Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: I Am What I Am (4)
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I didn’t have to think for long.
In truth, the answer had been decided from the start.
I couldn’t let them turn the city into a wasteland just to get rid of one annoying guy.
I stepped forward.
I stepped in front of the Star-Devouring Sorceress, who was on the verge of an outburst.
“Esquire Zendaro.”
And I spoke.
I told him that while I appreciated his kind invitation, I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position because of us.
That we would return to the inn where we had been staying.
Before he could answer, I grabbed the Star-Devouring Sorceress by the sleeve.
Naturally, she didn’t budge.
Her gaze, gleaming like glass beads, remained fixed on the Mage Hunter as her cloak began to swell.
It seemed she had already made up her mind.
Time was of the essence.
I hastily sought out the stars of the Outskirts Constellation in my mind.
[The Curious Sloth] You want me to say anything~~~? Like, really loudly~~~? Ahahaha. Channel conversations are done through messages, so how can I speak loudly~~~? WAAAH! ACK! WAAAAH! Like this~~~? This is so fun~~~
[The Elegant Lefty] I don't know what you're thinking, but she's going to notice something is up.
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Nation] It's already too late. She has detected our conversation.
The Star-Devouring Sorceress's gaze, which had been nailed to the Mage Hunter, instantly shot to me.
Her pale white hand fumbled in the air above the crown of my head.
Something about energy flowing in and out of the wide-open top of my head.
That was her way of putting it, more or less.
“So, you could control it consciously.”
A sigh escaped me.
I was certain this incident would only intensify her obsession with me.
But it couldn't be helped.
Right now, distracting that terrifying sorceress was the priority over anything else.
Nothing else mattered.
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Nation] So you wanted her to notice from the start.
[The Elegant Lefty] The price is too high. She won't let you go now. You're bound to be dragged to the tower.
[The Curious Sloth] Then are we going to see the tower~~~~? Wooow~~ How exciting~~~~
The stars of the Outskirts Constellation kept chattering.
It seemed less because of my request and more because they just wanted to gossip, but in any case, I had succeeded in diverting her attention.
“Let’s go.”
While she was distracted by the energy flowing in and out of my head, I quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled.
Her wrist came along without any particular resistance.
I intended to leave the premises just like that.
“It’s not that you don’t want to see Zendaro in trouble. It’s because you have something to hide.”
If that damn Mage Hunter hadn't run his mouth so carelessly, my plan would have surely succeeded.
She froze.
The Star-Devouring Sorceress stopped walking.
Her eyes began to gleam like glass beads again.
It was a crisis.
The clueless Mage Hunter, oblivious to the situation, kept running his mouth.
“Still, it’s a relief you know your place. I was just wondering what to do if you insisted on sticking around.”
He said something about not being able to act rashly since he was a guest.
As if he hadn't already thrown away all decorum expected of a guest with his actions so far.
It was so absurd, I was almost impressed.
[The Elegant Lefty] Daseumier, was it? I guarantee that Daseumier will suffer greatly because of that man.
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Nation] That man is astonishingly obtuse. His senses are dull, too. How did he attain such a status?
[The Curious Sloth] The stars these days are different from our time~~~ There are so many who just grant their blessings as long as someone claims to be their descendant~~~ Haven't you heard them whining about how the competition for decent contractors is fierce because so many rode the orbital elevator up~~~? I have~~~
For once, I was in complete agreement with the stars of the Outskirts Constellation.
That guy was the real deal.
Of all the people I'd ever met, the Mercenary King Yanick had been the best at making enemies with his mouth.
Truly, it's a wide world.
Hey, Yanick. Are you watching? There's a mouth here that surpasses even yours.
“Who knows. Perhaps you were never a proper knight to begin with.”
Talk about a blind squirrel finding a nut.
He was sharp in unexpected ways.
“Now that I think about it, I should verify. I can't just let an impostor knight go.”
As if determined to dig his own grave, the Mage Hunter blocked our path.
“Do you have anything to prove your identity as a knight? At least a stigma?”
His unreasonable demand to see my stigma was quite the spectacle.
Then again, the Daseumier family had always been as infamous as they were famous.
They were called the Invincible Armada and a member of the Eight Families, but that was just a nice way of putting it.
Their practice of using letters of marque granted by the Imperial Family to frequently attack the merchant ships and warships of other nations was said to be not much different from piracy.
The tyranny of Moro, the Mage Hunter, was hardly surprising.
The only problem was that this man, who could be a knight or a pirate for all I knew, was relentlessly trying to turn the entire city of Pomorie into his own grave.
“From now on, too.”
The Star-Devouring Sorceress, who was about to reach for the Mage Hunter, looked at me.
“I’ll show you. Something fun.”
So please, leave it to me for now.
She didn't hesitate for even a moment.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Her smile was so bright as she held out her pinky finger that she almost looked as innocent as a child.
But I wasn't fooled.
I knew what thoughts had been running through that seemingly innocent sorceress's mind just moments ago.
“What do you think you're doing?”
Thinking I had ignored him, the Mage Hunter's demeanor instantly turned hostile.
His face, flushed crimson as if he had suffered a great insult, was truly thick-skinned.
He was the one who had acted so arrogantly and insulted others.
It was an atrocity a knight could not tolerate.
Of course, I wasn't a knight.
Swoosh.
I looked the Mage Hunter straight in the eye and swept aside my cloak.
The Cradle's uniform, made of fine cloth, was revealed in an instant.
Since I was already showing it, I pulled my cloak back to reveal the crest on my chest.
“Don't tell me that crest is…?”
He had a decent eye for someone like him; he recognized the symbol of the Cradle at once.
“Yan, Silver Eagle Standard-Bearer of the Cradle of Stars.”
There was no lie in my answer.
Just because I had graduated from the Cradle didn't mean my history as a Silver Eagle Standard-Bearer was erased.
“You were a cadet of the Cradle?”
The arrogant Mage Hunter's expression changed.
It was a change that wouldn't have occurred if I were a member of another of the Eight Families, or even just a regular knight.
After all, being a cadet of the Cradle or whatever still made you nothing more than a squire.
But his opponent was a member of Daseumier.
A family that had produced Ascendants for generations, securing a place among the Eight Families through its scale and influence, yet was not recognized by the other Eight Families or the renowned Ascendant houses, instead being called rootless ruffians who engaged in piracy.
The rumor that they were putting tremendous effort into forming ties with traditional families and knightly orders was already an open secret.
There were even rumors that they were indiscriminately forming marriage alliances with other families, regardless of whether they were from branch or direct lines.
There was no way a family like Daseumier wouldn't covet the tradition and prestige of the Cradle.
Of course, a mere cadet didn't represent the Cradle, but I figured the name would still carry some weight.
“Bern of Vigete, Hummel of Hildegard, and Amelia of the Order of Judgment are my contemporaries.”
I slyly dropped the kids' names, just in case.
“I was under Professor Dieter Rizzner and Professor Navian Gaznae.”
I name-dropped the professors as well.
The effect was tremendous.
“If you are a cadet of the Cradle, then she… no, that person is…”
The Mage Hunter's attitude became polite, a complete reversal from before.
It seemed he had mistaken the Star-Devouring Sorceress for a professor from the Cradle.
I didn't bother to correct him.
“May we be excused now?”
The Mage Hunter, lost in thought, startled and grabbed me.
“Ahem! My nephew Zendaro has already extended an invitation, which I understand you've accepted. If you leave like this, what will become of my nephew's and the Comoniti family's honor?”
Yeah, you already trampled all over that honor.
“This way…”
The Mage Hunter, who was about to drag me by the hand, flinched and glanced at the Star-Devouring Sorceress.
Nod.
And once again, she accepted his request.
I couldn't for the life of me understand her psychology.
Maybe she just wanted to see what would happen.
“Come in, come in.”
Permission granted, the Mage Hunter dragged me inside.
“It is late, but welcome to the House of Comoniti.”
Squire Zendaro, who had been fidgeting in a corner, worried his guests might come to harm, welcomed us with a broad smile.
And so, I barely managed to shut the gates of hell that had swung wide open.
But I couldn't relax just yet.
Behind me was a gate to hell that would open automatically at the slightest touch.
And in front of me was a fool itching to dive into the fires of hell.
“Haaah.”
My head was already starting to throb.
What sins did I commit in my past life to deserve this suffering?
It's not like anyone appreciates it.
But the self-pity didn't last long.
“If you are Zendaro's guests, then you are my guests as well. I am Kande of Comoniti.”
The head of the Comoniti family, his hands and clothes covered in dirt as if he'd just come from tilling a field, looked more like a monk than a knight.
An utterly simple attitude and kind eyes.
I could tell just by the warm gazes of the knights watching their lord.
He was a good person.
“My wife has a knack for cooking. Please, let's eat first.”
He had said his family's chef was skilled; who would have thought he was boasting about his own mother's cooking.
The Comoniti family was, in many ways, not like a knightly house.
I was genuinely surprised that a knightly family like this could exist in the world.
I didn't dislike it.
In fact, I quite liked it.
They seemed like people worth the trouble of saving.
And so, I felt a sense of pride all by myself.
“This isn't enough to fill me up.”
If it weren't for that sorceress, who might reveal her gluttony at any moment, it would have been perfect.
In any case, the meal was quite amicable.
Thump.
As soon as we returned to our room after the meal, the Star-Devouring Sorceress had me sit in a corner and stared at me intently.
“Here, look all you want.”
I sighed and focused on the Outskirts Constellation channel.
[The Emperor Who Abandoned His Nation] I fail to understand why I must play along with this farce.
[The Elegant Lefty] For someone who feels that way, Your Majesty is being quite cooperative.
[The Curious Sloth] Ahahaha~ You fools~~~ Why don't you get it~~~ I know the reason~~~ It's because you're bored~~~~
My head was about to split from listening to the stars' chatter just to show her the energy flowing through my fontanelle, but I endured it.
Chatter, chatter.
I knew it before, but the stars were really talkative.
Even when the Mage Hunter came late at night to spout nonsense, they didn't stop chattering.
Intently.
As if never tiring of it, the Star-Devouring Sorceress watched me endlessly.
Chatter, chatter.
The stars continued to ramble on.
Woof, woof.
The Mage Hunter barked whenever he had the chance.
By the time the arduous day finally ended, I was completely exhausted.
“Be sure to visit Daseumier with the professor.”
Seen off by the Mage Hunter—who was barking up the wrong tree until the very end—and the members of the Comoniti family, we were finally able to leave Pomorie.
But the real ordeal began then.
“When I put pressure on you, you keep spitting things out. It’s fun.”
Having learned how to empty my bag of tricks through this incident, the Star-Devouring Sorceress deliberately sought out crowded places.
I wonder if this is what it feels like to walk on thin ice.
Physical hardship, mental anguish.
It was all beyond description.
By the time the number of cities I had saved from utter destruction through tearful effort reached five.
“I feel like I’m forgetting something important.”
I was so deeply immersed in stopping the sorceress's rampages that I had completely forgotten I was a prisoner.
It was absurd, but I had an excuse for myself.
My current daily life of placating a sorceress who could explode at any moment wasn't that different from my past life as a squire serving ill-tempered knights.
If there was any silver lining, it was that the Star-Devouring Sorceress was in a similar situation.
Whether I revealed I was a cadet of the Cradle or not.
Whether I left traces or not.
“Heehee.”
Completely engrossed in observing the energy flowing in and out of my fontanelle, she didn't interfere at all.
And by the time two more cities were added to the number I had saved,
I had arrived at the Blue Tower before I knew it.
“What?”
* * *
A large-scale pursuit party, mobilized from the Cradle, the Imperial Palace, and nearby knightly orders.
A certain professor from the Cradle, whose tracking skills could be called the best in the empire, suddenly felt a sense of doubt.
“They probably would have been fine without me, wouldn't they?”
Traces were everywhere.
In the mountains and in the fields.
“Ah, you mean Esquire Yan? He stayed with our family for a day.”
Even in the cities.
For him, it was a first-time experience.
He had never seen a captive who left such blatant traces.
What on earth was the kidnapper doing to let this happen?
As a professor who took pride in his tracking skills, the situation was so absurd that it crushed his motivation.
But that didn't mean he could neglect his duty.
“I was just about to tie him up and drag him to my family, but someone beat me to it.”
A would-be kidnapper, whose turn had been stolen, was grinding his teeth right behind him.
And so, after continuing the long pursuit (?) for nearly two months, the end finally began to come into sight.
「<--- Blue Tower」
A trail left by someone said so.