Chapter 260 [Illustration]

Chapter 260 [Illustration]

I didn’t know if Eleris believed that I knew the future.

But since I had to entrust Eleris with the most important task ahead, I had to share the most crucial secret with her.

She would realize over time that my words were true.

She seemed to somewhat understand why I was trying to contact the magic societies and why there was so much that was strange about me. Thus, discussing the details of these matters with Eleris became a bit easier.

I was trying to prevent a massive future crisis.

With that overarching premise, there was no need to hold back in our discussions.

But there was a problem.

“... You don’t know?” Eleris asked.

“That’s right.”

“But didn’t you say you know the future?”

“That’s why I said I don’t know everything. There’s more I don’t know.”

“But still, you can’t lie about something like the Black Order!” Eleris shouted in exasperation.

‘Uh, this feels... It’s like I’m getting scolded by my mom for causing trouble...’

“What do you mean? I only knew that Aaron Mede was a member of the Black Order, not where to find them. So, I threw it out there, believing that if I missed this chance, I’d never find a way to get in touch with them.”

Eleris sighed. “Your Highness... What should we do...? So, you don’t know much about Cantus Magna either?”

“That’s right.”

Another long sigh.

When writing a long story, the length of it causes certain problems.

When a story goes into long-term serialization, limits to human memory lead to inevitable issues.

You might forget the plot threads you introduced, or you might find it too difficult to tie up those loose ends, so you just leave them hanging.

In my case, the magic societies were one of these unresolved plot points. I didn’t forget them, but the scope of the story became so large that I just... couldn’t deal with it.

The way they were now was a product of my irresponsibility.

The Black Order appeared once in the Aaron Mede incident and was mentioned in relation to the Forbidden Spell Hunters, but that was it.

I described them as something impressive, and I had certain ideas about them in my head, but they never appeared again. When the Gate Incident exploded, all the minor plot threads were either sucked in or forgotten.

I never even mentioned what those guys did during the Gate Incident, and all I had leftover were the thoughts I had when I’d initially set up the idea of magic societies.

Magic societies acted according to their own standards, regardless of societal morals. Just like the Black Order, the Forbidden Spell Hunters—Cantus Magna—would follow their own beliefs.

The Black Order made a singular appearance in the novel, and Cantus Magna was only ever mentioned and never appeared.

In the end, this was a mess I’d created, so I had to figure it out myself.

If the magic societies caused the Gate Incident, I needed to know more about them.

The issue at hand was that I’d pretended to have information that would interest the Black Order when I actually had nothing.

That was why Eleris was looking at me with such disdain.

“Well... I don’t know much about Cantus Magna. But I do know how to set up a meeting with them.”

“Do you really know of such a way?”

‘Ah. But if I say this... I might get scolded really badly...’

It wasn’t complicated at all; the strategy was very simple, and it was probably even the best option.

“They’re Forbidden Spell Hunters, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then if we use a forbidden spell, they’ll come, right?”

“...”

Eleris’s expression turned icy. It felt similar to the occasions when Ellen would give me a chilling look.

However, Ellen’s face was usually expressionless, and so it wasn’t that bad. Seeing the ever-smiling Eleris offer up such an expression... It truly felt like a crisis.

All you had to do to summon the Forbidden Spell Hunters was to use a forbidden spell...

The logic itself was sound.

“What am I going to do with you?!” Eleris finally yelled, and smacked me on the head.

Thwack!

“Ouch!”

“Oh! Wh-What have I done...!”

Eleris, shocked by her own actions, started patting my head and apologizing profusely.

The idea of using a forbidden spell to summon Cantus Magna was, of course, rejected.

“Eleris, think through this rationally. If the Black Order finds out I lied, we’ll end up fighting them anyway. Either way, we’ll end up in conflict with one of them, right?”

“Be quiet!”

Eleris sighed heavily, still fuming. “Someone on the Council might know something. Let’s start by looking for clues there. Some of their families are deeply intertwined with the human world.”

“Really?”

“Old vampires inevitably become mages. There’s nothing like difficult studies to pass the time.”

We would leave the most dangerous strategies on hold for the moment, and try to obtain some information from the Vampire Council.

What happened next would largely depend on whether we could bring them into the fold or not.

***

While life at Temple continued on, I gave Eleris instructions for what had to be done outside.

We had not yet gathered any information on Cantus Magna to offer to the Black Order, but the likelihood that we would have to fight them was very low. If push came to shove, I could always threaten to use a forbidden spell to summon them. The Black Order must have had their reasons for not using that method themselves, though.

For the time being, the matter with Aaron Mede had been settled, and Eleris was the only one with whom I shared this secret.

However, a problem arose...

“...”

“You know, you two are pretty easy to read.”

“What do you mean?”

We were quietly having breakfast. Riana was biting the end of her fork and looking back and forth between Ellen and me.

“Did you two fight again?”

“No. And what’s with the ‘again’?”

“We didn’t fight.”

‘They fought,’ was the prevailing sentiment on everyone else’s faces.

“These two don’t usually talk much, but you can tell when they’ve fought.”

‘What exactly do they think of me?’

I probably didn’t need to ask.

Riana seemed to find it amusing and kept asking me about the names of various flowers whenever she saw one she didn’t recognize.

While I rattled off the names of various flowers, there were still many I didn’t know.

There were flowers that only existed in this world, ones that might only exist in my original world, and also ones I just didn’t know the names of.

Naturally, I couldn’t recognize all of them. More often than not, I didn’t know them.

As the sun began to set, though, everyone was looking at me strangely.

It was as though they were seeing a completely different side of me.

“Seriously, why are you all acting like this? Is it that surprising that I know a few flowers?”

“Of course it is,” Riana said on behalf of everyone. “The more I see you, the less I understand you.”

At least they didn’t see this side of me in a negative light.

For some reason, Harriet’s face was flushed.

‘These punks... It seems like there’s a big misunderstanding about me. I need to break this atmosphere.’

“But you know, I find flower viewing a bit strange.”

“Why?”

Everyone seemed curious about what I would say next.

“Flowers are basically the reproductive organs of plants, right?”

To be precise, I was talking about the pistil and stamen.

I looked at the wildflowers scattered around.

“Isn’t it funny that all these people have gathered here to look at reproductive organs?”

“Oh...”

“...”

“...”

“You’re really a crazy lunatic.”

I had successfully ruined the mood.

***

I wasn’t sure if the flower viewing had really lifted anyone’s spirits. As we were about to head back, Ellen grabbed my arm.

“A little longer.”

“... What?”

Ellen gave me a look.

“Let’s stay a little longer.”

She wanted to be alone with me. Everyone else seemed to understand and left us alone without much fuss.

They probably thought we needed time to talk, given their mistaken belief that we had fought.

Without saying much, they left us behind.

It was an autumn evening, and with the sun setting, we sat on the steps near the Irine River.

“...”

“...”

We had both been angry at each other.

I would continue to get involved in dangerous matters, most of which I couldn’t tell Ellen about. I didn’t want to ask for her help. These matters were too dangerous.

There was no way Ellen could know even a little about what I was going to do. If she did, the problem wouldn’t just be that I was doing something dangerous; she would learn my secrets.

If that happened, I didn’t know what would come after.

I didn’t want to imagine it.

“It’s strange,” Ellen said softly.

“What is?”

“When someone is precious to you, you should say nice things to them, do nice things for them.”

“...”

“But when someone is too precious, you end up saying hurtful things and causing them pain.”

Ellen looked out quietly at the calm surface of the river, tinged with the red hues of the setting sun. “It’s foolish.”

“... Yeah, it is.”

I picked up a stone and threw it into the river, watching the small ripples it created as it sank beneath the surface under the burning autumn sunset.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too. I’m sorry.”

We apologized to each other.

Ellen leaned her head on my shoulder.

It was something she hadn’t done in a long time.

“Reinhart.”

“Yeah.”

“Aaron Mede. You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“...”

Ellen already knew.

She had to know.

It was a lie I had concocted. Aaron Mede had died because his head had exploded. There was no way I could have inflicted such a wound.

Even though I had hidden the body, Ellen might have seen it.

“Yeah,” I responded.

Ellen didn’t press further.

“When I become a Swordmaster, will you tell me your secret?”

“...”

Even if she became more than a Swordmaster, there was no way I could tell her.

I couldn’t give her an answer.

The moment when Ellen would inevitably learn my secret seemed to be approaching.

It felt like an unavoidable fate, even if we could avoid the Gate Incident.