—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Having completed her final checks, Sen slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the door. She didn’t forget to address the Grand Witch, who sat reading on the sofa.
“Please look after the house.”
“Don’t you worry. Just make sure you bring the landlord back with you when you return.”
“Yes, I definitely will.”
Receiving the Grand Witch’s unique form of encouragement, Sen stepped outside. Adriana and the Goddess of Time were already waiting.
Thanks to Adriana braiding the goddess’s excessively long hair, she looked much tidier.
“Ugh, it’s so cold.”
From her insistence on using polite language to the way she shivered like a small animal, everything about the goddess grated on Sen’s nerves.
She unconsciously clenched her fists, almost stepping forward before Adriana intervened, positioning herself between them.
“Let’s be patient for now. It’s for Daniel’s sake.”
“For my brother’s sake.”
Sen clenched her fists tighter, suppressing her killing intent.
The Goddess of Time subtly shifted behind Adriana, moving out of Sen’s line of sight.
“That little…”
Finding even that irritating, Sen clenched her fists again and strode forward purposefully. As they say, when you dislike someone, everything they do looks bad.
A chase between Sen and the Goddess of Time nearly began right then and there, but Adriana barely managed to intervene and keep the goddess safe.
Slightly warmed up from the brief exertion, they left the village.
Their destination was the Fresian royal palace.
Once they were a fair distance from the village, Adriana took out the staff slung across her back, cleared the snow from the ground, and began drawing a magic circle.
“Warp magic! You really are a witch!”
“Shut your mouth before I tear you to pieces.”
“Yep.”
Sen’s growl immediately made the Goddess of Time shrink back.
Adriana chuckled awkwardly, then seemed to remember something and looked at the goddess.
“Excuse me, Goddess-nim. But why did you torment our ancestors so much?”
“Huh?”
Come to think of it, that was true. The witches had hidden in the Demon Realm’s forest to escape the eyes of the gods.
The gods hadn’t tolerated the witches possessing the power of prophecy.
In a way, wasn’t the being standing before them the witches’ sworn enemy?
But the Goddess of Time tilted her head.
“I never did such a thing.”
“……”
“Ah, no, really! The one who persecuted the witches was the God of Life, not me! Another guy entirely!”
“……”
“Back then, the God of Life was spreading his will through prophecy, so when the witches appeared with the same power, he lost it!”
Watching her wave her hands frantically as she made excuses, Adriana felt her urge to argue drain away.
Besides, over the long years, the witches themselves had committed inhumane acts without hesitation, justifying it as necessary for survival.
‘I suppose I should think of it as karma.’
The creation of the war hounds was largely the witches’ fault, and their human experiments were arguably worse.
Adriana wondered if she herself had only survived because she had fled the forest and enrolled in the academy.
Having finished the magic circle, Adriana gathered her mana and began to activate it. The goddess and Sen naturally stood beside her.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone there, but it’s linked to the warehouse in Elise’s detached palace. Be careful, you might step on something weird.”
Adriana began guiding them like a tour guide.
“The warehouse will be dusty, so don’t panic and move around too much, or you’ll get covered in dust.”
“Move away from me before I cut off your fingers.”
“But then I’d have to step outside the magic circle.”
Realizing the two weren’t even listening properly, too busy bickering amongst themselves despite her explanation, Adriana’s expression turned slightly sulky.
Without hesitation, she struck the ground with her staff.
The three felt a sensation like being sucked away, the biting chill of the outside air replaced by a gentle, enveloping warmth.
“Even after all this time, it still suc—”
Adriana was about to declare her success with a confident grin, but the words died in her throat.
The warp marker had been set for the warehouse in Princess Elise’s detached palace. She had expected to arrive in a musty storage space.
“Uh……”
But the place they arrived in was dimly lit by only a few flickering candles. There was no sign of the expected thick dust, nor was it a warehouse.
Yet, no single word could define this place. A considerable number of life-sized dolls hung limply against the walls, and the floor was covered in complex magic circles, different from the one Adriana had drawn.
On the single bookshelf, titles like ‘Advanced Body Alchemy,’ ‘Resurrection of the Dead,’ and ‘The Secret to Immortality’ sent a shiver down their spines.
“This place feels creepy.”
“Is it some kind of laboratory?”
Sen and the Goddess of Time spoke simultaneously.
Adriana stroked her chin and began examining the magic circles.
Creak.
“Oh my?”
The door opened, revealing Princess Elise.
She looked momentarily surprised, then offered an ambiguous smile as she looked at the three newcomers.
“You seem to have seen something you shouldn’t have?”
Her voice was chilling.
Even if she hadn’t intended it, the room’s atmosphere combined with her cool words was enough to make the three of them flinch.
“E-Elise?”
“Perfect timing. I needed something.”
As Adriana asked hesitantly, the corners of Elise’s mouth lifted slightly. The devastating smile sent shivers down their spines.
“Wh-what did you need—”
Tap, tap.
Elise walked past Sen and the Goddess of Time, approaching Adriana directly. She reached out and caressed Adriana’s cheek.
“I figured a witch would know quite a bit about alchemy and the human body!”
The atmosphere changed in an instant. After creating an air of ‘you saw my secret, so you won’t leave alive,’ was it really okay to speak so lightly?
Sen realized this was just Elise’s prank.
“You deliberately set the mood, didn’t you.”
Sen puffed out her cheeks slightly, crossing her arms in displeasure.
Elise laughed, spun around, and hugged Sen tightly.
“You took so long to visit, I got a little sulky!”
Sen pushed away Elise, who was trying to rub her cheek against her. Adriana let out a sigh of relief but looked down at the magic circle covering the floor.
“Um, Elise. About this magic circle……”
“Ah, yes. Adriana, can you tell what it is just by looking?”
“It’s a summoning circle, right? I have a rough idea who you’re trying to summon.”
“My Master, of course! For the past three years, I’ve sought out countless mages, scholars, and alchemists, asking them if there’s a way to resurrect the dead!”
“……”
“Well, I’ve failed numerous times, but I’ve never given up. I will spend my entire life bringing Master back.”
Elise’s declaration was utterly resolute.
If word got out that the princess had created such a sinister room in her detached palace warehouse and was trying to resurrect the dead, her reputation would suffer immensely.
People would undoubtedly point fingers, calling her a dark mage or whispering that she had fallen into some bizarre cult.
Yet Elise ignored such risks, maintaining a confident stance as if there were no problem at all.
“So, Adriana, please take a look. I heard there’s someone called the Grand Witch who lived for an incredibly long time. If we twist the formula in a similar way, might there be a possibility?”
Adriana rested her chin on her hand and traced the magic circle with the tip of her staff.
The room fell silent for a moment, as if awaiting a test result. But Adriana shook her head with a regretful expression.
“I don’t think it’ll work. It’s a unique summoning formula, but it’s not enough to bring back the dead. The most crucial thing is the medium. There’s no catalyst inscribed into the circle to summon Daniel.”
“……”
“Besides, living a long life and resurrecting the dead are fundamentally different things.”
It was a harsh assessment.
Three years of effort had turned to dust in an instant, yet Elise smiled without any change in expression.
“I suppose so, right? I tried using all of Master’s belongings from the dormitory, but apparently, simple fingerprints and leftover scent aren’t enough.”
Just as Sen started to feel sorry for Elise, realizing she missed her brother in her own way, a thought struck her.
“Wait a minute, you were the one who took my brother’s things from the dorm, Elise?”
Sen snapped her head around, glaring at Elise.
Faced with Sen’s sharp gaze, Elise blushed and shivered slightly.
“It was the best. Master’s scent, so thick and lingering. I don’t know how many times I… used it.”
“Give them back! Don’t use my brother’s things like that!”
Realizing that the mementos she thought were lost had merely been used as the princess’s… playthings, Sen immediately lunged forward, furious.
But Elise tilted her head with a troubled expression.
“What should I do? They only smell like me now.”
Sen was speechless. She had known Elise’s affection for Daniel was a bit extreme and expressed differently from other girls, but she hadn’t realized it was this warped.
Feeling like she had glimpsed into an abyss, Sen took a step back.
You avoid dung because it’s dirty, not because you’re scared.
“By the way, who is this little girl? She’s cute, isn’t she?”
“She’s the Goddess of Time.”
Sen answered Elise’s question dismissively, but the reaction that followed was anything but dull.
The royal ring Elise wore activated. Countless spells swirled around her entire body, and for a moment, power comparable to ancient demonic beasts descended upon her.
KRA-ANG!
Elise shot her hand out like a wolf’s fang, aiming to snatch the goddess’s neck.
A circular protective spell, tinged with black light, materialized between them in mid-air. If Adriana hadn’t hastily cast the spell, the goddess’s neck would have surely snapped.
“Hiiik!”
The Goddess of Time shrieked and stumbled backward.
To an unknowing observer, her reaction might have seemed cute, but Elise’s gaze, colder than ever, bore down on the goddess.
“Are you insane? What brings you here?”
“E-Elise! Wait a moment!”
“Are you taking her side, Adriana? Hmm, can you handle the consequences?”
It was fortunate Elise didn’t have a sword, but her aura was far too ferocious. In close combat, Adriana, a witch, stood no chance against Elise.
Sen might have been able to help, but the white-haired assassin had already stepped back, watching with amusement, clearly finding the situation interesting.
Given her own grievances with the goddess, she showed no sign of intervening.
“I can assure you. Even if you escape from here, I will eventually find you. All the knights of the kingdom will hunt you like hounds, and I will have you torn limb from limb while still alive, right before my eyes, and feed you to the pigs.”
The words were vulgar and savage, especially coming from a princess, but they conveyed the depth of Elise’s sincerity.
“Step aside, Adriana. Would you please not make me kill you too?”
“Wait! This goddess holds the answer you’ve been looking for!”
“……Explain yourself.”
Though she spoke, Elise didn’t retract her menacing killing intent.
If anything, Bertia, Elise’s attendant who had been waiting outside, burst through the door, sword already drawn.
“Hoo, this is chilling.”
Adriana had momentarily forgotten they were in the royal palace.
This was effectively Princess Elise’s domain, if they couldn’t persuade her here, the goddess had no chance of survival.
Adriana finally began to explain the situation calmly, Daniel was suffering, captured by the Goddess of Death, and the only way to save him was resurrection.
The elf Eris held the key to making it possible, and the goddess had come to share this information.
Having explained everything clearly, Adriana wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. Elise and Bertia had looked ready to pounce the moment she let her guard down.
After hearing the explanation, Elise slowly lowered her hands and straightened her attire once more.
Adriana thought this was good news, but Elise’s cold gaze remained fixed on the goddess.
“The news that there’s a way to save Master is indeed welcome. Since a goddess brought it herself, there must be a real possibility.”
“Right? So…”
“But you said the Guardian Eris-nim has Master’s medium? Then what reason does the goddess have to be here right now?”
“Uh……”
Adriana glanced sideways.
While the goddess had provided the information that brought Sen and Adriana here, she couldn’t really think of any future use for her.
“Very well. Since you’ve informed us of a way to resurrect Master.”
Elise snapped her fingers.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
