NOVEL NEXT chapter 198
198. How to Use (4)
Heinkel stared blankly ahead.
The scenery filling his vision was.
A temple dyed entirely in red. And-
‘A red… moon?’
A sinister moon hung in the sky.
A red moon that illuminated the entire world.
[Wraith.]
“!”
A girl appeared out of nowhere.
The girl spat out each syllable as if chewing them.
[It would be wise to stop?]
A black holy robe.
Red eyes.
Watching the scene, Heinkel quickly racked his brain.
His thought circuits raced, establishing, discarding, and deriving various assumptions in an instant.
It wasn’t to find out who the girl in front of him was.
The reason she was thinking.
It was to define this irrational space unfolding before him.
And Heinkel’s exceptionally brilliant mind grasped the situation in no time-
“!”
Immediately, he awakened his magic.
She was a mass of magic, perhaps magic itself.
But paradoxically.
That’s why she couldn’t originally use magic.
No matter how much she was revered by all magicians, she was ultimately just a specter.
Unless she dabbled in black magic.
In a spectral state, manifesting magic was virtually impossible unless it was a simple kind.
But-
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gak-!
As if ignoring such laws.
Heinkel deployed magic in an instant.
Because he realized that within this space, magic could be implemented.
No,
It wasn’t even a realization.
She had already experienced this space.
Three magic circles overlapped and manifested around her.
From the three magic circles, nine magic circles,
Then from the nine magic circles, 27 magic circles manifested.
In a brief moment of less than 10 seconds.
The magic created by Heinkel, who stood at the pinnacle of all magicians, both past and present,
Known as the Chalice of the Beginning.
Just witnessing it was a spectacle that made everyone bow their heads in awe.
In the sky of this place, where only a red light existed-
“`
Kugugugugugugugugug-!!
The massive meteor shower she created.
Was falling down.
Heinkel’s magic, tearing through the air, even ripping apart the red light as it fell.
However.
“Hee-“
Yutia’s reaction to the aggressively rushing meteor was.
So light.
As if she was watching something amusing.
Just that kind of reaction.
Also, the girl didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping the falling meteor, she just watched.
The meteor, without any interference, crashed into the ground.
──────────!!!
It took everything away.
The temple’s roof.
The pillars.
The trees.
The ground.
The girl in front of her.
And even Heinkel herself, who had deployed the magic.
Thus.
Thud-!
“!”
Heinkel returned to the beginning.
The situation was exactly the same as before.
She was staring blankly ahead, and everything was still there.
The red temple.
The red trees.
The red marble floor.
The red moon.
“`
Everything was as it was.
As if time had been turned back.
And.
The girl was still there as well.
“Hmm- I was just going to warn you, but your reaction is more intense than I thought?”
At that, Heinkel frowned deeply,
“Why are you here? Surely the abyss-”
He tried to speak.
“Shh-”
“!”
She couldn’t continue.
The girl, no, Yutia Bloodia’s index finger.
Pressed gently against Heinkel’s lips, which couldn’t move properly.
“I’ve never revealed my true form before- you’re quite smart, aren’t you? But, this is as far as it goes.”
She smiled at Heinkel as if she were praising him.
Shiver-
Contrary to her relaxed demeanor.
Heinkel trembled all over in fear from the moment he realized her true identity.
Heinkel’s eyes, where reason had disappeared and only fear remained.
Yutia, who was gazing intently into those eyes, gently stroked Heinkel’s face.
Once,
Twice.
Then.
Tap-
She tapped his cheek with her index finger.
“Listen carefully, wraith. I’ll say this only once.”
“……”
Eventually.
“If he wants help, give him help.”
“If he does something, offer it to him.”
“If he asks you to offer your heart, then offer it.”
“That’s all you can do for him. Got it?”
The girl’s voice pours down.
Like the meteor shower Heinkel just created.
“If you understand, will you nod your head?”
Heinkel barely nodded.
Because he knew well.
That there was no other choice.
“You’re as obedient as ever. And-“
Yutia patted Heinkel’s head once more in response to his obedience.
“If you’re as smart as I think, you understand about me, right?”
She soon placed her finger on her lips and smiled contentedly.
And with that, it ended.
[Gasp-!]
“?”
“?”
Heinkel broke out in a cold sweat and exhaled roughly.
“……Are you okay?”
Alon asked with an expressionless face.
Heinkel looked at Alon with a bewildered expression, trying to calm his pounding heart.
“……?”
Alon tilted his head slightly, seemingly puzzled by the sudden stare.
[You-]
Heinkel tried to ask.
There were many things she was curious about.
More overwhelming than when she first saw the black things behind him.
She wanted to ask right away.
Do you know the girl who just appeared?
If you know her, what is your relationship with her?
Who are you that she, the ‘Abyss’, follows you?
What are you, really?
I wanted to ask.
But.
[No, no.]
“?”
[…A favor, a favor – to teach that woman magic, right?]
Heinkel couldn’t say it out loud.
The moment he asked that.
He was certain he wouldn’t survive.
Therefore.
“Yes.”
Alon, with a slightly bewildered expression, nodded.
[Alright, I’ll accept it.]
“Yes? But just a moment ago-”
[…That was a joke. I was a bit annoyed.]
No, to be precise, he looked at the red gem attached to Alon’s brooch.
He awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Kyiaaah-!”
Just a moment ago, Fenia, who seemed like she would turn to white ash, screamed like a pterosaur.
[…Come from tomorrow.]
Alon didn’t really understand what was going on.
But for now, he nodded.
####
“Thank you-!”
“There’s no need. You paid me, so I’m just returning the favor.”
“Still, thank you!”
Fenia, with sparkling eyes, bowed her head several times and then walked away as if she was flying with very happy steps.
…It felt like watching a Shiba Inu waddling in an old YouTube video.
Alon watched her back for a moment.
Then he recalled what had happened earlier.
‘…What is this? Something definitely felt different.’
It was definitely the same as usual until halfway through.
At some point, the behavior suddenly changed.
‘And those eyes.’
Alon wasn’t sharp enough to catch emotions just by looking at people’s eyes.
But even he could clearly sense it.
It was definitely.
‘As if they were afraid of something-’
“Marquis.”
At that moment.
Evan’s voice was heard.
“…What is that?”
His hands were full of something.
“Oh, this? It’s a gift for me.”
The gifts were piled up like a tower.
To the point where he couldn’t see ahead without turning his body sideways.
“Gifts?”
“Yes, even though I look like this, I’m quite handsome. The female wizards are very interested in me. Haha!”
“…?”
“…Marquis, no matter how much, that look of incomprehension is a bit disappointing. Especially since you’re not someone whose emotions show on their face.”
“Did I do that?”
“Yes.”
Evan sighed deeply.
“Well, the gifts are for me, but they’re actually meant for you.”
“…I think I get the gist of it.”
[Hmph- No need to explain, I understood it at a glance.]
Basiliora, who hadn’t shown up at all when he went to meet Heinkel.
Suddenly appeared as if he had been waiting for this moment and interrupted.
“Marquis, why don’t you take this snake-headed b*stard to the library? Then it could be corrected once more.”
[Hmph! Don’t talk nonsense! That kind of-]
Basiliora, who had been shouting confidently, suddenly lowered his voice.
Stretching his body like a meerkat, he looked around once more and-
[Do you think I would surrender to that devil!!]
He shouted again.
“……Ridiculous.”
[You’re even more ridiculous!]
Using their bickering voices as background noise.
Alon and his party arrived at their temporarily assigned lodging.
“Marquis, by the way, I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the rumors. Didn’t you ask earlier if there were any useful stories?”
“Were there many?”
“Well- I haven’t been to the information guild recently, so quite a few rumors have accumulated.”
Eventually, Evan began to relay the accumulated rumors.
“Well- I think that’s about all of it.”
After the report, Alon organized the rumors.
Among the various rumors, there were about three that Alon needed to pay attention to.
The first was that Eliban was erasing strange texts along the route of the Shtalian Kingdom.
The second was that something significant had happened in the capital of the Duchy of Varnos.
And the last one.
It was a rumor about the Duchy of Luxible- no, to be precise, about the mysterious jungle of Ronovell.
The rumors about the Duchy of Varnos and Ronovell.
These two needed to be investigated.
‘Monsters have attacked and devoured the capital of Varnos, and black magic is spreading in Ronovell.’
Among them, what particularly caught his attention was Varnos.
The reason was.
‘The fall of Varnos. This must be the beginning of the Four Powers episode…?’
The fall of Varnos.
It was the starting point of the Four Powers episode that occurs in the middle of Psychedelia.
Of course, Alon was somewhat aware of this.
The fact that much of the narrative of psychedelia he knew had become quite useless.
But even considering that.
Aguido, that is, Aguido’s appearance was too early.
“……Evan.”
“Yes, Marquis.”
“Soon, visit the information guild and find out more about the Principality of Barnos.”
“Understood.”
Alon asked Evan to investigate in detail.
A few days later.
“Take care-!”
“……See you next time.”
Leaving behind Penia, whose face was glowing with happiness.
Alon set out for Ronoveli to meet the Thunder Serpent tribe.
At that moment.
Inside the Ashtalon Palace.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Where has Kurak gone?”
“He said he had a place to stop by on the way and headed elsewhere. He asked me to tell Your Majesty that he would be back shortly.”
Duke Merkilian’s report made King Stalion V frown for a moment.
“It can’t be helped.”
He sighed and asked Duke Merkilian.
“So, did you find out what I asked you to check?”
“Yes, I did.”
“How was it?”
“……To conclude, the identity of Marquis Palatio is-“
Duke Merkilian paused as if he was about to say something difficult.
“-seems to be a god of another race.”
He reported calmly.
“What……?”
King Stalion V’s voice trembled slightly.