Chapter 301: Endure It, Brother (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 301: Endure It, Brother (4)
On a hill stood a small palace.
Pure white, it was smaller than Chermil Palace but far more beautiful. It had once been the villa of the deceased Queen Diena. Though now held by Royal Concubine Louise, it would have likely been passed down to the Royal Brother of Secritia in another time. In the distance, the sea shimmered under the moonlight, while at Calian’s feet, pure white flowers bloomed in someone’s memory.
He didn’t wonder who had prepared them—whether it was Chase, who was said to have regained his memories around this time last year, or Louise, who had reportedly recovered hers not long ago. Staying briefly in a room he had never once set foot in, Calian simply rested in comfort.
Franz, who had watched Calian wake for a moment, smile, speak a few words, and fall back asleep, turned to face the window.
In the distant sky hung a single blue star and a single red one. Beneath them, countless other stars bloomed like a field of the white flowers below, and from that field, a silent blue light rose to join them.
He had seen red flames ascend to the heavens and blue flames flow across the sea, but he had never expected to witness white flowers rising to become stars. It was yet another new sight, and of all places, he was seeing it from the desolate room where the Royal Brother of Secritia was said to have stayed.
‘How amusing.’
But was it really?
The bastard who had watched over Chase so relentlessly—to the point that Arsen’s offer of respite was a welcome relief—was now clinging to life in a place prepared by Chase, all thanks to Arsen. And since Franz himself was the reason the Royal Brother could never return here, and also the reason he had returned as a completely different person, “ridiculous” was a more fitting word than “amusing.” Or perhaps this, too, was one of Serenti’s pranks.
In the end, he couldn’t sleep.
It wasn’t that he was wallowing in the self-blame he’d been warned against; he was simply lost in memories and deep in thought. He stood motionless, quietly gripping the hilt of Sinasta as he stared out the window.
He stood there until the white flowers no longer rose to become stars; until the moon that lit the distant sea hid behind the horizon; until the last shining stars drowned in the morning light and vanished; until the sun rose and the sparkling ripples on the water became dazzlingly bright.
“Did you somehow step onto the Path of the Sword just by following the Prince around?”
Staying up all night was already routine for him. The blue-haired mad mage—the only one in perfect condition—had popped into the room to suggest breakfast, only to offer that sarcastic remark. He was asking what gave Franz the confidence to pull an all-nighter in his current state.
He hadn’t stayed up out of bravado; he couldn’t sleep because his mind was in turmoil.
On top of experiencing far too many horrible things the moment his birthday began, he was now sleep-deprived and in pain, leaving him thoroughly irritated. Franz curled a lip and retorted.
“My little brother would be very upset if he knew his new father was worrying.”
Just as Hina was the best at snapping an irrational Calian back to his senses, Calian was the best tool for shutting Arsen up. Since Arsen had already let Alan know about the situation, Franz used the threat to silence his noisy mouth.
Arsen’s face practically screamed with things he wanted to say, but he didn’t bother hiding his “I’m the adult here, so I’ll let it slide” expression as he spoke again.
“Fine. Just eat.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“If you keep refusing to eat, you’ll have to look up at me forever. Are you really okay with that?”
For some reason, someone’s voice echoed in his mind.
Brother Chase is taller than you, Brother.
Turning away with an irritated scowl, Franz grimaced as a wave of pain shot through his injuries. He trudged over and slumped onto the sofa. He truly had no appetite. The thought of forcing himself to eat just to grow taller, only to end up with indigestion, made him want to refuse every meal from now on.
Just as Arsen opened his mouth to say something more—
Vrrr!
Franz’s bracelet began to glow.
As Franz’s expression hardened, Arsen fumbled through his clothes and pulled a crystal plate from his pocket. Franz’s gaze naturally drifted to Calian. The bracelet on Calian’s wrist was shimmering with the exact same light.
—The Secritian soldiers who went to Bridget Forest are all dead, Prince Franz.
It was a message from Chase to Franz.
—I received word that a mage from Libern has gone missing.
And that was a message from Alan, urgently seeking Calian and Arsen.
As they both contemplated how to react, something else happened—something even the clever Franz could never have anticipated.
“To see you again in a place like this after just one day is a pleasant surprise of a different sort. Are you badly hurt?”
He was confronted with the woman who was his younger brother’s long-time friend, the fiancée of his brother’s former older brother, and someone with whom he supposedly shared a deep history of gratitude and resentment that neither of them could remember. She burst in without knocking and immediately asked about his well-being. Franz quietly and slowly closed his eyes, then opened them.
Without a word, he dragged his aching body back to the bed where Calian lay sleeping.
More desperately than ever, he needed the bastard.
* * *
There was no problem.
Unlike Arsen, who killed people after assessing the situation, Euria was the type to kill first and assess later—but even she possessed basic common sense. If Euria were mindless enough to recklessly slaughter soldiers sent by another country onto foreign soil, she would never have reached her current position.
The same went for Rachel. At the very least, Rachel belonged to the category of mages who killed while considering both common sense and the situation. She had never trained in offensive magic to begin with and knew all too painfully how devastating one person’s death could be to another.
‘He asked us to stop the Secritian soldiers if they attacked Bridget Forest. He said we must not kill anyone.’
Thus, the two mages had absolutely no problem keeping the promise Calian had conveyed.
Crackle, spark!
Late the previous night in Bridget Forest, shortly before Franz had gone to wake Calian.
“What brings you all the way out here in the middle of the night?” Euria asked, a crackling bolt of lightning held in one hand. She looked down at the strongest-looking knight among the soldiers surrounding the forest with torches.
It was no easy feat to feign ignorance when soldiers were surrounding a forest with blazing torches, especially when efficient, easy-to-use, and cheap magic lamps existed. Still, Euria asked their purpose first. For a mage whose temperament was to attack without a word, holding a violet sphere crackling with murderous sparks while asking a question could be considered an immense courtesy.
She was perched high on a tree branch.
Standing on it with no visible support, yet showing no hint of instability, Euria boldly provoked them. At the sight of her, the advancing soldiers halted in unison. Soon, the command to “Halt!” rippled through their ranks.
Confirming that even the soldiers outside her line of sight had stopped, the corners of Euria’s mouth curled up slightly.
“Who goes there?” the commanding knight demanded with a frown. Because she stood with her back to the bright moon, she was nothing more than a silhouette, making her impossible to identify.
Understanding that she could show herself or be discovered, but couldn’t be the one to state her name first, Euria replied in a light tone.
“Coco’s Dad.”
Her precious child, which she had nurtured for a month to bring into the world, had chosen the blue-haired mage—the one with a pathetic alcohol tolerance but decent taste in flowers—as its mother. What choice did she have? She had to claim the remaining spot as the dad.
“Reveal your identity. Your attitude is insolent.”
“Oh, sorry. It’s been a while since I threw my manners out with my age, so I don’t have any courtesy left for suspicious bastards carrying torches into an elf forest. Besides, I asked first. What are you here for?”
Instead of answering, the knight scrutinized her. As the silence stretched, Euria glanced around casually and spoke in a relaxed voice.
“Actually, there’s no need to ask. Winter is coming, the trees are bone-dry, and the ground is covered in leaves. A forest like this would burn beautifully, right?”
Long purple hair faintly lit by the moonlight. A female mage. And the lightning resting in her hand. Piecing together the clues, the knight muttered in a low voice.
“Are you Euria Seiren?”
“Yep, that’s me. Now that you know, put out those torches and get lost.”
“…Why is the Kairis Prince’s companion interfering in the affairs of another nation?”
“I didn’t know this before, but it turns out this is the hometown of the Queen of Kairis. Our Third Prince is planning to visit soon, and it would be a shame if everything was burned to ashes when he arrived.”
This was the infamous Euria Seiren, rumored to drag the ghosts of the dead around even in broad daylight.
All they had were a few knights and soldiers. Even if their entire force consisted of knights, it would still be a daunting task. The knight kept his mouth shut, debating whether to retreat or try to converse further.
“Don’t overthink it. Just go.”
Whether the knight was showing his own version of courtesy or not, she had no intention of treating them kindly as long as they held those torches. The moment flames touched the trees, it wouldn’t just be Freya’s hometown burning down; it would spark a diplomatic crisis between Kairis and Secritia over the elven territory.
Despite waiting, the knight did not answer. Seeing this, water mana began to gather in Euria’s other hand.
Vrrr…
A swelling energy gathered in an instant, stirring the water deep beneath the forest floor. Feeling a tremor underfoot, the knight turned and shouted to his soldiers.
“It’s water! Everyone, move to the trees and brace yourselves!”
The sound of soldiers moving in unison echoed at his command.
It was a wise order and a swift response. It was the best way to avoid being swept away if water erupted from the ground and to take cover behind the trees in case of a lightning attack from the front.
It would have been, had Euria’s magic—originally intended to just extinguish the torches—proceeded as planned.
“…Damn it.”
Sensing a sudden surge of mana nearby, Euria spat a curse and dispersed the water she had been channeling. Instead, she drew up her mana to prepare a different force. The sudden shift caused the surrounding mana to fluctuate wildly, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have the luxury.
The knight and his soldiers failed to notice that Euria’s gaze had shifted away from them and that the ground was no longer trembling.
“Gather up! If you want to live!” Euria shouted, her voice louder this time.
She moved her hand. The violet sparks she thought she wouldn’t have to use began to flash high in the distant sky as clouds started to gather.
Rumble…
An ominous rumbling echoed from the clouds that now shrouded the moon.
The knight, who hadn’t heard her warning, ordered the soldier beside him to scatter away from the trees once more.
Crack! Crackle!
The sound of the sky splitting apart rang out.
Having received the knight’s order, a soldier took a step forward to relay it.
Boom!
At that exact moment, a deafening explosion erupted as a torrent of water shot up from the ground like a geyser.
The vortex of water impaled the soldier who had just tried to run, then thrashed about like a severed snake as it swept through the area, swallowing the soldiers nearby.
That was not Euria’s power.
Having unintentionally survived the first strike by being perched atop the tallest tree, Euria quickly moved her other hand. While still preparing her massive spell, she drew upon her mana once more to manipulate the water beneath the earth.
Rumble…
The earth swayed and the sky shook.
Another stream of water, seized by Euria’s mana, pushed up from the ground, while dry lightning—something that should never appear on a clear night—repeatedly lit the sky before vanishing.
Crash!
Finally, water burst through the thick earth, immediately splitting into two massive torrents that surged outward. With the soldiers in the center already wiped out, the water blocked the paths of those remaining on either side, forming a vast barrier before them.
She had no time to worry about Rachel, who was at the rear of the forest. She had to protect these bastards, who were far weaker than Rachel, first.
“Tsk.”
She hadn’t come to save them; she had come to send them back alive. She never imagined she would end up saving Secritian soldiers from some unknown attacker.
Whoosh!
Crash!
A massive water serpent charged forward, slamming into Euria’s barrier. A single, horizontal pillar of water split into two, then three branches, battering the barrier from all directions.
Boom! Crash!
Deafening roars, hard to believe were merely the collision of water, echoed continuously.
Reinforcing the barrier against the opponent’s assault, Euria quickly turned her head. Although she was ready to call down lightning, she couldn’t spot the hidden assailant. If she rashly unleashed lightning onto that water, she would kill all the soldiers she had just saved. She had to find the enemy first.
While preparing her strongest spell with one part of her mana and protecting the soldiers with another, Euria unraveled her remaining threads of mana to search for another mage.
Rumble! Crash!
The long pillars of water on both sides stretched out like venomous snakes, rising high above the barrier. At the same time, Euria’s hands moved swiftly, manipulating her water once more. The barrier curved over, shielding the soldiers’ heads.
But at that moment, a sharp, ear-splitting rupture rang out.
Crack, crackle!
It was not the sound of Euria’s lightning, which only needed to find its target to strike.
It was the sound of something rapidly freezing. The pillars of water that had just struck Euria’s barrier were freezing solid in an instant.
The tips of the water pillars elongated like long spears, transforming into dozens of ice spears. Without hesitation, they pierced through the water barrier and rained down.
Whoosh!
Swoosh! Whoosh!
Screams filled her ears.
Euria bit her lip.
Ice magic.
There was no water-attribute mage capable of creating ice spears while wielding water on this scale.
‘The opponent is either two or more people… or someone like me.’
A dual-attribute mage.
Did such a person even exist? Frowning, Euria channeled her mana once more.
Crunch! Shatter!
Turning her water barrier into a vortex to shatter the falling ice spears, Euria’s gaze suddenly snapped in a single direction.
She felt the water energy emanating from a specific point.
Rumble…!
Crash! Crackle!
Found you.
Vrrr!
Dispersing the water barrier, Euria created a massive shield to protect the now-decimated ranks of the soldiers.
In a situation where a Kairis mage was facing off against Secritian soldiers, what motive could a third party have for slaughtering those soldiers? The intent was as clear as that of the torch-bearing bastards themselves.
A mage’s power was on a completely different dimension from an ordinary person’s. To a mage, soldiers were no different from commoners. A mage was an absolute powerhouse, while soldiers were weak. A mage who tore apart the weak for no reason was a vile piece of trash.
And on top of that, a malicious bastard who had clearly come to send a shady “gift” to Kairis…
Boom! Crash! Bang!
…was a bastard she didn’t need to assess the situation to slaughter.