Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Rearing
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Taming
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“⋯⋯Will you be all right?”
“What.”
In response to Siona’s question, Felix replied while puffing on her pipe.
Far in the distance, a gray hemisphere bursting out from within the barrier came into view.
Standing side by side with Siona in the wasteland, peering at the sight through binoculars—it was certainly quite the picturesque scene.
⋯⋯Of course, she was doing this out of curiosity about what exactly Carlyle Bellfast was up to, and why he’d separately asked her to handle the aftermath properly this time.
And the spectacle they were witnessing now made that request all too understandable.
“⋯⋯Negotiating with a boy who can wield something like that.”
“⋯⋯.”
Hm.
That was certainly true.
Felix gave a wry smile as she gazed at what was happening inside the hemisphere.
Everything within moved slowly.
All else moved normally, but only the things inside crawled along as if in an entirely different world.
⋯⋯It was absurd enough to say it twice.
He’d carved out a specific space and slowed the flow of time within it.
“How does something like that even happen?”
That level belonged in myths. Why was he a student at the academy?
No, even beings from myths—could many of them do something like that?
Fortunately, Felix had something to ask about it.
‘Can you do something like that?’
She asked her shadow, and it writhed.
It could probably be interpreted like this.
-No?
“⋯⋯.”
Yeah, yeah.
Even this blatant “fragment of a god” couldn’t do it.
Maybe if she assembled all the fragments into a full god⋯⋯
The shadow writhed as if indignant.
It probably meant something like this.
-I, I could do that much if I had my main body!
‘Sure you could.’
Felix replied indifferently and furrowed her brow.
Because Carlyle, visible far away, was now doing something that looked blatantly bizarre at a glance.
The gray hemisphere expanded fiercely outward.
As if something even more intense than simply halting time was needed.
Then, Carlyle slowly extended his hand toward the head of the Black Whale beneath his feet.
At that moment, the gray mana that had spread outward condensed instantly toward that spot.
All the mana that had slowed even time just by dispersing around—now gathered there as if wholly required.
One might wonder why he was investing such vast resources into whatever he was doing.
But the next moment, upon seeing what “emerged” from Carlyle’s fingertips.
Even the unwilling would understand.
“⋯⋯!”
Felix staggered upon seeing the writhing black energy from Carlyle’s fingertips.
Her shadow churned along with her.
She instinctively knew.
Just how “dangerous” that thing was.
“⋯⋯Fuck.”
Felix ground her pipe against her front teeth and spat out the words.
They were a great distance away. Even through binoculars, it looked like a tiny dot.
And yet.
A horrific disgust crawled through her nerves, gnawing at her mind like bugs skittering over her entire body.
⋯⋯Cold sweat poured down.
As a power just below the Pope in the Orthodox Church, Felix prided herself on having seen every grotesque horror the world had to offer.
The “trash heap” hidden beneath the Mage Tower, the Sand Kingdom’s “punishment squad,” the Empire’s “clock tower”⋯⋯ She’d witnessed countless continental nightmares.
But compared to the ominous dread from that tiny dot she was viewing through binoculars right here.
-They were all mere drops in the ocean.
She knew it the instant she saw it.
Anyone who could wield that energy was undoubtedly humanity’s great enemy.
“⋯⋯That’s Demonic Energy.”
Siona beside her muttered.
Her perpetually narrowed eyes were open just a sliver.
“Demonic power, isn’t it? Never thought I’d see it again in a place like this.”
“⋯⋯Yeah, I know.”
To begin with.
The energy there was what Felix had studied her entire life.
But Demonic Energy of that concentration—she’d never heard or seen the like.
No demons that had crossed from Hell to the Material Realm had ever wielded it at that density.
“I’m sorry, Your Eminence, but we should support Cadet Carlyle right now.”
From that perspective, Siona’s suggestion was utterly relatable.
“No matter how unusually knowledgeable that student is about demons, directly handling Demonic Energy at that level is another matter entirely.”
Demonic power could inflict all sorts of horrors on a person just from contact.
Even if that side was showing absurd miracles, exposure to something like that needed to be prevented as a matter of course—
“Yap.”
—Or so it should have been.
Carlyle, far away, crushed the Demonic Energy between his palms with that simple shout.
With a crackle! it was crushed and decomposed.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Hm.
Huh.
Felix and Siona fell silent simultaneously.
No.
⋯⋯No.
“Was that supposed to break that easily?”
“⋯⋯.”
Felix shook her head.
Don’t ask me.
It was her first time seeing something like that too.
◆
‘⋯⋯That was an experience I never want to go through again.’
As that thought surfaced, the Hero—now back in sword form—scoffed.
[Think a bit about how I felt, stuck in sword form the whole time.]
‘True. You went through more than I expected.’
[⋯⋯You agreeing so readily is somehow more disconcerting.]
‘Empathizing doesn’t mean I’ll treat you any better.’
[⋯⋯.]
‘It’s not hard to say I get it.’
[⋯⋯Damn punk.]
Carlyle blinked at the muttering Holy Sword.
‘Huh, you’re not doing it this time.’
[Hm?]
‘The electric zap. You always do it when I tease you like this.’
He’d poked fun partly because of the satisfying retaliation. Somehow, its absence felt disappointing.
[No, I picked up a few interesting things.]
‘What?’
[Beyond just mentally linking with you⋯⋯ Entering that “body” directly revealed more useful info than expected.]
‘⋯⋯.’
[I plan to make good use of it. Left some hints too.]
‘⋯⋯Hints? What are you talking about?’
[Something like that.]
⋯⋯If he could see the Holy Sword’s face now, it’d probably be grinning slyly—the tone suggested as much.
Better to end it with one zap. This felt ominous⋯⋯
‘⋯⋯Anyway.’
Surgery successful.
Expelled the demon’s Demonic Energy—like a brain tumor—from the patient’s, the Black Whale’s, brain.
‘⋯⋯But did you have to do it barehanded?’
[What’s the big deal? I handled far worse during full-scale wars with Hell.]
‘That’s true, but⋯⋯’
Felix’s side was surely watching.
That performance would make explanations afterward even more awkward.
It probably looked like crushing and detonating fuel rods barehanded at a nuclear plant’s core.
⋯⋯And Carlyle was standing there fine after doing it.
‘Whatever, think about it later.’
For now, time to observe the results of the previous failed Black Whale taming.
Carlyle tapped the Black Whale’s head, and its massive fin visible at the edge of his vision twitched.
For this creature, it was a stimulus hard to even feel, yet it responded meticulously every time.
“⋯⋯Oho.”
What to call it.
No idea what it was expressing, but at least there was zero hostility.
Compared to past loops where merely mounting it triggered frenzied attacks, this was a giant leap.
Its breezy, light goodwill no matter what he did—it was starting to feel cute. Like a massive puppy soaring through the skies⋯⋯
“⋯⋯Carlyle. Is it really okay to leave it like this?”
Vespa spoke in an anxious voice, eyeing the Black Whale floating placidly like it was anchored in the sky.
From her perspective, unable to grasp the situation, it just looked like Carlyle had magically pacified it.
And the answer to that.
“No way. Gotta raise it properly from here on.”
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯Countryman. Are you treating the Great Mother of the Sea like a pet now?”
“What’re you saying to our Blackie?”
“⋯⋯.”
He’d even given it a weird name in the meantime.
Panhima stared at him in horror, but Carlyle ignored her and pondered his “Blackie Rearing Plan.”
Hm, now that they were this close, how to raise it.
Gotta reduce its size somehow. There had to be a way for a catastrophe-class beast⋯⋯
Vespa, watching him, nodded.
“If Carlyle says so, it must be right?”
“⋯⋯.”
“I’ll think of ways to help too!”
“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯She needed to work on her critical thinking regarding Carlyle’s ideas.
◆
-System Message
▶ Intimacy with target ‘Black Whale’ has risen sharply!
▶ Communication with the target is now possible.
▶ An event for the target’s ‘Form Change’ has been added!
-System Message
▶ The ‘Imperial Family’ is wary of you.
▶ Probability of contact with ‘Noble Demons’ has risen sharply!
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