The Master of the Lake (13)
The Master of the Lake fell silent for a moment, as if reminiscing about the past. After a few seconds, she continued.
Chrome was the one caught off guard by her words.
“Wait, you can’t just tell me to use the spell you showed me—”
“I already used it. Is this enough?”
“Huh? Excuse me? Lady Lorelei?”
Completely disregarding the con man’s panic over a problem his glib tongue couldn’t solve, the Master of the Lake answered as if the earlier rampage had never happened.
The goldfish, which had been displaying surprisingly rich emotions for a fish, suddenly snapped out of it. It scrambled down from the throne in a frantic hurry, as though whatever had been controlling its body had just slipped away. At the same moment, a tremendous roar that shook the earth echoed from somewhere far away.
BOOM!
Chrome’s ominous premonition and the massive surge of water pouring through every door and window in the castle happened almost simultaneously. The water that flooded inside gathered around the throne, forming an enormous pillar that reached all the way to the ceiling. Colorful mists swirled around it, enveloping the column.
From within that mist emerged the silhouette of a woman with long, flowing hair. Even though her form—half human upper body fused with a fish’s lower half—was alien, and even though the multiple layers of barriers blurred her outline, none of it could fully conceal her breathtaking beauty.
The half-human, half-fish beauty settled onto the throne with natural grace and opened her mouth.
“You asked who I was. You wished to know my true identity, distant descendant of my dear friend Morian. Child with hair and temperament like blazing flames.”
Her voice reverberated throughout the entire space, impossible to believe it came from within that vast body of water. A vicious wave of dizziness struck instantly. Layla staggered without thinking. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart—which had been perfectly calm moments ago—now hammered as if she had just sprinted at full speed. Her sense of balance collapsed, blurring the boundary between the ground beneath her feet and the air around her head. Yet the location of the voice’s owner remained crystal clear.
Layla gritted her teeth and forcibly circulated the mana within her body. Blue Light mana offered almost no benefit when it came to physical reinforcement, but it was more than enough to dampen the influence of external magical forces. Once she confirmed that her body’s wild reactions had subsided, she recalled what the “Master of the Lake” had said earlier through the goldfish—her “familiar,” as the entity had called it.
My true form, especially my voice, possesses the power to enchant those who hear it. Normally I use the mist fairies to weaken the effect, so it isn’t a problem. But if I did the same thing now, while the mist fairies acting as a filter are in such a weakened state, all of you would lose your minds and conversation would become impossible. That is why I speak through a familiar.
She hadn’t thought it was mere bluffing, but she hadn’t expected the effect to be this overwhelming. The spell wasn’t failing. From the moment she had received the structure, she had already determined it wasn’t crude or malicious. The fact that she was still affected simply proved how immense the power contained in the woman’s voice truly was.
Suddenly, Layla glanced sideways. If even she, who had used a spell to protect her mind, was impacted this much, then Chrome—
“……”
Seeing the golden-haired boy lying unconscious on the floor and the pouch of powder rolling beside him, Layla immediately understood what he had done. It seemed that the moment he sensed danger, instead of pointlessly trying to endure, he had chosen to swallow the drug and lose consciousness as quickly as possible.
The Master of the Lake gave Chrome a brief glance, her tone somewhere between admiration and reproach, then turned her gaze back to Layla.
“…I can’t exactly feel happy about being praised for something so basic,” Layla replied, raising her guard at the blatant display of superiority while keeping her expression neutral. “So, is the ‘test’ over now? Or is there something more you require?”
The Master of the Lake answered.
Even if the details were unclear, everyone knew they were dangerous. That was the general impression most humans living on the continent had held about demons until just a few decades ago. They appeared in old legends and ancient texts, but that was all.
They could wield enormous flames.
They possessed beast-like fur and tails, along with matching physical prowess.
They could shoot lightning from their horns.
They could fly through the sky like birds.
Anyone who looked upon their faces would turn to stone.
The descriptions were far too varied for a single subject. No one could say for certain what they looked like, what powers they possessed, or even whether they were truly one race at all. Many wise scholars and sages insisted that demons were real, but they were only a small fraction of the continent’s population. Even they could not produce a living demon when challenged with “Then bring one before us.”
A few people claimed to have encountered demons directly, but most of those stories were proven to be delusions or outright lies. Distrust grew, and the perception of demons gradually shifted into “fictional beings that only appear in stories.”
The existence of demons was finally proven during the War of Judgment.
At first, when the self-proclaimed Ivestan Empire invaded, the citizens of the empire did not feel much fear. They had heard rumors of a nation existing beyond the treacherous mountain range in the eastern part of the continent, but the scale and technological level of that rumored country were said to be utterly pathetic.
It had already been twenty-five years since the three kingdoms had knelt before the Barhart Empire and become vassal states. Many people scoffed that a mere backwater nation daring to call itself an empire and launch an invasion was laughably presumptuous. Others saw it as an opportunity for promotion and their eyes gleamed with ambition.
But the Ivestan Empire defied all expectations and displayed terrifying power. The Nahat Grand Duchy, which had been forced to face them first due to geography, suffered a crushing defeat. Before the shock could even settle, news arrived that the imperial army had also taken heavy losses.
The Great Emperor, who had been focused on internal affairs, was forced to take up the baton of command once more. After a massive investigation and verification process regarding this sudden enemy, humanity finally realized the truth.
These beings looked remarkably similar to humans, yet they wielded mana in a completely different manner from knights, mages, or priests. The “demons” that had previously been considered nothing more than fictional creatures were, in fact, real.
Though few in number, every demon possessed threatening abilities. They even created various monsters like skilled mages, overcoming their numerical disadvantage. In the end, humanity claimed victory. The Ivestan Empire was driven back beyond the Eastern Mountains to their original territory. Yet the impact of the event was enormous.
Espionage operations were conducted at the national level, and captured prisoners were interrogated. The moment the existence of the “demons’ continent” across the sea was revealed, the illusion of demons as mere phantoms came to an end. They had stepped onto the stage of history as “dangerous enemies seeking to invade the realm of humanity.”
Even after such a sudden bombshell, Layla’s calm expression prompted an intrigued look from the Master of the Lake—Lorelei.
“I had guessed as much,” Layla replied.
Abilities that seemed inhuman, a peculiar appearance, and a lifespan long enough to call someone from a thousand years ago a dear friend. With so many hints, she would have been a fool not to suspect the truth. She also understood why Lorelei had been so reluctant to reveal herself in front of others.
“Calling it a sanctuary might be an exaggeration, but if word got out that an unidentified being claiming to be a demon had been dwelling in a major territory directly managed by the kingdom since ancient times, the uproar would be unimaginable.”
No, “uproar” was putting it mildly. It was the kind of revelation that could easily spark large-scale military action.
Layla nodded. There were still several questions she wanted to ask, but she knew it would be greedy to demand more. Even revealing that she was a demon must have been a considerable act of goodwill from the Master of the Lake’s perspective.
“In exchange for your honest answers, I will forgive the rudeness committed by your subordinates. I will not speak unnecessarily outside, so please rest assured.”
With those words, the goldfish that had somehow approached flipped over the unconscious Chrome’s body. It rolled him left and right, front and back, across the floor several times. Something small finally tumbled out of his pocket with a soft clink.
The moment Layla realized the small brooch-like object was a voice-recording magic tool still actively operating, she stared at Chrome with the expression of someone looking at something utterly bizarre. So that was why he had swallowed the drug and passed out so easily—he had prepared this in advance.
Layla pondered for a moment before answering.
“Master of the Lake. Humanity has not yet reached the point of ruin.”