They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 64

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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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“To be honest, I don’t know much about him either. He’s the type who rarely leaves his laboratory….”
“Still, you must know far more than I do, who knows nothing at all.”
“Of course that’s true. Well then, I’ll tell you what I do know.”
As Kei explained, Kailyb was a man severely lacking in social skills.
He had no interest in anything beyond shutting himself away to conduct magical research.
Yet despite this, his ability to contribute to Bardia during its founding era was thanks to a conduit named Iserna.
Iserna, whose abilities were rooted in holy power, took great interest in magic as well.
She would carefully observe Kailyb’s research and discover things that could practically benefit the kingdom.
Magic that created water bombs using moisture from the air was used to maintain the water level in reservoirs at a constant level.
Magic that altered the strength of metals in specific patterns was applied to various locations requiring security.
These kinds of practical magics were far more desperately needed than combat magic during that era.
Kailyb began to gain recognition from the kingdom and received substantial support in funding and personnel, allowing him to dedicate himself fully to his research.
“At that time, the Mage Tower was one of the essential foundations for Bardia’s founding. I’ve heard that now we barely manage to maintain and repair the magical facilities from that period….”
As these achievements accumulated, Kailyb became the kingdom’s chief mage.
His disciples multiplied, multiple schools of thought were established, and magical research flourished even more vibrantly.
Magic, which had been a means of killing and destroying more efficiently, evolved into a tool for safe and comfortable living.
“Kailyb’s social skills remained abysmal, but he did develop enough to appear at official functions.”
Kei recognized his inorganic gaze, showing no interest in people whatsoever.
Yet she didn’t consider him particularly dangerous because there was an exception to his indifference.
“That exception was Iserna.”
“Correct.”
Before her, he too looked at people as ordinary beings, listened to them, and smiled.
He conducted absurd experiments together with her, got into trouble alongside her, and stood by her side offering comfort as she wept before someone’s death.
If one could share one’s heart with a single person, surely it would be possible with others as well.
Not just Kei, but everyone judged it this way.
Kailyb’s initial connection with the world had been through Iserna, making it somewhat special, nothing more.
The disciples who revered and followed Kailyb, now among the great mages, could surely become a second Iserna.
“But in the end, it seems it was all a misunderstanding.”
Kailyb, who opposed Iserna’s expedition no less than Mikhail did, was also rejected from joining the Expedition Team.
Fundamentally, he was not a mage skilled in combat.
Thus Kailyb was left in a world without Iserna.
“What happened after that, I have no knowledge of. I can only speculate.”
Kailyb does not see people as people.
If they have any utility at all, he treats them merely as tools to achieve his purposes.
Surely it was the same back then.
“What Kailyb told Mikhail was not a lie. He truly must have found a way to open the Black Rift.”
But the moment he opened it, he must have realized.
That there were countless coordinates from the Demon Realm, each completely separate from one another.
“Having gone and returned, I think I understand now. They are like fragments of shattered glass.”
For fifteen years, clinging to that single obsession like a madman, he discovered the path was wrong.
It would not be easy to infer what impact that shock and despair had wrought upon Kailyb.
“Your Highness, do not attempt to understand him by human standards.”
Kei spoke, his gaze fixed upon Elhart.
“That was Mikhail’s fatal miscalculation as well.”
Perhaps the Founding King had felt a kinship with Kailyb.
In less than a decade, the world had accepted the Expedition Team’s death as inevitable fact and begun to forget them.
The families of the Expedition Team—those who gathered in Belken where the Black Rift had existed, waiting for fathers, sons, and husbands who had departed.
And save for Kailyb, who insisted the Black Rift must be reopened to dispatch reinforcements.
One could only feel betrayal watching the world flow onward as though nothing had transpired.
Perhaps that shared vigil for the same people had become a pillar of strength deep within his heart.
One could see it from the fact that Mikhail had abdicated in Kailyb’s favor.
He believed Kailyb was the one person who would never abandon the Expedition Team and would wait until the very end.
“A foolish judgment, it was.”
Kei shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
“To Kailyb, Mikhail was nothing more than an obstacle in his path.”
He harbored vengeance against all that had taken Iserna from him, precious as she was.
Mikhail had been the first of those.
“The Commander has already ceased treating Kailyb as human and regards him as something else entirely.”
“Something other than human?”
Kei nodded his head.
“A demon, sir.”
Demons were creatures consumed by singular obsession.
Though they committed every manner of wickedness and madness to satisfy that one desire, the vessels of their yearning were bottomless, leaving them in endless thirst.
“We were able to achieve victory precisely because we exploited such creatures’ nature well.”
“You believe that applies to Kailyb as well?”
“From what I perceive, there are quite a few similarities. Even down to the fact that he does not break the rules he has set for himself.”
Kailyb had waited for Iserna to choose him of her own volition.
Without wielding the authority of the Empire’s Crown Prince or resorting to coercion.
“He will likely not overstep that boundary under ordinary circumstances.”
Yet one could not predict in what other respects he might commit madness.
Who could have imagined that Kailyb would seize Mikhail’s very body and make it his own?
After hearing Kei’s explanation, Elhart felt one thing alone.
“This is difficult….”
At his response, Kei laughed and nodded his head.
“Yes, precisely. That is why we follow the Commander’s lead.”
“But… Ser Brin must bear considerable burden as well.”
“Hmm….”
Kei gazed intently at Elhart, his smile still lingering upon his face.
“It seems Your Highness is now the only one left to worry about the Commander in such a manner.”
“…?”
“Of course, the other members of the Expedition Team and I worry about the captain from time to time. But that concern stems from entirely different reasons.”
For Elhart, it was still incomprehensible.
“Someday, Your Highness will understand as well. That is, if the captain is not abandoned until then.”
Kei, who had been watching him lost in thought for a moment, turned away.
“In any case, please give careful consideration to the proposal I made earlier.”
With those words, Kei left the dining hall.
Several days passed after that.
Elhart faithfully followed Kei’s advice.
That is to say, I contemplated the matter of abandoning Iserna again and again.
‘If she ultimately rejects my feelings, then giving up is only natural.’
I understood it intellectually.
‘I don’t seem to be particularly reliable to her either.’
Rather, it was true that I could become a burden instead.
If I became a variable that ruined her work, what a terrible thing that would be.
Unlike the nights when I busied myself searching for a device to supply life force to the Crown Prince’s body, I had nothing particular to do during the day.
While Iserna was away, I cultivated mana alone or trained my body, lost in endless thought.
I even contemplated how I might accomplish it, should I decide to give up on her.
‘There are plenty of beautiful women, even if not quite like her….’
And there my thoughts stopped.
‘There aren’t any.’
No comparison was possible.
The social gatherings I occasionally attended back in the kingdom—I recalled every woman I met there, both older and younger, but it seemed utterly impossible.
‘Setting that aside, becoming her burden….’
Kei’s logic didn’t sit well with me on this point either.
‘Couldn’t I simply build up my strength so I could be someone she could rely on?’
Training was something I had done my entire life, after all. Honing my body day and night to become a force comparable to the Expedition Team members was far simpler than abandoning her.
The matter of Iserna finding my feelings burdensome also had a surprisingly simple solution.
‘I simply need to hide it thoroughly.’
I was far more confident in concealing it than Founding King Mikhail, who was probably crying in the Garden of the Goddess by now after his feelings were exposed because of the Expedition Team members.

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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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