Chapter 191: Jis, the Cursed (2)
The shadow danced at the slightest provocation.
Jis did not.
Harad had never seen that scrawny man express emotion through movent. He was shy around others.
“So it was not just because the light was too bright.”
Seekers are dazzling.
That was how Jis described them, saying that villagers made him uncomfortable.
“The light really is bright.”
But there was another reason.
Jis was ashad of his own appearance.
The hand that had been hiding his face traced along his protruding ribs.
“I eat well. And I sleep well. I used to.”
Only then did Harad realize that Jis had not slept even once on the way here.
‘He has not eaten either.’
Even during the festival, Jis had neither eaten nor drunk anything.
“You said it was a Prohibition curse.”
The curse forbade eating and sleeping.
“I do not look like this. I should be younger. Prettier. Smarter.”
His original self.
“Does it forbid death as well?”
“Yeah.”
When asked whether he would die if told to, Jis had answered no.
More precisely, he could not.
The curse even forbade death.
That was why Jis neither ate nor slept, yet still lived.
Harad realized that the curse also forbade growth.
That must be why Jis seed childlike and naïve.
He must have been cursed when he was young.
“Magic—no, an Origin could not be forbidden.”
The reason Jis could still beco a completed mage was because the curse itself was also magic.
A re spell could not forbid an Origin.
“Yeah. I have to reach the 6th Rank.”
Jis the human could not grow, but Jis the vessel could.
That was why Jis beca a Predator.
To reach the end of magehood through an Origin the curse could not interfere with.
“Only then can I break the curse.”
In truth, there was no certainty that reaching the 6th Rank would lift the curse.
But that was the only path available to Jis.
‘And even so, he has judgnt.’
Jis respected Seekers.
He killed and consud only Predators.
“Amazing.”
Harad let out a hollow laugh in admiration.
Jis was a fine mage. And an extraordinary person.
“It is not amazing.”
Jis grew gloomy.
“…I do not know if I am still there. Maybe I am not.”
His true self had been forbidden.
He could neither see nor feel it.
Of course he would begin to doubt his own existence.
“Vile.”
Harad clicked his tongue.
Longevity can be an advantage.
Harad had undeniably felt envy toward Manoa.
But what he felt from Jis was nothing but the malice of a curse.
If it had happened later in life, perhaps it would be different—but Jis had been cursed as a child, before he could even judge whether long life was good or bad.
Worse still, that immortality carried risks.
Losing his true form aside, the absence of food and sleep must have been unimaginably cruel.
‘No. What Jis fears most is the forr.’
He must have grown accustod to hunger and sleeplessness.
Jis longed for his true self.
He feared loss.
It was a terror only the one experiencing it could understand.
Harad imagined his own consciousness inhabiting Gullen’s long-haired body.
‘Horrifying.’
What Jis endured was far worse.
Harad thought of Bahav’s heart, which he had once scorched.
That had been closer to suppression than lifting a curse.
At best, it rely prevented further deterioration.
‘It was maintenance.’
Harad looked at Jis.
If it stopped there—
Eating and sleeping might beco possible.
Perhaps death as well.
But his true form would not return.
That was not sothing that could be fixed by halting the curse. The curse itself had to be undone.
‘I should not touch it carelessly.’
Harad considered burning it away, then stopped.
If he scorched it recklessly, the curse would only beco more complicated.
‘Is it her curse?’
Harad recalled the mage who had placed curses in his past life.
The sa mage who had cursed Bahav was imprisoned under the Church’s Prohibition.
‘It has to be her.’
Jis was a 5th Rank mage.
A curse so powerful that even such a mage could not lift it could only have been cast by her.
‘How did it happen?’
From what he heard, Jis had been cursed a long ti ago.
Perhaps it was before she had been imprisoned by the Church.
‘How it happened does not matter.’
It must have been her disposition.
“Sniff.”
This was not the atmosphere to ask whether it was her curse.
The wall of shadows flowed downward like spilled paint.
To Harad, it looked like tears.
Jis’s hollow eyes shed no tears.
Expressing emotion through shadows seed more natural to him than through that false body.
As Harad watched the shadow flow like tears, his side suddenly ached.
Ellen was glaring at him with narrowed eyes, clearly telling him to do sothing.
‘This is not my doing.’
It had been Ellen who had dug into Jis’s wound.
But if she told him to do it, he would.
Whether it was Elaine of his past life or Ellen now, Harad had decided to indulge both. At least for now.
Harad lifted his gaze upward.
The scenery in place of a ceiling was dull—it was inside a tunnel.
‘It is comfortable, though.’
With Jis around, even that suffocating tunnel could be traveled comfortably.
At that mont, Rick the Tunnel-Digger’s excavation work felt aningless.
They passed through the tunnel.
The knight guarding the entrance did not perceive Jis’s shadow. Soon the scenery opened wide. The shadow had erged above ground.
“Sniff.”
The inner shadow was still crying.
But the scenery continued to move. Jis was a fine mage who distinguished between duty and emotion.
The shadow crossed the Inner Fortress wall and moved swiftly onward.
‘He knows the structure.’
Jis had grasped the entire layout of the Inner Fortress.
The sa went for Harad’s annex. The shadow was heading there.
“Turn right here.”
Harad told Jis.
The shadow imdiately changed direction.
Harad took another hit to the side.
Ellen was glaring even more fiercely. The look clearly said: comfort him.
“Stop here.”
Rubbing his side, Harad halted the shadow.
“Wait a mont. Let only out.”
Before he could get hit again, Harad slipped out of the shadow.
It was a strange sensation. Perhaps this was how objects felt when stored in a pocket.
Once outside, Harad imdiately opened the door before him.
“Harad?”
Kubel greeted him with widened eyes.
“When—when did you return?”
Kubel was wearing thick gloves.
“I just arrived. Where is Shura?”
She was coming down the stairs.
It seed to be alti.
“Brother!”
Shura, her eyes as wide as Kubel’s, ran over and hugged Harad.
Harad lifted her naturally.
“Are you hungry?”
“No!”
Now at Harad’s eye level, Shura shook her head vigorously.
“I will wait. Let us eat together.”
“Good.”
“What about Sister?”
“She is in front. With a friend.”
“A friend?”
“Yes. Do you want to see?”
“Yes!”
Shura nodded eagerly.
Harad moved while holding Shura.
At the threshold of the annex, a shadow was sobbing softly.
“What is that?”
“It is a friend.”
Harad leaned his face—and Shura’s—toward it.
Beyond the shadow, Ellen blinking and a crouched Jis could be seen.
“I cannot see.”
Shura strained her eyes.
It seed she could not see them.
“If you use magic, you will.”
He said it to both sides.
As if realizing sothing, Ellen opened her mouth.
Then she grabbed Jis by the back of the neck and tossed him forward. Jis’s face popped out above the shadow.
“Do not bully ….”
Jis, now outside, squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered.
“Wow.”
That was when Shura gasped in admiration.
“You are pretty.”
“…?”
At Shura’s exclamation, Jis cautiously opened his eyes.
Her green eyes, shimring with magic, were fixed on his face.
“What is your na?”
The green eyes curved gently.
“I am Shura.”
“…Jis.”
Jis answered as if entranced.
“How old are you?”
“Thirteen.”
Jis instinctively realized that Shura’s eyes were magic—
and that this magic was seeing essence.
“I am ten. Does that an you are my sister? Or… my brother?”
“…Friend is better.”
So Shura was a witness.
The only witness who could prove that Jis’s true self still existed.
“Thank you.”
Jis’s hollow eyes shed tears.
In Shura’s eyes, a young and pretty Jis was crying.
***
Do not bring mages with you, but knights are fine.
Unlike the forr, the latter know it is a dream.
That ant Grand Duke Aratus knew of dreamlike places.
“There was a village of asylum seekers.”
Perhaps because of that, the Grand Duke looked indifferent.
‘Or does he simply not care?’
That would make sense.
How asylum seekers lived was none of his concern.
They were not Northerners.
“There must have been fire.”
The Grand Duke might not know the village, but he seed aware of the Embers.
“What did you do?”
“I took them.”
Harad said as he ignited a fla at the Grand Duke’s feet.
“Oh?”
The Grand Duke’s eyes widened slightly as he looked down at the fire.
Like Harad, he must have felt the sun from it.
“It is still small.”
The Grand Duke crushed the fla underfoot.
Though it felt like the sun, to him it was less than a cigarette butt.
“It has beco far more usable.”
The Grand Duke bared his teeth in a savage grin.
Harad thought the Duke was looking not at him, but at the Moon.
“I killed the King of teoric Iron.”
“A King.”
The Grand Duke snorted.
“I killed the Tower Master of teoric Iron.”
“Speak.”
“I want to extend the tunnels.”
He had killed Kandenkel.
In return, Harad demanded tunnels.
The Grand Duke nodded once.
Permission.
It was also permission already granted before.
The Duke wanted tunnels to increase.
‘The target is the Moon.’
Harad was both a lamp and bait.
He illuminated the Boundary and would lure the Moon down.
“I intend to place the tunnel exit in the village.”
“Denied.”
The indifferent eyes turned fierce.
“It is my village.”
“A hostage.”
“An escort.”
“….”
The pressure grew savage.
Without Ellen’s earlier warning, he might have been crushed.
“Is it acceptable to bring the villagers to Serzila?”
“It is.”
Allowing mages inside was fine.
Protecting outside mages was not.
‘As expected.’
Usefulness was the standard.
Was Kubel not proof enough?
A mage was not soone permitted rely as a reward. They had to be useful.
The mages brought into Serzila all had their uses.
Even if not magic, they could serve as labor.
The village did not.
Whatever they did, they were of no use to Serzila.
That was why the Grand Duke had denied it.
“The Moon knows of and that village.”
That was when the Grand Duke’s eyes widened.
“My Embers are in the village.”
Harad spoke while looking at the foot that had crushed the fla, then slowly lifted his gaze.
The Grand Duke was smiling, his eyes gleaming.
“Dig imdiately.”
He had realized at once that the Moon might take the bait of the village.
The Grand Duke was truly beastlike—and intelligent.
“I experienced the Moon’s magic.”
Clatter.
For a mont, the world tilted. Then Harad realized it was not his body, but the mansion itself.
“Did it succeed?”
The excited Grand Duke was rising to his feet.
Bring the Moon down.
If successful, he had said he would show why he had taken a Sabbatical Year.
“It seems only half succeeded.”
The Moon did not descend.
Only its magic did.
“That is rit.”
Even that was enough rit for the Grand Duke.
He looked ready to dash to the Boundary at once.
“Speak.”
“Before that, may I ask one thing?”
“Speak.”
The Duke urged him on.
“What will you do if you et the Moon?”
“I said I would show you if you succeeded.”
“Are you on the sa side?”
“How dare you.”
Aura writhed violently in all directions.
The mansion scread. Debris rained down from the ceiling.
Harad felt not pressure, but as if his body would burst.
“I will chew her heart to death.”
The Duke spoke with emphasis, as if truly chewing.
He looked as though he was barely restraining his rage.
‘Her.’
The Duke seed to know the Moon’s mage.
‘He will not tell anyway.’
For now, the Duke’s answer mattered more.
The Duke intended to kill the Moon.
Harad wanted to hear that directly.
“Your Highness once said that the Moon did not descend because the prophecies we knew were different.”
The Duke had arranged Harad’s eting with Aroshu of the Bonfire.
To see the Moon’s reaction.
‘And the Moon did not descend then.’
Through that, the Duke had confird that the prophecy he knew differed from the Moon’s.
‘The sun belongs to a woman.’
That was what the Otherworld believed.
But Grand Duke Aratus knew an additional line.
‘If that line is known, the Moon will descend. If not, it will not.’
That was what the Duke had said.
And the prediction had been wrong.
The Moon did not descend—but its magic did.
“The Moon wants to take the Embers.”
Rather than wanting Harad dead, the Moon wanted him to grow.
Yes.
The Moon had another objective.
‘Like Grand Duke Aratus.’
Harad t the Duke’s eyes.
“Do you see as her?”
The voice bood like thunder.
“I believe not, Your Highness, but….”
Harad felt his insides twist.
“You will have to tell more if you want to play bait properly.”
“….”
The Duke stared down at Harad for a long ti.
He looked as though he hated speaking.
Harad did not avert his gaze.
A blood-red haze clouded his vision, but he was long accustod to it.
“…The Moon wants sothing from you.”
The Duke’s eyes grew complicated as he muttered.
It seed he disliked speaking not only because he did not want to, but also because he did not know everything.
“I do not know. Get out.”
Harad pretended not to hear.
What he wanted was not what the Duke did not know, but what he did.
Aura subtly shifted aside.
It was openly avoiding Harad.
Harad moved with it, burying himself in the Aura.
To open the Duke’s mouth, blood—not alcohol—was required.
His entire body tightened as if about to burst.
His compressed body spat blood.
“If you tell , I will keep it secret.”
Regardless of the Duke’s intent, pressure was pressure.
“You.”
The Duke’s eyes twisted savagely.
He seed to think of Ellen.
But the Aura did not vanish.
It rely changed position.
‘He cannot erase it?’
Harad followed the Aura.
The more he did, the thicker the stream of blood beca.
“…You.”
After so ti, the Duke murmured.
“You are the sun.”
A King, the Duke said.
“I am a man.”
“Foolish mages.”
The Duke scoffed.
It was one of two things.
‘The prophecy could be wrong.’
Or—
Harad thought of Elaine.
A Grand Heir who was, in truth, female.
‘Will I end up using that Magical Item?’
Harad Yang.
The words Ellen had once said echoed in his ears like a hallucination.
‘Surely the prophecy is not that sloppy.’
Harad laughed it off lightly.
“Is it possible that the Moon learned the prophecy known only to Your Highness?”
The Duke nodded.
His gaze was heavy. It seed this was a possibility he himself had only just realized.
“That is the end.”
It seed the reward stopped here.
The Duke sat back down.
Cracks riddled the ceiling and walls, yet that chair alone remained intact.
“Is that not stingy?”
Instead of answering, the Duke pointed at Harad’s shadow.
He had noticed Jis, yet was tolerating him.
That was the reward.
“Ah.”
Harad opened his mouth as if just rembering sothing.
And opened the shadow as well.
“Would you like to step inside once?”
The Duke pointed to his own face.
Harad nodded. Veins bulged on the Duke’s forehead.
“Otherwise, you will have to crawl through the tunnels.”
“….”
“I will keep it secret until death.”
Harad said, showing the blood covering his body.
“I would have told you.”
“I will keep my earlier promise.”
He had not promised secrecy until death earlier.
“You only need to step in briefly.”
Then Ellen would never know about today’s events for the rest of her life.
“…If you break it, I will chew you to death.”
Even the Duke entered Jis’s shadow.
Only then did the village truly beco safe.
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