CH 47

Carl Lindbergh clenched his fists.

Even though it was despairing, he couldn’t shed tears over something like this.

It was tears that only came out so easily in front of someone.

… He can’t help but think of someone who was stronger than anyone, who held everything in his hands, and yet never treated Carl Lindbergh disrespectfully. He couldn’t let himself be treated like this anymore.

With eyes wide open, he glared at Mahle and exerted all his strength.

“Stay still!”

Damn it. If you were in my position, would you stay still?

Carl tried his best to find the hidden magic power coursing through his veins.

Just like when Princess Leia set fire to the tobacco.

Come out, come out. It doesn’t matter what, just come out.

While Mahle was restraining the struggling Carl Lindbergh, Carl felt a change occurring in his body.

Something hot surged up, as if flames were rising from his chest and up his throat.

Burning firewood.

In an instant, he swiftly grabbed the magic stone that had been within reach and forcefully plunged it on the top of Mahle’s head.

“What the! Ahhh!”

Mahle screamed and stepped back.

It wasn’t because the magic stone touched the top of his head.

It was because the magic power flowing out of Carl Lindbergh’s body quickly flowed into the magic stone, causing a burning pain from the top of his head to his spine.

“Gasp, gasp.”

Carl Lindbergh’s clear blue eyes had turned red.

Trembling in fear of the demon manifestation before him, Mahle recoiled in pain as Carl Lindbergh attacked again.

“You, control your power. You bastard.”

Suppressing his trembling and squirming body, Carl Lindbergh slowly approached Mahle. A euphoric scent emanated from him, as delightful as it was intense.

However, Mahle no longer felt that his scent was trying to tempt him.

It simply felt like a reaper that had appeared to kill him.

When Mahle dodged and stumbled, Carl Lindbergh smirked.

“Why? Are you scared? Show me that aggressive attitude you had earlier once again.”

Carl adjusted his grip on the 〈Burning Firewood〉 he held in his hand and approached Mahle closely.

“What… What is this…”

“What is it? I’m just trying to intimidate you, like you were doing earlier.”

Mahle was afraid that the magic stone would be thrust into his head at any moment.

Carl Lindbergh felt as if someone else was controlling his body, but he couldn’t stop himself.

He wanted to set an example for the immature kid who had fallen into delusions on his own and dared to execute his plan of raping an innocent person.

“Keep your unrequited love to yourself. Huh? If you have strength, use it for something else. Why do you engage in foolish acts that ruin not only other people’s lives but also your own?”

If it weren’t for the magic power, he would have been completely defenseless.

What happened to the Omegas who ran away to this village once or twice a year?

“There is also a good way to slowly approach someone you like, create a favorable impression, and wait until their heart opens up to the same extent. Why do something like this?”

Curiosity? Sexual desire? Or just wanting to boast about it somewhere?

Carl Lindbergh’s anger grew even stronger as he watched Mahle struggling in pain and fear.

He wanted to capture this bastard, along with his poker buddies, and treat them all the same way.

It was because Carl Lindbergh almost fell into a major trouble with someone he thought was a good person in this village that he felt such a strong sense of betrayal.

“M-Monster.”

Seeing his hair start to dance and the magic stone start to glow at the same time, Mahle tried to escape, only to be knocked to the floor by Carl Lindbergh.

“I guess you didn’t know that someone with a trait had magic power. Judging by your surprise.”

Mahle stammered. 

“I-I knew there were those who had it, but I’ve never seen anyone actually use it.”

In tears, Mahle’s tone became polite, and he glanced at the magic stone clenched in Carl’s hand.

Carl raised an eyebrow.

Leia had also used magic herself.

He hadn’t witnessed Adrian using magic yet, but he had been hailed as the top magician in Heineken.

Belfry had even mentioned that it was odd for an Omega like Carl Lindbergh not to be able to use magic.

“Ah,” said Carl, as if he had realized something.

“You, you’ve never really seen an Omega, have you?”

He’s lying.

“Ah, no. That’s one thing that’s not a lie. Although I can count them on one hand, I have indeed seen an omega who can use magic.”

It was commonly understood that those with traits possessed magic power, so none of those with traits Mahle had encountered had ever used magic?

“M-Most of them were recessive, so that might be why. In fact, those people, the Betas, couldn’t even smell the pheromones, so they relied on the atmosphere or appearance, the presence or absence of their heat cycle…”

Carl’s eyes flickered.

Seeing him stumble in his words, it was clear that he had taken an interest in the heat cycle that affected all omegas.

Thud.

“Ah!”

He struck the magic stone into his crotch.

As the wooden floor charred as if struck by lightning, Carl grabbed Mahle by the collar, who was writhing as if in a daze.

“How did you deal with them? Tell me!”

“I-I don’t know!”

Shaking his head, Mahle tried to break free, but Carl wielded the magic stone like a sword, and held it under his nose.

“If you lie, I’ll hit you one at a time.”

Mahle flinched and hesitated.

It was because he had been punched in his solar plexus with a bare fist.

He couldn’t understand why it was so painful and intense now, when just a while ago, it was feeble.

Carl asked the question again.

“Tell me who took them away, how they did it, and what has happened to them now.”

“I-I really didn’t have anything to do with it, they just disappeared.”

“They disappeared?”

That was Mahle’s explanation.

There were about four or five people in this village who played poker with Mahle. They would sometimes target the omegas who came through occasionally.

As it turned out, the son of this household was one of them.

Enchanted by the beautiful appearance of the omegas who sometimes seemed to be running away, it became a kind of game where the person who won in the bet would intrude when their heat cycle arrived.

At this point, Carl hit Mahle’s nose violently, and Mahle, whose nose was broken, cried and said that he had never been successful.

The omegas resisted persistently even in their disoriented state during their heat, but as time passed, they suddenly lost all their strength and fainted.

When they woke up in the morning to an empty room after falling asleep, the Omegas were gone and no longer there.

“Well, you should have stopped!”

“I was sincere!” 

Mahle protested, with a sense of injustice.

“What?”

“I’m saying I really liked you!”

Carl picked his ears.

He didn’t want to hear any more.

“I was sincere. You smiled at me every day.” 

Carl said coldly to the crying Mahle.

“I smile even at passing dogs.”

As Mahle sobbed, he looked at Carl’s cold expression, wondering if he was really the same person who came to gently talk to him every morning.

“Do you know where those Omegas went?”

“I really don’t know.”

With a tear-streaked face, Mahle pleaded for Carl to let him go.

“Let me ask you one more thing. Do you know what this magic stone is?”

When Carl showed the 〈Burning Firewood〉 to Mahle, Mahle avoided looking at it as if he was afraid.

“Look properly. What kind of magic stone is this?”

“I-It’s a magic stone that keeps you warm with magic.”

Carl narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t you know its name?”

“Do magic stones have names?”

Mahle added that even the sellers of magic stones don’t provide explanations.

It seemed that Carl Lindbergh was the only one who thought the formulas and the essence of the magic stone were important.

“In this town, do they always purchase the same magic stone for warming purposes?”

“I’m just a commoner who doesn’t know how to read magic formulas, so I have no idea.”

So, there are no rules.

Carl Lindbergh was determined to delve into the weak point of the magic stones.

Adrian was devising ways for commoners to purchase and use various types of magic stones.

However, as one moved away from the central city, the price of magic stones became expensive, and there were fewer options available.

Perhaps the sellers were taking a large cut, and behind that, there might be the fact that the buyers didn’t know much about magic stones.

One might be wondering why he was so interested in the topic when he had already left Adrian’s side, but it was just to prepare for the possibility of going back at some point.

Carl Lindbergh’s motto in life was that the more skills and plans, the better. 

Emotions aside, if Belfry hadn’t become Omega, Carl had thought of going back.

Of course, Adrian might not accept him back.

With a momentarily sad expression, Carl raised his fist again as Mahle tried to move.

“If you don’t know anything about formulas, how do you purchase a magic stone?”

“I-If you explain the purpose of the magic stone to the seller, they will provide it accordingly.”

“Do you just buy it as it is given by those with traits you meet?”

“A-A lot of people don’t even know how to handle magic stones…”

Mumbling hesitantly, Mahle pleaded to be spared.

It was only then that Carl Lindbergh realized what bothered him.

Just like carrying a cellphone every day without knowing its exact structure or mechanics, those who used magic stones every day simply used them as given and explained without understanding their precise workings.

Moreover, since magic stones is not a machine, it doesn’t break down and simply gets discarded when it’s used up.

The formula that outlined the uses of the magic stones was just a picture to those who hadn’t learned to read.

As a result, vague formulas that weren’t sentences or words were born, and it must have been difficult to adjust the details.

Most of them were children from well-off households, and even those with traits and with magic powers found it equally challenging to understand the formulas.

Does Adrian understand all the magic formulas?

Does he know that this is language and is created as such?

“Please let go of me now. If you pretend like nothing happened, I promise I won’t do anything foolish anymore!”

Mahle shouted.

Just as Carl was contemplating turning this guy and his poker buddies over to the guards, the door burst open.