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Chapter 149 - Chapter 149

Chapter 149 – Teaching (1)

They rode the mana lift up to Aurofl.

The bright sunlight streaming down onto the earth.

After weeks, Aiden and Charlotte stared blankly at the sky, mesmerized by the sunlight.

Samwell too let out a deep sigh of relief.

The few days they had spent in Roafra had truly felt like an eternity.

Verden asked,

"Do you have any belongings to move separately?"

"No, none. It was a rental without a deposit, and the furniture was all cheap junk anyway. I have plenty of money, so once I settle down, I plan to replace everything brand new."

Samwell had never gone beyond the city walls of Aurofl.

His heart pounded with a mix of tickling excitement and unfamiliar anxiety. To him, this was a new beginning itself.

Verden's party headed for the city gate.

They planned to rent a carriage nearby and travel to Asern. Galliark rented the biggest horse from the stable and swung himself up.

It was time to part ways.

Samwell bowed deeply.

"Please go safely, Lord Galliark."

"Thank you for your help!"

He bowed again.

Following Samwell, Aiden and Charlotte also expressed their thanks.

To them as well, Galliark was a benefactor. He had taken Samwell to the casino where he struck it rich, he had torn apart Costa's remnants with his absurdly large axe, and he had even stood against Vintert.

Galliark twisted his lips into a grin.

"Hey, Asher. Don't you have anything to say to this elder?"

"If you have nothing to do, go."

"Listen to this brat, talking like that to someone at least ten years older. Hey, kids, don't you dare end up like him."

"..."

The siblings gave no reply.

If Galliark was a benefactor, then Verden was nothing less than a savior. Their expressions cooled.

Galliark looked baffled.

"Look at that, glaring just because I made a joke. What are you, fanatics or something? Hey, Samwell, every time you spend that money, bow in my direction. You won eighty times more thanks to me taking you to the casino."

"Haha, that's true. It's all thanks to you, Lord Galliark."

"Of course it is."

Galliark tightened his grip on the reins.

"Don't go dying on the road somewhere."

The butcher lightly spurred his horse.

After passing through the checkpoint, he began galloping at full speed.

'But, we haven't divided Costa's assets yet?'

Verden looked at Galliark.

The butcher grew smaller in the distance. He suddenly raised his left arm high and stuck out his middle finger.

Use it to buy the kids a meal.

It was the same rough and unpolished farewell as ever.

'Madman indeed.'

Verden rented a carriage focused on comfort and convenience.

Samwell sat at the driver's seat.

As a guide, he had experience driving noble carriages back in Roafra, making him something of a veteran. But since he didn't know the roads well and wasn't used to rough terrain, Verden sat beside him to keep watch.

Aiden and Charlotte climbed into the carriage and sat right at the front. They opened the window, leaning their heads slightly between Verden and Samwell.

The carriage passed through the city gate.

Samwell snapped the reins, and the horse began to run.

The season passing between winter and spring.

The cool wind brushed against their skin.

A few days later, they arrived in Asern.

Verden entered the tavern.

Seeing him dressed as if nothing had happened, Perne's face lit up as she welcomed him.

"Lord Asher! Welcome back! You're a little la—"

Perne suddenly froze in place.

Her eyes shifted past Verden. Behind him stood a man and woman who resembled each other, along with an ordinary-looking fellow.

One left, yet four returned.

Perne's instincts flared.

"Don't tell me… you clashed with Vintert, did you?"

"It couldn't be helped."

Thud.

Perne collapsed into her seat.

***

The siblings sat in a corner of the tavern with Samwell, drinking soft drinks.

They smiled and chatted casually, seeming to get along surprisingly well.

Meanwhile, Verden spoke with Perne.

As she listened quietly, Perne suddenly jolted.

"W–wait, Beken had an illegitimate child?! But he was known to be a doting husband…!"

She pressed her forehead, then quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Lord Asher. This is my oversight."

"Think nothing of it."

Even for Perne, it was difficult to know everything about someone's family affairs.

Especially when her information network had only been rebuilt recently. Cause and effect, as Derick had put it. This was just one of the unexpected variables.

Verden continued his explanation.

As Vintert's name came up in earnest, Perne's face turned pale.

"Robert and Draken, you mean…?"

Perne knew little about Vintert.

More accurately, she could not place informants inside Roafra. No matter how skilled, wandering about inside Vintert's domain was extremely dangerous.

One wrong move, and the blade's edge might reach Perne herself. The fact she had not even sensed Beken's illegitimate child was largely because of that.

But still, she knew of those two.

'Black Hand Robert.'

The manager overseeing Vintert's finances. Ever since he rose to his position, it was said Vintert's assets had multiplied several times over.

That alone hinted at how shrewd he was, on a whole different level.

'And the fallen adventurer, Draken.'

Once famed as a Mithril-rank adventurer, he abandoned the guild for some reason, then entered Roafra and never once left again.

He was one of Roafra's strongest, guarding Vintert.

'Aside from the king of the underworld, they rank among the top three powers in Vintert.'

To have met such figures, and even killed a member of Vintert's circle…

Perne felt her heart sink into her stomach.

But she did not panic as she once might have.

After months with Verden, she had grown somewhat accustomed. More importantly, he had received a pardon from Vintert.

The price was never setting foot in Roafra again. Which meant they would not interfere further.

'So he has this side to him as well.'

Wiping out a petty tyrant's force, all because two enslaved siblings had asked for help.

Not only that, he had stood against Vintert itself rather than abandon them. And now, after healing them, he was even returning them to the city they had lived in.

It was as if he were not merely taking their outstretched hands, but lifting them back onto their feet.

'Hm? Wait, does that mean I'm the same?'

Perne too had once clutched at his robe hem, begging for help. Though she had her reasons, the fact remained—he had helped her.

Either way, she now understood what had happened in Roafra.

But one thing still puzzled her.

"Why haven't you sent them straight to Rines?"

The distance between Rines and Asern was not far. There had been no need to bring them to her tavern.

To this, Verden answered,

"There is something I must teach them."

***

Aiden was a trait-holder with a special attribute—his mana carried healing power.

On the road to Asern, Verden had asked him about it. Aiden admitted he had sometimes felt strange sensations, but since he had hardly ever been seriously injured in his life, he had never realized his nature.

Thanks to that, he had lived peacefully until the slavers came.

'Well, in any case…'

The fact that he had awakened mana naturally meant he had the talent of a Mage.

But he lacked the knowledge and experience he ought to have, making self-control impossible.

With luck, he might continue to live as he was, but if not, it would not be long before he was exposed.

Unless he at least acquired the ability to manipulate mana, the tragedy of Roafra could repeat itself.

"That's why, from now on, I will make you aware of your mana circuit."

"Mana circuit?"

"It's something that forms in a Mage once they awaken to mana, you can think of it like a type of blood vessel. Mana flows through that channel, activating the circuit, and through processes such as calculations for each spell and mana manipulation, the miracle called magic can be manifested."

"Ah..."

Aiden blinked.

It was obvious he hadn't understood a thing. Well, considering he'd lived in a rural village until his late teens, it wasn't surprising.

"There's no need to force yourself to understand right now."

He would experience it soon enough anyway.

Thus, Verden led Aiden down into the tavern's basement.

"Stand here."

"Ah, yes!"

He placed Aiden at the center.

Verden took his position behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"From now on, I will forcibly activate your mana circuit. You may resist or comply, either way, focus on the sense of unfamiliarity as much as possible."

Unfamiliarity?

Aiden tilted his head in confusion, when Verden suddenly flared his mana.

Fwaaah!

The crystallized mana swirled faintly, then began to flow into Aiden's mana circuit. Normally, transmitting mana into another was meaningless. Resistance would scatter it outward almost immediately.

But Verden's mana was infinitely pure.

That was why it could linger, if only briefly, within another's mana circuit. Especially someone like Aiden, who hadn't even learned magic yet.

Verden's mana raced through Aiden's circuit.

He forcibly activated the mana circuit, pushing it outward, and poured in even more mana to maintain the state.

A tingling sensation spread through Aiden's entire body.

It was unfamiliar and awkward, but there was no pain. Rather, he felt a fullness unlike anything he had ever known.

As the moment continued, Aiden began to understand what Verden meant by unfamiliarity.

"Uuugh…!"

His body felt uncomfortable and ticklish.

It was like suddenly growing a new organ. He felt like he could move it, but it refused to respond the way he wanted.

Aiden's mana pulsed faintly.

'He realized it faster than expected.'

That would be enough for today.

Pushing forward recklessly from the start was never wise.

Verden immediately withdrew his mana.

"Ugh?!"

With his mana circuit suddenly emptied, Aiden felt drained and collapsed to the ground. His head spun wildly.

"What you just tried to move was your mana circuit. Remember this sensation, and while you're awake, do your best to stay conscious of it. If you do that, it won't take long before you can move mana at will."

Of course, controlling all his mana completely was impossible.

That was a realm that required great time and effort as a Mage. For Aiden, preventing his mana from running rampant would be enough.

"If you ever run into a block, tell me. I'll help you."

"Haa, haa…"

Aiden steadied his breath.

Once the dizziness subsided, he asked cautiously,

"Lord Asher, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Why are you helping me this much?"

Why, indeed.

The reasons were complex. But if he had to choose one…

"Because I don't want you to become an experiment."

"…What?"

"It's a personal reason. Don't worry about it, just focus on learning to control your mana."

Verden turned to leave.

As he headed for the exit, Aiden hurriedly called out,

"B–but, I have nothing I can give you, Lord Asher!"

"Did I ever demand payment from you?"

He hadn't. Not once.

So Aiden could say nothing more.

Verden climbed the stairs back to the ground floor.

Charlotte, who had been lingering by the entrance, ran up quickly when she saw him.

She pulled out two small slips of paper from her pocket.

On them were clumsy sentences, written in rough handwriting.

──Thank you for saving Aiden and me.

Charlotte handed him the other one.

──We want to repay your kindness, Lord Asher.

…Truly siblings, their thoughts were the same.

Verden sighed inwardly and pointed toward the basement.

"I didn't save you for repayment. So don't concern yourself with me, go take care of your brother. He looks exhausted."

Verden had mountains of work piled up.

He had no intention of being delayed and wasting time.

With those words, Verden walked past her and stepped outside the tavern.

Charlotte hesitated, watching his back, then soon descended into the basement.

***

Aiden's mana circuit had been awakened. From here, it would depend on his own effort.

He seemed talented enough. Within two weeks at most, he should gain at least the basic ability to manipulate mana.

They would depart for Rines then.

Back at his inn room in Asern,

Verden shook off the travel fatigue, sat at his desk, and opened his spatial bag.

The Set of Gravity Magic Tomes.

He had paid no less than 2.73 billion Elk at auction. It was split into two volumes, upper and lower.

The upper contained the theory of gravity magic, while the lower dealt with its practical spells. The theory alone exceeded 700 pages in length, with considerable thickness.

Every page was packed with text, accompanied by incomprehensible diagrams and Mage terminology. The content was abstruse, and the layout visually cluttered.

Even a Mage working in the magic tower would struggle to read it through, let alone understand it.

'Certainly worthy of being called high-order magic.'

But there was no problem.

No matter how difficult, once he grasped the core concepts, the rest would naturally follow.

Unrivaled understanding of magic.

He hadn't been born with strength, so he had been forced into becoming an experiment, but that despair had forged his greatest weapon.

For Verden, magical theory was as natural as common sense.

He opened the upper volume.

His eyes skimmed the first line quickly, then turned the page moments later.

Ssshh… ssshh…

The light and dark outside the window swallowed each other in turn, yet the sound of turning pages never ceased.

There was no need to go back and reread what he hadn't understood, nor repeat lines.

Tens of thousands of puzzle pieces fell naturally into place, forming the picture.

Gravity magic.

A new attribute was taking root in Verden's boundless potential.

***

In a luxury inn of another city.

The top floor room was in shambles, a mess enough to draw a grimace. A Mage crouched at the center, wailing.

"Wind! Earthen Wall! Flame Arrow! Whirlwind!"

He shouted the names of spells aloud.

Of course, not a single one manifested. They were attributes not rooted in his mana circuit.

"Why! Why can't I do it! Why, why!"

No answer came, no matter how much he screamed.

The Mage flopped onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

He had tried everything to surpass the wall.

He had scoured countless magical tomes, searching for the way to awaken a new elemental attribute. Yet the result remained the same.

There had been milestones.

Few reached success, and he understood that. But now that it was him, the futility was unbearable.

No, he hadn't even reached the starting line. He could not comprehend those milestones.

"Am I truly incapable…?"

The Mage lamented.

To realize one's own limits was a pain sharper than being cut open. The despair of knowing he might never cross the wall smothered him.

He wished he could close his eyes and never wake again.

And then, one name brushed his mind.

The Mage his peers had praised endlessly.

A genius who was a 4th-tier lightning Mage, yet also versed in multiple elemental attributes. A name that might rescue him from the pit of despair.

"Asher."

Murmuring the name, the Mage leapt to his feet.

Throwing on the robe hanging on the rack, he gathered his belongings and immediately left the inn. He was too desperate, too frantic, to hesitate any longer.

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