# Chapter 101
After that day.
Just as Ion had said, “Raziel will contact us soon,” another message arrived via raven.
It was about the whereabouts of the black fragment that needed to be given to Levi as nourishment.
“I expected it to be somewhere in the Delos Empire, but I never thought it would be in our old house.”
Ion snickered and then glared at the note as if trying to pierce through it.
“Funny enough, that house has become a tourist attraction simply because I lived there. There’s no need to go there secretively, but since there will be eyes watching, I’ll send a few search team members disguised as tourists.”
Hest quickly snatched the note that Ion seemed about to crumple or tear apart, and asked casually:
“Do you really think the fragment is there?”
“Yes. But it won’t be easy to find. Even I haven’t noticed it until now.”
Ion had no memory of ever seeing a black fragment while living in that house, so he could have argued that Raziel’s information was wrong. Yet he was confident it was there because among the people who had connections to Levi’s fragments, no one was more “suitable for hiding things” than his mother.
‘I don’t know if Mother had separate ties with Raziel, but at the very least, she was connected to the fragment.’
After all, the information about the fragment that Hest had overheard came from none other than Ion’s mother.
Hest, double-checking the location of Ion’s old house written in the note, showed his doubts to Ion who was recalling Claudia’s bright face.
“But how did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That the black fragment would be within Delos Empire territory.”
Ion shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s obvious.”
His face turned cold in an instant.
“That guy knew he would lose Levi to me someday.”
“What?”
To the puzzled Hest, Ion explained step by step.
“He deliberately placed one of his close associates right by Levi’s side. It was partly to monitor Levi and provide appropriate assistance, but the bigger reason was his confidence that I would revive Levi even if I killed him.”
“Because no one knows Raziel better than that bastard?”
Ion nodded.
“He knows quite a bit about my abilities, and even sees through my personality and actions.”
A deflating sound mixed with resignation escaped his lips.
“The unpleasant bastard.”
Ion briefly cursed, then flopped down onto the plush sofa and leaned back.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. If they’re trying to find the fragment through Chepel using some sort of resonance, we can just let them be.”
If Chepel properly finds the fragment and returns it to Levi, his starvation state would also disappear. Ion couldn’t be happier about that.
“What will you do with Chepel?”
“If implanting that accessory Raziel mentioned will cause him to die on his own after three days anyway, it means Raziel has given up on his return from the beginning. If he returns across the border with Levi, that’s good, and if not, I won’t care.”
Ion was indifferent, as if he no longer had any interest in Chepel.
“Well, he’ll die by my hand before that.”
Even his additional comment.
Internally pitying Chepel as “a poor fellow,” Hest noticed Ion’s face becoming increasingly serious.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“What is?”
“Raziel, I mean.”
“That guy has been strange from the moment I first met him.”
Ion looked at Hest with somewhat confused eyes.
“It’s not just about me, he knows too much about you too. Even things that no one but himself should know.”
“That’s true. Even now, I feel like I was possessed by a ghost.”
Hest still couldn’t understand how Raziel could see through his past so clearly. If nothing else, the fact that he knew about Levi’s fragments and that Hest had searched for his fourth fragment should have been known to no one.
Ion, staring intently at Hest’s face, opened his mouth.
“Did you not feel anything strange when talking to Raziel?”
“Well. If I had to find something strange, it’s extremely odd that he knows so much about me.”
“But from what I hear, it seems like all the things Raziel knows about Hest are only related to ‘Levi’ or ‘black fragments.'”
“That’s because those were the main topics of our conversation at the time.”
“Is that all?”
Hest frowned as if frustrated, sensing something odd in Ion’s words.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“…”
With eyes deep in thought, Ion remained silent for a moment before muttering as if to himself.
“Why are all of Raziel’s words and actions only connected to Levi or the black fragments? Ghost… Yes, to the point where I wonder if a ghost called Raziel is attached to Levi, to his core…”
“Hey… Did you eat something bad? Talking nonsense about ghosts.”
Hest criticized Ion despite having made the “possessed by a ghost” remark himself. Nevertheless, Ion didn’t stop thinking.
“It’s the same with me.”
Ion had heard such things when extracting all sorts of information about Raziel from Chepel.
Raziel had known all along that the boy Levi was looking for was Ion Verdit.
Not only that, but Raziel saw through all of Ion’s thoughts and feelings toward Levi as if they were laid out on his hand.
It’s questionable how he could know so well even the parts connected to Levi that only Ion himself should know.
On the other hand, information about other aspects wasn’t so surprising.
If he knew everything about Grand Duke Verdit and Marquis Wesslon, he wouldn’t have thought he could silence Hest with such a shallow threat of killing Levi.
After parting with Levi, Ion and Hest had continued to work together with the single-minded desire to let the reborn Levi “live like a human.”
It felt as if there was a small hole somewhere in the dense mesh inside Raziel’s mind.
If he could just clearly realize the implications of that hole, it seemed like this question could be resolved all at once.
“Hest.”
Ion, who had been absorbed in thought with a serious face, let out a resigned sigh as if he himself found it ridiculous.
“What if… just what if…”
As Ion continued with his words one by one, Hest’s initially disinterested face gradually changed to one of serious astonishment.
❖ ❖ ❖
‘Ah…’
Levi let out a brief groan as he watched the memory unfolding before his eyes.
‘I remember now.’
Some of his lost memories gradually filled his vision and then wove themselves together inside his head.
“Wow—!”
Suddenly, bright blonde hair emerged, absorbing the light that filtered through the Black Forest. The flowing long hair followed curved lines, looking as if it might plunge into the black pond at any moment.
The first to find Levi, who had just awakened, was a girl in her late teens with a very youthful appearance.
The beautiful blonde girl looking at Levi stepped into the pond with a flushed face. She didn’t seem to mind at all that her snow-white dress was gradually turning black as it touched the pond water.
Walking to the center of the pond, the girl looked at Levi sitting still in that spot, and immediately cupped his face with both hands.
“The content in the ancient records was true!”
Her voice, as bright as her hair, penetrated Levi’s ears.
“The black core! The dragon’s tear! Just as I thought!”
The girl, who uttered words that were completely incomprehensible to Levi whose memories had been largely carved out at that time, embraced his head abruptly.
“Levi, let’s go together! I will…!”
Levi was more startled by the fact that she had made contact with him than by the fact that she knew his name. So without listening to the rest of what she was saying, he quickly pushed the girl away with his left hand. Even without using his black hand, he could easily push away the slender girl’s body with just one hand.
Due to the unexpected push, the girl landed on her bottom on the pond floor. Even though her dress had completely turned black from the dark water that came up to just below her chest, she was looking only at Levi.
“I can’t go.”
Though he didn’t know why, Levi shook his head as his instincts dictated.
“I shouldn’t be with humans.”
“Why?”
At the girl’s short question, Levi looked down at his black hand and then hid it behind his back.
“I kill humans.”
“I know. But so what?”
The girl, rising from the pond, tilted her head. Perhaps because the ends of her long blonde hair were soaked in black water, her once-brilliant light seemed to be gradually fading.
Coming close to Levi again, the girl sat down in front of him. As if she didn’t want to be far away even if she was pushed.
The girl faced Levi and looked at him warmly, then soon smiled brightly.
“I’d actually prefer if you killed them all.”
It was an incredibly irreverent statement for Princess Claudia, who was revered as a “saint” at that time.
