With a face close to tears, I climbed into the cargo truck alongside Florene, leaving behind the manager uncle who repeatedly expressed his gratitude.
To justify myself, it wasn’t that I volunteered to do this because it seemed easy.
Currently, I was going to unload the corpses of Lesser Demonic Beasts that were on the truck at the purification facility’s warehouse.
In simple terms, I was going there to help with loading and unloading.
And honestly, this loading and unloading task was among the top three most physically demanding things I had ever done.
If it had been any other normal situation, I would have questioned the manager uncle’s character for sending just one girl to do the loading and unloading.
Of course, that assumption would be meaningless considering it was Florene.
As I waited for departure with such thoughts in mind, suddenly the door opened, and someone sat down next to me on my left.
Florene, who had been sitting on my right, brightened up upon seeing the new arrival and shouted.
“Ah?! What’s this! Is Dwight coming along too?”
“Yeah. I’ve been a bit interested in the purification facility operated by Dolos for a while. They said I could freely tour it after finishing the work there, so I decided to tag along.”
Dwight replied to Florene in a flat tone.
Looks like he followed along to satisfy his curiosity, just like someone obsessed with magic.
I shook my head in disbelief, but Florene suddenly grinned mischievously and said to Dwight.
“Well, look at you! Even if you say that, you’re actually following because you want to be with me, right? Although you always talk about magic, it turns out you’re just a boy after all! Alright! Since you look quite handsome despite that tired face, I, the generous Florene, will especially date you!”
“… And there it is again. Did I not tell you I’m not interested in that kind of stuff?”
“Oh, you’re denying it again! Just be honest! You actually like Florene, don’t you?”
“… Ha, this was exactly why I hesitated to come along.”
As Florene clung to him in her usual carefree manner, Dwight, who rarely showed any emotional fluctuation, frowned and sighed.
Seeing that, I could not help but chuckle.
It was definitely a sight I had never seen before, but it also felt oddly nostalgic.
This often happened in the original story too.
To Dwight, who was always weary of noise, Florene was like a walking noise generator and akin to his natural enemy.
Thus, their relationship was one that constantly elicited friction whenever they were together.
But even though it seems like Dwight dislikes it, I wasn’t overly concerned.
Because I knew.
When Florene went missing alongside Marin in the original story, Dwight had said this to Yoon Si-woo in a time when they had no means to send a rescue team and had to abandon the search for her.
“I have always thought of Florene as just an annoying and noisy person. So I thought it wouldn’t matter if she died. But why does my heart hurt so much? It’s just that one annoying girl, who kept coming back and talking to me no matter how much I pushed her away… Ha, I feel so foolish. I’ve always learned, as a magician, that I need to be rational. I learned that being swayed by emotions is foolish. I guess I should just stop being a magician.”
After that day, every time Dwight encountered the Lesser Demonic Beasts, he fought like a madman.
Even when overwhelmed by a horde of Lesser Demonic Beasts as everyone else evacuated, he stayed behind alone, as if to pour out the resentment stuck in his heart, fighting like crazy.
In that way, Dwight died.
Maybe that’s why.
Seeing Dwight getting irritated at Florene was endearingly innocent.
When would this tsundere guy finally realize his true feelings?
Watching the two of them happily converse while caught in between, Dwight, looking pained, held his forehead and said.
“First of all, I prefer a demure woman. Someone like you is out of the question. At least not someone like Scarlet who’s here.”
“Huh? So you want to date Scarlet?”
“… Ugh, I can’t say anything. Just sleep for a bit until we arrive.”
Dwight let out a deep sigh and snapped his fingers in front of Florene.
Suddenly, a light twinkled slightly, and Florene began to yawn.
“… Yawn… Oh? I feel suddenly sleepy… I want to sleep…”
As Florene muttered for a moment, she leaned her head on my shoulder and soon fell fast asleep.
… Did he just put her to sleep because she was noisy?
Feeling slightly incredulous, I looked at him, and he lowered his gaze toward me as if making a request.
“… Please excuse me. If I have to listen to that girl ramble until we arrive, I feel like my ears will start bleeding.”
Seeing Dwight speak earnestly like that, I had no choice but to nod.
Seriously, it’s not like I can just hypnotize a girl of the same age and make her sleep with magic.
There’s definitely an ethical problem with this.
I thought maybe the time they’ve spent together was still a bit short for Florene to realize how precious he is to her as in the original work.
As I was lost in such thoughts, Dwight cautiously turned toward me and spoke.
“I hope you don’t misunderstand what I just said. I’m not interested in someone who is already in a relationship, and more importantly, I’m not considering dating anyone right now.”
I gave a wry smile at those words.
It really looks like he has a long way to go.
Since he said he prefers a demure woman, it would probably be quite difficult for him to feel any romantic emotions towards someone like Florene, who goes around saying she wants to date everyone.
Feeling somewhat pity for him, I nodded, and Dwight, for some reason, let out a sigh of relief as if he was grateful.
“Well then, that’s a relief. I won’t be stabbed to death over some unnecessary misunderstanding. I feel like that girl wouldn’t forgive me easily if it came to that.”
? Stabbed to death?
I tilted my head in confusion, not quite understanding what Dwight meant.
While I was wondering, suddenly I felt a strange change in the air against my skin.
At that moment, Dwight muttered.
“It seems we just passed through the barrier.”
Thinking back, I hadn’t exactly been paying close attention, but if the vehicle had passed through the barrier, it meant the purification facility was on the outside of the barrier.
I had assumed it would be on the inside, so I felt slightly anxious.
Coming out and going back in could create problems for my body.
But what could I do? It was already done.
I could only hope there wouldn’t be any issues when we entered.
At that moment, I looked at my body and suddenly had a question for Dwight.
“Hey, Dwight. Passing through the barrier reduces magic, right? So if I just carry magic through the barrier, wouldn’t most of it disappear?”
“… You’re saying that because you don’t know anything, aren’t you? If that were that simple, then why would there even be a purification facility?”
Dwight murmured in disbelief at my question.
That made sense.
But since I didn’t know the detailed reason, I just blinked, and Dwight pondered for a moment before speaking up.
“It’s a story that isn’t widely known, but there’s no need to keep it a secret. You’ll find out about it eventually.”
Dwight began to explain to me.
“Every magic contains magic power. Just like the barrier is magic, it requires magic power to sustain it. But have you ever thought about how much magic power goes into such a massive spell? What do you think is the source of the power that maintains it?”
“… Um, like magic stones?”
Magic stones are essentially rocks imbued with magic power.
They were also the energy source for most magical tools in this world.
However, Dwight slowly shook his head.
“Unfortunately, no. Of course, I’ve heard that there were times when it used to be like that. But it takes an enormous amount of magic power to maintain the barrier. For humanity, which has limited land available, magic stones would inevitably be a depleting resource. However, my ancestor, Viola Ninehart, discovered a power source that generates a massive amount of energy almost permanently. Do you know what that power source is?”
After a short breath, Dwight opened his mouth again.
“It’s a witch. More precisely, it’s the remains of the gluttonous witch defeated after a two-week fight between my ancestor and the great hero Aegis. That remains is what currently sustains the barrier.”
Upon hearing his words, I inhaled sharply.
A power source? A witch?
I was shocked by the answer I had never even imagined as Dwight calmly continued.
“After struggling to defeat the gluttonous witch, my ancestor realized that even as the witch’s remains, it continuously emitted and absorbed magic to resurrect itself. If left unchecked, it would soon revive and end the world this time. However, for some reason, he didn’t leave behind the detailed research results, but in the end, he learned how to convert magic into magical power. And he applied that directly to the barrier.”
“…”
“In that way, the witch became the power source that maintains the barrier. The barrier not only serves as a fortress protecting the city but also acts as a seal that consumes the magic emitted by the witch to prevent her resurrection.”
Dwight spoke monotonously, but my head was a maelstrom of confusion.
Dwight, watching me struggle to get my mind around it, spoke up again.
“… Judging by your expression, it seems my story was quite shocking. But it’s a good thing to know. Most heroes will eventually learn this story. Anyway, what I wanted to say was this: Sustaining the barrier requires quite a bit of magic power. Since the magic the witch emits at once has its limits, if you try to wipe out too much magic at once, there could be overload and malfunction. This is why we need purification facilities.”
Shivering at Dwight’s words, I asked.
“… If that happens, the barrier will disappear, and the witch will revive right away?”
Dwight shook his head as if to reassure me.
“Of course not. Even if that were to happen, we can quickly activate a backup energy source with magic stones, and the barrier can be normalized. There are always heroes stationed near where the power source is located for that very reason. So there’s no need to worry about it. Anyway, I trust you understand why we need the purification facility now?”
I blankly nodded at his words.
But what filled my mind was just one remark.
If the barrier disappears, the witch will revive.
I recalled the overwhelming grandeur of the gluttonous witch that I had seen in the original story.
A witch that even Yoon Si-woo could not defeat.
Thus, the resurrection of that witch would truly be the end of the world.
That was something that absolutely must not happen.
Knowing can sometimes become a source of fear.
At this moment, I found myself envying Florene, who was peacefully asleep against my shoulder, completely unaware of everything.
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