Young Ruvlian’s teacher, who had been shoved aside, soon brushed off their clothes and stood up. They were incredibly nonchalant, as if it were a common occurrence. Since they were the teacher, they would be the one overseeing training. So it would be common to be challenged. Though getting hit probably wasn’t.
“My disciple. I don’t know where you learned such barbaric behavior as kicking your teacher who is like the heavens. Moreover, your kick is utterly lacking in strength, so I’ll have to increase your training time.”
The child, incensed by the words ‘lacking’ and ‘training,’ threw a tantrum. Being young, their legs were relatively thin, but with proper muscle attached, they didn’t feel weak. At this level, even saying it was deliberately provoking wouldn’t be wrong.
Unlike speaking to young Ruvlian like a scholar, as soon as the child’s teacher laid eyes on me, their eyes flashed. Looking unwilling to give up, they were like a mage. I instinctively realized they would cling tenaciously. This is why I didn’t want to form ties with mages except for Ruvlian.
“Strangely, residue is clinging to your body too……”
It was a statement without beginning or end. Residue? I couldn’t understand it at all.
“Have you recently heard a sound that felt like your head would burst?”
……I have. I had. When I entered a room in the parallel world without knowing whose it was, I heard sounds and eventually even fainted. I waited for the words to follow, but young Ruvlian’s teacher only raised the corners of their mouth smugly. In an instant, their benevolent face became mean-spirited.
“If you promise to give me blood, I’ll tell you.”
They had deliberately brought it up to stimulate my curiosity and extract blood. Ruvlian’s personality of never taking a loss must have come from here too.
When I stared at young Ruvlian’s teacher, they seemed to take it for granted that I would accept. Refusal seemed completely outside their expectations. Young Ruvlian tried to stop me from the side, but became like a gaping fish that couldn’t make a sound, only opening and closing their mouth due to the teacher’s magic.
After staring at the rare sight of young Ruvlian for a while, I soon lightly nodded my head. Then their sun-tanned face brightened considerably, and their green eyes became even more lively. I looked forward to that face turning the color of dirt.
I cast an emotion-heightening magic without the child’s teacher noticing, excited at the thought of researching something rare. Their face filled with heat burned even more with excitement. Then I deployed a magic circle. This was a mage’s oath, a magic that would lead to death if not kept.
“I, Rian, promise to give blood after hearing the story related to residue from Ruvlian’s teacher.”
I inserted my hand into the magic circle floating in the air. As it filled up to my wrist in the magic circle, the magic circle disappeared as if absorbed into my skin. Ancient language was engraved in a circle like a bracelet on my wrist.
There were several loopholes in the oath statement, but the other side seemed too excited about receiving to have the capacity to examine the sentence I spoke in detail. Their head must have been completely filled with thoughts of blood. Since most mages originally neglect other things when fixated on one thing, they didn’t pay attention to the oath either. I had cast the emotion-heightening magic knowing this would happen, but it was so easy that it made me suspicious instead.
“You do it too. An oath that you will only tell me the truth.”
“Ahem. Very well.”
A magic circle of the exact same form as the one I had cast appeared in the air. Young Ruvlian’s teacher said to the magic circle, “I, Scalane, will speak only the truth about residue to Rian,” then pushed their wrist into the magic circle as I had done. Then the magic circle disappeared as if sucked in, and ancient language was engraved on their wrist as well.
Having not exchanged names until now, I learned the name. Scalane. It seemed like a name I’d heard somewhere before, but nothing came to mind. Stopping thinking about useless things, I nodded once. As if understanding the meaning to speak now, Scalane parted their lips.
“Hmm. Residue is what I call it for convenience, and there is no exact term. It is originally the lingering attachment of one who was alive.”
In other words, it meant the lingering attachment of the deceased. Then does the owner of the voice have lingering attachment about not killing Parallel World Ruvlian? I couldn’t forget the intense and deep resentment that had made me faint. I couldn’t even gauge what one would have to do to receive such resentment. I listened attentively to the following words.
“Usually lingering attachment alone won’t do, and it comes from the desire to fulfill that attachment even if one burns oneself with the thought that one cannot die like this. That said, does the soul remain? That would be against the natural order of the world, so it’s impossible. Thus only the emotion remains on earth, wandering. Without substance, just the shell floating about.”
“Who usually hears the voice?”
“Someone who seems like they could fulfill that lingering attachment. It’s said to be heard only by such people. Also, it’s generally said to exist in places where one stayed long during life.”
Me, someone who seems like I could fulfill the lingering attachment. A room in Belitent’s mansion, where they had stayed long during life. The voice asking me to kill Parallel World Ruvlian. Someone already dead.
Gathering the fragmented pieces together, I could tell who the owner of the voice was, the owner of that scream-like sound. There was only one person who fit that.
Parallel World Baek Sihyeon. It was him.
“But the problem is it seeping into the body now…… You’ve already absorbed it.”
“What happens if it’s absorbed?”
“There’s a possibility of gradually assimilating with the emotion. Of course, there’s also a way to completely eliminate the residue, so there’s no need to worry.”
Scalane, who said that, sent a fervent gaze as if to bore a hole in my face. Their will to not easily reveal that method was apparent.
Young Ruvlian, stuck to my leg, looked at me and shook their head vigorously. As if telling me not to make a deal. I stared at the clear eyes with a strangely worried gaze, then roughly patted the blonde hair that seemed to hold sunlight itself a few times. Then I sought out God, who was like a cheat key.
‘God. Are you there?’
[Yes…. You’ve finally come to my jurisdiction world.]
It was a tone that said it was difficult. The feeling that they never wanted to experience such a thing again seeped through. I asked that God, thinking a definite answer would return.
‘Do you know how to eliminate the residue absorbed in the body?’
[Residue? If you mean the lingering attachment of the deceased, yes. That’s simple. You just wash every nook and cranny of your body with Divine Power. Both inside and outside the body. Literally, it ends when you completely cover your entire body with Divine Power.]
It was much simpler than expected. I was having the conversation with God, but my gaze remained fixed on Scalane in front of me. They were raising the corners of their mouth satisfactorily, not knowing I had found out the method, perhaps imagining receiving more blood or hair.
Watching that, I said resolutely.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
“Wh-what are you saying? You could be assimilated with the emotion, but you won’t eliminate it?”
“Well. I have no obligation to tell you that, so it would be best to stop your curiosity. Ah, here’s the blood.”
After making a small wound on the first joint of my index finger with Mana, I dropped a drop of blood on the ground. I healed the small wound with Divine Power and trampled the ground where the blood had dropped with my foot.
The ancient language that had been engraved on my wrist smoothly disappeared. It meant the contract had been faithfully fulfilled.
“Wh-what is this!”
Scalane’s eyes widened greatly, and their pupils shook wildly. They seemed quite flustered.
“Is there some problem?”
“Didn’t you say you’d give blood!”
“I did say I’d give it. Though I didn’t say to whom.”
Only then seeming to realize the loophole in the oath statement, Scalane’s mouth fell open. Even pointing with their index finger, they seemed quite shocked, stammering.
“If you hadn’t done such rude things without permission, I would have just given you hair and blood. You should reflect on your own character.”
The level voice contained no emotion to the point of being hollow. It seemed to just be stating facts, but whether that was more eerie, Scalane hiccupped.
Young Ruvlian, still with a gaping fish mouth, sparkled their eyes as if seeing their teacher like this for the first time. Their water-colored eyes seemed to suck in the sunlight. They looked truly amused, which felt strange. To like seeing their teacher get scammed this much. It was already an irredeemable character.
The theory Montrio had insisted on, ‘Ruvlian Celton’s character has been rotten since childhood,’ was proven true like this. Though we wouldn’t meet again, if I could convey this fact, I could picture them saying ‘I told you so’ and fighting with Ruvlian. Deadrian would be laughing heartily beside them, and Alli would be shouting that the winning side is our side.
Tug. I had just been imagining a future that wouldn’t come for a while, when my clothes were grabbed. They even stretched from the pulling force. Young Ruvlian, having thrown away the happily smiling face somewhere, looked at me clearly with a dissatisfied face.
Then they gaped their mouth. It seemed they were trying to convey something to me, so I concentrated on the movement of that small mouth.
Let…… go? It was completely difficult to read. I just broke the magic cast on young Ruvlian.
“What did you say?”
“I said ‘let me go.'”
After answering me, the child who checked whether their voice came out by making sounds repeatedly looked at me. Their tiny hand was still firmly gripping my clothes as if they wouldn’t let go.
“So……”
The child drew out their words. If it were someone else, I would have passed by without listening, but in front of me was Ruvlian. Young Ruvlian at that.
At the end of waiting, I finally heard a mumbling sound. However, the sound was too small to hear. In order to finally hear the words, I bent my knees and met the child’s eye level.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”
“Th-thank you!”
This time they shrieked loudly. As if embarrassed, I could see them gradually turning red from their cheeks to the tips of their ears. The child fidgeted with the hand that had let go of my clothes, then whispered in my ear.
“Thank you for tricking that eccentric old man.”
Ah. That’s it.
