Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke Chapter 187 : Chapter 187

Chapter 187: Greed (5)

While I had been unable to eat properly or sleep because of my worries—

“What are you doing?”

“Resting.”

The very man who had caused all that worry stared blankly and answered shalessly. His hand was still stroking Ellen’s head.

“Is there a problem?”

Harad tilted his head.

Manoa’s gaze was utterly flustered. It was the kind of look that made even the innocent feel guilty for no reason.

“Doing sothing improper outside like this…”

“What are you imagining? We are simply sitting like this.”

Harad thought Manoa was misunderstanding.

Ellen was rely lying down with her head on his thigh. Yet Manoa’s face was still beet-red.

“You are touching her.”

Manoa pointed at Harad’s hand on Ellen’s head.

“Wh-who touches a woman’s face outdoors?”

“…Are you serious?”

Now that he thought about it, Manoa was a fossil. Just like a witch who had lived for three hundred years.

‘Should it not be the other way around?’

After living that long, one would think she would be beyond embarrassnt. She even had children.

A sinner of Paradise who had given birth to vermin and tried to protect them. That was how Kandenkel, Tower Master of teoric Iron, had described Manoa.

“All this over a face.”

Tsk. Clicking her tongue, Ellen sat up.

“Ellen, matters between n and won should be restrained in public.”

Manoa spoke like a stereotypical old fogey. Ellen snorted.

“These days, people do everything outside.”

“What?”

“All the things you are imagining right now. They do all of them. And more.”

“Wh-what are you—”

Manoa’s face turned even redder. Seeing that, Ellen smiled slyly.

“Is Manoa not the most improper one here?”

“Wh-what nonsense! I was not thinking anything at all.”

Manoa flailed her hands in protest.

“But have you decided already?”

Ellen looked regretful. Even a nine-point pillow seed to be addictive.

“I have not decided yet.”

Manoa suddenly turned serious, as though nothing had happened. She was similar to Jis. She might look clumsy at tis, but she was a mage who had lived for as long as a Sage.

“Before I decide, there is sothing I wish to ask.”

Harad straightened up. Manoa was serious, so he had to be as well. He was the one asking for a favor.

“Ask anything.”

He did not know what the question would be, but the answer would heavily influence Manoa’s decision.

“I will be as honest as I can.”

He did not want to put on airs.

“Harad, you suggested that the village relocate.”

“I did.”

“I thought it was out of concern. Is that correct?”

“It is. Our location was exposed.”

He did not know the Moon’s sches, but it had already sent the Tower Master of teoric Iron. Believing this was the last ti would be madness.

“I refused.”

Because relocation was more frightening than the Otherworld. It was not only Manoa. The village likely felt the sa.

“You accepted my refusal.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

Was she being petty? Harad thought for a mont. It did not seem so.

“That is right. Why?” Ellen chid in, pricking up her ears.

She seed curious as well. Co to think of it, things had been too hectic to explain.

“You want to know whether I truly care about the village.”

“That is correct.”

“And would hearing that change anything?”

“It would.”

Manoa nodded readily. That guilelessness left Harad flustered.

What if he lied? For a witch, she had an oddly naïve side.

“What you like and what you are good at are different.”

“…Pardon?”

“Do not gamble. If soone asks you to guarantee them, kill them instead.”

“……”

“Rember that. Of course, you can trust .”

Manoa’s eyes narrowed sleepily.

“That is true.”

Few people who ask for trust so openly are worth trusting.

“The reason I accepted your refusal is because the one behind this is the Moon.”

The fact that the Tower of teoric Iron had co was no longer important. What mattered was that the Moon had sent Kandenkel.

The Tower of teoric Iron had been used. At least this ti, regardless of his past life.

“The Moon favors .”

“…Were you not attacked?”

Manoa’s expression said, What nonsense.

“It attacked because it favors .”

Harad was already certain.

“When I first saw the Embers, the Moon bewitched . It told to take them.”

Only Harad had heard that voice, yet Manoa and Ellen nodded. They had already seen the Moon shatter the manifested sun through the crystal sphere.

Compared to that, manifesting a voice heard only by Harad was trivial.

“If killing had been its goal, that consideration would have been aningless.”

And Harad had not taken the Embers. That was likely why the Tower Master of teoric Iron had co.

“…?”

“There needed to be a reason for to take the Embers.”

Embers. That was what Kandenkel wanted.

“Kandenkel’s objective was the Embers.”

They would have been material to transform his teorite.

“But the Moon wanted to absorb the Embers. The teoric Iron was rely used.”

Through the powerful enemy nad Kandenkel, it sought to create a situation where Harad had no choice but to absorb the Embers.

“That is why the Moon interfered.”

Shattering the manifested sun followed the sa logic.

-Excellent.

Instead of trying to kill Harad, the Moon had praised him. Previously it had warned him about Aquins; this ti, it wanted him to take the Embers.

“Is that not reading too much into it?”

“No.”

Harad stated firmly.

“The Moon did not co in person. Even knowing that my Origin is the sun.”

Because it trusted Kandenkel? If that were so, the crystal sphere should have scolded Kandenkel, not praised Harad.

No, instead of manifesting such magic from afar, it should have co directly.

“…Harad. If it intended to kill the vessel that is you, that would make no sense.”

“Exactly.”

If it wanted him dead, the Moon would have acted far more decisively. It would have co in person long ago, not rely manifested magic from afar.

But it did not. Even though it knew Harad’s location through the crystal sphere.

“Moreover, the Moon did not reveal my existence to the Otherworld. That is also proof it did not intend to kill .”

The sun belonged to a woman. The Moon had prophesied as much, yet the present Moon had no intention of realizing that prophecy yet.

“That does not sound like a reason to accept my refusal.”

Manoa returned to the main point. Harad was about to say the sa.

“The Moon did not co in person. That is the reason.”

“…?”

“For reasons unknown, the Moon wanted to absorb the Embers. So much so that it risked the life of the Tower Master of teoric Iron.”

If it wanted to feed that badly, it would have co itself and forced it down my throat. At least, that was what Harad would have done.

“Yet the Moon did not co. Why do you think that is?”

“…I do not know.”

Manoa pondered for a long while before answering. Harad turned to Ellen.

“It accounted for the possibility of failure. There was sothing that made it hesitate to co in person.”

“What was that?”

“Serzila.”

Harad placed a hand on Ellen’s shoulder. Her raised eyes went wide.

“More precisely, Grand Duke Aratus.”

What could possibly make the Moon uncomfortable? Only one thing ca to mind.

“His Grace has deep ties with the Moon Tower. I do not know what happened, but his obsession is considerable.”

There was no way the Moon Tower was unaware of that.

The Moon was conscious of Grand Duke Aratus. The spy Cassion was proof of that.

“The Moon must have agonized. What if it ca in person and it was a trap? What if Grand Duke Aratus was nearby? After such thoughts, it sent Kandenkel instead.”

It was conscious of him. Whether it feared him or not was unclear, but it was certain that it found him troubleso.

“Of course, I am not bait. His Grace was not nearby. But that will not always be the case.”

Three days ago, the Moon should have co in person.

“The Moon missed its first and last chance.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I intend to connect this village with a path.”

Harad stamped the ground with his foot.

“I will dig a tunnel, connecting Serzila and the village.”

That tunnel would beco the route Ellen used to et Balbebron and Alena. It would beco the channel through which Fireball managed the newly spread Embers.

“The village will beco bait. But bait that will never be eaten.”

If the Moon acted directly, Grand Duke Aratus would cross the tunnel himself.

“Of course, relocating would still be the safest option, but you dislike it.”

The village might be destroyed faster than the Grand Duke could cross the tunnel. Even that concern had lessened sowhat.

“Staying here should not be a major problem now that we have Jis.”

Jis. That 5th Rank mage whose Origin was Shadow would not be constrained by sothing as limited as a tunnel. While others crawled, shadows would stretch swiftly forward.

‘Ellen and Balbebron went through as well.’

Jis’s shadow would certainly be useful.

“So you had thought it all through.”

Ellen murmured beside him. For so reason, she looked pleased.

“I told you. I dislike gambling.”

“…I see.”

Harad smiled faintly. Manoa was staring at him intently.

“I will trust you.”

“Then will you give it to ?”

Harad held out his palm.

“…I also understand that this is selfish.”

Manoa looked down at his palm, then turned her back.

“Follow . I will give you the Embers.”

“Your legacy?”

“…It is rely a torch.”

***

“Then why does the Moon favor you?”

The Moon had wanted Harad not to be caught by Avery Aquins. This ti, it wanted him to take the Embers.

Why?

“How would I know?”

“……”

“If I knew, I would be the Moon, not the sun.”

Leaving the temporary houses behind, the villagers had gathered.

The Embers were at their center. They seed to have been moved from Manoa’s residence. Likely her magic. Dreams had many uses.

Harad passed through the villagers and stood before the Embers. The intermittent gazes instantly converged. The entire village was watching him.

To absorb them before everyone. That had been Manoa’s final condition.

So that he would feel responsibility. If Harad failed, this village would be finished.

‘Yet she still allows to take them.’

It was an admirable village. They were all mages or knights.

A mage here did not rely an one born with an Origin. The sa applied to knights. They were not those without Aura, or with only a trace.

Excluding the elderly and children, each was a capable fighter. If necessary, they had the power to resist. That was how they had co this far.

‘Even without Balbebron.’

Excluding Kandenkel, Tower Master of teoric Iron, they had enough strength to oppose the Tower of teoric Iron that had attacked.

Yet amid the piercing stares, there was no hostility—only doubt and suspicion. Those with power were willingly offering up sothing more precious than their lives.

‘Just because we fought on the sa side once.’

They had only fought together once for the village. That alone was enough for Manoa and the villagers to trust Harad, to stake the precious Embers.

They were naïve. Then again, that was why they had made it this far. Believing only the saying that the Otherworld was a paradise for mages.

‘It is not as though they have much else to trust.’

A continental mage had few choices. Harad wanted to increase those choices soday.

“Do you feel burdened?”

“It is a welco burden.”

Harad smiled broadly. It was a sense of responsibility he had never felt in his past life. It was heavy. Elaine’s shoulders in his past life must have borne even more. To stand beside her, he would have to shoulder more.

Beside Manoa, Ellen was smiling comfortably. Unlike the village, she did not even consider failure.

Harad did. He always assud failure. That could no longer be the case.

Though he had regressed, there was still far too much he did not know. Among those things were matters concerning Elaine and Ellen.

Therefore, he had to grow stronger. Only then could he prepare for whatever future ca.

Harad quietly looked down at the Embers. Once the size of a bonfire, they had grown smaller than before. Because he had already absorbed part of them.

Even so, the Embers were still captivating. But… not to the point of bewitchnt.

‘The sun.’

When he first saw the Embers, Harad had felt that they were the sun. Now, they were not. Perhaps because he had absorbed part of them, they no longer looked like the sun.

Harad realized that the subject had changed. He was not the one bewitched. The Embers were burning toward Harad, fluttering like flas in the wind. It was a very small acknowledgnt. Yes, like the village.

‘This really is playing with fire.’

As Elaine had said, they were closer to a torch. Harad thought of Wimar. Set it alight first. That old man had said that.

The beginning might be play, but if the fire did not go out, it would inevitably spread. That was how the sun of the past had beco a king.

“I promise.”

Harad felt that this was the beginning.

“From now on, I will take responsibility for this village.”

Whoosh—!

The Embers, once no larger than a human head, swelled in an instant and swallowed Harad whole.

-Kraaak!

In the sky, Fireball cried like a crow.

-Kraaaak!

As though announcing sothing.