Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Souls, and Souls (21)
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“Hey, young man! Are you okay? Come on, snap out of it!”
“Someone call for help! Call an ambulance!”
The noisy murmurs faded into the distance. It wasn’t an illusion. The moment Legion spotted me, it had cradled me protectively in its talons and soared back into the sky. Thanks to Legion’s arrow-like speed, the crowd’s chatter and the distant wail of ambulance sirens grew fainter and fainter.
“Theo.”
Legion called to me in a low growl.
“Good. Found you.”
“……”
“Thought I’d lost you.”
“……”
“Forever.”
Legion’s voice sounded desolate and pained. Even with me right there, it seemed anxious. I silently hugged one of its talons.
“Don’t worry, Legion.”
“……”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Not without you. Legion let out a soft rumble in response. I patted it reassuringly, then looked down at the accident scene, now so far away it was just a speck of light.
Am I... dead?
Or...
“……”
I shook my head. No point dwelling on it. I had chosen Legion. And I had no regrets about that choice.
Which meant this godforsaken pseudo-medieval world was all my doing.
“...Anyway, Legion.”
I tore my gaze from the ground and asked.
“How did you find me?”
This place was the ‘Void’—an infinite world in itself. A chaos where everything existed. Finding me in that chaos would be like searching for a single grain of sand in a desert.
“Soul.”
“Soul?”
“Ours are linked.”
Soul Bond.
It had used the [Soul Bond] connecting a dragon and its dragon dad to track me down.
Searching countless worlds for a single soul would require unimaginable power and mana—far beyond any human capability.
Even as a dragon, Legion was still young. For this reckless attempt to succeed anyway...
‘...Just how strong is this guy?’
It meant Legion’s power and potential were terrifying.
-Whoooooosh...!
Whether I was stunned or not, Legion swam upstream through the stormy skies like a salmon. Straight toward the rift it had burst from earlier—fast, so fast. Its scales lay flat in tension as it flew, still clutching me with utmost care.
“Let’s go home, Theo.”
“...Yeah. Let’s go home, Legion.”
The night sky sliced clean like a knife cut—we plunged through into the Void beyond.
* * *
-Thud!
-Roll, roll, roll...
The moment we passed through the rift in space-time, violent nausea hit me. Blech! Urk! I tumbled across the ground a few times, dry-heaving, then looked around. Legion! Where’s Legion? Did it come through with a delay? Should I get out of the way? That thing’s huge—if it lands on me, I’m dead instantly...
-Thump!
Worry didn’t last long.
Something fist-sized dropped from the air with a light sound. Whoa! I reflexively reached out and caught it. It was incredibly light, slightly cool, and smooth...
“...Legion!”
It was Legion.
Legion’s mouth twitched open, but I couldn’t make out the words. I pressed my ear to its heart. Good—heartbeat steady. Mana flow from the heart seemed fine too. I warmed it gently with my hands.
“Of course...”
Legion was a mighty dragon. But as I’d expected, this was reckless. It had clearly overexerted itself finding me.
“...You need to rest till we get back, Legion.”
“...Theo.”
“Quiet. No backtalk.”
I stuffed the whining Legion into my pocket and started walking through the Void again. No memories after the accident meant no more doors opening.
But.
This Void was a space of nothing—and everything. A place holding all possibilities. So, if I played it right, I could ‘exist’ exactly where and when I wanted.
What I wanted now...
‘Dawood.’
More precisely, Dawood and the ‘Fragment.’
Luckily, I knew exactly what power the Fragment held.
It amplified human desires and made them real.
So Dawood...
Was probably trapped in a space where the Fragment had fulfilled his ‘desire.’
“Corin...”
Dawood’s desire was simple.
‘Corin.’
To become lord of Corin. That was his deepest yearning.
So I just had to imagine a ‘Corin’ where Dawood was lord. Desperately, so desperately—but doable.
-Creeeak...
A door opened behind me. This one was grand, antique, and massive. Carved with a lifelike bull that looked ready to charge.
That’s right.
This was the door to the lord’s office in Corin Castle.
“......”
I held my breath, silenced my footsteps, and slipped inside as quietly and carefully as possible. Thankfully, no one was inside.
-Thud!
The door slammed shut heavily behind me. I tried reopening it just in case, but it wouldn’t budge.
I scanned the room quietly. The office looked much like I remembered—except the founding lord’s portrait on the wall had been replaced by Dawood’s. In it, he looked smug, gripping a sword with a hand bearing the family seal.
‘...Family portrait’s gone.’
Yes. The family portrait on the other wall was gone, replaced by an array of weapons. A pampered noble who knew nothing of arms, showing off like that.
‘Check the secret space.’
I had to search before anyone came. Skipping the desk to avoid suspicion, I recalled sneaking in before and headed for the ‘secret space.’ If Dawood had hidden the Fragment, it was likely there. I dragged an uncomfortable chair from under the bull’s head by the door and pressed one glossy horn.
-Click!
Something clicked open behind me. Good—the ‘secret space’ was still in use. I turned the knob and entered. Inside matched my memory: small desk, drawers, walls adorned with family relics, bullhide rug on the floor.
“......”
I knelt on one knee and rolled back the rug. As remembered, a square groove in the black wooden floor. I pressed hard on one horn of the bull emblem carved into it.
-Clunk!
The floor panel opened. I peered inside cautiously, watching for ominous red glows.
“...!”
But no Fragment awaited.
‘How could he do this to his own family...’
Filling the square space: the Corin seal, castle’s secret map, king’s medal, ancient Angsar gold coins, and...
Three ‘Frozen Souls’ radiating chill.
Dawood’s father, Lewis, and Lewis’s mother.
-Ooooooh...
-Ooooooh...
-Ooooooh...
The Frozen Souls wailed eerily, exuding bone-chilling cold. Damn it. I muttered a curse and closed the panel.
‘Dawood, is this what you wanted?’
Turning even his loving family into this—obvious what the Corin folk endured.
‘This can’t be allowed.’
I had to retrieve the Fragment and return. Prevent this.
Heart aching, I slipped out of the secret space. And just as I reached to close the door—
-Step, step, step.
Footsteps approached the office.
I quickly shut the secret door and dashed to the office door. Climbed the chair, reset the horn, returned the chair—success. But the problem...
-Step, step, step.
In this sealed room, nowhere to hide.
No windows; only exit was that door, seconds from someone bursting in. Damn, damn, damn. Hide under the desk? Stupid. Chandelier? Would collapse for sure. Then...
-Crick, crack!
A tiny sound from the office corner. Right of the door, in the shadowed spot...
“...!”
A rat hole!
I bolted to it, pulled Legion and Pippi from my pocket, shoved them in, then activated [Beast Form] to turn into a rat. And at that exact moment—
-Click!
The door opened.
-Scamper!
I darted into the shadows and peeked at the intruder.
“......”
Scanning the office like an inspection: none other than Dawood. Black cloak, thick family seal on his finger—Corin’s ‘lord.’
And behind Dawood...
‘...Orc warrior?’
An orc with a cloak-like thing made of human skin draped over its shoulders.
‘So this is what Corin becomes when Dawood’s lord...’
Worse than I thought. Another reason to reclaim the Fragment. I retreated deeper into the shadows, eyes fixed on Dawood. He paused before the desk, face twisting viciously as he scanned around.
“......”
“What’s wrong?”
The orc warrior asked. Dawood replied.
“There’s an intruder.”