"It's a curse."
"No one dared to call that thing as a blessing and to avoid the lash of conscience, they referred to the thing as it. "It" kills anyone without discrimination. Its mother, its nurse, its family, every living soul in the vicinity. And the area that is affected by it continued to grow.
"Its father ordered the immediate disposal of the thing and it was thrown in the deepest well of the city. It died instantly as its soft body touched the hard bottom of the well but the calamity was already done. The people of that territory died in mass and the place was filled with unsaid grief and wails."
The professor was interrupted in his discussion when a blonde kid raised his hand and asked what happened to the people who survived the calamity.
"Sit and listen. The incident is unclear up to this date. The Erasmus family, the landlords, are known to be a family with strong affinity to domain magics. And the "Tragedy of Erasmus" that happened 200 years ago is the product of this shared trait of the family. Because of their incomparable strength, the infant who was gifted with the domain of death became their demise.
"Theories say that even after its death, the number of dead people continued to rise and two Erasmus sealed the entire territory. A young genius who has the domain of protection sacrificed his blood to help his cousin who has the rune domain cast a high level barrier that extends several kilometers from its epicenter. Researchers of magic note the truthfulness on this side of the story because of the condensed mana that can be felt when you go near the borders of the land of Erasmus up to this date. There are also few ones who directly investigated the barrier but the roads are highly dangerous.
"A debate whether all citizens of Erasmus city were wiped out of the curse or trapped by the erected barrier is still the topic among scholars. There are also rumors that Lydia, the Erasmus with the domain of creation, created a floating island above the ruined territory and since then, the whole family lived on that island. Some also say that the whole Erasmus story is nothing but a fiction created to cover a brutal massacre but there are indeed records of Erasmus in the history of the empire."
The discussion on the history of magic ended and Professor Rigel went back to the library where he always felt at ease. The number of books inside the imperial library located at the Yothopyia Institute is incomparable to any library in the continent. This is the only place where you can find records older than the empire itself. And one topic he's most interested in is the existence of the Erasmus family.
People living in the continent are divided into three groups, those who are plebians or people without any magical affinities and those who are gifted with magic called the Neos. Neos can possess only two magics and specialize on it in exclusion to those who can control elements. The third of the classification are the domain users who, aside from having large amounts of mana, can freely cast numerous spells under their domain. Elemental users fall under this category. And the Erasmus family boasts this characteristic, leading to calling anyone who has domain magic an Erasmus.
"Professor Rigel." A young lady called. According to her uniform that is decorated with black linings, she's in her senior years at the institute.
Tall for her age with a doll-like face and long orange hair, Irene Grazia approached the professor who seemed immersed in his books once again.
The professor nodded to acknowledge her presence before closing his book.
"This is to inquire regarding my graduating study related to mana condensation. I want to take some sample mana of an Erasmus but because it is impossible, I am planning to travel to Linden to directly study the barriers on the border of Erasmus territory."
It can be seen on her face that Irene is confident to have a positive response from the professor. However, outdoor activities should be reported to the institute's headmaster.
Prof. Rigel took out a paper and signed a waiver stating his approval on the activity, noting that other students with similar goals on studying the condensed mana can join given that 3 highly skilled professors accompany the journey and Prof. Rigel, himself.
Rigel Regulus is one of the highest ranking Neos of the continent. Officials of the empire doubt his ability on controlling weather as an ability of an Erasmus. Even so, they only saw him display his magic twice in his entire career as a professor. As a student, Rigel skipped any magic exhibition and perfected his exam scores instead. In duels, he is known to be adept on using a sword and defeating magic users with strength and strategy alone.
The preparation for the journey finished within two weeks and 21 students joined the trip to Erasmus territory.
"You will be divided into three groups and each will be accompanied by a professor. As for me, I will ride this horse and lead the entire journey. Are there any questions before we depart?"
A young lad wearing eye glasses raised his arm and asked a question. "Daniel Lois von Malcolm, sir! What should we do if we get lost?," and from being so enthusiastic the lad's voice became weak and his fingers started fidgeting.
"If you're not stupid, you won't get lost." The professor answered before riding his horse. "No worries. No one will die on my watch."
And the team left the institute to travel on the cursed land of Erasmus.
Rigel, on the other hand, activated his divination skill to view the things that will happen on this journey. And what he saw was a tragedy. A black flame obstructed his view but he could clearly see the silhouettes of the students falling one by one.
Is it death?