Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke Chapter 204 : Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Household Matters (4)

It had not been tempering. He had nearly killed himself.

'The fire has grown stronger.'

Because of that, tempering was no longer possible.

The fire had grown, but the raw material — the body — remained the sa.

'Is this magic? No. It feels as though the Origin itself has grown stronger. Was this what Kandenkel was like in my previous life?'

It must have been why Tower Master of teoric Iron Kandenkel had coveted the Embers.

It would be the effect that the Moon had discovered after consuming her own portion of the Embers.

'It would be more effective if I'm the one consuming them.'

When fire is purely united as one.

Just as with Predation of Herbis, Aroshu, and Forbest — it would be most efficient for the fire itself to be the one taking in the Embers.

'I'll have to put off the tempering.'

If he truly wanted to Temper, he would need to either weaken the fire or make the body more resilient.

'And I was trying to temper in order to beco more resilient.'

It was an inversion of purpose.

Of course, if he succeeded, the effect would be greater than in his previous life — but still.

'Manifest the fire at a weaker output?'

Harad shook his head.

Tempering was accompanied by pain. Agony severe enough to destroy all concentration on spellwork. He could squeeze out his full power, but he could not control it.

'This is a variable.'

It was not only Tempering that had beco impossible.

Much had changed. Including the Embers lasting longer than expected.

'Manifestation would also carry great risk.'

If he couldn't even temper, would Manifestation be easy?

Harad ran a hand over his chest. Perhaps he would have to pull it out again.

'Why did I only notice this now?'

Harad thought of the King from the past.

The King had wanted Harad to beco simpler.

Perhaps he had been influenced by that.

Or perhaps he had been leaning on it without realizing it.

'It was comfortable, at least.'

Acting like a knight in the Haunted House had certainly been comfortable.

'No wonder things burned so easily.'

Harad thought of the Haunted House reduced to ash and gave a bitter smile.

It had been a house that even the 5th Rank mage Jis had found a burden.

And yet Harad had burned it down effortlessly with a casual projection.

'The stronger the fire output, the more the calculation breaks down.'

When he manifested weak magic, it had gone according to calculation.

But when he pushed the output higher, the calculation had a nine-in-ten chance of going wrong. That was why he had only noticed the change now.

At Harad's level, intuition normally kicked in.

I'm putting in this much magical power, so the spell will manifest at roughly this level of force — that kind of thing.

It was a mage's intuition, the sa principle as a seasoned knight roughly estimating the force needed to sever a neck with a blade.

'I can't rely on rough estimation anymore.'

For Harad, who had absorbed the Embers, this was a demanding demand.

Because his intuition had been ford in his previous life.

The person was the sa, but the tool — the Origin — had changed.

All future calculations would need to be based on the changed Origin.

It ant he had to build his intuition roughly half anew.

'There's no reason to dislike it.'

If he had grown weaker, perhaps. But he had grown stronger.

Trial and error was a welco thing. It was a mont no mage could refuse.

It was only inconvenient for the people around him.

Harad, for now, put his clothes back on.

When the rustling stopped, Manoa turned to look at him.

"Are you all right?"

Her face had gone red.

"You looked, didn't you."

"……How could I not. A spell of that magnitude was forcibly dispelled."

Manoa pointed to Harad's face.

Harad wiped the blood away with a rough rub. Compared to the aftereffects of previous experiences, it was not a particularly serious injury.

"I'm fine. It was rely a brief miscalculation."

It was because of the Embers, Harad added.

"That must be why Kandenkel coveted the Embers."

"Ancient knowledge……"

Manoa murmured the words Kandenkel had once said.

"That's right. It seems the Otherworld has discovered a new use for the Embers. More precisely, it would have been the Moon who discovered it."

The Moon would not have shared what she had discovered.

If she had, not only the Tower of teoric Iron but other towers would have moved as well.

'She would only have shared it with those she could trust.'

Or those she could command.

Either way, the Tower of teoric Iron must have been among them.

'The Embers.'

The King of the past had scattered multiple Embers.

It had been for the sake of the stars.

Harad did not know the exact number.

The mories the Embers had shared had been fragntary.

"Ellen didn't co."

"She's been busy lately."

Manoa expressed disappointnt at Ellen's absence.

Harad spoke to Manoa.

"It turns out the Moon is also a star."

"Pardon?"

Manoa tilted her head.

"A mage from the Red Tower told . The Moon is a star too."

"Pardon?"

"The Moon. I had assud she was not a star because you said she had existed for most of recorded ti. A star is only born when there is a King."

"What are you talking about?"

Manoa answered as if this were the first she had heard of the Moon being a star.

"It ans the Moon had Embers. That's why, unlike other stars, she has existed for most of recorded ti."

"Did you perhaps hit your head in the rebound?"

Manoa frowned and pointed at Harad's head.

"Did I not tell you all of this before?"

"What?"

This ti, it was Harad who frowned.

"The Moon is a star, and the reason she is born periodically is because she possesses Embers. I already told you this."

"……?"

The frown on Harad's face dissolved into sothing strange.

His features seed to draw toward a single point.

"Ah. Right, you did."

Presently, Harad's expression eased and he smiled.

"That's correct."

"Do you happen to know how many stars there are?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure."

"Understood."

Harad gave a slow nod and opened the door concealing the tunnel.

"Are you leaving already?"

Manoa sounded reluctant.

"I'll be back soon. With Ellen."

"You may co alone."

Manoa looked less than pleased.

"The hell I will."

Harad muttered quietly under his breath.

***

The Shadow crept through the tunnel.

"Sothing's strange."

Jis said from inside the Shadow space.

He was seated across from Harad.

"What is strange?"

"Manoa?"

Jis said it as a question.

Despite having been the one to bring it up, his expression was uncertain.

"Indeed. Jis, you have good instincts. Because you're both stars? Or because you've never t the Moon?"

Harad mused as though to himself.

"Did the Moon's magic not work on ?"

Jis was young, but he was a formidable 5th Rank mage.

When it ca to magic, he was more than capable.

"Right. Either it worked on , or it worked on Manoa. One of the two. Probably the latter."

That was how he phrased it, but Harad was certain it was the latter.

Because it was Harad, not Manoa, who had noticed sothing was off.

"Manoa did not tell that the Moon is a star, or that the Moon possesses Embers."

"Yeah. That's right."

Jis nodded.

"Then it must indeed be Manoa who was affected."

It was not that Harad had forgotten — it was that Manoa's mory had been altered.

"Magic that interferes with mory. No, rather than mory……"

It was more vague than that.

Harad struggled to express it in words.

But it was unquestionably the Moon's doing.

'Reflection.'

That was the vagueness of the Origin known as the Moon.

When Harad manifested fire, the Moon reflected soone's magic.

Calling it reflection was simply a word for it — it could equally be seen as possession.

If Jis were to use his Shadow before the Moon, the Moon would be able to wield Shadow as Jis did.

And with the sa degree of mastery.

'She manipulated mory. Which ans that too is soone's magic.'

The Moon was versatile.

And her limits would be equal to or exceeding those of the original mage.

The shattering of the Sun's Manifestation so ti ago would be proof of that.

The Moon was a powerful Origin and mage alike.

Already leaving, are you? You may co alone. Harad recalled Manoa's farewell.

The words had co from Manoa's mouth, but it had not been Manoa who spoke them. It was the Moon.

The Moon had altered Manoa's mory and borrowed Manoa's mouth.

"Is she telling not to dig further?"

Stop prying.

The Moon was issuing a warning. Manoa was the hostage.

"A warning, is it."

Harad let out a dry laugh.

The Origin that had responded to his emotions sent fire trickling out in gulps.

The Shadow space was engulfed in a sea of fire in an instant.

"Hot."

Within it, Jis suffered.

"Ah. I'm sorry."

Fire was not unconditionally pleasant for Jis, simply because he was made of it.

When it exceeded a certain degree, it beca an attack even against a star.

It was the sa principle as Harad having nearly died from his own fire earlier.

"Keep crawling."

Harad stepped out of the Shadow space and crawled through the tunnel.

Fire, giving expression to his displeasure, blazed along behind him.

"Are you angry?"

"Not as much as it looks."

Harad said to Jis, who was keeping a worried eye on him.

He was angry — but more than that, this was the aftereffect talking.

His body had weakened, and controlling the fire had beco difficult.

He could control it if he tried, but doing so would only worsen the aftereffects.

The best course of action in tis like this was to let it be.

"It seems like too weak a threat."

Jis spoke from beyond the Shadow.

This far and no further.

That was what the Moon had said.

Cross the line, and she would harm Manoa or the village.

'Manipulate mory or deliver a ssage.'

The targets of that would likely be limited to Manoa, who had been the Moon's Witch.

But even so, it was already a sufficient threat.

With the ability to manipulate mory, there was no end to the things one could do. She could turn the village against him that very instant. Manoa's hands would be what destroyed the village.

"But she didn't. Indeed. She cannot do it."

Too weak a threat.

That was what Jis had ant.

"Right. If she could, she would have shown that she could. That would be more certain."

Indeed, Jis was a formidable mage.

"Exactly. If she could, there would be no reason not to. A threat is most effective when it is strongest."

Harad gave a slow nod.

The Moon is a star and possesses Embers.

That alteration was all.

If she had wanted to frighten him, the mory manipulation should have been more severe.

"In order to cause harm — or to manipulate mory more forcefully — the distance would need to be reduced accordingly."

The distance between the Otherworld and the village was imasurably vast.

Magic exercised over such a distance inevitably had its limits.

'But the Moon finds it difficult to close that distance.'

Because of Grand Duke Aratus.

If he caught wind of the Moon's approach, Harad would summon the Grand Duke imdiately.

"A calculating one, she is."

The Moon appeared to be a mage who prioritized her own safety above all else.

Which ant she feared Grand Duke Aratus that much.

"Is this her proposing a negotiation?"

If he dug further into Manoa for information, the Moon would descend.

The village would be in danger.

In exchange, Harad could summon Grand Duke Aratus.

The Moon was proposing that neither of them do that.

It was a tacit agreent.

And it was an agreent Harad could unilaterally break.

If he were willing to surrender the village, it would be an opportunity to capture the Moon.

'She must be certain I won't do it.'

It was unpleasant, but it hit the mark.

Harad had no intention of giving up the village.

It was the village that had given him inspiration, and now it was his village.

'It's not as though I've gained nothing.'

He simply could not extract information from Manoa alone.

There were other opportunities besides Manoa. The recently encountered Forbest had been one of them.

'She proposed this first. If I yield one step, she won't touch the village recklessly.'

As long as Harad did not cross the line first, the village would be safe.

Strictly speaking, the agreent was to his benefit.

It was only that his emotions had been rubbed raw.

But those rubbed-raw emotions were sowhat provocative for Harad, who was fire through and through.

"Tsk."

When Harad clicked his tongue, the flas flooded all the way to the tunnel entrance.

"Fire!"

Soone shouted from outside.

"It's out!"

Only then did Harad notice that soone was waiting at the tunnel entrance.

'This is right under my Annex.'

The tunnel that connected to the village was beneath Harad's Annex.

Because the location was within the Inner Fortress, knights did not stand watch there.

'I can't even sense them.'

The voice had only been loud at first — the presence of whoever was waiting at the tunnel entrance could not be felt at all.

That was proof it was not a knight.

"……"

From outside ca the sound of whispering.

It was so quiet that Harad could not make out the words.

"They said they'd wait until you ca out."

Then Jis spoke.

"You can hear that?"

"Yeah. I looked too. There are three of them."

The Shadow was, indeed, a discreet Origin.

"Are they from the Otherworld?"

"No."

"Knights, then?"

Jis shook his head.

"The clothing was similar to what Ellen usually wears."

"Intelligence Bureau."

At so point, the Director of the Intelligence Bureau had sent soone through an interdiary to ask when he might be available.

It seed that ti was now.

"I suppose they've co to escort ."

"Should I call Ellen?"

"There's no need to go that far."

Harad gave a small laugh.

It was probably because she was eting strangers for the first ti. Jis was deeply shy.

Harad erged from the tunnel without delay.

As Jis had said, there were three — and all of them wore masks.

'Wearing Intelligence Bureau uniforms, and yet.'

Among them, the man directly facing him had a striking detail about his uniform.

On the left chest was a small, black star.

'A Scouter — no, an Investigator.'

Just as the Wall Knight was the pinnacle among knights, the Investigator was the pinnacle among Intelligence Bureau agents.

Arika had been an Investigator herself.

They were both sharp-minded and as formidable as any knight.

"A pleasure. I'm Harad."

Harad extended a hand toward the Investigator.

"Attack!"

The Investigator drew his sword and charged.

The speed rivaled what Harad had seen from the knights at the Wall.

Harad reflexively snapped his fingers.

The friction between his middle finger and thumb beca fire and radiated outward.

WHOOSH!

The fla, resembling the Sun, was ferociously intense and vast.

It was because the magic had been manifested instinctively in response to the Investigator's killing intent.

"Ah."

And because of that, he had calculated by the standards of his previous life.

The aftereffects had let a trace of emotion bleed in too.

Because soone had suddenly co at him as if to cut him down.

"You should have charged a little more slowly."

Harad looked down at the well-done Investigator and clicked his tongue.

"Is he dead?"

"He's not dead."

Jis answered.

Indeed.

Looking more carefully, he was still breathing.

"An Investigator, I see."

Aura was, as ever, resilient and durable.

Given enough ti, he would recover sufficiently.

Whether to give him that ti, however, was for Harad to decide.

"So then, why did you attack?"

Harad asked the two who had frozen mid-charge.

"I'll hear you out first and decide."

"……"

"Whether to kill you or let you live."

KKHK.

The trampled Investigator let out a wheezing, rattling groan.