novelraw Chapter 97 : Chapter 97
Chapter 97 : Chapter 97
Chapter 97: Guest (1)
The Church is the natural enemy of mages.
It wasn't a moniker earned because divine power was superior to magic.
It was used because the Church kills mages on sight.
'It is a natural enemy, that's for sure.'
At least on the continent, that was the case.
There wasn't much a mage could do in front of the Church.
Hide, run, or die.
The Liberation Tower, the largest group of mages on the continent, was in hiding.
Thus, the difference in power was overwhelming.
Individual versus group. No, individual versus continental-scale.
Because when the continent finds a mage, the first thing they do is report it to the Church.
"Did you come all this way because you were worried about me?"
"If you get caught, Serzila will be in a difficult position."
She wasn't wrong.
But it was also true that Arika was not a frank person.
"What about Kubel and Shura?"
"They've already been moved to an Intelligence Bureau safe house."
I nodded.
It was unlikely Kubel could face someone from the Church.
Not all priests can distinguish mages, but the psychological pressure would be immense.
"But why the Church?"
The Church doesn't come up to the North.
It was a sort of unwritten rule established after the Sabbatical Year.
One created to avoid further provoking the displeased Serzila.
"It's because of you."
This hadn't happened in my past life.
Even during my freeloader days, if someone from the Church had visited, a warning would have been issued.
"It's because of Pelatz."
A member of the delegation died.
For the Empire, which was mindful of Serzila and sought what it wanted, it was an issue they couldn't raise.
"They must have brought up mages."
Not the Church.
They wanted to build a church in the North and hoped the North would weaken.
Mages were a pretext the Church went crazy for.
With that pretext, there was no place the Church wouldn't go.
"That's correct. The church in Premont that welcomed the delegation said they felt the involvement of mages in Pelatz's death."
Premont was a land located in the northern part of the Empire.
To get to the capital from Serzila, one had no choice but to pass through it.
"Felt it."
I let out a low laugh.
The Church was so accustomed to lying.
"The evidence is weak. It's not a pretext that would work on Serzila."
The North resolves its mage-related issues on its own.
For a priest to conduct official activities in such a North, a clearer pretext was needed.
Like a wanted mage being discovered, or large-scale damage occurring.
"His Grace the Grand Duke permitted it."
"Ah."
That was why Kubel and Shura had been moved from the safest Inner Fortress to an Intelligence Bureau safe house.
Grand Duke Aratus intended to open the Inner Fortress to the visiting priest.
"I understand. It's a confirmation."
"Not a test?"
Ellen tilted her head.
She seemed to think this was another of my tests.
"I thought so too, but it's probably not. If it were, Arika wouldn't have been able to worry about me and tell me to hide."
"It's not worry."
Arika snapped.
Arika, who was crazy about Serzila.
If the Grand Duke Aratus's intention had been a test, she would not have taken my side.
"His Grace the Grand Duke wants to confirm what kind of reaction a priest who has entered the Inner Fortress will show."
"What kind of reaction?"
"The Church cannot distinguish mages. However, they have a long history of hunting mages."
They had missed their mark far more often, but it was also true that they had a lot of hunting experience.
"Me, Kubel, Shura, and Cassion who comes occasionally. It's probably because there are already four mages in the Inner Fortress."
Will the Church discover the traces of mages?
Grand Duke Aratus wanted to confirm that.
"This is a good sign. It means His Grace the Grand Duke has no intention of kicking out Kubel, Shura, and Cassion for the time being."
The decision to safely move Kubel and Shura out was a prudent one.
For the sake of the future, it was something that had to be tested.
"What about you?"
"That's a given for me."
“……."
I said it obnoxiously.
But it was a clear fact. The merits I had accumulated over the past six months were greater than those of any other knight.
"His Grace the Grand Duke will probably show the priest the annex where Kubel and I live as well. He's telling them to check it out."
"What if they really find out?"
"The priest will have died an untimely death in the harsh North."
“……."
"But well, that's not likely to happen."
I was certain.
How could beings who can't even recognize a mage recognize the house a mage lives in?
"If they had studied or researched regularly, maybe, but otherwise, there's no way they would know."
If they did find out, it wouldn't be because the priest was amazing, but because the mage living in that house was complacent.
"Don't you have anything like that?"
"No."
I wasn't the type to be cooped up in a small room.
It was because Elaine used to drag me outside since long ago.
"Ah. I do have the Communication Sphere and the quill. But well, they're spoils of war."
They belonged to the Otherworld and the Liberation Tower.
There was no room for them to be a problem.
“……You should stay outside the Inner Fortress too.”
But in Ellen's eyes, that seemed like complacency.
"I'm fine. I told you, I can even eat with the Pope."
"Stop talking nonsense."
But it's true.
"When is the Church coming?"
"Today at the earliest, tomorrow at the latest, they say."
The North was a land where it was difficult to keep appointments.
However, priests were an exception.
"Just go play somewhere. We'll clean up your annex."
Ellen threatened me.
"Just for today?"
"Until the priest leaves."
“……."
* * *
I lost my home.
So, what should I do now?
In reality, nothing changed.
Maybe in a desert, but in the North, I could sleep anywhere.
So I should just do as I've been doing.
There were more Intelligence Bureau safe houses in the territory than I thought. Most of them were empty. It was because the modern Intelligence Bureau had spread throughout the continent.
The place I headed to was one of those empty houses.
The house was small, and the wind whistled through the wide-open windows.
On the outside, it looked like an abandoned house.
But if you looked closely at the bathroom floor, there was a very fine groove, and in the center of that square groove, there was a hole the size of a needle tip.
I inserted a needle there.
It was the key Arika had given me. When I lifted the door that was the bathroom floor, I saw stairs.
The stairs were crude and short. It wasn't because of the Intelligence Bureau's lack of ability, but because the underground space prepared by the brokers was impressive.
'Come to think of it, Rick must have dug that too.'
Rick the Tunnel-Digger had dug another tunnel connected to a tunnel.
Thirteen tunnels.
Rick had wasted ten years on them.
'He seems to be better at digging than I thought.'
In reality, he had dug thirteen tunnels and even the underground space the brokers wanted.
And that was when he was old.
'If he recovers and is young, he'll be able to dig even faster.'
In that case, Rick's value would increase even more.
The ground in the North is hard. If I could make it warm, no, hot…….
When I opened the door at the end of the stairs, there was an ordinary room.
Rick was sitting blankly in a chair. A few stones were placed on the desk in front of him. The stone Rick's hand touched turned to dirt and crumbled.
"Practicing magic?"
Startled, Rick stood up, taking his hand off the desk.
"S-Sorry. I can't see my surroundings when I use magic……."
"I understand. There are many mages like that."
Rick must have been particularly severe.
He had been digging tunnels alone, wearing the mask of an old man with difficulty moving. It was an environment where his consciousness could only be focused on himself.
"Have you been well? You look fine."
Rick's voice was hoarse, but it had definitely improved from when we first met.
His face, which had been gaunt, showed signs of having filled out a bit.
"Yes, yes. Thanks to you, I've been well……."
Unlike his unconfident voice, his complexion was also good.
"Well, you say. The treatment doesn't seem to be that great."
I said, looking around exaggeratedly.
It was an underground space where not a single ray of sunlight entered.
"N-No. I like places like this!"
It didn't seem like a lie.
Rick's face was at ease.
'Are the walls made of dirt?'
The walls hadn't been built.
It was a hastily constructed underground space.
But for Rick, it seemed to be better.
Rick was feeling a sense of stability from the dirt that was everywhere around him. It was because his Origin was dirt.
"I'm glad to hear that. It still looks a bit cramped, but there will be opportunities to expand in the future."
"D-Do I just need to achieve something……?"
"Arika must have told you. Yes. What did she say?"
"……She said I might have to dig another t-tunnel."
Am I allowed to say this? Rick answered with that kind of expression.
I let out a low laugh. Arika had noticed my thoughts.
'Indeed, that's Arika for you.'
That was why Rick had been turning stones into dirt.
He had been practicing.
What he had been doing for the past ten years.
'Diligent.'
I liked his personality.
"That's right. I'm thinking of digging a tunnel. A tunnel in Serzila that connects to the area of the Boundary I want."
Grand Duke Aratus's approval was still pending, but it would be possible after a few pushes.
I hadn't yet received a reward for catching Psina.
"I-I can do it well. I can dig it bigger and faster than the ones I've dug so far!"
Rick was a mage with a strong desire for survival.
And he knew well that doing as Serzila commanded was the only way to survive.
"That's a given."
Rick flinched.
My voice was rather cold.
"Of course you have to do it well. And just doing it well isn't enough."
It was a personal feeling.
Rick reminded me of my past life.
Of Serzila being played by the tunnels and of Elaine who regretted missing the Otherworld's tunnels.
'I shouldn't express this.'
It was a future that had disappeared.
I calmed my irritation.
I hadn't come here to argue about something that hadn't happened.
I had come to check on the person named Rick.
"There is a mage child and an ordinary child. Which one will you kill?"
"A-A child, do I have to kill them……?"
It was an answer that would have surely satisfied Elaine.
"You are an excellent northerner."
And she would have said this.
* * *
Mages should be rational.
I didn't particularly agree with that statement.
Everyone has their own way.
Not all great mages are rational.
As proof, I was confident that I could be strong without having to endure my personality.
Of course, maintaining rationality is a great help in a magical sense, but that wasn't why I tried.
The decisive reason I try to be rational is that Elaine wants me to be.
'Regression requires one to be more rational.'
That was the reason I had once contemplated whether I should kill Kubel and thought I had to kill Cassion.
The regressed me wanted to eliminate everything that had a negative impact in my past life.
I couldn't do it.
It was the right choice rationally, but Elaine would have surely regretted it someday.
Because someday, through a dream, she would realize that mages are also people.
'This regression is to eliminate Elaine's regrets.'
There is no point in creating new regrets.
That might happen someday, but.
In the end, the most important thing in this regression is Elaine.
While maintaining a rational keynote, I sometimes had to turn the path in the direction Elaine wanted.
So the role of the regressed me was coordination.
I had to constantly test the waters between Elaine's heart and the elimination based on my past life.
That way, I had to induce Elaine's growth and change.
That was the reason I went to see Rick.
Elaine wanted him to survive, but as the regressed me, I needed to check him one more time rationally. The tunnels were a serious matter.
'He is quite shabby.'
Rick was a gentle mage, just as I had expected.
It was a waste of time, but I didn't mind that much. It was time Elaine had given me in the first place.
'If she had a problem with it, she should have come herself.'
I was already doing well enough.
Though there was no one to say it.
Before I knew it, the sun had set.
This search had taken six days, so it was the night of the seventh day after the delegation had left.
'Seven days.'
The Church had sent a priest, clinging to Pelatz's death.
And…….
Thud.
Something gently pressed against my overcoat. Judging by the area of contact and the sharpness, it was a sword.
The nights in the North are particularly dark. But still, there are many people on the streets. Because they have to drink, fight, or huddle together to warm their bodies.
I was in a crowd.
And the person threatening me with a dagger was behind me. The person whispered.
"Follow me."
Liberation Tower.
At the conclusion I reflexively reached, I secretly smiled.
* * *
Kunlutsban.
A 4th Rank mage whose Origin is Bone Awl.
A member of the Rebellion faction of the Liberation Tower and Masker Isotta's superior.
I had personally told him my face and name.
Telling him to get revenge, since I was the one who had ruined Isotta's business.
'Five? No, six.'
Besides the one pressed close behind me with a dagger, five others were following me as I moved.
'Is the Rebellion faction short on manpower at this time? No. It's only been a week. The mages who were nearby must have arrived first.'
That's why there were only six of them.
I walked in silence. The longer I walked, the more certain I became. The one holding the dagger at me showed signs of not knowing the way.
"The alleys in Serzila are complicated."
"Shut up."
The dagger dug in a little deeper.
The stinging sensation felt like I was bleeding.
I didn't care.
"If we go this way, we'll reach the west main street."
"I told you to shut up."
The angle of the dagger was clumsy.
It probably meant he was a mage. If things went south, he would be the one to cast magic.
It might have been different on a normal day, but a priest was coming.
He might already be in the territory.
I had to move to a deserted place one way or another.
"Let's go over there. There are no people there."
"I told you to shut up."
The person dragged me in the opposite direction.
'Easy.'
In fact, the place I had pointed to was full of fighters.
This way was the real deserted alley.