Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Celestial Eye and a Daughter's Doubt
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Before leaving, Allen called Inellia aside and gave her a few orders.
“…This is an important task, so I ask that you be especially careful.”
“Leave it to me, Young Master.”
“Good. I trust you.”
He had her secretly spread rumors that would gradually overshadow Julius's reputation.
To make it seem natural that Allen was superior to Julius.
Rumors that Young Master Allen had come to find a fundamental solution to the curse, and that he was even covering all the costs for treating the sick.
It was the truth, but a rumor cleverly crafted to draw comparisons between Allen and Julius.
‘For now, it's just a small piece, but once these pieces come together…’
They would become a force too great to ignore.
For that reason, Inellia had to remain here.
“Young Master, can't I go with you?”
“Linbelle, the Young Master already told you. And yet…”
As Inellia raised a hand with a stern look, Linbelle spoke with an anxious expression.
“Young Master, as you saw last time, I won't be a burden. You said I have talent. So this time, too…”
Allen considered her request for a moment, then extended his perception.
‘Have her muscles already developed? Her posture is stable, and so is her balance. But…’
No prana yet.
Probing deeper with his perception, he could feel red, swollen areas, indicating she still had muscle soreness.
‘She's been overtraining. And recently, too. If not for this, I might have considered taking her.’
He felt he could protect her well enough in a fight against the witch.
But there was no need to force her body to recover with potions just to bring her along.
Allen stepped between the tense mother and daughter and spoke.
“I have a separate task for you, which is why I'm leaving you here. I'll be sure to take you next time. For now, stay here.”
“…Huh?”
Linbelle lowered her head with a blank expression. Inellia comforted Linbelle in her arms and bowed her head to Allen.
“I will look after Linbelle. Please have a safe trip.”
“…Even as a porter.”
She spoke in a small voice, but before Allen could answer, Inellia shut her down.
*Smack!*
“Don't say such foolish things, Linbelle.”
“Ouch, my head… Have a safe trip, Young Master.”
“Alright.”
Allen gave a brief smile and walked over to Soned, who was waiting for him.
‘…Was I too harsh?’
I couldn't see Linbelle's face at the end, but she must have been joking.
Still, to contradict his words in front of others, even as a joke. I'll have to warn her about this later.
Soned handed Allen a map with the witch's presumed locations and looked at him with a serious gaze.
“Young Master, once this matter is resolved, I would like to invite you to a meal.”
“An invitation from you… I'll look forward to it.”
Allen accepted the invitation with a light smile.
“Are you sure you don't need the support of mercenaries?”
“Large numbers are meaningless against a witch. A coachman to drive the carriage will be enough.”
“If you say so… I wish you good fortune.”
“The same to you. Well then, I'll see you in a few days.”
Soned let out a sigh of relief, watching the back of the carriage as it disappeared into the distance.
‘What does the Young Master want…?’
As he fell silent, Karic, who had been seeing them off beside him, spoke up.
“It's truly admirable how much Young Master Allen cares for the people of the domain.”
“Is that all you gathered from our conversation just now?”
“Pardon? Then…?”
Soned sighed, looking at the young, naive, and inexperienced merchant.
He's brilliant in some areas, but still immature in others.
“Hah, no, I might as well tell you now.”
“What is it you wish to tell me?”
He spoke while gazing at the carriage, which was now just a dot in the distance.
“Do you know about the mistress of the Reinhardt family? No…”
Soned shielded his eyes from the glaring sun and asked in a low voice.
“Do you know anything about the Lupinus family?”
* * *
“Young Master, this is the fifth location marked on the map.”
“I'll check it for a moment.”
“Ye-yes. Understood.”
The coachman trembled, staring with a fearful expression at the deep canyon before them.
The bottom of the canyon was obscured by dark green moss and shadows.
‘I can sense negative mana. Was there a massacre here in the past?’
Well, it doesn't matter.
Allen spread his perception wide, scanning every corner of the canyon.
From the cave nestled in a corner of the canyon to the darkness-shrouded floor.
For a moment, he searched the canyon at a speed so fast it was like an overwhelming flood of information, but the result was disappointing.
“…Not here either.”
Perhaps in a few more years, undead might naturally spawn here, but not now.
Allen unfolded the map he had already checked several times.
‘Eleven places to go. Five days have already passed. The time I have left is…’
Two weeks at most.
I have to kill the witch within that time.
‘I can't drag this out any longer.’
Including the time needed to clean up after the incident and return to the domain, I only have two weeks to work with.
If I can't kill the witch by then, I won't be back in time for Julius's arrival.
‘I can't visit every location marked on the map.’
It's already taken three days to check five places.
Checking the listed destinations one by one is a waste of time.
‘I need another way. Search other places. Wait, search…?’
“Ah.”
Cursing his own foolishness, Allen immediately took a bead from his pocket.
A bead that was gray, with spots of white beginning to mix in.
[Celestial Eye]
One of the five divine artifacts of the first hero, and the item he had found in the family's vault.
‘I hadn't thought of it because I haven't had a reason to use it yet…’ On second thought, there was no more suitable item for this moment.
‘How stupid of me.’
When he first took it from the vault, he'd thought he should examine it, but with the duel against Julius, the elixir he recovered from the mountain, and the strange white book, he had simply stored it away.
Using the bead was simple.
As it was one of the hero's divine artifacts, basic information about it was widely known, and he had seen Julius use it in his past life.
Allen immediately grasped the bead and focused his mind.
The bead exerted a sudden pull, and his consciousness was instantly sucked into it.
‘Is this… the sky?’
He quickly gathered his senses and looked down to see his own body, standing with its eyes closed.
‘So this is the power of a divine artifact…’
I can't even begin to guess the principle behind it.
After surveying his surroundings for a while, Allen quickly focused as the white parts of the grayish-white bead began to turn gray.
‘The location of the witch spreading the curse.’
The moment he had the thought, hundreds of locations from all over the world simultaneously flooded his mind.
This is insane.
Hit with a headache even worse than when he spread his perception wide, Allen quickly narrowed the scope.
‘Scope: the western Libre Kingdom.’
Even after narrowing the scope, more than ten locations appeared at once.
‘…Similar incidents are happening all over the kingdom?’
If he had enough time, Allen would have wanted to investigate further, but he had to let it go as the white part of the bead was rapidly disappearing.
‘The only ones who would pull a stunt like this must be those dark mages from ‘Estedore’.’
He had suspected it while speaking with Inellia alone, but they were the only ones crazy enough to execute a plan to spread curses and corrupt divine beasts.
Allen knew of at least three major incidents those bastards would cause in the future.
All of them were related to Julius.
Realizing he was running out of time, Allen narrowed the scope again.
When he narrowed it to the Reinhardt County, the locations reduced to two. When he narrowed it completely to the vicinity of the western city of the county…
‘…Found it.’
Near the western city of Bergen, in a nameless forest a three-day journey from the city.
In the single image that appeared in his mind, a witch as old as a dead tree sat within a magic circle drawn with animal blood.
Sensing a gaze from somewhere, she looked up into the empty air.
“Witch.”
The witch, seeming to have realized something, hurriedly raised her hand.
Watching her, Allen whispered softly.
“—I'm coming for you.”
“…!”
At that moment, the white part of the bead turned completely gray, and Allen's consciousness returned to his body.
*Flash*
“U-uaaah!”
As Allen stood still, the coachman, who had been cautiously approaching out of concern, fell backward when Allen's eyes suddenly snapped open.
“How much time has passed?”
“Y-yes?”
“How long was I standing here with my eyes closed?”
“Th-that is…”
Allen calmly waited for his answer.
When Allen didn't press him, the coachman stuttered, counted on his fingers, glanced at the sky, and answered in an uncertain tone.
“Probably… about five minutes have passed.”
“Five minutes…”
It seemed there was no time discrepancy.
That meant the time the divine artifact was active wasn't very long.
“Thank you. Let's head to the next location.”
“Yes, so, to the place on the map…”
“No. The place we're heading to is…”
Allen recalled the witch's startled expression and smiled coldly.
“A forest located a three-day journey from Bergen. We're going there.”
* * *
“Lady Inellia, is there anything you find uncomfortable?”
“No. I'm doing well, thanks to you.”
“That's a relief. Young Master Allen was very insistent, so please let me know if there is anything you require.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
“Well then…”
*Click—*
As the maid Soned had assigned to them finished her greetings and left the room, Linbelle, who had been sitting demurely beside her mother, immediately looked anxious.
“Mom, am I useless?”
Three days had already passed since Young Master Allen left Bergen.
In that time, all Inellia and Linbelle had done was speak with Soned, who would ask morning and evening if they were comfortable.
Contrary to the Young Master's words that he would give her a task, she had done nothing but wait in the provided room.
Linbelle bit her lip, compulsively clutching and releasing her clothes.
“The reason the Young Master didn't take me with him… is it because I'm useless?”
For the first time, she had admired the Young Master's strength.
She had realized the injustices one suffers from being powerless.
And she had learned that the world doesn't always work out for the best.
That's why.
“Why, why can't I use prana? Huh? Mom.”
She tried to live up to the Young Master's goodwill, his expectations.
In the face of his overwhelming kindness, his unwavering faith in her.
“…Maybe I'm actually nothing? You're a fairy, Mom… so why, why am I…”
She wanted to repay his trust, the trust of someone who told her she wasn't a weed by the roadside but a white flower blooming on a cliff.
“But why, why me, huh? You said you're a fairy… please, please, can't you just give me an answer?”
The Young Master didn't doubt that she had a different ability than others, but she herself couldn't believe it.
His expectations, which she had once happily accepted, were now so heavy that it was all she could do to keep from crumbling.
“Mom, maybe I'm actually completely useless…”
“No, that's not true at all, Linbelle.”
Inellia quickly pulled the shrinking girl into her arms, denying her words.
“Linbelle, that's not it. I know it. You can do it. It's just a little difficult right now.”
“Really? Or is it just your imagination…”
“It's not.”
Inellia's heart ached.
This wasn't her usual personality. She was a bit ditsy, cute, and full of mischief. To think such a child would crumble under the weight of expectations.
‘…If it's this hard for her.’
Her eyes filled with determination, and she whispered in a gentle tone.
“Then… do you want to stop?”
“…!!!”
Inellia patted her back and continued in a somewhat wistful voice.
“We can just think of these past few months as a good experience… and go back to our old life? I'll hunt, and you'll gather herbs.”
No worries, and when we were short on firewood, we'd sleep huddled together.
When the hunt was successful, we'd cook with happy faces, and when it failed, we'd make your favorite mushroom stew.
“Do you want to go back to that repetitive, yet peaceful life?”
Linbelle was silent for a while, then answered in a subdued voice.
“No… I don't want that.”
“Why do you say that? You said it was too hard.”
Inellia asked gently, without pressing.
“…I hate it.”
“Why?”
Linbelle recalled the reason she had started trying so hard.
Right now she was struggling under Allen's immense expectations, but she remembered the fundamental reason she had pursued strength.
“…Because I never want to go through that again.”
The image of her mother allowing herself to be taken because of her own weakness was etched so deeply in her mind that it still appeared in her nightmares.
“Alright. If you ever want to give up, just tell me. I'm on your side.”
Inellia carried Linbelle to the bedroom and laid her down on the bed.
“You'll feel better after some sleep. Okay?”
“…Okay.”
She must have been mentally exhausted, as she soon fell fast asleep, her breathing even.
Inellia sighed in relief inwardly and recalled the task Allen had entrusted to her with a serious expression.
“But first, just a moment…”
She immediately closed her eyes.
As she focused her mind, a wind swirled around her, and the form of a bluish girl appeared.
“Sylph.”
*Kyahaha—*
“Shh!”
*Kya?*
“My daughter is sleeping, can you be quiet?”
*Nod, nod*
When Inellia stroked her and made the request, Sylph obediently nodded and clung to her cheek.
“Sylph, can you make sure no sound gets out?”
Sylph immediately nodded, transformed into a gust of wind, and circled around them, sealing them off from the outside.
“I'm just stepping out for a bit, so please stay like this for a moment. I'm counting on you.”
Feeling the wind caress her as if in agreement, Inellia carefully rose from the bed.
“…”
She looked down to see Linbelle fast asleep, breathing softly.
Inellia carefully returned to her true fairy form.
After a moment, a beautiful fairy with ashen skin and fourteen pairs of wings revealed herself.
“Linbelle, I'm sorry. I want to stay with you, but I'll be back soon.”
She apologized to the sleeping girl and secretly used her ability.
The fairy's ability to transform into other creatures.
*Shhhh—*
Her body instantly melted into a shadow, and her form vanished. Inellia slipped quickly through the crack under the door and disappeared in an instant.
To carry out the orders given by Young Master Allen.
The moment Inellia disappeared, Linbelle's violet eyes opened.
Her gaze was fixed on the door through which Inellia had vanished.
“Liar.”
Linbelle murmured with empty eyes, suppressing the ugly feeling spreading through her chest.
“…See, I was right.”
She quickly covered her face with a pillow.
Because she couldn't bear to see the expression on her own face.
Truly.
* * *
A few days later, Allen's name began to spread quietly beneath the city's surface.
Along with the intentions lurking behind it.