The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Several hours after Cyan woke up, Marian arrived in the village of Pruina to report the situation to Elder Elphyris.

Throughout the conversation, Elphyris was too stunned to speak.

“I had a feeling something was amiss with the wind being so unusual. So, a Nephilim appeared, and it was vanquished by a single human…,” he murmured in disbelief.

In reality, it was the cursed sword, Kaeram, that had done it, but Marian didn’t go into that much detail.

“It’s A relief that Lord Cyan has received the Blessing. I hope Hastia will guide him well, though I have many concerns,” Marian added.

“The poor boy left without saying goodbye. Please make sure to convey his apologies,” Elphyris requested with a nod.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. We can only hope he stays safe,” Marian replied, clasping his hands neatly, praying for Hastia’s well-being.

-Whoosh!

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the calm surroundings.

Marian instinctively turned his head in the direction the wind came from, without much expression.

“Marian? What’s the matter…?” Elphyris’ eyes widened as well.

It was because he felt an unusual surge of magical power coming from the direction of the wind.

“It seems we have had more visitors to the frozen lands lately.”

“I will take some clan members and check it out.”

“No need. It doesn’t seem too far; I’ll go look myself.”

With that, Marian spread her wings and soared into the sky, heading towards the source of the magical scent.

The amount of magic suggested at least ten to twenty people.

It didn’t smell like light attribute magic, so it likely wasn’t the Knights of Light who had attacked before.

The scents of various elements were evenly mixed without any discrepancy.

Arriving at the scene with a somewhat intrigued mindset, Marian hovered in the air for a moment as she looked down.

She had expected at least ten people, but there was only one human present.

A slender woman wearing a thin blue robe.

The woman sensed Marian’s presence and shyly looked up.

Without hesitation, Marian approached her closely for a better look.

“What business does a human have in these frozen lands?”

The woman, unfazed, bowed politely and responded.

“I came looking for someone.”

“Someone?”

“Yes. I know this is the territory of the White Elves, but I found traces that the person I am looking for headed this way.”

Except for Alice, there had been no recent human visitors to the frozen lands.

“Did a person named Cyan Vert come here?”

The woman’s blue hair, tied in twin tails, fluttered as she removed her robe.

* * *

In the Subspace of Aer, the God of the Black Mist.

The master of the space continued his routine of throwing daggers today as well.

His face was full of ease as if to say, “What’s so difficult about life?”

On the other hand, Silica, sitting opposite him, was gnawing on her fingernails with a deeply furrowed brow, full of worry.

It was inevitable.

Aer, who had said that the mark of revelation would be suppressed for about two weeks, had in fact only given Cyan a mere week.

Unaware of this, Cyan would have already faced the Nephilim by now.

The best course of action would have been to face reality and flee, but this audacious disciple was the type to die fighting rather than engage in such shameful behavior, as Silica knew all too well.

Now, it was impossible to rush to the frozen lands.

All she could do was sit meaninglessly and bite her nails.

Slyly observing her, Aer eventually spoke up.

[As I’ve said before, if you keep frowning like that, you’ll get wrinkles…]

“Shut up before I stick that dagger in your head.”

Aer immediately closed his mouth.

(E/n: haha I love this pair)

Just as he was about to continue throwing daggers quietly,

Aer suddenly reflected on his situation.

Though exiled, he was a god, after all.

The human sitting opposite him was the leader of an organization that followed him.

Even if it was just the two of them, should he really let such disrespectful remarks slide so easily?

Of course not.

He needed to show why he was a god and establish firm discipline so that she would never dare to rise against him again.

Putting down the dagger and pondering seriously, Aer eventually shook his head.

It was foolish to suppress her with force, and he doubted he could calm her fiery temper with mere intimidation.

She could literally take a dagger and stab it into her own head, just as she had threatened.

Since the current atmosphere was not entirely unpleasant,

Aer passed it off with a grin and a lighthearted spirit.

Watching Aer chuckle to himself, Silica clenched and unclenched her fists under the table several times.

-Hwoooong!

Just then, a gate leading to another subspace opened in the corner of their space.

Silica sprang to her feet.

“Cyan?”

Intuitively certain it was Cyan, Silica hurried towards the gate.

Aer, who had also gotten up, followed her.

As Silica reached just one step away,

-Whoosh!

A white object burst out from the other side of the gate.

The object flew past Silica and hit Aer squarely in the face.

[……]

Immediately after being hit, Aer looked down at the white fragments that had shattered and fallen to the ground.

It was ice.

Not just any ice, but the hard-packed ice of the frozen lands, nearly as solid as stone.

At the same time, a voice came from beyond the gate.

“Feeling refreshed?”

The voice was laden with no small amount of murderous intent.

“Since you seem to have a lot of problems with your memory, I thought I’d help you clear your mind with a bit of cold water therapy. Not bad, right?”

Cyan, holding a fist-sized snowball, strode out from the gate.

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not.

“Have you been living in the mortal world so long that you’ve lost all sense of time? How bad must it be if you can not even differentiate between two weeks and one, causing only me to suffer?”

[I haven’t felt the snow of the polar regions in a long time.]

Instead of getting angry, Aer responded with a sly comment.

Feeling even more heated, Cyan threw the rest of the snowballs at Aer.

-Whack!

Silica blocked it with her hand.

“Once is enough.”

“Didn’t you hear all the circumstances while waiting?”

“I did.”

“Then return the favor. I think I’ll only feel better after throwing it twice.”

“It seems you’ve already forgotten that I also have grievances against you.”

Cyan subtly averted his gaze.

“…Anyway, I’ve returned safely.”

“‘Safely’ is what you say when there’s nothing wrong with your body. Is that really the case?”

Even before he spoke, Silica had noticed that Cyan’s physical condition had noticeably deteriorated.

No matter how much he tried to act fine, his overly strained gait gave him away.

If Cyan had uttered something like “I’m fine” or “There’s no problem”, Silica was ready to throw a dagger in his face instead of a snowball.

Realizing her mood, Cyan honestly admitted.

“I’m not in a very good state.”

Silica closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

Seeing that he had averted the crisis, Cyan spoke calmly.

“I have a lot to tell you. Please, have a seat.”

“First, let’s check your condition. Take off your shirt.”

Cyan hesitated for a moment but eventually took off his shirt reluctantly.

His torso was a mess, covered in awkwardly wrapped bandages. Various wounds peeked through, looking severe even beneath the bandages.

The situation under the bandages was even worse.

Numerous scars were visible, too many to count, all likely from daggers.

Silica immediately cursed.

“I don’t know which idiot did this, but the treatment is atrociously done.”

“It wasn’t me, for sure.”

Just as she was about to ask again who it was,

Silica noticed another person walking gracefully from the still-open gate,

It was Hastia.

‘……!’

Hastia flinched as she met Silica’s deadly gaze.

However, she quickly approached and gently offered her hand to Silica.

Silica turned back to Cyan without saying a word, her look clearly asking, “What’s with this white one?”

Cyan nodded slightly, giving a non-verbal signal to go ahead, and Silica, somewhat bewildered, placed her hand on Hastia’s.

‘Ah, hello!’

Hastia’s empathic voice echoed in Silica’s mind.

‘I am Hastia, the twelfth prophetess of the White Elf tribe!’

Hearing the empath, Silica immediately felt a headache coming on.

It seemed that the great successor of the organization had brought another troublesome figure along.

* * *

After a brief period of treating my wounds, I told the clan leader and Aer everything that had happened in the frozen lands.

The encounter with Hastia, the meeting with the Order of Light led by the saintess, and even handing over my body to Kaeram to fight the Nephilim.

As soon as I finished speaking, Silica asked,

“So what happened to Kaeram, or rather, the demon sword?”

I pulled out the main body of Kaeram and showed it to them.

Both of them stared silently at Kaeram, who was stuck into the desk.

After a moment of silence, it was the fool god who spoke first.

[It seems we’ve become roommates unexpectedly.]

Silica pressed her temples hard and said,

“It doesn’t seem like a situation to joke about…”

[I just couldn’t think of a better way to put it. Kaeram has hidden her persona deep within the sword. She won’t respond no matter who calls her now.]

I, who had been silently listening, asked,

“Wasn’t this situation something you foresaw?”

[What do you mean?]

“You deliberately gave me the wrong information about how long I could stay outside, inducing me to fight the Nephilim in the frozen lands, didn’t you?”

Aer did not respond, only the corners of his mouth lifted.

That meant he had foreseen everything, even what I would do when facing the Nephilim.

Including that I would hand over my body to Kaeram.

Aer did not deny it.

[Honestly, I saw it as one of two possibilities. Either you would turn your back and escape into a pocket dimension, or, as you did, give your body to Kaeram.]

“What were you trying to confirm through that?”

[The purpose was to see how firm your resolve was to kill a god. However, I didn’t expect that you would recover your body and return like this.]

So, the plan was to see whether I would grasp reality and flee, or push forward regardless of the odds.

I felt like I should have thrown ten more snowballs at his face.

As I contemplated whether it was too late now, I ultimately refrained and asked another question.

“So, how long will this state last?”

“I don’t know. She might wake up in a minute, or maybe she’ll wait indefinitely until you’re on the verge of death again. Either way, you’ll need to stay tense for a while. There’s nothing more terrifying than an attack without warning.”

Despite his laughter, as if it were nothing serious, Aer had just issued me a warning not to treat Kaeram with half-hearted intentions anymore.

Of course, I have no intention of doing so.

Even if terms like “partner” and “companion” are used, at the end of the day, the fundamental relationship between Kaeram and me is this:

Magic sword and its master.

As the owner who possesses the sword called Kaeram, it is my duty to handle her perfectly.

Thinking about angles to attack me from within the sword?

Then I’ll just have to suppress it.

When I reclaimed Kaeram from the ruins of Vellias six years ago, I made it clear.

No one would be able to handle her better than me.

Whether I knew anything about her or not, I would continue this dangerous cohabitation to keep my word.

The conversation was coming to a close when the head of the family changed the subject.

“So, shouldn’t we start talking about that child now?”

Aer’s and my eyes turned to the same place simultaneously.

“Why did you bring an elf that should be meditating in the frozen lands, not a trophy?”

As Aer stroked his chin observing Hastia, he remarked.

[Indeed, she looks much cuter than the last prophet I saw.]

Hastia, thinking she was viewed favorably, grinned broadly and bowed her head.

“Well, I brought her thinking she might show me the future or be useful in some way, but honestly, I’m still not sure.”

“Just so you know, don’t try passing her off to me carelessly again. I’m already overloaded with the burdens I have.”

“……”

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“Ah, I was just contemplating.”

“What?”

I couldn’t respond.

I couldn’t reveal that I was considering asking ‘if it was too much of a burden, could you send her back to the frozen lands?’

Feeling like I might actually receive a blade to my head if I said those words, I chose to remain silent instead.

(To be continued)