Amella quickly responded.
“It can’t be done.”
Perhaps she thought her words had touched Ruon’s pride, as she quickly continued, explaining why it was impossible.
For someone like Ruon, who had no magical knowledge, her explanation was quite verbose, but it could be summarized simply like this:
The power invested in her for the seal of the shard is not something that can be immediately replenished or retrieved.
Amella looked at Ruon, who nodded as if he understood, and said, “…Ruon, I’m truly sorry, but as you can see, my physical condition is not normal, and I need to meditate urgently. Can you handle the night watch?”
‘Is today a solo watch day?’
Ruon chuckled as he realized he would end up standing watch all night.
“Very well, go ahead and do what you need to do.”
***
Looking at the low city walls, dilapidated watchtowers, and lazy soldiers dozing off inside, Kyle murmured quietly.
“Even Relizan isn’t at this level…”
As he said, Dumfreese was in such a sorry state even compared to Relizan, which was nothing short of a bustling pleasure city.
At least Relizan had some liveliness, but here, not even a passing stray dog seemed to have any enthusiasm.
Even Ruon, who had traveled to various places, had never encountered a city so devoid of spirit, so he looked at Amella and asked.
“There is someone here who can help you?”
“Yes, there is. He’s someone who enjoys this kind of atmosphere.”
Amella’s face, as she gave that answer, was a little pale, but it wasn’t as ghostly white as the previous night. The meditation she had done until dawn seemed to have some effect.
The group entered a worn-out inn and unpacked their belongings, sitting around a table on the first floor.
Amella ordered a simple meal from the innkeeper and spoke.
“You can rest here. I can handle this on my own.”
“Are you sure? Amella, your complexion…”
“It’s fine.”
As Amella firmly interrupted, Kyle had nothing more to say and fell silent.
“I’ll go upstairs first.”
Amella, who was sipping her soup, stood up from her seat.
Kyle whispered as he watched her tightly hold onto the railing and climb the stairs.
“She seems like she lost all her energy overnight, what’s going on?”
Ruon, who swallowed the soup in one gulp like beer, shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe it was a bad dream.”
He got up from his seat and added, looking at Kyle who had a chubby expression.
“I think I need some rest too. I couldn’t sleep all night.”
Watching Ruon go straight upstairs, Kyle muttered.
“You couldn’t sleep all night? Crazy, what were you two doing yesterday?”
***
As Ruon felt a presence passing by the door, he opened his eyes and sat up.
When he opened the door and stuck his head out, he saw Amella’s back disappearing at the end of the hallway.
‘Going out at this hour?’
He glanced outside through the dimmed window and quickly armed himself before stepping outside.
“Huh?”
As the opposite door opened, Kyle appeared with wide eyes.
“Where are you going?”
“And what about you?”
Kyle replied without hesitation.
“Well, I was secretly keeping an eye on Amella because I was worried. What about you?”
Ruon chuckled at the confident answer and flicked his chin.
“Follow me then.”
Amella noticed the slightly flustered looks from Ruon and Kyle, who had followed closely beside her shortly after leaving the inn.
She said, “I told you I would go alone.”
“I had doubts whether you could walk properly when I saw you.”
“Is that the real reason?”
Ruon hesitated to claim that he acted on his intuition and silently continued walking ahead. Amella turned her head towards Kyle.
“And what about you?”
“Do I need a reason to follow?”
Amella slowly opened her mouth as she pressed her temple, feeling a slight headache.
“Well, it’s related to you all… If you really want to follow, I won’t stop you.”
As time passed, the moon hung in the sky. The night in Dumfreese, where even the ordinary street lamps were absent, felt more desolate.
The group, walking along the narrow street illuminated by dim moonlight, soon arrived at a rusty iron gate.
“Here it is.”
Upon Amella’s words, Ruon looked at the plaque fixed next to the iron gate and raised an eyebrow.
“It says ‘Orphanage’?”
“You read it correctly.”
“I read it correctly?”
Amella, who had placed her hand on the iron gate, spoke.
“I’m not trying to scare you, but don’t trust anything beyond this gate. Even if it’s a child.”
After finishing her words, Amella pushed the iron gate. As the rusty latch screeched, the scenery beyond became vividly visible.
“This is a mess.”
Ruon murmured in a low voice as he looked at the yard that seemed like it hadn’t seen a gardener in a hundred years.
Beyond overgrown and disorderly weeds, a large mansion covered in thorny vines came into view.
If such a bizarre building was indeed an orphanage, the only thought that came to Ruon’s mind was how pitiful the children growing up inside must be.
Pushing through the grass that could easily be mistaken for bushes, the three of them stood in front of the mansion’s door.
Amella, who let out a sigh, opened her mouth instead of knocking on the door.
“…I’ve come.”
At that moment, the sound of the lock being released accompanied the opening of the mansion’s door.
Kyle, realizing that no one was standing behind the door, flinched in surprise.
Stepping through the open door, Amella spoke as if giving a warning.
“Both of you, remember what I said earlier.”
“Of course.”
Nodding his head, Ruon followed her into the mansion, furrowing his brow.
Amella, who had been standing right in front of him, was nowhere to be seen. Even the figure of Kyle, who had been right beside him, was also absent.
Although the situation was sudden, Ruon remained composed and walked steadily, beginning to take in the interior of the mansion.
The nauseating stench, the creaking floor, the table topped with melted candle wax, the half-open door groaning weakly—revealing a smoky face inside.
Without hesitation, Ruon threw his dagger. The thrown blade flew through the gap in the door and struck the smoky face.
There was no scream. Instead, an unexpected sound of a child’s laughter echoed from inside the room.
The eerie laughter, which didn’t match the dreary mansion at all, would have sent chills down one’s spine. But Ruon just snorted.
“What a nuisance.”
Without hesitation, he approached and forcefully opened the door.
“Hello?”
A young girl, holding a grotesque doll made by tearing apart and reassembling different dolls, grinned widely.
“Were you looking for this sister?”
At the end of the girl’s outstretched fingertips was Amella, lying on the floor with a dagger piercing her forehead.
Ruon pulled out the dagger embedded in her forehead and roughly wiped the blood on his sleeve before putting it away.
Then he immediately drew his Holy Sword.
As he looked at the sword emitting a faint light, the girl furrowed her brow slightly.
“What is that? It’s unpleasant.”
“Be quiet. Where is Amella?”
“Don’t you see? She’s lying here.”
“Is that so?”
Ruon immediately swung his sword. Startled, the girl extended the doll forward.
Crack!
The transparent barrier shattered halfway as the sword penetrated it, and the girl bit her lips in response.
“You killed her, only to take it out on me?”
She then opened her eyes wide and shouted.
“Why!?”
With the sound of a screeching tear, Ruon’s body was pushed backward. Veins surged on the hand that tightly grasped the door frame.
Overcoming the pouring force, as he pulled his arm inward, the door frame that couldn’t withstand the power crumbled.
Startled by Ruon’s determined re-entry into the room, the girl’s face turned pale.
“Go away!”
Even in the face of the girl’s terrified screams, Ruon raised his Holy Sword without hesitation and spoke.
“So you want to be a little bit of a prankster.”
As he attempted to swing his sword towards the shattered barrier,
“That’s enough.”
At the voice coming from behind him, Ruon, who momentarily paused, turned around and replied.
“Do I have to?”
And he swung his sword.
“Gyaaaah!”
The Holy Sword, which had split trolls in half, shattered the floorboards.
Where did she go?
The girl disappeared without a trace.
“You really intended to kill her.”
At the voice that came again, Ruon turned around.
There stood a middle-aged man with pointed ears, shaking his head. In his arms, there was a girl who seemed to have lost consciousness.
“Even if my daughter has a nasty temperament, isn’t that going too far?”
“I’d like to ask how you’ve educated her.”
The middle-aged man snorted at the curt response.
“If you’re looking for Amella with that annoying shield of hers, then follow me.”
Before following the middle-aged man, Ruon turned his gaze to the ground. There lay a large doll with a hole in its head.
Although he acted without hesitation because he believed Amella’s words of not trusting anything, Ruon couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by the unexpectedly realistic corpse.
‘I’m in a strange place.’
Once inside the large room within the mansion, following the middle-aged man, Kyle, who was sitting on the sofa, stood up abruptly.
“Ruon!”
He tightly hugged his shield and spoke.
“Suddenly the floor gives way, the stairs spin–I don’t know how many times I could have been killed if I didn’t have this shield. What the hell is this place?”
“Shouldn’t you ask Amella about that?”
“Amella has been sleeping since I came in.”
When Kyle turned his head with a short nod, he saw Amella soundly asleep on the sofa.
At that moment, the middle-aged man leaning against the wall spoke. The girl he had been holding had disappeared, and he now had his arms crossed.
“It’s ironic that those who seem unrelated to magic, unlike the child who falls asleep with a simple sleep spell, are perfectly fine. Quite ironic indeed.”
After briefly glancing at Amella, the middle-aged man opened his mouth.
“What’s your relationship with my daughter?”
“Daughter?”
Ignoring Kyle’s dumbfounded question, Ruon answered.
“Our objectives align.”
“Why are you here?”
“Amella said she would receive help here.”
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue at Ruon’s straightforward response.
“She left this place over ten years ago because it was so disgusting, and now my daughter, who left on her own two feet, comes back. What is going on…”
Ruon silently looked at the middle-aged man, not particularly curious about what had happened between the two of them.
He placed his hand on Amella’s forehead, like a doctor examining a patient, and closed his eyes. Soon, he opened his eyes and asked.
“It seems like most of your magic is bound by something. What could it be?”
Ruon, who had been pondering for a moment, then took out a tablet from his pocket. The middle-aged man, who had been alternating his gaze between the tablet and Amella’s face, spoke.
“Is it a representation created with your own magic, binding the essence of that stone? What a foolish act.”
As he muttered to himself, he clapped his hands, and Amella, who had been asleep, gasped and sat up.
After briefly looking around, she spoke to the middle-aged man.
“Quin…”
“It’s been a while, Amella. Has it been thirteen years?”
“You’re still the same.”
“Don’t talk like that to your father… And I’m a fairy, so it’s only natural for me to age slowly. You’re saying foolish things.”
The conversation between the ordinary woman and the middle-aged man seemed unsettling with the exchanged words.
“Father? Don’t make me laugh. You are…”
Amella, whose words were fading, let out a deep sigh.
“Fine, let’s put aside meaningless talk. I came here for a deal.”
The fairy known as Quin shrugged.
“You want to retrieve your magic that is bound to that stone completely, right?”
“I hope you can also prevent the essence of the stone from returning, even if it’s for a short period.”
After Amella added, Quin raised his head.
“Amella, my lovely daughter. If you’re a capable magician, you should know how difficult it is, right?”
“…I know.”
Quin, who smiled as if it was amusing to see Amella answering weakly, spoke.
“But if it’s me, Quintuanus, it is possible.”
What do you want to do?
Ruon frowned as he looked at Quin, who proudly stretched out his arms. He had suspended judgment until now, but it was clear that the guy was not in his right mind.
“Well, Amella, what can you do for me?”
“You always have a demanding personality. You’re not one to listen, are you?”
At Amella’s words, Quin’s grin widened. For some reason, he found it delightful. Suddenly, he stopped laughing and pointed his finger at the Holy Sword attached to Ruon’s waist.
“I want that sword, Amella.”
Ruon retorted with a cold tone.
“Should I cut off that finger?”
