The Story Of The Second Son Of The Baron Family [EN]: Chapter 85

“That’s not wrong. It makes sense.”

After organizing my thoughts and presenting her with a well-structured conclusion, she pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“Perhaps I was mistaken.”

“Pardon?”

“That technique you call engraving.”

Mistaken? Everything had been going smoothly until now. I listened intently to what she was about to say.

“Try using it again.”

“Yes.”

“…No, no matter how I look at it, I wasn’t mistaken. Why isn’t it working?”

Come on, let’s share the confusion instead of keeping it to yourself. You said you might have been mistaken earlier, but now you say you weren’t. Which tune should I dance to? As I looked at her with a perplexed expression, facts I hadn’t known began to spill from her lips.

“That technique you call engraving, I told you it’s a minor version of dragon language, right?”

“Yes. You said the underlying principle is the same, even if the level is lower.”

“That principle is part of your training so far, a way of manifesting your will. Do you understand what this means? You’ve been unconsciously manipulating will.”

I had been manipulating will? I hadn’t noticed at all. That’s because engraving had always been activated with mana, and I hadn’t felt anything strange in my body during her training.

“That’s why I thought you’d be able to do it quickly. Your body would have adapted to it after using it for so long. That’s also why I said engraving is a minor version of dragon language. Should I call it a teaching aid to help you learn dragon language smoothly? But if you still haven’t felt anything… Returning to the beginning might not be a bad choice.”

“…A teaching aid.”

In short, a tutorial. An idea to increase the body’s responsiveness through a taste, like the relationship between disease and vaccine. If so, a question arises. Who created engraving, how, and why? And why was this power given to me?

‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’

There was no way to know. It had been a good ten years since I had the dream about engraving. I didn’t even know a single clue back then, so there was no way I could know now. I hadn’t dreamed about engraving since then. But I knew one thing for sure.

I had to do what I could do now.

Clinging to it wouldn’t reveal anything I could know. So, clinging to something that would produce results would be the right choice. If someone really gifted me this power, if engraving was gifted to me as an intermediate step to dragon language, as she said, then perhaps I could learn something when I achieved that goal.

“You have been unconsciously manipulating will. The key is whether you can take it to the next level. You didn’t know until now, but now that you know the truth, do you think you have that potential?”

“I must. So that the great being can confidently stand before their kin.”

#

When I first gained experience with engraving, I was a 3rd circle magician, an unremarkable one that could be found anywhere. At that time, I could only express the meaning of a single letter to the world.

I reached the 4th circle while overcoming a near-death experience at the Tera Barrier [a dangerous magical field], and at the same time, the engraving also grew, allowing me to create the meaning of two letters, a word. As time passed, I reached the 5th and 6th circles, and I was able to create synergy by linking each meaning.

So now that I’m in the 7th circle, what potential will engraving show me?

‘I guess I can start soon.’

It had been almost a year since the fierce battle in the Land of Monsters. My physical condition was perfect, to the point where I could confidently proclaim myself a 7th circle magician anywhere. That meant there would be no problem even if I started drawing out mana in earnest.

‘But from where?’

However, just because I was ready to run didn’t mean I could run recklessly. Direction was more important than speed, and running steadily, even if slowly, was important. Fortunately, in that sense, I had a very clear milestone.

Dragon language.

If engraving was a preparatory step for learning dragon language, then the destination would ultimately be dragon language. If I aimed to reduce the difference between dragon language and engraving, wouldn’t I be able to walk a path similar to the ideal one?

In that situation, Serena’s existence was a great help to me. She knew more about dragon language than anyone else around me and could give me advice – whether I could understand it was another matter.

“There are so many, it’s tiring to list them all, but the biggest difference is the scope. Scope.”

“Scope?”

“There are no limits. There are no limits to thought. Of course, there are no limits to the will to achieve it. But what about you? Aren’t you bound by circumstances and conditions?”

She was right. Engraving seemed like a panacea, but it was quite conditional. It showed efficiency that magic couldn’t match in amplifying the original purpose of an object, but it didn’t show great performance in anything that deviated from that scope, even slightly.

In addition, there were considerable restrictions on the target. It had to be an object with a certain shape. But dragon language was different. As she said, there were no limits to thought, and of course, there was no need to be bound by conditions. Even if it was a contradiction.

“I’m not telling you to break free from the limits right away. If that happens, it should no longer be called engraving but dragon language. But you have to reduce them one by one.”

In fact, letters and words were no longer important. What mattered was the meaning. It was enough to be effective with the words ‘hide’ instead of ‘concealment’. It’s just that I’ve been using engraving that way so far. In that sense, the first goal had to be to broaden the scope of application.

“It will be a difficult path.”

It was bound to be difficult. It was a path I had never walked before. But when was it ever easy? Everything was new when I first dreamed of engraving. As she said, effort was needed. Effort.

#

“I wonder if he’s doing well.”

Even though I was spending busy days juggling training and research, I kept my ears open to the outside world. Fortunately, the chaos caused by the coup quickly subsided, and the Emperor was doing his best to reorganize the Empire. But news of my friend who went to find his homeland did not come.

“Well, there won’t be any problems.”

JoJo was also a magician looking at the 6th circle at the age of thirty. If it weren’t for me, or even now, he was a well-known and outstanding magician, so unless he walked into a forbidden area on his own, he wouldn’t get hurt.

“I wish he would come back soon.”

Armin and I were starting to feel our limits. In a situation where the recruitment of new personnel was desperately needed, JoJo was the only magician I could trust and leave things to.

Knock- Knock-

Who is it at this hour? I raised my guard slightly since there was no prior notice that anyone would be visiting, but I welcomed the visitor after confirming their face.

“I apologize for visiting without notice.”

“There’s no need to apologize. What’s going on?”

“I came to deliver this.”

Willand Kramer. He, who had become a father, came to me in person and handed me an envelope. I opened the envelope and checked the contents.

“…Inauguration ceremony as the head of the family?”

“Yes. Recently, my father’s health has deteriorated rapidly.”

“Is Count Kramer okay?”

“It is best for him to stay away from work and take sufficient rest and recuperation.”

Should I congratulate him? It was a moment when Willand’s dream came true as he had wanted the position of head of the family so much, but whether they had a good relationship or not, they were family.

“By the way, you came all the way here to deliver this? You could have sent someone else. Is it okay for someone in charge of a territory to be so light on their feet?”

“If my brother is the opponent, no one but me can be light on their feet.”

“I appreciate the thought.”

After talking for a while, Willand left. There would be many people to send invitations to for the inauguration ceremony besides me. As I was about to store the invitation and focus on research again, Serena, who had been watching, opened her mouth.

“You seem close.”

“He’s a younger acquaintance.”

“Shouldn’t you go after him?”

“Pardon?”

What was this out-of-the-blue remark? But at her next words, I jumped up from my seat without realizing it.

“As soon as that guy left this place, a number of humans were chasing him, you know?”

I messed up. The power struggle between brothers. After the 3rd Prince won the political strife, I heard that he had firmly established his position, so at the same time, I had never thought of such an unfortunate thing. But would those who had been running towards only one goal give up so easily? Frankly, if only Willand was gone, if they weren’t caught, it would be done.

‘I have to hurry.’

Of course, Willand wasn’t weak. He would have been escorted. But how much preparation would he have made to travel inside the capital? Since they had time, they would have made enough preparations as well. I prayed that I wouldn’t face the worst situation.

‘Where did he go?’

There were too many people. Not much time had passed, but I hurriedly took out the map I had brought and looked for the mana reaction presumed to be Willand.

“Northeast.”

“Thank you!”

Indeed, when I limited the scope of the map and looked further, a large amount of mana reaction that ordinary people could not have was detected. It’s still okay. If there was something wrong, the mana would be abnormal first. The reaction shown on the map was good enough.

Clang- Clang-

Fortunately, Willand was okay when I arrived at the scene.

#

“You fight better than I thought.”

“The near-death experience at the Tera Barrier saved me from the near-death experience. Are you guys okay?”

“We’re okay!”

“I survived thanks to you, brother. But how did you get here so early…?”

“After you left, I felt the mana moving behind you. I came after you just in case, and I’m glad I wasn’t late.”

“Ah.”

I didn’t chase the escaping guys. I didn’t know what kind of trap there might be if I left my seat, so it wouldn’t be difficult to reveal their identities since the bodies of their companions they hadn’t been able to take were left at the scene.

‘Black magic isn’t my specialty.’

Black magic is not a forbidden magic. Black magic was just a branch of magic. It’s just that there were many black magicians who became criminals due to its nature. If ordinary magicians committed similar acts, they would be wanted as well.

“They were probably sent by my brothers.”

“I guess so.”

Wasn’t that why I followed him in the first place, worrying about that? As I searched the pockets of the guys who were now cold corpses, I was able to find something that could infer their identities.

“Black Rose?”