Ch.76Long Days, Long Nights (1)

A dark chamber without a single ray of light, a space where cold stones meet each foot with every step.

In that pitch-black room, where even eyes adjusted to darkness couldn’t make out the faintest silhouette, a man quietly rose to his feet.

Strangely, in that space filled with nothing but silence, his footsteps made no sound.

As if he never existed at all, the man quietly wandered through the space.

Even as he passed through the tunnel, all he could see was a single long corridor.

Without even a candle to light the way, only his senses guided him forward.

The Black Mist never permits sensory perception in the first place. For one who has sought permission from the darkness,

walking through that fog of primordial darkness could only mean one thing.

“Eric.”

Whoosh—flames began to rise from thin air.

As the end of the corridor came into view, revealing a door made of thick wood, the man muttered.

The door’s hinges were old, making loud creaking sounds with the slightest pull. As he burned away the tangled vines with his flame and opened the door,

Another vast chamber appeared beyond.

“I heard the ritual to summon Maloric… failed.”

“I apologize.”

A figure emerging from the shadows bowed its head.

Though it appeared naturally from the darkness, the man accepted its presence without surprise.

The most important matter at hand was the recently failed “ritual.”

Why had the summoning ritual failed when Berman himself had stepped forward, certain of its success?

That ritual was crucial to their goal, but its failure now threatened to push their entire plan far behind schedule.

“Is an apology supposed to settle this matter? Explain what happened—why the Maloric summoning ritual failed, and where all the sacrifices we spent years gathering funds for ended up.”

It was certainly a situation worthy of anger.

With less than a year remaining until the red moon rises, to end such a major plan in failure.

Procuring new sacrifices would be difficult enough, and finding another high-level black mage like Berman would be equally arduous.

Purple eyes glowed fiercely in the void.

After briefly meeting that gaze, the man in the shadows finally spoke quietly.

“…Do you know of a knight named Evan Freed?”

“Ha, how could I not know of him? How many of our plans have been foiled because of that one man? Don’t tell me… it was that knight again?”

“He captured Maloric single-handedly. Perhaps he has become an even greater figure than we anticipated. They say Maloric’s skull has been placed in Evangelium Square, so it seems we can no longer afford to ignore him.”

Hoo, the man exhaled sharply and stared into the void.

It had been three years since he first heard the name Evan Freed.

When he’d merely heard about him slaying a troll at Mount Verden, he hadn’t paid much attention,

but now to hear he had defeated Maloric single-handedly…

“We cannot leave him be.”

Freed, stories related to that family name. The floating light gradually began to illuminate the chamber.

The space that had been filled with darkness—as the bright light finally touched the walls,

writing began to emerge from the shadow-covered walls, entering the man’s field of vision.

“Dragon. Do you know what this means?”

“…Are you referring to ‘Him’?”

“Hmm, no. What I’m talking about isn’t the ancient dragon, but a more recent one. The dragon Freed, who remained in the Empire even after Alargar established it.”

As his finger traced along the wall and touched an inscription, the man smiled faintly and began reading.

Among the inscriptions on the wall written in ancient imperial language, now fading with age, between the weathered images,

the meaning of these words was clearly related to their goal.

“The heads of the Freed family knew about the power the dragon possessed, but they never saw it directly. After Freed died, for some reason, no one was ever born with the dragon’s mana. But… in this generation, a child was born with dragon blood.”

“Is that Evan Freed?”

“I believe so. At least if the rumors are true, the white mana is a characteristic only possessed by the knight named Evan.”

Whoosh, the fire grew brighter. Finally, the mural painted on the wall became fully visible.

Looking at the faded colors, the images barely discernible, the man slowly parted his lips.

His purple eyes contained faint ecstasy, longing, and madness.

His trembling voice quietly escaped his lips.

“…A beautiful sight, no matter how many times I see it.”

A dragon covered in black scales was trampling the world.

The land flowing with lava, shattered mountains—Evangelium, which Alargar had built, had been reduced to ruins and ashes.

All people were prostrating themselves beneath the massive dragon, begging for their lives.

And beside that enormous dragon stood three humans in robes.

That place, the man firmly believed, would soon be his.

Looking at the red moon rising above where the dragon had descended, the man muttered a name.

“Evan Freed.”

An ominous thought arose that if they didn’t deal with him, all their plans might be ruined.

Defeating Maloric single-handedly already suggested he had reached the level of a Master.

Fingering the sword at his waist, he shifted his gaze from the mural to the empty air.

“We don’t necessarily need to kill him. No, perhaps we could even use him.”

“You mean to use him?”

The plan required quite a few sacrifices.

The reason sacrifices were needed was to handle that enormous amount of mana.

But the mana possessed by a Master-level knight would far exceed that of thousands of ordinary people.

If they could offer him as a sacrifice, they might solve their current concerns about gathering sacrifices in one stroke.

“The question is how to lure him in.”

“…There is a way.”

The man in the shadows quietly spoke. Everyone has something they hold sacred.

In that sense, Evan Freed had a greater weakness than most.

Airin Yuris—hearing that name, the man looked into the void and laughed loudly.

“Haha! Airin Yuris…”

It was certainly dangerous. If they failed, all the reputation they had built externally could collapse at once.

He knew well that reputation couldn’t be allowed to crumble before the plan succeeded, but

if they succeeded in luring him in, if they succeeded in offering Evan Freed as a sacrifice,

Perhaps it would be worth taking all those risks.

After all, a confrontation with Yuris was inevitable sooner or later.

Muttering the name Airin Yuris, the man extinguished the flames that had illuminated the mural.

As the flames disappeared, the faint embers that remained briefly illuminated the crest engraved on his sword.

A sword crossing a shield—the crest that only Roman possessed in the entire Empire.

#

“What are you thinking about, standing there in a daze?”

“…It’s nothing.”

There was no need to mention the sudden eerie feeling I had experienced.

It was the first time I’d felt this way in broad daylight, so I shuddered and let out a faint sigh.

Perhaps it was because I hadn’t slept at dawn. As my vision blurred, I rubbed my eyes briefly.

Finally, I relaxed my body as I settled into the sofa.

“…You’re making yourself quite at home now. For a mere escort knight.”

“Do you know something, my lady?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The fact that you’ve been particularly cold to me lately.”

It had been nearly a week since the Seasonal Festival ended.

To be honest, after such an event, wouldn’t it be natural to expect some progress in our relationship?

But Airin’s attitude toward me had grown quite cold, reminding me of when we first met.

Of course, I didn’t really care how she acted anymore.

What kind of mischievous thoughts was she having now? As I stared at her for a moment,

Airin, apparently struck by my words, flinched slightly and stared back at me with narrowed eyes.

That chilly gaze—what was the problem this time?

Since I hadn’t been neglecting her, I could only offer an awkward smile, unable to understand why she was acting this way.

“Don’t smile.”

“…Are you now criticizing my smiling as well?”

“Evan, I’ve always thought this, but you need to be more aware of your position. You are… an escort knight, aren’t you? In terms of our master-servant relationship, I’m far above you—are you aware of that?”

The mention of a master-servant relationship made me laugh involuntarily.

Weren’t we already far beyond such considerations?

But since she wasn’t wrong, I adjusted my posture on the sofa and put on a more serious expression.

If she cared about our formal relationship, it wouldn’t hurt to accommodate her a little.

As I sat up straight, Airin’s lips quivered, looking somewhat surprised.

…She was clearly enjoying this.

“That’s much better. Try to maintain that attitude regularly.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Rofena was looking at Airin with what seemed like a disapproving expression.

I wondered if Airin knew that Rofena was frighteningly aware of everything we had done.

She might not know the most important details, but I suspected Rofena would soon know even those aspects.

With a tap, Rofena set down the teapot and let out a small sigh before speaking with a wry smile.

“The teapot is empty.”

I could hear liquid sloshing inside the teapot.

It seemed there was enough tea for at least a few more cups.

Though I could clearly see her intention to escape this situation, Rofena ignored my gaze and continued speaking calmly.

“I’ll go refill the tea.”

And she added,

“It might… take a while.”

Though Rofena spoke as if giving a warning, Airin simply nodded a few times, appearing not to notice anything.

I couldn’t tell if she was truly oblivious or just pretending. I could understand why Rofena looked at her with exasperation, so I waved slightly to Rofena as she left.

And then came the silence.

It wasn’t that I disliked being alone with her. In fact, I rather welcomed it.

But… it was undeniably awkward. If we had acknowledged our relationship as lovers, it might have been different,

but despite having kissed, we remained in an ambiguous relationship.

This was all because of Roman.

As I thought about Roman, what naturally came to mind was the artifact I had previously requested.

The artifact I had asked Count Kasim to make—it was the only way to reveal Roman’s connection to the black mages.

But even if the artifact was created, how to use it was another concern.

If it required direct contact to reveal the truth, I would need to prepare for various scenarios before using it.

During the process of using the artifact, Roman might discover that I suspected him, which was a natural concern.

That was what I had been constantly worrying about lately.

If I wasn’t discovered after using the artifact, I planned to cooperate with the Crown Prince to eliminate Roman.

Would Airin be safe in that process? Of course, she would be kept in a safe place during the operation… but I couldn’t help worrying.

Rofena, Sir Chris—they were all important to me.

But Airin was special to me.

If she were hurt because of my mistake, I would probably blame myself for the rest of my life.

As I carefully handled Roman’s crest in my hand, Airin, who had been watching me, looked up from her documents and stared at me intently.

I tried to ignore her blatant gaze, but when she continued staring for quite some time, I turned to face her.

Even as our eyes met, Airin didn’t look away. As if she wanted to capture this image of me for a long time.

“It’s embarrassing when you stare like that.”

When I spoke calmly, Airin chuckled once and replied nonchalantly.

“That’s surprising. Is someone who did such things to me now feeling shy?”

“Someone might misunderstand if they heard you. Besides… weren’t you the one who asked me to do those things first?”

As I smiled gently, Airin blushed and cleared her throat, lowering her head.

Who would believe she was now pretending to focus on her documents? While we might have a master-servant relationship externally,

privately… I had the upper hand with her, that was a fact.

Not that I intended to manipulate her as I pleased.

I just enjoyed seeing Airin blush like this.

Our previous experience had given me enough courage to act more boldly with her.

It was clear her heart was also directed toward me, and as long as she didn’t firmly reject me, being a bit more daring wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“My lady, do you know something?”

As I quietly stood up from the sofa, Airin glanced at me and gave me a curious look.

In response to her questioning gaze wondering why I suddenly stood up, I simply shrugged and naturally approached her.

I looked at the desk in front of her. While I wasn’t interested in the contents of the documents, I was interested in Airin as a person.

She might be a bit upset with me now, but I knew well how to appease her.

I raised my head again. Meeting Airin’s eyes, I smiled gently once more.

“The first time is always the hardest.”

“…What did you say?”

“I said, with anything, the first time is the hardest. Do you think I couldn’t do it a second time?”

“Ha.”

Airin let out a short, derisive laugh, her eyes cold. I was slightly surprised that her gaze remained unchanged even as I gently held her hand.

Could she really be in such a bad mood? As I was about to back away slightly with that thought,

Airin’s face came very close to my field of vision.

My neck was naturally caught and pulled forward.

Smooch-

The soft sensation that touched my lips made my head go blank.

The scent of roses tickling my nose. Why did Airin’s usual scent seem… so intense now?

“…Ah.”

I should have said something, but the sound that came out of my mouth seemed stupid even to my own ears.

The sensation on my lips was vivid. Though we didn’t intertwine our tongues like before, I could clearly tell what had just happened.

Airin looked at me with a bright smile.

Seemingly in a good mood, with her earlier cold demeanor completely gone, she spoke.

“Indeed, the second time is easier. Isn’t it?”

Feeling like I had been properly outplayed, I could only laugh helplessly at her words.

Perhaps my sense of having the upper hand in our relationship was just my delusion.

Recalling the sensation of those soft lips that had just touched mine, I slowly rubbed my face, which had turned red.

Whether it was the first time or the second,

it seemed it would take quite a while to get used to this sensation.