༺ Beginning (1) ༻
A black puppy lay curled up on Renee’s lap.
It was making purring sounds with its eyes half-closed.
Its tail swayed gently back and forth.
If it weren’t for the white arm around its neck and the third eye on its forehead, anyone would think it was just an ordinary dog.
Vera chuckled at the sight.
“So you’re saying you hid in one of the Federation’s carriages?”
[Yes. There was a commotion, so I just followed.]
“That size…”
[I’m conserving energy. Hyria quickly gets hungry when she moves around too much, so she usually shrinks like this.]
Hyria.
The first child of Gorgan, and at the same time, the last remaining Karel.
That was the name of the beast before them.
‘Is its intelligence also at a beast’s level?’
Looking back, apart from Gorgan, the beast had always moved instinctively.
When Gorgan lost his rationality, it merely rampaged, and its behavior just before they parted resembled that of a well-trained wolf.
“Yawn—”
When Hyria yawned, Renee’s cheeks turned red.
“Oh my, you must be sleepy.”
[Yeah, she must be tired from wandering around and looking for you all.]
“Uh-uh…”
Renee didn’t know what to do and her fingertips fidgeted.
Gorgan stretched out his arm around Hyria’s neck and gently stroked her chin.
Then, Hyria began to nod off and soon fell asleep.
[Could you stay like this for a moment? Hyria is sensitive, and she rarely sleeps peacefully like this.]
“Of course.”
As Renee answered with a bright smile, Vera’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“…Can we get down to business?”
He felt shameful after saying those words.
He felt resentful upon seeing Renee find something other than himself lovable. As Vera spoke, Gorgan stopped his stroking hand.
[Ah, right.]
He then pointed his hand towards the lake.
[Did you see that?]
Vera’s expression hardened.
Renee, who had been petting Hyria’s head all this time, also stopped her movements.
It was clear that what he was referring to as ’that’ was the castle beneath the lake.
“It was a clear trace of blasphemy. Do you know anything about it?”
[Hmm, so it was like that after all…]
Gorgan’s voice trailed off.
The deep disgust and anger in his voice cause Renee to shiver.
In this situation, they needed some kind of clue, even a tiny one.
However, the answer that came back did not satisfy the two of them.
[…I thought it was possible if it’s her. I don’t know much about the details, either. Ardain didn’t teach us much about blasphemy as it’s something we shouldn’t delve into.]
“Is that so…”
Vera’s expression darkened.
A short sigh escaped his lips.
Soon after, Vera shook off his regretful feelings and asked him another question.
“I’d like to ask you something. You came here to confront Alaysia, right?”
[Yeah, I have a debt to repay.]
“Can I interpret that to mean that other Ancient Species might come here as well?”
Gorgan’s movements ceased.
Following that, Hyria’s ears perked up.
Belatedly realizing this, Gorgan began to stroke Hyria’s chin again. As Hyria relaxed, he gave his answer.
[…Yes. Except for Aedrin, who is unable to move, probably all of them will come.]
Vera’s eyebrows furrowed.
‘This is troublesome.’
This place was a barracks where armies from all over the continent were gathered.
Therefore, preparing for uncontrollable external factors was difficult.
No matter how friendly they were, the Ancient Species were Ancient Species.
The polite Maleus or the pretentious Locrion might be acceptable, but the moment Terdan arrived, who was a disaster just by moving, or Nartania, who did as she pleased, the entire system would collapse.
‘Orgus is…’
There was no need to worry about him.
He didn’t seem to move unless it was absolutely necessary.
“How do you think they would come?”
[I’m not sure about the others, but Nartania…]
Gorgan’s hand hesitated.
[…She doesn’t care about you all. In other words, she’ll achieve her purpose no matter what happens to you.]
“Is there a way?”
[Personally, I recommend retreating the army. No matter how many humans are gathered here, they won’t be able to even match the power of Nartania alone.]
A concern surfaced within Vera.
It was a brief calculation of pros and cons.
In the end, Vera’s conclusion was negative.
“That won’t work. Leaving everything else aside, I don’t know what effect the traces of blasphemy under that lake could have on armies that are out of sight.”
Blasphemy did not simply mean that they should run away.
It was, in itself, a concentration of impurities that became a Providence and corrupted its surroundings.
As such, it was better to keep the army that was already here within sight, just in case.
“We don’t even know if people affected by the blasphemy would rummage throughout the continent while we are stuck here.”
[That is also a problem.]
Gorgan’s voice was strained.
At that moment, Renee, who had been listening to their conversation, spoke up.
”…I have a good idea, though.”
[Huh?]
“Nartania. She can’t move during the day.”
Vera’s gaze turned to Renee.
Gorgan also began to listen intently to what Renee was saying.
“We have more than a hundred spellcasters here, right? We can artificially create a daylight environment.”
[…True, but if you do that, it would only anger Nartania. Knowing her personality, she’ll seek revenge somehow if we exclude her from this battle.]
“Can’t we just not exclude her?”
[…How?]
“We can create nighttime only around the castle. Keep the outside of the lake bright and the inside dark. That way, Nartania might understand.”
Vera’s eyes shone.
“Indeed…”
It was a reasonably plausible plan.
Renee smiled somewhat awkwardly as he nodded his head in admiration.
Vera briefly looked at her and Gorgan before turning away.
“Let’s discuss that issue later.”
[Where are you going?]
“I’m going to the spellcasters. Enough time has passed and they should have found out something about the castle by now.”
[I’ll go, too.]
“…What?”
[I said I’m coming with you.]
Gorgan gently tugged on Hyria’s ear, and Hyria promptly raised her head.
“Kyu!”
”[Sorry for waking you up. Let’s go.]
“Kyuu—”
Hyria shook her head.
Then she stretched, jumped down from Renee, and toddled over to Vera’s feet.
Vera felt troubled.
‘…This.’
How should I explain this to the others?
Those thoughts came to his mind.
***
“The castle’s influence only extends to the water of the lake.”
El Claire, the Imperial Wizard, continued his explanation.
His eyes were focused on Hyria, who was sitting at Vera’s feet.
No, it wasn’t just El Claire; all the sorcerers in the room had their eyes fixed on Hyria.
…It couldn’t be helped.
Hyria looked quite unusual.
They were spellcasters, and all of them were fundamentally scholars.
It would be strange for a scholar not to be curious about an unusual creature like Hyria.
Vera consciously ignored the sharp pull on his back.
‘…It’s fortunate that they haven’t noticed that it’s Gorgan.’
Apparently, their imaginations weren’t vivid enough to connect a small, fluffy dog with a massive beast.
Vera inwardly sighed in relief and asked El Claire.
“Have you found a way to enter the castle?”
“Ah, since it’s a phenomenon caused by the lake spirits, turning the ground upside down seems to be the simplest option.”
Vera involuntarily let out a sarcastic laugh at the vast difference between the words ‘turning the ground upside down’ and ‘simple’.
“Simple, you say.”
El Claire’s body trembled greatly at Vera’s reaction.
His pupils shook uncontrollably.
“Please hear me out first!”
El Claire’s outcry shut Vera’s mouth.
He gave the wizard a look as if telling him to continue speaking.
Feeling sorry at his own inability to resist that gaze, the elderly wizard El Claire began to speak.
“We plan to use a large-scale teleportation spell. We’ll distort space with sorcery to lift the castle, and the elementalists will fill in the space below it with soil. Then, us wizards will stabilize the distorted space.”
“What’s the success rate?”
“We can’t be certain since there’s never been such a large-scale spell, but…”
El Claire swallowed dryly.
His eyes hardened, forming a more determined appearance.
“…we are confident that it’s over 90%. Moreover, the castle being alive helped a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
“Since space distortion tries to preserve living things as a whole, lifting the castle itself will have fewer variables.”
Vera nodded.
It was a clear form of affirmation.
Just as El Claire’s expression started to brighten, Vera asked.
“Let me ask you this first: I assume you know what that castle is for?”
El Claire flinched.
Not just him, but all the other sorcerers present had the same reaction.
Of course, they did.
Who stood before them currently was an Apostle of God.
And what they were about to report was blasphemy that they were too afraid to even utter.
Sensing their hesitation, Vera exhaled softly.
“You seem to have a rough idea. Yes, it’s blasphemy. One wrong move, and there’s a possibility that you’ll be exposed to corruption. Have you thought about that?”
“Yes, we have… actually, we have a favor to ask you…”
El Claire bowed.
He seemed reluctant to ask.
Vera tilted his head, and El Claire’s hesitation deepened.
Miller, unable to bear the stifling atmosphere, stepped forward.
“We need the Saint’s help.”
Vera’s gaze turned towards Miller.
Facing Vera’s narrowed eyes directly, Miller added nervously.
“We can’t handle the corruption with spells. There’s only one way, and that is through divinity, which has the opposite nature of corruption and the certain miracle it manifests.”
While the request might have seemed obvious, Miller’s tension did not easily dissipate.
He knew that Vera could be even more strict than an interrogator when it came to Renee.
‘Please…!’
In such a moment, he hoped for an easy agreement.
As he waited with this thought, Vera finally spoke up.
Fortunately, he was more agreeable than Miller had anticipated.
“Yes, I agree. I’ll talk to the Saint regarding this.”
Miller’s face brightened.
‘It’s done!’
His words were practically a permission.
Both Miller and Vera knew that.
Renee was not someone who would step back from something like this to save herself.
Miller erased the dozens of persuasive arguments he had prepared in his mind and let out a deep sigh of relief.
His legs wobbled, and his tensed muscles finally started to relax.
And then, something caught his eye.
“Kyu—”
Hyria.
The very beast that Gorgan had been living off of.
However, there was one thing that Miller could not understand.
He contemplated.
‘A baby Karel?’
Has Gorgan begun to produce more Karels after leaving for the West?
Can this Karel be a gift sent by Gorgan to Elia while he was away?
Curiosity and a desire to investigate constantly stimulated Miller.
“Um, Sir Vera, what is that creature?”
He ended up asking the question.
The words drew the attention of all those in the room.
Vera swallowed his panic.
Just when he thought he had gotten away with it, the sudden question temporarily dazed his thoughts, and a ridiculous answer came out of Vera.
“…It’s the Saint’s pet.”
The Wave of Despair, Gorgan, was instantly downgraded to being Renee’s pet due to Vera’s slip of the tongue.
