Chapter 176: The Flower that Blooms at Night (5)
The daytime in Märchen, enveloped by ‘night’, was beautiful.
It was enough to understand why this city was called the crimson jewel of the Southern Empire.
Whooosh━.
A warm breeze, unique to the South, blew, brushing past Cain’s black hair.
He lightly tilted his head back and observed the faces of his companions.
‘It’s fascinating Is this fate as well?’
He knew he wouldn’t die to Oleciren, who had awakened as the Demon King.
He had prepared that much, and two of the sacred treasures that could turn the tide of the battlefield with just one, the 〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉, were in his possession.
However, he didn’t know he would open his eyes in the land of the Kreuz Empire after that.
‘Is this the predetermined world, or the world I changed?’
Moreover, he never imagined that the people accompanying him would be the sharpest agent of the Empire’s intelligence agency, the Magic Marquis, the successor of the magic tower, and even the Iron-blooded Princess.
However, Cain could smile.
Because his intuition told him that the answer was the latter.
[‘Summer’ says that we should quickly take care of everything and cross over to Airian to capture Oleciren.[
[‘Winter’ clicks her tongue, saying if that’s even possible.]
[‘Summer’ tilts his head, wondering what’s impossible with him and ‘Winter’ around.]
The two chattered incessantly.
Previously, Cain was the only speaker, so he had to engage in conversation, but with one more, there were many times when he just observed like this.
[‘Winter’ says that Agweska, which she was using as her medium, has broken and that she needs the Great Wall’s Magic Sword.[
[‘Summer’ asks if she can’t just make do with something else.[
[‘Winter’ looks at Cain with worry instead of an answer.]
The magic sword, why wouldn’t ‘Winter’ break?
Why does ‘Winter’ only exert her power through the unbreakable Sword of Despair, ‘Agweska’, crafted by the witch Primundi?
Cain knew the answer.
‘It’s because the pain I have to endure is too great.’
Before obtaining Agweska, any sword that wasn’t a ridiculously sturdy greatsword would break easily.
Of course, even a greatsword would shatter if it couldn’t withstand ‘Winter’s lightning if used even slightly wrong.
It would be too dangerous to withstand the power of such a terrifying ‘Winter’ with his bare body, so ‘Winter’ must be holding back like this.
[‘Summer’ says he’ll defeat the Demon King with his own power then.]
[‘Winter’ retorts, asking if his Passive or Active skills have been activated enough for that.]
[‘Summer’ shuts his mouth, speechless.]
[‘Winter’ advises that Cain’s path is for Cain to walk, so he shouldn’t meddle in his journey.]
Cain smiled faintly.
Because he could see ‘Winter’s sincerity as if he could reach out and touch it.
He hasn’t forgotten that Edmund and Chloe are his birth parents, and their sacrifices.
However, it was ‘Winter’ who was with him like parents, friends, and companions on the battlefield.
He felt good, as if he had glimpsed the sincerity of such a ‘Winter’.
“It’s a place where students aren’t allowed access. Especially new students who had their entrance ceremony today.”
The headmaster of 〈Märchen Academy〉, Wiseman, glared at Mauve with sharp eyes.
Under the gaze of Wiseman, who stood at the pinnacle of Academy City, sweat began to seep from not only Mauve’s forehead but also from every pore of his body.
“Why this nice place? It seems like a place where kids who have their eyes on each other during academy life would come every day.”
It was Anje.
She pointed to the lakeside behind the academy, which was so secluded that it was even eerie.
It was a scenic beauty, wide open and surrounded by lush blue-green trees.
When Wiseman only frowned, not wanting to talk about the unpleasant past event.
“It’s because of the water.”
The Empress, Elena, said calmly.
“The area where Academy City Märchen is located draws water from the Lonne and Seine rivers, but there’s a limit to the amount, so it used to suffer from water shortages.”
“Well, the waterways did change after the magic revolution.”
The magic revolution, which started in the magic city of 〈Lil〉, changed many aspects of life in the world, and 〈Märchen Academy〉 was also swept up in the revolution.
Swoosh━.
Elena pointed to the middle of the lake.
Anje focused her gaze on that spot, and then her eyes widened as she turned to Elena.
“There’s a bulge!”
“This lake is an artificial lake created to solve Märchen’s chronic water shortage. That place is where water is still springing up.”
“How can they do that……?”
Cain, who was listening, could immediately guess from those words alone.
A mysterious space that creates an extreme environment where it shouldn’t exist.
“Dungeon.”
Elena nodded, as if she knew he would guess correctly.
Headmaster Wiseman turned to Cain with surprised eyes, and Lourens raised Cain’s threat level in his mind.
Not only his prowess as a hero, but also his perceptiveness and ingenuity seemed to be at a level that even most people in the Empire couldn’t match.
“They made a hole in the dungeon and let the water pour out.”
“Yes, that’s right. There was a 1-star dungeon in Märchen that was just the right size.”
A lake filled with water created by the dungeon’s environment. Cain smiled bitterly and replied.
“It’ll be difficult to use as drinking water.”
“……How did you know that?”
Extracting the dungeon’s environment to the outside world is a miracle that can only be accomplished by someone of Great Wizard level.
She was surprised not only that he noticed it, but also that he knew the drawbacks.
Cain shrugged.
“It’s nothing special. No matter how much of a 1-star it is, the magic concentration is different from ordinary water, so ordinary people will get sick if they drink it carelessly.”
They would be able to endure it if it was just a simple stomachache.
However, if an ordinary person drinks water imbued with the unknown magic emanating from a dungeon, their soul would be damaged.
It was a fact Cain didn’t want to know, but he knew it because one of the things he did to survive in the Great Wall, where everything was scarce, was to drill holes in dungeons.
“And using it for daily life is difficult because it affects anything that touches it, and we even tried farming, but……”
Elena’s slender white fingertips moved. In the distance, the round lake was seen with a water path bursting out.
Clearly, the lake water was overflowing and plentiful, but the water disappeared from a certain distance from the dungeon hole.
Therefore, there was no water flowing in the middle of the waterway, leaving it dry.
“That’s the situation.”
“It’s difficult to block the hole because it’s underwater.”
Wiseman continued Cain’s words.
“And since it’s just water coming out anyway, we didn’t bother blocking it. It’s good enough to use for training academy students.”
Ordinary people shouldn’t drink it.
However, for academy students who can handle magic and undergo high-level training, the water from a 1-star dungeon is no different from mineral water.
Therefore, 〈Märchen Academy〉 decided to keep the dungeon in this lake for educational purposes instead of clearing it.
Of course, it wasn’t a good place, so they restricted access to it.
Chuck━.
Wiseman placed her hand on the stiff shoulder of Mauve.
“I didn’t know a new student would come to a sealed place like this.”
“That’s…… I, I’m sorry!”
Mauve hurriedly bowed his head.
Normally, Mauve wouldn’t bow this low, but from the Princess to the Magic Marquis, these were some of the highest-ranking people in this vast empire.
Mauve was a man of strong will.
But even he couldn’t help but bend in front of such people.
“How did you find out about this place? There’s a magic spell of perception interference.”
At Wiseman’s questioning, Mauve’s back was seen getting damp with sweat.
Cain smiled, watching his younger self, who seemed to be in chronological order of his past life.
“It was difficult to be with other students, so I searched and searched for a place where there were no people, and this place……”
Wiseman, although she didn’t have a beard like her master, muttered while stroking her chin out of habit.
“To think that someone who wants to hide would seek out a place with perception interference instead of avoiding it. That’s an interesting point to study.”
“So. What are you doing here?”
Cain’s violet eyes stared directly at Mauve.
Mauve felt even worse.
The Princess was kind, and Headmaster Wiseman seemed to be a person obsessed with magic as rumored, so he felt comfortable.
However, Cain, whom they called the hero, was unpredictable.
He didn’t know in what context he was brought here, and every time he said something, Cain would guess it right away as if he knew everything from the future, making him the most difficult person to deal with in this situation.
“I swing my sword.”
“And?”
“Looking at the water, I talk about this and that……”
Behind the stammering Mauve, the last words of the warrior Mauve from Cain’s memory came to mind.
━As I was talking about this and that to the lake as usual, a fairy appeared.
Fairies exist.
However, there’s no way a fairy would live in the water gushing from a dungeon. If anything, it would be a devil.
━It said it had been listening to me all this time, and that it could grant my wish……
“Should I change it so that you can’t enter the dormitory before the entrance date……”
No matter how developed trains and airships are, due to the nature of the vast empire, it is difficult for students living far away to arrive on the exact date.
Therefore, most academies, including Märchen, assigned dormitories to confirmed students even before the entrance date.
Wiseman wondered if she should abolish the system, thinking that Mauve came early because of it and ended up in the sealed area.
“Well, take care of that yourself. Procell will be in this lake.”
A fairy that grants wishes.
The devil Procell, who killed the entire city and strengthened Mauve by sacrificing them.
Cain gestured to Wiseman to search.
She looked dubious but raised her staff, aiming it at the center of the lake.
Oh falsehood, reveal your true form.
It wasn’t an offensive magic, so an elegant magical chant flowed out, and.
Wooong━.
The entire lake, which had been blue to the point of being black, momentarily turned red.
Wiseman’s eyes widened.
“Procell is really here. How……”
Cain shrugged and tapped ‘Summer’ on his waist.
“Holy Sword.”
With those two words, he could get away with anything, even if he acted based on knowledge that transcended human understanding and came from the future.
[‘Summer’ grumbles, asking if he’s going to use him every time he has nothing to say.]
[‘Winter’ scolds him, saying that’s exactly how he should be used.]
[‘Summer’ teases ‘Winter’, saying a season without a medium wouldn’t even have that option.]
Ignoring the messages from the two who bickered whenever they had the chance, the people blinked and looked at Cain.
They had only heard of heroes in stories.
With the most recent hero being a figure from almost 100 years ago, they didn’t even know what the Demon King’s terror was like, nor did they know what kind of person the hero, hailed as humanity’s hope, was.
The empire simply coveted ‘Summer’, a symbol of legitimacy.
The crazy wizard was curious about the hero’s power.
And the lonely student simply looked up to him.
“To stop today from repeating, we need to catch Procell, and since Procell seems to be hiding in the dungeon, we need to go in.”
Cain’s simple summary.
Step━.
The first one to step forward was Wiseman.
“I’ll go with you.”
Next was Lourens.
Anje tried to follow him, but Lourens shook his head.
“You stay outside and assess the situation. Just in case.”
“Yes, Captain!”
And the last one.
Step.
It was Princess Elena, who looked as if she was created from the word miracle.
“I want to go too.”
“Your Highness, that’s……”
Lourens and Wiseman immediately showed troubled expressions.
Whether this or that, they knew she had something since she was of Kreuz blood, but they were hesitant to drag the Empress to such a battlefield.
On the other hand, Cain was different.
“Is that your choice?”
Elena Platin Kreuz, the timid woman who lived her life as she was told. And the most likely candidate for the future Iron-Blooded Princess.
“Yes.”
Elena wanted to find out where she would bloom, like a flower that only blooms at night.
“If that’s the case.”
Cain liked to look at such flowers.
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