Immortal's Ascending Path - Chapter 25
Chapter 25. The Witch's Ritual
Roberta's expression hardened.
She watched the young horse rub its face against Ulrich's chest, weeping. At first glance, it looked like it was crying out of joy. If a stranger saw it, they would smile warmly, thinking, 'Ah, it must be happy to see its owner after a long time.'
However, the truth was completely different. That young horse was originally a person, and Ulrich was someone it was meeting for the first time in this place. The young horse was weeping because he was the only one who had realized the truth.
How could it suppress its emotions when it met the only person who understood the misfortune of becoming something non-human?
Ulrich stroked the young horse and said,
"Let's move to another place. There are too many listening ears here."
The three people and one horse—no, four people—went to the stable attached to the inn. The inn was crowded with guests as lunchtime approached, but the stable was deserted. Only their three horses were tied up.
"Write your name on the ground."
Ulrich said as he released the young horse's reins. Then, the young horse scratched the dirt floor with its hooves. The unshod hooves clumsily drew letters.
Marika—that was the name she had received as a person. Following that, it also wrote the name Matthias, Marika's father.
Fritz, who had been carefully observing the two names, said,
"Matthias is the lord of Kir Castle."
Ulrich nodded.
"Is he a vassal of Meyer?"
"...Yes. He is one of my father's closest confidants."
Fritz revealed that Matthias was a nobleman who had served as the lord of Kir Castle for generations and had a close relationship with Count Meyer, almost like sworn brothers. Fritz also often met and talked with him.
"I heard that Matthias has a daughter. But she is so weak that... she couldn't leave the castle, and my father was worried about the succession because of that."
"Indeed, that is the situation."
Upon hearing that story, the young horse approached Fritz and rubbed its face against him. Even though it had never met him before, it seemed happy to meet the son of the person its father served.
After a while, the hooves wrote a third name.
Oksana Narses, along with the word 'witch' next to the name, including the surname. She was the culprit who made the girl like this, it claimed with the soil dug deeper than when it wrote its own name.
She, this witch, made me like this. The witch envied me and turned me into something non-human, and she tried to use me as an offering to the heavens while my father was away.
Marika tried to show the scars on her body, lifting and lowering her legs that would never reach, as if a person were reaching out to touch her back.
The scars covering the young horse's body were the traces the girl had gained while barely escaping death.
"Narses..."
Roberta frowned as she retraced the surname.
"She must be a very skilled witch."
"That's right. Wizards reveal their level through their surnames."
They looked again at the full name of Oksana Narses.
The name Oksana was unheard of. But the surname Narses was impossible not to know. It was the name of one of the Five Sages who laid the foundation for magic in the first age of humanity.
Listing the achievements of each of the five would be too long a story. However, what should be noted is that wizards attach the name of their teacher or one of the Five Sages to the very end of their full name.
"Excuse me, what are you talking about...?"
Fritz, who did not understand the conversation, asked cautiously.
"Does that mean she is a disciple of Narses? That witch?"
"No, it means there is no one other than Narses who could be her teacher."
Wizards usually use their teacher's name as their surname. This was because of the custom where, if the disciple's achievements were deemed sufficient, the teacher would give their name to the disciple.
However, there are cases where the disciple's achievements surpass the teacher's. In these cases, most reject their teacher's surname. Wizards have very high pride. They cannot bear to have the name of someone inferior to them as their surname, so they use the name of the founder of the lineage, that is, one of the Five Sages, as their surname.
Oksana was such a case. The fact that she uses the name Narses as her surname means that her lineage began with Narses. It also means that she is confident that she is an excellent wizard.
"It's truly a regrettable thing."
"Regrettable?"
Roberta tilted her head.
"Narses was the most open-minded of the five. He said that anyone with talent could learn magic and that people should be treated with such an open mind. Roberta, haven't you heard stories about him?"
"Yes, I have. Most wizards today follow Narses' lineage. The story is that because he took in such disciples, people gathered without distinction of poverty, class, or race, and that the group was so large that it formed a city, right?"
"That's right. That city is the city of wizards, and even though its power has weakened, its lineage continues."
"Then why do you say it's regrettable...?"
Ulrich shook his head.
"Look at how that child's name is used. The compassion he had for the ignorant is nowhere to be found, and it's only used to show off her own confidence."
He stroked the face of the girl who had become a horse, Marika, and said,
"If she had understood his heart even a little, she would never have dared to do this to the girl."
What the girl was afflicted with was a vulgar magic commonly called a curse.
"It's difficult even to cast on oneself, but she's a high-level wizard to be able to do it to someone else. Although you can notice it if you're close like this, there are countless wizards in the world who can't even do that."
He said that she used such talent for such a base act.
Roberta thought the same. When else had she seen magic at this level, which changed the appearance to another species? It was only the second time in her life, and the first time was when the dragon Narvakayani transformed into a human on the Ice Peninsula.
Of course, the magic Marika was afflicted with was not at the same level as Narvakayani's. The fact that Marika was afflicted with some kind of magic was something that other Priests or wizards besides Roberta could realize.
On the other hand, the dragon was worthy of the title, a wizard who possessed fragments of mythology. If she had met Narvakayani, who had transformed into a human, in another place, she would not have realized that he was a dragon.
"Then what should we do now? Is there a way to reverse it?"
"The most common method is for the person who cast the curse to undo it themselves."
The words 'Is that possible?' caught in Roberta's throat.
As if reading her thoughts, he added that it would be difficult.
"Is there no other way?"
"There is, but it's not a very good method."
Ulrich said to Fritz,
"Let's meet the wizard first. Fritz, guide us to Kir Castle."-----The lord of the castle, Matthias, was tall and handsome with well-defined features. Despite being the father of one daughter and having taken a second wife, he was not yet forty years old. When Ulrich visited Kir Castle under the alias Armin of Ditmarsken, he came out to greet him at the castle gate.
"Did you say Armin-nim?"
He might not have heard the name before, but he couldn't ignore it because Ditmarsken was attached to the name. That title was only used by the children of the Ditmarsken Duke.
The king of Osnover was Ulrich's adopted son, and Matthias' lord was a vassal who had served the duke for generations. It was not a level to be ignored, saying that he had never heard the name before.
Therefore, he seemed nervous. His eyes and mouth were smiling, but the sweat on his forehead was not from the summer heat.
"That's right. Ditmarsken Duke Ulrich is my adoptive father."
"I apologize for my rudeness. I heard that Ditmarsken Duke had many adopted children, but I didn't know all their names..."
Matthias glanced at Ulrich sitting on the horse's saddle.
"Well, I understand. My father is a lenient person. I don't even know all my older brothers, so it's strange to expect the lord to know me."
Ulrich smiled.
Roberta, who was watching the scene from the side, felt goosebumps. She had been told that he would use an alias and act, but she couldn't get used to seeing it in person.
This alias suited his appearance. Ulrich looked the same age as her. Rather, it was strange to talk about the passage of time with an appearance that should be fresh. If she hadn't known Ulrich's background, she wouldn't have felt any strangeness.
'It can't be helped. It's better to hide it like this.'
Ulrich's name was too famous.
There might not be many people who knew him outside Osnover, but there was no one inside who didn't know him. There was a way to reveal his identity and interrogate Matthias and Oksana, but he chose a sure path, even if it took a little longer.
The name that came out was Armin. Roberta asked immediately after hearing the name if it was a name he had used before. To that question, he replied, 'It would be faster to find a name I haven't used.'
"This is my guard, Roberta."
Roberta greeted him in plain clothes. She also hid her identity and played the role of a young knight.
"And, you know Fritz, right?"
When Lord Matthias found Fritz in the group, his eyes widened.
"Young master? No... it's good to see you again like this."
"It's been a while, Matthias-nim."
The attitude of suspiciously looking at the group disappeared in an instant. It was an undeniable fact that he was guaranteed by the son of his lord, not someone else.
"You've grown a lot. And you look a lot like the Count."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Blood can't be fooled after all. When the Count sent young master to Ditmarsken, you were really young... I'm relieved to see you grow up so healthy."
Fritz gave an awkward smile at the sight of the lord wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"Did you come here to go to the main family?"
"That's right. I was delayed on my way to see my father. I was wondering if I could stay for a day, is that okay?"
"Of course it's okay! If you two aren't okay, who would be okay?"
At that time, Ulrich, who was listening to the conversation between the two, asked,
"If you don't mind, who is the person next to you?"
The person he pointed to was a woman next to the lord.
"Oh, I was out of my mind."
She was a woman wearing a dress long enough to touch the floor. She had been standing silently from the moment she greeted Ulrich's group, and when she received attention, she bowed slightly and greeted them.
"This is my wife, Oksana Narses."
Oksana kissed the back of Ulrich's right hand.
"Narses... it's the first time I've met someone who uses that name as their surname."
"Is that so? I thought the Ditmarsken Duke would have many wizards under his command."
"It's a barren land. Wizards also get tired of it and go back quickly."
Ulrich smiled again and looked at Oksana.
"But to have such a person as your wife, you are a very blessed person."
"Yes. It seems that Hestio truly cherishes me."
Matthias laughed and stuck close to Oksana. Oksana blushed and lowered her head.
At that moment, Roberta, who had stepped back a few steps and was watching the conversation, narrowed her eyes. Oksana's gaze was directed at an object far removed from the conversation.
"..."
The gaze reached the horse that Fritz was riding.
That horse was Marika. The girl who had been turned into a horse by Oksana's curse was wearing reins and a saddle, carrying Fritz. On the surface, it looked like Fritz was riding a slightly small horse, so there was no reason to pay attention.
'She's not looking because she feels a sense of incongruity.'
Roberta paid close attention to Oksana's reaction. Throughout the conversation between Ulrich and Matthias, she nodded in agreement, but she kept paying attention to Marika.
And each time, all sorts of emotions were revealed in an instant and then disappeared repeatedly: Embarrassment, anger, disgust, momentary exposures that were difficult to notice unless you were watching closely.
If she had only sensed an incongruity in the flow of mana, like Roberta, there would have been no reason to make such expressions.
Oksana realized that the horse Fritz was riding was Marika.
'There's no way she wouldn't notice. She's the one who did it.'
Roberta glanced at Fritz and gave him a signal.
Then, Marika, who had been quietly looking down at the ground, raised her head and met Oksana's gaze.
Immediately after that, Marika cried out and raised her front hooves with all her might. In a movement that made her look like a horse stung by a bee, Fritz grabbed the saddle tightly and tried not to fall off.
"Fritz! What's wrong?"
Ulrich frowned and asked, pretending not to know.
"I don't know! It seems like she has another complaint!"
Fritz sighed, pretending to calm Marika down. At first glance, it looked like the horse was acting up on its own.
Oksana was different. She saw Marika acting up the moment their eyes met, and it was an expression where her speculation had turned into certainty. In the midst of everyone's attention being focused on Marika except for Roberta, Oksana frowned and glared at Marika.
"It seems that the young one has not received proper education."
The lord clicked his tongue while looking at Marika.
"Yes, actually, she's a horse I urgently got from Tenop City..."
"Is that so?"
Oksana interrupted as he was about to tell the story.
"You got her from Tenop City?"
"The one I was originally riding had a problem. I managed to get one somehow, but as you can see, there's a problem with her personality. Well, I was prepared for it."
Her eyes sparkled.
"Honey, why don't we help Armin-nim? You could give him one of our horses."
She suggested to the lord that he give him a horse.
"No. It's okay."
However, Ulrich waved his hand and refused.
"I don't want to burden the lord for no reason."
"Still... isn't the horse too wild?"
"As you just saw, it's not a big problem. Fritz should gain experience by driving this kind of horse."
But the lord cut her off as she was about to continue speaking.
"He said it's okay."
The lord looked at Oksana with a stern expression. He could no longer tolerate her interrupting both Ulrich and himself several times and acting in a manner close to coercion.
Oksana lowered her head without saying a word. She bit her lip as if she was resentful. She looked anxious. That's right. Before their visit, she must have been certain that it was over.
If things had gone according to plan, Marika should have been slaughtered. But suddenly she reappeared? What's more, in front of Lord Matthias, who should never find out.
From Oksana's point of view, Roberta thought that the current situation would be the last chance in the face of disaster.
It would seem that Matthias and Armin's group had no idea about Marika's identity. That's why she was going to give them another horse and then take Marika back and dispose of her, but she had missed the opportunity right in front of her eyes.
If Armin's group were to leave like this, it would only be a matter of time before her deeds were exposed. There were plenty of people familiar with mana, like Priests or wizards. The moment someone saw Marika, they would feel the problem, just like Roberta had discovered Marika.
"You're only staying for one day?"
Lord Matthias asked.
"Meyer is right in front of us. I'm planning to leave right away tomorrow morning."
Oksana trembled as she heard the words that they would leave tomorrow, and she watched the group entering the castle following the lord. Among them, she looked at the young horse Fritz was riding, Marika, with fierce eyes.