Chapter 251
Humanity and Altife have been stuck in an endless cycle of war.
Altife won most of the battles, but humanity was tenacious.
Every now and then, heroes with overwhelming power would appear, bringing the front lines back to life.
Gulemashia was of this generation.
No, in the last generation, he was called the ‘greatest figure’ among those labeled as heroes.
Decades ago, the Altife felt an bone-deep fear at his mere existence.
Instead of recklessly invading, they focused on strengthening themselves.
Currently, the heroic figures included Gulemashia and Sylvester, ranked number one in the Hero Ranking.
And Helion, who had reached the status of a semi-hero.
Among them, the person Altife was most wary of was, of course, Gulemashia.
In other words, they were quietly waiting for Gulemashia’s life to come to an end.
*Cough cough.*
In truth, Gulemashia had been worried about his own death for quite some time.
He had warned his long-time friend, Holy Emperor Liovergo, and those around him about the consequences of his passing.
“This old body doesn’t know when it will collapse, and time flows like a stream, so I intend to resign from the chancellorship.”
He expressed his desire to devote himself to nurturing the next generation while he still had life left.
However, the Central Church could not let Gulemashia go, who was a symbol of the magician and one of the pillars sustaining this world.
Publicizing Gulemashia’s decline meant that the entity that had held Altife in check for over a century would vacate its position.
In an already chaotic world, this would create even larger ripples.
It would also awaken the bishops, who had been holding their breath in fear.
Thus, Gulemashia was a symbolic and absolute presence.
“Therefore, Gulemashia extended his life by sharing the massive mana stones and mana that supported the Academia.”
In simple terms, it was like being hooked up to an oxygen respirator.
Thanks to this, Gulemashia could live long, but he was effectively tied to the Academia, unable to break free.
The Central Church pushed to train talents who would be called heroes while he was still alive.
Ultimately, however, Gulemashia’s life would come to an end.
And the stability maintained for a hundred years would be broken.
“…Huh?”
Frieda’s eyes widened in surprise.
Bargan, who was facing Frieda in a dark, abandoned building, spoke.
“If Gulemashia dies, I couldn’t care less if an alarm goes off in the Grand Clock Tower.”
“Ah, no, it’s not that I’m surprised by that…”
“I’m not surprised by that…”
Frieda blinked in disbelief, mouth agape.
However, seeing no hint of wavering in Vargan’s eyes, she closed her mouth and swallowed hard.
She was curious about why Vargan had come to that conclusion, but for now, her mind continued with the mock experiment.
“That old man is going to die…”
A living legend.
The highest authority in the world of magicians and the chancellor of the Academia.
She knew he was thin and old, but it felt as if Gulemashia was proclaiming its own robustness to the entire world.
The defensive system of the Academia was always operational.
There was no one in this world who was unaware that Gulemashia was directly involved in that ironclad defense mechanism.
‘If Gulemashia dies, there will be no one to interfere even if they touch the defense system, and when a decisive flaw occurs, recovery will be difficult.’
Recalling her memories from the festival, Frieda concluded.
At that time, Gulemashia had worked hard to restore the unstable system, and he was the only one capable of doing so alone.
But if Gulemashia is gone?
Then normalizing the defense system would take an unimaginable amount of time, and the “gaps” would undoubtedly be massive.
The Archbishop… perhaps even something beyond that could enter.
Just thinking about it made Frieda shiver.
Her expression was one of anxious excitement, like someone who had bet their entire fortune.
Frieda said, “Lord Vargan… you really are a scary and bad person.”
There was no intent to belittle.
It was rather an expression of admiration for how far he could go.
Frieda didn’t ask Vargan to show proof of Gulemashia’s death.
She and Vargan were already on the same boat.
If even one of them betrayed, they risked sinking together.
“So I like you, Lord Vargan. It wasn’t like this at first… but it feels like my emotions are getting deeper.”
Frieda approached Vargan and rested her arms on his shoulder.
Her glistening eyes held a greed almost akin to madness.
The tension still lingered, but she seemed to enjoy it like someone relishing the thrill.
“I will actively support whatever you intend to do, Lord Vargan. But… you know?”
She leaned closer, her enchanting voice whispering seductively in his ear, “On the day you achieve what you desire, you must take me with you. That’s the price, right?”
Vargan promised Frieda.
It was a vow with no magic involved and no contract signed.
“If you abandon me, I will resent you until the day I die. A woman’s grudge can be scarier than any curse.”
Such a venomous remark.
*
Late at night.
Alicia was practicing alone in her room.
Distracted by her wandering thoughts, she interrupted her training and instead opened the window to grab a duster.
Dust, dust.
Then she silently began to dust the hard-to-reach corners.
Alicia had a habit of doing household chores when her worries grew too many.
This peculiar habit was a byproduct of her upbringing, as she’d been scolded and forced to labor since she was young.
“Alicia.”
“……..”
“Alicia?”
“……..”
On the other hand, Naias lay sprawled on the bed, in stark contrast to Alicia.
The spirit, comfortable as if it were her own room, shot up when Alicia didn’t respond and shouted loudly.
She shot up, raising her upper body and shouted loudly.
“Alicia-! Can you hear me?”
“Yes, what? Ah, ah! I’m sorry, Lady Naias.”
“Finally showing some reaction.”
Naias gazed at the startled Alicia with sharp eyes.
Knowing Alicia’s recent circumstances, she wanted to leave her alone as much as possible, but it had already been several days.
No matter how complicated things were for Alicia, this old spirit could no longer endure the boredom.
“There’s no more cleaning to do. You’ve scrubbed and polished so much lately that not a speck of dust could settle. Got it?”
“A….”
Alicia surveyed her surroundings with weary eyes.
Indeed, as she said, the room was sparkling clean, to the point where one could say it was pristine.
“Right?”
“Yes… you’re right, Lady Naias.”
“Seriously, how long will this gloominess last…? It’s because of your sister, isn’t it? Is Archbishop Salecius really your sister?”
“…….”
Alicia forced a stiff smile.
Though it was a tender smile that tugged at one’s heart, Naias chose to face reality instead of sympathizing.
“But there’s no way to revert those who turned into Altife.”
Those who were consumed by divine bugs or had become the mother entities due to the mindless Altife.
There was no existing method to return them to their original state.
After long years of experimentation, all had ended in failure.
The most notable achievement so far was Professor Lucien from Academia, who had developed a suppressor that slightly incapacitated the movement of divine bugs, delaying the Altification process—that was all.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to just give up?”
“…….”
Seeing Alicia’s unenthusiastic response, Naias scratched her head and continued.
“Yeah, well… let’s say something comes out that allows us to turn them back. But how long do you think that’ll take? 100 years? 500 years? Maybe a spirit could wait, but as a human, do you think you’d even get to see that medicine produced?”
“…….”
“I feel sorry for bothering a gloomy girl as it is… but that’s just reality. I’m a spirit, and I don’t have a sister, so I wouldn’t know, but if I were you, I’d just give up instead of worrying and overthinking like that. Thinking about it won’t solve anything.”
“……That’s true.”
“Huh?”
“I completely agree with you, Lady Naias.”
Alicia acknowledged the bitter reality.
With tearful eyes, she quietly moved her lips.
“Just like I don’t know how my sister became an Altife, I also don’t know how to turn her back.”
“Sadly, that’s right.”
“And if I’m here and my sister’s over there… one day we’ll meet again… as enemies.”
That was an unavoidable fate.
It wouldn’t be long until their reunion.
“If I could turn my sister back, that would be wonderful. It’s a selfish wish of mine. However, what I’ve been struggling with isn’t such an optimistic situation.”
“Hmm? Then? What have you been moping about?”
Alicia was running simulations in her mind.
If, on the day she encounters Salecius again in the future…
“I was thinking about how I could bring my sister back.”
Alicia was aware of her own weakness.
Weak to family, weak to feelings for precious people.
That’s why I had to think.
How to face my one and only sister…
She was, no matter what anyone said, a proper aspiring hero.
“…”
As the conversation grew heavy, the air around the two felt weighty as well.
Naias grumbled, “I didn’t want to have this kind of conversation…” then suddenly had a thought, grabbing Alicia’s hand and pulling her along.
“Let’s go to the Young Master’s room.”
“Wha, what? Now?”
“What’s the big deal? You’d visit at night often before. People even spread rumors about us being a couple.”
“That was when I was learning magic from the Young Master… Are you really going?”
“Yeah, I’m feeling down. I need to get it off my chest.”
Naias made a ridiculous statement that made it sound like she was treating Mari Vargan like a pet.
Alicia was so flustered that her sadness flew out the window.
“Wait! Just dropping by with no purpose is a no-go! The Young Master would hate it!”
“I already mentioned my purpose, right? I’m feeling down, so I’m going to vent.”
“That’s just your excuse…!”
“You seem to be pulled along way too easily for someone making that claim…”
“……”
Naias, chuckling, stopped dragging Alicia.
As he scrutinized her face, she slowly lowered her head to avoid showing her expression.
Naias, finally amused by Alicia’s reaction when he mentioned Vargan, started laughing.
“Got it, got it. You need a pretext, huh? Hmm… Ah, I got one.”
“……”
“You just took up the position of President of Arbol Frutal, right? Since the Young Master said it’s fine to consult others, we can say I came to get advice.”
“Well, that’s true but…”
“Great! Let’s go.”
“Ugh…”
In the end, Alicia lost the argument with Naias.
They were standing in front of Vargan’s dormitory, just a knock away.
“Shouldn’t we go in?”
“Naias, I really think coming right now….”
Knock knock.
Naias knocked without a care.
Then, as usual, instead of a domineering tone, a woman with worried eyes appeared.
Squeak.
Erica peeked out, opening the door slightly.
“Alicia?”
“…Erica.”
Alicia was already aware that Erica was staying in Vargan’s room.
The reason Alicia hesitated wasn’t because of that.
“It seems the Young Master is out…”
“Ah… yeah, he hasn’t returned yet.”
For some reason, Erica’s expression seemed a bit dark.
Alicia felt puzzled by her reaction, but Naias interrupted, wanting to know.
“Do you know where he went?”
“Ah, no, I don’t know either…”
“That’s tough. Should we go look for him?”
“…Ah.”
Erica flinched at Naias’s proactive actions.
Naias was about to retreat, thinking it was a downer.
As Alicia also lowered her head, apologizing for bothering her so late, Erica spoke up with newfound courage.
“Um… Alicia.”
“Yes?”
“If you’ve got time, would you like to wait inside?”
Erica kept the door wide open as she continued.
“I have a lot of conversations I want to have with you. It’d be nice to have some tea together.”
