Declaration
Declaration
Freya stood blankly beside the remains of the destroyed iron door, just watching the Master of the Magic Tower walk away.
Her eyes were still a mixture of worry for her younger sister Serin and an indescribable sense of indebtedness toward me.
"Amelia-nim......."
She called out in a cracked, low voice, but Master didn't even turn her head.
"Do not cast those filthy eyes upon my disciple's body any longer, Freya."
The murky underground air slowly receded behind us.
The magic cloak Master had draped over my shoulders always carried the faint scent and smell of old paper that one could smell in the Magic Tower's library.
A symbol of the Master of the Magic Tower, woven with layers of high-level defensive magic on top-grade silk.
Usually, it would be an item I would be too intimidated to even dare to wear, but now it just felt like a massive veil separating me from the outside.
Master didn't stop for a single step while holding my wrist.
Not a single high-ranking knight of the Empire, nor the solemn priests of the Holy Order, dared to even think of blocking our path.
They just pressed themselves against the walls, holding their breath as they looked down at us.
"Rion, your steps are heavy. Lean on me."
Master whispered quietly without turning her head.
"I'm fine, Master. I can walk."
I really was fine. The physical fatigue was just my muscles stiffening temporarily because mana wasn't flowing through them; it wasn't to the point where I couldn't walk.
But upon hearing my voice, Master's fingers tightened their grip.
We climbed the marble stairs leading from the fourth basement level to the third, and then back to the Holy Order's central hall.
As we ascended to the surface, the musty smell of mold was replaced by the scent of incense unique to the Holy Order and the cold morning air.
Soon, the sunlight streaming through the high arched windows pierced my unfocused eyes.
Colored lights entering through the stained glass of the high ceiling dizzyingly filled my vision. Red, blue, and yellow droplets of light.
And at the end of the central corridor where those lights intersected, they were standing.
Was it thanks to the Holy Order's healing spells and purification rituals? They were in such a clean state that one couldn't find a trace of the wretched appearance they had in that hellish inn room.
Instead of the armor stained with men's semen and saliva, Serin was wearing the dazzlingly white vestments of the Holy Order.
The nobility of a knight had been draped over her body again like a shell.
Elina, too, was wearing a pure white magic robe instead of the leather collar that had choked her neck.
Her white nape, which had been a mess from Jack's bite marks, shone smoothly, and her silver hair, which had been matted with ash-gray filth, was neatly groomed and flowed over her shoulders.
Miu had washed away the mouth that had been full of Old Man Hoji's blood, and was showing off the glossy fur unique to well-groomed beastkin.
The clothes that had been torn apart like a beast's were gone, and she was wearing a comfortable wool dress.
Perfect purification. Perfect healing.
The Holy Order had repaired them to fit the status of the hero party called 'Dawn's Light' once again.
But I, and they as well, knew just how rotten and decayed the inside of that clean cover was.
Because while purification magic can erase the filth of the body and the traces of corruption, it cannot erase the memories of pleasure embedded in their minds or the insulting words they spat at me.
Serin's gaze crossed the grand corridor and met mine.
"......Ah."
Her lips trembled. Her purified white cheeks instantly lost their color and turned deathly pale.
"Ri, Rion......?"
Serin called my name and took a step forward.
Following her, Elina and Miu also raised their heads, then gasped upon discovering me standing there looking wretched, draped in Master's cloak.
Tap, tap.
Serin started to run. Fluttering the hem of her white vestments, she ran toward me, her footsteps echoing on the marble floor of the grand corridor.
Following behind her, Elina and Miu also moved their feet in a hurry.
The bright, cheerful images of them running to embrace me after winning in a dungeon in the past overlapped like a fleeting illusion.
"Rion! Where are you going? Why...... why were you wearing those restraints? Unni...... Unni said you weren't a criminal! She said it was all over!"
Serin ran up to me and reached out her hand.
That white, cleaned-up hand that was trying to grab my clothes, or perhaps my hand. That hand that had gripped and shaken Goro's penis was about to touch my body.
"Rion-nim! Please...... please explain! Why is the Master of the Magic Tower here...... why is she trying to take Rion-nim away? Leaving us behind...... where are you trying to go!"
Elina shouted, tears bursting forth.
"Oppa! Miu was wrong! The old man...... I threw that old geezer into the sewer just like Oppa told me to! I listened to everything Oppa said! So...... so don't, don't go! Don't abandon Miu, Oppa!!"
Miu knelt on the marble floor and reached out toward my feet.
They kept asking about my whereabouts.
Where I was going, why I wasn't looking at them, why I wasn't saying anything.
Gazes mixed with obsession poured toward me.
Their questions hit the high ceiling of the grand corridor and buzzed. It was noisy. Truly, it was a chilling noise.
Just then, a terrifying wave of mana erupted from Master's body, which was wrapping around my shoulders.
"How dare you."
It was just a single word.
Simultaneously with the low voice that flowed from Master's lips, a blue mana barrier that shook the entire grand corridor was generated in front of Serin and the others.
Wooooong—!
An intangible shockwave made by compressing the air mercilessly pushed back their bodies as they ran.
Even Serin, who possessed the physical abilities of a knight, couldn't withstand that overwhelming repulsive force and was pushed back three or four steps, landing on her bottom on the marble floor.
Elina and Miu were swept away by the shockwave and rolled to the vicinity of the treatment ward door.
"Augh......!"
Serin groaned and clutched her chest.
The magic Master deployed was not meant to cause damage, but was a barrier for thorough expulsion and isolation, yet the heavy mana contained within it was enough to stifle their breathing.
"Do not call my disciple's name with your filthy mouths."
Master walked forward slowly. She stood tall like a giant wall, completely blocking the space between me and them.
Starlight containing the night sky flickered bizarrely in the air.
"Master of the Magic Tower! Why...... why are you doing this! Rion is our...... our leader! We are supposed to be together......"
Serin shouted as if screaming, getting up while bracing herself on the floor.
"Leader?"
Master sneered coldly. The sound of that laughter was like the sound of a frozen glacier cracking.
"Whores who abused the oath treaty to tie up my disciple's hands and feet, and while lusting after men's semen right in front of his eyes, spat on him...... are now looking for you."
"It was a curse! We...... we weren't in our right minds because of the curse! Master of the Magic Tower, you know too! How much the ruins' curse twists a human's mind......!"
Serin made excuses, veins bulging. Tears welled up in her eyes and flowed down.
Master looked down at Serin and took another step forward. Every time she stepped, a trail of starlight was engraved on the marble floor.
"A bitch who calls herself a Holy Knight spouts such pathetic excuses so nonchalantly."
"......!"
There was no mercy to be found in Master's voice.
Only fierce anger, worrying for my well-being and intending to speak for my broken heart, existed.
"Do you think that because the curse is gone, the sins you committed have been washed away? Do you think that because you cleaned your bodies with purification rituals, you have become noble knights and mages again? Do not be mistaken. Your souls have already rotted and decayed on that inn room floor along with the filth of those men."
Master's gaze turned back to the three women on the floor.
"Rion...... my child kept the treaty until the end. Even while suffering the pain of his own mana backflowing and tearing his circuits, he had to become a bystander to keep that ridiculous treaty you wretches made. While you wretches were drunk on the semen of those sewer-rat-like men and shaking your asses, this child endured a hell where the blood in his whole body was drying up."
Master turned her head to look at me. When her eyes turned toward me, they were filled only with heartbreaking affection and pity.
"Rion is returning to the Magic Tower."
Master answered for me.
It was a declaration that put an end to their questions, their obsession, and their vain lingering attachments.
"I will heal the 10 years of this child that you have defiled, and the heart of this child that you have trampled, in the deepest part of the Magic Tower. So that filth like you will never again be seen by this child's eyes, I will personally rebuild this child's world."
Master cast her gaze toward them again.
"Therefore, if you block my disciple's path by even a single step, even if the Holy Order tries to protect you, I will personally tear your mana circuits and seal your souls with my own hands. I swear it in the name of Amelia Blanche, Master of the Magic Tower."
A heavy silence hung over the grand corridor.
Master's declaration was not a simple threat. She truly possessed the power and will to do exactly that.
Serin kept her outstretched hand in the air, trembling, and bowed her head.
Elina let out silent sobs while prostrate on the floor, and Miu only let out the whimpering groans of a beast, her tail tucked tightly between her legs.
They were asking me without words.
Where are you going? Why don't you look at us like before?
But no answer came to mind within me.
I didn't want to get angry, nor did I want to comfort them.
"Master."
I called out in a small voice from within her embrace.
"Let's go. Before the sun rises any higher."
At my words, a soft curve was drawn on Master's lips.
"Yes. Let's return, my child."