LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 30
EP.30 Old Bonds (2)
“You, what are you trying to become?”
I looked at the man in front of me.
An elf with silver hair and golden eyes.
Cardi.
I didn’t know much about this silver-haired elf. From our first meeting, he was special. He never told me anything about himself.
– Just call me Cardi.
– I discarded my baptismal name long ago.
He introduced himself like that.
– There are a few conditions.
– First, I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t speak politely. It reminds me of old times, and I’m not in a good mood about it.
– Second, don’t ask about me. Even if you do, I won’t be able to answer.
He asked that.
I kept that request, but Kyle did not. As a result, Kyle could no longer meet Cardi.
‘Kyle didn’t even remember Cardi.’
The day Kyle asked Cardi about his identity, from that day on, he couldn’t meet Cardi anymore. He forgot.
I don’t know the principle behind it.
It just became that way from some moment onward.
So, I erased my curiosity about this elf. I decided he was just a unique elf.
‘All I know about Cardi is…’
He’s an elf who has lived for a very long time.
He’s related to the old kingdom, now turned to ashes.
And, he’s an alchemist.
Those were the only three things.
And now, one more was about to be added.
‘Curse.’
Cardi clearly said that.
I hadn’t explained anything yet. However, Cardi pointed at my heart and uttered the word curse.
‘He must know something.’
I narrowed my eyes.
“You seem to know something.”
“No way. It’s something I can’t forget.”
Cardi’s gaze was still sharp.
“Answer me, Raniel. My attitude toward you will change based on your answer.”
I briefly responded to that question.
There was no need for a long explanation anyway.
“I met the Demon Lord and was cursed.”
“…What?”
Cardi tilted his head.
“Not a contract or transaction, but cursed?”
“Why do you make it sound like I had a deal with the Demon Lord?”
“…Isn’t that the case?”
His nonchalant question made me frown.
‘What kind of nonsense is this?’
Was he ever someone I could communicate with? The Demon Lord I saw was definitely not.
‘How do you talk to that monster, damn it.’
Whether it’s a contract or a deal, shouldn’t there be communication involved?
“No, how can you have a deal with that pile of sludge that doesn’t even communicate? Even if you could, you wouldn’t have.”
“…Are you saying you didn’t communicate?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I felt like the conversation had been going off track since earlier.
I sighed deeply and slowly opened my mouth.
“Hey, Cardi.”
“…What?”
“I’ll say it once, so listen carefully.”
I spoke.
I told him that I met the Demon Lord and was cursed.
That I escaped using the Balance in front of the Demon Lord.
That the curse was provoked by the Succubus Queen.
‘And that, in the end, I became like this.’
I told him everything without omitting a single detail. By the time I finished my story, I looked directly at Cardi.
His eyes were fluttering subtly.
It was a strange sight.
‘First time seeing this.’
The sight of this sly elf looking flustered.
“…So.”
Cardi opened his mouth, and like his eyes, his voice trembled.
“Is it possible?”
“What?”
“That you suppressed the curse by manipulating the mana? By drawing a circuit? No, you actually hit back that fog?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t, right?”
“Speak sense, Raniel. How could that….”
It seemed like showing him would be quicker.
I removed my robe and showed him the circuit engraved on my chest.
“………”
Cardi stared at the circuit as if entranced. After a while, he slowly raised his hand to cover his eyes.
“Ha.”
And then, he burst into laughter.
“Ha, ahaha.”
With a hollow laugh, he wiped his eyes.
“…This really doesn’t make sense.”
His voice was drained of strength.
Cardi muttered weakly.
“Yeah, it really seems real.”
“…I can’t make heads or tails of what you’ve been saying, could you please explain?”
But the returning response was the same as always.
It was a tone that felt like drawing a line.
“I shouldn’t have come here for nothing.”
“…It’s not for nothing. I can at least brew some potions for you.”
Cardi, shaking off his laughter, got to his feet.
“I don’t know the method regarding the change in that flesh either. However, I do have a way to deal with the curse.”
He soon returned holding several potion bottles.
“You need to take this once a month. You can come back anytime when you run out.”
“…What kind of potion is this?”
“It’s a potion that prevents the curse from corroding you. If it works in conjunction with that circuit you engraved, the curse shouldn’t eat away at your body anymore.”
Of course, he added.
“That doesn’t provide a fundamental solution.”
“Well, that’s expected.”
I wasn’t even expecting that much.
After all, it was a curse set by the Demon Lord himself.
“Hmmm…”
I fiddled with the potion bottle, feeling impressed.
Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t work.
I figured no matter how skilled an alchemist he was, he couldn’t make a potion capable of overcoming the Demon Lord’s curse.
‘So, I thought I’d come, just to be disappointed.’
This was an unexpected yield. If Cardi said this, then the effects must be substantial.
“Hmm.”
I tore my gaze away from the potion.
Lifting my head, I looked at Cardi.
“So, how do I pay for this?”
“…I don’t really need payment.”
“It looks like you put in a lot of effort, though. How about making me run an errand like old times?”
“Hmmm…”
Cardi, rubbing his chin, eventually spoke.
“For the past few days, I’ve been feeling something crawling in the sewer.”
“The sewer?”
“It’s the waterway beneath the slums. Ever since it fell into disrepair, it hasn’t been properly used…”
He pointed to the floor.
“Lately, it feels like something has been crawling around.”
“So you want me to clean it up?”
“I’d be grateful if you did. I already sent a disciple down to handle it, but… It seems it would be tough to finish today.”
…Disciple?
I tilted my head at that word.
“You have a disciple now?”
“To put it accurately, it’s closer to a caregiver than a disciple… But I did teach them magic.”
“That’s something.”
I couldn’t remember him teaching me anything.
As I looked at him with that expression, Cardi shrugged.
“You were already complete. Besides, you had a greater teacher than me.”
“…That’s true.”
When I met Cardi, I was already under Master’s tutelage.
“If you’re interested, it seems they have some talent?”
“What, is their name?”
Cardi answered.
“Belnoa.”
2.
Crack.
The undead that had been writhing beneath me soon drooped. Belnoa wiped the soles of his shoes on the ground a few times.
Tap, screech.
Greenish blood oozed out.
‘It’s endless, what the hell.’
It seems I had been in the sewer for two or three hours. The number of undead I caught stacked up high enough to fill one side of the waterway.
Even so, there was no end in sight.
“………”
Belnoa silently surveyed the waterway.
A dark, deep sewer. I couldn’t even guess where it started or where it ended.
‘Finishing today seems impossible.’
Sighs kept escaping me.
Having to spend my rare day off in this sewer. According to the original plan, right now, Belnoa would be touring the city with Chloe.
‘That old man.’
When I went to see Chloe, he suddenly said it felt like something was crawling and asked me to clean the sewer.
‘I thought I’d catch some rats.’
But arriving in the sewer, instead of rats, undead were crawling around.
Grrrraaarr.
Belnoa sighed and imbued his shadow into the charging undead.
‘Why the hell are there undead crawling around in the sewer?’
Did some crazy mage conduct an experiment?
As he contained the shadow, Belnoa muttered.
“Anyhow, that odd old man.”
Grumbling, Belnoa silently continued cleaning the sewer. Regardless, he owed that old man quite a debt.
It was that old man who took him and Chloe in when they were about to starve in the alley. He also taught them the basics of magic and sorcery.
A figure worthy of being called a mentor.
Since it was a request from such a person, I couldn’t take it lightly.
“Phew.”
Belnoa took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. Although he was off until the day after tomorrow, he planned to finish today.
‘Tomorrow, I have a promise with Chloe.’
Belnoa flicked his fingers.
‘Should I use it?’
It wouldn’t be a problem if he lost one or two fingers. Since he still had a potion left that the old man gave him.
‘Plus, efficiency has increased.’
Recently, his understanding of sorcery had skyrocketed. It wasn’t difficult to guess the reason.
Rania van Trias.
Thanks to that somewhat strange professor whose first meeting was the worst.
‘Mana Spring.’
Having endured for a minute there, half-forced, Belnoa’s mana control was in a different league now.
‘And… that public lecture.’
Belnoa recalled the lecture he attended in the auditorium.
The brilliant platinum light shed by the Balance and the series of transactions through that Balance.
The Balance, the original of Offering.
The process of spell manifestation through it.
Seeing a flawless and perfect mana transaction, Belnoa gained enlightenment. He was able to manipulate the Offering with more detail.
‘Usually, I’d be breaking them by the finger.’
Crack.
Now, he could dedicate it to each finger joint. It was still unfamiliar, but that was a problem he could get used to little by little.
‘Offering.’
The tip of his pinky finger was dedicated.
Soon, the shadow wrapped around Belnoa expanded.
“Phew…”
Just as he exhaled briefly and was about to move,
Clang.
A noise rang out from somewhere.
Clang, clang.
It sounded like nails being hammered.
“………”
That noise grew louder. It approached. Belnoa held his breath and squinted his eyes.
‘Footsteps.’
Someone’s footsteps echoed through the sewer. It didn’t seem they were trying to hide their presence.
Metallic footsteps mixed within.
Estimating the distance and rhythm of the noise, Belnoa raised his arm. Shadows gathered at his fingertips.
It was a long-abandoned sewer.
In Belnoa’s opinion, only two people would step into such a place.
‘Either remnants of the twilight that sneaked in for illegal trade…’
If not.
‘Or the one who unleashed the undead in the sewer.’
It seemed more likely to be the latter. If someone was being so blatant about the noise, it only made sense.
Before long, a silhouette caught Belnoa’s sight. He released the spell gathered at his fingertips without hesitation.
There was no hesitation in that process.
Regardless of whether it was the first or last, killing them would have no consequences.
Shadow Needle.
The shadow enhanced through Offering launches.
As a spell specialized in assassination, the needle is hidden in shadows. There’s no noise. It silently pierces the target.
Crack!
However, contrary to Belnoa’s expectations, the Shadow Needle made a loud noise. It sounded like something was being crushed.
“…Huh?”
The reason for that became clear almost immediately.
The target that the Shadow Needle should have pierced.
Zzzz, zzzzzzz.
In its hand, a spell was caught.
Burning embers flying, the form of the spell shatters. Belnoa’s eyes widened.
‘Caught… it?’
With bare hands?
There was no time to be surprised.
The one who caught the spell lightly stomped their foot. With a clang, they knocked the ground.
“Ah.”
By the time he realized,
‘This crazy…’
They had already approached him.
There was no time to respond. The one who’s come out reached out. The movement was smooth.
With a sweeping motion from above to below.
That hand obscured Belnoa’s vision.
What was in sight was a stark white palm.
And five slender fingers.
Mana flickered at the fingertips. It seemed it could pierce him at any moment. However, the fingers stopped advancing further.
“Uh, what?”
A voice.
“Was it you?”
Belnoa blinked.
It was a voice he had heard before.
‘This voice…’
Belnoa turned his head slightly.
Before him stood the Ashen-Haired Woman.
“…Professor Rania?”