Reborn (3)
"L-Lords, you mean?"
"Yes."
Geren had been briefly thrown off balance. He recovered himself soon enough.
Even in front of a child... I ought to mind my words.
He answered in a carefully measured tone.
"Ahem. When monster raids grow too severe for civilians to handle, the lord of each territory raises a subjugation force and sends it out. The Greenhilt Barony is no exception..."
Geren stole a glance at Roy's face, then continued.
"Take the Steel Kingdom as a whole. A fair number of monsters live in the great southern forest and the mountains beyond it. Ah—but you needn't worry overmuch. There's plenty of prey for them deeper in the woods. Unless they've gone a long time without food, they don't cross the southern border. In any case, the lords periodically scout the monsters of the southern kingdom and keep their numbers from exploding. So the work falls into two parts—what civilians handle, and what the territory itself takes on."
"Not just beyond the border—are there many monsters in the forests and mountains inside the kingdom?"
"What counts as 'many' differs from person to person, but... yes, they exist in no small number. That's why civilians step up."
Roy's expression darkened to the utmost.
Nothing like the Empire's day. What is this kingdom even doing?
In the Empire's flourishing years, meeting a monster in an ordinary forest had been vanishingly rare. You had to push deep into a hidden ancient dungeon, or cross the far western canyons of the continent into the Land of Wailing, before you saw one at all.
That was because the Empire's knights and mages had cut down every monster they found. The imperial house had actively encouraged it and paid subsidies without complaint.
That had been the duty of the ruling class—and the reason commoners with little mana paid their taxes without protest. A balance born of mutual interest. In a sense it had been the Empire's greatest achievement, one of the reasons the Empire had been an empire at all.
The Demon King's appearance did shatter that balance, though...
"Is something worrying you?"
After a moment's thought, Roy decided to voice the curiosity rising in him. His body might have been useless so far—but being young was useful for exactly this sort of thing.
"Is there a Demon King alive somewhere on the continent right now?"
"Pardon?"
"I read it in a book. When a Demon King exists, monster numbers swell and their activity grows fiercer. Setting aside the wilds beyond the border—if monsters exist in no small number in forests inside the kingdom itself, isn't that because of a Demon King?"
Listening, Geren's face eased considerably.
Still a child after all. Jumping straight to the Demon King.
He shot back playfully.
"Haha. If that were so, the Steel Kingdom—no, the entire world—would be in emergency. Are you frightened? Afraid some beast might come out of the nearby woods?"
"No. It's only that... the weak, people born without mana, have to face monsters..."
"My. Lord Roy is kindhearted. Of course, through the eyes of a noble like yourself their mana may look paltry and their skill pathetic. But they fight with their lives on the line to protect their families, their property, and the community beyond. And among them are the occasional mutants born with mana stronger than even mine."
"What? Teacher Geren—didn't you say you were of noble birth? Even a mutant—there's no way a commoner could surpass a noble's mana..."
Roy's eyes flew open wider than they ever had for any adventure tale.
"Yes. I'm of fallen noble stock. And I've some confidence in my mana."
"Then how..."
In this world, a human's entire future was decided by the blood that ran through the cord attached to their navel. Imperial blood lived an imperial life. Noble blood lived a noble life. And commoners lived as commoners until they died.
Nobles sometimes fell and crashed to the bottom. A commoner becoming a noble was impossible. That Roy, in his previous life, had climbed as high as viscount on the strength of his peerless magical knowledge had been nothing short of a miracle. At least he had been born into a household of low-ranking knights and so could put his name on the noble rolls. Had he been born a commoner?
His life would have been turned one hundred and eighty degrees.
"Well... that's just how it is. As I said—mutants. Now and then a being is born with exceptional strength or mana. Ah! The famous heroes would be the classic example."
Geren expected the word hero to light young Roy's curiosity. The boy said nothing. He was quiet as a scholar sunk deep in thought.
Mutants?
As Geren said, the classic case of a mutant was the appearance of a hero. The hero of Roy's previous life had been born a count's son yet possessed mana that surpassed the Emperor's, and with that power had succeeded in slaying the Demon King.
But that had owed a great deal to tangled bloodlines. Across the Empire's long history the imperial house had mixed its blood countless times with marquis houses and count houses alike, and as a result a few of their children were occasionally born with extraordinary mana talent. That privilege, however, had been theirs alone. Among low-ranking nobles or commoners it was a story from another world—something that simply never happened.
Don't tell me... when the Empire fell, those who carried the imperial blood just went around scattering seed everywhere?
If so, it would make sense.
But those people?
What the imperial house had feared most was the rise of any group whose mana surpassed their own. So when someone showed the makings of a hero, they had absorbed them into their faction with open arms—and if the person would not obey, they had crushed them without mercy. The bloodline born with the strongest mana talent. They had never allowed that sacred blood to be mixed with commoners, let alone the blood of lowly lesser nobles.
I still can't accept how the Empire collapsed so suddenly—but I can't believe they would despair and go about spilling their blood on just anyone either...
"Lord Roy? What's wrong?"
His field of vision snapped suddenly wide; Geren's voice circled his ear. Roy answered in confusion.
"Ah—nothing. It's only... I can't quite grasp it. Mutant or not... I simply can't believe a commoner could be born with mana stronger than yours, Teacher."
Geren gave a short laugh.
"It's not common. Comb the whole Steel Kingdom and you could count on one hand the commoners stronger than me. I'm actually rather strong, you know!"
He lifted an arm and flexed, showing off a bicep. Roy's reaction was distinctly underwhelming.
"Ahem. Anyway—the point is, such people exist."
"Do you know why mutants are born, Teacher?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? Among those born stronger and richer than others, plenty can't keep their lower half in order. They play around with this woman and that, and so the noble blood trickles all the way down to—"
Geren, happily holding forth, suddenly came to his senses. What in the world was he saying in front of a five-year-old?
I nearly committed lese-majesty against a noble.
"I see... so that's how it is."
Surprisingly, Roy accepted it without difficulty. Hearing his own reasoning confirmed from Geren's mouth made it only natural.
Then or now, among nobles or imperials—fools have always been everywhere.
"Have you heard of the hero Karok? Most heroes who appear across the continent's long history were nobles, but he was the only commoner hero—born in a stable! I'm of noble blood myself, yet I've always loved that story."
"The hero... Karok?"
"Wh—you don't know him?"
"I've never heard the name. So there was a hero like that as well."
"......"
It was a name Roy had never encountered in his life. But if such a hero existed, he would take it as given. He had only just come to accept the idea of mutants. And above all, a full nine hundred years had passed since the past he had lived in.
"Hmm? I heard you read a great many books—I assumed you would know..."
Geren tilted his head a little, then went on with the explanation.
"Well, even without being a mutant, there are all sorts of reasons a commoner might possess powerful mana. They might have been lucky enough to drink the Dragon's Breath, or received a spirit's blessing, and so on."
Among the words Geren had just spoken, one snagged on Roy's nerves.
"Dragon's Breath? What on earth is that? A dragon's breath is not something a person can drink."
Roy, who usually kept a courtesy beyond his years, suddenly pressed the question almost like a challenge. Geren was considerably taken aback. He was the lord's son—boundaries had to be kept—but for a moment Geren wondered whether he ought to scold him sharply here and uphold a tutor's dignity.
"Teacher. Am I wrong?"
Ahem... Dignity can wait until proper lessons begin...
He would establish his authority during physical training. For now, he decided to satisfy the boy's curiosity.
"You've never heard of it? Regardless of one's innate mana talent, simply drinking it vastly increases the mana in one's body... a kind of miracle water. Strictly speaking it's liquor, though."
"What?"
"The Dragon's Breath."
"So—you're saying that drinking it increases the mana in one's body regardless of innate talent?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Of course it's not something easily obtained. Given the effect, the price is enormous."
"......"
Roy stood for a long while with his small mouth open, staring blankly into space.
Insane... What the hell is that?
He thought: if such a thing truly existed—no, if it truly existed now—then what had his previous life, ended so pointlessly, even been?
"If that is a lie, I will not forgive you."
"Pardon?"
"What you just told me. If it was nothing more than empty bluster for a child's ears, I said I will not forgive you."
"L-Lord Roy!? P-Please calm—"
In that instant, a pure white aura of mana began to rise from Roy's entire body.