novelraw Chapter 224 : Chapter 224
Chapter 224 : Chapter 224
Chapter 224: Torch (2)
If the Church were to learn of the Otherworld's situation and the prophecy of the Moon.
How would the Church react?
Harad suddenly found himself curious.
'Would they protect me?'
Or would they kill him, saying there were no exceptions?
Either way, it was absurd.
The former would make their faith laughable, the latter would make them look like fools helping the prophecy along.
'It's meaningless.'
It was a useless imagination.
He should be thinking useful thoughts with this time. What would be useful? The first thing that came to mind was Ellen.
'Why did she quit tobacco?'
He needed to figure out the reason.
As quickly as possible.
It was a condition for opening the tunnel.
'It wouldn't be a trivial reason.'
She wasn't the type whose body would accept such excuses.
Tobacco wasn't bad for the body at all, rather it only reduced stress. And one could quit at any time.
At least that had been true for Elaine and Ellen in his past life.
Meaning there was hardly any reason to quit smoking.
'It must be because of me.'
It wasn't baseless confidence but a clear fact.
All of Ellen's changes had occurred through Harad.
'She quit because of me.'
However, that wasn't the complete answer.
The reason needed to be more detailed.
'If you dislike it, I'll quit. That's what she said.'
At the time, Harad had answered that he didn't dislike it.
After that, Ellen had smoked quite often.
'Is it because of Predation?'
Predation was addictive.
Tobacco was the same.
However, there was an enormous difference in degree.
If Ellen's addiction was entertainment, Harad's addiction was a matter of life and death.
'That sounds plausible.'
Ellen was conscious of that addictiveness.
It wasn't a bad reason for quitting smoking.
'Because she hates even a hair on my head being harmed.'
It was a pleasant worry.
Even more so if that truly was the reason for quitting.
Anton had moved to a good house.
Not that the house was good, but that the location was good.
It was a necessary location for Liberation Faction Mages who didn't look like Northerners. The closer to the Inner Fortress, the less suspicion one faced.
'The Annex is the best.'
But not just any Mage could enter.
Achievements aside, in the end the most important thing for entering the Inner Fortress was military power. This was Serzila, after all.
That didn't mean Anton's new house was bad.
Ocellin had obtained two houses. One with past wages, the other as an advance.
Both were about the size of Harad's Annex, which was enough for fifteen people to share.
The door was open.
He had been confined to the Annex until now, but he had heard much.
The entrance to the underground was hidden in the kitchen.
Harad found it without difficulty.
The way it was hidden was similar to the time at the Flower District's inner sanctum.
'Same creator, then.'
The stairs extending underground and the smooth walls were also familiar. In the underground and tunnels, all those works bore the habits of the Tunnel-Digger Rick.
It might be a kind of artistry.
Magical work was sometimes expressed that way.
Anton was at the tunnel entrance.
Not the tunnel entrance connected to the border, but the tunnel entrance connected to the underground of Harad's Annex.
When he spotted Harad, Anton's mouth just flapped open and shut. Next to him stood a man, woman, and child wearing blindfolds, tense.
"Wait a moment."
Anton said, lowering his voice.
Then he scurried toward Harad.
"I thought I was going to die of tension."
So that was why he was glad.
In Harad's opinion, hiding on the continent was a more audacious thing, but Anton seemed to find the asylum broker work more frightening.
The Liberation Faction only wanted to live like human beings.
Asylum was illegal, far removed from such modest wishes. Even though he was a former Manager, Anton was also close to being a petty citizen.
"Why is your voice so rough?"
"Don't I need to look scary?"
The first person to tell Anton about asylum in the past had been an Otherworld Mage.
His attitude would have been quite overbearing.
"We don't need to be like that."
"Pardon? But usually..."
"No customer dislikes friendly staff. It's fine to act as usual."
Usually they were rough-looking.
But there was no need to imitate that far.
The proprietor of the Flower District's inner sanctum wasn't beautiful, but she had been kind.
"Where's Ellen? Ah. Is she inside? There's no need to go that far."
The tunnel was a straight path.
If one kept going, one would inevitably reach the exit.
There was no reason for the broker to lead the way.
"Pardon?"
Anton tilted his head.
"Ellen hasn't arrived yet."
"What? That can't be..."
That was when it happened.
His heart clenched tight.
It wasn't an aftereffect. It hadn't been severe enough to make his heart ache this much in the first place. Besides, most of it had already healed.
The restriction had stimulated his heart.
And then it fell silent as if nothing had happened.
"Elaine?"
As if telling him not to notice.
* * *
It was a strange yet familiar sensation.
When fighting Avery Aquinas, Ellen had dreamed in reality.
In front of the Tower Master of Meteoric Iron Kandenkel, her body had been stolen.
Those two things, Ellen was experiencing simultaneously right now.
However, she sensed improvement.
Her body was stolen, but her mind was awake.
She was dreaming not just with her ears but also with her eyes.
Before her eyes was a portrait drawn with Divine power by Badelots.
The Great Devil of Fire. Also, Torch.
That disgusting face, Ellen had seen in her dreams.
In Harad's memories.
The bitch who stole her body was standing before that Torch.
Though it was her body, Ellen was being forced to see what Elaine in the dream was seeing.
Torch was smiling repulsively.
That smile didn't move.
It wasn't that he kept smiling. The proof was that Elaine, whose jet-black had turned vicious, didn't move even seeing that face.
It was as if time had stopped.
Or as if only Ellen had sped up. Which it was, Ellen couldn't distinguish. It was that vague.
That vagueness painted a dream over reality.
Torch disappeared, and Harad and Elaine appeared in his place.
Ellen immediately realized they were dying.
It was a gruesome sight. Blood was flowing from every hole in their entire bodies.
—Isn't there something small?
Harad spat out.
It was a voice but also sounded like gasping.
—Something small?
Elaine, on the other hand, was quite calm.
Despite having the same wounds, she seemed composed.
—Not things like 'I should have killed that cripple Enverque,' 'I should have destroyed that trash Church,' 'I failed to heed the North.' I mean small regrets.
Harad spoke quite well even while gasping.
Ellen realized it was because he had mental capacity left, not physical.
Harad in this dream was different from Harad in previous dreams.
He resembled Harad in reality.
—I told you, I should have lived more fiercely.
—I'm asking again. A person can't have only that regret.
—If I listed them one by one, there would be no end.
—That would be troublesome.
Because there wasn't time to hear them all.
Ellen realized this as Harad turned his gaze.
The world was strange.
In the middle of a plain were seas and glaciers, and somewhere a tree larger than a castle spread out. Typhoons swept all around, and iron poured down like rain.
—Fire isn't among them.
All kinds of Magical work were butchering the world.
Among them was no fire. Elaine seemed bothered by this.
—Torch. Not finding and killing that bastard is my regret.
—Why is that Your Highness's regret?
—Because it is your regret.
Despite bleeding profusely, Elaine's aura was as vicious as the last time Ellen had seen it before dreaming.
—I promised to kill him by all means. I made such a promise. I couldn't keep it. That's why it's a regret.
Elaine clicked her tongue.
—Pathetic fool.
—Why are you saying that to me?
—If you had at least seen that bastard's face, you might have found him.
—How could I see someone hiding and not visible?
—You should have seen him somehow. He's your parents', no, your family's enemy.
—If I'd seen him, I would have died too.
—Tsk.
Harad in reality hadn't recognized Badelots's portrait.
Harad in the dream also seemed not to know Torch's face. Elaine was the same.
Ellen couldn't understand this.
It wasn't Ellen who had just caught Torch.
It was that Elaine.
—When I got revenge, my bed became rough. Ah, damn it. I shouldn't have killed him like that, thinking that.
Regretting not killing him more cruelly.
—Who says that?
—I do.
—......
—If it's like that even after revenge, how much worse would it be before?
Elaine in the dream was taking revenge.
Harad was not. In that world resembling the end, there was no fire.
—So I'll release it for you. So your bed will never become rough.
Saying that the absence of fire in that world was a regret.
—Someday, without fail.
Elaine spoke as if she could release that regret.
—Why would Your Highness release that?
—Because I'm your master.
Ellen snorted.
As if that were the reason.
Then Elaine opened her mouth.
—......If I return...... I won't......
That voice didn't reach Ellen.
Because the dream ended.
Before her eyes, Torch was grinning foolishly.
"I've come to take back my king."
Torch's objective was Harad.
Ellen found that fact utterly unpleasant.
If only her body could move, she wanted to stab those two eyes right now.
"Not a king, but mine."
Elaine seemed even more so.
Ellen was receiving that emotion vividly.
It seemed to be because her body was stolen.
"Arrogant Serzila. You held the king briefly and now don't know your place?"
Torch's eyes bulged.
Ellen thought it was like seeing blazing fire.
That fire was extinguished in an instant.
Ellen recalled how Grand Aratus had once crushed Harad.
The scene before her eyes was beyond that.
The jet-black crushed Torch. Bang! Torch was slammed into the ground. It looked exactly like he was bowing to Elaine. Flames rose only to be extinguished by the jet-black.
Elaine drew her sword. The sword tip lifted the chin of Torch, who was slammed into the ground. Torch was grinning.
"I should pluck out those eyes first."
"All talk, Serzila."
Torch's eyes flickered, scanning the surroundings.
It was the territory. Though it was an alley, more and more eyes were watching.
"There is much firewood."
"Do you think I care?"
Elaine snorted.
"If not, try killing them."
That was all.
Though she had said not killing him was a regret, Elaine didn't move further. She didn't kill him, didn't pluck out his eyes.
Meanwhile, the flames gradually grew.
No, the flames didn't grow—Torch raised his body. It was an illusion that occurred because they became so intense.
It wasn't that Torch's presence had swelled.
The jet-black that had been crushing him had weakened.
"What are you afraid of?"
Torch sneered.
However, his words were accurate.
This was Elaine who had killed the Tower Master of Meteoric Iron Kandenkel.
According to the dream, that bitch was a monster. There was no way she couldn't kill Torch.
'Firewood?'
Because this was Serzila? Concerned about damage?
No.
Because to Elaine, there was something more important than Serzila.
"......Elaine?"
A voice came from behind.
Elaine's head turned at a speed faster than lightning.
Heat rose from the front and disappeared.
Though it meant Torch had vanished, Elaine didn't care.
"Is it Elaine?"
Because Harad, who had run over dripping with sweat, was staring at her with surprised eyes.
Her facial muscles moved.
Ellen realized Elaine was smiling bitterly with her face.
Elaine opened her mouth.
"Why?"
Coquettishly.
"Do I look like that bitch again?"
Pretending to be Ellen.
'Crazy bitch.'
Ellen was flabbergasted.
'Wait......'
Again?
'That bitch?'