~Chapter 17~
It took quite a while to persuade Cedric.
I checked my wristwatch and hurried to the location Peril had mentioned.
The thugs swaggering around Western Street stared at me while spitting on the ground.
But the moment our eyes met, their pupils trembled.
Wow, this really works.
I smiled in satisfaction and touched my face.
There was no need for a mask that didn’t even cover my face properly.
A full face-covering was the best.
Wearing a piece of black cloth without holes for the eyes, nose, or mouth had been the right choice.
It was harder to see at night, but that was a small price to pay.
Better to be the suspicious one than get caught by one!
The place Peril had mentioned was an old, abandoned building.
As I approached, a man sitting at the entrance blocked my way.
“Go back. This place is off-limits.”
But the moment he saw my face, he flinched.
His eyes started to shake violently.
I silently handed him the invitation.
The man hesitated, then took it.
When he infused it with magic, a moon symbol floated in the air.
“Oh! You’re a guest. I thought you were a robber— I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you.”
Apparently, the Moon’s Shop was underground.
As I went down the stairs, I began to hear loud thumping music.
Ah, this is it.
Just like it was described in the original story.
Nobles dressed in dresses as fancy as ones from a royal ball.
And the hall where the shop’s goods were displayed.
Scenes from the pages of a book were now unfolding naturally before my eyes.
I pulled my hat down low and walked inside.
Conversations no one would dare have during the day floated to my ears.
“The Princess?”
“Yes. Didn’t you see at the last hunting competition? She took the brooch that His Highness gave to Miss Idette! And they say that brooch was later found in a junkyard.”
“My goodness, I wish I had seen that myself…!”
“No wonder His Highness looked so down.”
So the original plot where Idette was humiliated at the hunting competition has changed.
But… is this actually a good thing?
“And there are even rumors that Lady Siren is actually still alive. Honestly, who’s spreading such nonsense…?”
“Poor Idette. She’s fallen out of the princess’s favor…”
“Oh, don’t feel sorry for her. She’s a shameless girl who flirts with a man who already has a fiancée.”
“Anyway, what’s the auction item today? I heard Madam put a lot of effort into it.”
As I looked around, I spotted a man who, like me, seemed to be searching for someone.
His eyes, behind a black mask, were glowing blue.
There he is.
Unlike me, who had recognized Peril immediately, he was still busy looking around.
I walked up to him and grabbed his arm.
Instantly, his eyes behind the mask turned sharp and dangerous.
“Who are you?”
“It’s Bianca.”
“…”
Peril went quiet, as if he didn’t know what to say.
I thought I heard him mutter something like, “Would’ve been better if you’d just worn feathers and come naked…”
…Was it really that bad?
***
Peril led me to a secret room on the third floor.
Pushing past a beaded curtain, we entered a room with a luxurious sofa.
As he glanced over a shelf lined with bottles of alcohol, he asked,
“Do you enjoy drinking?”
“No.”
“…Right. Hard to eat or drink in that getup.”
He clicked his tongue slowly and turned his head.
“Let’s get straight to the point.”
Since I had told Cedric I’d be back at the mansion by one o’clock, I was in a hurry.
“I like how fast you get to the point.”
“What is it you want? Access to Dremokan? Or maybe information about your disciples’ whereabouts?”
“Their whereabouts… That’s not something that matters to me.”
Peril dropped into a seat. His long silver hair spilled across the sofa.
I hesitated for a moment, then sat in the seat across from him.
“Do you believe the dead can return?”
I thought I’d heard something like that earlier from the people around.
Siren.
That was the name of the enemy general who died in the brutal magic war.
He was the crown prince of the Orphen Kingdom, I think.
Rationally, it was complete nonsense.
But this was a romance-fantasy world. Nothing was impossible here.
“I don’t know the details, but… you wouldn’t have brought it up without a reason, right?”
“…True.”
“Do you think the rumors about the dead returning are connected to the Dremokan Forest?”
“Because that’s the heart of the Empire.”
“Right.”
Dremokan was where the heavens once lived during the Holy Era.
But the forest was more than half destroyed during the magic war.
The imperial family and the temple couldn’t manage it anymore, so they passed the authority to Roygin. As a result, Dremokan became the property of a marquis family.
Well, Peril was making it sound serious, but honestly, Dremokan Forest wasn’t all that important anymore.
The current temple didn’t believe in the heavens of the Holy Era anymore.
The imperial family had gained power thanks to the temple, so they wouldn’t value a place like Dremokan, which had an entirely different symbolic meaning.
There was a world tree growing in the forest, but the temple had burned it down.
…I think the temple grew a new world tree afterward.
Anyway, to the Empire, Dremokan was practically useless now.
“To be blunt, I want to move the roots of the world tree from Dremokan into the Magic Tower.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Are you saying… you plan to betray the imperial family?”
Is he out of his mind?
Even if Dremokan was now abandoned, he was talking about taking the roots of the world tree—a former imperial symbol.
“Of course not.”
“I’m just not smart enough to take it any other way.”
Sure, Peril would probably be fine. He was the head of the Magic Tower.
But what about me? Or Roygin?
“I only need a part of it. I’m not asking for much.”
That is a lot.
I leaned back slowly against the chair.
“If you’re asking for something that serious… then I assume you have a cure for the Dremokan disease?”
“Yes.”
“…!”
“What are you so shocked about?”
Last time, he said it wasn’t a disease, but a curse…?
Peril brushed back his hair and gave a slow smile.
“Do you know where magic comes from?”
“I’ve heard it’s the mercy left behind by the heavens when they disappeared during the Holy Era.”
The world advanced quickly based on the magic that came from the heavens’ disappearance.
“You’re right. So, do you understand what it means when magic becomes flawed?”
Don’t tell me…
“It means the mercy of the heavens has turned into punishment. A curse laid upon the true owners of Dremokan—a divine punishment.”
‘You idiot. Do you even know who cast the spell?’
Now I was beginning to understand just a bit of what Peril said last time.
The one who cast the curse was one of the heavens of the Holy Era—thought to have disappeared.
And a mere human, trying to break a heaven’s curse?
Now I understood why Peril had scoffed at the idea.
“But didn’t you say last time that the only way to break the curse was for the caster to die? Then what you’re saying now… does that mean―”
“Don’t say things a human like me can’t do.”
Calling someone over a thousand years old a human seems a bit much…
“Simply put, I’m saying I’ll fulfill their grudge. Since the curse on Dremokan’s true owners is not death but a punishment, then there must be something they want.”
…Now that he said it, it did make sense.
Even in the world I came from, they said ancestors who wanted something would appear in dreams. And if you didn’t understand their message, you’d get sick or something.
I listened quietly to Peril’s explanation, then a question came to mind.
“Then what about you, sir? Is your goal to fulfill their grudge?”
Peril was a natural-born businessman. He never did anything that didn’t benefit him.
But based on everything he’d said so far, he had nothing to gain.
Peril chuckled.
“Well. What do you think it is that I want?”
In the original story, Peril’s goal was death.
To break free from the curse of immortality and live a normal life with Idette as a human.
But if I brought that up, he’d probably bury me right next to the world tree.
So I just shook my head in reply.
