Chapter 4 : Chapter 4
Chapter 4.
After my negotiation with Grand Duchess Marie, in the reception room.
Father and his children were seated side by side.
If there was one difference from when they had given me the test before, it was probably that Grand Duchess Marie was there with them now.
The attitude she had shown at first, when she said she could not even bear to look at me, was nowhere to be seen. Seeing her sitting there quietly with her eyes lowered left me with a strange new feeling.
“...You finished the test?”
At Father’s half-doubting question, I answered confidently.
“Yes. I passed the test. It was quite difficult, though.”
“...How?”
“This is absurd! Someone must have interfered! Otherwise...! There is no way Mother would acknowledge a mere bastard! Please say something, Mother! Surely he must have seized on some weakness of yours...!”
“Cannon.”
Lady Marie quietly called the name of my outraged third brother, Cannon.
“It was a decision I made. Whether there was someone’s interference, or whether he seized on a weakness of mine, that too would be for me to resolve. Is that not so?”
“...Mother! Please think again!”
I had expected that passing the test in a single day would look suspicious to outsiders.
...And as expected, I was being doubted.
Perhaps because Cannon’s words were not entirely implausible, Father looked at me as though demanding an explanation, so I merely shrugged and answered in its place.
“Let’s just call it a secret. It is not that I could not explain it, but it is a complicated matter. In any case, what matters is that I persuaded her, is it not?”
I had judged there was no need to reveal the details of the transaction and put myself at a disadvantage, so I spoke to Father boldly.
Besides, once I said it like that, it would only make it more awkward for them to pry further.
‘The transaction itself is not a problem. But if they start pressing me in detail about my knowledge of the future, that would become troublesome.’
“Then now, is there not something you should say to me? Father?”
I deliberately scraped at Grand Duke Atlin Nordiar’s nerves with a glib tone.
“...I do not know what sort of trick you pulled, but the test we gave you was to make Marie acknowledge you. Since Marie herself says she acknowledges you, it would make no sense for the rest of us to keep quibbling over it here.”
An unusually quick acceptance.
That meant...
“...Welcome to Nordiar, ‘Kairun’ Nordiar.”
Father rose from his seat, shot me a glare, and left the room, but I answered his retreating back with a faint smile.
“Thank you, Father.”
“...Tch.”
***
The fact that I had been formally acknowledged as one of House Nordiar’s children spread through the mansion like wildfire.
Everywhere I walked, the servants whispered among themselves, but the one making the biggest fuss was none other than Nine.
“They said you passed the test! You bastard, all you did was make people worry. Since there was no word from you, I was seriously worried you had really blown out your mana heart.”
“...Chatter, chatter. You have not changed a bit.”
I brought the good news to the boy who had been unable to sit still in the guest room.
“You are now officially a member of House Nordiar’s household. I said I would take you in after I passed the test.”
“Damn it! I didn’t dare believe it, but thank you.”
At the string of good fortune, Nine clenched his fist in delight.
“Then does that mean I can join those soldiers running across the drill yard every day now?”
“No. Not that. I do not know whether you remember what I said to you before.”
“...Ah, that you wanted to keep me by your side?”
I nodded.
“Yes. You are going to walk a different path from them.”
“What kind of path...?”
“Do you not want to learn magic?”
Since in my previous life he had risen all the way to vice commander of the Imperial Mages Corps, magic suited him not as a mere hobby, but as a true calling.
If he began studying it early, Nine too could become a formidable asset.
Perhaps my guess had been right, because Nine’s eyes widened at once.
“...Magic? I do want to learn it, but...”
‘Just as I thought. There is no way you could resist learning magic.’
Nine trailed off.
‘Judging by the way he is watching my reaction, I can more or less guess what is troubling him.’
House Nordiar, which guarded the North, was a family that had honed swordsmanship above all else for generations.
In such a house, even entertaining the idea of studying magic was not something one would do lightly, even as a joke.
‘And I am not an expert on magic myself.’
But then again, that also meant that if it was only the basic level suited for someone around eighteen, I could teach him more than enough.
“I only know the theory, so I will have to find you a proper teacher before too long. For now, you do have a mana heart, do you not? The mana heart you formed while handling mana in the laboratory.”
“...I do.”
“From now on, I am going to engrave a circle into your mana heart.”
Mana hearts were divided into two branches.
The martial-type mana heart, specialized in channeling mana into cold weapons such as swords, axes, and spears.
And the circle-type mana heart, specialized in using mana through magic circles.
Once a mana heart had been set, it could not be changed into another kind unless it was destroyed and remade from the beginning.
“...Then if I make a circle-type mana heart, you are saying I cannot switch to a martial-type one or change it later?”
“That is right. Not unless you destroy your mana heart and make a new one.”
“That is a frightening thing to say. But do I even have any talent for magic? What if I go to all that trouble and turn out to have none...?”
“Do not worry. You definitely have a talent for magic. Trust me.”
I knew only the theory, but I did at least know how to make a circle-type mana heart.
“Now focus. Since your mana heart is still unfinished, the sooner you can make it into a circle-type mana heart, the better.”
I placed my hand near his heart and felt the throbbing mana heart beneath it.
Then I sent mana coursing once through his channels, and brought that accelerated mana to the edge of his mana heart.
“This is as far as I can help you. Turn the mana flowing through your channels into a single line, and wrap it around your mana heart.”
“...It is not going well.”
“Of course it is not. It is your first time. But if you keep repeating it—...Hm?”
His mana heart twitched as though coming alive, and something began to happen.
I hurriedly focused and let my own mana flow into him, and before I knew it, a single ring was already spinning around Nine’s mana heart, proudly announcing its presence.
“...Good heavens.”
“Uh... Is this the right way to do it? I am not really sure.”
At the sight of Nine scratching the back of his head, I could not hide my admiration.
‘Even as a child, he is still the future vice commander of the Imperial Mages Corps. Even if it is only one circle... a true genius really does exist.’
No, perhaps it had already been proven beyond doubt. Even with no one teaching him, he had learned to control mana on his own, forged a mana heart for himself, and survived those hellish experiments.
Looking at Nine, I stammered slightly in disbelief.
“Ah... yes. Good. That is how you build the circles, one by one.”
Even I was stunned, but I decided to let it pass for now.
“The second one is not going so well. The first mana ring keeps getting in the way when I try to make the second.”
“...Do not get greedy. Take it slowly. Work on it whenever you have time. That too requires very delicate mana control.”
“All right, I understand for now. Then what are you going to do?”
“As for me, of course I have already forged a martial-type mana heart.”
“Well, that makes sense. You inherited the Grand Duke’s mana, so wielding weapons suits you better.”
“Well, that too.”
...Even though I had attained the enlightenment of a Grand Master, my mana heart was still incomplete, so it was not yet perfect.
But that was a problem time would solve.
If I had my way, I would strengthen my mana heart as quickly as possible, but that was no easy task.
‘An elixir would help. But with my position as an illegitimate child... using the family’s elixirs would be difficult. Even if I passed the test.’
In that case, there were two options.
The first was to distinguish myself during the invasions of the northern races and earn an elixir as a reward.
The second...
‘I will have to procure an elixir myself.’
The first method had its limits, so if I had to choose, the second was the better path.
“...Tch. It would be nice if there were a decent alchemist around.”
The alchemists who had been famous in my previous life were still green and had not yet acquired any real mastery of alchemy. On top of that, I did not even know where they were now.
“Why an alchemist?”
“There is a reason.”
Even so, it was not as though I had no leads at all.
My third brother’s noble social gathering would probably be held soon.
***
At the same time.
The Imperial Palace.
“So. Laboratory No. 12 has been shut down?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Upon the throne that only the emperor could occupy sat a man, his elbow resting on the armrest and his chin propped on his hand.
“Well, that is hardly a problem. Those fools in the Knights Order... who knows where they picked up that information from. Too much diligence becomes a nuisance.”
“Your Majesty... to call it a trivial matter may be a little...”
“Why is that?”
“...According to the report we received, the first successful test subject has finally appeared.”
“...What?”
As though he thought he had misheard, the emperor’s eyes widened.
“Impossible! I had suspected as much, but...! Are you saying someone actually succeeded in accepting that dragon’s mana?!”
“Yes. Comparing the report with the circumstances, we are certain.”
“So it has finally succeeded! That one, that successful test subject—where is he now?”
The emperor, his voice trembling with excitement, pressed the chancellor for an answer.
The chancellor before him, however, merely kept his tone calm as he continued reporting the current situation.
“...We are searching. Since we do not even know his name, it is expected to take quite some time.”
The Emperor of Eternium, growing impatient, began biting at his nails.
“Secure him. No matter what it takes. Before those fools in the Knights Order catch on.”
With his pupils narrowed and greed surging through his gaze, his eyes were no different from those of a madman.
He was a man who would not hesitate to carry out human experimentation for his own sake.
Faced directly with that crazed look, even the chancellor, who met the emperor often, felt a chill run through him and involuntarily stepped back.
“To surpass Father, I do not care what it takes. I am the greatest emperor. I will make it so that no one can deny it.”