Chapter 69

Leonhard paced the room nervously.

‘…I should have stayed with her.’

Still, he felt that if Celine chose to break the crystal ball, he should never see it.

Even if it wasn’t real life, he already knew the secret of the crystal ball, so the weight was different. As he sat down on the couch and pulled Rashir out of the scabbard, letting some of his magic flowm a blue light flashed across the blade.

‘…I’m weak.’

Leonhard sighed.

After he met Celine, he realized how arrogant he had been… it was the same now. It was arrogance that he was strong enough to protect Celine. If he were strong enough that Celine wouldn’t risk her life for worrying about him right now, it wouldn’t be a nail into his heart.

Thinking so, his hand gripping Rashir became stronger.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried.

However, with no one stronger than him in the entire empire, it was impossible to become stronger through hard work alone.

“Leonhard!”

“….?”

Leonhard jumped up and put Rashir into the scabbard.

Celine’s voice was very bright.

‘What?’

As he hurriedly opened the door, Celine, whose face reddened, unfolded the crumpled piece of parchment.

[ Prepare, then wait. ]

“…What is this?”

“This is the last time, this time…”

Celine’s voice trembled with excitement.

“You’ve been through a lot, Leonhard. because of me… but this is the last time.”

“….”

Something bubbled inside Leonhard. How could she be so sure, he didn’t even have to ask. It was because it was a prophecy.

‘Finally.’

Sooner or later, Celine’s curse will be lifted. It also meant that she didn’t have to fidget and cling to her magic anymore. Most of all, his heart strangely burned at the thought he would never see Celine die or about to die for him…

“Really… What a relief.”

It was a dry tone, but she felt his sincerity in it.

“It’s all thanks to Leonhard.”

“No, you did it all.”

“No.”

Celine shook her head.

“Leonhard didn’t just help me.”

Celine did not explain in detail. The things he had done for her were beyond words. If it hadn’t been for him, she would still be wandering in that hell…

Having nightmares about the villain to come.

Leonhard stared at Celine, who seemed somehow lost in her feelings. The words that it was the same for her, too, came up to his throat, but he swallowed them quietly.

“I have no idea what this means.”

Celine smiled.

“Just take it as it is written here.”

“….?”

“Haven’t we been to other places? This… will come to us.”

“…..!”

His eyes twitched.

Celine seemed oblivious to how frightening her own words sounded.

‘…Why?’

Leonhard’s head spun.

Celine was never dull. Although she was somewhat ignorant of common sense, it would be hard to expect more from someone who grew up confined to a house without proper education. Still, her prophecy had just hinted that some great catastrophe was about to happen to them.

He was puzzled by Celine, who seemed not to have noticed it at all.

“…Did your dreams show you what comes after this? You said swamp before. I thought we had to go find it.”

“Ah.”

Celine blinked her eyes.

‘How should I explain it?’

Excited, she ran to Leonhard though she had no idea how to explain it.

She simply avoided explaining the situation where a big change had occurred in the game before the next stage by saying this was a dream. Originally, this quest only appeared after clearing the stage three times.

It was a quest to announce the final stage.

‘Maybe all the intermediate stages were skipped…’

The swamp, she thought, was the next stage, and the second stage, the ghost forest, may not come out in the first place in the true ending route.

‘Perhaps, it will come out.’

Nonetheless, she couldn’t say that the swamp wouldn’t be there anymore.

It was because the stages were merged in the true ending route, it could just be that the quest came out prematurely. However, she ran to Leonhard because she was too confident in herself to say that a lot had changed from her dreams.

“Ah…”

“Is it difficult to say?”

As Celine met his eyes, it felt somewhat different from the usual strong Leonhard.

‘…He’s feeling anxious.’

Celine gulped.

Of course, from Leonhard’s point of view, hadn’t they been releasing the curse by relying on her prophecies so far? Obviously, if the prophet herself got lost, he would be anxious.

Soon, she opened her mouth slowly.

“It is a little different from my dream. I saw this a little late in my dream… I didn’t expect this to come out so quickly.”

“….?”

Leonhard’s expression seemed completely clueless.

“The swamp, no, it came out after the last time.”

“After that?”

“After that…”

Celine’s words stopped.

‘After that, what was it?’

Strangely, only vague memories remained about the final stage, but no clear situation came to her mind.

‘What, what…’

“Celine?”

Leonhard called out to her.

“I, I don’t kn—”

Celine’s words stopped.

Her head was so dizzy that even the simple words of “I don’t know” didn’t come out properly. Even though she tried hard not to fall down on the floor, she failed even at that.

“Celine!”

Before she passed out, Leonhard’s voice full of horror was the last thing she heard.

Leonhard laid Celine on the bed in her own room and lingered for a while. As she slumped on the floor, her heart seemed to burst with fear and remorse.

Even after he confirmed that Celine was not dead, fortunately, his thumping heart barely stopped. Seeing her breathing evenly, it seemed that she had just lost consciousness and collapsed. For a second, when he saw her lose consciousness, his heart burned although there was nothing he could do.

Leonhard smiled bitterly when he realized that he was holding Rashir tightly. All this time, he thought, as long as he had Rashir, nothing was impossible for him.

But, what a shallow idea it was…

He tightened his hands to the point where the knuckles that held Rashir turned white. After a while, Celine’s eyelids fluttered and Leonhard jumped forward like a spring.

“Celine…!”

“Leonhard.”

Celine lifted herself up helplessly.

“Lay down.”

“It’s okay.”

At his words, she shook her head and sat up straight.

“More than that… Did you have a dream, perhaps?”

“No.”

Celine bit her lip. Her memories of her final stage were still hazy, as though it was shrouded in a fog though her head no longer hurt.

But why…?

Celine had the feeling that she knew more about the final stage before she collapsed. And, she knew even better before…

Her frowned and tried to remember more about the final stage.

“Ugh!”

Her head throbbed with severe nausea, and her vision blurred. Celine’s body stumbled over, not fully aware of whether she was sitting or standing.

“Celine!”

Leonhard hurriedly grabbed her halfway through her whitened face.

“I can’t… I can’t, remember.”

“Celine.”

Celine instinctively burrowed herself into Leonhardt’s arms. Leonhard’s body stiffened a little, but she didn’t notice it.

“It will be fine. If it’s over this time, the curse will be lifted. Don’t worry.”

His body stiffened as he held Celine in his arms. At the same time, his intuitions were shouting that this time, Celine was wrong.

The enemy seeks them, not they should seek it.

The phrase ‘prepare.’ And Celine, who always knew everything, even said that she didn’t remember this time.

Like… a wizard who was starting to lose her reason.

‘..It can’t be.’

Leonhard shook his head at the eerie thought that had passed by suddenly. Celine unleashed her recoil by sheer willpower. There was no way she could be so easily and suddenly infected with black magic.

Besides she…

He tucked her sweaty hair.

“Still, we must prepare thoroughly. If we don’t do what’s written here, we might end up being helpless.”

“Of course.”

Celine nodded her head.

“We need to ask Lute Carl for help.”

“Oh, Lute Carl will be busy.”

Leonhard frowned.

Lute Carl was the only wizard they could trust. However, he received news that Lute Carl was leaving the Empire for a mission not too long ago.

“…Is that so.”

Celine’s expression darkened in an instant.

“Regardless, there will be wizards who will help you… There is no place that treats wizards as well as the imperial family.”

“Will they help me?”

“Say my name.”

Leonhard shrugged his shoulders at the question.

“Then, at least one person will help you.”

“Leonhard!”

“Trust me. It’s the surest way.”

Celine burst into laughter.

“I see. I will say I need to improve my skills to help Leonhard, so who will refuse?”

“…To be honest, most of them would reject it.”

He answered honestly. After all, it wasn’t something to hide.

“Why?”

Celine widened her eyes. She heard many times that Leonhardt was reluctant to wizards. It wasn’t hard for her to guess why.

It wsa because Leonhard had cut down many warlocks so far. There was no way he wanted to hang out with people who might one day become warlocks. But was there any reason why ordinary wizards didn’t like him…?

“Did you have a fight?”

“…It’s not like that.”

Leonhard’s face seemed to be regretting what he had just said.

“So, what is it?”

“….”

Silence passed.

Celine waited slowly. If she needed any information, Leonhard would surely tell her. If not, she had no reason to listen, so she had no reason to rush him either.

At that time, Leonhard’s neck moved.

“It is better to hear it from me than to hear from others.”

Her chest tightened slightly. Leonhard being sure that others would tell her meant that it was quite important…

Celine gazed straight into his blue eyes.

“If it’s something I’ll find out anyway, I’d like to hear from Leonhard now.”

He eventually nodded his head slowly, slightly avoiding Celine’s gaze before glancing at the wall behind her.

“I don’t know where to begin… Really, it was in the past.”