CH 56

Lily’s hesitant words, as if she couldn’t hide it any longer, were far worse news than I thought.

“Almost all living things on the way to the Magic Tower are dead.”

“…”

“All I can guess is… The fact that it seems to have happened due to the influence of magic that has been maintained for a long time, not recently, and that the owner of that ‘magic that has been maintained for a long time’ is the Master of the Magic Tower. Those were the only two.”

“I see.”

“…I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help.”

Lily bowed her head with a gloomy face. Not being able to figure out the reason for what Dante did is nothing to be sorry about.

I said nothing else, barely saying that there was no need for her to be sorry.

***

D11.

There was a day when I missed you so much that I couldn’t stand it.

***

K3.

Where did her always relaxed look go? Kade thought about it a bit ironically, but it didn’t work much.

“Is there any way to know what magic Dante used?”

He remembered when Ei showed her true feelings in the morning scenery. And, he remembered, she had gone back to her calm state after that.

He even thought that her calmness was somehow unpleasant. Yet just before, as soon as Lily admitted that almost all living things were dead near the Magic Tower, her consistent attitude disappeared.

At first glance, there seemed to be no major change, but now that the light brown eyes were looking at him.

He thought he could see some nervousness on her face.

“I’m preparing something to speak right now.”

“…There are spirits that can read the intentions of magic, but not the magic itself.”

“Ah, I guess that would be better.”

As soon as Ei’s face lit up with a faint, almost happy light, he almost reflexively backed away from her.

Because she had never shown her feelings to Kade. Let alone that, she had never even turned towards him.

…Of course, when he heard the words that followed, he realized that she wasn’t pleased with him, but with his ability.

“Then can’t we summon that spirit now?”

“Do you think that it’s an existence that just comes out just because I call it? Why don’t you listen to me telling you to wait a little bit?”

As soon as they got off, he was caught, and the only thing he heard was her asking to find out what kind of magic the Master of the Magic Tower used. Both the unanswered attitude and request, his expression naturally frowned.

“Only your eyes will hurt if you look at me like that.”

“Your attitude is quite arrogant for someone who requests.”

“If I don’t bother you like this, you won’t listen to me. Ah, no.”

It was at that time that Ei, who had been responding to Kade’s words casually, made an expression as if she had attained enlightenment.

“Come to think of it, you might be annoyed by my words and refuse to look into it.”

“Do I look that emotional?”

“No?”

“…”

He was at a loss for words at the carefree expression on his face, as if she was stating a very obvious fact.

“So, Sir Kade. How long can I wait?”

Seeing Ei suddenly come out politely, his mouth dropped open spontaneously.

“Did you… eat something wrong?”

“Even you’re the one who asks me to be polite. Why is your face so shocked?”

Her fleeting courtesy quickly vanished into thin air, and the person in front of her returned to a nonchalant expression. Kade felt an inescapable bewilderment at what he had seen earlier.

“Are you changing your attitude so easily when you ask me to look into him with a spirit?”

“Attitude isn’t important to me right now, you know.”

“…”

At the words that he couldn’t understand, Kade forced his hardened mouth to move.

“…I thought you would continue to be rude no matter what.”

“Seeing you think that way, it seems I have been rude all along. I’m quite proud.”

However, the way she shrugged her shoulders was unfamiliar.

“I prioritize Dante over setting a sharp blade against you. That’s why I’d like to ask you a favor.”

“…”

“Can you find out what magic Dante used?”

It wasn’t until Kade asked her once again that he realized that this was the first time Ei had asked for something. Also the fact that Ei won’t even care whether he realizes this or not.

Even if not now, he wouldn’t care what she was feeling. For once she herself isn’t even in his consideration.

“You don’t hesitate to do things that you wouldn’t have done if it’s related to the Master of the Magic Tower.”

Ei, who blinked for a moment, smiled lightly at those words.

“It’s about Dante, not anyone else. I can’t help it.”

‘Not anyone else.’

For some unknown reason, those words lingered in Kade’s mind for a long time.

It was a fact he confirmed the other morning that the Master of the Magic Tower was the one who changed her. Yet it was at this moment that he realized for the first time that ‘only the Master of the Magic Tower’ was the one who changed her.

In fact, he had been vaguely aware of it for a long time, but he may have recognized it only now.

As was his natural course, Kade wondered if she had ever let go of her indifference when she was with him.

…Has he ever seen Ei being affected by what he said in the first place? There was no change in her usual indifferent attitude.

She didn’t even really hate him…

The things that came to his mind one after another gave him an unknown feeling for a moment.

“…I can summon a spirit at night or in a darker place. Only the dark spirit can tell me what kind of magic was used.”

“Is that so…”

A low voice filled with a sigh added like a whisper.

“I hope there will be a place dark enough to summon a spirit soon.”

The sincerity he felt at that moment, when he involuntarily raised his head and looked at Ei.

Ei had already turned her head so that her face couldn’t be seen.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re doing.”

He could hear a murmur that seemed to be a critic, yet it might contain something that can’t be ignored for a moment. Ei quickly went away, leaving Kade alone.

Ha. He laughed at the back of her head, only to say what he had to say, then shut his mouth, realizing that she wouldn’t mind at all.

By this point he really had no choice but to admit it. It felt as if his doubts, which had been lingering in a corner of his mind until just now, had completely disappeared.

The fact that he couldn’t believe it even though she told the story about the Master of the Magic Tower when they saw his attitude towards her.

The fact that the Master of the Magic Tower and Ei are the only ones to each other.

However, now, Kade was more surprised that Ei had a beloved existence rather than the Master of the Magic Tower did.

The way she sticks to her calm attitude makes her look like someone who can’t fully feel her own emotions, yet she unexpectedly has someone she loves.

“…And that’s even the Master of the Magic Tower.”

Of course, the Master of the Magic Tower and Ei were both people whose feelings Kade considered to be almost non-existent. As for him, he couldn’t help but think so. The Master of the Magic Tower acted as if all his emotions had disappeared, and Ei acted as if all her emotions had become numb.

For the first time, Kade realized that his own assumptions about others could be completely wrong. The Master of the Magic Tower and Ei both missed Kade’s expectations by far.

This was especially true of the Master of the Magic Tower, whom he had been with for quite some time. He was the kind of person who always maintained a cold and chilly attitude, as if he couldn’t feel anything even when blood spattered in front of his eyes.

War and death. Since he acted like a person who had no emotion in all of that, Kade thought that the Master of the Magic Tower might actually be someone who doesn’t feel any emotions.

Kade, of course, liked him for that, and he thought the war needed at least one cool-headed man just like him.

When Kade saw him shaking very occasionally, he guessed that he might be closer to ‘a person who has lost emotions’ rather than ‘a person who has never had feelings’.

It wasn’t like that. For almost the first time, Kade thought that his thoughts on the Master of the Magic Tower might have been completely wrong.

As he caught Ei talking to Ivan in his eyes.

Did he not lose his emotions, he just lost the one person all his emotions were directed to?

However, only the wind hovered around him, and no one answered his question.