episode_0153

Tick. Tick. Tick.

At the top floor of the Pettenburg Building.

The sound of nails being bitten in a dark office echoed continuously.

“W-was it this serious…?”

Julia sighed as she stood up, gripping the messy desk filled with various documents.

Utilizing all of Pettenburg’s resources, she had gathered information.

All the confidential matters that countries kept hidden were now in her hands.

“It all started in Cologne…”

Julia’s index finger pointed at the city in the middle of the southern continent, Cologne.

The mysterious death of Mayor Lawrence Briem in Cologne.

Externally, it was reported that he had lost his life to monsters in the dungeon.

However, the autopsy results from the Papal Office revealed that there was a ‘presence’ inside Briem’s body.

It was not Briem’s, but a strong dark magic that was detected.

The appearance of an unprecedentedly powerful demon.

The Papal Office seemed to refer to this mysterious presence as a Great Demon.

And the man who killed Mayor Briem possessed by the demon.

It was undoubtedly Eugene.

Even though the Papal Office seemed unaware of who Eugene was, just by looking at his appearance, Julia could quickly confirm.

“Next is Elvengard…”

Next, Julia pointed at the lush forest region in the southern continent.

Her hometown and a place she never wanted to return to.

The second abnormality occurred right here.

The spider monster that sought to control the World Tree.

With high intelligence, it mercilessly hunted down all incoming swordmasters and archmages, but was killed overnight.

Coincidentally, during the time Eugene had visited.

“Lastly, back to Cologne…”

The third abnormality.

It happened shortly after the spider monster’s corpse was stolen and Elvengard was destroyed.

A necromancer who had stolen the body of Nicholas, the Archbishop, and revived the spider monster, causing the destruction of Cologne.

It occurred while the main headquarters of the Holy Knights was absent.

It was said that it was subdued without significant casualties thanks to the actions of the Vice Commander.

However, the strange thing was that the Vice Commander of the Holy Knights was out of contact for about 20 minutes from the time of the incident.

In that amount of time, the spider monster could have killed hundreds of people, so how was the damage so minimal?

This question was resolved when Eugene’s involvement in this incident was revealed.

“Eugene couldn’t have been coincidentally present in all three places…”

Once or twice could be a coincidence, but three times couldn’t be.

Julia could finally draw a conclusion.

Eugene wasn’t chasing after intangible beings.

He wasn’t wandering in the dungeon because he wanted to die.

A being unknown to others.

Only Eugene was facing the enemy from another realm.

Thinking this way sent shivers down her spine.

“Then everything he’s been avoiding me for until now…”

In the previous chapters, Eugene didn’t show the same behavior as in this chapter.

Perhaps he didn’t know about the existence of the enemy from another realm back then.

Entering the dungeon was very rare, only when working as a mercenary.

But as he kept returning, Eugene noticed something.

He realized that a huge threat was approaching this world.

That’s why Eugene started distancing himself from people.

He kept his loved ones at a distance.

So he could protect them.

So he could save them from the clutches of the terrifying enemy.

“Ugh…”

Emotions surged within her.

Julia clenched her teeth, barely holding back her tears.

She couldn’t believe that he was pushing her away for this reason.

She suddenly felt guilty for doubting Mia and their relationship.

Of course, the affair between the Holy Maiden and the Frost Lord had indeed been revealed.

But since it was already in the past, she decided to treat it as inevitable.

“Well then… It seems like the time has come…”

Yulia rolled up the map and underneath, various tools for magic were revealed.

Yulia tightly closed her eyes.

She had to admit it.

Now was not the time to act selfishly.

While Eugene was sacrificing himself and fighting alone, she couldn’t unilaterally impose her childish desire to be with him.

If she truly cared for Eugene.

If she wanted to support him, she had to help him.

Even though she really, really didn’t want to…

“It seems like it’s time to face the enemies…”

She seemed to have to join hands with the most hated enemies more than anyone else.

A few days later.

A train arrived at the platform in Petenbourg.

A woman with blue hair in fur clothing stood up, folding the scripture she held in her hand.

Following her, a pale-skinned vampire holding a longsword as if escorting her.

“What kind of scripture is that? I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s nothing special. It’s a scripture that helps me suppress my madness, so I’m studying it.”

“Why suppress your natural talent?”

“It was given to me by my beloved younger brother… Stop lecturing me and just follow me. Do you have exhibitionism?”

“Unlike the Frost Lord, I have a body worth showing-”

“Shut up.”

The two women entered the platform, bickering.

All eyes were on them for a moment.

Both the Frost Lord and the Assassin were famous as the best in the continent.

Before the commotion could spread about the two of them being together, Yelina and Transylvia quickly left the platform.

Having just arrived from a foreign land and without any guards, they only wanted to stay quietly for a while before leaving.

“I’m going crazy. Why are they calling me when I’m so busy…”

“If you don’t like it, just refuse.”

“If it was someone insignificant who called, I would have done that. Witch. It’s an invitation from the Witch of Petenbourg.”

“…”

Yelina walked away, clicking her tongue.

Just a few days ago, she was chasing Eugene fanatically.

But after losing him due to Transylvia’s mistake and searching every nook and cranny for Eugene’s trail, it was impossible to catch the elusive Eugene.

At that timing, an invitation from the Witch of Petenbourg arrived.

It was enough justification to give up the chase.

Yelina finally suppressed her anger and gave up the pursuit.

She admitted that she had lost Eugene.

“If it’s not something important, I’ll cut off the investment…”

Chewing her lips.

Yelina headed towards the meeting room.

According to the invitation, there was an important matter to discuss and coordinate.

Other than holding a stake in the Petenbourg Foundation, she wasn’t deeply involved.

It was also the first time for a witch to have a one-on-one meeting like this.

In many ways, it was unprecedented, so she couldn’t ignore it.

It must be an important matter for it to be so significant.

“Please come this way, Frost Lord.”

“…”

As soon as she arrived at the meeting room, Yelina’s eyes narrowed.

Were those knights by the door not dead?

The witch was pretending to be indifferent to the Holy Kingdom.

She wondered what the knights were doing here.

“The escort must wait here. Please go in alone.”

“What do you think is inside?”

“I promise you. Inside, there are only the parties involved in the meeting. Yulia wishes to minimize the number of listeners, so I must ask you to enter alone, even if it means being impolite.”

“…”

Entering alone without an escort.

Already powerless, she wasn’t in a position to be escorted by Transylvania, but she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

Yerina took off the rings that were jingling on her fingers and poured them onto Transylvania’s palm.

“I’ll be back. Just stay around here, don’t go anywhere else.”

“The bloodshed seems to be happening far away.”

“Then starve. Take good care of my sword and rings so you don’t lose them.”

“······.”

Leaving behind the stiff-faced Transylvania, Yerina approached the conference room.

As she walked a short corridor, the door closed with a thud behind her.

The front door opened, revealing the view of the conference room.

“Wow, you’ve come······.”

“Huh?”

Yerina froze in her spot.

It wasn’t because the witch avoided eye contact and hesitated to speak.

Of course, that was perplexing in itself, but what was even more perplexing was.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was summoned, so I’m here.”

It was Jill Dainer, the saint.

It seemed like the saint’s guards, not the paladins, were here.

Yerina stared at Jill with a gentle smile and clicked her tongue.

“But why are you so aggressive from the first meeting? If I made a mistake or something······.”

“Forget it. I’m just not in a good mood today, so don’t worry about it.”

“······.”

Yerina closed her eyes tightly and entered the conference room.

The past. That is, before the regression.

At that time, Eugene went to the southern continent for business and frequently interacted with the saint.

Although they were heavily guarded and monitored, they never found any evidence of infidelity from both of them.

In the end, they concluded that there was no wrongdoing, but since they met so often, suspicions lingered.

Those emotions remained even after the regression.

Knowing that Jill had no such suspicions this time, Yerina had no choice but to dislike Jill.

She just didn’t like the person.

The fake smile and kind words all seemed so awkward, as if they were all an act.

“Three mismatched people have gathered. Life is full of surprises. So, how about slowly revealing what’s going on, witch?”

“P-please don’t call me a w-w-w-witch… P-please… I-I beg you…”

“Lord Pettenburg. May I ask why you’re stuttering? Is it okay to inquire?”

“W-well… I-I’m like this… I-I don’t know why… I’m sorry…”

“Oh! No, I asked a pointless question. I thought you were doing it on purpose.”

At the innocent question, Yulia lost her confidence and slumped her shoulders.

Will this meeting proceed properly?

Even before getting to the main point, Yerina was already feeling mentally exhausted.

She was trying hard to resist the urge to slap Yulia with every word she spoke.

“The reason I’ve gathered you all is… It’s because of this.”

Thump.

As Yulia flicked her finger, the lights in the conference room went out.

A magical crystal floated in the air, projecting a hologram.

For a moment, Yulia transformed back into the charismatic Pettenburg witch.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, the illusion would shatter.

“What is this…?”

“Is it magic?”

The hologram displayed various traces of magic inscribed on a wall.

Although Yerina and Jill were not well-versed in magic, as leaders who had to deal with sorcery, they knew more than others.

Examining the photos closely.

They depicted scenes of various attempts at sorcery, such as cursed dolls, totems, and spells.

The common factor being that all the locations were the same.

“Huh?”

Finally, one photo came to mind.

As the image of a massive stone gate appeared, Jill and Yerina’s eyes widened.

The unmistakable entrance to a dungeon.

In the photo taken from afar, traces of the sorcery from each picture were all captured.

And the target of the sorcery was none other than the dungeon itself.

“I, I found something new… In, in the dungeon, sorcery… can be applied.”

“…”

“…”

Yulia spoke with a slightly unpleasant smile, as if boasting.

At this, Jill and Yerina were left speechless.