7. What do you want to do?

"Yes, explain the situation."

Morrow, who finally stood up, seemed to feel that it was rude to look down at me due to the difference in height.

"My mother is from a very poor village in a remote area of ​​this country. Every day was hard enough to live each day, but when my father and I were born, I was born, and although I had nothing to do with luxury, My mother said, looking back on those days, I was happy in my own way... But around the time I was born, an epidemic struck the village.It was brought from a nearby village with which we had exchanges By the time the people in my mother's village realized the seriousness of the situation, the neighboring villages had already been destroyed. The landlord, who understood the situation, sent a messenger from the country ahead of the others.Although they were pleased that it was a rescue, for a short time they sealed the village.Days passed and the villagers One by one, they dwindled in numbers, but they did nothing more, until our mothers finally realized that the country had abandoned us. It was about a year ago."

"......"

"Yo speak." Unlike me who is listening while thinking, Celia is biting her lower lip. Noticing my gaze, she nodded with a feeble gesture.

"I think it is possible. Since the current king ascended the throne 30 years ago, the corruption in this country has accelerated. Even though they weren't able to deal with it in time for the outside world, they probably didn't have the intention to implement it from the beginning."

"Really"

"That's a sad story." This has been happening for twenty years, and until recently, the public's uprising was often suppressed.

Even so, the royal capital and the royal castle were far away from the frontier villages, who would have been treated particularly badly. It's safe to say that it's a different world for them... Standing up and attacking is an unreasonable request.

"So?"

"When I lost my father, my mother decided to leave the village with me. Those who decided to stay caused a commotion in the middle of the night, and the mothers left the village all at once and fled in different directions. Even though I heard a voice that sounded like I was being held down, my mother ran desperately. She held me half a year old in her arms and crossed fields and mountains overnight. In a minute… I was diagnosed with the disease."

"No way"

A breathtaking voice. Celia listened intently. It's as if you can actually see Morrow's mother fleeing into the night.

Guessing that there was more than just sympathy, Morrow also glanced at Celia with her pitiful eyes, then she quickly returned her gaze to me and continued.

"Of course, a mother doesn't have the skills to fight illness. At least I have to protect my child who was asked by my terminally ill father. I can't fathom what it was, but I know it was a deep despair, and my mother told me that it was so dark that I couldn't see anything under the sun—and Even darker and deeper than that, I came across a pitch-black forest."

"a"

"Is there a connection with me?"

"That's right, I was wondering if you had a certain amount of success like Celia did." Was it a pattern that just happened to flow? I'm very lucky... is it a little different? Carrying a baby in his arms, he travels a considerable distance, and then advances into the Black Forest without hesitation. Her mother's power is amazing, but she was fortunate enough to be able to grasp it because she was able to demonstrate that power.

"It's almost inevitable."

"The rest is just as Idea-sama knows. My mother always remembered the joy of witnessing a miracle, and I heard that Idea-sama treated my mother to a mysterious drink and healed her exhausted body."

"Oh yeah, it's my special herbal tea."

"I didn't seem to recognize that." Mysterious drink, huh? There is certainly no better description than that. I make it and drink it every day, so I don't really know what it is... I just keep drinking it because it's become a habit.

"And where is the mother?"

"My mother...after she left Idea-sama, she fled to another country, where she raised me on her own. She died when I was ten years old. In later years, my mother focused only on her faith in Idea and my growth, but after all, I couldn't get rid of the sadness of losing all my acquaintances and my father, and I was weakened both physically and mentally. If I had been able to help my mother a little earlier... maybe that wouldn't have happened..."

Celia and I just fell silent when Morrow said that with a poignant expression. Hmm, heavy. too heavy. If this is the case, I should have put the magic of Eidos into Morrow's mother instead of just herbal tea.

"But... Morrow, who was seriously on the brink of death and poured his magical power into it without stopping, is a special case. Including the fact that it was rare to succeed in one shot.

The magical power of Eidos is different from the magical power produced by other wizards, so to speak, it is a high-order magical power. It's nothing but poison to humans who don't have resistance to it, and it's even more dangerous to babies. However, it seemed that I could only save him with that drama, so I prepared for failure, but at that time, I was in God, just as Morrow's mother said. The baby's vitality was successfully restored, and only the cause of the disease was expelled from her body.

"If I had failed, the contents of my body would have come out." Or it could have flipped over from the inside, and each cell could have melted and disappeared like dust. Anyway, I knew that it was such a dangerous act. If I did the same thing to Morrow's mother, there's a good chance I'd end up having an orphan... well, I've done something similar a few times. Ardela is the best example of this.

"But how can I say it? Considering your upbringing, you've become very respectable."

"I think so without flattery." He must have had a hard time because he was forced to stand on his own as a child, but he managed to climb up to the rank of a court magician. To me who remembered the hardships, Morrow answered unexpectedly brightly.

"No, I had Eidos magic bestowed on me by Idea-sama!"

"Ah... I see."

"Isn't this feeling like using Eidos magic in various bad ways?" "Otherwise, a child wouldn't be able to live alone." If the fruit of that experience is manifested in the empty royal castle that I confirmed earlier, then I would say that it is possible, but well, that is fine.

"Since I'm not a messenger of justice, it doesn't matter if Morrow is good or bad." My honest impression is that it doesn't matter where someone is saved or if they die, as long as they have nothing to do with it.

"However, let's confirm something."

"Morow. Why did you come back to this country after living in another country, and why are you doing this?"

"that is..."

Morrow was a little hesitant, but he spoke as if he had made up his mind.

"My mother never forgot her respect and gratitude towards Idea-sama until the very end. Her love for me and her words to return the favor to you someday became the final words. However, such a mother However, there was one thing that I couldn't forget until the very end: my resentment towards this country."

"Then your purpose is to settle that grudge, isn't it?"

"Yes. Revenge for the treatment my mother, unknown father, and their companions received. With that in mind, I returned to this country three years ago. At first, I led the people of the royal capital. I was going to cause a rebellion.As Idea-sama knows, my Eidos magic is suitable for that."

"Keep your mouth shut for a moment." I noticed that they were apparently waiting for an affirmation, and I nodded vaguely. Then Morrow opened his mouth again.

"However, the king was more cowardly and cautious than I had expected. He began to strengthen the defense of the royal castle even before the air of rebellion took shape. He began to put more effort into training his soldiers than before, and They tried to increase the number of court wizards who had only one person... On the contrary, I thought this was an opportunity.Since the problem was how to get in touch with the king himself, at first I wanted to take advantage of the chaos caused by the mob. I had a plan.But if the other side will open the gate, there is no need to go through such trouble.If you can become a court magician, you can approach the king with much less risk.Clearly, you will pass the examination and be invited to the royal castle. I'm sure you heard about the rest from your Burndu."

"Actually, I haven't heard much about it." But can you imagine? He manipulated the king first, followed by the rest of the royal family, then the veteran court wizards, and then the soldiers... and so on. There is a process of killing before manipulating, but in the sense of taking away freedom forever, it's like synonymous.

"I've heard what you want to ask. Now then, Celia. What do you want to do with Morrow?"

"eh...?"

Celia blinked her eyes as if she hadn't expected my question at all. It looked like an infant.