Chapter 182

Chapter 182: A Common Story

A Common Story
Chapter 182. A Common Story

After guiding the guests inside, Rize waited outside the door.
Her role was to guide Ferda and Erika during the day, so she could not leave their side.
“What kind of story is Father telling, I wonder?”
Without knowing what conversation was taking place beyond the closed door, she indulged in a wild imagination.
A Dragon Scion and the Fiancée of a Dragon visited the World Tree, so it would undoubtedly be an important matter for this continent.
“To think I would get to meet that Great Heroine, Lady Erika, in this way.”
An intellectual image worthy of one who held the position of Wisdom among the 12 Heroes.
As the Captain of the Iorga Scions with the epithet of “Cold Reason,” she supported them so they could overcome difficulties, living up to her reputation.
“She had an incredibly intellectual air.”
As a member of the expedition that killed the Demon King, her boldness and courage; as the Master of the Blue Eye Tower, her charisma and dignity—she possessed it all, and that made Rize’s heart race.
She thought it was praiseworthy that she had not trembled unnecessarily.
“And Lord Ferda was the same.”
Ferda was very young, but there was a gravity that suppressed that youthful vigor.
A mysterious dignity unbefitting his age.
He was a figure one could not help but admire.
“If only I could be like her…”
Her face flushed.
Let’s shake off these useless thoughts.
Rize slapped her cheeks.
“It seems it will end soon, should I prepare the bouquet to give to them in advance?”
Right, let’s do that.
Rize sang in the Elven language.
A beautiful melody rode the wind, and drawn by it, spirits revealed themselves before Rize.
Adorable spirits spun and twirled around Rize.
Each took the form of earth, wind, and water, respectively.
— Rize, Rize!
— Hello. Do you seem in a good mood today too?
— We are happy you called us, Rize!
— We waited and waited for you to call!
— What shall we play?
— I’m sorry, but can we play later? I have a favor to ask of you.
— What is it?
— I want to make a bouquet, that’s why I called you.
— Rize, did you make a friend?
— Friend!?
— Rize made a friend!
The spirits cheered.
Rize’s face turned bright red.
— N-no. Not a friend, I’m trying to give a gift.
— Rize has no friends.
— No friends again.
— As expected of Rize! Friendless!
— …Can you bring them for me?
— Understood!
— If Rize asks, of course we have to do it.
— Friendless Rize, we are your friends!
— Thank you, everyone.
The adorable spirits dispersed.
The blush that arose from the words of the innocent spirits would not fade easily.
Since there was no malice, she could not even get angry; letting it go was the best Rize could do.
Just as she was about to wait for the guests to come out again,
Fwoosh—!
Light burst with a snap, and something appeared before Rize.
It was Erika, who had been sitting in the room.
— Eh…?
Something was wrong.
Erika seemed frozen in a posture as if preparing for something.
— Eri…ka-nim?
Since she did not move for a long time, Rize approached carefully and called her name.
— Um, um…
— …..
— Are you alright?
— …..
Erika did not answer.
Her neck creaked like an un-oiled machine until her eyes met Rize’s.
Rize flinched.
There was calmness in Erika’s eyes.
But that calmness, somehow, seemed to portend a storm.
— …Is that so?
Three syllables came out of her mouth.
With a face that seemed to understand calmly, she carefully rose from her seat.
She walked with heavy steps toward the heart of the World Tree, which was tightly shut.
— T-there, Lady Tower Master Erika…?
— …..
— Should I open the door again? If I make a request…
Erika did not answer.
Instead, highly condensed mana began to surge around her.
What formed in her hands were two magic circles.
Opposing attributes drawn on both hands, gathering in one place.
Where she was aiming was precisely where she had entered.
It was 6th-circle destructive magic.
— Elemen— Demolition.
— You cannot do thaaat!
Rize quickly stepped in front of her.
Erika smiled with bloodlust.
— Shall I blow you into the air too, Secretary Rize?
— Violence is not the answer! Please calm your anger…
— Who decides that?
— Y-yes?
— Is it always like this? You do whatever you want, pluck nose hairs by the handful, and then, when retribution arrives, you block the way saying violence is not the answer.
— I-I don’t know what happened, but there must be a misunderstanding, so please calm down and—.
— Yes, I will fix it.
— Y-yes, if you do that, I will try to talk—.
— Fix the magic circle right in the center. Elemen—.
— Not that fix! Please listen to my stoooryyy!
Rize struggled with all her might to stop the wrath of a dragoness whose nose hairs had been plucked.
Meanwhile, oblivious to the commotion outside, Ferda and the Grand Chief’s conversation continued.
— The mana flowing through my body… is from the Demon King?
Ferda asked again.
He wondered if he had misheard, or if there was some other intention.
— That is right.
But the answer received had not changed.
Ferda’s mind was in chaos.
“Is this a ploy to confuse me?”
No, that cannot be.
If that were the intention, they would have told Erika that Ferda possessed the Demon King’s mana right in front of her.
They could have sown anger and induced a loss of reason.
The fact that the conversation took place only between the two of them signified consideration so that Ferda would not receive such a misunderstanding.
So he decided to speak with the Grand Chief calmly first.
— With my mana, no one can create demons.
— I know. That was done with Linne’s ability. It is impossible with your pure mana.
— Then how can you say that my mana is the same as the Demon King’s?
— Because his magical power was also an object forged from the same emotion as you.
— The same… you say.
The mana that constituted Ferda was twofold.
A Red Circle that moved with love.
A Shadow Circle that moved with regret.
— Did the Demon King deeply regret something?
— No.
He asked the question hoping his hunch was wrong, but reality returned cruelly.
— He was a mage who loved someone.
Love.
An emotion close yet distant, easy yet difficult.
Ferda could not believe that emotion, in the end, created the Demon King.
— The Demon King…
So he had to know.
— What kind of person was he?
If what was in Ferda’s body could truly create a Demon King, he had to follow his footsteps.
— That man was a truly insignificant mage. Long ago, he learned magic through love with the wife he had met. But he did not have great talent for magic. So he became a farmer who barely made a living, tending an orchard with his beloved wife.
Up to this point, just the ordinary story of an incompetent mage.
— But tragedy visited that man. He lost his wife.
That too was a common story.
— The man performed the rite to send off his wife according to custom. Even as the ashes flew into the sky and her body was completely dispersed into the earth, the void in his heart was not filled.
That too was a common story.
— Regent Ferda.
The Grand Chief, who had been telling the story, asked a question.
— Could you forget easily?
Ferda empathized with that man who would become the Demon King.
He did not need to go far—it was no different from Ferda’s own story.
Had he not sent off his mother that way as well?
He sent off his wife, and Ferda remembered sending off his mother.
No one filled Ferda’s void.
His yearning for Anna Rosnova was still great.
He tried to replace that with the image of Valdrova.
— I could not.
Surely, Ferda could not easily overcome it like that man either.
The memories with her would become thorns that could never be plucked out, leaving wounds that would never heal.
The Grand Chief’s story continued.
— That man was the same. Unable to forget his wife, he plunged into the sense of loss from yearning.
— Does someone who feels such emotions really become the Demon King?
— Yes.
— How is that possible?
A question based on magical theory.
The man awakened the Red Circle through love.
If the emotion opposite to love takes root, the Red Circle does not move.
— From what I hear, it seems like the stage where Emotional Backflow occurs.
Emotional Backflow is the Red Circle not just stopping, but spinning in reverse.
Emotion is like blood.
Spinning in reverse is the same principle as dying.
— That is right. He must have gone through the Backflow you speak of, Regent, several times.
— And even so…
— He did not die. He went through near-death pain several times, but the man did not die. That pain became his new Source.
The theory Ferda knew crumbled.
The circle spinning in reverse had become the man’s new magical power.
“Surviving Emotional Backflow was not enough, but he created a new Circle?”
Ferda had never heard of anyone surviving Emotional Backflow.
All the Red Circle mages he knew died without exception if they did not keep moving.
But there was sufficient reason why this had to remain unknown until now.
If Emotional Backflow makes one strong enough to create a Demon King, does that not mean a Second Demon King could be created an unlimited number of times?
Ferda suddenly remembered a conversation with Alberto.
“Come to think of it, he said something like that too.”
The man who calmly went around defeating demons suddenly came and said Ferda had the potential to be a Demon King.
Back then he did not understand, but upon hearing the story of the Demon King, he could comprehend.
The Demon King loved someone and lost them.
Ferda loves Valdrova.
“If I lose Valdrova, I will be in the exact same situation as the Demon King.”
It sounded like a dreamlike story.
Dragons are called Immortals and reigned as absolutes on this continent.
Although Silverwind and Godwin died in the Dragon-Demon War, even so, there was no one who dared diminish the Phase of a Dragon.
However, Ferda does not yet know the plans of the demons.
Just as they moved in the shadows to pronounce a death sentence upon the Serdes Continent, there are many ways to get rid of Valdrova in a single strike.
Especially if it is to instill the emotion of ‘loss’ in Ferda, the possibility is even greater.
— Grand Chief, may I ask a question?
— Please speak.
He repeated it in his head several times, but it did not come easily out of his mouth.
It felt like touching forbidden knowledge.
He was curious, but felt that once he obtained the answer, he could never go back.
— …How did the wife of the man who became the Demon King die?
Ferda thought there must be some reason.
Perhaps ruffians broke in and violated her before her husband, or she was cast aside due to the injustice of the world.
Anger toward the world could have accumulated and exploded from such a tragedy.
But the answer he received differed from Ferda’s desire.
— It was just a chronic illness. Even trying to cure it, her body did not accept it; the providence of nature that could not be cured.
Ferda closed his eyes tightly.
Even that common story made Ferda feel the worst.
A man who became the Demon King because he could not overcome his beloved dying of natural death at the end of her life.
Ferda could not shake the feeling that that man was becoming himself.
— Are you afraid?
Asked the Grand Chief.
— I am afraid.
Ferda poured out his honest feelings.
Ferda’s eyes still held her death.
Even driven to the abyss of malice, she was kind and pure until the end.
She was an immutably good woman.
— Her existence may be immutable, but I am a changing existence, which is why I am afraid.
Ferda was not like that.
He is a weak human, easily swayed by emotion.
The possibility of killing her again is difficult for Ferda.
— If it is fear of yourself, there is a method.
At the Grand Chief’s advice, Ferda raised his head.
— What is it?
— Regent Ferda, you must delve into the Source your mana possesses. You also know it vaguely, but you are different from ordinary humans.
As the Grand Chief said, Ferda knew he was not ordinary.
Even for those with outstanding bloodlines, the 8th Circle is like a dream, difficult unless the era permits it.
He simply never felt the need to delve into it.
— Regent Ferda, let us talk about your parents. What kind of human was your mother?
— Does that help?
— Bloodline is the Source among Sources.
True words.
It was not something to particularly hide, so he decided to answer.
— Mother was…
Ferda drew a longed-for face in his mind.
— Anna Rosnova. Kind and family-oriented…
And he remembered what Erembalt had said.
— And she was a believer of Sierra.
— Sierra… the Goddess of the Moon, you mean.
— Yes.
— Then who is your father?
Father is Erembalt Rosnova.
After Mother passed away, a cold-blooded man who treated Ferda like a cuckoo and cast him out of the family.
— I do not know.
Erembalt said Ferda was a child Anna had brought.
Not just like a cuckoo, but a real cuckoo child.
— Then that means you do not know about the Source.
— That is right.
— Then, may this old man lend a hand?
The Grand Chief raised a finger toward the sky.
Then the threads swimming in the sky gathered all at once and formed a shape.
It created a hand twice the size of the white hands made so far.
Ferda could guess from that hand.
— Do you intend to look inside me with that hand?
— That is right.
He added.
— Of course, if Regent Ferda does not permit it, I will withdraw here. Knowing yourself is your part.
Naturally, it was something he would not do.
Ferda disliked having someone scrutinize his true self.
He feared that this weakness of his would be revealed and cause problems.
But what he feared more than that physiological aversion was repeating the past.
Once is enough for the tragedy of Valdrova that Ferda creates.
— Understood.
Ferda permitted it.
The Grand Chief’s white hand gently held Ferda’s entire body.
That hand was made of condensed mana.
He felt clean, pure mana permeating his whole body.
It was then.
— Mmm… I see… so that’s how it is… This is…
The Grand Chief mutters the information he feels from Ferda’s body.
Enduring the physiological repulsion, Ferda bore that touch.
— Mmm?
He felt something strange.
— What on earth is this… how… ugh!
— Grand Chief?
— Ugh!
The Grand Chief’s back, sitting like an old tree, hunched over.
The old man who had been calm no matter what opened his eyes wide.
— What is happening?
He does not answer Ferda’s question.
The Grand Chief’s green pupils trembled.
— T-that cannot be… How is that possible…?
The eyes looking at Ferda changed.
From indifferent eyes looking at a mere Mortal, astonishment could be felt.
The change was not only in the Grand Chief.
The condensation of the white hands wrapping around Ferda’s head loosens and disperses.
The blue mana that formed the lighting turned red and began to vibrate.
Ferda sensed it.
He had to escape from that hand to save him.
Ferda tried to move to forcefully escape from the hand.
Then the Grand Chief made a gesture.
The hand moved and firmly held Ferda, who was trying to escape.
Unable to move, Ferda was trapped in the Grand Chief’s hand.
— Ugh!
The Grand Chief, who had been forcefully resisting, finally vomited blood and collapsed.
As his concentration broke, the threads turned back into white hands and swam in the sky.
The red sky turned blue again.
The roots on the ground supported the Grand Chief’s body and placed him on the floor.
The closed door opens and two women come running in.
— Grand Chief-nim!
Rize ran to the Grand Chief’s side as if screaming.
Erika approached Ferda and asked what had happened.
— Regent-nim, what happened? Why did the World Tree vibrate like that…?
Ferda could not answer.
Ferda himself was still bewildered by all of this, so there was no way he could explain it.
And there was not even enough time to think and reply.
Not long after the two women entered, the door opens again.
All the High Elves inside the World Tree noticed the Grand Chief’s condition and approached.
— Grand Chief-nim!
— Oh, my Goddess…!
Everyone surrounded the Grand Chief and began to chant.
Light enveloped the Grand Chief’s precarious body and began to heal him.
Everyone pushed Ferda and Erika into the background, but one was different.
The High Elf Elder who had looked at them with disapproval pointed at Ferda and Erika and shouted.
— Restrain those suspects immediately!