novelraw Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80: 4th Rank (1)
The pitch-black dead land.
Just as a person's body stiffens into a corpse upon death, this area was extremely hard.
That hardness, Pisaro knew well.
When the space had been isolated, he had thought of digging into the ground to move underneath.
It was impossible.
The ground was so hard that he had to swing his sword with all his might just to make a small dent.
Such land was in a complete mess.
Though he was standing on the ground, what he was stepping on were not the earth itself, but fragments of what used to be earth. The smallest piece was the size of a thumbnail.
It meant that the magic of the mage Harad had faced was both incredibly powerful and delicate.
It was undeniably a 5th Rank.
The ground that Pisaro couldn't even dig, that mage had sliced up as if cutting a radish.
"...Vicious."
But Pisaro's astonishment could not be directed at the mage. Because he was dead.
So, the astonishment had no choice but to shift to the one who had killed him.
A very small pit was dug into the land that had turned to fragments.
No, it was closer to a hole than a pit.
A hole slightly thicker than an ant's nest, its end unseen.
The hole was still simmering.
Just getting close felt like it would cook your body.
It was the trace left by Harad's fire.
At the same time, it was a grave. Where that hole was, there was originally a 5th Rank mage.
As proof, a single heart was faintly pulsing next to the small hole.
It meant that everything except the heart had vanished without even leaving ashes.
A 5th Rank mage.
...By a fire the size of a tear.
'He said he was a 3rd Rank like a 4th Rank.'
Now that I see it, wasn't he a 3rd Rank like a 5th Rank?
It was an absurd story, hard to believe even after seeing it with my own eyes.
It would be more believable to say the opponent wasn't 5th Rank.
But Pisaro couldn't say, even as an empty compliment, that the opponent must have been weak.
Harad's condition was a mess, too much of a mess. His burst left eye, his front torso slashed in a net pattern, the hole in his left chest... it was a wonder he was alive.
Only by getting into that state was Harad able to kill the mage.
So, to say the opponent was weak was the same as belittling Harad who had suffered so much.
"He's out of his mind."
Harad had only collapsed after confirming the mage's death with his own eyes.
That mental fortitude.
Pisaro was speechless. No matter how many times he replayed it, only admiration came out. However, there was no time to savor the afterglow.
"He's still breathing."
Derrick's face, as he examined Harad, hardened.
Harad's body, which had been like fire, was growing cold.
If it weren't for the faint sound of his heartbeat, he could have been mistaken for a corpse.
"He's going to die soon."
Cruelly, the heartbeat was getting quieter and quieter.
Kubel's face, as he looked at Harad, became urgent.
"The heart!"
Derrick and Pisaro's gazes turned to the heart the mage had left behind.
"Originally, when Harad kills a magical beast, he just burns the heart along with it. It's because he's reluctant to eat it."
It was because there was a woman who disliked him eating hearts.
Kubel, who had walked the Deep Sea Path with me, remembered how I devoured hearts.
"But Harad left the heart."
The mage had died without even leaving bones, but the heart alone remained.
No matter how sturdy a mage's heart may be.
"He must have judged that he could only live by eating it directly, not by absorbing it."
Kubel was certain.
Harad was a man of planning.
He had left a way to survive and then collapsed.
"Is it enough just to feed it to him?"
"Probably so."
Kubel's tone was not confident.
It was because he had never eaten a heart himself.
"I'll do it."
There was no time to argue about how to feed it.
Pisaro heard the essence of the mage. It pulsed faintly. The beat seemed to add credibility to Kubel's words.
Derrick held Harad's face and gently pulled to open his mouth.
Pisaro carefully squeezed it over him. The life force remaining in the essence trickled into Harad's mouth.
Harad's Adam's apple bobbed.
He was swallowing. Seeing this, Pisaro's movements became more careful.
At some point, what had been dripping stopped.
Pisaro tore off small pieces and put them in Harad's mouth, like feeding a baby bird.
Then, Harad's tongue moved. It fumbled with what was in his mouth and swallowed.
Pisaro fed him slowly and steadily. The more he fed him, the more heat rose from Harad's body.
When he fed him a slightly larger piece, his teeth chewed it. Thump. The heartbeat grew slightly louder. Seeing this, Pisaro's movements quickened little by little.
At some point, the mage's essence in his hand disappeared without a trace. The knights' and Kubel's gazes were fixed on Harad's face.
Harad was exhaling a long breath.
The breath he drew in again was stable. At some point, a warmth was felt around Harad.
That warmth seemed quite special to Harad. A warmth difficult to describe in words was spreading throughout his body.
The blood flowing from his entire body gradually stopped.
The mangled flesh began to heal little by little, very little by little. At this rate, it seemed new flesh would sprout in a few days.
"...Amazing."
Only then did they let out a sigh of relief.
Derrick and Gullen, their tension released, slumped to the floor. Kubel was silently shedding tears.
"It's not safe to be relieved yet."
Only Pisaro was calmly assessing the situation.
The danger of death had passed, but his condition was still close to the worst.
Moreover, this was the Boundary.
They had to get Harad out safely, and as quickly as possible.
"Kubel, can you make a stretcher out of smoke?"
"Y-yes, I can."
The weeping Kubel answered.
"We must not give him even the slightest shock on the way back. Focus only on that. We will do the fighting. I promise we will risk our lives."
Derrick and Gullen nodded with heavy faces.
If it weren't for Harad, they would have died on this search. A 5th Rank mage was that kind of being.
Kubel hurriedly put a cigarette to his lips, then spat it out again.
Without Harad, he couldn't light a fire in the Boundary.
Kubel directly operated his magic power to exhale smoke. The smoke solidified into a form. It was the perfect size for Harad's body, but its shape looked just like a coffin.
The remaining smoke carefully lifted Harad. It was when Harad was being moved to the coffin of smoke.
"...What do you think you're doing?"
A voice was suddenly heard. It did not belong to anyone present. It was from behind.
Pisaro, Derrick, and Gullen hurriedly drew their swords and took a stance towards the back.
"...Your Grace, the Grand Heir?"
"2nd Knights Commander?"
Elaine and Cassion were there.
* * *
Grand Heir Elaine respects the knights.
It is because she knows the line of death they walk and the weight they carry.
Therefore, she never treats them carelessly.
Elaine's eyes and mouth are always gentle when directed at the knights.
It's not that she has never uttered harsh words, but emotions were never contained in them.
The Grand Heir was never one to be swayed by emotions.
That is why she is perfect.
Innate talent, polished skills, and on top of that, the decisiveness to clearly distinguish between public and private matters.
...Such a Grand Heir was now angry.
"I asked what you are doing."
Her voice was icy. Her gaze was even more so.
Derrick and Pisaro learned today that Elaine becomes like ice when she is angry.
"Gullen, you explain."
It was because no knight had ever seen the Grand Heir angry.
"Why is Harad in a coffin?"
Coffin. At those words, Kubel realized his mistake.
He had materialized something to carry him, but it certainly looked like a coffin.
To someone who didn't know the situation, it would feel like they were moving a corpse.
"Make it brief."
Elaine looked at Harad and added.
Anyone could see that his condition was not good.
"Quickly."
Her voice was colder than the Boundary.
Gullen was startled and opened his mouth.
It was an exceptional search, and we reached our destination, but this land was strange so everyone was left alone, and only Harad met a 5th Rank mage...
It was more like rambling than an explanation.
But he had managed to say all the key points.
"He killed a 5th Rank mage. Harad did."
Elaine softened for a moment.
A very brief moment. Her expression quickly turned cold. Colder than before.
"So he ended up in that state... is that right?"
"Yes, sir!"
Derrick and Pisaro shouted like new recruits.
Elaine had that kind of presence.
Elaine took a step.
She went closer and examined Harad's condition herself.
"...He's alive."
He is only alive.
That's how it looked to Elaine.
"But..."
Her gaze shifted.
She took in Derrick, Pisaro, Gullen, and Kubel at a glance.
All of them were clean. Not a single wound was visible.
"You are unharmed."
"Pardon?"
"Why?"
"Pardon?"
Elaine had always been on the knights' side.
There had never been a time when she wasn't.
"Why are you all right? When Harad is in this state?"
...Except for today.
* * *
A mage's essence is their Origin.
The Origin is reborn into the world through the vessel that is the mage.
The heart was the center and core of the vessel that is the mage. The place where the Origin resides.
To use Serzila as an example, the Inner Fortress.
In terms of people, Grand Duke Aratus or Elaine.
If Elaine is alive, Serzila is not ruined even if it falls.
It can be rebuilt someday. Grand Duke Elaine would be more than capable of it, I had thought in my past life.
The same goes for mages.
If the heart is intact, a mage is not dead even if they die.
That they could come back to life, I had already seen and experienced in my past life.
Of course, it was a special case. An ordinary mage dies if their body is destroyed, even if their heart is intact.
But even if it was a special case, it had definitely happened.
It was proof that a mage's essence is their Origin.
So, it was only natural.
That I, with an intact heart and a less damaged body, did not die.
'I'm alive.'
Mages do not dream.
I realized that I was in my Mindscape. The fact that I felt no pain added to my certainty.
'Thankfully, they must have fed me the heart. It must have been Kubel.'
If it had been only the knights... just imagining it made my breath catch in my throat.
Pisaro might have noticed, but still.
I didn't particularly like uncertain things.
If the decision-maker was myself, it was a different story, but if it was someone else... well. I didn't trust many people besides Elaine.
'There won't be any disabilities.'
I accurately remembered the state of my body before I fainted.
A single 5th Rank heart was enough for that.
The Origin, having eaten the magic power, would restore my body.
I didn't know about other mages, but that's how it was for me.
Because the Sun provided a vague vitality. My recovery was on the superior side.
'It will take a while to wake up.'
Though I stopped my thoughts, my consciousness did not surface.
It meant that my body was not yet in a state to wake up.
I was still in my Mindscape, inside my heart. The sun was in front of me. The last time I saw it directly, the sun had been the size of Elaine's mansion.
A sun the size of half the Inner Fortress was greeting me.
'Now it looks a bit like the sun.'
It finally had some form.
Of course, it was still a long way off compared to my past life, but still.
Anything more was greedy.
After all, I was still only twenty years old.
An age when, in my past life, I would have been a freeloader who couldn't even use magic properly.
One of the flames that had been boiling and flickering shot up. That flame alone was a particularly bright red.
It was one of the colors most familiar to me.
The Crimson Flame rubbed its body against my entire body like a pet.
That gesture.
To the ignorant mages of the continent, it was a seizure.
To the Otherworld mages who deified it, it was praise. A commendation bestowed upon the vessel by the god.
To the regressed me, it was fawning.
A thank you for helping me reach 4th Rank.
Even if it wasn't the reality, I had to think of it that way.
-You say your essence is the sun? Who spouted such nonsense?
-Everyone except Your Highness.
-You only need to listen to me. And I said it was nonsense.
-...?
-From now on, your essence is you. You were not born for the sun, you were born to rule the sun.
-What if I can't do it?
-Then I will kill you. You, and the sun.
Because Elaine had threatened me.
"You're awake."
...The Elaine of reality said.
The same, yet a voice that still felt distant. Moreover, it was cold.
It was a familiar coldness.
That was Elaine before she started nagging.
"I am not awake."
"...Are you crazy?"
"I'm joking."
I tried to get up, but stopped.
There wasn't a place that didn't hurt, and it felt like my whole body would fall to pieces if I moved even a little.
"Stay lying down. If you get up now, all your wounds will burst open."
It was a problem that time would solve.
Seeing as my vision had widened, my left eyeball seemed to have regenerated safely as well.
"Did you have a dream?"
"...Is that what you're curious about as soon as you wake up?"
"I just said it."
I had said it just in case. I wasn't expecting anything.
This time, I couldn't provide a stimulus. Only I and Kubel had gone on the search.
"You just came back from the dead."
Elaine was dumbfounded.
She was conscious of the dream, but reality was much more important, I suppose.
"But I did have one."