Chapter 437

Chapter 437

“This, this!”
Asel’s face went white. The dome of flame that had unfurled at the start of the battle had completely obliterated the landscape. The lightning bolts running across its scorching surface seemed to tell him not to even think about escape.
“The look on your face. Genius.”
A chilling voice echoed from across the arena.
“——Erzebet.”
Asel slowly turned his head. The uniformed Erzebet stared back at him. He showed no sign of fatigue, even after using magic on such a massive scale.
“Do, why in the world are you doing this?”
“Why, you’re so stupid, aren’t you supposed to get rid of anything that might get in the way? I warned you about this, and it’s your fault you came in here, destroying the family symbol.”
“If it’s a family symbol—the lion!”
Asel sucked in a breath. She must be referring to the investigator who had nearly turned him into mashed strawberries. He’d suspected it since Liz had told him, but he couldn’t believe it was really Erzebeth.
“Yeah. The dark-haired one seemed to have a clue, but you didn’t.”
“I don’t understand—I don’t understand, why are you saying we’re in your way?”
“Technically, it’s not me, it’s Acalusia. I know them when I see them. There’s a class of people who, no matter how talented they are, do things for nothing, and you two fit that description exactly. You’ll make progress at first, but eventually you’ll become an obstacle to the House’s progress.”
“Oh, there’s no way I’d do that! I’m here to be a part of Acalusia, why would I hinder its progress?”
“Really? Then let me ask you this: are you willing to kill ten thousand innocents for the sake of Akalusian supremacy?”
“…What?”
“I asked you if you could kill ten thousand people, the only difference between them and everyone else is that they have the blood of a house that is hostile to Akalusia, or have collaborated with it, and of course that includes women, the elderly, and babies who can’t speak. If you are a member of Akalusia, can you make that difference a ‘sin’ and commit genocide?”
Asel could not answer. Of course he couldn’t be capable of such a thing. He couldn’t believe that this was the same Young-ae who had apologized to him last night over tea.
Erzebet was disappointed.
“Look at that. You can’t answer me, even when you don’t know whether you’re alive or dead, even when you’re licking my feet in praise of everything I am.”
“I, I’m—.”
“What Acalusia needs most is an obedient servant, or at least a long horse that will do as it is told, even if it is a little less than perfect. Your talent for seeing the light is admirable, but unfortunately your convictions are too strong.”
Suddenly, Erzebet stretched out her hand. Tentacles of telekinesis flew across the wind. Asel reflexively chanted a spell.
“Hey, Invisible—Crack!”
But it was in vain. The invisible hand exploded as it collided with the telekinetic tentacle. In an instant, the tentacles wrapped around Asel and dragged him to Erzebet’s feet.
“Ka-ak!”
A slender body rolled across the floor. Asher sprawled like a rabbit run over by a cart.
Quack! Erzebet, walking slowly, crushed his chest.
“Off!”
Asel screamed, his ribs broken.
Erzebet didn’t seem to mind.
“Do you have anything to say? I’ll give you a special listen because I think highly of your talent for seeing the light.”
“Hah! Hah! Hah! Who are you? Yeo, Young-ae would never do such a thing!”
Asel exclaimed. It seemed to make sense now. The Erzebet in front of him now was not the same one who had shared tea with him last night. The woman who had giggled over Adeshan’s corpse in the cellar was not Erzebet, but this man.
“You’re a quick study.”
Erzebeth. No, her impersonator laughed.
“You’re right. I don’t like the idea of killing in this form, either. It would completely ruin the mother-daughter relationship, and Adrian would be very disappointed, very angry, and maybe we wouldn’t speak for a year.”
“Kweeeeeeeeeeee!”
“But things will eventually fall back into place, and today’s murder will be chalked up to an accident committed by my daughter in her prime and forgotten. Adrian would never abandon Ellie. Unlike the ugly me, she is a good person by nature… Yes, to the point of being foolish.”
The brute dragged his tail. Emotion flickered for the first time in his cold eyes, but only for a moment, as he pointed his index finger at Asel’s forehead.
“None of this would have happened without you. You and your friend will be killed in a particularly painful way, for ruining a mother-daughter relationship.”
Sparks flared beneath her manicured nails, growing as small as berries. The tiny fireball would soon melt Asel’s skull, burrowing in and frying his brain.
“Oh, no—.”
Asel sucked in a breath. The thug was just about to cast a spell.
His gaze swept over Asel as if he were admiring his prey, then settled on his hands.
“—spores of the star mushroom?”
The ghoul’s brow narrowed. Asel’s hands were smeared with a bluish powder. The fireball that looked like it was going to shoot out at any moment dissipated.
“Go, why did it suddenly stop?
Asel watched the creature, barely suppressing the urge to faint. Up close, he could see a subtle difference between him and the Erzebet he’d met last night. The reverberations of magic, presumably from the polymorph, permeated his body.
Something growled.
“You. Where did you touch this?”
“Well, what does that mean?”
“Don’t be silly. The powder on your hands is not available in the Acalusian realm, and you have no idea how you got into my laboratory.”
“——!”
Asel gulped, he hadn’t even realized he’d gotten the powder on his hands. There must have been some in the underground laboratory, but it didn’t make sense that he’d gotten it there, because that was a dream, not reality.
“No, it can’t be. There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed if you came in–if you did.”
Suddenly, the ghostly figure raised an eyebrow. He seemed to have discovered the secret of the powder.
He muttered, then shook his head.
“—Yes. So that’s how it happened, you’re an idiot, and if Adrian found out, you’d be in trouble.”
“Excuse me?”
“What you have on your hands is a medicinal substance called star mushroom spores. It’s a very precious and useful substance, but it’s also a very tricky thing to work with. It won’t come off unless you bury it and wash it in a special way. It seems my partner has inadvertently put the spores on you.”
“Do, partner?”
Asel couldn’t understand. He had no contact with others. Ever since he’d met Adrian in the parlor, he’d slept in his room. The creature snarled.
“I don’t know. You don’t have to answer me that way. Think about it in the afterlife. Who it was that buried the spores.”
Something stretched out its index finger again. The mana gathered, and the fireball that had disappeared reappeared.
“Well, stop it.”
“You can scream all you want. No one will hear you anyway.”
Desperation couldn’t have been a better word for the situation. Your opponent is a monster who casually wields terrifying magic. All avenues of escape were blocked. They couldn’t even call for help because of the silent magic within the dome of flame.
“How did this happen?
The moment that fireball is fired, his life will be over. A life that was both short and long flashed before my eyes like a zooming lantern. Most of it was unhappy, but the second half was still pretty good.
Every minute and second since Ronan and I set out on our raft trip has been a treasure.
“It was fun.
The roads glowing in the mist, the hospitality of the beautiful Gaju, the warmth of black tea and the splendor of Acalusia gardens in the rain, and the sincere apologies of Youngae, who was harsh on the outside but warmer than anyone else on the inside.
They didn’t show it, but the anticipation and recognition they were receiving for the first time in their lives was overwhelming for Akalusia’s adopted children just before the entrance exams began.
Now I know how to live.
I’d love to have more of that experience.
A single tear rolled down her white cheek.
Then, Asel realized.
“——?”
The puzzle in my head magically fell into place.
He finally understood. The identity of the man in front of him, the partner he had mentioned, and how Adeshan’s cremated body ended up in the underground lab. And why the young, beautiful woman had died.
Realizing everything, Asel gritted his teeth.
“You have a—.”
“Hmm?”
The creature in the form of Erzebet snickered. The atmosphere was so different from before. I could feel my feet pushing to get up.
“What, you’re feeling brave because you’re about to die?”
“You. As much as you are—.”
Something mocked. He didn’t care about the bugger’s resistance, so he squeezed his index finger as planned. The fireball that left his fingertips was meant to pierce Asel’s brow.
Boom!
The fire vanished out of thin air, like water.
“What the hell. Why is this—.”
Something’s eyes narrowed. It was a misfire he hadn’t experienced since becoming a mage. Raising a shaky arm, Asel grabbed his ankle.
“Let go.”
“Kwink–kwink–!”
“You must be out of your mind. Let go.”
The bully stomped his foot. He could feel his ribs poking his lungs, but it felt good.
A squeezed voice escaped from between Asel’s blood-red lips.
“—to you, I can never die.”
****
Gazoo Adrian smirked.
“What do you mean, it’s not Erzebet who’s fighting with Asher?”
“Literally. Let me ask you something first: why did you tell me not to go in the basement?”
“What?”
Adrian frowned. Her violet eyes scanned the room quickly. When she realized that most of the audience was mesmerized by Erzebet’s fiery dome, she spoke up.
“Haah——In fact, Erzebeth has been staying there lately. Ever since we lost Miss Adeshan, and I didn’t want to give our guests a glimpse of her disillusioned spirit, in case it caused friction with you.”
“I see, but you should know this: Miss Erzebeth, the only daughter of the patriarch, never went into the cellar. Once or twice she might have, but it wasn’t her who came in and out every day.”
“—What does that even mean, I’ve seen it come and go with my own eyes time and time again.”
“So, it’s an impersonator of Erzebeth, not Erzebeth, and it’s the one who’s trying to kill Asher right now. Is there something you’re not telling me, my lord?”
I asked, flicking my bangs out of my face.
Asel and Erzebet—no, the hemisphere that swallowed the monster was blazing like a tiny sun.
Adrian frowned.
“What do you mean, hiding—Ronan. I find that statement rather rude, and I’m not hiding anything.”
“Maybe, because the information you’re withholding is generally harmless, and it’s hard to call it wrong.”
I stood up, hands in my pockets. Adrian flinched as I approached. It was a cute reaction, the kind you’d expect from a teenage Adeshan.
Bending down to lock eyes with her, I whispered softly.
“Iluan de Acalucia–that’s why your husband is in the cellar, in a state of ambiguity, neither alive nor dead.”
“——!”
“When the power surge occurred, the patriarch was unable to kill Illuan and sealed him in the crypt. People believe he was cremated, but his body rests deep in the mansion’s basement. Of course, he told us not to enter the crypt for fear of running into Erzebeth, but he was also worried that she might find him, wasn’t he?”
“Uh, how do you do that—.”
“It wasn’t easy, my lord, I went to the swamp last night, the same swamp that Adeshan was said to have drowned in, and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself, I couldn’t believe that the broken man was dead, so I cut the swamp in half.”
“Teach—? What does that mean?”
“Literally, it was pretty deep, but not very wide.”
At best, it was about the size of this arena, so it was doable.
In the first parallel world, we split the frozen ground.
I chuckled to myself as I reflected on last night.
“Hm, that’s so ridiculous—do you know what came out from under the swamp?”
I knew there would be secrets, but I didn’t expect them to be of this magnitude. Adrian put a hand to his chest and shook his head.
“There was a passageway that led to the basement of the Acalusian mansion. There were several pipes of unknown purpose, but they were large enough in diameter that they looked like they could be used to switch bodies. Sure enough, I walked down the passage and found myself in a grim cellar, filled with monstrosities made from human and animal carcasses that lined the corridors.”
“That’s ridiculous—! It’s true I sealed him up, but there’s nothing like that in the basement!”
“Nope. I’m sure it’s there, or should I say it’s there. It’s just that the patriarch didn’t notice. Anyway, I found Adeshan’s body in a lab in one of the rooms, and it was unmistakably Adeshan, my husband-to-be, and the makeup that Eri pulled off was a fake, made in a lab in the basement. Who would have done that?”
“You can’t be—.”
“There’s only one of you, Gazoo. Your husband did this.”
“—Ah.”
Adrian stumbled. I grabbed her hand to keep her from falling. It was a kindness I could only extend because I knew she was innocent. Adrian was not without blame, but her faults paled in comparison to those of her husband, who had become a demon, and the sins of the Black Shadow, which I would describe later.
‘If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have had a problem in the first place.’
The madness of her husband, who acted as a sort of guardian spirit, and the death of Adeshan in the other world were all due to the blackness.
I said, pulling Adrian to his feet.
“Do you understand now, my lord? It’s not Erzebet who’s fighting Asher right now, it’s Iluan, who’s gone mad with the desire to replace Adeshan’s body, to make his house thrive, and if you don’t believe me—”
It was the car I was talking to.
Pfft!
Suddenly, the hemisphere that enveloped the arena exploded and scattered. No thunderbolts, no searing flames, no silent magic blocking communication, all reduced to mana and disintegrating.
In the midst of it all, a man in the uniform of Akalusia emerged.
“You’re going to rip me to shreds, what have you done!”
“What, that one?!”
The crowd gasped, the ill-fitting uniform bulging to bursting. The man’s face, pale as a corpse, was one that everyone in the room had seen before.
Iluan de Acalucía, Adrian’s father-in-law.
The polymorph’s enchantment was broken, revealing its true colors.
“Whoa—whoa—whoa.”
It was obvious who did it.
Before Illuan staggered a battered Asel. He looked like he was about to collapse and die, but his eyes were burning brightly.
For the first time, a corner of my mouth twitched upward at the manly side of him.
“See, it’s worth it.”