LP 1.17 The New Servant

This sensation was something Kosha hadn’t felt in over a decade, making this situation extremely unfamiliar. Explaining the problem as a Mage in human terms was somewhat difficult, but… if he had to make an analogy, it was similar to suddenly growing eight more arms.

The problem was that Kosha couldn’t quite control the movements of his newly grown arms yet.

The returning flow of mana had a cycle, mainly intensifying at night. Even after somehow soothing his body, which felt extremely foreign, and falling asleep, he would wake up startled by the flow of mana stirring his body at will.

Due to the lack of sleep, he couldn’t quite come to his senses during the day and was listless. Still, he tried his best to stay focused when treating Lucian, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow displeasing him more and more.

Even today.

He had gone to treat him right after lunch, during his free time. He was concentrating on squeezing out the remnants of his magic potion clinging to every corner of his body, but today, the blue-gray eyes staring at him were particularly persistent.

Of course, he originally stared at Kosha often, but….

At first, he wondered if it was just his imagination, but no matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t. Kosha couldn’t help but shrink his shoulders and lower his head even more at the excessively blatant gaze today.

After all, he wasn’t confident that he could maintain his composure after seeing Lucian this close while sober. It would be a disaster if he ruined the important treatment because he was a little excited, wouldn’t it?

Was he showing that he was in pain? Did he look haggard? All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. Then he.

“You….”

When he slowly started to say something, he was so nervous that he couldn’t even breathe and froze.

Talking to him was good, but it wasn’t good. It might sound strange, but it was true. He had once thought that he wanted to be in a position to talk to Lucian someday, but that was just a kind of dream….

Fortunately or unfortunately, Lucian turned his head away without asking further, so Kosha was able to avoid the crisis.

In any case, he had to see him at a fixed time every day, so he wanted to get a little sleep tonight. After all, if fatigue accumulated, it would become more and more obvious.

It was when Kosha was lying on the bed, tossing and turning slightly.

Tap, tap, tap—he heard a light tapping on the window.

At first, he thought he had misheard, and then he tried to ignore it.

The window of this room, located in the west wing’s third tower, was adjacent to the tall cypress trees lined up along the outer walls of Ostrahe Castle. On days when the wind blew a little hard, the branches often touched the window, so it was not surprising.

But tap, tap, tap. The sound was too regular to be a coincidence, and when it continued for the third, fourth, and fifth time.

Kosha finally jumped out of bed.

“Who, who is it?”

He struck a flint to light the lamp and shone it tremblingly at the window. However, the outside of the window was pitch black, and the weak lamp could not distinguish anything beyond the blurry glass. It was the moment Kosha bravely took another step forward.

A black shadow moved outside the window. Kosha was so surprised that he couldn’t even scream and collapsed. Something strange, something like dark wings… wings?

Kosha got up again and approached the window. People were scary, but animals were nothing to be afraid of. He carefully shone the lamp outside the window, and something like wings fluttered. Kosha’s eyes widened.

“A crow…?”

A black bird with glossy feathers was sitting quietly on the windowsill. It didn’t run away even when he unlatched the window and opened it, as if it had been waiting for Kosha.

Why a crow?

Crows originally lived a lot in Central Izelant. Crows were constantly flying around Ostrahe Castle. However, recently, at least within the castle, it was difficult to even hear the sound of crows, and this was, in a way, because of Kosha.

To be precise, it was after Kosha, although he didn’t intend to, and he still found it hard to believe that it was him, hit the first prince in the head with a stone.

Since then, the first prince had made a fuss, ordering all the birds to be caught and killed, so people were busy scaring away any birds they saw.

But suddenly, a crow was on his windowsill.

Kosha, who was carefully looking at the bird, opened his mouth at a sudden thought.

“Could it be, the one I threw a stone at back then…?”

Of course, the crow didn’t answer, but it puffed up its chest feathers proudly, as if it understood Kosha’s words. It seemed like a positive expression. Really? Kosha’s eyes widened even more.

“…Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Kosha asked. He was secretly worried that it might have suffered something terrible while the first prince’s men were ransacking the entire castle to chase away the birds, but the bird looked very shiny, big, and healthy.

“But, why did you do that? Is it really because that’s what I was thinking?”

Of course, there was no answer. Kosha hoped that, with mana overflowing uncontrollably, he might have newly developed the ability to communicate with animals, but…. The crow’s mind was completely opaque.

Well, such abilities usually show up from infancy. Kosha had never communicated with animals even when he was a ‘normal’ Mage as a child.

“I can’t understand you,”

Kosha said gloomily.

“Can you understand me?”

The crow tilted its head without looking disappointed. Kosha decided to take it as a rough affirmation.

“But why did you come here? It’s dangerous.”

He asked, but of course, the crow couldn’t answer. Was it hungry? Kosha looked around. Fortunately, there was about half a loaf of bread left over from dinner.

He brought it and tore off a small piece to give it, but the crow stared at Kosha. Was this not it? But this was all he had.

As Kosha was flustered, the crow soon moved its beak and took the piece of bread held in Kosha’s hand. It felt like it had resigned itself to it….

“Hey, do birds communicate with each other?”

Kosha asked as he tore off small pieces of bread.

“Do you know how to speak goose?”

The crow stopped eating the bread and stared at Kosha again. Although he didn’t hear an answer, Kosha explained the address of the Ostervik house, grasping at straws. He even added geographical explanations in case it couldn’t understand the address.

“Could you tell the geese there to find food on their own and stay healthy? If you go to the house next door, the uncle will still give them food. Then I’ll pay him back later. And that I’ll go back as soon as possible too….”

“Who said you could?”

A low voice suddenly came from behind. Kosha was so startled that he dropped the bread he was giving to the crow on the floor, and at the same time, the crow fluttered its wings and disappeared into the darkness.

“Huh? Who said you could.”

The low voice asked again. Kosha couldn’t even think of answering and blinked blankly. Even when viewed in the dim lamplight, he couldn’t believe it.

A tall blond man was leaning against Kosha’s door. He would have been less surprised if he had seen a ghost.

“Your Highness…?”

He was strangely disheveled. His hair was a little messy, and he was wearing a loose, unadorned shirt and pants without a belt, and he was wearing indoor leather shoes casually. In other words… he looked like he was about to go to bed.

It was also a time when sleeping would be more natural.

Suddenly, he wondered if this was a dream. Ah, right, that’s why! The suddenly appearing crow, Lucian, these absurd things, it all made sense if it was a dream. Kosha often saw him in his dreams.

However, Lucian, who had appeared in his dreams so far, had always been bright, cheerful, and kind….

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

Lucian frowned and moved his feet, as if he was very displeased with Kosha, who was just thinking to himself with a person standing in front of him. His steps were strangely slow and weak, but his stride was originally wide, so it only took about five steps to pass the bed and reach where Kosha was.

As he approached, a good smell wafted over him. A smell like flowers dried well in good sunlight, a little dry and soft. …Oh, could this not be a dream?

He looked up at the man who was already right in front of him. His eyes were a little languid. Overall, his expression was relaxed, and he looked a little sleepy.

What was it? He always had a clear atmosphere like a well-honed blade, so this appearance was quite unfamiliar. It was when Kosha was fumbling around, unable to get a grasp on the situation.

The man who was staring down at him raised his hand. It was still a strangely slow movement, but Kosha couldn’t even avoid it.

“Ugh.”

A large hand grabbed a handful of curly brown hair. His hand tightened, and his head lifted. Just enough for his green eyes to be fixed on Lucian.

He didn’t pull it too hard, but Kosha was nervous just from having his hair grabbed. No, come to think of it, wasn’t it night now? At night, that strange Love Potion made Lucian…!

“You’re scared….”

He let out something like a snort, looking at Kosha, who was stiffening his neck and shrinking back.

“It’s okay, I won’t hit you.”

I don’t really feel like it right now…. He muttered slowly. His voice was softer than he thought, but Kosha didn’t believe it.

He won’t hit him, why would he lie like that? Wasn’t that potion supposed to make Lucian ‘violent’? If he annoyed him even a little, his mind would change again soon….

“I thought you couldn’t talk to animals?”

He asked again. Kosha trembled.

“I, I can’t…. What I did just now was just one-sided.”

“Do you like geese that much?”

“Yes? Ah, well, they’re the ones I’ve raised for a long time.”

“Can’t you move them here with magic? Like that silver cup back then.”

The questions kept coming one after another. Cutting off Kosha’s answers. He wondered if he was really asking questions because he was curious, but Kosha still answered faithfully.

“Well, they’re too big, too many, and too far away…. Besides, it’s a bit… difficult to move something that’s alive like that.”

“It’s impossible?”

“It’s not completely impossible, but…. My abilities aren’t there yet.”

“Ah, abilities.”

Lucian cut off Kosha’s words again in a nonchalant manner.

And… there were no more words. He was just standing there, holding a handful of Kosha’s hair. Staring down at him. The gaze was persistent.

It was around the time he was wondering if he should continue the interrupted answer.

Suddenly, Kosha, feeling a sense of incongruity, parted his lips slightly. He couldn’t lower his head because his hair was being grabbed, so he just moved his eyes around.

His body… was comfortable.

No, of course, this situation of standing with his hair grabbed wasn’t comfortable.

The mana that had been rampaging under his skin every night was unusually calm. As if it had been suppressed along with his hair being grabbed.

To use a human analogy, it was similar to tying up the eight newly grown arms that were running wild with ropes, and to use a Mage analogy, it was similar to when the parents of a young Mage who couldn’t control their mana would suppress it.

But there were no other Mages here, only Lucian….

Why? Why did the rampaging mana suddenly retreat inside? Kosha rolled his eyes in embarrassment. At this rate, he felt like he would be reminded of what happened on ‘that night’ that he had been trying so hard to forget.

“What are you thinking about? With your mouth so open….”

Lucian, who had been standing silently as if he had fallen asleep, spoke again. His pronunciation was even more unclear and slow than before. Was he sick somewhere? Kosha opened his mouth a little more to ask if he was okay.

He suddenly bent down. Almost as if he was being sucked in, or as if he was collapsing.

There was no time to think that it was too close. His lips met.

He lightly bit Kosha’s lips, as if he was holding a candy that would easily melt in body temperature. His lips lingered on his lower lip for a moment before falling away, then repeatedly held his upper lip.

That act was repeated several times until the corners of his mouth were very wet. Kosha had to witness the whole process without even thinking of closing his eyes.

The time his lips were touching grew a little longer each time. The tip of his tongue gently licked his lips, then brushed against the soft mucous membrane inside, then fell away again, then repeated the act of holding them. He was short of breath, and his mind was hazy. Kosha, who was floundering around, grabbed the man’s shoulders who was pushing him.

He didn’t stop it at all.

Rather, a warm and large hand gently wrapped around Kosha’s neck. And his lips met completely. Something invaded Kosha’s mouth. Tongues mingled. Tongues touched, rubbed, and sucked. Kosha had never even thought of such a thing.

He moved as if he was gently coaxing him. Lightly tickling the inside of his lips, his teeth, the sides and tips of his tongue, and the roof of his mouth. Moisture seeped into the sound of the two masses of flesh touching. Kosha unknowingly let out a whimper from his throat.

That continued for as long as the act of holding and sucking his lips.

His heart felt like it was about to explode. There was no violence in this whole process, but at the same time, it felt more violent than anything else. Whether his heart popped out, his eyes popped out, or his legs melted away, something irreversible felt like it was happening to his body.

And instantly, a green flame-like thing sparked between Kosha’s fingertips and his neck.

“…….”

A faint groan, or something, was blocked between the touching lips and couldn’t escape. And from the lips that had been moving as if to devour Kosha, to the hand that had been holding his neck, to the hand that had been grabbing his hair, the strength was released in turn.

The large man’s body lost its strength and poured down on Kosha. Kosha, who had inadvertently caught the heavy body, staggered backward, unable to maintain his balance. He was finally able to support him only after his back hit the wall.

He could hear the man’s even breathing in his ear, sleeping comfortably. A magic of sleep as silent and deep as death, but it would only last for three or four hours at most. The Mage’s mind instinctively sensed it.

“…Hngh.”

Afterward, something that seemed to be the remnants of a groan leaked out between his lips. He wished it wasn’t a dream, but his wet lips and the warm flesh of the man slumped in his arms were too vividly real.

“I must be crazy….”

He didn’t know exactly whether he was saying it to himself or to the man who had fallen asleep on top of him.

(Continued in Volume 2)