### Chapter 354
Tracking Down Abella’s Mother.
Suddenly, a woman appeared out of nowhere.
And she could see through Kraush, realizing he was not Zodiac.
‘Surely, she just said that Zodiac couldn’t possibly be here.’
Kraush quickly caught on to what that really meant.
‘Zodiac’s biological mother.’
As that thought crossed his mind, Kraush immediately opened his mouth.
“Are you Zodiac’s biological mother?”
At the moment he asked, a fierce wariness spread across her eyes.
There was no need to clash here.
Kraush decided to defuse the tense situation right away.
“Currently, Zodiac is in Jeblam after being handed over by Wolmyo and Jinmyao.”
“...He went to Jeblam?”
Just as expected, she reacted.
Jinmyao was a mutual acquaintance of Zodiac’s real mother.
Since they were familiar enough to refer to him as her nephew, it must have been his mother who asked him to be hidden.
Kraush nodded and adjusted his posture.
“It’s a late introduction, but my name is Kraush Balheim, the Dragon King.”
It’s a bit embarrassing to say his own title, but at least it was a certain status.
His status as one of the Ten Great Lords was something.
As Kraush announced his title, the woman’s eyes widened.
Then she regarded Kraush with a surprised look.
“...Are you Kraush Balheim?”
Looks like she was somewhat familiar with him.
“Yes, I’m currently maintaining the same state as Zodiac.”
As Kraush conveyed his words, she paused, then let out a sigh.
Then, confused, she raised her head.
“Let me correct something before we talk. I am not Zodiac’s biological mother.”
This part surprised Kraush even more.
“If that’s the case...”
“I didn’t expect to meet you like this, but let me introduce myself. I’m Merzia Marygold, the Gold Queen.”
Upon hearing that introduction, Kraush stiffened.
At the same time, he instantly understood her strength.
The Gold Region and its precious mines were protected by one of the Ten Great Lords.
The Gold Queen, Merzia Marygold.
It was no wonder Kraush felt her to be a formidable opponent.
‘Is she hiding her appearance?’
Furthermore, Kraush became curious about her connection to Zodiac.
“Zodiac is the son of my younger brother.”
And with that revealed truth, Kraush looked complexly at her.
“You have a younger brother?”
It was understandable since Merzia was the only daughter of the Marygold family.
“Yes, although he was born from my mother’s affair after my father passed away.”
So, she was also an illegitimate child.
Merzia’s mother was the one who married into the Marygold family.
Therefore, after her father, who was the head, passed away, she probably couldn’t remarry.
She must have had to live forever as the head of the Marygold family.
Then, over time, she must have fallen for someone and eventually had a fling with him.
“But I did raise my brother as a servant for our family during our childhood.”
Her mother secretly gave birth to a daughter and raised her together with Merzia.
Since Merzia was in her late teens at the time, she didn’t fail to grasp her mother’s late love and cooperated in raising her younger brother.
Her younger brother grew up robustly, and to Merzia, he was almost like her own daughter.
“One day, we had a major fight.”
But it was hard for her brother to accept everything that had happened.
Not being able to call her mother “mother” or refer to her as “sister.”
Although both were born from the same mother’s womb, she had to live as if she was sneaking around every day.
Eventually, tired of that life, her brother quarreled with Merzia and left the family.
As a young girl, she headed to Cloria.
In Cloria, she started anew.
She opened an apothecary shop.
She was quite a skilled herbalist after all.
And one day, during her journey of gathering herbs, she crossed paths with a World Erosion entity.
A being covered in wounds that had collapsed after a defeat by the Swordmaster, Wolmyo, was Jinmyao.
‘Magic at play.’
It must have been a space created by inviting a wizard.
Kraush thought that as he followed Merzia inside.
Inside, he found a middle-aged woman lying there with vacant eyes.
She emanated quite an unpleasant odor.
It seemed she was unable to move at all.
“She called her ‘mother’ when she was still alive.”
Although she could not call her own mother “mother,” she had spent her time here with her mother.
“Since that day, she has remained like this.”
The one whom Merzia’s deceased brother referred to as mother.
Even so, one could hardly ignore that fact.
“At first, I thought about taking her to the Marygold estate, but she refused to leave. So, she’s been lying here every day. Just look away for a moment.”
Merzia, quite used to it, changed her clothes.
Then she turned back to Kraush.
“So now I want to ask you.”
She tilted her head, regarding Kraush.
“Why are you really here?”
Kraush knew it was because he was impersonating Zodiac to act as bait for Ixion.
So, why was he here instead of being in Cloria?
Upon hearing her question, Kraush stared blankly at the woman.
“...There is a magician named Abella who is helping Ixion.”
Kraush gazed at the middle-aged woman while saying that.
“And she is Abella’s mother.”
“She had a daughter?”
It seemed even Merzia wasn’t aware of that fact, as her expression turned to one of surprise, glancing at Ardelju.
As Kraush kept watching, something came to mind.
Then he glanced back at Merzia with a face that hinted at a possibility.
“...Do you know when she collapsed?”
“According to my brother, it was...around 16 years ago, I think.”
Kraush’s expression hardened.
“Abella is 16 years old this year.”
Then, as Merzia fell silent for a moment, her eyes began to widen.
“No way.”
“Ardelju might have collapsed because Abella was born.”
“Wait, that’s impossible. My brother, who lived with her mother, didn’t even know that she was pregnant!”
Her statement was right.
If she were pregnant, there should have been obvious signs.
It was something any living being could not escape.
There would have definitely been visible changes.
But Merzia’s brother was oblivious.
Kraush couldn’t be sure about this either.
‘No, more importantly.’
Abella was registered as a resident of Cloria.
‘If Ardelju gave birth to Abella, and the reason she lost consciousness was also due to Abella’s birth, then...’
Who registered her as a resident?
Kraush frowned.
A sense of unease washed over him.
Something felt manipulatively off.
‘If it’s not a coincidence...’
Just then, Kraush turned back to look at Ardelju.
“...”
Kraush stepped closer to Ardelju.
Then he raised his hand.
“...Lady Merzia, perhaps I might be able to awaken Ardelju.”
“What?”
The moment Merzia looked shocked, light began to gather in Kraush’s palm.
The essence of that light was none other than Black Hood.
If her loss of consciousness was not merely physical and had a separate reason,
‘It might be possible to retrieve her.’
It was worth a shot.
[Target: Ardelju]
Kraush activated the Black Hood.