Side Story 3: The Azure Knight and the Ashen Witch
Chapter 8
“I mixed in some painkillers. Make sure to take it regularly from now on. If you don’t, I’ll report it to the Knights as a suicide attempt.”
“Thank you, Ariel.”
The holy water with painkillers seemed to ease the pain a little.
I stared blankly at the bottom of the empty vial and mumbled to Ariel, who was putting the vial back in my luggage bag,
“I feel bad that I’m the only one drinking this.”
Ariel sighed deeply.
“Why do you feel bad? People are going to die even if you don’t drink it.”
Sadly, she was right. I was just being a hypocrite, doing nothing. Gushu wasn’t going to come back to life even if I died.
“Senior, did we come here to liberate this place?”
Ariel, putting my things away, suddenly asked, her voice filled with a hint of indignation.
“No, we didn’t. We’re here to supervise Enzhe Lopetrefer. She’s been on a rampage lately, creating that strange vortex and eliminating all the monsters… but even if she suddenly stopped, there’s nothing we can do about it. Eliminating the monsters that appear in the Wasteland, that’s the only thing Enzhe Lopetrefer has to do, and the only thing we have to do is supervise her. Okay? So stop thinking strange thoughts. We’ll be going back to the capital someday.”
We left the house after she finished putting my things away and I had regained my strength.
“I’m going too.”
I was hurrying to the bridge, thinking that Soran Halo would already be there, when Lopetrefer, who had disappeared, suddenly joined us.
She was walking next to me, matching my pace, ignoring Ariel, who was walking ahead. She would usually stay in her house, reading Ariel’s magic books, instead of coming out to greet Soran Halo. I found it strange.
“Give me the holy water if you’re not going to drink it.”
Lopetrefer whispered, leaning closer to me.
‘Ah, so she’s following us because of the holy water.’
I chuckled inwardly. Ariel and I, as supervisors, were allowed to drink holy water, but Lopetrefer, as a prisoner, wasn’t.
The reason they sent criminals to the Wasteland in the first place was to let them slowly die from the toxins.
So toxins must be slowly accumulating in Lopetrefer’s body as well.
“I’ll give you as much as you want if you eliminate all the monsters.”
“Hmm.”
Lopetrefer rolled her eyes, as if she wasn’t satisfied with my answer.
She walked next to me for a few minutes, her lips sealed, and then, a mischievous smirk suddenly appeared on her face.
“Raines,” she said.
It was probably the first time she had called me by my name.
I felt a shiver run down my spine, and before I could even ask her what she wanted, Enzhe Lopetrefer, her eyes gleaming with a competitive spirit, whispered,
“Want to play a fun game before you die?”
“Seniooor!”
“Ariel!”
At the bridge connecting Emnon to the Wasteland.
Ariel, squealing with delight, threw herself at her favorite senior, practically strangling her. Halo, struggling under Ariel’s weight, seemed happy to see her junior after over a year.
I bowed slightly to the two knights standing behind Halo, while she was patting Ariel’s head.
They had been assigned as Halo’s escort knights for the Wasteland mission. I didn’t know one of them, but the other was Senior Lionel, whom I had been close to.
Senior Lionel, meeting my gaze, smiled and nodded slightly.
‘I hope we have time to talk later.’
I was thinking that when Ariel suddenly looked at me.
“Noel, long time no see.”
I hadn’t expected her to remember me.
…No, wait, I remembered her, so it was only natural that she, a genius, would remember me too.
“Long time no see, Halo.”
Soran Halo looked different from how I remembered her. Her hair was cut short, and she was wearing a lot of jewelry on her ears and neck. Her once haggard face was now rosy.
Come to think of it, Halo had only been out of the Wasteland for a short time when she was at the academy. Was that why she had been so thin and frail?
“But where’s Lopetrefer?”
Halo asked, looking around. Ariel also looked around, her eyes puzzled.
“Huh? Didn’t she follow us?”
“She ran away.”
“Haha…”
Halo chuckled awkwardly and adjusted the strap of her bag.
“I wanted to hear about the vortex that Lopetrefer created… I guess I won’t be able to now.”
Ariel raised her hand excitedly. If she had been a puppy, her tail would have been wagging furiously.
“I’ll tell you! I’ve been observing the vortex every day, so I know everything about it!”
Ariel linked her arm with Halo’s and practically dragged her towards the Wasteland. She chattered incessantly on the way to the ruins, like a five-year-old child vying for her mother’s attention.
I watched Halo’s retreating figure, her round head bobbing, and suddenly remembered Lopetrefer’s words,
‘Want to play a fun game before you die?’
‘Game?’
‘Hehe, when I give you the signal…’
What nonsense.
I shook my head, trying to dismiss her words. But Lopetrefer’s voice, instead of disappearing, echoed in my mind like a leech.
I might have slapped my forehead if Senior Lionel hadn’t slowed down and greeted me.
“Raines! How have you been? Are you doing okay?”
Senior Lionel had subtly approached me while Halo was busy with Ariel.
I was grateful and replied,
“I’m doing well, Senior. How are you? Is everyone doing okay? How’s the Knights?”
But Senior Lionel’s reaction was strange.
“Uh? Uh… Well… Hmm… We’re doing okay.”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Senior Lionel averted his gaze, his lips parting slightly. He seemed to be thinking for a moment, then he suddenly changed his expression and put his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s nothing.”
But it was clearly something.
I was about to press him further, thinking that something bad must have happened at the Knights, but he quickly walked away, sensing my intentions.
We arrived at the ruins and assessed the situation from our usual spot, the dark green sofa.
“It seems like the vortex isn’t here today.”
Halo said, looking up at the dark sky.
“The vortex only appears when Enzhe uses magic. I don’t know what kind of magic it is, though.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“Should we ask her to create it?”
Halo shook her head at Ariel’s suggestion.
“No, I didn’t come here to see the vortex.”
The Imperial mages who had visited the Wasteland had all come to observe the strange vortex that Lopetrefer had created, but it seemed like Halo had a different purpose.
Halo lowered her gaze from the sky and placed her luggage bag on the ground.
She opened the large velvet bag, and a black leather box emerged.
The box was wrapped in thick chains and had five padlocks.
“It feels strange coming back to my hometown after all this time. I used to play in these ruins a lot.”
Halo, taking out a bunch of keys from her cloak, started unlocking the padlocks, mumbling to herself.
“Wait, this is your hometown?”
I was the only one who seemed to be unaware of that fact, my eyes widening in surprise.
“Ah, yes, you didn’t know.”
Halo chuckled and continued unlocking the padlocks.
“I lived here until I went to the academy. Anyway, it feels strange to be back here as an Imperial mage.”
She unlocked all the padlocks and opened the box. Inside was a white orb, the size of a watermelon.
Halo took another bag from Senior Lionel and took out its contents. It looked like a stand for the white orb.
She assembled the stand, chattering away,
“…A vortex that spews out monsters endlessly? I had no idea. I didn’t even notice it. I might have done a different research if I had known.”
“What kind of research is that thing for?”
I asked, looking at the white orb.
“Purification magic research. This is a magic orb with over 700 purification formulas embedded in it.”
“700…?”
According to the basic magic theory I had learned at the academy, it was common to embed less than 10 formulas in a single magic orb.
But 700…? I could tell how much of a monster Soran Halo was.
“I’m going to activate this and purify the toxins that have permeated these ruins.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Of course it is! Our senior is a genius!”
Ariel, who had suddenly interjected, made Halo chuckle.
“I came here to research how to make it possible, but I don’t know yet. It worked when I experimented with a small sample, but I don’t know if it’ll work in reality…”
“…I hope it works.”
“Thank you, Noel. …Ah, it’s done.”
Halo placed the assembled stand in front of the dark green sofa, then, with great effort, lifted the white magic orb and placed it on the stand.
She then dusted her hands off and took her magic staff from Ariel.
“Could everyone please step back a bit?”
She said, raising her staff and starting to chant a spell.
I followed Senior Lionel away from the dark green sofa, my eyes still fixed on Halo. Ariel, noticing my curiosity, explained, “That’s a kind of barrier magic that limits the range of the magic orb’s effect,” and I finally looked away.
Halo, after confirming that we were a safe distance away, chanted another spell and touched the magic orb with her staff. The orb emitted a blinding white light.
We finally understood why she had told us to step back.
A few minutes passed, and as our eyes adjusted to the light, Halo came running towards us.
But she wasn’t done yet, she took out a brown cloth pouch from her cloak and started scooping up the dirt from the ruins.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m collecting samples to take back to the Imperial Palace for research.”
Halo, her pouch filled with dirt, hugged it to her chest, satisfied.
I watched her and realized how serious she was about her Wasteland purification research.
“You’re amazing.”
“Huh? Sorry, I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”
“…Nothing.”
I chuckled and changed the subject.