Chapter 182 - An Ordinary Story

After guiding the guests inside, Rize waited outside the door.

Her role was to guide Ferda and Erica for the day, so she couldn't stray far from them.

'What in the world is Father talking to them about?'

Not knowing what kind of conversation was going back and forth beyond the closed door, she let her imagination run wild.

A dragon spawn and a dragon's fiancé had visited the World Tree, so it was undoubtedly a matter concerning this continent.

'To think I'd get to meet the great hero, Lady Erica, like this.'

An intellectual image, fitting for the one who handled wisdom among the 12 heroes.

As the Iorga spawn leader holding the moniker of 'Cold Reason', she provided support to overcome hardships in a manner befitting her reputation.

'She looked incredibly intellectual.'

Her appearance—which perfectly combined the boldness and courage of a member of the expedition that killed the Demon King with the charisma and elegance of the master of the Blue Eye Tower—made Rize's heart flutter.

She felt proud of herself for not trembling needlessly.

'And it was the same for Lord Ferda.'

Ferda was incredibly young, but he possessed a seriousness that suppressed his youthful vigor.

A mysterious elegance unbefitting his age.

It was a figure one couldn't help but deeply admire.

'It would be nice if I could become like him...'

Her face flushed hotly.

Let's shake off these useless thoughts.

Rize slapped her own cheeks.

'It seems like they'll be finishing up soon, so should I prepare the bouquet to give them in advance?'

Yes, let's do that.

Rize sang in the language of the elves.

A beautiful melody flowed on the wind, and drawn by it, spirits revealed themselves in front of Rize.

The cute little spirits spun around Rize.

They each took the forms of earth, wind, and water.

"Rize, Rize!"

"Hi. You all seem to be in a good mood today."

"We're happy Rize called us!"

"We waited for you to call!"

"What should we play?"

"I'm sorry, but can we play later? I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"I called you because I want to make a bouquet."

"Rize, did you make a friend?"

"A friend!?"

"Rize made a friend!"

The spirits cheered.

Rize's face flushed bright red.

"N-No. They're not a friend, I just wanted to give them a gift."

"Rize says she has no friends."

"No friends again."

"That's our Rize! No friends!"

"... Could you bring them for me?"

"Okay!"

"Since Rize is asking, of course we should."

"We are friendless Rize's friends!"

"Thank you, everyone."

The cute little spirits scattered.

The blush brought on by the innocent spirits' words did not fade easily.

With no malice behind them, Rize couldn't even get angry; letting it slide was the best she could do.

Just as she was about to wait again for the guests to come out,

VWOOSH!

A flash of light erupted, and something appeared in front of Rize.

It was Erica, who had been sitting in her seat.

"Huh...?"

Something was wrong.

Erica seemed frozen in a posture as if trying to react to something.

"Lady... Erica?"

When she didn't move for a while, Rize cautiously approached and called her name.

"U-Um..."

"..."

"Are you alright?"

"..."

Erica did not answer.

Her neck creaked like an un-oiled machine before her eyes met Rize's.

Rize flinched.

There was a stillness in Erica's eyes.

But that stillness somehow felt like it would bring about a storm.

"... Is that so?"

Three syllables spilled from her lips.

With a look of calm understanding, she carefully stood up from her spot.

She trudged toward the currently tightly shut heart of the World Tree.

"U-Um, Tower Master Erica...?"

"..."

"Should I... open the door for you again? If I make a request..."

Erica did not answer.

Instead, highly condensed mana began to fluctuate around her.

Two magic circles were drawn in her hands.

Opposing attributes were drawn in both hands, gathering into one spot.

The place she was aiming at was exactly where she had entered.

It was a destructive 6th-tier magic.

"Elemental Demoli—."

"You caaaaan't!"

Rize swiftly stepped in to block her.

Erica smiled fiercely.

"Should I blow you away too, Scribe Rize?"

"V-Violence isn't the answer! Please quell your anger and..."

"And who decides that?"

"E-Excuse me?"

"It's always like this, isn't it? People do whatever they want, yank out a whole handful of my whiskers, and then when it's time for retribution, they block the way claiming violence isn't the answer."

"I-I don't know what happened, but it must be a misunderstanding, so please steady yourself and—."

"Oh, I'll be steadying something."

"Y-Yes, if you do that, I'll try to talk to them, so..."

"Steadying magic circle in dead center. Elemen—."

"Not that kind of steadying, please listen to meee!!"

Rize struggled with all her might to block the fury of a dragon whose whiskers had been yanked out.

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the commotion outside, Ferda and the Great Chieftain's conversation continued.

"Are you saying... the mana flowing in my body belongs to the Demon King?"

Ferda asked again.

He was wondering if he had heard wrong, or if there was some other motive behind this.

"That is correct."

But the answer returned unchanged.

Ferda's mind was in turmoil.

'Is this a trick to confuse me?'

No, that couldn't be it.

If that had been his intention, he would have declared that Ferda possessed the Demon King's mana right in front of Erica.

He could have sowed discord and provoked him into losing his reason like that.

The fact that this conversation was happening just between the two of them meant he was being considerate so Ferda wouldn't be misunderstood.

Therefore, he calmly continued speaking with the Great Chieftain for now.

"No one can create Demons with my mana."

"I know. That was made possible through Linne's abilities. It would be impossible with your pure mana."

"Then how can you say my mana is the same as the Demon King's?"

"Because his magic power was also forged from the exact same emotion as yours."

"If you say it's the same..."

There were two types of mana that made up Ferda.

The Red Circle driven by love.

The Shadow Circle driven by regret.

"Did the Demon King deeply regret something?"

"No."

He had thrown that out hoping his premonition was wrong, but reality returned a cruel answer.

"He was a mage who loved someone."

Love.

That emotion that was so close yet so far, so easy yet so difficult.

Ferda couldn't believe that such an emotion had ultimately created the Demon King.

"The Demon King..."

Therefore, he had to know.

"What kind of person was he?"

If the thing inside Ferda's body really could create a Demon King, he needed to trace his footsteps.

"That man was a truly insignificant mage. He learned magic through love for the wife he met long ago. However, he had no great talent for magic. So, he became a farmer, barely scraping by while tending an orchard with his beloved wife."

So far, it was just the incredibly common story of a dull-witted mage.

"But tragedy struck that man. He lost his wife."

That, too, was a common story.

"The man performed the rites to send his wife off according to custom. Even though her ashes flew into the sky and her flesh was scattered across the earth, he could not fill the void in his heart."

That was also a common story.

"Regent Ferda."

The Great Chieftain, who had been speaking, asked a question.

"Could you forget easily if it were you?"

Ferda tried to empathize with the man who would become the Demon King.

He didn't even have to look far; it was no different from his own story.

Hadn't he sent off his mother that way as well?

He recalled how that man had sent off his wife, and how he himself had sent off his mother.

No one had ever filled the void in Ferda.

His longing for Anna Rosnova was still immense.

He imagined substituting Valdrova's figure into that place.

"I wouldn't be able to."

Undoubtedly, Ferda wouldn't be able to shake it off easily, just like this man.

The memories of her would become a thorn that could never be pulled out, continuously leaving an unhealing wound.

The Great Chieftain's story continued.

"That man was the same. Unable to forget his wife, he was drowned in the sense of loss and longing."

"Does someone experiencing those emotions truly become a Demon King?"

"Yes."

"How is that possible?"

It was a question based on magic theory.

The man awakened his Red Circle through love.

If an emotion opposite to love takes root, the Red Circle stops moving.

"Going by what I'm hearing now, it sounds like he was undergoing a reverse flow of emotions."

A reverse flow of emotions is when the Red Circle not only stops but spins backwards.

Emotions are like blood.

If they flow backward, it's the same principle as dying.

"That is correct. In reality, he must have gone through that reverse flow you speak of countless times."

"And yet..."

"He didn't die. Even after going through near-death agony several times, the man didn't die. And like that, the pain became his new source of power."

The theories Ferda knew crumbled to pieces.

The reverse-spinning Circle had become the man's new magic power.

'Not only surviving the reverse flow of emotions, but having it create a new Circle?'

Ferda had never heard of anyone surviving a reverse flow of emotions.

The Red Circle mages he knew died without exception if they didn't keep running forward.

However, there was ample reason why he shouldn't have known this until now.

If the reverse flow of emotions made someone strong enough to become the Demon King, didn't that mean a second Demon King could be created over and over again?

Ferda suddenly recalled the conversation he'd had with Alberto.

'Come to think of it, he said something like this too.'

The man who went around silently crushing Demons had suddenly approached Ferda and called him prime material for a Demon King.

He hadn't understood it then, but after hearing the Demon King's story, he now knew why.

The Demon King had loved someone and lost them.

Ferda was in love with Valdrova.

'If I were to lose Valdrova, I would be in the exact same situation as the Demon King.'

It sounded like a pipe dream.

Dragons were called immortals and reigned as absolutes on this continent.

Although Silverwind and Godwin had died in the Dragon-Demon War, there was still no one who dared diminish the majesty of a dragon.

However, Ferda still didn't know what schemes the Demons were plotting.

Just as they operated in the shadows to deal a death sentence to the Serdes Continent, there were plenty of ways to take out Valdrova in a single blow.

Especially if the goal was to inflict the emotion of 'loss' upon Ferda, the probability was even higher.

"Great Chieftain, may I ask one question?"

"Speak."

He repeated it over and over in his head, but the words did not fall easily from his lips.

It felt as if he were laying his hands on forbidden knowledge.

He was curious, but it felt like there would be no turning back once he got the answer.

"... How did the wife of the man who became the Demon King die?"

Ferda assumed there had to be some reason.

Perhaps assailants broke in and defiled her in front of her husband, or maybe she was taken away by the world's absurdities.

Such a tragedy could have caused his anger toward the world to accumulate and erupt.

However, the answer that returned was completely different from what Ferda hoped.

"It was merely an underlying illness. A law of nature that could not be cured, as her body would reject any attempts to treat it."

Ferda squeezed his eyes shut.

Even that common story drove Ferda to his worst fears.

A man who became a Demon King because he could not overcome the fact that his beloved had simply reached the end of her natural lifespan.

Ferda could not shake off the recurring thought that he would become that man.

"Are you afraid?"

The Great Chieftain asked.

"I am afraid."

Ferda confessed his honest feelings.

Her death was still vividly etched in Ferda's eyes.

Even when driven to the precipice of malice, she remained kind and pure until the very end.

She was an unchangeable, good woman.

"Even if her existence is immutable, I am afraid because I am a being that changes."

Ferda was not like that.

He was a weak human, easily swept up in his emotions.

The possibility that he might get her killed again weighed heavily on Ferda.

"If you are afraid of yourself, there is a way."

At the Great Chieftain's advice, Ferda lifted his head.

"What is it?"

"Regent Ferda, you must delve into the origins of your mana. As you must vaguely know by now, you are different from ordinary humans."

Just as the Great Chieftain said, Ferda knew he was not ordinary.

Even for someone with an outstanding bloodline, the 8th Circle was like a dream, an impossible feat unless they were favored by the era.

He just simply hadn't felt the need to dig into it.

"Regent Ferda, let us talk about your parents. What kind of human was your mother?"

"Will that help?"

"Bloodline is the origin among origins."

He was right.

Since it wasn't something to hide anyway, he decided to answer.

"My mother was..."

Ferda pictured that nostalgic face in his mind.

"Anna Rosnova. She was caring, family-oriented, and..."

Then, he recalled what Erembalt had said.

"And she was a believer of Sierra."

"Sierra... You mean the Goddess of the Moon."

"Yes."

"Then who is your father?"

His father was Erembalt Rosnova.

The cold-blooded man who, after his mother passed away, treated Ferda like a cuckoo child and kicked him out of the family.

"I don't know."

According to Erembalt, Ferda was a child Anna had brought in.

He hadn't been treated like a cuckoo child; he truly was a cuckoo child.

"If so, that means you do not know your origins."

"That's right."

"In that case, may this old man offer you a helping hand?"

The Great Chieftain raised a finger toward the sky.

With that, the Threads swimming through the air gathered in unison to take shape.

They formed a hand twice the size of the white hands he had created so far.

Looking at that hand, Ferda could guess.

"Are you planning to peer into me with that hand?"

"I am."

He added:

"Of course, Regent Ferda, if you do not permit it, I will back down. Knowing yourself is your own burden to bear."

Naturally, it was something he didn't want to do.

Ferda hated having someone pry into him.

He was afraid that this weakness he harbored would be exposed and cause trouble.

However, even more terrifying than that physiological revulsion was the prospect of repeating the past.

One time was enough for the tragedy of Valdrova created by Ferda's hands.

"I understand."

Ferda granted him permission.

The Great Chieftain's white hand gently gripped Ferda's entire body.

That hand was made of condensed mana.

He could feel clean, pure mana seeping into his entire body.

It was then.

"Hmm... So that's how it is... I see... This is..."

The Great Chieftain muttered the information he felt from Ferda's body.

Suppressing his physiological revulsion, Ferda endured the touch.

"Hmm?"

He sensed something strange.

"What in the world... is this... Urgh!?"

"Great Chieftain?"

"Ughaaah!!"

The Great Chieftain, who had been sitting as solidly as an ancient tree, bent forward violently.

The old man, who had remained relaxed no matter what he did, snapped his eyes wide open.

"What is going on?"

He did not answer Ferda's question.

The Great Chieftain's green eyes trembled violently.

"T-That's impossible... How could...?"

The look in his eyes as he stared at Ferda changed.

Awe could be felt radiating from those indifferent eyes that had just been looking at a mere mortal.

The Great Chieftain wasn't the only thing that changed.

The condensed white hand wrapping around Ferda's head unraveled and scattered.

The blue mana that had provided illumination was dyed red and began to vibrate.

Ferda instinctively knew.

He had to break free from this hand to save him.

Ferda tried to force himself to move and escape the hand.

But then, the Great Chieftain gestured.

The hand moved and firmly clutched Ferda, who was trying to escape.

Unable to move an inch, Ferda remained trapped in the Great Chieftain's grasp.

"Keugh!"

The Great Chieftain, who had been forcing himself to endure, eventually coughed up blood and collapsed just like that.

As his concentration broke, the Threads dissipated from the white hand and swam through the sky again.

The red sky returned to its blue hue.

The vines on the floor supported the Great Chieftain's body and laid him down gently.

The closed door burst open, and two women came running in.

"Great Chieftain!"

Rize screamed as she rushed to the Great Chieftain's side.

Erica approached Ferda and demanded to know what happened.

"Regent, what on earth happened? Why did the World Tree vibrate like that...?"

Ferda could not answer.

Ferda himself was utterly bewildered by all of this, so there was no way he could explain it.

And he didn't even have the time to think it over and answer.

Not long after the two women entered, the door opened again.

All the high elves inside the World Tree had sensed the Great Chieftain's condition and rushed up.

"O Great Chieftain!"

"Mother, have mercy...!"

They all surrounded the Great Chieftain and began to sing.

Light wrapped around the Great Chieftain's critical body, beginning to heal him.

Everyone put Ferda and Erica on the back burner, but there was one exception.

The high elf elder, who had viewed them with disdain, pointed at Ferda and Erica and shouted.

"Apprehend those suspects at once!"