The Sun Has Risen
Count Avon Franz clutched his throbbing arm and looked up at the sky. His golden hair whipped in the wind, and his golden eyes blazed with intensity. The transcendent figure of his son. A brilliant radiance poured from that son, illuminating the entire area. It was a golden splendor. As he gazed at his son’s form, Avon Franz recalled the stories passed down from his own father, and from his father’s father before him.
In the distant past. An age when humans were not yet truly human. A time when even fewer people were born with magical power than now. In that era, those who possessed magic—the ones born with Blue Blood—were considered the only true humans. All others were nothing more than slaves. Those with magic called themselves gods, and indeed, countless humans knelt before them, bowing their heads in fear or reverence. Some worshipped them. They held faith in their hearts.
Could one truly call them foolish? With a mere gesture or a single word, they could collapse nature itself and create a new one in its place. Such power was worthy of being called divine. Yes, it was.
Avon could understand their feelings. Look. That right there… was the sun itself.
I could feel the light of the sun radiating from my entire body. It wasn’t the artificial lump of light I had created before. I had become the sun itself. Of course, compared to the real sun, there were still many shortcomings. Only after assuming this form did I realize how foolish it was to judge the power of the sun by ordinary common sense alone.
After all, the power I possessed—my magic—was fantasy incarnate. The problem had been trying to understand this world solely through the knowledge and common sense of my previous life.
I lowered my gaze. A lizard hiding in the darkness came into view. At my will, light poured down and the world brightened.
“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!”
The lizard, scorched by the light bathing the area, screamed in agony and burst out from the empty air.
“It is impossible to hide before the sun.”
The story of the god from my previous life came to mind—the one who said “Let there be light,” and over seven days created the world, separating day from night. If night meant hiding one’s body in darkness to sleep, then the day lit by the sun meant that everything was revealed beneath its light.
Right now, with the sun blazing down, there was no one who could hide in this domain filled with light. The only problem was that the domain itself was extremely small. I instinctively understood this. Thanks to the enlightenment I had just gained, I now knew many things. The space I could dominate with my magic extended only as far as this hill. It was reasonably wide, but against a large-class monster, it felt precariously small.
I had to finish this before the creature noticed and fled.
I flicked my fingertips. That was the signal. The light rippled. Unfortunately, I did not possess the power of light magic. There was a difference between the sun and light. Even though I could use the light emitted by the sun, I could not manipulate light itself. Why was that? No matter how I overturned my common sense, my mind could not clearly distinguish the difference. But in this world, that distinction clearly existed. It wasn’t mere common sense—it was a matter of this world’s fundamental concepts.
So while I could use light, it was regrettable that I could not utter that famous line. Still, I could do something similar.
I pointed my finger at the lizard. The light rippled and answered my will. At my fingertip, the sun’s light began to compress. That dazzling mass responded to my intent and flew toward the lizard.
“Have you ever been kicked at a speed close to light?”
In a single streak. A clump of solar energy condensed into a beam of light and shot toward the lizard. Its speed approached that of light itself. Before the lizard could even perceive it, its massive body hidden in space shuddered from the impact of the light and slammed into the ground.
-Kuuuuuuuung!
“Kroaaaaaaaagh!”
I could see the lizard’s confusion. It had no idea what kind of attack had struck it or how it had been hit while hidden. But looking at the spot where it had been struck, there were only traces of impact—no hole pierced by the beam of light. In that instant, I had felt the creature’s magic reinforce its scales. So one shot wasn’t enough, after all.
“Then I’ll just keep going.”
It was daytime now. The real sun hung in the sky. I converted the solar energy pouring down from above into magic power. Turning solar energy into magic like a solar power plant was still far off, but stealing even a small amount of solar heat was more than enough to help.
-Ziiiiiiing!
Light rose. Small spheres of light began floating around me—one, two, three… Their numbers kept increasing. I wasn’t sure if they were moving at actual light speed, but each orb flew at a velocity close to light and struck the lizard. And that wasn’t all. I could feel the surrounding air beginning to boil. Each sphere carried enough heat to make the atmosphere itself seethe.
The lizard, looking up at the sky, flinched. Reflected in its eyes, now filled with terror, was my figure surrounded by a massive cluster of light orbs.
I smiled.
“Die.”
No more wasting time.
A torrent of condensed solar energy erupted in every direction.
-Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
“Father! Are you all right?”
“Hoo… I’m fine. I’m all right.”
After the fierce battle ended and I confirmed the lizard’s breathing had stopped, I immediately descended to the ground and approached my father. His complexion was still pale, but he looked more at ease than before—probably because he had redirected his internal magic toward healing. I looked at his arm. The sight of it missing from the shoulder down made my chest tighten.
With a trembling hand filled with one last hope, I placed it on my father’s shoulder.
“……The magic power.”
“Yes.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. My lips trembled as I tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. At my reaction, I heard my father let out a small laugh.
“You’re laughing?”
An unintentionally petulant tone slipped out. The look in my father’s eyes as he gazed at me was softer than usual.
“No. I see.”
He started to speak, then closed his mouth. He seemed unsure how to express it. Eventually he nodded and placed his hand on my head. I felt his thick palm gently stroking my hair.
“Well done, Leoric.”
“……Really.”
At my father’s warm gaze and gentle words, my throat tightened without warning. From the moment I was born, I had been different. It couldn’t be helped. I had been born with memories of my previous life. This was reincarnation. The man before me, the woman I had called mother, the man I had called older brother—I hadn’t been able to treat any of them as true family. There had inevitably been a distance between us.
But.
“You’ve grown up now.”
Seeing my father’s face, more relaxed than usual, saying those words despite his disheveled appearance, emotion surged within me. That’s right. I had told myself it wasn’t so, but these people… they really were my family.
“Lord Leoric, are you sa—……!? Oh my god, My Lord?!”
The moment Chloe appeared, she let out a scream. Behind her, I saw Isabel, her face just as pale as my father’s. And that wasn’t all. I sensed multiple presences rushing toward us from afar. They must be the troops who had returned with my father.
“Haa.”
A sigh escaped me. The damage was one thing, but my father’s arm was the real problem. It could never return to normal. There was no way to regenerate an arm that had already been devoured. Especially since it hadn’t been severed by simple physical force. A body cut by pure magic power could be healed over a long period of time. But the opponent had been the problem. The arm had been torn away along with the flow of magic that formed the creature’s body. And since the lizard had completely digested it, even if it were regenerated, it would be nothing more than an empty shell.
“I’m sorry to you and Aidan. All our plans have gone to ruin.”
“That’s not what matters right now.”
I understood what my father meant, but it wasn’t something to say at a time like this. As the surroundings gradually grew noisy, another sigh escaped me.
“Leoric.”
My father looked at me and spoke. His complexion was pale, his hair disheveled. Yet his eyes were slowly beginning to burn again.
“I had intended to leave the stabilization of Muller to Aidan, but now that I am in this state, that is no longer possible.”
“Father.”
No matter how much we tried to suppress the rumors, my father’s injury would eventually come to light. The news that Franz’s greatest military asset had been crippled would give the surrounding lords more than enough reason to harbor other intentions.
“Before that happens, I must formally pass the position of Count to Aidan.”
It wasn’t a bad time to step down. My older brother had already done more than his share in the war. There would be no major problems if he took over the family immediately. The retainers were already prepared to follow him.
“Then……”
But my brother was currently in the middle of stabilizing Muller and honing his skills in internal affairs. Handing him the position of Count right now would mean calling him back to Franz. In other words—
“Go to the land of Muller.”
The land where the war had ended. That still-chaotic territory. Now that it had become Franz’s land, go there. And become its true master.