Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Obsession
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It was like a declaration.
The moment Amy finished speaking, the Duke of Ferrara leaped from the dais.
*CRASH—*
Despite the force of his landing, which shattered the floor stones, Mirka remained unfazed.
Even when her father's large hands lifted her into the air, she only swayed limply.
"Magnificent. Truly magnificent. You did so well, my daughter!"
The duke held Mirka in his arms and showered her with praise.
He seemed so deeply moved that he had lost all sense of reason.
Watching the duke, unable to control his emotions, and Mirka, whose vacant expression and unfocused eyes had returned, Loan felt a sense of foreboding.
Unconsciously, his heart began to hum as the circulation of his mana quickened.
Loan quickly distanced himself from the duke and Mirka.
Meanwhile.
Amy descended the stairs one step at a time, her movements slow and leisurely.
With her eyes fixed on Loan, she asked the duke.
"Isn't she just lovely?"
"Words can't describe it."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if our young lady were always this healthy?"
"That is my wish. I would give up everything if only that could be."
"What a noble sentiment. You're a wonderful father."
Loan watched their conversation in silence.
The answer he sought might lie within it.
‘She's playing with the duke's emotions.’
As if boasting of her abilities to Loan, Amy continued.
"But what if I told you that among these gifts, there's something that can restore the young lady's health? Would you believe me?"
"What? Is that true?"
Despite it being just a hypothetical, the duke immediately burst into tears.
Moisture spread across his rough, bark-like skin, and his deep wrinkles became furrows, channeling tears that dripped onto Mirka's face.
He said through his sobs.
"What are you waiting for? Unwrap the gifts at once!"
At his command, the surroundings grew boisterous.
A table and chairs were placed beside the duke and the young lady, and soon the gifts were moved to the table.
So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the fact that the servants carrying out the task had all turned into wooden dolls was a great shock even to Loan.
‘Since when...?’
The same was true for the onlookers and the musicians.
Amid the chaos, even though the duke and the young lady clearly seemed abnormal, it didn't seem to matter to them at all.
They only stared at the table piled with gifts.
That was because they, too, had already become wooden dolls.
‘There's been no contact since I arrived. Not even a flow of mana.’
In any case, one thing was certain: this place was completely under Amy's control.
Just then, Amy gestured lightly to a doll that was arranging the gifts.
"That's enough."
As the doll hastily stepped back, Amy began tossing the piled boxes aside, saying.
"Not this one, not this one. Not this one either."
She left exactly six boxes on the table, arranging them neatly.
Masses of dark mana, clearly visible even to Loan's eyes.
Amy said.
"Which friend would be a good fit for our sweet Mirka?"
Then, pointing to each box one by one, she began to sing.
"Let's try to guess which one is the best match."
Her finger came to a stop.
Without hesitation, Amy tore open the box.
Soon, a jagged, dark red stone was revealed.
A magic circle drawn on its surface. Dense, dark mana.
It was unmistakably a Stone of Goetia.
The duke asked Amy.
"Is this it? Is this the one?"
"Yes, that's right. So you should pick one too. You need to be happy with your daughter forever."
The moment she finished speaking, a change came over the duke, who had remained human until now.
The skin visible outside his clothes became dry and hard.
The joints of his jaw and wrists transformed, as if they were assembled from separate pieces.
Now, the duke looked just like a large wooden doll.
And so did Mirka, whom he was holding.
In the Ferrara reception hall, only Loan was left as a human.
It wasn't something he could have stopped.
Everything had already been prepared this way, even before Loan arrived.
"So? Was it fun?"
Looking at Amy's smooth smile, Loan realized that the dance she had performed, and everything that had just unfolded, had been nothing more than a game, a bit of amusement for her.
"What is this?"
Amy laughed.
"Don't be angry. I actually wanted to entertain you."
"You call this entertaining?"
"Yes. I wanted to show you the duke's heart. You saw how happy he was. The truth is, Mirka's emotions have completely faded now after so long, but at first, she clung to me, desperate to live. They all truly wanted something from me."
"So you're saying it was right to turn them into dolls?"
Loan reinforced his Convection.
Having left Sheville behind, he had already calculated the fastest possible attack he could currently execute.
Did she sense something? Amy shook her head.
"That's not all. There's no way living as a doll is good. I haven't done anything properly yet."
Suddenly, as her words trailed off.
The duke, still holding Mirka, grasped her slender neck with one hand.
It seemed to be a warning that he would snap it if interfered with.
A father's hand on his daughter's neck.
As Loan bit his lower lip, Amy spoke in a placating tone.
"It's just a vessel. Nothing yet. It contains nothing."
"You intend to put the demon from the Stone of Goetia into the doll."
"So you came knowing. Is it because you're from the Union?"
Amy giggled before continuing.
"Loan, you're right. I make the vessel and fill it with a soul. I choose what to put inside."
"Is that fun for you?"
Looking at her sneering face, his anger simmered.
"No. It's more boring than you'd think, and not fun at all. Demons are very goal-oriented, so being with them is lonely. That's why I need you."
"You need me?"
"Why else would I have gone to the trouble of preparing this show? I've been waiting for this day ever since I saw you at the border."
"What do you want from me?"
"A contract."
"A contract? With a demon? Why not just turn me into a doll like the others?"
"If you make a formal contract without becoming a doll, the master's thoughts and will remain intact. You'll remain yourself, not a demon. How about it?"
He understood a great deal from those words.
"Are you saying you made a contract? So you're not a demon, but Amy, yourself?"
"That's right. I share memories, power, and desires with the demon, but I'm the one who moves it. That's why you, Loan, are the very last. I want you to choose for yourself. I don't want to force you like before."
"Choose? You want me to accept a demon?"
"I'm very satisfied. I was lucky. If that incident in Danton hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met my benefactor and the Stone of Goetia while I was on the run."
"..."
"I'm almost grateful to the Union."
"You don't feel the slightest remorse for what you've done."
"What's there to be remorseful about? Thanks to that, I turned out well, and so did you. You grew up well, with good clothes and good food. And that's how we met again. Le Tell and the Union, a mutual desire for revenge. Something like that."
It was so absurd that he didn't even feel angry.
When he didn't answer, Amy flashed another smooth smile and asked Loan.
"Am I wrong? Then did you join the Union because you wanted to find me? Did you, by any chance, like me? Was I your first love or something?"
In that moment.
Loan felt a surge of defiance.
It was a different kind of emotion from the anger he had felt moments before.
Amy's provocation, born from her misunderstanding, had in some way struck a nerve with Loan's pride.
Loan said coolly.
"Was there ever a time you moved my heart? No such thing ever happened. In many ways, you are not the kind of being who could."
"The kind of being?"
"Yes. Your intellectual level and sensibilities have never once resonated with my inner self. You simply knew how to read before I did."
"Inner self? What a load of crap."
Annoyance, or perhaps a flicker of anger.
It was the first emotion Amy had shown.
Loan didn't stop.
"Your appearance is another matter entirely. You never held the slightest interest for me, not from the moment I first saw you."
"What's-what's wrong with my appearance?"
"Every human looks different, and from that comes individuality. You're no exception. But you possess only individuality, not rational beauty."
"What in the world is this 'rational beauty'?"
"Structurally perfect bilateral symmetry, distinct and harmonious features, clear and pure skin, healthy hair, and voluminous locks. These are all things you know. All things you lack."
"..."
"Who decided those standards?"
"I did."
"..."
"I am the standard. Therefore, I am not drawn to anyone's appearance. I see only the inner self."
A statement so absurd and so shameless, yet impossible not to be persuaded by.
Was that why?
Amy's dark mana began to fluctuate violently.
Like the flickering shadows Marquis Maurice had shown before being completely consumed by Bifrons.
Loan decided to provoke Amy a little more.
"But if I had to choose someone who catches the eye, it would be Mirka, not you."
"What did you say?"
"She may be frail, but her lines are clean, and her eyes, nose, and mouth are harmonious. It's not perfect, but it's a case where individuality has been added to a foundation of universal beauty."
Amy pointed at Mirka, who was dangling with her neck gripped, and asked irritably.
"Are you saying I'm worse than that shriveled-up brat?"
"Do you really want me to evaluate your appearance? How amusing. You'll only get your feelings hurt."
"You really...!"
"You said earlier you coveted me, didn't you? Your greed is excessive. Did I like you? An absurd delusion. On the contrary, you're the one obsessed with me."
For a moment, Amy's mouth fell open, wide like that of a hinged wooden doll.
"Obsession? Obsession? Huh? What did you just say? Me? Huh? Ob-ses-sion?"
"Yes. Obsession. You are obsessed with me. It is a pathetic emotion, coveting that which you cannot have."
"Ob... ses... sion?"
Did those words act as some kind of trigger?
In an instant, the dolls scattered around the hall turned to face Loan in unison.
A killing intent that suggested an imminent attack.
And filled with an even greater killing intent, Amy raised the Stone of Goetia.
"You, make the contract while I'm still being nice."
"So you resort to force after all. Why not just turn me into a doll? Ah, would changing your mind hurt your pride too much? Obsessive girl?"
"Argh!"
In that instant, dark mana rose like smoke from Amy's fingertips and swirled around the Stone of Goetia in her hand.
At some point, the two different concentrations of darkness began to resonate.
However, there was an imbalance, as if a vast amount of magical power was being consumed from Amy's side.
Loan read the flow of mana rotating inside the stone and knew the internal pressure was intensifying.
It was going to explode. Was she trying to forcibly drag out the demon like this?
*Swoosh—*
Loan immediately connected his Convection, reverse-engineered the formula he had previously dismantled, and overlaid a new magic circle on the stone.
[Friction Correction], [Flow Control], [Surface Tension Manipulation], [Speed Control], [Pressure Adjustment], [...]
*Rumble—* The shaking Stone of Goetia suddenly began to stabilize.
Despite the premonition that something big was about to happen, in the end, no change occurred.
Loan had effectively sealed the stone twofold.