novelraw Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96: Fire Crow (2)
“What should we name it?”
“You’re not going to kill it?”
-Peep!
The Fire Crow freaked out and hid behind Ellen’s hand.
“Why would you say that? You’re scaring the poor thing.”
I had no particular intention of raising it.
“It’s a Magical Beast.”
“It’s on your side.”
My eyes widened slightly.
She wasn't just trying to give it a name because it was cute. She wanted to raise it, knowing it was on my side.
‘A Magical Beast.’
It felt like just yesterday that I was told all mages should be killed.
I was quite moved.
For the past six months, he had certainly lived diligently.
“……What’s with that look?”
“A look of being moved.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Just give it a name. Peep? Pee-pee?”
“……”
Ellen’s expression was one of disgust.
“Are you serious?”
“Well, does a name matter?”
I couldn’t take it to Serzila anyway.
The Fire Crow was clearly a Magical Beast to anyone who saw it. Fire flowed instead of feathers.
“We have to release it in the Boundary anyway.”
“You never know, it might come looking for you every time you come to the Boundary.”
“That’s possible.”
-Peep!
The Fire Crow chirped. It was a clever one.
“Or we could hide it near the Wall.”
“A Magical Beast……”
Kalinos looked like the air had been knocked out of him.
The suggestion of raising a Magical Beast was that shocking.
‘It’s hard to live as you please.’
It was only because it was Ellen that his reaction was this mild; if Elaine had said it, Kalinos would have fainted.
A bad person can always be bad, but when a good person does something bad once, people are horrified.
Elaine had lived too much like a model student until now.
“It’s a chick, not that Fire Crow.”
“……It appears so.”
The Fire Crow was the enemy that had killed Kalinos’s comrades.
However, the color of its fire was different.
The fire of the Fire Crow that had died to the Asura, Kalinos’s enemy, was close to yellow.
But this baby Fire Crow’s was a very deep red. Rather than burning brightly, it flickered viscously.
It had the same properties as my Crimson Flames.
“It’s impossible right in front of the Wall, but it should be fine up to a point where the knights on duty can’t see.”
Indeed, Kalinos was a flexible knight.
He was positive about the idea of raising a Magical Beast.
It was because the mother of the Fire Crow was his comrade, Harad.
“How about Fireball?”
Ellen, having received Kalinos’s permission, promptly spat out a name.
It seemed to be a name she had already thought of.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Isn’t it cute?”
“You shouldn’t name things either.”
“Buljjogi?”
“……”
* * *
Is the Fire Crow the Divine Beast of the Sun?
-Peep?
I couldn’t get an answer to that question.
The Fire Crow just tilted its head as if it didn’t understand.
‘Either it’s not the Divine Beast of the Sun, or it doesn’t know because it was just born.’
It wasn’t particularly important.
The reason I had secretly hoped for the Divine Beast of the Sun was the thought that it might know about the end of the smoke from the Watchtower.
-Peep!
Of course, Fireball seemed to have no idea.
I looked at the Watchtower’s smoke with lingering eyes. The end of it and my current location were connected by a straight line.
If I went straight from here, I could reach it.
‘That would be a terrible thing to do to Kalinos.’
I shook my head.
If I said I was going now, Kalinos would surely follow.
Regardless of my thoughts, to Kalinos, I was already no different from a comrade.
His valor would never let a comrade go alone.
‘And it’s too far.’
I couldn't even guarantee the way there, so how much worse would the way back be?
The depths of the Boundary were still too much for just Ellen and me to handle.
I needed a tunnel-digger to reduce the unknown threats.
‘Or I could dig a new one.’
If I could just shorten the time it took to dig a tunnel, that would be the best way.
I felt the need to meet Rick. I had to meet him at least once, even if I had no business with him.
I couldn’t just leave a mage who had come to live in Serzila unattended.
‘Arika will take care of things on her own, but.’
Still, a mage is best looked after by another mage.
“Let’s go, Fireball.”
In the end, Ellen called the Fire Crow Fireball.
-Peep!
Fireball chirped, as if it liked the name, and followed behind Ellen.
It was a naming only possible because it was a baby Magical Beast that didn’t know the ways of the world yet.
Indeed, the way back was rougher than the way here.
The darkness had disappeared, and the path they had walked was not a search route.
However, while it was rough, there were no threatening moments.
Ellen was one thing, but Kalinos’s contribution was greater.
“For valor!”
The rabbit and the Fire Crow were exceptions, but in the First Stage Boundary, which was far from the inner depths, there were few Magical Beasts that could threaten a Sword Master.
Kalinos’s Aura was more intense than the darkness, but it carved a path just as safely.
“What do you eat? Magical Beast hearts? My fire?”
-Peep! Peep!
Fireball chirped twice.
It meant it ate both.
I conjured a fire on my palm.
Fireball pecked at it and then scrunched up its small face.
“Crimson Flames at a minimum?”
-Peep!
“Picky.”
Born from Crimson Flames, Fireball did not like fire of a lesser quality than Crimson Flames.
‘Still, it eats it if I give it.’
For a person, it would feel like eating dessert instead of a meal when you're hungry.
“Hey. See that Magical Beast over there, alone? The ugly one with no fur.”
I pointed at a flesh-colored rat Magical Beast larger than a person.
“Can you attack it?”
-Peep!
Fireball chirped confidently.
It flew off and opened its beak towards the rat.
Fire shot out from its open beak.
The amount was meager. It was just enough to burn the rat’s head.
“……Incredible.”
But I was impressed.
Because I recognized that flame.
“I told you to rest…… huh?”
Ellen, who had been in the middle of fighting, getting confused was proof of it.
Just now, Fireball had spat out Crimson Flames.
The fire of the 4th Rank.
“Was it born as a 4th Rank?”
Stunned, I let out a hollow laugh.
Perhaps this was the absurdity the mages of my past life felt about the sun.
Just as I was born with the sun, Fireball was different from birth.
It must have been because it was born from Crimson Flames.
-Peep!
Fireball returned to my shoulder, triumphant. In the distance, the rat with its head melted and dead could be seen.
“Excellent.”
This changed things.
Fireball was a Magical Beast I had no choice but to raise.
I conjured Crimson Flames on my palm.
Fireball’s face lit up as it pecked at it.
“If you eat the fire of the 5th Rank. Fireball, will you become 5th Rank too?”
-Peeeee……?
Fireball let out a long cry.
I took it to mean it would have to eat it to find out.
Unlike the rabbit, Fireball had many shortcomings.
It was probably because it was a chick, and its origins were different.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Even if Fireball wasn’t the Divine Beast of the Sun, it was undoubtedly a special Magical Beast.
On top of that, it considered me its mother.
‘There’s no reason not to raise it.’
Fireball’s fire was Crimson Flames. 4th Rank fire. Better than most mages.
Its magic capacity was weak, but that was a problem time would solve. It would grow quickly if I provided it with food regularly.
How much time had passed?
It was when we arrived at the search route where we had first discovered the darkness.
“What are you going to do?”
Ellen asked.
It was about time to part with Fireball.
-Peeeee…….
Fireball’s flames drooped.
It knew that we would soon part.
It was a smart one.
‘I can’t take it past the Wall. If I leave it here, I can only meet it when I use the 3rd Knights’ search route.’
Fireball was a bird. In the air, it has a significant advantage even in the Boundary. It can avoid unwanted fights and is suited for getting around.
I broke off a branch from a nearby tree.
It was the shape of a long human finger, and I used it as a pen to draw a line on the ground.
“This is that Wall. Fireball. Understood?”
Peep! Fireball chirped energetically.
I drew another line, and then a small circle between the two lines.
They were the second wall and our current location, respectively. As I explained, Fireball nodded.
“Follow the Wall, but not too close. The knights will attack.”
Tap, tap. I drew a dotted line, moving sideways along the line, the Wall. Then, around the middle, I drew a smaller circle.
It was the tunnel exit closest to our current location, where we had encountered the tattered Magical Beast.
Fireball’s eyes were fixed on the crude map I had drawn.
“Here. If you search this area well, you’ll find a tunnel. That passage is where we will meet.”
Peeeeee! Fireball let out a long cry.
Its eyes were curved, it was clearly happy.
It seemed confident that it could find its way.
“Ah. And don’t even think about coming out of the opposite hole. The knights are waiting there.”
Peep!
* * *
The knights on the Wall spotted us.
Kalinos raised one hand and clenched his fist.
It was a sign that he had returned safely.
Today, it would have another meaning.
The fist Kalinos clenched was the hardest he had ever made.
“There’s going to be a festival.”
The star of the festival is Kalinos.
There are five Sword Masters in the current Serzila.
Grand Duke Aratus and Mores Palaz. And the three Knight Commanders.
As of today, there were six.
3rd Knights Commander Kalinos had earned the right to have his name on that last seat.
“Belated congratulations, Sir Kalinos. You are a great fortune for Serzila.”
“……Thank you.”
Kalinos did not seem entirely happy.
His face was that of someone who had made a decision.
“You’re not going to reveal it.”
I read Kalinos’s inner thoughts in an instant.
Considering his character, it was not a difficult inference.
“Not reveal it? Why?”
Ellen frowned.
She couldn’t understand it. Becoming a Sword Master was the dream of every knight.
“Sword Masters cannot enter the Boundary.”
Kalinos believed that the protection of the Wall was maintained by conquering the Boundary.
There was no way he would give up the Boundary.
“That is correct. If you will keep it a secret, I plan to do so.”
Kalinos, who had nodded, opened his mouth cautiously as he looked at Ellen.
“This is a power gained in the Boundary. I believe it should be used in the Boundary.”
“……”
Ellen did not answer.
But the corners of her mouth were twitching.
Perhaps Elaine had wanted to see such a sight from the knights since she was young.
“Alright. I’ll keep it a secret. But you probably won’t be able to hide it for long.”
A Sword Master will show signs one way or another.
No matter how tight-lipped the 3rd Knights are, Kalinos’s achievement will eventually be revealed someday.
“Thank you.”
Kalinos bowed his head deeply to Ellen.
Then he looked at me.
“You said you wanted to explore the Boundary.”
“I’m inclined to.”
“If you need help, come find me anytime. Harad, I will be with you.”
“Are you proposing a deal?”
“No. I am sincere. No comrade turns away from a comrade’s wish.”
Kalinos’s voice was deep.
It carried that much trust.
“But if you get caught, we can’t be together, can we?”
“So please keep it a secret from the Grand Heir.”
In the end, it was a deal.
Kalinos also knew how to bargain.
“Hmm. I’ll do that for now.”
I couldn’t give him a definite answer.
Beside me, Ellen was smiling faintly.
* * *
When we returned to the garrison.
Kalinos said he would roughly change the details of this search when he reported it.
It was to hide the fact that he had become a Sword Master.
“Harad, your contribution will not be diminished. I am your comrade.”
Kalinos added.
I had completed the Grand Duke’s order to gain the recognition of the 3rd Knights in the most excellent way possible.
“Should we listen in?”
Ellen seemed curious about how Kalinos would spin the story of this search for the 3rd Knights.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to.”
Instead of answering, I pointed to one side with my chin.
Among the knights stood a woman who seemed out of place. It was Arika.
Arika’s face was usually stern, but today it was particularly so.
Ellen looked startled.
It seemed she had kept her visit to the 3rd Knights today a secret.
But contrary to Ellen’s worries, Arika’s serious face was not directed at her. Arika was looking at me.
“Harad.”
Since some time ago.
Arika no longer called me Mage Harad, but just Harad.
It was for the same reason as the knights.
She already acknowledged me as part of the family.
“Hide yourself.”
That was why Arika’s face had become so serious.
“The Church is coming.”
The natural enemy of mages.