Chapter 9
Like a Deep Lake
After Thessalos Wolcher died, all the lords boarded their carriages and returned home.
Only Luri and Ferda remained at the assembly hall.
“Truly magnificent.”
Luri looked up at Ferda and applauded with her tiny hands.
“You clearly demonstrated who stood above whom today. Remarkable. Your political skill was nothing short of artistry.”
Ferda was suffering from a headache brought on by mana exhaustion. Lightly massaging his temple with his fingers, he replied,
“It was merely an unintended outcome.”
“You may not have intended that result, but it happened nonetheless. What do you plan to do now?”
“What do you mean?”
Luri frowned as though wondering how he could even ask that.
“You just killed a noble. Even with the Dread Queen’s prestige behind you, this will obviously become controversial.”
“Will it?”
Ferda recalled how everyone around him had reacted and asked,
“It seemed rather quiet for something so problematic.”
“And who would be foolish enough to point it out?”
Everything had gone so smoothly that Ferda had not even realized he had committed a serious crime.
Now that she mentioned it, he finally understood that he ought to feel somewhat troubled.
Seeing his expression, Luri let out a quiet sigh and continued.
“Furthermore, your opponent was one of the lords who had already pledged his full loyalty to Valdrova. He was quite—”
“Honest?”
“…”
“I killed her finest loyal subject with my own hands, so I suppose that will interfere with the engagement as well?”
So that was why.
There had been a reason Luri’s eyes were sparkling.
Contrary to her expectations, Ferda merely scratched his cheek and replied,
“The engagement will proceed as planned. If I can prove that he deserved to die, will that not change matters?”
“I suppose it would… but how can you be so certain?”
As far as Luri knew, Ferda and Thessalos Wolcher had met for the first time today.
Yet he spoke as though he knew the man better than Luri or any of the other lords who had known him for years.
“Because.”
Because I already know.
If Ferda’s memories were correct, the man was committing a grave crime even now.
“Let us go to Wolcher’s territory.”
“You intend to dig up whatever dirt you can find?”
“Do not worry.”
“Very well. But before that…”
Luri crooked a finger toward Thessalos’s corpse.
With a slicing sound, his head came cleanly off.
Luri wrapped the severed head in a cloth.
“Why are you taking that?”
“We will need it. Whatever the reason you killed him, he died because he had done something wrong.”
Ferda understood and nodded.
“So you intend to display his head publicly? Like you would with a corrupt noble?”
“Is that not obvious?”
“You called him her greatest loyal subject.”
“You may do as you please.”
Ferda fell silent.
Whatever else could be said, Luri was ultimately helping him.
Wolcher’s territory lay at the easternmost edge of the far east. It was the land closest to the army stationed along the border.
At the same time, it was also the territory nearest to Valdrova Castle.
“They say the darkest place is beneath the lamp. So it was right here?”
Ferda muttered to himself.
He had first encountered Thessalos Wolcher in the southern desert.
Until then, he had never imagined that the man had once been stationed on the far eastern front.
When they arrived before the inner castle of Wolcher’s estate, the butler hurried outside.
Despite his haste, he greeted them with the composure expected of the steward of Wolcher’s household.
“It is an honor to receive such distinguished guests in this humble place. Regrettably, my master is currently away—”
“Your master is dead.”
“…Pardon?”
The elderly butler stared at him in bewilderment.
“I said your master is dead. We will be going inside. Do you happen to know where Thessalos Wolcher’s laboratory is?”
“Th-that is… No, more importantly, what do you mean you killed my master…?”
“That is enough. He lived openly and proudly—”
Ending the one-sided conversation, Ferda walked past the butler and entered the manor.
The butler watched him pass with an expression of utter incomprehension.
Luri, who had been following behind, handed the wrapped bundle to the butler and pointed upward.
“Hang this somewhere clearly visible from the castle gate.”
“Pardon? What is this…?”
Luri also walked past him and entered the manor.
A moment later, the elderly butler’s scream echoed thunderously through the corridors.
Thessalos Wolcher.
He belonged to a family of magicians that had been driven to the frontier because of political conflicts.
It was a family filled with hatred and resentment every bit as intense as Ferda’s own.
Birds of a feather flocked together. The first companion Ferda had ever taken in was Thessalos.
‘Thessalos Wolcher hated the Empire.’
He possessed a Red Circle, and because of it, the magical community had branded him a heretic and pushed him to the outskirts.
Thessalos had devoted himself to developing magic with the single-minded desire to kill every last one of them.
And what became of his efforts?
‘He did succeed.’
Of course, success was all he achieved.
‘I never actually saw the magic itself.’
Before Thessalos could use that magic—or even give it a proper name—he had died by Ferda’s hand.
Just like today, he had died without understanding why.
‘Come to think of it, why did I kill him back then?’
Ferda could not remember that either.
It was hardly strange.
Back then, Ferda had desperately needed something to hate.
To reach the Sixth Circle faster than anyone else, he had been willing to do anything. He had even become a monster capable of killing his own benefactors.
‘It does not matter.’
He felt not the slightest hesitation.
It was not because of some delusion that he represented justice.
The only thing that mattered was that the Thessalos of the present would undoubtedly become someone who made Ferda’s future bride grieve.
‘In any case, it should be somewhere around here…’
Ferda thoroughly searched Thessalos’s room.
The man had claimed to have devoted his entire life to his research.
Even while pretending to be a loyal subject, he must have concealed sinister intentions.
After looking around for some time, Ferda finally discovered something.
“Here it is.”
It was directly beneath the bed.
The seams between the floor tiles were uneven, and he could sense an unfamiliar current leaking through the narrow gaps.
“He built a secret chamber beneath the bed.”
“Are you going to open it?”
“Of course. I will search for the switch. Give me a moment—”
Crash!
Before Ferda could finish speaking, the sound of something breaking rang out.
When he turned around, the bed had been split in half, and the hidden door beneath it had shattered along with it.
Luri casually dusted off her small, delicate fist.
“Why bother searching for it?”
“…”
It was an exceedingly crude method, but there was no particular reason not to use it.
Luri and Ferda descended the stairs leading underground.
As it grew darker, a faint metallic stench of blood drifted toward them.
“It smells like monster blood.”
“You can distinguish that? You have quite the nose.”
“I believe loyalty should be doglike.”
“…Are you trying to pick a fight?”
Luri glared at him, but Ferda did not react.
Eventually, the stairs ended, and the two stepped into a new space.
“This is…”
They instinctively frowned.
It was only natural.
There were times when one entered a place prepared to see a blood-soaked scene.
But Thessalos had gone far beyond that. The sight was cruel and grotesque beyond reason.
Anyone with a weak stomach would have vomited immediately, but neither Luri nor Ferda was particularly shaken.
‘Though it seems they cannot get used to the smell.’
Ferda covered his nose with his index finger and waited for his sense of smell to adjust.
Luri looked up at one of the corpses and frowned.
“So this is what they mean when they say the darkest place is beneath the lamp.”
The corpse of a dead soldier and the body of a monster lay side by side on a bed.
Their stomachs had been cut open, and their purple and crimson entrails had been stitched together with thread.
“…”
Demon worshippers.
Demons had been created during the Dragon-Demon War one hundred and fifty years ago, when the Winged Dragon Godwin fell into corruption.
Those who continued to trace the demons’ movements and sought to harness their power were known as demon worshippers.
“You did not expect this?”
“I know magicians tend to be somewhat sinister.”
Deep disgust and betrayal filled her silver eyes.
“But I never imagined he would indulge in something as revolting as connecting the organs of humans and monsters.”
Yet betrayal could only wound someone as deeply as the trust they had placed in the other person.
“Humans are all like that.”
As a dragon spawn, Luri had never placed much faith in humanity.
Thus, her feelings ended cleanly, disappearing in the span of a single blink.
What mattered now was what Wolcher had hoped to obtain through such grotesque experiments.
Luri discovered manuscripts scattered around the writing desk.
Her eyes swiftly scanned them, and when she finished, she snorted.
“So there really was a genuine psychopath here.”
“Why?”
“Would you like to see?”
Ferda looked at the first page of the manuscript she handed him.
He read through the outline.
Only then did the memory return to him.
‘Right.’
Among summoning magics, the necromantic branch was divided into two extremes.
One could either create a single overwhelmingly powerful monster or deploy countless weak monsters.
Because necromancers relied so heavily on either quantity or quality, they were the magicians whose tactics were easiest to counter and suppress.
‘He intended to combine the toughness of monsters with the sheer numbers of the undead.’
If completed, it would become the ultimate magic capable of mass-producing elite soldiers for the Empire.
“…”
It was all because of the cultivation method.
Monsters constantly produced mana.
‘But it is impure mana that cannot normally be used.’
Monsters grew stronger by feeding on tremendous quantities of that mana.
‘But if that production process could be reproduced and used to extract pure mana…’
Even those said to possess no talent could reach the Fourth Circle—the rank of a true mage—the moment they mastered it.
Ferda himself had once reached that level through it.
He looked down at the page containing the outline once more.
‘If I researched this…’
He could complete it.
There was no doubt.
Perhaps he could do so several times faster than before.
Luri stared at him intently.
‘He is human. Of course he would covet it.’
She dwelled once more on her fundamental loathing of humanity.
His claim that he did not want to make someone sad was surely nothing more than an excuse.
That was what Ferda had to be thinking.
‘All humans lie.’
They were a foolish race that trapped themselves in lies, rejoicing and grieving over them.
Since she already knew they lied, there was no reason to feel betrayed.
‘But…’
Why was this man different?
Unlike with Thessalos, her chest felt increasingly constricted.
‘Do I want to believe that I can trust this man?’
Luri bit her lower lip.
Her pride as a dragon spawn wounded, she tried to cast the thought aside and asked him directly,
“So, what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“That research. It would be a waste to destroy it.”
It was valuable, so he would continue it.
The answer should have been that simple. There was no need for a long excuse.
For a magician who pursued knowledge, it was only natural.
However, Ferda’s answer differed from that of other magicians.
“No.”
Ferda handed the page back to Luri.
“Destroy all of it.”
“All of it…?”
For a moment, Luri’s usually expressionless face broke apart.
She had not expected that response at all.
She had thought he would hesitate at least a little, but Ferda’s answer had been as sharp as a blade.
“Did I not tell you? I dislike anything that would make the Dread Queen grieve.”
“But you would destroy magical research of this value merely because of that?”
“It is certainly magnificent.”
Ferda nodded.
“But if it ultimately leads to my fiancée’s sorrow, what meaning could it possibly have?”
His eyes did not waver.
They were eyes no ordinary magician could ever possess.
Within those blue eyes was reflected a tranquil landscape devoid of greed, calm as a deep lake.
“…”
“Why are you staring blankly?”
A blue flame flickered above Luri’s fingertip.
It was a pure flame created by converting mana into the form of fire.
The moment she threw it, the papers would be consumed in an instant.
Luri stared at the flame, then slowly rolled her eyes upward toward Ferda.
“…Do not change your mind later.”
“I will not.”
In accordance with Ferda’s wishes, Luri burned all of the research.
The laboratory, the manuscripts, and the grotesque corpses used in the experiments were all engulfed in blue flames, gradually crumbling into ash.
‘It burns well.’
Ferda quietly watched.
It was a magic he could undoubtedly have completed after investing only a few months.
He had once helped Thessalos create it, and more importantly, it was a magic he had already learned before.
Even so, the reason Ferda abandoned it was simple.
‘Every magic carries the personality and emotions of its creator.’
Those qualities became embedded in the magic and eventually corrupted the one who used it.
That was why one must not learn demonic magic.
It was why forbidden magics existed.
‘And that magic was born from rage and hatred.’
Thessalos had hated the Empire.
If Ferda learned that magic, he would surely become consumed by anger and hatred that did not belong to him.
‘That is why it must be discarded.’
He would not allow himself to be bound by such trivial things.
He would cherish the person he was now.
His twisted desire turned to ash and disappeared into nothingness.
A heart as clear and still as a polished mirror brought a smile to Ferda’s face.
“It truly… burns well.”
Luri watched him mutter to himself.
Her assessment of Ferda was as follows:
‘An incomprehensible psychopath.’
And she did not forget to add one more thing.
‘And a masochist on top of that.’
What kind of absurd combination was that?
The unsettling feeling within her grew steadily deeper, and her expression became increasingly distorted.