Chapter 239 : Chapter 239
Chapter 239: Elaine (3)
CRACK.
It was the sound of the Grand Duke's manor breaking apart.
It felt as if he had been dropped into the middle of the ocean. It was not water but all the Grand Duke's Aura. Weight pressed down on the Aura that surrounded Harad without a single gap.
The intensity was beyond imagination. Was this the weight the Giant of legend felt when shouldering the world? Such useless thoughts came to mind.
No, it was precisely because such thoughts occupied his mind that he did not lose consciousness. The pain came belatedly. It was so immense that his body only now recognized it.
The already large Grand Duke became even more enormous. His eye level kept dropping. Before he knew it, Harad was staring at the tip of the Grand Duke's shoe.
Once he had dropped that far, his eye level stopped lowering. The sensation he felt from his soles buried in the floor was thin.
'If I drop any further from here, I will fall to the first floor.'
He had dropped to the limit. Everything below both pupils was now buried in the floor.
It was as if he were buried in a snowdrift or sand. Harad felt as if he were trapped in a coffin called a building. So he grinned. Because one enters a coffin lying straight.
"Is this pleasant?"
"It is pleasant."
When Grand Duke Aratus pressed down, Harad fell to his knees. Or he sprawled on the floor like a dead frog.
Not this time. Even if he was buried up to below his eyes, Harad neither sprawled nor knelt.
What had lowered in eye level was not Harad but the Grand Duke's manor on which he stood, which was weak.
5th Rank, and furthermore the result of the tempering.
Naturally this pitiful pressure was not Grand Duke Aratus's full strength.
But the same was true for Harad. Manifestation remained.
'Even if I die, I cannot win.'
But the gap had narrowed. Quite considerably at that. It was a sufficiently satisfying result.
"Insolent bastard."
Grand Duke Aratus, speaking thus, was grinning savagely. He had noticed Harad's intention to provoke him and confirm himself.
"You have become quite useful."
You have become much more useful. When he had taken Embers and returned, the Grand Duke had evaluated Harad in that way.
'This time it is quite.'
Much had changed to quite. It was thanks to Aten, that cold Torch bastard.
'If I grow stronger, Grand Duke Aratus is pleased too. Because my usefulness increases?'
Is it because the bait for the Moon grows larger?
'There is also the matter of Ellen.'
Grand Duke Aratus wishes for his daughter and Harad to get along. The stronger Harad becomes, the better, not worse.
The Moon and his daughter. Those were all that occupied Grand Duke Aratus's interest. The reason Ellen became Elaine must also lie with the Moon.
"Was it fun, deceiving my daughter?"
The Grand Duke pointed out that the truth was shared with everyone except Ellen.
"Was that not what Your Majesty also wished?"
"……"
The Grand Duke was also an accomplice.
"Deceive her but do not mock her."
The Grand Duke answered indirectly. That Grand Duke indeed wishes for Ellen not to be discovered.
"I will certainly do so."
Harad answered sincerely. In any case, he had not the slightest intention of doing so. From the start, his position was no different from that of a criminal.
"Does hiding that she is a woman make her safer?"
"It should."
I did not expect it. Surprisingly, the Grand Duke answered readily.
"Is it because of the Moon?"
"It should be."
Harad's brow furrowed slightly.
'He speaks as if he has heard it from someone.'
Grand Duke Aratus was a certain person.
He did not use it, but his mind was good too. If so, he would say so.
"Does Ellen know as well?"
"She does not."
Like this.
'So he heard it from someone.'
It is related to the Moon. He knows the hidden verses of the prophecy. Harad's mind spun rapidly.
It was then that the Grand Duke's Aura stirred.
"Do not spin your mind. You will die."
"Yes."
Harad stopped thinking. If he did not, he felt he would truly die. His heart was squeezed tight.
"May I ask just one thing?"
"I forbid it."
"Why do you pair me with Your Majesty's daughter?"
"……"
Grand Duke Aratus's face twitched. To an eerie degree. Just how angry must he be?
But it was not expressed. Because he had already crushed him once. If he did it again, Ellen might discover it, he must be thinking.
"If you tell me, I will keep it secret."
Harad spoke as if coaxing gently. Grand Duke Aratus's face twitched even more violently.
"Because you are useful."
Yet he answered. His daughter must be more frightening.
'Because I am useful.'
Harad recalled his previous life.
"If I had been an idiot, what would you have done?"
"I would have left you as northern snow."
Snow. To outsiders it is beautiful nature, but to some northerners it is garbage. The Grand Duke, master of the north, is the latter.
In fact, that was how he had been treated in his previous life.
After the regression, things changed. Grand Duke Aratus employed Harad. Furthermore, he wishes for him to pair with Ellen.
'Because I am useful.'
If that were the reason, the Grand Duke should have used Harad in his previous life as well.
But the Grand Duke of his previous life had shown no interest in Harad. Even when Harad came to his senses and became useful.
'In my previous life, I got along with Elaine. The Grand Duke never interfered.'
That was closer to neglect. He had never shown emotion like this.
That Grand Duke Aratus was such an emotional person was something Harad learned only after the regression.
"You will die."
"Yes."
Harad immediately stopped thinking.
"Exercise restraint."
Harad tilted his head. Now that he thought about it, the Grand Duke's first words had also been restraint.
"Ah."
Harad realized what he was told to restrain, but dared not speak it aloud. Instead, he touched his lips with his fingers.
Then the Grand Duke nodded. Just once, briefly and heavily.
"But should I not avoid restraint for things to be good?"
"Do you dare make my daughter a spectacle?"
"Ah."
If you are going to do it, do it where it cannot be seen.
"I understand. From now on, I will do it secretly."
"……"
"In places even Your Majesty the Grand Duke does not know……"
CRACK!
Looking down at Harad, who had become a frog, the Grand Duke grew agitated again.
* * *
As always, the Grand Duke's rage was brief and intense.
'Is he magnanimous, or does he lack composure?'
Harad rose to his feet before long. His entire body ached, but nothing was seriously injured. That monster was skilled at controlling his strength too.
"Go."
The Grand Duke issued an order to leave. Harad moved his mouth instead of his feet.
"Are you leaving already?"
"Are you disappointed?"
"Yes."
The Grand Duke knew many things. Most were secrets, but if one endured with one's body, he would tell one or two.
It was a curiosity no Mage could resist.
"Do you happen to know? The Moon came……"
"It did not come."
The Grand Duke's face twitched as he spoke thus.
It seemed to mean speak properly. To the Grand Duke, the Moon was a grave matter.
It was not an incorrect point either. The Moon did not come; a toad came and spat out a crystal sphere and left.
"It played a trick."
"And so?"
"Has this happened before?"
"It has not."
"Then it is an achievement."
"……"
His face twitched again. But it was far less savage than when he mentioned the Moon.
'So he lacks composure.'
That is why his rage is always brief and intense. The Grand Duke's rage is focused on the Moon.
"What do you want?"
He had tolerated Seria. The Grand Duke did not say such petty things. Because he must know he would only hear the answer that she is Ellen's friend.
"I need a replacement."
Harad showed his left hand. The steel ring that should have been on his little finger was absent. It had disappeared without leaving even ash during the tempering process.
"There is none."
Among the Grand Duke's trophies he had once seen, the only intact items were a steel ring and the greatsword said to have slain a dragon.
"Then may I replace it with a priest?"
"I have tolerated that."
"May I take her to the Boundary?"
"So that was your purpose."
The Grand Duke snorted.
"Do you not prefer certainty?"
Ellen can push for it. But Harad thought he had to hear a definite answer from the Grand Duke. That was proper. It would not hurt to make a good impression either.
"I still forbid it."
Still. The Grand Duke added that. It means he will see after returning from the Church.
'So Seria is not yet certain.'
Thus the Grand Duke preferred certainty. It is why Harad remained unscathed despite crossing every line.
Whether bait for the Moon or Ellen's partner. It was certain that the Grand Duke needed Harad.
His gaze must have been irritating. The Grand Duke's brow crumpled sharply.
"Get lost."
It was the final order to leave. If he did not leave now, he would truly die.
"Yes."
Harad quickly left the Grand Duke's manor.
And soon his eyes widened.
"Ellen?"
At the place where he had conversed with Elaine earlier, Ellen was waiting.
"Are you finished now?"
That was why the Grand Duke's brow had crumpled sharply.
"Do you have a moment?"
Ellen smiled faintly.
* * *
Ellen said she knew a good place and went outside the Inner Fortress.
Ellen walked ahead, and Harad quietly followed her back. There were no words during the journey. Slosh. Only the sound of the liquor swaying in the bottle Ellen held and the sound of footsteps on snow could be heard.
'Did I do something wrong? I did not.'
It was an awkward silence.
"Is this the good place?"
Harad opened his mouth only after Ellen stopped.
The place they arrived at was the interior of the ruined Flower District.
"Looking back."
Ellen opened the door and went in. Though it was a place that had collapsed not long after the regression, the interior was surprisingly clean.
It was because a tunnel existed underground. The Intelligence Bureau had seized all passages and buildings connected to the tunnel and had agents manage them.
However, tonight no agents were visible. Ellen, the Intelligence Bureau Director's daughter, sat at the neglected bar.
It was the seat where she had sat on the day they first met. Harad sat as he had then.
"Do you have money?"
Ellen asked as she had then.
"No. Not this time either."
"Still, it is fortunate. Because there is no need to pay."
It was an ownerless place. Ellen opened the bottle of liquor she had brought.
"It is precious liquor."
It was Eternal Snow. The liquor only Serzila could drink, the liquor Elaine of his previous life had loved most.
"It is not the liquor I love."
Ellen said as she had then.
Liquor glasses were arranged on the bar. It seemed the agent assigned to this place intended to continue the tavern.
Ellen poured Eternal Snow into the glasses. She placed one glass in front of Harad and drank the other immediately.
"Will you not drink? You drank back then."
"I was pretending to drink."
If one came to a tavern, one had to drink. Harad drank liquor to avoid suspicion and burned it away with fire in his stomach.
"I did not know that."
Ellen smiled bitterly.
"Back then it was shocking. You, and this place too."
The regular spot was the tunnel entrance, and the beautiful proprietor was a Mage. What was remarkable was not the taste of her hands but the taste of Magical.
"I was so surprised. I had heard you were worthless, but……"
"I was an idiot."
"That is right. That is what I heard. But you were the complete opposite."
Ellen poured and drank liquor again.
"You are the smartest person I know. And strong-willed too."
Harad smiled bitterly.
There are plenty of people smarter than that. The same goes for strong-willed people. Harad simply filled in with experience.
"Now I think of it as a memory. I became a regular, and I was deceived well, I think. Because thanks to that, I met you by chance."
"I think so too."
"Liar."
Ellen said. She was looking down at her glass.
"For you, it was not by chance."
It is not guessing thoughts just from looking at faces.
"Why would a person without money come to a tavern alone? And why pretend to drink liquor?"
Ellen was hitting upon the truth.
"If it was to avoid suspicion from the proprietor, you should have brought money. What if you had not met me?"
"……"
"You knew and came. That the proprietor here was a Mage, and that there was a tunnel below too."
Ellen chuckled while looking down at her glass.
"This, I do not love it. That woman might, though."
Ellen exhaled as if smoking tobacco. The liquor filling the glass rippled.
"This was the proprietor's Origin here."
Ellen said while looking into the glass. The Origin of the Flower District interior's proprietor was Ripple. That Ripple bewitched people.
"You said it was Magical that causes hallucinations."
"I did."
"Thinking back now, it is trivial. Why was I fooled by such a thing? How embarrassing."
"You had no experience."
Ellen at that time was also sufficiently strong. But she had never experienced Magical. That is why she was fooled.
"That is right. Back then I had no experience."
"……"
"But now I have some. I know what I need to know. Not as much as you, though."
Ellen turned her head. Their eyes met.
"What Magical is this?"
Harad thought he had been read.
"You came out of a dream, did you not?"
"……"
"Like that woman, Elaine."