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Chapter 541.2: Inseparable Relationship (2)

…

On the Sia Continent, New Year’s Day marked the middle of winter.

Nights were the longest at this time of the year. It was normal to wake to a dark sky, and sunset occurred much earlier than usual. It was only late afternoon, but a candle had already been lit in the study room of the Ascarts’ manor.

Thus far, Roel had already done as much as he could to prepare for the upcoming crisis, so he decided to turn his attention back toward raising his own strength.

He had already reached his bottleneck as an Origin Level 3 transcendent during his battle with Flooding Death. If he could make a breakthrough to Origin Level 2, he would be in a much safer position. But the stronger a transcendent was, the more troublesome it was to make a breakthrough.

Roel wasn’t so naive as to think that he could advance to Origin Level 2 just by reading books at home. All it could do was reinforce his mana—though it did have the added effect of calming his mind too. That was something he direly needed right now.

It was no longer just the inexplicable unease that was torturing him, but the heartache from having squandered a huge fortune too. He had spent the day walking around Ascart City with Alicia, browsing through all available defensive mechanisms at his disposal and forking out exorbitant sums to activate them.

As one would have expected from an established military powerhouse, the Ascart Fiefdom had a substantial stockpile of defensive equipment. The ancestors of the Ascart House had been exceedingly diligent when it came to the construction of defensive infrastructure, and they were highly meticulous about maintaining and upgrading them too.

The Ascart House’s current defensive capability, after activating all of its defensive mechanisms, was comparable to the sturdiest fortress on the eastern border.

Employing so many defensive measures when there wasn’t even an enemy in sight was a sheer extravagance. Many officials and commanders couldn’t understand why Roel was doing this. Even so, in view of the spectacular foresight Roel had demonstrated time and time again, there was not a single person who opposed his actions.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Roel was the one who earned the Ascart Fiefdom’s money, so it seemed only right for him to be able to spend it. Besides, there was no need for them to try to dissuade him when he was the one most conflicted about it.

Roel nearly blacked out when he saw the consolidated expenditure sheet reflecting an expense exceeding 200,000 gold coins. It was a relief that Alicia quickly stepped forward to support him, or else he might have been out cold now.

That huge sum of money could have easily covered a year of expenses for a smaller country, but he had actually spent it all within a single day. While the subsequent cost of maintaining the magic tools would be much lower, it would still pose a significant burden to the Ascart Fiefdom.

A question naturally arose in his mind: Will my fiefdom go bankrupt?

It was commonplace for fiefdoms to go bankrupt from war. Someone who was as sensitive to money as Roel wouldn’t possibly overlook that issue.

“How long can we sustain this rate of resource depletion?”

“Lord Roel, based on our estimates, we should be able to sustain it for around half a month. Anything exceeding that would be beyond the fiefdom’s financial ability to bear,” the finance official replied with a pained look.

“…I understand,” Roel replied with a nod, holding back the urge he had to burst into tears.

For the time being, he decided to operate the defensive magic tools for three days. Artasia should have returned by then, and the reinforcements from Rosa and the Holy Capital would arrive shortly after that. With that, he could put an end to this money-burning operation.

Roel sighed under his breath, lamenting how exhausting of a break it had been for him. He felt terribly indignant about how disaster kept hurtling in his direction when he hadn’t done anything at all.

All of a sudden, Alicia knocked on the door and walked in.

“…Lord Brother, are you still browsing through historical records?”

“Mmhm. Is anything the matter?” Roel asked.

Alicia’s arrival came as a surprise to him.

While she often randomly popped by his study room to work or rest beside him, she was tactful enough to refrain from disturbing him while he was at work or advancing his strength. Her usual beaming smile had been replaced by a frown that suggested that she had encountered a tough problem.

Roel patiently waited for her to raise her problem, but there was no follow-up. Alicia seemed to be deep in her thoughts. Unable to stand the suspense, he took the initiative to ask.

“Alicia, did something happen? You look like you have something on your mind.”

“…Lord Brother, I also feel like something is amiss.”

“Hm?”

Roel’s eyebrows shot up. He put his book down and looked at Alicia with a serious expression. She was a high transcendent too, not to mention that she possessed the powerful Silverash Child Bloodline. It wouldn’t be out of place for her to have sensed something too.

But if that’s truly the case, why is Alicia’s intuition only sending her a warning now? Could it be due to a gap in our strength? Or is she sensing something different from mine?

Roel worriedly beckoned Alicia over, and the latter slowly walked over to the study table.

“Alicia, are you feeling uneasy like me?”

“That’s not it, Lord Brother… I don’t know how to put it, but I feel like my power is being influenced by something.”

“Your power is being influenced by something.”

Roel frowned. He was struggling to grasp what Alicia was trying to express.

Alicia has a Bloodline Origin Attribute, so there’s no entity above who can influence her. She also boasts a strong immunity against spells as a high transcendent. Theoretically speaking, it is improbable for her powers to be limited in a safe zone like the Ascart manor…

Wait a moment.

A possibility suddenly occurred to Roel. He shot to his feet and rushed to the window to look at the sky above. Alicia followed him over and did the same, only to widen her eyes in shock.

It was moments after the onset of evening, and it should have taken at least an hour more for the dim sky to completely darken. Yet, the sky was already completely black, as if someone had smeared it with ink.

But the most shocking thing about this situation was the disappearance of the moon. That was also the reason Alicia was feeling unwell.

“Lord Brother, that is…!”

“Looks like this is the cause of your hindered powers.”

Roel’s face slowly darkened. He put on the glasses Alicia had previously given him and saw that the sky was covered in a purple hue—a sign that indicated that it was concentrated with mana.

He had been paying attention to the sky ever since the Spiritsense Hatchling sustained injuries during its scouting. Out of concern, he even overcame his miserliness to activate the fortress magic tool. Who could have thought that the worst-case scenario would be realized so quickly?

He didn’t know what the phenomenon in the sky represented, but he knew for sure that it didn’t bode well. He frowned, knowing that they were in a disastrous situation.

Typically speaking, there were only two possibilities behind such a severe distortion of nature.

The first possibility was large-scale army spells. When multiple magician orders simultaneously channeled their spells and bombarded the battlefield with their spells, there was bound to be a spike in the surrounding mana, and the aftermath was widespread devastation.

Had that been the case, Roel would have been nervous but not unnerved. It was a pity that it clearly wasn’t the case.

The Ascart Fiefdom was so tightly guarded that even its forests had demonic beasts prowling around to rat out enemy soldiers. It was downright impossible for the enemy to sneak an entire magician order inside. That left only the second possibility: it was the doing of an individual.

It could have been a bloodline ability, a powerful spell catalyzed by a potent magic tool, or a convoluted ritual that promised disaster when its extreme conditions were met. The effects of the spell were completely unknown at this point, making it much harder to deal with.

Roel glowered at the pitch-black sky as he considered strategies against the enemy. On the other hand, Alicia clutched her chest as doubt seeped into her eyes.

There was no doubt that the phenomenon in the sky was affecting her power, but her instincts told her that there was more to the situation than just that. It was understandable if the disappearance of the moon had weakened her, but in truth, her strength was fluctuating instead. The occasional rise in her strength didn’t make sense at all.

Alicia was perplexed, but she decided not to burden Roel with this piece of information after seeing the grim look on his face. Her occasional rise in power was beneficial to the situation anyway; she would just have to investigate the matter in the future.

She looked at the sky and focused her attention on sensing the disappeared moon.

Meanwhile, in the sky above the Ascart Fiefdom, a sinister black silhouette flashed across the clouds, bringing boundless darkness with it toward where Roel stood.