novelraw Chapter 211 : Chapter 211
Chapter 211 : Chapter 211
Chapter 211: Folly (2)
It had been a year and a half since she started having dreams.
After that long, she could roughly tell. Tonight, she wouldn't dream.
Tonight was one of those nights.
The night deepened, and her eyes were wide awake.
Benus seemed to be the same.
The mother-daughter conversation was longer and easier than usual.
"When are you leaving?"
"Would you like me to leave soon?"
"Not really, I'm just asking."
Benus often gave Ellen a feeling of foreign discomfort, like a thorn lodged in her throat.
It was because Benus's teachings were strict.
That strictness was directed at Elaine, but in the end, Elaine was Ellen. She couldn't help but feel burdened by Benus.
"I will stay until you tell me to leave."
"Then you might as well never leave."
"That is a happy thing to hear."
But not now.
Benus, lying in bed together with her, smiled gently. Ellen found it both comfortable and unfamiliar.
"What kind of magic did Harad cast on you?"
"You saw it yourself. He breathed fire. Truly an outstanding Mage."
"Because he's 5th Rank."
"I must never look down on Mages again."
"Right. But Harad is also special."
Because his Origin is the Sun, no less.
Ellen, who had been answering reflexively, tapped the pillow.
"No, I don't mean the fire."
"Does he have other magic besides fire?"
"Mom, you got nicer."
Benus's eyes widened, then drooped.
Ellen thought she looked sad.
"I simply realized anew that you are a special child."
Ellen tilted her head.
"There is such a thing. That fellow...... Harad trusts you greatly. Even more than I trust you."
"Maybe he trusts the dream, not me?"
"But it is you who has the dreams."
"That's true."
Harad had approached her because of the dream.
But at some point, he began hoping Ellen wouldn't be swayed by the dream.
"He was a man worth trusting at least once. Even though he is a Mage."
"Once is enough."
Harad was someone who wouldn't break that one trust.
"But really, he didn't figure me out, did he?"
"He showed no sign of knowing at all."
Benus answered immediately.
"How could he not know?"
Harad hoped that if Elaine didn't know something, she would keep dreaming until she did, and would uncover it.
But the one Harad actually gets along with is Ellen.
That was where her suspicion began.
"Why do you think he couldn't not know?"
"Because it's Harad?"
Originally, he knew many things, and after a few conversations with Otherworld Mages, Harad could figure out even things he didn't know.
"I think it would be stranger if he knew."
"Why?"
"It is a Magical Item bestowed by His Highness."
Benus pointed to the area near Ellen's collarbone.
There was a Magical Item there that could neither be seen nor felt.
"Unless the owner reveals it, the Magical Item cannot be detected. Even a 6th Rank Mage couldn't."
A Magical Item that Grand Duke Aratus had entrusted to her.
There was no way Harad, who had been repeatedly crushed by that Grand, would notice.
"But what you suspect is not the discovery of the Magical Item."
Ellen nodded.
If he had figured it out, it would be because of the dream.
"Harad knows about the dream."
Does he only know?
She didn't understand how, but the Imja Harad spoke of was Elaine in the dream.
"Elaine in the dream and Harad in reality are closely connected."
Benus furrowed her brow.
It must be a vagueness she couldn't understand either.
"Then let us talk about the dream."
"In the dream, Harad and I are close. Incredibly so."
"Was it Ellen or Elaine?"
"Elaine."
Elaine in the dream was always male.
"At first, did Harad come to you first? I am speaking of reality."
"No. I went to him."
At the time, Harad didn't know about Ellen.
"So you started the connection."
"......"
"He did not approach first. That would mean he had not anticipated it."
Harad was the smartest person Ellen knew.
"He could have noticed along the way."
"I think that makes even less sense. How could he dare?"
"......"
"Elaine and Ellen are one person. Setting aside gender, I find it hard to believe anyone could conceive of such a thing."
Ellen nodded slightly.
This was why she could be brazen.
No matter what she did, no one could connect Ellen and Elaine.
"If there is any basis for suspicion, it would be the dream. Then, have there been any clues about you in the dream? For instance, the relationship between you in the dream and Harad."
"Not yet."
Harad in the dream had never met Ellen.
But he might have.
The dream's timeline was all jumbled.
"We might have met, but I just haven't dreamed that scene yet."
"Must you dream that exact scene to know? If he knew or had figured it out, the attitudes of Harad or Elaine in the dream would have changed."
"Ah."
Ellen opened her mouth.
It was just as Benus said. Harad and Elaine in the dream became the evidence.
Elaine in the dream loved Harad but had never openly pursued him.
Whenever Elaine made indirect advances, Harad either didn't notice or was disgusted.
It was proof that Harad perfectly believed Elaine was male.
"It seems resolved."
Benus smiled gently.
"I think so."
"His tongue loosened in front of a girl he is interested in. That is why this needless worry arose."
She had overthought a simple fondness.
It was because she had something to feel guilty about.
"I guess I was overthinking it."
Unlike Ellen, her thoughts had been deep and long.
That was what created the suspicion.
"Yes, daughter. You have not been discovered."
Benus spoke with certainty.
Ellen decided to believe it.
Actually, her head hurt.
She didn't want to think about it anymore. She was going to reveal it within four years anyway, so what did it matter? Ellen buried her face in the pillow, feeling good. The pillow made a soft sound. It was then that Benus's eyes flashed.
"An unwelcome guest has arrived."
Ellen immediately understood what she meant.
Someone was lurking near the mansion.
The presence was as large as a bear.
"Kubel?"
"The Mage living in the annex? The one with a young daughter?"
True to her role as Intelligence Bureau Director, Benus knew about Kubel.
"Yes."
"Someone who cherishes his daughter came alone without her. It must be someone else's business."
Benus, who had a daughter herself, understood immediately.
The someone else here could only be Harad.
Until the ruined Annex was repaired, Harad had decided to stay at Kubel's Annex.
"Kubel."
Ellen opened the window and stuck her face out.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong!"
Kubel, who had been pacing, jumped in surprise and shouted.
"Then why are you here?"
"I was taking a walk."
A walk he never took.
And right in front of the Grand Heir's mansion, no less.
"But why are you so surprised?"
"Because you called me so suddenly......"
Kubel smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.
"I'll come out. Let's talk there."
"You must not come!"
Kubel suddenly shouted.
"Why not?"
"......It, it is time for you to sleep?"
Ellen's eyes narrowed.
Kubel was bad at lying.
***
The voice cut off.
But it rang endlessly in Harad's head.
The voice of the Moon had such demonic charm.
It must be magic.
"Magic requires a medium."
Whether voice or attack, the Moon's magic transcended distance.
However, the process required a medium.
The Moon's crystal orb that Cassion had once handed over was that medium.
"Did she control a person? Did a person bring the voice?"
It wasn't impossible.
The Moon would be capable of countless magics.
There was a Digger tunnel beneath the Annex.
And Jis and Fireball were guarding its entrance.
Strictly speaking, they weren't guarding but resting. There weren't many places where Fireball could be free.
Kind Jis was simply keeping the lonely Fireball company.
If the Moon had controlled someone, the passage would naturally be the tunnel.
"Was it a mistake?"
He hadn't expected the Moon to meddle even within Serzila's Inner Fortress.
"No. It's Jis."
Naive but an excellent Mage.
If someone had crossed through the tunnel, he would have responded or come straight to Harad.
The Annexes where Serzila's former guests once stayed were clustered together. Harad's Annex and Kubel's Annex were not far apart.
Hazy moonlight mixed with the snowstorm illuminated the blackened, burned Annex. Shadow gathered like water at the edge of the eaves and stretched long.
"Gwek?"
The shadow spoke.
"Right. I came because of that. Did you hear it too?"
"Yeah."
Jis confirmed.
But Kubel hadn't heard it.
"It was a matter of distance."
Gwek. That sound seemed to have been heard by everyone.
It was just that Kubel was too far away to hear it.
"I heard it because I'm special. Did you also hear the voice that followed?"
The shadow shook its head.
"Gwek was not a sound made by the Moon."
The Moon's voice had only reached Harad.
Because the Moon wanted it that way.
But Jis had also heard gwek.
And it hadn't been sweet at all. It meant it wasn't a sound made by the Moon.
"There's another sound mixed in. She didn't come directly."
It wasn't the Moon who came, but something the Moon sent.
Well, of course.
This was the Inner Fortress, the heart of Serzila, where the great Grand Duke Aratus resided.
That woman who was too afraid to even come to the village of Embers wouldn't come here.
"Who was it?"
"Huh? What?"
"I mean the one who made the gwek sound."
Jis tilted his head.
"Didn't you catch it?"
"No. No one came through the tunnel."
Harad furrowed his brow.
"It didn't come through the tunnel?"
"Yeah. Gwek came from above."
The shadow hanging beneath the eaves pointed like an arrow at the second floor. It was Harad's room.
"It means an intrusion from outside."
"It's not an intrusion. No one was there."
Jis seemed to have already checked the entire interior of the Annex.
"They didn't come and go either. I would have known if they did."
Jis asserted.
It was the conviction of a Mage who had Shadow as his Origin.
If someone had secretly infiltrated, Jis would have noticed.
"Or they're skilled enough that Jis couldn't detect them."
He'd know when he saw.
Harad hoped it was the latter.
The Inner Fortress was Harad's domain.
No, more precisely, it was Grand Duke Aratus's.
Harad immediately entered the Annex.
The acrid smell greeted him. It was a familiar smell, always pleasant no matter when he encountered it. Harad was a Mage who couldn't hate anything related to fire.
"Was it always like this?"
Shadow stretched long following Harad's footsteps. It was Jis, and inside was Fireball. Reliable allies.
Even if they weren't reliable, it didn't matter.
In the Inner Fortress resided an existence more dependable and frightening than anything else.
Gwek.
That strange sound came from Harad's room.
The Moon's voice was the same.
The voice that had disappeared earlier was still confusing his head while indicating the direction. It was in Harad's room.
-Welcome.
As he opened the door, the voice greeted him.
Harad let out a hollow laugh. He could only hear the voice. No person was there.
"How did you do this?"
Instead, there was a familiar crystal orb.
The Moon's crystal orb he had once shattered was sitting squarely in the middle of the room. Harad thought it looked like it was sitting down.
"Did you send someone to secretly leave it here?"
Earlier, Jis had been certain.
Now he couldn't be. Because he realized someone had left this crystal orb.
-It's a secret.
The Moon whispered through the crystal orb.
A secret.
That was what Harad always said to Ellen.
"So this is how it feels."
Ellen might not mind, but for a Mage, it was an utterly unpleasant thing to say.
It meant failing to uncover the vagueness.
"Something is stuck on it."
The crystal orb was damp.
Something sticky looked like saliva.
"Too sticky for saliva."
It looked stickier than phlegm.
If it truly was saliva, it seemed more like a Magical Beast's saliva than a human's.
"Did you control a Magical Beast?"
Harad thought of Fireball.
The Moon had two Divine Beasts.
"The rabbit is the sword, the toad is the means."
Means.
Harad thought of Jis.
"The toad, then."
-Take this.
Instead of answering, the Moon whispered.
Harad thought he was correct.
Gwek. That was the sound of spitting out the crystal orb.
"I don't want to."
The crystal orb was the medium for the Moon to transcend distance.
With that, the Moon could see and hear Harad. And could attack him.
-I can't see into Serzila.
But she could convey her voice like this, it seemed.
"I'd rather you see here. Don't look at the frontier."
It was absurd.
There was no place safer than Serzila. The dangerous place was the frontier.
-Take it. It will help you.
Harad snorted.
The interference at the village had been just recently.
-I will give you a gift.
If he took the crystal orb, she would give him something in return.
"I don't need it."
-You will regret it.
"I will, whatever."
The crystal orb cut off briefly, then flickered.
Harad thought it looked like it was smiling.
-Just like the Sun?
"The Sun."
-Are you hurt?
Harad furrowed his brow.
The Moon knew Harad was in conflict with his Essence.
It meant she had been watching all along when he carried the crystal orb.
The Moon was a devious woman.
"It's because Ellen isn't here."
-Aha.
The Moon chimed in.
She seemed pleased for some reason.
"But you keep acting young. No, are you pretending to be friendly?"
When he shattered the Sun's Manifestation.
The Moon's laughter he heard then—Harad had felt it was ecstatic.
But looking back, thinking objectively, that laughter was closer to wailing.
It was a terrible sound, like fingernails scraping glass.
That must be the Moon's true voice.
Because the Moon had been genuinely pleased then.
"You seemed like a pretty old woman."
-…….
"How old are you, woman?"
The crystal orb shone dazzlingly.
Enough to make him squeeze his eyes shut, but it was very brief. The crystal orb glowed gently as if nothing had happened.
-It's a secret.
"You really are old."
-I'm not.
"You seem like it."
Harad muttered without realizing it.
Then he shook his head violently.
"You're trying to bewitch me again. Old woman."
She claimed to be a star.
Perhaps the Sun and the Moon weren't compatible.
-Take it. I am your star. I won't harm you.
"Why should I trust you?"
-Large and small fires will return.
The Moon changed the subject.
Harad realized that was the gift.
"Is mere information a gift?"
-There will be a fire you want.
"Dreamers?"
Fires that denied the Moon's prophecy.
The Moon said that among those oddities, there would be a fire Harad wanted.
-Take freely.
Words she couldn't say if prophecy were her goal.
-You can trust me. I won't do anything foolish.
"What is your purpose?"
The Moon didn't follow prophecy.
And she wanted to win Harad's favor.
-I want to help you.
"Why?"
-Because you are mine.
The Moon whispered.
It was obvious she was trying to speak as sweetly as possible.
Harad's face inadvertently pressed toward the crystal orb.
If he hadn't been careful, it would have been a disgusting and unseemly sight of his lips meeting the crystal orb.
"What nonsense."
......If only that voice hadn't suddenly interrupted.
BANG!
A fist that barged in without warning struck down the crystal orb.
The crystal orb scattered into powder on the floor.
"......Did I seem angry again?"
"No?"
It was a sharp voice.
"I'm the one who's angry."
As she said, Ellen looked extremely angry.
She was openly fuming.
"What? Got a problem with that?"
"No."
If she said to smash it, he had to smash it.
"Kup."
Then a sound of someone holding back laughter came from the side.
Benus was smiling only with her expression.
"Now I see it's you who lives in captivity."
It was a very satisfied smile.
"How unsurprising."
Harad didn't particularly care.
He had always been this way.