Chapter 243

Chapter 243: What Happened?
What Happened?
Chapter 243. What became of it?

The Kingdom of Heinckel fell and turned into ruins.

There was a woman watching it from afar.

Linne.

A Dark Elf, and a woman who was a researcher for the demons.

She watched that place with a robe covering her head to hide her pointed ears and dark skin.

“Even using that magic called Utopia, it ends like this…….”

But it was understandable.

The King of Heinckel became a 7th Circle Mage, but he was useless as a mage.

The opponent focused strategically on weakening everything.

Defeat was already predetermined, and that is why Linne prepared to flee first when the outer castle fell.

“What about Gokma?”

It would be good if he died crushed under those rubbles.

She hoped so deep down, but her thoughts soon proved wrong.

A crack opened right before her eyes.

It was, without a doubt, a rift created by Gokma, and he revealed himself.

Linne tried to bow her head and greet him as usual.

But her eyes widened.

— “Are you alright…?”

Blood flowed from the body of that man who was always overflowing with composure.

Red blood, to be exact.

She wondered if it might be someone else’s blood, but it flowed slowly, so it was definitely his blood.

It was strange.

That there would come a time when this man bled.

Gokma examined Linne from top to bottom and spoke.

— “You managed to escape intact.”

What could those words mean?

Did it mean why didn’t she fight by his side?

If he intended to get rid of her because that was offensive, what should she do?

Seeing his weakened appearance, Linne thought reflexively.

“Could I win now?”

If she aims for the neck of a wounded beast, it might be possible.

Just as Linne was about to judge.

His pupils turned toward Linne.

“Ugh!”

Linne’s body froze.

Since becoming a Dark Elf, Linne had seen the descendants of Godwin and the Demon Kings.

Gokma was a man called one of the Seven Scars, but he had stepped out in the most useless way and disappeared.

But that did not mean he was weak.

Linne was sure.

Even if all the other Scars were brought in, they could not match this man.

Linne hastily erased her thoughts.

She must not allow him to read her true feelings.

— “This time I had to slip away to ensure we could bring the samples.”

— “…….”

— “Last time I escaped empty-handed and the research was delayed, so we must not let such a situation happen again, right?”

That was actually the main reason.

Because Linne’s value was solely focused on research.

It was obvious that participating in the fight would not help.

— “I wasn’t trying to reproach you. In fact, thanks to you, the plan went smoothly.”

— “Did everything go as planned?”

— “Everything as planned… if you put it that way, it’s a bit different.”

Gokma wrapped his right arm.

— “Of all things, for the Wolf of Sierra to be there…”

The Wolf of Sierra.

The fact that Sierra was the Goddess of the Moon was already known.

Given that the places that worship the sun and most of the Orders are associated with light, it was natural that Sierra, being darkness, was ignored and persecuted.

In reality, the Order of Sierra did not make any allies.

Its main business was killing high-ranking officials, and many nobles died because of it.

Surprisingly, their targets were also directed at demons, and Linne had memories of being hunted by the Order of Sierra.

But for some reason the pursuit stopped, and thanks to that she was able to dedicate herself purely to research.

Until the existence named Ferda appeared.

— “Is that Wolf person so remarkable?”

— “Of course. They accumulate experience points generation after generation. The previous generation gave me trouble too… but this generation is peculiar somehow.”

— “Peculiar, you say…”

— “There was an ability the Wolf never had before.”

Gokma recalled the memory of that moment.

Black hair.

Rags.

And blue eyes and a dark sword.

Everything matched the characteristics of the Wolf of Sierra that he remembered.

However, cutting space and interfering with magic—no matter how much he looked at it, those could not be called abilities possessed by that Wolf of Sierra.

— “That would mean it is the essence of that woman. And if that is the case…”

He muttered up to there, then stopped talking.

— “Is something bothering you?”

— “It’s nothing.”

Gokma changed the subject and looked at Linne.

— “Is there anything this time that could hinder the research?”

A somewhat aggressive tone.

Linne felt tense and replied.

— “The manufacturing formula for the Enhanced Trauma and the black blood that creates Knight-grade demons. I have recovered both. Once we settle in a new place, we will be able to mass-produce them.”

— “The records?”

— “The situation was urgent, so for now I just memorized them. Don’t worry. I have memorized them perfectly.”

She said it was urgent, but her intention was clear.

“If you want the research to be done, it’s better to keep me alive.”

Gokma snorted at such a shallow trick and turned his head.

— “Is there anything else besides that?”

— “And… ah.”

Something important came to Linne’s mind.

— “The Laboratory Director?”

— “…….No. That is all.”

Linne desperately hid her true feelings.

Linne, who had faced and experimented with many things, was an explorer before being a Dark Elf.

An explorer must put aside conscience and ethics to satisfy curiosity.

Only then can dazzling progress be achieved.

By doing so, she managed to create a united mind for the Legion of Gamigin.

The Legion was completed by achieving the elves’ unique Mind Linking Formula through the Mental Collapse of Trauma.

Then, she suddenly wondered.

“What would happen if a child’s Circle was forcibly opened and the elves’ operation method was implanted?”

“What would happen if human children with linked minds could use elven magic?”

“The result… became unknowable.”

Linne looked toward the collapsed Kingdom of Heinckel.

The specimens born of her curiosity would be buried under those rubbles right now.

Far East Army Camp, Ferda’s Tent.

After satisfying his stomach to some extent, Ferda asked Ruri what had happened.

— “I faced Gokma along with Sir Alberto.”

— “He was a human who hunted demons, so it’s not surprising.”

— “The most surprising thing was that when I was hit by the Trauma, he was not.”

— “He was not hit by the Trauma…”

It was a surprising story, indeed.

Both Ferda and Ruri reflexively felt fear toward that creature, yet he was immune.

“Now that I think about it, the Armored Knight wasn’t hit by that Trauma either.”

“Is there any spell that blocks it perfectly, the more wrapped up one is?”

The Armored Knight doesn’t speak, so she couldn’t ask, and it seemed better to ask Alberto.

— “How was the fight?”

— “…….”

— “You don’t have to say it if it’s hard.”

— “We couldn’t even reach his chin. I was weakened too, but from the beginning, things like magic seemed insignificant against pure physical strength.”

Alberto of Strength and Ruri of Agility.

Not only did the two of them fail to break his coordinated defense, but he even played with them.

Since he was under the influence of the Legion, he might be stronger than his true self, but Ferda didn’t jump to conclusions.

He could also be weaker than his true form.

— “But the situation reversed in the second half.”

— “How so?”

— “There was an intruder. Someone of ambiguous origin, never seen in the Imperial Army or the Allied Forces. Gokma called her ‘The Wolf of Sierra’.”

Wolf.

Ferda knew that word.

The woman who pulled him out of the moment buried deep in his consciousness.

That woman had described herself like that.

— “The Chain of Sierra…”

— “How do you know that, Ferda-nim?”

— “I heard the voice of that Chain in the Audience Chamber. That person saved me.”

— “But… that guy Hudret who brought Ferda-nim didn’t mention that woman…”

The suspicion that Hudret might be connected to Sierra.

Although his right hand had returned to normal, his nerves were still tense.

— “He wouldn’t have known either. Even when I felt it, it was incomparably peculiar.”

Light but not light, agile but clumsy, clumsy but agile.

Like that, an unfathomable woman who seemed to exist and yet not.

— “We will meet soon. Then I will greet you formally.”

Was her name Angrem?

She definitely said that.

The Saint of Sierra saying she would greet Ferda—no matter how he thought about it, there was only one meaning.

“I am someone involved with Sierra.”

He tried to deny it, but the proofs aligned one by one in Ferda’s mind.

At that moment, Ferda remembered what his father, Erembalt Rosnova, had said.

“He said Mother was a person of the Order of Sierra.”

At that time, his anger toward his father was so great that he didn’t think deeply.

But he should have thought seriously from that moment on.

The voice heard from inside Ferda took the shape of his mother.

“It could be a hallucination.”

It could be a rationalization due to the emotional excess common among Red Circle users.

Knowing that it would be unnatural to be in the form of Valdrova, she manifested in the form of his mother to shake Ferda.

“But I resisted to the end.”

If the rationalization had stopped, that is definitely what should have happened.

But she directly touched the Dark Circle and plunged Ferda into deep darkness.

That was not a delusion of Ferda’s.

It was unmistakably something that thought independently, oblivious to Ferda’s will.

“What happened?”

Since then, Ferda didn’t know at all what had happened.

Since he woke up, his Red Circle was exactly as before, and the Dark Circle was the same.

That’s why he feels he will go crazy.

Anxiety crept in, fearing reaching a point where he wouldn’t know what was a dream and what was reality.

— “Regent-nim, are you there?”

A woman’s voice came from beyond the tent.

It was Olivia.

Ferda gestured for her to enter, and Ruri guided her inside.

She looked like a Saint with no trace of makeup.

Her white clothes were yellowed, and blood stained her garments here and there.

It wasn’t just a facade; one could feel that she was aware of her duties as a Saint.

Olivia silently bowed her head in greeting and sat before Ferda.

For some reason, she seemed extremely nervous.

It wasn’t like Olivia at all.

— “How is the Imperial Army’s situation?”

— “It is bleak beyond words.”

It was to be expected.

Ureas died.

With the death of the Second Prince of the Empire, it is natural that an emergency was declared.

— “He didn’t just die, but he disappeared without a trace.”

— “Without a trace, you say?”

— “Yes. They placed powerful tracking magic on the bodies of the imperial family to recover them, but he escaped that tracking magic, so saying he disappeared without a trace is accurate. How could such a thing happen…?”

Olivia spoke as if it were a headache, but for Ferda it was not.

— “That is quite fortunate.”

— “Why?”

— “Ureas became a demon.”

— “A demon, you say? Although his personality was already demonic from the beginning…”

— “I don’t mean that.”

Ferda told her what he had seen.

He was able to briefly describe the form he witnessed directly.

— “You mean Ureas… transformed into the form of Amon?”

— “Yes.”

— “Is that something common in the world of black magic?”

Ferda shook his head.

— “Even among demon followers, taking a form similar to that of a Great Demon is rare. The King of Heinkel also transformed into a form similar to Gamigin, but that was only possible because Gamigin possessed him.”

— “Ureas is…”

— “There were no traces of possession, nor did the characteristic smell of sulfur of those crossing from Hell appear at all.”

Those who wield black magic are destined to stink of sulfur.

Given that Ferda’s magic is based on secrecy, it was natural that that smell did not appear.

Olivia thought deeply and presented her opinion.

— “Couldn’t it be a demon’s scheme? They have already achieved Gamigin’s Utopia, after all.”

— “For now, I think the same.”

If not, the situation becomes even more serious.

It would mean that Ureas was a demon child from the beginning, and that demonic blood flows in the imperial lineage.

— “Even if that is true, it won’t be easy to incite people with it.”

— “That’s right.”

— “My own safety is also a problem… but more than anything, it’s because it’s too big an issue. Like a log that doesn’t burn no matter how well it catches, unless the fire is big enough.”

Ferda nodded, thinking that made sense.

Olivia tucked her hair behind her ear and quietly changed the subject.

— “Let’s save this story for later. Is that okay, Regent-nim?”

She spoke cautiously.

— “I heard your right arm is not well…”

— “Ah, that is…”

Ferda showed his right arm.

Olivia’s eyes, which had been worried, widened.

— “I definitely heard it was amputated, how…!”

— “As for how that happened…”

Ferda did not tell the story about the Golden Dragon’s visit.

He only said that he restored his right hand using the miracle of the Golden Dragon’s Scale.

— “Ah… what a relief. That you recovered your hand…”

Olivia could not hide her overflowing emotion, and tears even filled her eyes.

Normally, he might have thought she was like that because someone she cared about had been hurt, and he would have let it go.

But right now, a strangely suffocating feeling invaded him.

Why?

Olivia supported Hestia and the Grand Duchy of Valdrova unreservedly.

She was, without a doubt, an excellent companion.

— “Why are you smiling looking at that insignificant handkerchief of yours?!”

Ureas’s shout echoed in Ferda’s ears.

Handkerchief.

Human hatred originates in trivial things.

Ureas was mad with greed, so his eyes were clouded and he was easily deceived by lies.

So it’s fine even if it’s a matter of the past, and there’s no need to mention it.

Just let it pass quietly.

But does smoke come from a chimney without fire?

There was unmistakably a truth that Ureas faced.

Ferda just wanted to confirm the depth of that truth.

— “Olivia.”

Ferda called her by her name.

— “Y-yes?”

Olivia could not hide her bewildered expression.

Ferda had never called her just by her name.

— “What happened to the handkerchief I gave you?”

Olivia shuddered deeply.