Chapter 15

Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 15

In an instant, the warlock’s thoughts struck him.

Leonhard gritted his teeth and endured. It wasn’t the first warlock to attempt a mental attack on him. However, it wasn’t even to the point of being pitiful.

As Blue flames erupted from Rashir and creaked like lightning, he focused his mind on Rashir and drove away his thoughts in order to help him get centered.

Eventually, he found the warlock.

…No, it was more like the warlock had found Leonhard.

Dozens of ice spears that would pierce his body if they hit him directly from all sides fell, and lava that aimed at him gushed out from under his feet. Leonhard avoided all these dangers with only one sense.

There was no ice, not a single spark from Rashir.

‘You’re a scoundrel. There’s a reason the erosion hasn’t progressed properly yet.’

The warlock he had seen so far quickly eroded even private houses, turning people into puppets that obeyed his words or their body wriggling on the ground, sucking all their energy.

Though he has only managed to make the forest his own.

As Leonhard had expected, the warlock’s attacks did not last long. When all the attacks subsided, Leonhard saw the warlock exhaling a gasp.

“You’re just so tired. I guess I didn’t even need to come.”

“…Ha! I’m glad you came.”

The warlock’s voice hummed right in Leonhard’s ear, instead of the warlock’s mouth.

Leonhard grabbed Rashir and swung the warlock with a single blow. At that moment, a huge boulder hit his whole body from under his feet and came up.

“Huhk—!”

Leonhard groaned.

He didn’t miss Rashir, but the moment he was thrown into the air and thrown to the ground, the impact was considerable.

“….!”

Feeling the unpleasant magic wriggling in all directions, Leonhard swiftly swung Rashir in a circle to break the barrier being created.

—Chaeng!

At the same time as the barrier was broken, a terrifying spear flew towards him, and he immediately used Rashir to strike the spear.

—Chaeng!

Leonhard’s brow furrowed.

The spear attacked him as if it had life. It was a trick he saw for the first time in several years.

‘Damn it!’

It seemed that he was in trouble. He had to destroy this spear.

But, if he destroyed it… Just as it was in the vicinity of the Imperial Capital, the core of the monster that moves this spear will explode, and hundreds of monsters would cover him.

Dealing with them didn’t really matter.

‘However, in the meantime, he’ll run away…’

He must return to Celine as soon as possible.

Thinking so, Leonhard clasped his hands together and stared at the concentrating warlock. He had no time to waste anymore, playing hide-and-seek in the warlock’s base. He must end it at the very opportunity the warlock recklessly came to catch him.

—Chaeng!

Leonhard tried not to inflict a blow that would destroy the spear. The spears sometimes aimed overhead, sometimes flanks, and sometimes in the abdomen, and Leonhard lightly fended off the attacks.

Then, he slowly advanced towards the warlock.

‘…Ugh.’

Again, a strong barrier was felt.

Leonhard chewed his tongue. This warlock’s pattern was easy to read, yet powerful, and plunged people into an unavoidable trap.

“It’s okay, I’ll do it.”

Leonhard broke the barrier again.

—Chaeng!

There were two spears.

When Leonhard approached the Warlock, ten barriers had been broken, and ten spears had been pushing him from all directions.

By now, he could no longer strike down the spears with Rashir. All he could do was concentrate his whole mind on moving his whole body quickly and barely getting out of the spear.

He marched towards the Warlock.

Leonhard lifted Rashir in a semi-trance state. A few spears hit Rashir and bounced off.

The warlock’s eyes lit up.

The moment their eyes met, he thrust Rashir into the heart of the warlock, and the warlock grabbed Leonhard’s chest.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha…”

The warlock burst into laughter, pierced by Rashir.

Leonhard was not surprised. The warlock was closer to a desire than a human being. They were able to retain their reason for a while, even after the heart had been destroyed, to cast a curse.

“You are weak, wolf.”

He pushed Rashir in further.

No matter what they said, he watched their disappearance with a blank expression.

“Hoo, you look like you don’t understand.”

“….”

The warlock spit out black blood and chuckled.

“I disappear because I am weak, but my people are different… Your destruction is not far off!”

With his last breath, the warlock’s whole body began to melt in an instant. The sight of the hair falling out of clumps and his flesh melting away was terrifying, but to Leonhard, it was only a natural result he had seen since fifteen.

He collected the remaining bones on the floor.

Judging from the fact that he still had a human skeleton, he looked like a beginner who had been a warlock for less than ten years.

He put the skeleton in an iron box and walked out of the forest where his horse was waiting.

“…This is silly.”

Unlike Leonhard’s favorite horse, Black, who was accustomed to the evil spirits of demons and warlocks, the Count’s ordinary horse was startled and ran away. Because of that, Leonhard was able to reach the castle of Count Orion only after walking for four hours.

His whole body was throbbing, but he wanted to return to Bernoulli’s castle as soon as possible, so he moved swiftly.

By the time Count Orion, who had a bewildered expression on his face after receiving the butler’s report, ran out, it was already sunset and the sky was covered with indigo light.

“Leonhard, why are you so late… Leonhard—!”

“Heok, give me my horse.”

Leonhard took a deep breath and asked for his horse. Nevertheless, Count Orion shook his head in bewilderment.

“Are you saying you want to go back to that state? My God, what will I hear from your mother… Rest in the castle for the night.”

“It’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

Leonhard was speechless.

“…I have to go back as soon as possible.”

“Are you so reluctant to stay here?”

“No. I just have a reason to go back.”

Count Orion sighed.

“I get it. Though your poor horse needs a little more rest. I’ll give you another horse, so you can ride it back.”

“….”

Leonhard knew he had lost. There was no other horse that could take the place of his favorite horse, Black.

“All right. Instead, I will leave as soon as dawn.”

“Yes, you should.”

Eventually, Count Orion sighed in relief. Since his sister was quite frightening, so if he had mistreated her son, the Count would come under pressure.

“The Prince is staying tonight!”

Moments later, Leonhard was ushered into the Castle’s most luxurious bedroom.

He ate his meal with a force to swallow the tray, and then lay tiredly on the bed.

The needlessly ornate murals on the ceiling caught his eye. The mural painting of a Goddess of beauty with her blonde hair and blue-grey eyes stroking her child… In an instant, the image of a woman resembling the mural smiling brightly came to his mind.

Leonhard closed his eyes and opened them.

‘…Damn it.’

It had only been two days since he left the castle. Meanwhile, the thought of Celine never left his mind.

“Today, you wouldn’t have died…”

Leonhard gazed intently at the mural and said in a loud voice, though His heart raced at the thought of him being wrong. The fact that the time to check that possibility approached moment by moment also made him nervous.

Leonhard let out a soft moan.

He wanted to confirm Celine’s well-being right now, and to realize that she was alive by checking her heart and her warm body temperature as he hugged her.

‘It’s true that I’m weakened in this respect.’

He let out a bitter laugh.

No matter what the warlock found in him, he was no longer the sharpened sword he once was.

It had only been a little over a week since he met Celine Hunt! Although for some reason, even his sober reason did not say that he should cut Celine Hunt.

As he remembered her words before he left, Leonhard shut his eyes slowly.

[ “Leonhard will sleep well every night. Then you can check at night that I am doing well.” ]

However, he could not obey Celine.

Closing his eyes was unsettling as the forcible sleeplessness attacking him meant her death. Leonhard looked at the murals on the ceiling all night, forcing the sleep away.

In fact, he couldn’t sleep properly because of his heart pounding with tension.

At last, the sun rose, coloring the sky in a rosy color, and Leonhard’s heart was filled with joy.

Celine was safe!

***

Celine was the first to discover Leonhard returning to Bernoulli Castle.

She was training from the top of the castle tower, staring at the castle gate, and from the top floor, she immediately recognized a weary horse and the majestic rider the size of a chestnut.

“Leonhard!”

Leonhard immediately recognized the image of her running towards him.

His eyes twinkled, his ears opened to hear what Celine was saying to him, and his arms stretched out to catch Celine.

“Leonhard…”

Celine couldn’t hide her surprise.

She was sure she drank even the water carefully in the meantime because she wanted to avoid harming Leonhard himself. For some reason, she never suffered a single wound, let alone her death.

However, Leonhard’s bloody eyes, thick dark circles, and rough skin made it clear that he hadn’t slept well in the past few days.

“What happened? Maybe you had a nightmare? Did I die? I was fine. I’m not dead… If you’ve seen me die, it’s a warlock trick!”

He embraced Celine softly as she poured out her words in surprise.

At that moment, Leonhard felt the warmth that he had missed so much over the past few days.

“I was so worried, I couldn’t sleep.”

“…What did you say?”

Leonhard didn’t answer right away. He caressed her back as if trying to make sure Celine was completely in front of him.

An incomprehensible gibberish came out of his mouth.

“You—If you’re not safe, I’ll be forced to fall asleep. Just to make sure you’re safe… I couldn’t even sleep.”

In an instant, indescribable emotions mixed with each other in her heart.

Anger, embarrassment, sadness, compassion, and…

Celine’s eyes reddened with all those emotions. Seeing that, Leonhard’s bewildered voice was heard.

“…Are you crying?”

“Yes…?”

It was because she did not realize that her eyes were wet until she put her hand around her eye.

“Oh, nothing… Just…”

“No need to cry for me. I’m fine.”

As Leonhard replied calmly, Celine couldn’t stand it anymore, and she let out a single word of resentment towards him.

“I told you to check it with a good night’s sleep! You don’t know if I’m safe or not!”

“…Because I can’t check it until I wake up. I couldn’t stand it.”

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