CH 50

“Magic power is a type of invisible energy. The body is a vessel that holds mana.”

I listened to Finn while sitting in the right position. Finn’s teaching was completely different from his usual ditzy appearance.

He began to explain one by one with a serious voice.

“If you don’t hold onto them, they’ll spread out. Lucia’s condition is like that right now. Mana is flowing out on its own.”

“Is that a big problem?””

“Of course!”

Finn’s voice became even higher. 

“But usually people rarely notice this problem. Most of the time, the magic inside the body continues to flow out and eventually the vessel becomes empty, so they live their entire lives without knowing that they have magic.”

“Really?”

“Lucia belongs to a unique case. Most of the time, there’s only one case.”

Finn couldn’t hide his excitement and held my hands tightly with his eyes twinkling.

“Lucia has a lot of magic. So it’s okay to have it flow out like this! It’s not too late! Don’t you want to get a job at the Tower?”

“I don’t want to.”

I cut off Finn’s recommendation at once.

“Why? The pay is really, really good.”

“There are no other advantages.”

“I have one! They give a good salary, good food, good overtime pay, good bonuses, and put in insurance money every month…”

You’re just saying that they give money well.

I shook my head lightly.

I knew that in the end, it’s really not that much since all the money is being poured into materials and experiments.

Finn talked about money for a long time after that. Then as soon as I said, ‘if you don’t continue to teach me, I’ll take it out of the commission fee’, he returned back to the topic at hand.

“Anyway, it’s good to control this well, right?””

“Of course! First of all, you must learn to control it without wasting needless energy.”

Finn shook his head for a moment and then asked me.

“Would you like to create just one magic ball?”

“Like this?”

I clasped my hands as if holding something. In that way, a sphere made of magical power was created in the palm of my hand.

Finn saw this and nodded his head.

“That’s right. This is a magic sphere that is usually made by novice wizards. It’s the easiest way to control your magic power. But once you become proficient at it…”

Finn stretched out his palms and began to form round spheres on each of his fingertips.

“You can do it this way.”

The magic spheres created on his fingers seemed to be one-tenth the size of the magic sphere I had made.

Finn hurled the ten magic orbs towards the piece of wood he had prepared for class.

Afterwards, it exploded with a popping sound.

“Originally, the easiest way to gather magic power is with the palm of your hand, and if you are a little proficient, then you can control it from your fingertips. An expert can craft magic from any part of their body.”

“Hey, that’s amazing.”

“Okay, today’s class ends here! Lucia, you can try shooting the magic ball at that block of wood!”

Finn said, pointing to the other block next to the one he had exploded.

I wondered if I could really do this.

Although, as Finn said, I can’t do precise magic, but it was the magic of the Devil, so each and every move was very strong and destructive.

Even for two years, I didn’t just lay quietly, I practiced…

Finn smiled brightly at my contemplating appearance and tapped my shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. The wooden block over there is a special item that absorbs magic power. If I had done what I originally did, I would have made this house a mess, but only that piece bursted!”

“…Okay. So it will be fine?”

After the self-proclaimed first-class magician of the Tower said that, I charged the magic ball towards the wooden block without any further thought.

“Look, it’s okay-”

Whoops!

It happened before Finn finished shrugging his shoulders and finished his speech.

Apparently, one side of the wall in my house, which was fine until a few seconds ago, had disappeared.

Finn and I blinked silently as the sunlight poured through the broken walls.

After a while, Finn cautiously opened his mouth.

“Uh, do you have insurance…?”

“No.”

“Get one. Because it looks like it will break a lot in the future…”

~*~

At the monthly parliamentary meeting, the main targets of interest of all nobles were divided between two families.

One was Duke Blake, and the other was Duke Rokden.

Both families are famous for their long history and public achievements, but the path they walked on was completely the opposite.

Blake was often referred to as the guardian of the empire and Rokden was referred to as the pioneer of the empire. In fact, Blake made great contributions in wars and battles, while Rokden made great contributions in policy design and diplomatic agreements within the empire.

The nobles held a meeting with nervous minds as if they were holding a time bomb that might explode at any moment.

Sure enough, a shout immediately burst out.

“What do you mean prohibited trading of the mahone stones? What are you talking about?”

Complaints exploded from the nobles.

Currently, the mahone stones’ popularity has reached its peak.

As such, the nobles bought the gems regardless of whether they needed it or not, and it was time for their investments and businesses to gradually grow in relation to the stones.

Duke Rokden, who proposed the agenda, calmly looked at the nobles complaining here and there.

“For what reason should we ban the trade?”

“Right! What’s the reason?”

When the atmosphere of the conference hall overheated, the Emperor, who was sitting at the top, raised his hand and made the surroundings quiet.

Duke Rokden slowly opened his mouth inside the conference hall, which had immediately gone silent under the order of the Emperor.

“Let me explain why.”

Like his neatly dressed uniform, his white hair was also neatly arranged.

He stepped out to the middle of the conference hall with confidence. There was no sign of fear or hesitation even at the shouts of the nobles. Rather, other nobles were a little frozen by his momentum.

“First, in recent years, there have been more cases of illegally collecting the mahone stones. Like the realm of the Devil, it often causes problems when people enter areas where access is prohibited by law. Even these days, more and more people give money to commoners and make them do such things.”

Several people in the conference hall made prickly faces.

“Those who entered the realm of the Devil were often seriously injured, and sometimes they would be dragged by demons to nearby areas. Such actions are illegal and even caused damage to the populace, so therefore, it is something that must be punished severely.”

Coughing sounds erupted around the room, as if they were embarrassed from hearing him state the facts so plainly.

In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that all of the recently traded mahone stones were illegally collected.

In the past, the most representative route to collect the gems was the Warrior. However, now he was taking the lead in participating in the war rather than killing the demons.

Since the designation of the Devil’s territory, there have been very few demons running out of the realm to attack people recently, so there was no need for the Warrior to step forward.

“Secondly, the mahone stone is not just a jewel. It’s a very dangerous jewel with the soul of a demon. No matter how processed it is, there’s no way that such power will not affect humans.”

At his next words, people started to get a little confused. That was because it was the first time they heard that the mahone stones were dangerous.

“Besides, I heard recently that a young girl was attacked by demons while wearing an accessory made of mahone stones. Fortunately, the Warrior who passed by saved her, so she is safe.”

“Hey, is that true?”

“If you have that, you will be attacked by demons?!”

Aristocrats who wore mahone stone accessories shed a word or two in concern.

Some of them were timid and even took off their accessories on the spot.

“Thirdly, if you recklessly collect the demon soul stones in this way, you may incur the wrath of the Devil and then it’ll go back to that chaotic era 10 years ago.”

At those words, the conference hall became completely silent as if water had been doused on everyone.

Ten years ago, also known as the era of chaos.

It meant a time when the Devil and all kinds of demons ran rampant and every day was like hell for humans. It was terrible at the time, to the point where anyone who remembers it would shriveled up with fear.

“Everyone seems to have forgotten about the Devil because he has been quiet as of late. Do you know what made the Devil angry recently?”

In the midst of the frozen silence of the conference hall, Duke Rokden was alone, overwhelming the crowd.

“It was a case of breaking barriers in the land of the demons and collecting hundreds of mahone stones. It is said that all the troops who went there suffered terrible pain due to the power of the Devil. Currently, the Devil is showing a very mild attitude, unlike ten years ago. But, the peace that was achieved after so long could be disrupted any day if this were to go on.”

His last words touched the hearts of most of the nobles. They fell to the persuasion of Duke Rokden.

After finishing his argument, the Duke bowed with dignity and returned to his seat.

It was beautiful. People once again recalled the idea of how some people compared Duke Rokden to swans with reason.

If the Duke of Rokden was a swan, then the Duke of Blake was compared to an eagle.

Moments later, Duke Blake stood up, his eyes twinkling as if he had found his prey.

“I have one question I want to ask you…”

It was different from Duke Rokden, who gazed at the audience evenly.

His gaze was focused on only one place.

“Then what should I do with the essential uses of the mahone stone? The gem is not just used as an accessory. It is also used for the research of wizards, medicine, and other things. Are you going to ban all trades of such things?”

“In essential areas, measures are taken to ensure that they are exclusively provided through a single transaction method.”

“Haha, I knew it.”

The eagle snatched its prey. Duke Blake chuckled and shook his head.

“At the end of the day, what the Duke of Rokden is saying is that he will eventually monopolize the mahone stone trading market.”

“I didn’t say that my family would take on that role.”

“No matter which family is in charge, there will be no way to stop the breath of Rokden, who is good at diplomacy.”

Duke Rokden tried to stand up to refute, but Duke Blake was one step ahead. He stood in the middle of the hall with the slow pace of a predator.

“Dear Emperor, and in front of everyone here, let me rebut one by one the three reasons the Duke of Rokden said that the mahone stone trade should be banned.”

A similar but different heavy air once again enveloped the hall.

“First, the illegal gathering of mahone stones. It is just enough to catch and punish those who break the law. The crackdown and punishment should be much stricter than it is now.”

A calm voice echoed through the hall. The nobles, who had been possessed by the Duke of Rokden until a moment ago, heard Duke Blake’s story and felt as if they were once more overwhelmed.

“Secondly, the story of the danger of the mahone stone. In fact, it has been used as an accessory for a long time. In the meantime, I have never heard of any stories about dangerous events coming about due to the gem.”

“That’s right.”

“Come think of it, Duke Blake is right.”

One by one, people began to shed a voice of agreement.

“Last but not least, the Devil’s wrath… I don’t know why you’re worried about this.”

The Duke’s gaze slowly scanned the conference hall and the end of his gaze reached Haron, who was sitting quietly on one side.

“We have a Warrior to confront the Devil.”