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I felt ugly for sniffling and tried to force myself to hold back, but Cedric pulled me into his arms before untying the ropes that bound me.
“Just a moment, I’ll get you free right away.”
“Mm.”
In the meantime, I stared at the man who had been thrown far away. He was buried in a pile of wooden crates on the opposite side, clutching his head.
“Cedy, behind… you need to be careful behind you.”
“Yeah. It’s okay.”
Finally, all the ropes were untied. With my arms and legs finally free, I first closed my disheveled shirt collar that had been shamefully spread open.
“What the hell.”
Suddenly Cedric growled bleakly. Startled, I looked up to find him glaring intensely at my tattered shirt front.
It seemed he had belatedly noticed my messy appearance, which I hadn’t been aware of in my confused state.
“Don’t tell me he touched you?”
“Huh?”
“Did that bastard touch you?”
“Ah… it’s okay. Nothing major…”
Cedric didn’t listen to the end of my words. Suddenly jumping up, he rushed toward the man who was still collapsed and swung his fist.
I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut.
“Aaaah!”
Along with the dull sound of impact, the man’s scream echoed. When I slightly opened my eyes to peek, the man was being helplessly beaten by Cedric.
He was trying his best to defend himself by swinging the knife in his hand, but it seemed a recessive alpha couldn’t match the strength of a dominant alpha.
Clang!
The blade left the man’s hand and clattered to the floor. Cedric, who had been pummeling him until his fists were bloody and turning him into a pulp, stood up and picked up that knife.
“…!”
A bad feeling ran down my spine.
The moment Cedric gripped the knife tightly and turned back to the man, I ran to him without thinking and hugged him.
“Hey, are you crazy? Are you really going to kill him?!”
“It’s dangerous, so get back.”
“No! You really can’t kill someone!”
I wrapped my arms around his waist with all my strength. I tried to pull him back, but he didn’t budge at all.
It was no different from a cicada clinging to a tree.
“Cedy, please! I don’t want that!”
“…”
“A-and there’s one more person behind that guy! This wasn’t something that man planned alone. We need to find out who’s behind this!”
Fortunately, those words seemed to get through to him.
Cedric slowly calmed his ragged breathing. Right after, I was startled to see him throw the knife at the man, but it stuck precisely above the man’s head.
The blade cut through the wall and embedded more than halfway in, making it seem difficult to pull out with ordinary strength.
That’s when it happened.
“Kuk… heh… haha.”
The man collapsed on the floor laughed senselessly.
Perhaps his half-crazed mind trapped in endlessly repeating illusions had somewhat returned, as he had become rather calm instead.
“Such an insolent young master…”
“…”
“Tried to get a taste of your hole, but you’re playing hard to get.”
It was a vulgar provocation.
As Cedric’s body twitched as if he would lunge forward again, I grabbed his waist and pulled with all my strength, telling him to hold back.
Suddenly, the man showed his hand with a bizarre laugh. A strange pattern carved into his palm glowed red.
[You’d better dodge.]
Prometil’s quiet warning followed.
“I’m going first.”
Before those words were even finished, light enveloped the man’s entire body and he exploded.
“…!”
The moment Cedric embraced me protectively, an intense explosion shook the room. A strong impact shook the ground and dust filled the air.
My mind was confused by the explosion that happened in the blink of an eye.
“…”
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, holding our breath. When Cedric, who had been covering me, raised his body, broken debris and ash fell from his back.
For a moment I really thought we might die, but fortunately we were both alive.
In the midst of all this, I became conscious of how close Cedric and I were breathing, so I turned my head as far diagonally as possible.
“Eddie, are you okay?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Though my startled heart was still pounding.
“What about you?”
“I’m okay too.”
Soon Cedric clicked his tongue softly and walked over to where the man had been. I peered from behind him and gasped when I saw only a human-shaped mark left under the black ash.
‘Did he really die by self-destructing?’
But even if someone dies in an explosion, do they disappear as ash powder like this? It’s fortunate in one way that there’s no gruesome blood and flesh left behind. As I was having such thoughts, Prometil spoke to me.
[You weren’t hurt, were you?]
‘Ah, no… Cedy helped me.’
[I see. By the way, what a cruel fellow. He cast very powerful magic to ensure he wouldn’t survive the self-destruction.]
‘He turned to ash powder.’
[That would be the case. That kind of magic transforms you into a different form so that no traces can be collected to identify you.]
A death that leaves only ash…
Somehow I feel complicated about it.
That’s when Cedric seemed to discover something in the ash. He bent down and picked something up from the floor. It was the crystal orb the man had been carrying.
“Ah! That’s it.”
“This?”
“The man who just died was talking to someone with that. That person is like a hired puppet, and the real mastermind is the one who contacted him through the crystal orb. They were targeting the divine artifact and trying to kidnap me.”
While I was explaining earnestly, Cedric, whether he was listening or not, simply took off his uniform jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
…Since he gave it to me to put on clothes, I accepted it and wrapped it around myself.
“Cedy. Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah. So there are more accomplices.”
At least he was listening properly.
“Will I… be okay?”
As long as I have the divine artifact, there’s no guarantee that something like this won’t happen again.
‘I didn’t even want to have it in the first place.’
[That’s quite unfortunate.]
I lightly ignored Prometil’s sulky sarcasm.
My heart was weary. I wanted to quickly return to a cozy and safe haven to rest. Did that melancholy mood show on the outside?
“It’s okay. This kind of thing won’t happen again.”
Cedric placed his palm on top of my head.
Pat, pat. The touch that stroked soothingly. That touch was so affectionate and reliable that… even his groundless promise that this wouldn’t happen again somehow reassured me.
Not long after, people came looking for us. Lionel and Father had followed Cedric’s trail with several family soldiers.
“Eddie!”
As soon as Father saw me, he came over as if collapsing and pulled me into his arms. I felt like I might cry, but this time I held back maturely.
“My son, are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m fine, so don’t worry.”
“Thank goodness. Thank goodness.”
While Father held onto me like that for a while and had the soldiers clean up and investigate the surroundings, I sat in a corner and wrapped Cedric’s jacket around me again.
Cedric was… for some reason having a separate conversation with Lionel.
They seem like an odd combination.
They were quite far away so I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but I could see him handing over the crystal orb, so I could roughly guess they were going to use it to search for the accomplices.
“Son.”
I turned my head at Father’s call.
Father, who had crouched down to match my eye level, ruffled my hair with those large, firm hands of his.
“Let’s go home now.”
I felt like he was treating me more like a child than usual, but rather than complaining about it, I just nodded obediently like a well-behaved child. For his sake, since he must have worried himself sick for hours.
* * *
“Damn it! Useless bastard!”
The leader of Seraphium grumbled and swept everything off his desk.
The puppet had self-destructed and died. But he hadn’t obtained anything he wanted. This meant the operation had failed.
“Why the hell!”
Did he escape using the power of the divine artifact? Or did someone else figure out the location in the meantime and come to interfere?
“What went wrong?”
The cult leader, who hadn’t seen what situation had unfolded, was going crazy with frustration and anxiety.
“Aaah!”
The cult leader clutched his head.
He still hadn’t realized that this mission failed because he didn’t know much about magical tools and used them improperly.
“Our cult can’t be exposed!”
“It’s certainly a dangerous situation either way.”
When his subordinate Terion answered in an indifferent tone, suddenly the crystal orb pushed into the corner began to emit light.
A contact had come. From the puppet who should be dead.
…Or from whoever had ruined the operation.
The startled cult leader stiffened.
Terion’s indifferent voice flowed out.
“How about answering it?”
“What if something happens if I do!”
The cult leader jumped and shouted.
Even during this, the crystal orb was shining brightly. As if pressuring the cult leader, for a long time. The cult leader’s complexion turned pale.
“Terion! B-break that thing and throw it away.”
“But… it was something you treasured.”
“It doesn’t matter! It’s already a defective product with only half left!”
“I understand. I’ll dispose of it and return.”
Terion silently took the crystal orb.
And he left the cult leader’s room.
“…”
Walking down the corridor with his usual neat and disciplined steps, Terion arrived at a blind spot with no listening ears or watching eyes.
‘Has it already been 20 years since I’ve been involved with this place?’
It had been quite a long time.
He had been with the Seraphium cult leader since he was still young and promising at twenty.
It was about time to leave this place. If he stayed any longer, the cult leader would eventually notice something strange.
‘Fortunately, I found a clue.’
The white light emanating from the crystal orb reflected in Terion’s dry eyes. His eyes narrowed with interest for a moment.
Soon, the crystal orb connected.
Terion had arbitrarily answered the other party’s contact.
“Let’s make a deal.”
He brought up his business without preamble.
– …What?
“Divine artifact theft and temple destruction, information distribution. Seraphium Cult. Gloria Trading Company, connections to the black market.”
– …!
“I can give you all the information you want.”
Tense silence. Soon a wary voice continued quietly from the other side.
– What are you, exactly.
To this, Terion quietly growled.
“…There’s nothing to call an identity.”
His eyes were looking somewhere far away.
“Just someone who can’t die and lives on.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
