The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On (1)

"…Chairman."

Louina looked at Deculein. He shuffled around, interested as if he were some kind of traveler.

"Is this a facility? It's not clean."

His voice was strangely cold. Ihelm and Louina took a step back involuntarily and looked behind. Deculein in front, the skeletons back.

"By the way, what's going on downstairs?"

Deculein asked. Louina answered, swallowing.

"There were traces of the Altar down here, plus many suspicious reports of magical phenomena."

"So?"

"So…."

Ihelm spoke instead.

"There is a strong smell of the professors here. Weak people who have sold their souls to the Altar."

Seeing Ihelm sniffing on purpose, Deculein nodded.

"It seems so."

"Yes. Deculein, you must know it too."

Ihelm continued.

"Even at the Imperial University, there are many professors whose skills and abilities have risen sharply. This is especially true for middle-aged professors who are already stagnant. Their secrets will be here."

—What's wrong with that?

A voice flowed out of the darkness. Ihelm and Louina looked over at the same time.

"Isn't it possible that we could have grown through hard work?"

The person who said that was Relin. He looked at Louina and Ihelm with a smirk.

"This is not an impure place as you two think. Rather, it is a sacred place for academics. We discuss, practice, and train together here and have successfully taken our skills as wizards to the next level."

Louina bit her lip. Now, Relin's level was different. Faint traces of dark energy could be felt from his mana. However, Louina's issue wasn't because of that.

"…As 'you two' think."

Louina looked at Relin. The 'two' that Relin spoke of were probably only herself and Ihelm. If so, the person not included was…

"But the surrounding needs to be tweaked a bit, Relin."

Deculein murmured as he approached and placed his hand on Louina's shoulder. Relin replied with a smile.

"Yes. We will do that now."

Louina clenched her teeth.

"What are you…?"

At that moment, thoughts about his life came to her mind like static electricity.

…Deculein's life wasn't long for this world. If she had to guess, it would be at least a year. Whenever it was, it didn't matter when the rest of his life would end. If Deculein was collaborating with the Altar, that deadline was enough motivation. If he returned to the Altar and submitted to their self-proclaimed God, he could escape from death.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Deculein sneered.

"No way… you."

She took a step back and warmed up her mana.

"Don't try to do anything you will regret."

At that moment, the mana of the Snowflake Obsidian scattered and froze Louina and Ihelm.

Crack—

The two wizards were frozen, their eyes locked open in terror. Relin looked at the two and giggled; then, he bowed his head to Deculein.

"Put them in the basement. Alive."

"…Yes?"

Relin's eyes widened. He again became the servile Relin as he smirked and begged.

"Isn't it better to kill?"

"There is no reason to kill."

"Yes? No. These two are pretty dangerous. To keep them alive-"

Deculein looked back at Relin, a murderous aura burning in his eyes.

"Relin. Since when did you question my orders?"

"…"

"At the university, at the Altar, even at the Imperial Palace. You are infinitely below me."

Every word weighed on Relin's shoulder.

"Keep in mind. You seem to have run away from me because you didn't like me."

Deculein placed his hand on Relin's shoulder.

"You can't escape."

Deculein went on, looking straight into his eyes.

"Until you die… no. Even after you die."

Deculein smiled, his lips curling up into an open display of malice.

"The name Deculein will be engraved in your heart."

"…Yes."

Relin answered, bowing his head further.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yeriel was looking up at the night sky from the roof of the Masal residence. Twinkle, twinkle. The brightly shining stars looked sad for some reason. The light they shed was like tears.

"…Brother."

When she was young, she couldn't call him brother because Deculein didn't like it, and now she didn't because she didn't want to. No, it's not that she didn't want to, it felt like thorns were growing on her tongue.

"Brother."

Calling him once more, Yeriel licked her lips. The thorns didn't sprout, but instead, a needle pricked at her heart.

"…"

Yeriel grabbed her knees with both arms and buried her face.

…She knew everything. What Deculein wanted and what he was going to do. What would be at the end of the path he walked. There was no way she wouldn't know. That was why it was even more painful.

Deculein was trying to sacrifice himself. He burned himself like firewood to protect this continent.

"…I know all of that."

Even though she knew the truth, not being able to tell others was painful. Knowing his motive, it was extra sad to accuse him of being a bad person.

"What do you know?"

Suddenly, a voice came from under the roof. Yeriel looked down in surprise. Lawaine, Lia, Leo, and Carlos were looking up at her.

"…I mean, I already have a clear view of what Deculein is up to."

Yeriel glossed it over like that. Lawaine nodded, and Lia threw a crystal ball at her.

"It is the Demon Blood's crystal ball. She said she wanted to say something."

"…What?"

Yeriel accepted it and glanced at the four. She was telling them to go away.

"Yeah~. Let's go, guys."

The four of them left, and the night became silent again. Yeriel looked at the crystal ball.

"Ahem."

She cleared her throat to relax. After that, she spoke to her 'kin.'

"What."

—What happened?

It was Elesol's voice. She couldn't hear and speak, actually, but she could with a mechanical sound thanks to her magic.

"What do you mean?"

—Why are you here?

"…"

Elesol already knew. Perhaps only Elesol on this continent knew about the real relationship between her and Deculein.

—What are you planning?

"…What do you mean? I'll help too. To kill Deculein."

Yeriel said.

"Deculein must die."

Even Deculein himself wanted it. Yeriel didn't want to, but she couldn't break Deculein's stubbornness. No one in this world could change his will.

—But-

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"It's because of that, right? At Reccordak, when you threatened us."

—…

"Is it because I'm the same as you?"

Yeriel wore a sad smile.

"It was all a lie."

—…

Elesol was silent. Yeriel continued speaking with a trembling voice.

"If I changed my mind, it'd mean trouble. It'd hurt our position as Yukline."

That was in the paper that Deculein left her.

"Even though he knew I was a Demon Blood, he just let me be, pretending to love me all because of family."

As she said that, tears welled up in Yeriel's eyes. They flowed out naturally.

—If that were the case, he could have killed you long ago.

Elesol said. Yeriel smiled a little.

"Even my death would be a scratch on the family. But probably not now. From now on, Deculein will try to kill me. I have already found the evidence."

To become a true villain, Deculein would move. Like a tsunami, like a volcano.

"…So you be careful."

Yeriel stared at the crystal ball.

"Because Deculein hates Demon Blood."

Drop by drop, her tears flowed.

"Deculein… he will kill you all."

And, he will save all of you. Unable to come to the end of that sentence, Yeriel silently wept.

—…I get it.

Elesol understood Yeriel's appearance differently. That she was crying because she was betrayed by her older brother.

—Rest. We'll go there soon.

Elesol hung up. However, Yeriel didn't stop crying. For a little while, she pondered her past and future and suffered from the thought of Deculein falling…

"Gosh, this is driving me crazy."

The sky brightened a little until the dawn broke, and the blue mist rose.

She cried and cleared her mind.

* * *

In the Tower basement, in a space directly built by the professors of the Magic Tower who turned to the Altar, the so-called chapel.

There, I stared at Louina and Ihelm.

"…"

"…"

They were staring at me with venomous eyes, their mouths and hands bound in ropes.

"Everyone, do you have any opinions?"

I asked and turned my head. Relin and Ciare, who had made remarkable achievements with the help of the elixir, looked back.

"Killing is…."

"It helps in many ways to keep them alive."

Thud-!

I hit the ground with my staff.

"If you're going to rip out their circuits and make magic cores, the live ones are fresher."

"…!"

Louina and Ihelm's eyes widened with astonishment. However, there was nothing so surprising. The Magic Core was a part of the body, and a human was included in that.

"Do you have any intention of turning to the Altar?"

I asked Louina and Ihelm. The two quietly shook their heads.

"…Then, there is nothing I can do. The only choice is to make a magic core."

Good attitude. These two were reliable. I didn't know I would end up trusting Ihelm, though.

"Put them in jail. Be careful not to interfere. Their lives will make good material."

As I said that, I made a small scratch on the magic handcuffs so that they could escape or get evidence from here.

"Yes!"

Relin jumped up and dragged them away.

…Three hours later, inside the prison.

Louina was rubbing her handcuffs on the floor.

"Do you think it'll release?"

Ihelm, who had been watching her for a while, said as if frustrated.

"Hey, I'm asking if that will work. These are magic handcuffs. Do you think we'll be released by rubbing them against the floor?"

"What then? Will we just die like this? With our circuits torn out?"

"We can't, but that won't work. It looks like you're rubbing your body on the floor."

"What. Do you care what you look like in this situation?"

Louina wrinkled her lips and rubbed the handcuffs against the floor again. Ihelm muttered, clicking his tongue.

"…That's that. But it's shocking. Even Deculein is going to the Altar."

"I think it's rather because he's Deculein."

"What do you know about Deculein?"

"Of course, I know him well. More than you."

Ihelm frowned and took his eyes off her again.

Louina said.

"Deculein will die soon. It's the deadline."

"…What?"

"Most end-of-life patients turn to religion. No one can say it's a weakness. Rather, it is too natural and too pitiful."

Rub- Rub-

Louina kept rubbing her body on the floor.

"Damn. I told you that's an artifact created by Deculein. Stop rubbing that-"

At that moment.

Click—!

"Huh?!"

Ihelm's eyes widened, and Louina looked at her arms in disbelief. To be precise, she looked at her wrists.

"…It opened?"

"Hey! Release me too!"

Ihelm quickly turned his back to her. Louina stood up alone, barely looking at him as she went to the prison bars.

"Shh. There are a lot of people here from the Altar. So, for now, I'll take a look by myself. Stay tied up."

"What? Hey, is this because of those things I said? Release-"

"Yeah."

"What?"

Louina checked her own body. She had been frozen by the Snowflake Obsidian, but luckily she was fine. It seemed that Deculein's promise to use them as material for Magic Cores was true.

"Anyway. We were caught by Deculein and survived thanks to him."

"God, enough of that. Just get me free.

She thought she would die without being able to do anything. Louina, fiddling with her wrists, said.

"All right. I'll release you, so let's move quietly."

She cut off Ihelm's handcuffs with her mana.

Click-!

They looked out of the iron cage. Two sleeping guards and five skeletons guarded them.

"…Can you do it?"

"Of course."

The two nodded to each other and quietly prepared a spell.

…Neither could even imagine that Deculein was watching them from afar.