Chapter 124

Chapter 124

"Cough, cough!"

Curled up in the bed sheets, Junior coughed.

Every time she coughed, blood continued to seep from her parched throat.

"Haah, huff..."

Junior glared at the blood-soaked handkerchief in her hand.

After using magic intensely, she always suffered from such aftereffects.

Plus, this time... I feel even more pain from being beaten up...

Juniors magic was instantly dispelled by the countermeasure of the Vampire Lords magic ceremony.

She didnt show it, but the process itself was a significant blow.

I learned a lot, though.

The dispelling magic of the Vampire Lord contained the simple but profound principles of magic.

If I research, I can make it my own.

A new revelation was nearby. Junior felt her magic was approaching the next level.

However.

...Even if it becomes mine, I wonder how much more I can use it.

Death, not too far away, was also approaching.

Junior clutched the blood-soaked, sticky handkerchief tightly.

- Dont even think about learning something like magic.

The voice of the person who said that... seemed to flicker in her ears.

If she hadnt learned magic, how much longer could she have lived?

10 years? Maybe, 20 years?

Useless thoughts...

It was when Junior was shaking her head.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock at the inn room door, and a familiar voice came.

"Junior? Are you in there?"

It was the voice of Ash, the commander and lord of this front.

Surprised, Junior hastily got up from the bed and approached the door.

"Ah, your Majesty... you came? Cough, cough!"

As she opened the door, blood spurted from her stomach. Junior clenched her mouth and coughed violently.

"Haah, haah. This damn blood cough really comes out at any time, hehe..."

When Junior finally stopped coughing and lifted her head.

In front of her, there stood a flustered Ash and... Jupiter was there too.

Seeing her granddaughter coughing up blood with a devastated face, and holding something carefully wrapped in her hand to give to her granddaughter...

Facing Jupiter like that, Junior muttered in a shaky voice.

"...Grandmother."

The grandmother and granddaughter stared at each other for a while without speaking.

- Even if you dont learn such things, Grandma can feed you for your lifetime.

Suddenly, a landscape from a long conversation they had in the past...

Passed through Juniors mind.

***

10 years ago.

On the eastern front of the Everblack Empire, a rural village overlooking the sea.

"Grandma!"

A small hand shook her body.

"Get up, Grandma! Its morning!"

"Uhm?!"

Jupiter, who had fallen asleep while sitting on the chair, opened her eyes wide.

When she turned her head and looked next to her, a small girl was making a stern face.

The bright morning sun was falling on her face.

"Get up! Were running out of time. We have to eat and go to work!"

The little girl covering the burn on her left face with her hair was Jupiters granddaughter, Junior.

As she blankly watched her grandmother, Junior tilted her head.

"Why? Did you have a bad dream again?"

"...No, not really. Just..."

Soon after, Jupiter buried herself back into the chair, yawning lazily.

"Give me a moment... I had to go out for an emergency last night, so I came home in the middle of the night. Huhaaam."

"So, are you not going to work?"

"Well, its not like that..."

Jupiters job as the villages guard captain.

Even though the pay was meager, it was the only source of income for this family.UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

She wanted to take a week off if she could, but she couldnt.

"Then get up quickly and get ready for work! I made breakfast on the table. Dont be late and go hungry again."

Looking at her nagging granddaughter, Jupiter suddenly opened her mouth wide.

"Grandmas tired, cant you feed me, Junior?"

"Again? You always act like a child, Grandma."

"Ill be a good grandmother who works hard, okay? Feed me."

Junior sighed as she placed her small hand on her hip.

"Ai, I cant help it."

A moment later, Junior, who brought a bowl, scooped oatmeal with a spoon and put it into Jupiters mouth.

"Here, aah~."

"Aah~."

As Jupiter chewed slowly, Junior asked cautiously.

"How is it? Is it good?"

"No. Its bad. My granddaughter cant cook."

"Ugh, not again! Then Grandma will make food!"

"Grandma doesnt know how to do that..."

Thinking about herself in her heyday, she found her current situation, unable to smoke because she couldnt afford it, rather funny.

...Cigarette.

Jupiter suddenly thought.

Come to think of it, werent there tobacco leaves among the confiscated contraband...?

It was then.

"Huh?"

Rumble...

Dark clouds gathered quickly in the distant sky,

Flash-!

A slender bolt of lightning struck down.

It wasnt normal weather. It was clearly artificially formed lightning.

Magic?

And that lightning was falling towards the outskirts of the village, towards Jupiters house.

Boom!

"Damn it."

Thud!

Jupiter immediately kicked the ground and ran home.

As soon as she arrived at her house, she saw the charred bodies of a man and a woman collapsed at the entrance.

They were holding things like a kitchen knife and a club in their hands.

And in front of them, Junior was shaking.

"Junior?! Are you okay?!"

"Gr, grandma..."

With a pale face and tears rolling down, Junior stuttered.

"These people suddenly opened the door and came in, and said theyd kill us all if we didnt give them money, so I was so scared, I didnt know..."

Inside the house, the other grandchildren were looking this way with terrified faces.

Had Junior, the oldest, stood up to protect her siblings and awakened her talent as a mage?

Jupiter tightly hugged such a granddaughter.

"Its okay, Junior. Its okay. Its okay."

"Cough, hack!"

"Junior?"

Jupiter, who was trying to calm her granddaughter, felt something was wrong and looked down at Junior.

Junior was vomiting blood from her nose and mouth.

"Hey. Are you okay? Hey."

"Grand, ma..."

Juniors eyes rolled back and she fainted. Now blood was oozing from her eyes and ears.

Holding her granddaughter, Jupiter quickly rose to her feet.

"Damn it...!"

***

The temple of the village.

The priest, who was also the attending physician of Jupiters grandchildren, took his hands off Junior.

Junior, who received healing magic, looked a lot better.

"This is a temporary measure. It wont cure her."

The priest wiped the sweat off his forehead and spoke coldly.

"Magic is flowing back from the magic scar left in her heart. Its a problem because she has a talent as a mage. She cant handle her own magic because of the scar."

"..."

"Shes going to die. She doesnt have much time."

Blood oozed from Jupiters tightly clenched lips. The priest gave a small nod.

"You knew, didnt you? That your child wouldnt live long."

"...To save her."

Jupiter asked in a low voice.

"To make her live even a little bit longer?"

"Youd have to take her to the big temple in the capital. If you show her to the Central High Priest, she might be able to receive the highest level of miraculous healing magic. Itll cost... quite a lot of money."

Jupiter gritted her teeth and stroked her forehead.

"Where do I have the money for that..."

"Well then, shes going to die soon."

"..."

"Anyway, it looks like she wont live long, so you might as well feed her something good. The kids all skin and bones, what a sight."

The childs worn-out clothes and thin arms and legs were visible.

"..."

Jupiter thought.

All she had done was to gather these children, wasnt she actually killing them slowly?

Unable to provide proper treatment, making them suffer in poverty...

Money...

Jupiters fist tightened as she gazed at her granddaughter who had fallen asleep as if she had fainted.

"Damn it, money...!"

***

Late in the night, after all the guards had gone home.

The smuggler, dozing off in the dark prison, was jolted awake by the loud sound of the prison door being slammed open.

"What, what the hell?"

Had the investigator dispatched from the capital arrived already? Was this the end? The smuggler trembled at the thought.

Step by step.

Approaching the prison was... Jupiter, the captain of the guards at this place.

"Hey, trash."

One hand twirling the key to unlock the prison cell, the other hand rolling and lighting up a cigarette taken from the seized smuggling goods.

Inhaling the smoke deeply, Jupiter exhaled slowly.

"Lets talk about the smuggling deal you mentioned earlier. Tell me everything."