Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Translator: XZY
Chapter 71: Northbound (3)
***
— ‘When you teach Siern, you will be filled with many questions.’
Before leaving for the north, Derek had visited Melverot’s residence to relay his final confirmations.
Melverot, who had been attending to his duties with his legs crossed in an arrogant posture, was delighted by Derek’s message that he would head north, but he also told Derek that there was something he needed to convey as Siern’s father.
— ‘Countless mages have tried to teach Siern and given up. Their reasons were all different, and many met an unfortunate end.’
— ‘...’
— ‘I just need Siern to be able to adapt well to noble society. It’s enough if she properly learns the magic that fits the star-rank system and acquires the culture of a lady, becoming a person who is not a source of shame as the young lady of the Rochest family. Nothing else matters. However, the questions that arise in that process... bury them all deep inside. That will be enough.’
It seemed like he was stating the obvious, but Melverot’s expression was full of meaning.
Anyone in the world could see that he was hiding something, but Derek was not in a position to press him on it.
And Derek, too, was not particularly interested in the long, drawn-out story. In any case, it was a matter of coaxing Siern well and just teaching her what needed to be taught.
Nevertheless, he could not help but have a strange intuition.
<><><>
A blade-like wind blew. The carriage, which had been swept up by the beast’s corpse and completely shattered, looked like it would be difficult to function anymore.
Passing by the servants who were cowering in fear, Derek stepped to the very front and spoke.
“Lady Siern. My name is Derek, and I have come from Ebelstein.”
Derek decided to employ the first strategy first. To try and connect through dialogue.
He knew that countless teachers had come and tried the same strategy to no avail, so he did not have high expectations from the start.
Her appearance, not even caring about the corpses of beasts and the smell of blood. Just by seeing that, she was not someone who could be reasoned with through words, but he judged that it was right to do what he had to do first.
And then, an unexpected reaction came from the girl who was clutching the corpses of the beasts.
“I heard from Serena.”
Her unkempt hair was coming down over her brow. The pure white pupils revealed on either side of that hair were staring straight at Derek.
Her clear and pure voice held an intellectual air. Her tone was also calm and settled, and if one were to go by first impressions, she would seem like a quiet and graceful person. If not for her appearance, stained with the blood of beasts.
“I heard you’ll be teaching me magic.”
“...Yes. Though my station is humble, I make a living by teaching magic.”
“Interesting.”
Unexpectedly, communication was possible.
It was around the time Derek began to think that the first methodology might just work.
Siern’s bluish hair began to float, and mana started to overflow from her body.
Blue mana began to surge from her pure white pupils, and she grinned at Derek, raising the corners of her mouth. Her appearance was as if she were filled with some kind of ecstasy.
“Then you must be stronger than me?”
“...Pardon?”
As soon as Derek asked back, Siern’s form vanished.
Siern’s movement, as if she had seeped into the blade-like wind, was difficult to even follow with the eyes.
By the time Aiseline and the servants, who had been watching the situation, blinked their eyes once, the hem of Siern’s skirt, who had already flown to right in front of Derek’s nose and landed, was scattering in the fierce wind.
Pure white bare feet were revealed below the hem of the skirt, which was adorned with a great many frills. As soon as she pressed down on the snowy ground, a giant earth wall shot up from the floor and assaulted Derek.
There was no incantation, and no motion to gather mana. The movement itself was not a speed possible with this petite girl’s physical strength.
‘Transmutation magic... 3-Star... not quite, is it an almost-full 2-Star?’
Derek could not help but be impressed internally.
It was not that there were no talents who reached 3-Star before their coming-of-age ceremony. If one received the full support of a prestigious noble house, one or two might emerge in a generation from across the entire continent.
However, for a talent that countless teachers had given up on in this barren land to reach such a level was something that, realistically, did not make sense.
Kwagagak! Kwak— !
Derek, who dodged the surging earth wall by taking a large step back, lowered his posture. Seriousness was now in his eyes.
Hwaaaak— !
The earth walls that subsequently shot up tried to crush Derek’s body, but the mana arrows he manifested in an instant shattered them all before they could even take proper form.
The servants who saw this, as well as Lady Siern, momentarily widened their eyes. Derek’s reaction speed had already far surpassed the normal category.
‘In the first place... this isn’t a use of mana that can be classified by star-rank magic. It can’t be considered the Wild School either... what is she?’
There was one immutable truth in magical attainment.
Effort, a master, a good environment... various factors worked in a complex manner, but if one had to pick the most important factor in magical attainment, it was ultimately bloodline.
First was bloodline, and second was bloodline. If one were to pick a third... it was still bloodline.
And this girl was a person who had inherited the blood of a 6-Star mage directly. In a way, it could be seen as natural that the level of her attainment was high.
However, the way she used mana was too different from Melverot. Her appearance, running wild so freely, made it hard to believe she was the daughter of that 6-Star mage who had walked the standard path of a noble family’s Regulation School mage. It was to the point where he doubted if she was really his biological daughter.
“You dodged?”
Lady Siern once again put on a cold expression, then flicked her fingertips and looked at Derek.
Her attack contained killing intent. She was a girl who did not know how to hold back.
If classified by the star-rank system of magic, the magic Lady Siern used was almost 3-Star.
The 2-Star Transmutation magic, ‘Earth Wall.’ The 3-Star Transmutation magic, ‘Acceleration.’
However, her magic had a strong feeling of not being confined within such a star-rank system.
“Lady Siern.”
Derek’s tone became a notch lower.
Derek, who quietly raised his body, pulled his loosened leather gloves tight and raised his menacing eyes.
“You must not attack people recklessly.”
First, he stated the righteous argument. It was Derek’s way.
Diella, Elente, and Denise had all said it with one voice. Derek always said only what was right. Because a righteous argument could not be refuted.
However, Siern looked at Derek and let out a laugh as if to say it was pathetic.
“You talk like someone from the southwest. I hear the wide-open plains and mild climate are truly like a paradise.”
A blade-like wind that blew once more scattered the girl’s hair.
Despite the weather being cold enough to make even grown men shiver, the girl was roaming the snowfield with bare feet and bare hands. Her appearance was not ordinary.
“Just because I don’t attack recklessly, do you think others will leave me alone?”
“That is what it means to be a civilized person.”
“That kind of talk doesn’t fly in this north. You have to kill before you’re killed, and eat before you’re eaten. It’s not much different whether it’s the wild animals that roam this snowfield, or humans.”
The girl’s values were extreme.
It was plausible that such a way of thinking could form if one grew up in the desolate north, but Siern was the young lady of a noble family. The possibility that she grew up in a more comfortable environment than others was high.
Nevertheless, the girl with eyes as cold as a sheet of ice said to Derek.
“If you intend to teach me, you must prove your qualification.”
“And what is that qualification?”
“Not being killed by me.”
The area around the girl was a field of corpses. She was a person who felt no guilt in taking a life.
Rabbits, wolves, deer, bears... not to mention the beasts that roamed the snowfield, beyond demonic beasts, and sometimes even human lives.
The pupils of the girl standing among the corpses were, as always, serene. This girl was a person who viewed skinning a rabbit and skinning a person on the same level.
There would be those who called it purity, and there would be those who called it madness.
—Derek was clearly of the latter opinion.
Kwang— !
Stomping her foot once more, Lady Siern’s form vanished again.
Siern’s movements as she darted between the gaunt trees had to be followed not with the eyes, but with the senses.
It was the moment Derek tilted his ear, trying to focus on the sound of Lady Siern’s movement.
Hwaak— !
The mana that bloomed in an instant manifested a new magic. Lady Siern manifested the 1-Star magic ‘Sound Block’ and obscured Derek’s hearing.
‘Her combat sense is considerable.’
Derek’s appearance was still relaxed, and Siern’s pressure grew even fiercer.
1-Star combat-type magics flew in. She cast shockwaves, ice lances, and flame arrows with multi-casting.
And even while doing so, she did not release the 3-Star magic ‘Acceleration’ that she had wrapped around her body.
Kugugung, kwang— !
Derek felt a strange sense of kinship looking at her. Her appearance, as if she had stood alone in the cold wilderness, certainly had parts that overlapped with Derek’s own past.
However, there were two very large differences.
Unlike Derek, she was born with a noble bloodline that was no different from a blessing from the heavens.
And the other was that all her combat methods were excessively raw.
To Derek, who had been through all sorts of trials and tribulations, even her movements just looked still inexperienced.
Kwaak— !
Kwadeudeuk! Kwak! Kwagagak— !
Siern’s pupils widened greatly once.
When she came to her senses, all the combat-type magic she had manifested had been shattered by mana arrows.
Intercepting magic before it could even properly take effect was Derek’s specialty. No matter how sharp her combat sense was, it was not easy to deal with Derek’s flexible use of mana.
This time, Derek kicked off the ground and rushed in. The distance closed in an instant, but Siern scattered her disheveled hair and leaped far back.
“Trying to catch up to me with speed? That’s a foolish notion...”
It was the moment she was about to mock Derek, saying it was a foolish notion.
A menacing sensation crept up Siern’s back.
It was beyond the realm of the five senses, the domain of the sixth sense. It was an instinct engraved in the senses of Lady Siern, who had grown up roaming the north and killing demonic beasts since she was a child.
Kwaak— !
Kwadangtang— !
Without having created much distance, Lady Siern rolled on the snowy ground.
Derek’s foot was stomping on Lady Siern’s shadow. It was the 2-Star combat-type magic ‘Shadow Bind.’
It was a magic that seized the opponent’s shadow with mana, sealing their movement. Its speed itself was so slow that its practicality in real combat was low, but Derek was overcoming all such flaws with his innate mana sense.
“H-how...”
She was about to ask how he had caught up to her movements, but that was a foolish question.
Derek strode confidently towards Lady Siern, who was sprawled on the ground, caught by Shadow Bind.
He was a person who had been directly taught detection-type magic by the legendary detection-type mage, Drest Wolftail.
Derek had already developed a sense that could grasp the opponent’s path just by the movement of the mana flow.
The 3-Star Transmutation magic ‘Acceleration’ was a useful magic, but it had the fatal flaw that the aftereffects of mana remained in every movement.
That meant that if one met a high-level detection-type mage, their entire path would be seen through. Because they were people who had mastered the art of chasing the traces and aftereffects of mana.
When it came to combat, the natural-born enemies of Transmutation mages were the detection-type mages.
Of course, there was no way that Lady Siern, who had fought relying solely on her senses, would be open to such theoretical knowledge.
And from the perspective of someone without such theoretical knowledge, it would feel as if Derek was foreseeing all of her movements.
“Lady Siern. If you continue to run wild, I will...”
“Heup!”
Before Derek could finish his words, Lady Siern picked up a stone that was buried in the snow and threw it at Derek.
Because the stone came flying while he had relaxed his focus and was speaking, it struck him squarely in the temple before he could even dodge it.
Peok— !
It could not be called a fatal wound, but his focus was momentarily broken, and the Shadow Bind was also neutralized. Lady Siern used that opening to once again manifest Acceleration magic and quickly create distance.
Hwaak— !
Her arrow-like movement was astonishing.
“...”
Derek stood still as he was.
A single streak of blood flowed down from his temple. A single drop of blood fell onto the white pile of snow, widening its reddish area.
Derek, who was quietly looking down at that sight, eventually pressed his brow firmly.
“Derek-ssi! A-are you alright!”
Aiseline was about to run over in worry, but as soon as her eyes met Derek’s, she gasped.
It was because Derek’s appearance was not ordinary.
“...”
Derek was fundamentally a person who was not swayed by emotions.
When Diella had insulted him, when Elente had looked down on him, Derek had never revealed any emotional agitation.
Even if someone came charging at him trying to kill him on their first meeting, and threw a stone at him causing him to bleed... there would be no cracking of the steel-like composure of Derek, who possessed a mind of iron.
Nevertheless, Aiseline could not help but swallow a dry gulp of saliva as she looked at Derek, who was pressing his brow and wiping away the blood.
Should it be called a demonic aura, or should it be called killing intent?
An indescribable pressure was clearly felt from Derek’s cold gaze.
Just because he did not act foolishly, swept away by anger, did not mean he had no emotions. When he was in a bad mood, he was in a bad mood. It was just that he himself considered it to be of no great importance.
Therefore, without scolding or raising his voice, Derek spoke in a low, sunken voice.
“Did I not mention that I had thought of about three methods?”
“Yes? Y-yes, yes... y-you did...”
He continued speaking with a voice like a menacing blade.
“It seems we’ll have to go with the third methodology.”
“D-Derek-ssi...”
“If you have any objections, please say so, Lady Aiseline.”
Even in that situation, his appearance as he asked for the opinion of his companion, Aiseline, was the very picture of composure.
Aiseline could not even think of raising an objection. She merely stepped back... and with a trembling voice, barely managed to speak.
“G-go... easy... on her...”
“Understood.”
At the same time, this time, Derek’s form vanished.
<><><>
Suuk— !
Lady Siern found herself holding her breath without realizing it.
Her eyes met Derek’s at point-blank range as he thrust his face forward and closed the distance.
The killing intent dwelling in those chillingly red eyes was something she felt she had seen somewhere before. It resembled that of the giant wolf she had seen in a blizzard while roaming the snowy mountains alone in her childhood.
In the wild world, everyone stood in one of two positions. A predator, or prey.
Since that position was ultimately relative, a predator could not be a predator forever, and there was no case where the prey was forever prey.
In the end, while roaming this vast, rule-less world, it was a matter of who you encountered.
If you met a rabbit, you became a predator, and if you met a wolf, you became prey. Without being complicated, it was a problem on that level.
So, am I a predator right now, or prey?
The moment she entertained such a question, Derek’s hand shot out, trying to grab her by the collar.
Kwajik— !
Ppudeudeuk— !
However, with a sense close to instinct, Siern grabbed Derek’s hand and bit down on that calloused hand with her teeth.
When her hand was momentarily released by Derek’s strength, she leaped back again, but it was a meaningless movement.
No matter how much she manifested Acceleration magic, it was as if Derek already knew in advance where her movements were headed. When it came to this, the difference in speed was almost meaningless.
Pabak— !
Therefore, Siern decided to first move in a straight line and create as much distance as possible.
Since moving here and there to confuse him was not working, she would create distance with an absolute difference in speed.
However, that too was what Derek had intended. When the distance had widened considerably, Derek shook off his hand and gathered his mana.
Hwaaaak—!
Derek stretched his hand into the air, then clenched his fist tight.
“O, spirit of the earth that embraces all things without wavering...”
Siern’s sixth sense cried out. Something was not right.
It was the same for Aiseline.
—She was seeing Derek chant a spell for the first time.
Derek basically almost never used incantations.
The boy, who possessed a mana sense that had reached its limit, was already at a level high enough to use not only 1-Star magic but even 2-Star magic without incantations.
Huuuuung— !
All the servants who had gathered at the scene also had expressions of disbelief.
The amount of mana gathered around the boy, who was only about the age of his coming-of-age ceremony, easily surpassed that of the children of most noble houses.
Hwaaak— !
Kugugugung— !
Derek did not particularly prefer a combat style of crushing the opponent with pure firepower.
He was a person born with a natural magical talent, but in basic duel situations, he tended to rely more on his seasoned combat sense than on magic.
There were far more cases where he used magic to toy with the enemy with trickery and to gain the upper hand in a psychological battle.
That did not mean he could not fight a simple battle of firepower. He just had not done it.
However, if it was a situation where he had to overwhelm the opponent by crushing them with a simple difference in power, Derek too would use large-scale magic without hesitation.
He had already reached a quite high level even among 3-Star mages.
Kugugung, kugung, kugung—
The magic that came next must be dodged.
It was the moment Lady Siern swallowed a dry gulp of saliva and took her stance.
However, the magic Derek implemented next was not the kind that could be dodged.
Kugugugung— !
The ground began to split, and a snowstorm rose up.
“Kyahk!”
3-Star combat-type magic, ‘Tectonic Shift.’
It was a high-level combat magic that overturned the land in the area, suppressing the opponent with the ground itself.
However, Lady Siern’s combat sense had also reached its peak.
If it was a magic that could not be dodged, she had to suppress the user. The distance was wide, making it a close call, but she just had to quickly close the distance again and interfere with the incantation.
It was the moment Lady Siern manifested Acceleration magic and was about to kick off the ground.
There, the ground was already gone.
Engulfed in a sense of floating, she saw the form of Derek implementing the magic from far away.
In the gaze of him, who had a single streak of blood flowing from his temple, there was no emotional fluctuation.
‘This scale of magic... he already finished the incantation...?’
His magic incantation was always a few beats faster than anyone imagined. At this point, she realized. They were on a completely different level.
The killing intent in the boy’s eyes already completely resembled that of predatory animals.
She was the prey.
Hwiiiiik— !
In the end, all that was left was to fall.