The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (49)

What do you mean by acceleration?

Could I really be infected with the Mana Plague?

Now? Here?

But reality did not give me the leisure to ask questions.

Right arm.

Death came there.

“Ugggggh……!”

A pain as if the arm were burning and rotting swept over me.

The pain was so unreal and intense that I almost forgot it was pain.

It was my arm that hurt.

Lightning flashed in my head.

I managed to lower my eyes.

And with bleary eyes I looked down at my right arm.

The arm was crystallizing.

The crystallized parts that had already been infected spread across the entire right arm.

The crystallization symptom spread to the palm in an instant.

The crystallized hand and the Spring Sword it gripped were wrapped in Mana crystal and fused together.

‘Am I going to die?’

The pain left me no room to imagine the future.

My vision turned ashen like an old TV after the broadcast ended.

Is my broadcast ending here too?

Consciousness seeped into darkness.

The well of mana swallowed Izack’s body.

The temperature of the liquefied mana, neither cold nor hot, and the liquid’s soft resistance embraced him.

Izack* squeezed his eyes shut.*

‘Wait, Alejandro. Even if I die, I’ll save your son. At least I’ll bring his remains to you.’

As he made that resolve, Izack opened his eyes.

Shane is dangerous.

That brat is a swamp.

He drags those around him into hell.

If that were all, one could simply avoid him.

His most serious trait is that he leads the way into hell himself.

To truly save his people from hell.

That makes it so no one can call him out or refuse to follow him.

That’s why he’s truly dangerous.

This territory is precarious.

Without someone like him, it would truly collapse.

We have no option but to follow him.

‘Still… I wanted to keep Ronari away from that brat.’

If she followed Shane, she’d surely get hurt.

To Izack, Ronari is more important than his life.

Thus Izack tried to abandon Shane… but in the end he met Shane in the middle of the battlefield.

Shane fought the Dungeon’s monsters himself.
With mysterious magic.

Magic that instantly killed things like manticores or trolls.

Izack* had seen that magic before.*

It was the magic of Alejandro’s wife, Beatrice.

He didn’t know when or where the brat had learned such magic.

But there can’t be no cost to such magic.

Beatrice died young.

Perhaps that magic was the cause.

And now that son is about to shoulder the same danger.

After realizing that…

His heart weakened.

If even Shane dies, Alejandro will lose both his son and his wife.

Izack* had also lost his wife, and Alejandro had lost his wife.*

Neither had yet lost a child, but if Shane dies…

How could Izack face Alejandro then.

‘I’ve lived blaming that boy even for my wife’s death.’

Moreover, Shane intended to bear everything alone.

He disappeared alone into the dungeon’s well to solve the mystery.

He got everyone out.

How could one look away from such a sacrifice?

The thought that he’s dangerous remained unchanged.

But Izack and everyone in this territory were indebted to Shane.

A debt that could only be repaid with life.

Someone had to repay that debt.

It isn’t right that even Shane’s body couldn’t return to his family.

With that thought, Izack plunged into the well.

He had resigned himself to death.

‘But… this is…’

It was entrusting his body to pure mana.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if his body turned into Mana crystal at once.

But Izack was alive.

He was alive beneath the pool of mana.

Everything that wasn’t visible above the surface was now clear.

He could even breathe.

Izack* went down beneath the well.*

The scene that unfolded there was even more unbelievable.

A sea of mana.

Veins of mana flowing along the depths’ bed and the earth’s blood vessels.

It was enough to make him think all of this might be an illusion.

When Izack Arenta threw himself into the well he had already died, and this might be a vision of the afterlife shown by God.

The sight was that mystical.

But there was no time to stupidly gawk.

He soon found Shane.

Izack* approached Shane.*

Shane’s pulse was still beating.

He just seemed unconscious.

‘But his arm…’

Shane’s right arm below the elbow had completely crystallized.

A strange form of magic circle was engraved on that arm.

Izack* intuited.*

As expected, that magic was the product of sacrifice.

Shane truly didn’t spare his life to protect everyone.

‘But what’s this sword?’

Izack* looked down at the mysterious sword Shane held.*

He tried to remove it from Shane’s hand, but couldn’t.

The hilt stuck to Shane’s crystallized hand and would not come off.

“Damn…!”

Izack* decided to leave it as it was.*

He needed to save Shane quickly.

Both were alive now, but this was the middle of liquefied mana.

It wouldn’t be strange to contract the Mana Plague at any moment.

Izack* hugged Shane and headed upward.*

Then Shane mumbled like in a sleep-talking voice.

“…Save your people. Lee Jungwoo.“

Lee Jungwoo.

What does that mean?
Is it a person’s name?

He couldn’t tell.

One thing was clear: even in his dreams, Shane didn’t care about his own life.

Izack* felt like a sinner.*

He had tried to give up on Shane.

How.
How could he do this to such a guy.

“…I’m sorry.“

Izack* spoke as if to himself.*

Then he looked up again.

“Let’s get out.”

The vast sea of mana receded little by little beneath their feet.

“….“

Ronari sat slumped before the well, her limbs hanging lifelessly.

Immediately after Izack fell into the water, a few bubbles rose, and that was the last news from below the surface.

Several minutes had already passed.

Is he still alive?

He must be.
He has to be.

But it’s not likely.

Ronari’s reason gnawed at her like a worm.

The more she thought rationally, the more her emotions tore at her.

She didn’t want to think anymore.

About anything.
Not despair, not hope, nothing.

“….“

I want to fall into that well.

As she thought that,

-splash,

“?“

- whooshhh!

Suddenly an arm emerged from below the surface.

Ronari nearly fell backward in surprise.

But soon her face brightened.

It was Izack’s arm.

“Dad!”

Izack*’s arm grabbed the rope and pulled.*

Soon his face rose above the surface.

“Guh…”

He vomited violently.

Liquefied mana poured from his mouth.

It was an enormous amount.

He expelled all the liquefied mana that had filled both his lungs.

“Cough. Cough.”

He coughed painfully.

“Dad…!”

“…Lend me a hand.“

Ronari hurriedly crawled toward Izack.

She grabbed his clothes and pulled.

“Izack!“

Alejandro and Avenger rushed over and pulled him up.

Shane was cradled in Izack’s arms as he was hauled up.

With the three of them’ strength, Izack and Shane were pulled out of the well.

Ronari held Izack and asked.

“Dad, are you okay? You’re not infected, right? Is the young master alive?!”

Izack* nodded his weary head.*

“He’s alive.”

No sooner had he said that than Shane began to retch.

Alejandro lifted and embraced his son.

Shane, held in his father’s arms, vomited all the mana out.

“He’s alive.”

Alejandro repeated the sentence as if caressing it.

“…Alive, he is.“

Only when he said those words again did their meaning become reality.

A father who had his son back.

A single tear crossed his cheek.

“Thank goodness.”

Avenger* sank down on the spot.*

His gaze finally stayed on the reunited father and son.

The young Steward of Denabi Castle smiled as he looked at them.

Avenger* thought as he watched them.*

If a commemoration were to be created to remember this, the day would be today, not yesterday.

Because today Denabi finally got Shane Astrier back.

“A familiar ceiling.”

My mouth muttered on its own.

My head was dazed.

My brain still seemed unable to forget the aching memory.

Not some dark past stuff.
The memory that had really hurt like hell.

I pulled my right arm out from under the blanket.

And raised the arm.

Sunlight streaming through the window passed through the arm.

“Wow. It’s pretty.”

Light scattered through the translucent blue crystal, leaving a beautiful spectrum of shimmer.

As expected, my right arm had completely become a Mana crystal.

It had sensation and moved well.

But in any case, it wasn’t muscle and skin.

It was hard Mana crystal.

I looked at my right hand.

When did they take the sword that was attached?

Anyway, it stopped here just fine.

Should I be grateful I’m not dead?

“Ugh.”

I tried to get out of bed.

-creak

Just then the door opened.

Beyond the door appeared Avenger.

He blinked when he saw me awake.

I flapped my right arm.

“Long time.”

Avenger*’s stiff face slowly softened.*

His face filled with a gentle smile.

“Young master. You’re awake.”

He did not act flustered.

He simply approached and put down the towel he had brought.

I asked him.

“Is everyone safe?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, young master.”

“How long have I been lying here?”

“About three days.”

Hmm. That’s quite a while.

“Sit up. Was anything of note happening while you were resting?”

He bowed his head.

Then he pulled a chair and sat by my side.

“There wasn’t anything major, but there are a few budgets I executed on my own while you rested. Now that you’ve returned, I should hand the financial advisor duties back to you. So first I wanted to say…”

I cut off his words as they were getting long.

“Never mind. Avenger, you continue as financial advisor. You must be busy with Steward duties as well.”

“But, young master…”

I half sat up.

And silently hugged Avenger.

He stiffened.

But soon his two arms wrapped around me.

His warmth was conveyed through my mana crystal arm.

“…Young master.“

“Ah. Now it feels more real that I’m alive.”

“Yes. The young master is alive. It’s something to be grateful for.”

“And we succeeded in saving Denabi, too.”

“That’s right.”

I let him go.

Then suddenly a bell sounded.

- dong dong dong dong dong dong

It was the bell from Denabi Castle’s belfry.

Six times.

A signal announcing the return of the deployed troops.

Avenger* turned his gaze out the window.*

“It seems they’re returning.”

“Who?”

Until then I had forgotten.

Avenger* said.*

“The first young master.”

At last he had come.

The original work’s protagonist, Shane’s eldest brother,

Jin Astrier.