novelraw Chapter 68 : Chapter 68
Chapter 68 : Chapter 68
Chapter 68: Shura (3)
"It's getting late. Let's talk about the details tomorrow."
I sent the calmed Shura back with Kubel.
If it were up to me, I would have liked to hear it now, but that would have been cruel.
Kubel was one thing, but the attitudes of the others were also a problem.
They seemed to need time to accept reality.
After Kubel and Shura left, a heavy silence descended on the Intelligence Bureau safe house.
Cassion was relatively less affected, but I found his gaze burdensome.
Cassion was a Mage, yet he was a knight of Serzila.
He was loyal to Serzila, yet he had no prejudice against Mages.
Mage or not, to Cassion, Shura was just a child who deserved to be loved.
'That man is the most enlightened.'
The fact that Cassion was more enlightened than Ellen was almost disheartening.
Despite all the stimulation I had given her, it must mean that it was still far from enough.
"You. You knew."
How much time had passed, it was Ellen who broke the silence.
"Me?"
"Don't pretend you didn't know."
Ellen said sternly.
"When you first met Shura, you asked her if she was a Mage. You, who can distinguish Mages."
I can distinguish Mages.
Such a Harad had asked Shura if she was a Mage.
Therefore, I must have known Shura's identity.
From Ellen's perspective, it was inevitable to misunderstand it that way.
"I did know."
I did not bother to correct the misunderstanding.
If I did, it would be an admission that I couldn't distinguish Mages.
"Is that a problem?"
To remain a Mage who could distinguish Mages, I had to be shameless here.
"Is it a problem, you ask?"
Her voice trembled.
Her eyebrows trembled even more violently. Ellen was angry.
"Tell me. What is the problem?"
"How can you even say that..."
"If I had known. What would have changed?"
I did not avoid Ellen's gaze.
"Do you regret the love and care you gave to Shura until now? Would you not have done so if she were a Mage?"
"...That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what?"
Ellen bit her lip.
"Do you feel betrayed? Is that more important than the agony of Shura, who had been hiding it all alone?"
"..."
"If not that, then why are you angry? When you've even let that man live."
I pointed at Cassion.
To be angry about the fact that Shura was a Mage, Ellen should not have let Cassion live.
"I don't think you're the kind of person who still considers people and Mages to be different."
Ellen knows that Mages are the same as people.
Cassion and Kubel were proof of that. Ellen now sees the person, not the Origin.
"Shura is Shura. Am I wrong?"
"...I'm sorry. It was just too much of a shock."
Ellen readily admitted.
"It's alright. My words were a bit harsh too."
It was to give stimulation.
It was also to test Ellen's inner thoughts.
'She's changed a lot.'
The Ellen who, when we first met, would have hated any Mage on sight.
'But she needs to change more.'
Of course, there was still a long way to go.
The Elaine of the past life would have just said, "I see," and moved on, even at the fact that Shura was a Mage.
And she would have pried, asking what kind of magic she could use.
Suddenly, Cassion muttered in admiration.
"So you can really distinguish Mages."
In Cassion's common sense, it was an impossible feat.
But he could no longer deny it. Harad was actually distinguishing them.
"I trust that nothing will change."
I said, looking at Arika.
"...This is the North."
It meant that a child is a child.
It was a typical Arika-like answer.
"Have you never caught a young Mage in the North?"
"I've never heard of it. There probably isn't."
Arika said with conviction.
Children were the conscience of the North. Even if they were a Mage, a Northerner would not have touched them.
In fact, I knew it too.
If they found a young Mage, Northerners would not try to kill them. They would just chase them out of their territory.
Of course, even that was a cruel act to a child, but compared to what the continent did, it was an immense luxury.
"One more reason for the Church not to set foot here."
"...What about the Church?"
"A demon is a demon. Big, or small."
Ellen's face hardened.
As long as she dreamed, she was fated to clash with the Church someday.
* * *
Elaine was wearing a formal uniform.
It was a different outfit from the one she had worn at the Grand Duke's coronation ceremony she had dreamed of once.
-Annoying things.
Elaine roughly unbuttoned her shirt.
Her emotions were laid bare, and thanks to that, Ellen noticed that this dream was from the time when Elaine was the Grand Heir.
But the background was unexpected.
It was not a snowfield in a blizzard, but a warm field. There was a hut there, and Elaine was heading towards it.
Harad was sitting on a tree stump in front of the hut.
-Was the honey sweet?
-What honey. I was just annoyingly captured.
Harad spat out bluntly.
Even though Elaine had come, he didn't even get up, let alone look at her.
-If you were going to be captured, you should have followed to the end.
Elaine was also blunt.
The distance between the two was quite close.
Ellen had never seen Harad act so bluntly. He was only like that in his dreams.
-How do I know what will happen if I go that far.
-What do you mean, happen. I'm the one who brought you, who would dare touch you.
-You never know, do you.
-I've felt it for a while now, but you're surprisingly cowardly.
Instead of answering, Harad threw a branch.
Elaine dodged it nicely.
-If you just kill that temper of yours, there would be no chance of getting caught.
-I've killed it a lot.
-I know. I know. No fire, these days.
When Harad gets angry, fire sparks.
Ellen had seen it several times in her dreams.
A few days ago, she had seen it in person.
-How was the capital?
-Still detestable, and an eyesore. It was full of crosses and skewers.
Crosses and skewers.
That was a reference to the Church's judgment.
They would display the corpses of Mages on crosses or impale them on skewers.
-Among them, Enverque was the most unsightly.
Enverque was the name of the imperial family.
It seemed that the Elaine in the dream had been to the capital. And to the imperial palace at that.
-Why did they call for you?
-The same old thing. It's the same every birthday, to the point where I want to kill them.
The head of the North is about to change, so they're trying to sweet-talk me. Elaine clicked her tongue.
Grand Duke Aratus was an extremely stubborn man.
The imperial family thought that the next Grand Duke, Elaine, would be easier to handle than such a Grand Duke Aratus.
-They must think I'm such a pushover.
-The Grand Heir does look like a pushover.
-Haha. Fuck you.
Elaine kicked the tree stump Harad was sitting on. The stump shattered into pieces.
Harad, who was now sitting on air, silently glared at Elaine. Sparks flew.
-You should have done this in front of Enverque.
-I did tell them to stop calling me.
-Just that?
-Do I look like a pushover to you too?
The corner of Elaine's eye twitched.
-Well, I understand. Being handsome has its downsides.
-I think it's because you're not a Sword Master yet.
-Haha. Come to think of it, it's been a while since you've been hit.
Elaine, who was drawing her sword, tilted her head.
Harad's sleeve was scorched. It wasn't because of the sparks just now. It was an old mark.
-Were you playing with fire by yourself?
Instead of answering, Harad turned his gaze to the hut.
Elaine, who followed his gaze, narrowed her brows.
-Someone's there. A child?
The sensation Elaine was feeling was transmitted to Ellen as well. There was a child in the hut. The perceived size was smaller than Shura.
-Did you kidnap someone?
-A Mage.
-You met the Church, you. You couldn't hold your temper and caused trouble again.
-It turned out that way.
-Did you kill them?
Elaine, who asked so, had sparkling eyes.
It seemed that the Elaine in the dream hated the Church.
-I didn't kill them.
-Well, did you just rough them up a bit?
-Yes.
-You should have killed them.
Tsk. Elaine clicked her tongue.
-The Church will be looking for a fire Mage with their eyes on fire.
-Well, they'll probably think it's the Liberation Tower.
-Is that why you didn't kill them? No, that's not it.
Elaine stared intently at Harad.
-The reason I want you to kill your temper is for my sake. To control me, and to be good to me. Not because I want you to become soft.
-I know.
-If you know, then don't do it again from now on. Don't think about the consequences. The one behind you is me, the one who will soon be the master of Serzila.
-The one who's not even a Sword Master yet.
-Fuck you.
Harad and Elaine's eyes met.
And then they laughed foolishly.
-What are you going to do with that child?
A Mage.
But Elaine immediately called him a child.
-If he has nowhere to live, let's take him to the North.
-Is that alright?
-What's not alright about it. When I, no, we, say so.
On the surface, Elaine was magnanimous.
-We are the North, where the laws of the continent do not apply.
But Ellen knew that there was a personal motive mixed in.
It wasn't a decision made simply because the Mage Harad had saved was a child.
-So you just need to listen to me.
-Why does the conclusion turn out that way?
-Because I will soon be the North.
Her gaze was suggestive.
It was not the kind of emotion that Harad, who knew Elaine as a man, would notice.
-You're still just the Grand Heir.
-Tsk.
-And not even a Sword Master.
-Hey.
-What.
...They did seem close.
Perhaps enviably so.
* * *
The Grand Duke's Residence was closed.
Last night when he returned, and now that the sun had risen, it was the same. To me, it felt like a silent approval.
It must mean that he would accept even the Mage Shura.
'So a child is a child.'
As befits the master of the North.
I was inwardly impressed by the human side of the Grand Duke.
The reason the North followed Serzila was not simply because the name was strong.
'He'll probably raise her until she becomes an adult.'
It was a good thing for me as well.
It meant that I didn't have to render a service for Shura's sake right away.
I headed straight for Kubel's annex.
Arika was there, but Cassion was not.
...Ellen was also not there.
"Oh. You're late."
It was not Ellen, but Elaine who was sitting there.
"Why is the Grand Heir here?"
"Ellen asked me to come instead. She said my name might be of help."
Elaine said shamelessly.
It had a point. The purpose of catching the Tunnel-Digger was not because his head was needed, but to figure out the locations of the tunnels.
To be precise, that was the top priority.
'Killing is for after we've found out everything we need to.'
Whether it was interrogation or threats, the name value of Elaine would be more effective than Ellen's.
Because unlike Ellen, who was known in the domain as a low-ranking member of the Intelligence Bureau, Elaine was the Grand Heir.
"My name is the second scariest name in this land."
Elaine knew her own status well.
She also knew how to use it. Hadn't she constantly flaunted it in her past life?
"Ah. Right. I had a dream too."
My eyes lit up.
The exploration of the Deep Sea's path, and the truth about Shura, seemed to have given Elaine considerable stimulation.
"I'll tell you later, that's not what's important right now."
I nodded.
Kubel looked haggard.
He had a face as if he had stayed up all night, and he was forcing a smile.
Arika looked indifferent, but if you looked closely, the area under her eyes was slightly dark. Elaine seemed hungry and lightly patted her stomach.
Everyone was looking at Shura.
No one was rushing her. They were all just waiting for Shura to open her mouth.
'Shouldn't she have come as Ellen?'
Recently, Elaine had been frequenting Kubel's annex. I didn't know if it was because she was handsome, but Shura did not avoid such an Elaine.
However, they hadn't talked much. Shura was not close to Elaine.
The one Shura had revealed her secret to yesterday was Ellen, not Elaine.
"I can see their inner self."
But Shura opened her mouth.
Her voice was slightly nervous.
"Inner self?"
"Yes. When I look like this, I see two people."
Magic glistened in Shura's eyes.
It was unmistakably magic.
In fact, it was too crude to be called magic.
'1st Rank.'
It was a characteristic of a Mage from the continent who was ignorant of magic.
Unable to apply their Origin, and only able to manifest a very slight characteristic of their Origin.
"The dark one is the outer self, and the translucent one is the inner self."
Elaine twitched very slightly.
"The outer self must be what is normally seen. Please explain about the inner self."
At those words, Shura stared intently at me.
"They look the same. But the inner self answers my words. If it nods, it's an affirmation, and if it shakes, it's a negation."
It meant she could only get a "yes" or "no" answer.
"An answer. What kind of questions do you ask?"
"I just have to think in this state."
Shura said, pointing to her own eyes.
It was a crude magic. That's why the magic was weak, so weak that an ordinary person wouldn't notice.
"You won't be able to ask many questions."
"No. I can only ask one."
The amount of that magic, I noticed Shura's limit.
"What is that one question?"
"My dad."
"Hmm?"
"The question is, 'Is my dad okay?'"
"..."
Not herself, but her dad.
I was at a loss for words for a moment.
Looking to the side, Kubel had covered his face with both hands and was starting to shed a lot of things.
The corners of the stoic Arika's eyes turned red, and Elaine let out a low groan.
"So that's why you answered me."
"Yes. Only your inner self nodded."
I recalled my first meeting with Shura.
At that time, Shura had not answered Ellen. She had only opened her mouth to me.
It must have been because, to the question Shura had asked in her heart, my inner self had nodded.
It also meant that, at that time, Ellen's inner self had shaken her head.
"Ah."
Elaine's fingers fidgeted.
Looking back, the time Shura had opened her mouth to Ellen was after Ellen had decided to trust Kubel.
"Did that friend's inner self also nod?"
I pointed at Arika.
"She nodded slightly."
Arika's face turned slightly red.
She seemed embarrassed that her inner thoughts of slightly acknowledging Mages had been revealed.
"You're kinder than I thought."
"...That's not what's important right now."
Arika turned her head.
"What's in your heart?"
"There are eyes."
Shura's Origin was her eyes.
I was reminded of Compaso, the 4th Rank of the Ivory Tower.
The Mage who had secretly watched Ios's infiltration in the Boundary and had been killed by Cassion.
His Origin was also his eyes.
'Same eyes, but what they see is different.'
Compaso's eyes had a function like a telescope.
Shura's eyes see a person's inner thoughts.
It wasn't an unusual case.
Because magic, by nature, is vague.
The Origin, which is its subject, is even more vague.
"A man but a woman. An old woman but a man. Shura, you said that."
"Yes. Their outer self and inner self were different."
"I see. It was originally a magic for asking questions."
Coincidentally, she had discovered a person whose outer and inner selves were different.
'It was a lucky find.'
Just then, Shura asked, looking around timidly.
"It's useless, right?"
To live in the Inner Fortress, Kubel was in a position where he had to constantly prove his usefulness.
Shura seemed to want to contribute to that.
"We are not the ones who decide what is useful. The situation is."
I smiled gently.
"Shura, in this situation, you are more useful than I am."
"Hehe."
In Shura's eyes, my inner self was nodding vigorously.
* * *
Shura told us about the two people whose outer and inner selves were different.
All she knew was the appearance of their outer selves and where they lived, but that was enough.
Even after Shura finished speaking, the annex was noisy. Kubel's crying was louder than that of a decent-sized animal.
Kubel cried a lot, to the point where he couldn't see in front of him. And yet, when I stood up, he stood up with me.
"Kubel, you stay here."
I forcibly sat Kubel down.
"B-but..."
"Your job for today is to play with Shura. Shura deserves a reward too."
Shura laughed "hehe."
I left the annex as I was. Arika and Elaine followed, but Shura caught Elaine's sleeve.
"It's okay."
Shura smiled brightly at Elaine's inner self, at Ellen.
"I know..."
Elaine's eyes widened as she looked down at that face. And then she collapsed with a "thud."
"Grand Heir!"
Arika, startled, caught Elaine's body. Shura, who was right in front of her, had an even more surprised face.
Just then, I smiled.
I comforted the surprised Shura.
"She's just asleep."
It was thanks to the stimulation that was Shura.