Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: The Intruding Threat
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In the dream, she saw her family members, whom she could no longer behold. More precisely, her family from the days when they were still human.
“Sister.”
Her adorable little sister came toddling up with a smile. Lucia smiled back at her. She had no idea whether this was a dream or the afterlife.
She wasn’t the type to cry easily, but right now tears gushed out uncontrollably. The woman spread her arms wide, trying to embrace her sister. She smiled at the sibling who had followed her most faithfully.
“Why didn’t you ask?”
Yet nothing filled her arms, only the voice lingered. The sister had vanished completely, leaving just the echo from her memories to continue, over and over.
Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask? Did you even ask?
“Gasp!”
Letting out a sharp breath, she shot upright. Her body still trembled faintly. Her heart pounded wildly. The streaks of half-dried tears remained stark around her eyes.
The fearless hunter who had never flinched before any demon—save for the one not even worthy of the name Grimudo—now huddled like a frightened rabbit, face buried in her knees.
“Lucia. Snap out of it already. We’re fucked even without you falling apart like this.”
Waking from one nightmare only revealed another. This one showed no signs of ending.
This nightmare called life seemed to have reached its peak. The current situation was pure, unadulterated despair—no need for further words.
Porrruk.
The lark... that had once been Araidel fluttered about inside the cage conjured from mana. At times, it pecked at the magical barrier with its beak.
No matter how she looked at it, not a trace of her human form remained. Perhaps it was only natural for the mind to turn animalistic once the body did.
Pannel sighed as she gazed at the bird. From princess to the hero party’s mage, and now the woman who had bound the saintess and locked her in a cage.
She wondered herself what would come next. One thing was certain: it wouldn’t be for the better.
“You know how scared I was when you just collapsed like that? Yurinel’s out hunting for a bit. We’ve got to eat something, recover our strength, and head back to the empire with that saintess over there.”
The Magic Tower’s youngest mage patted the taller Lucia in an attempt to soothe her. Of course, it was utterly pointless.
Lucia stared blankly, her expression vacant, as if her soul had fled her body. She showed no reaction even when touched.
Hope hadn’t been far away—it had been right beside her. Only after the light departed, only after she had driven it away with her own hands, did she realize that truth. The feeling was utterly devastating.
“Was it that shocking that Kyle’s power undid Grimudo’s curse?”
Pannel scratched at her frustrations, clueless about the circumstances. She wasn’t a mind reader, nor privy to the Western family’s hidden secrets, so Lucia’s state just frustrated her.
‘I... I wasn’t wrong.’
The woman bit her lip hard.
‘That disgrace couldn’t be known to others. The family’s reputation hitting rock bottom? That I could endure. But if the demons learned what had become of our clan...’
To the outside world, the Western family was known to have suffered a major defeat at Grimudo’s hands and gone into seclusion while recovering. Only archbishops of the Church of the Three Gods knew the truth—and they kept silent.
Even her close comrades had no idea that, aside from Lucia, the rest of the family had turned into animals. She had desperately hidden the family’s shame and told no one. Not Lucia herself, not Pannel, and of course not Kyle.
They had adventured together for so long, practically glued at the hip every day—how could she not have gauged what kind of person Kyle was?
If she had just asked for help once, would that man have refused? He would have extended a hand without hesitation.
Kyle was the sort who helped even a hunchbacked old woman on her last legs with all sincerity, expecting nothing in return.
So all it would have taken was one plea for aid, one question about whether he could help lift Grimudo’s curse. The reason she never uttered that single phrase was simple.
She had never,
not once in all that time,
up to now,
ever regarded him as an equal comrade.
No one shares their weaknesses with those they deem inferior, those beneath them. No one confesses their flaws to such people. Lucia had been the same.
He was just someone who lucked into the party because he knew Yurinel.
That had been her first impression of Kyle, nothing more. Compared to the priests of the Three Gods, who radiated brilliant light, forged weapons from holy power, and flaunted their splendor, the things he called miracles were so trivial.
Creating a well, lighting a candle, plucking a feather... It wasn’t child’s play—what even was that?
Deep down, she might have despised him for it. She might have been the first to suggest kicking him out.
She neither knew nor cared about the power hidden in that tiny candle, or the immense potential within that well.
Without needing anything else, she could have simply dunked her animal-turned family into the well water she’d seen countless times before, and they would have returned to human form.
Opportunities had come her way so often she couldn’t even count them. The woman had let every single one slip by without realizing what they were.
Only now, looking back on those bygone days, did she confront her own foolishness. But lost chances, those opportunities, would never return.
When she came to her senses, the candles had all burned out, and the wells had all run dry. Pannel slowly opened her mouth.
“Do you remember where we are? That old lady’s place. The one who gave us that muddy water. Remember how Kyle left a candle here and dug a well?”
How could she forget the old woman who had fetched water from the well with an apologetic expression, saying it was the best she could offer?
The water she gave was pure sludge, and the only one who accepted it gladly and drank was that commoner priest. In return, he had created a well.
Thanks to it, the hunched, limping elder lived healthily until the end of his days. Once the old woman passed, the candle that had no reason to burn brighter flickered out.
And the well lost its miracle, filling with dirt and sand until it turned back to mud. The time of miracles had ended, leaving only harsh reality behind. Yearning for miracles now was pointless—everything had already passed.
“Kyle... where is Kyle? We have to find him...”
Groaning, Lucia rose to her feet. Her body was in terrible shape, the inky black aura having permeated every inch. Even after prolonged recovery efforts to expel it, she had a sudden gut feeling that she would never regain her peak form.
In the decisive battle at the North Pole, Kyle’s light had melted this stubborn aura and purged it in one go. She hadn’t thought much of it then, but experiencing it firsthand, its power was beyond imagination.
Now she had to admit it. From the start, they hadn’t even been qualified to face Grimudo, let alone settle the score. Kyle’s presence had barely allowed them to stand before the Demon King.
The one person who could melt the aura pervading her body and restore her family was now missing. Knowing only that his last sighting was in Larphentia offered no help whatsoever.
Consider the vastness of the continent. How easy could finding one person be?
It was as hard as picking out a single grain of sand on a beach. She could send him away on a whim, but retrieving him was another story. Whether she could find him in time made Lucia’s chest tighten.
‘I was the fool.’
Her frustration boiled over, and a few tears trickled down.
‘I never once saw Kyle as a comrade, so why did I expect him to understand my plight? Of course he couldn’t.’
Unless Kyle was a mind reader, there was no way he could know about the Western family’s tragedy that she kept so tightly hidden. If she didn’t speak, he naturally wouldn’t know.
She hadn’t asked for help—whom could she blame for that? Did she even need to think to arrive at that answer?
“I told you, didn’t I?”
At that moment, the mud hut’s wall exploded inward with a crash. The hut tilted, and Pannel hurriedly dragged Lucia out through the broken wall, not forgetting the birdcage in the chaos.
Shock etched her face. Her mental state was off, her mana reserves poor. What she should have sensed instantly in normal times came far too late.
“The day would come when all of you would kneel before me and beg, ‘Your Majesty, please spare our lives.’”
The hero Yurinel, who had gone hunting, hit the ground with a groan. She had slammed into the hut’s wall just moments ago like a cannonball. Even as Harma El gripped her nape and hurled her, she offered no resistance.
“Harma El...”
“Seems that day came sooner than you thought. Never imagined we’d meet again like this. But where’s the saintess? Did she abandon you and flee?”
The Demon Empress Harma El, who had arrived through the portal Grimudo opened, scanned the area for Araidel. Capturing the saintess alive would be a jackpot.
With the saintess as a hostage, she could blackmail the Nemi Church into anything—as long as the demands weren’t too outrageous, they’d have no choice but to yield.
Suddenly, the Demon Empress’s gaze fell on the lark trapped in the mana barrier. The moment she saw the bird’s blue eyes, disbelief crossed her face.
“Really...?”
What kind of monster was this Grimudo?
To turn the saintess—who received such excessive divinity she was called the goddess’s incarnation—with a single curse into a mere lark?
His power no longer even inspired fear. The ingrained conviction that she must never oppose Grimudo had seeped into her bones.
Even if she unified the continent, she would never touch that being in the North Pole. If their opinions clashed, she would yield without question. Accepting that put her mind at ease. Being eternal second-in-command wasn’t ideal, but how many couldn’t even dream of that much?
“Hah, haha, what is this? Can’t even use her as a hostage like... this.”
Who would take a mere bird seriously as a hostage—one with no hope of returning human? The Nemi Church wouldn’t budge for that.
Harma El sighed. Of course, she didn’t dare vent her anger at the true culprit, Grimudo. She swallowed it down and glared at the hero party instead.
“Fine, whatever. Chicken in place of pheasant. You lot still have some value as hostages.”
The Demon Empress covered her mouth with her fan and laughed. But her eyes weren’t smiling.
She was in a very foul mood right now.
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