NLS Ch8

“The incantation?”

“Nothing at all.”

Soriya, stifling a yawn, rubbed her eyes as she replied.

“Spirit arts are forbidden to begin with. How could we possibly follow that? Just tracking him makes me tremble to death.”

The task of tracking the Prince of Pihan was shared only among Ashin’s closest aides, high-ranking sorcerers. It had been almost a year since the war ended and the empire began to stabilize. Two months prior, Ashin had caught a glimmer of hope that the Prince might still be alive.

During the war, countless curses and spells had defiled the continent. By the end of the war, most of those who had committed such acts were dead or executed, but for some reason, the curse left behind by the Prince still remained in effect, even though curses usually disappeared when the caster died. However, some of the Prince’s curses had completely lost their potency, which confused them.

Ascending the stairs in the center of the hall, Ashin said, “I’ll look for him myself.”

“Yes?”

“You do what you can. I’ll move separately.”

“We don’t know where he might be, or how long it will take…”

“Don’t think about it too seriously. I wanted to go on a trip anyway. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone.”

It was something that could never be associated with a trip, but Ashin assumed Soriya had understood her roughly.

After pondering something for a moment, Soriya asked, “You’re going to watch the lunar eclipse before you leave, right?”

This lunar eclipse was a week after the Night of Pche.

“Just the lunar eclipse? There’s also the wedding ceremony.”

“Are you really going through with the marriage?”

“It’s been decided.”

“After secretly ogling him and drooling, congratulations.”

“When did I ever!”

Ashin, who had stopped abruptly, raised her voice, but Soriya indifferently rolled her eyes.

“It’s not like I’ve only known Ashin for a day or two.”

“Was it just me? Huh? Was it just me who did that!”

“At least not me. No matter how handsome he is, he has to at least seem human.”

“That’s the core issue, isn’t it?”

“Handsome or not, he’s scary. Well, I guess Ashin can handle Lord Mur. Come to think of it, you two are a good match. Both of you are beyond the realm of humans. Congratulations.”

Ashin ignored Soriya’s soulless congratulations.

“But, Soriya.”

“Yes.”

“How do you know I was secretly looking at Mur?”

“Well, it was too obvious. Anyone who’s watched Ashin closely would have noticed.”

It was the moment Leotar was finally cleared of suspicion. Ashin’s eyes widened as she looked back on her past. Was it that obvious?

“Then, Mur didn’t look at me like that too, did he? With secret glances of admiration.”

“I wonder?”

Soriya tilted her head. Her reaction was as if she had never heard of such a thing.

“That’s strange. I often felt like the back of my head was being pierced.”

“Isn’t that just because Ashin was annoying him?”

“Me?”

“Ashin annoyed Lord Mur every day, so he probably did the same.”

“I guess so…”

“There were clashes of opinion almost every day. No, you could say there was never a time when you agreed.”

She swore that wasn’t the vibe, but it didn’t seem like Soriya would believe her.

While going up, replaying how obvious she had been, something bumped into her toe. It was a pile of scattered documents. The entire fourth floor was Ashin’s and the high-ranking sorcerers’ laboratory, and from the stairs leading up to the fourth floor to the hallway, everything was littered with messy books and items.

It was the traces of searching for a spell to track the spirit arts user.

The books that had been collected indiscriminately since the tower was built reappeared, forming piles and mountains. Books and spells that had disappeared from history along with the ancient mages who were hunted to death.

But no matter how much she searched the books, there were no major achievements. The spirit arts used by the Prince were, and still are, strictly forbidden.

Sitting in the laboratory chair, Ashin pushed the pile that had accumulated up to her forehead to the right. Her desk, like the hallway, was also a mountain of piles of paper and books.

“Ah, and. While I’m gone, Ailem will take care of the tower. It’s not a grand thing, just checking in from time to time. But the rumor will spread widely, and people will believe that Ailem is guarding the tower.”

“Sorry? Why all of a sudden?”

Ashin pondered Vize’s words, which had been nothing but correct.

The basis of sorcery was no different from ancient magic, but ancient magic had been cut off due to the oppression of the times. Therefore, the sorcerers of the present day did not bother to reveal that sorcery originated from magic.

“Why do you think ancient magic was cut off?”

“Isn’t it because magic was so insignificant at the time? It’s different from us now.”

“No, the reason they were hunted was because the existing powers felt threatened by them. They used incomprehensible spells, miraculously healed people, and made prophecies. They were people who repeatedly did things that they themselves could not do, so they were massacred before they could grow their power.”

“It’s similar to our situation. But we’re different. Ashin built a tower in the heart of the empire. Her Majesty also looks favorably upon us.”

“That’s right, it’s different now. If we were still gathering in tribes and practicing sorcery without a focal point like the tower, we would have been attacked and disintegrated quickly.”

“Then what else are you worried about?”

“Hunting isn’t just for power. Think about the wealth we’ve come to enjoy.”

“Surely, you don’t think they’ll attack the tower to rob us?”

“Don’t underestimate their greed. Once the supplies taken in the war run out, they’ll turn their eyes inward.”

“Then how can you trust Ailem?”

“I’m going to form a marriage alliance with him. It’s a family with a long history, so they won’t break the covenant. And I’ve decided to select a few children from his retainers to send as apprentices.”

“Will that be enough to protect us?”

“It’s not meant to be a physical defense. It’s just to instill the idea that Ailem is the backing of this place.”

“You’re going to side with the existing power. Is this His Majesty’s will?”

“How did you know?”

“Because it’s not something Ashin would think of.”

Ashin nodded. She sometimes wondered how Vize could know everything and change everything according to his will.

Wasn’t everything going according to Vize’s will this time as well? Leotar, who had detested Ashin, came to her on his own, and Ashin, who had detested Leotar, had accepted the marriage. Whether what Vize gained from that was really a ‘symbol of peace’ was another matter.

“I don’t know how long the tracking will take. So, I feel more comfortable with Ailem holding out.”

“Considering the Prince’s greed, he might appear on his own.”

“Even so, he must have been hit hard? He’ll have to rebuild his forces.”

“Since he’ll be using other people’s life force as nourishment, he may not need much recovery.”

The Prince of Pihan not only absorbed the life force of others to increase his power, like any other curse caster, but also used forbidden arts to control the souls dwelling in life as if they were his limbs. No one knew how he had learned the forbidden arts. Even Ashin, who knew how to handle a little of many spells, had no knowledge of spirit arts.

“If there were detailed books enough to learn a giant spell, there must be several books with similar content. It’s absurd to think that only one book contains the perfect spell. It would take at least hundreds of people dedicated to research to create a complete spell. So, somewhere there must be traces of those hundreds of people.”

“I’ll keep looking.”

“We still don’t even know what the Prince’s purpose is. Why spirit arts, why did he start the war?”

Soriya continued Ashin’s question.

“That terrible man. What is he plotting by running away…”

The lunar eclipse in five weeks was an opportunity. On the night when the eyes of foresight open, the sky allowed humans to glimpse the future they most wanted to see. All they could do was hope that they could identify the Prince’s energy that way.

***

In a forest where even the moonlight did not reach, Leotar, having lowered his sword, calmly caught his breath. Blood that had flowed down the blade dripped onto the grass.

Two assassins lay fallen before him.

Whether they didn’t know it was useless, or didn’t want to admit it. Someone was repeating a wasteful act.

A black figure approached from behind him and knelt.

“I took care of one more at the stream.”

“Is that the end?”

“Yes, a total of three.”

While his subordinates searched the bodies, Leotar headed for the water. As he got closer to the shallow river, the trees became sparse, revealing the night sky.

The moon, faintly ringed with a blue light, rippled on the surface of the water. Listening to the sound of the water flowing, Leotar realized one thing.

The threat of assassination only existed on nights when only one moon was up.

If the goal was to kill him, there were plenty of more effective times and methods. But whoever it was was choosing the movements of the celestial sphere instead of a logical strategy.

He gradually became suspicious. What if the assassination itself was not the purpose, but had some kind of magical meaning? Repeated spells were also related to curses.

The puzzling thing was that there were no sorcerers in Ailem’s fiefdom. In the first place, sorcery was a spell practiced by foreigners. Foreign groups residing in the north or east.

He unknowingly thought of Ashin. He thought that if he asked for advice, she would give him an answer, but he quickly erased the thought.