Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 16: Graffiti (1)

Go find out.

Grand Duke Aratus said so.

‘Generous evaluation.’

The Grand Duke didn’t expect much from the incapable.

His words meant he acknowledged my ability.

‘If I earn the 1st Knights’ respect, he’ll use me.’

Being useful didn’t mean immediate employment.

The North’s cold blood demanded heat.

Serzila valued loyalty.

I had no reason to refuse.

I didn’t plan to get too close, but some proximity was needed to become a vassal of Serzila.

‘Might as well get close now.’

Northerners loved strength and warmth.

I had both, though through magic. That hurdle could be overcome quickly.

‘Tampering with the wall.’

As a returnee, I knew what that tampering was.

‘It was this time.’

I hadn’t known.

Elaine told me about it later.

It happened when I was a parasite.

‘Does the Grand Duke know and send me? No, he sends me because he doesn’t.’

He only knew it was suspicious.

So he sent me, a mage.

A nothing-to-lose mindset.

It didn’t happen in my previous life.

Back then, the Grand Duke expected nothing from me.

‘Why did he save me then?’

I recalled when the 2nd Knights forced me through the tunnel.

Stranded at the Border, the Grand Duke personally rescued me, alone.

‘Hoping I’d become useful?’

If so, his choice was right.

‘Thanks to that, I returned.’

The garrison had buildings, not tents. Wooden, shabby, but decently equipped.

Small scale.

The Border required Aura to enter, so only knights lived here.

There were four more garrisons like this.

Serzila divided the Border into five zones, assigning one knight order each.

‘Vassal families act as border counts by the seas.’

With six knight orders, one rested. This year, the 2nd Knights.

Knights appeared sporadically.

They wore leather, not armor—Magical Beast hide.

Armor became an enemy in the Border’s chill.

A moment’s lapse, and it tore skin and flesh.

Beast hides resisted the chill and blade-like winds.

A knight in blue leather approached me.

“Been a while. Doing well?”

“…”

Gullen, spotting me, frowned.

“Turned mute?”

“…Damn. Why’re you here?”

“His Grace sent me.”

Gullen’s eyes were the same as our last parting.

He disliked me, but not entirely.

“I mean, why’d His Grace send you?”

“Got a hunch, don’t you? Why else meet me?”

“…Let’s go.”

Gullen sighed and led me.

* * *

A path ran beside the garrison.

Cleared daily by knights, snow piled five meters high on both sides.

“Impressive.”

At its end was the wall.

Continental people called Serzila’s city walls a wall, but that was wrong. They couldn’t see the true wall.

This was Serzila’s real wall.

Stretching from the western sea to the east, the masterpiece of the first Serzila, blocking what was once the Otherworld.

Its height touched the clouds. Clouds of various colors. Sunlight shone, but no sun was visible. This was the Border’s start.

‘The gate’s ridiculously huge.’

Massive in size and thickness.

Only something this sturdy could withstand magic.

“You’re a rookie, right?”

“That’s why I’m stuck with you.”

The 1st Knights left me entirely to Gullen, the lowest. Blatant disregard.

“Want to leave, go ahead.”

Gullen pointed to the garrison.

The knights’ gazes weren’t kind.

“Kill you?”

“Not today. His Grace’s orders.”

If not for the order to guide me to the wall, they’d have drawn swords already.

Some hoped I’d attack first. Demon scum! one shouted.

“They’re picking a fight. If you strike first, they’ve got reason to kill.”

“Looks like it.”

“No knight in Serzila likes mages.”

Against that backdrop, Gullen spoke as if to scare me.

To me, it sounded like concern.

He worried for me at the Grand Duke’s mansion too.

Because I’d saved his life in that ruined village.

“No big deal. Serzila’s mild compared to elsewhere.”

I was living proof.

“On the continent, suspicion alone gets a mage killed.”

“Same here. You’re safe because of His Grace.”

“No such thing on the continent.”

Even the Emperor couldn’t vouch for me.

Because of the Church of Sun and Moon.

Uninterested, Gullen was curt.

He moved away from the wall, ready to run.

“The gate’s there.”

“Need five knights to open it.”

“Four more needed.”

“No knight will open it for you.”

Gullen sprinted, scaling the wall vertically without Aura, his speed defying his bulk.

Knights stood watch at intervals atop the wall, none surprised by Gullen.

It was normal.

‘Still barbaric, no matter how often I see it.’

I laughed hollowly.

Never got used to it.

Gullen dropped a thick rope from above.

“Grab it and climb!”

I didn’t.

I ran up the wall like Gullen.

Landing atop, Gullen’s eyes widened.

“You always like that?”

“What? My body?”

“Yes.”

“Bulked up a bit. Looked too scrawny.”

Gullen tilted his head.

Was that something you just decided?

“Probably knight-level now.”

Thanks to forging with the sun.

“Makes sense?”

“It does for me.”

“…”

“Later, even more.”

I could forge twice.

Gullen frowned, uncomprehending.

“Magic.”

“No wonder.”

He relaxed.

He was already using Aura.

Everyone had to up here. The Border’s chill and wind carried its nature.

“Careful from here. It’s the wall, but still the Border.”

“I know. The Border’s refreshing.”

“…”

Gullen thought I was bluffing.

Knights on watch glared at me.

Gullen glanced at me and jumped down. I followed. The snow, building-high, was soft.

A snow-free spot existed.

The ground was messy, not unaccumulated but cleared.

“Here.”

Gullen, landing first, stood there, pointing at the wall.

Its surface was scarred from years of beast and mage attacks.

An alien mark stood out among them.

“Found four days ago. Looks about a week old, we think.”

Someone tampered with the wall.

Grand Duke Aratus said so.

Gullen called it graffiti.

Fair enough. Dozens of meaningless circles overlapped, each as tall as me.

‘First time seeing it in person.’

To me, it was a drawing.

Likely so. In my previous life, when I was a parasite, this drawing confused the 1st Knights.

Not major confusion.

As the Grand Duke said, a prank.

Though it’d plant a seed in Serzila, it could be overlooked now.

I knew the future. It could be dealt with later.

‘Not an easy spot to find.’

Snow surrounded everything, piled building-high.

Yet the drawing was at eye level.

“Well spotted.”

“Lucky.”

A knight on watch caught a beast scratching the wall.

‘Same as before.’

Heard it was found like that in my previous life.

Future events would likely match.

“Beasts often hit the wall?”

“Every day. Siege-level? Once a month.”

That matched too.

“Mages?”

Gullen snorted.

“Otherworld mages rarely snoop around the wall. Because of the knights.”

True. Half-true.

The knights weren’t the only reason the Otherworld avoided the wall.

‘Fewer wall-crossings than I thought.’

In my previous life, I was a parasite then.

Didn’t know what happened at the wall.

Elaine only told me big events, like this graffiti.

“This graffiti, no one thought to erase it?”

“The knights’ duty is to guard the wall.”

Erasing it would be defacing, not guarding.

Serzila’s knights were that steadfast.

“Impressive.”

To me, it was simple-minded.

Not a flaw—a strength.

“That graffiti’s magic.”

“What?”

“Some Origins aren’t intuitive. Some only activate when the mage wills it. This graffiti’s the latter.”

“What nonsense?”

Gullen was surly.

“Then who’d carve graffiti here?”

“A knight, passing time.”

That was the issue.

The knights were ignorant. They used their bodies, not minds. Facing the Otherworld, they knew less magic than they didn’t.

Yet they were fiercely exclusive.

At the wall, their stubbornness was immense.

“…Is Toremot, the 1st Knights’ commander, still at the garrison?”

“At the Inner Fortress, reporting this graffiti. Probably back tomorrow.”

Then the confusion would happen tonight.

With Toremot, the 1st Knights wouldn’t falter.

“Deputy commander?”