Chapter 118: Chapter 118
Chapter 118 - Shadow Circle
That was the clue Lucy had thrown to him.
The Red Circle was something created from emotions.
Therefore, the core circuit was always a single one, and unlike the Blue Circle, it could not be replaced by another method.
However, Ferda was in the rare situation where two emotions interfered with a single mana circuit.
’I’ll redirect... that interference into another Circle.’
After confirming the image forming in his mind, Ferda immediately began.
He focused on the sensation of Shape of Shadow.
"Concentrate everything into the shadow."
Just as the master of transformation who had once dreamed of becoming a butterfly had attained enlightenment.
This flesh had never truly been flesh.
The thing clinging to the ground was, in fact, his real body.
He deceived himself into believing that.
At last, Ferda became a shadow.
"Now... I’ll create the circuit like this."
His shadow body possessed no functioning Circle.
Therefore, he had to proceed using the cultivation method for creating a First Circle.
Ferda summoned a negative emotion.
The moment he regretted the most.
It was not difficult to choose.
It was the moment Valdrova tore out her own heart.
He accepted every detail of that moment through all five senses.
Then he felt something gently brushing against his ears.
Why are you doing something so foolish?
The voice had already seen through his intentions.
I am not trying to harm you. I only want to help you.
Ferda answered the voice.
"No matter what you say, I cannot allow you to do as you please."
Even if the day comes when you fail to protect what you wished to protect?
"Yes."
Then all that will remain is regret once again.
"I don’t care."
Ferda had already made his decision.
Even if he regretted his own lack of strength, he would never again be imprisoned by his past self.
Very well.
But don’t push yourself too far.
If you ever desire power, I will always grant it to you.
Always remember.
—I have always been inside you.
It was the moment the voice seemed to separate itself.
Something black and viscous began surging within his shadow body.
The hand operating the Circle stirred through the shadow body itself, forcing it to flow.
While it flowed, Ferda concentrated and shaped it as though molding clay.
The entire process was no different from walking through a field of thorns.
Drawing out negative emotions without being overwhelmed by them.
At the same time, continuously brainwashing himself so that he would never recognize his real body even once.
The instant he lost focus even once, Ferda would die.
Even while feeling his mind being devoured, he pushed himself all the way to his limits.
’There are people who deserve to be happy because of me.’
That sense of duty alone was enough to keep him going.
A short while later, Ferda felt the violently flowing Circle within his body settle into a stable form.
Ferda opened his eyes.
What he saw was his own shadow stretching long behind him in the light of a candle.
And revolving within it was a Circle of an even deeper and darker color.
’So that’s what she meant.’
When he had not understood its meaning, it had sounded mysterious.
Now that he understood, he realized those words had been perfectly accurate.
Two emotions capable of interference.
Two circuits.
They would never mix according to emotion, but instead move independently.
If this Circle moved, then it represented an emotion that must be guarded against.
If the original Circle moved instead, then it represented an emotion he could safely embrace.
Ferda shrank the shadow body and drew it back toward his real body.
The newly formed Circle came with it.
He placed it beneath the original mana circuit that rested within his Dantian.
Immediately, the two Circles meshed together like gears, supporting each other’s rotation.
’My mana has increased as well.’
With a supporting Circle added to his existing Four-Star Mage Circle, his mana reserves had reached a level approaching that of a Five-Star Mage.
It was a strange phenomenon.
This was not simple arithmetic.
Adding a One-Star Circle to a Four-Star Circle should never produce the mana of a Five-Star Mage.
Normally, one would need at least three additional Circles before approaching that level.
Yet a First Circle was approaching the power of a Third Circle.
’That only means... this emotion is that intense.’
What had been created from Ferda’s regret was an emotion that had once reached the realm of the Ninth Circle—
The realm of a Demigod.
’At the very least, I must not allow this to grow until I reach the Fifth Circle.’
His love would continue to grow.
His regret, however, had to remain suppressed.
At the same time, he had to control it so that it could become his strength while maintaining perfect balance.
It would be anything but an easy path.
Yet deep inside, Ferda felt relieved.
Now he could see it.
Now he could feel it.
That meant he could naturally control it as well.
At the very least, his situation was far better than when everything had been vague and uncertain.
This was a power that belonged to Ferda alone.
He decided to give it a name.
"Shadow Circle."
***
Within the seemingly endless, merciless winter, sunlight filled with warmth poured down upon the earth.
As the ground warmed, tender green sprouts cautiously poked through the soil, offering silent prayers of gratitude to the morning sun.
The followers of Alte also looked upon the fresh greenery and offered brief prayers.
It was their way of giving thanks that the season of hardship had passed and Alte’s blessing had finally arrived.
Spring had come.
The refugees, who had scarcely left the warmth of their stoves, basked in the sunlight for the first time in ages.
The streets were once again filled with life.
Together with Isabella, the administrator, Ferda carried out the quarterly settlement.
"The first phase of the town’s construction has been completed."
The completion of the first phase meant that every building immediately necessary for the town’s operation had been finished.
The second phase would expand the buildings and divide the town into districts.
The third phase would begin large-scale construction such as erecting the city walls.
"Were there any problems?"
"Since there was a reason we planned the work in phases, naturally there were a few setbacks."
They had begun constructing the walls before some of the lower-priority projects.
Such complications were only to be expected.
"When we planned the walls, we estimated how many people would eventually move here and designed them to accommodate ten times the current population, didn’t we?"
"That’s right."
"After reviewing the numbers, we’ve concluded that it’s time to slow the population growth."
Slowing population growth meant they could no longer accept refugees.
"The nobles have begun submitting petitions to the Empire, claiming that we’re stealing away their refugees."
"A claim they can hardly be blamed for making."
Because it was true.
They had accepted nearly every refugee who arrived.
The reason nobles refused to take in refugees was not simply because of winter’s bitter cold.
When spring arrived, every extra pair of hands, no matter how small, became valuable labor.
"Some nobles are also demanding that their refugees be returned."
"Absolutely not."
"I couldn’t agree more."
Ferda was not a philanthropist.
He had gathered penniless people to increase the population because a thriving city required people.
Where people gathered, merchants followed.
And wherever merchants gathered, word naturally spread.
"So, should we simply write back telling them they have no chance?"
"I’m afraid that would be the worst possible move."
Isabella gave her advice calmly.
"The moment they submitted those petitions, it meant their influence had already grown large enough to be called a political force. What we need now is to stop that momentum. Sending a reply would merely create an opening that strengthens it."
"Then assassination would be the answer."
"...Are you serious?"
"I was joking."
Hearing that, Isabella blinked.
She had never expected the word joke to come out of Ferda’s mouth.
Besides, no matter how she looked at him, it hadn’t sounded like a joke at all.
Ferda more or less understood what Isabella meant by momentum.
Having spent much of his life surrounded by resentment, he knew exactly where this sort of public outrage would eventually flow.
’The Empire.’
The Empire would not look favorably upon the Grand Duchess’s territory growing at such an astonishing pace.
It would not simply stand by.
One way or another, it would move to restrain the Grand Duchess’s territory.
Or perhaps it would spread the impression that Ferda was deliberately provoking wars across the continent to create refugees and absorb them into his own lands.
"What do you think we need most right now?"
"Connections, of course. Political problems require political connections."
It was the thing Ferda was second worst at, right after physical labor.
"Don’t we already have Count Consilus?"
"Count Consilus is certainly an outstanding man, but his influence is limited to the Far East."
Just as a village chief was only important within his own village, elsewhere he was merely another outsider.
Consilus himself had often said the same thing.
If Ferda could become acquainted with someone who wielded great influence within the Empire, it would benefit him greatly.
At the time, it had sounded like a distant dream.
He had never imagined he would one day build an entire town in his own front yard.
"If I remember correctly, Your Excellency the Regent has already attended a session of the Grand Ducal Council. Didn’t you become acquainted with anyone there?"
"Someone I became acquainted with..."
Ferda thought back to that day, recalling the people he had met.
A shiny bald head gleamed in his memory like the sun itself.
"Headmaster Escolleia."
"Headmaster Escolleia doesn’t have enough influence to serve as political backing."
If anything, Ferda would have to support him.
"What about the Iorga Magic Tower, our declared ally?"
"It certainly has influence, but as a rule, they do not interfere in human politics. Unless it concerns the Demon Race, they won’t move."
That was only natural.
Human affairs were for humans to resolve.
"We need someone within the Empire. Someone capable of restraining the Empire whenever it tries to interfere with our momentum."
Someone like that.
Where could such a person be?
Just as Ferda was pondering the question—
Luri, the maid who had been cleaning, entered the room.
"A guest has arrived from the Empire."
***
The visitor who had traveled along the Empire’s highways was a knight.
He bore the emblem of the Imperial Household.
Adorned with silver and gold, his appearance proclaimed that no one should dare lay a hand upon him.
However, because Ferda was himself a knight, he immediately understood the knight’s role the moment he noticed the owl feather attached to the helmet.
A courier.
A messenger entrusted with delivering letters written by members of the Imperial bloodline.
It was a position of extremely high rank that could never be taken lightly.
"I greet the Consort of the Great Flame! I am Aren, Knight of the Imperial Household!"
"Welcome to Castle Valdrova. What brings you here?"
"I have come to deliver a letter from the Imperial Household."
The knight took a finely crafted case from inside his cloak.
Within it rested a carefully wrapped letter, exactly as its sender had prepared it.
Had he come to proclaim an imperial decree, it would have been written on luxurious paper wrapped around a golden rod.
This meant it was not the official position of the Arken Empire.
It had been sent by a member of the Imperial Household for personal reasons.
’If they’ve sent a letter like this...’
Perhaps because of his earlier conversation with Isabella, Ferda’s first thought was that this might become the political connection he needed.
He broke the seal and read the letter.
"If it isn’t too personal, may I ask what it says?"
Since Isabella handled most of his troublesome affairs, he answered willingly.
"Someone from the Imperial Household is apparently coming here."
"Immediately? As early as tomorrow?"
"In one week."
Time within the Empire was precious.
Moreover, members of the Imperial Household were considered VVIPs.
From their perspective, even one week’s notice counted as sudden.
Which member of the Imperial bloodline could it be?
Ferda looked at the signature at the bottom of the letter.
His slightly excited mood vanished the moment he saw the very first word.
"So... the letter was sent by an Imperial Princess."
Olivia Arken.
Unlike the Imperial Princes, who possessed succession rights, she could not openly involve herself in politics.
"A beautiful peach with no substance."
Isabella’s assessment was accurate.
Even so, something was better than nothing.
And to a starving Ferda, even an empty peach was something to put in his mouth.
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