Retire 378
by Cristae378 Girl of Dreams (1)
‘Her? She’s just annoying and a pain to deal with.’
Alex Hope never hesitated to offer his testimony about Noah Michel.
It was less testimony and more like a coworker’s complaint—in fact, to be blunt, it was just gossip.
And the content, well… it was childish whining, perfectly in line with Hope’s mental age. She annoyed him, she bothered him, that sort of thing.
There was some subjectivity mixed in, but Hope was the only one who personally knew Noah Michel. On this point, I had no choice but to rely on his information.
The Noah Michel Alex Hope described… well. If you told me she was a mentally unstable mage who’d hated humanity since childhood and was plotting the end of the world, I could almost nod along. Honestly, even for a mage, you’d have to be pretty far gone to want to side with monsters and wipe out humanity, wouldn’t you?
Kim Chaemin agreed with that, too.
‘I had similar fantasies when I was a teenager.’
‘…You wanted to destroy the world?’
‘Doesn’t everyone imagine that at least once?’
At least Kim Chaemin had the common sense not to act on it.
But the Noah Michel I knew wasn’t an unstable mage like that. Let’s call her the Noah Michel of twenty years later.
That Noah Michel was even more stable than Kim Chaemin. Or at least, she seemed like it. Simple clothes, a gentle smile. Years of steady relief work and runes shared freely, without asking for anything in return.
Noah Michel was less a human being than an embodiment of some ideal devotion. Like an angel who’d descended to save a broken world, asking nothing in return.
‘Ah, I just don’t get along with goody-two-shoes types like that.’
‘…Is there anyone you do get along with?’
‘That’s a little harsh, Uncle!’
Han Taekyung had seen Noah Michel in person before I did. He’d worked in Europe a lot, so it wasn’t surprising.
When I asked him what kind of person she was, he gave a very Han Taekyung answer.
‘If Team Leader Han doesn’t like her, she must be a decent person.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean!’
Han Taekyung, acting younger than his age, pouted.
‘It’s always the goody-goody types who snap and go off the rails.’
…Surprisingly insightful.
But at the time, even when I met Noah Michel, I didn’t really agree with him.
After being worn down by stubborn mages, I appreciated finding one I could actually talk to. Noah Michel was someone you could talk to.
I had a long conversation with her. At the time, I thought it was because of my father, but now I realize there were other reasons, too.
Even then, Noah Michel whispered in a gentle voice. She thanked me for sharing the runes, the same thanks I’d heard dozens of times before.
‘I just want to help more people.’
She said it with a shy smile—so idealistic it was almost unreal.
Hearing that, I could understand Han Taekyung a little. Considering her impressive career, it was amazing she could still say such dreamy things.
Not that Noah Michel always succeeded.
She’d failed to clear dungeons, and there were plenty who died in front of her during dungeon breaks.
She must have seen people at their worst, too.
I’d seen plenty who came into the Administration full of hope, only to quit Hunter life within half a year.
But for someone who’d been a mage since she could barely walk, to still talk about hope like that?
No one could say that and be in their right mind.
I could never do it. Maybe that’s why I respected her. After I came to the past, when I told Hong Seok-young and Kim Chaemin about the selfless mage who wanted to save as many people as possible, it was because I wanted to show her a little respect.
…Well. Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore.
She was at the center of European magic society for over twenty years. If she’d really been as irritable and unstable as Hope claimed, she never would have made it that far.
I still couldn’t reconcile the Noah Michel Hope described with the one I knew.
And seeing her walking before me now didn’t change that.
“My name is Noah Michel.”
A loose white dress. A cozy knit cardigan. A sunflower-yellow brooch.
Right now, Noah Michel looked… younger than me.
“Um?”
“I’m Woo Heejae. Korean Hunter.”
“I heard about you on the way here. You’re Hunter Hong Seok-young’s disciple, right?”
Noah Michel smiled innocently.
If it weren’t for the burning flames and the acrid smell, I might have thought I was talking to a country girl in some quiet village.
It was still hard to believe this was the woman Hope complained about so much.
Michel followed my gaze, then nodded as if she understood.
“I don’t usually use magic like this… It’s easy for the damage to get out of hand.”
Her voice was as clear as a bell.
Her gentle movements reminded me of the puppet that once made Noah Michel dance.
“But this time, everyone gathered to help keep the damage down… I’m glad. I heard you insisted it had to be dealt with quickly, Hunter Woo?”
I managed to pull myself together. Her kind voice made it all too easy to let my guard down.
“No, not me… Ms. Kim—Archmage Kim Chaemin deserves the credit.”
“Her?”
This was something we’d arranged back in Korea.
If Noah Michel suspected someone from the future after the runes were published, it would be Kim Chaemin. There was no reason to distract her from that suspicion—better to focus it. When people fixate on the wrong target, they don’t notice what’s around them.
“Ms. Kim found out what the monster was.”
“…The incident in Australia. Yes, I saw that footage too.”
Michel still spoke in that slow, sing-song way.
“It’s usually hard to get information about dungeons in other countries…”
“We got lucky.”
“Lucky?”
Maybe because of her slow tone, I found myself speaking more slowly, too.
“Ms. Kim asked our researcher to check.”
“Researcher…?”
“She just asked around to see if anyone knew what it was, and happened to get a hit.”
“Well, thanks to that, we were able to prevent more damage.”
“That’s true.”
One of Hope’s reviews of Noah Michel was that she should have been an actress—she could have gone down in history as a great one.
I agreed.
Either she was a natural at acting, or she was truly out of her mind.
…Hope said it was both, didn’t he?
If I didn’t know her real nature, I’d have been completely fooled. Honestly, even knowing, I felt like I could still be fooled by her.
If I hadn’t seen her clench her fist as if she wanted to strangle someone at the mention of Kim Chaemin’s name.
If I hadn’t sensed the surge of magic around her in that instant.
If not for that, I never would have noticed.
Noah Michel smiled sweetly.
“What’s this? Are you talking about me?”
As the flames died down, Kim Chaemin left the mages behind and came over to us.
Even among mages, the contrast between the two was striking. Kim Chaemin, hair tousled with sweat, retied it as she looked at Noah Michel.
“I didn’t expect to meet you like this. I thought we’d get to talk as fellow archmages at the conference, but… a dungeon break?”
Kim Chaemin snorted. The situation was tense, and she wasn’t wearing her usual dress, but something simple. By chance, her dark clothes were the opposite of Noah Michel’s white dress and cardigan.
Knowing Kim Chaemin, I wondered if she’d chosen her outfit deliberately. Noah Michel’s preference for white was famous.
“I’m Kim Chaemin.”
She abruptly held out her hand to Michel.
“Is this our first time meeting in person?”
Michel stared at the offered hand—dirty with sweat and grime.
Seeing her gaze, Kim Chaemin laughed.
“Sorry, my hand’s a bit dirty.”
“No.”
Michel grabbed her hand firmly.
“It’s a hand that worked hard to help the people of France. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, it was nothing. I couldn’t sleep at night with something that dangerous near the city.”
“Still, not everyone could do it.”
“I’m not everyone. My teacher always said, the harder the task, the more I should step up.”
Black-clad Kim Chaemin and white-clad Noah Michel. Even their hair colors were a study in contrast.
……
For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t be here.
The final cleanup of the dungeon break was left to Marseille’s guilds and mages.
They had to save face, after all. If the Grand Conference handled everything, people might start asking what the Marseille guilds were doing to earn their keep.
Politics in the modern world are complicated. Judging by the reaction of the police officer who told us about Dantes, the city didn’t seem particularly fond of the guilds.
Why should I worry about another city? They’d figure it out.
We had our own cleanup to do.
Charlotte Mallet, president of the European Grand Magic Conference, thanked me and Kim Chaemin.
Maybe it was because a few spiders had hatched as we burned the monster. Did they think they’d die if they stayed still? The spiders with burning bodies didn’t last long, but it was enough to put people on alert.
Luckily, they came out in my section, not the one Michel handled.
…Calling it luck might be irresponsible, but for me, trying to catch Michel’s attention, it was good. There were plenty of people who wanted to talk to me—especially reporters. Back when I worked under my father, I used to shove all the annoying interviews onto my sister, but now I had no choice but to do them myself.
That led to some unexpected encounters.
“Hello! I never thought I’d see a Korean Hunter active in France. Could I get a quick interview?”
A reporter from Korea.
I hadn’t checked, but this would probably get plenty of coverage back home. I checked the broadcasting company logo on the camera.
…I’d meant to build my reputation more slowly. Who knows what Im Miseon will say about patching up my spotty past.
“I didn’t expect to meet a Korean reporter here… Nice to meet you.”
“Ah, hello! It won’t take long. If possible, could we get the archmage, too…?”
“Ms. Kim? One moment. She’s a little busy right now.”
“If she’s busy, that’s fine! I don’t want to interrupt!!”
“No, it’s not that kind of busy.”
I shrugged and pointed behind the reporter. The black-haired mage and the golden-haired mage were deep in heated debate.
“So, if you use that rune there—”
“No! That’s inefficient. Instead—”
I put on the polite, diplomatic smile I used to wear as my father’s spokesperson.
“She’s just happy to have found a mage with similar interests.”