Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Aria
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Freedom was sweet. Especially for a werebeast who had been shackled for hundreds of years.
The moment Aria became free, she headed straight for the vast plains where the blue sky touched the horizon.
The free wind wrapped around her body. The cool sensation brushing her skin made her feel invigorated.
She ran like she used to. Just like in her days as a free wolf before becoming a werebeast, charging across the plains on pure instinct without a thought in her head.
The blue sky flashed by overhead like a kaleidoscope. Straight, tall grasses tickled her skin. Color returned to her face, which had always been pale and rigid.
It was as if the bandages she'd kept wrapped tight for so long had finally unraveled. Her panting breaths as she ran on instinct were like the faint red marks left on her wrists from those bindings.
She could never have dreamed of this during the long years when she'd served as Zero One's limb, handling all the twisted, unpleasant tasks.
She galloped freely until the sun dipped below the horizon.
"......"
Aria looked up at the sky.
The night sky was a black canvas dotted with ink. Yet it was dazzlingly beautiful.
Countless stars rained down, unfolded like a tapestry.
A massive moon hung above them all, shining more brilliantly than anything else.
The pitch-black canvas was utterly dark. Paradoxically, it sparkled pure white.
Freedom was sweet.
The scenery before her now and this sense of liberation were the results of her own actions.
Not for anyone else, but for herself. Something long dead inside her felt revived.
Just as green shoots bloomed from the earth after a long winter, spring was coming to Aria's parched soul.
"Dracula."
She softly murmured the nickname of the vampire who had gifted her this freedom.
The emotion she felt toward him was surely gratitude.
With a voice that couldn't reach him, she expressed her thanks for reminding her of something she'd forgotten, then left the plains.
Aria's destination after leaving the plains was a city in Italy.
She was free now. She could have kept running across her beloved plains, living by instinct forever.
But she had something she needed to do. It was someone's request, a deal—but also something she wanted to do herself.
In the city Aria arrived at, there was a gentle hill with an old cabin made of oak atop it.
Knock knock. Aria knocked several times on the narrow wooden door.
From inside came the grumbling of an irritated old man. The occupant, an old man with a short temper, flung the door open.
"Knocking at the crack of dawn like a damn fool......"
The elderly man, whose long beard invaded his chin like seaweed, froze the moment he saw Aria's face.
The reason for his shock wasn't just the beastly ears on her temples.
With a voice full of wariness, he demanded her purpose.
"Aria. What brings you here? Has Zero One finally ordered you to kill me this time?"
Aria shook her head.
"I'm a free agent now. Zero One can no longer give me orders."
The old man widened his eyes and scrutinized her body. As a skilled mage, he confirmed her words were true and let out a groan.
"Zero One wouldn't release the bindings himself... You must have had some stroke of fortune."
"Yes. I've betrayed the society, just like you."
The old man blinked. He was the suspicious type, but even so, he believed her easily.
Aria's hatred for Zero One was something that couldn't be faked.
"We'll need a long talk then. I'll have to create a new identity for living among humans, and I need to hear about everything that's happened."
"Merlin."
Aria called the old man's name.
Merlin halted his step toward the cabin interior and turned back.
"What is it?"
"Before we get into the long story, there's something I have to ask you right here."
"Speak."
"Can you kill Zero One?"
His ambiguous phrasing made Merlin counter.
"I don't lack the ability to kill Zero One. But if you're asking about resolve, then yes—I could kill him anytime. If I had a blade to slay him and enough deadly poison, that is."
"Even though you were his master?"
"Ha! When a disciple tries to kill his master over differing opinions, all that's left to teach is the scenery of the afterlife. Quit wasting time and come inside."
Aria and Merlin shared a long conversation inside the cabin.
Merlin was the master who had taught magic to Zero One and Mimir, and once a member of the 21st Century Secret Society—a strange being.
He had betrayed the society from the moment Zero One started talking about the human reduction scenario.
Aria had a lot to explain to Merlin, who knew nothing of the internal affairs.
Aria recounted all the events in Academy City up to now.
"So, there's this vampire who interfered with your missions, and he set you free. That's the gist?"
Merlin stroked his scraggly beard—a habit that emerged when he encountered something intriguing.
"Yes. Meeting you now was Dracula's idea. He said you could help me out......"
"I see."
"He also told me to gather monsters opposing the society while traveling. Dracula is serious about fighting Zero One."
Aria took a sip of the black tea Merlin had brewed and exhaled calmly.
Having roughly explained everything, she watched his reaction.
He wasn't positive or negative—just neutral, not indifferent. He looked like a merchant weighing profits and losses.
"Aria. What do you think of this Dracula fellow?"
"Dracula?"
"Do you feel like he can actually win against Zero One?"
Aria wanted to say, of course not.
Zero One was an archmage of overwhelming power.
For Aria, who had lived as a slave for centuries unable to defy him, he was an insurmountable mountain.
"May I ask why?"
"It's not exactly rational, but that's fine?"
Merlin nodded.
"The first time I met Dracula, I couldn't even remember his face. He was just another ordinary monster blindly following the society, scattered around Academy City."
Aria's memories swam upstream like salmon. Soon, they recalled a certain dockside, a certain alleyway.
"But at some point, I remembered his face. It felt like a different person. I sensed emotions I'd never seen in society's monsters, and his eyes were filled with determination."
Her memories shifted to the time when Dracula had saved her from certain death after Lee Gyeo-ul had overwhelmingly defeated her.
"The changes didn't stop there. Dracula grew stronger in every way. At first, I thought he was just a toy of a monster I could handle easily, but when I looked at him properly later, he'd surpassed me."
Merlin grasped where her reasoning came from.
"I had a hunch he'd grow to Zero One's level. Maybe even surpass him. So I decided to believe in him. It was the only choice for someone like me who wants Zero One dead anyway."
Aria smiled quietly.
"You believe in his growth."
"Yes."
Merlin's contemplative expression shifted toward the positive.
"Do you believe too?"
"You know who gave Zero One the most trouble in his life, don't you?"
"The progenitor vampire named Jinjo."
"I'm a superstitious man. That's why I could immerse myself in the study of magic. If this Dracula is a vampire, he's worth betting on."
Merlin stood and pulled out a map, spreading it on the table. It depicted Italy's geography.
"I've been helping monsters who've fallen out with the society survive in this country. Roughly 500 of them. Plenty are hot-blooded ones eager to fight the society—they might aid Dracula."
He also shared information Aria, ignorant of matters outside Academy City, didn't know.
"I know others doing the same work as me. We should start meeting them and prepare."
"You'll cooperate with Dracula?"
"Better to stake my life on a challenge than let Zero One's scenario play out unchallenged. You'll help me too, right?"
"Of course."
Aria and Merlin left the cabin and began discussing concrete plans to seek aid from like-minded monsters.
They put the plan into action. Before Dracula's contact arrived, they met many monsters and secured promises of support.
Sometime later, Baek Do-hyun sent Aria a message right after confronting Zero One.
That was why Aria and Merlin set off for South Korea, where Baek Do-hyun was.