episode_0094

“Here. You know this is the residence of the Goddess, right?”

“I know.”

“It’s a place where not only strangers but also men are strictly prohibited from entering, right?”

“So, should I leave?”

“Never mind. I wanted to see you.”

Mia, who was surprised to see me, hesitated for a moment before revealing a hidden smile, indicating her inner joy.

After quickly glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Mia closed the door behind her and entered.

“But what’s going on? Sneaking into an empty house like a thief.”

“Um… Please refrain from using the word ‘thief.’ It’s a bit offensive.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

It used to be fine before, but lately, Mia seemed sensitive to being called a thief.

Although it’s true that she has been learning skills that are often associated with thieves, such as using magic or disguise, breaking into someone else’s house was only the second time she had done so.

“It’s because there’s a famous person in our group, so we couldn’t just enter openly.”

“Haha. Who is it this time? Last time it was the daughter of Evgenia. Who did you bring with you this time?”

“It’s not a woman. It’s a former acquaintance, so we had to sneak in.”

“Oh. Speaking of which, the story about Evgenia’s daughter came up. Her name was Alicia, right? I saw her again a few days ago.”

“What?”

I was taken aback for a moment.

You saw Alicia again?

Here?

“Why, what happened?”

“King Frost suddenly visited Elvengard. Alicia came with him.”

“I see. You didn’t pretend not to know her, did you?”

“The elders greeted her first, saying they were meeting her again…”

“…”

Mia lowered her head as if embarrassed.

Uh-oh.

This is bad.

Closing her eyes tightly, Mia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down by smelling the scent of the tea I had brought.

“Alicia came here without King Frost’s knowledge.”

“No wonder she seemed urgent, sending some kind of signal from behind…”

I began to understand the situation.

If Alicia had her own thoughts, she wouldn’t have willingly come to Elvengard, where the elders would easily recognize her.

She must have made up an excuse not to go, but she was clearly dragged here against her will.

The only reason why Yerina would act so aggressively is that Alicia’s clumsy lies were detected by Yerina.

It was expected, but it happened sooner than I thought.

Especially when facing a monster who can detect lies by observing the slightest tremor in facial expressions.

Alicia’s acting won’t last long.

“How did Lord Frost react?”

“He didn’t seem too surprised. Oh, now that I think about it, there was a hint of hidden anger behind his smile…”

He’s angry.

Of course he is.

He sent his loyal subject to find a man, only to find out that she had secretly gone somewhere else.

That’s probably why Alicia’s letters stopped at some point.

She couldn’t continue her suspicious behavior once she was caught.

The key is how much of Alicia’s lies have been exposed.

If it appears to be a simple act of rebellion, that would be great.

But if Alicia’s solo actions are somehow linked to me, things will get complicated.

“The only fortunate thing is that Alicia seems to have a completely mistaken idea about me.”

Fortunately, Alicia treats me as nothing more than a human.

She would rather bite her tongue and die than witness my reunion with Yerina.

That’s how much Alicia dislikes me.

She doesn’t even see me as a person.

So the chances of Alicia speaking up are very low.

Of course, I’ll do my best to get Alicia to open up, but I can’t guarantee anything······.

‘It hurts······.’

As the net closes in, it feels like my breath is being cut off.

The most annoying thing is that Yerina happened to recall the memories of the 12th round.

Since the 12th round was the previous round, I remember it vividly as well.

The memories of laughing and crying with Yerina.

Although for me, most of it was events that repeated multiple times.

Fake smiles and fake lines to tease Yerina.

But I can’t deny that there was a bit of sincerity mixed in.

The problem is, facing Yerina again from that time.

I know I won’t be able to reject Yerina twice.

Yerina boasts a difficulty level of 95% for the successful confession event, even though she can’t reach 100%.

With the memories of the previous round resurfacing, and various errors occurring, I can’t predict what variables may arise.

In other words, this time when I face her again, the success rate could break through 100% and the game could be cleared.

To prevent that, when I face Yerina again.

I have to hurt Yerina again and leave.

But I don’t have the courage.

I don’t have the courage to hurt Yerina, who has regained her memories.

I don’t have that level of cruelty.

“That’s in the past, so let’s move on. More importantly, you said there were 2 prophecies?”

“Actually, there are 3. Another one just came down.”

Mia’s face becomes even more serious.

She begins to recite the three prophecies.

The three prophecies are as follows:

– Darkness will fall on Basel.

– The goddess of the World Tree will fall into sorrow and regret.

– The goddess of the World Tree will lead Elvengard to ruin.

The first prophecy likely refers to the complete isolation of Velfegor.

The other two are concerning.

Both are related to the goddess of the World Tree and have quite negative implications.

And when I hear this, what comes to mind is inevitably······.

“It seems that the goddess of the World Tree mentioned in the prophecy is not me.”

“Could it be referring to another goddess?”

“That’s what I’m guessing.”

Yuria.

No matter how much I think about it, Yuria keeps coming to mind.

And it seems I’m not the only one who thinks that way.

Mia has been suspicious of Yuria for a while now.

After all, she once provoked Ifrit to set Elvengard on fire.

There is still a deep rift between Elvengard and Yuria, so it’s reasonable to be suspicious.

‘But Yuria isn’t that crazy.’

Of course, that’s just one perspective.

To the elves, Yuria may appear as a witch who betrayed Elvengard and is now using evil potions to dominate.

But I know for a fact that Yuria fled due to intense political struggles and schemes.

Yuria was a goddess who sought to reform the tightly closed Elvengard.

She was a thorn in the side of the elders and faced numerous political attacks.

Amidst all this, a perfect opportunity arose to attack Yuria, and she fled.

With a change in the elder council, the reforms Yuria advocated for were eventually implemented.

‘Yuria is surprisingly normal······.’

The Elvengard fire was somewhat justifiable, as Kali’s unique dungeon was located deep inside the roots.

Yuria tried to get rid of it, not to destroy Elvengard.

Of course, it would have been satisfying to see Elvengard fall as well······.

Yuria is not that much of a psychopath.

‘Is Yuria the previous goddess? Or someone who will become the goddess in the future?’

However, if Yulia is excluded from the dragon’s line, the investigation will once again fall into chaos.

Could it be that Yulia is driven to cause an accident by evil?

If not, then Mia······?

“Is there something on my face?”

“No······.”

At this stage, there is nothing certain.

Nevertheless, it is understood that one should pay attention to someone who has once been given the title of the Priestess of the World Tree.

I don’t believe that will happen.

I firmly believe it won’t happen.

Perhaps I should even consider a future where Yulia and I become complete enemies.

***

“Delivery!”

“······.”

“Excuse me! Delivery! Here!”

“······.”

At the top of the Petenbourg building.

The delivery man who entered the desolate office took off his hat and looked around for a moment.

It seemed like there was no one there, as there was no response at all.

“Are they in the inner room? Delivery!”

“······.”

Thump, thump.

Even with loud footsteps echoing, there was no response.

If it was loud enough to be heard in the inner room, the complete lack of response indicated that there was indeed no one there.

“Is this the office of the Witch of Petenbourg······.”

The delivery man glanced at the various books scattered on the office desk.

Although there were occasional writings on search magic, location tracking magic, and binding magic.

The writing was so dense that the delivery man gave up reading and looked away.

“Tsk. I’ll be late for the next delivery. I should just leave it here.”

“······.”

Recipient is absent.

It’s not a job to wait indefinitely until they return.

The delivery man turned around and took the elevator down.

“Hurry up. Why are you peeking at someone else’s desk and acting all weird······.”

And a moment later.

Under the office desk, black hair and long ears peeked out.

The tired-eyed elf confirmed that the elevator was going down.

He walked briskly and picked up the box.

“Ugh······!”

No. He tried to pick it up.

No matter how much he tried with his slender arms, the box didn’t budge.

His face turned pale as he exerted all his strength, but the box didn’t move an inch.

In the end, Yulia gave up moving the box, took out a pair of scissors, and sat in front of the box.

With a snip, the straps of the box labeled ‘handle with care’ slowly came undone.

And finally, the box was opened.

“Wow, I paid a lot for this, but is this all I get? Did I get punched in the face?”

Inside were small wooden totems, stuffed dolls, talismans, and more.

With an ancient book written in a foreign language spread out.

Yulia carefully examined each item that came out of the box.

“I learned magitech on my own. Why is it so hard to find all these for magic······.”

All the items were catalysts for magic.

After searching through various business connections, she finally managed to purchase items from a magician.

The book spread out was also a magical book obtained through a difficult auction at the black market.

Without the confidence, persistence, courage to meet the master and learn, she had no choice but to do this.

Just as she had done before.

All self-taught.

“Oh my! This is the second volume! Where’s the first one!”

However, learning magic on her own was almost impossible.

Magic was a skill oppressed in many countries and cities.

It was a skill learned bit by bit within a small but persistent community of magicians.

Learning such magic without a master was a level of creativity from nothing to something.

“Ugh, this is so frustrating. I have to go to the auction again, wear a hoodie, put on a mask, and wear sunglasses······.”

However, no matter how difficult and treacherous the road ahead may be, Yuriya never once thought about giving up.

She was determined to find Yujin.

And to capture him.

And to prevent his return.

For now, there didn’t seem to be a clear solution within the existing magical systems for all three.

There was no magic that could track someone just by knowing their name, scent, eye color, and how their cheeks dimpled when they smiled.

Even if she found him, capturing him would be another issue.

Perhaps hiring someone strong would solve the problem, but a run-of-the-mill mercenary wouldn’t stand a chance against Yujin.

And preventing his return was also an impossible task with magic alone.

“If magic is impossible, then maybe sorcery, the unknown world of sorcery, could make it all possible…”

With that idea in mind, Yuriya didn’t hesitate to choose to learn sorcery.

The Holy See’s oppression of sorcerers and their indifference to the arrests didn’t concern her.

She simply wanted to meet Yujin as soon as possible, to stop his suffering.

Before other foolish women found him and caused trouble for him.

Before Yujin, tired of it all, returned once again.

She wanted to break the chains of this eternal cycle before that happened.

“I, I… I’ll make it comfortable for you. I’ll make you happy.”

Tears welled up in Yuriya’s eyes, shining brightly.

Suddenly, tears fell.

As she wiped them away, a painful memory flashed through Yuriya’s mind.

“If it weren’t for you, I would have seen the ending this time. You keep interfering with the trophy heroine theme.”

“Ah, ah! Aaah…”

Yujin’s voice, as if coming from right next to her ear, was vivid and real.

Her chest tightened, and tears uncontrollably streamed down her face.

It must have been a sound that wasn’t really there.

To make herself hate him.

He must have deliberately said those words.

Or perhaps some strange, cursed force compelled him to say such things.

If she didn’t think of it that way, her heart felt like it would shatter.

Clutching her chest, Yuriya cried and made a vow.

She would make sure Yujin no longer spoke such heartless words.