Episode 121
"...Hm?"
Irina, who had been leaning down to whisper to Frey, suddenly frowned and began to tilt her head.
'What is it?'
It was because magic power had been detected from somewhere, her body having become extremely sensitive to mana.
"...Hm."
The moment she recognized it, Irina opened her eyes sharply and looked around, then suddenly began to wear a cold expression.
- Uung...
"A rat has snuck in."
Soon after, she created a sphere mixed with flames and dark magic power in her hand, then began to slowly move her feet.
Of course, she did have extra magic scrolls in her possession, but ever since suffering from the defective scroll last time, Irina trusted her own abilities over magic scrolls in important situations.
"...Come out right now."
Having approached right in front of the bathroom like that, Irina then spoke coldly.
"I said come out."
Even so, when the door remained immovable, Irina used her body to shield Frey as much as possible while focusing all her nerves on the bathroom door.
She was drawing upon all the combat experience accumulated from the previous loop, in case an attack poured out so she could protect Frey immediately.
- Kiiiek...
"Stop. If you don't want to die, get on your knees first and slowly raise your hands..."
Irina, who had been glaring at the door for a while, began to give orders in a cold voice as the door started to open.
"I, I'm sorry... hic."
"Lulu?"
She started to make a flustered expression upon realizing that the person who came out of the bathroom was none other than Lulu.
"You... what were you doing in there?"
"W, well..."
Of course, Lulu was just as flustered.
She had never imagined that she would be detected the moment she activated her magic eye to understand the more precise situation.
"I heard Lord Frey collapsed so I briefly stopped by... but suddenly Lord Frey coughed up black blood..."
"Shouldn't the door have been locked?"
"...I, it was open though?"
Lulu lied, worried that the head maid who had opened the door for her might be blamed, and Irina began to tilt her head with a rather suspicious expression.
"Did the automatic locking magic malfunction? But that shouldn't be possible..."
"I, I'll be going then."
"Huh?"
Lulu, who had been watching Irina's reaction, hurriedly began heading toward the room's exit.
"...Wait, what were you trying to do here?"
"A sick visit."
"Then why did you hide when I came?"
"L, Lord Frey suddenly bled so... I was flustered without realizing it."
"Why were you flustered?"
Hearing those words, Lulu began to speak falteringly.
"I, I thought it might be my fault."
Then Irina, who let out a sigh, began to speak while looking at her.
"It's fine, it's not your fault. Frey is receiving treatment right now."
"T, treatment?"
"Yes. The reason Frey is coughing up blood right now is because he's undergoing treatment to drive out bad blood and create new blood. He'll probably become healthy again once this treatment is finished. So you don't need to worry about being blamed."
Hearing those words, Lulu looked at Frey lying there with still an unsettled expression.
"What are you doing? How long are you going to stay here?"
"Ah, I, that..."
To Lulu's magic eye, Frey's body was continuously producing new blood just as Irina said.
Therefore, if he were an ordinary person, his body would actually feel several times better than before.
"...Ah."
However, that wasn't all that was visible to Lulu's magic eye.
It was also showing her the most seriously damaged physical condition among all the people she had seen so far.
Until now, Frey had been hiding his physical condition from Lulu by surrounding himself with dark magic power with Kania's help.
But due to the shock of the souls combining, the dark magic power had seeped into his body and the disguise had unraveled.
"Is it... my fault again?"
And as a result, Lulu's trauma had relapsed.
Although the other person was Frey, called the Empire's greatest villain, it was enough to trigger the trauma that had tormented her continuously since childhood.
"W, what are you saying? Why suddenly?"
Thanks to that, when Lulu crouched down and started scratching her arms, a flustered Irina approached her.
"I, I heard your words in the bathroom..."
"What?"
"You said... that Lord Frey has a limited time left..."
Soon after hearing the words coming from Lulu's mouth, Irina began to make an extremely bewildered expression.
"N, no. What do you mean by that..."
"I saw it with my magic eye too. That Lord Frey's body is seriously damaged."
"M, magic eye?"
Hearing the words "magic eye," Irina became flustered again, then began to swallow dryly while looking at Lulu who was speaking with dead eyes.
"Please tell me."
"W, what?"
"Since when... has Lord Frey been like that?"
Only after hearing those words did Irina realize why Lulu was acting this way, and she quietly cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Since before you became his so-called 'pet.' It's been like that for a very long time."
"...What?"
"It's gotten more serious recently, but he was originally terminally ill."
When Lulu made a dumbfounded expression at those words, Irina quickly stood her up.
"You're the only one who knows. I'm telling you because you're the one Frey specially favors."
"Eek."
"You know the Academy is full of Frey's eyes and ears, right? If anyone gets caught talking about this, it's over for both of us. Keep that in mind."
Soon after giving that warning, Irina grabbed the arm of Lulu, who still had a dumbfounded expression, and began heading outside the room.
"Ah, and see me sometime soon."
"Yes?"
"I have something to talk to you about."
Irina, who had been wanting to analyze the magic eye in her eyes and the brand on her body, made an appointment with her and then immediately sent her out of the room.
"Remember, don't tell anyone."
- Bang!!
Soon after, Frey's room door slammed shut.
"Frey was... originally terminally ill?"
Thanks to that, Lulu was left alone in the wide corridor.
"And the fact that his condition became that serious since I came..."
She soon began to mutter in a daze.
"What on earth..."
It seemed she would need quite a long time to organize her thoughts.
.
Meanwhile at that time, Irina, who had sent Lulu out.
"Hoo..."
Was looking at Frey while letting out a sigh.
"Then, I'll begin."
Irina, who had been looking at Frey for a while, carefully took something out from her bosom.
- Sring.
It was a ceremonial dagger with a gleaming, sharp blade.
"Hup..."
Irina, who quietly stroked it, extended her arm and aimed the tip of the dagger at her own arm.
- Stab!
"...Ugh!"
She made a long cut.
"Endure it. Endure it, Irina."
As blood dripped from the long wound running from her elbow to her wrist, Irina gritted her teeth and began to mutter.
"This is nothing compared to the pain Frey suffered because of me."
Saying that, Irina carefully opened the mouth of Frey, who had his eyes closed.
"Ugh."
"Haa..."
She began to slowly let the blood flowing from her arm pour in.
- Hwaruk!!
Then, flames began to rise around Irina and Frey.
The flames that wrapped around them without burning anything, though definitely carrying heat, soon began to shine with various colors.
- Shuuu...
"I will make a blood oath to you, Frey."
Irina, who whispered in a low voice in such a mystical atmosphere, began to mutter with a smile.
"I will give you my body and mind."
Then, the intensity of the flames grew even stronger.
"For a mage to give their body to someone means to fight only for that person. And to give their mind means to serve no one else but that person."
As she said, the blood oath was not an ordinary oath.
For mages of the Magic Tower who worship magic, to prove their nobility and purity.
Or for clergy of the religious order to prove their faith.
Or for imperial royalty to prove their legitimacy when ascending to the throne.
Or even for fallen black mages simply to pursue power.
To mana, to the Sun God, to the Sun itself, or to the Demon God.
It was the highest-level oath to dedicate one's everything.
Therefore, blood oaths had always been performed only toward transcendent beings or the world's laws.
And it was known that the only ones who violated this were the members of the hero's party from a thousand years ago, now passed down only in fairy tales and myths.
"I will give you my purity."
Irina was now performing such an outrageous act.
By dedicating her everything to not the world's laws, not a transcendent being, but just one man before her.
She was even twisting the natural order of the world.
"You know what it means to give one's purity... right?"
Blushing slightly as she muttered that, Irina cleared her throat and continued speaking.
"And finally... I will give you my soul."
When she finished speaking, the flames surrounding them swept over the two.
- Shuuu...
Soon those flames divided into two and began to penetrate into Frey and Irina, and Irina, who was watching that scene.
"I've thought for a long time... about how I should atone to you."
Gently stroking Frey, who still had his eyes closed but somehow wore a peaceful smile.
"I had no idea at all what I could do to atone for my wrongs against you."
She began to whisper softly.
"While worrying and worrying again, spending time with you... I finally understood."
Saying that, she carefully stroked Frey's wounds revealed on his body after Kania's disguise had worn off.
"That no matter what I do, it's impossible to fully repay my debt to you."
As soon as those words ended, all the surrounding flames were sucked into the two without leaving a trace.
"So I'll just give you my everything."
Only then did Irina, who realized the ritual had ended successfully and smiled faintly, quietly overlapped with Frey and finished speaking.
"So please, use me as you wish."
Immediately after, a small flame that popped out from the chests of Irina and Frey merged in the air and became a small bead.
"...What is this?"
Irina, who carefully received the bead and stroked it dearly.
"Why is the color a bit murky?"
Soon began to mutter with a flustered expression.
"Is it because Frey's soul still remains with Kania?"
Unlike when she had sworn to mana in the previous loop, the color of the bead was murky.
"...Chirp."
And Canary, who was sitting by the window, was carefully watching them.
.
Meanwhile at that time.
"Clana, focus."
"Ah, yes."
Clana, who had been quietly lost in thought while looking out the window, quickly turned her head to look at the blackboard at Isollet's cold rebuke.
"Why is your hand wrapped in bandages? That's a wound I didn't see until yesterday."
"...I was injured during training."
Soon after, Isollet, who had been resting her chin on her hand, asked Clana a question, and at those words, she looked at Clana with a suspicious expression for a moment.
"If that's the case, then that's fortunate, but if you do anything foolish, I won't forgive you."
"I will keep that in mind."
She then said that and resumed the lesson.
"Then, let's continue. The effectiveness and efficacy of sword energy varies depending on the form of mana trained. In other words, depending on the user's proficiency, various effects can be drawn out..."
Since the mansion attack incident last time, Isollet had been quite wary of Clana.
"...Hm."
But Clana's nerves were entirely focused on the bead inside the drawer.
And that bead was mixed with silver and gold colors.