novelraw Chapter 196 : Chapter 196
Chapter 196 : Chapter 196
Chapter 196: The Haunted House (2)
Every garrison stationed before the Wall had a similar atmosphere.
It was filled with the vigor unique to the North.
The knights seemed taciturn, yet they talked a lot.
“So the 3rd Knights were right. It is warm.”
“He has some muscle too.”
“I heard everyone except us and the 4th Knights is studying magic.”
“Why?”
“They say His Grace the Grand Duke and the Grand Heir permitted it.”
“Then we should do it too.”
Harad felt a sense of déjà vu.
The mood of the 5th Knights resembled that of the 3rd Knights he had visited before.
The 5th Knights had already acknowledged Harad as well.
That was because the merit he had accumulated so far was substantial.
‘From now on, I will be acknowledged wherever I go.’
If nothing else, it was gratifying.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that there was no knight in Serzila who looked down on Harad anymore.
With recognition settled, it was time to build merit.
Grand Duke Aratus had sent Harad to the knight orders with that very intention.
To make the knights of the Wall take a magic examination.
That was an advance reward.
Here, Harad had to accumulate merit to repay it.
Harad openly scanned the knights who were whispering among themselves.
‘As expected, none.’
Aside from Commander Kesera, the 5th Knights were all unfamiliar faces.
“Did the Grand Heir really say that?”
Ellen still looked displeased.
Harad smiled broadly.
“That is what I heard.”
“…….”
Ellen’s expression twisted even more.
“You said you would not make a mistake.”
“It was not my mistake.”
“The Grand Heir’s mistake?”
“That is right.”
Ellen laughed in disbelief.
It felt as though she would come back later as the Grand Duke and retaliate.
A welcome retaliation.
Everything was stimulation.
No matter how small, when stimulation piled up, it became a dream.
“Kesera has a husband. They do not have children yet.”
Harad’s eyes widened.
‘So that is why she was called an old maid.’
Kesera of his previous life had been popular.
There was no Northerner who disliked strength.
Yet Kesera had shown no interest in any man.
‘So she could not forget her dead husband.’
Kesera of his previous life had not been an old maid.
She had been a widow.
“Who was her husband?”
“You really did not know? That was not a joke?”
Ellen clicked her tongue.
“It was Sir Kalinos.”
“Kalinos? That one?”
“Yes. That Sir Kalinos.”
“Oh.”
They had seemed close, but to think they had been married.
‘A commander couple.’
Harad let out a hollow laugh.
Without realizing it, he had changed the future in which Kesera became a widow.
“Lucky man.”
“What is?”
“Kalinos.”
Kesera led Harad and Ellen to her residence.
The garrison buildings were all similar, and the commander’s office was the same.
Aside from slightly different furniture, it was no different from Toremot’s home.
“I heard the circumstances. You came to build merit.”
After offering seats to Harad and Ellen, Kesera went straight to the point.
“If you plan to introduce a magic examination, anytime is fine.”
“You are compliant.”
“It is an order from Serzila.”
Kesera nodded.
“Also, Kals has already acknowledged you. There is no reason for the 5th Knights not to trust you.”
Kals seemed to be Kalinos’s nickname.
“Did Kalinos say anything?”
“I heard he owes you a debt greater than his life.”
That explained Kesera’s friendliness.
“Is that all?”
“Do you need more?”
Their trust was remarkable, befitting a married couple.
‘Did he not tell her?’
It seemed Kalinos had not gone into detail about what had happened then.
‘He must want to go on patrol.’
If it were discovered that he was a Sword Master, patrols would be forbidden.
Power gained at the Boundary had to be used at the Boundary.
Brave Kalinos had once said as much.
‘Truly brave.’
Harad was newly impressed.
Kalinos had been brave enough to hide his achievement even from his wife.
“I do not know the details, but I also express my gratitude. If there is anything you want, I intend to cooperate as much as possible.”
“My thanks.”
“However, Mage Harad, we know your abilities. I hear you command a fire Magical Beast as well.”
The abilities of Harad and Fireball were already widely known among the Wall’s knight orders.
“You also said you are 5th Rank. I think patrols would not mean much for someone of your level.”
He had come to build merit.
Kesera seemed troubled by Harad’s purpose.
“Our 5th Knights have no merit to give you.”
She was right.
At the Boundary, Harad had nothing left to prove.
There was nothing to gain from routine patrol routes.
“That is fine. It will be enough just to go on patrol together.”
Soon, there would be something to gain.
That was why Harad had chosen the 5th Knights before the 4th.
***
“…Is this really enough?”
Kesera looked doubtful.
The Wall’s gate was open, and only Harad, Ellen, and Kesera stood before it.
“You will suffice.”
It was a patrol with just the three of them.
Strictly speaking, four and one beast.
‘She cannot sense Jis.’
Jis was disguised as Harad’s shadow.
Kesera showed no sign of noticing.
‘In my previous life, she would have noticed immediately.’
Harad keenly felt that he was still young.
At this time, Kesera was not yet a Sword Master.
‘Five years. No, three.’
In three years.
Kesera would become a Sword Master.
By the time Harad came to his senses in his previous life, Kesera, the 5th Knights Commander, had already been a Sword Master.
The moment they stepped out of the gate, the blade-like wind of the Boundary swept over them amid its characteristic chill.
There was no effect.
Thanks to Harad.
Even before, when one was with Harad, it had turned into a gentle breeze.
Now that he was 5th Rank, the wind did not even touch them.
“Remarkable.”
Kesera brushed her leather armor, seemingly uncomfortable with the warmth at the Boundary.
With Harad present, the thick Magical Beast hide felt cumbersome.
“I could simplify my equipment.”
Creak. The opened gate closed completely.
“How should we arrange positions?”
“Hm. Stand in front of me.”
Harad placed Kesera in front and Ellen in the rear.
It was the same as when he had patrolled with Kalinos.
Harad was the one who had to build merit.
Ellen had only come as a precaution.
If it was not dangerous, she would not step in.
“Ah.”
Combat strength had to be shared.
“This is Jis.”
Harad bent down, grabbed his shadow, and pulled it up.
“Wh—”
At the sight of the shadow rising smoothly, Kesera placed a hand on her sword in alarm.
“He is a mage of Serzila as well. 5th Rank.”
“I am Jis!”
The shadow greeted cheerfully.
“And this is my Magical Beast.”
Harad thrust his hand into the shadow and withdrew it.
Fireball sat atop his palm.
-PEEP!
Fireball spread his wings wide and cried out.
It was a magical sight.
“…As expected of a mage. Bizarre.”
Kesera gaped like a country bumpkin before speaking.
“His name is Fireball. We will go together like this.”
Two 5th Rank mages and one Magical Beast.
“Can they be trusted?”
Kesera asked reflexively.
It was not a very Northerner-like question.
Since Harad had brought them, they must be trustworthy.
That was what an ordinary knight would say.
Or they would draw their sword to confirm it themselves.
“No. That was a slip of the tongue. I will trust them.”
Kesera belatedly chose the former.
“You are more cautious than I thought.”
“What?”
Kesera frowned.
Being called cautious was an insult to her.
At least, for now.
***
Until now, whenever Harad accompanied patrols, he had shared everything he sensed with the knights.
Because he had been in a position where he needed their acknowledgment.
Now, that was no longer the case.
‘Is there a need?’
He had received acknowledgment in abundance.
Teaching them the habits or ambushes of minor Magical Beasts was no longer his role.
His presence alone was enough.
That was what a 5th Rank existence was.
Even without Manifestation.
The Empire forbade Northern Sword Masters from entering the Boundary, citing the risk of provoking the Otherworld.
Harad and Jis were 5th Rank mages comparable to such Sword Masters.
For Kesera, it was as though she was accompanied by two commanders.
‘Though not on equal footing.’
To face 1st Knights Commander Toremot, one would need to freely manifest at the very least.
There would likely be no actual fight, but still.
No matter how often garrisons changed, patrols were a path that bred tedium.
They were novel only at first.
In the end, there were only seventy patrol routes.
A commander-level knight had all seventy memorized.
They understood the environments those routes crossed and the Magical Beasts that dwelled there.
‘They are not ignorant bastards.’
That too was proof that Northern knights were not foolish.
“Chwillek!”
A cow-sized frog flicked out its tongue, dragging it along the ground.
It was the most common Magical Beast on the eastern patrol routes.
The long tongue snapped up like a whip—and was severed.
Kesera’s sword, which had taken the lead, pierced the frog between the eyes.
Beside her, Ellen nodded.
Harad’s fire burned the frog.
“I told you to eat it with your mouth.”
“I refuse.”
“Why?”
“Because I say so.”
“Alright.”
Ellen immediately accepted it.
‘She looked ready to curse earlier when she said it tasted bad.’
Ellen wanted Harad to act however he pleased.
“How much stronger does it make you?”
Kesera looked at the blazing corpse of the frog with interest.
“The growth is so minimal it may as well be nonexistent. The Rank difference is too great.”
When the gap below was large, predation became closer to replenishing mana.
Still, Ellen wished to gather even that speck of dust.
“Is it necessary to use this much magic for predation? It is like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken—no, an ant.”
Seeing Harad’s fire, Kesera mistook it for overwhelming power.
No matter how small the flame, its presence was strong enough to evoke the sun.
“It only looks impressive. The actual firepower is weak, weak enough for you to touch.”
At that, Kesera observed the fire briefly, then reached out.
“You are right. It is only slightly warm.”
“That is the nature of my fire.”
More precisely, it was an insight gained through regression.
“Deception, then. As expected of a mage.”
Though there were knightly words for it, Kesera chose “deception.”
Kesera advanced again.
Harad and Ellen followed.
When a Magical Beast appeared, Kesera cut it down, and Harad consumed the corpse.
That was how the patrol went.
Without Harad needing to say a word, Kesera, familiar with the patrol routes, handled everything.
For a commander like her, such routine patrols were not difficult.
Even so, she showed no signs of carelessness.
With Harad’s fire present, she could have grown complacent, yet she did not.
‘They say spouses grow alike.’
Kesera was steadfast, her sword destructive.
Above all, she looked only forward.
Even when she could have easily avoided it, she deliberately took a Magical Beast’s claw with her body.
It was like Kalinos charging forward while proclaiming bravery.
‘She is quite different from before.’
Kesera of Harad’s previous life had been a cautious knight.
She had made him doubt whether Northern knights were truly all ignorant.
Back then, however, he had not cared.
At that time, he had never particularly liked the North.
***
She took the lead, cut down Magical Beasts when they attacked.
Aside from the fact that Mage Harad burned and absorbed the corpses, the patrol was no different from usual.
‘It is decent exercise.’
Slightly better than normal patrols.
Because Kesera took all the burden.
Still, she was not tired.
She wiped sweat from her brow.
It was just the right amount of exertion.
Both the sweat and the feeling were experiences one could not have on a normal Boundary patrol.
‘So that is why the 1st Knights like this so much.’
With Harad or Fireball present, there was more that could be done.
Most importantly, one could fight properly without worrying about the Boundary.
Any Wall knight would go mad for that.
‘I would want to go together every time.’
Kesera wanted to show the 5th Knights the taste of Harad as well.
Or at least Fireball.
‘What do I gain from this?’
Kesera had already gained enough.
Just confirming the effect of Harad and Fireball was more than sufficient.
‘Then what about Mage Harad?’
There was no merit to be built through patrols.
Despite saying that, Harad had insisted on coming along.
Was it to gain experience at the Boundary?
It did not seem so.
“Be careful. From here on—”
“Oh. A Magical Beast pretending to be the ground, then. I see.”
“…….”
Harad was experienced.
Though it should have been his first time here, he looked as familiar as someone who had come many times.
This was not a patrol to gain experience.
‘Then what is it? Mana?’
Mages accumulated mana through the hearts of Magical Beasts or other mages.
Harad called it predation.
‘He said it was not.’
Harad consumed every corpse that appeared, yet said the effect was minimal.
Because he was a 5th Rank mage.
Most patrol routes did not host high-Rank Magical Beasts.
‘Not experience, not Magical Beast meat or hides, not mana.’
Then why was Harad following behind Kesera?
‘And Lady Ellen… what is she thinking…?’
Why was she calmly watching this waste of time?
‘Useless.’
Thinking so, Kesera shook her head.
‘He must have a plan.’
Harad was a mage.
Rather than thinking too much, it was best to assume he had his reasons.
‘Do not think.’
The 1st Knights, who had experienced Harad the most, must have done the same.
Thought dulled the body.
It bred fear.
‘Do not think.’
At the Boundary, that was all the more necessary.
Thinking made one aware of the cold, invited drowsiness, and led one to count time.
That was how the heart weakened.
It was forbidden.
At the Boundary, one had to be steadfast.
She could welcome Harad’s fire, but she must not rely on it.
‘Do not read his intentions. That is not a knight’s duty.’
It was better to step forward and swing one’s sword.
That was what a knight was.
Kesera walked without thinking, like any other knight.
She swung her sword bravely, like Kalinos.
Until they reached the flag.
“This is the turning point.”
Kesera struck the tip of the flag they had replaced a month ago with her fist and turned to Harad.
It was hard to believe, but…
that mage was a core force of Serzila.
He could be considered commander-class, and Grand Duke Aratus frequently met with him.
That was clear special treatment.
Above all, he was Kalinos’s benefactor.
‘Sera, Harad is my comrade.’
If he was Kalinos’s comrade, then he was Kesera’s as well.
“How is it? Did you obtain what you wanted?”
She did not know what he was thinking, but Kesera hoped Harad had gained something.
“What are you looking at?”
Ellen suddenly spoke.
She was looking at Harad.
Only then did Kesera realize that Harad was distracted.
He was not looking at the flag, but beyond it.
“It seems to be over there.”
Harad pointed somewhere beyond the flag.
“What I want.”
There stood a mansion.
“…What is that?”
It was a mansion that had not been there before.
Kesera, the 5th Knights Commander, was seeing it for the first time.
A clear anomaly.
“Let us go to that mansion.”
Having confirmed the anomaly, Harad spoke.
“…That is outside the patrol route.”
“Are you scared?”
“Nonsense.”
Kesera snorted.
“We must not leave the patrol route. That is an order of Serzila.”
“This one will keep it secret too.”
Harad said, placing a hand on Ellen’s shoulder.
For some reason, Ellen, though a collateral, nodded without hesitation.
“Lady Ellen, why…?”
Kesera could not understand it.
She did not have time to think further.
She was a knight.
Harad was smiling annoyingly.
“Well. You are scared.”
“…….”
“Kalinos went.”
“Then we will go.”
Kesera stepped beyond the flag.