슈라 (3)
Shura (3)
“It’s getting late. Let’s discuss the details tomorrow.”
Harad sent Shura, who had calmed down, back home with Kubel.
He would have liked to hear the details right then and there, but that would have been out of the question.
Kubel was one thing, but the attitudes of the others were also a problem.
It seemed they needed time to come to terms with reality.
Once Kubel and Shura had left, a heavy silence descended upon the Intelligence Bureau’s safe house.
Kasion was the least affected, but Harad found his gaze unnerving.
Kasion was a mage, yet also a knight of Sergila.
Whilst loyal to Sergila, he harboured no prejudice against mages.
Whether she was a mage or not, to Kasion, Shura was simply a child who deserved to be loved.
‘That bloke is the most level-headed of them all.’
The fact that Kasion was more level-headed than Ellen was almost disheartening.
Despite all the encouragement I’ve given her so far, I suppose I’ve still fallen far short.
“You… you knew, didn’t you?”
How much time had passed? It was Ellen who broke the silence.
“Me?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
Ellen’s expression turned serious.
“When you first met Shura, you asked him if he was a mage. You, of all people, who can tell a mage apart.”
Harad can tell a mage apart.
And yet, Harad had asked Shura if he was a mage.
So, Harad had known Shura’s true identity all along.
From Ellen’s perspective, she had no choice but to misunderstand it that way.
“I did know, didn’t I.”
Harad made no effort to correct the misunderstanding.
To do so would be tantamount to admitting he couldn’t recognise a mage.
“Is that a problem?”
To remain a mage capable of distinguishing other mages, she had to be brazen here.
‘Is it a problem?’
Her voice trembled.
Her eyebrows quivered even more violently. Ellen was furious.
‘Go on, then. What’s the problem?’
‘How can you even say that…’
“If you knew, what difference would it make?”
Harad did not avert his gaze from Ellen’s.
“Do you regret all the love and devotion you’ve given to Shura up until now? Do you think a mage wouldn’t have done the same?”
“……That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what?”
Ellen bit her lip.
“Do you feel betrayed? Is that more important than Shura’s anguish, which he’s kept hidden all this time?”
“…….”
“If that’s not it either, why are you angry? Especially since we’ve spared that bloke’s life.”
Harad pointed at Cassion.
If Ellen were to be furious about the fact that Shura was a mage, she shouldn’t have spared Cassion’s life.
“I don’t think you’re the sort of person who still sees a difference between humans and mages.”
Ellen knows that mages are human too.
Casion and Kubel were proof of that. Ellen now sees the person, not the source.
“Shura is Shura. Am I wrong?”
“……I’m sorry. I was just in shock.”
Ellen admitted it without hesitation.
“It’s all right. I suppose I was a bit too harsh myself.”
It had been meant to provoke her.
It had also been to test Ellen’s true feelings.
‘She really has changed a lot.’
When they first met, Ellen had looked upon mages with nothing but loathing.
‘Though she still has further to go.’
Of course, she still had a long way to go.
If this had been Elaine from her previous life, she would have simply accepted the fact that Shura was a mage.
And she would have grilled him relentlessly about what sort of magic he could use.
Suddenly, Cassion muttered in admiration.
“So you can actually tell a real mage from a fake?”
By Cassion’s standards, it was impossible.
But he could no longer deny it. Harad was, in fact, able to tell the difference.
“I trust nothing will change.”
Harad said, looking at Arika.
“……This is the North.”
‘Child’ means ‘child’.
It was a reply typical of Arika.
“Have they never captured young mages in the North?”
“I’ve never heard of it. I don’t think they would.”
Arika said with conviction.
Children were the conscience of the North. Even if they were mages, as long as they were from the North, they would not have been harmed.
In fact, Harad knew this too.
If they discovered a young mage, the northerners would not try to kill them. They would simply drive them out of their territory.
Of course, even that was a cruel fate for a child, but compared to what the continent got up to, it was a tremendous luxury.
“That’s one more reason why the Church must not be allowed to establish itself here.”
“……And what about the Order?”
“A demon is a demon. Big or small.”
Ellen’s face hardened.
As long as she continued to dream, she was destined to clash with the Order sooner or later.
* * *
Elaine was wearing her ceremonial robes.
They were different from the ones she had worn at the Grand Duke’s coronation she had once dreamt of.
‘What a nuisance.’
Elaine roughly unbuttoned her shirt.
Her emotions were plain to see, and thanks to that, Ellen realised this dream was from Elaine’s time as the Grand Duchess.
Yet the setting was unexpected.
It was not a snow-swept plain, but a warm meadow. There was a single hut there, and Elaine was heading towards it.
Hrad was sitting in front of the hut, at the base of a tree.
‘Was the honey sweet?’
‘What do you mean, honey? I was just dragged here against my will.’
Harad snapped back gruffly.
Even though Elaine had arrived, he didn’t so much as look up, let alone get up.
‘Since you’ve been dragged here anyway, you should have followed me all the way.’
Elaine was just as curt.
The distance between them was surprisingly close.
Elaine had never seen Harad behave so gruffly before. He was only like that in her dreams.
‘How was I supposed to know what would happen? Why would I go all the way there?’
‘What’s going to happen? I brought you here; who’s going to lay a finger on you?’
‘You never know, do you?’
‘I’ve always felt this way—you’re surprisingly timid.’
Instead of answering, Harad threw a twig.
Elaine dodged it with ease.
‘If you could just get rid of that temper of yours, you’d never get caught.’
‘I’ve got rid of a lot of it.’
‘Ah, yes. I know. There aren’t any fires these days.’
When Harad gets angry, sparks fly.
Elaine had seen it a few times in her dreams.
A few days ago, she’d seen it with her own eyes.
-How was the capital?
-It was still as loathsome and unsightly as ever. The place was littered with crosses and stakes.
Crosses and stakes.
Those were terms denoting the Order’s condemnation.
They used to display the corpses of mages by hanging them on crosses or impaling them on stakes.
‘Of all of them, Enberg was the most unsightly.’
Enberg was the name of the imperial family.
It seemed that the Elaine from her dreams had indeed visited the capital. And the imperial court, at that.
‘Why did they summon you?’
‘It’s always the same. It’s the same every single birthday; it’s enough to make me want to kill her.
It seems the leadership in the North is about to change, so she’s trying to sweet-talk her way in. Elaine clicked her tongue.
Grand Duke Aratus was an exceedingly stubborn man.
The Imperial Court regards Elaine, the next Grand Duke, as easier to deal with than Grand Duke Aratus.
‘Just how easy a target must I have looked?’
‘The Crown Prince does seem a bit of a pushover.’
‘Haha. Bloody hell.’
Elaine kicked the tree stump where Harad had been sitting. It shattered into pieces.
Harad, now sitting in mid-air, glared silently at Elaine. Sparks flew.
-Only act like this in front of Enberg.
-I did tell you to stop calling me that.
-Is that all?
-Do I look like an easy target to you, too?
The corners of Elaine’s eyes twitched.
-Well, I suppose I understand. Being handsome has its downsides—people tend to underestimate you.
‘I suppose it’s because you haven’t become a Swordmaster yet.’
‘Haha. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since you were last hit, hasn’t it?’
Elaine, who had been drawing her sword, tilted her head in puzzlement.
Harad’s sleeve was singed. It wasn’t from the sparks that had just flown. It was a mark that had been there for quite some time.
-Have you been playing with fire on your own, or something?
Instead of answering, Harad turned his gaze towards the hut.
Elaine followed his gaze and furrowed her brow.
-There’s someone there. A child, isn’t it?
The sensation Elaine was feeling was also conveyed to Ellen. There was a child in the hut. The presence felt smaller than Shura’s.
-Have you kidnapped someone, or something?
-It’s a mage.
‘So you’ve met the Order, have you? You couldn’t keep your temper and caused a bit of a ruckus.’
‘That’s how it turned out.’
‘Did you kill them?’
Elaine’s eyes sparkled as she asked this.
It seemed that the Elaine in this dream really did dislike the Order.
‘I didn’t kill them.’
‘Oh, so you just gave them a bit of a thrashing?’
‘Yes.’
-You should have killed them.
Tsk. Elaine clicked her tongue.
-If you’re a fire mage, the Order will be searching high and low for you.
-Well, they’ll probably just think I’m at the Tower of Liberation.
-Is that why you didn’t kill them? That’s not the case, is it?
Elaine stared intently at Harad.
-The reason I want you to curb your temper is for my sake. To keep me in check, and to ensure you treat me well. It’s not because I want you to become soft.
-I know.
-If you know that, then don’t do it next time. Don’t worry about the consequences. I’m the one standing behind you—the one who will soon become the Master of Serzilla.
-You’re not even a Swordmaster, are you?
-Fuck off.
Harad and Elaine’s eyes met.
Then they smiled wryly.
-What shall we do about that child?
He’s a mage.
But Elaine immediately referred to him as a child.
-If he has nowhere to go, let’s take him to the North.
-Is that all right?
-Why not? I—no, we—are saying we’ll do it.
On the surface, Elaine seemed boisterous.
-We are the North, where the continent’s rules do not apply.
But Elaine knew there was a self-serving motive behind it.
It wasn’t a decision Harad had made simply because the mage he’d rescued was just a child.
-So you just need to listen to me.
-Why does that lead to that conclusion?
-Because I am the North.
Her gaze was subtle.
It was not the sort of emotion that Harad, who believed Elaine to be a man, would notice.
-Even though you’re still a Grand Prince.
-Tsk.
-And not even a Swordmaster.
-Hey.
-What?
……They did seem close.
Perhaps even to the point of being enviable.
* * *
The Grand Duke’s residence was closed.
It had been so last night when he returned, and it remained so now that the sun had risen. To Harad, it felt like tacit approval.
I suppose that means they’ll even accept the mage Shura.
‘I suppose a child is just a child. ’
Just as one would expect from the Lord of the North.
Harad was secretly impressed by the Grand Duke’s humanity.
The North’s allegiance to Sergila was not merely because of his strength.
‘I shall raise him until he comes of age.’
It was a good thing for Harad, too.
It meant he didn’t have to earn Shura’s share of merit straight away.
Harad headed straight for Kubel’s annex.
Arika was there, but Cassion was not.
……Ellen wasn’t there either.
“Oh. You’re late, aren’t you?”
It was Elaine, not Ellen, who was sitting there.
“Why is the Grand Duke here?”
“Ellen asked me to come in her place. She said my name might be of some help.”
Elaine spoke brazenly.
There was some truth in that. The purpose of capturing the tunnel-digger was not to take his life, but to pinpoint the location of the tunnels.
To be precise, that was the top priority.
‘Killing him comes after we’ve found out everything we need to know.’
Whether through interrogation or intimidation, Elaine’s name would carry more weight than Ellen’s.
Unlike Ellen, who was known as a low-ranking member of the Intelligence Service, Elaine was a Grand Princess.
“My name is the second most feared in this land.”
Elaine was well aware of her status.
She also knew how to exploit it. Had she not been constantly strutting about in her previous life as well?
“Ah. That’s right. I even had a dream about it.”
Harad’s eyes lit up.
The exploration of the Path of the Deep Sea, and the truth about Shura, seemed to have stirred something significant within Elaine.
“Tell me about it later; it’s not important right now.”
Harad nodded.
Kubel looked gaunt.
His face, as if he’d been up all night, was forced into a smile.
Akira appeared indifferent, but on closer inspection, the skin beneath his eyes was slightly darkened. Elaine gently stroked her stomach, as if she were hungry.
Everyone was looking at Shura.
No one was rushing him. They were simply waiting for Shura to speak.
‘Shouldn’t I have come here as Elaine?’
Lately, Elaine had been coming and going frequently from Kubel’s annex. Perhaps it was because he was handsome, but Shura did not avoid her.
However, that did not mean they had spoken much. Shura was not close to Elaine.
It was Ellen, not Elaine, to whom Shura had revealed his secret yesterday.
“I can see your true form.”
Yet Shura spoke up.
Her voice was slightly tense.
“My true form?”
“Yes. When I look at you like this, it looks as though there are two people.”
Magic glinted in Shura’s eyes.
It was undoubtedly magic.
In truth, it was too crude to be called magic.
‘First-rank, I suppose.’
It was characteristic of continental magicians who knew little about magic.
Unable to apply the Source, capable only of manifesting its characteristics ever so slightly.
“The darker one is the outer form, and the semi-transparent one is the inner form.”
Elaine twitched ever so slightly.
“The outer form is probably the same as what we usually see. Explain the inner form to me.”
At those words, Shura stared intently at Harald.
“It looks exactly the same. However, the inner form will answer my questions. A nod means ‘yes’, and a shake of the head means ‘no’.”
This meant she could only receive answers of ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
“Answers, you say. How do I ask the questions?”
“You just need to think whilst in this state.”
Shura said this whilst pointing to her own pupils.
It was a crude spell. Consequently, the magical power was feeble—so much so that an ordinary person wouldn’t even notice it.
“I suppose there aren’t many questions you can ask.”
“Yes. I can only ask one.”
From the amount of magical power, Harald realised Shura’s limitations.
“And what is that one question?”
“Dad.”
“Hmm?”
“The question: ‘Is my dad all right?’”
“…….”
Not him, but her dad.
Harad was momentarily lost for words.
Glancing to his side, he saw Kubel covering his face with both hands and beginning to shed tears.
Arika’s usually stoic eyes reddened, and Elaine let out a soft sigh.
“So that’s why you answered me.”
“Yes. You only nodded to me.”
Harad recalled his first encounter with Shura.
At the time, Shura hadn’t answered Ellen. She’d only spoken to Harad.
It must have been because, in response to the question Shura had posed in her heart, Harad’s inner self had nodded.
It also meant that Ellen’s inner self had shaken her head at that time.
“Ah.”
Elaine fidgeted with her fingers.
Looking back, Shura had only spoken to Ellen after she’d decided to put her trust in Kubel.
“Did that girl’s inner self nod as well?”
Harad pointed at Arika.
“She gave a slight nod.”
Arika’s face flushed slightly.
She seemed embarrassed that her true feelings—a slight acknowledgement of the mage—had been revealed.
“You’re kinder than I thought.”
“……That isn’t what’s important right now.”
Arika turned her head away.
“What’s in your heart?”
“My pupils.”
Shura’s source was her eyes.
Harad recalled Compasso, the Fourth-Rank mage of the Ivory Tower.
The mage who had been secretly watching for Eos’s infiltration at the border before being killed by Cassion.
That man’s source was also his eyes.
‘They’re the same eyes, yet what they see is different.’
The Compass’s eye functioned like a telescope.
Shura’s eye sees into a person’s innermost thoughts.
It was not an unusual occurrence.
After all, magic is, by its very nature, an abstract concept.
And its source—the very essence of it—is bound to be even more elusive.
“A man who’s actually a woman. An old woman who’s actually a man. Shura, that’s what you said, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Their outward appearance differed from their true nature. ”
“I see. It’s actually a spell intended for asking questions.”
As luck would have it, he’d stumbled upon someone whose outward appearance differed from their inner self.
‘I’ve struck gold, then.’
At that moment, Shura asked cautiously.
“It’s useless, isn’t it?”
To survive within the Inner City, Kubel was in a position where he had to constantly prove his worth.
Shura seemed keen to be of assistance in that regard.
“It’s not up to us to decide what’s useful. It’s the situation.”
Harad smiled gently.
“Shura, in the current situation, you’re more useful than I am.”
“Hehe.”
In Shura’s eyes, Harad’s true self was nodding vigorously.
* * *
Shura spoke of the two men whose outward appearances differed from their inner selves.
She mentioned only their physical features and where they lived—and that was enough.
Even after Shura had finished speaking, the annex remained noisy. Kubel’s wailing was louder than that of most beasts.
Kubel was weeping so profusely that he could scarcely see. Yet, as soon as Harad stood up, he rose with him.
“Kubel, you stay here.”
Harad forced Kubel back into his seat.
“B-but…….”
“Your job today is to play with Shura. Shura deserves a reward, after all.”
Shura giggled.
Harad walked straight out of the annexe. Arika and Elaine followed him out, but Shura grabbed Elaine’s sleeve.
“It’s all right.”
Shura smiled brightly at Elaine’s true form—at Ellen.
“I know…….”
Elaine, looking down at that face, her eyes widened in shock. Then she collapsed with a thud.
“Your Highness!”
Arika, startled, caught Elaine’s body. Shura, who had been right in front of her, looked even more shocked.
At that moment, Harad smiled.
He reassured the startled Shura.
“She’s just fallen asleep.”
It was all thanks to the stimulus of Shura.