The girl gulped. 'Worse than you?' She couldn't fathom the despair in the man's eyes, let alone imagine something worse than that. The man's whole existence screamed ominous, making her feel uneasy.
The man returned to normal. A bright smile on his face as he looked at her wrist.
"From where did you get that bracelet?"
"It's a family heirloom."
The man hummed, his expression thoughtful. "Are you Ron's descendant?"
"How do you know my great-grandfather's name?" The girl asked in shock.
The man blinked. "Great-grandfather?... It seems a lot of time has passed. Guess, I didn't think that snotty-nosed brat would one day form a family."
'Snotty-nosed brat?' For a second, the girl became speechless.
'Calling him a brat... how old is he?' She had heard about some mages who could live for a long time, but thought it was just a myth.
Her eyes widened suddenly. She remembered one of the bedtime stories her father told her when she was a kid.
According to him, his grandfather had met a legendary mage and survived to live the tale.
A shiver crawled up her spine as she took a step back. "Are you...The Black Wizard?"
The man didn't reply. Just smiled.
He didn't need to. Everything started making sense in the girl's mind. How her village got wiped out, the ominous feeling she was getting from the man and why he called her great-grandfather a brat.
All the emotions she was feeling got replayed by one—Fear.
"What's your name?"
"...Anne."
"Anne Roadwalker." The man completed her name.
Anne stiffly nodded.
"I am sorry for the lame surname. You might not know, but I was the one who gave it." Zeref rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Oh." Anne was surprised. 'Wait, I thought they had just encountered each other before. It seems their relationship was deeper.'
"It wasn't that my naming sense is bad or anything. At that time, the transportation system in this country underwent a rapid transformation, and proper roads were built. Moreover, it could even have a deeper meaning, like walking the road of life or something. So, I thought it was a cool name back then." The miasma leaking from him slightly got thicker.
Anne blinked. "I see." 'Makes sense.' She felt a bit weird. This... didn't fit her mental image of the Black Wizard in her head. Her fear started receding.
Zeref then turned and looked outside the window. "Fate really could be cruel. I met both Ron and his descendant at the point when they were at their lowest."
"... I wonder if fate would allow you to survive longer than him."
"Haha Haha," He started laughing at that thought.
"Not only that, but I was the one who gave him everything, yet now I am here taking everything from his descendant." He continued to laugh, as if finding everything a cruel joke.
"W—What was your relationship to my great-grandfather?" Anne asked nervously. Though she was scared of getting killed by Zeref's whims, at the moment, her self-preservation instincts weren't working properly. Her hands tightened on the bracelet.
Zeref stopped laughing. He turned to her. "What do you know about our relationship?"
"I was told that he just encountered you once and miraculously survived."
Zeref frowned. "Ron...Well, we didn't part on amiable terms, so it does make sense for him to hold the grudge."
He started walking towards the door. "I first found him as a petty thief. The thing was that he was pretty unlucky... or would you say dumb? I don't know, but he did target me and... I didn't have anything on me, so..." He took the stairs, going down. Anne followed him.
"I realised that he has good magic potential and his magic was pretty unique, so I decided to train him." 'To kill me.'
He exited the house and stopped on the road. "I spent around 10 years with him. His talent...and efforts didn't meet my expectations. So, we parted on bad terms."
'I shouldn't have gotten close to that child. When I told him that I wanted him to kill me, he got angry. Also, I guess I shouldn't have been blunt about his talent. He told me that he would prove me wrong.' Zeref sighed.
'Even so, his talent wasn't that great either. Though he was pretty young, from what I estimate, his potential was around that boy's...What was that one's name again?... I forgot.'
"I see...Did you ever meet him again?" Anne's bracelet turned a shade of black, unknown to her.
Zeref shook his head. "No." 'I wonder if he reached his full potential.'
Suddenly, he furrowed his brows, as a memory bubbled up. "Hmm... When I came here last time, this was a mountain range..."
'In fact, it was around this area where I trained him.'
Anne blinked. She was unnaturally calm despite the absurdity of the situation. Her mind hadn't processed the fact that she was having a conversation with the fabled Black Mage.
"From what I heard, he turned the whole mountain range into a flat plain, but it's probably a myth. I mean, no one person could wield that much power, can they?"
Zeref's gaze drifted past her, to the flattened horizon. His jaw tightened, the faintest pulse of black miasma curling from his sleeve. "...I trained him here."
--
"Master, why are you making me go up and down the mountain?"
"To train your body. Magic power is highly dependent on the body." Zeref sat on top of a boulder, his hair swaying in the wind.
"But, don't you think you should follow that advice on yourself. I don't see any muscles on your body.' Ron narrowed his eyes.
"...My body can't age. So, I got stuck like this when I was young."
Ron crossed his arms. "But what about before that? You do seem to be a teenager when this happened. Plenty of time to physically train."
Zeref's eyebrows twitched. "At that time, magic theory wasn't as developed as it is today. Moreover, I wasn't a fighter but rather a scientist."
"Excuses."
"It seems you have too much energy. Maybe we should double your training."
"I was just kidding! It must have been hard living in that ancient world." Ron flinched.
"...Indeed, a lot of things have become convenient, and I am sure they will become even better in a few decades."
The clearing became silent for a while, with Ron's rough breathing only audible.
"Sa,y master... Do you think somebody could level the mountains?"
"I know several—"
"Humans. I am talking about humans."
Zeref thought for a few seconds.
"Less than 10 humans I know."
Ron blinked. "No way. They must have been like heroes in a Fairy Tale."
"..."
"Say, can you do it?"
"Yes."
"Really?" Ron looked at him suspiciously. Zeref... looked pretty ordinary all the time except when he was releasing that black miasma.
Zeref sighed. Why did he take the troublesome task of training this boy again?
A black sphere manifested just above his right palm before shooting towards the nearest mountain.
No sound was made.
One second, there was the mountain, and the next second, it was gone.
As if erased out of existence.
Ron rubbed his eyes, as if to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
He looked at the scene for a few seconds in amazement.
"Do you think I would be able to do that one day?" He asked with uncertainty.
"No." The answer came almost instantly.
"Hey! It almost seems that you think that is obvious. Shouldn't you think a bit before crushing a kid's dreams like that?" He pointed his finger accusatorily at Zeref.
"It's better for unrealistic dreams to be crushed way before getting hurt later." Zeref coldly said.
Ron furrowed his brows, contemplating. "You don't believe that, do you?"
"Huh?"
"You don't believe your statement. Otherwise, you wouldn't have continued." Ron looked him right in the eye.
"You are saying like I had an option to quit." Black Miasma started leaking out of Zeref. His emotions started going chaotic.
"I don't know why, but I get a feeling that's an excuse."
Black Miasma paused. Zeref gazed into the distance. "...Maybe it is. I don't know anymore."
"Anyway, I don't care about your opinion. I will one day become so strong that I could level a mountain—
I will prove you wrong."
--
Zeref's lips twitched into a light smile, "Guess, he surpassed his potential."
'Maybe I would be able to die too.' For the first time since she died, he was filled with hope.
He then glanced at Anne, 'If it's her, then maybe her potential...'
Black Miasma got thicker in an instant.
Ron's face appeared in his mind, stopping that line of thought.
'No, from what I remember, his potential wasn't that good. My estimation method hasn't deteriorated much in the last century. It must have been his efforts. It's unlikely for me to expect the same from his descendant.' He logically refuted himself.
Zeref's thoughts stilled.
'I didn't feel anything during our time, yet I seem to care long after we parted ways.' Zeref felt the irony cruel as he looked at the Black Miasma getting thicker by each second.
"It seems our time is running out." Zeref glanced at the bracelet, which was almost completely black.
Anne also noticed this, confusing her.
'I got too emotional reminiscing about Ron.'
"I have a curse that kills anybody near me. This artefact could stop that for some time. However, it's quite a weak one. I hope our fates don't cross paths again."
'OH! I forgot he was still leaking that black miasma.' Anne was shocked by her awareness. Too much happened too quickly, so her brain wasn't working properly.
Zeref started walking again. After taking a few steps, he stopped.
"You should find a guild to join. It would be beneficial for your growth as a mage... Moreover, you don't seem to have anybody else." He said without turning back.
His words brought Anne back to reality. She had not only lost her family recently, but also lost her target of revenge.
"There's one that comes to mind. It's—"
***
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