Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (5)
Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (5)
Deltain's appearance was wretched.
Although he had cleaned himself up with a cleanliness spell, because he hadn't slept for three whole days, the signs of fatigue were showing so intensely that words couldn't describe them.
The area around his eyes was hollow.
His cheeks were sunken from not eating anything, and his once vibrant red hair also looked somewhat dry and brittle.
Even so, the two women didn't get the feeling that he looked tired.
It was because of his eyes, nothing else.
It was because of his golden eyes, which were shining more intensely than ever before.
"Hey."
Deltain called Anya again.
"Get out."
After pointing at Anya with his index finger, he pointed outside the door again.
Anya felt flustered by that sequence of actions.
She was dazed because Deltain, who had never treated her like this even once, was coming on so high-handedly.
The change in her emotional state was slow, but it was certain.
Disappointment at Deltain's attitude came to mind first, followed by the thought that he might be indifferent to her.
However, the thought that followed was different.
Even though he had such burning eyes, all other visual elements were pleading for his fatigue, so Anya was able to use them as material for rationalization, thinking, 'The Count is just tired.'
After all, her heart, puffed up with a young girl's dreams, was still hoping for a romance with a prince on a white horse.
That Deltain must be so tired that he was out of his mind.
Anya managed to reach that conclusion, let out a creaky laugh, and walked out of the room with an awkward gait.
Only her flushed, red cheeks might have been facing reality a little bit.
Click.
The door closed.
Agnes had been watching Deltain with an expressionless face until then.
She was still lying in bed, not even welcoming him.
Deltain didn't care about that and sat on the chair placed next to the bed.
"Hey, take it off."
Agnes's fingertips trembled.
Her cherry blossom-colored pupils only then began to turn toward Deltain, holding something that could be called an emotion.
After another moment of silence, Agnes smiled brightly.
"So you're finally going to lay a hand on my body?"
"Yeah."
Agnes's expression stiffened.
"...Did I hear that right?"
"No, you heard right. I'm going to lay a hand on your body. The rib area below your left breast. I need to press my hand there."
It was the exact location of her heart.
It was definitely a way of speaking that could be misunderstood, but Deltain didn't realize it.
He was currently in a situation where he had pushed his body to the limit with the sole determination to prove himself.
He was truly feeling impatient.
"Should I take it off for you?"
"...."
Agnes stared at Deltain quietly.
To be precise, she stared intently at his golden eyes.
Then, she parted her lips.
"Sure. You take it off."
Agnes sat up.
A mysterious smile bloomed on her face, which was always overshadowed by the shade of death.
"Here, undo the buttons from the top. Should I take off my undergarments too?"
"That's not necessary."
Snap.
As Deltain flicked his finger, mana moved.
Pop, pop, pop.
The buttons on Agnes's pajamas were undone all at once.
Agnes grumbled as if she were disappointed.
"No mood."
"The hell, why would I need that right now?"
Deltain smiled crookedly and met Agnes's eyes.
"Just look forward to it. I'm going to show you real 'magic'."
"Ah, the fifty-second failure? Is that why you came?"
"It's not a failure, it's a mistake. No, today is a guaranteed success."
A conviction so solid that there was no room to dig in was embedded in his voice.
Agnes curled the corners of her lips up at that affirmation.
It was a reaction she couldn't even control herself.
"Wow...."
Her eyes also curved into crescent shapes.
"...Now I'm actually looking forward to it."
Agnes decided to willingly go along with his recklessness.
The pajamas, with all their buttons undone, were slowly peeled away, revealing her round shoulders, arms like thin branches, and a waist where her ribs were slightly visible.
Between the undergarments covering her chest, the cleavage of suppressed flesh was carved out.
"You're the first man to see my bare skin."
"So what?"
"You'll have to take responsibility."
Agnes's smile deepened.
*
Deltain admitted it.
That he had been making a pretty big 'mistake'.
'The approach was wrong from the start.'
The name of the curse is the Demon Flower.
In other words, it is a flower, a plant.
The reason he hadn't been able to undo it until now was one thing: he had only woven the wrong undoing spell in a situation where he had to kill a plant.
So, Deltain, who had finally realized this from his butler Gerhart's words that 'plants are sensitive to their environment,' had no choice but to laugh like a madman.
'It must have been loving it to death.'
The Demon Flower must have been very happy.
Because it could constantly use the undoing spells that didn't even work on it, and that massive lump of mana, as nutrients.
Since all the hard work he had done so far had only been promoting the growth of the Demon Flower.
Deltain felt his stomach churn.
He thought that this must be what it feels like to be hit in the back of the head.
'Not anymore.'
It was mana like blood, and time like blood.
So Deltain came up with a way to be compensated for it.
'Kill the plant.'
He began to approach it from that perspective.
The 70 hours of research were solely for that purpose.
To understand the curse called 'Demon Flower,' which he had explored until he was sick of it, from its roots, and to weave a spell solely to kill the Demon Flower.
<Weaving the spell.>
<Creating a non-existent spell.>
<Warning: There may be errors in the spell.>
<Error rate: 41%.>
The interface was useful.
This mystery, whose principles he hadn't yet accurately uncovered, helped Deltain make the spell more perfect.
<Error rate is decreasing.>
<Error rate: 18%.>
He repeatedly made corrections, relentlessly.
Thus, he perfected the spell.
<Error rate: 0.1%.>
He had created such a near-perfect spell.
That was 40 hours after the research began.
What did he do for the remaining 30 hours?
The answer to that would likely be an eccentric act that would make the listener laugh.
<Error rate: 0%.>
A constant repetition of corrections, solely to erase that 0.1%.
Deltain, who becomes more of a perfectionist than anyone else in the face of the concept of 'success,' had finally carried out such an eccentric act.
<Custom spell complete.>
Now, only the reward remained.
The bedroom, overflowing with a quiet atmosphere as always.
Deltain reached out both hands and placed them on Agnes's ribs, just below her left breast.
And to get the exact position, he slid his hand slightly upward.
"Hng...!"
Agnes's body stiffened.
Deltain didn't pay attention to that reaction.
No, to be precise, he didn't have the time to pay attention.
<3rd-tier magic: Activating Drought.>
His focus was entirely on this one spell.
Blue mana erupted with a 'whoosh'.
At the same time, another world that only Deltain could see unfolded.
A landscape made of mana.
Within it, Deltain stared at the mana in the form of seeds and roots that wrapped around her heart.
Demon Flower Extrias.
The curse that had tormented Deltain for these 3 months was there.
'Do it slowly.'
Deltain floated mana over Agnes's heart.
The mana that rose in the form of dots condensed to form lines.
The lines spread out at various angles to form a cube.
The empty faces of the cube were filled with other dots to form a regular octahedron.
Magic that manifests 3D 'cognition'.
The great miracle that this land calls the 3rd tier began to manifest.
<3rd-tier magic: Drought is accelerating.>
<Stimulating Demon Flower Extrias.>
The regular octahedron cube rotated.
The rotation accelerated and began to emit heat.
There is only one reason why this phenomenon occurs.
Because Drought, as the meaning of the word implies, is a spell that dries up the mana in the space.
Now, the Demon Flower Extrias would lose the mana it used as nutrients.
'You can live without mana.'
There would be a sense of powerlessness that Agnes would feel as he dried up all the mana dwelling in her heart.
But it didn't matter.
Because living with that powerlessness would be better than having her life taken by the Demon Flower and dying.
'I can't kill the Demon Flower completely.'
It is one of the main quests of the DLC, after all.
It was clear that it wouldn't be easy enough to end with just one 3rd-tier spell.
However, it would be enough to buy some time.
<Demon Flower Extrias's growth is delayed.>
The heat intensifies, and the Demon Flower loses its strength.
<Demon Flower Extrias is searching for nutrients.>
Agnes's body stiffened more and more.
Only the suppressed groans that came out intermittently were telling of her survival.
<Demon Flower Extrias fails to search.>
The more that happened, the deeper Deltain's smile became.
All the news he was hearing was a positive signal.
<Demon Flower Extrias is preserving nutrients.>
<Fails.>
Before long, Deltain heard the fanfare.
<Demon Flower Extrias's growth is delayed.>
Once again, he became the winner.
<168 days remaining until the Demon Flower Extrias blooms.>
At the same time as the alarm, all the mana faded away.
Deltain felt a thrill that made his spine tingle.
Only then did he take his hands off and raise his head.
There was Agnes, who was looking surprised while sweating profusely.
It was a face heavy with fatigue.
However, she wouldn't be feeling any fatigue.
'It's your body, so you'd know best.'
Since she would be feeling that her lifespan had increased, fatigue couldn't possibly be important.
This was it.
This was what Deltain wanted.
The expression she showed when she finally acknowledged him, after looking down on him with an impure attitude the whole time.
This situation where he proves himself by punching the face of someone who thinks of failure.
The thrill of finally reaching the winner's spot once again.
All of this was definitely a more powerful drug to Deltain than anything else in the world.
Deltain's smile deepened to an indescribable extent.
In his golden eyes, a flame fueled by the overflowing thrill was engraved.
"I told you."
Now, all that remained was the verdict.
It was just a matter of raising his chin arrogantly while trampling on those who ignored him.
"I might make mistakes, but I don't fail."
It wasn't a complete victory.
The Demon Flower was still residing in her heart, and all he had done today was delay its growth.
Even so, what of it?
This is just one step.
Deltain didn't doubt that he would take more steps than this.
The Demon Flower would eventually be a mere happening.
He would eventually overcome this trial and become the winner.
"I don't know anything about failure."
Deltain giggled, savoring the well-deserved reward.
That was the moment.
Tap.
Agnes placed her hand on Deltain's cheek.
And with her thumb, she wiped under his eye.
Deltain's body stiffened slightly.
Only then did something enter his eyes.
The snow-white, thin body revealed by taking off her upper garment.
And the white skin glistening with cold sweat.
...No, more than that, the eyes that made his breath stop.
Agnes's gaze was fixed directly on Deltain's eyes.
The emotion contained within was of a kind Deltain couldn't understand.
The cherry blossom-colored eyes embedded in the middle of his eyes, which were dark with hollow dark circles.
Only that was too vivid.
The contrast of colors, as if a pink dot had been placed on a pitch-black canvas, was such a dreamy and quiet light that Deltain's words were stuck in his throat.
A sudden silence.
Within it, the corners of Agnes's lips began to draw a long arc.
"Pretty."
She murmured those words.