novelraw Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167 : Why Am I Acting Like This?
The moment a large gray dragon's head was revealed within the raging storm of electricity.
Flash.
CRAAASH!
A knight cloaked in bright yellow lightning was thrown out of it like a thunderbolt.
And at its center, the knight in black armor, who had ignited gray flames, grinned broadly inside his helmet.
But that, too, was brief.
Cough.
“Bleargh.”
Unlike Muno, who vomited blood and barely supported himself by stabbing his sword into the training ground floor.
“Daaamn it!! You bastard!!!!”
Evan, screaming with his hair sticking out in all directions, only had a long gash on his side and looked surprisingly fine.
The only difference from before the sparring was that.
All the equipment he wore, including his sword and armor, was completely shattered, revealing his everyday clothes.
“My sword, my Thunder Sword, how dare you!!!”
Evan clutched his bleeding side and charged at Muno in a frenzy, but.
At that moment, the knight in red armor blocked his path.
“That’s enough. Stop it, Sir Evan.”
It was the restraint of the Blood Knight, Anthony.
At that, Evan belatedly remembered that this fight was sparring conducted under the pretext of teaching.
But that was not enough to quell his anger.
“Damn it, damn it!! This, this named artifact is broken!! This isn’t something to be taken so lightly!”
“It is the result of the sparring. The result of the sparring you requested. Are you saying you can't accept that now?”
The cold eyes of the Blood Knight, Anthony, allowed no rebuttal.
On top of that.
“Now, Sir Evan…?”
“He lost.”
“No, to say he lost…”
“Considering his reputation, that's a loss.”
“Besides, his weapon and armor too…”
The murmurs pouring in from all sides made Evan's face flush even more.
“You cannot accept it?”
At Anthony's question, Evan's gaze turned back to Muno.
Muno, who drew his sword while staggering, seemed to have sustained severe injuries despite being fully armed.
In contrast, he himself was not badly hurt, but all his weapons and armor were shattered.
What would happen if the sparring continued in this state?
He looked back and forth between his opponent's condition and his own, then gritted his teeth.
“……Damn it. Fine.”
According to proper etiquette, there was more to be said, but Evan simply turned around and vanished in a flash.
Anthony did not stop him either.
“Are you alright, Muno?”
“It's bearable.”
“You vomited blood, and you say it's bearable?”
“Yes. It’s actually tolerable, but…”
Muno disengaged his helmet with a soft hiss and revealed his face.
His mouth was covered in bloodstains and his complexion was pale, but his expressionless face did not seem to be in much pain.
Anthony tilted his head but took his words at face value.
“If you say so, then so be it.”
If a knight did not understand a knight's pride, who would?
So, Anthony immediately changed the subject.
To the story he was most curious about while watching the sparring.
“By the way, that last technique, was that His Excellency's?”
“Yes. I learned one, and I barely succeeded. Even then, the timing was a bit off, so it only ended with destroying his weapon.”
Muno let out a small sigh.
In truth, the Thunder Sword was not a low-grade artifact that would break from ‘Weapon Disassembly’.
His sixth spell merely weakened the power of the Thunder Sword and shattered Evan's armor.
However, in the following strike of the Dragon's Fang Slash, the Thunder Sword shattered itself to prevent its master's crisis, more than fulfilling its role as a named artifact.
Of course, whether Evan would accept it that way was another matter.
Muno spoke calmly, but Anthony, who heard him, couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
“Are you serious?”
“Pardon?”
“It seems the Lightning Blade Sword being careless played a large part, but you just defeated a 6-Star knight. Even if it was just sparring, it's an incredible achievement!”
“Ah. Yes. Well, I guess… it is?”
Muno did not understand Anthony’s fuss.
“Hah. You're calmer than I thought. To not even be happy about such an achievement, as expected. You are a man destined for greatness.”
He knew he had achieved something quite remarkable, but was it a situation to make such a fuss?
‘Why should I be happy?’
The thought that suddenly followed made him frown slightly for no reason.
‘Wait, hold on…?’
He tilted his head at a strange feeling, but Rauel's voice, who had approached him at some point, cut off his thoughts.
“Sir Muno, are you okay?”
A worried face.
“Ah, I'm fine.”
He could feel the pain in his body from the severe overload at the end, but it was bearable.
“You don’t look fine… though?”
Her exceptionally worried gaze was hard to comprehend.
“I'll get better if I eat well and rest for a day or two.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. Our departure will be a little delayed. Sorry.”
“You don't need to be sorry to me. You're going to your hometown, Sir Muno.”
“Ah, that’s true. But…”
Then, a strange thought occurred to him.
‘Why was I trying to go to Drasen?’
When there was so much to do?
When I had just caught the tail of my enemy, why was I trying to go to Drasen to rest?
Wouldn't it be better to join the royal investigation team, wait here, and cross over to the Empire as soon as the royal command was issued?
“……Sir Anthony.”
“Hm? Ah, if you’re thinking of resting, I can…”
“May I join the royal investigation team?”
“What?”
At those words, the expressions of both Anthony and Rauel turned strange at the same time.
“Sir Muno…?”
“That wouldn't be a problem, but. Didn't you say you were going to your hometown to compose yourself for a while?”
…Ah.
Did I say that?
But, compose what mind?
The fact that he had thought such a thing felt strange in itself.
“Now that I’ve caught the enemy's tail, is there really a need for that? I’ll just wait here and…”
As Muno was about to continue, he finally realized the source of his sense of detachment.
‘Enemy? Is he really my enemy?’
He realized that at this moment, thinking of the Demon Cult, the anger that should have been boiling inside him was not felt at all, not even ‘a little bit’.
Finally, Muno understood his current state.
‘Something is strange here.’
It had been strange for a while.
A heart that had become so numb that he felt indifferent even when remembering his biological parents.
The horrific trauma of his childhood was remembered as it was, but no anger boiled within him.
Lately, he had simply been moving with the thought that he had to take revenge out of a sense of duty.
That in itself was strange to him, which was why he had intended to return to Drasen to collect his thoughts.
“Why am I…?”
Thinking about it, something was definitely wrong.
It was one thing to feel nothing despite the gazes pouring in from all sides after defeating Evan.
But for some reason, the joy of growing to 3-Class during the battle did not feel particularly great either.
Normally, the joy of growth and the excitement of enlightenment would make anyone laugh out loud and feel elated.
Why am I so calm right now?
“Sir Muno…?”
Ignoring Rauel's worried words, he looked at Anthony again.
“Sir Anthony. I apologize, but I'd like to retract what I just said. I think there's something strange about my current condition.”
“What?”
“That is to say…”
Even in this situation, his cold reason, feeling no sense of urgency, diagnosed his own state.
The reason why his mental state, which he had already felt was strange, had worsened.
‘Before the sparring and after the sparring.’
The biggest difference was just one thing.
He now seemed to know for certain what was causing his strangeness.
The growth to 3-Class.
“……I need to go see an expert in Spirit Arts, either Lady Rasmia or Viscount Trauni. Right now.”
To put it nicely, his mind had become stronger.
To put it badly, his senses had become so dull that they wouldn't react strongly to any stimulus.
He was convinced that it was related to the ‘Spirit Arts of Metal’.
However.
“Sir Muno. If it's about that, didn't you say there was someone even more skilled here?”
“Hm?”
“The one you called a 6-Class Fire Spirit Master.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, there was someone far more suitable to consult on this matter.
A high-ranking Spirit Master specialized in an element similar to, yet completely different from, his own.
On top of that.
- By the way, are you okay up here?
He recalled the words he had said while pointing to his head during their first meeting.
He clearly knew something.
“I must go see Sir Imadi.”
At Muno's calmly spoken words, the gazes of those around him became even stranger.
* * *
“As I thought, it was strange, but your realization was late. To have grown in the meantime, you truly are remarkable.”
Imadi, who responded to the conversation as if he had been waiting, answered coolly.
‘This is no laughing matter.’
Imadi laughed.
With a peculiar laugh that didn't even seem normal.
“A mind that grows stronger… I, for one, am rather envious……. Well, I suppose that’s not entirely a good thing either.”
Imadi’s face, which had been laughing, changed back to a calm expression. But even that shift in expression now looked unnatural in Muno’s eyes.
Is this person not normal either?
“……Is this, natural?”
At that question, Imadi let out a smirk.
“Do you know why I'm here? In this ‘cold’ country?”
“I heard it was a contract?”
“Yes. A contract is a contract. A contract to maintain the barrier of fire that is sustained in this castle. But there's no need for a 6-Class Spirit Master like me to be here. A 4-Class would be more than enough for maintenance.”
“Pardon? Then?”
“I caused a rather big incident at the Tower of Spirits.”
“What kind of…?”
Watching Imadi, who began to smile faintly as if recalling a fun memory, Muno started to feel a bit anxious.
And what followed were words that were not easily understood.
“On a day when the sunlight was scorching, when the area around the Tower of Spirits was engulfed in a record-breaking heatwave. I got too excited.”
“……Pardon?”
“The heat that filled the world excited me, and all the fire spirits around me seemed to be egging me on. And I couldn’t control the impulse to wish for that heat to grow even stronger.”
The smile on Imadi's face, which had been as calm as if he were reminiscing about a pleasant memory, grew larger and larger, making him look deeply bizarre.
‘This person is not normal either.’
And the words that followed proved that thought.
“……So I set it off.”
A bombshell of a statement that bewildered the listener.
“Pardon?”
“I covered everything in sight with flames. The fire spirits responded, and the heat soared even higher. And in the midst of it, in the midst of it…”
Imadi's face, which had been laughing louder and louder, began to crumple rapidly at that moment.
“In the midst of it…”
“Sir Imadi?”
“In the midst of it, ugh, in the midst of it……. Ugh.”
The laughing and crumpling face intersected eerily, followed by groans.
Then, as if barely suppressing the groans, Imadi arduously, arduously spat out a single phrase.
“……I, ended up killing my own disciple.”
At that shocking answer, the other listener, Rauel, who had been listening quietly, stiffened and stepped back slightly.
“Sir Muno…?”
However, unlike her, Muno, who was focused only on the content of the words, requested a more detailed explanation.
A torrent and explosion of emotions completely different from his own. But he was beginning to understand the context.
“What you’re saying is…?”
“This place is my land of exile. A cold region where a Fire Spirit Master, driven mad due to specializing in the fire element, can quell his insanity. That is the reason I am here.”
Imadi’s expression became calm again.
He finally understood why he had maintained that expression since their first meeting.
“Does that happen to all Spirit Masters?”
“No, of course not. If it did, would we be treated so well by the public? The majority of Spirit Masters don't even know such side effects exist.”
“Then?”
“It's a problem for Spirit Masters like us, you and I, who are specialized in a single element.”
“……??”
“The whispers of spirits with similar natures unknowingly and slowly build up inside, changing one's personality. I only learned of this after looking up old records because of my incident. At the Tower of Spirits.”
“Ah…”
“Of course, a side effect like your mind simply becoming stronger is on the very mild side of things……. But you still want to fix it, right?”
“Yes!”
The answer came not from Muno, but from Rauel's mouth.
However, even in the midst of it all, Muno couldn't help but tilt his head.
“……From what I can see, it doesn't seem like you've completely fixed your side effect either, Sir Imadi?”
At that, Imadi smirked and readily nodded.
“That is true. I am still trying my best. But you are very lucky. You will be able to share in the results of the efforts I have put in.”
“Pardon?”
To the question thrown out of confusion, Imadi smiled and changed the subject.
“You haven’t been learning Spirit Arts for very long, have you?”
“……No.”
“And yet, to already be 3-Class is truly amazing, but normally, that level is nowhere near enough to change one's disposition. You're at a level where you're just barely able to hear the spirits' voices, so for your personality to change is unheard of. Even at that stage, I didn't think my personality had changed.”
“……”
“Compared to your level, and the time you've spent learning Spirit Arts, the change in your disposition is too fast. There must be another reason. It's probably because of that…”
Imadi's finger was pointing at the ‘Red Heart’ embedded in the center of Muno's armor.