Chapter 47
Fulcare walked up the slope on the opposite side of the cliff.
The refreshing air wafting from the forest nurtured by sea winds soothed his tired body and mind with every step.
The forest was far too precious to leave abandoned. Perhaps the marquis had thought the same, because halfway up the slope were leveled clearings and piles of old construction materials, as though he had intended to lay out a proper trail.
The closer he climbed to the summit, the stronger the salt-laden wind became.
When Fulcare reached the summit, he stood at the edge of the cliff and gazed out at the sea.
The endless blue expanse of ocean glittered like jewels beneath the sunlight, creating a truly spectacular view.
If he had the time, he could have spent the afternoon leisurely taking it in until sunset.
“The biggest problem is that we haven’t found anything.”
To his disappointment, Fulcare let a little more mana flow around him. Although he had encountered several wild animals on the way up, he could find no presence or trace that seemed to belong to either a ghost or a person.
He didn’t want to give Vieta such disappointing news, but he couldn’t afford to linger here any longer.
Ever since parting from her, he had been uneasy with worry over Vieta, who had gone down into the sea alone and had yet to return.
Just as he was about to turn around to look for her, the wind suddenly changed direction in a strange way.
The sea breeze stopped far too abruptly, and then the wind suddenly began blowing from behind him.
He couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong, but it was an exceedingly strange phenomenon.
The wind, as though defying the laws of nature, carried hundreds of flower petals with it.
The petals swept past him, soared into the blue sky, and then began drifting back down.
As he stared blankly at the white petals falling over the deep-blue sea, a scent he had never smelled before rose up behind him.
A sweet yet bitter fragrance with a wistful quality.
Without realizing it, Fulcare followed the fragrance toward where the wind had come from.
The moment he passed through the dense bushes and enormous trees, he saw a field of white flowers in full bloom.
The flowers he had bought for Vieta in the streets of Ahan were blooming so profusely that their far end could not be seen.
‘Had that flower’s scent always been this strong?’
Following the fragrance, so strong it made his head spin, Fulcare quietly walked into the flower field. Whenever he took a step, flower petals fell in a flurry, creating a white path behind him.
Having walked deep into the field as if bewitched, without even knowing where he was going, Fulcare’s eyes suddenly trembled.
The person reflected in his sky-blue eyes was Vieta. She stood among flowers so white they were dazzling.
Vieta, who should have been in the sea beneath the cliff by now, could not possibly be here. Even so, hoping against hope, Fulcare carefully called her name.
“…Vieta?”
As if responding to his call, Vieta dropped the dagger in her hand and turned around.
Her face was covered in blood, and her pink eyes were utterly empty. At the sight, Fulcare’s eyes began trembling far more violently than before.
He knew this scene well.
It was his unforgettable first meeting with Vieta.
[Your name is Alicia.]
This was Vieta when she had first killed a monster in order to receive her name and dagger from the goddess and awaken as a hero.
As soon as she arrived on the continent of Rodina, Vieta had been left alone in a huge room with a magical beast, where she had howled and suffered as though she were going mad.
What had he been doing then? He had merely watched her screams with an impassive expression, just like everyone else.
When that memory came back to him, Fulcare despised himself so much that he bit down hard on his lip.
“Fulcare, help me.”
Vieta, drenched in the blood and demonic energy of the magical beast, muttered. The thing’s voice, despite there being no way it could be Vieta, was hers. Even knowing it was an illusion, Fulcare walked toward Vieta. The closer he drew to her, the hazier his mind became. The magic circles floating above both his hands hummed incessantly, but they could not block the fragrance seeping in with every breath he took.
The moment Fulcare reached Vieta and seized her wrist, his vision went black.
***
“Well done, Eli.”
“Give me food instead of praise.”
The black-haired girl answered sullenly, but the man merely smiled in satisfaction without offering any rebuke.
The sacrifice the girl had brought back this time was so noble that he was willing to overlook the rudeness of a mere human.
The man tossed Eli several carcasses of wild animals she had hunted, then gazed at the sacrifice trapped inside his cocoon.
Fulcare, the loathsome mage who had indiscriminately slaughtered their companions in the past.
This was the first time he had actually come face-to-face with him, but the black blood flowing through the man’s body constantly whispered the identity of his prey to him.
“To think we would meet like this.”
The man stroked the white flowers called Pesna that bloomed throughout the cave. Pesna had two main effects: bewitching its target and purifying demonic energy.
The man used Pesna to lure in prey while concealing his lair.
Wherever a magical beast lived, demonic energy inevitably seeped out. Just as his kind had done, the man cultivated Pesna and planted it around his hideout.
With demonic energy present, Pesna spread even more rapidly, and as a result, the cave and the entire surrounding area had become a habitat for Pesna.
Although Eli had recently come to be called Ahan’s Ghost, the magical beast had managed to keep its identity hidden for quite some time by preying only on orphans and vagrants—people whose disappearance would not seem strange.
“Was he bewitched by Pesna because that elf bitch wasn’t around?”
The memories of his kind flowing through his blood told him that the loathsome hero and her companions had never once been affected by Pesna. So when this mage appeared, he had not expected much.
If anything, he had merely hoped that no mishap would occur to expose his hideout.
“If not, perhaps the Archmage, too, had gone mad after all.”
Though it was not widely known, Pesna’s bewitching effect varied greatly depending on its target.
An ordinary person would not be ensnared simply by smelling it once, but someone with an unstable mind could easily fall prey to Pesna’s lure.
In any event, it was good news for the magical beast.
Inside his cocoon, the foolish mage would slowly be consumed by him, and if he absorbed all of the mage’s power, he would surely be able to tear that accursed heroine apart as well.
“That man was right.”
The magical beast suddenly recalled the man who had brought him here. Highly skilled in magic, the man had rescued him from the Demon Realm while he was still a dormant egg and brought him here. He had even kindly taught him how to survive by exploiting the rumor of Ahan’s Light Ghost.
The magical beast sat down before the cocoon and gazed at Fulcare.
Just imagining how much stronger he would become after digesting this meal made his entire body tingle with excitement.
**
As Blanc climbed along the coastline, he spotted a familiar figure from behind. It was Vieta, the woman he had searched so desperately for.
The problem was where he had found her.
With a whirlpool directly before her beneath the cliff, Vieta stood in the middle of the sea, staring into empty air. Each time the surging waves struck her body, she looked so precarious that she seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
“Vieta!”
Without a second thought, Blanc leaped into the sea, scooped Vieta into his arms, and carried her back out.
Unlike usual, her limbs hung limp without the slightest resistance, making his heart even heavier.
“Vieta?”
Once he reached the sandy beach, Blanc hurriedly examined Vieta’s condition.
Her entire body was soaked from head to toe, but her breathing was even, so she did not appear to have swallowed any water.
She wasn’t bleeding, her limbs weren’t bent at strange angles, and her complexion wasn’t poor.
Only her eyes were vacant and unfocused.
Why wouldn’t she come to her senses….
Blanc lightly slapped Vieta’s cheeks several times while calling her name.
Before long, her dazed pink eyes turned toward Blanc, then instantly regained their light.
“…Blanc?”
Vieta’s gaze seemed to ask why he was there.
“Thank goodness….”
Blanc embraced Vieta with all his strength.
He had been terribly afraid that something might happen to her.
“Why were you standing there like that? Where’s Fulcare?”
Coming to her senses at Blanc’s question, Vieta looked at her shoulder.
Before long, she realized that her connection with Fulcare had been severed, and her face contorted.
Perhaps as an aftereffect of being intoxicated by the fragrance, her head had begun to ache, but she could not afford to waste any more time.
Breaking free from Blanc’s arms, Vieta went over to the clothes she had hidden and took out a small green pouch.
The last things she had seen before her mind grew hazy were countless petals fluttering through the air and the flashing three gems. At the same time, she had sensed a sweet but truly unpleasant fragrance.
That scent was the problem.
Remembering how Iseria had always walked around the Demon Realm burning incense, Vieta opened the scent pouch and sprinkled its contents over herself and Blanc.
Blanc, covered in scented green powder and looking utterly confused, stared at Vieta as she held out her dagger. He accepted it without thinking.
“Listen carefully, Blanc.”
Vieta’s voice was heavy and firm.
“Fulcare has been taken.”
Blanc’s expression twisted in dismay.
“I’m going to find Fulcare now. I won’t be able to do this on my own this time. So, Blanc, you have to help me.”
Red light began to shimmer beneath her feet.
“Go to the subspace and find Iseria. If that doesn’t work, call Theodor instead. And deliver these petals to them.”
Vieta placed a white petal that had fallen on the beach into Blanc’s free hand.
Before she could even hear Blanc’s answer, Vieta’s hand slashed through the air. Unlike when Fulcare summoned it, the edges of the subspace entrance were ragged, as though the space had been forcibly torn open.
Vieta pushed Blanc into the goddess’s subspace without hesitation.
Startled by the sudden turn of events, Blanc looked back with wide eyes.
Vieta was smiling faintly at him.
“…Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
With those words, the entrance to the subspace closed.