Seeing the battered notebook, Heti finally realized where it had all come from. "These were left behind by... that wild mage?"
"That's right. A low-ranking mage rejected by the mainstream mage community, someone who could only linger at Level Two his entire life. His talent far exceeded anyone's imagination, yet this era simply gave him no room to use it," Gawain said with a sigh, looking at the notebook in his hand. "I've gone through some of the research notes in it these past few days. In my opinion, this notebook is worth at least half a duchy."
Heti was dumbfounded. "What?!"
Yet Gawain was not exaggerating in the slightest. In fact, from the perspective of technological development, the legacy left by that nameless wild mage would reveal ever greater value as time passed. Though all his research remained at a rudimentary beginning stage, Gawain knew perfectly well—for many era-defining concepts and ideas, the "beginning stage" was the most valuable stage.
Gawain placed the notebook on the table and looked up at Heti. "His daughter, the child named Annie, most likely had Shadow Element Elemental Assimilation Syndrome. It could be called the rarest of all Magical Energy Diseases. As a mage, you should be familiar with this illness."
"Elemental Assimilation... It's an illness unique to the Violet Kingdom. The incidence rate is low, but there's no cure," Heti said with a slight nod. "I guessed as much when I first saw those diaries."
In this world where magical power existed, there were many things utterly unlike those in Gawain's homeworld. Some were good, naturally, but some were bad—and Elemental Assimilation Syndrome was among the worst.
This illness, caused by magic power erosion, was most common in regions saturated with magical power and active elements. During the Gondor Empire era, it