Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 3.
“A test, huh...”
Grand Duke Atlin Nordiar glanced back and forth between my eyes and my eldest brother’s.
“...Do you have a detailed plan?”
My eldest brother continued.
“First, we should establish the rules. A test that demands the impossible be made possible is forbidden. A test that may harm House Nordiar is also forbidden. Inhumane tests are forbidden as well. Lastly, for the sake of fairness, the test must be stated to the child here in this open setting.”
‘...My eldest brother was fair, but too bound by rules and too businesslike.’
The eldest son meant to carry on the Grand Ducal line. Especially as the eldest son of House Nordiar, which valued rules above all else, he had no choice but to live bound by them.
My third brother spoke up with a sly look.
“I do not think he should even be given a chance, but... fine. If he passes the test, I will acknowledge him as one of us.”
“......”
My sister nodded as well.
Once everyone had agreed, Father made the declaration.
“Very well. If you pass the test we give you, I will forgive even the fact that you dared call your friend someone you had taken in, and I will acknowledge that you belong to the same house as us. I personally guarantee it. However, if you fail the test... we will permanently strip you of Nordiar’s mana. I assume there is naturally a reason for your insolent attitude... is there not?”
Permanently strip me of my mana.
There was no one present who did not understand what those words meant.
They would destroy my mana heart.
After all I had done to preserve my mana heart from the dragon’s mana, it seemed I was about to face the prospect of having it shattered yet again, but...
“A test to become a member of House Nordiar? Of course I accept. In return, if I pass, you will have to keep your word and do things properly. You will acknowledge me as one of your children.”
There was no choice but to accept.
***
“Neither you nor House Nordiar are in your right minds!”
“Permanently destroying your mana heart... You would become less than an ordinary man!”
“Are you actually serious? If you go back right now and beg not to take the test...”
Nine tried for a long while to talk me out of it, gnawing at his fingernails all the while, but it was completely useless.
“Enough with the chirping. You just have to pass.”
“Chirping?! Even if House Nordiar acknowledges you as one of its own, do you really think the other nobles will?”
“That is something to deal with afterward.”
The knightly comrades of House Nordiar, the other nobles, even my third brother Cannon, who had loathed me to the extreme.
Even in my previous life, when I was still called a genius, the only person who had never acknowledged me was Father.
‘In this life, I will make it impossible for him not to acknowledge me. This is the foundation for that.’
Still, considering what they had given me as a test.
-Make Grand Duchess Marie Nordiar acknowledge your existence.
In a way, it was the cruelest test of all, one bordering on the impossible.
If they had told me to accomplish some physical task a hundred times, a thousand times, I could have done it as long as I set my mind to it. But winning over someone’s heart was not something that moved according to my will.
Especially when that person was Father’s lawful wife, there was no point wasting breath explaining further.
Even so, it was something that had to be done.
The Grand Duchess was, beyond doubt, a member of the Grand Ducal House as well.
The next day.
Knock, knock.
When I cautiously knocked on the Grand Duchess’s door, a voice came from inside.
“Who is it?”
“...Were you not informed in advance?”
The moment she heard my voice, the Grand Duchess let out a mocking little laugh, as if dumbfounded.
Then, in a voice colder than ice itself, she ordered me,
“I do not know with what face you dare try to enter so shamelessly... but I have no business with an illegitimate child like you. Do not come in.”
‘Yes. This was what our relationship had originally been like. It is not unexpected... but she is openly hostile.’
With a self-mocking smile, I took hold of the doorknob.
Under the present circumstances, there could be nothing more absurd than asking the lawful wife to acknowledge the existence of an illegitimate child.
Even so, because there was something I had to do, I opened the door despite her icy words.
“...Did you not hear me?”
“I did. But I cannot afford to fail to win Your Grace’s favor.”
“...How shameless.”
Grand Duchess Marie Nordiar glared at me and jerked her chin toward the table.
“Tch... Sit. If I do not even let you show your face, then the test would not be fair. I should at least look at your face.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Once I sat down, Lady Marie spoke.
“Well then, with what little tongue do you intend to win my favor? I too am a member of House Nordiar. You would do well not to take this lightly.”
“......”
Lady Marie.
‘She was not originally like this.’
I had heard that before her marriage, Marie had been quite gentle by nature.
But after marrying into House Nordiar, she had been steeped in Nordiar’s ironclad devotion to rules, and had become the way she was now.
‘From what I heard, at first she had cared more than anyone about the welfare of the knights. Even if that warmth gradually faded.’
Even so, I had no intention of forcibly thawing the emotions that had frozen over and appealing to them.
“So, what is it that you need?”
“Is that not for me to ask? Since you are the one being tested, is it not your part to satisfy me?”
I thought back to my previous life.
It had taken six months of menial work just to soften her heart.
To restore even a fragment of the personality she had once had.
But now that I knew of the emperor’s plan, I did not have that kind of time.
One minute was too precious, one second worth a thousand gold.
‘Grand Master, and beyond that.’
There was far too much I had to do.
If I could, I would do it my way.
“Let us make a deal.”
I crossed one leg over the other and rested my hand on my knee.
At my arrogant posture, Lady Marie furrowed her brows.
“...How vulgar. So you truly were raised without any upbringing.”
“Do you think I am acting this way for no reason? From this moment on, I am not some illegitimate child speaking to you. I am requesting a transaction from one person to another, on equal footing.”
“What sort of transaction?”
Lady Marie looked at me with interest as I brought up the word deal.
“I will let you use mana.”
“...Ha! So you have picked up stories here and there, have you?”
At my words, Lady Marie gave a derisive snort.
“The finest mages and physicians in the Empire all said that I possess a body incapable of using mana. That is why, despite being called exceptional, I was pushed into marriage and sent off to this barren North.”
Should I call it resentment, perhaps. There was a cold bitterness in her self-mocking words.
As though spilling out a wish she had never been able to fulfill, she spoke.
“......”
“Yes. There was a time when I thought I could still be happy even if I could not use mana. Because I had a family. But after even that family betrayed me, what do I have left now?”
“...If you could use mana now, what would you do? You sound almost as though you intend to seek a divorce.”
“A divorce now? Ridiculous. I have no intention whatsoever of returning to the family that married me off somewhere I did not want to go, then sucked every last drop of value they could from the Grand Duke. I would sooner remain here.”
“Then that makes things simple. Even if you become able to use mana.”
Perhaps annoyed that I kept bringing up mana, Lady Marie shot me a glare.
She was a woman pouring out her grievance over being trapped in a body that could not use mana.
But perhaps it was a case of two people dreaming different dreams.
In my head, her grievance no longer mattered.
‘It would be troublesome if Lady Marie started thinking of divorce already.’
Because she had been born with magical talent.
If she herself became able to use magic, then of course that would amount to a considerable boost in strength.
And that was not all.
Her original family, Count House Isentic, held strong influence over the Empire’s famed Mage Tower.
‘Naturally. Her being born with magical talent was hereditary. In fact, the House of Isentic had occasionally even produced Tower Masters. But they were disappointed in her for being unable to use mana, and married her off to Nordiar.’
It seemed she had severed ties with them now. Even so, if I could make use of her position as a woman virtually sold into marriage to House Nordiar, bringing her over to my side would greatly aid the path I would take against the emperor.
To have influence over the Mage Tower from this early point carried tremendous significance.
If it could be used, I would use every method available.
“You keep talking as though I can use mana. How exactly do you intend to make that happen?”
“There is a way.”
A mana control method that, under normal circumstances, would not be discovered until much later.
And even then, only one that could be used under limited conditions.
‘As things are now, no one in the world knows this method except someone like me, who knows the future.’
I could say that with certainty.
“What method...?”
“I cannot teach it to you for free. I said this was a deal, did I not? You will pass me in the test. You will acknowledge me to everyone.”
I sat there with my legs crossed, my foot lightly swinging, an arrogant bastard child speaking in a manner wholly out of place for someone like me.
‘She must be shaken.’
At the confidence in my voice, Lady Marie’s body gave a slight start.
She looked as though she was wondering how someone like me could possibly speak with such certainty.
When she finally spoke, there was now, however faintly, a trace of anticipation in her cold voice that she could not entirely conceal.
“...Very well. However, if the method you speak of fails, I will immediately petition for your mana heart to be destroyed for daring to mock me.”
‘Good.’
My decisive move had worked.
For now, that alone was enough.
With a grin, I lowered the foot I had been swinging and straightened my posture.
“This is a mana control method discovered in an ancient tradition handed down among vampires. Because it is a vampire method of controlling mana, it uses life force as the price. However, once you become proficient in magic, you can use mana through nothing more than a life-bearing medium.”
Though it had been quickly abandoned among mages because it consumed life force, it was the best option available at present.
Perhaps because my words already sounded technical even at a glance, Lady Marie looked at me in surprise.
“And by a life-bearing medium...?”
“I imagine what you are thinking is correct. Blood, or something equivalent to it. But since you are unpracticed for now, there will be no choice but to study separately how to work with life force.”
“...When you say life force, do you mean my lifespan?”
At my suggestion that she use her lifespan, Lady Marie’s brows drew together slightly.
“Yes. There is nothing I can do about that part, but... it is still better than being unable to use mana at all. Also, even once you become proficient, you must not use too much of your own blood.”
After warning her of the necessary precautions in advance, I took Lady Marie’s hand.
“Now focus. I will show you the path your blood must take.”
I concentrated.
‘As expected.’
A body incapable of using mana.
To put it simply, her blood channels were twisted into a deformity.
But vampires were a race born with twisted blood channels to begin with.
Therefore, rather than trying to force an ordinary mana control method onto Lady Marie, it was only right that she use the vampire way of controlling mana.
“This is...!”
“Like this here. Can you feel it?”
“...The mana is not clogging my blood channels. It is not scattering either! Impossible! So this is what it means to use life force as fuel! A mana control method like this is actually possible!”
Lady Marie’s eyes widened.
She was so astonished that she began muttering to herself.
Well, it was a technique from the future. It might indeed be a little too much to take in at once.
That surely should have been the case, and yet...
“Then it should also be possible to send mana through it like this.”
‘It seems she has already grasped the basics. As expected of someone born a mage.’
I let out a faint inward laugh and stretched.
“Then you will keep your promise, I trust? Surely the lady of House Nordiar does not speak two different words with one mouth.”
Leaving behind Lady Marie, who still looked dazed by the fact that she could use mana, I rose from my seat.
‘Even in my previous life, Lady Marie never fully mastered this mana control method. But if I let her start using mana now, things will be different this time.’
On the day of the final battle against the Emperor of Eternium, Lady Marie still had not fully mastered the vampire-style mana control method.
Even so, she had played an extraordinary role in that state, so if she began training now, she would surely become a considerable force.
“W-Wait! How do you know such things?”
So overwhelmed was she by the newly learned method of mana control that Lady Marie unconsciously caught my hand as I was about to leave the room.
“...The other test subjects from the rooms around mine told me.”
“The experiments in the neighboring rooms... Ah, yes, I heard you were abducted and experimented on.”
“Well. I do not really remember much from my childhood.”
I still did not know how an illegitimate child of the Grand Ducal House had wound up being dragged into the kind of experiments street orphans were kidnapped for, but it was not something I could do anything about right now.
“...It must have been hard.”
“It does not matter. ...Even someone like me, who drifted from one stretch of pavement to another, ended up finding people I could call family.”
I said that and was just about to leave the Grand Duchess’s room when,
“...Thank you.”
I flinched slightly, then pretended not to hear and walked away.
‘In my previous life, I softened her heart and then gained her permission. This time, I gained her permission and then softened her heart. In the end, the irony is that her heart softened either way.’