Chapter 42
‘I feel drowsy, like I’m swimming through the air. I want to move, but… I feel so tired.’
It felt as if he was looking down from outside his body, like a ghost.
‘…A dream?’
As soon as he realized he was in a dream, the landscape exploded into crimson flames. Joshua recognized this place from his past and his present.
‘The Agnus Duchy…!’ Duke Agnus’s grand palace, rivaling the splendor of the Imperial Palace, was ablaze. One figure, sword in hand, stood with his back to the smoldering castle.
‘Aden von Agnus?’ No… it was not him. The man wielded Duke Aden’s signature ink-black greatsword, but that face…
‘Babel von Agnus.’ His son. According to the future in his first life, Babel would be the next Duke Agnus. However, he wasn’t the prepubescent boy Joshua knew now, but a fully grown man.
‘Is this what the Duchy looked like when it was destroyed? It should have happened in ten years, so why…?’ The razing of the Agnus Duchy shouldn’t happen for a long time; moreover, Joshua had not seen it happen, so there was no logical way for him to have any memories of it, much less such vivid ones. He only heard it long after he’d abandoned the Duchy and taken up mercenary work.
‘But what does this dream mean, then? Is it an oracle?’
Though he had not seen it, it was a future that would happen. Making an educated guess, Joshua felt that it had something to do with the new power he had recently obtained—this dream had a very high chance of being related to that item.
Babel von Agnus staggered forward. His body dripped with crimson blood, but he never slowed down. He indeed carried the aura and disposition of the Agnus bloodline.
Two people stood in opposition. Though the clamor of battle filled the manor, the three seemed to stand in a bubble of calm.
‘That woman… I’m sure I’ve seen her before…’
Their voices were inaudible as if under the effects of the spell, Silence, but Joshua’s vision seemed to become unnaturally sharp in exchange.
One man and one woman. The man’s face was cloudy and obscured, but the woman’s face was clear. A young woman, in her thirties or so; the brown hair that Igrant continent was known for; a gorgeous body even her robes couldn’t conceal. She wasn’t jaw-droppingly beautiful, but her face would draw a second look.
‘Wait… that’s the girl…’ Surely this was the girl he knew as “Anna”?
‘That’s not the point now. That woman...’?Memories of this woman started to resurface in Joshua’s mind.
“AHH!” Babel howled in a fit of rage. He channeled all his mana into the greatsword and charged at the woman. The woman’s face contorted murderously, and she waved her hand. Her actions were light, but the results were anything but.
A short scream was torn from Babel’s lungs as a gale ripped his battered body to shreds. Silion, a superior wind spirit that took on the form of a translucent lion, revealed its true nature through Babel’s scattered blood.
‘Anna bel Grace.’?Joshua’s skin dimpled with goosebumps. In his first life, he hadn’t known that Anna and Duke Arden actually knew each other, and the current situation had him confused.?‘What the hell is going on with that girl? Why is she here?’
Joshua started to make out the face of the man standing next to Anna. He had to confirm that man’s identity.
Silion’s appearance dredged up memories of a certain someone—Anna’s teacher was that man.
Even in a dream, he drove Joshua to the verge of madness.
‘I can’t see him!’?His blood boiled. He felt so powerless when answers were right in front of him.?‘Damn it!’?
Even if his instincts told him that it was him,?he couldn’t get the confirmation he needed.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Babel reached the limits of his grief and let out a deafening scream. It wouldn’t have been strange if he had bled to death then and there.
The man raised his hand, dissipating the spirits as if they had never been there. He walked past Silion and approached Babel’s kneeling form.
‘I can’t hear anything!’
His face, his voice—nothing. Only his foggy outline indicated there was anyone there at all.
“Do you believe the Agnus name can halt a tide like this?” His voice came through first.
A smirk appeared on Babel’s face as he barely supported himself on his shaky knees. Looking at the man, he let out a sigh before turning away.
Slowly but surely, the man’s face began to clear. Joshua started to focus on the man’s visage. The man raised his hands to the heavens, drawing Silion into a new form.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Amidst Babel’s anguished screams, the man’s face was finally revealed.
Just as Joshua opened his mouth to cry out, the world erupted into dazzling white light.
***
“Draxia bel Grace…!”
Joshua inhaled sharply and blinked his eyes open. The first thing that greeted him was the magnificent chandelier; gradually, his surroundings became clear.
“This place…” Joshua scowled as he looked around.
Intense aches wracked his body. Joshua sighed as he recollected what had happened just before he passed out.
‘My body still struggles with it?’
He had progressed well beyond the first stage of his spear arts, but he had also acquired new abilities he hadn’t had in his past life. Being unable to absorb those powers on his own placed far too many constraints on him.
‘However, it lends me significant strength.’ The second stage of the magic spear arts was roughly equivalent to the highest levels of the C Class. Even better, in terms of monster fighting, it could contend with an entry-level B-Class Knight.
‘Bronto…’?Joshua muttered under his breath at the thought of the new power that he had acquired: the primordial stone with the attribute of thunder. It was indeed one of the five primordial stones that were well-known in his first life. Contrary to the great power within, Bronto was relatively small in size. It constantly shot bolts of lightning in all directions.
‘I swallowed it whole, so it might have burned my stomach…’
Joshua couldn’t help but giggle at how ridiculous that sounded.
‘Bronto’s strength… Is it truly all about simply gaining an attribute?’ In his last life, the great tower’s mages had not managed to glance into the true nature of the primordial stones even after nearly a century of study.
‘No. Perhaps, they just didn’t tell the world…’
But if that dream was actually a new property of Bronto…
'Is it just a fragmentary premonition of the future?'
In his memories, the event of the annihilation of the Agnus Duchy had certainly happened. As such, he felt that he ought to investigate the powers of Bronto further. That kind of ability went beyond personal power.
‘I should find out a little more about the other primordial stones too,’ thought Joshua.
Having settled his thoughts, Joshua gingerly raised himself up. The pain was tolerable but still present.
Then he saw the Duke standing at the window, silhouetted by the pale moonlight.
“Your Grace?” Joshua called out in surprise.
“Aren’t you intrigued?” Duke Agnus slowly turned around.
“Yes?”
‘What kind of question is that? Where’s the context?’?Joshua thought as he stared blankly at Duke Agnus.
“Only a few hours ago, the light of the blood moon seemed to devour the entire world. Yet, now it bathes it in such cold, serene moonlight.”
“Ah…” Joshua let out a sigh as he instantly understood what Duke Agnus meant. His gaze followed Duke Agnus’s gaze out the window. The cool, clear light shone down on them.
After a brief moment of silence, Duke Agnus started speaking again.
“You will depart for Arcadia as soon as you return. As I stated, you will no longer be Joshua von Agnus. You will be the only son of the troubled Viscount Frederick, a fallen nobleman trying to resurrect his shattered family. That will be your new identity.”
“I understand.” Joshua nodded firmly. He agreed with the plan—no good could come from attracting attention while he regained his strength.
“And—” Duke Agnus’s aura clamped down on his body. “I don’t know if you were sleep talking or not, but you mentioned quite an amusing name.”
Duke Agnus’s eyes glittered brighter than the icy moonlight.
“Draxia bel Grace. Hmph. How did you come across that cursed name?”
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