novelraw Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111: Fire and Water (1)
The North likes the new year.
It was because they did not die last year.
Recently, that meaning had somewhat faded, but for someone, it still applied the same.
For Harad, who had regressed, it was a particularly weak saying.
It had only been half a year now. He could not be happy about not dying just yet.
However, he did feel proud.
The extent of it was considerable.
He had been feeling the worth of regression every day, but last night was particularly rewarding.
‘Elaine recognized my strangeness.’
That was a point as important as the dreams.
One should not consider only the dreams suspicious.
Harad, having regressed, was clearly an anomalous human.
Why is he different from the information, why does he handle magic well, how does he know the North and the Boundary well……. Elaine had to constantly harbor doubts.
‘Finally.’
Last night, she realized that solving that anomaly, and the secret, was the role of Ellen or Elaine.
-Is the dream the Grand Heir dreams also like that?
Furthermore, Ellen went one step further from there.
While thinking about Harad’s secret, she also recalled the dreams.
And she even intuited that the dreams were related to magic.
Someday, she would even realize that Harad’s secret and the dreams were connected.
That day would not be so far off.
Harad intended to make it so.
Therefore, what Harad had to do did not change.
He had to give stimulation, and make her dream.
To do that, he first had to meet Elaine or Ellen.
“You, you aren’t actually 20 years old, are you?”
Ellen, whom he met at Kubel’s house, asked abruptly.
“……?”
Harad only blinked.
“Sir Cassion said so last time. That sometimes there are 5th Ranks who have aged but make a fool of themselves pretending to be young. That’s you, right?”
Ellen became stupid again.
Perhaps to the extent of Cassion.
But the point that she was trying to dig up the secret in the midst of that was commendable.
“……That is another surprising perspective.”
Harad chose his words and answered.
At that, Ellen acted smug.
“Right!”
“Wrong.”
“…….”
“If I were 5th Rank, Iagar wouldn’t have fallen.”
“Ah.”
Ellen drooped.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. It was a good approach.”
“Really?”
“Mhm. Try being more novel next time.”
Harad held out his plate to Ellen, who was picking at her food in apology.
It was meat grilled over charcoal that Kubel bought yesterday, and no one had eaten.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I think it would be more valuable for you to eat more.”
In fact, he was a bit tired of meat.
He tended to eat anything well, but that didn’t mean he could eat the same food every day.
On the other hand, Ellen had to have meat at every meal.
And a lot of it, too.
It was like that in the past life as well.
Elaine was a famous glutton.
Kubel had good ears.
No, precisely speaking, he probably had a lot of interest in Harad and Ellen.
Kubel, who was in the kitchen, brought out bread and soup for Harad, somehow having heard.
“Thanks. Ah. I was sorry about yesterday.”
Last night, Harad and Ellen ended up forgetting about Kubel’s existence.
Kubel had waited for the two of them on the street for quite a long time, holding the sleeping Shura.
Looking back, it was a shameful thing.
Standing Kubel up, too…… no, just everything.
“It was actually good.”
“……?”
“Really. I went back after not waiting long.”
“It is fortunate if that is so.”
“When did you two return?”
“We, when the sun rose…….”
“Hehe.”
“……?”
Kubel laughed while drooling.
It was a sinister face, enough to remind him of the heart addict Kubel from the past life.
“Do you have a schedule today?”
Just then, Ellen asked.
“Not particularly. I am usually like that.”
Unless there was an order from Grand Duke Aratus, Harad was basically jobless.
Of course, the work he had to do was piled up, but there was nothing pressing for time.
He also thought about crossing over to the Boundary via the tunnels, but, well. There was no great meaning in going alone.
Elaine or Ellen had to be together with him.
And today, Ellen had a schedule.
“Did you decide to play with Shura?”
“Yes. I have to play all day. Since we couldn’t play yesterday.”
Today was the first day of the new year.
It was also the last day of the festival.
Ellen had to enjoy the grand finale with Shura.
“……Do you want to go together, too?”
Ellen asked quietly, looking down at her plate.
She was tapping the meat with her fork.
“Because Shura likes you too. The last day of the festival is also special. It’s your first time at the festival too, right? Also…… if it’s bothersome, you don’t have to go.”
“Well, why would it be bothersome. Let’s go together.”
If Ellen said to do it, Harad had to do it.
“Really?”
“Is there any reason why not. One shouldn’t leave regrets.”
Only then did Ellen raise her head.
The smile was clear.
Like this, Ellen was a woman honest with her emotions.
She was the opposite of the Elaine of the past life.
This too must be one of her regrets.
The Elaine of this life had to live however the fuck she wanted.
So, like Ellen.
Ellen was the figure who embodied Elaine’s ‘however the fuck she wanted’.
“Shall we go now?”
“After finishing eating…… you ate it all.”
Ellen had already cleanly emptied the plate before he knew it.
“Shura is near the safe house with Arika…….”
Ellen’s body, which was rising from the chair, froze just like that.
Soon, she turned her head and looked at the entrance of the annex.
“A guest has come.”
Harad also felt the presence that Ellen felt.
“It’s open.”
When he said that, the guest who opened the door and came in was a servant.
“Seeing you again.”
He looked familiar.
It was the servant from the Grand Duke’s residence who had previously delivered the Grand Duke’s order not to catch the eye of the delegation.
Unlike back then, when he had indifferently delivered only the note, the old man looked somewhat surprised. At the end of his gaze was Ellen.
‘The old man is the Grand Duke’s confidant.’
It seemed the old man knew Ellen’s identity.
The old man soon bowed lightly to Ellen and handed a single note to Harad.
-Crawl the tunnel with the water path right now. Fire will descend.
The latter words were ambiguous.
However, the preceding order was clear.
‘Water path. He must be talking about the path of the deep sea.’
The path swarming with trees needing water, and where he had killed the 5th Rank mage of the deep sea.
At that time, Harad had discovered the tunnel that was in the giant’s footprint and returned to Serzila.
Grand Duke Aratus wanted Harad to cross over to the Boundary through that tunnel.
“What is it?”
“It is the order of His Highness the Grand Duke. He says to go to the Boundary right now.”
“……It’s still the festival?”
“Still, work must be done. Just like the knights who are not off-duty heading out for searches.”
Harad spoke casually.
There were no words in the note telling him not to take Ellen.
He didn’t know what fire descending meant, but it probably meant it wasn’t that dangerous.
“You stay and play with Shura. Since it seems I can go alone.”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Ellen glared at the old man who brought the order.
“This, fuck…….”
As if to kill him.
“…….”
The old man backed away and left the annex as if fleeing.
* * *
Imja.
Harad has no feelings about that unidentified woman.
She didn't know why she was Imja despite that... anyway, she was a woman who was Imja in name only.
However, the question about that woman still remained in Ellen’s mind.
‘Who is she?’
Putting that question aside, when? When did they meet?
There is something strange about Harad. It is a point only Harad knows.
Harad does not tell her that.
He might not be able to tell her. No, that probability was much higher.
‘He can’t say it. And I have to find out.’
That vagueness, Ellen could only interpret as magic.
And the dreams were also equally vague.
‘The dreams are related to magic. That is certain.’
Harad’s secret might also be related to the dreams.
Ellen could not go further than that.
She had already racked her brain until she got a cramp, but in the end, only the conclusion that she had to dream more came out.
‘I have to keep dreaming.’
The dreams started when she met Harad.
It means the dreams are related to Harad.
Also, dreams are closely related to reality, and cross over the past and future.
Perhaps she might dream of Harad’s secret.
‘How do I dream?’
She had tried increasing her sleep. It was meaningless. Ellen did not know the conditions for the dreams. Dreams came without warning, and out of the blue.
……Everything she thought of was ambiguous. It was full of things she didn't know. And that was the same for reality, too.
‘Do you like Harad?’
Seria had asked like that.
If asked again, Ellen would answer that she didn't know. It could be that she liked him, it could be that she would come to like him, or maybe not. It could be that she just wanted to hold hands.
She didn’t know what the future would become either.
Ellen was a person who had to disappear, and if that happened, what would happen with Harad…… Ellen didn't know. She would answer that she didn't know.
She didn’t think that far.
She would just do what she wanted to do like a Serzila, and grasp everything she wanted. She would be faithful to the present, like a Northerner.
Therefore, nothing changes.
Just as she had done until now, eating with Harad, riding the tunnels, exploring the Boundary, sometimes holding hands, and…… wow.
“Wow, wow.”
At the sudden rush of heat, Ellen shook her head violently. Her hair repeatedly lashed her cheeks.
Then, what rushed in was emptiness.
Her left hand was holding Shura’s hand, but her right hand was empty.
Normally, Harad’s hand might have occupied it.
‘An order again…….’
Why are they so eager to harass Harad?
It seems he has already proven himself more than enough.
‘Even if they send him, they should have sent him tomorrow. It’s a festival.’
Then we would have gone together.
Why today of all days.
‘The treatment is wrong.’
Serzila does not nitpick background.
All they desired was strength and loyalty, and if one was capable, they had to receive treatment befitting that.
Harad was a talent who had proven his ability to overflowing.
The picture of the 1st Knights, Cassion, the tunnels…… the merits Harad established over the past half-year were greater than any other knight.
Recently, he killed a 5th Rank mage, and even made Kalinos, the 3rd Knights Commander, into a Sword Master.
Even so, Harad was still a hostage.
Serzila didn’t even give him a salary. Yet they were overworking only Harad.
‘This isn’t right.’
As a Serzila, and as the one who will become the next Grand Duke.
Ellen has the duty to correct the unjust treatment of Harad…….
“Sister.”
“Huh? Yes, Shura. Shall we eat that?”
“I said I’m full.”
“Ah.”
Ellen shook her head violently once again.
Today was the day for Shura.
“Sorry, Shura. Sister was…….”
“You can go to Oppa.”
“Huh?”
“I can play with Arika sister.”
“…….”
“I want to play with sister at next year’s festival.”
They were mature words.
But the smile hanging on Shura’s face was that of a child.
“Vix said that even if the wooden sword breaks, you have to fight to the end with it first.”
Vix was Shura’s alley friend.
He was a child Ellen knew too. A boy whose dream was to be a knight.
“He said you look for a new wooden sword after that. They say the present is the most important for Northerners.”
Because they don't know when they will die.
So Northerners are faithful to the present.
However, being able to do so is because they have the home called the North.
“But for me, later is the most important.”
The North was a harsh land, but at the same time, it was the home of the Northerners.
Shura did not have a home.
She was a mage, and she was in a position of wandering the continent following Kubel, a mage. Worrying about the future, she didn't even have the leisure to be faithful to today.
“I want to be all together next year too.”
Shura spoke cautiously.
Next year. It was a simple word. It was also a word through which one could clearly know how much this small child feared the future.
“Oppa is going to a dangerous place. Unni, go and protect Oppa. Unni is the, the…….”
Shura trailed off while looking around nervously.
“Because I’m the Grand Heir?”
Ellen answered smilingly.
She knew that Shura’s eyes were looking straight at Ellen.
“Yes. Can’t you?”
“……How could I not.”
Ellen stroked Shura’s hair hard.
How did such a lovely child come from that bear-like Kubel?
“But it’s not next year, it’s forever. We’ll be together forever.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I’m the Grand Heir, aren't I?”
* * *
“……So you came?”
“Yes. Shura asked me to protect you.”
Ellen said, beaming.
She looked to be in a good mood. Probably because she was going to the Boundary.
“Is it that good?”
“It’s not particularly good.”
She became prim.
“Well, it’s good for me.”
“Really?”
“Because it’s reassuring when you are here.”
For Harad, there was no reason to refuse.
There is no vanguard as reliable as Ellen.
The reason he had decided to go alone was because Ellen wanted to play with Shura.
If not for that, Harad would have brought Ellen.
Ellen had a slightly flushed face.
“It’s been a while since the two of us went.”
“Come to think of it, it is.”
Thinking about it, the last time was when they tempered the steel ring.
Ellen was bored back then. That was probably the reason her face was flushed now. It was a proper exploration time after a long while.
When going, Harad first; when coming back, Ellen first.
Harad bent his body and entered the tunnel entrance.
It was then. Chijijik. A strange sound was heard.
In that sound, Harad felt the wavelength of mana.
“……?”
And that started from Ellen.
Harad turned his head. Ellen had a flustered face.
“What is this sound?”
“You, you have something.”
Chijijik.
That sound was occurring from inside Ellen’s bosom.
“Ah.”
Ellen took something out from her bosom.
It was a soft silver communication sphere.
The Moon Tower’s communication sphere that Cassion had given her sometime ago.
“Why is that with you?”
“I tried to return it earlier but I forgot.”
When Seria came, Ellen had moved the communication sphere and quill pen that were in Harad’s annex to her own mansion.
She had forgotten about that, and only remembered when it became the last day of the festival.
“Good job.”
Forgetting became a benefit.
If he had received it earlier, Harad would have left the communication sphere in the annex.
Chijijik.
The communication sphere created a messy sound.
It was mana. If he added the mana from this side onto that, the communication sphere connects.
“What do we do?”
“We have to do it.”
Harad received the communication sphere from Ellen and immediately injected mana.
Then, the chijijik-ing sound stopped.
-Ah.
What the communication sphere spat out was a voice.
A very beautiful voice spoke.
-Aquins went down.
Sweetly.