“Isn’t this a bit too grand?”
Hadekain, Yukline Castle.
Yeriel, who had come to greet Deculein upon his return to the territory, was somewhat flustered. It was because of the lineup of mentors he had recruited for the “Yukline Magic Training.”
“...The tail’s going to wag the dog at this rate, isn’t it? You didn’t think about the cost at all, did you? You paid all the retainers with family checks too, didn’t you?”
This training was not an especially important event. Rather, it was only one part of Yukline’s patronage policy. Aside from mages, there were still many other sponsorship schedules remaining—for knights, painters, musicians, and so on.
But to recruit an elder of Bercht...
“It is enough, because we are Yukline.”
Deculein, seated in the lord’s chair, declared it firmly. Yeriel pouted, but at the words that followed, she had no choice but to stop complaining.
“Take pride in your family.”
“...”
That single sentence tormented Yeriel. It hurt as if an awl were gouging into her heart.
“...Still, aren’t we on bad terms with that old man Gindalf?”
Yeriel forced the topic aside. She was not a child who would show her pain openly.
“That is all in the past.”
“...You used to say you would never forget.”
Deculein silently sipped his tea. Yeriel, watching his expression, continued.
“But you know, right? Thanks to that, maybe, there are a tremendous number of applicants for this training. So we’re planning to accept more than just university mages.”
“You mean adventurers.”
“Yeah. The world is changing quickly, after all. If we consider the Marik Underground Passage, we need to maintain as good a relationship as possible with the Adventurers’ Guild. If we say we’ll give them training tickets, they’ll be happy too.”
From the moment the cost of the training had swollen to this extent, the only thought in Yeriel’s head was, “I must absolutely recoup the investment.”
It was called patronage, but it was essentially an intangible investment.
“I will leave it to you. Young people will adapt better to these rapidly changing times.”
“...What are you talking about? You’re still plenty young yourself, you know?”
At that, Deculein gave a small laugh and rose from the lord’s chair.
Yeriel was momentarily dazed by that faint smile, but soon hurried over and reclaimed the lord’s chair.
“I will be going now.”
“Huh? ...Yeah.”
Yeriel watched Deculein’s back as he left.
“...”
She had somehow succeeded in hiding the cold, aching pain in her heart.
Thud—
But the moment the office door closed,
nausea surged up beneath Yeriel’s chin.
“Urp!”
She ran to the bathroom. Clutching the toilet, she retched.
Bleeergh—!
She vomited up every bit of the food she had barely managed to eat that morning.
Once, twice, three times, four times.
After vomiting until yellow gastric fluid came up, she leaned her trembling body against the wall.
“Cough... haa.”
Day by day.
It was hard to live as though nothing was wrong.
It was hard to endure the fact that I am not Yukline.
Of course, even so, I smile. I work hard for the territory and the retainers, but...
Deculein is not my blood relative.
I am not Yukline.
That fact does not change.
“Really...”
Whether Mother had committed adultery, or Father had known and accepted us anyway.
“...Why.”
But whatever it was,
even though Deculein knew that fact,
even though he had known it for a long time, he still thought of me, still regarded me...
—Yeriel is still Yeriel.
A voice clearly engraved in her memory.
Deculein’s tone, as though it had been trembling.
“...Hic.”
Yeriel wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Before the tears that had gathered could fall, she washed her face.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she returned and sat in the lord’s chair.
Knock, knock—
At the timely knock, she spoke calmly.
“Yeah. Come in.”
It was the old butler. The man who had served alongside Yukline for generations handed Yeriel a document.
“What’s this now?”
“The monsters’ southward movement is not far off. It is a request for cooperation from the Imperial Family.”
“Ah, really?”
As Yeriel skimmed the contents, she frowned.
“They’re asking for quite a lot, aren’t they?”
“Yes. It seems the Imperial Family has also been watching Yukline’s recent development.”
Hadekain, Yukline, had recently been enjoying an unprecedented golden age.
Of course, even before, it had been counted among the foremost prestigious magical houses, but in terms of overall family ranking, it had hovered around fourth or fifth place.
But these days, with the reconstruction of the “Marik Underground Passage,” the advancement of various manufacturing industries, the development of the family’s Mage Tower and knight order, and even the “Rohalak Camp,” which received almost unlimited support from the Imperial Family...
Of course, there were side effects.
To list them: the monsters and demonic beasts emerging from Marik, astronomical industrial investment costs and the swindlers aiming for the gaps, the Red Garnets’ persistent guerrilla terrorism, the inevitable checks from central politics, and so on.
However, all of these had been anticipated in advance by Yeriel and her staff, so their countermeasures were firm.
“Let’s just pay it all as is. No need to hold out for no reason. Pay in cash.”
“Yes, my lady. What shall we do about the bribes to be offered to the capital?”
“Hmm. As for bribes...”
Whether to support the Divine Authority or the Imperial Authority. This was another dilemma.
During the previous generation, they had bet on the Imperial Authority and suffered great disadvantages, but...
“Let’s go with the Imperial Family, shall we? There’s also what we heard from our inside informant.”
“Yes.”
This generation would be different. The current Emperor Sophien seemed to be the type who would “never” trust her subjects.
“Oh, right. How is the annulment of the engagement proceeding?”
There was one more piece of good news.
That woman Julie, who had been like a thorn in her eye, had this time rolled straight into the gutter.
“No matter what, we can’t take in a corrupt knight as a spouse, can we?”
“Yes. It is under discussion, but there has been little progress. We need the permission of the family elders...”
“Tsk. Really? Still, considering Deculein hasn’t lifted a finger, she must have fallen out of his favor.”
Had she been abandoned by Deculein because of her crime, or had she refused Deculein to the bitter end and been cast aside for the offense of insolence?
To Yeriel, who still remembered the Deculein of the past, the latter was more convincing, but either way, it was good news.
From the beginning, the engagement with Puhairden brought Yukline no benefit whatsoever.
“Fine. Then go back.”
“Yes.”
Yeriel dismissed the old butler.
Left alone in the spacious office, she gently closed her eyes.
Her stomach, which felt as though her intestines had been twisted whole, was still churning, but it would be all right.
“...It’s fine.”
As long as I endure it.
As long as I bear it.
Nothing will change.
There is no need to suffer like this.
No, I do not even have the right to do so.
Deculein must have already gone through it.
After anguish and contemplation far greater than mine, in the end, he must have accepted me as Yeriel...
“Urk... huuuh.”
Yeriel forced down the nausea rising in her again.
* * *
Meanwhile, Epherene had finished preparing for the training. She had sent all her belongings to the Lake Island, had nearly completed the thesis she would submit to Deculein, and had taken her exams with scores close to perfect.
So now...
“Now then! One whole special Loahawk!”
Epherene met with her club members at the “Flower of the Pig.” Julie, Rondo, Ferit, and the others. It had been quite a while since the full group had gathered.
“Wooooow—!”
One whole special Loahawk.
A delicacy made by roasting and boiling an entire Loahawk whole, just as the name implied.
Epherene, barely holding on to her mind as though she might faint, grabbed the hind leg first.
“Oh, right. Ephy.”
“Yeah?”
At that moment, Julie asked. Epherene answered while tearing into the meat.
“What are you going to do about public support?”
Public support.
It was a mandatory course for mages of the Mage Tower. Soon, winter would arrive and the “southward movement” would begin, and mages would pause their research for a time and be conscripted against the monster waves.
Public support was broadly divided into the relatively safe “civilian support” and the dangerous but career-beneficial “firepower support.” Which one to choose was up to each mage.
“Not sure. I’ll probably follow the professor.”
“Professor Deculein?”
“Yeah. What about you guys?”
Epherene gnawed through the Loahawk’s hind leg. She finished off a hind leg the size of a man’s forearm in only three minutes.
“I’m going back to our territory to do civilian support.”
“Me too.”
For Ferit and Rondo, commoners who had entered the university on scholarships from rural territories, there were separate destinations.
Mm-hmm~ I see~ As Epherene nodded with her mouth stuffed full of meat, Julie asked,
“Where is Professor Deculein going?”
“Gulp— Dunno? I don’t know yet. They said it’s the final test for the chairmanship selection.”
“Yeah? Then the training—”
“Don’t talk to me. I have to eat Loahawk.”
Epherene began indulging in Loahawk in earnest. The Loahawk she had met again after so long was, as expected, a heavenly taste...
Just as she was busily moving her jaw,
—The Loahawk I ate with the professor was the tastiest.
A certain voice suddenly came to mind, as if lightning had struck the crown of her head.
Words she felt she had heard somewhere, sometime.
And yet, a moment that had not remained in her memory.
Epherene’s eyes widened, and she looked around.
“Why, Ephy?”
“Huh? Ah... It’s nothing. Let’s just eat.”
She focused on the Loahawk again. The voice that had flickered just now had already sunk to the bottom of her consciousness.
“Ah, it’s sho good, sho, sho good...”
Epherene, simply happy, with an expression of utter satisfaction, stuffed Loahawk into her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s.
* * *
...Lake Island was, literally, an island within a lake.
Its diameter and depth were far too vast to be called a lake, but since it was a space located in the middle of the inland, it was a lake. Lake Island was the island in the middle of that lake.
“...”
Like this, there were many mysterious regions in Yukline’s territory, and right now, I was fishing on the shore of Lake Island.
Sitting on a chair carved with “Aesthetic Sense,” holding a fishing rod imbued with “Midas’s Hand,” I was fishing away the years...
Chirp, chirp— chirp, chirp—
Birds living in the forest twittered, and the lakeside reflecting the sunlight was as clear as emerald.
Bubble, bubble—
Just then, I got a bite.
I adjusted the fishing rod with “Psychokinesis” and caught the fish.
Splash—!
A fish came up, scattering water. First, I checked its information.
──“Mijo Fish”──
◆ Information
: A precious fish that lives only in clear lakes. For the sake of this fish’s ecosystem, the Yukline family has ordered a ban on fishing. If one should attempt to fish regardless, take caution.
◆ Category
: Miscellaneous Goods ⊃ Foodstuffs
◆ Special Effect
: Upon consumption, mana seems likely to increase slightly. (However, the larger one’s mana capacity, the less effective it becomes.)
────────
It was a rare fish related to mana. Of course, even at most it would increase by under 10, and at the low end, perhaps only by a decimal point, but that was better than no increase at all.
I put the fish into the net.
“Is fishing enjoyable for you?”
A voice flowed in without any sign of presence.
I gave no reply. I simply cast the fishing rod again, at ease.
Before long, Deputy Director Primienne revealed herself.
“I didn’t know you enjoyed fishing, Professor.”
“...”
Just as she said, there were not many hobbies I could tolerate.
Chess, reading, horseback riding, art, and fishing.
The reason I was strangely unbothered by fishing despite having a pathological obsession with dignity and cleanliness was probably because fishing had been the hobby of the late emperor, Crebaim.
“What is it?”
“It is a discussion regarding Sylvia.”
I made another chair with “Synthesis.”
Primienne sat on it.
“The ‘mana concentration’ of the Nameless Island created by Sylvia is beyond imagination. It can be called dangerous in and of itself. Also, we have confirmed that Sylvia bears a grudge against you, Professor.”
“...A grudge.”
“Yes. It seems Idnik revealed the entire past to Sylvia. Killing intent was detected in Sylvia’s mana waves.”
“Hmm. You checked her mana waves too. It seems you have not been negligent in surveillance.”
“Professor. This is no joke. Green is not enough. Not only red surveillance, but the higher-ups are even considering dispatching covert agents from the Intelligence Bureau.”
I silently looked out at the lakeside.
The mage born with the greatest talent in this world, Sylvia of Iliade.
And her mother, Cielia.
Those memories existed in fragments inside my head.
“Primienne. I killed Cielia.”
“Yes. That does not mean you need to die too, Professor.”
At Primienne’s words, I nodded.
“Of course not. However...”
In that instant, a burning pain flared at my temple. The voice of Cielia, whom I had never seen, pierced into my ears.
─Deculein, you have done nothing wrong. So do not hate yourself too much, either······.
A benevolent voice saying, “You have done nothing wrong,” to the murderer strangling her.
Such abnormal tenderness.
“······Perhaps I pity that child.”
“That pitiful child may end up murdering you in a gruesome fashion, Professor.”
At Primienne’s words, I shook my head.
“Would killing me make that child happy?”
“That is an uncharacteristically sentimental question.”
I looked back at Primienne. Her expression was the same as ever, but her displeasure was plainly visible.
“It is merely a question. Whether that child, too, will be someone who lives on while hating me.”
“Well. If she does not hate the man who killed her mother, I would deem her a nutcase—no, abnormal.”
“Mm.”
In Deculein’s personality, there is no such thing as a “wound.” No matter who hates me madly, no matter who loathes me enough to kill me, I do not care.
There is no one in this world capable of so much as scratching this solid ego.
That is why I am a “villain.”
I gave a faint smile.
“We will leave Sylvia be. In any case, her blade will only reach me. There is no need for you all to sacrifice yourselves and provoke her anger.”
Excuses or flight do not suit my nature to begin with, and if Sylvia grows while hating me, that too is beneficial to the world.
There is no loss in that process.
“······.”
Primienne closed her mouth. It was not, however, because she was moved by my words.
Snow was falling by the lakeside.
Primienne’s blank eyes looked up at the snow in the sky.
She spoke in a tone of disbelief.
“Ha. Snow falls on this lake as well? I heard the climate around here was one where snow never falls.”
“······.”
She was right. The climate near the island in this lake was warm all year round. Snow should never fall here······.
Suddenly, a sentence surfaced in my mind.
“Wait.”
I picked up the book I had left beside the chair. Then I searched for a certain page.
[ ······The wizard fishing by the lakeside confesses his feelings to the agent who suddenly appears. Then, snow begins to fall on the lake where snow never falls. ]
“······.”
Without a word, I looked around. There was no sign of anyone but Primienne.
“Primienne.”
“Yes.”
“Have you, by any chance, read this book?”
I showed her the book. Blue Eyes. After checking its cover, Primienne nodded.
“Yes. It is the most popular book in the Public Security Bureau library, so we brought in as many as twenty copies.”
* * *
─Would killing me make that child happy?
······As she watched him from the distant sky, as she listened to his words, as she took in his voice.
Sylvia thinks
─It is merely a question. Whether that child, too, will be someone who lives on while hating me.
I hate you. I despise you. I resent you.
But if I kill you, what will remain in my life?
─If she does not hate the man who killed her mother, I would deem her a nutcase—no, abnormal.
─Mm. Then that is enough.
When you heard that I harbored killing intent, why did you smile?
“······Why.”
Sylvia asks blankly. But no answer returns to the empty island.
Only the wind, only its currents, scatter and break apart from one another.
“······.”
Gritting her teeth, Sylvia finally rose to her feet.
Merely watching from afar cannot quench this thirst. It cannot calm her heart, shaking like mad.
The answer to this question is something no one but Deculein can give.
“Sylvia? What are you going to do?”
Idnik, who had been conducting magic research not far away, looked back at Sylvia. Sylvia did not even glance at her as she strapped a parachute to her back.
“Hey. I’m asking what you’re trying to do.”
Still without answering, she tapped the ground with the tips of her feet. It was the motion of preparing to drop.
“Well, fine. Do as you like.”
Idnik did not ask any further.
In any case, Sylvia’s level now exceeded Monarch. She had already surpassed Deculein and had set herself on the trajectory of rising to Aether rank.
Becoming the youngest Aether was already as good as certain, so there was no need to treat her like a child left at the water’s edge.
“Just don’t die.”
“Okay.”
At last answering, Sylvia dropped from the island.
Now, there was only one sentence in her heart.
······I will meet you, and I will ask you.