Chosen by the Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 41: Rabbit (3)

It was the second defeat in my life.

Coincidentally, both defeats came after I met Harad.

In the fight against the tattered magical beast, if it hadn't been for Harad, I would have died in the end.

And…… this time it was a rabbit.

It was a reality that went beyond hurting my pride to being bizarre.

“The knights?”

“They are sleeping.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the rabbit didn't seem to have touched the knights.

‘That thing?’

A monster like that?

Only then could I look at Harad.

His complexion was fine, but there were clear bloodstains on his clothes.

Harad too might have been on the brink of death.

“No. How did you survive?”

Harad shouldn't have just been on the brink of death; he should have crossed it long ago.

The rabbit was that kind of magical beast.

Even I was knocked down in a single blow.

Judging by that one blow alone, the rabbit was at least a 5th Rank.

Even if the tattered magical beast had been whole, it could not have compared to that rabbit.

“I was spared. Not that I survived.”

Harad looked uncomfortable.

Hearing his story, it was only natural to be uncomfortable.

The rabbit had not attacked Harad.

On the contrary, it had only taken his attacks, and far from being hurt by Harad's magic, it enjoyed it like a bath.

As if that wasn't enough, when Harad got hurt, it even healed him.

“Unpleasant.”

From the rabbit's perspective, it might have been a greeting, but for the one on the receiving end, it was a terrible situation.

I did not want to be treated like that by an enemy.

I would rather die.

Why did the rabbit only act that way towards you?

I did not ask such a question.

It was because I remembered Herbis.

If there was a mage who would even give his life for the same fire, would there not be a magical beast that liked fire?

The Otherworld and the boundary were just this bizarre.

It was a concept difficult for me and the rest of Serzila to understand.

I felt a sense of familiarity and alienation from Harad at the same time.

A familiarity that came from our shared inability to understand the rabbit, but ultimately, the alienation that Harad too was a mage.

“Let’s return for now.”

I immediately thought of the knights.

Harad said they hadn't woken up even after he used projection. It must be the rabbit's magic.

“A magical beast using magic.”

It meant the rabbit was at least a 5th Rank.

Since magical beasts that reach the 5th Rank construct an Origin.

“Could it be a 6th Rank?”

“It’s not.”

Harad stated firmly.

“If it were a 6th Rank magical beast, the Grand Heir would have died.”

“Couldn't it have gone easy on me?”

“You die from it going easy on you.”

Harad acted as if he had seen a 6th Rank magical beast before.

I did not press further.

If I asked anyway, he would probably answer that all mages know it.

In fact, I wasn't in a position to argue.

I was in a state where I had been knocked down by a single headbutt from a rabbit.

The knights were still fast asleep.

It was clear proof that their sleep was the rabbit's magic.

Without Harad, the knights couldn't even rest in the boundary.

“They'll wake up, right?”

“They will.”

Harad was confident this time as well.

“If it had been bothered, it would have killed them. Them, and the Grand Heir.”

I was immediately convinced.

In front of that rabbit, the scouting party was clearly the prey.

I smiled bitterly.

My sense of defeat was deep, but it didn't show. A greater emotion was dominating me.

‘Harad.’

Since meeting that man, everything had been flowing unpredictably.

It was a welcome thing, but I couldn't be purely happy about it, as Serzila could get involved.

“I won’t say it’s your fault. We came this far because I allowed it.”

That choice was a mistake.

If things had gone wrong, the knights could have died.

“But I find myself doing it. Without even realizing it.”

It's my own fault, I thought.

“It must be because I am lacking.”

If I had been stronger, or if my capacity had been greater, there would have been no problem.

“That was a slip of the tongue. Forget it.”

It was closer to a lament than a slip of the tongue.

Either way, it wasn't something to say to a subordinate.

Especially to an outsider, and a mage at that.

If I said such things, my vassals would be horrified.

Saying that the Grand Heir shouldn't think such things.

“It’s okay.”

Harad was different.

“Everyone else lives like that. Even the Emperor of the Empire.”

He did not point out my shortcomings.

On the contrary, he defended me.

“Why do you care about what others think? It’s not like the Grand Heir is a mage.”

“……Many eyes are on me.”

I answered without realizing it.

It was not an answer the Grand Heir should give.

“More eyes are on the Emperor.”

“Isn’t the Enverque an idiot.”

“He’s an idiot even with so many eyes on him.”

Harad did not hesitate to speak bluntly.

Come to think of it, he had been like that since we first met.

Back then, Harad had mentioned Serzila's family education to me when I was picking a fight.

“What are they going to do about it? The Emperor probably lives with that thought. Because he’s in a position where he can.”

“……”

“The Grand Heir is probably in a similar position.”

Despite being born into the great house of Serzila, Elaine is mindful of others.

Harad doesn't do such things.

Despite being held hostage, despite being a mage, he says what he wants. He does what he wants, and doesn't care what others think.

“However the fuck I want……”

I muttered without realizing it.

* * *

The knights woke up several hours after that.

It felt like morning, but the sky was still pitch black. That was the environment. Particularly chilling, even for the boundary.

‘Similar.’

Harad thought of the rabbit.

This land resembled the rabbit.

Or the rabbit resembled this land.

Either way, there was undoubtedly a connection.

Harad alternately looked at Serzila to the south and the second Wall to the north, roughly mapping out the location in his head.

He intended to come back someday and hunt that rabbit.

“Why are your clothes like that?”

“I had a little sparring session with my friend here.”

At Derrick's question, Elaine blamed her ragged appearance on Harad.

It was possible thanks to her heavenly power.

While the knights were sleeping, Elaine had fully recovered from her injuries. Even her broken arm was back to normal.

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing.”

Elaine wanted to keep the recent rabbit attack a secret.

It wasn't to hide her defeat.

It was so that the knights wouldn't feel unnecessary self-blame.

“Why is it like this here?”

“I set some fire. During the sparring.”

Harad played along.

He had intended to do so from the beginning.

If they knew that Elaine had been attacked while they were sleeping, the knights would surely cause a commotion.

The knights didn't even suspect a thing.

In fact, even if she had said they had just rolled around, they would have believed it.

If Elaine was the one who said it, they definitely would.

Most of them did, if not all.

Elaine's obsession stemmed from that ‘all’.

‘So greedy.’

Most should be enough.

Harad understood the weight Elaine carried, but he also found it amusing.

It must be heavy, but it was also the worry of a well-fed man.

“We’ll return now.”

The knights would die for Elaine's word.

They looked disappointed but turned their steps towards the south.

Advancing, the environment changing, encountering magical beasts.

The return was the same as the process of coming, but it felt easy.

At least, it did to Harad.

It wasn't because the knights took care of the battles with the magical beasts, but because of the rabbit.

The rabbit wouldn't disappear from his mind.

Compared to that rabbit, the magical beasts he encountered on the way back felt laughable. Looking beside him, Elaine had a similar expression.

‘……A rabbit.’

Harad constantly thought about the rabbit.

Its cute appearance. The mana he couldn't feel at all despite its obvious power. A body so cold that even the sun felt it. The inexplicable goodwill towards the sun…….

‘I don’t know.’

He had no clue.

For now, he had to consider it simply a special magical beast living in the boundary and move on.

It was a rabbit he had not seen even in his past life.

If he had wanted to know more, he should have gone to the place the creature had told him to follow.

Thinking about it again, it was a crazy thing to do.

‘How would I know where it is.’

Harad had no intention of leaving Serzila.

He was not in a position to do so. He had the responsibility to return the regression to Elaine.

‘Still, I left a clue.’

If he put his hand in his pants pocket, he could feel something smooth and round.

It was the marble the rabbit had given him.

A marble with healing abilities, at that.

‘Healing.’

The first thing that came to mind was the Church.

The followers of the Sun and Moon, their divine power.

As vague as magic, no, even more so, the uses of that power are diverse.

Healing was the most representative ability among them.

‘This is a magical item.’

It was proof that the rabbit had been tamed by someone.

Either a mage, or a 6th Rank magical beast.

‘A magical item imbued with healing properties, or magic…… I can probably identify this later.’

Origins related to healing are rare.

It was then.

“Harad.”

Derrick, who had finished his battle, approached Harad.

He was covered in blood, but it all seemed to be the magical beast's.

That Derrick was holding something in his arms.

“A gift.”

It was a magical beast's heart.

“I heard you like it.”

“I don’t.”

Gulp.

“You really do like it.”

“……”

* * *

The Wall began to come into view that night.

It meant the night outside, not the night of the boundary; the standard was the knights' stomachs.

Since day and night could not be distinguished with the naked eye in the boundary.

The knights' stomach clocks were surprisingly precise.

The outside of the Wall was slowly coming into view, and it was really night.

The scouting party's pace gradually quickened.

Even Elaine did so, and it seemed she was conscious of the rabbit.

It seemed she was more worried about the knights than afraid of the rabbit.

Unlike Elaine, if the rabbit rammed into them, the knights would die instantly.

A small commotion arose on the Wall.

It was the sound of the knights on duty spotting the scouting party. Kwoong-! The castle gate was knocked on. It meant they would open the gate in time for their arrival.

“We usually run in.”

Derrick said casually.

It wasn't because they had energy left.

“It's because we want to get out as soon as possible.”

Because it feels like we'll die otherwise.

The scouting time was limited to four or five days, and during that time, the knights couldn't even rest.

On the other hand, since their Aura was constantly being consumed, they would be in a state of exhaustion by the time the scouting was over.

“Not this time.”

This scouting mission took less than two days.

It was so even though they had deviated from the scouting route, and they even had Aura to spare.

“It's thanks to you, Harad.”

Derrick praised Harad.

The other knights did not deny it. It was an undeniable fact. It was a result possible because Harad was there.

“I will report it as it is. If you wish, I will make sure the other knight orders do not hear of it.”

“Let them hear it.”

“……”

“Even so, I can’t join the 1st Knights.”

As befitting a Deputy Commander, Derrick had a bit of a thug-like disposition.

The castle gate opened in time with the scouting party's steps.

It opened just enough for one person to pass through, which was the same as when they had departed.

It was to prevent any potential invasions.

“Why are they walking?”

“Why are they fine?”

The knights who opened the gate tilted their heads.

It was because the scouting party's condition looked good.

Returning scouting parties would run, and then collapse after passing through the gate, which was common sense.

“We found a treasure.”

Derrick spoke like an explorer who had unearthed a relic and embraced the knights who were closing the gate with strange faces. Jambel, Tursten, and Parman did the same.

Only Gullen did not.

His face looked extremely gloomy.

It was because he knew he had only been a hindrance to his seniors throughout the scouting mission.

The 1st Knights' youngest, Gullen, was weak.

It was a matter of course, but Harad found it strange.

Even if he was weak for now, his talent should shine.

Gullen was the material to become a Great Warrior in the future.

But in this scouting mission, Gullen had not shone even once.

Harad knew the reason why.

One was because he was still ignorant, and the other was because of his stubbornness.

“Gullen, didn't you originally use an axe?”

Harad said to Gullen.

“How did you know?”

“You told me when you captured me.”

I did? Gullen tilted his head.

He didn't seem to remember anything, which was actually correct. It was a lie.

“It was an axe, but now I'm trying to use a sword.”

“Why?”

“When you talk about the 1st Knights, it’s all about the sword, isn't it.”

Each of the Serzila knight orders had its own symbol.

The symbol of the 1st Knights was the sword.

Even though the 1st Knights Commander, Toremot, himself wielded an axe.

A symbol is just a symbol.

“A truly knightly reason.”

“It is.”

“That was sarcasm, not a compliment.”

Gullen was trying to become a knight full of just bravado.

It was because Toremot was Gullen's father.

Harad thought his puberty had come late.

The reason being that he disliked his father being his master.

“Put down the sword that doesn't suit you and just use an axe.”

In his past life, the Gullen who wielded a sword wanders.

When he later picks up an axe again, he is reborn as a Great Warrior.

There was a separate catalyst, but that catalyst was also a problem.

The regressed Harad was in a position where he had to eliminate that catalyst.

“I know a magic that sees the future. The you with a sword becomes a crybaby. When the crybaby picks up an axe, he becomes a Great Warrior.”

“What?”

“There's something like that. Please keep that in mind.”

Harad pushed Gullen's back with all his might.

Gullen was neatly inserted among the knights who were clinging to each other.

Elaine was watching the scene from afar with a pleased face, and when her eyes met Harad's, she opened her mouth.

“She said she would be waiting at the Snow Leopard's Footprint.”

Harad tilted his head.

“Ellen, I mean. She asked me to pass on the message when the scouting was over.”

Ellen, not the Intelligence Bureau.

“Do you know her?”

“How could I not.”

Elaine said with an extremely shameless face.

“Ellen is a collateral branch of the Serzila.”

……Was that the setting.

“She was a parachute hire.”

“What?”

“No wonder she just drinks instead of working.”

“……”

Elaine's face twitched.