.｡.:✧ Chapter 84 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…”

It was my first time coming to the hospital since Demalico was hospitalized due to his addiction to drugs that were no different from cigarettes.

Elgrid was a big city, so starting from the hospital staff to the facilities, everything was excellent. If it weren’t for that, it could have been a big problem, as I had already heard.

Diana McLean, my sister, was lying unconscious on the hospital bed.

Her snow-white skin that didn’t suit the term “country girl” and her black hair, the same as mine, had become rough and dry in just a day.

Moreover, scales had started to sprout on her skin.

When I gently stroked them with my fingertips, it didn’t feel like soft human skin but rather like touching a rock, as if something was pounding inside me.

Dragonkin.

Those who worshipped and served dragons had a similar appearance to us humans, but they also had distinct characteristics.

First, they had horns protruding from their foreheads.

Usually, they had two horns, which were a source of pride and honor for them.

Another was their skin color.

Red, blue, green, etc.

They had various skin colors, and their skin wasn’t soft like ours but had dragon scales growing all over.

Yes, just like my sister now.

I brushed and arranged my sister’s hair, which was wet with sweat despite her eyes being closed and her breathing rough.

With her hair arranged, the two small bumps slightly protruding on her forehead became visible.

Starting with the scales growing on her skin, even the horns growing on her forehead.

My sister was in the process of becoming a dragonkin.

I had already half-killed the doctor who was making a fuss in front of me with a grin, saying it was his first time seeing something like this and that he needed to report it to the association.

“…Sister.”

Feeling a strange emotion, I held Diana’s hand.

In fact, in my previous life, I didn’t have the leisure to care about my sister.

Although there were a few times when I left the Demon Realm Forest with the thought of finding my sister after entering the forest for a few years…

I couldn’t find my sister.

My sister, who had disappeared without a trace.

This time, since I hadn’t entered the Demon Realm Forest, I thought there wouldn’t be a big problem, but…

‘It seems this incident and the fact that I couldn’t contact my sister are related.’

However, guilt was creeping up inside me.

No matter how foolish I was back then, it felt hypocritical and contradictory for me, who had abandoned my only family and ran away, to be mourning for my sister like this.

“Daniel.”

“…”

Rin and Ares entered the hospital room.

As childhood friends from the same village, the two of them had stayed with me today without attending the lecture.

I could understand Rin, but I wondered if Ares needed to be here too, but in this situation, I was a bit grateful to have him around.

“The dean said not to worry about attendance for now.”

“I see.”

It wasn’t for nothing that I had the dean backing me up.

He skillfully overlooked such matters, but due to the current situation, I wasn’t particularly happy or proud.

“How’s your sister?”

According to my sister, she had spent quite a lot of time with Ares during this vacation. She said she had trained him because he seemed to have lost his mind over girls.

So, although Ares had a mixed look of love and hate in his eyes, he was still worried about Diana.

He was a nouveau riche, so to speak.

A third-rate villain.

The quality wasn’t good, but he wasn’t necessarily a bad person, which I knew.

“Not good. Even the doctor said he had no idea what was going on.”

They were providing respiratory support, but in fact, they weren’t able to prescribe anything more than that.

In the end, it was a situation where we could only watch.

Since the two people I was waiting for had arrived, I put on the backpack I had prepared in advance and said,

“I’m going to head to the Dragon’s Boundary. I should be able to find something there.”

The boundary line between the dragonkin and humans where Diana had her practical training. I thought there would be some answer there, so I planned to move right away.

“You guys watch over Diana’s condition, okay?”

“It’s dangerous to go alone.”

Rin told me with worry, but I shook my head and instead asked Rin to talk separately, but since there was no place to have a private conversation in the hospital, Ares left the room.

“I think there’s a possibility that the Tudogs are involved in this incident.”

“I think so too.”

Rin, who had encountered the most incidents related to the Tudogs along with me, seemed to have no different opinion.

It didn’t seem impossible for those who put the abilities of the demons from the Demon Realm Forest into human bodies to do the same with the dragonkin.

“Did you find anything out?”

At my question, black energy oozed from Rin’s cleavage, wetting the floor, and two men emerged from the clumped black energy.

They were the two who had come to burn down the murder hotel in Bethel.

The two were already in a state no different from lifeless dolls, with no vitality at all.

“I can’t fully control my power, so I couldn’t obtain everything, but I still found out a few of their bases.”

“Mark them on the map.”

When I unfolded a map I had purchased from a quite expensive store, Rin marked various locations.

Not only were the distances farther than I thought, but they were also on the complete opposite side of the Dragon’s Boundary.

‘I can’t stop by on the way.’

There was no other way.

Even just getting to the Dragon’s Boundary from here, I didn’t know how long it would take.

As I was contemplating various things, Rin, who was looking at me with concern, and the two men standing blankly caught my eye.

“But what happened to these guys?”

“Hmm, they’re dead. I was keeping them to extract information.”

“Then how will you dispose of the bodies?”

“…There’s a way.”

Rin glossed over it as if she didn’t want to talk about it.

Indeed, I thought Rin could now control the mark of the god of death to some extent, but carrying around corpses wasn’t good for her mental health.

“You had no choice in Bethel, but you don’t need to push yourself.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Although she smiled slightly, Rin didn’t seem to want to do it either, so the corpses were immediately devoured by the black energy and disappeared.

I felt another pang of guilt as it seemed the sensitivity of the once-innocent child was gradually distorting.

“I’m sorry.”

I tried to pat her head to comfort her, but feeling like I was giving her false hope, I quickly moved my hand to her shoulder and patted it.

Then Rin, who had been looking at me blankly, wrapped my hand with both of hers and placed it on top of her head.

“Instead of saying you’re sorry, say thank you.”

“…Thank you.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. This much is nothing for you, Daniel.”

Even if Rin’s senses had become dull and somewhat broken, it was limited to matters related to me, and in the end, she was just an 18-year-old female student.

Reading the thoughts of corpses or obtaining something using the power of the god of death must have been quite mentally exhausting.

I slowly lowered my hand and once again asked Rin to take care of my sister, and before leaving the hospital room, I held my sister’s hand one last time.

‘Diana.’

When I shut myself away in the Demon Realm Forest.

My sister must have searched desperately for me, her feet torn from walking around.

Perhaps she kept calling my name while crying, and her heart must have ached with pain.

‘Now I’m the one feeling that way.’

I’m sorry for being an immature me.

I’m really sorry for being a foolish younger brother who only thought about myself.

“This time, I’ll be the one to move to get you back, sister.”

After slowly kissing the back of her hand, I turned my body and left the hospital room.

Ares, who was waiting outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, just exchanged glances with me and passed by.

He didn’t bother to follow me and entered the hospital room, and waiting for me as I left the hospital were Elise and her maid Bertia.

And next to them stood a man in unkempt, dusty robes and messy hair.

“Are you going?”

“Yeah.”

Elise, as if she already knew how I would act, nodded and asked.

“Is it okay if I accompany you?”

“No, this is my business.”

I answered firmly, but Elise seemed to have already anticipated the answer, so she didn’t say anything more. Instead, she introduced the man to me.

“He’s a mercenary, but he’s a mage who specializes in warping. I heard he can move to the vicinity of the Dragon’s Boundary.”

“…!”

A mage who could use warping and was also a mercenary?

This wasn’t a matter of money, but finding someone like that was as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.

He shook his large-framed glasses and said,

“Eccentric, my mercenary name is Eccentric. Just call me that. I can’t go right next to the Dragon’s Boundary, but I’ve marked coordinates at the ‘Gods’ Monument,’ which is a day’s journey away, before…”

“How much?”

I immediately took out my backpack to pay Elise. Of course, to move this type of mage, one had to pay a huge sum of money.

I didn’t want to owe her a debt either, and I had brought a large amount of money from the safe in the murder hotel, so I wasn’t short on cash.

But Elise shook her head.

“I can’t do anything else for you, so at least let me do this.”

“But…”

“Please.”

In the end, I agreed, looking at Elise’s golden eyes that seemed to plead, and changed the subject.

“Did Heini not bring any separate information?”

“Yes, it seems Charlie doesn’t know anything separately.”

Charlie, who had come to Eve, had definitely said that he had made a contract with the Tudog named “Hare.”

So, I had asked Heini Rosales, who was originally an inspector but had now transformed into a specialist in Tudog cases, to interrogate Charlie, but it seemed there wasn’t much progress.

“I see…”

Although it was regrettable, there was no time to stand still here. I immediately turned my gaze to the mage who had introduced himself as Eccentric.

“How long will it take to depart?”

“I’m ready, we can go right now.”

Eccentric held out his hand.

Expressing my gratitude to Elise and Bertia, who bowed their heads as if seeing me off, I grabbed Eccentric’s hand.

My vision began to blur.

“He’s gone.”

At Bertia’s words, Elise nodded slightly and gazed endlessly at the spot where he had disappeared with a longing look.

“Is this what it feels like to send off a loved one alone?”

“I think it would be similar.”

After Elise had become broken, Bertia was always filled with regret and headaches, but seeing the Third Princess like this, she thought it could also be a kind of growth.

The princess, who had no interest in others and only pursued pleasure and enjoyment, was making such a wistful expression.

If she told herself from just a few months ago, she wouldn’t have believed it.

“He left?”

“Yes, he’s gone.”

Rin, who came out of the hospital.

Although Daniel had said to entrust Diana to her, Rin was about to leave it to Ares and come.

“Everyone must be waiting, let’s hurry.”

“Okay.”

An unusual combination of Rin and Elise.

The two girls, who had been pointing fingers at each other and provoking each other, today walked the same path in cooperation.

The place they arrived at was Rin’s room in the dormitory.

Numerous female students gathered there.

May Plov, Sen, Hayun, Eve, Tana.

Each of them had some kind of relationship with Daniel and were waiting for Rin and Elise with serious expressions. As soon as she entered, Rin unfolded the prepared map on the wall.

She drew the same markings she had shown Daniel. However, this time, there were far more, with markings on cities and villages leading to the Dragon’s Boundary.

“I only told Daniel about the bases on the opposite side. Since Elise had separately arranged for a mage, he must have gone straight to the Dragon’s Boundary.”

At Rin’s words, everyone nodded in agreement.

“We’re starting from here.”

Rin pointed to a village near Elgrid.

“Daniel left to cure Diana.”

Rin’s hand holding the pen tightened.

“We’ll do what we can do. Crush the bastards who did that to her.”

Elise added,

“According to the information Inspector Heini passed on to the dean, there’s a possibility that Hare is still moving around the vicinity of Elgrid.”

She shared the information obtained from Charlie Kraush with the female students, which she hadn’t told Daniel.

“Maybe if we catch that bitch first and make her squeal, it won’t take long, right?”

There was a strange eeriness in Elise’s smiling face.

“Hare is the only face we know for sure among the Tudogs. If we find her, we must catch her no matter what. Does everyone already know the countermeasures against illusion techniques?”

Rin’s question wasn’t met with much response, but that gave even greater confidence.

Slowly putting down the pen, Rin took a deep breath and recalled Daniel, whom she had just seen.

“Since coming to Aios Academy, it was the first time I saw Daniel looking so sad. Blaming himself, suffering…”

A heavy silence fell.

Even Rin, who usually didn’t speak harshly, couldn’t hold back this time and blurted out.

“Before Daniel returns, we’ll catch all these bastards and lock them up.”

In a small single room of the Aios Academy dormitory, a war against the Tudogs was declared.

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