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[Other method]
The bonfire is crackling. It burned.
Late night in the forest.
The area around the carriage was quiet. Is that why? The sound of the wind, the sounds of bugs, and the occasional cries of animals became louder.
“Um…”
Hawkin glanced at the great man sitting across from the campfire. He seemed like he wanted to say something in the awkward atmosphere.
“I’ve been curious about this for a while. What book is that?”
The great man was reading a book under the bonfire.
A book he takes out and reads whenever he has time. It was a book written in characters that Hawkin, who prided himself on being quite knowledgeable, had never seen before.
Daein said without taking his eyes off the Geomhwangbirok. He was constantly reading the same page these days.
“It’s just like a diary someone wrote.”
“You seem to be having fun. “Can I ask about the contents?”
Daein looked up from his book, looked at Hawkin, and smiled.
“Are you anxious? “Because you’re left alone?”
“yes? Oh no! “Not at all!”
Hawkin shook his head vigorously, but his anxious and nervous expression was clearly visible on his face.
Daein sent Alina and Leonard to the elf forest.
Alina had to go to the elder and tell him what she said, and keeping the old man with him would only be a burden.
Suddenly, only Hawkin remained as a hostage.
‘Actually, I don’t even need hostages.’
The great man fingered the royal seal of the Hicks family in his arms.
As long as this was in her hands, Alina had no choice but to persuade the elder to bring it here.
‘Or we could do a secret raid at night.’
This was the reason why Daein stood guard in front of the bonfire until dawn.
Crackling.
The great man lit a bonfire with a poker. Sparks flew up, and insects that flew in after seeing the flames danced along with the sparks and fell into the flames.
“If you feel sleepy, go in and sleep.”
At Daein’s words, Hawkin shook his head with a bitter expression.
“it’s okay. “I don’t even have the honor of seeing Lily’s face…”
The children were sleeping in the carriage.
Lily must have been so shocked by the verbal abuse she heard from Garand during the day that she stayed in the carriage without eating dinner and did not come out.
Hawkin glared at Garand with an angry face.
“How can you say that to a child…”
“……”
The blonde elf was lying under the adult’s buttocks with the blood transfusion still on, acting as a cushion.
Hawkin said.
“I thought all elves were good and had mature personalities… but today my thoughts about elves changed.”
The great man nodded in sympathy.
“That’s all red-faced. “If you’re handsome and pretty, it somehow makes you look like you have a good personality.”
Hawkin countered vigorously.
“you’re right. Who knew that face could tell such lies? Lily was baptized by the devil. “Does that even make sense!!”
Hawkin was furious, as if it were his own business.
It wasn’t a long time, but as he came this far with Daein and his group, he was convinced that they were not bad people at all.
“It makes no sense for a child like that to be baptized by the devil in the first place. That forbidden magic will kill even healthy adults nine times out of ten…”
The great man thought as he started the bonfire with kindling.
‘It’s the devil’s baptism.’
I knew that the little boy had been sold to some organization and subjected to some kind of experiment.
The ability to control flames was also something I gained through that experiment, and that was why I was constantly hungry.
It seems that among those experiments was the ‘Baptism of the Devil’.
The great man tapped Garand’s cheek as he fell asleep.
Although he was a cocky and arrogant guy, there was no way he would have said anything wrong.
‘Fallen Elf Garland.’
About 7-8 years later, the name recorded as the elf who killed the most humans on the continent.
A being who obtains Halfas, one of the Seven Demon Swords, and fuses with the dark spirit living within it to become a transcendental being.
I remembered the huge bounty on Garand’s head at the time.
‘I’m extremely weak right now.’
In fact, it wasn’t to the point of being weak, but by today’s adult standards, it was.
Hawkin kept talking.
“To receive the baptism of the devil, you need a huge amount of money and materials. First of all, a high-level warlock is needed as a practitioner, and as far as I know just the materials…” Thanks to
that conversation, Daein was able to gather information about what the devil’s baptism was like.
“According to a book I read before, some people committed suicide because they could not bear the terrible pain.”
The more I listened, the more I wanted to check the face of the goblin mask.
Hawkin, who had been speaking passionately for a while, kept his mouth shut when there was no reaction from Daein.
“…….”
Silence continued for a while. As the silence became longer, Hawkin eventually began to doze off.
The great man said.
“Go in and sleep?”
“…no. Sir, please get some rest. “I will see to it…”
“How can I trust you to see to it?”
“no way. “Don’t be upset…”
Sneak.
Hawkin closed his eyes and eventually buried his face between his knees and began to snore.
The great man clicked his tongue softly when he saw that.
If I slept like that, I was sure my stomach would ache the next day and I would catch a cold.
“Well, it’s not my part-time job.”
It was time for the master to put some more firewood into the bonfire.
“mister.”
“Can’t you sleep?”
Lily, dressed in pajamas, came next to him. The two sat side by side with the blonde elf laying on top of them.
Lily looked at the campfire with bulging eyes.
“…….”
A flame burning, devouring firewood.
Flying insects fly into it and turn to ashes.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen this, but today the sight of this bonfire somehow felt like me.
Lily trembled slightly, perhaps feeling a slight chill. The girl sat down next to the great man and said.
“mister. Hey.”
“why?”
“Have I become a devil? Or will you become a devil later?”
The great man scratched his chin and answered.
“I don’t know.”
It was definitely not the answer the girl wanted. Lily said with a sullen expression.
“What if mom… doesn’t like me?”
“Hmm…”
The great man who saw that thought for a moment and said.
“Actually, you are a devilish little boy. He doesn’t listen well, eats a lot, and has a bad temper…”
“Mr. Lee!”
The great man pulled Lily’s cheek, who was pinching his side mercilessly.
“But so did I.”
“…huh?”
The great man looked directly into the bulging eyes of the girl looking up at him.
“I don’t listen, I don’t study, I just go to PC rooms with my friends… My mom and dad were probably like that too. Ugh. That devil bastard. “I wonder who won’t catch it.”
The great man was looking at Lily, but his eyes were looking further away.
The great man said with a bitter smile.
“But you always worried about me. “Have you eaten? Is everything okay? Wear thicker clothes. Would you be any different if I were your mother?”
“Yes…”
After a while, the two sat side by side and looked at the bonfire.
Crackling. Flames burning and dancing slowly.
Lily leaned on Daein’s shoulder and mumbled absentmindedly.
“I miss mom.”
“I miss my mom too.”
Lily, giggling, spoke again.
“mister. “If we find my mother, the three of us will live together.”
The great man was disgusted. You three want to live together? It was obvious what I would hear around me.
“Are you crazy? Is there anything you can do to stop the bachelor marriage? “I’ll buy you an apartment near the guild, so you and your mom can live there.”
At that moment, Lily turned to look at Daein. She looked like a girl who had been betrayed by a man she trusted.
“Then who are you?!”
“I should build a 3,000 pyeong mansion and live like a king.”
“This is shameful! “I want to live there too!”
“If you really want to live, pay rent. “It will be very expensive.”
“Can I eat as much chicken as I want instead?”
“Well, I’m thinking of hiring a chef.”
“I suddenly really wanted to eat chicken…”
“Anyway, you…”
The two chatted about various things for a while. Then Lily fell asleep first.
“Kool…”
The great man lightly hugged the girl. He opened the door of the steel carriage and carefully laid the girl down on the seat.
While doing so, Hawkin was also picked up and roughly crumpled into the carriage.
“It’s a bother.”
When the great man returned to the campfire after shaking his hands, a silver-haired elf he had never seen before was sitting on the other side, basking in the fire.
“……”
At that moment, goosebumps ran down the Daein’s spine.
Even while having a meaningless conversation with the little boy, his senses continued to expand.
However, the fact that he didn’t know until he got this close meant that the opponent was far stronger than him.
‘Or he has very special abilities.’
Daein calmly sat opposite the other person, hiding the fact that he was nervous.
“When did you come?”
The silver-haired elf grinned at the adult’s question.
“After hearing their story, I also missed my mother a lot.”
“…….”
It seems he arrived earlier than expected. The great man secretly raised the Breaking Heavenly Art and looked at the silver-haired elf.
Silver hair flowing down to her waist like a waterfall and skin so pale as to be transparent. The limbs exposed outside the robe were thin, but boasted a definite sense of volume above and below the waist strap.
A being so fascinating that just encountering it makes your heart flutter.
But the man’s expression was surprisingly cold.
Because I knew who the other person was.
“You are the elf elder.”
One thing I didn’t know was that the Grand Elder seemed much stronger than I knew.
At that time, the elder stood up and bowed his head.
“I heard that my children were rude today. There was a misunderstanding. “I apologize.”
“…….”
The elder’s tone was polite and his attitude was polite. She continued.
“And I really wanted to say thank you personally. “Thank you for saving my granddaughter and changing her fate.”
“…….”
Daein, who had thought of the worst case scenario, relaxed a little at the unexpected reaction.
Of course, I only solved it a little bit.
“I will accept your apology. “There is actually someone else who deserves an apology.”
The great man glanced toward the carriage and then turned his head again.
“I just need to achieve my goal. Did you hear from Alina? “What do I agree to receive if you bring me here?”
The Grand Elder nodded.
“I heard that you are about to meet the wisest dragon.”
Abraxas, the wisest dragon.
The purpose of Daein’s coming here was to meet him, ask him a few questions, and hear his answers.
“that’s right. “You can arrange a place for me.”
The Grand Elder smiled softly and nodded.
“I’ve already contacted you.”
The great man asked with a slightly nervous expression.
“What is the answer?”
“I haven’t heard anything yet. “It will take a few days to get an answer.”
It’s been a few days…
So would it be better to stop by Teru Kingdom first, find the little boy’s mother, and get an answer on the way back?
It was time for Daein to think about his future schedule.
“Would you like to stay in the elf forest for a few days?”
The great man looked suspiciously at the elder’s suggestion.
I was suspicious of her overly friendly attitude.
“I heard it was curfew earlier?”
The Great Elder shook his head.
“That was Garand’s unilateral decision. Through my authority as a great elder, I invite you to Sefersil. Also…”
The Grand Elder trailed off. Her eyes turned to the steel carriage behind the great man.
The little girl inside.
‘Poor thing.’
The Grand Elder felt the demonic power that resided in Lily, just as Garand felt.
Baptism of the devil. It wasn’t an ordinary strong demon either.
‘If left as is, it will definitely bring disaster to the world.’
Even if it wasn’t at the request of his granddaughter, whom he had met for the first time in 10 years, the elder had no intention of turning a blind eye to that poor soul.
And the way she tried to do it was completely different from Garland.
“I will purify the devil’s baptism from that child’s body.”
***
It was a dungeon with little light coming in.
And sounds tend to be heard better in places that cannot be seen.
Horrible screams, loud bursts
, and the smell of blood that stings the tip of your nose every time you breathe.
The man couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had been brought here.
“…….”
He caused great damage to the organization and lost an arm. So I was brought here.
There were criminals in similar situations to the man imprisoned in the prison. They were called by their experiment numbers and subjected to all kinds of experiments.
A man who had once done similar work thought he had no chance of surviving here.
Still, I held on.
A week, a full day, a month, several months…
When I couldn’t even remember how long I had endured, I heard a voice I had heard through the bars.
“This is out of character.”
“…….”
The man raised his head and looked at the other person.
A person wearing an orc mask was looking at him. Those eyes were just as I remembered. Infinitely cold and chilly.
“But seeing as you still manage to survive, it seems like you also have quite a bit of bad luck.”
A person wearing an orc mask held out a crystal ball to the man. A video was played in that crystal ball.
“…….”
A unique-looking steel carriage. Those who are riding on it. The goblin masks they wore.
And one of them is…
“…Fire Child!”
A dry, cracked shout came from the man’s throat. The person wearing the orc mask grinned.
“okay. “This is the child you missed.”
“!!”
The man’s eyes shook violently. The being that brought him here was abominably imitating his past self.
“Ugh…!!”
That’s it!
The man’s hands were bending the iron bars. Metal, one of the three hardest metals in the world, began to bend more and more.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
The Orc Mask spoke coldly to the screaming man.
“I decided to give you one last chance. A mistake you made. “You make up for it.”
And the Orc Mask held out something to the man. At that moment, the man’s eyes were fixed on the object as if possessed.
“Ah…”
It was a blood-red goblin mask.
[Other method] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang
