My Villains Episode 174
42. Chain (6)
The thumping pounding in the chest did not subside even after searching the first floor of the lord’s house.
As I hurriedly headed towards the alchemy lab, I exhaled as soon as I saw Ellen coming out of the lab.
“Ellen.”
In that brief moment, Ellen showed various faces.
A face contemplating something deeply.
A face that finds me and turns bright.
A fat face made up by erasing it.
Then, with his eyes wide open, he showed a face full of worries… It
is strange that such a variety of emotions are contained in such a small face. Is it because of the big eyes?
“…what’s the matter?” The man approaching me cautiously reached out his hand. I slightly lowered my upper body and greeted the white hand.
“Your complexion is not good.”
“…there was a problem for a while.”
“problem? What’s the problem?”
Instead of answering, he held Ellen’s hand on his cheek and was silent for a while.
His hands were warm enough to feel hot. no, is my body cold?
“……trunnion?” He
took the other hand away from Ellen, who was making a puzzled expression, and put it
on her cheek.
“What are you doing?”
The guy holding both hands stood in a hesitant posture as if he was being punished.
Even though she struggled weakly, Ellen gave up resistance for a moment and pursed her lips with a reddened face.
“…what the hell.” “Are you cold?”
“what?”
“My face. Aren’t you cold?”
“Suddenly what?” To the sudden question, the boy paused for a moment before answering.
“…it looks ugly, but it’s not to the point where I can’t see anything.”
The answer made me laugh involuntarily.
“Pha- Hey, what are you talking about?”
“……what?”
“Other than that, my body temperature isn’t cold.”
Ellen bit her lower lip with a look of regret. After a while, the guy changed his expression and frowned.
“I was confused. You should have said it straight from the beginning! And your body isn’t like that for a day or two, so what?”
“uh? Is my body naturally cold?”
“…It’s usually cool rather than cold. But why are you suddenly asking about that?”
“I just hope your hands are warm again.”
After holding her breath for a moment, Ellen lowered her head and muttered, ‘Tell me about this’.
When I let go, the guy straightened up the hem of his robe and swept his face a couple of times. Ellen, who took some time to calm down, raised her head.
“…so what’s the problem?”
“problem? ah.”
I blinked my eyes for a moment.
“Uh…
…Come to think of it, it got better before I knew it.
Just a moment ago, anger for no reason, resentment without an object, penetrating longing, overwhelming sadness… I couldn’t breathe because of those things.
“Why no answer?”
“Um, that’s it.”
Seeing Ellen’s stare, I quietly scratched my eyebrows.
I explained to him before that I absorbed the soul and memories of another dimension based on the Phoy Nyx.
But now, it is impossible to say that Phoenix’s memories are confused because of the emotions attached to them.
After quickly clearing her mind, she opened her mouth.
“You know what I said last time. A strange voice.”
“…Did you hear it again?”
“Um, similar. I was looking for you for that.”
Looking at his serious face, he shrugged.
“When I saw you, I suddenly became conscious. Isn’t it rare?”
“What is that.”
When Ellen put on a grim expression, I smiled and lifted her up by the hamstrings.
“Huh.”
Suddenly, Ellen sat on my arm and patted me on the shoulder in surprise.
“I-You were surprised! Why are you like this all of a sudden?”
“Suddenly, not long ago, this was normal.”
“That was already two weeks ago.”
“Were you on your way back to your room?”
When he nodded, I moved briskly. Then, with a muttered ah, he asked Ellen.
“But just in case you don’t know, stay with me at night.”
“Mu mu what?”
” huh?”
“At night together? No, I still-”
I frowned at the guy who was talking gibberish.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Please watch me meditate.”
“…meditation?”
“Oh meditation. Even if I sleep less, I try to increase my meditation time. Just help me when I start like last time.”
“Ah…
Ellen nodded blankly.
He leaned heavily against my chest, looking as if he was exhausted.
I was enjoying Ellen’s body heat warming my heart, but then I came up with a question.
“Right, Ellen. What did you say you are making these days?”
“……Yes?”
“I hear you’re making some kind of potion with Master Castrite.”
” ah.”
He hesitated for a moment, then took out a small glass bottle from his bosom.
“this.”
“What is this?”
“A copy of the Dissolution Potion.”
“Oh you copied that? how?”
When I showed interest in the potion, he shook his head with a puzzled expression.
“Actually, I failed. It is not a dispelling potion.”
“then?”
“It’s just garbage. It has the effect of dissipating mana, but it has no effect of canceling the action of mana.”
“aha.” “The main effect has disappeared and only the side effects have been strengthened, so once you drink it, you won’t be able to gather mana for at least three days.”
In short, the ‘Dispel’ effect disappeared and only the ‘Energy Burn’ effect remained. So, is this completely acidic poison?
“Would it be very useful?”
“what’?”
“You mean you can incapacitate a dangerous mage by feeding it. Isn’t that useful
?” “…Do you think wizards are fools? Why would you take such a suspicious object lightly? Besides, it smells really bad.”
Looking at it again, the mountain gong poison, or the ‘magic suppression potion’, was a thick liquid with a light blue color.
No sane person would drink something like this…
“And what I’m making isn’t poison, it’s medicine. Even though there is a difference between medicine and poison, this is the first time I have ever made something so harmful.” Ellen’s grunt continued.
“I was about to give up because of the lack of ingredients, but Mung-chi bought a lot of herbs and made them, but I didn’t expect things to be this messy.”
“A bundle of things?”
“huh. I gave you herbs and borrowed your alchemy tools.”
“…Where else did you get the herbs from?”
“Did you go around and collect them? Even if you go around his fence once, he will fill a basket full.” hmm. I didn’t know Munchchi was well versed in herbalism.
…No, ‘Poison’, a skill of the ‘Foreign’ type.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a bundle except when sleeping these days.”
“I’m sure he’s still wandering around somewhere.”
“is it?”
Saying that, as I entered the Yeongju Hall,
“…how are you going to come together?”
A bundle protruded from the corner of the entrance of the Yeongju Hall, which had a foggy glass window.
“trunnion. Ellen.”
“I heard that even a tiger will come when I say it. I was just talking about you.”
“Is that so…?”
Ungchi wiggled both hands and nodded.
As I stared down at the guy who was making awkward gestures for some reason, the group that met my eyes was…
“Oooh,”
both cheeks were flushed and he was avoiding his gaze.
…what?
Ellen opened her mouth on behalf of me, who was quietly examining the bundle.
“Did you pick up herbs today?”
“to? oh no I don’t catch it.”
“then?”
“Uh, that-”
Moongchun, who was flustered for a while, took out a small object that was hanging from his sword belt.
“I made this.”
Is it a crossbow?” “yes. New brain.”
Along with the awkward Milanese, what Moongchi pulled out was a crossbow the size of the palm of his hand.
I forgot to check the complexion of the bundle and burst into admiration.
“You made this? directly?”
“Yes…
“Wow, that’s great. Can I take a look?”
“yes yes.”
I received a crossbow from him and examined it. Although it looked crude at first glance, the bow and trigger guard were properly equipped.
“Where did you get the protest?”
“Uh- I’m picking reed vines and people ask me. They say they make bowstrings, so call me.”
After hearing it roughly, I originally intended to make a protest with a tree trunk, but it seems that Amias gang saw it and saved the protest.
“…Hey, your dexterity is good.”
“to. It’s nothing.”
“It’s nothing. I can’t even make a rubber-powered machine properly.”
“Rubber-younger sister?” “No no. Well done anyway, our bunch.”
After returning the crossbow and stroking his head, Munch lowered his head and let out a small smile.
“Heh…
fiddling with a crossbow while blushing is like a child excited by being praised.
Ellen, who had been watching the scene quietly, hummed and snorted before speaking.
“It’s a bunch.”
“to’?”
“Make me one too.”
“A new brain?”
“huh. By shooting stones instead of arrows.”
“To help?”
“huh. Do you know what a crossbow is?”
At Ellen’s words, Munch tilted his head.
“Eh… stones are easy to block. It’s hard to kill people.”
“doesn’t care. It’s a crossbow, so you’re trying to shoot something other than stones.”
“Anything else?”
“huh. Something like oil or potion. Anyway, I wish I could shoot it with this and that.”
” ah.”
We went back to the room together and talked with Ellen about the crossbow. Hearing about the weight, lethality, and range of a crossbow made me feel uncomfortable.
Thanks to the bundled race, the face looks younger than its age. Ellen is a seventeen-year-old kid.
Maybe that’s why it feels harsh once again to see them talking about murder weapons.
…I can’t help it. This is Middle World, not Korea.
Okay, don’t be sentimental and pay attention to the fact that Ellen is talking comfortably with Mungchi.
Looking at it, it seems that Mungchi, who is extremely docile to Ellen, who has no social skills, would be a good conversation partner. I wish you two could be friends.
“What are you looking at?”
“…nothing.”
I smiled broadly at Ellen, who was looking at me with her eyebrows narrowed, and at Mungchi, who was blinking at me with her big eyes without double eyelids.
“Let’s go eat lunch.”
As the sun was slowly going down, I climbed the keep located in the innermost part of Longville.
After climbing up the prefabricated wooden stairs that were made easy to clean, I passed the second floor where supplies such as food and oil were piled up, and the third floor where a meeting was being held centering on the old knight, Sir Ariad.
The fourth floor was a very dark and empty space. The waning sunlight and the flickering light of the torches illuminated two soldiers and a pile of boxes of arrows.
Leaving behind the modest greetings of the guards, I walked out to ‘Hoarding’, which surrounds the fortress in the shape of a terrace.
creak.
The sound of the wooden planks made the tall man sitting on the railing turn his head.
“Phoenix.”
“What are you doing all alone?”
Her long braided hair, like a braid, swayed in the breeze. Utequai turned his head toward Doro Long Bill and moved the cartridge in his hand.
“I was drawing Yeongji.”
“……what?”
Looking back, Utequai had a large piece of paper on his thigh. The poor-quality paper, with fibres, contained the landscape of Longville.
“Could you draw that?”
“right.”
What day is it today? Like Moongchi and Utequai, they show amazing talents.
“…I didn’t know you had such an aesthetic sense.”
Utequai’s paintings looked very good even to me, an outsider. In the landscape of Longville he painted, there was no sense of perspective, but an unknown feeling of liveliness flowed through it.
“I am a warrior. It’s a small sheep in Grim Daejeon.”
“What nonsense.”
“Really.”
It should be said that it is like Utequai, but he is very confident even while making white noises. I laughed at his shameless attitude and sat down next to him.
Hmm, if Utequa and I put together, I think it would be well over 300 kilos, but wouldn’t it collapse?
“What are you doing here?”
“I don’t want to see you until meal time passes. I heard from Steedman that he’s been coming up here for days? Are you doing that for drawing?”
“right.”
“Why are you in such a hurry to paint that you don’t even eat?”
Utequai calmly turned his head to the west.
“The wind is blowing.”
” wind?”
“right. It is war luck.”
“…You know what I mean? Milano has grown so much.”
Utequai chuckled and moved the cartridge again. Shading was added between the gate and the wooden fence.
“Today is the last time you see the territory.”
“War changes everything. Tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, Estate Longville will look different.”
I looked around Longville in silence for a while. Then I asked Utequai.
“You say you don’t like being involved in politics, but you say you’re quite active in training conscripts?”
“I already said it before. It is to help them be forged into warriors.”
“That’s true, at this point, even if a battle breaks out, it’s hard to get out.”
“Um, right.”
When he nodded his head coolly, I chose my words for a moment before sighing.
“What are you sorry about?”
“What do you mean?”
“For me to interfere with something that has nothing to do with it.”
“It doesn’t matter. This is what your mother meant.”
As I was quietly scratching my eyebrows, U Tequai opened his mouth first.
“Why did you intervene?”
“At work here?”
“right.”
“It’s not that complicated. It also has something to do with Prince Ulkar.”
Utequai, who was teasing the bullet, shook his head quietly.
“I do not regard you as my lord, Prince Ulkar
.”
“…yes, that’s right. But you owe Ulkar something.”
“debt”?
“You mean the certificate of title to the manor. If there was no proof of nobility, how could a pagan and a mage without a card travel comfortably? It must have been a headache because of the guys who were arguing here and there.”
“Um, that’s cool. But ordinary people don’t go to war because of that much debt.” “…that’s right. In fact, there are things that I had no choice but to get involved in.”
When I blurted out, Utequai snorted.
“You had a chance to fall. It was not something you were forced into, it was your choice.”
“…You bastard, why are you arguing so much today?”
As he grumbled, Utequai gave a low giggle.
“Be honest, Phoenix. You fight because you are a lord.”
…If you just look at this guy, he’s quick to notice.
“It’s not just because of Dionea.”
“There will be others. The pot-bellied owner of Chester Beldin’s Golden Knife Tavern, the boys who were dragged in without knowing why, and the children frightened by the war.”
…Honestly, I’ve never thought about other people, but I didn’t bother to say it.
“Pity is good. If you go to war for good reasons, your mother looks down on you.”
“…what a thank you.”
“So you have nothing to be sorry about.”
To see if the painting was complete, Utequai unfolded the paper and compared it to the real landscape. The view of Longville, as if from a bird’s eye view, is spread out in black and white.
Utequai nodded in satisfaction and continued.
“I am a warrior. It is natural to stand by friends who are fighting for good reasons.”
…for good reasons. Did I have anything like that? I don’t know, but I didn’t want to change Ute Kwai’s mind.
Putting the bullet into something like a leather pencil case, Utequai stood up from his seat. Then he rolled the picture up and held it to the torch.
“Oops! What are you doing, yumma?”
” hmm?”
Utequai put on a puzzled expression as he quickly reached out and snatched the painting that had just started to catch fire.
“Hey, why are you burning what you’ve drawn?”
“It is useless anyway.”
“Wasn’t that a meaningful painting you drew to remember the last peace of Longville?”
“It is not me who remembers peace.”
“But that’s the case…
I barely managed to turn off the lights and save the painting, but I suddenly remembered something, so I looked up.
“Did you draw something like this in South Harbor or Inbury?”
“I didn’t draw Inveri. I didn’t have time to draw because I was looking for herbs.”
“…then in South Harbor or somewhere else?” “Painted.”
“Did you burn everything?”
“right.”
“crazy.”
Originally, the only thing left from the trip was a picture, but I drew a picture at best and burned it all? It’s such a waste….
“Turn off” O .
yes, who are you to blame? It’s my fault for not paying attention to what Utequai is doing.
“If you draw something like this in the future, don’t burn it and bring it to me.” “to you?”
“okay. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something like this when selling memories later?”
“I’m not selling memories.”
“I’m not saying I’m selling my memories… Anyway, don’t burn them and eat them, bring them all to me. Got it?”
Utequai shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t understand, but he agreed.
Then, suddenly, I turned my head toward the sinking sun. In the distance, through the mountain valleys, something like a vibration can be heard.
“What do you see in Phoenix?”
“Look over there.”
“O uh uh”
Utequai followed my gaze and narrowed his eyes. So for a moment,
boo woo woo-
The sound of a horn resonating somewhere in the barrier woke Longbill all over.
Count Tristan’s army had arrived.
