CHAPTER 53……………………………………………..
“Something else?”
Tilt.
The place Theodore headed to while leading Lin—who tilted her head and looked up at him—was somewhere familiar to them.
The Grand Mage’s study.
In the space filled with the personal research materials of the Grand Mage—Lin’s mother and Theodore’s older sister—Theodore seated Lin in a chair.
“Wow.”
Lin, who had been staring at her uncle standing in front of her like a teacher during class with curious eyes, suddenly raised her hand high.
“Teacher, I have a question!”
“Yes, little Lin. What are you curious about?”
“What are we learning today? Magic?”
That couldn’t be it.
Draaaawing out her words, Lin tilted her head to the side.
The Uncle Theo she knew wasn’t a battle mage, after all.
“It’s something related to magic.”
“Ooh?”
“We’re going to learn how to use magic tools.”
Oh. At the unexpected lesson topic, Lin’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Seeing Lin show interest in the new lesson, Theodore let out a quiet sigh of relief.
I can’t just send her off to hunt monsters.
That thought felt only natural to Theodore.
How could he send his small, fragile niece into such a dangerous event just like that?
Honestly, I want to stop her from participating altogether.
Sending Lin to a place where safety couldn’t be perfectly guaranteed—
He’d rather go out unarmed himself.
Even though Lin’s special ability had just manifested, Theodore had prepared a plan to exclude her from the monster hunt by citing her age and physical condition.
But Lin wouldn’t want that.
In truth, after the ability manifestation party ended, he’d sent everyone away and talked with Lin alone.
If possible… if Lin had said she didn’t really want to go to the monster hunt, he planned to make that happen.
But Lin’s resolve was firm.
She wanted to proudly participate in the monster hunt she herself had volunteered for.
As Lin’s sole guardian, Theodore didn’t want to crush her wishes.
Even the childcare books he’d been reading whenever he found spare time said that wasn’t a good idea.
Respect the child’s wishes. Respect the child’s wishes… as long as it isn’t dangerous.
Suppressing the urge to persuade Lin once more not to participate, Theodore repeated those words to himself.
“What do you think learning how to use magic tools could be used for?”
“Me! They can be used for making things, and for beating up bad guys! They can be used in lots of ways!”
“That’s right. This time, we’ll focus on how to use them against monsters.”
“Monsters… ah!”
“Yes. Since you said you’re going on a monster hunt. You should learn methods that’ll be useful then.”
“…I’ll do my best!”
Lin said energetically, rolling her eyes briefly as if hiding a secret.
Theodore gazed at her for a moment, then spoke again as if letting it slide.
“First, tell me what you know about monsters.”
“Monsters are bad things that hurt people! And… monsters aren’t alive, and you can’t cut them with normal swords. That’s why you need special powers to defeat them!”
“Excellent. You know that very well.”
Having said everything she’d learned, Lin laughed proudly.
Unable to resist, Theodore ruffled her head affectionately. Her white hair swayed and shimmered with various hues.
“Just as Lin said. To deal with monsters, you need special power—most often, special abilities.”
“Special abilities…”
“However, relying on abilities alone has its limits.”
That was because of the monsters’ peculiar nature.
Though they harmed all living things and moved with what seemed like malicious intent, monsters were not living beings.
Because ordinary physical force didn’t work on them, they had to be attacked using abilities or mana—and even that wasn’t a perfect solution.
No matter how much a monster was cut apart with abilities or crushed so it couldn’t move, it wouldn’t die, because it wasn’t alive.
If not completely removed, even a monster torn into hundreds of pieces would eventually regenerate its amorphous body and begin moving again to harm nearby life.
“You use abilities to render the monster incapable of attacking—unable to harm others. Then, once those incapacitated monsters are gathered in one place, you must go through the final step.”
“The final step?”
“Erasing the monster.”
Monster erasure was something only the Numen family, the ruling house of the Holy Kingdom, could do.
Because they possessed sacred power capable of eliminating monsters, they were called Divine Beasts rather than ordinary beastfolk.
Lin recalled Caligo snorting derisively and saying that was nonsense, and her eyes rolled sideways again.
“Or sealing them.”
“Sealing!”
At the familiar word, Lin’s golden eyes lit up.
Looking into those warm-colored eyes that reminded him of someone, Theodore smiled gently.
“Yes. We use the sealing artifacts your mother—my sister—created.”
Sealing artifacts.
Great magical tools that effectively annihilated monsters by sealing them within barriers—monsters that could only be damaged by abilities and destroyed solely by the Holy King’s family.
Created by the once-in-a-generation genius Grand Mage, Aida Pegasus, these sealing artifacts were the magical tools that elevated House Pegasus to the highest status on the continent.
Previously, monsters had to be rendered immobile and isolated within a certain area while waiting for a high-ranking priest from the Holy Kingdom to arrive and perform a purification ritual.
During that time, people lived in fear, never knowing when the confined monster might crawl out again.
Not only did purification rituals require enormous donations, but the dispatch order of high-ranking priests was decided entirely by the Holy Kingdom.
As a result, regions pushed down the priority list could do nothing but tremble in fear.
That’s why Father hated the Holy Kingdom.
The Mercenary King had lost his wife due to decisions made according to their priorities, and thus came to loathe the Holy Kingdom.
And his daughter went on to create sealing artifacts that could replace purification rituals, stripping the Holy Kingdom of its absolute authority and forcing the entire continent to mind House Pegasus instead.
A magic tool that sealed monsters within a tiny barrier area where their cursed bodies could never reassemble.
After the sealing artifacts were developed, every faction on the continent made every effort to curry favor with House Pegasus.
Instead of the Holy Kingdom’s priority of “preserving more valuable, noble bloodlines,” House Pegasus didn’t care whether the client was an ancient lordly house or a rare beastfolk race.
Just like the Mercenary King accepting contracts in his mercenary days, they handed over sealing artifacts to anyone who brought the clearly stated fee.
The people living within Pegasus territory, now under perfect protection, were ecstatic, and noble houses that had suffered under the Holy Kingdom’s dominance secretly rejoiced as they arrived with sacks of gold coins.
They all said that as long as my sister lived, House Pegasus would never fall from being the richest family on the continent.
A bitter smile crossed Theodore’s lips as he recalled those better days.
From the moment the Grand Mage—her mana core destroyed—closed her eyes in the underground cavern, the unshakable pillar of House Pegasus collapsed.
The sealing artifacts, which only the Grand Mage could create, were thereafter strictly controlled and released only when absolutely necessary.
Though there were enough left to last for over a decade, the finite number of artifacts that could no longer be replenished understandably made the family anxious.
“We’ll be bringing a sealing artifact to this monster hunt as well.”
“Wow! Are we going to trap monsters with the sealing artifact?”
“No. We don’t use sealing artifacts when there are only a few monsters. We bring it because it’s needed for the monster hunt ceremony.”
Of course, it was also in case of emergencies—but they didn’t plan on actually using it.
Because of the symbolic importance sealing artifacts held for House Pegasus, it was simply carried for the ritual that declared the start of the monster hunt.
