It’s Been 500 Years as an Extra, and the Original Story Still Hasn’t Begun - Chapter 164
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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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500 Years as Just an Extra,
The Original Story Still Won’t Begin
Episode 164
“Huh?”
Ailesia, hearing the question, blinked her eyes as if asking what he meant.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Your hair color is clearly different between day and night, isn’t it?”
“Ahaha… Maybe it’s just your imagination?”
“I’ve heard that when a mage’s magical power is consumed beyond its limits, their hair color becomes lighter.”
When Termion answered with a confident voice, Ailesia let out a deep sigh as if she had no choice.
“Where did you pick up something like that again…”
“…Is it something difficult to reveal?”
“It’s not that, but I wonder if you really need to know.”
“Ailesia.”
“Don’t look at me with those eyes. I’ll tell you.”
Why did you become so aggressive while I wasn’t looking? You’re making my heart flutter.
She quickly drank the remaining alcohol in her glass and continued speaking.
“Remember what I said through the pendant back then? That I would enter the barrier.”
“You said you would put your body in a suspended state to minimize the consumption of life force and magical power.”
“Elly and I were asleep in that barrier for over three years.”
“…What did you say?”
The method to break the curse itself was simple. As she had expected, she just needed to weaken the demonic energy and then eliminate it.
As time passed and it became possible to eliminate the demonic energy, a sudden worry caught her off guard.
‘If the same thing happens again, how should I deal with it?’
After being caught once, she realized that Dragon Heart power wasn’t omnipotent either.
No matter how much it was incompatible with demonic energy, if you covered it with different energy to block the repulsion reaction itself, that would be enough.
Of course, it was still a mystery how dragon bone, which naturally contained its own energy, had fused with demonic energy.
The important thing was the very fact that such a thing was possible, regardless of the process.
So Ailesia decided to approach it from a completely different perspective.
“Elly is perfectly fine. I completely removed the demonic energy and severed the curse.”
“…That sounds like there’s still a problem with you.”
“It’s not exactly a problem. To put it simply, part of the demonic energy remains in my body.”
She hypothesized that no matter how well-disguised demonic energy was, it couldn’t fail to react to the same demonic energy.
Moreover, the demonic energy she harbored was pure demonic energy with even infectious properties.
In other words, in terms of concentration alone, it was far above most other demonic energies.
“Do you know about osmosis? When you put two substances of different concentrations together, the one with lower concentration gets drawn to the one with higher concentration.”
“What does that have to do with demonic energy?”
“When mages fight each other, if there’s a severe difference in magical power, situations arise where one side can barely do anything. The more overwhelming the opponent’s magical power, the less smoothly magical power can be channeled in the same space.”
“Similar situations occur when aura users spar with each other too.”
“Right. The pressure created by the difference in concentration during osmosis is called osmotic pressure, and magical power and aura are similar.”
Therefore, her thinking was that ordinary demonic energy would inevitably react to the demonic energy she harbored.
Of course, ordinary people, or even most mages, wouldn’t notice such phenomena.
But Ailesia was confident she could detect even the most minute reactions.
Although there was the constraint of having to make direct contact with targets hiding demonic energy, it wasn’t a major concern.
“For objects, I can just touch them briefly, and if someone who looks normal refuses even a handshake? Then that’s suspicious.”
“Couldn’t there be constraints due to social status or position? It wouldn’t be easy to make physical contact carelessly.”
“Anyone capable of completely hiding demonic energy could never be an ordinary person. They’d have to be at least an Aura Master or High Mage level.”
Despite her detailed explanation, Termion’s expression had hardened much more than before.
At first glance, he seemed angry, but it felt even more sorrowful than that.
“…Why do you look like that?”
“If what you’re saying is true, then you’re currently harboring demonic energy in your body. That dangerous energy that could explode at any moment.”
His voice had dropped completely, so it seemed he was indeed angry.
Ailesia casually joked around.
“Hey, explode? I’ve tied it up tightly and only left a small breathing hole. The demonic energy won’t suddenly go berserk and burst out, so don’t worry.”
“How can you guarantee that? Even now, your magical power consumption is so great that your hair color changes.”
“During the day, the sun is up, so I have more power than needed to maintain the seal. That’s why it’s fine.”
Dragon Heart absorbs everything that exists in nature and converts it into magical power. It’s like a kind of semi-permanent infinite power engine.
Simply put, it makes magical power overflow just by breathing.
And the most overwhelmingly dominant elements in such nature are air and light.
Therefore, magical power depletion was absolutely impossible for Ailesia during the day.
This was also the basis for her confidence that even an Arch Mage would be no match for her.
But Termion’s expression still remained unresolved.
“…Then that means your power drops to less than half at night.”
“It’s not really a big problem. Just think of it as an ordinary Arch Mage level.”
“Ha.”
Termion swallowed a groan with an expression of disbelief.
Though Ailesia spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, in reality, she must be feeling tremendous loss every night.
It was like a young person in their twenties overflowing with strength during the day suddenly becoming a six or seven-year-old child the moment the sun set.
What would it feel like to endure such an enormous gap every day, and for several years at that? He couldn’t imagine it at all.
“By the way, you and Elly are the only ones who know this fact precisely.”
“Let me ask one more thing. Is there no problem at all with harboring that demonic energy itself?”
“As I said before, I’ve just barely kept it breathing. Completely eliminating it is possible right now too.”
“Really?”
“You know I don’t lie.”
In fact, the real reason Ailesia harbored demonic energy was to find out who had cast the curse.
If she encountered someone who handled this level of demonic energy, conversely, the demonic energy she harbored would show a reaction of being drawn toward them.
The First Imperial Consort or Duke Kaif himself couldn’t be a dark mage. It was likely someone around them.
‘…Honestly, the most likely candidate is Melbarik.’
She knew it herself. Such suspicion was nothing more than a guess without even circumstantial evidence.
Plot inconsistency was a concept that only worked in text; this was clearly reality, wasn’t it?
Moreover, judging only by the revealed circumstances, Melbarik had absolutely nothing to gain from bringing down the Retis Grand Duchy.
Unless some unidentified transcendent being was scheming behind the scenes.
But the divine providence applied to this world wouldn’t tolerate such simple absurdity.
So surely there must be some missing causal relationship hidden somewhere.
“Ailesia.”
“Yeah?”
“Please… don’t try to solve everything by yourself.”
Clench.
Termion, who had tightly clenched his fist, calmly composed his expression.
“I am no longer the boy who only received help from you.”
“What, you were still holding onto that?”
Well, she had teased him quite severely. His reactions were just so good.
Though she pretended not to know, Termion answered in an even more serious voice.
“I told you, didn’t I? When I returned, I would be strong enough to protect you and Elly.”
“I know. I don’t think I could beat you easily anymore either.”
“So.”
Ailesia’s body stiffened slightly.
It was because of Termion’s completely unexpected action.
Termion’s hand covering the back of her hand was much larger and firmer than before.
“Sometimes it’s okay to leave things to me too.”
It was a truly strange feeling.
Comfort and encouragement had always been her responsibility.
She never knew that words which would have sounded like mere youthful bravado in the past could feel so reassuring.
No, in one corner of her heart, she felt like going beyond reassurance and just wanting to let everything go and entrust it all to him.
‘…Really, he’s become an adult.’
It seemed that what had grown during those 10 years wasn’t just his appearance.
Rather, what had grown even more was his heart.
“Don’t worry too much. We meet after so long and all you do is nag?”
“In times like that, just say you understand, please.”
“I don’t want to?”
She replied coyly, then propped her chin up with both hands and smiled brightly.
“Thank you, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
“…That’s good too.”
Toward such Ailesia, Termion simply responded with a gentle smile.
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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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