Chapter 19 - The Heir
In the snow-covered mountains, the boy put his nose to a long root of grass and inhaled.
"Hmm… if I eat this, my lifespan will increase?"
"Yes, Poison King."
It didn't look special, but its scent was strong and unique.
The old man approached the boy, holding a few more harvested roots.
"That's why it's called the Immortal Grass. What you're holding now is exactly full-grown size."
"When I ruled the North, there was nothing like this. Was it always here, and I just didn't know?"
"No. It was discovered after you, the Poison King, became the Life and Death Poison and permeated the ley lines. At first, we considered it your blessing… but now, it has become a curse to the Poison King family."
"Is that so."
Crunch.
The boy slowly began to chew the Immortal Grass.
"…It's bitter. But fragrant. It lies on the boundary between poisonous and medicinal herbs. It promotes physical regeneration… It's peculiar. It's subtle, but I can feel the flow of the ley lines."
"Ley lines, you say?"
"This contains a bit of ley line power. Indeed. If I eat this, my lifespan might truly increase."
The boy chewed and swallowed all the remaining roots.
Then he tilted his head from side to side, contemplating.
"But… I'm not sure. It's not certain enough to conclude."
"What do you mean?"
"The power of the ley lines is not something you absorb directly into your body. It's merely borrowed. Eating too much might even have side effects."
"My apologies, Poison King. The effects of the Immortal Grass have been sufficiently proven over the past 250 years."
"Proven?"
"One full-grown root of Immortal Grass adds one year to one's lifespan. There are slight differences depending on the person's constitution."
"One year, huh. So, if I eat ten roots, I live ten years longer? It won't grant immortality just by eating it endlessly, will it?"
"There was someone who ate a hundred roots of Immortal Grass. That person died at 140 years old. We believe that is the limit of human lifespan."
"140 years old, huh."
The boy looked interested.
The old man humbly offered a new Immortal Grass.
"Isn't eighty considered a long life? That person effectively extended their lifespan by 60 years by eating the Immortal Grass."
"They experimented directly on their body, then. Who did such a daring thing? The previous Poison King?"
"The First Sword King."
"What?"
The boy's eyes widened as he asked again.
"The First Sword King? Dion Blackluna? That horrific man ate 100 roots of this and lived to be 140 years old before dying?"
"Yes. Very few know the truth, but it is fact."
"That's ridiculous."
The boy shook his head, looking at the new Immortal Grass he received.
"To think that man lived and died like that. But didn't you say this grass only grows naturally in the North? Did the enemy perhaps seize the territory?"
"No. That's why I told you the Immortal Grass was the direct cause of our downfall."
"The downfall of the Poison King family."
"Yes."
"Did you trade with the enemy?"
"Yes, Poison King. Those who succeeded you were Poison Kings only in name, but secretly, they conspired with the enemies to line their own pockets."
"What did they receive in return?"
"They received everything. Gold, silver, jewels, various luxuries, and all the goods they produced were brought into this land. The villages around the Taeseol Mountain Range are already so tainted by the enemy that it's hard to distinguish whether they belong to the Sword King or the Poison King."
Silence followed.
The boy showed no particular reaction to the Sword King family's corruption.
Instead, he crushed the Immortal Grass in his hand and muttered something.
"Is this also intentional… Humans truly can't escape their desires."
Then he plunged his juice-stained hand into the ground.
The old man watched the boy's actions, hesitating for a long time.
"Uh, um… Poison King?"
"Just a moment, it's done now."
The boy pulled his hand from the ground and nodded.
"Right. So that's how it was. There was a reason I came straight here after escaping the Taeseol Mountain Range."
"What revelation did you gain, Poison King?"
"Nothing much. Is this the only place in the Poison King Cult's territory where the Immortal Grass grows naturally?"
"Not necessarily. But most of it is harvested in this mountain."
The old man raised his head.
They were already in the mountains, but even higher peaks loomed before them.
"Eternal Mountain. I only heard its name during my lifetime."
"This is the base of the Poison King Cult. The largest village of the Poison King Cult is located on the east side of the mountain."
"The fact that they specifically chose this mountain as their base means the Poison King Cult also sustains its life through the Immortal Grass, doesn't it?"
"That's right."
"Self-sufficiency would be difficult, wouldn't it? All the large cities are around the Taeseol Mountain Range. It seems they couldn't completely cut ties with them."
"That's not… entirely true. My apologies, Poison King."
The old man prostrated himself before the boy.
"We are no different from them. I cannot contain my sorrow."
"In that case…"
The boy thought for a moment, then asked, "Does that mean the Poison King Cult also trades with the enemy?"
"That's right. Not large-scale trades like theirs, but in exchange for Immortal Grass, we receive some daily necessities, as well as people and information."
"People and information?"
"The most lacking thing in the North is people. Conversely, the South is overflowing with people. We secretly take in orphans and criminals. We also directly receive information from some families of the Sword King house, and conversely, we infiltrate spies among them to extract information."
"You operate spies with the money earned from Immortal Grass?"
"That's right. But we never harbored other intentions."
The old man bowed his head to the ground and pleaded.
"Trade is merely a necessary evil. The goal of the Cult is consistent with your goal."
"The ruin of the Sword King family."
"That's right. However, we have sinned, so we ask for punishment. Please take this wretched life and forgive the sins of the other cult members."
"Nonsense. Get up."
The boy shook his head and offered the half-eaten Immortal Grass.
"How could I punish you? Even I am currently borrowing the strength of those Sword King bastards."
"Poison King…"
"To fight the enemy, you must know the enemy. Information gathering is important now as it was then, isn't it? You're doing well enough."
The boy smiled.
The old man, moved, bowed his head again.
***
"Aura neutralizes toxins and greatly enhances physical abilities. However, the stronger the aura, the greater the risk of losing control."
The homeroom teacher, Totten, emphasized, tapping the blackboard.
"The moment you lose control like this, you enter a berserk state called Trance, where you fight uncontrollably according to the flow of the ley lines, regardless of your own will."
So they say.
It wouldn't apply to me in a million years, though.
"This state is called Trance. If you fall deep into Trance, you attack indiscriminately, regardless of friend or foe, so it's very dangerous."
"…There are advantages, too. If you can maintain a shallow stage of Trance, you can stably maintain high skill levels…"
"…If a warrior who wields Sword Qi falls into a Trance state, they can complete Sword Force, also known as Sword Qi Manifestation."
"Of course, I'm a swordsmanship instructor. Skills related to aura, like Sword Qi, must be learned separately from an aura instructor…"
"…Anyway, many people misunderstand. Sword Qi is not a visible, complete blade. It's just a transparent energy similar to aura. Only after reaching 6-star aura can one finally create the widely spread image of a blade."
"…Simply put, if Sword Qi is dew or mist, Sword Force is like ice formed when that dew or mist freezes and takes shape. Hmm, of course, the students here probably already know all this…"
Of course, it was all information I already knew.
The lectures Professor Totten was giving were things I had already mastered before I turned ten.
Of course, theory is just theory; to me, aura was a realm of abstraction, not reality.
But some people are more intensely interested in worlds they can't reach.
I was exactly like that.
Listening to the professor's lecture was similar to enjoying fantasy literature that doesn't exist in reality.
Do I already know all this?
It doesn't matter.
Really interesting stories are interesting even when heard multiple times.
However, I seem to be the only one in the classroom with such a hobby.
Three days have passed since the semester began, but the class atmosphere was as serious as ever.
A female student of Eastern Continent style staring blankly out the window throughout the lecture.
A strange kid muttering something while hugging an unidentified green doll.
A bothersome kid who has been constantly glancing and glaring at me with strange eyes since the first class on the first day.
A male student adorned with flashy decorations and various accessories, constantly sweeping back his long hair—longer than most female students'—and looking into a hand mirror every minute.
Even the enemy spy, yawning as if bored, acting like an ordinary student, but emanating a strong poison scent from deep within their body.
In a word, it's a mess.
Of course, whether they hug mirrors or stare at dolls, it doesn't matter to me.
I'm only bothered by that Poison King's spy sitting in the front row.
To think there's another enemy spy in the same class.
It's unpleasant.
On the other hand, I'm very excited.
Spies must be eliminated.
How can I create time alone with them without others noticing?
Speaking of which, I also need to quickly catch the other spies committing murders around the Digi Orphanage…
Wait.
What if those two are the same person?
I plan to go out tonight again. If things go well, the number of Class B students attending tomorrow might drop from 17 to 16.
"Ah, but there's no need to worry too much. The risk of falling into Trance only appears after reaching 3-star Aura. There aren't many students like that in our class, right? Haha…"
He seemed to have made a joke, but no students responded.
I should have responded, but the timing was off.
"Ahem, but there are exceptions. Although very rare, there are records of 2-star or even 1-star Aura users falling into Trance. Everyone should keep this in mind and be vigilant beforehand."
Trance, huh.
I wish I could experience it just once.
Come to think of it, the person with the strongest Aura in Class B is sitting right to my left.
The seat by the window.
The female student who just sleeps or stares outside all day.
That student is also suspicious.
She looks exactly like someone from the Eastern Continent.
Black eyes, black hair, flawless skin, and slightly narrow, long eyes.
Her appearance isn't unusual.
Swordsmanship itself is a technique passed down from groups who crossed over from the Eastern Continent a long time ago.
Thanks to this, many foreign Eastern Continent words are mixed in with swordsmanship terms.
Hundreds of years ago, a massive upheaval occurred in the Eastern Continent, causing countries to split apart.
During that process, countless Eastern Continent people fled the disaster and crossed over to the Western Continent, establishing new homes.
So, it's not strange.
However, that student somehow feels like a spy.
She doesn't emit a poison scent.
But it feels like she's hiding something.
Perhaps she's hidden a special poison in her body that even I can't detect.
Of course, if you think about it that way, everyone in the classroom is a potential spy.
"…"
I sighed silently.
Anyway, the class atmosphere is the worst.
No one shows any enthusiasm for the lecture.
This is Class B, not Class C, so is this atmosphere acceptable?
Thanks to this, Professor Totten's eyes and mine, who have good class attitudes, keep meeting.
At some point, he even started lecturing only to me.
"…That concludes the lecture. Ray Granvelle?"
When the lecture ended, Professor Totten called my name.
"Your turn for student counseling is next. You know the office, right? Stop by before school ends."
"Yes, Professor."
I got up from my seat.
At the same time, the student sitting two seats over, diagonally in front of me, glared at me with murderous eyes.
Brown hair, brown eyes.
Ordinary build.
His name is Giel something.
Since he's in Class B, he's probably from one of the Ten Minor Noble Families .
He's been like that since the first day.
Why is he like that?
Did I do something wrong?
Does he have a grudge against the Granvelle family, perhaps?
***
"Haha… Yes. Even I think the Class B atmosphere this year is a bit… off."
Professor Totten ran a hand through his hair, smiling awkwardly.
"Class B is where students who couldn't get into Class A gather. Many are intimidated from the start. You could say it's an atmosphere of self-disappointment and despair."
His tone was more relaxed than during the lecture.
Was he always like this in private?
Or was it because I was the one he was talking to?
"Of course, even considering that, it's a bit severe this year. And more than anything…"
The professor sighed and flipped through the student chart in his hand.
"I didn't expect three absences from the start. First, we need to quickly find this missing student named Eric."
Thump.
"Did you see anything? You were in the same dorm, right?"
"…I don't know. When I first arrived, the dorm was empty."
It was a question I expected, so I could answer easily.
However, the fact that Professor Totten was the first to ask this question was unexpected.
Isn't this a bit strange?
By now, someone should have visited the dorm for an on-site investigation or something.
But since that day, the only person who visited the dorm was my newly made friend, Phil.
Why is no one interested except the homeroom teacher?
Of course, for someone who committed the act, it's fortunate that it's being overlooked…
"Phew, right. You said you hadn't been in the dorm long, either, right?"
"Yes. I arrived three days before the semester started."
"The newly built dorm in the mountains, you mean. Speaking of which, this student Eric is from the Newton family. And he's an adopted son."
"It's common for the Sword King families to adopt children."
"It's common, yes. But his original surname before adoption isn't listed in the documents. At first, I thought they were being discreet because he was from an orphanage… but the Newton family hasn't responded. It's been days since I sent an urgent report."