CH 71

As unfamiliar words flowed out of Alei’s lips, the runes gradually formed a round circle on the floor.

At first, these runes looked as though they were forming a round band, but the runes themselves slowly became smaller until the space became densely filled.

The formula, which must have been infused with Alei’s mana, gradually grew in size. And as it became full, it quickly glowed.

It was not difficult to see that the spell had been cast right then.

Immediately after that, accompanied with the sound of a drumming staccato, the rain began to knock on the window.

A rain shower poured down on Ladeen. Cornelli let out a light exclamation.

“You did it so quickly? How did you do that?”

“I reduced the consumption needed to find the dark clouds. Rather than looking for and bringing in heavy clouds that are about to let out rain, it’s faster to find the right rain clouds and freeze them.”

Obviously, rain was something that should fall into nature’s law or God’s realm.

However, mages were also able to do this. Watching this, Ophelia suddenly thought about it.

She realized why the temple had driven the mages away under the guise of heresy.

‘Even if it’s not something like conditional magic…’

They must have been frightened of magic’s potential.

Even though mages still needed to use magic through a formula, they were struggling even through daily life.

However, the times were bound to change one day.

If a genius unlike any other were to appear and reach unparalleled levels, it wouldn’t be strange to call them a god.

‘Then there would not be much use for divine power.’

Throughout the entire Maynard continent, the temple had the strongest influence over one country, and that was Milescet.

In addition, because the Milescet Imperial Family was allegedly protected by God, Ophelia learned about the principles of divine power due to the basic classes she had to take on religion.

—Divine power is something that materializes from the providence of nature. It cannot go against what God has given.

The power of nature’s healing was what’s used to cure people, and the power of nature’s destruction was what’s used to attack others.

This was divine power.

As a result, there was an apparent focus on nature, and its use became more limited.

In other words, it was different from the freedom that magic had.

Of course, this difference depended on each person’s beliefs, but it wasn’t entirely wrong to think this.

At least, the mages that Ophelia had met were not bound by anything.

And among these mages, it felt like Alei was the closest to the essence of freedom.

‘He was probably like that while he was in the tower.’

She was sure that he had been free.

Ophelia loosely grasped that this was Alei’s original position.

Now that she couldn’t hold onto him under the pretext of his memories, perhaps it was natural for Alei to stay away from her.

That’s why maybe Sante was right. It’s also true she was hiding this from Alei and he might react after hearing that she had been slapped. But in fact, Ophelia was worried about something else.

It was exactly opposite of the excuse she had given.

‘Alei didn’t say much either when he heard that Sante’s acting like an attendant.’

He didn’t say anything and just went out, but this was still strange considering all the kinds of forlorn and miserable expressions he made before.

So again, this time, if Alei were to find out that she had gotten slapped and if he wouldn’t react at all…

Was Ophelia certain that she wouldn’t be saddened by this?

‘I’m not.’

That’s why she had to hide it. There’s no reason for her to feel hurt if she had no expectations in the first place.

Ophelia pushed down these thoughts and lowered her hand, which was wearing the ring.

“Well, there’s not really any reason to hide it.”

“I thought you both were quite close, but I’m doubting my judgment these days.”

Sante leaned down his upper body, bridging the distance between him and Ophelia.

His fingertips brushed over Ophelia’s swollen cheek.

“Considering how nonchalantly you both are on the same boat, and seeing as you’re relying on him in a business-like manner, just how many things are there that you haven’t told Alei?”

“It can’t be helped because I didn’t let Alei know that I’ve come back from another time.”

“As these things you haven’t said accumulate, the distance between you will widen.”

“It already is. It’s wide enough.”

The distance between them would widen further the moment they would step into the magic tower. Right now, Ophelia was an imperial princess, but after throwing away her status and entering the tower, how much more distance would there be once she’d need to work under the master of that tower?

As she reached this conclusion, Ophelia felt a tinge of loneliness.

And Ophelia might not have realized, but this was something that Sante could read from her countenance.

It looked exactly like she was hurt by the fact that Alei was avoiding her.

‘Maybe it’s a misunderstanding.’

And this was what he thought offhandedly.

* * *

Ophelia was under the impression that Alei didn’t care about Sante becoming an attendant in the Ladeen Castle.

The truth was a bit different.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

The day Sante came, Alei grabbed him and immediately teleported them to the forest.

Perhaps he had gotten used to looking out for Yennit’s vigilance.

Alei was no longer using the polite tone that he usually employed.

Judging by how Alei had gone as far as bringing Sante to the forest where no other people were, he seemed to be expressing his inner thoughts.

“Do you mean that if I do something preposterous, you won’t hesitate to use force, Dian?”

“If you give me enough reason for it, I’ll consider.”

“It’s sad that the only jerk I call a friend is being like this.”

“A pity.”

He replied coldly.

Sante tried to act pitifully in a clumsy manner so that Alei would ease up because at this point, he had a hunch.

If he were to try and fly away to escape, he’d be pressed down by the invisible force of telekinesis. He couldn’t use high-level magic such as teleportation either.

It might be possible to manipulate space.

‘But if I do that, this forest will be ruined…’

A siren’s magic wasn’t so sophisticated and intricate because it was magic learned from nature.

So, conflict would arise between them today, this forest would surely disappear from the map.

This wasn’t exactly pleasant to think about.

Eventually, Sante sighed.

“Ophelia desperately requested me to come, so what should I do even if you’re wary of me? Dian, it’s not that deep.”

“The young sirens said this—that you lot don’t stay in the same place for more than three days.”

If a siren were to stay for more than that, it meant that they were there to mess with humans.

Hearing the harshly said words, Sante was sincerely overcome with the urge to wring the necks of those three siren siblings.

He was sure that they divulged stories for the price of pies and cake.

“…I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t feed them human food, or maybe it’s my fault that I didn’t let them start working since they were younger…”

“In any case, you’re not denying it.”

Sante sighed at Alei’s retort.

“That’s how it usually is. I don’t mean to deny that what I’m doing is unusual.”

As Sante answered while touching the back of his head for no reason, Alei’s forehead became even more wrinkled.

“Then, what other reason—”

“But Dian, don’t you know that what you’re doing is strange?”

And after hearing this question, it was as if the cord of tension within Alei had been struck.

With his body stiff and his lips in a straight line, it looked as though he was chewing on something that he could neither swallow nor spit out.

“Dian. You don’t have to be by Ophelia’s side anymore.”

It was the truth that Alei had been turning a blind eye to thus far.

“I asked Ophelia how she won you over, and she answered. She said that she decided to give you a clue regarding your memories.”

And she also said that her goal was for Alei to regain his memories and personally go to the tower.

The problem was that now, Alei didn’t need Ophelia in order to find his memories.

“Even if Ophelia can’t go to the magic tower, that has nothing to do with you anymore. As long as those young mages are attached to you.”

“……”

“But why do you still fancy yourself to be Ophelia’s shadow? To the extent that you even called me out here separately.”

“…I don’t want to break my promise to her since she helped me.”

“Is that really all? From an outsider’s point of view, you look like a pet dog that’s gotten restless because its owner had gotten a new dog.”

If that wasn’t obsession, then what else was it.

Sante blatantly hinted at it, but Alei did not answer.

If Sante didn’t personally know Ophelia, he would have definitely taken one glance at this close friend of his and called him pathetic.

The corners of Sante’s lips tugged up.

“Are you jealous of me, Dian? You’re scared that I’m stealing away your use to her.”

And, he was afraid that he would be thrown away by Ophelia.