Chapter 6: Provocation (2)
The sticky flames burned relentlessly.
They acted as if they wouldn’t leave a single ash behind.
When the skin melted, they reached the flesh; when the flesh was gone, they devoured the bones.
Watching the scene, my mouth watered.
The body grew stronger with use. Aura was like that, divine power too. Magic was no different. Exhaust it daily, and it grew.
But for mages, there was one more way to grow stronger.
“It’s eating an Origin. My Origin is consuming another mage’s Origin.”
Only mages were allowed such a shortcut.
I wiped the drool running down my chin.
It wasn’t my drool, not really.
The sun. My Origin was salivating.
The impulse it sent me…
My bloodshot eyes were forcibly fixed on the mage’s heart, still unburned. My heart pounded fiercely.
I wanted to rush over and tear into that heart.
The sun wanted it. And through it, the sun would grow…
“Going to eat it?”
Those words stopped me as I approached the corpse.
“I won’t. Someone I know wouldn’t like it.”
The flames that had consumed the owner without a trace seeped into my chest.
To Ellen, it looked like they entered my heart.
No, in my words, into the sun.
“That’s the second way mages identify each other.”
I spoke, having regained my composure.
My demeanor was refined, but it didn’t quite land after that scene.
‘…Cannibalism.’
Ellen knew this method too.
She also knew it was utterly inhuman.
Absorption, they called it, but they chewed and swallowed the hearts of the mages they killed.
It was the most efficient way to absorb an Origin.
One reason mages were called demons.
How could they grow by devouring their own kind?
How could they act so calmly about it?
Ellen looked at me with disgust.
In her eyes, I was the same kind of demon, even if I didn’t chew the heart myself.
“What’s wrong? It’s beneficial to Serzila.”
But Serzila chose this demon.
Serzila embraced me, knowing I was a mage.
Because my Origin was fire.
A fire that might one day aid Serzila.
The owner, on the other hand, was a mage hiding in Serzila. A blight eating away at the North.
So the owner deserved to die, and I deserved to live.
“…What if she wasn’t a mage?”
“More bothered by that than the death?”
“She could’ve been innocent.”
“She could’ve been an innocent mage.”
“Don’t give me that nonsense.”
To Ellen, it sounded like sophistry.
I gave a bitter smile at her sharp reaction.
“I knew before I killed her.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was in this tavern before you came. Out of all the taverns, I picked this one in the Flower District’s underbelly.”
I pulled out Serzila’s seal.
“Why do you think I, who came to prove my worth to His Grace, chose this place? To prove my drinking capacity?”
“…”
“You can’t be sure someone’s a mage until you see their magic or kill them. That’s the truth. But there are exceptions.”
“And you’re that exception?”
“Exactly.”
I smiled broadly.
Of course, it was a lie. I didn’t recognize them. I remembered them.
“I can identify mages. Maybe because my Origin is a sun. They say the sun illuminates everything, don’t they?”
An Origin illuminating another’s Origin?
Even the inexperienced Ellen knew not to believe that instantly.
She pointed at the owner’s corpse.
My Origin had consumed her entirely.
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
But Ellen didn’t know if I’d truly consumed a mage.
This was her first time seeing a mage’s cannibalism.
I might’ve just disguised it with magic and lied.
“Eat it. The dish you were raving about earlier.”
I pointed at the plate in front of Ellen.
A simple dish of mushrooms and beef.
Yet its taste surpassed the Grand Ducal House’s cuisine.
“…”
Not anymore. The mushrooms were tough, the beef dry. The seasoning was something I’d never want to taste again.
“What happened?”
“She died, and the magic vanished. Her Origin was Ripple.”
“Waves? What’s that got to do with taste?”
“That vagueness is the essence of magic.”
All I knew was the nature of the consumed Origin.
Not how to use it. Only the owner instinctively knew how to wield their Origin.
“Unless you’re the owner, you can only guess. Maybe she caused illusions with Ripple.”
Perhaps the owner wasn’t even that beautiful.
I couldn’t tell, burned to a crisp.
“That’s not the point now. So, do you believe me?”
“…”
Ellen couldn’t deny it anymore.
But her gaze toward me wasn’t kind.
The disgust she’d felt since last night didn’t fade. It deepened.
“Aren’t you curious? Why a mage who had to hide ran a tavern so openly?”
“…”
“It seems she was hiding something dangerous. Just my guess, as a fellow mage.”
“…What?”
Her curiosity deepened too.
That was what mattered.
***
‘The provocation should be enough.’
I wanted to stop here and see what tomorrow brought.
My stomach was full; no need to force-feed more. A waste.
‘No good.’
Ellen’s sidelong glances were growing intense.
If I backed off now, I’d have to worry about the consequences.
She might show up as the Grand Heir and cause trouble.
‘Would that be so bad?’
That’d be a provocation too.
‘It’d be bad.’
I shook my head, rubbing my chin.
Elaine was the type to pester until things went her way. If it didn’t, she’d stir things up until it did.
She’d done that in my previous life, hadn’t she?
“You’re not an ordinary idiot.”
Serzila valued talent.
Elaine even more so.
She’d once noticed I had talent, despite treating me like an idiot.
From then on, she fixated on me.
Before I got my act together, when I picked up a sword, when I started earning the knights’ respect.
“You have talent.”
“I know.”
“Then why aren’t you using it? Use magic. You’ve got no talent for swords.”
“That’s just your opinion.”
“You’re a mage; you can’t even use Aura.”
“Still don’t want to.”
Back then, Elaine did everything to make me accept my magic.
“Still dreaming of your parents’ faces? Does using magic make you feel they’re blaming you? They’re already dead.”
“…”
“If it’s guilt, why live? When you were abandoned at the border, why did you rely on magic to survive? Twice. Why not just go join your parents?”
“…”
“Just die. Poor Iagar, ruined by one bad son.”
“Bastard.”
Thinking back, that’s when I started cursing.
After that, Elaine put me in mortal danger multiple times.
“Why are you doing this? Don’t you hate mages?”
“I do. But you’re with Serzila, so I hate you less.”
That was why Elaine, who upheld the ideal Serzila, could treat me so casually.
“Were you always like this?”
“You’re a mage, aren’t you?”
A mage she didn’t need to impress.
I was the only one Elaine didn’t have to play the perfect Grand Heir for.
At least, that’s the judgment twenty-five-year-old Elaine made.
“Hurry up and die. I’ll send you to your parents.”
I instinctively rubbed my neck.
The memory of Elaine’s sword, sincerely aimed at my throat, was vivid.
“Was it a lie?”
Ellen spoke then.
Her eyes were narrow, like she was lost in thought.
That killing intent gave me a realization.
I mustn’t forget. This woman would grow into that lone wolf, Elaine Serzila.
Rational and listening?
That was when Elaine became Grand Duke.
Even then, it might not have been true listening.
The past was often glorified.
Maybe that’s why I’d hoped Elaine would dream.
‘Maybe it’s better if she doesn’t.’
Thinking coldly, I didn’t have many good memories.
“Nothing?”
“There is.”
“Then say it.”
“Think there’s only one hidden mage?”
Ellen snorted.
To me, it looked like she was holding back anger.
“You make it sound like mages are everywhere.”
“Could be.”
“…Can you handle that? You just insulted Serzila.”
“It’s not me who has to handle it—it’s the Intelligence Bureau.”
Ellen’s face hardened further.
Not the face of a mere employee.
“The Flower District’s underbelly. This tavern was the owner’s mask. It could’ve been an ordinary tavern, but she sprinkled it with the spice of magic.”
“…”
“It worked brilliantly. You were a regular here. Oh, don’t feel bad. Subtle Origins are more common than you think.”
Ripple was especially subtle among them.
Even I, with my keen senses, only noticed the magic in the food after three drinks.
“The magic in your food was weak. Mine was strong. Why the difference?”
“…An outsider.”
“Why do you think she took such a risk with an outsider?”
“…There’s no Sun and Moon in Serzila.”
Laan and Luan.
Most Northerners believed in the Sun God and Moon God, but in truth, they believed in Serzila more.
That’s why there wasn’t even a church in the North.
“Still risky. If caught, even customers could turn a blade on her.”
The owner took that risk, infusing magic into the food.
Less for a regular like Ellen, more for an outsider like me.
“…To connect with mages. Meaning lots of mages come to Serzila.”
I smiled broadly.
That’s how sharp Elaine was.
She just hadn’t felt the need to use it.
“Why make contact? It’s hard enough to hide quietly. We’re going to find out.”
Ellen still looked distrustful.
I didn’t say more, just moved. To the back door. More precisely, the floor in front of it.
I sparked a flame to illuminate it. It looked like ordinary wood, but soon a hole as tall as a person appeared. Beyond it, stairs led underground.
“…How did you know?”
“Eyes are honest. The owner kept checking this area while watching us.”
Ellen didn’t respond.
Her face was complex. There was distrust, but not suspicion. That was enough.
“Will you lead?”
“Why me?”
“You seemed handy with a sword earlier. If you’re not confident, forget it.”
“…”
“Why the sudden push?”
“Come on. Before I make a mistake.”
***
The stairs to the underground were pitch black, but Ellen descended confidently.
I did too. There was no darkness under the sun.
“…Impressive.”
Beyond the darkness, Ellen gauged the stairs’ depth with an unamused face.
She was displeased that Serzila’s underground held a space Serzila didn’t know about.
When the stairs ended, Ellen realized the depth matched the height of Serzila’s Inner Fortress wall.
And the direction of the corridor wasn’t ordinary.
“It doesn’t lead to the wall, does it?”
“How would I know?”
My answer was lukewarm.
For some reason, that annoyed Ellen.
I’d been grinning when I killed the owner.
“All I know is the Intelligence Bureau is careless.”
And yet, I kept prodding, openly now.
“Of course, Serzila’s intelligence is impressive. They found me before the Church did.”
A servant burned to death.
That rumor started in Iagar, yet Serzila, the farthest, heard it first. They captured me before the Church could react.
Because Serzila’s Intelligence Bureau was spread across the continent.
To monitor the Empire and Church, who openly watched the North.
“We were arrogant. Me and my father.”
I looked at Ellen, the Intelligence Bureau agent.
In my mind, Grand Duke Elaine spoke.
“Born to rule, we assumed this land was naturally Serzila’s.”
Serzila’s Intelligence Bureau, yet it wasn’t in the North. It was down here.
The only agent in Serzila was probably Ellen.
And even she wasn’t a proper agent, just a guise for the Grand Heir’s amusement.
“The servant I killed couldn’t imagine I was a mage. Not until the moment he died. I felt terrible.”
“…What’s that mean?”
“Serzila’s the same. They think a war would come from the Empire or Church.”
Because they didn’t anticipate the Otherworld’s invasion.
So Serzila focused on the Empire and Church.
“Of course, they can afford arrogance. It’s Serzila.”
The Empire and Church kept the North in check.
Even the mighty Otherworld, which crushed the Empire and Church in five years, was wary of Serzila.
So they didn’t just march—they infiltrated.
That’s the kind of land Serzila was.
This great North had the right to be arrogant.
“But the price of arrogance isn’t paid by Serzila. It’s the North. Just as my family was destroyed because of me.”
“…”
“I trust Serzila isn’t as foolish as I was.”
Not words for a mere Intelligence Bureau agent.
When Ellen turned back, I smiled broadly. That smile felt oddly solemn.
“…”
So Ellen stayed silent.
She had no retort.
In the tavern, she’d have argued, but this was deep underground. A part of Serzila that Serzila didn’t know.
How long had we walked? The darkness in the corridor lightened. A lantern appeared in the distance. Beside it, three large figures in black hoods.
“Mages?”
My eyes widened at her question.
She was starting to believe I could identify mages.
‘I shouldn’t overuse lies.’
A lie that could be exposed anytime.
I didn’t identify mages—I remembered them.
“No.”
And from memory, there were no more mages in this underground.
My eyes narrowed. I fixed the three figures in my sight and rubbed three fingers with my thumb, starting from the pinky to the middle finger.
The thumb was fire. The three fingers were their bodies. Origins. The sun heeded my will.
Flames rose from the feet of the three, climbing to their knees, waists, and heads.
The same fate as the tavern owner.
They died without a scream.
The stench of burning filled the narrow corridor.
“3rd Rank?”
Ellen, who’d watched the magic manifest, asked.
Rank. The hierarchy established by the Otherworld.
The continent might not know, but Serzila was familiar with it. Not in detail, but they could guess ranks by observing manifestations.
Rank was a matter of influence.
Defined by the mastery of magic and the scope of an Origin’s activation.
Manifesting magic within one’s body was 1st Rank; emitting it externally was 2nd Rank.
3rd Rank could freely manipulate an Origin, like crafting tools with magic.
Only at 3rd Rank could one truly be called a mage, Ellen had learned.
Mature mages who surpassed average knights.
To Ellen, I was a mature mage.
I controlled magic perfectly, with considerable power. Burning a person was harder than it seemed.
“2nd Rank that feels like 3rd Rank.”
“…The Intelligence Bureau concluded you weren’t even ranked.”
“Then you should advise them. They’re not just careless.”
“I’ll admit it. You’re not an ordinary mage.”
My eyes widened.
Ellen’s words overlapped with Elaine’s voice in my memory.
“You’re not an ordinary idiot.”
Words I heard when the knights secretly abandoned me at the border.
When I somehow survived.
‘Five years earlier this time.’
I heard at twenty-five what I now heard five days after returning. I smiled broadly. I felt the reward of returning every day.
Before the charred figures was an iron gate.
No handle, no keyhole. Not a Magical Item, but a continental mage’s imitation.
I’d been here in my previous life.
I didn’t open the gate myself, but I knew how.
Elaine’s Magical Item was special, but most magical tools were obvious.
At least to my senses.
“Wait…”
Creak. As I approached the gate’s wall, a twisting sound rang out. The gate slid open. Ellen’s doing.
“You’re pretty strong.”
I feigned amazement.
Elaine was born with divine strength.
A talent surpassing Grand Duke Aratus.
“…It’s Aura.”
Realizing her mistake, Ellen coughed.
“I didn’t sense Aura.”
“You just didn’t feel it.”
We walked further, and another door appeared.
The same mage’s work, but it became a sliding door at Ellen’s touch.
This long? When Ellen passed two gates and two doors, it happened.
A lantern appeared in the distance. And people.
Two, both clad in black leather from head to toe.
Their mouths and ears were covered, with small holes for eyes and nostrils.
Without their presence, I wouldn’t have known they were human.
Their attire was peculiar.
But the material was familiar. The hide of a Magical Beast from the border.
A sudden chill hit.
A vague dread swallowed Ellen. A wind blew. A blade-like wind grazed her skin.
Not a metaphor. Shallow cuts appeared on her skin. She quickly wrapped Aura around herself.
If she hadn’t reacted fast, her eyes would’ve been cut too.
“…The wall’s above us.”
Ellen muttered in an unintentionally authoritative tone.
The border’s chill, the blade-like wind pounding the wall… She realized where she stood.
Behind the figures in beast hide was a half-body-sized hole.
That hole led to the border.
A tunnel connecting Serzila to the Otherworld’s entrance.
“I’ll need your help from now on.”
A finger poked out beside Ellen’s face.
“Not mages. I sense Aura. Both of them.”
My finger pointing at them was smooth. It didn’t seem like I used magic, but unlike Ellen, my skin was unscathed.
“I told you. Not fire, but a sun.”
The border’s environment, warped by Otherworld magic, couldn’t touch me.
“That’s why the Grand Duke took me.”
“…That makes sense.”
Ellen spoke, almost entranced.
Her disgust for mages remained, but it was mixed with admiration.
An Origin like that caused Iagar’s fall.
My Origin was too tempting for a hidden mage to resist.
Continental mages were rare, and fire among them rarer still.
Even in the Otherworld.
‘Let alone a sun.’
Ellen knew no greater concept of fire. I knew my own worth. And I had the skill to match.
Ellen could no longer place me on the same level as other mages.
“What’s their goal?”
“Asylum.”
“…Asylum?”
Ellen didn’t understand.
Because she wasn’t a mage.
She didn’t believe in the Sun and Moon, but Serzila was still in the same category as the Church.
“The Otherworld’s said to be a paradise for mages. They say no mage who goes there returns, proof of that.”
“They didn’t die?”
“Only those who went would know. Everyone knows mages on the continent almost always die.”
“…”
A paradise for mages.
Ellen’s body spun. Her drawn sword touched my neck. Blood flowed from skin unscathed by the blade-like wind.
‘Compatibility?’
No. That was part of it, but I didn’t defend. Couldn’t react? Ellen didn’t think so.
“I can’t go even if I wanted to. Someone’s got me on a leash.”
Only then did Ellen look into my eyes.
“Don’t be too wary.”
They looked oddly sad.