Episode 141
“Dad!”
Elonia arrived at Artius’s office, as always.
Artius, also as always, was sitting at his desk. He didn’t seem surprised by her sudden appearance, as if he had been expecting her.
“Did you let them escape?”
There was no way they could have escaped from the heavily guarded dungeons without Artius’s knowledge or consent.
“I allowed it.”
As expected.
Artius, his hands clasped together on his desk, calmly explained,
“I had them followed. The Tite Knights are tracking them. Marquis Hellington was the most devout follower of the Resurrection God. He’ll lead us to their headquarters.”
Elonia was relieved. Artius didn’t seem to be affected by the potion.
Lucius’s worries had been premature.
“Then I’ll go after them. Caroline is struggling with the antidote. I’ll raid their headquarters while I’m at it.”
Just as she was about to leave,
“Elonia.”
Artius’s voice, unusually serious, stopped her.
“Elonia, it’s too dangerous.”
“…Why?”
Elonia turned to him, her eyes narrowed. Artius, surprisingly, didn’t flinch.
“Even if the sacrifice is immune to the potion, it can still be used to harm them. And the fact that they distributed the potion means they’ve probably already found a sacrifice.”
“I know.”
Elonia nodded. Artius was thinking the same thing she had been thinking earlier.
He continued, his voice heavy,
“The ideal sacrifice is a Sword Mage with similar talent to Chelon Heilan. They need her talent to resurrect her. And you’ve been compared to her countless times at the academy.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
Had he discovered her true identity? Elonia’s heart pounded with anxiety, and Artius, seeing her reaction, finally confessed,
“Elonia, a genius born once in a millennium. Those words are meant to be taken literally.”
Sixteen years ago, everyone had thought,
Chelon Heilan, the great calamity, is gone. We’re safe now.
Artius had also thought the same, lamenting the loss of such a talent, a talent that wouldn’t reappear for at least another thousand years.
But then Elonia was born.
Her talent was so extraordinary that she seemed to surpass even Chelon.
“Even if we tried to hide it, the nobles who defected to Heilan would have revealed your talent. They know you’re a powerful Sword Mage.”
They didn’t need a sacrifice immediately. Even if they had one, it would be useless until Tristan became a god.
And Elonia was the perfect candidate. Her exceptional talent in Sword Magic, combined with her status as a princess, protected her from the potion’s influence.
“For the next thousand years, Elonia, there’s no one more suitable as a sacrifice than you.”
“…”
“So don’t go. It’s too dangerous, especially their headquarters. If you need the potion recipe, I’ll send a message to the Tite Knights.”
Artius pleaded with her.
Elonia, unable to answer, remained silent, and Artius, his face filled with worry, stood up and approached her.
“Elonia, please.”
He knelt down, meeting her gaze, his fear so palpable that Elonia’s anger dissipated, replaced by a sense of calm.
“…Dad.”
“Yes, Elonia?”
Artius’s voice was filled with a desperate plea, and Elonia, instead of giving him the reassurance he craved, asked,
“What if the Tite Knights are captured?”
“They’re my elite knights. They won’t be easily defeated. And even if they are, we can just create an antidote—”
“That’s the problem.”
Elonia interrupted him. She looked at him, her voice cold and sharp,
“The fact that the Church of the Resurrection God has reached Ravanta means Tristan’s ascension is imminent. We can’t let anyone in Ravanta fall under his influence, even if there’s an antidote.”
Unlike the prayer altars, the potion of luck didn’t induce blind faith.
But a god’s power was determined by their influence, the number of people who knew and were affected by them.
Even encountering the potion, or Tristan indirectly, could be considered a form of worship.
“They don’t need a sacrifice until Tristan becomes a god. We don’t have to worry about that as long as he’s not a god. So we can’t let anyone in Ravanta be affected by the potion. Are you still going to stop me?”
Artius, his lips pressed into a thin line, said,
“…Then I’ll go.”
“No, you can’t.”
Elonia’s voice was firm.
“Are you immune to the potion?”
Artius couldn’t answer. He had to have every meal checked and rechecked by the mages in the Magic Tower to ensure it wasn’t contaminated with the potion. And yet, his anxiety persisted.
Elonia, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, murmured,
“If you’re affected, I might have to kill you. …I don’t want to do that.”
She didn’t want to lose another family member.
Losing her mother, twice, was enough.
She looked up at Artius, her voice firm and resolute.
“And I’m the princess of Ravanta. I have a duty to protect my people.”
“…And you also have a duty to obey your Emperor.”
Artius’s weak retort made Elonia scoff.
“Emperor? Who?”
She turned to him, one corner of her lips curving into a mocking smile.
“You look more like a father trying to protect his daughter than an emperor trying to protect his people.”
Elonia, slamming the door behind her, called out to her knights, her voice loud enough to be heard through the thick wooden door.
Artius, after she left, sighed and looked at the numerous portraits on his desk, his gaze settling on an old portrait of Elonia as a baby, her toothless grin so endearing.
‘Am I still a coward?’
Elonia’s mocking words stung.
The potion of luck amplified negative emotions.
He was still a coward. He knew what would happen if he ingested the potion.
‘And the consequences would be disastrous, considering my position.’
His eyes darkened.
He opened a drawer and pulled out a lock of golden hair he had found in the dungeons.
He had deliberately let Marquis Hellington escape, but he couldn’t risk Elonia’s safety.
Even betrayal was an emotion only the living could feel. The dead felt nothing. And if she died, everything would be meaningless. He wanted her to live.
He summoned Aaron.
“Your Majesty.”
Aaron, who had been waiting outside, entered the room, his expression anxious.
“Find the owner of this hair and bring them to me.”
Elonia, leading the Imperial Princess’s Knights, followed the Tite Knights, who were pursuing Marquis Hellington and his accomplices.
They arrived at the Peace Treaty Zone.
It seemed like they had boarded a carriage here.
As the Tite Knights were examining the tracks, trying to determine their route, Ethan approached Elonia and asked, her voice filled with concern,
“Your Highness, are you sure about this?”
Ricardo wasn’t with them. His injury hadn’t fully healed, and this mission was too dangerous.
Elonia, instead of reassuring her, murmured, her voice filled with resignation,
“What choice do I have? I have to do this, even if I don’t want to.”
“…”
Ethan hesitated, unsure how to comfort her, but then,
One of the knights, who had been investigating the area, returned and reported,
“Your Highness, we found tracks! Tite Knight tracks!”
Elonia looked up at Ethan.
“See?”
There was a large fortress near the border, a relic from the war. And a short distance away from the fortress was the old watchtower.
But both structures were abandoned now. They had been built for war, and the new watchtower was more suitable for monitoring Heilan.
Elonia, without hesitation, opened the door to the watchtower.
The interior looked ordinary, but Elonia didn’t know what it had looked like before.
“Ethan, is there anything different?”
“It looks the same… Excuse me for a moment.”
Ethan stepped forward and tapped a specific spot on the floor with her foot.
It seemed like a random action, but then,
Rumble—
A section of the floor opened, revealing a rusty iron door.
“This is…”
“A secret passage to the basement.”
The area around the door seemed less dusty, as if it had been used recently.
“Opening the door, Your Highness.”
One of the knights opened the door, and they all covered their noses instantly. A foul stench, so strong it made their eyes water, filled the air.
“Your Highness.”
Ethan looked at Elonia.
Whether to proceed or retreat was her decision.
“Let’s go.”
They couldn’t return empty-handed.
Thud.
The basement door closed behind them.
Elonia checked her magic. It was working, despite her earlier concerns about the Resurrectionists’ potential interference.
Her nose, after a while, got used to the stench.
The basement was a simple structure, a long, narrow corridor with several rooms on either side. But there was something unusual.
“The stench is coming from the animal carcasses.”
“Dogs, cats, wolves… Did they bring them here?”
Piles of animal carcasses were scattered throughout the rooms.
They cautiously opened each door, searching for clues.
After an hour, Ethan said,
“…This is strange. I don’t see any Tite Knights.”
“Me neither.”
The Tite Knights had arrived before them. Their footprints were everywhere.
And yet, there was no sign of them. And there were no other exits.
‘And Marquis Hellington and his accomplices are also missing. Where did they go?’
It felt like a trap.
Just as she was considering retreating, they reached the last room. It wasn’t located on the side of the corridor like the other rooms, but at the end.
The innermost room.
‘If there’s nothing here, we’ll check the fortress.’
She opened the door, and her eyes widened in horror.
“This is…”