C1001
The Blue Dragon, with its wings torn and flapping like rags, struggled through the sea.
"I'm sorry, Uncle..."
Evelyn stroked Lokta's scales with her only remaining hand, her body dripping with blood.
[Don't talk!]
Lokta tried to push mana into Evelyn's body with trembling hands, but it wouldn't enter, only flowed out.
"It's too late."
Evelyn shook her head, as if she had already come to terms with it.
"We were so close, but in the end..."
The memory of stopping her hand to see Cela for the last time surfaced, and she couldn't help but laugh at her own foolishness.
"But you know what?"
Evelyn smiled, looking at the hand that had embraced Cela.
"Even though I knew it wasn't really Mother's soul, I was so happy. I had never hugged her before."
Cela had hugged her many times. Even before she died, she had hugged her and told her she loved her. But Evelyn had never been the one to initiate a hug. She was glad she could hold her mother's hand and embrace her one last time.
[......]
Lokta just groaned sadly, seemingly speechless.
"I'm sorry for being so stubborn all this time."
[Stop talking and save your strength!]
Sensing Evelyn's warmth fading, Lokta shouted, abandoning formalities for the first time.
"Thank you so much, Uncle."
Evelyn touched Lokta with her weakened hand, a fragile smile on her face.
[Wa-wait!]
"As the last royal of the Sirken Kingdom, I command this: From this moment on, Knight Lokta Deport is freed."
[Evelyn!]
Lokta stopped flying and looked at Evelyn.
"Uncle, I hope you can be happy instead of Mother and me. I'm so sorry..."
With those last words, Evelyn closed her eyes and dropped her hand. Life and warmth began to drain from her body.
[Ah....]
Lokta slumped his shoulders, looking at Evelyn's limp hand that had been holding onto him.
[Aaaaaargh!]
As if feeling the Dragonian's solitary pain, the sea churned up waves higher and deeper than ever before.
* * *
Lokta sighed, running his hand over the pillar of ice.
"Being happy on my own? That's impossible."
He shook his head vigorously, looking at Evelyn trapped in the pillar of ice. Evelyn had freed him and told him to live happily, but he couldn't do it. His own life was nearly over due to his injuries, and he didn't want to send the lonely child away alone.
As Lokta stared at Evelyn's corpse, sighing,
He heard someone entering the cave where he was staying.
"......"
Lokta remained silent, gripping the sword leaning against the wall. As he prepared to attack whoever entered, a small flame like a lantern appeared before him.
"So here you were."
From behind the flame emerged a magician with a long gray beard.
"Birn?"
It was Birn, the high-ranking magician who had led the magicians in the last war.
"How did you...?"
"I followed your tracks. You've come quite far."
Birn sighed, saying it had been difficult to get here.
"So Evelyn died after all."
He clasped his hands together as if in prayer, looking at Evelyn trapped in the ice.
"If she had survived, the history of magic on the continent would have changed."
Birn shook his head, saying Evelyn's talent was more special than anyone else's.
"I'm sorry. For that day..."
Lokta sighed and bowed his head.
"It couldn't be helped."
Birn nodded, saying he understood.
"But we have achieved our goal. The Lothair Kingdom has disappeared, after all."
He smiled wryly, saying he was satisfied.
"Well, you only thought about revenge against Lothair, not about the subsequent wealth or status."
Lokta said it seemed right as he let go of his sword.
"Yes. That's why I've come. We need to tie up the last loose end."
Birn looked away from Lokta towards Evelyn.
"What do you mean?"
Lokta frowned.
"If we leave her like this, that girl will become a malevolent spirit."
"Ah, a malevolent spirit?"
“She didn't achieve her desired goals and still has an attachment to the world of the living.”
Birn clicked his tongue as he touched the ice that encased Evelyn.
"And you've trapped her in ice like this, which makes it even worse."
"T-then what should we do!"
Lokta grabbed Birn's hand, asking him to tell him what to do.
"We should cremate her or bury her in the ground. Of course, we'll need to perform a ritual first."
Birn nodded, saying he could do it himself.
"Please. I don't want to cause that girl any more pain!"
Lokta's lips trembled, seeming mentally broken.
"Of course."
Birn patted Lokta on the shoulder, saying a comrade's matter was his own.
"However, there are some items needed for the ritual. Could you go and get them? I need to make preparations."
He handed Lokta a list of necessary items and some money.
"Get some fresh air and clear your mind while you're at it."
"Ah, alright!"
Lokta said he was counting on him and ran out of the cave.
"So we meet again like this."
Birn suddenly switched to a formal address as he placed his hand on the corpse containing Merlin. His reflection in the pillar of ice wasn't that of a gray-bearded magician, but of a strangely handsome man with golden eyes. It was the Sage.
As a black hole appeared in the Sage's palm, something in Evelyn's chest was absorbed into it.
"Hmm, I could use more of this."
The Sage smiled mockingly as he looked at Merlin, who had closed her eyes. In that instant, time stopped, and everything turned gray. Raon smiled wryly as he saw the Sage's face reflected in the pillar of ice.
"So that's how it happened."
It seemed the Sage had disguised himself as Birn to come here and extract something from Merlin's corpse.
'He must have manipulated her memories as well.'
Someone of Merlin's caliber wouldn't have stopped recognizing the Fallen. The Fallen must have manipulated Merlin's soul to extract her power and alter her memories.
"I knew Merlin's situation was bad, but this..."
-A person's life. No, the existence of an entire race was manipulated in that bastard's palm.
Wrath didn't erupt in intense anger like before, but emanated a cold killing intent.
-I want to kill him myself, even if I have to face the consequences of causality.
He stared intently at the Fallen with bloodshot eyes, truly enraged.
"I'm sorry, but..."
Raon shook his head calmly.
"That guy is Merlin's prey."
Killing the Sage, no, killing the Fallen was something Merlin had to do herself when she woke up.
"Whoa."
As Raon watched Merlin trapped in the pillar with bitter eyes, the gray butterflies that had been representing this final scene spread their wings and flew away, revealing a new location.
"This is..."
Looking again, it wasn't a new place. It was the Para village, which he had seen in Merlin's first memory.
-It's where the crazy one lived. However...
Wrath narrowed his eyes.
-This is different from that memory. It's the crazy one's true mental world.
'Seems like it.'
Like his own mental world filled only with swords and swordsmanship, Merlin's mental world seemed to consist entirely of this village.
'Although there are problems...'
Raon lowered his eyebrows as he looked at the mana rings dividing the air.
'It's completely broken.'
Those rings were the mana circles that revolved around Merlin's heart, like the Ring of Fire in his own mental world. Because all of Merlin's mana circles in reality had shattered, they also appeared collapsed here.
"Haa..."
Raon let out a long sigh as he entered the village.
'Let's reunite with Merlin first.'
He entered the village, prioritizing saving Merlin.
"Huh?"
Raon's eyes widened as soon as he entered the village.
"What is this..."
He had thought the houses were made of colored bricks, but up close, he saw that the walls were covered with drawings of himself.
"Ugh..."
Raon stopped short and turned his head to the right. The walls of the house that was there were also completely covered with drawings of his face.
-The crazy one is pitiful, but...
Wrath shook his head.
-She's truly crazy.
'......'
There was no way to refute that.
'This is insane.'
Raon exhaled wearily and continued towards the village.
-But those faces of yours embedded in the walls.
Wrath narrowed his eyes, looking at the drawings covering the walls.
-They're not just drawings of you.
'Then?
-They're drawings of you when you were with the crazy one.
He shook his head, saying she hadn't just drawn his face, but himself from the times they were together.
'Now that you mention it...'
Raon stopped walking and examined the drawings closely.
'I remember all these places.'
From his first encounter with Merlin to the numerous scenes where she surprised him by appearing in animal form, and even their time together in Zieghart. Each scene showed him and Merlin together.
'It seems Merlin...'
Raon closed his eyes and sighed.
'Must have been remembering the moments we spent together in this village.'
There were especially many drawings of when she lived as a maid in the annex, as if she had enjoyed that time. The magician he had believed to be crazy seemed to have been more fragile, affectionate, and fond of people than he had believed.
'Is that the place?'
He could see Merlin and Cela's house from the past. A Blue Dragon was coiled around the house like a snake, as if guarding it. It was Lokta. Lokta made eye contact with him briefly before raising its tail to open a path to the house.
"Thank you."
Raon bowed his head to Lokta before entering Merlin's house. Merlin's house was colder and more frigid than Zieghart in winter. It was enough to make his whole body tremble and his hair stand on end.
Merlin was sitting in the center of the living room, looking at a canvas with drawing paper on top of it. Countless unfinished drawings were scattered at her feet.
"It's no use..."
Merlin shook her head with a sobbing voice.
"I can't remember..."
She mumbled that she didn't know, crumpled the drawing she had been working on, and threw it on the floor. Raon approached Merlin from behind and unfolded the drawing that had just fallen. The drawing showed a woman with golden hair and red eyes, but her face was somehow distorted.
'Could it be...'
Raon narrowed his eyes and unfolded the other drawings. They all showed a woman with golden hair and red eyes, but they lacked features.
'Now I understand.'
Raon bit his lip deeply.
'Merlin was trying to draw Cela.'
It seemed she had tried to draw Cela out of nostalgia, but due to the Fallen's memory manipulation, she had forgotten who she was trying to draw and how to draw her.
'If it's now...'
Raon took a deep breath and approached Merlin, who had taken out a new piece of drawing paper. He gently grabbed her trembling hand.
"Ah..."
Merlin looked at him with wide eyes.
"Raon? Why are you here? You shouldn't be here..."
"The mother I saw..."
Raon smiled slightly as he guided Merlin's hand.
"She had golden hair carefully tied up, as bright as the sun, and eyes with a warm red glow like a bonfire. The bridge of her nose was high like the edge of a sword. She was a beautiful woman with a refreshing aura."
Remembering the Cela he had seen, he made Merlin draw her mother with her own hand.
"Your mother loved you until the end, and you loved her until the last moment. What I saw was..."
He continued to draw as he told Merlin everything he had seen and felt. It took a long time to recount everything he had witnessed, but in contrast to the lonely and sad story, a gentle smile bloomed on the lips of Cela in the drawing, as if welcoming her daughter.
"Is this..."
Merlin dropped the brush she had been holding and parted her lips.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
Raon nodded, looking at the drawing of Cela that remained in his memory.
"Ah..."
With Merlin's deep exclamation, a gentle sunlight entered the house that had only been filled with cold air, and a soft flame emerged from the fireplace. The warm and gentle atmosphere of the house where Cela and Merlin had lived together was revived.
Following the clear light emanating from Merlin's house, her broken and collapsed mana flow began to reconnect again.
But this flow was different from before. It was the fundamental mana wave that the Para should possess. As the tenth circle rose to the sky, a soft purple radiation enveloped Merlin's entire body.
"I..."
Merlin nodded, feeling the ten rings revolving around her heart.
"I remember everything now."
She shed clear tears from her pure purple eyes, saying she finally remembered everything.
"Then let's go."
Raon held out his hand to Merlin, who was holding the drawing lovingly against her chest.
"Evelyn."
-
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