Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Arguments in Bed Are Made Up Before Bedtime
"Why?"
Gwen was a little puzzled.
Viktor had come along with the Knight Company, and yet here he was, suddenly suggesting he wanted to split off and act alone.
She didn't quite understand. If Viktor didn't need the Knight Company's protection, then why had he come along with them in the first place?
Or rather—
What exactly was Viktor's purpose in coming to Mount Vesuvius?
"I need to reach the crater ahead of you."
That was what Viktor said.
Under Gwen's Heart of Justice, no lie could escape undetected.
But he hadn't lied. Which meant Viktor genuinely intended to go to the crater.
Gwen thought back to the reason Viktor had given for joining them at the start.
"Could it be that the creature you mentioned……is at the crater?"
"Mm……"
Viktor went quiet for a moment. In his mind, the image of that overwhelming beast surfaced.
And so he answered.
"More or less."
……What did "more or less" mean?
He hadn't lied either. Gwen was a little curious, but she wasn't the type to pry into other people's affairs.
This was a Dormant Volcano, after all. And Viktor had mentioned that he was very familiar with the terrain of Mount Vesuvius.
It should be fine.
Gwen gave a nod and approved his request to split off.
"I'll come find you once I've finished what I need to do."
The words had barely left Viktor's mouth when a Magic Formation appeared at his feet, blue and shimmering with scattered points of starlight.
A flash of blue light—and his figure vanished without a trace.
Watching a living person disappear right in front of her left Gwen momentarily dazed.
One of the Knights, who had watched the entire exchange between the 2 of them, walked over to Gwen upon seeing her still standing there in a stupor.
"Knight Commander? Did you two……have a falling out last night?"
Gwen turned her head, mouth opening slightly.
"No, it's not what you're thinking……"
Before she could finish, the Knight continued.
"Ahh, it's perfectly normal for couples to argue. My wife and I fight all the time, and our son's already 8. You fight at night, you make up by morning—couples don't hold grudges overnight."
The more Gwen listened, the redder her face grew.
"Enough! Move out, now!"
She snapped at the Knight and made a swift exit.
"Huh? Knight Commander Gwen! I didn't say anything wrong……sigh, young women these days, so sensitive. That reaction tells me I hit the nail on the head."
Whatever that Knight said after, Gwen didn't quite catch it anymore.
Her face was faintly flushed, like a girl who'd had her innermost thoughts seen through.
But in truth, she knew better than anyone.
Between her and Viktor, there was nothing.
Just as she could never fall for Viktor, Viktor could never fall for her.
Gwen mounted the White Horse, a quiet shadow passing through her thoughts.
If nothing went wrong, she would probably end up marrying Viktor in the end.
After all, the Marriage Engagement between the 2 families had been settled long ago.
Gwen was the second daughter of her family. When it came to the family's decisions, she could only comply—she had no power to change them.
Gwen had no desire to marry, least of all because the Viktor she used to know had left her with a thoroughly unpleasant impression.
How could I ever marry someone like that?
That thought flashed through her mind, and she suddenly found herself thinking back to the previous night.
He had carried himself like an elegant noble—every movement, every gesture, the picture of a gentleman.
And at some point she wasn't even sure of, he had given up the only bed for her.
When she woke up, she found Viktor sitting quietly in the chair, reading that dense and impenetrable Spellbook—he had sat there the entire night.
She felt guilty, but Viktor had turned around and told her that Mages had their own way of resting, and all they needed was a quiet environment.
Was he……really a scoundrel?
The question stirred in Gwen's mind unbidden.
Having pledged herself to the path of absolute justice, Gwen had never truly hated anyone.
Not even Viktor.
I was probably pretty quiet last night……
She shook the stray thoughts from her head, raised the silver sword in her hand, and swept it forward.
"Move out!"
***
A curtain of blue light fell from the sky, forming a Teleportation Formation in midair, and Viktor's figure emerged from within.
He opened his eyes. The scenery around him had changed markedly.
The surroundings were so barren there was almost nothing—only a few scattered chunks of charred stone standing on the slope.
Where he now stood was the mid-slope of the volcano, well ahead of where the Knight Company would be.
This was the maximum range Teleportation Magic could reach in a single cast.
Teleporting all the way to the summit in 1 go was, as expected, not quite feasible.
Seeing no one around him, Weija craned its neck from its perch on his shoulder and spoke to him openly.
"Why did you choose to split off from them?"
"The Knight Company's route should be the same as yours. Traveling with them, you'd have gotten here sooner or later."
Viktor pressed lightly on its head and explained.
"I don't need their company."
"There are things I have to investigate myself. No need for others to know."
Weija found it puzzling. The way Viktor carried himself, it looked as though he had been planning this for a long time.
Thinking back to the interest he'd shown when Mount Vesuvius was first mentioned, Weija found it hard not to suspect he already knew something.
1 man and 1 bird walked along Mount Vesuvius. The volcano had erupted once before.
But after that eruption, Mount Vesuvius lost the force to erupt again and became a Dormant Volcano.
The residents below the mountain built a town there, and by now, several hundred years had passed.
After centuries of wind and sun, the ground had long since taken on the ashen color of charcoal, riddled with cracks and weathered volcanic rock.
Finding any kind of plant life here would be a tall order.
But with several hundred years behind them, no one worried any longer about the volcano erupting again.
The volcano was only a few hundred meters tall, and he reached the summit area quickly.
The further up toward the summit Viktor went, the more clearly he could feel that intensely concentrated flame element in the air.
Not just him—Weija sensed it too.
It turned its head and shot Viktor a look with subtly complicated eyes.
"Interesting. I'd really like to crack open your head and see how you even thought to come here."
"You actually found a 'Calamity.'"
Viktor's expression remained perfectly calm. Weija understood—he had known all along that something was here.
A Calamity.
To be precise, this was the specific name recorded in history for the Molten Fiend.
There were 6 Calamities in the world, each corresponding to 1 of the 6 magical elements.
Wind, Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, Lightning.
And the one sealed within Mount Vesuvius was the Calamity of Fire—Gulton.
Its body was so enormous it seemed to scrape the heavens, its entire form bathed in molten fire, like a demon god born from flame.
The reason they were called Calamities was because their very appearance would bring Natural Disaster and chaos to the land around them, reaching a level of power that struck terror into all who heard of it.
Their existence brought nothing but harm to every living creature—no good whatsoever.
This was the "Calamity"—just as the name implied.
"I'm quite curious. It's been sleeping soundly here all this time. What exactly are you coming to find it for?"
Weija looked down at Gulton beneath the crater and asked Viktor.
"To collect a little interest in advance."
Viktor stood at the crater's edge, looking down from above.
It was bottomless—so deep one might even question whether anything truly existed inside.
Searing air shot upward from the mouth of the volcano, and an astonishing wave of heat struck him full in the face.
His eyes grew suddenly resolute.
Cold wind and scorching air swirled together, stirring his Coat, and standing at the highest point of the volcano, he could barely even make out Weija's voice beside him.
"Hey, hey—what are you just standing there for? Don't tell me you're going to jump in from here?"
Viktor didn't respond. Weija fell silent for a moment.
"You……are……not……actually……going……to……jump……are you?"
Its word-by-word question had absolutely no effect.
Because Viktor had already said to it:
"Hold on tight!"
And with that, he leapt into the hundred-meter-deep volcanic crater below.
"You could at least ask for my opinion!!!!!"
The red-hot rock walls around them surged downward as they fell. Weija clamped its beak down on Viktor's clothes with everything it had.
In that moment, it had completely forgotten that it was a bird with wings.
The world before them pitched and roared, and finally……
A flash of white light—and both of their figures vanished from the air.
***
"After being a god for this long, this is the first time I've ever felt this insane."
When Weija opened its eyes, it seemed to have arrived in an entirely different space.
All around was pitch black. The only thing visible to the naked eye was the floor beneath them.
"So dark. Viktor? Viktor?"
Viktor was right behind it. Seeing the Crow had come to, he picked it up and placed it back on his shoulder.
Weija had just been about to ask Viktor to conjure some fire to light up the surroundings—when a thunderous snoring erupted from the darkness ahead.
Loud enough to nearly deafen a Crow.
"Good grief, who on earth is snoring like that—urgh……"
Weija fell silent.
It had found the source of the snoring. Or rather……
Right there before it, at this very moment, eyes shut, fast asleep.
How to describe it?
Like a towering pillar driving straight up into the heavens.
It was as tall as a mountain, inspiring awe and terror in equal measure.
The Calamity of Fire—Gulton—had appeared before them just like that.
A bead of cold sweat appeared at the top of Weija's head, and the feathers on its head seemed to stand visibly on end.
"Kid, are you actually planning to challenge it?"
"Don't joke around! Right now I'm just a plain ordinary bird—I can't help you with anything!"
Viktor didn't look at it. He pinched a small flame between his fingertips, illuminating the space ahead.
And illuminating the true form of the great beast.
"Don't say that."
"You are the greatest asset I have for defeating it."
The next instant, the rumbling snoring came to a stop.
2 massive red eyes opened, like 2 astounding lanterns blazing to life.
"ROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!!"
Looking down at the 2 ants below, it let out a furious roar that reverberated through the entirety of Mount Vesuvius.