novelraw Chapter 169 : Chapter 169
Chapter 169 : Chapter 169
Chapter 169: Dreamlike Place (1)
‘Nothing comes out even if I scratch.’
Usually, if I scratch that much, something is bound to come out.
Unlike Elaine, Grand Duke Aratus is trickier than expected.
Surprisingly cautious, and meticulous.
Although he was the ruler of the North, inside him lies a snake no less capable than a mage.
That is Grand Duke Aratus.
‘And yet he smashed the Imperial Palace? Is that a temperament that developed after smashing it?’
However, it wasn’t that I gained nothing.
Do not take mages.
You may take knights.
The Grand Duke said so.
It meant he didn’t care about the Imperial Order.
That is not all.
‘If that were the case, he would have only mentioned knights.’
Do not take mages.
The Grand Duke said that first. It was the answer to Harad’s question asking if there was any advice.
‘A place disadvantageous to mages and advantageous to knights.’
The Grand Duke gave such advice.
‘It must be true.’
In his youth, Grand Duke Aratus freely roamed the boundary.
Furthermore, he had the Sage of the Otherworld as a friend.
A dreamlike place.
It was clear the Grand Duke knew that place.
‘You are none of my business. That must have been just something he said.’
Harad was ultimately a mage too.
If it is disadvantageous to mages, he is bound to be at a disadvantage as well.
“So Kubel, you cannot go. His Highness the Grand Duke forbade it.”
Kubel had a disappointed face.
It seemed he wanted to go to the boundary.
Precisely, he must have wanted to be of help to Harad and Ellen.
“Do not be disappointed. There are plenty of days left to go in the future. You might get tired of it later.”
“I hope so.”
It was decided that only Harad and Ellen would go to the boundary.
Including the Magical Beast, it was three. The Fireball was useful in many ways.
“By the way, where is Lady Ellen?”
“She is waiting in front of the tunnel.”
Why didn’t she go together?
Kubel asked with his eyes.
“We are currently keeping a distance.”
Harad shrugged his shoulders.
Ellen was still sulking.
‘Just over boobs.’
How old is she.
‘Ah. That side is still young.’
Then is it worth sulking over?
* * *
He had grasped all the approximate locations of the tunnel exits.
It was the result of combining the scenery told by Masker Isotta and Tunnel-Digger Rick with the map in his head.
There might be errors, but they wouldn’t be that big.
Coincidentally, the tunnel exit locations are generally safe.
Safe zones in the boundary are quite rare.
There can’t be many overlapping places.
The tunnel they would use this time was in the basement of a fabric store.
It was a place not strange for asylum seekers who just came to the North to visit abruptly.
Since they have to tailor new clothes fitting for the North once they arrive.
It was a fabric store originally operated by a broker.
Since Arika wiped them all out, the fabric store should have been empty.
“Welcome!”
But the fabric store was still operating.
Harad stared intently at the middle-aged woman who appeared to be the owner.
“Ah. Are you from that side?”
“What do you mean. My party is over there.”
The woman smiled and pointed to the back.
I never said I had a party.
As expected, she was an Intelligence Bureau agent.
‘They increased the numbers.’
Some Intelligence Bureau agents returned to Serzila.
It must be Arika’s request.
‘We can’t keep leaving it to the Knights.’
Sharing the work saves the Intelligence Bureau’s face too.
In fact, the tunnel is close to the Intelligence Bureau’s blunder.
‘And thinking knights only need to be good at fighting.’
Well, it wasn’t wrong.
For a knight, nothing is more important than being strong.
If equally strong, it’s just a problem that other factors create differences.
“By any chance, when are you free?”
“Sorry, I prefer same age.”
“Shall I convey that to the higher-ups?”
Higher-ups.
She means the Intelligence Bureau Director.
It seemed the Director’s influence was strong in deploying agents to the tunnel.
“Tell him I am free anytime.”
“Ho.”
“Ah. But I have no intention of leaving the North. Since it hasn’t been long since I returned.”
“You are arrogant, you know.”
If you want to see me, come yourself.
The woman snorted.
Harad did too.
‘Arrogant.’
The arrogant one was the Intelligence Bureau.
It shouldn’t be like that.
The only one allowed to be arrogant is Serzila. No, precisely, only Elaine.
“At best, aren’t you just a hunting dog?”
The woman spoke while looking at the back.
“That is true.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Everyone can be compared to dogs.
Knights are dogs guarding the wall, Harad is a dog going out to the boundary.
And the woman in front of him was a dog biting information.
“You are here because I hunted.”
“…….”
“So the Intelligence Bureau was less embarrassed.”
The woman bit her lip.
“Well, I won’t ask for a reward. Since I already received it from His Highness the Grand Duke.”
Harad tapped her shoulder and passed by.
Looking closely at the floor of the back room, a groove was dug.
Harad opened it as it was and went down to the basement.
The passage resembling an anthill was surprisingly long.
It was the result imbued with Tunnel-Digger Rick’s blood, sweat, and tears.
How long did he walk?
A faint light was visible beyond the dark path. It was the Fireball.
In front of the tunnel, Ellen was stroking the Fireball’s forehead with her index finger.
The gesture was gentle, but her expression was quite cold.
“Ugh.”
As soon as their eyes met, Harad closed his eyes tight and covered his front with his hand.
“Why.”
“You were so pretty I almost went blind.”
“…….”
There was no answer.
Still, Harad lowered the hand covering his eyes after a long time.
Ellen’s cold expression became strange. It felt like it went down a notch.
“Ugh.”
“You can stop.”
When Harad tried to close his eyes tight and cover them with his hand again, Ellen stopped him.
The strange expression became slightly soft.
“I’m not angry.”
“Really?”
“No.”
“…….”
She was angry. But she just cooled down.
Ellen was smiling silly.
‘Easy.’
It was when Harad was relieved.
“So how was it?”
“What?”
“Was it good?”
“……I don’t remember.”
“So it was good?”
Cold sweat broke out.
* * *
Fortunately, the anger that cooled down once didn’t return.
“What can I do, it already happened.”
Surprisingly, Ellen was cool about it.
“It’s not like I can say anything.”
“You can say something though.”
“Really?”
“…….”
“Don’t worry, I won’t ask. Since you’re going to say it’s a secret anyway.”
“That is true.”
Harad nodded.
Even if he wanted to say more, he couldn’t.
If he did, the constraint of regression would burst his heart.
“Just wait a little, I will find out everything. I will interrogate you again then.”
“Reasonable.”
“I can do that, right?”
“As much as you want.”
Harad answered promptly.
Unintentionally, he nurtured Ellen’s motivation further.
“Sorry about just now. I will apologize instead.”
“For what?”
Harad tilted his head.
“Jane, I mean, the one upstairs.”
Ellen pointed upwards with her finger.
Jane was the name of the agent acting as the fabric store owner.
“You heard that?”
“It’s not that far.”
Harad stared intently up at the ceiling.
‘It seems far though.’
Ellen eavesdropped on the conversation between Harad and Jane on the ground from this deep underground.
‘Beyond expectation.’
Ellen was growing faster than Harad expected.
It must be thanks to hearing the interpretation of Innate Strength through dreams.
Grand Duke Elaine’s explanation was abstruse to Harad, but it seemed to be perfectly tailored education for Ellen.
“Sorry. It’s because the Intelligence Bureau doesn’t know you well yet.”
“Well, that much. It is fine.”
Harad answered nonchalantly.
The Harad who was hurt by such words died a long time ago.
“For that, you spoke quite scarily though?”
Scarily.
“I held back.”
“That was holding back?”
“The Intelligence Bureau deserves some insults.”
Because they couldn’t find the tunnel in the previous life.
Is it just the tunnel?
All the Intelligence Bureau’s nerves were concentrated on the continent.
‘Excluding the Otherworld.’
The Intelligence Bureau of that time was arrogant without knowing its place.
It was due to complacency caused by long silence.
“……You are talking to me, right?”
“Hmm? You are excluded.”
“Why?”
“You are a parachute (nepotism hire).”
“…….”
Ellen was innocent.
She had to be arrogant.
“It can’t be helped, different people are good at different things.”
“What am I good at?”
“Fighting well.”
“And?”
Harad was speechless for a moment.
“End?”
“That cannot be.”
What was she good at besides fighting?
“Eating well?”
“…….”
It was a wrong answer.
“Being good to me. I like that the best.”
“…….”
Done.
* * *
“It’s a bit decent now?”
“Indeed.”
Harad nodded at the voice heard from behind.
Certainly.
This was the most pleasant tunnel among those utilized so far.
It doesn’t mean this tunnel is special.
It was thanks to Tunnel-Digger Rick finishing the tunnel expansion construction while Harad and Ellen were on the continent.
“Quite pleasant.”
Originally, it was a passage where the body fit tightly, but now one could pass below the chest.
If desired, one could rotate the body.
It was because the standard for the passage size was set to Kubel.
Harad stroked the Moon’s crystal ball put in his bosom.
‘No reaction.’
Last time, contact came when he was at the tunnel entrance.
But now, it was quiet even though he was crawling through the tunnel for a while.
‘Either they haven’t fully grasped me. Or they have no advice to give this time.’
The latter possibility was higher.
‘They already warned once.’
It means they know Harad.
I don’t know how much they know though.
‘How did they know.’
He thought he moved quite secretly in the meantime.
That is not just Harad’s thought.
Burning the Watchtower was caught, but the mage named Harad hasn’t been caught yet.
‘But the Moon Tower knows I am in Serzila.’
Originally, the crystal ball belonged to Cassion.
The Moon Tower sent a warning to Harad through that.
‘They also know I burned the Watchtower.’
Aquins went down.
That advice is something they couldn’t give if they didn’t know the fact that Harad burned the Watchtower.
‘But they didn’t share that information with other Magic Towers.’
Avery Aquins came down to find the mage who burned the Watchtower.
But that guy didn’t recognize Harad.
He realized only after Harad manifested magic.
‘To protect me?’
It could be. But it might not be.
‘Aroshu got to know me thanks to the Sage called Elder.’
That is information leaked by Grand Duke Aratus.
It means the Moon Tower didn’t share information even with the Red Tower.
‘If protection was the purpose, shouldn’t they have shared it?’
There wouldn’t be a place as desperate as the Red Tower.
‘Because they didn’t know my Origin is the sun? No. Stars are also precious Origins.’
Aroshu mistook Harad for a star.
Burning the Watchtower holds great meaning to the Red Tower.
‘It contradicts from the start. They warned me because I am important. But they don’t tell the Red Tower.’
Something smelled fishy.
However, there was no need to know right away.
‘The Otherworld’s business is none of my business anyway.’
At least this crystal ball was helpful to Harad.
It will likely continue to be so.
I don’t know what they will babble, but the judgment will be up to Harad who listens.
For Harad, that was enough.
The regressed him was confident in bending many things in a better direction.
Thud.
“Hmm?”
Harad tilted his head at the impact touching his head.
“Why?”
Ellen, crawling behind Harad, asked.
The Fireball was behind her.
“The road is blocked.”
The tunnel was cut off.
“Did we not arrive?”
“It seems…… It’s true.”
His hand stretched straight up.
It was indeed the end of the tunnel. Just that he didn’t notice because outside was so pitch black.
“You said it was originally a dark place.”
I heard so.
That the exit is an area darker than night.
“I can’t see even with my eyes.”
Harad was usually free in the darkness. It is because his Origin is the sun.
But now, he couldn’t see beyond that, which was clearly outside.
He couldn’t feel anything either.
Even the unique chill of the boundary.
Harad snapped his fingers.
A fire rose like a match flame and flickered.
‘Not Asura.’
Asura’s darkness absorbed fire.
The darkness beyond there is not due to Asura.
It must be the unique environment of the area.
Not being able to brighten the darkness was Harad’s fault, not the sun’s.
It means his Rank is too low to brighten this area.
Harad extinguished the fire and raised his body.
He climbed onto the ground, but only pitch-black darkness was visible.
It seemed impossible to see without manifesting magic.
“Be careful. It is dark.”
“For me, well…… I really can’t see?”
Ellen, who followed up, spoke with a surprised voice.
Her face was not visible.
-Squeak!
“Wait.”
Harad showed his palm to the Fireball trying to come up to restrain it.
It is an area filled with darkness.
Whatever the cause of alteration, this area must have been tamed by darkness for a long time.
Sudden light was dangerous.
If it had to be done, Harad, stronger than the Fireball, should attempt it.
Clack. A small sound was made.
The sound of Ellen gripping her sword handle, noticing Harad’s intention.
Harad exhaled once and manifested magic. Crimson Flames.
Sticky fire bloomed on Harad’s hand.
The surroundings brightened. No, it was too narrow to call surroundings.
It was barely enough to faintly see Ellen’s face standing next to him.
The fire was showing the darkness.
No, it looked like the darkness was embracing the fire.
It was then that the darkness wriggled.
Only then did Harad realize it wasn’t simple darkness.
Eyes sprouted in the darkness.
Everywhere visible in the darkness was like that.
Hundreds and thousands of pairs of eyes chattered toward the fire.