Chapter 64
I raised my hand to signal that I was fine, to tell him not to worry.
“I’m okay, Sordim. We can just call Luce soon—”
It was the moment Sordim tilted his head. A deafening roar shook the royal palace as if the sky itself had collapsed. The ground trembled in small, violent pulses. The once-calm lake surged with sudden waves.
Before my eyes stretched magical energy, shredded into hundreds of millions of threads. The sight was reminiscent of the aurora. I knew who wielded this magic.
Finally, the time had come for him to answer my call.
“Lu—ugh!!”
Before I could even finish his short name, my mouth was forcibly covered. Damn it—how could I have been so careless! If Luce had gained the ability to use magic, that meant—
“Did you say we could call him?”
It meant that the cursed son of a gun’s golden restraints had been undone. The bandages that had bound him fell to the ground, blackened and charred.
He leaned in close with a swollen face and smiled. Goosebumps ran across my body.
“So all I have to do is make sure you don’t call him, right?”
“Ugh!”
I twisted my head, pinched, and pushed the man’s arm, but the hand over my mouth didn’t loosen. I couldn’t fathom where such strength had come from in someone who had been on the brink of death just moments ago.
“Ugh…!!”
Breathing became agonizing as his grip tightened around my neck. I couldn’t open my mouth or bite his hand as he crushed my jaw, but then he pulled back his hand and rummaged through his clothes.
“I was saving this for that monster if it came to it… but whatever. As long as I kill him, it doesn’t matter.”
It felt like he was about to draw a dagger at any second. If I didn’t escape now, I’d die!
I lifted my weakening legs and kicked at his stomach, struggling with all my strength. But my effort was in vain—his hand, holding something, was quickly advancing toward me. It wasn’t a sword. It was a glowing stone. A divine-power-like stone…
Just as a burst of white light erupted and I squeezed my eyes shut—
Swish!
It was a sharp, clean sound completely out of place for the chaos.
“Ahhh!”
The man screamed immediately after. Suddenly, Sordim lunged, clinging to the man’s arm, his sharp fangs sinking in. The man’s arm flailed wildly.
Bang!
The stone in his hand shattered—without warning. The fragments pierced Sordim’s delicate skin mercilessly. The little body was drenched in red.
I watched the brutal process unfold in horror, unable to speak, my mouth opening a soundless gasp.
“…Uh.”
Even though the man’s hand had finally fallen away, I still couldn’t call Luce. The only name my tongue could manage was the child called “Love.”
“…Sordim.”
The small child filled my vision. The red blood stood in stark contrast to his blue skin, quickly covering him. Sordim’s body… fell apart with shocking ease.
“Sordim, ugh!”
I reached desperately toward the collapsing body, but my mouth was covered again.
“Never thought you’d protect even a monster, huh?”
His glistening eyes were thick with murderous intent.
‘Crazy bastard…! Crazy bastard…!’
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Tears streamed down, trailing over the back of his hand. He looked at me without a hint of hesitation and muttered clearly:
“What a waste. I was going to give it up for you. Thought I’d reward you for giving me such a damnable experience.”
He scratched his neck, raised in a rash, and spoke.
“This monster too—”
“The monster, too, huh.”
He drew a breath. The body facing sudden disaster froze.
I, too, stopped, holding my breath. The voice I had always heard, arriving at unpredictable moments as usual.
But this time, his tone was slightly calmer, and it flowed down my dry throat.
It was the moment the man’s hand twitched.
Crack!
“Argh!”
A boot slammed into the man’s head without mercy. The body that had trapped me swayed. Luce’s foot struck again.
“He swung what he was saving for the monster at this one, just now.”
Then he charged toward the fallen man, dull thuds echoing behind.
“Still playing the same pathetic tricks. What do you think you can do even if you raided Haron’s warehouse?”
Luce’s words were true. He hadn’t cast a single spell. Yet the man under Luce’s feet could not resist and suffered helplessly.
“Even though you knew I was in the palace, you crawled in. I’ll give you credit for your courage, though it ended in useless struggling.”
Luce’s mockery settled over the unconscious man.
“Lu-Luce.”
He stammered out his name.
Magic gathered at Luce’s fingertips. In the brief instant before the enormous power he had amassed poured into the man—
“Luce!”
Finally, at my scream, Luce’s gaze turned to me. The moment my reflection hit his impassive eyes, something shifted.
My legs gave out, and I crawled toward Sordim.
“Sor-Sordim… please… He was hit while trying to save me… ugh.”
My chest tightened. Up close, Sordim’s condition was far worse than I had imagined.
His skin was torn in places, and his abdomen and chest had penetrating wounds, bleeding profusely. Death could come at any moment.
Sordim would die. While trying to save me.
Trembling hands brushed his cold cheeks, and Luce approached to check on him.
His gaze swept over Sordim. Something was off. A great mage should have told me that these injuries were nothing, yet Luce hesitated unusually.
The longer his silence, the more anxious I became.
“Why… why…?”
“It’s a shotgun made from divine power. It was probably a weapon meant to deal with me.”
The weapon that wounded Sordim was made from divine energy, meaning Luce’s magic could not heal it directly.
“…Divine stone.”
Fortunately, I had the healing stone Tehinra had given me. I retrieved it from my bag and pressed it against Sordim’s wounds.
But even with the stone, the blood loss outpaced the healing. At this rate, Sordim would die from hemorrhaging.
“Li-Linnegrim, teacher…”
It was the sound of metal splitting. Sordim spoke, his gaze fixed on the sky where the purple aurora still shimmered.
“I-I’m okay. I was scared… I thought I might really become a monster someday…”
Struggling for breath, he continued:
“But… if dying while saving someone means I can die as a human, then… I think I can, I can die as a human. Huhuh.”
“Sordim…”
His pupils dilated wildly. In the darkening vision, his body instinctively sought to gather light.
“I wished I could speak again outside the water… ugh. To have it fulfilled only at death… it’s so unfair…”
Sordim finally sobbed.
Memories flashed through my mind. The hypothesis I had developed amid poor management resurfaced. A dangerous theory, but Sordim’s current state seemed to support it.
Now, breathing and speaking outside the water, Sordim was in a “state close to human.”
When Sordim had been affected by the mermaid’s poison, he had been left stabbed, bleeding heavily.
The so-called mermaid virus corrupted white blood cells, preventing them from functioning. That was my question.
The body deformed, and the blood components changed. This meant the body was reconstructing itself.
What if the prerequisite for reconstruction was fulfilled?
First, the key virus, the mermaid’s poison. Then, a living host—specifically, a weakened host vulnerable to the virus.
When Sordim was found by Seran, he was near death from hemorrhage. Facing death, he became a mermaid, having lost most of the white blood cells that could resist the virus.
So what if the reverse were possible? Could reconstruction happen again? That was the core of my hypothesis.
If the virus in the blood were expelled and then healed by divine power?
It was too dangerous and unlikely to attempt. But all hesitation was meaningless now. What hesitation when the child wished to die as a human?
Of course, ordinary healing wouldn’t work. But—
I fiddled with the necklace around my neck. The cold metal radiated its presence.
The orb Tehinra had given me. A concentrated vessel of her divine power hung around my neck.
Yet I hesitated to act.
“…Luce.”
No answer came, but I knew he was watching me.
“…What if Sordim dies because of me?”
I was scared. What if my judgment was wrong? What if I couldn’t save the child dying because of me?
I needed certainty and encouragement. The assurance of the strongest, smartest person I knew. Comfort that it would be okay even if I failed.
“Shall I turn back time for you?”
As always, the mage before me spoke words far beyond expectation. Rewinding life was not as simple as restoring a broken greenhouse—but the absurd promise comforted me.
I laughed, oddly, at the situation.
Right. A capable, mad mage is on my side—what’s there to worry about?
No more hesitation. It was worth attempting.
“…Luce. Remove all of Sordim’s blood from his body.”
Luce immediately obeyed. Sordim’s blood began draining at a faster rate.
His blue skin turned pale.
“Sordim.”
He barely opened his eyes at my call.
I whispered into the child’s ear, slowly but clearly:
“You are human. You have never, not for a single moment, not been human.”
Sordim’s eyes widened, and I guided the orb, pulled from the necklace, into his dry lips.
“So live as a human. Don’t die.”
He swallowed, his small throat moving.
The orb glowed brightly, melting into his body. Blood stopped flowing, wounds sealed instantly.
“Ah… ugh!”
Sordim clutched his chest, curling his back, coughing dryly. I held him in my arms, brushing his dry back.
The painful groaning continued.
The first visible change was the scales. The scales covering his legs, cheeks, and arms fell off like dry leaves, leaving only a transparent membrane.
Next, the gills on his neck vanished, leaving only a thin line.
By the time Seran came running, hair disheveled, discovering us, Sordim continued groaning, trying to adjust to the rapidly changing body.
