Ch.65Chapter 65. Regular Meeting / Aeshas (2)

“First, let me introduce myself. I am Ginor Nighthart.”

“It’s an honor to meet the esteemed Lord Ginor.”

Ginor didn’t respond to my greeting and instead asked:

“I heard that before coming here, you belonged to the Brans army.”

“That’s correct.”

“I’ve also heard rumors about the ‘White-haired Magician’ who performed a miracle at the northern fortress. I’d like to ask if this refers to you.”

“…Ah.”

What?

I thought…

I was extremely nervous thinking he might say, “You haven’t forgotten my face, have you? What do you think? Do you still think intelligence 99 is nothing to worry about?”

After all, the people who sent me here were Serpina who executed me, and Ginor who asked if I thought he was easy to deal with.

Of course, since this is a different world line, such things wouldn’t happen, but isn’t this one of those clichés?

Anyway, if that wasn’t what he meant, there was no reason I couldn’t answer.

I slowly nodded and said:

“Yes. That’s what I’m known as, at least.”

“Then there’s something else I must ask.”

“What would that be?”

“Whether you are truly a magician or not.”

After saying this, Ginor looked straight into my eyes and asked again:

“Was that ‘miracle,’ as it’s known, truly some kind of magic?”

Hmm?

Why is he asking that?

Is my being a magician important information to Ginor?

If it was important enough to make the ruler Yurie allow me to stay here for a while, he must be asking something very important from his perspective.

‘Why?’

To begin with, ‘magicians’ haven’t appeared on the continent yet.

It would be difficult to definitively call me a magician since I didn’t use the typical magic that would later appear here, but rather did useless things like performing rituals.

However, for some reason, Ginor in front of me seemed convinced that magicians existed.

So how should I answer him?

There’s no way to perfectly read his mind, but I could make inferences based on what I knew.

Ginor has some kind of relationship with Reika, whom I met recently. They shared the same surname.

Considering that the Reika I knew didn’t have a surname, it’s highly likely that Ginor adopted her.

That would be the only way to pass on a surname.

With that in mind, Ginor’s attitude of ‘being certain that magicians exist’ made sense.

Reika was destined to become the greatest magician. If Ginor had taken in the orphaned girl, there could only be one reason.

‘He must have noticed that she was a magician, or at least had the potential.’

Ginor was an extremely intelligent character.

Although his 99% prediction failed and got him beheaded, characters with intelligence stat 99 were extremely rare in this game.

Most of them only appeared in the later periods, and it was clear there was no one else with that stat in this era besides Ginor.

There was a reason I struggled through the game even after respawning near Serpina’s army.

Unlike me who was possessed in this world, Ginor was a living, breathing person in reality.

It wouldn’t be strange to think his intelligence stat translated to his actual brain power.

So, although I didn’t know exactly how he discovered it, it wasn’t difficult to assume he had recognized Reika’s talent.

Going back to the original question.

Why is he asking if I’m a magician?

Let me think from Ginor’s perspective.

If I answer “I’m not a magician,” that would be the end of it. He’d just say something like “I see” or “So you can cause such events without magic.”

But what if I answer “Yes, I am a magician”?

Wouldn’t he seek advice about Reika?

Since Reika hasn’t awakened her talent yet, if I were a magician, he would surely have many questions.

‘This seems to be the right answer.’

However, I couldn’t lie.

Lies are quickly exposed.

I am not a magician. I don’t have the ability to freely use magic or anything like that.

But creating a connection with Reika was important for the future.

I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

So my answer would be—

“A magician… I could say yes, but…”

I deliberately let my words trail off.

“I’m not sure if I can be called a proper magician.”

“What do you mean?”

To Ginor’s question, I answered in a very serious tone:

“Well… this might be difficult to understand, but I can read the energy of the heavens.”

I explained as plausibly as possible, but in a way that someone with certain ‘information’ could infer the truth:

“Something floats in this air… I feel it more intensely when I close my eyes and meditate. By reading that energy, I can draw out something that’s difficult to explain in words. …Of course, the more I use it, for some reason I feel my body’s energy draining.”

“…”

Ginor listened to my words very seriously.

I was explaining the concept of ‘mana’ without naming it.

In this era, mana hadn’t been discovered yet, but Ginor, who had Reika under his wing, would vaguely know the concept of mana.

So, I was guiding him to make his own assumptions and misunderstandings.

Whether it worked or not didn’t matter. It wouldn’t be good for me to appear eager for it to work.

“Using that… I ask the heavens for blessings. I don’t know if this can be called magic. Surely, magicians can’t really exist, can they?”

“Then the ritual you performed?”

“For reasons I don’t understand, the more I do this, the more I feel a sense of unity with the heavens and clarity in my mind.”

Of course, this was nonsense.

But given the result I produced—’a meteor falling from the sky’—this nonsense would only sound auspicious to him.

If I didn’t use this misunderstanding here, the path forward for someone like me who could only make predictions would be bleak.

“Hmm…”

Ginor closed his eyes, lost in thought, then finally opened his heavy lips:

“It seems you are indeed a magician.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. …Though I’m not entirely certain.”

“Now I’d like to ask you a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you ask me about this?”

Ginor glanced slightly at Yurie’s face.

Yurie slowly nodded.

After this silent exchange between the two, I finally heard his answer:

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

“A favor?”

“I’ll be as honest with you as you’ve been with me. …’Magicians’ do exist.”

“…!!”

Upon hearing those words, I mentally pictured Irene in her underwear.

Though I felt sorry for her, that was when I was most surprised after coming to this world.

Naturally, my face showed an expression of great surprise.

“But perhaps due to her young age, she hasn’t fully awakened yet. In my opinion, you seem to have opened your eyes to that power to some extent. Otherwise, it would be impossible to open a path to the heavens and create a miracle.”

“Then…?”

“I’d like you to watch over that magician. That is, I’d like you to become her teacher.”

Good.

I cast the bait, and he took it.

But here, rather than eagerly accepting, I thought it would seem more plausible if I showed some hesitation.

“A teacher? But I rarely use this ability as it seems to shorten my lifespan, and I honestly don’t think I’m a magician, so I question how much help I could really be…”

“No. The power you feel—that concept definitely exists. I’m certain you’ll be helpful to her.”

“…”

I reluctantly nodded and said:

“I’ll meet her, but I’m not sure if I can provide proper guidance.”

“That’s enough.”

As Ginor finished speaking, Yurie’s voice was heard:

“Swen. Keep this conversation secret from others. Don’t tell even Irene, okay? And I haven’t assigned you any specific duties, so on your free days, I’d like you to fulfill Ginor’s request.”

So they even cleared my schedule to use me as a teacher.

From my perspective, it wasn’t a bad proposal.

“Understood.”

I nodded and said.

With that, I was finally able to leave the audience chamber of Bahalat Castle.

* * *

After Swen left.

Ginor and Yurie were quietly conversing.

“It seems certain that he can sense mana.”

“Really? So Swen is indeed a magician?”

“…Actually, there are some puzzling aspects. He seems somewhat different from the typical magician described in ancient texts. But those texts are merely records from the past, and no one has actually seen them, so there’s a question of how much we can trust them… In my view, he does seem to be sensing ‘mana,’ but perhaps he himself hasn’t realized it.”

“Hmm, that’s complicated. I’m not that smart. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed that girl was a magician either.”

“Don’t worry, my lord. The power of magic is formidable. For a small nation like Aeshus to conquer this continent, the power of magicians will be essential. Before my life ends, I will certainly raise Reika to be a helpful magician.”

In response to Ginor’s words, Yurie spoke in a cunning tone:

“Right. Don’t push yourself too hard. Even without the power of magicians, the Aeshus army that my comrades and I have built would surely achieve unification, right? Oh, that reminds me.”

She said this, then covered her mouth with her hand and laughed joyfully.

“If Swen truly is a helpful magician, it might not be bad to welcome him as your son-in-law. What do you think?”

“Son-in-law, you say?”

“Yes. Oh, would Irene dislike that? Well, a man can have multiple wives anyway.”

Leaving behind Yurie, who seemed strangely amused, Ginor was lost in thought.

There was indeed no more certain connection than incorporation into the family.

‘But if he truly is a magician… perhaps it would be better to be cautious rather than trust him completely.’

Swen, who had now become our comrade, was a traitor who had betrayed his former lord, Lynn Brans.

Of course, Lynn wasn’t particularly a good lord to serve, and she was lacking in many ways compared to his own lord, Yurie…

‘…I’ll have to extract what I can from him, then focus on developing Reika.’

True to his sharp mind, Ginor was thinking about how to best utilize Swen.

If he couldn’t utilize him, then as Yurie suggested, having Reika marry him to keep him under his influence was another option.

The mind of the Empire’s sage was working rapidly.

* * *

“Lady Irene.”

“Swen.”

As soon as I exited the castle gate, Irene was waiting for me, as if it were natural.

With her by my side, I finally felt like I had returned to where I belonged.

“What did you talk about?”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain in detail. My new lord asked me to keep it secret. But if you’re curious, I can explain it to you.”

It was Irene, after all.

I didn’t want to hide anything from her.

But upon hearing my words, Irene immediately shook her head and said:

“No. If that’s the case, you don’t need to tell me. I might unintentionally reveal that ‘I know’ something. I’m not a perfect person.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Swen, I don’t want to cause you trouble.”

She said this with a smile directed at me.

She’s beautiful.

Foolishly, I found myself staring at that smile, thinking such thoughts.

“By the way, what mission did you receive, Lady Irene?”

At my question, she grinned proudly.

That expression clearly showed her satisfaction.

“Training the soldiers. It seems all the commanders who used to train them are preparing for war.”

“Ah, I see…”

Are they setting out to deal with the Charam and Alrepel armies?

Indeed, besides Irene, there wouldn’t be anyone as suitable for training.

While Lynn, who stubbornly refused to utilize Irene, might have passed her over, from Yurie’s perspective, there was no reason to overlook her.

“I’m glad you were given a mission.”

“Yes.”

Irene said this and nodded with a grin.

From her perspective, having been deliberately excluded from everything, just receiving a mission was enough to make her happy.

Seeing her smile, I didn’t regret betraying the Brans army at all.

To me, Irene was more important than something like the Brans army.

That would be the same here.

Yes.

Until the Lunarian army rises, I’ll make it my purpose to protect her smile.

With that resolution, I walked home together with her, matching her pace.

* * *

A few days later.

At the front gate of the mansion I had visited once before.

When I arrived at the appointed time, a person who appeared to be a servant of the mansion was conveniently standing at the door to greet me.

“Are you Mr. Swen?”

“Yes, I am.”

The servant bowed to me, then slowly opened the door and said:

“Lord Ginor is waiting for you. Please follow me.”