Chapter 350
Chapter 350
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 350
>Chapter Title: Beyond the Cloudy Sky
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Early morning.
Aster woke from sleep and deployed his breathing technique.
Inhale and exhale.
With each breath, the natural mana pulsed.
His five circles, now complete, interlocked precisely as the breathing technique unfolded, their rotation alternately generating attraction and repulsion to pull and push the mana.
After some time like that.
“……Hoo.”
Aster let out a deep breath and half-opened his eyes.
He exhaled deeply, emptying even the last remnants from the depths of his lungs, then drew in a new breath.
The air descending from the Arapurkin Mountains was truly clear and pure.
Since the Hamern Great Forest, he hadn’t encountered air so thick with mana.
‘Definitely, the location is good.’
It wasn’t just because the air was pleasant.
Abundant mana in the atmosphere meant it was ideal for accumulating mana power and ether.
In other words, once the magic tower was established, it would be a perfect place for its mages to train.
No one knew when the magic tower would truly take root, but once it did, this environment would be a huge boon to its mages.
That aside……
“Hmm.”
Aster turned his gaze to one corner of the bed.
There lay ‘Wyvern,’ fast asleep.
Not the wyvern descending from the Arapurkin Mountains, but the one simply named ‘Wyvern.’
‘How long is it going to sleep?’
Judging by the pulsing mana within its body, the awakening seemed imminent.
Even without knowing the details, the mana’s pulsation pattern was racing toward a climax.
The way the inherent mana was spreading outward confirmed it.
What puzzled him was……
‘……Why is it sleeping?’
The most likely hypothesis was ‘growth.’
If Wyvern truly was a ‘dragon’ as it claimed, and if the contents of that ‘Fantastic Beasts Compendium’ he’d seen in the Rapiter Library were accurate……
‘……Right now, Wyvern is a hatchling?’
In human terms, it would be infancy.
And dragon hatchlings entered a dormant period during shedding.
Of course, nothing was certain.
Dragons were mythical beasts existing only in legends, and even if they had existed, it would have been in the distant ancient past.
It was unlikely that a relatively modern book contained accurate information on dragons.
And above all……
‘A spirit becoming a dragon?’
What nonsense was that?
Of course, Aster knew that vampires, creatures of legend, actually existed, but vampires and dragons were…… well, quite different cases.
Vampires could be seen as a race with peculiar dietary habits, but dragons were on another level entirely.
Even if ‘Wyvern’ truly shed and grew, Aster believed it would be mere coincidence.
Legendary dragons wielded all magic through the authority of dragon tongue, but now that he had reached transcendence, he knew how absurd that was.
Aster had once handled ‘dragon tongue’ in the Hamern Great Forest, but looking back, it wasn’t the true legendary dragon tongue.
True dragon tongue……
Was conjuring magic and embodying imagery purely through ‘will,’ without any training or mental constructs.
‘Something like that isn’t possible.’
This was why Aster believed dragons didn’t exist, and why he was certain Wyvern wasn’t one.
Of course, the legends might be exaggerated.
In that case…… Wyvern could be a dragon as it claimed. Just one incapable of using ‘dragon tongue.’
Though, could you even call a dragon that couldn’t use dragon tongue a dragon?
Anyway.
“Let’s see, morning moonlight stones…… Hmm.”
Aster pulled three moonlight stones from his subsace to place in Wyvern’s pouch but paused.
Did he really need to put all three in?
For reference, Wyvern struggled counting past two digits. And the moonlight stones in Wyvern’s subsace had long surpassed three digits.
……The deliberation didn’t last long.
Tuk, tuk.
Two moonlight stones into one subsace.
Tuk.
One into the other.
“You rascal, grow up well.”
Aster gazed fondly at the sleeping Wyvern before leaving the room.
Which subsace got the two stones was a secret known only to him.
* * *
Shortly after leaving the room, a visitor arrived.
“Aster. Got a moment?”
“I do, but.”
Aster gave Evelyn a knowing look.
Dark circles hung under her eyes.
She had clearly pulled an all-nighter, and for just one night, she looked exhausted.
“You haven’t been training lately?”
“……I graduated.”
“Take care of your health. Don’t get sick.”
Evelyn looked at Aster with fresh eyes. It was so unlike him to be considerate, and perhaps because she was tired, a quiet wave of emotion washed over her.
You know how it is.
The guy who’s always good becomes a traitor with one slip-up, but trash looks like an angel with one good deed.
Aster was trash among trash, so the emotion Evelyn felt was no small……
“Or, preparing a successor early isn’t a bad idea.”
“Su……”
Of course.
“Try to keep up.”
Evelyn swallowed the thick irritation rising from her gut and followed.
They arrived at a certain room.
“What’s this about?”
“I need to talk about yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
After Aster caused a huge ruckus yesterday, Evelyn had broken out in cold sweats handling the aftermath.
Or was it aftermath?
Actually, ‘aftermath’ wasn’t the right word.
The benefits from Aster’s impulsive actions were considerable.
What Evelyn had done was simply solidify their position and expand influence on the stage Aster had set.
Now, as chief steward, she was here to report.
First……
“The viscount has completely surrendered. If we want, we can request mage reinforcements anytime.”
“Hmm.”
“Why? Something bothering you?”
“Feels too easy.”
Even so, he was a noble attached to the Third Princess—did he really fold this quickly?
Setting aside his character, Bellrose wouldn’t have sent just anyone.
“Not disappointed that the excuse to torment him is gone?”
“Well, that too.”
“Anyway, the viscount issue is settled. He said he’d come pay respects before lunch, so clear your schedule. Probably wants to have a meal together.”
“A meal…… Do I have to?”
Aster, who knew how tedious ‘noble meals’ could be, showed reluctance, but Evelyn nodded firmly.
“It’s the viscount’s gesture of apology. Refusing it might make things more annoying later.”
“Why?”
“Even cornered rats bite cats.”
“Hmm.”
So, refusing this apology would make him think he was completely ostracized and seek his own way out.
Of course, that path would likely end with his head exploding too, but to the viscount, physical death or being excluded from the project and abandoned by the Third Princess was much the same.
One was bodily death, the other political.
“Fine, whatever. Guess I’ll accept it.”
Aster didn’t care about the viscount’s feelings and just wanted to avoid hassle.
Blocking trouble with one meal was a profit.
“And?”
“I got a promise of active cooperation from Lortel Young Patriarch’s knight going forward.”
“The meal?”
“No idea about a meal, but he asked if afternoon works. I said yes.”
“Obviously, I have to meet this one too?”
“Of course.”
Well, whatever. No reason not to meet if he wanted.
‘Probably a shadow knight raised personally by the Young Patriarch……’
Still, he ate Lortel’s salt.
Likely useful manpower.
As Aster thought that far.
“Um…… About Sir Ahnar.”
“Sakwol senior?”
Evelyn opened her mouth cautiously.
“……Truthfully, didn’t Sir Ahnar fulfill his duty? He probably didn’t mean anything by it. While I was away, Sir Ahnar was covering my role…… So maybe he didn’t contact us for that reason……”
It was uncharacteristically lacking confidence for Evelyn. She was sincerely defending Ahnar.
Aster stared at her with clear eyes.
“We’re done talking about yesterday.”
“……Pardon? You ended the talk?”
“Yeah, I spoke with Senior Ahnar separately.”
“When……”
“At dawn. Couldn’t just let it slide.”
The will of Sakwol’s mage was the will of Grand Duke Muspellun.
What did that mean?
If Sakwol’s mage harbored other intentions, it meant Grand Duke Muspellun did too.
Of course, those ‘other intentions’ weren’t serious.
Just……
‘……Bickering over how much of the Arapurkin pie to grab, like the other investors.’
But the communication issue needed to be addressed. So, he’d met separately at dawn……
“It worked out.”
Two causes.
First, difference in attitude toward the incident.
Second, difference in position.
To an old war mage who’d endured ancient wars and all sorts of hell, monsters were just harmful beasts like lions or tigers. And with Evelyn away, Ahnar himself was in charge of the development site, so contacting hadn’t crossed his mind.
Thus, Aster politely apologized to Ahnar, and Ahnar accepted.
……Of course, it was credible since Ahnar had contacted the grand duke on the first day of the attack to request reinforcements, fulfilling his duty.
Hearing that far.
“……Ah.”
Evelyn finally sighed in relief.
She’d spent the night agonizing over whether Aster and Ahnar’s relationship would sour.
“Good…… thing.”
“Yeah. But isn’t it too early to relax?”
“……Pardon?”
Evelyn tilted her head.
Did he still suspect Sir Ahnar?
As she thought that……
She soon realized it wasn’t that.
“……Aster?”
Aster was looking out the window. More precisely, at the vast sky beyond.
Evelyn followed his gaze out the window, but all she saw was the cloudy sky and the Arapurkin Mountains.
“What’s there?”
A cautious question.
Aster let out a chuckle right then.
“Looks like some weirdo’s snuck in.”
“Pardon?”
“You go find Sir Valk first.”
“Why Sir Valk……”
Mid-sentence, Evelyn caught on and let out an ‘Ah!’
And then.
“We need to ring the bell!”
“I’ll handle that. You find Sir Valk.”
Aster snapped his fingers as he said it.
Moments later, the bell at the development site’s center rang out.
Dang— Dang— Dang—
Amid the resounding bell tolls, Aster lifted his gaze to the sky once more.
The presence had vanished.
“Fled?”
No…… Didn’t seem like it.
Something was definitely there.
Something capable of fooling a transcendent mage’s senses lurked above in that sky.
Beyond the cloudy heavens.