CH 99

Yennit looked as if she sincerely wanted to stop him from doing that. However, as Alei said that Ophelia was an integral part to regaining his memories, she didn’t say anything back because she trusted him.

“For as long as I’ve lived, I’m getting to everything—even this.”

All she did was grumble as she headed into the temple.

It was only until Yennit’s unwilling figure had disappeared into the smoke that Alei also went in.

But the current situation was a little difficult for him as well.

‘I can’t use a detection spell because of the smoke.’

There was chaos everywhere. Many things could be detected all at once, so even if he used a detection spell, it wouldn’t do him much good.

Not far away, he could hear the voices of Yennit and some priests.

“Here, how did the mage…!”

“It looked like the temple’s gonna burn down and the ceiling collapsed, so I crawled out through the gap. You’re going to search all the rooms anyway, so does it even matter now?”

“Sh-shouldn’t she be detained?”

“We have to extinguish the fire first!”

“You have to choose between becoming charred firewood left in this mountain, or you’ll have to come into this magic circle. Leave the extinguishing to Lord Alejandro.”

“What? Just what are you…”

The voices got cut off. It seemed like Yennit teleported people out without even hearing them out.

Alei’s gaze turned to the once vacant clearing where people were now starting to gather.

Every time Yennit went here and there, the clearing would be occupied by more and more people.

If Ophelia was there, then she would have been the first one that Yennit moved.

So if he looked at it again, Ophelia was not there.

‘It’d have been better if she is.’

Even if Ophelia did this and that, she was still an imperial princess, so she surely shouldn’t have thought to come to a dangerous place such as this.

But then, was that just a misunderstanding on his part? It could be that Ophelia snuck into the temple for the purpose of finding Alei and saving him, but then perhaps she couldn’t get out?

It was just a thought, but it was so dreadful.

Alei coated his body with magic and stepped into the fire.

“Ophelia, are you there?”

But then this fire inherently ate at mana, so the protective coat he had put over his body couldn’t be retained.

If he wasn’t someone who had an insurmountable mana reserve, then Alei would have already reached the point of mana exhaustion and had already collapsed by now.

Still, this very crisis dawned upon him sooner than he expected. After all, he wasn’t in a good condition.

“Ophelia! Are you— cough!”

His coughing fit had already stopped before, but it came back once more. Alei coughed out blood.

This was only natural since he continued to use magic despite his body being wracked with grave internal injuries.

If Yennit had been by his side, she would have yanked him out of there right away. But unfortunately, he was alone here.

And this meant there was no one to stop him.

‘Ophelia.’

As he continued to cough out blood, his face was gaunt, and yet his eyes continued to be sharp. As he coughed, Alei wiped off the blood on his lips with a handkerchief, then he began to search around once again.

The task he faced was nothing short of finding a hook in the sands of the beach.

If he had been in his right mind, Alei would have realized that he was already half out of his wits. But whenever it came to Ophelia, he could never hold onto his rationality.

It was such a bizarre thing. Just the thought that Ophelia might be trapped somewhere in this fire made all the strength in his hands falter.

Just one person made him feel like he himself would lose his life. Each and every thing about her held him captive before he knew it.

A mane of hair that resembled the fiery sunset, eyes that resembled the azure ocean, keeping within them blue embers.

A voice that was like a tranquil daybreak, a moment’s instance wherein it felt like he was the most important person to her…

Ironically enough, Alei could understand where Ian was coming from.

As that man cried out for Ophelia, gazing upon her with eyes so desperately seeking her out—this much was not so different from how Alei looked right now.

Even if Alei’s surrounded by many other people, his gaze would be filled with only Ophelia.

The reason was simple. This was because both Alei and Ian were empty vessels.

As her presence drew nearer, their own existence would disappear and only Ophelia would become so vivid and clear.

However, this was something that they did not realize while they were close to her. Only when she’s gone.

The fact that she made them whole.

The fact that they could not live without her.

It was because of this that, as Alei wandered aimlessly inside the temporary temple that was not even vast, his expression grew more and more desperate at every step he took.

Because the protective film of mana covering his body kept dissipating, the hem of his clothes and the tips of his hair had gotten scorched.

In fact, as his hands, his face and the other parts of his body that were not covered by his clothes continued to be exposed to the fire’s heat, but Alei was too focused on finding Ophelia to feel any of it.

And when he ultimately ended up at the backyard of the temple without finding Ophelia anywhere inside,

That was the only time that Alei realized what he looked like.

“…Ah.”

Because he had touched the scorched heated stone walls inside several times during his search, the palms of his hands were singed. His face, too, as they were exposed to fire, was difficult to touch.

Apart from that, his condition was further aggravated as he was reeling from the excessive mana usage. In the first place, he shouldn’t have done any of this at all.

‘My condition is this bad?’

Feeling a belated sense of despair, Alei hastily healed himself.

However, his emotions could not be sorted out.

‘If Ophelia’s not here…’

No. She couldn’t have possibly gotten buried underneath the wreckage.

Alei’s countenance was immediately taken by an intense wave of anguish. But just as that happened,

He heard murmurs nearby.

“That should be enough, yeah?”

“Maybe we should burn that spot over there a bit more?”

“But Ophelia said we need to burn just this building. It’s not even possible to leave that place anymore because of the fire.”

Ophelia. That name made him open his eyes. Alei looked up as he heard the voices.

Then, he saw two young men whispering to each other, perched on a tree.

Dillo and Sillo, two of the young siren brothers. He didn’t know what came over him either, but Alei suddenly shouted at them.

“Siren!”

“What the? You know us?”

“It’s that mage! The one that Ophelia always had with her!”

“Oh yeah! What’cha doin’ here?”

“I have, cough, something to ask you.”

Alei coughed slightly as he spoke.

“Have you seen Ophelia nearby?”

“Duh?”

“We’re doing what Ophelia told us to do here!”

“Yeah! It’s so fun! Lookie, we burned all of that!”

Alei faltered when he heard the sirens’ explanation.

“…You’re the ones who started the fire?”

“No, it’s Ophelia!”

“We just blew some wind!”

Alei realized it then, the reason why the fire was oddly widespread.

He thought that the rate at which the fire spread was too quick because of the strong wind from the coast, but apparently, it was because of these sirens.

‘And Ophelia’s the one who started the fire?’

This was news that normally wouldn’t make anyone happy, but this was great news to Alei.

If Ophelia was the one who started the fire, then the chances of her being burned by the flames were low.

“T-Then do you know where Ophelia went?”

“I know!”

“She went to the forest! Over there!”

Over there. Dillo pointed towards the turquoise forest. It had already been half-devoured by the fire.

This was proof enough that trying to look for Ophelia inside the temple was simply nonsense.

Still, Alei did not feel any futility. Instead, he felt relief washing through his suffocated chest. He asked again.

“Why did Ophelia go to the forest?”

“We kinda don’t know that either? We only saw a man chasing after her though.”

“Yeah, yeah! Maybe because she started the fire? Sante chases after us like that too whenever we play any pranks.”

“…A man, chasing… after her.”

A sense of foreboding struck him.

Even more so because he didn’t know why Ophelia started the fire.

“Did you see what that man looks like?”

“Umm, I’m not sure. It’s nighttime, you know.”

“Even this much, it’s a little hard to see.”

Most birds had limited vision at night. Alei rebuked himself for being so dull that he asked someone who couldn’t see right now a question like that. He turned away.

Fortunately, his condition wasn’t bad enough that he’d lose consciousness right away. If Ophelia was indeed being chased after, then he would have to confirm it first.

Soon, two birds that resembled eagles flew over the forest, and any trace of a human being had disappeared from that spot.