Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 23: Chain-Smoking Mage (2)

Kubel tried to offer his own neck instead of fighting.

Was it because he lacked confidence? No. A father with his beloved daughter held as collateral isn't that rational.

Kubel chose his daughter before he could even think.

That was his nature. A good and weak human... a father whose daughter was everything.

‘It’d be perfect to exploit.’

I thought of the Liberation Tower.

I respected the Liberation Faction, but not the Rebellion Faction.

They had no line. Radical and insidious. Kubel would have been excellent prey.

Perhaps… I shook my head, looking at the blackened floor. It seemed like Shura shouldn’t be exposed to the Rebellion Faction.

“Why is that like that?”

Shura pointed at the blackened floor.

It was where Grex had turned to ash.

“You accidentally played with fire.”

“The guest? Is he really not coming anymore?”

“Yes. That gentleman solved it.”

“How?”

Kubel looked at me instead of answering.

He seemed clumsy at lying. Or perhaps it was hard to lie to his daughter.

“The scary guest went very far away. I said I could make sure he never comes back.”

I said softly.

It felt like looking at a noble gentleman, but Kubel was even more scared because of it.

The scene of me burning Grex wouldn’t leave his mind.

“Brother?”

“If you want, I can never come back either.”

“You can come every day.”

Shura smiled brightly, unaware of her father’s feelings.

The smile didn’t last long. Shura started nodding off even while smiling. It must have been a tiring day for a 10-year-old.

“Sleep, excuse me for a moment.”

Kubel quickly picked up Shura and went up to the second floor.

“What did you do to scare him like that?”

As Kubel and Shura disappeared, Ellen opened her mouth as if she had been waiting.

“I just cleared out the guest.”

“That?”

Ellen pointed at the blackened floor.

She had noticed from the moment she entered that the trace was a grave.

“Did you eat it?”

I slightly furrowed my brow.

“The sun ate it.”

“That must be regrettable.”

Ellen regarded my heart consumption as no big deal.

To her, other mages were still demons that deserved to die.

“That mage was from the Rebellion Faction of the Liberation Tower.”

I pointed at the blackened floor.

I explained the earlier situation to Ellen. It was a story I couldn’t tell when Shura was there.

“What is the Liberation Tower?”

The North was an isolated island.

Unlike the continent, the name Liberation Tower was unfamiliar to Serzila. I briefly explained.

“There are such mages in our land too?”

“There’s no reason not to be. I told you, the North is the second place in the world with the most mages.”

The word Otherworld came with mages.

Serzila was the land closest to such Otherworld.

“Well, even if it’s a lot, it’s a lot by mage standards.”

By general people’s standards, the number was woefully small.

How many mages could there be?

Of course, even that would be a land half water half fish for the Liberation Tower.

“Kubel is one of those fish. Unfortunately, he was targeted by the Rebellion Faction.”

The Rebellion Faction only threw advances at capable mages.

Because their purpose was rebellion.

“What about the Liberation Faction?”

“They want pitiful mages.”

“That’s unusual.”

“It means they want all mages. If left alone, most die.”

The Liberation Faction’s purpose was survival.

And a small peace.

“If it wasn’t for Serzila, the Liberation Tower would have come to you too?”

“Probably. Though the Church would have been faster.”

“…”

The incident at Iagar was significant in scale.

Not only did the whole clan die, but the entire inner fortress was engulfed in flames without the smell of oil.

Moreover, there was a church in the domain.

The Church would naturally come faster than the Liberation Tower.

Footsteps were heard. Kubel, having put Shura to sleep, came down to the first floor. He approached me and said with a determined face.

“I will join the Liberation Faction of the Liberation Tower.”

“……?”

It wasn’t just Ellen who lacked explanation.

I listened to the end without correcting.

“I will do anything you ask. But please protect my daughter’s safety.”

This time too, Kubel raised a white flag instead of resistance. He asked a stranger to guarantee his daughter’s safety.

It was hard to believe that this was the Kubel from my previous life. This must be his true appearance. Kubel with a daughter.

“It’s unfortunate, but I’m not actually from the Liberation Tower.”

“What?”

“I have no affiliation, but for now, I’m from Serzila. This friend is Ellen, an Intelligence Bureau agent.”

Kubel’s face turned pale.

Then he immediately slammed his head on the floor.

“Daughter, my daughter is not a mage. If you have to kill, please kill only me!”

* * *

It was the right judgment.

From Kubel’s perspective, Serzila was more terrifying than the Liberation Tower.

Compared to the Church or the continent, the Liberation Tower was an ally to mages.

“I have no intention of doing that.”

Even though I, a fellow mage, said that, Kubel couldn’t easily raise his head.

Ellen didn’t open her mouth or look at Kubel. She just stared at me.

I easily understood what that gaze meant.

“The time is too late. I’ll come again tomorrow. Rest well.”

I left Kubel’s house.

Ellen slowly followed. Her face was quite fierce.

“Why didn’t you kill him?”

“Why should I kill him?”

“He’s a mage. Weren’t you killing all mages?”

I never said that.

But my actions were like that. The mages I met after returning were only three, but I killed all of them.

Ellen had no choice but to misunderstand.

“That wasn’t the case. I don’t kill just anyone.”

“Anyone?”

Ellen snorted.

“He’s a mage.”

“I’m a mage too.”

I spread my arms and said.

“But I’m alive.”

“You’re alive thanks to His Grace the Grand Duke.”

Ellen wasn’t seeing Kubel as human.

Her associating with me wasn’t just because I satisfied her curiosity.

I was a being permitted by Grand Duke Aratus.

If not, there wouldn’t have been a chance for conversation like this.

“He’s not. He’s a harm that sneaked into Serzila.”

Kubel was such an existence.

He hadn’t received permission for his existence, and he couldn’t satisfy curiosity. To Ellen, Kubel was a demon.

“Flower District’s underbelly. The owner there had a crime. So I killed her.”

Ellen nodded with a scary face.

It was right.

“Ios of the Ivory Tower. He was an enemy. So I killed him.”

“…”

“Grex of the Liberation Tower. I don’t know what crime he committed, but he had a high possibility of becoming harm.”

Grex’s killing intent was clear.

If it hadn’t been me there, but an ordinary person, they would have died.

“What about Kubel?”

He hadn’t committed a crime yet.

He wasn’t an enemy, and he was different from Grex.

“You have a way with it. And he’s sinless too.”

“Who decided that? You?”

Ellen was unusually sharp today.

Perhaps due to her worries as the Grand Heir, or because of Ios.

The fact that the Otherworld mage crossed the wall might have heightened her vigilance toward mages.

“It could be me, or it could be you.”

Ellen snorted.

“No?”

“No. You’re wrong. He has to die.”

“Then why are you only saying this now? You didn’t do it earlier.”

“…”

“You had plenty of chances to say it. You could have beheaded Kubel yourself.”

Ellen did nothing at Kubel’s house.

She didn’t open her mouth or glare at Kubel.

“It’s because of Shura.”

Because there was a child.

Ellen didn’t deny it. I laughed silently.

“What’s funny?”

“You treat Kubel as a demon, but you treat the child born from that demon as a person, that’s funny.”

“…”

“It seems demons can give birth to humans. So is the demon a human, or the human a demon?”

Ellen’s pupils shook.

I looked at her and pointed to Kubel’s house.

“I won’t stop you. Go kill him.”

“…”

“And comfort the orphaned Shura. Tell her I killed the demon, so rest easy.”

Ellen didn’t move.

“What are you hesitating for? Shura would understand too. Kubel is a demon, isn’t he?”

I grabbed Ellen’s hand and pulled.

Ellen didn’t budge like a rock.

“Don’t want to dirty your hands? Then there’s a good way. Just watch. If left alone, Kubel will die soon.”

Only then did Ellen meet my eyes.

“The Rebellion Faction will make sure of that. They’ll pin Grex’s murder on Kubel.”

Ellen shook off my hand.

The gesture was quite fierce. I gently rubbed my tingling wrist.

“Think it over once. Whether to kill him with your own hands or borrow the Rebellion Faction’s.”

I left without looking back.

“It hurts.”

My wrist was already swollen.

* * *

A throne was seen.

A familiar throne.

Serzila’s throne, existing before the Empire’s founding.

Elaine was sitting on that throne.

Almost lying on it, in male form.

The gaze looking at the firmly closed door was languid. It was brief. When the door opened, his eyes held light as if nothing had happened.

-You’re late.

Elaine welcomed the one who opened the door.

It was me. I was similar to reality but different. A bit larger in build, and my gestures exuded ease.

My attire was unique. I was a mage but dressed as a knight. The sword at my waist was somehow familiar. It was one of the swords in Serzila’s secret vault.

-There’s the 3rd Prince outside.

-Why?

-He came to catch a mage.

-Evidence.

-He brought three apostles.

The Church didn’t need evidence.

If they said mage, it became a mage.

-No. Harad, if you want to kill, kill.

-Are you crazy?

-Timid, for someone with a fiery personality.

-I’m holding back because of Your Highness.

I, speaking as I walked, stood next to Grand Duke Elaine.

The distance was quite close, showing our relationship.

-Give him up.

-Why?

-The Church can make the North a continental public enemy with one declaration.

The 3rd Prince’s maternal grandfather was a cardinal of the Church.

-No. They can’t.

Elaine, resting his chin, was indifferent.

He looked down on the Empire and the Church.

-They’re closing their eyes and plugging their ears out of fear of the Otherworld. They can never touch the wall.

The appearance in the dream Ellen’s eyes looked quite arrogant.

-But the Church is burdensome.

-Not burdensome enough to hand you over.

-Who sent you to say that?

My answer surprised Ellen.

It seemed like the usual power struggle, but Serzila was really hiding a mage.

-That mage is your friend.

-Not that much. Just same situation.

Tsk. I clicked my tongue softly.

-I hope you really mean that.

-For Serzila, no choice.

-I have no choice for you either.

Elaine picked up his sword and stood up.

The appearance looked languid, but to Ellen’s eyes, it looked arrogant.

Elaine slowly left the Inner Fortress.

He grabbed the 3rd Prince’s face with wide eyes at the gate and slammed it into the ground, then beheaded the three apostles.

It was instantaneous. Their divine power was helpless before Elaine’s Aura.

Exactly, the divine power seemed to avoid the Aura. The divine power clearly existed but played no role.

-Get lost. There are no mages in the North.

No, there are.

Ellen was certain. Elaine was hiding another mage besides me.

‘Why?’

Ellen thought of me.

Because I’m good? Or sinless?

But what meaning does this have? Ellen was surprised she could think in a dream but thought it futile.

‘It’s just a dream anyway.’

But it wasn’t completely a nonsense dream.

The dream Grand Duke Elaine did that. The Aura that beheaded the apostles pressed down on the 3rd Prince. That Aura. Ellen was sure it was the realm she craved.

Ellen’s eyes glazed over looking at that realm.

I want to see it properly, but I can’t. Her vision was turning black. Soon, her opened eyes contained reality, not the dream.

“Did you have a good dream?”

I was in front of her.

Thinner than in the dream, me without a sword.

“It was a nightmare.”

Ellen laughed.

“You must be fed up with me, appearing even in dreams.”

“What did I say in the dream?”

“You didn’t say much. I did. I was protecting a mage, me.”

There was snow piled on her body.

Ellen brushed off the snow and stood up.

It was in front of Kubel’s house.

The surrounding snow was red.

Five corpses were strewn about.

“Did you kill because you had that dream?”

“I killed and then had the dream.”

Ellen replied gruffly.

“What did you cut?”

“Bad bastards.”

Not a demon.

“You did very well.”

I smiled brightly.

“……I did this because I can’t make Shura an orphan.”

“That’s what I meant too.”

“So what.”