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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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“Come to think of it…”
Despite her sacred power being drained and feeling exhausted, Elena went near the fallen men to check their condition.
Then, Elena looked at me with startled eyes.
“They’re alive…”
Elena had an expression of genuine relief at the survival of her enemies.
“As expected, a merciful heart…”
“No, don’t misunderstand. It’s just that my magic came out a bit weak, that’s why they’re alive.”
I dismissed Elena’s words.
“If I want, I can kill them right here, right now.”
When I approached, Elena blocked my way.
“That can’t be allowed. They need to be captured alive and properly pay for their crimes. My thoughts on that haven’t changed.”
I let out a sigh.
This stubborn brat, her eyes were too earnest.
I glanced at Elin.
For some reason, Elin subtly shook her head.
That needs to be clarified. Wasn’t Elin the one who had asked me to kill them?
‘What’s going on?’
While feeling a bit of unease, I decided to finish the conversation with Elena for now.
“Fine, do as you wish.”
“I will do as I wish.”
It was then.
I discovered the cause of my unease in the scene unfolding behind Elena.
Some of the men were turning yellow in the face and dying while foaming at the mouth.
Poison.
Elin was spreading poison around her using her sacred power.
Elena, whose sacred power was utterly drained, seemed to have a significantly reduced detection ability and didn’t notice.
Elin was taking advantage of that opening.
‘Scary.’
It’s not for nothing that Elin has the terrifying background setting of being the incarnation of an evil god.
Elin herself was finishing off the men.
Moreover, some of them were awake, but they couldn’t even make a sound and were writhing in pain, so it must have been a pain like being in the fires of hell.
“Let’s go quickly. We have to hurry.”
I pretended to urge our steps so that Elena wouldn’t see the men.
“Elena. Let’s go.”
Elin also slowly poisoned the men to let them die, then put on an innocent expression as if she knew nothing and urged our steps.
Nias tugged at my clothes and pointed to the men who were dying over there as if to show off.
I gently patted Nias’ head, urging her to stay silent.
“Hehe.”
Seeing Nias foolishly grinning from being patted as if she liked it, I only smiled thinly with unease.
Even after seeing people die, she can smile so brightly.
She’s definitely dangerous too.
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The picture book gave hints to a total of four places.
Plaza, river, tomb, tree.
Among them, we had already discovered rune letters in two places.
Perhaps we could find rune letters in the other two places as well.
‘Once all the rune letters are revealed, what will be revealed is probably the location.’
But whatever we try to do, we have to hurry.
Elin may not know, but Elena had consumed a considerable amount of sacred power due to the earlier incident.
If Isaac’s side finishes preparing again and casts another curse, it would be difficult to defend against it again this time.
I headed to Gaila’s tomb first.
According to the setting, Gaila’s tomb is where Gaila, an ancient dragon that once rampaged in the ducal territory, is buried.
When Gaila became ferocious, the first Duke Kift is said to have brought him down with tears and built this tomb.
Of course, there isn’t actually a dragon’s corpse buried here.
A dragon’s corpse is a precious magical item, and if well-processed, it can transform into a powerful artifact.
That’s why the only thing here is a tombstone.
“A tomb, it’s eerie.”
Nias spoke uncharacteristically. Anything else aside, there’s no way Nias, being the Demon King, would be afraid of a tomb.
She devised a desperate excuse to prevent Elena or Elin from clinging to me while looking for a way to be cautious.
Looking down, I saw Nias clearly acting, trembling her body and clinging to me.
While doing so, she glanced at the two saintesses with anxious eyes.
But Elena and Elin didn’t seem to have any intention of clinging to me like that in the first place.
“Get off. It’s annoying. You’re like a pig.”
“…Always a pig! I really didn’t gain weight!”
Nias suddenly vehemently claimed and brought my hand to her belly.
“Feel it!”
“W-wait… don’t!”
Through the maid’s uniform, I could feel Nias’ soft flesh. Indeed, I could feel her slim belly.
“What are you doing?!”
“Now do you know?!”
“What am I supposed to know?”
“If you still don’t know…!”
Nias grabbed my arm again and spoke. Then she struggled with me, trying to bring my hand to her belly again.
“Feel me more! It’s really not true!”
In terms of pure strength… I’m weaker than Nias due to my frailty!
Struggling with Nias while turning bright red, I shouted in surrender.
“I got it. I understand! You’re not a pig like that!”
“…Right?”
Nias grinned. I felt a sense of defeat as I withdrew my hand that Nias had released.
“I’ve felt it for a while, but you two seem to be really close friends.”
Elena, who had a gloomy face until now, looked at my and Nias’ actions and spoke with a faint smile.
Considering the situation Elena was in, Elena, who could even show such a smile, indeed had a strong mentality.
“We’re not close, she’s just arbitrarily…”
But then I saw Elin making a somewhat complicated expression and realized.
This was a bit sudden because Nias had properly schemed.
By deliberately putting on a show, she was sending a warning that there was no room for Elin to squeeze in.
Judging by Elin’s expression, the effect seemed inevitable.
It was indeed a scheme befitting the Demon King.
“Are you brats going out to play at night in high spirits?”
And the moment we almost reached the tombstone, as expected, slave traders who were waiting around it appeared. It was already as I had anticipated.
“They’re being quite annoying.”
I could immediately tell that the men were carrying the Yoseok.
Without hesitation, I used magic to float the surrounding stones.
However…
‘At this rate, my mana will be completely depleted.’
My mana was already extremely low due to the mana depletion state and the earlier curse incident.
There was no problem this time, but we still had to visit two more places. I couldn’t know when my mana would be completely depleted.
At that moment, the men I hadn’t seen rushed in.
“Prepare yourself! You brat!”
Truly lines befitting a small fry.
‘If we count the years lived, I’m much older than them.’
However, it would require a lengthy discussion on whether to include the days I lived in my previous life.
Swish-! Thud! Thump!
The men who rushed in were simultaneously hit by the stones thrown by magic and staggered.
“What?! Why is the magic…! Ugh!”
But as expected, after throwing a few times, I felt the mana I had stored up immediately dropping.
‘As I thought, I can’t throw many times.’
Thinking that, I finished off all the guys for now.
Fortunately, I had a little more mana left than I thought, but it was still dangerous.
At that moment,
“Don’t take human life lightly!”
As expected, Elena came forward in protest.
“Isn’t this self-defense again this time too?”
I dismissed Elena’s words.
And because I had something to say, I pointed to the men.
“And look carefully. This time too, I didn’t kill them.”
At my words, Elena looked puzzled and lowered her head to check their condition.
“Indeed… they’re injured, but…”
Although most of them were bleeding from their heads or various parts of their bodies, they were definitely not dead.
It would be painful enough to die, though.
At my words, Elena was momentarily at a loss for words.
“But when you said you’d kill them… like earlier too. Actually, you don’t want to do things like murder, right?”
Elena’s eyes sparkled with expectation as she looked at me.
“Your words… yeah. Right. I thought it was a bit true.”
When I spoke evasively, Elena’s expression brightened.
“Is that so?! As I thought, right? No matter how much they deserve divine punishment, there’s no need to dirty yourself by taking their lives!”
Elena approached me closely and held my hand, shaking it vigorously.
*Ding!*
“…Hmm.”
I felt a slight prick of conscience.
“It’s nothing.”
I pulled my hand out and spoke.
Earlier, I had briefly exchanged glances with Elin.
It seemed Elin wanted to finish them off this time, too, so I had just controlled my strength appropriately.
‘To think it would come back like this.’
If I get caught later, I have no idea how to deal with the aftermath.
“Then for those who are heavily injured, at least provide some treatment…”
“Ah, wait.”
I grabbed Elena’s shoulder as she turned her eyes towards the men.
Those men were slowly dying right now.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to take care of those guys. We don’t know when the curse will strike again.”
It’s not a lie.
“We’ll just check the runes and hurry.”
Although Elena looked dissatisfied at my words, she eventually nodded.
Just as I confirmed Elin snapping her fingers with a cold expression while glancing at the men, I started moving.
Nias, who seemed displeased that Elena and I were too close, pulled my hand with a whining expression.
‘What a headache.’
The fourth tree the boy in the picture book visits is the sacred tree of the territory.
The grandly grown sacred tree was beautifully blooming white spring flowers in the center of the village.
“Hey. Hey. We’ve been waiting for you brats. Just as the boss told us…”
Seeing the men reciting lines befitting small fries, I thought momentarily.
Knocking them down itself was relatively easy, but…
‘As I thought, my mana is definitely lacking.’
My mana was now barely enough.
At that moment,
One of the approaching men suddenly put his hand on his neck.
“Ugh.. Ack…! Cough..!”
The man’s complexion turned yellow, and foam started flowing from his mouth.
“Yo-you what….? Ugh..?!”
The other men who approached to check on the man with the abnormal condition also writhed while showing the same symptoms.
“Wa-wait… Cough..!”
About four men collapsed one after another, writhing.
It was a clear symptom of poisoning.
When I turned around, Elin clung tightly to Elena, pretending nothing had happened.
‘That’s harsh.’
Elin’s cruel nature seemed to be partially revealed.
Glancing to the side, I saw the corners of Elin’s mouth twitching slightly.
‘Don’t know how to kill them? Leave it to me.’
Are you kidding me?
I broke out in a cold sweat.
Because the unconscious men died silently, it wasn’t felt well, but now it’s certain.
The pain the men were experiencing seemed to go far beyond ordinary pain.
The slave traders were agitated by the situation with an unknown cause.
“M-mage brat… you’re… doing this?!”
“…Yeah. That’s right.”
I thought this would be more convenient. Elena didn’t seem to have noticed yet.
Instead, as expected, people seemed to react sensitively to unseen rather than visible fear.
Some of the men who had shown fighting spirit until just now had turned their bodies and started running away.
With my remaining mana, I precisely aimed at their vital points and knocked down the fleeing men.
“I didn’t kill them.”
Before going to check the runes, I told Elena in advance.
“Ah. Yes.”
Elena smiled with trust in me.
Oh, damn it. Don’t smile so innocently. It pricks my conscience.
Glancing at Elin, I saw she was already preparing to kill them all.
“Wait, let’s go together and check the runes.”
I dragged the puzzled Elena to the tree’s base and checked the runes.
With this, there were four runes.
All gathered. I read out the gathered runes.
“…Temple.”
Ha.
I should have expected it from the beginning.
From the part that this route’s 1st part would end only after saving Elena.
“Temple?”
Next to me, Nias also looked at the rune letters revealed on the sacred tree and asked.
“Yeah. The temple of Nephthys.”
“Is the weapon you’re looking for in our temple?”
Elena also widened her eyes.
The temple she referred to as ‘our temple’ would be the one near the plaza where the massacre took place.
“No. It won’t be there.”
The temple near the plaza was built relatively recently.
Even if it was recent, it was 300 years ago, but it didn’t exist in the era when Kift, who hid the weapon, lived.
“…Since Kift lived about 500 years ago.”
“A temple that existed in this area 500 years ago…?”
Elena pressed her finger on her lips while deep in thought.
“Ah! I remember! If it’s the temple near the southern gate, it would have been built at that time. It’s the temple with the deepest history.”
“That’s helpful.”
At my words, Elena showed me a smile.
Then, the place we had to go was practically decided.
I confirmed Elin quietly finished off the men with a slightly flushed face.
Preventing Elena from turning her gaze towards the men, I quickly headed to the temple at the southern gate.
But we were a step too late. The temple at the southern gate had already turned into a sea of blood.
“Ugh…”
Elena covered her mouth and started dry heaving.
“Elena.”
Elin, whose complexion had turned pale white, tightly hugged Elena, who was trembling slightly.
‘I didn’t expect them to arrive first.’
Severed corpses.
Dark red blood flowed from the corpses.
The blood slowly flowed down the short stairs leading up to the temple, trickling onto the floor.
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