Toward the Empire (1)

“Let everyone across the continent know that the future of the Talua Kingdom is bright.”

Just a few days remained until the start of the empire’s Founding Festival.

We left the Talua Kingdom after receiving words of blessing from King Leogart.

Naturally, I shared a carriage with Monet, and all around us were carriages, lined up and moving together, carrying other participants bound for the Founding Festival.

“Young master.”

Perhaps bored from sitting quietly in the carriage, Monet spoke to me.

“How long will it take to reach the Empire?”

“Roughly about a week.”

“That’s quicker than I thought. Considering the distance, I assumed it would take over a month.”

“We’ll be flying directly to the Empire’s capital by transferring through the Magic Tower’s magic array midway.”

“Ah!”

The Asktalin Empire was quite a distance from the Talua Kingdom.

While they were connected by land and carriage travel was possible, it was both a long journey and fraught with risks, so most people used the Magic Tower’s magic array for instantaneous travel.

‘Thinking about it, the distance Riya Asktalin walked back then truly wasn’t normal.’

The image of the imperial princess reaching the Rakmes Mountains on foot still lingered in my mind.

Once you’re facing something like the calamity of the dragon, your stamina must stray far from that of an ordinary human.

“So, the week-long trip is basically just the journey to the Magic Tower?”

“That’s right.”

“I see… But, what have you been doing all this time?”

Monet looked at me with curious eyes. More precisely, she was staring at the red lump in my hand.

“Is that like jelly? It looks soft and wobbly.”

“This? Well, something like that.”

“How curious.”

Monet seemed fascinated by the red lump, shifting in shape, in my hand.

‘This is actually my blood.’

She would definitely be shocked if I told her.

But telling her the truth would be difficult to explain.

It wouldn’t be accurate to call it simple magic, and blood magic is something only the demonkin can learn to begin with.

[Don’t mess up and pop it by mistake. A faint-hearted maid like her would probably pass out instantly, you know?]

‘I know.’

What I was doing now was practicing blood magic.

Blood magic has countless applications in various forms, but ultimately, it always comes down to using your own blood and changing its shape with magic power.

So, taking your own blood and practicing forming it into various things with magic power was the most basic form of training.

‘This is about the largest size I can manage, huh…’

With repeated practice, I could now form something about the size of a small dagger.

But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make anything larger. It was the physical limit of the human body.

[It was magic created for the demonkin to use from the start. Especially blood magic is hard for human physical abilities to handle.]

Handling blood magic was no easy thing with a human body that reached its limit after losing only a small amount of blood.

‘That’s why I came up with this method, right?’

While Monet was gazing out the window, I floated minute drops of blood in the air, then shaped them into tiny needles.

[I’ve felt this before, but you manage magic power very delicately.]

‘Delicately, you say?’

[You control small amounts of magic with finesse. You’ve never stood out because you don’t have much magic power in the first place.]

Was that so?

I hadn’t really thought about it, so I couldn’t relate.

Anyway, with blood needle, this form, it was possible to use blood magic efficiently with a minimal amount of blood.

Next, I created a small coffin just large enough to encase the blood needle in the air.

Then I inserted the blood needle into the thin coffin.

Hidden Star Sword Second Half, First Technique: New Star.

Basing it on the technique’s mysterious trick—a sudden burst of magic power to gain explosive propulsion—I created a form capable of firing the blood needle at high speed.

‘Next…’

I concentrated all my attention and slowly channeled magic power into the blood needle.

Then, I condensed the magic, making it circulate rapidly inside.

‘Huh? I think it might work this time?’

Before, the form collapsed at this point.

But now, the magic was swirling in a spiral inside the coffin as intended.

It was at that moment.

[Wait! Change the direction!]

At Grancesia’s sudden shout, I reflexively flicked my finger upward.

*Pop!*

Though not loud, there was a bursting sound like something exploding.

“W-what happened? Something just made a popping sound!”

Since the carriage was sealed, Monet must have heard it too.

“Really? I didn’t hear anything.”

“But just now, I heard something pop…”

“What could possibly burst in here?”

“That’s true, but still…”

Monet looked around the carriage suspiciously, but didn’t find anything.

‘I almost got caught. Who would’ve thought it would suddenly pop?’

It felt like I had been just at the brink of success—that made it a bit frustrating.

Reading my mind, Grancesia spoke in exasperation.

[You think it just popped? That was almost a disaster, you know?]

‘Disaster?’

[Look up.]

I looked up and froze.

There was a very small hole in the carriage ceiling, about the size of a needle.

Grancesia looked at me, staring dumbly at the ceiling, and let out a snicker.

[Hard to call it a complete success, but you did finally manage to shoot it out.]

‘You’re right.’

I stared blankly at the hole, thinking.

‘… How many days till we reach the Magic Tower again?’

Half a day had passed since leaving the kingdom, but at least six days remained.

‘I guess I’ll just keep practicing this in the time left.’

Since it required delicate magic control, it was also helpful for honing my ability to handle magic.

And so, for the six days until our arrival at the Magic Tower, I concentrated on mastering the new technique to perfection.

* * *

“Tonight, we’ll set up camp here. Just a little farther now and we’ll reach the Magic Tower, so let’s keep up the effort.”

During the six days of carriage travel, except for the occasional breaks, we hardly left the carriage at all.

As a result, most of our party didn’t look too well.

‘If only we’d encountered even a few monsters on the way, it would’ve been better.’

Everyone in our group, including Count Ribina, were knights, and it seemed not being able to move their bodies left them quite restless.

“Young master, isn’t it lucky that we haven’t run into a single monster in six days?”

Sitting right next to me, Monet beamed as she spoke.

Until now, I’d only noticed Monet’s luck when playing cards, but this time I really felt it.

‘Come to think of it, when I’m with Monet, monsters never show up.’

No matter what, to not encounter a single monster in six days was extraordinary.

Especially considering that the Hickson Forest, famous for frequent monster sightings, lay along the path to the Magic Tower—it was genuinely surprising.

“Damn! Where did all those monsters go?”

“Six days without a single fight—this is torture.”

Thanks to it, I could spend six days focusing completely on learning a new technique, but the others didn’t have that benefit, so their complaints were only natural.

“Hmm, we’re short on firewood.”

At that moment, Count Ribina muttered as he watched the people preparing the camp.

Passing by, Floria Hersel, overhearing him, turned her gaze to Count Ribina.

“Count, if it’s all right, may I gather firewood for us?”

“Ah, sir Hersel. No need—you don’t need to trouble yourself, with so many other knights here…”

“The other knights have been busy guarding us until we arrived, so I’ll go. Besides, I’d like to stretch my legs in the forest.”

“Hmm, all right then. There shouldn’t be any monsters nearby anyway.”

Since we were heading to the Empire as representatives of our country, the royal house had specially assigned us guards—chosen knights and soldiers.

As Count Ribina said, gathering firewood wasn’t something Floria needed to do, but he seemed to respect her wishes.

“But just in case… Count Vanhart, could you go along with her?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

There really wasn’t anything else to do, and I wanted some fresh air too, so I had no reason to refuse.

“Sorry to ask you to do chores on short notice. Even if there are no monsters, the woods at night are dangerous. Still, if I send too many, sir Hersel might think I’m disregarding her—so I’d rather someone capable go along with her.”

“Strictly speaking, her achievements in swordsmanship surpass mine…”

“Skill is not all there is to ability. Especially since I’ve heard more about your skill from Zelbin than I care to count.”

Count Ribina’s gentle tone made it hard to imagine he ever bore the nickname “Red Lion”.

But I knew.

This was nothing more than a facade crafted by Count Ribina for his public activities.

According to the setting, his true nature suited the word “tyrant”, being fierce and violent.

“Understood.”

There was no reason to antagonize the Red Lion.

After a light answer, I walked straight to Floria.

She was changing into lighter clothes to gather firewood, and when she spotted me, she glanced over warily.

“… What is it?”

“Count Ribina asked me to accompany you for firewood.”

“What?”

A lot was implied in her simple reply.

Why did he send support just to help collect firewood?

And why me, of all people?

I could sense complicated emotions in her tone.

“Hah, all right.”

Floria reluctantly agreed.

She was among those who still doubted my skills.

Having refined her swordsmanship for many years, she took great pride in it and seemed unwilling to accept that my abilities had suddenly skyrocketed in a short time.

In an awkward silence, Floria and I set out to gather firewood.

Since there wasn’t any good wood for burning near the camp, we had to travel some distance away.

“… I heard you cut down an intermediate-rank demonkin in the war.”

It was Floria who broke the silence first.

“They say to defeat one, you must have swordmaster-level skill.”

“Generally, that’s the case.”

“Then, Count, how did you manage to cut down an intermediate-rank demonkin?”

Her question was fair—and was the question everyone, including herself, had.

My level was low-rank sword expert.

For someone like me to defeat an intermediate-rank demonkin was unthinkable by normal standards.

‘How should I explain this?’

In such situations, I usually claimed to have used a sword blessed by Michelle.

The sword I used back then was something I found by chance on the battlefield—hardly a convincing excuse, but there was no other explanation, so people generally accepted it.

‘All right, let’s go with that.’

I came to a rough conclusion just then.

From the darkness of the forest, a pair of red eyes suddenly flared and moved.

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