Chapter 54
“Lady Melody, your hand.”
“It’s nothing.”
“How can you say it’s nothing? Your hands are what you work with. Please go to the priest for treatment.”
“Later. After the injured are healed first.”
“Then at least let me wrap it with a bandage.”
Anna took the bandage from Melody’s hand. At that moment, a low, gentle voice came from behind.
“May I treat you instead?”
When she turned, there stood a priest with light brown hair. He looked about thirty, with a calm expression.
“Yes, please.”
“My name is Benedict.”
“I’m Melody.”
“Yes, I know. Everyone is talking about you, Miss Melody.”
His voice was sharp in a subtle way. As he held her hand and began healing, he spoke.
“To think of using monsters to fight monsters… Bold and insolent at the same time.”
“Not just anyone could have thought of it.”
Melody shrugged. The priest narrowed his eyes slightly, then admitted.
“And now, do you feel like a god?”
His mocking tone made Melody’s eyes narrow.
“A god? No. I only gave a little help.”
“Is that so? Well, magic formulas are only poor copies of God’s language anyway.”
Rune letters were the language of God—absolute commands. Magic tools were simply altered formulas so humans could use them.
“I only tried to understand and use what was given more effectively.”
“You mean to use God’s power recklessly?”
The light flowing from his hand stopped. His voice turned cold.
“Such dangerous thinking. The Goddess never wished for everyone to have power. She wants only a chosen few to act in her will. That is why the temple fears magic tools and magicians.”
His words sounded soft, but they cut like a blade. Though Benedict smiled, his eyes showed only contempt.
“Dark power corrupts those who hold it. In the end, they crave blood and destruction. The power of magic tools is no different.”
He pressed firmly on the still-healing wound in her palm.
“Be careful. Don’t let power make you forget your place.”
With that, the priest let go and walked quickly toward the other priests.
Melody clenched her fist. The thinly healed wound tore open again, blood dripping out.
“Pretending to be righteous…”
She frowned. Benedict hadn’t come to heal her—he had come to warn her. To tell her not to act out again and stay quiet.
‘I’ll just have Anna wrap the bandage after all.’
She grumbled to herself and headed toward the tent.
“Ah…?!”
From the dark forest came a sudden flash of red light. Melody froze. It was the signal from the tool she had given Deonis.
“The Duke…?!”
It meant his life was in danger.
High Priest Seruel paced restlessly inside his command tent. Outside, the fierce battle with monsters raged on. The rift was much larger than expected, and no one could say who would win.
“I never thought it would spread so quickly…”
Seruel sighed deeply and pressed his forehead. Maintaining and stabilizing the barrier was his duty. If the front collapsed, all blame would fall on him.
“What about the magicians? Why haven’t they been brought yet?”
At his sharp question, a priest bowed his head.
“They… disappeared.”
“Disappeared?!”
Seruel’s loud voice shook the tent. The priest trembled at the rare outburst.
He had planned to push the responsibility onto the imprisoned magicians. He had even secretly ordered them to be brought here. But now, even that had failed.
“While being escorted, they were attacked. We sent men to search but found no trace of the magicians, not even their bodies. It was as if someone deliberately targeted them.”
Seruel clenched his fists so tightly his fingertips turned white.
If this continued, the barrier’s collapse would be blamed on him alone. He made a decision.
“Then capture someone—anyone.”
He had to find someone to take the blame.
The priest nodded and ran out. Seruel shut his eyes and ground his teeth.
From the prison to here would take at least ten days. Even if they hurried, the magicians would arrive too late.
As he clasped his hands in a heavy prayer, another priest rushed in, breathless. Seruel turned his head.
“What is it?”
Forgetting formalities, the priest gasped out his reply.
“One of the scouts has returned!”
“A failure then.”
Disappointment clouded Seruel’s face.
“They say the Duke, the knights, and the holy knights—all their fates are unknown.”
“Where is the survivor?”
“He’s receiving treatment from Priest Benedict.”
Seruel silently walked out. His soft footsteps sank into the carpet. In the treatment tent, a soldier in bloody armor lay among priests.
“High Priest.”
The priests stepped back respectfully. Seruel approached the bed and asked quietly,
“How is he?”
Benedict checked the wounds.
“Fortunately, no fatal injuries. He lost much blood, but with treatment, he will live.”
“Hm.”
Seruel gave a short sound and then asked the soldier,
“What happened?”
“We were… restoring the barrier, when suddenly… monsters appeared…”
“And the Duke?!”
“He tried to save Sir Ahwin… but fell from the cliff…”
“And the others? None survived?”
“That bear-like monster… killed them all…”
“That is enough. The Goddess guided you here.”
Seruel turned away, his face heavy with defeat. Even the barrier restoration had failed. What now?
As he stepped out, a voice stopped him.
“High Priest, perhaps the reason doesn’t need to be magicians.”
It was Benedict, following him. He had also heard the soldier’s account. Seruel’s eyes brightened slightly.
“You have a way?”
“Yes. Wasn’t it someone else who drove the soldiers into danger?”
Benedict raised his finger toward the water-gathering tool.
“The only one who truly knows what happened out there is that soldier in bed.”
Seruel’s eyes narrowed in thought.
“Yes… you are right.”
He nodded briefly and stepped back inside the tent. All the priests turned toward him at once.
“They say the Duke has fallen. And the others may not have survived.”
“Heavens…”
“How could this happen…?”
“Then even Sir Ahwin…?!”
Gasps and murmurs spread among the priests. Word of the scout’s return spread quickly. Everyone knew it must be bad news.
