novelraw Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Chapter 60: Discovered (3)
Recalling the intensity of the flames.
The Mages who had Thread and Steel Nail as their respective Origins should have been reduced to ash.
But the corpses I saw as I crawled at the head of the tunnel were in better condition than I had expected.
They were dead, but not turned to ash.
They had melted to death. It meant they had some underlying strength.
‘3rd Rank.’
I savored the taste I had sensed from their Origins earlier.
They were 3rd Rank. They weren't ordinary. They were outstanding among 3rd Ranks, with the talent to reach the so-called 4th Rank.
‘Even though their Origins weren’t that great.’
The Otherworld used Origins to distinguish between geniuses and commoners.
It was the same as defining the limits of one's birth.
It meant that even for a commoner, reaching a high Rank wasn't impossible.
It was the same logic behind Cassion, whose Origin was that small dot, being a 5th Rank.
‘Though it is Gu Poison.’
An Origin's worth depended on how it was used. Even if it was poor, there were some Mages who became great enough to manifest it.
After geniuses, the Otherworld cherished such commoners.
‘So they sent people they somewhat cherished.’
It meant the Otherworld was taking the matter of the Watchtower being burned seriously.
Of course, they were a little weaker than I had expected.
I had thought they would send a higher Rank.
‘The Magic Towers are separate.’
The three who had just died must have belonged to the Ivory Tower or the Tower of Meteoric Iron.
‘I don’t know how the other Magic Towers will react.’
There must be Magic Towers that particularly disliked or were wary of the Red Tower.
The Mages sent by such towers would be formidable.
Among the things to be conscious of in the Boundary this time, such Mages were included.
I turned the half-melted corpses to ash and started crawling again. Gasp, gasp. A very strained breathing sound came from behind me. It was Kubel.
“Kubel, are you alright?”
“Ye-yes.”
His answer was far from reassuring.
The tunnel was already narrow and suffocatingly claustrophobic, but it must have been even tighter for the large-bodied Kubel.
I couldn't see behind me, but Kubel was probably crawling with his shoulders pulled in as far as they could go.
“Just endure a little longer.”
“Ye……”
Kubel answered like a fool.
I felt sorry for him, but I didn't increase my speed.
“Ellen.”
“Aren’t you going to hurry?”
“I’d like to, but there’s a problem we need to solve.”
As if telling me to spit it out, Ellen tapped the bottom of my feet.
She was worried about Kubel too.
“I’m a 3rd Rank who’s like a 4th Rank. At this rate, I’ll reach 4th Rank faster than expected.”
I hadn't even crossed into the Boundary yet, but I had already feasted on three Mages.
It was a much faster pace than I had anticipated.
“That poor Kubel is a 3rd Rank.”
“So?”
“What about you?”
The Elaine of this life was stronger than the Elaine from around this time before the regression.
As long as we didn't encounter a 5th Rank or higher, my party was unlikely to be in danger in the Boundary.
But that was Elaine, not Ellen.
“You’ve seen me a few times.”
“I want to know for sure.”
What I wanted to know wasn't Ellen's physical strength, but her thoughts.
Whether she would fight like Elaine even when she was Ellen, that was what I wanted to know.
‘She did during the Ragged Magical Beast incident.’
But that must have been because her life was on the line.
I needed to know what her attitude would be when it wasn't dangerous.
“I’m the type to roughly form a plan in my head before I do something.”
“You seem like it.”
“That’s why I want to know. I need to know your level precisely to form a proper plan.”
In truth, it didn't really matter if I didn't know.
Somehow, I was confident I could guide Ellen in the direction I wanted.
So, what I was curious about was how much Ellen had opened up her heart.
If that Elaine was now at the point of asking to eat three meals a day together, how much would Ellen have changed?
“……I’m at least as strong as the Grand Heir.”
“Really?”
I feigned surprise and asked back.
“The Grand Heir has never beaten me. And I've never beaten her either.”
It wasn't untrue.
“So just hurry up and go. Kubel's going to die at this rate.”
“Alright.”
I crawled as fast as I could.
My body felt lighter than I thought.
* * *
There were three more Mages at the exit.
To be precise, one dying person and two corpses.
“Oh.”
Having come up to the surface, I spotted them and let out a satisfied laugh.
The Mages crawling through the tunnel had more resilience than I thought, but the combination of fire and smoke also had better synergy than I expected.
First, I planted fire in the hearts of the two corpses and absorbed them. Then I looked at the one who was dying.
“……”
Unfortunately, his face had melted.
His eyes, nose, and mouth were sealed shut and the skin had hardened grotesquely; it was a state in which no one could possibly speak.
A single small hole remaining near his nostrils was keeping the Mage alive.
Just in case, I lightly sliced the part where his mouth would be with my sword, tearing it open.
“I am Harad of the Red Tower.”
“……”
“I'd like to ask for directions.”
I hadn't come to the Boundary recklessly.
I was planning to find a path.
Just as Serzila had its Search Routes, the Otherworld also had paths, as Cassion had mentioned.
Fourteen years ago, Cassion had infiltrated Serzila through a path identified by the Moon's Magic Tower.
“……Do you really have to go that far?”
The answer came from an unexpected place.
Ellen, who had come up to the surface, was pulling Kubel up as if plucking a radish.
“Serzila does not mock the defeated.”
It wasn't that she was bothered by me asking for directions, but by me introducing myself as from the Red Tower.
“It's not mockery. It's planting a seed.”
The freed Kubel collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
“Planting what?”
“If we just kill them, they will have been killed by an unidentified Mage. The only clue would be that the Mage's Origin is fire.”
Serzila would never be on the list of suspects.
Because there was no way there would be a Mage in Serzila.
It was the reason I could confidently offer to be the tail to Grand Duke Aratus.
“Then the grudge will wander aimlessly. Perhaps, with luck, it might even target me.”
Of course, just killing Otherworld Mages was a gain.
But I wanted to see more gain.
“Ah.”
“That’s right. If I introduce myself as from the Red Tower, the direction of the tide might change.”
The grudge would turn towards the Red Tower.
“The Red Tower attacking Mages from other towers.”
“Exactly. I think I already succeeded once, at the Watchtower.”
“……Jesult of the Ivory Tower.”
At Ellen's murmur, I smiled brightly.
She was smarter than I thought.
Jesult. That Mage who died in the Red Tower was from the same Ivory Tower as Ios.
He was unlikely to have entered the land named a sanctuary quietly. He would have filed a report with the Ivory Tower.
To borrow the words of Ios who had once crossed the wall, the Ivory Tower was neutral.
Neutral between the other Magic Towers that approved of the long-cherished wish and the Moon Tower and Red Tower that opposed it.
“There won't be an immediate change, but they will have started to be conscious of it.”
One day, the Ivory Tower will change its stance.
If I was lucky, they would attack the Red Tower.
I was planning to make it so.
I wanted the Magic Towers to chip away at each other.
“That’s a way of thinking Serzila couldn’t come up with.”
It was a way of thinking the North disliked.
The North had to seize victory with its own hands.
“Do you dislike it?”
“No. The more diverse the perspectives, the better.”
And yet, Ellen did not object.
This, too, was a reward of regression.
As much as their relationship, Ellen’s ideology was also changing rapidly.
Thud. Ellen walked towards me.
Her already drawn sword pierced the gasping Mage’s neck.
It was a familiar sword.
There were a total of three heirloom swords of Serzila.
One of them belonged to Grand Duke Aratus, and another, Patern, was with me.
So that one was Elaine's sword.
The sword she carries when she is the Grand Heir, Ellen had brought it with her.
“Isn't that the Grand Heir's sword?”
“I borrowed it.”
“I see.”
Is she putting on a bold face since she won't get caught anyway?
Or has she become so comfortable that she doesn't even notice?
I decided to think of it as the latter.
It was better to think positively, after all.
Plunge. Ellen’s hand dug into the freshly dead Mage’s chest. The heart was pulled out.
It was steaming, and looked very delicious.
It was a truly terrible impression.
It wasn't my sentiment, but the will of my Origin.
“Eat it.”
“No.”
As soon as I answered, Ellen threw the heart on the ground.
She wiped the blood off her hand with a cloth she had brought.
“Were you testing me?”
“Because it’s unsettling for a person to eat another person.”
Person.
Ellen saw even the Otherworld Mages as people.
Cassion's contribution was great.
If she were to deny that Otherworld Mages were people, it would mean that Cassion, whom she had gone to great lengths to save, was not a person either.
“But if you want to eat it, you can.”
It was unsettling, but not to the point of objecting.
Of course, that alone was a reward in itself.
“Just absorbing is enough.”
“Is it because there's someone who dislikes it?”
I nodded.
And then I predicted what Ellen would say next.
‘That’s quite human of you, isn't it?’
Ellen had said so once before.
It was when we first went to the Boundary after the regression.
A different answer would probably come this time.
The Ellen of then and the Ellen of now could be considered completely different people.
“Who is it?”
“What?”
“Who is the person who would dislike it if you ate a heart?”
I had expected it to be different, but this was novel.
A completely unexpected question.
“There is such a person.”
I stalled for time first.
If possible, I wanted to give a stimulating answer.
“So, who.”
Meeting Ellen’s eyes, I had a hunch.
‘I’m going to die.’
If I spouted some nonsense trying to be provocative, she seemed like she would swing her sword.
“It's a woman.”
I said vaguely.
It wasn't entirely wrong either.
“A woman?”
“Yes, a woman.”
“……You had a woman?”
“I never thought of her as a woman, but it turned out she was.”
Over Ellen’s shoulder, I could see Kubel.
He was making a strange face.
A face that was hard to describe with words.
“Well. It’s not that important. I've actually already broken it once.”
“……Because of me?”
The only time I had directly consumed a Mage’s heart was when we encountered the Ragged Magical Beast.
“It wasn't 'because of'. It was for you, of all people.”
“……”
Over her shoulder, Kubel smiled contentedly.
* * *
The Boundary was a desolate land.
To be precise, only the place where Kubel was standing now was like that.
In the distance, there was a downpour, and in the opposite distance, strange bone-like things were falling.
Every direction was menacing, but to Kubel, the seemingly calm west looked the scariest.
Unfortunately, that was the direction I was walking.
Kubel, having come to live in the Inner Fortress, had heard many things about the Boundary.
Mostly from the members of the 1st Knights.
Whenever they came down to the Inner Fortress on business, they would have a meal at Kubel's annex before going back up.
It was usually because I was there.
If my education was an objective delivery of knowledge, their testimonies were extremely vivid.
The environment of the Boundary changed with each zone, and everywhere was equally shitty, but the testimonies ultimately boiled down to one thing.
A land that was fucking cold, fucking painful, and fucking hard.
That was the Boundary.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, it’s bearable.”
But contrary to his premature fears, his condition was surprisingly fine.
It wasn't painful, and it wasn't hard. Crucially, it was cool.
If it weren't for the fantastical view, it would have been no different from walking on an ordinary snowfield.
“It’s thanks to me.”
Kubel personally realized why the 1st Knights liked me.
Just by being with me, the Boundary becomes an ordinary snowfield.
“It means you should not underestimate the Boundary.”
I wanted to make that point clear.
“I am keeping it in mind.”
It was more of a reconfirmation than a criticism.
Kubel's personality was not bold enough to become complacent just because it was comfortable.
From the moment he arrived in the Boundary, Kubel’s head had not rested once.
Even now, he was constantly surveying his surroundings.
I inwardly smiled with satisfaction.
It was a good habit. Timidity had such advantages.
However, it was unlikely to be of great significance. It was because Ellen was with us.
Her Aura manipulation, gifted by Innate Strength, was on a different level. That manipulation also included detecting presences.
By the time Kubel noticed a Magical Beast, Ellen would already be fighting it.
“Kubel, I plan to bring you with me often in the future.”
“I am ready.”
He had entered the Inner Fortress, but that wasn't the end.
To not get kicked out, Kubel had to continuously prove his usefulness. The more he did, the safer Shura would be.
“It's not just to help you gain experience. If that were the case, I would have asked the 1st Knights.”
If Kubel's experience was the goal, I would have sent him on a 1st Knights search mission.
That would have been more effective for gaining experience.
Without me, he could experience the Boundary in its raw state, and it would also be an opportunity to get along with the knights.
But I didn't do that.
I went out of my way to bring Kubel. And not just to any Boundary, but to the Second Stage Boundary. It wasn't something one should do to a beginner.
“Because I might need your help.”
Kubel, who was looking around, tilted his head.
“I don’t think I can be of any help to you, Harad……”
“I’m not talking about physical help, you’re weak.”
Kubel became disheartened at the cold words.
He knew his own position well. He was not yet at the level of Harad and Ellen's heels.
That was why Kubel was both touched and disappointed by my advice earlier not to eat the heart.
Kubel wanted to become stronger.
The reason for that no longer included only Shura.
He wanted to be of help to me.
“My perspective as a Mage is not straight. I may not realize it, but I’m surely biased in some way.”
Everyone has prejudices.
I thought I didn't have any, but… that in itself was probably a prejudice.
“But you are different. Today is your first real battle, a beginner. You can’t possibly have any prejudices.”
Today was his first time setting foot in the Boundary, and he hadn't seen a Magical Beast yet.
“A new thing has no dust. It means you see the world straight, just as it is.”
Even in the fact that the Otherworld Mages he met for the first time today were corpses, Kubel's eyes were still new.
It was the reason I delivered knowledge as objectively as possible when teaching Kubel.
I didn't want to transfer my dust to Kubel.
“I know many things, but sometimes I’m wrong. It’s because it’s been a long time since I was opened, and it’s covered in dust.”
I get a feel for things just by looking.
It was mostly like that with magic. But the possibility of being wrong always existed.
That possibility acts very fatally in the Boundary.
“If there is anything strange, curious, or unsettling, tell me everything without holding back. That purity will catch my prejudices.”
What I might dismiss as simple or familiar could be seen differently in Kubel's eyes.
That perspective would wipe away the dust accumulated on me.
Kubel nodded gravely.
Then he whipped his head around.
“There’s something over there.”
A wave rose over the snowfield.
It was rushing towards us.
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like magic.”
“It looks that way to my eyes too.”
Flames were burning on my hand.
Ellen had already drawn her sword.
“……You already knew.”
“Don’t be discouraged, and keep doing that in the future.”
This was a matter of physical strength.
Something I didn't expect from Kubel.
“Hold your breath. Make some smoke.”
Fwoosh!
The wave crashed over them.