Chapter 539: Jealousy is My Power (39)
Chapter 539: Jealousy is My Power (39)
The Great Witch’s residence was silent.
The building, devoid of even a single servant, held its breath in stillness. Considering her status as the State Preceptor of the Southern Kingdoms, such treatment was practically an insult.
Of course, the Southern Kingdoms had no reason to intentionally neglect the Great Witch. On the contrary, the Southern Kingdoms, the Academy, and even the Empire had all expressed a fervent desire to host her with the utmost hospitality.
Yet, why was this place so secluded?
There was only one reason.
The Great Witch desired silence.
She was a woman who had isolated herself on an island within the Great Sea of Trees for hundreds of years. It was unlikely she would suddenly crave the company of a bustling crowd now.
Thus, this building tucked away in a corner of the Academy had become another Great Forest.
In the middle of a sea made of silence instead of trees.
Low footsteps echoed across the desolate, empty hallway.
Thud, thud. With every step, the amplified noise drummed against the eardrums. The cold marble floor spat out a sound as pale as its color.
It was a scene that felt out of place in many ways.
Like paint splattered on a canvas that should have been blank, I and the woman tucked under my arm were creating a noisy disturbance. In particular, the girl in the pointed hat was currently putting up a frantic struggle.
The sounds she let out while flailing her limbs were quite fierce.
"Hey! Are you crazy?! I told you I’d handle it myself! How dare a mere junior…!"
"It saves time, so it’s fine. You had business here anyway, didn't you?"
Despite her outburst, my voice remained perfectly calm.
In truth, Senior Elsie was a powerhouse who could break free from my restraint at any moment. Even if we were to duel right now, I couldn't guarantee a victory.
She was struggling, but she wasn't making a genuine effort to escape my arm.
I could only interpret this as tacit consent.
My judgment was proven correct shortly after. Eventually, Senior Elsie let her body go limp, snorted, and abruptly turned her head away.
"…Hmph, you’ll never understand how I feel."
"That goes without saying."
There was no need to carry someone like a sack of luggage if they weren't resisting.
I gently set Senior Elsie down on the floor. The girl snorted again and brushed back her hair.
"Hmph, you should be grateful for the honor of laying hands on the body of Elsie Lainella."
"It’s my fiancée’s body, though."
Of course, Senior Elsie acted as if she hadn't heard my perfectly valid rebuttal.
She simply walked with a haughty stride, grumbling incessantly.
"Barbaric fellow. My Percus was much gentler…"
"I am not that man."
"Whatever, fine. I had something I wanted to tell you anyway."
With that, Senior Elsie came to a sudden halt.
It was just as the blazing sun was casting long, slanted shadows. With the diagonal shafts of sunlight between us, Senior Elsie let out a voice laced with a sigh.
"…She’s not coming back."
"Pardon?"
I could only let out a dumbfounded sound at the cryptic remark.
Senior Elsie placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head.
"The original owner of this body! The 'Elsie Percus' you know isn't coming back."
"What… what do you mean by that…?"
"It was the same even when I got dead drunk."
My mind froze at the unimaginable situation.
What did this mean?
Why wasn't Senior Elsie coming back?
She was one of the people most precious to me. Naturally, it was impossible to accept such a fact easily.
Confusion that crosses a line leads to agitation.
Just as a surge of heat was about to reach my throat.
The girl pulled a fluttering slip of paper from her robe.
"I’ve organized all the information you wanted. And, well, I was planning to just show my face for a bit later, but…"
Snap. As soon as Senior Elsie flicked her fingers, the note flew toward me.
Instinctively catching the paper, my eyes silently scanned the writing.
‘Estimated locations of the Five Elements Formation’s focal points.’
Of course, those words couldn't truly register in my mind right now.
I suppressed the urge to tear the note to pieces and asked, "…So, why isn't Senior Elsie coming back?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
The question was returned with a snort.
For a moment, irritation flickered in my eyes toward the girl before vanishing.
A long sigh filled the void instead. I was on the verge of getting angry at the fact that Senior Elsie wasn't returning, but in hindsight, this 'Senior Elsie' was blameless.
And what she said was right.
She was essentially a ghost summoned from the past without warning. Naturally, she was ignorant of the phenomena involved, and I wasn't familiar enough with her inner thoughts to guess the circumstances.
Then who on earth was I supposed to ask?
A certain person briefly crossed my mind.
But before that, the girl gave me a subtle hint.
"…Maybe she doesn't want to come back."
"What does that mean?"
"I mean, well… she could just be a coward. Have you never wanted to run away?"
Well, I had. Countless times.
But to think one could actually not return just because they didn't want to.
Then where was Senior Elsie right now?
Questions with no immediate answers broke through the dam of my thoughts and flooded in. My grip tightened on the note.
It was then that Senior Elsie began walking again.
"To be honest, I’ve felt that way plenty of times."
I couldn't just stand here alone.
I hurried after Senior Elsie and asked, "How can I make Senior Elsie come back?"
"I don't know, really… I’m still a bit scared myself."
Before I could ask what she meant by that.
Senior Elsie let out a long sigh.
"Honestly, this old hag is consistent in everything she does…"
It happened right then.
A small flame was birthed in the air. Soon, an electrical charge branched out from the ashes, and upon touching a certain point, the charge began to transform into water.
And the water became a sprout, and the sprout became fire again.
As the exchange between the five polar points connecting in a circle accelerated, the gaps in the formation vanished.
By the time the trajectory formed a perfect circle.
Crack. An abrupt fissure appeared in the air.
The cracks that began spreading from the five polar points grew uncontrollably. It didn't take long for the world to shatter with a bursting sound.
Phew.
Tobacco smoke drifted through the crumbling fragments. Before I knew it, Senior Elsie and I were standing inside an unfamiliar room.
We both had rather awkward expressions.
"…Quite impressive."
"It’s thanks to rolling around under someone for several years."
Senior Elsie let out a hollow chuckle and wore a somewhat defiant expression.
It was an unexpected development. So, I decided to choose silence for now.
Recovering the Senior Elsie I knew was important, but the encounter between these two came first.
I would only be able to ask for advice after this incident was over.
Furthermore, there was something else I was curious about.
It was the Great Witch’s reaction.
Senior Elsie had broken something using an unfamiliar technique. I suspected it was the Great Witch’s barrier, meaning the Great Witch had just had her magic dismantled by a girl she had never seen before.
Despite that, the Great Witch’s complexion remained calm.
Though she couldn't hide the light of wariness reflecting in her gaze.
"You must have had a good master… Who did you study under?"
"There’s this cranky old woman. Her personality is so twisted that she built a house in the middle of a remote forest to live in. What’s even more terrible is that she forces her disciple to live there too."
At Senior Elsie’s slick words, the Great Witch exhaled a long trail of tobacco smoke.
"A disciple should live with their master; where else would they stay?"
"But isn't it a bit ridiculous? She acts like that, yet she gets incredibly lonely… Good grief."
The Great Witch, holding her smoking pipe, shifted her gaze slightly to the side.
She looked indifferent, but I knew.
The Great Witch was not the type of person to engage in a back-and-forth like this if she wasn't interested.
"Strange… In my memory, people who can handle the Five Elements to this extent are rare. And among them, not a single one matches the characteristics you described."
As she spoke, the Great Witch’s eyes were deep and sunken.
The gaze of a sage who had lived for hundreds of years sometimes unearths emotions hidden deep within the human heart. The reason Senior Elsie could meet the Great Witch’s eyes so calmly was likely because she was already used to it.
Senior Elsie hesitated, then bit her lip.
Silence followed.
The Great Witch let out a low hum and briefly turned her gaze toward me.
"Well, fine… Everyone has a past they want to hide. So, kid, the reason you brought this shorty to me is…"
"…There is one person."
At Senior Elsie’s softly uttered words, I couldn't help but look bewildered.
Wait, so suddenly?
However, the girl’s blunt voice was tinged with a faint trace of anger. Unable to understand the nature of that emotion, I stood frozen for a moment, dazed.
The Great Witch also looked puzzled by Senior Elsie’s unusual demeanor.
"What… are you talking about…?"
Point.
The girl’s slender index finger pointed straight ahead. At the end of it, naturally, stood the Great Witch.
For a moment, the Great Witch’s body stiffened as she failed to grasp Senior Elsie’s intention.
Nevertheless, Senior Elsie did not stop her voice from trembling. On the contrary, she clenched both fists, closed her eyes tight, and even bowed her head.
"H-How… How could you…!"
And in the next moment.
Lunging forward, Senior Elsie’s hand grabbed the Great Witch by the collar. At this unimaginable rudeness, my eyes and mouth fell wide open.
"How could you not recognize me!"
The Great Witch, her collar suddenly seized, turned her frozen gaze toward me.
It was the catastrophe I had feared.
The Sword Duke was walking with long strides, carrying Seria on his back.
Even though his body had shrunk, a Master’s physique was robust. Despite carrying a girl taller than himself, the Sword Duke’s face showed no sign of struggle.
Only one thought occupied his mind right now.
"Ah, I want to duel…"
He wanted to dump this luggage in the infirmary as quickly as possible and go find the kid.
Since they had agreed to duel tonight, he couldn't delay it any longer.
It was around the time he entered the temple.
There were few people passing through the unusually quiet temple today. Only faint voices leaked out from between the open infirmary doors.
Even so, the sounds were so minute that ordinary people wouldn't have been able to hear them.
But the Sword Duke was different. A Master’s heightened hearing captured all surrounding sounds without even trying.
It was then.
"Only you can fulfill the Imperial Household's long-cherished wish…"
"Please do not entertain such futile thoughts…"
The Sword Duke’s steps came to a halt as he overheard the grating voices. Thinking it over in silence, the voices sounded familiar; it seemed to be one of his grandnieces.
The Second Princess, Iris.
And the other one… was it one of the Alphenhauser twins?
Unable to overcome his curiosity, the Sword Duke unconsciously headed toward the infirmary. Perhaps they intended to leave after a brief conversation, as their whispering voices could be heard clearly through the slightly ajar door.
"Cien, do you understand? I will negotiate well with that man named 'Ian,' so you just need to follow my lead."
"B-But Brother Vilteon is still… Ah!"
That was when it happened.
Cien, who had been blatantly avoiding the conversation, locked eyes with the Sword Duke. The Sword Duke flinched as memories of a past nightmare resurfaced, but Cien, who had now regained her health, jumped out of bed as if delighted to see him.
She even hurried over and grabbed both of his hands.
"Ah, welcome! I heard you and Sir Ian brought me here that day. Did you come because you were worried? But I’m sorry, for some reason, I don't have any memory of that day…"
With that, Cien let out an awkward laugh. It seemed her brain had erased the memory due to the excessive shock.
Realizing this, the Sword Duke let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
Yes, it’s better if you don't know, Cien.
This old man will carry all the sins.
It was then.
"…Who is this child?"
Iris’s cold gaze turned toward the Sword Duke. Not only Iris, but the gaze of everyone escorting her pierced through him.
This was something unimaginable when he was in his original body.
Far from looking down on him like this, they would usually lower their eyes, unable to even meet his gaze.
Feeling a sense of absurdity, the Sword Duke swallowed a hollow laugh and opened his mouth.
"Ha, who am I? I am—"
"H-Hieeeeeek!"
However, as soon as the Sword Duke spoke in his usual tone, Cien began to tremble violently and collapsed on the spot.
While the group remained silent in bewilderment, Cien let out a tearful voice.
"S-Something… something, something keeps trying to come back to me… Ugh!"
The Sword Duke was equally flustered.
Was it because he used his usual tone, which she might associate with the moment she discovered his identity?
If so, there was only one answer.
"I-I am… no! This maiden is…"
Whether it was luck or misfortune.
As soon as he adjusted his speech, Cien’s trembling began to subside. When her teary, light-gray eyes turned toward him, the Sword Duke could only swallow his tears and put on a smile of weary resignation.
"I am… her younger sister…"
Feeling that life had become quite difficult lately.