◈ Episode 406. Four Days (1)
I scolded the chick.
“Do not act so insolently, Proznax.”
“As the Black Dark Dragon has spoken, I shall forgive you today. Human.”
“Commander-in-Chief, what on earth is that chick?”
As it had said with its own beak, this was the ice dragon, Proznax. ‘It’s been a while since I truly felt the power of running my mouth.’ Did the words I spoke really have to come true? Proznax had manifested Polymorph, changed his appearance into that of a chick, torn through dimensions, and chased after me. The reason was obvious. ‘In any case, I’m good at making others worry, aren’t I?’ Swallowing a sigh inwardly, I answered Harkon.
“It succeeded because of your sacrifice.”
“My sacrifice, you say…… No, surely!”
“Yes. I purified the evil fruit.”
Since I had manifested the ultimate essence of healing magic and died on the Arcana Continent, I had no way of knowing through what process Proznax had been purified. Nor did I know what the situation on the Arcana Continent was.
And so.
-“Black Dark Dragon!”
The moment Proznax tore through empty space and revealed himself in the form of a chick.
Rather than being surprised, I felt glad. There was the relief that my death had not been meaningless. On top of that, I thought I might finally hear exactly what had happened, the whole story from beginning to end.
However.
The chick tilted its head.
-“I was in such a hurry to chase after you that I don’t know?”
Indeed, a hatchling faithful to the stormy turbulence of his emotions……! ‘Then I have no choice but to ask Hiel.’ It was just as I was agonizing over that.
Harkon knocked on the office door.
Harkon was someone trained in Granfell-style speech.
It seemed he quickly grasped the hidden meaning within my words.
“After Eunaxus, it seems an evil dragon appeared on the Arcana Continent as well. And that is this ice dragon, Proznax……. However, may I ask why he has taken on the form of a chick?”
Proznax answered that.
“Human. As long as Polymorph exists, outward appearance is meaningless to a dragon. Because He wishes for me to be a chick, I am merely obeying His command. Is that not so, Black Dark Dragon?”
When by chick, I hadn’t meant an actual chick.
Maybe because he was a hatchling, he didn’t understand metaphor.
Still, well, a chick was on the better side. ‘Though it does shed feathers.’ More than anything, just imagine if he returned to the form of a massive ice dragon inside the office. Forget making a mess, this lavish golden palace itself might collapse.
Harkon flinched and nodded.
“So it was the Commander-in-Chief’s influence after all. As expected.”
I looked at Harkon, who was marveling. ‘Even Harkon can’t completely hide his emotions.’ Harkon was a veteran of a hundred battles.
He had gone through countless battlefields and, in the end, suffered such an extreme ordeal that he lost both legs. In other words, ordinary matters did not show on his face. Yet even on Harkon’s face, anticipation was visible. ‘This makes it even harder to say.’
The emperor’s mysterious choice.
The lockdown declared over Antonium.
The prodigal son of Claudi, Pride, might be involved in that incident.
No matter how I looked at it, it was not my fault.
I, Lee Hoyeol.
Because I had tact, it was not easy to bring it up rashly.
But would Granfell, who hid nothing, ever allow silence?
In the end, I opened my mouth.
“A lockdown has been imposed on Antonium, Harkon.”
“……
I had heard the rumors as well. So it was true.”
“And a great evil is involved in that lockdown.”
“By a great evil, you must mean one of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Indeed. The final of the Seven Deadly Sins, Pride.”
I continued.
“At the same time, he is a Claudi with silver hair like mine.”
“……!”
Harkon’s pupils trembled.
Of course he could only be bewildered.
But I did not yet know the specific circumstances either.
To begin with, the only time I had faced Pride was in [Curse, Understanding of Darkness].
And even that had only been for an instant within the memories of “that day.” ‘I don’t even know exactly what relationship we have.’ But there was no need for concern.
The king of the Scavengers, Emilio.
Now that I had formed a connection with him.
I could grasp the movements within Antonium through the sewers.
At Emilio’s name, Harkon nodded.
“A devastated continent would be an environment where Scavengers could not help but swarm. The fact that he united such Scavengers means he is no ordinary figure……. To think you would embrace even such a person. As expected of you, Commander-in-Chief.”
……
Rather than me embracing him, it was thanks to a butterfly effect.
I remained silent about that. Though Harkon was doing his best to answer, I had noticed the worry filling his face. It was about time to get to the main point.
“I will permit the Lion Heart Knights to enter the Arcana Continent. The time will be exactly this time tomorrow. The objective is to assess the situation in Antonium. And.”
At the words that followed, Harkon’s eyes shone.
“To meet with the emperor.”
“!”
Pride clearly had some sort of scheme.
He seemed to want none other than me to set foot in Antonium. If it had been before, I might have entered Antonium immediately. But as I said earlier, I was different from when I had struggled alone.
As much as I had acknowledged the weight of being the Commander-in-Chief of the Holy War Alliance.
I had countless allies.
I had to command them and take responsibility for them.
Clack.
Soon, Harkon lowered his head with a solemn expression.
“The Lion Heart Knights shall obey the Commander-in-Chief’s command.”
Harkon withdrew to make the final preparations for deployment, leaving only me and Proznax in the office. Then from now on, it was time to question him in earnest. I asked the chick.
So.
“What happened to the evil fruit you swallowed, Proznax.”
*
Time on the Arcana Continent flowed four times faster than in reality.
Mana exhaustion.
Bellier’s eyelids, which had fallen shut in the aftermath, twitched.
“……?”
An unfamiliar ceiling.
A small family home.
A blond-haired man entering her sight.
“Where is this…….”
“Senior Bellier, are you all right?!”
“Senior Bensch……?”
“Thank goodness. Truly!”
A skilled mage of the Magic Tower had to decide on a field of magic.
Unless one possessed exceptional talent like Hoyeol, Marcelo, or Matisse and founded a new school, from the rank of skilled mage onward, one would hone only the magic one had chosen.
“I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. You worked hard, little brother.”
“Hehe. You flatter me, brother.”
However, Nash William was a mage who, though not affiliated with the Magic Tower, possessed the ability of a skilled mage.
Among the magic he had mastered through the high-quality magic books left in the Imperial Library was healing magic, and his level was comparable to that of a skilled mage of the Healing School.
Recognizing his efforts, Bellier expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you, Sir Nash.”
“N-No, not at all!”
Nash’s face reddened.
Bensch’s eyebrows twitched mischievously.
Yet there was no leisure to crack a joke.
Bellier immediately asked.
“Where is Chief Lee Hoyeol?”
She recalled her last memory.
The method to purify the evil fruit swallowed by the dragon.
It was to manifest the ultimate essence of healing magic and infuse the evil fruit with immense life force. More precisely, it was to offer one’s life and sprout the seed of the World Tree contained within the evil fruit. ‘And.’ Surely, Chief Lee had taken on that role in her place.
Bensch and Nash.
The faces of the two brothers stiffened.
“Regrettably, my younger brother Nash and I did not witness Chief Lee’s final moments, Senior Bellier. However, one thing is certain…….”
Swoosh.
Bensch’s finger pointed beyond the window.
“Senior Bellier’s research was not wrong.”
“……?”
As if possessed by something, Bellier rose from the bed and stepped outside.
Then she saw it.
In the north of Antonium, a sprout that had bloomed from an enormous seed of the World Tree.
“At first, I thought it was some kind of boulder……. But the adventurers recognized it immediately. They said that was the seed of the World Tree. It seems Chief Lee had likely shown it to the adventurers before.”
That was right.
In [The World Tree’s Secret Garden],
Hoyeol had already once sprouted the seed of the World Tree through Hiel’s {Blessing}. However, Bellier knew.
“……
No. This is different from that time.”
However, that seed had been a whole seed of the World Tree, untainted by evil. In order to sprout the seed of the World Tree from within the fruit of evil called the evil fruit, Hiel’s blessing alone was not enough.
As said before, immense life force.
The ultimate essence of healing magic.
Sacrifice was necessary.
At Bellier’s firm words, Bensch replied.
“Then how about asking them yourself?”
Where Bensch’s gaze turned, there were adventurers looking at the sprout of the World Tree. Those who had visited the annex of the Healing School as patients. Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leonie.
Bellier approached them. ‘If it is them.’ Just like with Eunaxus, they had fought a deadly battle against Proznax as well. If it was them, they would know Chief Lee’s whereabouts. As Bellier drew near, perhaps sensing her presence, all three turned their heads.
“……!”
However, Bellier could not ask right away.
Even if she was a great healing mage.
She could not heal the human heart.
Because the wounds within them were clearly revealed on their faces.
Hisagi tactfully opened his mouth.
“Proznax disappeared together with the Commander-in-Chief, who became a ray of light. And in the place where the ray of light vanished……. only the sprouted seed of the World Tree remained.”
Hisagi asked.
“……
Did the plan succeed, Senior Bellier?”
Leras Til.
If he had curled up and become an orb of light, had their upright Chief Lee become a streak of light? Had he remained upright to the very end, even amid extreme pain? As Bellier thought that and nodded, it happened.
Leonie clenched her teeth.
“You call this insane crap a plan?”
Looking at Bellier, she continued clearly.
“You and Lee Hoyeol are both out of your minds. Do you know that?! Throwing away your life was the only way?! Then you should have known how to give up. Why do you push yourselves that far, into a corner, to the edge of a cliff?!”……
Mmph, let go of me!
Nam Taemin covered Leonie’s mouth with his large hand, but Leonie had already said everything she wanted to say. It was rudeness that broke all decorum. Yet Bellier merely wore a bitter smile.
“You are no different, are you?”
Driving yourselves into a corner.
Walking toward a cliff was no different for the Holy War Alliance.
Bellier was the greatest healing mage currently alive.
Even Bellier, who could heal most injuries immediately.
Had taken nearly an entire week to heal these three.
Especially.
“Miss Leonie, how is the pain in your left arm?”
Berserker.
“What?”
Leonie, who always entered battle covered in blood and wounds. Leonie’s left arm was merely attached. Its condition was not much different from Harkon’s two legs, which had to be amputated.
At Bellier’s words, Nam Taemin finally flinched.
“Now that you mention it, where did you sell off one of your swords?”
“……
You just keep your mouth shut.”
Leonie, who had freely wielded twin swords, had lost her left arm.
It was fair to say her combat power had been halved.
Even so, she had charged at Proznax, who was more dangerous than Eunaxus.
Putting her life on the line.
Once Leonie quieted down, Bellier continued.
“Just like us, Chief Lee must have steeled himself as well.”
She did not want to admit it, but that was the conclusion.
Bellier looked at the brilliantly blooming sprout of the World Tree.
Was this sprout truly worth exchanging for Hoyeol’s life?
Chief Lee, I……
It was the moment Bellier was suppressing her emotions.
Hisagi quietly parted his lips.
“What do you intend to do from now on?”
“Well.”
Bellier looked at the village, at the people of the Empire.
For now, would treating their conditions not be the top priority?
Before she could answer, Hisagi spoke first.
“We intend to wait.”
“Wait……?”
“Four days.”
“……?”
“He said he would begin again in four days.”
Four days.
At those words.
The memories that had been blurred by mana exhaustion returned.
-“Let us meet in four days.”
“……!”
The words Hoyeol had left behind.
“Chief Lee left me with similar words as well.”
“……
What?”
“Wait, if it is four days.”
The Sage of Tokyo.
Hisagi’s mind began to turn busily.
He found the meaning hidden within Granfell-style speech.
“……
One possibility has occurred to me.”
“Possibility? What is it? Don’t drag it out!”
“Perhaps, at this very moment, the Commander-in-Chief is in reality.”
“Wh-What did you say?!”
It was the moment even Bellier’s green pupils widened.
Crackle!
Suddenly, empty space began to split apart.
Bellier, who was a mage.
And the William brothers, who were standing away from them, noticed first.
That was no ordinary portal.
It connected dimension to dimension.
In other words, it was a portal of the extraordinary manifested from reality.
At last, a form emerged from the portal.
That form revealed itself.
But it was small.
No, it was pitiful.
“……
What is that?”
It did not suit the grandiose presentation at all.
Because it was a tiny little chick.
However, its voice was by no means light.
“Behold, humans.”
“……
What is that? A chick?”
“Ice dragon.”
“Yeah, anyone can see it’s an ice chi— not, what? Ice dragon?!”
The contents were the same.
Flap, flap.
An adorable flapping of wings.
“This body, Lord Proznax, has returned from reality bearing the command given by our great Black Dark Dragon, the Commander-in-Chief of your Holy War Alliance!!”
“!!!”