Chapter 66

Chapter : 66

“Is this all? I spent more money than before, but the amount seems smaller.”

“You swept up the supply, so of course the market price rose. Even that was bought cheaply.”

“Swept up the supply? It was not that much.”

“Most things like this are under fixed contracts with Magic Towers or academic societies. Only a tiny portion is sold on the market to private individuals, and you bought all of it.”

“Ahh. I suppose that makes sense. You worked hard.”

“This much is nothing. But have you put alchemy aside these days? It is hard to see your face.”

“Yes. Swinging a sword is more fun. For now.”

“Still, stop by here sometimes. Do not only come looking for me when you need something.”

“Understood.”

I asked Gilbert to deliver the Elixirs I would feed Leo.

Although I had spent quite a large sum, the amount was smaller than what I had used until now.

Gilbert would not have skimmed anything in the middle, so it seemed the price of Elixirs had risen.

I carried the Elixirs to my dormitory, then called Leo.

His eyes shone brightly when he saw the Elixirs.

Expectation filled his eyes. On the other hand, judging by the way he bit his lips tightly, he seemed frightened too.

“Can I really repay this even if I work my entire life?”

“If that is what you are worried about, it is already too late. You should have thought about it enough before I bought them. What can we do when they are already purchased? If we sell them, we will only lose money on fees. Remember this. You have to eat all of these.”

Leo swallowed, then exhaled.

“Yes. That is true....”

“Take one of the pills every morning and night before entering Mana Circulation Training. As for the rest, their methods of consumption are written separately, so check those.”

“Yes.”

“I know there is absolutely no chance of this happening, but I am telling you just in case. You have to eat them all. Do not leave even one behind. Do not give one to someone else or sell them somewhere.”

“I would never do that. I am desperate too.”

“Good.”

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Truly.”

Leo bowed his head to me.

His attitude made me uncomfortable, as though he were serving a master. This was not that kind of thing. I grabbed his hair and forced his head up.

“Do not misunderstand. I did not give you an opportunity. We made a deal. Hey. All of this you are eating is debt. You absolutely have to repay it later. Understand?”

“Yes! I will repay you double. Absolutely!”

“Do you even know how much double is before you say something that big?”

“Then I will add only fifty percent....”

“Enough. Just do not eat into the principal.”

With trembling hands, Leo picked up one pill.

“Then should I try taking one now?”

“You have to enter Mana Circulation Training immediately after eating it.... No, I am curious too, so let us try it.”

The moment I finished speaking, Leo put the pill into his mouth.

He swallowed the pill, then clenched his fists tightly. I knew what that felt like too. The feeling of power filling the body to the brim.

Right after eating a pill, a sense of omnipotence wrapped around the body, as though one could do anything.

“Start circulating mana immediately.”

“Yes.”

Leo sat down, folded his legs into a cross-legged posture, and closed his eyes. Soon, sweat flowed from his forehead.

It seemed difficult for him to digest the pill. Why?

It was probably because he had little mana. His situation was different from mine.

In order to fully absorb a pill, he had to pull it in with the mana he originally possessed.

That tug-of-war would be difficult for Leo.

He groaned and suffered for a long while. Since simply watching that felt awkward, I entered Mana Circulation Training as well.

I swept through my body once with mana. Judging by the state of my opened meridians, I would probably reach Expert soon.

After tapping each meridian throughout my body once, I opened my eyes and found Leo drenched in sweat.

Searching my memory, even I had not found it easy to digest Elixirs at first.

Still, considering that I had passed through it without major hardship, I had definitely started several steps ahead.

Leo was late.

In many ways, he had begun far behind the starting line. That was probably why he struggled so much.

Then was Leo pitiful? I did not think so. His arms and legs were intact, and he had met a stroke of luck like me, had he not? That was enough.

As I looked down at Leo for a while, he opened his eyes. Even though he must have gone through a difficult time, he smiled with all his might.

“My mana increased! An unbelievable amount of mana increased! The amount I would have needed two months to gain, all at once!”

“That is good.”

“Thank you. Truly....”

“Stop. You already said that earlier.”

“Yes....”

“We have seen the effect, so go back for today. It is late.”

“Yes. I will see you tomorrow.”

---

I sat cross-legged on the floor. Over the past few days, I had widened my meridians quickly.

Now, all that remained were the body’s extremities, my hands and feet. The hands were the parts of the body most sensitive to mana, and the feet also governed mobility, so they were extremely important organs. Once I finished just these two, I would reach Expert.

After completing this work, I would be Expert.

My mood was hard to define. It was simply, so this is it. After receiving Jefrin’s declaration of war, I had thought I needed to grow in preparation for some future fight.

But I did not particularly intend to fight. What was good about quarreling with others?

If something could be resolved with words, it should be.

Even so, wasting everything I had done so far felt regretful. When the summit was right before my eyes, it would be foolish to loiter and drag my feet around it for no reason. Today, I would plant a flag on the summit of the mountain I had climbed for so long.

To roll mana masses all the way to my hands and feet, I needed more mana. Stronger mana.

I chewed one herb and activated my gloves. Then I closed my eyes and focused. I made a mass of mana. I rolled it and pushed it. I widened my meridians.

A meridian that had been widened once accepted mana more easily. Step by step, I pushed mana into the wall. The wall opened as though being torn apart.

I devoted myself to it until the night passed and morning broke, and at last, I arrived at the end of the road I had traveled for quite a long time. At that moment, I realized that the center of my Mana Hole and the tips of my hands and feet were connected. The moment I thought of flowing mana, it moved through my entire body.

As I had hoped, I had reached Sword Expert.

After finishing the work, I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.

Yes, up to this point, it was good. I had reached Expert as I wanted, so I should have been satisfied.

However, my head began to hurt over how I should tell Katarina about this. She would definitely notice that I had reached Expert.

I needed to find some kind of move.

Of course, if I said I had reached Expert, Katarina would be happy and congratulate me.

Perhaps Katarina had been looking forward to me reaching Expert even more than I had hoped.

But not now. It had not been long since we had argued so loudly with each other. I had promised then that I would not do anything unreasonable in Katarina’s eyes, yet I had already reached Expert, so it was only natural that anger would follow.

Then what should I do?

I had to hide the fact that I had reached Expert, but there was no proper method.

Avoiding her would be difficult, and if I happened to run into her, I would be exposed immediately.

I had to find some kind of method.

---

The throne of the Ruin Empire had a somewhat ancient China-like aspect to it.

An elitist ideology similar to China’s idea that the Son of Heaven ruled the country by receiving Heaven’s will. Dragon Blood flowed through the Imperial Family.

What made it different from China was that this was not a myth made to exalt the Imperial Family, but the truth. They said the Founding Emperor was none other than a Dragon transformed into a human.

Dragon Blood flowed in Kartea’s body too, as he had inherited the blood of the Founding Emperor.

This was why he could display tremendous monstrous strength even without using mana. The Dragon Blood flowing through his body was sacred blood, like the foundation of the nation.

Because of these national characteristics, there was a ritual one had to perform in order to ascend as emperor of the Ruin Empire. It was to visit the Nest, where the Founding Emperor was said to have stayed, and perform rites there. This was called the Path of the Emperor.

In the past, they apparently remained in the Nest until lightning fell from the sky, but that sort of religious custom had disappeared. Now, it had a stronger feeling of traveling all the way to the east, far from the capital, and observing society.

The Crown Prince had to visit the Nest accompanied only by his escorts.

“It is customary to take a portion of the Imperial Knights along on the Path of the Emperor, but that draws too much attention, so I intend to reduce the number while raising the quality of the escorts instead. In your case, you are a knight who has reached Sword Expert, so you are suitable for this. I ask this of you. Will you help me?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Will you refuse?”

“No. How could I possibly do that...? Yes. I will go with you.”

For some reason, Kartea demanded that I accompany him to the Nest.

On the surface, his reason was that he needed someone skilled, but if it was the Imperial Knights, there should be plenty of knights around my level.

Rather than me, who had always been awkward with him, it would be more comfortable to draw personnel from the knight order, people used to serving him like their master. So why me?

The time when Kartea went to visit the Dragon’s Nest had been moved up by half a year compared to the original.

In the original, in order to increase his competitiveness against Agares and Ian over Bishot, he had resolved to learn and obtain the virtues he needed to become emperor, and then intended to visit the Nest.

That timing had been moved forward.

Then this time, it was probably because of Navier, not Bishot. But since there were no figures who could be called competitors, rushing like this felt awkward.

Could this be my fault?

Even though Kartea already had enough guards, he had specifically named me as an addition.

It was now known that I had reached Expert, and my skill was sufficient to join the escort group, but why me in particular?

This was a chance to create a connection with the Imperial Family, and strictly speaking, it was also a chance to make Kartea owe me a debt.

Kartea must have been aware of that too, yet he asked me. It was strange. It seemed Kartea was worried that while he was absent, I might become close with Navier.

I need to clear up that misunderstanding on this journey.

The distance to the Nest was considerable. Even if we traveled quickly, it would easily take two weeks. We would spend time there performing the rites as well, so it would take a month.

“Hmm....”

It felt regrettable to cancel the festival now, when all the preparations had already been completed. I would have to work hard to return before the festival.

“I will prepare to depart immediately.”