Episode 158
⎯Kyaak!
Francesca woke up instinctively, her body jerking upright.
The scream that hit her ears wasn’t hers.
It belonged to a child, younger than herself. Francesca’s mouth was tightly shut.
⎯Oh, that startled me…
Her wide-open eyes quickly processed the information.
Where am I?
A house she had never seen before.
A girl she had never met.
Why is she in a place like this…?
“Sister, are you awake?”
Moments ago, the girl, startled by Francesca’s awakening, asked while brushing her chest with relief.
Francesca hurriedly opened her mouth, trying to speak.
“Uh, um…”
“Oh, oh! First, calm down. You’ve been asleep for a whole week! Your throat is probably parched too, so speaking might be hard.”
The girl, who looked barely eight years old, handed her a cup of water.
Her kind gesture radiated a cheerful spirit she naturally possessed.
Francesca took the cup, but the girl’s actions seemed so natural that she squinted, unable to drink.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed the girl had the very obvious mark of a curse on the back of her hand.
“So that’s what’s going on… It’s a pretty good thing, but everyone tends to misunderstand it.”
Noticing Francesca’s gaze, the girl laughed awkwardly. At the same time, she introduced herself.
“I’m Edel. This village is called Rubid Village… and… oh, this house belongs to our village chief!”
Even though the girl named Edel counted off her village’s name on her fingers, it offered absolutely no help for Francesca to grasp the situation.
Rubid Village?
A name of a village she had never heard in her life.
How did she end up here?
More importantly… she was sure that Vargan had pierced her heart. How was she still alive without a single wound on her?
…Professor Lucien… no, Uncle…?
As she spiraled deeper into this pit of uncertainty,
⎯Ah, it seems you’re awake. …Edel, you may step back now. Go play with Hodian.
A low voice of an old man approached.
Edel pouted, making a displeased sound.
“I like playing with Hodian, but… I want to talk to the new sister too…”
The old man appeared fairly healthy with a good complexion.
But he wasn’t alone. Next to him stood a boy with an exotic appearance that seemed almost “like winter,” holding the old man’s hand.
The boy with an exotic appearance, who resembled “winter,” was holding the old man’s hand.
When the boy let go of the Village Chief’s hand and reached out to Edel.
Edel hesitated for a moment but then took his hand.
Perhaps that boy is “Hodian.”
For a brief moment, their eyes met. Hodian had mystifying eyes that sparkled like ice crystals.
Hodian gave a light smile and greeted her.
He gently led Edel, who was shorter than him, outside.
It seemed like he was trying to create a space to converse with the old man.
As the sounds of the two faded into the distance outside the door, the old man finally spoke up.
“I understand this might be overwhelming for you. You may still find it difficult to accept everything that has occurred suddenly….”
Sitting calmly on a nearby small chair, the old man continued to speak.
Perhaps to prevent Francesca from being on guard, or maybe it was his natural demeanor, he had a gentle expression.
“I will explain everything one by one. As that person mentioned, Lady Francesca needs to know all the cause and effect.”
The old man knew Francesca’s name.
Hearing her name from his lips, Francesca heightened her vigilance but still focused intently.
The Village Chief of Rubid Village, Bart, astonished everyone with his wrinkled lips moving as he uttered incredible phrases.
Who would have thought that from a stranger they’ve never met?
Not even a noble, but this old man would speak her father’s name.
“Lord Niklas is a victim of the ‘Voice.'”
*
Hodian.
Son of the Twelve Divine Beasts Frikkanrisk and the Hero Aintern.
Initially, when he arrived here, he avoided all humans except for the children due to abuse inflicted by Craine, and he tried not to emerge from the secret dungeon.
However, with the curious Edel and Freesia continuously coming to engage him in conversation and bringing him outside the village.
Now he has been interacting quite naturally with the people of Rubid Village.
“Brother. We’ve been playing here too long by ourselves. Let’s go back now!”
“……”
Hodian, who was creating a flower crown in the flower field with Edel.
He quietly nodded with a gentle smile.
Edel came running towards him excitedly.
The small girl’s hand clasped Hodian’s cold hand.
Edel also smiled brightly and said she wanted to gift the flower crown she made to her younger sister Freesia.
“Are you going to give that to Mom?”
“……”
Hodian, who remained silent, nodded again, expressing his agreement.
Even though he was on the path to recovery, Hodian’s wounds were still in the healing phase.
Resisting and communicating verbally.
Hodian was afraid to reveal such matters, and that fear prevented him from expressing fully.
Each time Hodian attempted to speak or resist, Craine’s abuse intensified, creating a sort of barrier to his language itself.
Edel was aware of this wound and didn’t pressure him to express himself.
The young girl only wished that he would no longer suffer.
…….
Hands held, they joyfully shook their arms back and forth, moving to a new spot.
Facing them was the smooth surface of the lake.
As Edel looked around to confirm that no one was present, she naturally extended her foot into the water.
Stretch your legs in there.
Hodian also stepped into the lake with Edel.
Since they often traveled back and forth between the outside and inside of the secret dungeon, there was nothing awkward about it at all.
As they arrived at the structure of the dungeon.
After passing a certain point and inhaling the rich mana atmosphere, a creature was the first to welcome Edel.
“Ahaha, I got it. I got it. Just need to spoil you, right? Just spoil you.”
The moment it sensed Edel, a bird flew in at full speed. Dressed in light pink feathers, this bird was a familiar contracted with Edel.
Aside from its color, it looked quite similar to a cockatoo, and perhaps having forgotten its original species, it rubbed its head around affectionately.
Edel responded to the familiar’s affection habitually as she walked. The familiar closed its eyes each time she touched it, feeling at ease.
“It’s cute, but sometimes I think it gets a little too affectionate, don’t you think, big brother?”
Hodian replied to Edel’s question with a laugh.
While they were talking about the characteristics of her familiar, the cramped terrain shifted, revealing a sense of openness.
The expanse opened up to reveal a vast prairie, which was unusually large compared to the dungeon’s exterior.
In one corner of that wide prairie were the people Edel and Hodian were looking for.
“Freesia! Are you up there again? It’s dangerous, you know.”
“I’m fine! I won’t fall.”
Edel’s younger sister, Freesia, was mounted on a gigantic familiar that stood at least 3 meters tall. The creature, resembling a bison, lay down on the prairie, calmly grazing and enjoying itself.
Despite scolding her, Freesia showed no signs of changing her behavior, prompting Edel to sigh and warn her again.
“Ugh! You’re becoming more and more disobedient, just like Mom or Dad. …It’s fine now since you’re with Frikkanrisk, but you absolutely cannot do this when you’re alone, okay?”
“Yep!”
“You’re answering well. Now, here’s a gift.”
At the mention of a gift, Freesia perked up her head. When she recognized that the gift was the same old flower crown, she quickly lost interest and turned away.
This left Edel in shock.
Not expecting her heartfelt offering to be rejected, she stared blankly for a moment.
Before long, she began to tear up.
Seeing this, Freesia hurriedly slid down from the bison and placed the flower crown on her own head, asking,
“Big sis, do I look pretty?”
With an innocent expression, her little sister looked so happy that Edel hugged her tightly.
She had already forgotten the shock she received.
“You’re so pretty!”
“Big sis… I can’t breathe.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I hug you too hard?”
After releasing Freesia, Edel rubbed her eyes, which were glistening with tears.
Then, the woman taking care of her little sister, Frikkanrisk in human form, spoke up.
On her head, she had the flower crown Hodian made.
“…Looks like you’ve come as scheduled.”
The individual she referred to was Francesca.
As previously reported by Vargan, the daughter of the Victoria family had been transported to Rubid Village.
The way she was stacking them up like some kind of storage was unsettling to think about, but Vargan’s abilities that made the current situation possible had to be acknowledged.
Frikkanrisk looked at Edel and Freesia, who had wiped away all their tears.
The advanced familiar perched on Edel’s shoulder.
Freesia was also atop her own advanced familiar, which was as fluffy as a bed.
At first glance, it seemed perfectly normal, but to her, having lived for so many years, this scene was bizarre.
They were still children.
In fact, they were human kids who couldn’t even properly handle mana yet.
The fact that these commoner kids, not even noble heirs, could handle an advanced familiar was thanks to the environment and structure that Vargan had prepared.
…Moreover, he had no intention of ending their familiar contracts, at least for Edel and Freesia.
“Now that I think about it, this is just like what a mad scientist would do.”
Whether it’s actually possible is anyone’s guess, and one wrong move could surely lead to disaster.
Yet he would do it without hesitation.
Just looking at the trail of his actions so far was enough to boggle the mind.
The establishment of a large guild led by Schugenharz’s capital and his combat slave, Bram. On the surface, it seemed like a legit guild fulfilling its duties while recruiting talents, but behind the scenes, they were using them for dungeon raids and supplying monsters.
The dispatched monsters were safely bred and researched using Naias’s secret dungeon, modified for better control.
He appointed himself, the divine beast and leader of the Twelve Divine Beasts, as the caretaker of the familiars to establish an order and control resistance, forming an army.
…Just that alone was shocking, but he took it a step further.
“Such children… and more, using an entire village to make a contract to ‘enhance’ familiars.”
The reason familiars make contracts with humans to lend their power wasn’t just about affection for their masters.
It was also because it amplified their own strength.
This process, this system, wouldn’t have been established if even one piece went awry.
The Yggdrasil Church, the most influential institution in the human world, would have caught wind of it and shattered everything in an instant, sending him to severe punishment.
…No need to even mention the church.
If she herself wasn’t present, this current system wouldn’t have been possible.
Yet, it seemed he was still unsatisfied.
Seeing that he had brought in another woman specializing in necromancy, it was clear he planned to use her to the last bone, even after death.
Speaking of which, even if the spell went wrong, he was still the necromancer who summoned the soul of the ancient dragon sleeping in the Academia…
That ancient dragon, the one called Blarisk back in the day, was definitely no ordinary divine beast…
If the spell could be restructured properly, could he even manipulate corpses, even if they were divine beasts?
Frikkanrisk recalled the blurry image of the ancient dragon Blarisk from her childhood, a time so long ago that she barely remembered it.
As she felt a headache coming on from the memories buried beneath layers of dust, she thought,
“…I won’t be able to close my eyes in peace until everything is over.”
She had no intention of dying before her son took on the name of Frikkanrisk.
The Winter Dragon, Frikkanrisk, genuinely believed so.
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