Chapter 12 - A Difference in Talent
Red Bone.
Red bones swirled around the heart, around the sorcerer holding the heart.
‘Wh-what’s happening. What is this?’
Even while panicking, Kerard’s eyes darted around busily.
He had come as a messenger now, but he too was a proud sorcerer of the Black Citadel.
He was no riffraff, and he quickly identified what kind of sorcery this was.
“A, a Skeleton Soldier…?”
It was Bone Sorcery, the first lineage to emerge among sorceries.
And among Bone Sorcery, it was 「Skeleton Soldier」, the most basic of basics.
The bones that formed such a Skeleton Soldier flocked to the heart.
Shin bone. Rib bone. Skull. Femur. Spine, and so on.
206 bones drew a fierce vortex by the sorcerer’s will.
The master of that red torrent declared.
“Tell the Fourth Son. You weren’t even entertaining enough for a pastime.”
“What is that─”
The words could not be finished.
The completion of the Skeleton Soldier was faster than the completion of that sentence.
The Skeleton Soldier embraced the heart upon its completion.
And evolved itself into the rightful owner of the heart.
[The griffin’s heart has been implanted into the 「Red-blooded Skeleton Soldier」.]
[The 「Red-blooded Skeleton Soldier」 is changing its body to fit the heart.]
“…!!”
Kerard’s mouth gaped open as if it would tear.
Flesh began to cover the red Skeleton Soldier’s skull.
As it did, it formed a very familiar shape.
“A, a, a griffin…!?”
The head of an eagle and the body of a lion.
A colossal body larger than a horse, even a carriage, combined.
Kuuuung─!!
It revealed its massive form to its heart’s content in the reception room.
The muscles that looked ready to burst were defined, showing off their immense power, and that majesty extended to a pair of wings.
The monster called the legitimate child of the sky and the earth spread its two wings.
Hwaaaaaaaak─!!
A single movement whipped up a gale and a squall.
The messenger could not even open his eyes, nor could he stand up or flee.
The only movement allowed was to tremble in fear.
“Stop.”
The master’s command.
The movement that seemed capable of crushing rocks calmed down.
The outer walls and ceiling, which had been shaking as if they would collapse, also stopped vibrating.
The griffin, contrary to its huge body, moved its four feet softly and elegantly to stand behind him.
“A fine gift. Relay my thanks to my little older brother as well.”
He expressed his gratitude for the gift, stroking the beak that was as strong as a diamond.
“Uh, uhh….”
Kerard could not even form a reply, only sputtering dazed words.
The young talent of the Black Citadel could not understand in the slightest what had just happened, and what was happening now.
It seemed he wouldn't be able to explain it even if he returned to the citadel.
Who in the world could understand and who could explain it?
‘He held the heart and summoned a Skeleton Soldier…. Then a griffin popped out…. Th-that must be all there is to it. No, did he divert my attention with the Skeleton Soldier and use some other trick…?’
All common sense had been negated in one minute.
The first was that the Youngest Son had reached the realm of air superiority, which even the First Son had only recently acquired, in a single bound.
The second was that he did it at the age of ten.
The third was that his means was a Skeleton Soldier.
“The conversation is over. Since I received the gift, I will specially spare your life and send you on your way.”
“Th-thank you….”
Killing a messenger who came on the Fourth Son's order would unconditionally mean war.
This piece of common sense did not occur to him in the slightest, due to the numerous absurdities he had just witnessed.
Simply by the griffin’s killing intent.
By the blood-clot sorcerer who had summoned the griffin.
He was just crushed and trampled by the mystery that enveloped him, able only to nod his head.
“You may leave.”
Kerard walked out with a gait that flickered like a candle in the wind.
It was a walk as if his very soul had been stolen by Spirit Sorcery.
Only two people were left in the reception room again.
The Head Maid approached him.
“Will it be alright to send him off like that.”
“Why. Should I have slapped his cheek in return.”
“…That is not it.”
“I know. You’re worried he’ll spill what he just saw, aren’t you.”
“That is correct.”
I smiled and emptied the remaining tea in my cup.
“My little older brother is pure. He’s someone who believes what he sees, but he’s also someone who only believes when he truly sees it.”
It was an awkward thing to say in this body, but the Fourth Son was still young.
But he was a child with immense power.
“As you said last time, this incident is merely a prelude. Since his well-prepared greeting was soundly rejected, my little older brother will spend a long time preparing his next greeting.”
“…….”
“So I came on strong from the beginning. Today’s event will be inflated in my little older brother’s mind, passed through the messenger’s mouth.”
No matter how much he disbelieves, he would know that what came from the messenger's mouth was the truth.
Imagination would be added at that moment, making our side seem larger than it actually is.
“So even the griffin…”
“The griffin was unexpected. I was going to end it with an ogre, but it was lucky that the heart came to provoke me.”
In Millesdusk, the heart holds great symbolism.
Although other organs are superior for concocting elixirs, and it is not particularly necessary in Beast Sorcery.
The heart was still a symbol of life, and proof that I had taken this life.
Considering the Fourth Son’s temperament, I had thought it might be possible, but still.
When a real heart, and a griffin’s heart at that, was right before my eyes, I had a hard time suppressing the corners of my mouth from rising.
And my business with the messenger was not yet over.
Looking at the Head Maid’s cheek, that was clear.
“Do you remember what I said when I sent the messenger out earlier.”
“…I remember.”
“The cheek that was slapped was not mine. So the one to take revenge would not be me.”
Deureureuk─
The Youngest Son rose from his seat.
Putting the griffin into the spatial artifact and lightly clasping his hands behind his back.
He headed out of the reception room.
“One hour of free time should be enough, right.”
“30 minutes will suffice.”
“20 minutes. Come to think of it, lunchtime is approaching.”
Psik. The Head Maid let out a small laugh.
“As the Young Son wishes.”
The Head Maid’s presence disappeared.
***
Deureureureuk─
The carriage wheels rolled, neither slow nor fast.
Because there was no one in or out of this carriage who was not fatigued, even the horses could not run fast.
The five knights, who thought they could rest upon arriving at the Youngest Son’s mansion, had to rush for several more days.
But while they only suffered physically, Kerard had to endure mental hardship as well.
“When I return…. How on earth do I report this…?”
It was a dilemma that could not be solved no matter how much he pondered it.
“Haaaah….”
He let out a long sigh that seemed to descend to hell and looked up at the sky beyond the window.
The night sky he looked upon after escaping the mansion as if fleeing was twinkling with stars, oblivious to his troubles.
Were the coachman and knights also stargazing?
Deureureuk─ Kkiiik─
The carriage, which had been moving well, came to a halt.
“…What is it. Who said to rest?”
No answer came back.
“Haa…. Now even the damn coachman is acting up.”
He opened the door and stuck his neck out to look at the coachman on the driver's seat.
“Can you not hear me!”
The coachman’s back was as stiff as a block of wood.
There was not a single stir.
He felt something was strange, but only for a moment.
“Ugh….”
He felt a sharp sting on the back of his neck.
He reflexively brought his hand to it and caught something.
“…A needle?”
It was a needle thinner than a horse’s tail hair.
The needle, with its blackened tip, seemed to cause an abnormality in the body just by looking at it.
Since such a thing was embedded in his body, it was surely not a simple illusion.
“My, my magic power….”
The magic power inside his body wouldn’t budge.
So he couldn't activate the spatial artifact either.
Some poisons from a Poison Demon sorcerer reacted only to magic power, scattering it so that it could not be gathered.
A drawback would be its short duration, but.
The owner of the poison stopped the carriage during that short time.
A sorcerer would be no different.
“Keoheok…!!”
His chest was struck by a knee that came in like a knife.
An excruciating pain that stopped his breath seeped into every corner of his lungs.
Someone who had entered as naturally as air through the opposite door did not stop there.
A hand, moving like flowing water, snatched the spatial artifact.
Usually, to prepare for such cases, one would distribute private soldiers among several artifacts, but.
“Crazy…!!”
The opponent was an expert who saw through this entire situation.
The spatial ring, necklace, tie pin, and bracelet entered the opponent’s hands in an instant.
There was not even time to channel magic power into them.
“Th-this crazy bastard!”
Kerard, instantly powerless, tried to engage in a physical fight, but it was impossible.
Because the opponent had come prepared only for a physical fight.
Jjaaaak─!!
His cheek was slapped with a force that prevented even a scream.
A clear handprint was visible on his head, which had turned with the blow.
Just by looking at the mark, he could see it was a delicate hand, but that was not important to Kerard.
Because both his legs were immediately broken as well.
“Kkeuaa─!! Keoheup…!!”
The opening of his scream was gagged with an apron.
It was an apron soaked in blood.
It was as clear as day whose blood it was.
“The Young Son has announced. You are the only one to leave this mansion alive.”
The Head Maid, splattered with the knight's blood, spoke in a whisper.
But his mind was already consumed by pain and agony, on the verge of fainting.
Kerard’s eyes kept rolling back, but he never fainted.
Ppak─!! Ppaak─!!
Because every time that happened, a stimulant (a slap) was continuously administered.
The announcement was not yet over.
“The broken legs will heal, but the severed sinews in your ankles will not. They won’t even be usable as an undead.”
A normal person would have died from excessive bleeding without it being strange, but sorcerers were experts at staying far from death.
Bleeding could not kill them.
This was tragic news for Kerard.
“A messenger who has lost his knights, failed his mission, and become a cripple. Aren’t you very curious what kind of praise the Fourth Son will bestow upon you?”
His mouth was gagged with the blood-soaked apron, and every time he breathed, he only swallowed the blood pooled in the cloth.
His eyes, on the verge of losing focus from the pain, somehow gathered strength to glare at her.
He couldn't use mind reading, but it was as if he was asking.
What is your identity.
Mirea Rara answered.
“I am the Head Maid of the Youngest Son. I hope you were satisfied with my hospitality. That is all. Farewell.”
She bowed her head politely and then set the horses off.
Kwadeuk─
She did not forget to rip out the five hearts of the knights she had killed.
***
Somewhere in the skies of the East.
A hot air balloon carrying a large ship, an airship, was cruising along with the wind.
Inside a small private room, unlike the spacious ship.
A copper coin, the currency of the lowest value, mixed with copper and scrap iron, moved up and down between the ship owner’s knuckles.
The ship owner, Jubel Maxman, picked at some freshly caught bird meat from the sky.
All the while, his eyes were on a letter that had arrived just a moment ago.
For a Messenger Ghoul to visit a floating ship.
It was an impossible event.
Because that meant.
“It means they know the merchant troupe’s route, which only the family’s intelligence department knows….”
And the person who knew was the Youngest Son, whose name he could barely recall.
The content of the letter was even more shocking.
“…Plague is also money, he says.”
That one line was all the content there was.
As soon as he read it, a list of all the world’s products began to flash through his mind.
It was to find something that could make money from the plague.
Medicinal herbs for the disease. Investment in and recovery from plague doctors. A few more things came to mind, but this was the framework.
All of them were insufficient to make big money.
Plague doctors were mostly quacks, and medicinal herbs for the disease were already actively traded across the continent.
It was a market where radical growth was difficult.
Then the meaning of those words was only one thing.
“Is he planning to do business with the Plague Demon.”
Laughter escaped him unknowingly.
The low and long-drawn chuckle made him slowly shake his head.
“Yaa…. This is one crazy bastard. I like it.”
Contrasting evaluations and responses followed.
Jubel Maxman immediately picked up the receiver.
“Marvin. Tell the chief engineer now to turn the ship’s bow towards the Pantheon.”
The voice on the other side of the receiver asked back in surprise.
─The, the Pantheon, sir? What about the client we’re heading to now?
“The place we’re going now is also a client. We should at least show our face, considering the sincerity of sending a Messenger Ghoul all the way to the ship.”
─Th-then let’s go to the client, handle the goods, and then go to the Pantheon. If we delay any longer, this will become dead stock!
“Marvin. What’s the big deal about dropping a silver coin on the way to pick up gold coins.”
─No! You’re talking about that letter, right? It’s not even certain! Would the Youngest Son have such a business item?
There was another reason.
─The Fourth Son is also involved, they say! The Fourth Son is targeting the current Youngest Son!
Jubel Maxman shook his head.
“I have rejected every cliché proposal until now. That included blood relatives, and it was too late to get close to blood relatives who already had a support base.”
There was another reason.
“Whatever a merchant does, an opportunity cost arises. I chose the opportunity cost of dead stock to surpass the dogs of the South.”
The Plague Demon was a fitting first step to open that possibility.
If it was possible, that is.
So he had to go and find out.
Whether it was possible to do business with the Plague Demon.
“Turn the ship’s bow, Marvin. The customer is calling.”
─No, fu…
Ttuk.
He put down the receiver.
The copper coin did not stop rolling in his hand.