novelraw Chapter 183 : Chapter 183
Chapter 183 : Chapter 183
Chapter 183: Greed
Predation. Embers. Fireball. The smoke of the Watchtower and the King’s Magical Item pointed by its end…… Many things flashed by. Soon, what became visible was vitality.
The village had disappeared without a trace, but the people were alive. With gaunt faces, they slowly walked out from the dead land that used to be a forest.
Every face was in the worst condition. This place was no longer their home but hell. It was the recoil of the manifested Sun.
However, warmth sprouted again in the frozen hell. The Moon's influence had disappeared completely.
Only Harad felt a slight coolness.
The warm village had become cold. It was because he had taken part of the Embers.
‘There is a Moon.’
Elaine’s words rushed in like waves.
Right, there is a Moon.
Harad had realized the possibility through Manoa and confirmed its existence through the Crystal Ball’s interference.
The Moon exists.
That Mage had experienced what Harad saw and heard together through the Crystal Ball. They had tempted him to take the Embers and shared the location of this village with Kandenkel.
That was the reason things had become different from the past life.
‘From the far-off Otherworld.’
They had implemented magic across the distance through the Crystal Ball—an act Harad wouldn't even dare attempt.
‘6th Rank?’
It might be the Moon’s characteristic, but he had to focus on its power too. The Moon’s magic had broken the manifested Sun. The Moon’s vessel was an immensely powerful Mage.
‘In the past life, there was no Moon.’
Such a great Moon hadn't existed in the past life.
Why?
The first person that came to mind was Grand Duke Aratus.
The Grand Duke’s obsession with the Moon Tower was terrible. Such a Grand Duke had died without news in the Boundary in the past life. It made sense if he had perished together with the Moon.
‘No.’
Wrong.
Grand Duke Aratus had died, but the Moon didn't die.
Harad caressed his own lips. The still-vivid sensation was proof.
Elaine was a man. But she is a woman.
‘Bullshit.’
That kind of thing was not important.
Elaine knew the Moon. The Moon might not have died.
Was it only the Moon? Elaine knew about predation, the Embers, the Divine Beast of the Sun, the smoke of the Watchtower, and the existence of the King’s Magical Item.
‘All things Elaine didn't know.’
The information had been updated. All things Harad had found out after regressing.
Meaning…… Elaine is alive.
In that world, the Moon might be alive or dead. The same for the Church, the Empire, and the Otherworld. They might have perished or not.
However, what was certain was that there was no one on Elaine’s side in that world. She must be alive alone…….
‘Fuck.’
That fact made Harad unable to move.
The villagers, glancing at Harad, moved Balbebron and the Witch. In the distance, the architect Mokolin was piling up stones on the collapsed ground.
Watching that scene, Harad had no thoughts at all.
“Mm.”
Ellen, sleeping peacefully on the ground, mumbled in her sleep. That breathing sound was familiar. The same for the peaceful face. Not Elaine, but Ellen was sleeping. Harad was troubled by that.
‘Stimulation and Dream.’
If that repeats, Ellen regains her past life.
That method was different from what Harad had thought.
Removing Elaine’s regret—the regressed Harad hadn't doubted that was his role.
Before regressing, the last conversation was about regret.
But looking back, Elaine didn't talk about her personal history. Empire, Church, Otherworld…… Her regrets were macroscopic.
‘She never even asked in the first place.’
Harad smiled bitterly. Perhaps Elaine knew the method of regression.
Come to think of it, the topic of regret came up because Elaine had asked Harad what he regretted.
-Doesn't Your Highness have anything?
If Harad hadn't asked back, Elaine wouldn't have spat out those macroscopic regrets either.
The role of having to remove Elaine’s regret was something the regressed Harad had assigned to himself.
‘It’s not becoming aware of the past life.’
It wasn't about realizing the past life and absorbing those memories as one’s own.
‘Being eaten? No. It must be becoming one.’
The Elaine of the past life returns. It meant removing regrets was a futile act.
Really?
Harad looked down at Ellen quietly. A bright and peaceful face.
If he neglects the regrets, wrinkles often appear on that forehead. Elaine frowned frequently. Harad knew responsibility and regret were placed like a burden on her arrogant gestures.
That was a complaint. I hoped it wouldn't be like that this time.
‘Who?’
If she realizes the past life, Elaine opens her eyes. Then what about the Ellen sleeping soundly here?
‘Will she disappear?’
A laughable question. The idea of disappearing itself was wrong. Not being eaten, but becoming one.
No, they were one from the beginning. Originally, the two are the same person. Just the time lived and experiences were different.
Ellen must realize the past life. It is beneficial for her, the North, and Harad. Rightfully so.
Regression was for that purpose. Harad, who had regressed thanks to Elaine, rightfully had to fulfill his role.
Elaine didn't say to remove regrets. Stimulate, and make her dream.
So that the Elaine of the past life comes to this world.
Then, what is the best for the regressor right now?
‘Kandenkel.’
His corpse was split in half. Exactly half. Even that cross-section would be beautiful to a Knight. A perfect and distant trajectory.
That trace would be a tremendous stimulation to Ellen.
“You bastard…….”
That sleep-talking would change to admiration or astonishment. If told Kandenkel had died by her sword, and she asked how he died, that emotion would turn into suspicion.
Suspicion about the dream and the secret. Like that, stimulation would induce another stimulation.
Stimulation repeats and repeats, and someday she will become Ellen and Elaine.
“Haraaaaad.”
Harad’s hand, trying to wake Ellen, stopped in midair.
‘……If she disappears?’
Nonsense.
But Harad realized the possibility. He was captured by that vagueness because he is a Mage. The stone is a Magical Item, and regression is magic.
……Excuses.
‘If she disappears.’
So what? He had to answer like that.
Ellen and the Elaine of the past life—there was nothing to even compare.
Harad was realizing that such a comparison itself was greed.
But he didn't know what to do with this greed, because he rarely had greed.
Harad waved his hand unwittingly. His heart responded. When he realized it, Kandenkel’s corpse was already burning.
“Harad?”
His ears twitched. That voice wasn't arrogant at all. It was bright and cautious.
“Harad!”
Also urgent. Ellen’s eyes busily scanned Harad’s chest, then headed to his feet on the ground. She was relieved that Harad was standing.
Just that. As if Harad was the priority over Kandenkel’s life or death, the village, and the conditions of the others.
“If it's Kandenkel, I killed him. Absorbing only part of the Embers.”
His mouth moved by itself.
“Couldn't help it.”
Harad didn't stop his mouth.
“But why is the corpse split in half?”
Ellen’s eyes, looking up at him, narrowed. Kandenkel’s corpse was burning. There were two fireballs.
“I don't know either.”
An ambiguous answer. He should have left it to provide stimulation, or burned it to ashes completely to scatter it.
-Cowardly.
The nonsense dream came to mind. In that dream Manoa had shown, Elaine, holding out a bouquet, had said so.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“…….”
A hundred times correct. Harad was cowardly.
“You know you are suspicious right now, right?”
“It's a secret.”
Because he couldn't choose either side.
* * *
The forest that grew under the influence of the Embers was no more. The same for the village. It was proof that the Mage named Harad was still immature.
His pride wasn't particularly hurt. Actually, even in the past life, he couldn't handle it freely. If manifested, the Sun cannot distinguish friend from foe. It is such an Origin.
‘Unless I become a 6th Rank.’
When that time comes, it would be possible. A vague but certain guess.
Manifestation is literally magic revealing the Origin. If it's a 6th Rank that submits the Origin, naturally one could control it.
‘Submitting the Sun.’
Just imagining it was vague. But he was a Mage, and could easily imagine it. His heart didn't swell that much. Instead, a vague possibility was tormenting Harad’s mind.
The Dreamlike Place was no longer dreamlike. Now it was terrible, resembling hell more than a dream. This zone itself had changed into a giant crater.
‘Like Serzila.’
Harad recalled the Serzila of the past life. Back then, the traces created by the meteorites Kandenkel dropped were similar to this.
Only, this place was a bit more terrible. Magma still lay under the crater. It was seemingly hardened, but it burst or flowed with just a slight press.
Rocks that had melted and surged had hardened like bizarre statues, and occasionally ground turned into glass was stepped on—evidence that what fell here was the Sun, not a meteorite.
Harad quietly passed through the hell that had been a village just a while ago.
“Said she was a pillar.”
A Witch who was once a pillar of the Moon. Kandenkel had called Manoa that.
‘A Mage from 300 years ago.’
Such a Witch had lived a time like a Sage. Although she had hit the limit of her talent and the Origin called Dream, indeed, a time of 300 years has value.
The Witch Manoa, who had contemplated for a time no less than a Sage, was indeed an excellent Mage. The villagers—not a single one dead, although they were burned—were the evidence. The forest had disappeared, but that's why it remained as the only flatland in this zone.
Even though she had suffered internal injuries as her Manifestation was broken by Kandenkel, Manoa had managed to protect this place from the Sun.
Of course, she couldn't protect it perfectly. The forest became flatland with nothing, but that was all. Glass was stepped on everywhere, and magma flowed because Manoa’s goal was people, not the forest.
‘Suitable for defense rather than attack.’
It must be the nature of the Origin called Dream, but the individuality of the vessel, Manoa, would have played a bigger role.
Manoa was a soft person, and a Mage who knew how to tailor that softness.
In the zone that used to be a forest, artificial parts remained everywhere. Harad realized belatedly that it was the place where the Mages of Meteoric Iron had died.
Because nothing was felt. The Mages of Meteoric Iron had died without even struggling. They had died while asleep in the dream, or disappeared in the Sun as soon as they woke up.
The same for the heart—the sturdiest part of a Mage.
‘Indeed.’
Manifestation. Harad had implemented that magic primitively.
There was no problem with the implementation method itself. That had already been verified in his head—a verification made by the Mage Harad’s experience and intuition.
It was the same as breaking Bahav’s curse. For an excellent Mage, imagination is enough for training.
The aftereffects were also within the expected range and fit perfectly.
The problem was time. How long can the forcibly pulled-out Sun manifest?
Rank doesn't simply discuss the level of magic. Magic power amount is also one of the cores of the rank.
So, Harad had predicted the Manifestation time in seconds because the magic power he possesses is so insufficient.
But he was wrong. The Sun's Manifestation lasted longer than he thought. If the Moon hadn't interfered, Kandenkel would have died under the Sun.
‘Wondered why it was okay.’
The manifested Sun had lasted on its own, arbitrarily absorbing the hearts of the Meteoric Iron Mages in the forest.
‘A loss.’
Giving up the future and focusing on immediate firepower.
It wasn't Harad’s intention. It wasn't regrettable. It was greed he wouldn't dare imagine if not for Elaine.
‘No. Even if she didn't come, I would have won.’
If Elaine hadn't appeared, Ellen would have handed the Embers to Harad. Then he would have easily killed Kandenkel.
The worry about the Embers disappears, too. Even without Elaine, Harad, who had absorbed the Embers, would have personally experienced that the Fireball can scatter Embers.
‘This is futile, too.’
Of course, these were useless thoughts.
Yet distracting thoughts kept arising because he was avoiding things. Harad knew that fact better than anyone.
“Harad.”
Three days had passed already. Manoa and Jis had regained consciousness, and Balbebron had become able to eat with his own hands.
But the village wasn't restored yet. To be precise, it was paused temporarily. It was time to decide.
“Harad.”
“I'm listening.”
No answer was heard. Harad turned back slowly. Ellen was glaring at him.
“Let's talk.”
Her voice was quite grim.
Did she dream? Harad didn't know. For the past three days, he hadn't slept. He had wanted to sleep, but he also didn't want to sleep—that was the reason.
It couldn't last long. Harad knew he had to sleep soon, and he had to dream.
He was just avoiding it as much as possible because he was cowardly. He hadn't chosen, and he had no face to see anyone.
“Let's move.”
“Pardon?”
“We should move the village, since it's been detected by the Moon.”
They had to do so. Ellen would wish for that, too.
“…….”
But Ellen’s face distorted, as if that wasn't what she wanted to talk about right now.