After stirring up the people from the Holy Temple, Rebethra made all of them head toward the Solia Castle. He then said he had something else to do. Rebethra separated himself from the group, and he was now walking in a different direction.
‘It seems the collapse of the Magic Tower has something to do with this runt, but… Just why is he trying to turn the Solia upside down?’
It had been a while since the whole incident started. About now, the news about the devastation in Solia would have reached not just the royalty, but even other nobilities.
The reinforcement would start to arrive from each region.
Even without any of them, this was the Solia ‘Castle’ that they were headed.
It was highly likely that the Solia would not collapse so easily.
Even the riot that was about to happen by the people from the Holy Temple could be subdued before long.
‘Is it because of the corpses? Just like when he was trying to swallow the entire Rainfield in whole, is he doing this to make more people into corpses? This is a little complicated? If I summarized it, would it be like this?’
Nara said the dark mage that they met in Rainfield, Kabal the mercenary from Ansyrium, and Holy Temple’s Archbishop Rebethra all had purple color.
Because something stank, they had been digging around Rebethra’s back, and… The animated corpses, just like the ones from Rainfield, were sighted in Solia.
Currently, with the Magic Tower collapsed, Rebethra stirred up the people from the Holy Temple and sent them to the Solia Castle.
‘No matter how I look at it, he is just trying to increase the number of corpses. Maybe he also has the ability to control the corpses.’
Riley thought about the possibility that all purple colored humans might have the ability to control corpses. He then tried to figure out the next puzzle.
‘Young Master, the people with pitch-black eyes were… some kind of sacrifices. My Master was also a sacrifice.’
Riley thought about what Ian said. While he was tracing Rebethra’s back, Riley furrowed his brows as if something was icky.
‘A sacrifice…’
While Riley was thinking about what Ian said and was furrowing his brows, a horrible stench went past his nose. Riley stopped thinking about it and looked at where Rebethra was headed.
‘Lower Solia?’
After making the people from the Holy Temple to go to the Solia Castle, Rebethra was going through the Main Plaza and heading to Lower Solia. Riley wondered why as he rolled his brain continuously. In that moment,
“… Hand over the information about that lass.”
Having heard the voice, Riley stopped the thought and tuned in to the voices.
“That lass?”
There was another voice that could be heard. Riley thought it sounded familiar, so he looked toward the direction of the new voice.
The voice belonged to the current Head of the Magic Tower, the one who Riley knew well.
‘That’s Peruda?’
It seemed he wondered around Lower Solia for a long time. From the tip of the shoes to the top of his head, he was a mess. He was not in a good shape.
“I’m talking about the lass that you Magic Tower bastards dragged to the basement and experimented on!”
Having heard the sharp remark from the man standing in front of him, Peruda flinched. As if he felt wronged, Peruda talked back.
“Why do you want that…”
“Aren’t you curious what’s happening outside?”
“… Kuk.”
The man was not going to forgive Peruda for talking back. The man threatened Peruda. Having heard the threat, Peruda’s face crumpled desperately.
“If you are talking about the people who were e… experimented on… There were so many of them, so even if you ask me, I would not know…”
“… Nainiae.”
“…?”
“Nainiae. You should know that lass very well?”
The homeless who was standing in Peruda was Hamil. Having heard the name of the girl, Peruda opened his eyes big and faced Hamil.
“How do you know her… No. Why are you looking for her?”
Peruda steadily stared at Hamil’s face. It seemed Peruda just remembered the face. He pointed his index finger at Hamil and mumbled,
“Wait, you are?”
“…”
In the past, under Astroa’s order, Peruda had been charged with selling the Magic Tower’s broken or disposed failures to nobilities, merchants or mercenaries in secret. Peruda started to break cold sweats.
“Back then… that…”
Peruda was remembering the time at Lower Solia where he sold a girl with limited life span.
“If it is that child, you should know her better?”
Now, Peruda crumpled his face and glared at the homeless that purchased Nainiae with money last winter. Peruda asked,
“Why are you asking me that?”
That girl did not have long to live. Her appearance and mind were in pieces. She was full of injuries and wounds. She had nowhere to go. She was literally waiting for her moment of death. The one who purchased her was the homeless who was standing in front of Peruda’s eyes.
“Actually, I want to ask you. What child… What happened to that child? Is she still alive? If she is…”
“… Why?”
“…?”
“Why!!”
Hamil’s eyes were filled with murderous intent. He was glaring at Peruda and shouting at top of his lungs.
“How could you not know! According to that runt, you would know where that bitch is!”
“Ugh?!”
“Tell me! You are hiding here, aren’t you? Tell me!”
Hamil grabbed Peruda by the clothes near his throat and shook him. Peruda cringed one of his eyes as he looked around. While minding the others, he started to fiddle with his fingers.
“… Looks like you abandoned her.”
“What?”
“You abandoned that child. Isn’t that why you are asking me? You guys said you needed her and bought her, and then you abandoned her. You guys always complain that the world abandoned you, yet in the end… You are becoming of the trash in Lower Solia.”
“Ugh, Ugh!!”
“As you said earlier, I did have many conversation with that child. That’s why I’m even more certain that… she would not have done anything wrong first.”
Despite being grabbed by Hamil near the throat, Peruda did not give in. Peruda glared at Hamil’s infuriated face and talked back.
“What about you guys?”
“Shut up.”
“She would not have done anything to buy grudge from you. In that case, you guys must have betrayed her first. Isn’t that right?”
“That mouth, shut up!!”
Overcame by his anger, Hamil raised his right hand. It seemed Peruda seized the moment. He was fiddling with his fingers, and now he suddenly tightened his fist.
‘I don’t like this much, but if he is a resident of Lower Solia… With him tied up like this…’
With Hamil restrained in vines, Peruda was trying to find a way out of Lower Solia. Peruda’s shoulders suddenly flinched.
‘Ugh?’
Puk!
With a blunt sound, the fist that Hamil swung collided with Peruda’s frontal face.
‘Kuk?!’
Peruda was rolling on the floor with dirty water. Peruda looked confused.
It was not that he didn’t understand that he was hit on the face.
He was wondering why the magic he used was not activated properly.
‘What is going on? Why is my magic…’
With a look of panic on his face, Peruda looked down at his hand. He then opened his eyes wide.
‘A High Level Silence Magic?’
He noticed tightly packed purple rings around his wrist and other rings around his mouth. This was the reason why he opened his eyes wide.
“… Oh my… How ungrateful.”
He could hear the voice.
The voice sounded pretty familiar to Peruda.
It felt like it had been a while since he heard the voice.
It belonged to…
“You… are?”
To see who said it, Peruda turned his head toward the direction where the voice came from. Peruda’s jaw dropped out of shock.
“You… how could you be?”
The grand mage of Magic Tower that supposedly died last spring was standing right in front of Peruda, very much alive.
“Astroa…”
Peruda was not the only one who was surprised.
‘What is that runt?’
Riley had been watching the situation while in hiding.
‘Why is that runt alive…’
Back then, Riley threw his sword and pierced Astroa’s heart. He definitely ended this mages life. However, Astroa was alive. Wondering why, Riley looked at the bastard’s eyes first.
‘His eyes… are normal.’
He wondered if Astroa had pitch-black eyes like the corpses, so he checked. Having confirmed that the eyes were normal, Riley moved his eyes, thinking that something was not right. This time, he looked at Rebethra.
“Now, now. Please calm down for now.”
Rebethra had been just watching the situation as well. Now, just like Astroa who just made an appearance, Rebethra also revealed himself.
“Rebethra? Why are you here too?”
Peruda seemed shocked again from Rebethra entering the scene as well. Peruda was lying on the ground upside down. His eyes shook in disbelief.
“For now, why don’t you get up, Peruda? Your cheek is seriously swollen up.”
Rebethra came to front of Peruda, who was lying on the floor. Rebethra healed Peruda’s cheek and extended his hand toward Peruda.
“You…”
Given the situation, although Rebethra healed Peruda, Peruda was not grabbing the hand. He was on full alert. He glared at the three men gathered there, going back and forth between them.
“I am disappointed. I was probably the one who congratulated you the most when you became the new Head of the Magic Tower.”
Peruda struggled and got up. He then took steps back. Watching him, Rebethra casually turned his head and looked at Astroa.
“Hurial, I think it would be best to withdraw the spell. Having a conversation while having a knife to the man’s throat is a little…”
“Um… That would be ungrateful.”
Astroa was called as Hurial by Rebethra. Astroa smiled, nodded, and retrieved the mana.
At the same time, purple colored magic rings that had been circling around Peruda’s wrist and face disappeared.
‘He is not Astroa?’
Riley had been listening to the conversation in secret. Having realized something was up, he looked at Astroa once again.
‘He is different.’
Appearance wise, he did look just like the dead grand mage. However, the mana inside him felt a little different.
It was a slight difference that would have gone unnoticed if Riley did not observe it closer.
‘It is a little different.’
If it was not for the conversation just now, Riley would have disregarded the difference as just a difference in mood. However, just now, Rebethra called Astroa as Hurial.
‘This energy is...’
A little bit more in detail, Riley observed Astroa a little bit closer, and he was certain now.
The energy felt from the man was almost identical to the energy felt from the dark mage that animated corpses in Rainfield.
‘That bastard… revived Astroa?’
When that dark mage animated the corpses, it felt like he was controlling them like puppets. In comparison, the Astroa that Riley was looking at now was, Hurial in other words, like the body and soul of a person was revived.
‘No. That is not Astroa.’
Riley narrowed his eyes. Astroa kept on saying ‘ungrateful.’ Considering that, Riley deduced that the shell and the inside were different.
‘It is that runt.’
The dark mage that Riley ran into at the Rainfield had the habit of saying ‘ungrateful’ a lot. This was how Riley could tell.
‘In that case, that runt is the most likely one with the ability to control the corpses.’
This time, riley looked at Rebethra.
It seemed Rebethra was definitely related to the dark mage. Although Riley could not come to a hasty conclusion yet… it was a possibility that Rebethra was the one who revived the dark mage from the Rainfield by covering it with Astroa’s shell.
‘Is the other runt not going to show up?’
Judging from how they were having friendly conversation, it was certain the dark mage and Rebethra, the two of the purple colored men were close.
‘If I could get them all at once, including that little runt, that would be great.’
If the mercenary that cut off Riley’s father’s arm showed up here as well, that would have made Riley’s job easier. However, unfortunately… that mercenary did not show up at Lower Solia at all.
“… It would be best to say nice things while the Solia’s Magic Tower is the only thing that collapsed.”
Rebethra shrugged shoulder and continued. Peruda ground his teeth and asked the three in front of him.
“It could be that you are lying to deceive me. Why should I coorporate with you?”
“Um. If you don’t believe us, then I have no choice but to show it to you in person.”
Facing Peruda who was grinding his teeth, Astroa, no… Hurial, put on a shady smile. He slowly turned his body and stepped aside.
“Show me? What…”
When Hurial stepped aside, the corpses behind him, which were hidden behind him until now, showed themselves. Having noticed the corpses, Peruda stopped what he was about to say. He just vacantly opened his mouth.
“…”
“It seems the Magic Tower is corrupt and rotten to the core. How ungrateful. They are trying to attack the Head of the tower.”
The corpses were wearing robes and ready to indiscriminately fire magic attacks toward Peruda. Hurial had his arms open wide and laughing like a lunatic. Peruda had his fist tightened until a moment ago, but now, it just lost strength and fell to the floor.
“How… how could this…”
He was devastated.
Peruda looked at the people from the Magic Tower who now became corpses with pitch-black eyes. Peruda mumbled that this could not be.
“This… this cannot be…”
“How about it. Would you like to cooperate with us before the Magic Tower’s people act even more ungrateful?”
“We didn’t want to do this either, Peruda.”
“… Guuurrr.”
“I…”
Hurial and Rebethra talked to Peruda, and the corpses from the Magic Tower scratched their own necks as if they are trying to tell Peruda to comply.
“I…”
“… Now, I am sorry, but…”
“…?”
“…?”
When Peruda was hesitating and keeping silence, a voice could be heard from the other side to break the silence.
“Your secret conversation ends here.”
There was a man wearing a mask. While fiddling with his mask, he revealed himself at Lower Solia.
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