Chapter 132
Melina stood frozen in place, still clutching the ring whose communication had already been cut off.
Her fingertips seemed to be trembling uncontrollably even now.
She hurriedly drank a cup of warm water, forcing her wildly pounding heart to calm down.
‘Now it’s finally my turn to step in.’
When she placed her hand on the fireplace ornament, the fireplace slid open smoothly, revealing a secret space hidden behind it.
Melina carefully took out a large black crystal ball from inside.
On the surface of the crystal ball, tiny lights sparkled like clusters of stars. They were symbols representing the beings in the other world on whom she had left marks.
‘Go over to the other world and retrieve the completed version of the novel. And leave marks on the souls of everyone you meet in that world.’
‘Why must we leave marks on them?’
‘So that we can repay the debt of time with their lives. You can do it, can’t you?’
Elalione’s image, smiling brightly as he encouraged her, was still vivid before her eyes.
She faithfully followed Elalione’s orders.
To properly carry out the role of the old vegetable seller, she even changed her originally male appearance into that of an elderly woman.
She had never imagined that she would cross over into the world of the novel while still in the gender she had only temporarily changed into back then.
‘If all the marked souls are used to repay the debt of time…’
Those souls would be highly likely to possess people in the world of the novel, like Arines or Giana.
It was obvious that tremendous chaos would break out. Those who were forcibly possessed would probably beg and plead to be sent back to their original world.
But once the debt of time was fully repaid, there would be no way back. By then, Lord Elalione would have already regained all his power.
If this job was completed successfully, she would become Elalione’s second-in-command.
When she opened the window and glanced outside, she saw soldiers who had gathered from all over the empire densely surrounding the walls of the Magic Academy.
She had definitely cut off all communications within the capital. So what kind of trick had they pulled this time?
‘Even so, they’re just ordinary people. Ordinary people who can’t use magic at all.’
Ordinary people could never defeat a mage. Unless it was something like the Rupellen Knight Order, who had undergone intense training.
But since the Rupellen Knight Order was said to be in Snaud right now, she could easily subdue soldiers at that level.
‘The first sacrifices have come to me on their own. How convenient.’
Having steeled her resolve, Melina hid the crystal ball back inside the fireplace and slowly walked out into the academy garden.
Soon, a scene of great slaughter would unfold. And the first victims would be those soldiers.
After killing them and harvesting their life force, she would use that energy to finish filling the hourglass. Then she would summon lives from the other world into their corpses.
There was no better medium for summoning lives unrelated to the original story than corpses whose life force had already gone out.
Naturally, those who became possessed would lose all military function and flounder about helplessly…
‘Hm?’
Melina suddenly sensed something strange and instinctively stepped back.
An unidentified mass of magical power surged like a raging torrent, then charged straight toward the main gate of the magic tower.
KWA-KWA-KWANG.
With a thunderous explosion, the main gate—thickly layered with defensive magic—crumpled like paper and was flung into a corner of the garden.
As the smoke slowly cleared, a man with jet-black hair whipping in the air stood there.
“You are…?”
When Melina asked him in a trembling voice, the man grinned and replied,
“A mage who’s inferior to you in both skill and social ability—the master of Tian’s magic tower, Rio Blair.”
“…!”
“For something called a Magic Academy, it seems you didn’t even bother putting defensive magic on the main gate?”
Tower Master Rio Blair sneered as he pointed at the door, which was melting away while emitting smoke.
At his openly mocking attitude, Melina’s face twisted as badly as the door itself.
“How insolent…!”
Startled by the massive noise, the mages of the Magic Academy rushed into the garden. They wore white robes and held staffs that amplified magical power.
When they spotted the intruder, the mages’ expressions gradually hardened.
“Who are you? You will not take a single step inside!”
As the one who appeared to be the chief mage showed hostility, Rio smiled and raised both hands as if surrendering.
“Oh dear, can’t I come in for a bit? I may not look like it, but I’m a distinguished guest from another country.”
“Kill him first!”
The moment Melina gave the order, the academy mages aimed their staffs at Rio and began firing off all kinds of attack spells.
When Elalione revealed himself, Gari—who had been happily breathing fire—froze in shock, dropped to the ground, and hid behind my back.
“C-Creator….”
“It’s okay. You did great. Now go stay over there with Uncle Elliot.”
Handing Gari over to Elliot, I glared sharply at Elalione.
Elalione, who had finally appeared before us, was not alone.
Children who looked no older than ten followed closely behind him, their faces filled with terror.
At a glance, they were completely ordinary children who couldn’t use magic at all.
Making no effort to hide my disgust, I spoke to him.
“Beloved nephew? Even if it’s just empty words, hearing things like ‘beloved’ is unpleasant.”
“Oh my, such awful manners toward an uncle you’re meeting for the first time.”
“I didn’t realize you wanted to be treated like an uncle. Isn’t that a bit revolting? In any case, my father died because of you.”
I stiffened my expression and faced him head-on.
It felt like my head was spinning with rage.
The father I had seen in the diary was truly warm, brave, and just.
In contrast, the man standing before me was despicable, cold, and reeked of malice.
What made my skin crawl even more was how similar he looked to me. What was blood, anyway, to tie me to someone like this?
“Enough talk. Why did you bring those children?”
“Oh, these children? I thought they might help when setting up a negotiation table with my nephew.”
Elalione reached out his hand to the tallest child among them.
When the child hesitantly approached him, a vile smile flickered across Elalione’s face.
“…!”
Without hesitation, Elalione placed a finger on the child’s forehead. The child immediately lost consciousness and collapsed.
From the child’s body, something like golden particles gently flowed out and seeped into Elalione’s arms.
“W-What did you just do to that child…?!”
Startled, I tried to rush toward the fallen child, but Elalione stopped me with a gesture and said,
“Don’t come any closer. Unless you want to watch all the children here die.”
Grinning, he grabbed the arm of the second child and yanked them over to his side.
It was a vile threat—that if things went wrong, this child would end up just like the first.
“L-Lord Elalione! Why are you doing such a thing to the children?”
When the mages of Snaud, who had been facing us, asked in voices filled with shock, Elalione replied coldly with an icy smile.
“It’s the sacrifice of the few for the many. Stay where you are. Only when these people withdraw will peace come to Snaud.”
“B-But they’re our children…!”
The mage who stepped forward was likely the father of one of the children.
He glared at Elalione with eyes filled with confusion, rage, and guilt.
Yet, fearing the child might be harmed, he couldn’t step forward any further and instead bit his lip and retreated.
At that moment, Nox—who had been silently observing the situation—slowly moved with a chilling expression.
“Stop playing tricks on the children. You’re only adding to your crimes.”
Elalione twisted his lips into a sneer as he looked at him. His eyes clearly showed contempt for Nox.
“Oh? And who might this be? Isn’t it the Grand Duke of Rupellen, who used to whine like a child after losing his parents? Looks like your nose still hasn’t dried—shall I lend you a handkerchief?”
“…!”
“But what a pity. I don’t have the nasty hobby of killing parents and children together. I’d really like both of you to just go back.”
“Go back?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. Leave Snaud. Right now.”
“And if we can’t?”
“Then there’s nothing I can do. Whatever happens to these children won’t be my responsibility—it’ll be the responsibility of you two.”
At last, Elalione placed his hand on the second child. Just like the first, the child’s eyes rolled back as they collapsed.
Once again, golden particles burst out of the child and flowed into Elalione’s sleeve.
At that moment, the true nature of the object hidden in Elalione’s arms flashed through my mind.
‘Inside that… there’s the ancient relic—the hourglass!’
