Chapter 518: The Madness Beyond the Mask
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 518: The Madness Beyond the Mask
Dmitri Chernov.
As the Vice Lord of the White Magic Tower, his mornings always started early.
At 6 a.m., he would have breakfast at a café near his home: an Americano and an English breakfast.
He had a routine of reading about thirty pages of his favorite novel while he ate.
The café was run as a hobby by its owner, who had retired from a career in finance, so Dmitri could enjoy high-end coffee beans like Jamaica Blue Mountain, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, and Hawaii Kona at relatively low prices.
He had been a regular at this café for nearly twenty years, but today, as always, not a single word was exchanged between him and the owner.
Ting—
Leaving the café, Dmitri walked straight to the Magic Tower.
Someone of his stature could have driven a different supercar every day, but he always preferred to walk.
“Ah! Vice Lord!”
“Dmitri!”
“You’re in early again today!”
The moment he stepped into the tower, the mages in the lobby flocked to him.
In the Magic Tower, where the hierarchy was as strict as in the military, for them to approach the Vice Lord—a position akin to a vice chairman of a corporation—so freely was a testament to how deeply respected Dmitri was.
“Good morning, everyone. Ah, Jenny? I read the paper you sent me yesterday. I’ve made some edits of my own, so it should be helpful for your current research.”
“Oh! You’re the best, Vice Lord! Thank you so much!”
“It was nothing. And Colint? You remember that conference we talked about? A spot just opened up. Are you interested?”
“D-Don’t tell me you mean the IMC (International Magic Conference)?!”
“Yes. A large number of mages from the Blue and Golden Magic Towers were mobilized for restoration work after the recent terror attack, right? I heard that caused the number of participants for this conference to drop significantly.”
“I-I’ll go! Please, let me go!”
“I’ll have an invitation sent to your lab.”
“Th-Thank you!!”
As always, Dmitri was surrounded by people.
Frankly, in the female-dominated world of magic, it was only natural for Dmitri, who was handsome enough to rival a Hollywood actor, to be so popular.
While the Tower Lord, Valentina, was reputed to be more difficult to deal with than a Russian dictator due to her uniquely cold personality and charisma, Dmitri was so amiable that he could befriend a stranger in an instant. He treated everyone with equality and without formality.
Thanks to this, he had extensive connections not just within the Magic Tower but throughout Russia’s political and financial circles.
“Vice Lord, would you be free to have lunch with me today?”
“Let’s go together! There’s a new restaurant that opened nearby, and I heard it’s run by a really famous chef.”
“Hmm, thank you for the invitation, but… unfortunately, I’ve been busy with my research lately. I’ll probably just grab a sandwich in my lab.”
“Ah…”
“Haha, I’m sorry, everyone.”
After chatting with the mages for nearly thirty minutes, Dmitri excused himself, citing his busy schedule as he always did.
He waved with a kind smile on his face until the very moment the doors of his private elevator closed.
Thump—
But the instant the doors shut, Dmitri’s face twisted into a vicious scowl.
“…How dare those ugly fucking pigs touch me.”
His voice, now so violent it was as if he were a completely different person, echoed softly inside the elevator.
He pulled a sanitizing wipe from his pocket and began to scrub furiously at the spots where the women’s hands had touched him.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…!!”
A hint of madness flickered in his eyes as he neurotically wiped his clothes.
Ding—
The elevator arrived at his workshop.
Dmitri threw the wipe on the floor and strode inside.
Unlike the Tower Lord, he kept no staff in his workshop, so there was no need to continue the act.
He crossed the workshop, which was piled high with research materials, and stopped in front of a pillar, placing his hand on it.
Vwoom—
The entire pillar rippled like water, its surface seeming to fold inward.
Like a curtain being drawn, the pillar vanished, revealing a small, hidden room beyond.
Without hesitation, Dmitri stepped inside as if it were second nature.
The dark, ten-pyeong [approx. 355 sq ft] space was devoid of any light and contained only a chair, a table, and a blue crystal ball resting upon it.
He sat down, placed his hand on the crystal ball, and channeled his magic power into it.
Fwaaat—!
The surface of the crystal ball shimmered like ripples on water, emitting a soft glow. An image of a shabby-looking hut began to appear within it.
Inside, a red-haired woman in a hood was warming herself by a fire, smiling at Dmitri.
—You’re late.
Flema Lowlessini.
The tenth apostle of Belmoras. During the London terror attack, she was the woman who, along with the sixth apostle Kargasan, had been tasked with tying down the Duke of Winchester.
“Do you think I’m as idle as you?”
—Such a foul mouth. How did you ever earn the title ‘Prince of the White Magic Tower’ with that rotten personality of yours?
Grind—
“…You run your mouth like the whore you are. Say one more stupid thing, and I’ll rip that mouth of yours apart myself.”
—Huhu, and do you have the ability to do that?
“Shall we test it?”
Rumble—
At that moment, the entire room began to tremble faintly.
The violently churning flow of magic power was so intense it could be felt even through the crystal ball.
—…Interesting.
Flema’s eyes glowed red.
Tangible magic power shimmered around her like a red heat haze.
Sizzzle—
The snow that had piled up in various spots inside the hut, having fallen through a hole in the ceiling, instantly melted away.
The killing intent they directed at each other grew uncontrollably violent.
If they had been face to face, a battle to the death would have already broken out.
—…Tch.
It was Flema who withdrew her energy first.
This was highly unusual.
Given her fiery temper, she normally wouldn't have stopped until one of them was internally injured.
—That’s why you’re so petty. Pathetically hung up on a one-sided love that’s gone nowhere for twenty years.
Crack—
“How dare you…!!”
—Enough. An order came down from above, so shut up and kneel.
“…”
Dmitri glared at Flema with a murderous expression.
But unlike before, he didn’t raise his voice or unleash his killing intent.
Instead, just as Flema had said, he knelt on one knee before the crystal ball and bowed his head.
—Huhu.
Dmitri gritted his teeth, and Flema sneered at him as she continued.
—All the offerings have been prepared. The eleventh apostle is to hasten and acquire the final key. There must be no setbacks.
“…I will obey.”
Flema’s voice, its tone a complete one-eighty from before, echoed softly in the room.
With those words, the crystal ball lost its light. Dmitri remained kneeling, his body trembling faintly.
It was not a tremor of anger or fear.
“Hah, hahaha…”
A pure joy, incomparable to anything else, was welling up from the depths of his heart.
Click—
Dmitri stood up and flipped on the light switch, revealing a shocking scene.
The ceiling and walls were completely covered with pictures of the Tower Lord, taken at unknown times and places.
“Ahh… my star (звезда), my goddess (богиня)…!”
Dmitri’s eyes were half-glazed over with ecstasy as he gazed at a picture of the Tower Lord that decorated one wall like a poster.
“To finally have the aloof ice fairy, who gives her heart to no one, in my hands…!!”
Twisted affection, obsession, and a desire for possession oozed from his eyes, which glistened with madness.
*
Having escaped the Tower Lord’s wrath, I returned to the mansion and walked down a corridor covered in cobwebs and dust.
Outside the window, a gloomy sky stretched on, and a chill air had settled over the estate.
I scratched the back of my head and let out a small sigh.
“…This is tricky.”
The truth was, despite the confidence I’d shown the Tower Lord, the actual probability of dispelling the curse wasn’t very high.
Did I have an ace up my sleeve?
Well… yes, but things in this world rarely go exactly as planned.
I always had to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
‘…I didn’t realize her condition was so severe. It’s like they brought a terminal pancreatic cancer patient to a local clinic.’
Although the Tower Lord specialized in combat, she was still an Archmage, one of only three in the entire world.
She had even unofficially sought help from the Duke of Winchester and the Pope to cure her daughter.
The fact that they still hadn’t found a solution meant the curse was just that vicious.
‘Even for a demon, is it possible to cast a curse that can resist the Pope’s divine power?’
I wasn’t an expert on curses, but I knew they had an important component: a tribute.
By offering something of corresponding value as a price, the power of the curse would naturally increase.
Judging by the situation, they must have offered at least two or three Holy Relics as tribute.
Of course, Holy Relics weren’t common items, but knowing that Belmoras was behind this incident made all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
‘If I could just get my hands on that Vice Lord, I feel like I could find out more… but it’s not the right time yet.’
The ice fairy, Anastasia, was born with an immense amount of extreme yin energy.
A normal human with such a constitution would have died young from having their life force completely overwhelmed by it, but for an ice fairy, yin energy was the very source of life, like blood to a human.
And now that the flames of Andras were eating away at that yin energy, the only way to break the curse was for me to absorb those flames.
But that was easier said than done.
‘Hoo… I’ll have to think about this for a while.’
To increase the chances of success even slightly, I had to get my hands on a Spirit Fruit, which meant I had some time until the Spirit Tree fully matured.
Of course, considering Anastasia’s worsening condition, I might have to attempt to dispel the curse without the fruit.
For now, all I could do was pray fervently that it wouldn’t come to that.
Scratch, scratch—
I found myself scratching the back of my head.
It was a habit that came out whenever I was frustrated.
“Haa… Since it’s come to this, maybe I should ask the Tower Lord to help me train? It’s not like there’s anything else I can do right now…”
I was muttering to myself as I walked.
Ting~
A clear bell sound echoed gently throughout the mansion.
For a moment, I thought it was a clock striking the hour.
Ting~
The bell rang again.
‘That sounded close.’
Since I had nothing better to do, I turned and headed in the direction of the sound.
I walked down a strangely familiar corridor and stopped in front of a door, tilting my head.
‘This place is…’
Ting~
Hearing the bell ring once more from beyond the door, I glanced around before knocking cautiously.
Knock, knock—
I waited for about ten seconds, but when there was no answer, I slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
My eyes met with someone sitting on a large canopy bed.
“…Huh?”
White hair and blue eyes, gently curved eyes, and a curvaceous body that stirred a man’s heart.
It was the Tower Lord’s daughter, Anastasia Danilova.
“Who are you…?”