Chapter 188 : New Ability (3)
T/N: Hello, CSV here. I truly and most sincerely apologize for going into such a long hiatus. Between by college stats class and exhaustion from translating, I ended up falling apart last winter and couldn’t get back on track with translating until now.
But I’m finally back to translating IatM, and I promise for sure this time to make up all 16 chapters I missed during my absence since the first week of November.
So here are the first 6 of the missed chapters (ch.188~193), and the other 10 chapters (193~203) will be released throughout next week (+/- 2 days depending on editing speed).
The Great Warring Era.
The period when the entire continent fell into chaos.
An era of war whose beginning and even its cause were so intricately connected to a point of comprehension being impossible.
Especially the reason that the era of the Great War was exceedingly chaotic was that it wasn’t merely the human’s war.
A period when the oppressed, or perhaps disappeared, or perhaps even forgotten existences all raised their swords and blades.
Elves too, who were one of the disappeared existences, acted a pivot of the the era.
And the queen who led those elves.
Piscis.
She was the singular and strongest elf who showed off shocking archery, magic, and spirit magic that rivaled her emerald hair, ivory skin, and beautiful looks.
‘That Piscis is Princess Aily?’
Roan couldn’t believe her.
The appearances of Piscis he heard through rumors and Aily were simply too different.
At that moment.
[You’re Piscis? Don’t make me laugh. Maybe on dim-witted humans, but that kind of lie doesn’t work on me who’s a spirit.]
Seemingly slightly angry, Kinis pouted her lips.
Roan and Aily’s eyes turned towards her.
Kinis looked straight at Aily’s eyes.
[Piscis. That’s not just a name. That’s one kind of title signifying the elves’ leader and the supreme commander.]
Her voice slowly rose.
[It’s a sacred title granted only to those who has passed numerous tests even amongst the elves.]
Kinis flew round and round around Aily.
[You’re a human however I look. And you say that you’re the elves’ supreme commander? Say something that makes sense.]
Her voice held a sharp pressure.
Roan quietly stared at Aily.
He was awaiting her answer.
Aily’s expression was still calm.
Floating a faint smile, she answered in a soft voice.
“Kinis. You know about the elves’ world very well perhaps because you’re a spirit. Then, you can recognize this too, right?”
Aily fully opened her two hands, then pressing the thumbs and forefingers together, she made a small triangle.
Suddenly.
Paat.
Three small leaves with perfect symmetries floated up between her eyebrows.
Sublime leaves gently shining with a green light.
[Tezion……?!]
Kinis muttered with a dazed expression.
Tezion.
A term indicating the green emblem made up of three leaves, it was the ensignia and symbol of the elves’ supreme commander Piscis.
[You, you are really Piscis?!]
Kinis asked with a trembling voice.
Aily lightly nodded her head and parted the fingers she held together.
Simultaneously, the gently shining Tezion also disappeared.
[How could a human become Piscis?]
Kinis asked with a still trembling voice.
Roan also had a curious expression.
With a small voice, Aily answered whisperingly.
“I’m not a human. I’m a half elf.”
Half elf.
It was a term indicating a part elf born between an elf and another race.
Roan, who had been listening quietly, cut in with a cautious voice.
“Then do you mean that the deceased 4th queen was an elf, your highness?”
“Yes. My mother was an elf.”
Aily cheerfully smiled and nodded her head.
It was unbelievable.
Roan hesitated for a moment, then asked with a cautious manner and voice.
“But I heard that her highness the 4th queen Silen was a human with an ordinary looks……”
It was definitely recorded so in the in the archive of royalties he had learned of while accessing the palace library.
No, there was no one who wasn’t a human amongst the Rinse Royalty in the first place.
Aily answered in a calm voice.
“No. Mother was definitely an elf. And she was also her generation’s Piscis. She was merely living after having changed her looks with the dragons’ magic. And I’m of a human appearance instead of an elf’s because I’m still young.”
Originally, elves’ lifespan was much longer than that of the humans.
Because so, there were many cases of elves’ appearance showing up only after jumping well into the twenties in human years in the case of half elves born between elves and humans.
“That’s a shocking story. Does his majesty the king know of this truth?”
“No. My father the king only knows of my mother as an ordinary human. Since mother kept it as a secret to the end. The reason for that was…… uum. I can’t tell you this because it’s too personal a matter. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, your highness.”
Roan quickly shook his head.
After cleaning up the complicated thoughts inside his head, he threw a question once more.
“What was the reason her highness the 4th queen hid her looks even while using the dragons’ magic?”
He couldn’t help but ask.
The reason that the elves’ supreme commander hid her identity and lived while hiding amongst the humans.
Aily’s expression that had floated a soft smile until now slightly became darker.
“That…… was to not die and survive.”
A sad light shaded her voice.
“Mother was being chased.”
“What do you mean chased?”
Questions that he doesn’t wish but keep ending up asking.
It was something that couldn’t be helped to clearly grasped the surrounding situations.
Furthermore, the story that the elves’ leader lived in hiding in order to maintain her life was an incredibly shocking story.
Aily, looking out at the beautiful scenery that spread outside the balcony, exhaled a short sigh.
“This will be a very long story.”
Roan and Kinis, with their lips tightly closed, nodded their heads.
They were ready to lean their ears however much at her story.
“Where should I begin…… umm.”
Aily pondered for a moment, then took out a completely unexpected story.
“Yes. I should start from the dragons’ story.”
Roan, Aily, and Kinis’s gazes crossed.
“Dragons haven’t all died or left far away.”
The dragons that suddenly disappeared.
It was the moment the hidden truth was finally being revealed.
“They are currently at a place deep inside the Grain Mountains.”
A strength went into Aily’s voice.
The stories that followed were truly shocking and fantastical stories.
*****
“Why did only you guys came? What about the master bastard?”
A dark secret room.
Beyond the swaying candlelight, Duke Bradley Webster’s creased face was seen.
The young man who was standing politely on the opposite lowered his head.
“Apologies, sir. Master had an important work, so……”
“An important work?”
Bradley’s face exaggeratedly twisted.
“Is it a work even more important than answering my call?”
A sharp voice.
The young man did not panic.
“How can that be, sir? But he had left his seat empty from quite early on, so contacting him wasn’t easy, sir.”
Once again, he bent his back and bowed.
“We visited by ourselves since it seemed to be an urgent matter, sir.”
“Hhm. Lynce. That wily tongue of yours is still the same.”
Bradley wasn’t of a satisfied expression, but he didn’t let out any more words criticizing them.
But Viscount Hensley Forset, who was Bradley’s right hand man and of belligerent personality, had no thoughts of simply stepping back.
“Tch. Arrogant bitches. They should be throwing everything aside and running here when Sir Duke calls. There’s just nothing that’s satisfying about them. This is why hexers bastards get sweared at.”
A bucketful of swears poured down.
“I can only apologize, sir.”
Lynce bowed towards Hensley.
The young men who were standing at his sides were also the same.
Their faces were full of servile smiles.
Looks of having completely shrank at the violent words and swears.
They were the very existences the continent’s entire ruling classes including the royalties and nobles disgusted at, the hexers.
The beings who had hid their traces due to extensive subjugation had received Bradley’s order and had covertly came to the capital, Miller.
“That much is enough.”
Bradley, who had been staying quiet, waved his hand as if annoyed.
He didn’t particularly want to play around with the hexers.
He too used the hexers as his secret move, but he had no plans of intentionally staying close with them.
‘It’s uncomfortable when I’m with them.’
Bradley signalled with his chins at Hensley.
Hensley slightly lowered his head, then took out a thick bundle of papers from within his clothes.
“It’s this time’s target.”
A heavy voice.
The hexers received the paper bundle and carefully perused its contents.
“Hmm.”
Lynce creased his brows.
Although the paper bundle was thick, it was completely full of one person’s story and information.
“Why? Is it impossible?”
Bradley asked with a cold voice.
Lynce, soon smiling cheerily, shook his head.
“Of course not. There is no work impossible for us, sir.”
His expression changed oddly.
“Haven’t you already checked multiple times, sir?”
“Don’t smile slyly.”
Bradley cut his words with a chilly face, then once again waved his hand.
“Good. I will trust and leave it to you again this time. Roan. I will hand you a large reward if you churn up the inside of that bastard’s head.
At those words, Lynce and the rest of the hexers readily bowed at their backs.
“Oooh. Thank you so much, sir. Since you have already and even secured us a route to trespass the mansion he’s staying, we will take care of it within the next few days. Huhuhu.”
A disturbing laugher flowed out.
Lynce once again looked at the bundle of papers.
Large words were written at the top.
Roan Lancephil.
The Rinse Kingdom’s rising hero and the idol of the kingdom’s citizens.
The mission this time was to poke apart the inside of Roan’s head into a mess then turning him into an empty doll by placing a powerful hypnosis.
“Please leave it to us, sir.”
Lynce answered with a bold and confident voice, then walked out backwards.
The other hexers were also the same.
They receded back to a corner of the secret room where the candlelight didn’t touch, then soon disappeared.
Hensley, who had been watching, shook his head with a revolted look.
“Disgusting bastards……”
At those words, Bradley smiled oddly and shook his hand.
“Don’t be like that too much. Since even the bitches of dogs can face a tiger depending on how they are used.”
Of course, the even greater appeal was.
‘I can also mercilessly throw them away if it goes wrong.’
Since there are plenty of sons of bitches in the world.
*****
Shock. Shock. Shock.
It literally was a series of shocks.
Roan, who had returned to his mansion after the banquet had ended, sat alone in his office and sank deep into thoughts.
[Were you surprised a lot?]
Kinis asked with a slightly playful expression.
Roan gave no answer.
[Well, since even I was surprised.]
Kinis sat down on top of Roan’s knee and exhaled a long sigh.
[To think that the dragons are actually hibernating in the Grain Mountains. Just what kind of event has happened?]
“That we can’t know. Since even Princess Aily said she doesn’t know of that.”
Roan let out a short sigh.
[Anyhow, to think a bad blood rose up between the elves due to dragons hibernating…… that too is a shocking thing by itself.]
Roan quietly nodded his head at Kinis’s words.
The existences that overlooked the world’s balance, the dragons.
Their absence had fell the world’s balance little by little.
That was also the same for the elves who were the symbol of harmony.
They too lost their balance and had fallen from the inside little by little.
‘Elves and the dark elves’ animosity.’
During the time when the dragons overlooked the balance of the world, the dark elves called themselves shadows.
Being satisfied with their role, they formed a harmonious balance with the elves.
But after the dragons had disappeared, they were no longer satisfied by their role of shadows.
‘The dark elves aimed for her highness Silen who was the elves’ leader at the time.’
Thankfully, Silen was able to escape the dark elves’ trick and safely run away.
‘And she then became the 4th queen and hid into the Rinse Palace.’
Even the dark elves hadn’t thought that Silen might possibly hid into the Rinse Palace.
It was because the humans and the elves were no different than sworn enemies after the Great War that took place five hundred years ago.
The 4th Queen Silen, who had changed her looks with the dragons’ magic, married the current king Deni Von Rinse and gave birth to Aily.
‘Although she had afterwards asked the dragons who haven’t went into hibernation to push away the dark elves, they refused her request. According to what Princess Aily heard from her highness the queen, she said that it seemed almost as if they couldn’t leave the Grain Mountains.’
Grain Mountains and the Dragons’ hibernation.
There definitely must had been some sort of reason.
Afterwards, Silen recovered her original looks the year Aily became ten years old and returned to the elves’ forest.
She had intentionally became a target to protect Aily’s life from the dark elves who were continuing to chase after her back.
Afterwards, Aily became a pupil of the dragons that were the last to enter hibernation, went into the elves’ forest the year she became an adult, and obtained the title of Piscis.
Of course, she tightly kept the fact that Aily and Piscis were the same person a secret in order to fool the dark elves’ eyes.
Furthermore, she did not carelessly showed off her abilities in preparation against various events that might happen and abstained from going outside.
This was the very reason that she had continuously came to be called the shadow princess.
‘This too is questionable. For them to take Princess Aily as their pupil even though they actually refused the request to push away the dark elves……’
He could hardly understand the dragons’ actions.
“Huu.”
The thoughts inside of his head was chaotic.
There was one more thing that bothered his heart.
‘The dragons’ absence. If the world’s order and balance is falling down little by little because of that……’
And if that caused an influence powerful enough for even the elves who were the symbol of harmony to arose bad blood……
‘Aren’t other species including humans also in danger?’
Then.
‘The reason that the Great Warring Era opened up wasn’t simply because of humans’ greed but because of the dragons’ absence……?’
His heart felt frustrated.
“Huu.”
A long sigh kept flowing out.
[Roan. You don’t need to worry so much like that. It’ll be okay if we help Aily from now on.]
Kinis’s consolation.
She didn’t know what Roan was contemplating and feeling frustrated because of.
Roan tapped his lower lips with the end of his forefinger and delved into a deep thought.
‘Just what could it be? Just what had happened that all the dragons have went into hibernation?’
There was no way that the dragons didn’t knew that the world’s balance would be shaken if they all went into hibernation.
‘Then that means that they could only go into hibernation even while knowing that, but……’
A cold sweat flowed behind his back.
An instinctive reaction.
‘There’s still too many things that I do not know of.’
Even though he was living a second life, there were much more things that he didn’t knew than the ones he knew.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t even know how the Great Warring Era actually came to an end.’
A bitter smile hung.
It was regrettable.
He died much too quickly than he had thought in the last life.
But even so, he couldn’t just leave his hands off.
Since he came to know a new truth, a reorganization was needed once again.
‘For now, I should organize the things that will happen from now on.’
The best method he could do right now was to organize the future.
There was a need to calmly organize and draw a slightly bigger picture.
After this day, Roan abstained from going out as much as possible and organized the events that would happen from now on, no, the events that had happened.
And the day it became the fourth day he had sat down inside his office.
“Damn it.”
Roan creased his forehead.
He grasped his hair with both hands.
“To think I was this dumb.”
With a thick bundle of papers in front of him, Roan spat out a long sigh.
On the bundle of papers made by even attaching a leather cover, the numerous events that would happen from now on were tightly written down.
From a glance, it was an incredibly vast content.
But in reality, its content was excessively lopsided.
Majority of the content was stories about battles and wars.
Even that were all Roan had personally experienced or studied.
“Even though there definitely must be many this and that things I’ve heard and experienced……”
He had cleanly forgotten the subjects he hadn’t usually given much attention to.
‘Like this, it can’t be of much help.’
He might be able to lead the lost battles to victory using the contents he had organized just now, but it was almost impossible to draw a big picture using just that.
“Damn it.”
Curses flowed out.
Knocking his own head, he stood up from his seat.
“It would be nice if I could look inside my head……”
Saying nonsense, he stretched.
Because he had squeezed out the future’s events for days, there wasn’t a time he went outside his office.
‘I should just cool my head.’
Roan quietly moved his steps and went out of the office.
A thick darkness had set in his surroundings.
‘Is it a twilight?’
Even his sense of time was faint.
Passing through the corridor of grand mansion he was momentarily staying at, he headed towards the splendid and large garden located at the back yard.
“My lord.”
Few knights and soldiers who were standing sentry duty discovered Roan and saluted.
Roan called them away because he wanted to spend the time alone, then moved his steps towards a place deep inside the garden.
‘How nice.’
The cool night air cleanly cooled his heart and head.
‘Yeah. Let’s relaxed for a little bit.’
It was certain for even things that are possible to become ruined if one unnecessarily act impatiently.
‘If I slowly relax and think, even the old memories will float up.’
Roan breathed in deeply and raised his head.
Countless stars that flew up onto the night sky were seen.
At that moment.
“Un?”
One of the stars suddenly sharply fell down.
It wasn’t falling while drawing a long tail like a shooting star.
As if a late fall persimmon that pitifully hung on was falling down, a star fell straight towards Roan.
“Just what is……”
Roan slightly creased his brows and tried to step to a side.
But for some reason, his body didn’t move as he wished.
Simultaneously, the objects in front of his eyes grew blurry and then the whole world turned into a world of darkness.
‘Magic? No. It’s not magic.’
Suddenly, a wicked and sinister voice was heard by the edge of his ears.
“Even Roan Lancephil who’s called the hero of the generation is a helpless human. For him to be caught by a simple ghost spell and hypnosis spell like this. Kukukuk.”
A frightening and disturbing laugher.
Soon, similar voices followed and were heard one after another.
“Then should we poke apart his head?”
“What kind of memories would he have.”
“We’ll reveal apart even the terrifying memories you’ve hid deep, deep inside.”
“You are now becoming our doll.”
“Let’s quickly take care of it before the knights and the guards come.”
Bizarre sounds continued.
Roan wanted to shout at the very least, but his mouth didn’t move as he wished.
Suddenly, a pain like a needle was stabbed inside his head was felt.
‘Kuuk.’
An awful pain.
But it wasn’t enough to scream out.
“Aaaaaah!”
“Kuaahk!”
Rather, screams came from a bizarre place.
“Just damn it! Fuck! What is this!”
Voices whose panicked expressions were obvious.
Amongst them, someone screamed at the top of his lungs.
“W, what the? Just what is this memory?”
“Past? No? What is this?”
“Uuak!”
“Thi, this isn’t the past! This isn’t the past!”
Suddenly.
Paat!
Roan felt the world going quiet.
No, to be exact, he lost his consciousness while fully enjoying a greatly comfortable and snug feeling.
In the center of all this, only the inside of Roan’s head was violently roaring like a storm.
< New Ability (3) > End.
Translator : CSV
Proofreader: Kuhaku