Chapter 38. The Expedition Nears Its End (3)
“Eek! Even so, leaving something that important to me all of a sudden is……”
Delilah, suddenly finding herself at the center of the expedition’s attention, tried to refuse in alarm, but Shane cut her off.
“I have no intention of leaving everything to you. Nor do I think you are capable enough for that.”
“……Oh. Then that’s a relief. But was that last part really necessary?”
“However, Delilah, that does not change the importance of your role. As you already know, the earth here is connected to the plants of this region, which possess exceptionally strong wills.”
“Uh, right.”
“From this point onward, I will modify the Magic Circle created by the Elves. I intend to shift its foundation from the trees to the earth. In accordance with that, increase your Assimilation Rate with the earth here.”
“No, even so, asking me to do something like that so suddenly…… Ugh. No, never mind. I’ll try.”
It was a bewildering request, but Delilah soon changed her mind and followed Shane’s instructions.
Before being an Academy cadet, she was also an Adventurer, and she had an obligation to follow the directions of her team leader.
Shane then immersed himself in modifying the Elven Magic Circle.
Meanwhile, Raviata approached Delilah, who sat on the ground attempting to commune with the earth.
Having received a request from Shane beforehand, Raviata sat beside her and began lecturing her about attributes.
As expected of a Mage renowned for wielding fire, Raviata possessed exceptionally refined knowledge regarding attributes.
“Just as every person has a different disposition, nature has different dispositions as well. Not every flame is the same, and not every patch of earth is the same either.”
“Ah…….”
“You probably never experienced anything like this outside. Your Attribute Affinity would have been superior to that of almost any other race.”
“Yes. Yes, that’s right.”
Just as Raviata said, the earth here was different from the earth outside.
The soil of the Mezaia Great Forest, which had existed alongside these trees for ages, was certainly favorable toward Delilah.
But unlike ordinary earth, it did not approach her with blind trust.
“Here, however, it’s different. The Elves have spent an incredibly long time building affinity with the nature of this place. There’s trust underlying that relationship.”
Raviata continued.
“But there’s one thing you’ve misunderstood because of your talent.”
“Misunderstood?”
“Yeah. Attribute Affinity isn’t the only thing Subterraneans possess.”
“……?”
“In ancient times, Subterraneans were the masters of the earth. Even the Elves put aside their pride and maintained friendly relations with them. When it came to the earth, Subterraneans stood above everyone else. Do you know why?”
“Hmm…… Not really.”
“Elves possess excellent affinity in many areas. They adjust their Mana patterns to nature, then use that affinity to become one with the environment in which they live. That’s why Elves can thrive not only in forests like this, but also in deserts and frozen regions.”
Raviata looked at Delilah.
“So why would a race like that need to maintain friendly relations with Subterraneans? The answer is simple. Dominion.”
“Dominion?”
“Exactly. Dominion. Do you know what makes Subterraneans special? The power known as Attribute Dominion is the defining authority of an entire race. Humans know about Attribute Affinity, but they know practically nothing about Dominion. At least among humans, there has only ever been one person capable of possessing it.”
Raviata continued as she recalled Shane, who had recently displayed Dominion over the attribute of darkness.
“If it belongs to an entire race, then…… don’t tell me?”
“Right. Dragons. The only race possessing absolute Dominion over attributes. A Subterranean’s Dominion may be inferior to that of a Dragon, but that does not mean Dragons were better at controlling earth than Subterraneans. Your people are the only ones who possess both Affinity and Dominion.”
“Hmm. That’s hard to believe. You’re saying Subterraneans were even more impressive than Dragons when it came to earth…….”
It was not that Delilah lacked confidence.
The name Dragon simply carried that much weight.
Raviata shook her head.
“I told you. Dragons possessed overwhelming Attribute Dominion, but they lacked Affinity. That difference created the result. Think of it as the carrot and the stick.”
“Ah…….”
“In that sense, when it came to the earth where their trees grew, even Elves had no choice but to rely on Subterraneans. If the Subterraneans had exercised their Dominion against them, it wouldn’t have taken long for the trees to wither and die.”
It did not take Delilah long to understand Raviata’s explanation.
“I think…… I found a way.”
After thinking it over and trying something for herself, Delilah spoke with a bright smile.
Raviata let out a small sound of admiration.
It might have been an innate characteristic of Delilah’s race, but understanding an ability of her own people that she had lived her entire life without knowing about merely from a brief explanation was hardly ordinary.
‘And she isn’t the only one.’
Even setting Delilah aside, Klein and Aneis possessed extraordinary talent of their own.
From Raviata’s perspective, the more she saw, the more curious she became about Shane, who had gathered such talented individuals around himself.
—
Meanwhile, Aneis was organizing the situation inside her head.
Aneis was perceptive.
She could also read the subtle pressure and atmosphere surrounding people.
That was why, from the moment Dominic and the Imperial Knight Order rejoined the expedition, she quickly noticed the subtle change flowing between the different groups.
And the more she noticed—
The more sensitive Aneis became to everything she heard.
She did not miss a single conversation.
She broke down the various pieces of information inside her mind and gradually began forming a picture of what her own objective should be.
Then she recalled the proposal Dominic had made to her before.
Justice.
A word the Judgment Knight Order and Dominic’s Imperial Knight Order had always spoken to Aneis about.
Yet for some reason, the justice they spoke of felt different to her.
Aneis still could not understand exactly why.
But the picture she had been forming for so long was now asking her a question.
What is justice?
She still did not know precisely what justice was.
But Aneis understood one thing.
The fact that the picture she had drawn could even ask such a question was already enough for the seeds of doubt to begin sprouting.
—
“Klein.”
“Brother?”
At Shane’s call, Klein stopped what he was doing and turned toward him.
“You seem to have grown considerably.”
“……No, I have not.”
Klein had indeed grown tremendously.
Yet he shook his head.
It was not merely humility.
The more battles Klein fought, the more keenly he felt his own shortcomings.
It was not that he lacked strength.
No—
If anything, he possessed too much of it.
No enemy had been capable of standing against Klein’s sword, and even the heavily armored insect-type monsters had been unable to boast of their defenses before his blade.
Nevertheless, as time passed, Klein gradually came to understand what he lacked.
Technique.
Possessing an overwhelming amount of Mana and using that Mana efficiently were two entirely different matters.
Until now, he had never experienced that frustration.
Outside the Cradle, he had always been able to fight across wide-open terrain, and the Goblins he encountered had never required him to fight with his full strength.
He had been able to display some power against the Troll, but even then, he had never experienced fighting with everything he possessed.
This place was different.
The insect-type monsters that charged through narrow passages while spraying acidic fluid were individually dangerous.
The agility of monsters that tore through the earth and burst from underground was unlike anything Klein had ever encountered before.
Even under those circumstances, Klein’s overwhelming strength had allowed him to fight like a one-man army.
But precisely because of that, he became increasingly uncomfortable with his own level of skill.
He could do better.
Yet he could not.
Until now, he had never felt the need to confront that problem.
But after being forcibly separated from Shane and pushing himself harder than ever before, Klein had finally reached that realization.
“You have finally reached a wall.”
Klein immediately grasped the meaning contained within Shane’s brief statement.
“A wall…….”
Klein had never truly encountered anything he could call a wall before.
He still lacked the experience necessary to break through one entirely on his own.
“Klein. What do you think Mana is?”
“Mana……?”
Anyone hearing such a question would have considered it impossibly vague.
Klein hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Until recently, it felt like a solid fortress wall protecting me.”
And that fortress had been covered in sharp thorns.
It never yielded to approaching enemies.
Instead, it crushed them.
“But now…… I’m not sure.”
A solid fortress wall.
Yet walls did not move.
Klein had only recently come to understand that fact.
Anyone who saw Klein agonizing over such a problem might have called him insane.
To everyone else, Klein’s Mana control was enough to demonstrate what true talent looked like.
But Klein himself felt differently.
“I always thought it would move exactly as I intended. But I don’t think that’s true anymore.”
After hearing that much, Shane gave a faint smile.
“You call it a fortress wall, yet you expect that fortress wall to move for you, Klein.”
“Ah…… Haha.”
Realizing the flaw in his own metaphor, Klein smiled awkwardly.
“Klein. If you explained your problem to anyone else, you would probably struggle to receive useful advice.”
“Why…… is that?”
“Because there is no other genius like you in this world.”
“Hmm…….”
Embarrassed by such direct praise, Klein scratched the bridge of his nose.
But Shane had not exaggerated in the slightest.
Klein’s talent was untouchable even among geniuses.
Yet a bird born alone at the highest peak would never learn how to soar through the heavens if it had neither companions nor family to guide it.
And this bird named Klein—
Before he had even learned how to fly, he did not yet understand how enormous his own wings were.
That was why he could not fly, no matter how badly he wanted to.
“When was the last time you had your Mana measured?”
“I think it was about eight years ago.”
Nine years old.
Even at that age, Klein’s talent had already blossomed beyond what theory could explain.
A specially commissioned Mana Measuring Device had nearly reached the upper limit of its scale when measuring him.
Klein’s Mana Purity had already exceeded anything most people could reasonably imagine.
And now, after all those years?
Klein was like an eagle that did not even know how high above the world it stood.
“Do not be too impatient. An opportunity will come soon.”
“An opportunity……?”
“When that moment arrives, do not worry about anything. Release every last bit of Mana you possess. Then you will understand what I mean.”
“……Understood. Thank you for the advice, Brother.”
“It was nothing worth calling advice.”
Shane had merely informed him in advance of something that would inevitably happen when the time came.
He turned his attention back toward the task of modifying the Mana patterns.
With that—
Their preparations were slowly coming to an end.
Preparations to bring this long expedition into the Mezaia Great Forest to a perfect conclusion.
