A Blend of Romance and Fantasy - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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33.
“The Path of Truth? What is that?”
What he produced was a scroll, upon which was drawn a map of Sincester.
“It’s a map that shows where we are. You can think of it as a map application.”
“Such a convenient thing exists? Why didn’t we have one in Sincester?”
“This is a custom-made, highest-grade magical artifact.”
As I examined the map closely, my head snapped up at his words.
“Ah! You had this specially commissioned because you have no sense of direction?”
“….”
At my teasing, Leonard Blake’s face contorted slightly.
“Listen here.”
So this ‘no sense of direction’ was his weak point. The way he looked flustered was truly amusing.
I forgot the situation entirely and continued laughing as I teased him further.
“Why not? You do have no sense of direction~ You got lost in the Singchester Royal Palace last time too, didn’t you?”
Apparently truly embarrassed, he stood up abruptly from his seat, his ears flushed red.
“If you keep teasing me like this, I won’t just sit back!”
“What will you do if you don’t sit back? I have nothing to be embarrassed about with you.”
“Ha!”
Before my smug face, he burst into laughter.
“There’s no way you have nothing to be embarrassed about. When you first saw me, you thought I was handsome.”
“…Gasp.”
He. He. He said that.
‘How did he know?’
This madness. My silence for several seconds only added credibility to his words.
“T-That’s absurd!”
Barely regaining my composure, I clutched the map and stood up abruptly.
“There’s a limit to how much arrogance I’ll tolerate. Let’s stop here.”
But he had already seen through me, and an arrogant smile played across Leonard Blake’s face.
“Are you running away because you’re embarrassed?”
“Of course not. It’s just that I won’t listen to such nonsense!”
I shouted indignantly and thrust the map against his chest.
Then I walked toward a place where moonlight didn’t reach. I didn’t want him to see my flushed face.
“Charlotte, aren’t you walking too fast? Let’s go together!”
Go together? I’d rather just go home alone.
I was moving my feet almost as if using teleportation, so mortified I could die.
“Eek!?”
Suddenly, I felt nothing beneath my feet, and my body pitched forward.
Soon my body folded like a ball, and I tumbled down into the darkness.
Charlotte!!
The last thing I heard in my fading consciousness was Leonard Blake’s voice calling out to me.
* * *
“Where am I?”
I opened my eyes in a place filled with jagged stones and overgrown grass.
I thought I might have fallen into a pit, but when I twisted my body, I could see flat ground.
“A mountain slope?”
“Are you awake?”
“Eek!?”
A youthful voice reached my ears. Startled, I scrambled backward on my rear, retreating hastily.
Ignis hovered in the spot where I had just been, his expression utterly blank.
“I-Ignis? What are you doing here… Did you fall with me?”
“Leonard threw me toward you when he saw you falling.”
“So Leonard isn’t here…?”
Ignis folded his wings and landed on the ground.
“Don’t you dare worry about that bastard. He’ll survive with the tenacity of a cockroach.”
“W-who said I was worried? More importantly, let’s teleport to where Leonard is right away…”
I tried to use a teleportation scroll, but I had no idea where I had fallen from.
Even when I looked upward, it was clearly not the place where I had been standing before, and Leonard was nowhere to be seen.
There was no doubt that dark magic warping space was at work.
‘I never imagined Demian’s dark magic would penetrate this close. Why didn’t the sacred relic warn me?’
Perhaps Elisia had judged that this level of intrusion posed no threat to Sincester’s safety.
I let out a long sigh.
“We should explore the surroundings first—maybe we’ll find something. Let’s walk together, Ignis.”
“Remarkably composed. What kind of human is so fearless?”
“I’m plenty afraid. I’m just fine because you’re here.”
“H-hmph! Of course! For a lowly human, you certainly know how to say the right things!”
This creature was easy to please.
I smiled softly and lifted Ignis onto my shoulder, his tail wagging back and forth.
Fortunately, I still had Deliño’s tears hanging around my neck, so I could use magic—basic level, at least.
“Light.”
As I chanted, a pale white glow materialized thinly above my left cheek.
With Ignis dangling from my shoulder, I walked slowly across the flat ground, when suddenly an eerie discomfort crept over the landscape.
The living creatures visible around me—more precisely, the plants that had brushed against my ankles—began to vanish from sight.
‘This is like the Flite Forest…’
Uneasy, I carefully asked Ignis.
“Ignis, can you tell if there are monsters wandering around here?”
“Of course there have been monsters since before. Though they’re all worthless things.”
“There are?”
I quickly drew a short sword from my inventory.
Then Ignis tapped my shoulder with his tail.
“You don’t need to do that. With me here, the monsters won’t dare attack you. That’s why Leonard stuck me by your side in the first place.”
“You never know. At the very least, I need to prevent myself from being ambushed and injured. I hate being in pain.”
Besides, if even a single scratch appeared on my skin, Erdan and Aurora would make an absolute fuss about it, which was far more bothersome.
I tightened my grip on the dagger and slowly surveyed my surroundings.
“But if demons are wandering around here, that means there’s a gap between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm. Can you find it?”
“I cannot say about gaps, but I can sense places where demonic energy is particularly strong. After all, I am a type of demon myself, am I not?”
“Then guide me there.”
“What do you intend to do once we arrive?”
“You said Sincester’s crisis began because of that ‘gap.’ I need to see it with my own eyes.”
“…Knowing it’s a dangerous place, yet you still wish to go there of your own accord. You are a curious human. Hmph.”
Ignis appeared displeased, but he dutifully took on the role of guide.
As I followed Ignis’s lead, something suddenly came to mind, and I spoke it aloud.
“By the way, Ignis, you mentioned there’s a dragon called Ragnarok, didn’t you?”
“Yes. The greatest dragon among all dragons.”
I recalled hearing about it somewhere—that Ragnarok came from the setting guide of 【Habuldal】.
*Ragnarok – Once the strongest among dragons, but succumbed to dark magic, lost reason, and transformed into a complete demon.
Experienced its first death in LD155, and was destined to meet its final death at the hands of the protagonist James.
Certainly, Leonard had shown strong resistance when Ragnarok was mentioned. Why was that?
“Ignis, didn’t that dragon Ragnarok die once before?”
“Ragnarok is a dragon that reached the pinnacle of magic, so it possesses three hearts. Only one of them burst.”
“Why did one heart burst? And if it didn’t die, where is it now?”
To my various questions, Ignis tapped my shoulder with his tail once more.
“I grew up alone. I only heard about Ragnarok from other races—I don’t know the details!”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“…From what I understand, Ragnarok fought a tremendous battle against a powerful foe and unfortunately lost, so it’s currently recovering.”
“If it’s recovering, then it’s in a dragon’s nest?”
“It could be. But Ragnarok’s nest wouldn’t be sitting right here in the Human Realm.”
Ignis chattered for a moment, then suddenly raised his tail and spoke.
“It’s probably in the Demon Realm. Right there. That place.”
What Ignis pointed to was a small opening, no larger than a palm, hidden behind trees and rocks.
At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a natural formation, something one might overlook without a second thought.
“That’s the gap between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm?”
“You call that a ‘gap’? We call it a 【Fissure】.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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