The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 74. What the Hell!
“Phew…….”
Thud.
Bang.
The moment the tension drained away, his legs gave out beneath him despite his body having fully recovered.
He’d died and come back to life more times than he could count.
A 6-Circle Mage deploying multiple Magical Artifacts just to capture him—a man known to be merely 2 to 3-Star—was almost absurd.
‘Why are these cult bastards so obsessed with me? I’m the one who should hold a grudge, not them. Why?’
Fresh questions bubbled up alongside waves of anger and irritation.
‘Should’ve asked before killing her……?’
Looking at the rotting husk of the witch’s corpse, he felt a belated pang of regret.
‘No. It would’ve been meaningless anyway.’
These cultists had planted Mental Seals even in the minds of low-rank mages like Moeno.
If a 6-Circle Mage self-destructed like that, he might’ve ended up dead before getting answers.
‘Either way, if I keep hunting them down one by one, I’ll figure it out eventually.’
He ground his teeth again, renewing his hatred for the cult.
Slurp.
Something rough licked his face.
Huh?
“Mya?!”
Miya fluttered her wings as if to say he shouldn’t make such a face.
Seeing her, the surging anger seemed to drain away completely.
“Yeah, thank you. I owe everything to you. I’m alive because of you, Miya.”
“Mya!”
Slurp.
The small wings on her back fluttered as she waddled over and licked his face again, and finally a smile broke through.
There existed a creature this adorable.
“Oh, you beautiful thing~!”
“Mya!”
As he held Miya and nuzzled her, the mental fatigue seemed to wash away.
But stroking her glossy black scales reminded him once more of reality.
‘A child who absorbed roughly half the magic of a 6-Circle spell from the moment she was born. If her mother…….’
What kind of monster could she be?
The very thought made his body tremble.
“Mya?”
“No, it’s nothing. I’ll help you find your mother. Let’s go.”
“Mi……ya?”
He stood abruptly, cradling the bewildered Miya in his arms.
But even as he did, he couldn’t help but deliberate.
‘Should I keep heading north toward the Northern Mountain Range? Or…….’
The witch chasing him was dealt with—perhaps it would be better to return to Drasen, regroup properly, and get support before continuing.
‘The Deep Interior of the Northern Mountain Range is literally called a Demonic Realm…….’
Munno’s gaze flickered between north and west, then finally settled westward.
‘……I need at least some basic information.’
Perhaps in his exhaustion from the long night of battle, he was unconsciously grasping at an excuse to rest, but for now at least, no enemy was closing in behind him.
His feet, pulled by that relief, carried him forward.
“Miya?”
“I’ll show you our place first. Before we find your mother.”
“Mya!”
Watching Miya lick his face again, Munno found himself pulling her close once more without thinking.
Perhaps because they’d forged camaraderie in the recent battle, or perhaps because he’d felt inexplicably drawn to her even before she hatched—the pull he felt toward her now seemed far stronger.
Yes.
‘Just for a day or so…….’
Nothing would go wrong.
With that thought, Munno set off toward Drasen, holding Miya.
* * *
“Munno still hasn’t returned?”
A meeting to review the night’s situation and prepare for the coming day.
Rayen Drasen, the lord presiding over the meeting, tilted his head in confusion.
“Yes. He said he’d be back before dawn…….”
In that moment, Rayen’s brow twitched, but he quickly caught himself, aware of the eyes upon him, and shook his head.
“He’ll be back soon enough. Let’s discuss other matters for now.”
His son had grown stronger at a remarkable pace these past months.
There was no reason for him to encounter trouble south of Drasen, much less in the Northern Mountain Range.
Though one thing nagged at him.
‘Surely the Demon Cult wouldn’t dare target the boy again, not during a time when the royal court itself is paying attention.’
With that rational judgment made, he set aside his worries.
“Well then, next we should discuss the castle’s provisions and budget in case this Wave extends longer than anticipated…….”
But as the meeting dragged on for several more hours.
— My Lord!
Bang. Bang.
“……What is it?”
“Someone’s being quite disrespectful…….”
All eyes turned toward the hall’s doors at the commotion.
Bang!
The great doors burst open violently, and Sir Gunter, the broad-armed knight, rushed in with a pallid face.
“My Lord, something terrible has happened!”
At the report from the knight who had been guarding the southern castle wall last night, Rayen’s complexion drained of color.
A terrible premonition seized him.
“What’s happened?”
“A series of loud explosions have erupted from the east of the southern gate, and forests on the plains in that same direction are burning continuously! It appears to be magical in nature……!”
“South?!”
“Blast it……!”
Bang.
“Tell me the exact location! I’m going there myself!”
He shot up from his chair.
“That’s impossible! You’re still recovering, are you not?”
“I’ll go in your stead!”
“No. I shall go!”
Sir Gunter, Larry, and the other knights, worried for their still-frail lord, rushed forward all at once.
“No. If they truly are mages, I’m the only one who can face them!”
“Then at least let me accompany you!”
After an urgent back-and-forth, Rayen and Sir Gunter finally agreed to go together.
But then.
In the brief time it took them to don their armor and mount their horses.
— It’s Prince Munno!!
Cheers erupted from the eastern wall.
“……What?”
Rayen’s bewildered expression soon melted into one of relief, and he spurred his horse toward the eastern gate.
— Open the gate……!
“Don’t bother! I’m just going to jump over!”
Whoosh.
Whirrrr.
The Metal Chains shot out as he leaped, coiling around the protruding battlement of the castle wall and launching his body through the air.
“Mya!”
“Yeah, nice and easy?”
Whoooosh.
Savoring the feeling of being Spider-Man, he passed over the gawking soldiers and was about to drop back inside the castle when.
He spotted something odd.
‘Huh?’
Thump.
After landing and pulling his feet free from the impact crater.
He looked up at his father, fully armored before him, and asked with a blank stare.
“……What’s this about, Father? Where are you off to fight? You’re not even healed yet.”
It was an entirely reasonable question, and his father laughed in disbelief.
“I heard strange news from the south and thought you’d gotten yourself into trouble. Glad you haven’t. But what’s with the black lizard?”
“Mya?!”
Sssss.
At the mention of a lizard, Miya’s scales bristled and she bared her teeth at Rayen.
“Miya, it’s alright. It’s alright.”
“Miya…”
Soft whine.
Even as he stroked her to calm her, the creature seemed oddly wary of her father—far more so than normal.
Or rather, to be precise.
‘The Slayer?’
It struck him that Miya’s senses seemed fixated not on his father himself, but on the small sword slung across his back—the Slayer—though he thought nothing of it in the moment.
“Munno?”
“Ah… let’s go inside first and talk. There’s much to explain.”
“What?”
“What happened in the south, and this creature. The two are connected.”
It was the sort of thing not easily discussed within earshot of soldiers.
As if reading his mind, his father simply nodded and turned back toward the gates.
But then.
“Wow, really, brother. Where on earth did you find such a magnificent creature…!?”
Rian, whom they encountered along the way, lit up at the sight of Miya.
“Mya!”
“Ah, you startled me.”
“Sorry, Rian. She’s a bit sensitive… we’ll talk about it later, alright?”
“…I see. Wings, though…incredible.”
“Mya!”
Rian marveling, Miya bristling.
Both seemed endearing enough, though he had no time to appreciate the moment.
“Brother, could this child actually be a dragon…?”
Occasionally, his younger brother displayed rather sharp insight.
To leap straight to dragon, not even wyvern.
But he couldn’t confirm it just now.
“Perhaps.”
“I knew it—”
“I’m sorry, Rian! We’ll go into detail later.”
His brother’s eyes gleamed as he glanced between him and Miya in turn.
There was much he wanted to tell the perceptive Rian, but the immediate matter demanded his attention more.
And once they reached the inner fortress, alone with his father in that chamber, Munno laid bare everything that had happened the night before.
“…Disposing of that witch is good news, but you’re telling me a lizard this size is just a hatchling? And it absorbs magic the way you do?”
His father’s reaction was much as he’d anticipated.
The look he gave Miya, placed before him on the desk, seemed distinctly uneasy.
But Miya’s response was far more pronounced.
“Mya!”
“…What’s gotten into her?”
His father’s startled step backward at Miya’s unusually hostile demeanor struck him as oddly remarkable.
“Do you dislike reptiles?”
“Most people do!”
…Fair point.
Though Miya was cute, to him.
‘Rian called her magnificent, too.’
At that thought, he looked at Miya again.
“Mya!”
“Get that thing away from me! I might end up hitting her!”
His father merely recoiled at the sight of Miya snarling before his very face.
“Miya!”
“I’m serious!”
The scene was rather amusing, though.
“If you move the Slayer away, sir, I think she’ll stop being so irritable.”
“What?”
“She seems to be reacting to the Slayer’s mana. So if you’d just set it aside for a moment?”
He’d meant only to end the absurd standoff between Miya and his father.
“Hmm…”
But in that instant, his father’s expression subtly shifted.
“Is she really a dragon, then?”
“Sir?”
“This Slayer is an Artifact said to have slain dragons in the mythic age. That’s why it bears the name Slayer. Dragons, they say, instinctively recognize such things.”
“Huh……?”
I’d seen plenty of monsters from mythology that actually existed in this world, but it was still remarkable to me that legendary treasures matched up so neatly with them.
Yet something else about it struck me as odd.
“Why would you give Father something like that……?”
The words tumbled out before I could stop myself.
I caught myself mid-sentence, realizing I’d blundered.
Watching Father’s rueful smile, I knew I’d put my foot in it.
‘This mouth of mine never learns……’
I was searching for some way to apologize when—
An answer came that I hadn’t expected.
“Because it was always our family’s to begin with.”
“……I’m sorry?”
“Don’t you think the Gluttony Hardening Technique and this Slayer’s power suit each other remarkably well?”
“Uh, I……?”
The Gluttony Hardening Technique consumed bodily energy to catastrophic extremes, producing explosive destructive force in a single moment.
And the Slayer converted that energy into mana, unleashing equally staggering power in an instant.
Now that I thought about it, user and artifact were perfectly matched indeed.
And the reason was——
“Our Drasen house is known as the bloodline of Dragon Slayers, a clan with an ancient history stretching back to the age of myths. We lost most of our family treasures and heirlooms when the house fell into decline, but——”
“So what you’re saying……”
“Fortunately, the Slayer was among the rewards bestowed after the Demon Cult subjugation ten years ago. His Excellency learned of it and showed me consideration, giving it to me as well. That’s how we recovered our family heirloom.”
“……So when you mentioned the family heirloom……?”
“Yes. I didn’t acquire this treasure and then designate it as a family heirloom. It was always our house’s heirloom to begin with. Once I restore the secret techniques of the Drasen Grand Sword Art……”
Father’s distant gaze.
In that moment, words I’d carelessly let slip past my ears in my duller years now made complete sense.
Of course——
“Mew!”
Miya didn’t give Father much time for sentimentality.
“……Even so, put it away for now.”
“Mew! Mew!”
“……Fine then. This little thing’s got quite a temper.”
The young dragon’s writhing drove the heirloom sliding backward behind the chair.
“Mew……”
“There, there. Come here, Miya.”
Finally satisfied, the real Miya leaped down from the desk and tumbled into my arms.
‘Brat.’
I scratched contentedly under her chin.
Father seemed to find the sight rather peculiar.
“……You really do find that creature adorable, don’t you?”
“I do. What’s wrong with that?”
When I looked up at Father with an expression that said ‘What’s it to you?’, he shook his head.
“Tsk. Your tastes really are……all over the place.”
“Let’s focus on what we need to do, Father. First, I need information about the Deep Interior of the Northern Mountain Range. Even if it’s only legend.”
“You really mean to venture into a Demonic Realm?”
The Deep Interior of the Northern Mountain Range was an Unexplorable Demonic Realm that humanity had never even attempted to pioneer since ancient times.
It was known to harbor creatures as dangerous as the demons mages contract with.
But——
“If this one’s mother really is a dragon, keeping her with us like this will cause serious trouble. Rian mentioned the incident from three hundred years ago.”
“……True enough. Very well. I’ll search for records. I’ll petition Trian if necessary.”
“Thank you. I’d be grateful.”
“As for support……”
“I’ll go alone.”
“What?!”
“The territory’s finances are already strained. Food and water are all I need. Nothing more.”
“Even so, that’s……!”
“You know as well as I do that I can replenish my energy by hunting monsters. So information is far more important.”
Father gazed at me with conflicted eyes for a moment, then let out a laugh and nodded.
“I’ll have Esna prepare things. Rest up in the meantime.”
“Yes, Father.”
With that answer, I turned to leave——
“Huh!?”
Goosebumps erupted across his entire body in an instant.
“……Why are you doing this?”
“Dammit!”
“What!?”
“Father, I’m leaving first!! Curse it all!”
Crash.
Munno smashed through the office window and leaped out without hesitation.
“Munno!!?”
There was no time for him to answer.
There couldn’t be.
‘What in the name of… this is madness.…’
From the distant north, an overwhelming Demonic Energy was drawing near, its approach making his entire body tremble despite the vast distance between them.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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