It was an atmosphere difficult to put into words.
The court mage wept as he held up his younger brother’s face. Tuon seemingly unwilling to engage with the situation kept her mouth shut and simply held onto an ordinary sword.
Only Orishin managed to whisper something.
[He… does look a bit like him.]
Yeah, damn it. I knew that already. The court mage and the severed head he held were right in front of me. If this were a stage, I would’ve had a front-row seat.
The head had taken on some kind of dragon skin with its blue-gray scales making it hard to mistake for ordinary human flesh. However, apart from the skin, his general features bore a striking resemblance to the court mage.
The only clear difference was the ears. The severed head’s ears were sharply pointed like an elf’s, while the court mage’s ears were rounded.
A half-elf? There seemed to be a complicated family history at play here.
After shedding his tears, the court mage slowly placed the head down on the table.
I glanced at the commander of the border garrison, hoping for some guidance on how to handle this situation.
But he had already retreated, using his impeccable stealth to slip away from this uncomfortable scene. They said the true strength of imperial commanders lay in their ability to withdraw. Clearly, this guy’s talent for vanishing without a trace was equally impressive.
Leaving the severed head behind, the court mage approached me and bowed his head.
“…My brother has caused you trouble.”
I carefully chose my words. No matter how tainted by the abyss he had been, speaking carelessly in front of his surviving family would be an unknightly display of conduct. My Nobility stat could take a sharp nosedive here.
“I regret that things turned out this way.”
“No, the blame is mine. If only I had found my brother sooner and guided him back to the right path, he wouldn’t have ended up harming the people of this city…”
The court mage tried to maintain his composure, but he couldn’t completely hide the deep sadness in his voice.
“Still, I am grateful to you for stopping him before he could commit more sins. My name is Lewayne Lir.”
[Lir? That’s a noble elf family from the Empire.]
Orishin whispered in a voice only I could hear. Now that he mentioned it, I recalled that the current chancellor of the Empire also bore the name Lir.
“When you say Lir, do you mean the family that inherited the blood of the ancient elves?”
“Ah, yes. Though I barely qualify. I am merely a distant branch of the line.”
Lewayne must have taken this conversation as some kind of signal, as he bowed his head and began spilling his family history in a disorganized manner. A minor branch of a noble house in the Empire that carried the blood of the ancient elves. Twins born from the union of a human and an elf.
Unlike Lewayne, who had not been blessed by his lineage, his younger brother had inherited strong elven traits. That would explain the difference in their ears. While Lewayne’s abilities were unremarkable, his brother had been hailed as a prodigy.
“But my brother… Collin grew complacent. At some point, his magic hit a wall.”
[Tch. I can already see how this begins and ends, which means the middle practically writes itself. This is going to leave a bitter taste.]
A sense of inferiority born from reversed fortunes. One day, Collin ran away from home, abandoning the family. Meanwhile, Lewayne had wandered in search of his brother, and in the process, honed his skills enough to become the court mage of the gateway city.
I recalled Collin boasting that he had a way to infiltrate the heart of the city.
He had forged a letter using the family seal to lure his brother back home, planning to stab him in the back with his own allies. On top of that, he had the advantage of being a twin. His plan was obvious.
He had meant to kill Lewayne and take his place. Once everything was over, he would present Lewayne’s corpse as proof that the recent wyvern incident had been the work of his “fallen” brother.
If things went according to plan, he could have effortlessly claimed the position of court mage.
What a half-baked scheme.
[Huh? Why? I think it was a fairly feasible plan.]
Orishin voiced his doubt, as if reading my thoughts. Well, from a spirit’s perspective, it might not be so obvious.
Being a court mage required social skills.
Even if he could disguise the texture of a wyvern’s skin or the shape of his ears with magic, a court mage’s duties weren’t something a socially inept recluse could handle. It is a position that involves direct counsel with the lord, so it is practically one of the city’s key official roles.
[Hmm. That means…]
Would he have been able to manage all the personal connections Lewayne had built? Could he even format a report properly? A court mage had to interact with countless people under the lord’s command, yet this guy had wasted years interacting with the abyss. There was no way he could have handled the job.
[You know, sometimes I think you’re a little too harsh on the abyss.]
I couldn’t help it. How could I ever hold affection for that wretched abyss, which had given me nothing but useless skills?
Lewayne, who had been lamenting that his brother was once kind, let out a quiet “ah” and lifted his head again.
“I apologize. I must have been a burden to an esteemed guest. I’ve heard that you are a Champion of the Eve Kaha Church.”
“That’s correct. I was traveling from the Holy Kingdom to the Empire.”
“To the Empire? A Champion?”
A look of curiosity flickered in Lewayne’s eyes, which had been clouded with grief over his brother’s corruption and death. At this point in time, there was no clear reason for the Holy Kingdom to send a Champion to the Empire. There was no need to maintain an air of mystery and provoke unnecessary suspicion.
So, I revealed part of the truth.
“I’m on my way to seek counsel from the Magic Tower. It’s regarding a certain curse. Something that requires analysis from a broader perspective, beyond just that of a priest.”
“If it’s not too much to ask, may I know what kind of matter it is?”
Ah.
Right. He was a court mage, after all.
***
Lewayne accepted a sword from the man with pale white hair. It was the horn sword said to contain a spirit.
“Hmm? Is there some kind of problem with the spirit?”
“A very serious problem…”
The man muttered something. His expression was dark and somber. Something about his demeanor struck Lewayne as eerily abyssal, but he shook off the thought as soon as it surfaced. To call a paladin abyssal… there was no greater blasphemy.
Besides, if that man Sir Kriel were truly tainted by the Abyss, the Church would never have given him the title of Champion. And then there was Collin. If Kriel had any ties to the Abyss, he would have helped his brother’s evil schemes, not stopped him. This alone proved his innocence.
Lewayne tried to push away the lingering image of Collin’s face that kept surfacing in his mind. The fallen had simply met their rightful end.
As he wrestled with his thoughts, Kriel suddenly fell silent.
Had he been chanting some kind of incantation? The moment Kriel finished his whispering, a unicorn spirit burst forth from the horned blade.
A spirit residing in a weapon, rather than one forged into it from the start?
Lewayne had heard about this from the border commander, but seeing it in person was something else entirely.
Lewayne had heard about it from the Border Commander, but it was a strange phenomenon. Most spirits, as embodiments of nature, kept their distance from both gods and civilization.
[May the dead cleanse their sins beneath the wings of the raven.]
Lewayne had been inwardly surprised by the spirit’s polite greeting, especially one that spoke of divine grace. Since spirits typically showed little interest in the mortal realm. No wonder the Champion carried it around. Was it a weapon of the Church; something like the holy sword?
The eerily curved blade and the chilling aura it emanated were certainly unconventional for a holy relic. However, compared to ordinary divine relics, Lewayne found its unique appearance quite fitting for the Eve Kaha Church’s holy sword.
It wasn’t as if the Eve Kaha Church had been wronged. As far as Lewayne knew, their reputation had always been that way. Warriors wielding crimson maces, harvesting skulls on the battlefield. It was an order that had always carried a somewhat grim image. A sword of sinister design was hardly surprising.
In fact, considering that the blade had been forged by the Saintess herself, it wasn’t entirely inaccurate to call it a holy sword.
“I appreciate your blessing. Has something happened to you, spirit?”
“It has been tainted by the Abyss.”
“…What?”
“That spirit. It is in a state of abyssal corruption. I have temporarily purified it, but the source of its corruption remains. That is why I am searching for a way to cleanse it completely.”
The revelation was shocking. To think that the Abyss had reached even the Church’s holy sword, a weapon so strictly safeguarded. Lewayne’s expression grew grave.
In the Holy Kingdom, the holy sword had been tainted, and this gateway city which had been quiet for decades had come under attack. Lewayne recalled the turmoil he had seen and heard of throughout the Empire under the lord’s command.
Perhaps all of it is part of a vast Abyss scheme…
Lewayne stared at the horn sword. His gaze was heavy with concern. If an abyss demon was truly behind these events, then this sword stood at the very heart of its conspiracy.
But regardless of his growing unease, there was nothing he could do about the sword at that moment.
Lewayne’s expertise lay in water magic, mainly for maintaining the city’s barrier and controlling the flow of waterways. He had no interest in dangerous research related to the Abyss.
Perhaps that was why his younger brother had succumbed to it. To prove that he could control what his older brother feared.
Shaking off the useless thoughts, Lewayne returned the horn sword to Kriel.
“I apologize for bringing this up, but I don’t believe I can be of any help with this matter.”
“Ah, it’s alright. Abyss research has always risked being branded as heresy.”
“But I may be able to introduce you to someone who can help. Would you follow me?”
Lewayne headed toward his study. Among the many invitations to conferences he had received while serving under the lord, there was certainly one from an organization dedicated to Abyss containment.
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