novelraw Chapter 125 : Chapter 125
Chapter 125 : Chapter 125
Chapter 125: Dream? (1)
The sun belongs to the woman.
That's not the end of it.
There's more to the prophecy.
And the Otherworld doesn't know it.
‘If they had known, the moon would have descended.’
That's what Grand Duke Aratus had said.
‘Why would it descend?’
The Red Tower wants Harad dead.
Because only then can the sun be reborn.
And its successor is the king the Red Tower awaits.
‘The Tower of the Deep Sea is the opposite. I don't know about the other towers... but the Moon Tower? They'd likely be similar to the Red Tower.’
The Moon Tower needed fire.
The Asura was proof of that.
The stronger that fire, the better.
The sun would be second to none.
The Moon Tower's stance would be similar to the Red Tower's.
‘Why would it descend? To kill me? No. It would be the same now.’
There's no need to know more of the prophecy.
If Harad's identity is specified, the Moon Tower would descend right now.
Because the king comes only when Harad dies.
‘The Elder must have spread my information. He must have spread it to the Red Tower and the Moon Tower.’
Aroshu came from the Red Tower.
But the Moon Tower didn't move.
‘Aroshu tried to kill me. By meeting me, he gained the opportunity to take me, and the opportunity to kill me.’
The Moon Tower effectively gave up those opportunities.
It means they have no intention of taking me or killing me yet.
‘If the prophecy had been the same, the moon would have descended.’
At that time, the moon wouldn't descend to kill Harad.
It would come to save me. Or to take me.
‘If the Moon Tower learns more of the prophecy's verses, they will come to need me.’
At least, that's what Grand Duke Aratus was predicting.
‘Does that mean their target changes from my successor to me?’
That was highly probable.
‘If so, it wouldn't just be the moon descending. The Grand Duke's target is just the moon.’
The Red Tower would come down too.
That tower was just as desperate for the sun.
‘The sun belongs to the woman….’
According to that prophecy, the Otherworld considers the Mage named Harad an obstacle.
But according to the prophecy the Grand Duke knows, Harad becomes special.
‘Does the Grand Duke think I'm the king? Or the star?’
Harad thought that was the most likely possibility.
It seems there's a verse that only Your Highness the Grand Duke knows.
Harad had tested the waters like that. The Grand Duke hadn't denied it.
It means the prophecy isn't a completely different content.
It's just that a verse is added to that sentence.
‘…It's not a sentence that would change just by adding something.’
The sun belongs to the woman.
What verse could possibly be added to this to make Harad special?
So special that the moon itself would come to get me.
‘I don't know.’
Harad couldn't easily guess.
He didn't think anything would come to mind even if he wracked his brain more. There was too little information.
‘It would be faster to just use Ellen to ask.’
If he doesn't tell me, I'll threaten to disown him….
‘The Red Tower will get its king.’
It was already dark outside.
Come to think of it, it was usually like this after a report.
Time would fly by after an audience with Grand Duke Aratus.
The Grand Duke's residence wasn't an easy place even for the regressed Harad. The reason being that in his past life, his interactions with Grand Duke Aratus were rare.
Honestly, Harad still found the Grand Duke awkward.
…The sight of him being unable to say a peep to Ellen, even more so.
‘Is it strange, or are they close?’
Both, probably.
Harad let out another dry laugh at the father-daughter relationship.
From the perspective of someone who knew the truth, it was a difficult relationship to react to.
They probably only act like that when they're alone.
‘And I was lucky, no, unlucky enough to see it.’
Because Ellen was angry.
The aftermath was frightening, but it felt good.
It was an anger that couldn't help but be rewarding.
She had gotten angry for Harad's sake.
“Ah, Harad! You're here.”
The place he arrived at was Kubel's villa.
As soon as he saw Harad enter, Kubel's face lit up in a wide, welcoming smile.
“Where's Shura?”
“Ah, she probably just fell asleep.”
“Oh. I'm late.”
Harad hadn't come because he was hungry like Ellen.
He had come because Ellen said Shura was waiting, but it seemed he was late.
“I'll go check on her. If she's not asleep….”
“It's fine. No need to go that far. I can see her tomorrow.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Is there anything left? If so, give it to me. If not, it's fine.”
There was food in Harad's villa too.
Since the North was cold, it was easy to store ingredients just by tossing them aside. I could just heat them up with fire and eat.
“Miss Ellen left some.”
“Ellen did?”
That's unlikely.
“Yes. She was in the middle of eating when she suddenly ran out. Saying she was worried about Harad….”
Kubel asked with an insinuating gaze.
“Ah.”
Ellen had run to the Grand Duke's residence in the middle of her meal.
She must have been concerned about Aroshu's death.
She probably thought the Grand Duke would point out that he had killed the fire.
“Thanks to her, it was resolved well. I'll have to thank her again later.”
To think she would come in the middle of eating.
That's more touching than I thought.
Then and now, Elaine was crazy about food.
“Well, what's left is probably vegetables or mushrooms. Just bring me a decent amount. You don't have to grill it.”
“It'll grill in no time. Please sit and wait. You look pale.”
“Thanks.”
Harad didn't stop him further.
It was as Kubel said. Considering the internal injuries the Grand Duke had inflicted, it was better to refrain from using magic.
“Harad?”
It was then that an unexpected voice was heard.
Turning my head, I saw Cassion silently descending the stairs.
It seemed Cassion was the one who had put Shura to bed today.
Shura liked Cassion quite a bit too.
I hadn't been able to read his presence because it was Cassion.
That Mage, whose Origin was a very small dot, usually had a faint presence.
“Where is Miss Ellen? She said she was going to bring you.”
“She's with His Highness the Grand Duke.”
Saying she thought she had been too harsh, Ellen, who had left the Grand Duke's residence with me, had gone back in to see the Grand Duke.
She's probably giving him a carrot right now.
Ellen was a more shrewd niece than I thought.
“Good timing. There was something I wanted to ask. Have you eaten?”
“I ate earlier.”
“Then just sit down.”
Harad pointed to the chair opposite him with his fork.
Cassion sat down with a displeased look.
“What is it.”
“The sea route. Do you know it?”
“……?”
Cassion's eyebrows furrowed.
“There's an asylum route in the western sea as well. There must also be a route for the Otherworld to advance into the continent.”
Harad only knew of its existence, not the exact route.
Elaine of my past life hadn't wanted to investigate the former, and I had only learned of the latter later.
When everything was too late.
‘Of course, the important thing right now is the former.’
It's to find Glacier.
But there was no harm in knowing the latter.
“You still don't know me.”
Harad's eyes lit up.
Cassion had a confident look on his face.
“You know?”
“I don't.”
“……?”
“I am Gu Poison. How would a bug know something like that.”
Cassion said it nonchalantly.
“If you're a bug, why were you so confident?”
“I was a bug in the Otherworld. Here, I'm the 2nd Knights Commander.”
“…….”
Harad was at a loss for words.
Indeed, Cassion was knight-like. To be precise, a knight of the North.
Continental knights aren't that stupid.
“You, do you happen to know of a Honey Badger?”
“What's that?”
The North is one giant Honey Badger.
The continent sometimes insults it that way, but most people in the North don't even know of the animal.
“It's an animal that resembles the North.”
“Must be something like a Magical Beast.”
Cassion was the same.
There's no way that animal would be in the Otherworld, which is colder than the North.
“……Never mind. It's this.”
In fact, this was the main point.
Harad took out the Communication Sphere from his bosom.
“It's the Moon Communication Sphere I gave you. What about it?”
“I met the Star of the Tower of the Deep Sea this time. Avery Aquins. They said he was a newborn star.”
It seemed to be an unfamiliar name to Cassion.
But he seemed to know the meaning of 'star' as he furrowed his brow.
“You were lucky to survive.”
“Thanks to Ellen.”
“Consider it an honor. Lady Serzila is helping you. It's a precious experience.”
Cassion the Mage boasted.
“But what does that have to do with the Communication Sphere?”
“This Communication Sphere told me in advance. 'Aquins has descended,' it said.”
I tried my best to imitate it, but Harad couldn't.
That voice was not of a nature he could imitate.
“The speaker was a woman. Her voice was captivating. It was like magic.”
That voice was still as clear as if I could hear it in my ear.
It was a voice that bewitched people.
Ellen seemed unfazed, but at least that's how Harad felt.
It was definitely like magic.
“It was a woman?”
Harad nodded his head.
Cassion crossed his arms with a frown on his face.
He didn't answer right away.
He seemed cautious. It was because he knew that what Harad wanted was the opinion of Cassion the Mage, not the 2nd Knights Commander.
Thus, Cassion was a man who could be a Mage enough.
“The Communication Sphere I have is connected to the bug dealer. Both of them.”
One of them was the Communication Sphere Harad possessed.
“Bug dealer?”
“Ah. It's a term the bugs use. He's practically the one in charge.”
“A high-ranking Mage?”
“He's a 5th Rank like me. But the size of our Origins is different. Though not as special as a star.”
Unlike the Tower of the Deep Sea, the Moon Tower seemed to place importance on the title of 'star'.
It must be because of its close relationship with the Red Tower.
“The bug dealer is a man. A shabby old man, at that.”
“Couldn't someone else have relayed it?”
“That's possible. But it's unlikely. The bugs only communicate with the bug dealer. And that communication is rare.”
Cassion rarely received transmissions.
As a bug, he usually just reported on Serzila's movements.
“The last transmission was about you. To check if the Mage who burned down the Fire Watchtower was in Serzila.”
Cassion, of course, reported that there wasn't.
“It's unlikely he used a proxy. The bug dealer is picky. He doesn't entrust his work to others.”
“But the voice I heard was a woman's.”
“The Moon Tower doesn't share information with the bugs. It only gives orders.”
Aquins has descended.
That was all the woman said.
It means the sole purpose was to deliver information.
“That was probably not a message for me, but for you.”
Harad frowned.
“How did they know I took your Communication Sphere?”
“How should I know.”
“Who is this 'me' you're talking about? The Mage whose Origin is the sun?”
“I don't know that either.”
“…….”
“But it wasn't a message for me. That much is certain.”
Cassion said that much with conviction.
It was a conviction formed over the past decade of being a spy.
Cassion had never communicated with a woman, nor had he ever received only information.
“That makes sense. The only thing that's changed is that I have the Communication Sphere.”
“That's right.”
Cassion understood at once, like a Mage.
It wasn't very welcome. I had gotten an answer of sorts, but it wasn't a satisfying one.
It was an ambiguous result, similar to what I had gotten from Grand Duke Aratus.
“If you're right, the Moon Tower gave me a warning.”
Avery Aquins had tried to capture Harad alive.
“Avery Aquins tried to capture me alive. It was to delay the timing of the prophecy.”
“I see. That interpretation is also possible.”
Right now, Cassion was a Mage.
“Then why do you think they warned me? Because they couldn't kill me if I was caught by the Deep Sea? Or was it just a gesture of goodwill to keep me safe?”
I didn't know when he would become ignorant again.
I had to finish saying what I had to say now.
“Ah. For reference, the Mage from the Red Tower I met this time initially thought I was a star. It seems only the king and the star can burn the Watchtower.”
Harad provided all the background knowledge.
Cassion still had a Mage-like expression.
“Then it's likely the latter. The Otherworld still doesn't know you're the false king. The Moon Tower is favorable to fire.”
Goodwill towards a star.
Cassion's speculation was plausible.
“Then the problem is how they knew about me.”
The Moon Tower. How did the woman who initiated the communication know that Harad was a star, and that he possessed the Communication Sphere?
Harad's eyes narrowed.
“You haven't been able to fix your spy habit, have you.”
“You must be crazy.”
Cassion flared up and stood up.
He looked genuinely wronged.
“If it's not, it's not. Why are you so angry.”
“This bastard…….”
Cassion placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
He seemed very angry.
Maybe that's why he didn't notice the door opening.
“Are you going to kill him?”
The air turned cold.
It wasn't because the door had opened and a breeze came in.
“Mi, Miss Ellen……?”
Ellen was standing at the door with her arms crossed.
She looked both angry and incredulous.
“If you're going to kill him, kill him.”
It sounded like she would kill him before he could.
Just before, Grand Duke Aratus had lived. Because he's her father.
“I-it's a misunderstanding!”
Cassion snatched his hand away from his sword.
But Ellen was already looking at Harad, not him.
“Did you cross the line this time too?”
“Of course not. What line could I possibly cross with Cassion? I'm his lifesaver.”
“Then why is he like that?”
“I don't know. He's a random murderer.”
* * *
After that, it was a night of no particular significance.
Cassion kept an eye on Ellen, and Ellen finished off the remaining meat.
While doing so, she added that his status and salary would be coming soon.
In other words, it was the usual routine.
Tomorrow, Kubel would make breakfast again. Cassion would be wary of Ellen at the table again, and Ellen would feed Shura.
To do that, I first had to sleep.
Sleep. For Harad, it was the most boring part of his daily routine. It probably wasn't just his thought.
Recovering the body and mind.
For a Mage who doesn't dream, sleep was that kind of act.
Sometimes, sleep felt like a waste of time, and one couldn't help but wonder why humans had to sleep.
It was nothing more than that kind of act.
-What happens if you have a Mage's child?
Before his eyes, Grand Duke Elaine asked.
-Why are you suddenly asking that.
And Harad, standing next to her, answered.
But Harad had never answered.
His mouth didn't even open.
Harad realized that he had fallen asleep, and that he could only watch that scene.
‘A dream…?’
In other words, Harad was dreaming.
A dream that a Mage should not be able to have.