Ch.20The Oath of Covenant (2)

“What is this?”

Ruide looked at Justin, who was groaning in agony, with a bewildered expression.

‘…Not a nap, I’m guessing.’

This is what he found when he went outside after sensing someone’s presence.

‘It’s still unpleasant thinking about it again.’

Seeing this face he didn’t particularly want to see naturally reminded him of what happened the other day.

After avoiding the future where Hersy becomes a villain, now he was trying to start a witch hunt against Amelia.

It might be an overreaction, but that part was a symbolic scene where the protagonist “Justin” clearly recognizes “who” his enemy is.

It felt as if he could turn Amelia into a villain too.

He couldn’t tolerate that, no matter what else happened.

That’s why he had planned to expand the scope of the Vow of Covenant when Justin woke up.

But.

“Urgh… ack.”

“…?”

Ruide tilted his head.

What on earth was wrong with him?

There were no visible external injuries.

He just had some scrapes, as if he’d fallen down.

He needed to check properly.

Ruide’s eyes gleamed with blue light.

“Ah….”

Ruide understood. His own mana was swirling around Justin’s head.

It was the penalty from the ‘Vow of Covenant.’

It seemed like Justin had tried to find him again.

But even considering that, something was strange.

The Vow of Covenant prevents someone from doing something they promised not to do.

And what prevents them is ‘pain.’

For example, let’s say you made a Vow of Covenant not to smoke.

Then every time you put a cigarette in your mouth, the Vow of Covenant injects intense fear.

If you still light it and take a puff? Then it gives you pain. Excruciating pain that prevents you from even screaming properly.

The problem is that it doesn’t last long. The Vow of Covenant enforces the content of the vow by giving short but intense penalties.

Yet Justin in front of him had been like this for quite a while.

Ruide decided to take a closer look. He reached out his hand toward Justin’s head.

“Oh.”

Ruide was startled.

‘…Did I put too many layers on it?’

He remembered setting it with 8 layers so that no one could break it.

…It seemed the power was 8 times stronger too.

He could feel 8 magic circles covering Justin’s brain.

“Hmm, you’ll suffer a bit, but who cares. Arrogant bastard. How dare you point fingers at my sister. Serves you right.”

Ruide stood up.

He’d change the Vow of Covenant later.

He left Justin behind and headed back to the lake.

But he stopped after just a few steps.

Ruide looked back, breaking into a cold sweat.

“What if he dies like that? Or becomes brain-damaged.”

That would be problematic.

Ruide had no intention of replacing the protagonist.

He just wanted to be a slacker sleeping in Dellin’s Forest.

Above all, it felt unsettling to just walk away when someone might die right in front of him.

“Hah…”

Ruide reluctantly walked back to Justin.

He took out his staff.

‘This is just to ease it a bit.’

He poured out his magical power.

The Vow of Covenant cannot be broken.

It was designed and used that way from the beginning.

He only intended to help prevent Justin’s mind from collapsing.

‘While I’m at it, I’ll make some changes too.’

He decided to add clauses about Amelia and Hersy in exchange for his help.

‘…Let’s see.’

The tangled strings of mana in Justin’s head appeared.

The countless mana strings would be causing Justin pain right now.

Ruide infused his magic to read what kind of pain was being inflicted.

‘Ghosts? Monsters?’

What he saw through Justin’s blurry vision were strange creatures that looked like they belonged in a horror movie.

‘…Is he afraid of ghosts?’

The fear from the Vow of Covenant differs for each person. This seemed to be what Justin feared most.

Anyway, Ruide began untying the mana strings one by one to reduce the fear. He completely cut off the ones that looked particularly dangerous.

He could feel chunks of mana being released with each cut. But considering Ruide’s ocean-like magical capacity, it wasn’t much.

While he was continuing this tedious work:

“Done.”

Ruide sighed wearily.

This would keep Justin safe.

“Now I just need to put it back in…”

He felt like a first-class engineer.

Just as he was about to put the mana strings back in with a sense of satisfaction—

-Crackle.

“—!”

Sparks flew, and the mana strings began to lose control.

“What, what’s happening?”

He infused magic into his eyes to check.

He quickly found the cause.

That Justin, even while experiencing fear, was still trying to find him.

Ruide was beyond dumbfounded.

“What kind of person is this?”

As a result, the Vow of Covenant tightened instead of loosening.

It moved from fear to pain.

And Justin tried to find him again.

The Vow of Covenant imposed another penalty.

It was an infinite loop.

The brain processes faster than real-time.

Because of that, the situation became extremely serious in the blink of an eye.

“Damn it.”

Ruide intervened more forcefully.

He concentrated with his eyes closed, driving away the pain.

However, the situation was spiraling out of control.

Ruide’s expression hardened seriously.

At this rate, Justin would die.

Even optimistically, his mind would collapse.

This insane vicious cycle couldn’t be stopped unless the link was completely broken.

But how?

The magic he had cast was absolute.

Hadn’t he twisted it incredibly so that even he himself couldn’t undo it?

However, Ruide’s genius brain somehow found a way.

‘I don’t like it, but.’

There was only one method.

Ruide calmly exhaled.

‘I’ll eliminate my magical power.’

He was the caster of the Vow of Covenant.

And no matter how great a magic is, spells that continuously impose restrictions require a steady supply of magic from the caster.

That’s why people usually use mediums like magic stones, but someone like him who never runs out of magical power had no need for such things.

Ruide closed his eyes and released his magic.

An enormous amount of mana flowed out like waves. Ruide nullified that magic.

He quickly repeated the process of releasing and nullifying. That’s how he depleted his magic.

After a moment, Ruide opened his eyes.

The empty feeling wasn’t pleasant, but this was the crucial part.

Using the magic remaining on his staff that he deliberately hadn’t eliminated while releasing his power, Ruide began erasing the magic circles in Justin’s brain.

It was possible because erasing the empty shell of a magic circle that had lost its light required less magic than maintaining the magic circle.

But it wasn’t an easy task. One wrong move could have a fatal impact on Justin’s brain.

Drip.

A drop of sweat fell from the tension.

And when he erased the last remaining strand—

“What, what’s happening—”

Justin opened his eyes.

**

Justin clutched his madly racing heart.

It was a terrible pain he never wanted to experience again.

“You, you are.”

Ruide was pointing his staff at him with one hand in his pocket and the other holding the staff.

Red liquid was trickling down the corner of his mouth.

Ruide wiped the blood with an expressionless face and lowered his staff.

Then, as the blue light swirling around the staff faded,

the bright brown staff turned ashen, as if burned.

Ruide looked at the crumbling staff with indifferent eyes. “That was something I treasured.”

“What, what on earth…”

Justin was confused.

‘What just happened?’

Could those terrible hallucinations have been Ruide’s doing?

As if answering his question, Ruide spoke slowly.

“I don’t know exactly what you experienced, and I’m not particularly curious either. You seem confused, so just listen to me. You don’t have to answer.”

Ruide began speaking one-sidedly.

“First, you almost had your soul erased as payment for the Vow of Covenant.”

Justin’s eyes widened dramatically.

“Second, I just… paid an enormous price to cancel that Vow of Covenant. Otherwise, you would have died.”

“Price…?”

“Yes, ugh.”

Ruide frowned as if in pain. As if he couldn’t bear the agony.

“Are, are you okay?”

Justin hurriedly supported Ruide. Ruide waved his arm as if to say he was fine.

Justin’s pupils trembled faintly.

“Why… for someone like me. Such a price.”

“Whatever the reason, it was a Vow of Covenant that I cast— More importantly, why did you break the vow even while receiving the penalty?”

Ruide frowned.

“Originally, it would have ended with just a mild sense of fear as a warning.”

Justin looked deeply shocked.

Indeed, he had been searching for Ruide while running from the ghosts.

Thinking that the genius magician might be able to help if he asked.

Justin’s expression was filled with self-loathing.

“…I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. It’s in the past anyway.”

Ruide stood up. He looked extremely tired.

“Justin.”

Justin couldn’t bring himself to look up.

“Do you feel sorry toward me?”

“…Of course.”

Justin gritted his teeth.

“I’m so pathetic that I want to die.”

Then he raised his head and declared with resolute determination.

“This debt, I swear on my life…”

Ruide extended his hand. It was a gesture to stop.

“Never. Never. Never.”

“…?”

“Don’t even think about repaying any debt. Instead, there’s something you need to help me with.”

“What, what is it?”

Justin was flustered. He never imagined Ruide would have this kind of personality.

Ruide had always been aloof, giving off a vibe that everything was bothersome.

But now he was being very proactive.

“Listen carefully.”

Gulp, Justin swallowed dryly.

“My sister, Hersy. And most importantly, me.”

Justin nodded carefully, firmly imprinting those three names in his mind.

“Stay away from us as much as possible. Don’t try to do anything, don’t even come close.”

“…What?”

“Don’t ask why.”

Ruide looked around cautiously and whispered quietly.

“You’ll get hurt if you know.”

“…!”

Ruide straightened his back.

“I won’t put a vow on you this time, Justin.”

Ruide pointed to himself, then to Justin, and spoke confidently.

“Because I trust you.”

Then he turned his head abruptly and began walking away.

Justin stared at Ruide’s retreating back for a long time as he staggered away.

**

“I felt some tremendous magical power. You didn’t do anything strange, did you?”

“Did things work out well?”

Hersy and Amelia were looking at him worriedly. Ruide yawned and nodded.

“Probably, for the time being?”

“…That’s an unusually vague answer for you, Ruide. Anyway, let’s hurry and go eat. We’ll be late for our reservation.”

“Okay.”

Ruide walked slowly around Dellin’s Lake.

Before leaving the lake, he looked back. It was in the direction where Justin had been.

When Justin woke up, for a brief moment, he had debated whether to threaten or warn him.

Ruide’s choice was to create a debt.

It was the best choice considering Justin’s personality.

If he was worried about becoming a villain, wouldn’t it be better to be perceived as a good guy instead?

So he acted to express “I suffered this much.”

There wasn’t really any penalty besides the depletion of magic, but he added the seasoning of having paid an enormous price.

Judging by Justin’s final expression, the plan was successful.

‘This time, let’s truly live our own lives.’

Ruide desperately hoped this would be the last time.