Chapter 135………………………………………
The Fire Demon (4)
Rigma strode step by step toward Temia.
He bent down to meet her eye level, and with a chilling smile, he ran his hand over her head.
“Isn’t it said you’re Lowell’s assistant? How did the youngest daughter of Duke Etval end up as a worker in a workshop, doing menial chores? Well, it’s turned into a great opportunity for me.”
“……”
“Who would have thought that you, a non-magic user, would become the final key to realizing the grand ambitions of us magicians? The Etval family, strangely enough, has never produced magicians for generations. Yet that non-magical bloodline is the only one capable of wielding a dragon’s relic?”
Truly a paradox. He lowered the hand that had been stroking her hair and whispered softly to Temia.
“This relic granting a chance once more can be interpreted as a parallel to when the Etval of old devoted themselves to the Gold Dragon, the embodiment of magic, and founded a kingdom. The relic is meant to be returned to a magician to create a new world.”
“……Hah.”
“You are merely the storekeepers.”
Temia clenched her lips, almost shouting at the man who insulted her family. She bit down hard enough that blood stained her lips. She wanted to scream at him, to argue that he had come back in time to prevent the spread of such shallow ideology.
But she could not. Kyle was still in the hands of the author. Now was the time to lower herself and wait.
Seeing Temia silent, Rigma assumed she was intimidated and grabbed her arm, dragging her toward the room.
“Just bring me the box inside. If you try anything foolish, I’ll give you the privilege of watching this young lady meet her death right before your eyes.”
Temia shook off her daze and regained her composure. She couldn’t break down now. After all, she had already escaped a similar situation once.
She stepped into the room, and Rigma held his breath, observing every move.
‘…If this is a relic that can only be used once, then even if time is reversed, it can’t be used. It has to be that way.’
With trembling hands, she picked up the box in the center of the room. Clink. Somehow, it sounded as though something inside the box made that noise.
Keeping her back turned, she slowly opened the box. Her heart pounded violently. Please, let the orb be damaged. Let it be incomplete, so that Rigma has no chance to use it in any way.
And then…
‘As expected, it’s broken.’
Just as she wished, the orb lay in shattered pieces in the box. Its ruinous state could easily be mistaken by anyone unfamiliar as just a pile of crystal fragments. If so, Rigma wouldn’t know that the relic had already been “used.” He might even think from the start that the broken fragments were the relic itself. She had to hope he believed that. From now on, she had to keep him here based on that one assumption.
“Stop dawdling and come out quickly, won’t you?”
Rigma’s voice rang through the room, scolding Temia for her sluggishness.
Temia carefully closed the box and stepped out. Then she shouted at him.
“You might think you can just take this, but I was told by my father that this relic… can’t be used by anyone who isn’t from Etval! Just like the barrier, the relic follows the same rule. So hand over Kyle immediately! If you do that, I’ll cooperate with you.”
“……Huh!”
“Hurry up!”
Despite the situation, her words were surprisingly bold. Only moments ago, she had seemed too scared to move.
‘Even if it seems ordinary, Etval is still Etval,’ Rigma thought with a faint laugh. He then pushed the fainted Kyle toward Temia as if handing her off.
‘……!’
Temia caught Kyle in her arms, supporting him as she slowly backed away down the corridor. After about ten steps, she laid him down and turned back to face Rigma, still clutching the box tightly.
“So this is the dragon’s relic? The magical waves aren’t very strong, interesting… and in fragments. Perhaps the magic couldn’t withstand it, and it broke?”
In an instant, Rigma snatched the box from her, turning it around and examining it, speaking words that made Temia’s heart drop. Flustered, she quickly added:
“T-The one inside can be activated if held by someone with Etval blood and a mage to inject magic!”
She remembered his taunt about using the relic to create a new world for magicians, using Etval’s blood. So there was no reason not to follow through. Rigma replied, clearly satisfied.
“Surely, Etval is a family placed by dragons for magicians. Since they themselves weren’t magicians, they couldn’t misuse power recklessly. Hahaha!”
Her teeth clenched at his arrogant words. If she had any strength, she would strike him down immediately.
Seeing Temia hesitate, possibly thinking she was intimidated, Rigma pressed her, holding the fragments.
Her palms sweated. Her plan had reached this point. By revealing the relic’s use while restricting Rigma’s movement out of suspicion, she could buy time until Lowell arrived. Knowing the power of Etval was needed, Rigma would surely attempt to use the relic here. She just had to play along.
Then, Rigma roughly grabbed her hand—and at that moment, she sensed a faint movement by her ear.
Temia noticed the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.
‘Lowell, it’s Lowell!’
A single descending set of footsteps meant he had defeated the magicians and was coming for her, just as he had promised.
Rigma, sensing something amiss with his sharp instincts, frowned and looked toward the stairs.
Realizing this, Temia held Rigma’s hand tightly with the broken orb fragments and shouted:
“LOWELL!!! HIT THIS GUY—!!!!!”
After sending Temia ahead, Lowell felt his heart racing. Anxiety gnawed at a corner of his mind.
‘Should I have kept her close instead?’
Even knowing there wasn’t time to hide her somewhere and lure them out, not seeing her unleashed all sorts of ominous thoughts.
As his mind raced, his mana sharpened. One by one, those who had targeted him screamed in agony and were crushed. Seeing the last one fall, he moved quickly.
It wasn’t hard to follow Temia’s trail, and finally, he found the door leading from the study to the basement. His heart pounded wildly.
‘This is it.’
He was certain. And then, hearing Temia’s scream, he could think of nothing else.
Temia, sensing Lowell’s approach, grabbed Rigma’s arm with all her strength and pulled hard. Caught off guard, Rigma lost his balance. That brief opening was enough for Lowell to intervene.
“Temia, get down!”
Thud—!!
With a dull impact, Rigma’s body flew against the wall. Lowell quickly followed. Then—
Whrrrr—
KRAK-KWANG-!!!
Before Rigma could cast a spell, Lowell unleashed a condensed wave of raw magic.
With full force, Rigma lost consciousness without even chanting. The tiny veins in his wide-open eyes seemed to burst, giving a blood-red illusion. The broken orb fragments fell into powder from his hand.
But there was no time to relax. Rigma’s accomplice, holding Kyle, remained nearby.
‘Ah, remaining mana…!’
“Lowell, that bastard…!”
No hesitation. He chose the simplest method: grabbing the flustered arm and punching the face.
Thud—!
A satisfying strike. Having spent considerable mana, this was the simplest attack Lowell could do. The effect was immense. Rigma’s subordinate collapsed next to him.
The battle ended almost trivially.
From the start, Lowell’s mana was beyond what ordinary magicians could handle.
Even though he had expended mana in a battle against Prometheus, he still lived up to his title as the youngest genius magician ever.
Of course, Temia’s contribution was significant. By using the relic strategically, she created a blind spot that allowed Lowell to take down the chief court magician in one strike.
“Your hands are a mess.”
Lowell crouched and placed restraining mana cuffs on Rigma and his subordinate, then stood and approached Temia. Her hands were a mess from holding the broken fragments with Rigma. Lowell frowned at this, prompting Temia to hurriedly add:
“You’re not seriously hurt, are you?”
“Hurt? The worst injury I’ve taken is swollen hands from punching. That’s it.”
“That’s a relief. So now… what should we do with those people?”
At that moment, a commotion arose from afar. Shouts and footsteps echoed, and over it all, voices called out to Temia, bringing a smile to her face.
“Temia-! Temia, are you there?”
“Temia-nim-!!! Hek, hehk. Temia-nim!!!”
