Chapter 86
“I’m the one who saved Sienna, you know? If it weren’t for me, she’d be fish food by now!”
Bani grumbled, complaining that instead of being thanked for protecting Sienna, he was being scolded.
Standing beside him, wringing out my clothes, I nodded in agreement.
“So,” I said, “Mr. Herais, who left me behind—did you find the medium?”
“Not yet. I was on my way when a certain troublemaker showed up and interrupted me.”
“Whoever that is, they sound like a very good person,” I teased, winking at him.
Herais shook his head as if I were impossible.
“Come here, I’ll dry you off.”
Wary that he might try to send me away again, I hesitated, but he sighed, stepped closer, and took my hand.
With a sudden surge of heat—whoosh!—the moisture evaporated in an instant.
“Honestly, you’re so stubborn. You never listen.”
“That’s my charm,” I shot back.
“Oh really? Maybe that’s why I fell for you?”
“…….”
This time, I lost.
Herais quickly regained his composure and grinned slyly, teasing me again.
“……Let’s just hurry up and find it. We can’t be late.”
“Trying to change the subject, are we? Cute.”
“Please… I was wrong…”
I muttered into my hands, and Herais chuckled softly.
“Let’s go.”
Fortunately, he seemed to know where the medium was. His confident strides left no hesitation.
Walking in step with him, I suddenly realized something strange.
‘Why don’t I hear anything?’
We were in a forest, but there wasn’t a single sound—no insects, no rustling leaves, not even the wind.
Feeling uneasy, I looked around—and froze.
The stream right beside us wasn’t flowing.
Even though it sloped downward, the water was completely still.
As if… time itself had stopped.
‘What is this place…?’
Here, there was no wind, no water, no sound—everything was frozen in stillness.
Herais noticed the change in my expression and spoke.
“You noticed?”
“Wait… don’t tell me… time has stopped?”
“I guess my lessons paid off. You figured it out without me saying anything,” he said, patting my head approvingly.
“Time stopping… Is that even possible?”
“It’s almost impossible.”
“Then how—?”
“Because there’s someone who made the impossible possible.”
“‘Someone’? You mean… a person did this?”
Judging by Herais’s complicated expression, they must have been someone he knew—someone close, maybe.
‘Whoever it was must’ve been insane.’
To stop time in an entire village? They’d have to burn away their own life force to do it.
Before I learned magic, I wouldn’t have understood.
But now, I knew just how absurd such a feat was.
“Why would they stop time?”
“Hmm… probably by accident.”
“What?”
Unable to hold back my curiosity, I blurted out the question—and his answer made me shriek.
“By accident? No way! What kind of person could do that by accident?”
“A very… unpredictable one.”
I was about to demand a real explanation, but when I saw his eyes, my words died in my throat.
“They were… a good person.”
His soft smile darkened, like clouds covering sunlight.
“And also… someone infuriating. Someone I owe an apology to.”
His calm, low voice made my chest tighten.
“……And?” I prompted.
There was no way that was the end of it.
I knew exactly who he was talking about—the one from that time.
“……Someone precious,” he finished quietly.
I knew it.
The sorrow in his voice pierced through me, and before I knew it, I grabbed his wrist.
“Was it that person? The one afflicted with the Breath of Death… like me?”
He looked down at me silently—and that silence told me everything.
The person Herais spoke of… was the woman I’d seen in my dreams.
“……So it was a woman.”
“Does that matter?” he asked, frowning slightly, not understanding my reaction.
That look made something inside me burst.
“You tell me you like me, and yet you’re longing for another woman—how isn’t that important?!”
“Another woman? Ah… I guess you could take it that way.”
Herais frowned, then rubbed his chin as though he’d realized something.
“Hmm, this is tricky. I can’t really tell you the truth.”
He looked troubled, but his calm tone drained the fight out of me.
Of course. It wasn’t that serious for him anyway.
I felt stupid for losing my temper.
I released his wrist and stepped back.
“……Forget it. I don’t want to know.”
“SiSi, are you jealous?”
“No? Why would I be?” I said curtly, shrugging my shoulders while avoiding his eyes.
Truth was, I was jealous.
I’m possessive by nature—clingy, even.
Herais had always made me feel like his first priority, and realizing that wasn’t true stung.
It felt like someone had taken him away from me.
Maybe that’s why my face had gone stiff—because this time, he took my hand.
His thumb brushed over the back of it gently, but I felt nothing.
“Hmm, SiSi. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not what it looks like.”
“I’m not misunderstanding anything,” I said flatly.
If anything, the misunderstanding had cleared up.
I looked down at his hand holding mine, then raised my gaze to meet his.
In his blue eyes, I saw conflict—and I knew.
I should’ve never asked.
“It’s fine. I’m not curious anymore, so you don’t have to explain.”
I’d learned my lesson from the past—digging too deep, clinging too tightly only made things worse.
‘And then it becomes something you cringe about forever afterward.’
No more regrets for me.
“Let’s stop chatting and just find what we came for.”
“SiSi, wait—”
I pulled my hand free and stepped inside the temple.
“Which way?”
“……That way,” he said, pointing.
I followed the direction he indicated. It wasn’t hard to find the place—there was only one room that hadn’t collapsed.
“Here?”
“Somewhere around here, but we’ll have to search everything. But, SiSi—”
“I’ll open it.”
Ignoring him, I quickly searched the room.
I could feel him watching from behind, but I kept my focus.
As I examined the walls, I noticed strange carvings etched into the stone.
“What’s this? I saw these symbols outside too.”
Bani, peeking from where he was tucked in my arms, answered.
“It’s an ancient language. These parts are about long-lost ancient magic. Hmm, looks like all of this wall’s about black magic.”
“Ancient magic? Then did the cult leader decipher this and use it for his black spells?”
“Exactly.”
Herais came closer and pointed at the opposite wall.
“That one’s a spell for reanimating dead bodies.”
Then he turned and pointed to the corner beside me.
“And this one distorts space.”
Every single one of those spells was something the cult leader had used.
“He pulled off ancient magic pretty well, though. Must’ve spent years on it.”
I blinked in surprise. “Wow, are you actually complimenting him?”
“It’s sarcasm,” Herais said coolly. “If he’d spent that time searching for these instead, he might not have conquered the Empire, but he could’ve at least crushed the Grand Temple. Idiot.”
So that’s what it was—a mockery disguised as praise.
“By the way, what were you looking for earlier?”
Herais handed me a dagger inlaid with a red gem.
“It’s a magic tool specialized for defense. With something like this, you can probably block almost any attack. Take it.”
“This is a magic tool?”
I had thought it was just a random dagger lying around. Skeptical, I grasped the hilt—and felt the surge of powerful mana.
“This thing… it’s pretty high grade, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It’s an ancient artifact, so at least S-rank.”
“At least?”
“We’d need an appraisal to be sure, but it might even be S+.”
I gaped at the dagger.
An S-rank magic tool was practically divine—something neither commoners nor most nobles could ever touch.
Maybe the emperor, but not even the prestigious Winter family owned one.
They couldn’t be bought, no matter how much gold you had.
‘Most of them are owned by the Magic Tower anyway.’
And now he was giving me one?
My hands trembled. “Aren’t we not supposed to touch relics found in ruins? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Better than letting it rot here.”
He had a point.
Besides Herais, no one else even seemed to know about this place.
‘Does the Tower know?’
No—they’d have cleared it out already if they did.
“In that case…”
I didn’t refuse. I slipped the artifact into my pocket.
Before, I wouldn’t have even cared.
But now that I was a mage myself, I couldn’t resist the temptation.
‘An S-rank artifact! When else would I ever get to hold one of these?’
Grinning, I patted my pocket proudly.
The sour mood from earlier melted away completely.
Seeing my softened expression, Herais’s eyes sparkled mischievously.
“Want another one?”
“There’s more?”
Before I could finish speaking, he dumped a pile of artifacts onto the desk.
“See? Plenty!”
Herais beamed like a boy showing off his treasure haul.
“……Yeah. There sure are,” I said, half amazed, half exasperated.
