Recovering the Body
Kaian had already assumed that it would not be easy to become close with Eldarin right away.
Setting aside the issue of having another mouth to feed.
He had threatened her with a candlestick during their first meeting, and he had even burned down the inside of her house.
It would be fair to say that he had completely ruined his first impression.
‘But she said she would raise me into a hero.’
Then didn’t that mean she had seen some kind of potential in him?
On top of that, Eldarin had personally nursed him for days and provided him with medicine.
She had even made sure to mention that the medicine was something she had prepared herself.
When his arm hurt too much for him to hold a spoon, she even fed him soup herself.
It was the kind of effort she would never have made unless she considered him a precious disciple.
Kaian had been certain of that, but….
“AAAAH! I was eating! It hurts! It hurts! Put me down!”
“Be quiet.”
For some reason, Kaian was being dragged away by the back of his neck by Eldarin in the middle of eating his soup.
Eldarin dragged Kaian up one floor.
It was a peculiar space with a tree growing in the center of the room.
Eldarin threw Kaian at the tree.
—CRASH!
“Ugh!”
Kaian groaned, unable to even touch his aching back.
“Ughhh…!”
Eldarin only appeared to be a frail woman on the outside, but she possessed astonishing strength.
That was why Kaian suspected her true form was closer to a mountain goat than an elf.
Of course, he did not know how strong mountain goats actually were.
But judging from everything he had experienced so far, it was probably an animal with considerable muscles.
‘Even when Eldarin pulled my ears, her grip strength was incredible. She even threw me onto the bed several times….’
Every time that happened, Kaian had no choice but to clutch the painful spot and groan.
The difference in physical strength was simply too overwhelming for him to even consider fighting back.
Kaian shouted in frustration.
“How can you throw me?! I’m a patient! I still can’t even get out of bed by myself! …Ma’am!”
After several days of constant arguing, his words kept being cut in half.
However, Eldarin ignored it and only scolded him sternly.
“You know that, yet you insist on demanding that I teach you magic?”
Kaian felt wronged.
Demanding?
Wasn’t Eldarin the one who said she would teach him?
Wasn’t that why they had even made a grand contract, and why a rather embarrassing yet surprisingly cool butterfly mark had been carved into his left wrist?
But the moment Kaian woke up, Eldarin immediately told him—
“Do not even think about using magic for the time being.”
And threatened him with those words.
How many people would simply say, “Yes, understood,” and leave it at that?
Because of this, from that day onward, the two of them had been constantly arguing over whether she would teach him magic or not.
Kaian was irritated.
And he felt miserable.
“You said you would teach me! You said you would make me stronger!”
Eldarin looked like she was genuinely suffering from a headache.
Kaian knew very well from fairy tales that elves had better hearing than humans.
So he shouted even louder to annoy her.
That was the only attack he had available.
‘Besides, I’m the youngest of two older brothers…!’
The youngest child in a household with two older brothers could not win fights through strength.
So he had to sharpen his voice instead.
If he challenged them recklessly, he would have to call someone in the house for help with all his might.
Otherwise, he never knew how many bumps would appear on his head.
Kaian shouted with the voice he had spent his entire eight years perfecting.
“Liar! Why are you lying to me?! You promised you would teach me!”
At that, veins appeared on Eldarin’s beautiful forehead.
People said elves were proud and hated being insulted by others.
It seemed the stories written in fairy tales had been true.
Kaian felt sorry, but he could not back down.
Even now, the people who had killed his family were probably living peaceful lives.
‘They eliminated our family, the greatest obstacle in their way. The longer time passes, the stronger their power will become.’
The longer he remained bedridden, the greater the gap would become.
That was why he had to learn magic as quickly as possible.
He had to become stronger.
With tears welling in his eyes, Kaian shouted.
“I made the contract because you said you would teach me magic! You said you would make me stronger! I don’t have time!”
One might have expected Eldarin to feel pity at that sight.
But instead, she replied in an even colder voice.
“How long do you think it takes to become strong? A week? A month? A year? If it takes ten years, can you endure it? If it requires even more time, can you remain patient?”
Only then did Kaian stop yelling.
Ten years….
No, what if it really took even longer?
Could he endure without going mad until then?
Kaian moved his lips, searching for an answer inside that terrible imagination.
But Eldarin firmly stopped him.
“I intend to raise a hero. I do not intend to help you pursue some shallow revenge.”
Her voice was cold, as if edged with a blade.
“If you intend to lose control of yourself and hasten your own death, leave. I have no need for talent like that.”
Kaian’s heart dropped.
Leave?
Where was he supposed to go?
He had nowhere left to return to.
Silence finally descended upon the room.
Eldarin swallowed a sigh and once again lifted one of Kaian’s arms with tremendous strength.
“Ugh!”
This time, Kaian did not resist.
Eldarin pulled out a dagger from the bag hanging at her waist.
Kaian’s eyes widened.
A knife much larger than the bag itself came out of something that looked like it would barely fit a hand mirror and a snack.
It was unfair.
But what could he complain about now?
Eldarin made a small cut on the tip of Kaian’s finger with the dagger.
Strangely, all he felt was a slight sting.
A plump drop of blood gathered at his fingertip.
Then it fell onto one of the leaves of the tree in the center of the room.
—Drop.
The leaf began glowing blue-green.
—Fwoooooosh…!
The light instantly flowed into the branches.
From the branches, to the trunk.
From the trunk, to the roots.
Kaian quickly checked where the roots extended.
‘They pass through the wooden floor and lead to one of the walls!’
On the wall where the roots headed, there was a full-length mirror with a frame made of intertwined wooden vines.
‘A mirror? Could it be the door to Eldergrove?!’
Meanwhile, Eldarin felt pleased as she watched the direction of Kaian’s gaze, but she maintained an even more expressionless face.
‘He is certainly a child more intelligent than his age suggests. But he understands his own situation far too little.’
Though Eldarin had not properly explained it to him either.
For her, communicating with humans, especially a human child, was something she had not done in hundreds of years.
It was only natural that she was inexperienced.
—Ssssssss….
As Kaian expected, the blue-green mana traveled from the roots through the wooden floor and reached the vine frame of the mirror.
Eldarin added an explanation in her dry tone.
“Trees extend their roots and share information with one another. Thanks to that, I know everything that happens on this land. This mirror is a device that allows me to see that information.”
The entire vine frame was now dyed blue-green, and the surface of the mirror began rippling.
—Rumble.
Then the mirror showed the face of a man wandering through the forest.
Kaian found the man’s face strangely familiar.
‘Who is he? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.’
Eldarin spoke.
“They are the ones searching for you.”
Kaian’s head snapped around.
But Eldarin ignored his gaze and continued calmly.
“They said they are from the Veloer family. They have been wandering through the forest for days, searching for the youngest son of their sister.”
Kaian stared blankly at the man appearing in the mirror.
Now that he had heard that, the man’s face really did resemble his mother, Riana.
The man in the mirror seemed to be receiving a search report from his subordinate.
—Family Head! The traces of mana disappear here!
—Disappear? What do you mean?
—Exactly as I said. The traces end here as if they evaporated.
—Then are you saying the child died?!
—We cannot know that. We are not even certain whether the mana we tracked truly belonged to the child….
—It is certain! I know! That mana is exactly like my sister’s….
—Family Head….
—Find him! We must at least find the child’s body! I have to lay him beside my sister… Otherwise, how could I… how could I ever face my dead sister’s face…?!
Kaian felt a warm light seep into one corner of his chest.
‘Thank goodness. It seems my family’s bodies were recovered safely.’
He had suffered nightmares every night.
What if his family had been abandoned somewhere unknown?
What if beasts had damaged the bodies of his parents and brothers?
But judging from the words of the man in the mirror, it seemed his family’s remains had been properly recovered.
‘That’s a relief. Truly.’
Furthermore, if he had relatives, perhaps he could uncover the truth behind his family’s murder.
Feeling a new hope rise within him, Kaian bit his lip.
As if Eldarin understood those feelings, she spoke calmly.
“If you go to them, you will be able to live comfortably as a noble in Silvaris. They will also help your revenge with everything they have. It is the fastest path you desire. So if you do not intend to follow my words, you may go to them.”
Kaian looked up at Eldarin in surprise.
Her expression was so indifferent that it seemed she truly would not care if he left.
Meanwhile, the face of the relative in the mirror was filled with desperation.
‘Shouldn’t I go to my relatives…?’
Hadn’t his mother’s Word of Command said so as well?
That he had relatives in Silvaris on the eastern continent.
But for some reason, Kaian could not easily speak.
Then he suddenly wondered if the power of the Word of Command had completely disappeared.
‘Maybe Mother’s Word of Command will tell me the answer!’
Kaian immediately closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.
He imagined the path toward his relatives and waited for his mother’s Word of Command.
He desperately hoped to hear his mother’s voice along with that familiar pressure tightening around his soul.
“…”
But there was no pain.
No voice.
Kaian became confused.
‘Why? She definitely told me there were relatives on the eastern continent.’
If going to them was the correct path, his mother’s Word of Command would have told him.
‘Calm down, Kaian. Think. Stay calm.’
Kaian closed his eyes again.
Then he imagined a life spent with his relatives.
Their warm welcome.
Their kind and sincere comfort.
A life filled with abundant meals and a comfortable environment.
The ordinary days he longed for unfolded easily in his mind.
‘But… would it really be safe there?’
The enemy had destroyed Valentin, the greatest family in the Balancia Empire.
Could the Veloer family truly be safe?
If the enemies attacked the Veloer family as well.
‘Would I be able to survive there?’
—THROB.
At last, the sensation of his soul being constricted returned.
“Ah…!”
But the pain was far greater than before.
His veins throbbed as if they would burst, and his entire body trembled as though it would break apart.
Before he realized it, Kaian had collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.
“Haa, haa….”
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
Thinking about it, his mother had never ordered him to go to his relatives.
She had only told him to survive.
But the moment he saw an easy and familiar path, his resolve had wavered.
‘What an idiot I am.’
Kaian wanted to cry, but he did not even have the strength.
As he lay on the floor gasping, Eldarin dryly explained his condition.
“Your body has been damaged from forcibly carrying out the Word of Command. Your physical body will naturally recover with time, but the true problem is your inner world.”
Eldarin used magic to lift another drop of Kaian’s blood and let it fall onto the leaf.
The mirror rippled, and this time it showed a burning forest.
“That is….”
“Your inner world.”
“What…?”
The flames within Kaian’s inner world stretched far into the distance.
They consumed everything, spreading farther and farther until finally—
They reached the Valentin estate that existed deep within his heart and burned it away.
No.
Perhaps the flames had begun from that very place.
“As you can see, your inner world is consumed by flames. The magic you used last time was nothing more than releasing those flames outside your body. You may be able to use similar magic again, but each time you do… the flames inside you will burn more fiercely.”
Kaian coughed as if his throat had filled with smoke and asked.
“Then, cough, what happens?”
“Your inner world will be permanently damaged. Naturally, you will no longer be able to use magic. Eventually, even your soul will burn away and you will die. There used to be quite a few fools like that.”
Having suddenly become one of those fools, Kaian sprawled out on the floor.
“Ha… You should have told me something that important first.”
He had wasted his strength for several days for no reason.
Eldarin looked down at the exhausted Kaian and continued.
“Therefore, do not think about using magic for the time being. Recovering your body comes first. After that, I will teach you how to control the flames and repair your inner world. If you dislike my method, you may leave. Burning away the short time you have left in a reckless manner is also one way.”
“Haha….”
Kaian gave a hollow laugh.
It sounded like a choice, but in the end it meant giving up both revenge and becoming a hero, and destroying himself.
“I can’t do that.”
He wanted to become strong.
No.
He had to become strong.
Strong enough to stand proudly before the relatives searching for him.
Strong enough to protect all of them.
Kaian somehow curled his body and knelt.
“Ugh… I’m sorry! I’ll do as you say! So please let me stay here!”
“Do you truly intend to remain here?”
Kaian stuck out his lips and looked up at Eldarin.
“Why do you keep asking…? I said I will. A hero.”
Only then did a faint but satisfied smile appear on Eldarin’s face.
For the first time, Kaian thought that his mountain-goat elf teacher might actually be a simple person to understand.
Eldarin quickly hardened her expression again and spoke.
“Then follow my rules. This is my world.”
6