Chapter 81
For someone who had found a person to drive out, Orb’s expression still showed a trace of tension.
“Wait here for a moment. I’ll show you something interesting.”
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
I was about to ask why she didn’t just let me meet him straight away, but before I could, she had already stepped outside the rock.
I tried to follow her, but that’s when I realized a transparent barrier had formed around the rock.
‘I’m trapped.’
I could see outside, but I couldn’t get out.
So when she said wait, did she mean she wanted me to hide here and watch her meeting with Rohan?
I craned my neck to peek in the direction Orb was heading.
She had walked about twenty paces and stopped facing the hill full of flowers, opposite the sea. Then she opened her mouth.
“……”
‘I can’t hear.’
The distance made her voice faint. I could only make out her first words—Come out—but the rest was lost.
‘Besides, there’s no one there.’
In the direction she was looking, the low hill was empty—no Rohan, no shadow of any person at all.
I was still wondering who she was talking to when—
“……!”
Rohan suddenly appeared out of thin air.
As though he had been cloaked in an invisible mantle, he revealed himself and immediately charged toward Orb.
Without hesitation, he swung the sword in his hand.
Kwaaang—!
The blade stopped just short of Orb’s face.
The same kind of transparent barrier that sealed the rock blocked his strike.
The impact was so powerful it made the air itself tremble, forcing me to stumble backward.
Rohan glared at Orb and opened his mouth slowly.
His characteristically rough voice carried clearly to my ears.
“Where is Wilhelmina?”
…Somehow, that voice sounded strangely familiar.
* * *
The moment Wilhelmina fell into the lake, Rohan realized a sinister magic had swallowed her.
It was spatial transference magic—the kind said to be impossible to replicate without a rare artifact.
“Wilhelmina!”
Calling her name, Rohan leapt into the lake after her.
But the unknown magic had already pulled half her body into another world.
To seize her fading figure, he recklessly forced his own magic.
The ominous energy flowed from his shoulder to his fingertips.
Since he hadn’t prepared, the backlash was fierce, but he grit his teeth and pushed through.
The instant his fingers brushed the hem of her clothes—
[What an uninvited guest…]
A startled voice echoed in his ears, and then he was dragged into the transference together with Wilhelmina.
When he opened his eyes, however, neither Wilhelmina nor the owner of that voice greeted him.
Instead—
A kaleidoscopic sky, fields overflowing with flowers to match… but there was no time to marvel at the scenery. The beings in front of him radiated killing intent.
“An intruder.”
“Exterminate the intruder.”
‘So that’s what this is…’
The grotesque figures looked like giant marionettes. Even as their comrades fell, they attacked Rohan without hesitation.
He drew his sword and cut down those radiating hostility.
“Automatons without souls… So this really is the land of fairies.”
He recalled a passage from the Venice Ducal House’s forbidden texts.
The Land of the Fairies—an infamous western wonder said to house a corrupt god who beguiled mortals.
Automatons defending its borders, a sky without night, dazzling flowers that dulled the mind… everything matched the description.
Though the westerners called this place a paradise, Rohan never believed it.
To judge immortals by human standards was pure folly.
‘Did the fairies take an interest in Wilhelmina?’
He remembered her tossing sandwiches to an unseen presence by the lake.
According to her, the fairy had accepted it as a gift.
‘Beings like that always repay what they’ve been given. They must have brought her here as a way of returning the favor.’
It might sound like a fairy tale, but he knew from the records—those entangled with fairies never met a happy end.
Fairies like Nata, who had adapted to human society, were fine; they abided by human rules and morals.
But beings of another realm? They could not be expected to.
They bore the name fairy, but the residents here defied human logic entirely.
‘I need to find Wilhelmina.’
Rohan raised his burning right arm.
Forcing that spatial magic had branded searing heat into the tattoo carved there.
It felt like thousands of needles stabbing into his flesh, but he dismissed the pain and drew out more power.
Pazzzzt—
‘This should be enough for one more use.’
Judging his arm as sparks flickered, he set his steps toward the hill beyond.
He had no clear destination, but instinct told him where Wilhelmina was.
Like a wolf following a scent—an ability ingrained in him since birth.
“An intruder—!”
On his way, more automatons appeared.
As if summoned whenever an uninvited guest drew near, they materialized without a sound.
Rohan dispatched them in an instant and pressed forward.
By the time he had destroyed more than ten, the sea finally came into view.
The hill he stood on and the sea beyond were separated by different realms.
A faint barrier marked the boundary, obscuring the figure on the far shore.
‘Wilhelmina’s scent.’
But the wolf’s descendant had keen senses.
He knew she was there beyond the barrier.
A wall like this—he could cut it down.
Still wary of a trap, he cautiously approached the shore.
Then he heard a girl’s voice.
“I know you’re there. Why don’t you come out now?”
The moment he heard it, cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Rohan had triumphed in countless battles, but the aura behind that voice was more oppressive than an army of ten thousand.
As if the reaper of hell itself were calling his name.
To shake off the feeling, he swung his sword and split the barrier.
When it fell away, he came face-to-face with a girl on the beach.
White clothes of unknown origin, hair sprouting twig-like branches, and an innocent face.
‘A fairy.’
The realization struck him, and he sprang forward.
The sword that had destroyed the automatons now slashed toward her throat.
Kwaaang—!
But the blade was blocked by another transparent barrier.
‘She didn’t even chant.’
A hastily cast spell strong enough to withstand his sword—his comrades would have stared wide-eyed at such defense.
Rohan glared at the serene-eyed fairy and slowly spoke.
“Where is Wilhelmina?”
“If you want answers, shouldn’t you start with a greeting? How barbaric.”
“I have no greetings to share with a false god.”
“…It’s been a while since anyone called me that. And how did you know I was the Fairy King?”
The reason Rohan labeled her an evil god, the Fairy King, was simple.
Any ordinary fairy would have been cleaved in two by that strike.
Only one in history possessed such overwhelming magical skill.
Perhaps reading his thoughts, she furrowed her brows in exasperation.
“Quick judgment, but dull deduction. You’re the complete opposite of Wilhelmina. Wolves really are all the same.”
‘So she really has met Wilhelmina.’
When he split the wall, Wilhelmina’s presence had suddenly vanished.
But faint traces of her scent clung to the fairy.
She had hidden Wilhelmina. That much was certain.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a human from the east, but too bad. You’re an intruder. You’ll get no reward.”
She clicked her tongue theatrically and curled her lips into a smile.
“I can’t answer your question, either.”
“……”
“But if you do me a favor, I’ll give you whatever you wan—”
Krrrack—!
Rohan swung harder, his sword biting deeper.
With a sound like shattering glass, cracks spread across the barrier.
The fairy, who had been speaking calmly, widened her eyes.
“W-wait.”
“There’s only one answer I want from you. Tell me where Wilhelmina is.”
“I’m saying if you just do this one favor—”
“Refused.”
No sane person would ever bargain with a fairy.
Better to trust a lying emperor than to believe a fairy’s deal.
Rohan’s blade slowly pried into the barrier’s cracks.
Realizing it was only a matter of time before it shattered, the fairy hurriedly tried to offer more.
“No, really, people only used to call me an evil god. I’ve been kinder lately! Ask the other fairies!”
“……”
Rohan knew few fairies, and he wasn’t about to be swayed by such theater.
He did not let her expressions deceive him.
