Chapter 232 : Chapter 232
Chapter 232: Agitation (1)
Seria glows.
Not as an expression, but literally.
It is Divine power, the light of Laan.
That protects Seria from the barrier.
Harad thought it was one of two things.
Either the will of Laan has nothing to do with Mages.
'Or it does not exist.'
Either way, it was an interesting hypothesis.
It was enough to undermine the foundation of the Church.
Of course, the Church would never accept it.
'The former seems more plausible.'
That would explain the concept of Divine power.
"My work has merely increased. Kill bad Mages, protect good Mages."
The former were scum like the Mage who cursed Torch or Jis.
It meant applying the same standards for neighbors to Mages as well. Seria nodded slowly. She was a clever woman.
"Pretending not to notice would also be good."
That alone would give breathing room to continental Mages living in hiding. It would give them more time to think. The tunnel was opened for them.
Just one priest.
One could say that, but the number of Mages a single priest kills in their lifetime cannot be ignored.
Also, for the regressed Harad, this was the first case.
A very important first step.
"I cannot give a definite answer."
Seria answered ambiguously.
However, it was an adequate answer.
Seria knows that Jis is here, though unseen. To her, Jis was already a good Mage and a neighbor.
"Harad should go first."
Seria pointed at the tunnel.
She meant she would crawl at the very back.
"Do you not trust me?"
"You said you have a fiery temper."
"I am more patient than you."
"……"
"I am joking. Go ahead."
It is the truth.
That is the reason for deliberately entering through the tunnel instead of using Jis's shadow.
Harad crawled through the tunnel. He could see the soles of Ellen's feet crawling ahead. In Seria's view, she would see Harad crawling.
'Agitation?'
There were no signs of it.
Was she holding back, or was she really alright?
'It must be the latter.'
Holding back does not mean one can hold back.
If that were the case, Ellen would not have had to burst Seria's head.
'The mere thought that Mages can also be neighbors was enough to solve the problem.'
The cause of agitation is stress.
Harad had such a guess in Lohit.
Seeing a demon or suspect once or twice is fine, but if repeated, Seria becomes agitated.
It is the kind that endures, endures, then bursts.
'It is all stress.'
She tried to commit suicide.
For Seria, every moment at the barrier was stressful. It must be the same now. Her head must be complicated.
"What will you do when you return?"
"I must report my safety to the Church. Along with the fact of Sir Badelots's Martyrdom."
"Will you go right away?"
"……"
Seria did not answer.
It meant she would not go right away.
If she did, she might inadvertently run her mouth.
Whether that topic would be Serzila's demons or the heretical thoughts she had just realized, Harad thought it was both.
She had promised to somehow bring Badelots back to the Church.
If she had realized something, Seria was a priest who would see it through. She would not return immediately and would take time to organize her thoughts.
"That works out well."
"Yes?"
"Because I want to confirm something."
* * *
"……?"
When they exited the tunnel, the knight standing guard tilted his head. Then he shouted.
"A priest!"
"Yes, a priest."
"What?"
It was Collis of the 2nd Knights.
When they went in, it had been Beekin.
"Where is Beekin?"
"We switched shifts. Did you not go in alone?"
That was why Collis was flustered.
Harad had entered the tunnel alone, but three people came out.
And among them was a branch member of Serzila and a priest.
"It turned out that way. I will report the details, so you do not need to worry about it."
"If that is the case, well."
Collis nodded slowly.
Even if Ellen were not here, he would have done the same.
In Serzila, Harad had already built up as much standing as he could.
"Is your studying going well?"
"Ah. This worked out well. There is something I do not understand…… No. I will come find you later."
Collis spoke then trailed off.
It was because Seria was there.
'This one cannot be stupid.'
If he were truly stupid, he would have asked without reading the room.
Harad let out an empty laugh.
"Work hard."
Harad waved his hand at Collis and came up to the surface.
"Do you know? That knight knows I am a Mage."
"I suppose so."
"Actually, there is not a knight who does not know."
"……"
Guessing and directly knowing are different things.
Seria narrowed her brow. Harad grinned.
"Stop teasing her, dear."
Ellen, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
"You are being too mean. Her head must already be complicated."
"Are you already taking your friend's side?"
Harad pretended to be hurt.
The effect was excellent. Seria relaxed her expression and smiled.
The more she leaned toward Ellen, the more she would side with Mages.
Because Ellen was on the side of Mages.
"Let us go back first."
Ellen wanted to show her friend the Inner Fortress.
Having disclosed the tunnel, there was no reason she could not show it. They had already revealed everything to each other.
The last time, the only Inner Fortress Seria had experienced was Harad's Annex.
At that time, they had been in a position where they had to manage Seria.
"We will go there last."
Harad moved his steps westward.
Ellen followed while tilting her head. Seria did the same.
"It is the direction of the Great Plains."
Seria recognized the path immediately.
At one time, she had searched for demons so fiercely that her head had been burst by Ellen countless times.
There was no path she had not traveled.
"There are many hunters in the east and west."
The east had more hunters who were less skilled than the west.
Because the snowy mountains are more dangerous than the snowfields.
After walking for some time, the smell of blood and rank odor wafted over.
It was a place where hunters processed their prey. Harad spoke to one of them.
"Grex."
"Sir Harad?"
Grex put down the wolf he had been handling in confusion.
"Is hunting going well?"
"I am happy."
Grex smiled innocently.
That Liberation Faction Mage whose dream was to be a hunter was gradually becoming a proper hunter.
"But what brings you here? If it is Anton……"
"Ah, I came to see you."
Grex tilted his head.
Harad led him to a secluded alley. Then he spoke.
"Can you show me some magic for a moment?"
"……!"
Grex flinched as if having a fit.
Are you insane? That was his expression. Priest Seria was next to them.
"It is alright. We all know each other."
"……?"
This time his eyes widened.
The priest? That was his expression.
"Yes, yes……"
He did not understand, but he did it because Harad told him to.
Something like a dagger without a handle was manifested in Grex's empty grip.
Claw was his Origin.
"……"
Seria twitched.
"Now make it disappear."
"Yes."
The claw disappeared.
"Show it again."
"Yes."
The claw reappeared.
Seria twitched. It was a slightly larger movement than before.
"That is enough. Good work."
Harad sent Grex back.
Then he moved his steps again.
The place they arrived at was a forge.
Harad called out to Roka, who was organizing firewood there. She was a Mage whose dream was to be a blacksmith.
"Roka."
"Sir Harad?"
"Can you show me some magic for a moment?"
"……"
"It is alright. We all know each other."
Roka went through the same expressions as Grex, then soon manifested magic. A short, thin piece of iron was her Origin.
"Ah……"
Seria flinched greatly at the sight.
Her mouth also opened slightly.
"Show it again."
"Yes."
The iron that had disappeared was manifested again.
"Demooooon!"
Seria burst.
"Eek!"
"Ellen!"
Roka was shocked, and Seria's head burst.
* * *
What breaks agitation is shock.
Once Seria expressed it as such: a powerful shock cleanly empties the anguish in her head.
By shock, she meant bursting her head.
Seria herself, the person in question, said that method was the most efficient.
"……"
Harad quietly looked to the left.
Ellen was walking weakly. Her face was dejected.
If he looked to the right, Seria was walking while reading the room. Her face was complicated and also apologetic.
It was because Seria's head had burst four more times. She had become agitated at Andison, at Rosen, even at the gentle Anton. It was because she had witnessed their magic.
"Do not be so hard on yourself. It was an expected situation."
Then both his cheeks stung.
What is this? Ellen and Seria were glaring at him with such eyes. Harad was satisfied with that sting.
Even if not Ellen, even Seria was dissatisfied with the current situation.
"……What is going on?"
Unable to give a definite answer, Seria had not purified anyone. She had merely become agitated, had her head burst, regenerated, and been confused.
"Let me confirm one more time and then I will tell you. It is not certain yet."
Ellen and Seria quietly followed behind Harad.
Before long, Ellen frowned.
"Do not tell me you are going here?"
It was because the place they arrived at was Kubel's Annex.
"No."
Shura is inside.
The agitation toward Seria would be shocking to that girl.
"Were you not planning to introduce her earlier?"
Ellen had intended to introduce Seria to the Inner Fortress.
Because she had not become agitated at Harad.
"……The situation is different."
It was because she thought Seria's agitation had disappeared.
Whether it was the same thought, Seria lowered her head slightly.
"Actually, I am just as confused."
Seria had not become agitated at Harad.
But in the territory, she had already become agitated five times.
"To be certain, I need Shura."
"……"
"It will be alright. If worst comes to worst, Jis can take her away immediately."
The shadow was useful.
One could see the outside from inside, or completely block out the outside.
Jis was a very skilled Mage.
If she saw signs of agitation, she could hide Shura immediately.
"Just for a moment."
"It should be. Now, go in."
Harad brought the hesitant Seria into Kubel's Annex.
Kubel and Cassion were sitting there.
"A priest!"
Cassion, who had been wiping water off his spoon, suddenly shouted.
"Your unit member already did that."
Harad shook his head toward Cassion.
He lightly patted the shoulder of Kubel, who had tensed up instantly.
"It is alright. She is Ellen's friend."
"Yes, yes……"
Kubel looked half-convinced.
She trusted Harad and Ellen, but to a continental Mage, priests were just as terrifying a tribe.
"Where is Shura?"
"She is resting upstairs."
"Can you call her for a moment?"
"……Yes."
My daughter to a priest?
Kubel was shocked for a moment, then soon nodded heavily. It was a grateful trust.
However, she could not help but slow her steps. Kubel slowly climbed the stairs and carefully brought Shura down.
"Sister! Brother?"
Shura was held tightly in Kubel's arms.
It looked like she would hide Shura with that massive body if worst came to worst.
"Shura."
"Yes!"
"This is Ellen's friend."
"Sister's?"
Shura turned her gaze.
Ellen nodded.
"Harad, you bastard, do not tell me……"
"Be quiet, Cassion. It is not that."
Harad sighed.
2nd Knights Commander Cassion was, sometimes, more stupid than any northerner.
"Shura, as you can see, she is a priest."
"I am not scared."
It was a statement confessing to a priest that she was a Mage.
It was not a mistake. Shura is a smart child. She already knows that being a Mage has been exposed.
Nevertheless, unlike Kubel, Shura did not tremble.
……Because she was looking.
Her adorable green eyes imbued with magic were staring directly at Seria.
"How is it?"
Is our dad alright?
Shura asks the question in her heart.
Those eyes see the answer to that.
"She nodded slowly."
Kubel.
The good demon, Seria had already accepted.
"Jis!"
But she becomes agitated.
"Demooooon!"
Above the shadow that swallowed Shura, Seria screamed with rolling eyes.
Kubel put tobacco in his mouth with trembling hands.
Cassion drew his sword, and Ellen glared at Harad while preparing to burst her head.
"It is not stress."
Harad let out an empty laugh.
It was because he felt a sense of kinship.
That was close to instinct.
"It is like Predation."
Seria's agitation resembled a Mage's Predation.
Fire flared up.
The agitated Seria saw that fire but did not become more agitated.
"Why is that?"
Harad clicked his tongue.
Seria was not the only special one.
……If he had met Wimar later.