A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 74

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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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【Chapter 74】

“Aaahhh! P-please spare me! I was wrong!”

“Must kill… I, I must kill.”

Black waves writhing as if alive.

The mages who should have fought against it all fell into hallucinations and extreme terror when they encountered it.

Not only could they not distinguish friend from foe, but cases of magical power running rampant occurred one after another, making this the most terrible disaster imaginable.

Only Davuer properly recognized its true identity.

A mutant vermin harboring the source of magi within.

What he had sealed in his body was a contaminated entity with the same magi that dwelled in the Rotten World Tree.

Fundamental magi is different from ordinary magi. Whether life force or magical power, it devours everything to grow.

Even in the moment he finished his assessment, it was exponentially increasing its power by consuming mages.

At this rate, it would be total annihilation.

The entire Mage Tower would become a sacrifice. A second Contaminated Region would be born in this place.

“Mage Tower Master! Stop!”

Therefore, Davuer absorbed it.

Just as he had drawn in and imprisoned in his body the magi that had not disappeared even with the Countess’s sacrifice. In this chaos, he chose the only solution he could.

Where and how that contaminated entity had come, what would happen if it was added to his already-at-limit body – these were problems to think about later.

He wasn’t even certain he would survive.

There was nowhere to retreat anyway.

‘Total annihilation’ by the contaminated entity included himself as well… and as the master of the Mage Tower, according to that principle, he had to protect this place.

After a fierce battle, the contaminated entity was absorbed into him.

His body, already at its limit, suffered a severe overload reaction. As death-like sleep was about to claim him.

“Transfer some of that power to me.”

Giselle said.

The deputy tower master who had survived this incident but had her magical circuits destroyed. She had been one of the frontline figures who participated in the Holy War.

“If it’s power too burdensome to bear alone, let’s share it.”

“…You’ll be cursed. You might die.”

“Whether I die from that or die from the Mage Tower Master going berserk, if I’m going to die anyway, I’d rather try something before dying.”

The three swordsmen who had fought together on the final battlefield stepped forward as well.

After the Holy War, they were those who chose to serve him despite rejecting the Imperial Court’s honorable knighthood and receiving the world’s condemnation.

“If Giselle receives it, so will I.”

“My lord, please transfer some to me as well.”

“Me too. I have nowhere to return to anyway.”

A blank-minded spirit medium, gladiator slaves, and an assassin respectively. Due to their origins and pasts, they were those who couldn’t belong anywhere and faced discrimination.

Finally, Juansi made a request.

“My responsibility in this matter is not small. Please let me bear that responsibility as well.”

It was at that moment. He heard a beloved voice that seemed to come from very far away.

A single phrase she had once spoken to him long ago.

“I will bless you. You will not be alone.”

…What an exquisitely timed blessing it was.

Unable to resist that blessing, Davuer fragmented and transferred what God had left behind – the divine authority – to the five people.

The curse he had gained in the process of forcibly absorbing the dead god’s power transferred along with it.

[Filthy plunderer. You shall neither live as the living nor die as the dead.]

But it didn’t matter.

He had a blessing stronger than the curse with him.

When he arrived in Belmayer with the few survivors from the collapsed Mage Tower, the Duke’s Castle with its outer walls frozen white was imbued with sanctity.

As if it had been arranged.

He became the Imperial Court’s spy, purged all the retainers who had betrayed their master, then inherited the ducal position. And he declared independence, waging total war against the Empire.

The man who thus came to be called a demon by the world finished his old reminiscences and opened his mouth.

“Giselle.”

―Reconsider. Even if it means abandoning the mountain, that method really isn’t the answer.

“I have not yet been freed from the magi.”

―What do you mean by that…

Giselle, soon grasping the underlying meaning, spoke in a subdued voice.

―Don’t tell me… since the future where Irene liberates your magi hasn’t come yet, you’re judging that you’ll remain alive no matter what you do until then?

A gamble-like judgment that could only be made under the assumption that the future she had seen would never change.

Though Giselle trusted that immutability more than anyone, this time she couldn’t completely believe and gamble on it.

―This is on a different scale from briefly visiting the Empire. It’s too dangerous!

“You’ve become a coward, Giselle.”

Saying this, he walked a few steps away from the commotion and set down the woman he had been holding.

His touch was careful as he made her lean against a wooden pillar and covered her with his removed coat. Only after checking her breathing once more did he add:

“It will work out somehow.”

Though it sounded somewhat carefree, it was neither bravado nor arrogance. It was conviction. He would never stake his life on a mere gamble.

“Don’t recklessly overdo it. Your heart is mine, so you have a duty to treat yourself preciously.”

Because he had a duty not to die.

―Master!

“Follow orders. I don’t intend to absorb it either.”

Having finished the telepathic communication, Davuer focused on the situation before him.

Vermin were swarming toward the mountain range all at once. The procession made it seem as if the white mountain range was being dyed black.

The contaminated entity that had appeared in the Mage Tower in the past hadn’t drawn vermin to it. Then should the current contaminated entity be seen as having evolved over time?

At least one thing was certain: if the contaminated entity devoured all the vermin here and swelled its power, the entire mountain range would become a Contaminated Region.

“The vermin must not make contact with that thing.”

At those words, Nishe, busily cutting down the continuously charging vermin, shouted:

“If I focus on that, I cannot provide cover for my lord!”

“Have I ever ordered you to provide me cover?”

“…Yes, my lord!”

Nishe asked no more questions and moved according to orders.

One knight who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship. Even if it soon became two, there were ultimately limits in a battle of numbers.

He had to subdue it as quickly as possible.

Crack!

Facing the contaminated entity writhing like tentacles, Davuer released his magi without a moment’s hesitation.

The previous day at the Mage Tower, he had no choice but to absorb.

At the time, he didn’t even know the concept of subjugating Magi, and even if he had known, his body wasn’t in a state to control the sealed Magi.

However, his current condition could be said to be the best it had been in years—no, since sealing the Magi.

So then.

“…I’ll definitely succeed, so don’t blame me too much.”

If it were you standing in this place, you would surely think and act the same way.

He muttered with a faint smile. It was a monologue directed at someone who couldn’t hear.

Magic fueled by Magi unfolded with surprisingly fast and precise calculations. He didn’t even consider the possibility of being consumed by the Magi.

He had been missing something from the very beginning.

Why was the Magi inside his body sealed? It was essentially the same as what dwelled in the World Tree, so why didn’t he become a living, moving Contaminated Region?

Magi submits to stronger Magi.

Then what does stronger Magi submit to?

He already knew the answer.

From the moment he drew it in with magic power and embedded it in his body, throughout the entire process of falling into endless sleep and awakening. In his battles with Magi, he had never lost even once.

Deep darkness settled in his pupils. His heart beat faster and hotter than it had since imprisoning the Magi.

He believed he would not fail.

So for this magic, there was no need for any resolve to die.

* * *

‘Have I entered another illusion?’

As soon as I regained consciousness, I raised this question.

The phantom library incident had been just a few days ago. Suddenly losing consciousness and then opening my eyes in a strange place—this was the second time experiencing this.

I could immediately tell this wasn’t reality.

A non-existent space surrounded on all sides by pitch-black darkness. My body was also in a state of consciousness.

Even though my eyes were open, it felt like they were closed, so I first gathered sanctity at my fingertips and lit it like a candle. A white cluster of light formed like a sphere in my hand.

Whoosh!

“…Wh-what a shock.”

My heart suddenly lurched as if I’d seen a ghost.

“This is… a dragon?”

Yes, there was a pitch-black dragon before my eyes.

A massive body too large to take in at a single glance and glossy scales that shone like obsidian.

The majesty of a predator sleeping languidly with wings rising from its back covered like a blanket.

It was too sacred to be called Vermin and too beautiful to be called a monster. Perhaps that’s why.

I unconsciously reached out as if enchanted and gently stroked the dragon’s head.

Then its tightly closed eyelids twitched—

Soon large, brilliant golden eyes were revealed.

Vertically slit pupils. A gaze that seemed somewhat displeased.

【Contractor. You broke your promise.】

It was exactly like the voice of a boy in his early to mid-teens.

“…Me?”

【To make this body wait endlessly and then shamelessly pretend not to know.】

A dragon I’d never seen before scolded me as if we’d known each other for a long time.

Since it was difficult for me to understand the context of its words, I had no choice but to ask:

“I did that? Who are you?”

【…Do you really not remember?】

“I’m seeing you for the first time.”

【Ha. This body’s contractor has become an idiot!】

Its massive tail swished irritably, striking the ground with sharp taps. When I stared at it quietly, the dragon snapped sharply:

【You said you’d return after sleeping a hundred nights, but you came after more than a hundred years had passed, and on top of that, you completely forgot our contract? You’re the world’s greatest swindler!】

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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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