novelraw Chapter 223 : Chapter 223
Chapter 223 : Chapter 223
Chapter 223: Torch (1)
A small, stocky man raised his hand.
He was the representative of these asylum seekers.
"Speak."
"I heard Serzila's tunnel was closed..."
"It was. But I reopened it myself. That's why it's free—I need to secure customers."
Just being free makes it suspicious.
"I need to advertise and build a track record to get customers, don't I?"
"But once Serzila caught us..."
"Right. You could get caught twice. Isn't that what asylum is all about?"
Harad smiled as much like a merchant as he could.
"Asylum has always been dangerous. The less dangerous, the more expensive."
"..."
"Mine will probably be the most expensive."
The small, stocky man swallowed hard.
The person sitting next to him raised a hand.
It was a woman holding a child.
"How dangerous is it?"
"First of all, Serzila is less dangerous than the Church. Because she's ignorant."
Ellen flinched.
All twelve asylum seekers nodded as if entranced.
"The tunnel itself is incomparably safer than the sea route. It's literally a real tunnel."
"What about beyond?"
"The border. It's dangerous everywhere."
"..."
"But it's shorter than the sea route. If you start there, you have to go diagonally all the way. Like this."
Harad drew a long line on the ground with a twig.
"From the tunnel, you go like this."
The asylum seekers didn't know the border.
But the line Harad drew was intuitive. What he just drew was twice as short as the diagonal line.
"Any other questions?"
Then the man supporting the old man's back raised his hand.
The two were father and son. The old man was a Mage, and the son was a former knight.
"What about the village?"
"Good question."
There's even a village you can rest in along the way if needed.
Harad had said so earlier.
"I own two tunnels. One closest to the Otherworld. And one that's quite far from the Otherworld, but connected to a village."
Harad drew a circle on the ground with the twig. It was the village of Embers.
"The village is a place created by asylum seekers exhausted from asylum. It's on the border, but it's safe. Because there's a great Mage and fire."
The asylum seekers looked half-believing.
Setting aside skill, it was probably because they had studied the border while deciding on asylum.
"The village is friendly to asylum seekers, because they were in the same situation."
Harad didn't explain further.
That would be Manoa's role.
If a broker is unnecessarily kind, it only becomes suspicious.
"I've already established a perfect system. Guides and gatekeepers, even an agreement with the village is complete. All that's left are customers."
Harad conjured fire above his hand.
"Moreover, my Origin is fire. There's probably no broker more trustworthy than me."
Fire Mages were the Demons the Church prioritized most.
The fact that such a Harad operated a tunnel was the same as saying the tunnel's safety was guaranteed.
"Is, is it really free?"
Someone asked.
The other asylum seekers seemed to think similarly.
They had been seeking asylum in the first place. They couldn't help but be tempted by the tunnel.
"Of course. For a merchant, trust is life."
Gulp.
Someone swallowed. The sound was heard very loudly.
"But there's a condition."
"..."
"Do some advertising for me."
Advertising in name, but it wasn't that grand.
"Subtly spread word about the tunnel on your way to Serzila. I can't ask you to return to the continent and come back again."
The Intelligence Bureau would spread rumors on the continent anyway.
That was why he had left a letter at the Lohit Intelligence Bureau safe house.
"Now. Those who want asylum should head north. Find a person named Anton in Serzila. He's the guide."
"..."
"If you can't find him, wander around the territory muttering the name Anton. Then he'll find you himself. Mage Anton has good ears."
Another Mage.
Harad thought that was decisive.
Not only do Mages live in Serzila, they even opened a tunnel.
The asylum seekers glanced at each other and stood up one by one. Their footsteps were uniform. Everyone pointed their toes north.
Harad waited until their backs disappeared before speaking.
"Let's go too."
He had to establish the system before they arrived.
"...Are you really going to do broker work?"
Ellen, who had been silent, asked.
Her expression was hard to describe.
"Is that not okay?"
"You said you wouldn't open an asylum route."
"That was about not opening one to the North."
What Harad provided wasn't Serzila, but the tunnel. And the village of Embers.
"I don't plan to send them obediently to the Otherworld either. Probably nine out of ten will go to the village of Embers."
This would be the asylum seekers' first time at the border.
But they would have heard enough about how dangerous it is to be sick of it. They would try to start from a safe place first.
"The village will persuade them well on its own. They're the parties who failed asylum themselves."
They were people driven out by the Otherworld.
The village would try to dissuade asylum.
"What if they can't persuade them?"
"We can't force them. We don't have the capacity either."
Guiding them to the village and conveying the village's experience was enough.
There are definitely Mages who are good or helpful.
Elaine from the previous life had said so.
The kind of Mages Harad wanted were people like that.
Not foolish Mages.
"Do you dislike it? If you dislike it, I won't do it."
"At this point?"
After you've done everything?
That was the look in her eyes.
"Because you're more important than the asylum seekers. To me."
"...Do it."
"Hm?"
"I'm saying you can do it, if you want to."
He had gotten Serzila's permission anyway.
"But there's a condition."
Ellen spoke like a merchant.
"Just say it."
"Find out why I quit tobacco."
He thought it was a whim.
But apparently there was quite a grand reason for quitting smoking.
"By when?"
"As soon as possible."
"Understood."
"You must."
"Yes, I must."
Ellen grinned.
"I'll be waiting."
* * *
The arrival times were bound to differ.
The asylum seekers had to go around the snowy mountains, and there were children and elderly in the group.
On the other hand, Harad and Ellen could cross the snowy mountains without issue, and there was even Jis.
"How's your body?"
"I'm fine. Really."
He was better than when he failed tempering in the village of Embers.
Because he canceled Manifestation midway, received help from the Dreamer, and performed Predation on an Origin called Waterspout.
"I'm not fine. Really. Jis."
"Yes!"
Ellen forcibly dropped Harad into the Shadow. It was like pushing someone off a cliff into the sea. Ellen followed after.
That was why they could return to Serzila quickly.
"Go home?"
"Let's meet Anton first."
The Liberation Faction Mages were living in Intelligence Bureau lodging, but they had recently moved.
It wasn't only because some Intelligence Bureau agents returned when Benus Serzila returned.
"A house is nice."
The house they moved to was one building, but several times better than the Intelligence Bureau lodging.
"Thanks to Ocellin."
It was all money Ocellin earned.
Befitting the Grand Heir's work, the salary was considerable. Ellen subtly straightened her shoulders.
"I think I'll start work soon too."
"Intelligence Bureau?"
"Correct."
Anton's Origin was ears.
Those ears could eavesdrop on many things in the territory.
If there was no aversion to Mages, he was a talent the Intelligence Bureau couldn't help but want.
"Add one more thing. I already sent word to the Intelligence Bureau. It'll probably pass."
"Please speak."
"Mages will come soon. To use the tunnel."
"Pardon?"
"You're the guide. It's been decided."
"Pardon?"
* * *
The tunnel connected to the village of Embers was located in the basement of Harad's Annex.
It wasn't a big problem.
He could ask Tunnel-Digger Rickto dig a tunnel connecting that basement and the outskirts, or bring asylum seekers to the Annex blindfolded.
If he put his mind to it, Harad could perform the broker role right away.
'Godif will take care of Lohit.'
Willingly or unwillingly, that Mage would inform Lohit of the sea route's end and the tunnel's reopening.
The Intelligence Bureau would make him do so.
'The Liberation Tower will be hooked too. And the Otherworld.'
When rumors spread on the continent, every Mage would be hooked.
Harad hoped for that too.
The tunnel would become both an asylum route and a trap.
'It's quiet.'
He was already prepared, but Grand Duke Aratus was quiet.
Perhaps that Grand Duke also hoped Mages would be hooked.
Among them, there might be Mages related to the Moon.
'Or did Ellen persuade him?'
Either way, there seemed to be no problem.
If a problem really arose, he could just achieve merit then.
It was a land where you could receive anything if you achieved merit.
'Is knights becoming smarter about magic also merit?'
Elaine from the previous life might punish him.
But in regressed Harad's view, Grand Duke Aratus was more intelligent than expected.
He was curious about the knights' current level, but he couldn't go out. Harad was forbidden from going out. Until his aftereffects healed completely.
Ellen decided so.
Whether it was an order or not, Harad had to obey for now.
"You don't even nurse me anymore."
Should he get hurt more seriously?
Thanks to that, it was a boring daily life.
Kubel, Shura, and Ellen kept visiting, but the boredom was unavoidable. Fire is inherently vigorous.
"An asylum seeker came."
It was about a week after being confined to the Annex that Ellen, who suddenly visited, threw out such words.
"Let's go together."
"No. Anton and I decided to go."
"I'm fine though."
"I'm not fine."
Ellen was firm.
She didn't seem to intend to release him.
"I'll be healed soon."
"Then you can go out soon. Not today."
"This is confinement."
"Try reporting it."
Harad realized Inquisitor Badelots's feelings.
In the North, Serzila is king.
"Then why did you come? To tease me?"
"I just wanted to see your face."
"Mm."
When she answered like that, he had nothing to say.
Harad obediently showed his face until Ellen left.
It was after seeing Ellen off at the door that he discovered a letter stuck outside the second-floor window.
Seeing the outside was damp, it seemed quite some time had passed since the letter arrived.
The Intelligence Bureau must have sent it.
Harad immediately tore open the envelope.
"Inquisitor Badelots dead?"
Harad frowned.
Dead? That tenacious Inquisitor?
"At sea?"
If so, this information should have arrived much later.
It meant Badelots died somewhere visible.
'He died in Lohit? Then what about Seria?'
There was no information about Seria in the letter.
Either nothing happened, or they hadn't found her yet.
'The latter.'
Seria was Ellen's friend.
If there was any trivial information, they would have added it.
'Ellen doesn't know yet.'
If she knew, she wouldn't have come just to see his face.
'I guess I can go out.'
It seemed like an appropriate pretext for going out.
* * *
Harad was a patient, and Jis's help was enough with what he received in Lohit.
Just as Harad needed rest, Jis needed time to play with Shura.
There was no need to ask for more help.
Just a tunnel—Ellen had already experienced it several times.
Before that, this was Serzila.
Ellen was confident she could go between this territory and the underground tunnel with her eyes closed.
If it was a Mage, Anton, who became the guide, was enough.
He was a Manager from the Liberation Faction of the Liberation Tower.
He was proficient in the subjects of Mages and asylum.
Over the past week, Tunnel-Digger Rickhad newly completed a tunnel connected to Harad's Annex basement.
Its entrance was located near Anton's house.
'If I just send them to the tunnel, well.'
That was Ellen's only role.
After that, it was the asylum seeker's responsibility. And it was up to Manoa, who would greet asylum seekers in the village of Embers.
To let them into the North required Grand Duke Aratus's permission, but the village of Embers only needed Harad's permission.
Because that place was Harad's village.
In Ellen's view, it was a clever move if anything.
There was no reason not to accept it. What Harad wanted was what she wanted.
The house Anton and the Liberation Faction newly arranged through Ocellin was located in the northeast.
It was a good house, close to the Inner Fortress.
If you came out of the Inner Fortress and headed straight east, you would reach Anton's house.
But Ellen's toes pointed west.
There was no particular reason.
It just felt like she should.
Her head said she should go meet Anton, but her body coaxed her to go west.
Ellen had already experienced that she should follow her body at times like this.
Thanks to that, she could meet Jis in Ekampote. That was how she learned about Predation.
So Ellen walked as if entranced.
Though she had no thoughts, her body moved on its own. That sensation wasn't unfamiliar. Innate Strength isn't something you think about.
I want to cut.
When that thought arose once, Ellen was already cutting Avery Aquinas's Origin.
It would be the same this time.
Only after finishing walking would the reason she wanted to walk come to mind.
That walking wasn't simply the goal—Ellen intuited this when she saw a certain back.
'I want to grab him.'
When that thought arose, Ellen had already grabbed a certain man's shoulder.
Tremendous strength pulled the shoulder.
The man was forcibly turned around.
Their eyes met like that, but those eyes... Ellen couldn't see them.
Because her vision instantly stained jet-black.
"Found you."
That voice flowed from Ellen's mouth.
And from the mouth of that woman standing alone in the jet-black stain, it also flowed.
"Finally."
That woman.
Elaine borrowed Ellen's mouth and spat out.
It wasn't just the voice that jumped out.
The will of Elaine from the dream saw the face of the man just grabbed and leaped into reality.
"Torch."
The man's eyes widened, then he grinned.
It was a face she had once seen with Divine power.
"Not killing you was my regret."
The jet-black growled.