Chapter 11
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 11: Raiding the Duke Estal Family (5)
When he first encountered that report, Cassian let out an unfamiliar exclamation.
Fire Storm.
A destructive magic, but one that harbored a fatal mana backflow phenomenon.
It was a difficult problem where even he, called one of the strongest in the Empire, had only managed to raise the efficiency by a mere 10% over several years.
That wall which seemed like it would never be solved forever.
A mere researcher tore it down.
Solely through groundbreaking redefinition of formulas.
'Is he a figure worth meeting in person?'
Cassian's judgment was firm.
It was clearly 'Yes'.
But the researcher he met in person was disappointingly shabby.
'......Was he this insignificant?'
The amount of mana flowing in his body is at the level of a commoner.
The density is also terrible.
He couldn't understand at all why his daughter, Yveline, followed such a man calling him teacher.
Just as he was about to dismiss him as a novice who luckily picked up one formula.
"You flatter me, Your Grace."
The man called Rihan calmly reached out his hand.
Cassian stared intently at Rihan's hand.
What did he see?
He saw the scene where the family's Chief Mage, Delmar, collapsed vainly.
Just a handful.
He completely disintegrated the magic of the 4th Hierarchy with that insignificant magic power.
It is different from overwhelming martial power.
Eyes that penetrate the essence of magic.
Perfect control that precisely twists the flow of mana.
Other mages with narrow insight would not have noticed.
But the eyes of Cassian, standing at the peak of the 6th Hierarchy, could not be deceived.
'.........What did he do?'
Even if not to the extent of Eleanor, a 10th Hierarchy Mage.
Cassian saw a fragment of possibility Rihan showed.
That bizarre precision, as if looking down at the structure of magic from a dimension much higher than himself.
In an instant, Cassian's heart begins to beat heavily.
10 years ago.
Cassian was quite different from now.
Rather than the fame of being a 6th Hierarchy mage within the top ten of the Empire.
A time when his daughter Yveline's laughter was a much greater achievement for him.
A man who worried more about the dinner menu with his wife and daughter than the dignity of the family.
A somewhat immature and infinitely kind head of household.
That was Cassian at that time.
That peaceful daily life shattered into pieces at the tip of the lips of an ominous fortune teller who visited the family.
"Estal will be exterminated. The burning flame will be eaten by the madness inside and not even ash will remain."
What came out of the mouth of the guest, whom he thought came to wish blessings, was a cruel curse.
Young Cassian, who wanted to protect his family's happiness, was flustered.
Soon, he pulled up magic power with a surging heart.
"What are you saying! Saying such ominous things where my child is!"
Cassian reached out his hand to chase the fortune teller away.
The mana of a 6th Hierarchy mage shook the space and created a huge lump of flame.
But that person didn't blink an eye.
Just staring into Cassian's eyes as if pitying him, he lightly snapped his fingers.
Sizzle—.
"......What."
What that person did was far beyond the scope of magic.
The magic Cassian used to protect his family literally became Nothing (Mu) in front of that person's eyes.
It wasn't neutralized.
It wasn't bounced off either.
As if magic shouldn't exist there.
As if the laws of the world were rewritten on that spot.
Mana evaporated into the air.
Transcendent authority that even he, a 6th Hierarchy mage who had devoted his whole life to the magic world, couldn't even understand.
"......How, how does magic disappear?"
He asked with a trembling voice, but only cool silence returned.
Only then did Cassian realize.
He is not a great existence who can protect his loved ones.
He is merely a single ant laid under the huge wheel called fate, which wouldn't be strange to be crushed at any time.
Since that day, the fortune teller's prophecy gnawed at Cassian's soul like poison.
The wish to remain a kind father turned into the survival of the family.
To deny the prophecy, he reached out to the deepest taboo of the family.
The perfect genius who established Estal a thousand years ago.
Founder Selene von Estal.
The family's secret treasure vault she sealed herself.
For the past 10 years.
Cassian devoted everything to open that door.
He undid the ancient seals one by one, but the last two seals would not open.
They cannot be solved by any existing magic calculation.
In front of the geometric difficulty mocking human intellect, he dreamed nightmares of extermination every night.
But today, he saw the clue to that impossible answer at Rihan's fingertips.
That bizarre precision suppressing Delmar.
It resembled the fragment of the one who manipulated laws that the fortune teller showed 10 years ago.
If only he can prevent the family's extermination, it doesn't matter who that man is.
'If it's you, Rihan......'
Even if he gets eaten by madness at the end, Cassian had no intention of stopping.
'It's strange.'
The Yveline von Estal I remember is a perfect villainess.
She was a woman who poured out all kinds of curses and insults until right before she died in the original work.
Such a woman is trembling in front of me.
'Isn't her complexion too bad?'
Still, she is a guy who can be seen as my disciple.
Seeing her back shrinking unlike usual makes me care for no reason.
"That kid, it seems the burden on her heart is heavier than thought. If you are a teacher, you should naturally solve it. Originally, a teacher is like that."
"Well, true."
Eleanor said something correct for once.
Since she was also the teacher who taught the founder of the Estal family.
She might be feeling a strange sense of kinship with Yveline.
The problem is that I am really terrible at comforting.......
"Phew......"
I risked the awkwardness and opened my mouth.
"You, are you that scared of your father?"
I asked in the lightest tone possible.
Because I hate the atmosphere getting heavy for no reason.
Yveline shook her head weakly.
"......I'm not scared."
She bit her lower lip firmly.
'Right, Yveline isn't one to be scared of something like that.'
Because there was not a single mention of being scared of her father in the original work.
"Then what's the problem? You've been shrinking ever since we arrived here."
"........."
Yveline, who was silent for a while, barely opened her mouth.
"Because I am the daughter of a Duke family. I know about things like responsibility following the family. How heavy that is too."
No, you knew?
If you knew, why did you act like that in the novel.
Whether she knows my absurd inner thoughts or not, Yveline continued.
"But Father...... seems possessed by something, not responsibility right now."
She stopped speaking and stared intently at me.
"Rihan. I don't want to be shameful at least to you. Because you were the first to make me see magic not just as a lump of mana, but as a world."
"........."
Suddenly coming in hook.
Yveline's voice became wet little by little.
"The time researching with you...... was so good and fun."
A sudden emotional confession.
The air becomes awkward.
It seems quick-witted Eleanor also closed her mouth inside the doll for now.
"Since you are an amazing person, you will surely climb higher. So...... I hate that my family's darkness catches your ankle. You shouldn't be here."
Tears eventually welled up in Yveline's eyes.
'Was I the reason she was shrinking.'
Thinking about it, she really is still a kid.
'Yveline wouldn't have been a villainess from the beginning either.'
If it was a slightly more ordinary environment, she would have matured much more.
Maybe what she really needed in the novel was trivial attention.
Anyway.
How are you going to do graduate school life being this weak.
If you go out into society, there are tons of things harder than this.
For a moment, the dry memories of my past life flashed by, but.
I know that now is a time when warm empathy is needed rather than cold advice.
No matter how unskilled I am at comforting, I have that much sense.
She tried to bring out the family's shame she wanted to hide most.
"Our family is, actually Black......"
"Using Black Magic, right? I know."
Yveline's words got stuck.
She opened her eyes wide and looked at me.
"H-How......?"
"There's nothing I don't know. Who am I. I'm your teacher."
I smiled slyly and added.
"I came knowing everything in the first place, so don't mind. Whether you use black magic or whatever your family does, to me Yveline von Estal is just my disciple. I don't have much interest other than that."
I placed my hand on the head of her standing blankly.
Unlike the cold hallway air.
The warmth of soft hair was transmitted through my palm.
It's a bit cringy though.
This is a romance fantasy worldview.
Then shouldn't I deliver lines befitting a romance fantasy?
"So don't cry. Your pretty face will become ugly."
"............."
Did that one word burst the last dam?
Yveline grabbed my sleeve and started crying like crazy.
"I'm scared...... Rihan. I'm so scared of what Dad might do to you. Please run away......."
"It's okay. I don't die that easily."
It's only natural, the connection watching over me is a 10th Hierarchy Mage.
Seeing how she boasts confidently inside the doll, Eleanor will manage somehow.
A kind of Joker card.
I soothed her and patted her back.
Strength goes into her grip tightly holding my collar.
While patting her back and soothing her.
Eleanor's voice came from my mind.
"Rihan. The formula of putting a hand on the head hasn't changed a thousand years ago or now. Hmm, quite a teacher-like appearance."