Episode 17. The Friend at Your Back
When he opened his eyes, it was a corridor.
Binaeril hid his confusion, blinking as he tried to make sense of it all.
Between the dark brown bookshelves, the sunset stretched long shadows.
“What is this situation?”
He remembered being in Dean Yulio’s training room just moments ago.
Dean Yulio had said this was a mana poisoning phenomenon,
had told him to pull himself together,
and Veritas had been gently mocking Binaeril with a playful voice, but….
Now he opened his eyes to find himself in the corridor of the Grand Library where he had first met Veritas.
“Am I dreaming?”
The question crossed his mind, sensible as it was, but it didn’t matter.
Common sense never applied when he was involved with Veritas.
Binaeril walked deeper into the corridor.
At the reading desk in the center of the atrium, Veritas with curly black hair sat astride it, holding the Book of Truth.
Having only seen its book form until now, seeing its true body(?) after so long felt strange.
Veritas watched him intently, the corners of his mouth turned up, until Binaeril approached.
“What do you mean, hello. Where is this? How did you bring me here?”
“Whoa, whoa. One question at a time. Why are you so worked up?”
Instead of answering, Binaeril glared at him with rebellious eyes.
“Answering a question with a question is forbidden.”
Veritas hopped down from the reading desk with a thud.
“We have plenty of time to talk. But I won’t answer unnecessary questions. There’s a more important issue at hand right now.”
Veritas tossed the Book of Truth behind his back. The reading desk he had been sitting on and the Book of Truth he had been holding scattered like dust and disappeared.
It was Veritas’s specialty: magic without warning.
Like a dictator of this space, he wielded everything as he pleased.
A sudden fear crept into Binaeril.
If Veritas tried to harm him, could he stop him?
Binaeril looked at Veritas with suspicious eyes.
For now, he decided to test one thing.
‘This stupid book.’
‘Ugly bastard. Idiot. Moron. You smell weird. Ignorant fool.’
Veritas didn’t seem to notice anything.
It seemed he couldn’t read Binaeril’s thoughts here.
“Hmm. Okay.”
“It’s nothing.”
The two boys stood facing each other at arm’s length.
Veritas spoke first. It was like a declaration of war.
“Why do you refuse my commands? Binaeril Dalhaim.”
The very first word of the argument was a choice of vocabulary that was absurd beyond belief.
Binaeril snorted.
“Silvia, isn’t it amazing?”
“I’m talking about Binaeril. He just became a senior, yet he handles magic far better than me. Do you think Master noticed too? I never knew magic could be so splendid and captivating. Not even when watching Master’s magic. Right?”
Rike, who had been chattering away, asked again to Silvia, who was walking blankly.
Silvia quickly came to her senses.
“Yes? Yes, of course.”
“You weren’t listening, were you? What are you thinking so hard about?”
“No, no. It’s nothing.”
The two girls were thinking about the same person.
But their thoughts took them in different directions.
Unlike Rike, Silvia couldn’t simply marvel with pure admiration.
Because she was the Princess’s bodyguard.
‘If the Princess had been in the same group as me, could I have handled the demons?’
That thought tormented her unbearably.
Binaeril had accomplished what the Princess’s bodyguard could not.
When Princess Rike sensed Silvia’s danger, Binaeril had rushed in and saved her.
She hadn’t shown it, but it was a blow to her pride.
Silvia was the one who protected others, not the one to be protected.
“Silvia. What are you thinking about? Your face looks scary.”
“It’s nothing, Your Highness.”
“There you go again with that.”
Rike hated being called Princess or Imperial Princess.
Outside the Empire, she had asked to be treated comfortably, like a friend.
But Silvia couldn’t do that.
To her, Friederike was always a liege like a younger sister, a younger sister like a liege.
Silvia softened her serious expression and smiled bashfully.
“It’s nothing, Princess. I wasn’t thinking about anything.”
Silvia was every bit as stubborn as Rike. She could never treat her like a friend.
Not to this liege, who was like sunlight, who had tried her best to save Silvia and her younger sister’s lives, no matter the situation.
Silvia had sworn to give her life for Rike. Whether Rike knew it or not.
Silvia resolved to steel herself.
“I will try harder.”
With those words, Silvia turned her head.
And so, Silvia failed to read the anxious gaze of her young liege.
“Commands.”
Binaeril let out a wavering sigh.
He recalled what Veritas had once said to him.
‘Steel yourself.’
Binaeril steeled himself and asked back.
“Why do I have to follow your commands?”
“You said you wanted to surpass your brother? You don’t know how. I do. Without me, you’re nothing—just a perpetual failing student at this tiny Elfenbain.”
“So?”
“So I’m offering to help you. Consider it a favor to you for finding me. What’s most important to achieving your goal is power. Pure power, mana, mighty magic! I’m showing you a shortcut, so what’s with that attitude?”
“What goal?”
“Why do you keep asking? Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to defeat your brother?”
“Yeah. I did.”
It had been Binaeril’s decision to help Veritas in exchange for being taught magic.
It had been Binaeril himself who had wanted to grow stronger through magic to defeat his brother.
“But this isn’t my way.”
“Ha! Your way? That’s hilarious. You little brat.”
“No. It’s not funny at all. When did I ask for power I couldn’t control? When did I ask you to sit on my head and order me around like a slave to achieve my goal?”
The black-haired boy observed Binaeril with an inscrutable expression, as if offended, or as if watching a subordinate’s rebellion with amusement.
“Don’t try to convince me with absurd sophistry. I’ll take revenge on my brother with my own strength.”
Throughout, Veritas had picked out only the words Binaeril hated to provoke him.
So Binaeril figured it was fair to say at least one thing Veritas hated.
“You stupid book.”
“…Stupid?”
Veritas, who took pride in his knowledge, especially hated being called stupid.
Stupid humans, stupid thoughts, stupid actions. They were all objects of his loathing.
“And you dare call me stupid when you can’t do anything without me?”
The books on the shelves surrounding the corridor rustled ominously in time with his tone.
But Binaeril was not afraid.
Veritas knew of Binaeril, but didn’t truly understand him.
“Yeah, you stupid bastard. Stop talking like an idiot. It’s not that I can’t do anything without you—it’s that you can’t do anything without me.”
“What? What nonsense?”
“Did you forget? Before I found you, you were trapped in this small room. No matter what you know, no matter what power you have, you couldn’t take a single step without me. You’re not helping me, you arrogant bastard. I allowed you to help me.”
“Ha! That’s breathtaking.”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That was the principle Veritas had spoken of.
In that case, one more could be added.
To sophistry? Sophistry.
Veritas seemed upset by Binaeril’s words, his body trembling slightly.
Was Veritas stronger than Binaeril?
Even Binaeril didn’t know for sure. Probably.
A magic book that commanded space with a glance and manipulated objects at its fingertips was probably stronger than Binaeril.
But Veritas’s weakness lay in his arrogance, in his belief that he knew everything.
Therefore, his weakness was his vulnerability to unexpected actions, thoughts, and logic.
Binaeril decided to drive the nail in.
“You have to follow my orders, you parasite.”
Rumble—
The atrium, the corridor, the entire space surrounding them was vibrating.
This was Veritas’s domain. Standing at the heart of this small place, it felt as if the entire world moved according to Veritas’s emotions and will.
But Binaeril revealed his resolve.
The resolve to grow slowly, if he must, but never become a slave.
Just as Veritas knew Binaeril, Binaeril knew Veritas too.
This was by no means a losing bet.
The black-haired boy who had been glaring at Binaeril suddenly turned around briskly.
“Fine. Good.”
The vibrations echoing through the space stopped dead, as if it had all been a lie.
Veritas changed his attitude in an instant, as if flipping his palm.
As if performing a play.
Binaeril still glared at Veritas warily.
Veritas was his ally.
An ally who could turn on him at any moment.
And in Binaeril’s mind, a friend with a dagger at your back was more dangerous than an enemy.
“I understand your thoughts. I hear you loud and clear.”
“Why do you look so stupid? I said I’d cooperate. Didn’t I just say I understood?”
“Huh? That easily?”
“That doesn’t mean you’re right.”
“Flip-flopping like that. You’re so fickle.”
Veritas let out a soundless laugh, like air escaping.
“Too easy a path is no fun. Breaking your mind and making you grow is too easy for me. I have a challenging personality.”
Just when things were going well, another provocation.
Binaeril didn’t want to back down easily.
“Go ahead and try, if you can. Breaking my mind. Do I look that easy?”
“Stop overreaching, chick Binaeril. It doesn’t mean you can control me. I’m saying that if you’re to be my partner, you need at least this much backbone.”
“Is that so?”
Binaeril replied, drawing out the end of his words. He needed a moment to think about what would change.
“Then from now on, I make the decisions. You can’t force me.”
“No. Your growth is too slow. Your methods are too soft. Didn’t I say? We’re partners. Partners respect each other’s opinions.”
“Hmm, fine.”
He answered as if granting a favor, but something important had changed nonetheless.
At least Veritas had now declared that he would respect Binaeril’s opinions.
If he had gotten this much out of an arrogant book, it was quite a harvest for the day.
“So there’s no issue with our alliance?”
“What? Lending you mana? Hmm, sure. I’ll lend it to you, petty as it is. The magic you wield is but a drop in the bucket compared to my mana.”
Binaeril wondered why such a guy had asked for a mana stone, but he didn’t voice his inner thoughts.
He too desperately needed Veritas’s cooperation.
“Then can you get me out of here now?”