episode_0039

000

Lyla watched from the hallway as Kuon and Cleon held hands and passed through the dimensional gate.

She yawns and stretches, then turns around.

There, a black-haired servant stood, suppressing his presence with a dazed expression.

It was Rubella.

“Good morning, Rubella. How are you feeling?”

Lyla asks about her condition as she looks at her.

Rubella leans against the wall with slightly unsteady steps and opens her mouth.

“I can’t say I’m good, even as a polite remark. It feels like my whole body is floating in the air and I’m not wearing anything.”

To clarify, she was properly dressed.

Even in her usual servant attire that completely covered her neck.

“It’s proof that the medicine is working properly. Yesterday was overnight. Because I had you stay in the herbal bath I made.”

“I was worried my body would swell up….”

001

A bath infused with various herbs, medicinal plants, and plants containing a little paralyzing poison.

That was the herbal bath that Lyla led Rubella to, who had been guided here by Ferdia.

Rubella frowned slightly at first upon seeing the bath with a slightly greenish tint.

What kind of human experimentation would she be subjected to from now on?

The same thought crossed her mind.

“Don’t misunderstand. This is a herbal bath that temporarily eliminates the sensation of the body.”

“How can I not misunderstand after hearing that explanation….”

Rubella made an accurate retort to Lyla’s words.

Lyla scratches her head and continues the story.

“The mark of expulsion is a type of imprint after all. It looks like it’s on the back of the hand, but it’s actually connected to the heart.”

Lyla says this, moving her finger from the back of Rubella’s hand, along her arm, to her left heart.

“To investigate, you have to investigate the entire body, not just the back of the hand. And if extraction is necessary, you may have to make an incision.”

“… …”

Rubella’s expression wrinkles slightly at those words.

“The scars won’t remain if you don’t actually perform the extraction…. But the pain is inevitable.”

Lyla sighed and shook her head as if she had seen her in pain before.

“So, I’m going to use this herbal bath to erase the sensation of the whole body for a day. It’s a kind of full-body anesthesia. Of course, the consciousness remains because I have to ask questions.”

“…I see. I understand.”

Only then did Rubella understand and begin to undress.

“Hmm….”

And Lyla watches her.

For a moment, Rubella looks at Lyla, sighs, and takes off her clothes again.

“Ah. Sorry. It’s my first time seeing the body of a well-trained female swordsman, so I couldn’t help myself.”

She mutters things like, `Cleon has made my common sense strange~ Ahahaha,` but she doesn’t think about leaving.

Soon, Rubella, having taken off everything except her underwear.

Her body was full of shallow wounds here and there, and even long scars could be seen in places.

It was the result of her efforts to train repeatedly to become stronger.

But it was not something she wanted to show to others as a woman.

However, even considering such wounds, her body was beautifully completed.

Clearly defined abs. A chest that was restrained in fat but clearly revealed its presence.

The muscles in her arms and legs were thoroughly trained only in the necessary parts for light movements.

The sleek line from head to toe was like that of a statue of the goddess of war carved by a master craftsman.

“Do I have to take off my underwear too?”

“Ah- What do you want to do? There’s no problem going in with it on, but you won’t be able to use that underwear anymore.”

Rubella stared at her cheap underwear for a moment and then immersed herself in the bath without hesitation.

When the warm sensation starts from her toes and wraps around her shoulders.

Before she knew it, a sigh flowed from her mouth, `Haa….`

Occasionally, a slightly tingling sensation passes through her body and the scent of medicine stimulates her nose.

Even so, the appropriately warm bath water that enveloped her entire body seemed to wash away the fatigue that had accumulated during the war.

“Stay like that for 24 hours. Just stay still.”

“24 hours…. That’s quite long.”

Lyla said that it couldn’t be helped and then organized the clothes and placed them next to her.

“It’ll be hard to put on clothes alone…. I’ll tell Sasha. Ah, Sasha is a member of our mansion and a girl with orange hair.”

Another woman’s name.

Rubella looked at Lyla for a moment and asked.

“Is that child also Cleon’s property?”

“Property, or…. Well, yeah. It is property. Yeah.”

“Is Cleon perhaps a lolicon…?”

Lyla freezes for a moment at those words.

She notices that his gaze is on her chest or height.

And she raises a vein on her forehead slightly and says.

“No. Just think of it as having a wide range.”

“…Is that so. Certainly, when I see Kuon-ssi….”

Rubella then lowers her head.

She falls asleep in the bathtub as she is.

Lyla puts her hand in front of her chest for a moment.

She left the room with a depressed expression.

002

Remembering yesterday’s events, Rubella followed Lyla into her laboratory.

Her laboratory, which had already been remodeled into a red room in just a few days.

A large cauldron that seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale.

Eyeballs in flasks that occasionally catch her eye.

And scraps of paper and books scattered all around.

Rubella frowned for a moment at the pigsty-like room.

It was a shock that seemed to clear her mind.

The habits and instincts of a servant, which she had forgotten for a moment, awakened.

“Can I clean the room a little before we start?”

“What? What kind of cleaning are you going to do with that body? It’ll only get messier?”

Lyla says it’s okay to Rubella and roughly makes a path with her foot to have her sit on a suitable chair.

Rubella has no choice but to sit in the chair as Lyla says.

She still had no sensation in her entire body and felt a little dazed.

“Tell me if you feel any pain. That means the medicine is wearing off.”

“…Yes. But it’s okay. Because I’m prepared to pay any price.”

Then, Lyla began to examine Rubella’s body.

`The mark is connected to the nerves all over the body and eventually heads to the heart. The important thing is how much magical aptitude Rubella has.`

If her magical aptitude is higher than Lyla had assumed,

The connection between the engraving and the nerves becomes more dense than necessary, making separation through general surgery impossible.

A major surgery where she might have to cut open her body and remove the magical nerve itself, as she had said yesterday.

If it fails, she will be hemiplegic, and even if it succeeds, she will not be able to use magic for the rest of her life.

Lyla, knowing Rubella’s situation, could not suggest such a method.

And Lyla realizes that her worries were soon unfounded.

“…What is this?”

Rubella’s body that Lyla checked was a mess.

Originally, her magical aptitude must have been quite excellent.

Due to the characteristics of the Black Magic tribe, it was impossible to have no magical aptitude at all.

But the nerves connected to the magical organs in her body were a mess, as if each one had burned everything and only ashes remained.

It was forcibly cut off. It was twisted. It was worn out.

Generally, this form of magical nerve cannot be created.

Someone maliciously modified her body, or made her take medicine….

It was as if all the potential in her body had been pruned.

There, Lyla suddenly remembers.

`When a magic swordsman awakens, they first grow their body. And they acquire the appropriate abilities to confront those who oppose them.`

Knowledge absorbed from Cleon while mixing bodies with him.

`Duke Hughes knew that. So that Rubella wouldn’t awaken…. Or so that even if she did awaken, she wouldn’t be able to resist them.`

“…What’s wrong?”

“U, uh. It’s nothing. Hey, Rubella. Did you ever receive food separately when you were at the Duke’s mansion?”

Rubella tilts her head as if it’s strange at her words.

“Of course. I was a servant, so I couldn’t eat with the owner.”

“That’s true, but….”

Is it medicine, or did they do this while she was sleeping?

Lyla clenched her fist and was furious at the Duke’s atrocities for treating a talented individual with excellent magical qualities this way.

“…What about the mark?”

Perhaps she thought that Lyla’s expression was unusual.

Rubella carefully asked about her condition.

Lyla frowns.

She said that if the magical aptitude was too severe, the surgery would be a big problem.

But the same story applies even in the opposite case.

If she recklessly touches these broken nerves.

Rubella’s body will be completely destroyed before she can even remove the mark.

Lyla quickly organizes her thoughts.

It is impossible to fix her with her skills or the equipment here.

She had to remove the mark and reconnect the magical nerves in her body.

However, only the sly old fox magicians at the level of academy elders could do that.

She could never borrow their hands, and it might even put Rubella herself in danger.

Then, Sasha came to Lyla’s mind.

“…Hey, Rubella. You said you could pay any price, right? That. In any sense?”

“… That’s exactly what I meant.”

Rubella looks at Lyla as if she’s asking something strange.

Then Lyla quietly overlaps her hand on Rubella’s hand.

“Does that price include mixing bodies with a man you don’t love….”

“… What….”

This time, her expression is that she doesn’t know what’s going on, but Lyla composes herself a little and looks at Rubella.

“Your body cannot be treated in the general way. It’s not that there’s no way, but it’s too dangerous.”

“… …”

“But things change if I borrow Cleon’s power.”

The subjugation imprint of the magic swordsman freely dominates the target’s body.

That area reaches even places that the subjugated person cannot be aware of.

Sealing Sasha’s hunter’s imprint.

That was also something that Sasha herself could not do.

“Rebuild your body from the inside using the power of the subjugation imprint. And cover the expulsion mark with the subjugation imprint.”

Both the expulsion mark and the subjugation imprint were similar in that they forced the will of the other person.

However, the coercive power of the expulsion mark is lower than that of the subjugation imprint.

If you overwrite a lower command [expulsion mark] with a higher command [subjugation imprint], you can erase its effect.

“…Is that the best way?”

Rubella quietly asked Lyla.

Lyla had already simulated it in her head several times and came up with the result, so she slowly nodded.

“Sorry. With my skills and the conditions I have now…. I think that’s the safest and best way.”

Lyla, who had high pride, bowed her head to Rubella.

It was an action that came from the heart because she thought that she could not save her with her own power, even if she used all her knowledge as a magician.

Then Rubella makes an expression as if she’s pondering a little, and then opens her mouth.

“If necessary, I can mix bodies with Cleon. But…. A barrier to protect my purity is spread over my body.”

“A barrier to protect your purity? Just a moment.”

At Rubella’s words, Lyla once again scans her body with magic.

“T, that’s right. I didn’t know because it was so naturally deployed throughout the entire body……. Did Duke Hughes do this?”

“No. It was my deceased mother.”

“…That’s why the system of magic is so old…. If this is here, mixing bodies with Cleon is…. Ah.”

Lyla looks at Rubella as if she remembered something here.

“…If you want, I can modify this barrier a little. Completely eliminating it is impossible, no matter who I am.”

“Modification?”

Lyla nods and unfolds the barrier’s formula in the air.

It contained information about who the barrier was protecting and under what conditions it would be activated, written in magical language.

“Yeah. This barrier will only last for two more years at most…. That’s because it’s activated `for all living things without distinction`.”

Rubella recalls the faces of the men and women who tried to violate her in her mind.

Even the ones who flew away with a pop! sound.

“But if you make an exception for even one person, you can dramatically increase the duration.”

“Are you saying that we should make that one person Cleon?”

Lyla nodded again and continued the story.

“That’s right. Actually, I can’t make that big of a modification. It’s such a powerful and heartfelt formula.”

“… …”

The last magic of her mother who had protected her until now.

Make an exception for that.

By doing so, she is freed from the forced shackles of expulsion.

She can be with her mother’s formula and her heart a little longer.

Rubella quietly stared at the formula floating in the air and then turned her head to Lyla.

“Please, Lyla-ssi.”

“…Okay. Leave it to me.”

Lyla, seeing the look in Rubella’s eyes that had hardened her resolve, rolled up her sleeves and took out the cane she had leaned next to her.

The remaining preparation was only her body.

003

After leaving the temple, the two people, who were wandering around the city a little more before returning to the mansion.

They encountered Iona Chevalier sitting on a bench in the square with desserts in both hands.

Of course, the two were changing their appearance with changeling magic.

“…Cleon, Kuon-yang?”

Iona immediately grasped the identities of the two with her excellent insight.

Of course, it also helped that she was a person from an `information agency` who liked to observe and remember people.

Since they had already been caught, there was no need to deny it.

Cleon and Kuon sit next to her and talk.

“Are you on a date?”

“A, no~”

Kuon denies, blushing.

Iona smiled slightly at the sight and then spoke to Cleon.

“Sometimes you need to take a break. Today, I’m also forgetting about the heavy workload and taking a break.”

“…Eustace is?”

Cleon brings up work without noticing.

Iona puffs out her cheeks for a moment, but then makes an expression that says, ‘This person was originally like this,’ and continues the story.

“I think he returned to the mansion safely. If you ask my father, it’ll be a fun thing, so leave this to me…. he said.”

“Whatever that human says is fun is usually not a proper thing.”

Iona nods in agreement at Cleon’s words.

Kuon could only tilt her head as she listened to the two people’s conversation.

At that time.

“Everyone! God is always watching over us! The human world is full of chaos and danger!”

A voice echoes through the square.

The three of them turn to look at the same time.

There, a man wearing a white robe was preaching loudly to the passers-by.

“That’s….”

“That’s someone from our order? There was someone preaching in this city too.”

Iona tilts her head as Kuon says this.

“Doesn’t the Order of the Holy Patron always come out to the streets like that and talk to people?”

“That’s what I thought too, but I’ve never seen it in this city.”

When Kuon answers Iona’s question, her gaze shifts to Cleon as it is.

“…Ruti hated the order and blocked them from preaching in the city. Adventurers don’t really believe in God anyway.”

“That’s what happened!? I, I didn’t know….”

Kuon makes the same expression as if she was being hated.

“What Ruti hates is only the order itself. Well, she might be at odds with some of the higher-ups.”

“But there must have been complaints.”

Cleon shook his head at Iona’s words.

“Not really. Only the clergy and people in the order feel dissatisfied with that.”

Cleon says this, scanning the surroundings with his gaze.

Most of the adventurers were just frowning and ignoring the sermon as they passed by.

“This city has a really high percentage of adventurers. Adventurers just find the order’s sermons annoying.”

Above all, it was difficult to beat Ruti’s popularity, who valued the lives of adventurers along with her appearance and implemented policies.

“Maybe the policies changed when the guild master changed to Duke Hughes.”

Iona nods at Cleon’s speculation.

“-Therefore. We must repent and welcome a new world! Where is the answer! Look around you! This chaotic appearance!”

The clergyman of the order continues to speak despite the cold eyes.

Kuon was feeling a sense of discomfort from his typical order’s sermon.

“The ancient humans were not like this. They created a powerful civilization and built a society in a way that was very beautiful in the eyes of God.”

Cleon and Iona reacted to those words.

The two of them were less familiar with the doctrines of the order than Kuon, but there was something about these words that bothered them.

“Return! There is only teaching in the past! There is salvation!”

“Cleon. That clergyman….”

“…Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. He’s a returner.”

Cleon nods in response to Iona’s words.

Of course, the order also relies on the ancient relic called the `Holy Sword`.

However, their doctrine is only the establishment of an orderly society centered on the trinity of ‘Hero’, ‘Saintess’, and ‘Holy Sword’.

The method was different from what this man was talking about.

“Why is a clergyman of the order a returner…. Or is it the other way around?”

Iona tilts her head, guessing the man’s identity.

“…Either way, we need to investigate. Let’s investigate that man as he is.”

Iona nods at Cleon’s words.

Cleon took out a dimensional gate scroll from his bag and handed it to Kuon.

“Kuon, go back to the mansion first with this scroll.”

Then Kuon looked down at the scroll for a moment and shook her head.

“No. If this matter is related to the order, I’ll help too. I know more about the order than you two.”

Then Cleon is flustered at those words.

But Iona seems to be pondering for a moment and then nods.

“Kuon is right. If the other person is really a returner, it might be a good idea for her to come with us in preparation for something unforeseen.”

“Iona. But Kuon is…”

Kuon grabbed Cleon’s hand, who was about to continue by saying that today was only for relieving her mood.

“Cleon. Did you forget? I was once called a Saintess candidate. I can’t send you to a dangerous place alone. Let me help too.”

Firm eyes that had hardened her resolve.

Cleon stared into those eyes for a moment and then grabbed Kuon’s hand a little more tightly.

“…Thank you Kuon. But you have to be careful.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Perhaps the sermon had ended once in the meantime.

The clergyman, who was not welcomed by anyone, looked around for a moment and was about to leave.

At that time, three people approach him.

Kuon, Cleon, and Iona, seeing them, brightened their faces brightly.

“Oh, you’re the ones who were listening to the sermon over there. What brings you here?”

Iona cleared her throat and opened her mouth at his attitude of welcoming them happily.

“I was very impressed with the clergyman’s sermon just now. `Return`…. Can we really be saved by that method?”

Then the clergyman nods his head greatly and says.

“Of course. This doctrine is still a small force within the order, but it is gradually being recognized by everyone. There must be a key to the salvation of mankind in ancient civilization.”

A slightly fanatical expression.

Kuon and Cleon also had slightly fed up faces, but Iona continued the story without showing any agitation.

“Could you tell me in detail? I’m also very interested in ancient relics….”

“Oh! Is that so! Then let’s go together! Our colleagues will definitely be happy too!”

The man spreads his arms as if he’s excited and guides the three people.

The direction they are moving is the exact opposite of where the order’s temple is located.

Iona and Cleon look at each other and quietly nod their heads, then follow behind.

Kuon hid her tense hands by turning them back and clenching them tightly.

She was chasing after the two of them.