For a long moment, Zeref didn’t know how to respond.

It had been an extraordinarily long time since someone had approached him with such an ordinary request.

Most people who recognized him reacted with terror, hatred, or desperate greed.

Some wanted to kill him, while others sought the forbidden knowledge they believed would allow them to conquer the world.

But this little girl was simply asking him to teach her Magic.

The unfamiliar feeling left Zeref strangely conflicted.

"Are you really not afraid of me at all?" he asked.

"Eh? Why would I be?"

Mavis tilted her head.

"The Curse of Contradiction activates more easily when someone loves and cherishes the world, right?"

She smiled.

"My friend Marshall is a really kind person, and he has the same curse. So I figure you must be a pretty nice person too!"

Zeref looked at her in silence.

"A..... nice person?"

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"You think far too highly of me."

He shook his head, although his expression softened slightly.

"Still, I suppose I have nothing particularly important to do right now. What kind of Magic would you like to learn? If it’s something I know, I can teach you."

"Really?!"

Mavis’s face lit up.

"That’s wonderful! Thank you so much! You’re such a good person!"

She became so excited that she unconsciously floated into the air.

Then she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh! Wait here for a moment! I have several friends who want to learn Magic too! I’ll bring them over so we can all study together!"

"?"

Zeref watched the little girl fly away, his faint smile freezing on his face.

’Hold on...’

’Why do I suddenly feel as though I’ve been recruited to provide free lessons?’

The whole situation was rather absurd.

Then again, Zeref couldn’t think of any particularly compelling reason to refuse.

He had no clear destination and no immediate objective.

He’d been considering wandering somewhere else and amusing himself by playing at being a king, but he hadn’t made any concrete preparations.

After centuries of wandering, even his sense of time had become increasingly vague.

Whether he spent a few hours, several days, or even longer in one place hardly seemed important anymore.

Besides, it was rare for him to encounter someone who wasn’t terrified of his existence.

Teaching one person or teaching several people made little difference.

If the little girl genuinely wanted to learn Magic, perhaps giving her a few lessons wouldn’t be such a bad way to pass the time.

Zeref settled down to wait.

...

Mavis returned surprisingly quickly, accompanied by Yuri, Precht, Warrod, and Zera.

"Everyone, look!"

She gestured enthusiastically toward Zeref.

"I found us a Magic teacher! This is the Black Mage Z—"

"Ahem!"

Zeref immediately interrupted her with a conspicuously loud cough.

Did this little girl seriously intend to announce his identity to everyone she met?

Some things were better left unsaid, especially when dealing with someone whose name had become synonymous with forbidden Magic and centuries of tragedy.

Fortunately, Mavis understood the warning.

"Ahaha! You can all just call him Mr. Black Mage!"

She smiled brightly at her companions.

"He’s an incredibly powerful Mage, and I’m sure he’ll be able to teach everyone how to use Magic! Once we’ve learned some stronger spells, we can go back and defeat Blue Skull together!"

Yuri, Precht, and Warrod exchanged interested looks.

None of them saw anything particularly suspicious about the arrangement.

They knew relatively little about the magical world, and although Zeref’s appearance was somewhat unusual, there was no obvious reason to reject the opportunity to learn Magic from someone who seemed knowledgeable.

As far as they were concerned, Mavis had simply found an experienced teacher willing to help them.

Zera, however, immediately sensed that something was wrong.

She quietly tugged at Mavis’s clothes and pulled her away from the others.

"Mavis!"

Zera lowered her voice.

"Where did you find this person? What does he mean by calling himself a Black Mage?"

Her expression grew increasingly suspicious.

"Wait... don’t tell me he’s that evil Zeref Marshall warned us about!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Mavis nodded without hesitation.

"That’s him!"

"WHAT?!"

Zera nearly shouted before hurriedly lowering her voice again.

"Mavis, what are you thinking?! Marshall specifically told us that Zeref is an extremely dangerous person!"

She looked toward the black-haired young man with undisguised distrust.

"He’s also cursed by Ankhseram! Why would you deliberately approach someone like that, much less ask him to teach us Magic?!"

Her frustration grew.

"If you want to learn stronger spells, why can’t we just go back and ask Marshall?!"

Zera was genuinely angry now.

As far as she was concerned, Marshall was the only magical teacher she wanted. She had absolutely no interest in learning from another person, especially someone with such a terrible reputation.

And there was another reason for her displeasure.

She’d been hoping that Mavis would eventually give up and return to Tenrou Island, where the two of them could resume their peaceful life with Marshall.

Now, just when that possibility seemed within reach, this mysterious Black Mage had appeared and offered them another way forward.

Zera couldn’t help feeling that he was ruining everything.

"Oh, come on, Zera!"

Mavis sighed.

"Why do you always want to bother Marshall whenever something goes wrong? He’s already helped us so much!"

She folded her arms.

"Even if he’s willing to teach us, we can’t keep running back and demanding more of his time. Marshall has his own research and training to worry about."

Mavis gestured toward Zeref.

"Besides, we’re only asking someone to teach us Magic. It’s not that big a deal!"

"But he’s an evil Black Mage!" Zera protested. "And he has the Curse of Ankhseram!"

"Marshall has the same curse, doesn’t he? And he’s a wonderful person!"

"That’s completely different!"

"How is it different?"

"It just is!"

Zera clenched her fists.

"Anyway, I’m not learning Magic from him! Absolutely not!"

Mavis’s expression finally changed.

"Zera, why are you being so unreasonable?"

"Huh?"

Zera stared at her in disbelief.

"I’m being unreasonable?!"

"Yes! You haven’t even spoken to him properly, but you’ve already decided he’s a terrible person!"

"Because Marshall warned us about him!"

"And Marshall also taught us not to judge everything without understanding it first!"

The argument quickly became more heated.

Mavis believed that accepting Zeref’s offer was their best opportunity to become strong enough to defeat Blue Skull without constantly depending on Marshall.

Zera, on the other hand, couldn’t understand why Mavis insisted on trusting a stranger whom their own teacher had explicitly described as dangerous.

Neither girl was willing to back down.

And for the first time in many years, their disagreement developed into a genuinely angry quarrel.

They’d argued and teased each other countless times before, but those disputes had always been harmless.

Even when Zera became irritated by Mavis’s cleverness or Mavis complained about Zera’s stubbornness, they usually ended up laughing together before long.

This time was different.

Mavis felt that Zera was being unfair and unreasonable, while Zera felt that Mavis was disregarding both Marshall’s warnings and her own feelings.

The friendship that had sustained them through five lonely years on Tenrou Island was beginning to show its first serious cracks.

And neither of them seemed to realize just how dangerous those cracks might become.

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