Chapter 158
‘Isn’t it strange?’
That they had met the High Priestess who guarded the only temple in the desert—a land so barren that not even a single blade of grass could properly sprout.
Heros recalled his first meeting with Elise.
He remembered the first time he saw her, shining even brighter than the sun beneath the blazing desert heat.
A corner of his heart grew warm.
At the same time, another part of it ached as though it were collapsing.
Recalling both love and pain, Heros took a deep breath to steady his wavering mind.
Then he looked down at Yan, who was still glaring at him with wide-open eyes.
“I asked whether the sacred relic is in the temple. Do you intend to answer?”
The corners of Yan’s eyes trembled.
He opened his mouth as though to speak, then closed it again.
After fidgeting with his fingers and calming his breathing for quite some time, he slowly spoke.
“I… cannot answer.”
Heros frowned.
“You cannot?”
Not <will not answer>, but <cannot answer>.
After pondering for a moment, he let out a quiet sigh and muttered,
“It seems a restriction has been placed on you.”
Then, wearing an uneasy expression, he looked toward Pauline, who was standing behind him.
Understanding the situation from Heros’ gesture alone, Pauline immediately hurried over to Yan.
Yan’s yellow eyes landed on Pauline.
“Eek!”
Pauline instinctively stepped back, but after confirming that Yan was tightly bound, he finally relaxed and placed a hand on Yan’s head.
Hummm.
Mana began to rise.
The precisely controlled mana circled above Yan’s head, but it was unable to enter his mind.
Pauline let out a sigh and withdrew his hand.
“This isn’t a spell that I can decipher. At this level… I think we’ll need the Great Sage to come…”
He looked around for Shiosen, but Shiosen had already left the estate with Daphne.
As Pauline added that they would have to wait a little longer, Heros reluctantly nodded.
His heart felt uneasy.
He wanted to uncover the truth immediately…
“Master!”
At that moment, the butler’s urgent voice came from the top of the stairs.
As soon as Heros asked what had happened, the butler quickly answered with a somewhat flustered expression.
“Count Imperial has arrived. Um… he says it’s urgent. What shall we do?”
Urgent?
Heros hesitated for a moment.
Someone who had remained holed up in his own territory for years had suddenly come here talking about an “urgent matter”?
Clicking his tongue with a resigned expression, Heros spoke briefly.
“We’re going back.”
Then he left one final remark to Yan.
“Wait here.”
Instead of answering, Yan merely shrugged slightly.
His gesture clearly meant, <Where exactly would I run off to in this condition?>
Watching him indifferently, Heros climbed the stairs and left the underground prison.
Yan was left alone in that empty and lonely place.
However, he had no time to be consumed by loneliness.
Yan recalled the sensation he had felt earlier.
That overwhelming feeling that had sent a tingling sensation through his entire body.
He knew exactly what it was.
After all, hadn’t he experienced it himself before?
“Causality…”
He muttered blankly.
“…Causality has been formed.”
Causality had been formed with the Calamity—
In other words, with Daphne.
What did that mean?
It meant that the Calamity’s soul was now settling into Daphne’s body.
In other words…
“It may become impossible for her to return to being the Calamity.”
Yan knew he had to tell the Calamity this as quickly as possible.
But for now, it was impossible.
The same restriction prevented him from doing so.
The moment he spoke those words—
More precisely, the moment he even thought about speaking them—
His head would explode.
‘What am I supposed to do…?’
Yan clenched his fist tightly and let out a groan.
It was then.
“Hm?”
An unfamiliar voice came from right beside him.
Startled, Yan quickly turned his head.
The moment he did, he saw a man with red hair.
“Hmm?”
The man tilted his head and widened his eyes the moment he saw Yan.
His cheerful appearance and slightly protruding canine tooth gave him a mischievous look.
Yet Yan felt goosebumps all over his body.
‘This person possesses a power far beyond anything I could possibly comprehend…’
“…A dragon.”
Because he was the Red Dragon, Kalid.
Kalid seemed quite pleased that Yan had recognized him.
Grinning broadly, he looked at Yan.
“What? Why is there a human here?”
‘Because this is a prison, and I was captured.’
He wanted to say it, but held back.
“This is where I always rest whenever I come to the Grand Duke’s estate.”
Kalid grumbled as he glanced at Yan.
Then, at that very moment,
A strange light flashed across his orange eyes.
“Huh. That’s strange. Really strange.”
Tilting his head repeatedly, he stepped closer to Yan.
“No… that’s not right. I don’t just smell a human.”
“There’s another scent mixed in.”
Kalid sniffed the air and blinked.
His expression was so innocent that it could only be described as adorable.
But—
“You.”
That gentleness vanished in an instant.
His face transformed into that of the cruel Red Dragon, Kalid.
Growling, he grabbed Yan by the collar.
“What are you?”
***
“Rache! Wake up!”
Holding Rache’s unconscious body, Daphne shook him desperately.
But Rache did not open his eyes.
No—
He could not.
“Is he dead? Is he dead? Has my older brother died?”
Daphne stamped her feet anxiously.
Neither Shio nor elf Teiti had ever seen Daphne so distressed before, so both of them could only panic.
“Rache!”
Then, just as she was on the verge of bursting into tears,
Shio finally regained his composure and rushed in front of Daphne.
“Lady Daphne. Calm down. Calm down! Deep breaths! Inhale, exhale! And stop!”
Clapping his hands together to snap Daphne out of it, Shio hurriedly continued.
“Look. He’s breathing. He’s not dead.”
Only then did Daphne press her ear against Rache’s chest.
She could feel his chest rising and falling, and his heart beating strongly.
He wasn’t dead.
What a relief.
The strength drained from her entire body.
“If he isn’t dead… then why? Why won’t he wake up?”
“Because he’s been consumed by the aura of death.”
Shio answered with a dark expression.
A human whose body had been consumed by the aura of death by more than half…
It was far from a good situation.
However, Daphne was not overly worried.
After all, hadn’t the aura of death always been something she had casually absorbed like a packed lunch?
She vaguely believed she could simply do the same thing again.
If she did, Rache would recover.
“Then I’ll absorb it! I’ll do it! Come out!”
“No.”
However, someone stepped in front of Daphne and blocked her.
It was Artson.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
Artson wore an unusually serious expression.
It was so chilling that Daphne felt as though one wrong word here might provoke the roar of a true dragon.
Staring at his unfamiliar expression, Daphne’s eyes widened.
“You mustn’t absorb that.”
Shaking his head, Artson grabbed Daphne’s arm and pulled her back.
“That guy was inside the dark mage’s shadow, wasn’t he? That means he crossed over to the other world.”
“So the consequences of causality are clinging all over him.”
“You mustn’t interfere with something like that.”
Although she didn’t fully understand what he meant, Daphne believed she could handle something like that herself.
“No. Can’t
I simply take responsibility for that as well? I’ll handle everything myself!”
“Take responsibility?”
Artson let out a faint laugh as he looked down at Daphne.
“If you touch that…”
Then he said in a cold voice,
“You’ll never be able to return to your original body—the Calamity’s body.”
