novelraw Chapter 166 : Chapter 166
Chapter 166 : Chapter 166
Chapter 166: Return (3)
Ellen’s left hand covered Shura’s eyes.
The knife thrown by her right hand lightly stuck into Cassion’s forehead. A single stream of blood traversed his face.
When Ellen removed her hand covering Shura’s eyes, Cassion pulled out the knife, wiped the blood with his hand, and grinned broadly.
“…….”
In Harad’s view, Cassion was also enjoying it.
Violence is also attention, perhaps. Better than indifference.
It was not entirely wrong.
It was gentle violence. If it were real, would only a single stream of blood flow?
However, it was clear to anyone that Ellen was displeased.
And that it was not because of Cassion.
‘It must be because of Imja.’
Ellen was conscious of Imja.
He did not feel the need to correct her.
Leaving it be would act as a stimulus, and in reality, regression was indeed a gift.
It might be a curse to someone, but at least to Harad, it was a gift.
‘Thanks to it, I am doing this.’
Being able to breathe the disappeared air of the North was also a privilege of the regressor.
From Harad’s perspective, it does not taste that great, but the Elaine of the previous life would envy it.
‘She noticed the constraint of regression. Precisely, it must be its presence, not the constraint itself.’
The Stone of Regression. Ellen noticed the presence of its effect.
He cannot know whether it is because Ellen became stronger or because the effect of regression became stronger.
But it was clear that it was a distinct achievement.
‘It seems like the former.’
If it were the latter, it would not have reacted against her.
The constraint attacked even Ellen.
It might mean it is still too early.
‘It is not yet the stage to interfere, but she forcibly intruded with power. Is it that kind of context?’
Harad thought so. He knew too little to deduce further.
The Stone of Regression belonged to Elaine.
The Harad of the previous life saw that magical item for the first time right before dying.
‘It does not seem bad.’
As long as it becomes a stimulus, whatever.
Ellen took Shura and went up to the second floor.
Her face was smiling, but her steps were quite murderous.
Harad laughed secretly.
That is all stimulus.
“By any chance…….”
“You bastard, what did you do.”
Kubel and Cassion whispered simultaneously.
“You are both wrong.”
Harad shook his head.
Kubel and Cassion did not take their eyes off him. It meant, then why is Ellen acting like that.
“Think of it as growing pains.”
Kubel smiled meaningfully, and Cassion nodded solemnly as if putting on airs.
“Growth is bound to be painful.”
“Do you know Duke?”
Harad ignored Cassion and asked Kubel.
“Do you mean the child of the Liberation Faction?”
“Correct. He is about the same age as Shura. I thought they could become friends.”
“Shura will probably like it too.”
Kubel answered immediately. He did not read Harad’s mood. Shura was popular in whichever alley she went.
“Where are you going?”
Kubel looked up at Harad who was getting up.
“I plan to go to the 1st Knights garrison too.”
There is a Magical Beast there that considers Harad like a parent.
* * *
As he stepped out of the Inner Fortress, Cassion followed.
“What.”
Precisely, Harad called him out with a glance. Harad extended his hand to the blunt Cassion.
“What.”
“Crystal ball. But why are you acting annoyed?”
“You tormented Lady Ellen.”
He was acting like a simple guy because Ellen would be listening. Even if he acts like that on the outside, Cassion was a mage.
While grumbling, he took out the crystal ball from his bosom and gave it to him.
It was the Moon Tower’s crystal ball. Before leaving for the continent, Harad had entrusted his to Cassion.
Originally, it belonged to Cassion. With that crystal ball, Harad had received contact from the Moon Tower.
“Did it ever activate?”
“No.”
“Coincidental. Is it because they knew I was gone, or is it a coincidence.”
“The probability of it being a coincidence is high.”
Cassion spoke like a mage. Harad also agreed. Aquins went down. This crystal ball activated only once.
“If I take it when entering the boundary this time, I will know.”
If the crystal ball activates then too, it means the Moon Tower has grasped Harad’s existence.
“Still, it might not activate.”
“I know. If there is nothing to warn about, they will be quiet.”
Even if they grasp it, it might not activate. The reason it activated last time was to warn Harad about the Star of the Deep Sea.
The Otherworld. Or if the Magic Tower did not show any particular reaction, there is no reason for the crystal ball to activate.
“But were you still not caught?”
Harad spoke to the spy Cassion. He was a double agent.
“I was not caught.”
“Orders?”
“None have come down since the Watchtower.”
It means he was neglected.
‘As soon as he was caught.’ The timing was coincidental.
‘Did they realize he was turned?’
It does not seem like it. An Otherworld mage could be hiding in Serzila. But not in the Inner Fortress. There would be no mage monitoring Cassion.
“Were you abandoned?”
“I was not abandoned.”
“Do you want to be?”
“I was abandoned.”
Either he is no longer needed, or the objective has been achieved.
“My final objective was surveillance of His Highness the Grand Duke.”
“There is also backstabbing.”
“…….”
The Moon Tower had wanted Cassion to rise to the position of Grand Duke Aratus’s guard.
‘Not Serzila, but the Grand Duke.’ It was proof that just as Grand Duke Aratus is, the Moon Tower is also greatly conscious of the Grand Duke.
“That objective might not be everything.”
“Then?”
“How would I know that, you are the spy.”
“…….”
“Ah.”
Harad added as if he just remembered.
“1st Knights Commander Toremot seemed to have noticed you are a mage.”
Toremot’s intuition was astounding. However, no matter how good the intuition is, if the head is bad, it cannot be utilized.
“I was already guessing so too.”
As expected, Cassion did not seem very surprised.
“The North has surprisingly sharp corners.”
Not Toremot, but the North. Harad let out a hollow laugh.
“I think so too.”
Harad walked toward the north with those final words.
Cassion watched Harad’s back, then raised his gaze.
Above the Inner Fortress wall, an exceptionally dark shadow was stuck between the angular stones.
“Was that place originally like that?”
Cassion observed quietly, then entered Kubel’s annex. He felt nothing, and soothing Ellen’s mood was the priority.
* * *
There are smart knights.
Perhaps more than I thought.
In the previous life, he only thought vaguely.
At that time, he neither liked nor missed the North. He was just beside Elaine who loved the North.
So it was not important.
How the knights lived had nothing to do with Harad.
‘Thinking about it now, it makes no sense.’
If they were stupid, they would make mistakes.
But the Harad of the previous life never had his identity exposed.
If the North were truly stupid, that would be impossible.
‘It was like that with Seria too.’
He had met Gullen while traveling with Seria.
At that time, Harad was a bomb, and Seria was fire.
It was like fire being right next to the fuse.
But Gullen exchanged greetings with Seria very naturally.
Even though Harad, Serzila’s secret, was right next to her, he showed no signs at all.
‘If he were really stupid, that wouldn’t be possible.’
If Gullen were truly stupid, it would have shown somehow.
He would have flinched upon seeing Seria or glanced around nervously.
And that would have eventually pointed toward Harad.
‘Being born ignorant and choosing to be ignorant are different.’
The voice of the Elaine of the previous life came to mind again. Gullen distinguished when to be ignorant and when not to be.
‘Gullen was on the smarter side.’
The Gullen of the previous life became a Great Warrior. Before the North fell, he was a Sword Master comparable to Toremot.
The foundation was innate talent, but it cannot be denied that knowledge was with it.
Gullen himself admitted it. He realized his essence while acquiring knowledge of magic.
‘Gullen is an exception?’
That cannot be. There are plenty of exceptions.
There is no need to go as far as Pizarro of the 1st Knights or Kalinos who just became a Sword Master.
Aren’t the knights representing Serzila already like that?
‘Knights become stronger if they are simple. That is bullshit.’
That was as much bullshit as saying a mage’s essence is a mage.
The only one that bullshit works on is Elaine.
If a knight wants to achieve greatness, they must realize their essence. What they were born with, how their past life was, realizing what they pursue, and reflecting it on the mirror called Aura.
It is an act impossible for beasts.
It was possible only with intellect, and the more outstanding that intellect, the more advantageous.
Toremot. That strongest knight of the North might look like an ignoramus on the outside, but inside, he possessed the sharpest intuition.
The most traditional knight of the North and Mores Palaz is Elaine’s teacher. I have seen him teach. He is thoroughly calculative. He does not explain with things like ‘just swing roughly like this’, but instructs in detail down to the angle of the arm.
‘That is ignorant?’
Then how should the truly ignorant people hold their heads up?
The realm called Sword Master is not a realm one can reach by being ignorant.
‘Of course, there must be ignorant knights too.’
But the probability that there are knights hiding their smartness among the knight orders?
‘Surprisingly high.’
Thinking all knights are ignorant is prejudice.
It was truth, and also falsehood.
‘Simple but not stupid.’
Just as Elaine said. The North chooses to be ignorant. They want to become ignorant.
Because the history of the North was ignorant.
It was a kind of tradition and inertia. Knights follow that inertia.
Because that is the North.
‘……Crazy bastards.’
At that moment, someone shouted.
“Die!”
Harad stroked his chin while watching the giant double-bladed axe flying while tearing the atmosphere.
Crimson Flames, starting from his eyes and generated in the air, swelled stickily and caught the axe.
He intended to melt it, but the shape was quite familiar.
It was an axe with a lion head carved at the end of the handle, heavily reflecting the taste of the Great Warrior Gullen from the previous life.
“Eat it, Fireball!”
That young Gullen seemed to have the same taste. Squeak! The Fireball flew in and pecked at the Crimson Flames clinging to the axe.
“I fed you.”
Gullen bragged as he approached. The Fireball cried as if cheering. Their relationship seemed quite close.
“……What are you doing?”
“Feeding it. This guy seemed tired of Magical Beast hearts. Do not melt the axe. It is mine.”
He thought fire would come out if he attacked this side.
Harad let out a hollow laugh. If smart, smart; if ignorant, ignorant.
That duality was the North.
“Is that 4th Rank fire correct?”
“Correct.”
“Kuhuh.”
Gullen laughed with satisfaction.
Harad did not enjoy overconsumption. The fact that such a person manifested Crimson Flames meant he judged it difficult to block the thrown axe otherwise.
Gullen noticed that fact and was satisfied.
‘Anyone can see he is already not stupid.’
However, Gullen did not break.
“Your hair grew longer.”
Gullen’s head resembled a chestnut burr. Only 3 months ago, he was bald.
Harad recalled Toremot. If Gullen’s axe touched his body, Gullen decided to stop shaving his head.
“Hehe. It touched his neck.”
How long has it been since he held the axe. It was remarkable growth, and indeed a talent befitting a future Great Warrior.
“Gullen, you. How smart are you among the knights?”
“What?”
Gullen distorted his face.
Being called smart was an insult. He had to ask differently.
“How ignorant are you?”
“Among the 1st Knights?”
“No. Including everyone. Ah. Excluding martial power. Just the mindset.”
“Probably about average.”
Serzila’s knights.
At least half of them are not stupid. They are just choosing to be ignorant.
Of course, since Gullen’s words were the basis, he could not blindly trust it.
But for Harad, it was definitely welcome news.
‘Why did she say not to fix them?’
They can be fixed anytime. But the Elaine of the previous life said not to fix them. Saying they would break.
‘They won’t break.’
Why did she say such a thing.
He could not know right now.
Unless he asked the Elaine of the previous life directly.
So Harad put the certainty that knights are smarter than thought into a corner.
Since Elaine said no.
‘There must be a reason I do not know.’
If told to peel, I must peel. For now.
* * *
“Did it grow a bit?”
At those words, the Fireball spread its wings wide. The feather-like embers stood up strand by strand, but there was no particularly noticeable difference.
“I do not know well.”
-Squeeaak.
The Fireball lowered its wings as if depressed.
“Was it helpful?”
Harad asked Gullen while rubbing the Fireball’s forehead.
“If you have work to entrust in the future, entrust it to us. Or we can just raise it altogether.”
It was the highest praise.
The Fireball, despite being a Magical Beast, received recognition from the 1st Knights.
-Squeak!
The Fireball shook its wings and shone its eyes. He had promised a reward if it was helpful to the 1st Knights.
That clever fellow seemed to remember.
“I said I would give white fire.”
-Squeak!
“It was a lie.”
-Squeeaak……?
The Fireball tilted its head and became crestfallen.
That was all. It did not throw a tantrum or get angry.
It was a good fellow. Harad liked that obedient appearance.
“It is a joke.”
Harad focused while stroking the Fireball.
He tried to manifest white fire.
-Squeeaak!
But suddenly, the Fireball pecked his palm.
-Squeeaak! Squeeaak!
It sounded like it meant don’t do it. It was a clever fellow. It was clear it noticed that white fire was a burden to Harad.
“I am the priority?”
-Squeak!
The Fireball nodded.
It was the same context as when it tried to yield Aroshu’s heart once. To the Fireball, Harad was the most important.
“Then I will give it later. Is there anything you want now? Crimson Flames?”
-Squeeaak.
The Fireball abruptly burrowed into Harad’s arms.
It seemed to want that right now. It was still an age to miss its mother’s embrace.
* * *
Harad put the Fireball into the Magical Beast bundle he brought in advance and went straight down the garrison.
Gullen pretended not to be, but was disappointed asking if he was leaving already, but Harad couldn’t help it.
He could meet the 1st Knights anytime, but days he could give stimulus to Ellen were rare.
‘Empty-handed is a bit.’
Ellen would still be displeased.
He needed to disperse her attention.
Harad released the Fireball in the tunnel he would use in a few days and sought out the Liberation Faction.
“Brother? Why did you come again?”
“I am going to see Shura, shall we go together?”
“Were we not seeing her tomorrow?”
“I thought today would be fine too.”
Duke nodded readily.
Harad held Duke’s hand and entered the Inner Fortress.
“Wow. Shura lives here?”
“She does.”
“Brother too?”
“Correct.”
Duke looked around the inside of the Inner Fortress here and there with sparkling eyes. That was all. There were no signs of envy.
The continental mage Duke knew his situation well. Thus, he was mature and simple.
“It is Serzila Sister!”
Duke shouted. In front of Kubel’s annex, Ellen was waiting with her arms crossed.
“……Why did you bring Duke?”
Her gaze was unusual, but upon discovering Duke, it relaxed slightly.
“To introduce him to Shura.”
“We agreed to do it tomorrow.”
“I thought today would be good too. Is it not allowed?”
Ellen took a deep breath and spoke.
“……It is allowed. Since Shura will like it too.”
It was as expected. The North liked children, and Ellen was even more so. In other words, children were her weakness.
“But you, talk with me for a bit.”
“……Hmm.”
I did not expect this.