Chapter 11
I couldn’t exactly ask what the damn king had stolen from this wedge. The moment I did, the wedge would immediately kill me to keep the secret.
“Are you saying this to me now? Show me the evidence.”
“You are not in a position to make such a request.”
“Are you telling me to take your warning seriously, which might be from a spy of Tarshan trying to worsen the relationship with Remable, and report it to my lord?”
“I have already clearly stated my affiliation.”
“Then I’ll have to see it by force.”
I took out a thin dagger from my cloak and attacked the wedge.
The dagger, specialized for thrusting rather than slashing, was often used by assassins like the wedge. It was convenient for close combat in alleys like this.
Perhaps not expecting an attack, the wedge pulled back in surprise. I immediately seized the opening. The blade collided. It was stronger than I thought, so I diverted it and aimed for his neck.
It only took one move to give up on capturing him alive.
“Do you want to die?”
“When did Remable’s wedge become a fraud? It was quite funny that you seriously spoke while holding a magic scroll that wouldn’t even produce smoke, let alone fire.”
“Were you a mage?”
The wedge stopped his move to counterattack. He wasn’t underestimating me; he was calculating. He knew very well what the king of Remable wanted in an era where magic was fading.
*Clang!*
Once the wedge had finished assessing the situation, he attacked. As expected, his strength was brutally powerful. Even when I deflected the blow, my hand still trembled. He was as fast as I was. It was irritating that he skillfully avoided vital points, proving that he wasn’t intending to kill me.
“If you’re not a mage, I can assume you understand magic, right?”
Though he muttered, I saw the glint in his eyes.
It was a risky stance, but I instinctively twisted my body to the side. That movement saved me.
I nearly got hit on the head with the scabbard. I didn’t expect him to strike with it. Stunned, I looked at the wedge, but his expression showed no concern for my reaction.
“In that case, it means you must know other magic as well.”
The coldness in the wedge’s eyes quickly shifted to a different, gleaming light. His voice, now completely altered, was calm yet chilling.
…If I’m not careful, I might get kidnapped.
It seemed the wedge had completely changed his objective, now looking at me with eyes full of intent.
He wanted to tear open my head and extract information, even if it meant dissecting it. The people of Remable must be going wild over anything related to magic, now that they’ve built a country over the land of a long-extinct magical kingdom.
The wedge’s attacks grew sharper and faster. As if guarding against any sound that might leak out, he pushed me further into the alley. It was an attack I couldn’t avoid, even though I knew what he was doing.
And damn it, my body was reaching its limit. After two days of this ‘rough exercise,’ there was no way my body could hold up. I thought I could still manage, but that was a huge mistake.
The familiar pain rushed in from my heart. Biting my lip until it bled, I pushed through the pain and attacked the wedge.
There’s no time. Time’s running out.
There was little left. If this dragged on any longer, I’d fall to the wedge’s sword, not from exhaustion, but from clutching my heart.
As I endured the pain, my body began to shake. Cold sweat ran down my face. If my heart were normal, I wouldn’t have taken this long to catch the wedge.
*Kaga-kak!*
“Ugh!”
In the end, I collapsed, clutching my heart. I even dropped the dagger I had been desperately gripping.
No one would miss an opening in an enemy. The wedge, with a chilling laugh full of exhilaration, quickly closed the distance between us, seizing the opportunity.
I knew the wedge wouldn’t kill me, but given his profession and familiarity with killing, I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stop his sword in time.
*Thud!*
The wedge’s dagger, uncontrolled, plunged into my shoulder. The cold blade sank into my flesh and reached my bone. The intense pain made me grit my teeth.
I grabbed the wedge’s trembling hand that was holding the dagger. He seemed to know that I was losing my composure from the pain, and he didn’t try to shake me off.
Instead, as if intending to knock me unconscious, he raised the scabbard, which he had almost struck me with earlier.
Before it could go any further, I clung to my fading consciousness from the pain in my heart and shoulder and spoke.
“「Letra.」”
I felt the wedge’s hand, which I had grabbed, convulsing. I heard the sound of the magic stone embedded in the dagger breaking. I felt the wedge’s muscles stiffen for a moment and immediately pulled away from him. The wedge, his eyes wide, seemed about to follow me, but then he collapsed.
Slowly, I watched as the wedge’s eyes widened in realization that the hand I had touched was being pierced by nails. I gasped for breath as I observed his expanding pupils.
The exposed skin of the wedge began to darken. It was rotting from the inside out.
“Ah, as expected!”
Even though he must have known his body was decaying, the wedge began to crawl toward me, his eyes gleaming with madness.
Though his body was rotting from the inside out and would be painful, he still looked at me with eyes filled not with agony but with exhilaration. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his eyes.
“Magic, please, to us. My king, to liberate…”
The wedge’s strained words turned into his last will. His body, blackened and white as if burned by fire, collapsed, but his eyes, still gleaming with madness, remained sharp and intact even in death.
“Ugh, ugh, ha…”
My body trembled.
I had seen eyes like that before.
In my seventh life.
They were the eyes of the madmen who had become intoxicated with the gods they had created, offering my body as a sacrifice on their altar.
“Ugh.”
I wanted to vomit. I clamped my mouth shut and squeezed my eyes tight.
I was already in bad shape, and if I recalled that memory any further, I was sure I’d faint right here. Desperately, I tried to think of something else. Diver. My cocky little brat.
I had to go back. I needed to return to Diver, who must be waiting for me.
He always acted like a madman and had a bad temper, but surprisingly, that little brat was quite prone to loneliness.
If I didn’t go back, he’d definitely sulk, pouting with that annoyingly handsome face, biting his lip, and locking himself in his room.
And until I went to comfort him, he’d probably refuse to eat and brood over everything.
So I couldn’t faint yet. I needed to go, show him my face, and tell him not to sulk since I was back.
I pulled the dagger out of my shoulder and threw it aside. My vision flickers for a moment, but I bit down on the flesh inside my mouth to hold onto my consciousness. I needed to return to where Diver was waiting.
But I couldn’t get up…
My body wouldn’t move. I tried to push myself up using a wooden box left in the alley, but my body just trembled and refused to move.
Just when I thought I was done for, I felt a familiar force gently wrap around me like a breeze. At the same time, the pain that had been gnawing at my mind eased, and the dark world around me filled with a warm golden light, like the calm glow of summer dusk. Instinctively, I looked up.
Our eyes met.
“Bell will wake up soon.”
How long had he been watching me?
The sharp, dragon-like pupils, encased in golden irises, were fixed on me. Sometimes those eyes felt like the moon, but now they were as clear as the sun, which was strangely mesmerizing. At the same time, it felt as though he could see right through my very being, and it sent a chill down my spine.
“Do you need my help?”
It was a kind offer, but I couldn’t answer hastily. This dragon king had a reasonable personality. It was obvious he would demand payment for any help.
Raspeim always appeared suddenly in situations where I was troubled, forcing deals disguised as ‘help’ just like this one.
What was he going to ask for this time?
Before, when a neighboring prince who claimed to fall for me at first sight offered to protect me ‘peacefully,’ he ended up taking me to a gambling den as payment. There had been many similar exchanges, so even though I knew I couldn’t afford to ask, I couldn’t help myself.
“What do you want in return?”
“Hmm…”
Raspeim smiled like a painting.
“Well, it would be nice if you kissed me in front of Bell.”
It was like he was saying I should kill myself. When I frowned, Raspeim seemed to enjoy his own joke and laughed out loud. His behavior made me understand all too well why Diver hated Raspeim, and my expression involuntarily twisted.
“There’s no time now, so I’ll take you to Bell first. The price can be discussed later.”
Raspeim scooped me up in his arms. It was surely an immense honor for a mere human like me to be held by a guardian dragon, yet my mood was sinking towards the ground.
Raspeim’s face lowered towards mine. I tried to pull away, but I didn’t have the strength, so I just closed my eyes. As soon as I shut them, my body’s tension started to dissipate. I heard Raspeim’s soft laugh from beyond the darkness.
“It’s alright now, Teian.”
As Raspeim whispered that and pressed his lips to my forehead, I, embarrassingly, lost all tension and fainted.