A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Episode 34】

 

Far from resolving my curiosity, I became even more confused.

 

It was such an extraordinarily outlandish story that it shook my existing understanding of divinity and magi to its very roots.

 

“Magi… originated from divinity?”

 

“Ridiculous, isn’t it. That the root of magi is divinity, yet what purifies it is also ultimately divinity.”

 

Davuer added while gazing at the World Tree with eyes that seemed to grope at distant places.

 

“No one knew. Not even those who participated in the holy war a hundred years ago.”

 

The holy war from a hundred years ago.

 

The background of the holy war’s outbreak was as follows. When the World Tree succumbed to magi and began to rot, people naturally regarded this as the end of the world.

 

The Temple and Empire stepped forward to drive magi from this land, with the Countess of that time leading the charge.

 

The Contaminated Region was precisely the battlefield of that holy war.

 

But could a holy war against magi whose origins couldn’t even be determined and whose form was unclear have been properly conducted?

 

“The holy war failed miserably.”

 

And what was generally cited as the cause was precisely this.

 

‘Because the demon Duke killed the Countess.’

 

Davuer, who participated in the holy war as a Mage Tower master, fell to magi midway and murdered the Countess, which sparked a new war.

 

This was precisely the war between Hilbarsia and Belmayer.

 

Incidentally, the reason he became a Duke despite being a tower master was because he forcibly inherited Belmayer’s ducal position after destroying the Mage Tower.

 

But no matter how much I thought about it.

 

“However, it was half successful.”

 

I didn’t think he would have killed the Countess.

 

“What did you just say…”

 

I reacted to his words a bit belatedly.

 

Davuer, who turned his gaze from the World Tree to me, opened his mouth. It was a voice like gritty sand.

 

“Do you know the name of the Countess from a hundred years ago?”

 

“…No. It’s not written anywhere.”

 

It wasn’t just the name.

 

That Countess was as if her very existence had been erased, with no records of any deeds other than the information that she ‘participated in the holy war and died.’

 

“I can’t remember either. I’ve forgotten not just her name but even her face. All I remember is just…”

 

Davuer trailed off and fell silent.

 

Looking at me with probing eyes, no. Looking at something dwelling within me rather than me.

 

Again, with eyes that seemed to search for someone through me.

 

‘…Was that the Countess?’

 

There was a fact I had realized before. That he saw someone else, not me, through me.

 

Perhaps because he had suddenly disappeared without a trace at some point.

 

Meeting him again now, that gaze felt particularly more vivid and… somehow sharper too.

 

After a long while, Davuer spoke quietly.

 

“The Countess…”

 

That day, she killed a god and was annihilated as the price.

 

Davuer’s brief agitation disappeared with those words. Once again, as always, with a complexion that wouldn’t bleed a drop even if stabbed, he continued speaking.

 

“But even though the god who was the root cause died, the source of magi he left behind did not disappear and remained.”

 

“…”

 

“I drew it in with my magic power and sealed it within myself. Since I couldn’t contain it all, the remaining portion settled in that very tree.”

 

Perhaps because Davuer’s magi was in a so-called ‘sealed’ state. Or perhaps because the World Tree’s magi was full of vicious malice.

 

The magi of those two seemed similar but had very different textures.

 

However, both shared the common trait of being incomparably denser than what other vermin possessed.

 

“After that, it probably went as you know.”

 

…It would be terrible if things really went as I knew.

 

Because that would include the future where his magi goes berserk.

 

I clenched my palms, which had grown damp with slight tension. My thoughts spun complexly after hearing the shocking secret confession.

 

‘If this is true, doesn’t that mean a god became corrupted?’

 

Meaning an evil god, final boss, mastermind.

 

That was somewhat troublesome.

 

“Ah, my head hurts. Let’s say a god died as you said. But then how… does a new Countess appear?”

 

The protagonist of this world was Lishie.

 

When incidents occur, it’s the protagonist’s job to resolve them. Lishie had the duty to save the world from ruin.

 

‘As a Countess.’

 

I had also seen the moment Lishie awakened her divinity. I had never felt anything so sacred.

 

What kind of day was today? Davuer, having departed somewhat from mysticism, obediently provided that answer.

 

“A new god must have been born. That’s also why I’m checking that tree.”

 

Saying this, he looked at the World Tree.

 

“The ‘future’ I saw then hasn’t come yet, but since a new Countess has appeared… before long, magi will disappear from the world.”

 

“…A new god? Future? Do you also see the future and all that?”

 

“Not now. I gave that ability to Giselle.”

 

Like an onion, things kept coming out no matter how much I peeled.

 

When one question was resolved, two new questions arose. I finally voiced what I had been curious about but hadn’t bothered to ask.

 

“…What exactly is this supernatural ability?”

 

“I’ll have to tell you that during the next lesson.”

 

Whoooosh—

 

Suddenly, a fierce gale came toward us like a blizzard from the direction of the World Tree.

 

Davuer grabbed and supported me while standing, glaring at the World Tree that seemed to pulsate and writhe.

 

“That earlier incident wasn’t mere coincidence either. Is there still… lingering resentment?”

 

Lingering resentment?

 

My thoughts couldn’t continue further. Because I felt a resentful gaze from the tree.

 

Though it had no eyes, the way it seemed to pierce through me made me feel like a fish on a cutting board.

 

My hair stood on end involuntarily.

 

And reflexively, I regretted what I had said earlier about crises according to clichés.

 

‘This is insane! Cancel that foreshadowing!’

 

I didn’t know exactly what it was. But my instincts warned bright red that facing that thing was dangerous.

 

Then I heard a sound.

 

Rather than words, it seemed to pierce directly into my head.

 

[Demon!]

 

It was strange how it was like the whisper of an old woman facing death, yet also like the cry of a newborn baby full of vitality or the laughter of a ghost wandering the underworld.

 

‘But isn’t the demon obviously that side?’

 

Looking like a ghost tree…

 

I only retorted inwardly while constantly racking my brain.

 

Davuer said I couldn’t use magic power since it might become a variable. I didn’t have a sword in my hands now either.

 

So the only action I could take was.

 

“Let’s run for now!”

 

I firmly interlocked fingers with the hand Davuer was holding, and without waiting for his answer, immediately ran toward Belmayer.

 

There was some reward from the time I learned swordsmanship, when I built stamina by running with sandbags on my ankles.

 

Though I wasn’t that fast.

 

[Demon! Die!]

 

‘It doesn’t seem very intelligent.’

 

Its words were very one-dimensional, and while making a lot of noise, its attacks weren’t particularly sharp.

 

Thunk! Thunk!

 

All it did was constantly throw its rotten branches… however.

 

“Irene.”

 

Right after Davuer pulled me, with a slight difference in timing, a branch embedded itself in the ground.

 

…The fact that they flew in strange trajectories as if unaffected by wind, and looked dangerous enough to send you to the afterlife with just a light graze, was quite problematic.

 

“Do you know why that crazy tree is suddenly acting like this!?”

 

“It seems the lingering thoughts of a dead god that dwells with the magi remain. Strange. In the past hundred years, I’ve never felt a consciousness…”

 

Thunk!

 

So it’s roughly an evil spirit!

 

“I don’t know how to exorcise that!”

 

“Neither do I.”

 

Well now, there’s still quite some time left until the original work’s conclusion, yet a life-or-death crisis is already upon us.

 

Thunk!

 

“Rather than that, just get on my back.”

 

“No thanks, I can still manage.”

 

Thunk!

 

I rambled while precariously dodging the tree branches.

 

“Still, the tree shouldn’t have legs, right? Though it does seem to have eyes.”

 

“Irene.”

 

“If we go back to where we first came, we can immediately call Jepi with that telepathy thing and escape…”

 

It was right when I had laid out this hopeful plan.

 

“…Huh.”

 

Somehow the momentum had become quite ominously fierce.

 

An unavoidable type of attack was about to strike.

 

As if sensing the same thing, Davuer tried to deploy his magi. Perhaps because we were holding hands, I could clearly read his movements.

 

He was planning to deploy protective magic with magi.

 

‘This man who’s gone mad with a death wish, really.’

 

His power is magi, and the crazy tree’s attack is also magi. Whichever magi gets absorbed where, I didn’t know for sure, but it was certain to be a disaster.

 

“You said you’d never do that again!”

 

I was horrified by his reckless action and shouted angrily.

 

That was the moment.

 

Groooo—

 

Magi darkened the sky like a swarm of storm clouds. Strangely, only the sky right above our heads was like that.

 

And from the black sky with its unnatural boundary… something was about to fall like lightning.

 

Rather than fear of that thing, I was more terrified of Davuer going berserk after absorbing magi, so I gripped his hand tightly and earnestly pleaded.

 

“Don’t do it, keep your promise!”

 

‘At this point, please give me some reincarnator buff!’

 

Although I realized my past life at a terribly late age and missed all the moments when I could have benefited most as a reincarnator.

 

Still, I do have a totem ability that would be hard to explain without some reincarnator buff, don’t I?

 

Do something with that! Right now!

 

Kiiing—!

 

At that moment.

 

A pale flash blazed from the ring on my index finger.

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