Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Vice Executive Baal (2)
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...
....
I must be dreaming right now,
lost in memories from long ago...
Memories of happiness
that I can no longer experience.
"Mom! I don't get this!"
The first thing that came into view
was
...
a snowy day.
...
In a warm room, reading a magic book with my mother for the first time,
a child version of me smiling innocently and asking her questions.
And... watching that with a faint smile,
explaining everything to me one by one
in a soft, tender voice...
To me, she was greater than any mage...
My mother, whom I longed to see again even just once.
"Mom, Mom! Let's go outside together!"
In this dream, showing me those old memories...
The view shifted like thick fog,
revealing another memory.
There,
winter had passed unnoticed,
and warm, cozy spring had arrived.
The child me grabbed my mother's hand with small fingers,
bouncing excitedly, begging to go out together.
"Alright, Isabel... Let's go."
Unable to resist my pleas, she finally took me outside,
and the scene ended with me laughing innocently as we wandered.
"Mom, can I have this...?"
The view shifted again.
This time, what caught my eye was...
me with my mother at the market,
wandering around,
whining for treats I wanted.
"I hate you, Mom...!"
And then next...
Me, childish and immature, snapping at my mother for not granting my wish.
"Mom... Mom...? Are you hurting...?"
And... and then next...
My mother, growing sicker by the day,
on the verge of passing away.
"Isabel, don't worry... Mommy's fine, healthy as can be..."
Forcing a smile to reassure me,
stroking my head.
"No... I don't want this..."
Like that, the dream that had only shown happy childhood memories
slowly turned into
a nightmare dredging up the one I hated most to remember.
In the constantly shifting view...
My mother grew thinner and weaker...
"No..."
The cold fact that I could do nothing,
the helplessness seeping in...
It felt just like back then, as a child,
when she struggled to smile and comfort me,
knowing deep down it wasn't true but forcing myself to believe it anyway.
And soon—
The dream, always starting with my mother,
now showed me a bit older,
standing before a familiar priest.
"Ma... Madam has... passed away..."
Long ago,
the priest who first brought me news of her death.
From the moment he spoke...
The happy dream fully became
a complete nightmare.
"No..."
My father bringing home a new marchioness...
"No...."
Realizing my father and stepmother already had a son between them...
Enduring the stepmother's growing jealousy and torment...
The dream's contents were no longer
just painful—they were unbearable,
a horrific nightmare.
And—
Whoosh—!
A sudden chill jolted me,
and my mind surged back to consciousness.
Clang!
All my senses snapped back to reality in an instant,
and when surroundings came into focus...
My hands and feet were bound,
leaving me utterly helpless.
"Awake, are we?"
A displeasing yet familiar voice rang out.
I looked up,
and there stood the familiar figure
of the academy's alchemy professor.
I didn't bother foolishly calling for his help.
From the start,
this man before me
was surely the culprit behind it all.
"You...! What the hell is this...!"
Once the situation sank in,
I dropped the polite tone I'd used with the academy professor
and spat out my fury.
Then—
Slap—
My head whipped to the side,
a stinging pain blooming on my cheek.
"Shut up, you inferior sacrifice. If the demon didn't demand a pristine Helm body and blood, you'd already be dead."
His words that followed
extinguished my rage in an instant,
replacing it with creeping terror.
"And... what's this? A child's toy?"
Sneering, he continued,
pulling out something oddly familiar.
'That's...?'
"Pull it without hesitation if danger comes."
The artifact Aden recommended when we visited the artifact shop together.
Embarrassingly childish in design,
meant for kids.
But since Aden insisted I carry it always,
I'd kept it on me religiously.
"Think pulling this will bring anyone to save you?"
Holding it, Baal sneered on,
tugging the attached cord a few times.
Then—
Crack—
He dropped the artifact to the floor and crushed it underfoot before continuing.
"No, this is the academy, and there's no one here to help you now."
His mocking words...
I had no rebuttal.
Even in the capital...
Even now...
No one to help me—it felt entirely true.
No one would come to my aid.
Just like when the marchioness berated me at the estate.
I could only bow my head
and silently endure the sneering abuse.
Yesterday,
after finding not a single clue in the end,
back at the dorm with nothing to show for it,
as I lay down to sleep for the next day—
Thump—!
A foreign sensation near my heart,
accompanied by mana flowing painfully like a danger warning,
snapped my eyes open.
"Gasp—"
Even after, the mana spread several more times,
warning of peril.
'This is...'
Sudden as it was,
I quickly grasped its meaning.
The magic artifact I'd given Isabel had activated.
Proving it,
a translucent window floated before my eyes.
Approaching Crisis - Vice Executive Baal
Academy Alchemy Professor Baal.
He has cast off his mask and revealed his true identity!
Ixion's Vice Executive Baal.
Rescue Isabel Helm, whom he has kidnapped!
📍 Success Condition: Subjugate Ixion's Vice Executive Baal.
🎁 Success Reward: Isabel Helm rescued.
💀 Failure Penalty: Isabel Helm disappears.
Main Quest,
the first branch of Approaching Crisis...
Vice Executive Baal.
It appeared at a completely unexpected moment.
But there was no time to panic over the sudden quest—
the situation was too dire.
I bolted upright
and dashed out of the dorm.
A demon ritual takes one hour.
But during sleep,
no one knows how far it had progressed.
The only certainty was that no demonic mana permeated the academy,
meaning the ritual wasn't complete yet.
No time to hesitate—
I sprinted toward the academy's old annex as fast as possible.
'Kidnapped from the capital...?'
In the end,
there was no variable like I'd frantically searched for yesterday.
Isabel Helm had simply been abducted from the empire's heart, Madel.
'Damn it...'
Even as I ran, it made no sense.
But why it was possible,
why it happened...
I could figure it out just thinking while running.
Frontier Chronicles...
In the game I'd devoted half my life to...
the story I hated most,
the one I'd never revisited...
[Demon's Puppet - Isabel Helm]
The tale of Isabel Helm,
turned into the demon's puppet.
[Isabel Helm received utter indifference from her father...]
Her heart shattered in that neglect,
[Isabel Helm endured vicious torment from her stepmother...]
Her mind crumbled under that abuse.
[Isabel Helm faced horrific loathing from her younger sibling...]
Even so, her emotions endured
until they vanished in the hatred from her suddenly appeared brother.
Was it truly a demon that broke the demon's puppet...?
That question closed the curtain on
a story that drew little attention compared to others.
But in Frontier Chronicles,
I especially despised that one.
The indifference from those around her...
"Ignore it, or you might end up dead too."
The horrific abuse closing in...
"It's your fault...!! Our sibling died because of you!"
The endless loathing...
"Monster, just like your mother—you devoured her too..."
I knew all too well
how it drove a person mad,
how it crushed them.
But...
'Family... shouldn't do that...'
"Cheonsu, live with all your might...! Be happy!"
At the very least, family... parents...
"Of course! If Cheonsu's happy, that's all I want!"
shouldn't send neglect and hatred to their child, right...?
"You draw so well! You could be an artist!"
shouldn't envy their child's talent, right...?
But why...
[No one in House Helm noticed Isabel Helm's disappearance.]
Not a single soul
could fail to notice...
[On the day Isabel became a demon's sacrifice, House Helm's day passed ordinarily.]
A kidnapping in the capital—
how could her so-called family
not know at all...?
That indifference,
that tragedy...
The more I thought, the more my emotions surged uncontrollably.
"Hah... hah..."
Out of breath from rushing,
or from emotions I couldn't contain...
I couldn't tell.
"Move, Markin."
If I couldn't stop this story even in reality,
I could vividly picture myself breaking down.
"Can't do that, Aden... Sorry."
Markin,
blocking my path now,
the one who'd joined me for S-Class lectures.
I gave him a final warning.
"Last chance."
The real final one.
"Move, Markin."
Move, Markin.
Right now,
I truly couldn't control my strength.