Ch.275Rest

“…Looks like there’s another witch here.”

[Hmm…]

Ophelia holds up the jet-black crystal to the air and laughs wickedly. It was an utterly bewildering sight. Even Hersella groaned at the scene.

Extracting and sealing souls at will? That’s something only a final boss would do, isn’t it?

“Witch? That’s harsh. This is merely a technique close to soul manipulation. It’s heretical, but… not witchcraft.”

Hearing the term “soul manipulation” makes it sound even more ominous.

I only know one character who uses soul manipulation, and that person is definitely not an ally.

“Soul manipulation… Do imperial mages use such things?”

“Many studied it in the past. It became rare after being designated heretical… but any respectable magical house would have related artifacts remaining. The House of Sigmillus was no exception.”

If it’s a technique designated as heretical, it’s definitely not something to show Lacy.

“Is it okay to tell me about this? I’m supposedly a ‘Knight of Radiance’ or whatever.”

“You don’t have an ounce of faith anyway, right? Considering you didn’t report anything about my sister… I thought it wouldn’t matter. Or are you going to report me now?”

Ophelia exhaled a long breath. The smoke she blew out in a straight line shattered when it hit the wall.

Well, I don’t particularly want to report her, but…

“…As long as you don’t cross the line.”

“Line…? Ah… like harming commoners or something? I’ve been thinking about this—you’re strangely obsessed with preventing such harm, despite it not suiting you. As if you were really a paladin. You didn’t seem like that type when I first met you… has your position changed you?”

Ophelia giggled as if I was being peculiar.

“I wonder…”

Maybe I have changed, or maybe this was my personality all along.

At least, I’ve always hated indiscriminate terrorism and civilian casualties.

“Anyway, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m only interested in my sister. As for this soul… let’s call it a reward for helping me get my revenge, something like that.”

“Reward? What do you plan to do with it?”

I understand that she’s trapped Isabella’s soul in that bizarre artifact, but I can’t guess its purpose.

So I need a clear answer. It looks far too dangerous no matter how I look at it.

“That’s a secret for future enjoyment… but you look ready to destroy it right now. Fine, I’ll explain.”

Ophelia shrugged and tapped away her cigarette ash.

Then came her explanation. I couldn’t understand the technical details, but I could grasp what she intended to do.

Homunculus.

Despite the grand name meaning “little human,” it’s essentially a doll-like creation made by stitching together various organisms into a human shape.

Being biologically imperfect, it rots away in less than a few dozen days, is extremely weak, and can’t use mana, karma, or even dark mana—a defective product.

Moreover, it became forbidden among the forbidden because it requires a proper soul to move properly.

“But with a soul crystal, you can use it semi-permanently. Instead of attaching a soul to the homunculus body, you just insert the soul crystal to connect them, and when the body rots, you simply retrieve it. At least, that’s how it works as far as I know.”

“…You don’t sound very certain.”

“I’m still studying soul manipulation. If it weren’t for the old magic book I found with the soul crystal, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible. Apparently, one of our ancestors had close ties with soul manipulators. Fortunately, they’re all dead now… so I’m the only one who knows this fact.”

…Do I even need to clear this woman of witch accusations?

This isn’t just a robber without a knife—she’s just not using dark mana, but everything else she does is…

[This is why one should stay away from sorcerers whenever possible.]

Even Hersella was clearly showing her bewilderment, as if wondering how such things could exist.

[But… if that method works, we too could… No. No. No matter what, something like that is just…]

What is she talking about now?

Don’t tell me she’s thinking that extracting my soul to make a homunculus would achieve separation!

I’d have to be insane to do something like that.

“Anyway, I’m going to make a ‘little Isabella’ with this. A tiny doll without arms or legs, unable to exert even a child’s strength. I’ll increase the sensitivity of the nerves—maybe 30 times? The craftsmanship will be extreme, so its lifespan will be very short… but that doesn’t matter, right?”

Little Isabella.

Despite the seemingly cute name, its true nature was the epitome of unethical behavior.

She intended to use Isabella’s soul crystal to create a homunculus, then endlessly torture, kill, and resurrect it.

And I like that.

“That sounds good.”

“I knew you’d like it.”

Ophelia grinned and put the soul crystal in her pocket.

Congratulations, Isabella. Judging by how most of your powers were related to vitality, you must have been quite obsessed with immortality or something similar. Well, now you’ll never die, just as you wished.

—-

After finishing our conversation, Ophelia immediately fell asleep, half-leaning against the wall.

Having used up all her remaining mana to extract the soul, she probably had no strength left to stay awake.

I removed the still-burning cigarette from her slightly closed lips and threw it into the waterway, then sat down beside her and exhaled smoke while enduring the oncoming fatigue.

Just in case, at least one of us should stay awake until someone arrives.

…Fortunately, it didn’t take long.

“Haschal-! Lord Elmaine-! Sigmillus-! Is everyone still alive-!”

Just as the cigarette in my mouth was almost completely burned out, a familiar voice echoed from across the waterway.

It must be Renault. Looks like they won somehow too.

I was secretly worried when he didn’t return after leaving the battlefield while fighting Ernst.

Judging by his voice not sounding too desperate, it seems there were no casualties. That’s a relief.

With this… I can finally rest easy.

The cigarette that fell from my lips touched the pooled blood and released its final smoke.

My mind, which I had been forcing to stay awake, was reaching its limit.

The battle might have lasted only an hour in real time, but it felt like fighting for a whole week.

Well, I did push myself to the extreme.

Now even considerable pain doesn’t feel like pain anymore.

I’m sleepy… is it okay to sleep now?

My head feels heavy. My thoughts are breaking off. There’s no strength left in my body.

The Benes estate… with all those troops, they must have managed well…

As for other places… let’s think about them after sleeping…

Beyond my blurry vision,

The last thing I saw was Renault running toward us before my eyelids closed.

[A specter…]

In my sinking consciousness, Hersella’s muttering voice faintly dispersed.

—-

When I woke up again, a full three days had passed.

Lacy, who had only depleted her holy power and stamina, woke up the very next day and was busy with the priests handling the aftermath. As for Ophelia, since she’s still wanted, Renault secretly spirited her away and somehow got her treated.

As for me, I was groaning and moaning as usual, having exhausted my strength.

Thanks to the healing magic poured into me, my wounds were healing well, so with enough rest, I should recover again before long.

Meanwhile, Nigel and Valkers were still unconscious in their sickbeds.

Valkers’ condition was especially serious.

While Nigel had lost a few fingers and suffered severe bleeding, Valkers had fought with his left arm severed, burning away his life force in the process.

While wounds can eventually heal, lost life force never returns.

Even if he wakes up, he’ll need months of recovery, and his lifespan has definitely been shortened…

“…I’m sorry about this.”

“What do you mean…?”

Lacy tilted her head.

Despite being incredibly busy, she had come to visit me almost immediately after I woke up.

“I mean Valkers. He’s your knight escort. Looks like he pushed himself too hard…”

“…You mean her? You needn’t worry about that. Sir Valkers chose her path according to her own beliefs. I’m sure she would say the same.”

Lacy smiled and shook her head, as if to say no apology was necessary.

Her snow-white hair swayed gently.

While it does ease my mind a bit that she thinks that way…

I still feel sorry. If we’d had just one more person, maybe he wouldn’t have had to push himself so hard.

Though at the time, that was the limit of personnel we could bring at full strength.

—-

“By the way, what happened to Isabella’s remaining head? Somehow only that part was left.”

While Ophelia took the soul, everything above the nose and the brain remained intact.

I wonder if they displayed it somewhere as a memento of the witch’s demise?

“Ah… about that. Princess Leonore—no, was it Sir Renault? They personally deep-fried it in oil.”

…Did what to what?

“I think I misheard you. Could you say that again?”

“They said they wanted to perform the purification ritual themselves, so they soaked it in holy oil and set it on fire to fry it. They said they wanted revenge even if it meant doing that…”

…My goodness.

I never imagined someone would deep-fry their own mother’s head.

That’s some deep-seated vengeance…