Episode 56
"F, Frey... snap out of it..."
"Ah, are you leaving already? Then... see you later."
After Irina, who couldn't bear to watch Frey holding her hand and talking brightly for a while, let go of his hand and stepped back, he started waving his hand with a regretful expression.
"...Hm?"
Soon after, Frey, who had been twitching for a moment, discovered Irina in front of him and made an apologetic expression as he spoke.
"Ah, Kania... sorry. Because of the trial, you looked like my mom, you know?"
Frey said with a chuckle as if it was nothing, but Irina was just staring blankly at him.
"Really, I told you there's no need to worry? Rather, I was glad to meet my mom after a long time. My mental state seems to have recovered a bit too. The first trial can't harm me at all."
Then Frey, thinking that Kania in front of him was worrying about him excessively as she always did, spoke in a calm voice to reassure her.
'The first one... so he really used that method of breaking the curse...'
But at that moment, Irina was thinking about the impact of the curse she had placed to kill Frey, with a pale face.
The 'Curse of the Twelfth Hour' that Irina placed on Frey at the cost of one year of mana exhaustion on the first day of her regression is one of the most terrible curses in the world.
The person who becomes the target of the curse starts from 12 o'clock that day and feels all kinds of pain that can be felt in the world for 24 hours before dying.
However, there is no way to break this curse.
The method of breaking the curse, known only to a very few, is to break a clock nearby one minute before 12 o'clock arrives the next day after feeling all the pain received from the curse for 24 hours with a clear mind.
Compared to other terrible curses positioned at the same level as the Curse of the Twelfth Hour, it's a considerably easy and hollow method of breaking the curse, but in reality, it's not like that at all.
First, the pains experienced during the 24 hours due to the Curse of the Twelfth Hour are all things that can lead a person to death, so enduring that with a clear mind for a day is close to impossible.
The oldest record remaining in literature is only 6 hours, which says it all.
And, even if by some chance one endures and breaks the clock, everything doesn't end.
The moment the clock is broken, the pain received so far is slowly divided and received until death.
Naturally, most people would choose death rather than the choice of endlessly receiving the pain received all day until death, but...
"If you endure just a few more days, the first trial will end. So relax and..."
A person who has a reason why they must not die, for example, someone with a destiny to protect the world from the Demon King, would have no choice but to choose the latter like swallowing tears.
"Kania, you're a bit strange today. Are you really okay?"
"Ah, yes... I'm okay."
Irina, who had been thinking about the curse she had cast, barely came to her senses and answered when Frey asked while looking at her with a worried expression.
"Here, eat this."
"...Yes?"
"Your face looks pale. It would be quite troublesome if you collapsed in an already difficult situation."
Then Frey, who had been staring blankly at her, quietly held out a fish skewer to her.
"Anyway, I only need to kill the Demon King, so your health is more important, so don't refuse and eat."
"...Yes."
When Irina hesitated, Frey shook the fish skewer with a stern expression, and eventually Irina had no choice but to pick up the skewer with trembling hands.
"By the way, what should we do from now on? According to the newspaper I saw earlier... I'm currently in my dormitory at Sunrise Academy."
Soon after Irina started slowly picking at the fish, Frey, who was looking at her with satisfaction, sighed and started muttering.
"To sneak back to the dormitory, I'd need your concealment technique... when do you think your black mana will recover?"
"Um... I think it will take about one more day."
"Hmm, is that so? Then let's stay one more day, considering it as rest."
Frey, nodding at Irina's words, flopped onto the bed and started muttering.
"By the way, Kania, what happened with the 'scroll merchant' I ordered you about last time?"
"The scroll... merchant, you mean?"
When Irina asked back at the word scroll, Frey started speaking with sharp eyes.
"Yes, I mean the 'owner' who was the actual culprit of the 'training evaluation incident' last time."
"Ah, yes... I'm investigating."
"Make sure to catch him. I have a strange feeling about it."
After saying that, Frey coughed and lay down on the bed, and Irina, who was looking at him, said in a low voice.
"Then, I'll step outside for a moment. Young master, please wait here."
"Yeah, thank you as always, Kania."
After finishing her conversation with Frey, Irina stumbled out of the secret base.
"Haa..."
After walking through the forest alone for a while, Irina slumped down when she reached the riverbank.
"I... I..."
Soon after, staring blankly at fish passing by her feet, Irina started muttering in a soulless voice.
"I just... wanted to set everything right..."
When she first regressed, she thought this was a mission given to her by God.
A mission that God, taking pity on her who couldn't protect her friend, couldn't protect the empire, and couldn't kill the Demon King, gave her again.
That's why she毫不犹豫地 cast the most terrible curse she knew on Frey, who was as evil as the Demon King in the previous timeline.
But it turns out that Frey was actually a hero who did his best to protect everyone.
And he, not only felt unforgettable terrible pain because of the curse I cast, but also has to feel that pain again intact during his already shortened lifespan because of me.
"Haa..."
As such thoughts kept coming to mind and seemed to prick her heart, she gritted her teeth and bit her nails, then dipped her face in the flowing water for a moment.
"...Puhaha."
It was an action intended to cool her head in the cold river water and regain calmness, but far from becoming calm, her mind started to become complicated instead.
Like pouring water on a burning fire not making it cold but making it go out weakly, Irina, who had become very depressed, felt water dripping from her head and muttered.
'In the old days... I played here with Frey...'
Memories with Frey started to flicker in Irina's eyes, which had lost their vitality.
"Irina... why aren't any fish caught on my fishing rod?"
"Idiot, you didn't put bait on it."
Frey, who fished for several hours full of expectations without even putting bait on, and when he couldn't catch a single fish until evening came, asked her the reason while sobbing.
"Ouch! Agh! M, magic is cheating...!"
Frey, who confidently jumped in saying he was confident in water play, but after being knocked down several times by her water-attribute magic and drinking water, complained with an unfair expression.
"Wow... it's delicious... but why is it delicious?"
"...Is that a compliment? Or a curse?"
Frey, who took a bite of the salted grilled fish and muttered purely with twinkling eyes.
And...
"I'm not eating this anymore... so you eat it all."
Frey, who had suddenly changed one day, was forcibly dragged along and when she held out grilled fish, said coldly and trampled the grilled fish mercilessly.
"At that time... I just thought he changed temporarily due to the shock of his mother's death..."
And thinking that it was just because he was temporarily shocked, that he would someday smile and play with me again, I alone grilled and ate fish thinking so.
"Heuh..."
To somehow soothe her heart that was becoming more and more depressed as she thought more and more, Irina started walking aimlessly away from the riverside full of memories.
However...
"...Shit."
Everywhere she went was full of places with memories with Frey, so eventually Irina stopped walking and slumped down on the ground.
"What... should I do from now on?"
For now, she can stand in front of him using Kania's appearance, disguised by drinking the highest quality transformation potion that was in Frey's room.
But sooner or later, she will have to stand in front of Frey in her own appearance.
What reaction she should show at that time... what she should say... no, whether she should even pretend to know him in the first place...
'...I don't know.'
Irina, who has lived with the motto that when questions arise, she must find the answer, could not carry out that motto today.
This is because confusion and chaos created by the entanglement of self-rationalization and guilt were shaking her heart.
Irina, who was crouching and sitting, refusing to make a judgment for the first time instead of finding an answer as she always did, suddenly frowned and raised her head.
"...What is that?"
From the forest ahead, strange mana was flowing out.
It was a faint amount of mana that ordinary people would never detect, but Irina, whose mana sensitivity was raised to the extreme, could feel that mana quite in detail.
"This dark and ominous feeling is... black mana..."
After feeling that mana for a while, Irina realized it was black mana and looked around with a tense expression and muttered.
'...Did Kania come?'
Irina, who was not yet ready to contact Frey or his collaborators, swallowed her saliva and stood up from her seat.
'...Huh?'
Soon after, Irina, who stretched out both arms and felt the mana energy more closely, frowned and started tilting her head.
'Not Kania?'
When black mages emit black mana, unless intended, it spreads irregularly in all directions.
But the black mana she is feeling now is thin and long... flowing like a single stream.
As if guiding somewhere.
"...Gulp."
Irina started moving her footsteps cautiously toward where the black mana was, thinking such thoughts.
It was suspicious that black mana was suddenly felt in an ordinary mountain forest where she and Frey used to play in the old days, but also because Frey's words earlier bothered her.
'He definitely... said the actual culprit of the training evaluation incident was a scroll merchant.'
Until now, she had thought that the culprit of the 'training evaluation kidnapping incident' was Frey.
However, having realized Frey's truth, he too could only be thought of as an innocent victim.
Of course, it couldn't be Arianne who was the culprit... the culprit would be a scroll merchant with very excellent magical knowledge who created a scroll to the extent of deceiving herself and Arianne.
And such an unidentified merchant definitely has some purpose.
The final thing they faced during the previous incident was the terrible existence called Dark Golem that drove Sunrise Academy to a half-destroyed state.
Therefore, there must be some reason for being sent here too.
"Huu..."
After finishing her thoughts, Irina was heading quietly toward where the black mana was emanating, then suddenly stopped walking.
'...It's dangerous.'
To somehow turn her troubled mind that is tormenting her now, it is essential to immerse herself in something, but she cannot take risks.
If there is a dangerous existence like 'Dark Golem' here, not only herself but Frey as well would be in danger.
'First... retreat first...'
Eventually Irina gave up chasing the energy and started returning to the secret base.
- Rumble!!
Around the time she arrived near the secret base, suddenly thunder struck and rain started to fall.
"...Ugh."
Feeling that the sight seemed to represent her current feelings, Irina's already gloomy heart started to become even more depressed.
"Young master, did you stay safe..."
Of course, she had no intention of standing there pitifully in the rain, so Irina, who hurriedly ran into the secret base, froze at the situation unfolding before her eyes.
"...Where did he go?"
The bed where Frey was lying is empty.
Irina, who had been watching the scene frozen for a moment, soon ran out of the secret base with a pale face.
- Rumble! Rumble!!
"Young master!!"
She shouted urgently in the weather that had changed to a storm, but her voice just returned as meaningless echoes.
"Frey!!"
When only echoes returned even after calling Frey's name desperately once more, Irina started looking around with an anxious expression.
However, when visibility was not secured due to the intensifying storm, Irina clenched her fists and started muttering to herself.
'He'll still be nearby... I can do it now... I can do it now...'
Soon after, a faint light started flowing from her hand.
It was Irina's trick of figuring out how to forcibly squeeze out the mana deep inside her body while experiencing mana exhaustion for several months.
"Euuugh...!"
But since it was forcibly wringing out the mana mixed little by little in the mana circuits in her body, serious pain started tormenting her before long.
'This much is... no problem... I've burned and broken my mana circuits so many times... this much is...'
Of course, Irina had often damaged her mana circuits in the previous timeline, but voluntarily squeezing the mana circuits was not an easy task even for her, so her eyes were bloodshot and blood was flowing from her mouth.
"Heuh... Haa..."
After squeezing all the mana remaining in her body for a few minutes into one hand, she blew a sphere-shaped mana into the sky and muttered.
"Find... Frey Raon Starlight."
Then the sphere that was spinning round and round started flying somewhere while scattering light.
Looking at that light that uses so little mana that it could bring about a revolution in detection magic in the future, which always gave her victory in hide-and-seek with Frey when she was young, Irina started running with all her might.
"Frey! Are you there!? Frey!!"
Irina, who was running to the place the sphere was guiding while shouting desperately, frowned at the sight that entered her vision and muttered.
'This is... where I was earlier?'
Realizing that she had arrived again at the place where she had discovered black mana earlier, Irina witnessed the sphere flying quickly toward where the black mana was felt and started running with a shocked expression.
"N, no! No!!"
Despite her earnest cries, the sphere continued to fly vigorously toward where the black mana energy was flowing out, and Irina watched that sight with terrified eyes and muttered to herself.
'If... if Frey was attacked while I was away... even if not that, if Frey, who was suffering from hallucinations, headed there...!'
Due to the heavily pouring rain, her hair was disheveled and clothes were wet, but Irina just kept running and running.
"Heuk!"
Then Irina, who slipped and rolled magnificently on the dirt ground, groaned for a moment while clutching her twisted ankle, then soon gritted her teeth and stood up.
"Frey!! Can you hear me!? Frey!!"
Irina, who was moving her steps while calling Frey's name and dragging her injured foot, stopped walking for a moment and started catching her breath after passing through the densely overgrown trees.
"Haa... haa..."
Her arms and legs were all scratched and wounded, and her twisted ankle was throbbing.
The mana she barely gathered by squeezing her mana circuits was only enough to use about two fireballs, having used the improved detection magic.
But even in that desperate situation, Irina started staggering toward where the sphere was.
'...Here?'
The place she arrived at while dragging her twisted foot was the entrance of a cave hidden in a secluded place.
- Shuuu...
Next to Irina, who was looking at the dark cave entrance full of ominous energy with wary eyes, the sphere flew away while emitting light.
"...Huu."
Irina, who made up her mind after seeing that sight, stretched her arm forward so she could shoot a fireball at any time and started entering the cave carefully.
'...It's definitely not Kania's energy.'
As she went further inside and felt the evil energy, Irina quietly fell into thought.
Kania, who was a black mage but had a good heart, would never emit such evil energy. In other words, the existence ahead is not Kania but an evil existence.
Whether it was a black mage hiding here, or a monster... something emitting such ominous energy to this extent would be a quite powerful existence.
'Can I win?'
Such a doubt arose for a moment, but soon Irina shook her head and shook off the doubt.
If she retreated here now, she couldn't guarantee what would happen to Frey.
Therefore, she must make him escape from here by any means possible.
Only that is what she thinks about now.
- Shalal...
While making such a firm resolution and moving her steps carefully, she swallowed her saliva as she saw the flying sphere melting and disappearing in front of a stone door.
Beyond there is Frey. Frey, who might already be too late, or might be desperately waiting for someone's help.
Opening this door makes it irreversible. She will face Frey in whatever state, who won't be unharmed.
- Creak...
But if she never opens the door like this, it was too obvious what would happen to Frey, so Irina carefully opened the door while listening to her own heart beating nervously.
"...Young master?"
Then, Frey's back standing still entered her view.
"Yeah, Kania."
And after a moment, when Frey answered the question in a fine voice, Irina made a slightly relieved expression and approached him.
"What on earth are you doing here..."
"Did you intervene in my hallucination again? I told you not to do that."
"What?"
Then when Frey suddenly started saying strange things, she asked back with a confused expression.
"I stepped outside the secret space for a moment because my chest felt stuffy... and the forest where I was chased by werewolves with Irina, who appeared in my dream last time, was manifested as a trial hallucination. And then, ominous black mana energy started flowing from this direction."
"I, I see..."
After briefly evading the question and organizing what she heard from Frey, Irina frowned and asked a question.
"But, werewolves?"
"Yeah. You might not know well, but according to what I saw in that dream, the thing chasing Irina and me was a werewolf. I don't know why there were werewolves in such an ordinary forest...!"
Then Frey, who was answering her, suddenly grabbed his head, lost his balance, and collapsed.
"You, young master?"
"Ugh... memory, my memory is..."
Irina, who was flustered, flew over and tried to catch Frey, but Frey, who was groaning, soon lost consciousness and went limp.
"W, what on earth is this..."
- Creak...
Irina, who was looking at him with a surprised expression, suddenly had the stone door behind her open and tried to reach out with a surprised expression, but.
"K, Kania?"
".....!"
Soon after confirming the person who appeared behind, she froze.
"...Why are you here?"
Frey's younger sister, Aria Raon Starlight, was staring blankly at her, who was in tatters.