Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Exterminating Evil (??), Arrival (10)
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A dragon had died. The worst of the Four Evils. The terror of humanity lay cold upon that frozen earth, slain by a single person.
As the blood-soaked Louis approached, the people recoiled in equal terror. To them, he might have been even more frightening than Karbias.
Liv noticed that Louis's condition was far from normal. Not only had he suffered severe physical injuries, but his mind seemed unstable as well.
She stared blankly as he shoved her aside and staggered toward the canal. Then Lehel spoke from beside her.
"He's gonna die."
"What?"
"It's not just tangled mana and karma in his body. Dragon bones and all sorts of things no normal body could withstand—he's stuffed full of them. Without the magic forcibly binding it all together to keep it stable, his very existence can't hold."
"What does that mean...?"
"In a word."
She grimaced and pointed at Louis's fingertips.
"He's crumbling. Like dust."
Crazy bastards. Fucking lunatics. Ignoring Lehel's mutterings, Liv rushed forward.
If she left him like this, Louis would tumble into the canal. But her frail hands couldn't stop his steps. The moment she grabbed his relatively intact left hand, she saw the skin crack with a sharp creak, and her face drained of color.
"N-No...! Boss, what do we do... Ah!"
That's when Liv spotted a girl watching her from afar. And she remembered what the girl had said in the forest.
"I want to leave. Right now!"
At Liv's cry, the girl shook her head. Then she pointed at Louis, whom Liv was desperately holding onto.
"The only one who can escape a nightmare is someone not ensnared by illusions. Liv, you have no lingering attachment to this place, so you can leave anytime. But that man can't."
"Why!?"
"Because beyond there lies what he desires."
Phantasmal Murder. Those who fall into sweet dreams cannot return to reality.
Louis reached the canal's edge. There was no more time.
Liv glared at the girl before her. And she called out a name that should no longer exist.
"Saya Rampling."
"......"
"I've never heard tales of a child like you appearing in Baldur's Nightmare. You want something from me, don't you?"
"Sharp as ever."
The Phantasm Duke stepped forward with a thud thud and drew two halves of a staff from Liv's waist.
One was what her past self had received from her father in the past, and the other was what her past self had received from her father in the present.
Saya fused the two into one and returned the now whole staff to Liv, extending the handle toward her.
It was imaginary magic that manifested the nonexistent into reality.
"You want me... to learn it?"
"To take him out, you have no choice but to open the door yourself. The decision is yours."
She didn't hesitate long. To return with Louis, Liv took the staff offered to her.
Suddenly, everything except her and Louis began to recede, compressing into a single space.
"Congratulations, Liv. You've proven worthy. Hone this magic a bit more, and someday you'll awaken the unique incantation."
Father. She hurriedly waved one last time to Paris, who was reaching out toward her.
"But remember. You Liv in reality."
Clutching the staff he had given her, until she lost consciousness.
When she came to, spitting out the dirt that had gotten in her mouth, she was at the Storm Shrine.
The black hole leading to Baldur's Nightmare had vanished without a trace, and the fog was gradually lifting.
The magic tower's students had all evacuated; there were no signs of life. Covering her head with one hand as she rose, she spotted Louis still collapsed and hurried to him.
"Boss, Boss! Wake up!!"
The moment her hand touched his body, a chill ran through her. Liv realized she had returned to reality, but nothing was resolved yet.
And she had no way to heal Louis. She wasn't a priest who could use healing magic.
"Hey! Is anyone there!? Help!!"
Her voice barely carried in the damp air. The magic tower was too far away. Trying to carry him might shatter his body to pieces.
Unable to move forward or back, tears welled up in Liv's eyes as she stamped her feet.
"Please, sob, anyone... Help us..."
Then, a strange frictional sound echoed from somewhere.
Screeech, screeech.
Scraaape. Clank! Rumble rumble—
She gripped her staff and warily eyed the fog beyond. It came from the cliff before the Storm Shrine, where Peter had warned not to go too close lest one fall.
Was someone down there?
Approaching the cliff edge cautiously, Liv realized the sound was coming from much higher up than she thought.
Clunk! Screeeeech—! Crunch!
Screek! Scraaape! Screeeeech—!
Thud!
Finally piercing the fog from beyond the cliff was a colossal entity—a tower rising to impossible heights.
Its exterior was covered in weathered, rusted copper and iron plates, with incessant small mechanical clicks emanating from within.
It had the bizarre appearance of something out of legend, but Liv recognized the structure instantly.
"Oh my god... This is..."
A mobile fortress. The demonic surveillance organ.
Horus Lighthouse.
As she looked up at the roar of steam from the massive exhaust pipes, Liv's face filled with shock at the sight of one person slowly descending from the sky.
"I came just in case, but it looks like things worked out fine."
"Y-You...!"
A tall, ethereal woman with flowing golden hair landed lightly. She greeted the unfamiliar Liv as if they were old acquaintances.
"Hello, Liv? Paris's daughter."
"...!!"
"You've inherited the unique incantation. Congratulations."
Despite wearing workman's overalls like a blacksmith or potter, her clear voice and noble bearing exuded an aura that kept others at bay.
Terra approached the fallen Louis without hesitation. She placed her soot-stained gloved hand on his heart and spoke bitterly.
"Sustaining a being from another world here poses two challenges. First, craft a body identical to their original yet far more durable. Second, constantly bind the summoned soul so it doesn't escape."
"Since it's not native to this world, the soul is unstable and would dissipate if left alone."
"So in a way, Louis has transcended death. As long as the magic holds, his heart will never stop."
That's why I opposed it to the end. A self-deprecating laugh crossed her face, laced with guilt.
Confirming color returning to Louis's face, she rose to leave. Liv cried out desperately.
"W-Wait...!"
"Yes? What is it?"
She still didn't know exactly who Louis was. She barely understood half of what the great archmage had said.
But now she wanted to know. No, she was ready to accept it.
"Who... is the boss, exactly? What kind of person is he to...?"
"The key to great magic is always right under your nose."
Terra cut her off and pointed somewhere.
"It's my favorite saying."
Following her finger, Liv saw her bag—dropped as she was sucked into the gate amid the stormy night—tumbling across the barren ground.
"Liv, you already have the answer. You've just forgotten it."
Terra rummaged in her pocket, left a familiar reagent and small flask used in academy labs, and waved goodbye.
"Take good care of Louis. And about not getting lost in illusions... I don't need to tell you that, do I?"
Liv stared blankly at Terra's vanishing figure, then snatched up her backpack as if compelled.
Dumping it upside down, out fell writing tools, crumpled notes, and a finger-sized paper she'd received from the canteen sometime ago.
"This is..."
Pure black Litvice Test Paper.
Louis had handed her a bundle of twelve sheets, and the top and bottom ones had been stained with karma from his touch.
She had used one to glimpse the past in Professor Glatos's lab.
Gulp.
Liv swallowed and picked up a pen and notepad.
This time, vowing not to forget.
She closed her eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I was on a sofa in a small room I'd never seen before.
A spacious interior slathered in purples and reds.
Fire crackled in the hearth at the edge of the violet carpet, and the walls bore oddly shaped trees and a massive astrological chart.
I felt incredibly refreshed. Like my soul had slipped out and slipped back in?
"Where is this?"
As I sat up to check the date and location, a very familiar, emotionless, cold voice came from behind me.
"The upper floors of the Pekda Magic Tower."
"Huh? Baroness!?"
"It's been a week since then. Since we escaped the nightmare."
Whipping around in surprise, I froze at Liv's somehow changed aura.
Her neat attire and lack of gaudy accessories were the same, but she exuded an inexplicable mystique and bewitching allure?
Even her sigh of relief as she looked at me carried a dizzying sweet scent—or so it seemed.
"Boss. I, um, have one question."
But the surprise was fleeting. As Liv demurely sat beside me and overlaid her soft hand on my knee, calm air settled in again.
"A very important question."
I steeled myself.
"Go ahead."
She hesitated for a long while.
Not choosing her words, but wondering if such a question even mattered, if it wasn't already enough.
Yet in the end, Liv looked at me with clear eyes and spoke.
"Was... my father's sacrifice... worth it?"
"Yes. It was worth it."
I answered without a moment's pause. It was what I'd decided to say whenever she asked.
"Thanks to Paris Greenwood, we made it safely to the Demon King's castle. Without the time he bought us, the canal would have been destroyed, and we wouldn't have reached the end."
She closed her eyes gently and nodded faintly.
"We'd have been surrounded midway and failed to end the war. Baroness Liv..."
Seeing her expression tore at my heart; I forced the words out.
"Your father's sacrifice... the sacrifice of everyone in that forest..."
It was the best I could do.
"...was not in vain."
The hearth's logs crackled long and loud. I quietly gazed at Liv's beautiful face.
I watched her, straight-backed with knees together just like at the canteen, lost in thought, without tiring.
And when a small smile finally curved her lips, I couldn't help but bow my head in guilt.
"I see..."
I didn't want to see tears fall with that smile.
"The sacrifice... sniff, wasn't... sob...!"
Smart as she was, she'd figured it all out. From the moment she asked.
Whether Paris's sacrifice had meaning.
Why I'd hoped she never learned the truth.
By the time Karbias reached the mountains, we'd already crossed the canal.
"You know, Boss. I..."
Liv's hand gently pulled my head into an embrace.
"I really... love this kind Boss."
She conveyed her heart, a single tear trailing down.