novelraw Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
Chapter 143: Liberation Faction (2)
Kubel had never killed a magical beast.
Naturally, the same went for mages.
So, when he first discovered a heart imbued with magic, Kubel couldn't understand the drool flowing from the corner of his mouth.
It was because he had experienced the appetite of his Origin for the first time.
Everyone has a first time.
The inner sanctum of the Flower District.
The owner was a mage.
The Origin of Ripple was in her heart.
She, that heart, was Harad's first predation.
Harad had said it himself.
From the night he predated her, he was fated to kill mages until he died.
But at that time, Harad had predated like a mage who was not a first-timer. He clearly knew the act of predation.
‘Even though it was his first time eating it.’
How did he know?
It was a fresh question.
Harad had many secrets.
And those secrets are related to dreams.
-Do you know something?
The Elaine in the dream said.
Curiosity tickled in her voice. It was the characteristic liveliness of her Grand Heir days.
-I don't.
Harad answered nonchalantly.
-You're getting more insincere.
-Isn't it more useless talk?
-It was yesterday, but not today.
Grand Heir Elaine said, feigning seriousness.
-Magical beasts get stronger by eating other magical beasts, right?
-Yes.
-They say mages are the same.
-Pardon?
-They say mages eat other mages too.
-You mean they eat people?
-That's right. To be precise, the heart of a mage.
-…….
Harad furrowed his brow at Elaine.
-I'm telling you, it's true.
-…….
-It's true.
Elaine shouted, frustrated.
-Did you hear the story about the 3rd Knights encountering a group of mages this time?
-Gullen came and told me earlier, that the 3rd Knights Commander killed them all.
-That's right. Sir Ahite killed them all. There were seven mages. One of them was a 4th Rank.
Ahite.
Grand Duke Elaine had said so.
As far as Ellen knew, Knight Ahite was the 3rd Deputy Commander.
The 3rd Knights Commander of Serzila was Kalinos.
A brave knight who had recently risen to Sword Master.
‘Until when?’
Suddenly, Harad's words came to mind.
When she said the 3rd Knights Commander was Kalinos, Harad had said something strange.
-They said the 4th Rank mage devoured the hearts of his comrades. And that his depleted magic was restored.
-You mean he ate the magic in the heart, not the heart itself?
-Wouldn't it be both? They said he chewed it raw.
-…….
The Elaine and Harad in the dream seemed ignorant of predation.
Come to think of it, the Harad in the dream didn't even know about Projection. Elaine had told him about it.
Ellen found that Harad strange.
The Harad in the dream had more shortcomings than the Harad in reality.
It was as if that Harad grew up to become the Harad of reality.
Of course, the Harad of reality was younger than that Harad.
-The heart of a magical beast would also be possible. Since magical beasts also consider mages as prey.
-That's true too.
Harad nodded slightly.
-No wonder.
-No wonder?
-There have been a few times when I've looked at a magical beast's corpse and felt like eating it.
The object of desire seemed to be the heart, not the corpse.
Harad said.
-Why didn't you eat it?
-Why would a person eat that?
-We eat it.
-I'd have to eat it raw.
-We sometimes eat it raw too.
-…….
-It's better than you'd think.
-Ignorant bastards.
-What did you say, you bastard?
Elaine swung her fist.
Harad counterattacked while being hit. The two bickered for a while.
-How about it?
-What.
-Wouldn't you like to go and try one?
-Hmm.
-If you're reluctant to eat it, I'll eat it with you.
Elaine smiled and coaxed him.
To Ellen, she looked just like a devil.
-Let's go.
The scene changed in an instant.
A blizzard was raging, and Elaine was wiping her sword.
In Harad's hand was the heart of a magical beast.
-Not eating?
-I will.
-If you're scared, I'll eat first.
-Ptui.
Harad spat the saliva filling his mouth at Elaine and took a bite of the heart.
* * *
Serzila had both a lot and a little information about mages.
It was only natural.
To Serzila, mages were the Otherworld.
What's the point of listening to the enemy's biology or words? No knight tries to talk to the Otherworld.
Naturally, there was no way Elaine would be knowledgeable about predation.
-How is it?
Elaine, who didn't know about the addictive nature of predation, shone her eyes.
In front of that ignorant Grand Heir, Harad swayed.
-……More.
-Hmm?
-Isn't there more?
Harad was steeped in ecstasy.
His expression was as if he had discovered pleasure for the first time in his life.
-Is it that delicious?
-It doesn't taste good to me, but my Origin says it's delicious.
-Are you crazy?
-It sounds crazy, but it's true.
Harad clumsily explained the desire of his Origin.
Yes, the Harad in the dream was a clumsy mage.
-How is your condition?
-My magic has increased a little. The effect seems to change depending on the Rank in life.
Harad was clumsy but sharp.
He saw through the principle of predation at once.
And so he wanted a new heart.
-Will you eat a little more?
-Yes.
The scene flowed quickly.
That day, Harad predated ten hearts.
-So you don't have to eat it. The efficiency drops, though.
-Then just eat it with your mouth, what a waste.
-Let's do that.
* * *
The Otherworld is overflowing with mages, and the Boundary is teeming with magical beasts.
It means that there are almost no cases where heart addicts cannot eat hearts.
-Don't eat it.
That fact, Elaine realized belatedly.
-There was an addiction to heart predation.
-I know that too.
Harad answered nonchalantly.
He seemed to have recognized the addictive nature of predation. It was only natural, since he was the one involved.
-Are you okay?
-It's bearable.
-It's better not to eat it from now on.
-I said it's bearable?
-Still, don't eat it.
Elaine's face was hardened.
She seemed to be feeling guilty.
That ignorant Grand Heir had gotten Harad addicted.
Ellen was flabbergasted by it.
-I'll eat in moderation.
-I told you not to eat it.
-I'll only eat when necessary.
* * *
Harad showed the sincerity of enduring.
In other words, he only showed sincerity.
He often consumed the hearts of magical beasts, and sometimes even the hearts of mages.
If there was a silver lining, it was that he absorbed the hearts of mages with fire, not his mouth.
The Harad in the dream had a clear aversion to chewing on a mage's heart directly.
-I told you not to eat it.
-The addiction is less if I eat it with magic.
-……Do my words not sound like words to you?
Every time Harad drooled, Elaine felt guilty.
And that guilt grew more serious.
-It was a crazy act.
The mage who had infiltrated the territory was the source of the trouble.
He wasn't a very great mage.
At best, he was a 3rd Rank.
But strength is relative.
That mage had killed twenty-five people, and had eaten sixteen of them.
-It is an act where a person eats another person.
-I burn them, though.
-You'll become like that later.
-I won't become like that.
Elaine swung her sword.
Harad dodged with quite some difficulty.
It was an effect of predation, if you could call it that.
-It was an act possible for the Otherworld because they have mages and the Boundary.
-We have them too.
-That's not what I mean, you son of a bitch.
Elaine was angry at Harad.
Ellen thought she was angry at herself.
-Don't eat it from now on. If you do, I'll kill you.
-Hmm.
But Elaine couldn't kill Harad.
To Ellen, it seemed there was no other way.
She was different from the unknowing Ellen.
From the time she was the Grand Heir, Elaine seemed to have known.
-I'm sure I told you to stop eating.
-I get stronger faster if I eat.
-You don't need to.
In the end, even by the time Elaine became the Grand Duke, Harad had not quit predating.
* * *
There was a difference in the frequency of predation.
The limit that the Harad of reality could endure was just over a month.
When the shadow mage offered his heart, Harad eventually couldn't hold back and drooled.
The Harad in the dream had endured for up to half a year.
It seemed even longer was possible. He didn't become speechless even when he drooled.
‘Why?’
Ellen soon concluded that it was because of the mage's heart.
The Harad in the dream had never eaten a mage's heart directly.
He had only absorbed it by burning it with fire.
But the inner sanctum of the Flower District, the mage killed by the ragged mage, Psina of the Ivory Tower… the Harad of reality had taken a mage's heart several times.
Whether he ate the Origin directly.
That difference determined the degree of addiction.
Necessity also played a part.
The Harad of reality had many occasions to eat hearts. It was because he got injured easily.
The heart was a panacea for the aftereffects.
The Harad in the dream got injured more often than in reality, but there were no aftereffects among those injuries.
It meant that predating a heart didn't help much with recovery.
Of course, if the injury was serious enough to be fatal, the Harad in the dream would absorb it first and see.
-Like a beast.
Grand Duke Elaine was disgusted.
-I'm absorbing it.
-Say that after looking at your expression.
Harad extinguished the fire on the heart.
He was smiling ecstatically.
-I would have died if I hadn't eaten.
-No. I would have saved you somehow.
Elaine, who had become the Grand Duke, knew well the fate of a heart addict.
-I turned a blind eye when I was the Grand Heir, but no more.
-You told me not to eat it then too.
-From now on, do not eat even if you are dying.
-What if I die?
-I will make sure you do not die.
Grand Duke Elaine no longer threatened to kill him if he ate.
-I want you to remain human. For the rest of your life.
The masculine voice of Elaine was close to a request or a plea.
-It is the command of your lord, me.
I should have done that.
Ellen regretted it.
And she was angry.
The Elaine in the dream was a fool.
Because of that ignorant bitch, Harad became addicted.
Of course, the one Elaine had addicted was the Harad in the dream.
But Ellen couldn't distinguish that far.
She didn't want to, and for some reason, it felt like she shouldn't.
‘Son of a bitch.’
Ellen hated both Elaine and Harad.
* * *
‘The smell of a woman.’
A ceiling she had never seen before, a simple interior despite the smell.
Ocellin's room. It must be a building near the warehouse building, not the castle. Ellen, who had shot up, went outside. As expected, it was opposite the warehouse building.
‘Where's Harad?’
Her nose twitched.
Rounding the corner, Rosen was smoking a cigarette.
“You're awake!”
“Where's Harad?”
“Pardon? Ah. If you mean him, he's at the orphanage to the east…”
Ellen didn't listen further and started walking east.
There was only one orphanage in Ekampote.
She had been there with Wimar. She didn't remember the exact location, but east. That was enough.
To Ellen, whose senses were sharp, Harad was an incredibly easy being to find. As befitting his Origin of the sun, his presence was more intense than any other human.
‘Son of a bitch.’
Harad's secrets and dreams are related.
The Harad of reality had eaten hearts even knowing the dangers of predation.
‘A real son of a bitch.’
First, she would hit him.
But she shouldn't just get angry. She had to get angry, but also think.
‘Knowing full well.’
It's different from the dream.
Harad had become addicted knowing all the dangers.
Ellen was angry about that fact. Harad treats his own body recklessly.
‘Even though his body is so weak.’
The addiction had to be cured.
‘How?’
The Elaine in the dream had just told him to endure it.
For the Harad who was by the side of that Grand Duke, it seemed possible.
His symptoms were not that severe.
It was because he had never consumed a mage's heart.
The Harad of reality is not.
He cannot endure it. He is much more addicted than in the dream…….
Ellen, who had been running, stopped abruptly.
Then she turned her head to the left. She stared intently at the alley. There was no reason. She just wanted to.
The orphanage is to the east.
The alley led not east, but north.
But Ellen entered the alley.
She felt as if she was possessed. It was a dirty and gloomy alley. Even though it was winter, there was a smell of rot, and the ground was littered with filth. The sunlight also entered weakly, and shadows fell like a curtain.
Ellen's gaze was stolen by a particularly long shadow.
It was the shadow of a metal rod jutting out from the roof of a building, drawn on the left outer wall.
Ellen, as if possessed, reached out to that shadow and pulled it.
Then a person popped out.
From the shadow, just the upper half.
“Huh?”
A skinny man let out a sound of bewilderment.
* * *
It was a familiar face, with sunken eyes and cheeks.
“How did you know, how did you do it?”
The bastard looked flustered.
He seemed more bewildered at being caught than at being discovered.
And it was the same for Ellen.
In the forest, she hadn't felt or cut him. But now, she had caught him.
But this was no time to be flustered.
The Great Devil, as Wimar had said.
The shadow mage who had exposed Harad's identity.
And… a severe heart addict.
“What should I do?”
“I asked.”
“Shut up.”
Ellen said, as if growling.
The captured bastard's wrist was crushed.
“Answer, before I kill you.”
“Okay.”
The bastard looked at his broken wrist and answered in a gloomy voice.
“You're a heart addict, aren't you.”
“Yes.”
“Addiction, how do you cure it?”
“Can't be cured…”
“If you say you can't, I'll kill you.”
Ellen had already drawn her sword.
Seeing the aura, which had become even blacker than what he had seen in the forest, the bastard's face crumpled.
“I'll die if I get hit by that.”
“Answer if you don't want to die.”
“...You're scary. I like the sun.”
He had followed Harad.
From the bastard's attitude, Ellen was certain.
“Answer.”
“Can't be cured… I don't.”
The bastard said, glancing around. It meant he couldn't.
“You can overcome it.”
“How.”
“Become a 6th Rank.”
6th Rank.
Once one reaches that state of subduing the Origin, one can endure predation.
It was something Harad had also said once.
But he had added that the story was a superstition.
“Other than that.”
“There is no other way.”
Ellen's face twisted fiercely.
The bastard flinched.
“That's a hypothesis, isn't it.”
“It's not a hypothesis.”
The bastard thought what Harad had called a superstition was the truth.
“When I become a 6th Rank, I will manifest. The Origin is mine.”
“Bullshit.”
“I become me. Then the Origin will only listen to my will.”
Ellen didn't understand his explanation.
But the content wasn't important. What was important was that the answer came out immediately.
The bastard was not in his right mind, but he had a clear conviction about magic.
At that attitude, Ellen's eyes shone slightly.
“Is there a mage who has succeeded?”
“The Great One? There is.”
The bastard called the 6th Rank "The Great One."
“Where. Who.”
“He went to the Otherworld.”
“Damn… no.”
In the end, it means there's no proof.
Ellen was about to curse but held back. This was not the time to vent her anger. She had to dig out more.
“Let's say it's true. How do you become a 6th Rank?”
“No mage knows that.”
The voice, which had been slurred all along, became somewhat serious.
“So we have to eat hearts.”
“Why.”
“Because we've already eaten.”
The bastard drew a line in the air with his uncaptured hand.
It was a winding curve.
“This is the Path of the Seeker.”
“Seeker?”
“Yes. A mage who doesn't predate. This is difficult. And it takes a very long time.”
A mage who excludes predation has difficulty achieving greatness.
That's what the bastard was saying.
“But it's safe.”
The bastard waved his hand in the air.
It was a gesture as if erasing the curve he had just drawn.
Then he drew a line again.
This time, it was a straight line.
“This is the Path of the Predator.”
Compared to the curve, it was certainly shorter.
“It's easy, and short. But it's dangerous.”
“Because there aren't enough hearts to eat?”
“Yes. And there's a limit.”
“A limit?”
Ellen gathered her brows.
This was something she had never heard before.
“You go crazy if you don't eat.”
“I know.”
“You also go crazy if you overeat. The amount you can eat is fixed.”
People die if they don't eat, but they also die if they eat too much.
The same goes for the Origin.
There is a limit to a mage's predation.
“What about you? You're crazy.”
“I'm not crazy. Being crazy means being eaten by your Origin.”
The 'crazy' of a normal person and the 'crazy' of a mage are different.
Ellen recalled Jesult of the Ivory Tower, whom she had seen at the Sanctuary of Fire.
That mage, whose Origin was his Origin, had been devoured by his own muscles.
That is what that bastard was describing as 'crazy'.
“You have to overcome it before you're eaten by your Origin.”
That is the Path of the Predator.
While being chased by predation, they predate. They have to reach the end that way.
“It's similar to running without rest.”
A Seeker can rest.
A Predator cannot rest. Because they go crazy if they don't eat hearts.
“While running continuously, you have to hope your body holds up. Until you reach the end.”
A Predator has to continuously eat while reaching the destination of the 6th Rank.
If they arrive, they live.
If they rest or reach their limit before that, they die.
“How do you know the limit.”
“Only a Predator knows that. You'd say you're full when your stomach is full.”
“I eat a lot.”
“The amount people eat is different for everyone.”
The same goes for Predators.
As they eat, they eventually feel a sensation like fullness.
“The digestive power of the Origin has reached its limit. But we can't stop even if we know.”
Because they go crazy if they stop.
“You said you go crazy if you overeat too.”
“It gives one last pleasure. There is no Predator who can endure that.”
As the saying goes, a well-fed ghost is a happy ghost, meaning it's better to die having eaten than to die without eating.
“Is the limit determined by the Origin?”
Ellen hoped so.
Then she could be relieved. Harad's Origin is the Sun. It is a concept greater than any other Origin.
“No. The vessel.”
“You said the Origin does the digesting.”
“It's the vessel that handles the grown Origin.”
A mage is a vessel that contains an Origin.
“Actually, the digestive power of the Origin has no limit. It's the vessel that has a limit.”
As one predates hearts, the Origin grows.
As it grows, there comes a moment when it overflows. The Origin becomes larger than the vessel.
“The Origin grows, but the vessel doesn't grow well. Then it breaks.”
“……”
“If the word 'vessel' is difficult, think of it as an egg. We are the shell. The Origin is the content.”
“It wasn't difficult, you son of a bitch.”
She understood perfectly.
What determined the limit was not the Sun, but Harad.
“You said only a Predator knows the limit of the shell.”
“Yes.”
“But you'd have a rough idea, right? Like, he's going to go crazy soon.”
“Yes.”
Ellen's eyes shone.
“A vessel that lasts long usually doesn't match the Origin.”
Usually, a mage's personality follows their Origin.
A Predator should not be like that.
“You have to rebel against your Origin. That's how the vessel grows. Like me.”
The bastard grinned broadly.
Despite being a shadow, he was bright.
“The vessel of the Sun will last longer than mine.”
It was the guarantee of a madman.
But Ellen felt a sense of relief.
That madman was surprisingly sharp.
“He is great. I'm envious.”
“That's a given.”
“But I don't know if he can overcome it.”
“You son of a bitch?”
“To last longer, longer, you have to endure more.”
He was right.
Harad was not like fire, but sometimes he acted like fire.
“Can I go now?”
The bastard smiled, looking for a sign.
“Why did you follow Harad?”
“I wanted to see him.”
The bastard answered like someone who had fallen in love at first sight.
“What are you going to do when you see him? Kill him?”
If he said yes, she would kill him now.
“Why would I kill him? It's good just to see him.”
“……”
Ellen looked at the bastard with an indescribable expression.
Her feelings became complicated. Of course, it was no reason not to kill him.
“Have you ever eaten a person?”
“I'm not crazy.”
“You eat the hearts of mages.”
“I don't eat Seekers.”
It meant he only eats the hearts of fellow Predators.
“So I was hungry. There aren't many Predators.”
The bastard had suddenly intruded and stolen and eaten the magical beast's heart.
“Why don't you eat Seekers.”
“They're dazzling.”
“……What?”
“You can't touch them. I don't want to defile them.”
In that moment, the bastard was not a madman.
He was a mage who respected mages who had overcome the desire for predation.
Perhaps he was envious.
“Whether they're a coward, a dullard, or an endurer, all Seekers deserve to be cheered on.”
The bastard answered, his eyes shining like a pure child.
Ellen unconsciously lowered her sword. Her will to kill plummeted.
“Can I go now?”
“……Just this once. If I see you again, I'll kill you.”
“But I want to see you.”
“Endure it.”
“Okay.”
The bastard looked disappointed but smiled brightly.
Now that she looked, he seemed younger than she thought.
“But why aren't you letting go?”
The bastard struggled.
It was because Ellen hadn't let go of his wrist.
“I smell blood.”
At that, the bastard flinched.
“You have it, don't you, a heart?”
“……It's mine.”
“Hand it over.”
“But I have to fix my wrist too.”
“……”
“I'll give it to you.”
The bastard, with a crumpled face, rummaged through his shadow like a pocket. He took out a warm heart.
“I'm Jis. Cursed Jis.”
“Cursed?”
“Yes.”
Ellen had already let go of his wrist.
Jis plunged into the shadow. He flowed up the outer wall to the roof, and soon disappeared.
* * *
“So you took this heart? From the shadow?”
“His name is Jis.”
Ellen looked somewhat proud.
“To overcome it, you have to become a 6th Rank. To do that, you have to eat hearts.”
She summarized her meeting with the shadow mage that way.
It wasn't a particularly surprising conversation.
The meeting was what was surprising.
‘Seeker and Predator.’
The heart addicts seemed to refer to the existence of mages in a rather grand way.
The expression was different, but it was a story Harad mostly knew.
Harad looked at the heart Ellen held out and swallowed his drool.
‘This is ‘not going crazy’. That's an accurate expression.’
Certainly.
This intense desire cannot be seen as crazy.
A mage's madness meant having the role of the vessel taken away by the Origin.
“Eat it for now.”
“……”
“Eat it quickly and become a 6th Rank.”
What should he say to this?
“Th-the shadow!”
“I can explain everything, Anton.”
Harad first tried to calm Anton down.
“Hiiik!”
It was the night two days before the Scouter was to visit.