Episode 21. Adrias’ Judgment
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Vivian’s disheveled green hair and blood-soaked face.
The dark red blood that had already dried up made her sleepy face dreamy.
In that appearance, the face of the young Vivian I had seen earlier overlapped, and I was taken aback involuntarily.
I panicked and tried to get up, but I felt Vivian’s right hand and my hand holding my possession.
I tried to get my hand out, but at best it didn’t come off even when I shook my hand, no matter how hard I was holding on to it.
“Mmm.”
When I waved my arm, Vivian woke up and opened her eyes.
“hmm?”
Looking up at me with grim eyes, Vivian saw that my hands were intertwined with her own and untied them.
“Here…?”
It seemed that he was still distraught, so I swallowed my relief and said.
“Surim Village. Do you remember?”
“Surim Village?”
Maybe the aftereffects of the curse are big, so I can’t come to my senses right away.
At that moment, I felt a presence from behind.
“Hey wizard. Vivian.”
Looking back, Ivy was coming towards us in a normal state.
Did you escape on your own like me?
“You are safe.”
“okay. Although there were frequent occurrences. I’m glad you guys are okay too. A black magician?”
“that is….”
what do you cover?
Looking for something to say, I unconsciously looked down at Vivian, but her face was still blank.
“huh? Are you dead? Butler Voloric?”
Ivy looked around and saw the decapitated corpse of the warlock.
“Where did Chris and Hazal go? What happened?”
“So that….”
My butt hurts.
Since no one saw it, it wouldn’t be known that I was a warlock, but on the other hand, there was no evidence that I had killed an enemy.
Will she believe me if I tell her I killed her?
You’ll be asked how the hell did you kill him?
I decided to use Christopher, who may have died or disappeared in battle.
“Christopher and I worked together to kill him.”
“what? Wasn’t he half dead? Where are you now?”
“Stop the black magician’s attack….”
“stop? Stop what.”
“They disappeared without leaving a body.”
Ivy looked at me as if something was strange and then sighed.
“Apart from Christopher, how about Hajal?”
“I gave you the coordinates of the warlock before the battle, but he disappeared.”
“Fuck. What kind of crazy thing happened and got twisted like this?”
Ivy took the body of the black magician while muttering thick curse words as if she had suddenly exploded.
Then she looked at Vivian, who was still sitting on the floor, absent-mindedly.
“Did he suffer from the same thing as me?”
“It seems so.”
“what. do you know what you’re talking about? Did you get hit too?”
“yes.”
“Ool? But it wasn’t enough to get out, so you caught the warlock together with Chris?”
“yes.”
It was almost delayed for a moment, but I just answered.
What do you mean it’s true?
She still looked down at me and Vivian, wondering if something was wrong, but that was all.
There’s nothing she can figure out.
“okay. For now, I’m holding this, so you take Vivian.”
“yes.”
I approached the sitting Vivian and gave her a hand.
“Vivian. Are you going back?”
“huh. okay. Fairy.”
“yes?”
“huh?”
Vivian as well as I tilted their heads with surprised faces.
what. Didn’t you know it was me?
“Are you a fairy?”
When I pretended not to know, Vivian frowned, thought for a moment, and then looked carefully at my face.
“Vivian?”
“voice.”
“yes?”
“It sounds like….”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Where are you going?”
At my urging, she finally put on an expression that she couldn’t do it.
She jumped up so as not to feel ashamed of my outstretched hand, and she tilted her head, looking back at me from time to time as she went ahead.
If I pretend I don’t know, I won’t even know anyway, so why don’t you doubt it?
* * *
On the way back, I told Ivy to go find Baron Volorik first.
“of course. Because it was caught that the black magician was the butler.”
Ivy nodded.
“For now, you have to hold onto it so that it doesn’t run away. The case related to the love of black magic isn’t simply an academy issue, it’s an empire level issue.”
When we arrived at Voloric Castle, we could find soldiers and knights guarding the front gate, exuding ferocious spirit.
“Are these fuckers kidding?”
Ivy, nervous because two students had already died or went missing, walked over and shouted.
“These bastards. Aren’t you out of the way?”
“Who are you! Reveal your identity!”
“This is Ivy Claire, assistant professor of the swordsmanship department at Rodlen Academy! The act of protecting Baron Voloric now means that he will rebel against the Empire, and he will destroy the three tribes.”
“What! What are you talking about all of a sudden!”
“Your bonuses have been revealed with the Xuan.”
Ivy threw the corpse that was slung over her shoulder in front of her and lifted her purse high.
The soldiers and knights who saw that face murmured with surprised expressions.
“okay. Is this a familiar face? This bastard was a black magician who slaughtered the residents of the forest village. He even dared to run through two academy students. Are you going to protect the baron?”
“That’s something we don’t know! Just because the baron gave the order to guard the castle gate in anticipation of an enemy attack… ….”
“Now that I know, what should I do?”
“I will get out of the way.”
“Move? It’s natural to get out of the way, and you shouldn’t have to go catch the baron quickly!”
“Yes yep!”
Since the Empire punishes anyone involved with a black magician, the soldiers and knights opened the castle gates in contemplation and rushed in.
“It saved me a lot of trouble.”
“What are you talking about? We must go quickly.”
Picking up the body again, Ivy started running.
It was unexpectedly active, but when I remembered the information about her, I was convinced.
In the game, she was full of hostility towards the warlock.
I guess it’s related to her past, which I don’t know about, but thanks to that, I benefited from her in episodes related to black magicians.
‘But now I’m a warlock.’
In any case, he had to be careful to keep his life alive.
After Ivy ran like that, I finally entered the inner sanctuary.
As if the previous knights had told us beforehand, the door to the castle was wide open, and no one stopped it.
“Oh my. It’s real. The real Ivan butler.”
“It was strange. The original Deacon Thomas was suddenly kicked out and a new one was brought in.”
As Ivy carried the corpse of the warlock, the servants who worked in the castle murmured.
I listened to their story in one ear and told Ivy.
“Why did Baron Voloric collude with the Warlock?”
“What do I know? Whatever the reason, the Volorig family is over.”
but. That’s right.
Whatever the reason, as long as the circumstances were clearly revealed, only the Voloric family remained extinct.
As we headed up towards Baron Voloric’s office, we were stopped by a knight who suddenly appeared.
“I found the baron. I’m in Master Ethel’s room right now.”
With his guidance, we headed to the baron’s place.
Already in front of him, soldiers and knights drew swords and spears and surrounded them.
“great job. Ah, can anyone of these contact the Imperial Investigation Service?”
“yes!”
Ivy, who captured the atmosphere properly, ordered people as if she were dealing with her subordinates.
When we finally entered the room, we witnessed a grotesque sight.
As we stared blankly at the scene, one of the knights greeted us with a trembling tone.
“Oh, are you here?”
“That…what?”
Ivy asked in a voice full of energy, and the knight shook his head and kept saying he didn’t know.
In the meantime, I approached the bizarre scenery.
“Hey Adrias. Back off.”
“it’s okay.”
As I approached, there was something in the form of a huge swollen mass of bloody flesh.
The baron was sitting next to that piece of flesh, looking at me as I approached.
“It looks like Ivan is dead.”
“yes.”
He spoke to me with a calm expression and stroked my flesh.
Then, a sound came out of the flesh, more likely to be made by an animal, not human speech.
“Yes, yes. Ethel. i’m sorry dad Because I couldn’t protect you until the end.”
“Did you join hands with him for your son?”
“…okay. Well, I expected it to end like this in the first place, but I wanted to save my sick son even a little more.”
“Would your son really want to live like this?”
“under! Did you know that I would become like this? It’s my fault for being deceived, but it’s good that Ethel is alive, because I’m still happy with her appearance like this later on.”
He looked at the flesh with regretful eyes.
“I have no regrets. Anyway, all I had left was Ethel. I might feel a little sorry for my wife who left first.”
Then he turned his head and said to Ivy.
“As long as the warlock is dead, Ethel will die in a few days anyway. I can kill her immediately, but can you leave Ethel alone until then? I know that I am not in a position to ask for something unscrupulous. But I just want you to know that this child did nothing wrong.”
“shut up. Don’t make fun of that dirty snout.”
Ivy said, drawing her sword.
And it came with great strides.
“It’s like this idiot. Is there anyone in this world who doesn’t have a story? Are you the only one pissed off? Try that to the dead because of you.
“Ivy.”
I quietly stood in front of Ivy.
“What the fuck. Why did you suddenly feel sorry for that bastard?”
“A warlock has an unconditional priestly relationship. Because of the severe censorship, it is difficult to grow up by self-study.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“They say that it would be beneficial to hand over to the Imperial Investigator instead of killing him, even for information about the dead warlock’s teacher. We may need to interrogate this person before we can find out other information.”
Ivy let out a rough breath at my words, then seemed to be thinking about it, then bit her lip and inserted the sword.
“Hah fuck.”
“It is a rational decision. Did you really think I would have any sympathy? You think I am too soft.”
“It’s noisy, so shut up.”
Even in modern Korea, I have killed many people.
A life lived by erasing emotions and focusing only on accomplishing missions.
As Ivy said, none of the people I killed were without a story.
Do I sympathize with the massacre of the inhabitants of the district under my control?
Of course, it is true that his personality has changed a little after becoming Adrias.
But it’s not that it isn’t.
Just when Ivy was about to turn away in anger.
Fu-wook!
“Ethel!”
A rock spear the size of a forearm stuck into the flesh next to the baron.
Embarrassed by my sudden sudden action, Ivy glared at me as if asking what I was doing.
“Isn’t that what the baron needs to be alive anyway? Seeing that, I can’t seem to speak.”
“Are you crazy?”
“It’s just a rational decision.”
Ivy shook her head as if she were seeing a star, and then went out of the room, ordering the soldiers to restrain the baron.
The baron wept and wept beside the dead flesh.
Haha, do these people know?
How did I kill Ethel?
Of course, it was also intended to give Ivy the impression that I hated black magic just as much.
But there was a bigger reason than that.
Think about it.
Will the Imperial Guard only interrogate the baron when they arrive?
‘Perhaps they will try all sorts of torture and experiments on Ethel to find out the black magic used.’
It would have been painful to turn into such a monster.
You must have been in great pain.
It would be much better for me to die now, considering that I would be subjected to all sorts of experiments by mages who were crazy about research.
Of course, it may have been presumptuous for me to make arbitrary judgments with other people’s lives.
But I do not regret it.
Because I don’t think my judgment is wrong.
‘still….’
I can’t help but feel bitter after hearing the wailing of a father who lost his son right in front of his eyes.
* * *
Vivian silently watched Adrias smile bitterly and self-deprecatingly.
Looking at his expression, Vivian could tell that he had other thoughts than what he said.
I was able to figure it out because she was good at taking care of others’ eyes since she was a child.
‘Adrias Cromwell.’
Her green eyes lit up as she repeated Adrias’ name.
