Chapter 203 : Chapter 203
Chapter 203 - Prisoner
Josephine's eyes slowly opened. Along with her gradually returning consciousness, she winced at the burning, stinging sensation at the back of her neck.
Her body, which she instinctively twisted, was not comfortable. Her wrists and ankles were bound, and her body itself had collapsed onto the floor.
Enduring the pain, she opened her eyes to see a dark room with not a single window. The only light source in the room was the teleportation magic circle that the Pursuer had just finished completing. As a mage of Wisdom, she could recognize it as a teleportation magic circle even with a passing glance.
"Are you awake?"
The Pursuer noticed her condition without giving her a single glance. He was kneeling on one knee, manipulating the magic circle with both hands, before clicking his tongue as if disappointed.
"The family told me to send you back alive. I really do not understand if they consider you special because you are an illegitimate daughter, rather than just a member of a collateral branch."
"......"
Josephine's blue eyes shook slightly. Although one ear was closed against the floor, she felt she could recognize the voice with her remaining ear.
"Master...?"
She hadn't realized it when they first met. But hearing it a second time, and from this close, it was definitely familiar.
"So you recognize me."
Master. That damn master pulled back his hood and turned his head. Except for being a bit older than she remembered, her master's face was no different from her memory.
The eyes that looked at me as if I were filth. The mouth that belittled me. The scowling face. Everything was exactly as it was.
"...Did the family send you as a Pursuer, Master?"
"Yes. Since I taught you, I know all your little habits. I volunteered personally."
Her master's eyes curved into crescents. The way the corners of his mouth twitched up was venomous.
"Should a master not correct their disciple when they stray onto the wrong path?"
"Would someone who would have pushed me off a cliff if they could even know what a good path is?"
"Yes. Keep acting arrogant. For you, after you return to the family, even this moment will be a luxury."
Strength naturally surged into her body.
Crack—
She put as much strength as possible into her feet and hands. But no matter how much she strained her muscles, she couldn't break free. The mana she was constantly circulating through her body was also causing trouble.
"It is a strength artifact that interferes with mana concentration. A masterpiece of the family Pursuers. Stop your useless struggling and stay still. You are already caught in a cage."
"Who would stay still when they know they will die if they go?"
He chuckled.
"You will not die. You cannot die even if you want to. The Family Head has a plan he has established for you. Would you like to hear it while we are at it?"
The old master, who had been continuing to build the magic circle, turned his body and approached her. He looked excited, as if he were about to tell a very interesting story.
"There are approximately ten minutes left until the completion of the magic circle. Thirty minutes after that, your core will be closed."
Though she had severed her ties, the illegitimate daughter from Wisdom trembled slightly. Core closure. In fact, it was the moment her life as a mage would end. It wasn't that using magic was impossible without a core, but the difference in efficiency and output was immense.
However, Josephine was not strictly needed as a mage. The master's wrinkled hand tapped the head of his disciple, which contained so much information.
"An hour later. After your core is closed, the Family Head will use Mental Domination magic on you."
"...You are repulsive to the end. Since when did you take out the family's forbidden art that you had kept locked away?"
"This is a state of war. This is no time to be worrying about whether something is a forbidden art or not."
Mental Domination was Wisdom’s forbidden art that allowed one to see through another’s brain as if looking at the palm of their hand and manipulate it at will. A magic that they had avoided, saying its actions and results were the same as those snakes of the East, had come out into the world.
The shoulders that had been trembling slightly earlier now spread that fear to her arms and legs. She tried to endure it even a little, but she bit her lip hard at the unbearable revulsion.
She twisted her body to somehow escape, but in the end, it was merely a meaningless struggle. The corners of the old master's mouth deepened even further.
"Yes. This suits you well. It has been that way since you were young."
The day the family told him to teach Wisdom's illegitimate daughter. The day Josephine Blue Wisdom became his disciple. On that first day, there were no major emotions. He was just slightly surprised. Collateral branches were common, but illegitimate sons and daughters were certainly not. He thought her talent would be either ordinary or a bit better than a collateral branch.
But the child who was of the Wisdom direct line, and even had half of the Family Head's blood, was not ordinary. It was especially so regarding the amount of mana she possessed.
The only way to increase mana was to obtain special medicinal herbs produced by the family.
The mana he had increased over many years of loyalty to the family and performing all sorts of dirty deeds was a symbol of his loyalty.
But when the child the Family Head had abandoned after satisfying a momentary lust far exceeded him... From that moment on, that fair face never looked pleasant to him.
"A girl who didn't gain a single thing by her own strength should at least know what it means when the family gives her a chance before she acts out. Just like this."
Thump!
Her body, which had been kicked, rolled across the floor.
"A girl who was born wrong in this world. Be grateful. If it weren't for the Family Head's mercy, you would have been torn into a thousand pieces by my hands."
"No. I am grateful to you, Master."
"...What?"
The foot that was about to kick her belly once more hesitated. To that, Josephine gave a thick smile.
"Thanks to you still hating me, you have dragged out the time quite a bit."
"Madwoman. It will be easier to knock you out and shut your mouth."
He took out the syringe he had used when they first met.
"Have sweet dreams. Many things will have changed when you wake up."
"That is what I was going to say."
BOOOOOM!!
An explosion erupted from the outer wall painted in shadows. Her eardrums rang violently, and fragments of the wall brushed against her exposed skin.
At the same time, a strong burnt smell entered deep into her nose. It was a burnt smell that the illegitimate daughter of Wisdom had smelled several times recently.
"W-what is...!"
Quickly unleashing his mana, he unfolded a magic circle. The lightning-attribute magic circle became a light source as blue currents occasionally sparked.
Every time the light of the current briefly brightened the dark interior, amber pupils were revealed. They were black pupils slit vertically.
"Uh..."
In that moment when his gaze was stolen by those eyes.
Swish—
A line of blood-light pierced through the lightning-attribute magic circle and penetrated his shoulder. Even so, the straight line did not stop and embedded itself into the wall.
"Aaaaaagh...!!"
It didn't end with a simple stab. The high heat searing the wound even blocked the gaps where blood would have flowed out. The Pursuer lay prone on the floor and crawled like a slug from the pain as if his arm were being torn off.
"I am sparing you only because of my master's command. If it were not for his mercy, you would have been burned alive until not even a speck of ash remained."
Kairos, who spoke coldly unlike his burning amber eyes, approached Josephine.
"I am sorry. I am too late."
"No. The timing was perfect."
"I will ask for forgiveness later. For now, this first."
Crack—
He tore off the blue cords that bound Josephine. It was a string that strangely scattered mana when touched. He had wondered why she was bound with such a thin string, and it turned out there was such a secret.
"You have worked hard."
"Hehe. It was nothing. More importantly, were the sugar cubes delicious?"
"...I have truly committed a deadly sin."
Looking at the dragon whose head dropped low, Josephine laughed despite her aching belly. As expected, when you are by Dante’s side, you see many wondrous things.
It was a scene she would never have seen in her entire life had she continued to live in Wisdom.
A dragon apologizing. And sincerely at that. Furthermore, it was her first time accepting a dragon's apology.
"I am really fine. I was just joking, so I hope you do not think too deeply about it."
"I would be truly grateful then."
Kairos gave a polite bow once more before turning his amber eyes to the side. An eye of the ultimate predator, completely different from when he looked at Josephine, looked down at him. The eyes that were not wearing sunglasses revealed his identity. For a moment, even forgetting the pain, the mage's body froze stiff.
"D-Dragon..."
Josephine, standing beside the Blood Fire Dragon Kairos, smiled brightly.
"Have sweet dreams. Many things will have changed when you wake up."
"You damn—"
Thwack—!
Her former master went limp. Kairos, who had used his hand instead of something like a syringe, asked.
"Is it someone you know?"
"He was my master. Though I didn't exactly receive any teachings."
"What an ill-fated relationship."
"I suppose so. Although I thought it was a tie I had severed."
However, human ties followed quite persistently and were forced to bind.
"For now, let's return. It must be quite late."
"We should."
"I will put my master into my spatial artifact for a moment."
Humans normally cannot be put into a spatial artifact. Originally, only objects that do not move could be placed in a spatial artifact. If an object moves, the spatial artifact ejects it immediately for fear of collision with other objects. But a human in this unconscious state was no different from an object.
The Pursuer was placed in the spatial artifact, and the dragon and the illegitimate daughter walked under the night sky of the Imperial Capital.
***
The Head Maid had been feeling a strange way lately. She had voluntarily separated from the Intelligence Department, even going so far as to have her memory erased, but for some reason, it felt as if she had been reinstated. She was now used to leaving the Imperial Palace through Full Body Spirit Form.
She moved to the prayer hall to get a specimen of a sick person for the Forest Witch. As one could tell by looking at the sky, it was a time when half the world was asleep. The Head Maid infiltrated the prayer hall as a guest in the middle of the night. As expected, there was a separate isolation space for the sick.
Cough— Cough—
Faint coughs came from all directions even while they slept. The Head Maid, who covered her nose and mouth with a cloth, walked among them. She took out an extra cloth and brought it close to the faces of the sick who were coughing continuously. As they breathed, secretions such as saliva splattered and stained the cloth. She folded the specimen she had obtained and put it into a bottle.
Mission accomplished.
She stepped out of the hospital room and slipped away as if nothing had happened. She then turned her body to head toward the Imperial Palace.
"I really didn't think you would just leave like this."
The voice heard from atop the wall of the prayer hall stopped her soundless footsteps.
"Did you not notice? Or are you ignoring me? Right now, I think the former is a bit more likely."
The man who jumped down from the wall landed in front of the Head Maid. The uniform of the Family Intelligence Department... among them, the black uniform signifying a Grade 1 Agent was something she hadn't seen in quite a while. The face behind that mask was the same.
"Lara. You've become much slower."
"It is none of your concern. Kang Yu."
The Intelligence Department agent from the South nodded with a faint smile.
"That razor-sharp personality is the same even if your memory is gone. I'm glad you remember me."
"I don't know in what sense it's a relief, but if you have nothing to say, I'm leaving."
"There is something I want to ask."
When he lowered the mask covering his face, his tanned skin, characteristic of the South, was revealed. From his strong features, she could feel that it was a question he truly wanted to ask. Since she already had a long list of things she expected, she let out a sigh.
"Finish it quickly."
"Why on earth are you serving the Fifth Son even while being subjected to memory erasure?"
"Is it that after all?"
Mirea passed him without giving him a single glance.
"If you're that curious, come and see for yourself."
"......"
She vanished, fading away through spirit form. After watching her back for a moment, Kang Yu followed.
Come and see for yourself because I'm curious? Yes. I'm incredibly curious.
The provider of the cause of the war who is here as an envoy.
What kind of person is he? I've only heard many rumors, but I've never seen him properly.
"What I said just now wasn't just empty words."
Kang Yu's entire body turned into a spirit form. He followed Mirea toward the Imperial Palace, toward where the Youngest Son was.