Dawn was beginning to break. Alex sat up from the couch and looked at the sun rays streaming in.
Mereine was sleeping curled up in bed with a blanket on top of her, occasionally frowning and occasionally loosening her brows. It was obvious that he was still worried.
Alex looked at his arm first. The wound on his arm was wrapped tightly with a clean cloth, preventing blood from flowing from the wound. The pain had decreased, but there was still a risk of infection.
Alex took the dagger he had taken from the man's stomach yesterday and began to examine it. It was a dagger with a black body and an unknown metal made of it, left by the people he thought were his parents when he left the orphanage.
Even if it were normal, they wouldn't give such a dagger to a 16-year-old child, but the Woldemort continent was not a normal continent.
This was a continent where there were powerful people and where murders and theft were considered normal.
Alex had been using this dagger since he was 16 years old.
But today there was something strange about the dagger.
An unknown light golden rune appeared to be flashing on and off the dagger.
Alex remembered what happened yesterday. While he was taking the dagger out of the man's stomach, a few drops of blood flowed from the wound on his own arm to the mark-like place on the upper side.
He wondered if that was the reason. After all, this was a violent world full of mysteries, where the powerful were everywhere.
Alex had read books about treasures at the orphanage.
Treasures are divided into three groups: natural, artificial and spiritual treasures.
Natural treasures can be plants, ores that can often be found in nature, or even inner cores that can be found in animals.
Artificial treasures were man-made materials made by humans by accurately combining natural treasures.
Alex has seen these before. The orphanage had lamp-like crystal-like spheres that automatically adjusted the temperature. These spheres kept the heat at room temperature, ensuring that it was neither hot nor cold.
Even though it was relatively cheap and useful, Alex couldn't afford to waste his money on something like that.
Spiritual treasures were very rare. Even the Woldemort public newspaper reported that such a treasure belonged to only one big family.
Alex knew there was more to it than that. But he also knew that he didn't even have the right to know that.
Alex was in a situation where he was at the bottom of the power rankings. But most people on the continent weren't too worried about being in this position.
Alex looked at the dagger again. As he was about to dive into deep thoughts, he heard a rustle in the bed. When he turned around, he saw Mereine sitting up in bed, trying to shake off her sleepiness.
"Good morning," he greeted her with a smile.
Mereine looked around, still sleepy, and shook her head.
Then his eyes suddenly opened. He immediately stood up and ran towards Alex.
With concern, "how are you, are you feeling better?" Does your arm still hurt?" He started asking questions.
Alex smiled, showed the bandage on her arm and said, "Thanks to your care, it's better than yesterday," and caressed the girl's head with his left hand.
Mereine let out a sigh of relief and carefully untied the cloth from Alex's arm.
The blood in the wound had stopped, but it looked bad, with pieces of cloth sticking around the wound.
Mereine immediately grabbed a bucket of water and said, "We need to clean the wound," and sat next to Alex.
Alex smiled and let him do whatever he wanted without saying anything.
While Mereine was doing her job, Alex looked at the dagger again and had a feeling. A thought that lurks around like it's missing something.
The pale gold runes on the dagger flashed occasionally, as if they were trying to imply something.
It was probably glowing last night, but neither Alex nor Mereine noticed it. Finally unable to resist, Alex stabbed the dagger into the ground and bit his left thumb, causing the blood to flow.
He ignored Merein's gaze for now as he placed his thumb on the mark on the dagger and let the blood flow.
While looking at the dagger, Mereine was not bothered by him doing this. He believed in Alex.
A trace of surprise flashed in both of their eyes as the area around the closed wooden door on the stamp where the blood had flowed began to glow.
The wooden door on the stamp appeared to be slowly opening thanks to the flashing runes.
While Alex tried to maintain his composure, he applied a little more pressure to get more blood from his thumb.
He showed no signs of stopping Because deep down he felt like this was a part of him.
Finally the wooden door opened. The dagger began to rotate, distort, and change shape, as if it had entered through an illusion.
Alex and Mereine stood frozen, staring at the scene in front of them, afraid of missing something. Alex remained relatively calm, but Meraine got scared and reflexively went behind Alex and held the hem of the shirt tightly.
As the dagger reduced the rotation, an ethereal purple light appeared in a way that no one could take their eyes off. It was very pleasing to the eyes.
Luckily for Alex, thanks to the sun outside, no one paid much attention to the events taking place in the small room.
When the light began to fade, the same wooden door like the one on the top of the stamp stood where the dagger was.
The beam of the door was made of an old unknown white tree. There were traces of rot around the beam. The door was lined up with slight gaps, as if bamboos were brought together, and tied together with ropes made of grass in the middle.
The door had no handle. For pushing or pulling, there was a dent on the edge that was one finger wide and 4 fingers long.
The door glowed purple and pale gold, seeming to reveal itself to this world.
Alex and Mereine stared at the golden door in shock.
Alex took a deep breath and stood up. He stretched himself and picked up the kitchen knife he had bought from the old man yesterday.
Mereine realized what he wanted to do as he stood up. He started to hold her hand tightly with anxiety.
Alex had a feeling that she would be safe and as she turned and looked into her worried eyes, she said, "Don't worry, I have a feeling I'll be fine, so I have to go."
As Mereine shook his hand, her worried eyes became determined, she clenched her teeth and said, "Then I'm coming with you."
Alex first frowned and looked at Mereine as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw the determination in the girl's eyes, he didn't know what to say.
Alex was a little conflicted. After thinking it over for a minute, he exhaled heavily and warned her, "stay behind me."