Chapter 8. Value (3)
“Lend me your mana? What do you mean by that? Are you saying your abilities are insufficient?”
“Yes. It's embarrassing, but that's correct.”
The hall erupted into murmurs of chaos at Asena's response.
Everyone furrowed their brows, struggling to make sense of her words.
“It's the first time I've heard the One-Eyed Merchant say something like that.”
“Same here.”
“Has her power weakened, perhaps?”
A few whispers reached their ears.
Someone even raised a hand to question Asena directly.
“Lady Asena, are you saying the child's talent is so extraordinary you can't judge it? Or is it so insignificant you can't read it at all?”
It was clearly a question hoping for the latter.
But the response came from elsewhere.
“Quiet! Who told you to interrupt?”
“My apologies……”
The man was sharply rebuked by Rohbark.
The gazes that turned back to me felt like needles piercing my skin.
They grew sharper as Asena waited with her hand released and Rohbark pondered in silence.
[She'll dig into your talent even if she has to borrow mana. Heh heh heh! This is getting really interesting!]
Hierniorn was fluttering above my head, flapping its wings excitedly.
What was so amusing?
Then Rohbark broke the silence.
“Very well. I'll lend you my mana. But if the result disappoints, you'll have to adjust the numbers on that check.”
It was a threat bordering on a warning.
Yet the One-Eyed Merchant merely flinched slightly and stood her ground.
“I won't disappoint you, Warlock.”
“I'll hold you to that.”
Rohbark placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Begin.”
A gale swept through the hall.
To Kirian's surprise, Asena had already removed her eyepatch and was staring at him.
Now he saw it—her eyes weren't just two.
A third pupil was rising from the center of her forehead, lifting its lid.
[She was hiding her power! This is fun too!]
So she wasn't the One-Eyed Merchant, but the Three-Eyed Merchant.
In any case, the ritual had grown incomparably more complex than before.
The Scrying spell, fueled by Rohbark's immense mana, was on another level entirely.
You are beginning to be affected by a powerful spell.
The power is continuously rising.
A flash of realization hit Kirian.
This woman had been watching him since the fake funeral.
Her gaze had been so persistent it made the back of his neck prickle even at rest.
In other words, Asena had been using Scrying on him from the start.
'And yet she couldn't gauge my worth, so she borrowed Rohbark's mana?'
This wasn't a bad omen.
It was the moment to play his trump card.
So he changed his strategy.
'Time to inflate my value sky-high.'
He decided to buff the Scrying itself.
No telling how much it would yield.
He'd only know once the lid was off.
He acted immediately.
Blessing spell 'Magic Enhancement' is being applied.
Her three pupils flipped back abruptly.
Kirian whipped the spell forward like a lash, accelerating it.
Reverse-calculating the ritual and reinforcing the computation process.
The probability of the spell's effect being exaggerated is skyrocketing.
“…….”
Mana swirled wildly now, forcing everyone to squeeze their eyes shut.
'Alright, let's see how far this goes.'
Asena Mazel had been aware of the final subject from the beginning.
The child with pale-glowing golden hair and crystalline blue eyes.
'Kirian Kirchheis……'
She had met his father in the north and built a rapport.
The Demiph she knew was far from the rumors.
His magic talent was lacking, but his mind was razor-sharp, and though eccentric, his character was impeccable.
'A seeker of the world's secrets. That must've gotten him on his father's bad side.'
She couldn't fathom why Rohbark had cast Demiph out.
But it was clear: the fake funeral had publicly severed the youngest son.
Even if Demiph lived, he could never return to the Kirchheis family.
The Iron-Blooded Warlock had declared his death to all.
'I came to protest that.'
Instead, she'd taken an irresistible commission to appraise Demiph's son.
A seven-year-old with immense potential.
Yesterday, seeing Kirian's back, she'd lowered her eyepatch in shock—unable to fathom its depths.
'To grant such talent to a child orphaned of both parents. Is this the goddess's mercy? Or her jest?'
Fortunately, Rohbark wasn't oblivious to Kirian's talent.
Offering dragon's blood proved it.
So did not refusing her mana request.
The patriarch clearly favored his young grandson.
'Show me, then. What do you possess?'
Asena focused, peering beyond the child's blue eyes.
She began deciphering fragments of his aptitudes.
'Perfect dominance, paradoxical deconstruction, innate insight, instinctive agility……'
She had to synthesize the clues to assess his value.
But something was off.
Normally, a subject's mind instinctively resisted Scrying, forcing her to breach the barrier.
But now—
'It's pulling me in instead?'
No wall, but a pit.
A bottomless abyss stared back, making her grit her teeth.
'Mana consumption is too high.'
Without Rohbark's aid, she'd have collapsed in ten seconds.
As mana drained, the value of Kirian's talents soared exponentially.
“…….”
Unaware of Kirian's ploy, Asena swallowed dryly, struggling to stabilize the spell.
Then she discovered something astonishing.
The child possessed at least three aptitudes.
'No, perhaps more.'
An unprecedented rarity.
The problem: none were clearly visible.
The largest had already manifested, yet she couldn't identify it.
'A trait I've never seen. What is this?'
Even as she pondered, the estimate climbed.
A talent too grand to price.
Asena's mind raced.
If she revealed it all?
'This child would be in grave danger.'
The Kirchheis family thrived on blood feuds.
An orphan without parental shield.
Jealousy and sabotage would rain down.
As a merchant who valued human worth, she faced a contradiction.
'Undervalue the talent a bit.'
That way, she'd face Demiph honorably someday.
Fortunately, outlines of the others faintly emerged.
Exhausting herself to identify them, her voice rasped.
“This child has two aptitudes. One seems to involve handling familiars—likely Manipulator or Commander. As for the value……”
“……?”
“Hard to judge precisely now, but at least on par with Libiel's.”
“No way!”
The girl shrieked in protest.
Drained, Asena merely concluded quietly.
“That's all, Warlock.”
Kirian watched Asena silently.
Her face looked a decade older in an instant.
Meanwhile, the Kirchheis kin chattered in stunned confusion.
“How could Demiph's son……”
“Isn't something wrong?”
Kirian shared their bewilderment.
He wanted to ask immediately.
'Me? A Manipulator or Commander?'
Talents for handling artificial familiars.
Essential for summoner mages.
Why had Transcendental Eye and Leap Ability been supplanted by these?
[Tsk! What a botched scrying. Three eyes and she couldn't see a damn thing.]
Hierniorn shook its head with a click of its tongue.
Then Rohbark issued an abrupt command.
“Everyone, out.”
“Pardon?”
“I said leave this room, you fools. I won't say it a third time.”
“……!”
“Wait. Kirian's nanny stays.”
No one dared defy the patriarch's unpredictable temper.
The kin bowed and exited, leaving four: Kirian, Jenice, Rohbark, and Asena.
The atmosphere turned strange.
“Asena, why lie while taking my gold?”
“Pardon? What do you mean……”
“Do you think you can fool me?”
Rohbark twisted his lips, exuding faint killing intent.
The air chilled like ice water.
Asena averted her gaze, but the old mage was convinced she'd lied.
“If your reason isn't sound, you'll pay for deceiving the Kirchheis lord. As I said, no third warning. Last chance—what are you hiding?”
An ultimatum.
Refuse to confess, and she'd lose her life.
Kirian was curious too.
'What lie did she tell?'
Asena bit her lip, hesitated, then spoke.
“My apologies, Warlock. I actually saw three aptitudes.”
“Then why say two?”
“I feared revealing all would endanger Kirian.”
“Endanger? You mean the traits are so extraordinary his safety would be at risk if others knew?”
“……Yes.”
“And their value?”
“Over a million gold.”
“Eek!”
Jenice gasped in shock.
Rohbark chuckled amusedly.
“So, to clarify: Kirian has three aptitudes, dozens of times more valuable than Libiel's?”
“Yes, Warlock.”
His expression softened slightly, accepting the excuse.
But the next part mattered more.
“Good. Then tell me. What did you see? What is this extraordinary trait he possesses?”
An uncharacteristically impatient demand from the patriarch.
The One-Eyed Merchant bowed calmly.
“My regrets, but I couldn't identify it.”
“What?”
Rohbark frowned, and the temperature plummeted again.
But Asena held firm.
“It was a trait I'd never seen, impossible to discern. It seems unrecorded in humanity's magical history.”
“Unrecorded in history?”
“……Perhaps comparable to divinity.”
Divinity.
A quality transcending humanity, rivaling the divine.
Kirian nodded inwardly.
'She saw the Transcendental Eye. Just didn't recognize it.'
Pleased, Rohbark smirked.
His eyes remained cold.
“Keep today's events secret. Especially from the Emperor—absolute confidentiality. Understood?”
“P-Pardon? Ah, yes, Warlock.”
“If word reaches the Imperial House……”
The old man's aura shifted; Jenice shuddered convulsively.
Kirian felt his hairs stand on end, as if dragged into ocean depths.
The Iron-Blooded Warlock loomed over Asena like a natural disaster.
“You know what happens without me spelling it out?”
“…….”
“I want your answer, Asena Mazel.”
The Mazel Guild had its own forces.
But Kirchheis could slaughter them in half a day.
Frozen like an ice statue, Asena finally spoke.
“I swear it will never happen.”
“I believe you, Asena.”
“Yes, Warlock.”
“Nanny, bring Kirian and follow me.”
Rohbark beckoned to Kirian and Jenice.
It was time to drink the dragon's blood.