episode_0177

“First, I should introduce myself.”

Cheonharang, with his back to the moon, looked somewhat sad.

“I am an ignorant and coward.”

Even those who showed hostility towards him felt a feeling of pity.

But even that moment was fleeting.

“And, the Demon King you call yourself, the Heavenly Maitreya who stands above all others.”

Cheonharang immediately aimed his wooden sword at them.

“Even the heavens you boast about will bow their heads at my feet.”

* * *

Around that time.

There were two people climbing the mountain from a position opposite to the vanguard of the imperial army.

“Hehehe… Hehehe… .”

“… Professor Bell, are you okay?”

Whether he is concerned about himself or making fun of himself.

Or maybe he’s just so tired that everything he says sounds sarcastic.

“… Huh?”

Now, exhausted beyond belief, she didn’t even have the energy to answer, so she mustered up the last of her strength, let out a deep sigh, and turned around.

“Do I, do I look okay…?”

Next, the professor of alchemy at the Academy. Bell looked at her with a resentful look.

“…”

Anna, the principal of the academy who received that gaze, avoided Belle’s gaze with an awkward smile.

“… I’m sorry.”

And so, the subtle silence continued again.

Anna frowned as if she felt uncomfortable with this atmosphere, but she didn’t open her mouth.

“Ji, seriously… this is too much… .”

“… I told you I was sorry.”

“Yes… ?”

“No… .”

No, rather, I was even persecuted.

If you think about their usual relationship, Belle’s current situation of rebelling makes no sense…

“… Seeing.”

As always, there were exceptions.

“Then why did you bring me here… .”

Anna just kept her mouth shut and avoided Belle’s gaze at Belle’s grumbling words.

The reason is.

Because it was Anna who forcibly brought Belle, who had been crying day and night that she didn’t want to come.

Given Anna’s upright personality, it was natural for her to feel guilty.

However, if you have an upright personality, you may wonder why you brought Belle, who you dislike.

Well, I did something that other people would hate.

“… Professor, don’t you understand it well?”

“Well, that’s true, but… .”

The hard part is different.

Anna handed her water as if she were a criminal, in response to Belle’s small addition.

“… here.”

“Oh my… Thank you… !”

As you can see from their conversation,

Anna also had her own reasons for not being able to help it.

As I said earlier, Anna and Belle are a separate force that does not move with the main force of the Imperial Army.

Since they are moving in small numbers, they need to move quickly to secure an advantageous position or find out information and report it to the main force.

“Pooha!”

As you can see, Belle’s stamina is causing problems.

‘Should I go first…?’

Why else would Anna, the person who brought Belle herself, have such thoughts?

But Anna couldn’t do that.

In the first place, Anna was one of the people who opposed the operation to subdue Cheonha and the others.

… Of course, it is true that personal feelings should be set aside when carrying out an operation.

‘No… I have to check something… .’

Anna trusted her instincts.

To be precise, he trusted what he saw and heard rather than just his feelings.

And Cheonharang is not the type of person who would start a war with the empire without any reason.

When teaching students, she would suddenly become excited and talk loudly, or she would say that teaching was annoying and that she wanted to quit right away, but she stayed until the end.

‘More than anything… her.’

I’ve already saved the Academy once.

Didn’t Cheonharang defeat the instigator during the attack when he was unable to respond properly?

But, she’s attacking the empire?

‘It doesn’t make sense.’

If I had that kind of intention in the first place, I would have done it a long time ago.

What good would it be to save the Academy?

Besides, the timing is weird.

When the empire held a ball, didn’t Cheonharang’s gang that raided the palace also appear overly artificial?

There were no casualties, and the Empire actually benefited from the long-standing problem.

To that extent.

As much as the Cheonharang he had seen was like that.

Because I had such thoughts, I should have met Cheonharang and proposed negotiations before seeing him.

I had to hurry up, even if it was just a little bit.

‘If, by any chance, it escalates to an extreme situation…’

It will become irreversible.

‘…and.’

The girl he was when he last met her.

I remember her expression at the time, which seemed apologetic, or perhaps aggrieved.

He himself must know the meaning of that expression.

Well… anyway.

The story went a bit off topic though.

“Jo, I’ll buy a little bit… .”

Bell also tried to prevent such a situation with a slightly higher probability by somehow persuading Bell, who did not want to come, and bringing him there.

To be honest, the relationship between Anna and Cheon Ha-rang cannot be said to be that deep.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that again… .”

“I have high expectations for Professor Bell.”

“Eek… .”

In Belle’s case, she brought Cheonharang to the academy herself, and didn’t she also visit the palace with her?

It must be darker than your own.

“Ah, no… Even the warriors couldn’t do it… .”

“But you can’t give up, right?”

“… That’s true, but… .”

At that moment, Anna, who had confirmed that Belle’s complexion had improved a little, was about to take a step forward while supporting her.

“… Professor Bell.”

Anna stopped walking, sweat dripping down her face.

“Yes… ?”

Belle, puzzled by Anna’s sudden strange reaction, asked back.

“I guess it’s already too late.”

“That, that’s what-”

Anna’s distorted face did not return, and instead Belle herself realized why she had reacted that way.

-thud!

A huge roar heard from a distance.

The source of the sound was not a direction, but above my head.

“Wow… That’s ridiculous.”

Anna and Belle’s heads shot up almost simultaneously, and their pupils took in a bizarre sight.

The sky falls. Then the earth shakes.

The heavens and the earth are turned upside down.

The once dark, gigantic mountain range changes its shape in an instant.

The cabinet itself is destroyed by falling debris, or by a chain reaction caused by the ground being distorted.

“This, this is… What the heck… .”

Belle stared blankly at the ground beginning to crack and the sky falling like shards of glass.

As if he couldn’t accept the situation.

This kind of scenery is as if something impossible according to one’s common sense.

Belle, her brain was beginning to reject the information being transmitted through her pupils.

“Hey, are you going to die here…?”

Belle’s body collapses as if she has lost her will.

but.

“We have to hurry now.”

Anna, however, supported Belle with the same distorted expression she had seen earlier.

“Let’s go.”

Even though they were facing a wall, Belle felt an inexplicable sense of relief at seeing her unchanging appearance, so she nodded and surrendered herself to her.

*

Anna, carrying Bell on her back, took each step without hesitation.

Well, that’s only natural.

Unlike before, when I had been wandering around the entire mountain range without any certainty about the direction I was going,

This time there was a clear path.

That was the absurd amount of mana that Cheonharang was still pouring out.

Up until now, there was no way to track down Cheonharang, who was of a higher rank than Anna herself, unless she drained her mana.

Because that’s not the case now.

So, this is where we arrived after tracking Harang’s mana.

‘…what.’

Anna squinted her eyes, as if she found it hard to believe the sight unfolding before her eyes.

Belle was also flustered, so she got down from Anna’s back and looked around and asked.

“da… Oh, where did you go… ?”

Anna couldn’t answer Belle’s question.

“… I don’t know.”

Because she wanted to ask that too.

The place they arrived.

There, unlike the magic of Cheonharang that I had felt before, no, that I still feel now.

She didn’t show up.

What’s important is that the imperial troops that had marched towards this place were also nowhere to be seen.

Could it be that there was a mistake in tracking?

Anna, who had been wondering about this for a moment, shook her head at the traces of them that could be seen everywhere.

‘The footsteps ended here.’

Clearly, the footsteps that had been leading to one place suddenly stopped here.

Plus, there are imperial weapons scattered all over the place.

Judging by the traces, it was reasonable to assume that the Imperial Army had arrived here and was defeated.

But, despite these striking circumstances, Anna’s expression showed no sign of softening.

This was also simple.

Rather, if it really was a defeat.

If they simply lost their lives, I can understand why no one would be standing here.

But isn’t it a little strange?

‘… Then where is the body?’

No matter how hard I try to look for it, even the common bloodstains are not there.

It’s as if they were never here in the first place. They’re saying they’ve completely disappeared.

“…”

Anna, who was immersed in the feeling of solving an unsolvable puzzle.

“…”

Soon, I took out my sword, seeing a crimson stream of air in the corner of my vision.

“Professor Bell.”

Belle must have noticed too, as she pulled down her witch hat and picked up her wand.

“… Yes, I feel magic on the right side.”

Soon, all that remained was a heavy silence and the tense tension running through their muscles.

-rustle

“… I’ll go first, so apply-”

and.

The figure that appeared from the place where the thick magic was felt was, perhaps naturally,

“Um.”

It was Cheonharang.