novelraw Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171: Dreamlike Place (3)
The left leg made of iron.
Facing him up close, that unique leg felt distinct.
‘As expected, it is magic.’
He replaced his left leg with magic.
He must have lost his original leg or cut it off and attached this one because it became useless.
It might be surprising to Elaine, but for the regressed Harad, it was not.
He had seen them often in his past life. They were the ironmongers of the Otherworld.
‘It is exceptionally colder here. That must be why it suddenly broke down.’
It was so cold that the iron stiffened, and the knee would not extend.
It was a vague story, and it could be solved by injecting more mana.
But the man did not do that.
It meant he did not have much mana left.
The Boundary was a land where mana was consumed just by staying still.
“I introduced myself.”
“Ah.”
Only when Harad spoke and dispelled the fire did the man open his mouth.
He had a very regretful look in his eyes. It meant he needed the fire.
“Did you say Red Tower?”
Harad nodded.
“What about robes? Unless you are heading south, wearing a robe is mandatory in the Boundary.”
The man was suspicious.
‘Suspecting a mage.’
If one met a mage in the Boundary, they naturally thought of the Otherworld.
At least, the Harad of the past life did.
‘Knowing about the village changes the judgment as well.’
If he knew about the existence of the village, he would have suspected that side too.
Like the mage before his eyes.
That man knows about the existence of the village.
“I lost it on the way here, like your leg.”
Harad pointed to the man’s iron leg.
The man stared at Harad for a moment, then nodded slightly.
“Tower of Meteoric Iron, 4th Rank Mirenz.”
The man only did half an introduction.
He did not reveal his Origin.
‘Because I introduced myself like that first?’
It meant Harad had only shown half the courtesy first.
However, that did not seem to be the only reason.
‘He is wary.’
Mirenz was still standing on one leg.
He looked ready to move at any moment.
“Sit down for now.”
“This is the Path of Meteoric Iron. What is your business?”
“What meaning does a path have to the Red Tower?”
To the Red Tower, the Boundary itself was no different from a path.
Aroshu of the Bonfire had said that once.
“State your business.”
Mirenz seemed to accept that.
“We were searching for the Star.”
“We?”
Mirenz reacted to ‘we’ rather than the Star.
The fire that burned the Watchtower.
It meant the Otherworld recognized that target as the Star.
‘As expected, he does not know I burned it.’
Mirenz had already accepted Harad as a member of the Red Tower.
“I have a companion. I had them stay back for a moment. I think they can come out now.”
When Harad spoke to the space behind him, Elaine, who had been behind a giant cactus, walked out.
Her lips were moving as she came out; it seemed she was talking to the Fireball.
“Red Tower 3rd Rank, Elaine.”
Elaine introduced herself exactly like Harad.
It seemed she had eavesdropped on the conversation while hiding.
“Elaine of the Red Tower.”
Elaine did not have a robe either.
Mirenz accepted her as Red Tower without asking.
If it was a honey trap, it seemed like a honey trap.
The standard of beauty was similar whether in the continent or the Otherworld.
Mirenz, who had gone blank upon seeing Elaine’s face, blinked to regain his senses and spoke.
“To be accompanied by fellow 3rd Ranks, the Red Tower must be in a great hurry too.”
“Is there anyone who does not know that?”
Harad accepted it with a gloomy face.
‘Other towers must usually send 4th Ranks when stepping into the Boundary.’
Harad recalled the Sanctuary of Fire.
Herbis, who was there, was a 3rd Rank mage.
The Red Tower fundamentally lacked mages.
‘Since they are searching for the prophecy too, there must be even fewer.’
Presumably, the strong ones like the Torch would mostly be in the continent.
‘The Red Tower has staked its life on the prophecy. Perhaps they might return sooner or later.’
Since it became known that the Star was in the Boundary.
The Star points to the King.
If they just find the Star, the search for the prophecy will become much easier.
“Warm up your body for now.”
Harad created a bonfire in front of Mirenz.
“Thank you.”
Mirenz looked at Harad with strange eyes, then moved his iron leg close to the bonfire.
“What is your business? We told you ours.”
“Does one need business to walk the path of the Boundary? We are merely trying to find out what we want to know.”
It was true.
To the Otherworld, the Boundary was a realm of exploration.
“Didn’t you ask me?”
“……Because we met on our Path of Meteoric Iron.”
Mirenz hesitated before speaking.
It made sense.
Aroshu said only the Red Tower was free in the Boundary, but other towers might feel it as an intrusion.
Since it must be a path connected with difficulty over a long time.
“Where are your companions?”
“Companions?”
“The magical beasts nearby were cleared out. It is impossible for you alone…… Ah. Do not take it unpleasantly, I am speaking from an objective perspective.”
“……If you mean my colleagues, they departed first.”
Leaving a 4th Rank mage behind as if abandoning him?
“There must be something urgent.”
“…….”
Mirenz did not answer.
It meant it was the business of Meteoric Iron.
“Where were you heading?”
“I cannot say. Understand that.”
“I can help.”
“It is already enough.”
Mirenz was a mage with a heavy mouth.
Despite that, he was warming himself well by the fire. CREAK. The iron knee began to bend little by little, making a sound.
“As I said, we are looking for the Star. Have you seen or heard anything? Even something trivial is fine.”
Harad changed the subject.
“I am sorry, but no.”
Mirenz shook his head.
At that moment, Harad met Elaine’s eyes.
Elaine looked down at Mirenz and tilted her head.
It seemed to mean let’s kill him.
A mage of the Otherworld. Mirenz was a clear enemy.
But Harad shook his head.
In his past life, the mage who vomited out the location of the Dreamlike Place after interrogation belonged to the Tower of Meteoric Iron.
And this time, he met a mage from the Tower of Meteoric Iron on the way to the Dreamlike Place.
‘Is it a coincidence?’
It could not be.
That is a word one should not expect in the Boundary.
“Then it cannot be helped. It was nice meeting you.”
“Where are you going?”
“We intend to go to the Dreamlike Place. For the Star might be there.”
Harad finished speaking and pulled Elaine’s arm.
Just as they were about to enter the forest.
“Wait.”
Mirenz jumped up.
Thanks to the bonfire, his iron knee was fully extended.
“What a coincidence. I was just about to go there too.”
As expected.
* * *
“You say the Star might be in the Dreamlike Place?”
“Because the Star is from the continent. It would not be strange for Him to be in the village of exiles.”
“And?”
“And? Is there anything else? The only thing important to the Red Tower is the whereabouts of the Star and the King.”
“……I mean the disposal of the village.”
“Ah. You mean the exiles. Of course, we must clean them up.”
Harad snorted as if asking why he was saying such obvious things.
“It is a place where those who do not know their place and rejected Paradise, or insignificant ones, live.”
Alena and Balbebron were the biggest examples.
Mages, or those who had mages as family.
It must be a village for such people.
“They have no value in being alive.”
Harad spoke as arrogantly as possible.
It was quite an easy task. The Harad of the past life had been beside the most arrogant person in the world.
“Is it possible?”
Mirenz spoke while looking at Harad and Elaine.
3rd Ranks? It was that kind of nuance.
“Or do you have follow-up personnel?”
Mirenz asked consecutively.
“Regrettably, we do not. We will try with just the two of us, and if we deem it impossible, we will retreat. If we think the Star is there, we plan to call for backup then.”
“I see.”
The lush forest amidst the blizzard was safer than expected.
Perhaps it had become safe because of Mirenz’s colleagues who went ahead.
It was a safe forest, yet Mirenz’s steps kept slowing down.
Just moments ago they were walking side by side, but before long he lagged behind. He was about five steps away.
“I am sorry. It is not moving well yet.”
“Will you be alright? We can rest.”
“No. I will follow. I do not want to hold you back.”
Mirenz walked behind Harad and Elaine.
“So, what business did you have there?”
To hear a secret, one had to reveal their own secret first.
Harad had just revealed a nonexistent secret.
“……It is the same reason. I volunteered to stay behind because I did not want to hold them back.”
Perhaps because of that, Mirenz opened his mouth.
“There must be something truly urgent, in the Dreamlike Place.”
“That is correct.”
“Do you happen to know where it is?”
“I do not.”
Is it the truth, or a lie?
‘It must be the truth.’
In the past life, the Tower of Meteoric Iron identifies the location of the Dreamlike Place only eight years later.
The Dreamlike Place, and the village built there, will be intact at least until then.
It means Meteoric Iron’s plan this time will fail.
Although he did not know what they were aiming for so urgently.
‘The village is not the objective.’
If it were, he would have agreed with the words about cleaning up the village.
“Can you tell me the objective?”
“I am sorry.”
The tight-lipped Mirenz did not tell him that far.
‘Is it iron-like because it is iron?’
Well.
The Tower of Meteoric Iron Harad remembered was heavy or hearty. There were many who laughed disgustingly on the battlefield.
“Then your objective right now is not the Dreamlike Place, but the location of the group searching for it.”
“That is correct.”
“Then we should part ways here.”
Harad said as he turned around in front of the forest exit.
His finger was pointing at the ground.
To be precise, it was a mark deeply gouged as if a heavy stone had rolled over it.
He might not know the Path of Meteoric Iron, but he had found the trace of iron.
“Wouldn’t it be better to go with me? It is a dangerous place for two 3rd Ranks.”
Mirenz spoke as if worried.
To Harad’s ears, it sounded like he wanted to drag them along.
“Still, we must go, for the Star might be there.”
The Red Tower mages he had met so far were all eccentrics. They were also single-minded people who only looked at the King.
Harad acted like that fire.
“You are stubborn.”
“Because I am fire.”
Beside him, Elaine nodded slightly.
“Do you know the location of the Dreamlike Place?”
Mirenz asked quietly.
“I do.”
“What?”
Mirenz’s eyes widened.
“It is the Red Tower. The one most free in the Boundary, and having accumulated the most vast knowledge.”
Harad spoke boastfully like Aroshu.
“……You knew the location?”
Mirenz had a look of distrust for some reason.
“Then why did you stay quiet?”
“Where is the leisure to touch it? We are busy looking for the King.”
“…….”
Mirenz’s face became serious.
Only then did Harad realize something did not match up.
The Dreamlike Place.
There is not just a village there.
The Tower of Meteoric Iron has a separate objective.
“……I see. I understand.”
Mirenz soon relaxed his expression and nodded.
“It is a pity, but this must be it.”
“I can share the location with you.”
“No. It is fine. Our Meteoric Iron will find out before long too.”
Before long.
According to the past life, it takes eight years.
“It was nice meeting you. Harad, Elaine of the Red Tower. I will not forget. I will repay the debt in Paradise.”
Mirenz tapped the knee of his iron leg and reached out his hand.
It was when Harad clasped that hand.
A wind blew from the side.
A sword that intruded into the center of his vision slashed Mirenz’s arm.
“AAARGH!”
At the unexpected strike, Mirenz screamed.
THUD. From his dropped palm, an iron piece shaped like an awl shot up obliquely.
If they had clasped hands, his palm would have been pierced, and his neck stabbed.
“D-Deceived…….”
At that moment, Elaine’s sword was already moving.
Mirenz’s head, eyes wide open, flew through the air.
“…….”
Harad stared blankly at that sight.
It was not because Mirenz died in vain.
In fact, his death was practically foretold.
Harad, who hid his rank, was one thing, but Elaine was decisive.
That head that just fell on the snowy ground is the reason why a mage should not give distance to a knight.
Usually, the sword is faster than magic.
“How was it?”
Elaine, who shook off the blood by swinging her sword in the air, asked as she approached.
“You feel embarrassed, right?”
“…….”
“I got angry on your behalf.”
I wasn't angry.
‘I knew it.’
He expected it and sensed it.
In his head, the response was already finished.
He had decided on the questions too.
What does the Tower of Meteoric Iron want in the Dreamlike Place?
He intended to interrogate him about that.
……Elaine was just a little faster than that.
“I did well, right?”
Elaine smiled brightly.
She turned around as if asking for praise and presented her neck.
“……You did well.”
Harad had no choice but to gently scratch the back of her neck.
“Heh.”
Elaine liked it.
“Do not do that from next time. We should have interrogated him.”
Harad targeted that opening and spoke.
It was praiseworthy, but it needed to be fixed.
“You almost got hurt.”
“I would not have gotten hurt.”
He had magic, and he had the steel ring.
“Is it that important? Interrogation.”
“It is not that important.”
Since it would be a matter of eight years later anyway.
“Then just absorb that heart.”
“…….”
Did I raise her too leniently?
“Still, I will try. Give me a signal.”
“Signal?”
“Yes. Anything. But this time, there was no leeway for that. You were in danger. Ah, right there. Heh.”
“…….”
Harad could not say anything more.
How could he?
Elaine only did it for Harad.
‘She says she will try.’
Then that is enough.
* * *
‘I did not get caught this time.’
It was worthwhile if one considered it the worth of regression.
This time, he hid his identity well until the end.
But Mirenz tried to attack.
‘I was not caught.’
It meant Mirenz attacked Harad of the Red Tower.
‘I helped him, yet.’
Why did he attack?
‘The Dreamlike Place. There is something the Tower of Meteoric Iron wants there.’
He did not want that to be discovered.
‘By the Red Tower? Or by the Otherworld?’
Whichever side it was, it meant it was classified.
‘Just what is there?’
He would know once he went there.
Or find the member of the Tower of Meteoric Iron who abandoned Mirenz.
Choosing the former is correct.
It was the original goal, and there was no reason to go around in circles. Moreover, knowing what Meteoric Iron’s combat power was like.
‘Eight years.’
It takes another eight years for the Tower of Meteoric Iron to find the Dreamlike Place.
Their plan this time will fail.
But that was no reason to slow his steps.
Harad actually became faster. It was because of curiosity.
The dream, the village of exiles, the something the Tower of Meteoric Iron wants…… those things hastened his steps.
Leaving the forest, passing through a zone where poison rained down and poisonous mushrooms and insect beasts were spread out…….
‘The magical beasts increased.’
It meant the Tower of Meteoric Iron did not know the path.
‘Crocodile Rock. That must be it.’
They had just passed the Crocodile Rock, which was once a magical beast.
The ground is fluffy like clouds, and they are currently crossing a zone where one-eyed creatures the size of human heads bounce around on it.
It ends soon.
In other words, beyond that is the Dreamlike Place.
Harad created fire to chase away the distracting one-eyed creatures and stopped walking.
It was the point where the cloud ground ended.
“It is over there.”
His finger pointed straight ahead.
If one took just one more step from here, it was the Dreamlike Place.
“It looks ordinary on the outside?”
“I think so too.”
Harad nodded.
The new area unfolding before their eyes looked like an ordinary field.
No, rather than ordinary, it is beautiful.
A deep blue sky without a single cloud, a field grown to a uniform height as if managed…… It was a spectacle one would see in a painting.
“It is dreamlike.”
To think such a place exists in the Boundary.
Harad felt he could vaguely understand the meaning of the Dreamlike Place.
In the field, the unique chill and wind of the Boundary were not felt either.
“I do not see a village.”
It was a clear field where one could see to the end.
Far from a village, not even a trace of humans was visible.
‘Is the information wrong?’
It could be, or it might not be.
Being dreamlike might not refer to that field.
‘Do we have to go in to know?’
It is a bizarre Boundary.
Even if it looks like a field on the outside, there is always a possibility it changes once inside.
Suddenly, Elaine threw a stone from the side.
Though called a stone, in reality, it was a rock.
It was only fluffy like a cloud; it was not weightless.
Rather, like the Boundary, it was heavier than an original rock.
The squishy yet heavy rock bounced across the field and stopped.
That was all. No abnormalities were seen.
The liveliness of the crushed grass was also extremely realistic.
“In the end, we have to go in to know.”
Harad shoved the possibility that the information might be wrong into a corner.
That was a problem to deal with after exploring that zone.
As long as there was no other path, they had to walk the path they were walking.
They had to assume that field was the Dreamlike Place.
“Fireball.”
-PEEP!
The Fireball, which had been stopped in the air, flew quickly and nestled in his arms.
Harad made the Fireball’s legs tightly grip the pommel of Serzila’s heirloom sword, Pater.
“Do not lose this.”
-PEEP! PEEP!
As if to say it would keep it in mind, the Fireball cried twice.
“Ah. Bite this too.”
It has wings. It was a clear advantage.
Harad wedged the Moon’s Communication Sphere between the Fireball’s beak.
“You must not lose it. Both of them.”
Harad emphasized by tapping the Fireball’s beak and legs.
PEEP! The Fireball opened its eyes wide and nodded.
“Elaine, be careful too. There is no harm in being cautious.”
“Is that the end of your advice?”
“I do not know well, but they say it is advantageous for knights.”
Right, Grand Duke Aratus said such words.
Disadvantageous to mages, advantageous to knights.
Such a land cannot simply be a field.
“I will protect you.”
Elaine drew her sword and stood next to Harad.
“If you are scared, shall I hold your hand too?”
“That is fine. It is only uncomfortable.”
“…….”
Elaine clicked her tongue.
Harad stepped toward the field without delay.
Then, the Fireball that was sitting on the pommel disappeared.
Elaine, who was beside him, was the same.
But Harad did not notice that fact.
……Grand Duke Elaine stood before his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
Reaching out a hand.
“Why aren’t you holding it quickly?”
While smiling brightly.