novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Asylum Couple (3)
“They’re superhumans.”
Ellen said out of the blue.
She must be wondering if a Sword Master could be captured so easily.
“The Church has Apostles.”
The unwavering strongmen of the Church, handpicked by the Pope himself.
Their military might is not inferior to that of a Sword Master.
“The Holy Knights are also considerable when they gather.”
“Still. There would be damages, is there any reason for the Church to accept them?”
“That is a valid point.”
As Ellen said, Balbebron was a superhuman.
Balbebron would have had the strength to resist.
“Usually, the Church takes no damage.”
“Why?”
“He refused the Church's investigation and used force. There is no more certain proof than that.”
If he did that, he would be unconditionally classified as a demon's ally.
Not just by the Church, but by the perception of the continent as well.
The enemy expands from the Church to the continent.
“So most of them lie low. Because if they don't, even if they aren't, they'll become real.”
I recalled Carlson, my prison friend whom I had met in the guard's basement once.
Usually, if one is moral integrity, they choose to get caught.
“But they were real.”
Unfortunately, Alena was a real mage.
“They chose to escape with the strength that could have damaged the Church. A wise choice.”
What would happen if a Sword Master went on a rampage?
The Church would surely suffer considerable damage.
But Balbebron chose survival, not resistance.
To be precise, it would be Alena's survival.
‘Still, it is extreme.’
However, Ellen's point was still valid.
There is definitely something fishy.
Balbebron said that the Church had visited Gildein without any prior notice.
And that they had immediately determined Alena to be a demon.
‘Usually, persuasion comes first.’
A Sword Master is a valuable asset.
No matter how much of an eyesore he is, it's a waste to frame him as a demon and kill him.
Also, the Church was subtly mindful of public opinion.
Although they held absolute power, that power was not wielded openly.
‘Such a Church skipped persuasion and immediately stormed in.’
I observed Alena, who was lying in the corner. There were no signs of torture.
‘They even determined her to be a demon without any interrogation.’
Gildein.
I know that wall.
It's called a front line, but it's not that fierce. The Empire is not that greedy for it. It is a formal border.
‘He took the bait.’
A troublesome wall. It would be an eyesore from the Empire's perspective.
When I said that earlier, Balbebron did not deny it.
Even though Gildein is not that kind of front line.
‘There must be something more.’
I had no intention of prying further.
It wasn't Serzila's business, but the Church's.
Rather, the fact that they had had a conflict with the Church was a plus factor.
Both the North and I disliked the Church.
“You managed to get to the Otherworld.”
From the western sea to the entrance of the Otherworld.
It's not something just anyone can do.
“What did it look like? The Otherworld, I mean.”
I didn't even know what the entrance to the Otherworld looked like. I didn't know in my past life either.
I had often wondered.
Was it surrounded by a wall, like Serzila?
Or had they built something greater than a wall with more superior magic or technology?
Balbebron and Alena would know something that even the regressed Harad did not.
“I don't know.”
“……?”
I felt a flame flare up inside me.
From what I had experienced in my past life, the knights of the continent were reasonable.
Although they were sometimes steeped in honor, authority, or obstinacy, they were not ignorant.
But Balbebron resembled a Northern knight.
“We really don't know. We just arrived in front of some gate.”
Alena interjected.
She was sitting up by now. No one here was unaware that it was to prepare for the worst. She seemed to have recovered a certain amount of mana.
“A gate?”
“Yes. The scenery suddenly changed, and we were standing in front of a pitch-black gate.”
The scenery suddenly changed. It's a common phenomenon in the Boundary. The area must have changed.
‘There was a gate.’
The Otherworld knows how to handle the alteration of mana.
It seems they have shaped a part of the Boundary to their liking.
‘There must be a limit still. So only the entrance is like that.’
There are still 14 years left until the sky of the Otherworld covers Serzila.
“The gate spoke. It said that those without an Origin could not enter.”
Balbebron swallowed a groan, nodding his head heavily.
“So what did you do?”
“We said we needed to talk. And that we would come back.”
Balbebron and Alena had fled just like that.
“Wise.”
I marveled and nodded my head.
Alena was certainly reasonable.
If she had refused on the spot, the gate might have opened and a mage might have popped out.
Alena had anticipated the worst and avoided the situation by pretending to think about it.
However, her luck was bad.
They encountered Avery Aquins on their way back.
And the fact that Balbebron was a knight was revealed.
“He said extermination.”
Alena was a calm-looking beauty.
But her voice was fiercer than I thought.
It seemed she was still angry that Balberon had been treated like an insect.
“I see.”
With that, I said no more. My gaze turned to Ellen. I had learned all I needed to know. Now it was time to make a decision.
To let them live, or to kill them.
The one who first noticed that moment of choice was Alena.
“Gildein!”
Alena suddenly shouted as if vomiting.
“Gildein is not an eyesore from the Empire's perspective!”
Alena revealed the fact she had hidden.
It must be a choice to increase her chances of survival.
“I know.”
“Pardon……?”
“Gildein is a front line of little significance. For the Empire to train soldiers.”
The problem would not be Gildein, but Balbebron.
The opponent would not be the Empire, but the Church.
“It's a meaningless story in the Boundary. Whether you had a conflict with the Church or not.”
Whatever kind of people Balberon and Alena were, it didn't matter to me.
“But it was an appropriate move.”
Ellen had a face that wanted to hear.
I did not stop her.
The decision was her role, anyway.
* * *
“I swear, we had no conflict with the Church.”
Alena began her story like that.
They might have caused a conflict while fleeing this far, but at least while living in Gildein, the couple had never caused any trouble.
Balbebron was the proud knights commander of Margrave Gildein, and Alena was a quiet housewife.
“I was not discovered.”
Alena said with conviction.
I believed her words. She was a wise woman. She would have lived by the rules that a continental mage must follow.
“It must have been him.”
When Alena said that, Balbebron's eyes widened.
Me? That was the look on his face.
I found that ridiculous, yet also puzzling.
It probably wasn't a face Balbebron made because he was stupid.
Alena also had a doubtful expression.
She must have a hunch, but wasn't sure.
“A few months ago, he said he met a woman. Oh, I don't mean it like that.”
Alena added when Ellen's eyes turned fierce.
“He just, passed by her. And just saw her.”
“Saw what?”
“It was fire.”
Then Balbebron opened his mouth.
He was the one who had met the woman.
“Fire?”
“That's right. There was a cripple, and the woman took him into an alley. So I followed.”
“Why did you follow?”
“The cripple was a citizen of Gildein.”
He followed to protect him, just in case.
“The woman created fire. The leg that was touched by the fire became normal.”
“……?”
I tilted my head.
“Isn't that divine power?”
The divine power of a believer who follows the Sun sometimes takes the form of fire.
Because they serve the Sun God, Laan.
“No. That was definitely magic.”
But Balbebron shook his head firmly.
He was a Sword Master, and his wife was a mage.
He was not in a position to confuse mana and divine power.
“Did you report it?”
“I did not. Because I am not someone who should do that.”
Even though he had fled all the way to the Boundary, Balbebron did not regret his choice.
“So?”
“What else is there? I've said everything.”
“…….”
I turned my head to Alena.
“And a few days later, the Church came. It was the Holy Knights.”
At first, they thought they had come to catch the woman who had healed the cripple with fire.
But the Holy Knights pressed Balbebron and Alena.
“So you didn't mention it earlier because you weren't sure. But that's the only thing that comes to mind.”
That was the reason why Balbebron didn't know, and Alena's expression was doubtful.
They had been living well without being discovered, but suddenly the Holy Knights had stormed in.
Why?
If one were to point out a peculiarity, it was only the woman who had used fire.
‘Is the Church using a mage as bait? To catch a mage with their own kind?’
It was plausible. But it's fishy. Because the woman's magic was, of all things, fire.
The Church of the Sun does not forgive mages of fire. If they were to use a bait, they should have used a mage of a different Origin.
“What kind of woman was she?”
“Very ugly.”
Alena slapped the back of Balberon's head.
“She said her face was burned. Very severely.”
A mage who can heal with fire has severe burns.
This was also unique.
“Was the woman of fire caught?”
“I haven't heard anything like that.”
“Either the woman of fire escaped. Or the Church targeted the witness Balbebron to hide her.”
“Yes. The cripple is dead.”
“I see. So you think it's the latter.”
“Otherwise, there is no reason for the Holy Knights to target us.”
Alena was convinced it was the latter.
‘It must be true.’
My mind also leaned towards the latter.
It was hard for a continental mage to be this confident.
It means she had hidden herself well.
“The Church hiding a mage.”
It was a hard story to believe.
But it was even harder to believe that Alena had made up such a story.
It was an unnecessary story to tell.
If she had made it up because she wanted to live, she would have prepared a very plausible story.
Alena was a wise woman.
“Alright. I believe you.”
I nodded.
It wasn't that important, really. The decision was not my role, anyway.
“What do you want to do?”
I asked Ellen.
* * *
Ellen.
She was continuously marveling.
It wasn't just because Balbebron had carried Alena and swam.
Balbebron had crossed the sea, and crossed the Boundary. He had fought against Avery Aquins, a 5th Rank mage.
It probably wasn't just because he was brave.
It was all because he loved Alena.
And that must be the same for Alena.
She could have entered the Otherworld.
But she fled. It must be because she could not abandon Balbebron.
Ellen was marveling not at Balbebron's swimming skills, but at their love.
It was then that Harad threw the question.
“What do you want to do?”
At those words, Balbebron swallowed hard.
He held his sword and took a stance. Alena did the same. Even while injured, she was preparing to respond.
Her mind was a mess.
The Church goes that far? To eliminate a Sword Master witness to hide a mage? There's an asylum method even by sea? How does Harad know that?
‘He'll say it's a secret.’
Ellen did not expect more from Harad.
Come to think of it, it was always like that. The decision was Ellen's or Elaine's role.
If Ellen had wanted it, Harad would have killed Kubel.
If Elaine had wanted it, Cassion would have died as a spy, and Rick as a tunnel-digger.
Balbebron and Alena.
The fate of that lovely couple rested with Ellen.
‘Why.’
Why does he always push the choice onto her.
Because he doesn't want to take responsibility? No. Harad is not that kind of person.
‘Both were the right answer.’
Harad had said that once.
To him, both killing Kubel and letting him live were the right answer.
It meant that whatever choice she made, Harad was prepared to take responsibility.
In fact, Harad did take responsibility.
He even offered up his own merit to get Kubel and Shura an annex in the Inner Fortress.
Because Ellen wanted to save Kubel.
She made the decision, and Harad took responsibility.
‘I don't want you to have any regrets.’
Those words of Harad would probably apply to Elaine as well.
Cassion and Rick were proof of that.
Harad is looking out for Serzila.
To be precise, for Elaine and Ellen.
That is why he pushes the choice.
Harad wants the two of them to have no regrets.
And… at the same time, he is expecting something.
What is he expecting?
Growth? That's part of it, but the first thing that comes to mind is the dream. And the secret.
“I say again, the story is not important. What's important is the present and the place.”
Harad gently, and cruelly, forced the choice upon Ellen.
The present and the place.
Right now, Balbebron and Alena are in the Boundary.
They entered the wall without permission, even attempted asylum and were rejected.
It is a crime worthy of death.
The rules of Serzila must be upheld.
Ellen's eyes flowed to the lovely couple.
Balbebron and Alena, who were extremely tense, looked like primitive people.
They were wearing magical beast leather, but it couldn't even be called clothes in the slightest.
It looked like they had caught a magical beast in the Boundary, skinned it, and hastily prepared it.
Apart from their shabby attire, their spirit was quite formidable.
Are they angry? Maybe. Resentment? I don't know. Ellen is not a person sensitive enough to read people's intentions just by looking at their eyes.
“……You there. You were a mage.”
But she can understand through a voice.
Alena's voice was hollow. No, the expression 'hollow' was simply not enough. It was mixed with all sorts of emotions.
She must have noticed through the warmth that filled the cave.
It was a warmth that could not be felt in the Boundary.
Alena seemed to have realized that it had started from Harad.
Since the heat that Harad naturally emits cannot be hidden.
“Correct.”
Harad did not deny it.
Ellen thought they would be angry and resentful.
She expected a reaction of betrayal or humiliation.
Because the person they had been interrogating until now turned out to be a mage.
“Ah.”
“Ahh…….”
Wrong.
Balbebron and Alena were just envious.
That Serzila was a land where even mages could live.
“…I can't kill them.”
So Ellen chose.
“Then so be it.”
As always, Harad listened.