C995
The cheerful song of a bird filled the air as it flew across the sky.
“Huh…?”
Raon blinked in bewilderment as he listened to the bird’s melody fall from above.
“Why is there an unknown village in front of me?”
A small village stood right before him. There were several houses built with red bricks, and seeing the smoke rising from the square chimneys strangely warmed his heart. It felt like looking at the annex building.
‘Where am I?’
He had only broken the old woman’s mask that Merlin was wearing to heal her, but he couldn’t understand why he had ended up in a place like this.
‘Is this the mental world? But for that…’
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked around.
‘The sensations are too vivid.’
Judging by the familiar scent emanating from the village and the flow of the wind he could feel on his fingertips, this seemed to be reality rather than a dream or the mental world.
‘Or did I die?’
When the light burst from Merlin’s mask, if The Fallen had launched a surprise attack, his body might have exploded before he could feel it.
‘No, that’s too much. Larian would have protected me.’
-Squish!
A groan sounded from beneath his feet as he shook his head, thinking he couldn’t have died.
-W-where is this place?
Wrath rose with his eyes half-open. He still looked like blue cotton candy.
-Where have you brought this king?!
Wrath shouted, demanding to know their current location immediately.
‘Seeing you by my side, it seems we’re not dead.’
Raon smiled as he watched Wrath complaining about having a headache. The fact that Wrath had been dragged in his spiritual form suggested that he himself wasn’t dead yet.
‘But it feels so real that it seems genuine… Huh?’
Raon’s eyes widened as he tried to touch a nearby tree with his hand.
‘What the hell…?’
He couldn’t grab it! Like a ghost, he couldn’t touch the tree or its leaves.
-Hmph!
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked Raon up and down.
-You’ve ended up in the same state as this king! Now you shall know the pain of being in spiritual form!
He burst into a satisfied laugh, as if he was pleased that Raon was in the same situation.
‘Is this what it feels like to be in spiritual form?’
Raon clicked his tongue as he examined his body.
‘It’s certainly peculiar.’
His senses were even sharper than when he was alive, but nothing touched his hands or feet. He could understand why Wrath was obsessed with food.
‘Shall we enter?’
Raon briefly licked his lips as he looked towards the village.
-That village?
‘I think I know where this is.’
He had become a spirit while trying to remove Merlin’s mask and was dragged into this village. This must be Merlin’s mental world.
-It must be that crazy woman’s past.
Wrath nodded as if he had also deduced it.
‘That’s right.’
Raon took a deep breath before entering the village.
“The weather is nice today.”
“Nice? It’s going to rain soon!”
“Did you use magic to read the weather again? I keep telling you to let nature be natural.”
“The cultivation magic Lady Cela developed this time is incredible, isn’t it? The harvest has almost doubled!”
“Her magic is always reliable, of course.”
“Where have the children gone again? It’s almost dinner time!”
As befits a small village, everyone was immersed in conversations with no one left out. It seemed like a warm place, just as he had felt when thinking about the annex building.
‘I need to find Merlin…’
Raon narrowed his eyes as he scanned the village.
‘I don’t know how to find her.’
-Hate to say it, but that crazy woman’s face is pretty fair. She must stand out even as a child.
Wrath raised his chin, saying that someone with Merlin’s looks would be noticeable from a young age.
‘That may not be the case.’
Raon shook his head calmly.
‘The body Merlin has in the current world isn’t her true body.’
He wasn’t sure of the exact process, but Merlin had taken the body of the person wearing the old woman’s mask to descend into the current world. Merlin’s face that he saw in reality and Merlin’s face here would inevitably be different.
-Hmm, that’s certainly true.
Wrath nodded as if he understood.
-Even if that Fallen or whatever was involved, that crazy woman did steal someone else’s body.
He frowned as if something had occurred to him.
“Tch....”
Raon clicked his tongue briefly as he wandered through the village without saying anything.
‘Being in spiritual form is quite inconvenient.’
It was frustrating that he could pass through walls and doors, but couldn’t use martial arts or aura.
‘It’s fortunate that the village is small, at least.’
As he sighed and thoroughly searched the village, he heard children’s laughter coming from a small clearing among the houses.
‘Perhaps…’
Raon turned his steps towards the clearing where the children’s voices came from.
“Can’t you do that?”
“You’re so slow...”
“Even the younger kids than you can do it.”
“You’re an embarrassment to Para. An embarrassment!”
Children who looked to be just over ten years old surrounded a girl with purple hair, mocking her.
“I-I can do it too...”
The purple-haired girl raised her head weakly.
‘Huh?’
Raon’s eyes widened as he looked at the purple-haired girl.
‘Merlin…?’
Despite her young age, the purple-haired girl had an aura that seemed more suited to being called beautiful than pretty. It seemed like in a few years she would have exactly the same face as the Merlin he had seen.
-This is different from what you said! She looks exactly like that crazy woman!
Wrath waved his hands, saying that Merlin’s face was the same.
‘I… don’t understand why either.’
Merlin had died 500 years ago and had been reborn by putting the old woman’s mask on a girl in the current world.
It was surprising that the Merlin of the past had the same appearance as the Merlin of the present.
‘But her eyes are different.’
Merlin’s eyes without the mask were purple, with a red cross engraved in the center of her pupils. However, the current Merlin’s eyes were just an ordinary purple.
-On the contrary, the others’ eyes have crosses engraved on them.
Wrath raised his finger as if telling him to look closely.
‘Huh…?’
Raon let out a sigh as he followed Wrath’s gaze.
‘It’s true.’
As Wrath had said, it wasn’t Merlin, but the children surrounding her who had blue crosses engraved on their eyes.
‘Not just the crosses.’
The children possessed such pure energy that it seemed as if they had directly absorbed mana from nature. It was the innate quality of a gifted magician.
“Heh....”
Raon swallowed as he saw that even the middle-aged woman who was washing clothes had crosses in her eyes.
‘Could these eyes be a blood trait?’
Not everyone in the village had crosses in their eyes, but most did, and they also possessed pure mana.
“Look...”
Merlin stammered as she extended her hands with difficulty. A small sphere of fire floated above her palms. However, the flame couldn’t hold and extinguished like a candle in the wind.
“I knew it!”
“Another failure!”
“Younger kids than you can do it.”
“You’re an embarrassment to Para! An embarrassment!”
The children mocked Merlin, clicking their tongues.
“No, no.”
Merlin tried to create a flame on her palms again, but it disappeared even faster than before.
“You can’t do it.”
“Give up.”
“You can’t even do basic magic.”
“You have no talent. No talent.”
The children shook their heads, muttering that it was enough.
“You’re not even Lady Cela’s real daughter—”
“You kids!”
Just as the black-haired boy was about to mention Cela’s name, the middle-aged woman who had been hanging clothes ran over.
“I told you to stop bullying your friend!”
“Ahhh!”
At her shout, the children turned around and started to run.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
As the middle-aged woman snapped her fingers, the fleeing children began to float in the air and were dragged back.
“We’re sorry!”
“It was just a joke!”
“Ugh...”
The children mumbled apologies as they hung in the air like clothes.
“You shouldn’t apologize to me, but to your friend.”
The middle-aged woman frowned, pointing at Merlin.
“S-sorry...”
“It really was just a joke...!”
The children lowered their heads, rolling their eyes.
“Sniff…”
Merlin didn’t respond, covering her face as she sobbed.
“...”
-...
Raon and Wrath stared dumbfounded at Merlin crying like an ordinary child.
‘Is this Merlin?’
-Is this thing that crazy woman?
* * *
“Sniff…”
Merlin vigorously wiped her eyes and nose as if trying not to show she had been crying, then entered an old brick house on the edge of the village.
“I-I’m back.”
As she bowed her head weakly, a young woman came out of the kitchen with a rustling sound.
“Are you back early?”
She was a beautiful woman with a fresh appearance, her straight blonde hair tied neatly back, and her eyes also had blue crosses engraved on them.
“Did you have fun… huh?”
The blonde woman with red eyes nodded with a smile, then raised her eyebrows slightly as she saw Merlin’s red nose.
“Have you been crying again?”
She sighed as if it wasn’t the first time.
“N-no.”
Merlin shook her head, saying something just got in her eye.
“I see. Well, you can’t help it then. Just make sure you always take care of your hands. A magician’s hands and eyes are their life. Remember Lady Merlin’s teachings?”
The blonde woman gently stroked the burn marks on the tips of Merlin’s fingers. As if possessing a special power, the burns began to slowly fade.
“...Yes, Lady Cela.”
Merlin couldn’t look directly at the blonde woman she called Cela and lowered her gaze slightly.
“I told you to call me Mom and talk confidently.”
Cela shook her head, saying it was okay to be informal.
“...”
Merlin didn’t respond and just rolled her eyes. She seemed both embarrassed and doubtful.
“...Okay. Let’s eat first.”
Cela let out a short sigh and went back to the kitchen.
“I-I’ll help!”
Merlin sobbed and followed Cela into the kitchen.
“Okay, go wash up.”
Cela sent Merlin back, telling her to wash her face and hands.
“Okay...”
Merlin washed her hands and face in a round silver sphere, her shoulders slumped as if she were discouraged.
-That…
Wrath let out a sigh as he watched Merlin frown.
-What’s wrong?
He looked at the kitchen where Merlin and Cela had gone with seriousness.
-Aren’t you curious about what this house is cooking?
Wrath licked his lips, saying he wanted to see it now.
-There’s a good smell, but I can’t tell what it is!
He gestured quickly, suggesting they enter the kitchen.
“Sigh, I’d also like to see your past…”
Raon entered the kitchen, imagining how Wrath had become the Demon King of Wrath. By that time, Merlin and Cela seemed to have started eating at the round table.
-What is this?
Wrath rolled his eyes as he looked at the red dish on the table.
-It looks like tomatoes and melted cheese with sausages. Is it like a pizza, but something is different?
He licked his lips with longing, saying he wanted to eat it.
“How was your magic implementation?”
Cela raised her eyebrows slightly as she passed Merlin a piece of bread spread with butter.
“Were you able to hold it for longer?”
“A-bout a second.”
Merlin let out a long sigh, saying nothing had changed.
“Okay. It will get better.”
Cela smiled, saying it would gradually improve.
“You have talent.”
“No, I have no talent…”
Merlin shook her head, biting her lip.
“I don’t even have Para eyes…”
She looked at her face, covering her eyes with one hand and feeling like it wasn’t enough.
“Those eyes aren’t important.”
Cela put down her fork and showed a gentle smile.
“What’s important isn’t the power of magic, but what kind of magic you learn and use.”
She smiled, saying that the path of magic is wide and long even without these eyes.
“Lady Merlin wasn’t from Para either. You know that.”
Cela lightly covered her own eyes, telling her to remember well.
“Yes…”
Merlin let out a short sigh and dropped her fork and spoon, seeming to think about what had happened earlier in the day despite Cela’s advice.
“I’m done eating…”
She left the house again after saying she was done eating.
“Wait a moment!”
Cela extended her hand, calling out to Merlin, but she had already run outside.
“¡Sigh...!”
Cela let out a short sigh as she looked at the bread Merlin had only eaten half of.
“Being a mother is not easy. It’s much more complicated than magic.”
She shook her head and began to clean the table.
‘I should go out.’
Just as Raon was about to follow Merlin outside, thinking he couldn’t get any more information here, a blue light suddenly burst in front of him, opening a dimension large enough for a person to enter.
‘What is this place…?’
He frowned and turned around to see Cela frozen in place, holding a plate. It seemed as if time had stopped.
-It seems we must enter.
Wrath frowned, saying there was no other option.
‘I suppose so.’
Raon briefly licked his lips before entering the blue dimensional gate without hesitation. An immense golden platform, more than twice the size of Glenn’s throne, appeared before him. Sitting on the lavishly crafted throne was an old man with a bald head and wrinkles all over his body, trembling on his knees.
“I-I must find a way.”
The old man, wearing a splendid golden crown, was biting his nails in fear, repeating the need to find a solution. His entire body was deeply wrinkled, and his complexion was yellowish, making him look as if he could die at any moment.
“I definitely can’t die like this…”
The crown-wearing old man bit his lips as he looked at the vast kingdom visible through the window.
“That’s why I tell you to find a way.”
He shouted, throwing the healing medicines and artifacts that were beside the throne across the platform.
“We’re sorry.”
“But Your Majesty’s illness is something we’ve never seen before…”
“We haven’t found an illness that accelerates aging to this level.”
The priests and healers below lowered their heads as if they felt ashamed.
“Useless nonsense!”
He chewed his teeth, showing deep anger. In that brief moment, another wrinkle seemed to have appeared on his forehead, as if he had aged again.
“If only that person were here, if only that person…”
As he trembled, calling someone, the massive doors of the throne room swung open. A man wrapped in a gray robe from head to toe entered. He approached the platform with confident but not excessive steps.
“Your Majesty. I have finally found a way to cure your illness.”
The man in the gray robe bowed before the wrinkled king, saying he had found a definitive solution.
“Is it true?”
The king swallowed and descended from his throne.
“Sage! Tell me quickly!”
He ran down before the man could straighten up completely and stood before him.
“Of course.”
The man called the Sage smiled faintly and removed the hood that covered his face.
“Huh?”
Raon swallowed as he saw the face of the man in the gray robe.
‘The… Fallen?’
The face of the man in the gray robe was exactly like the mask of a handsome young man that The Fallen was wearing. His smiling expression was so similar that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they were the same person.
“Your Majesty. Perhaps...”
The man with The Fallen’s face clasped his hands with a cunning smile.
“Have you heard of a race called Para?”
-
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