Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Ars Nova # 3
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Just moments ago, Professor Vallan had been sitting in her wheelchair, but now she walked straight toward me.
As the distance between her and me gradually closed, I felt a twinge of impatience.
“If you take one more step closer, I’ll shoot a spell at you.”
In my current state, I could easily subdue one person.
Even though Professor Vallan was known as a master of black magic, if I resisted desperately, I should be able to shake her off and escape.
“My magic won’t just hurt—it’ll be worse, Professor Vallan—!”
She stopped.
Perhaps my threat had worked, as Professor Vallan halted in place and raised both arms, as if showing she had no intention of fighting me.
Professor Vallan spoke.
“I have no desire to fight you. I don’t even have the strength for it anymore. Nor any reason to... heh heh heh.”
“Then stay there and repeat what you said earlier. Why were you deceiving everyone? And what did you call me?”
That afternoon when Professor Vallan, trembling, had hugged my waist.
I had genuinely pitied her then. I’d heard she might spend her life in a wheelchair.
But now, it felt like my sympathy had been trampled into the mud. She’d been lying to everyone.
Why on earth would she do that?
What was her scheme?
As if reading my curious mind, Professor Vallan spoke.
“Are you testing me, descendant of David? Why keep up that act...?”
She had seen through my lies and pretense? This was a first.
And “descendant of David.”
David was the great king known as the ancestor of the Angmar family. He was also a lecher who took countless women as wives.
Thus, the founding myth claimed that most Angmar citizens carried David’s blood.
Just as Koreans refer to themselves as descendants of Dangun, Angmar people are often called descendants of David.
But it seemed Professor Vallan wasn’t using the term metaphorically, but literally.
She likely suspected I was a true descendant of Angmar.
「Calm Situational Judgment!
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No way, for real?
How?
The only clue was her close connection with Gamigin, the necromantic summon that had possessed her body.
It was just my guess, but even if Vallan, linked intimately with Gamigin, had discerned my identity for some reason, it wasn’t entirely implausible.
Srrk.
Professor Vallan took another step toward me.
At the same time, I quickly chanted.
—Paimon—!
Pew—!
I vividly felt the sphere of mana launch from the wand’s tip. It soon slammed into Professor Vallan’s abdomen as she approached.
Bang—!
“Eeeek...!”
Vallan let out a horrific scream as she collapsed to the floor. Her trembling form resembled a soaked hamster, and she seemed to be in immense pain.
I’d reduced the power, but striking an unprepared person would naturally hurt.
“Ugh... it hurrrts...”
“I told you not to move. Now stay put. And from here on, you’d better answer my questions truthfully.”
I needed to figure out her scheme.
But it was clear I held the upper hand. She seemed afraid of the magic that could pour from my staff.
As Vallan steadied herself and sat on the sofa, I asked leisurely,
“Then, first things first. Professor Vallan, tell me everything you know.”
“Everything I know... You mean how the great will and plan of the king hides within the half-fairy’s body, O descendant?”
She knew, after all.
Vallan continued.
“I am Vallan Sabrnak. This body, once lent to a mighty summon, was a poor vessel, yet through it, I glimpsed a divine providence I can never forget.”
Professor Vallan spoke calmly, even stuttering.
From her explanation, it seemed she learned of my identity due to her fusion with the high summon Gamigin.
It aligned with my guess.
I needed to clarify.
“Professor Vallan. Are you Vallan the human? Or Vallan the professor as Solomon’s summon Gamigin?”
At my question, Vallan let out a sinister chuckle.
“My demonic nature and human nature may be separate, yet they intimately intermingled, like one being—human yet magic, magic yet human.”
“......”
“O descendant of the king. For your naive half-fairy mind, that’s the best explanation. More precisely, it’s a state of perichoresis, mutual penetration—”
Professor Vallan explained her condition using complex terms. Midway through, I reached a conclusion.
“So, you’re human Vallan the professor and Gamigin the magic at the same time?”
“Exactly. Very good. I’d give you an A.”
“Then let me ask this—it’s very important. No beating around the bush.”
“Ask away...”
“Are you my enemy or my ally right now?”
That was the key question.
Whose side was Professor Vallan on? Would she harm me or benefit me?
She’d called me out after learning my identity, so she probably wouldn’t spread rumors.
But as an imperfect being of flesh and blood, I couldn’t be absolutely sure. So I casually probed her stance.
Srrk.
Vallan prostrated herself before me. It resembled the way a king’s vassals trembled before the throne of Aira.
“I am ever on the king’s side. From ancient times to now. Does that answer you?”
It didn’t seem like a lie.
I wouldn’t fully trust her, but I decided to lower my guard a notch.
* * *
As my hostility eased, Professor Vallan explained everything she knew, as if switched on.
“When I came to my senses, I was in this state. My mind was filled only with thoughts of gathering an army again for the king’s resurrection. And executing the traitors...”
“So that’s why you attacked the Draco family?”
“Of course. The Dracos were traitors. Filthy scum who betrayed the king. Lizards who cut off their tails, ignorant of loyalty or chastity.”
Professor Vallan brimmed with rage toward the Draco family. She also told me how much she’d worked for Angmar’s revival.
Her loyalty ran deeper than I’d thought.
“The betrayal wasn’t just the Dracos, O descendant of the king. Among those others... there were traitors. Traitors among them. I’m certain.”
“Those others? Traitors?”
Who did she mean?
I had no idea. But as a professor, Vallan adeptly pinpointed what I didn’t understand.
“You truly know nothing, O descendant? Not even that day’s betrayal? Nor the agonized screams as flesh tore...?”
“No clue.”
Srrk.
Vallan’s cold hands grasped my cheeks.
Tears streamed down her face in profound pity, smearing her black eye makeup into a frightening mess.
“To know nothing... You’re no different from the dull nymphs it seems...?”
Dull nymph? Was she insulting me now?
But before I could protest, Vallan added a long explanation. Mostly about how great a ruler and transcendent mage the Angmar Demon King had been.
“Today’s mages aren’t... no, they’re not mages at all. They’re mere pretenders playing child’s games. The true mage has always been one, past and present.”
“Hmm.”
“Especially the 72 spells he personally devised are the very truths of the world. And among them, the most noteworthy is none other than Gamigin—”
“Hmm...”
If this continued, I might hear Solomon praises till dawn, so I cut her off.
“So, who betrayed whom and how?”
At my question, Vallan gnashed her teeth.
“Those bastards. Traitors among my kind. For servants blessed with the great king’s will to betray—”
“One of the Ars Nova betrayed?”
“Yes. Precisely. Likely the unstable human emotions from the flesh puppet interfered. Or impure thoughts—”
According to Professor Vallan, Solomon personally created 72 spells, from 72 to 1.
The final four were so mighty he implanted them directly into human bodies.
Thus born the four great summons with their own egos—Ars Nova. Or the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings.
But one betrayed at the critical moment, and Solomon was torn apart by the heroes of the four families.
“Hmm.”
That solved a lingering doubt.
Even if the four families’ heroes were strong, could they defeat a 10th-circle Demon King Solomon?
If Solomon’s own power turned against him, it made sense.
“O descendant of the king. Here’s the problem. I, Vallan Sabrnak, can sense my siblings’ presences. Not just me—other Ars Nova are loose in the world.”
“They’re pretending to be human like you, Professor?”
“High probability. Agares seems sealed in the Saintess Priga’s embrace for some reason, but the other two...”
“Do you know their whereabouts?”
“If I were my former great self, yes. But as Vallan Sabrnak now, no. They likely haven’t noticed me either.”
“But one of them is a traitor, right? So my life’s in danger—they might target me.”
“Excellent conclusion. But since you still breathe, they haven’t noticed. Splendid disguise. A half-fairy—who’d suspect?”
“Then how did you figure me out, Professor Vallan?”
“Because of that intense mana exchange. Without it, even they wouldn’t detect you.”
“Truly perfect camouflage,” Professor Vallan kept praising my actions. She thought my half-fairy life was to hide Angmar blood.
“To coax the ladies of Draco and Lioness families with such a frail, naive half-fairy body... I, Vallan Sabrnak, am impressed.”
“They’ll bear plenty of Angmar heirs.”
“A-after birthing them, you’ll behead them and hang their heads at the gates! Brilliant—no one would expect such vengeance.”
“Behead them?”
“Doesn’t beheading complete the revenge? An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth—cut off the nose of those who cut yours. That’s Angmar’s ancient law, heh heh heh.”
Professor Vallan was clearly misunderstanding. Behead Elga and Mirna? I had no reason for such brutality.
“I have no intention of beheading them. That’s not my revenge.”
“......?”
At my words, Professor Vallan furrowed her brow in confusion, then nodded as if understanding.
“As ever, I follow your great wisdom. Now, time’s up. Others might notice me. Avoid prolonged contact with me.”
Srrk.
Professor Vallan rose from the sofa. I had to stand too.
As I headed for the door, she said,
“Learning Agares is trapped in Saintess Priga’s body is today’s great harvest. I’ll find a way to extract it from her.”
Even in this ruined body, something I can do—she trailed off. Probably planning to use her ultimate magic.
A summon inside the saintess’s body.
It gave me a bad feeling—she might awaken as an episode boss as planned.
“Don’t do anything reckless. Report to me before acting from now on.”
“Understood. You’ve become the compass for my rudderless life. Truly grateful. For sparing my life too...”
“See you later.”
“O descendant of the king, after such close contact, lie low for a bit. Half a month or so...”
That ended the conversation.
Heart-pounding in parts, but overall, I’d gained a useful subordinate, hadn’t I?