HMC 32

Episode 32

“It’s already gone.”

At the entrance to a dark alley, they searched for traces of the ominous energy—but nothing remained.

“There was definitely something here.”

Kneeling, Rosedale touched the withered, dead grass. No trace of ether, which should have flowed through the ground, could be felt.

“A place without ether is as good as dead. No life will grow here again.”

“If something was here…”

Lucas turned his head slightly to the left.

“It wouldn’t be wrong to say it was watching us.”

“Yeah.”

Rosedale stood and followed his gaze. It was the path they had walked in from.

A narrow alleyway rarely used by anyone. There was no doubt someone had been standing there, watching them.

Rosedale’s face wasn’t publicly known, and Lucas had masked his appearance with magic.

So how did someone manage to specifically observe the emperor and the mage?

Why? And who?

Rosedale’s expression hardened.

There was only one kind of being that could vanish after hiding its presence and still leave behind such a dreadful aura.

“A demon.”

“What?”

Lucas’s brow furrowed at Rosedale’s words. He looked as if something had clicked, and Rosedale asked curiously.

“Why? Did something happen?”

“I was going to tell you once we returned to the palace…”

He’d wanted to let Rosedale enjoy today, just for once, after all her hard work. But now he realized this was the time to talk.

With a heavy expression, Lucas began to explain.

Earlier that morning.

The soldiers on duty in the underground prison suddenly regained focus.

They had been dazed and dull, but in a flash—as if breaking free from hypnosis—their eyes cleared.

“Did I just doze off?”

“Ha! Did you drink again last night?”

Though he too felt like he had blacked out, he pretended otherwise and teased his fellow guard.

“Go wash your face or something. And check on that beast corpse downstairs while you’re at it.”

“Yeah, maybe I should.”

Agreeing easily, the soldier left his post.

The remaining guard slapped his cheeks to stay alert.

Can’t fall asleep. He straightened his posture and widened his eyes—when suddenly, he smelled something burning, like meat.

Wrinkling his nose at the foul stench, he turned around—

—and his eyes almost popped out of his head.

“What… what the hell is that?!”

The prisoners, once shackled inside, were gone.

Only a puddle of something black remained on the floor.

Where did they go? What is that ominous liquid? Did they melt, bones and all?

His hands trembled, too scared to even open the cell.

Then—

“Hey!”

The soldier who had gone to wash up came running, shouting.

“That beast’s corpse—it’s gone too!”

“That’s definitely strange.”

After hearing what happened, Rosedale bit her lip. Lucas nodded.

“What’s even stranger is that the soldiers who were on duty remember nothing. They babbled nonsense like they were under a trance—we couldn’t get anything useful out of them.”

“Mind magic?”

Rosedale muttered, half to herself, her expression grim.

If it wasn’t magic, it was impossible to explain. Human bodies melted to death, and a giant beast corpse vanished without a trace?

And multiple people forgetting everything at once? That’s beyond the scope of average magic.

“I don’t know much about magic, but right now, that’s the only explanation I can think of.”

Lucas instinctively gripped his sword as he continued.

“You remember the black panther statue we took from that shop?”

“Yes. The one with red jewels for eyes?”

“Right, that one.”

Lucas paused, then sighed and spoke again.

“It’s not of this world.”

“What do you mean?”

“The red jewels and the material the statue’s made of—they’re substances that don’t exist in this world.”

“…Ha.”

Rosedale let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.

Now that she thought about it, a lot didn’t add up.

At first, the shop and the beast’s appearance seemed unrelated.

But the fact that the beast’s body disappeared the moment the shop’s workers died meant there was a connection.

And the statue made of unearthly materials, the traces of mind magic on the guards, and now the sinister aura that had been right here a moment ago.

“It seems I’m not the only mage in this world anymore.”

Rosedale gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

“Someone has dabbled in forbidden magic.”

“Forbidden magic?”

“Demon-summoning magic.”

A thousand years ago, when all worlds were still connected, demons hunted humans, fairies, and even gods, driven by greed and violence. Their aura was so evil that coexistence was impossible.

Eventually, gods, fairies, and humans joined forces to battle the demons. In the end, they sealed the Demon King and won the war.

Since then, summoning demons had been strictly forbidden across all worlds.

Now, after a millennium, what would happen if demons returned?

The gods’ power has waned. Fairies have retreated to their own realm. And humans—have no more mages.

If demons were summoned again, chaos across all worlds would be inevitable.

“‘Abyss.’ That was the shop’s name.”

“Yeah.”

“Abyss… comes from an old word meaning ‘bottomless pit.’”

Long ago, that word referred to the demon realm itself.

So what was the purpose of the humans who borrowed that name?

Whatever it was, the key to this incident likely lay in that Abyss.

“Lucas. That shop—did it yield nothing?”

“We investigated thoroughly.”

Lucas shook his head.

His calm, emerald-like face twisted into a grimace.

A faint blue aura flickered around him like icy flames. Even Rosedale, who rarely flinched, felt a chill.

She now understood why others shrank back in fear whenever they faced Lucas.

“Lucas.”

“Ah, sorry.”

When Rosedale gently tugged at his sleeve, the violent aura vanished instantly.

Only then could she take a proper breath, and Lucas exhaled quietly to calm himself.

“All the men who worked at that shop are dead. All we have left is that black panther statue.”

“Then we need to examine it. Let’s return to the palace.”

“…Yeah, we should.”

So their break had come to an end.

Lucas, who wanted to protect Rosedale’s rare moment of peace.

And Rosedale, who wanted to give freedom to the man burdened with so many lives.

Both realized it was time to return.

But not all joy had ended.

“Let’s go back, Rosie. Together.”

Lucas reached out his hand.

Rough with calluses, yet to her, his hand looked warm and comforting.

As always, Rosedale took his hand without hesitation.

As long as she held that hand, anywhere was a festival.

“But Lucas. Right now, I think…”

“Yeah. Maybe going back to the palace will have to wait.”

Their sighs drifted toward the alley behind them.

Twisting like a maze, the alley showed no end. There was no moonlight—only darkness. But something else lurked there, something different from the demonic aura.

An eerie stillness, too unnatural for a place where a person could vanish without anyone knowing.

Rosedale and Lucas focused on a faint sound from the alley.

“Eek! Please help!”

A woman’s scream—quieter than a mosquito but unmistakable.

“Let’s go, Lucas.”

“Wait, Rosie.”

Lucas tightened his grip on her hand.

For the first time since they’d held hands, Rosedale felt sweat on his palm.

Understanding his concern, she squeezed his hand back firmly.

“Don’t worry. You’re going to protect me, right?”

I’ll protect you too.

Lucas widened his eyes for a second, then smiled softly. His tense shoulders relaxed.

“…You’re right, Rosie.”

Seeing him return to calm, Rosedale smiled gently too.

Then she turned back to the dark alley with sharp eyes.

“Let’s go. Together.”

Brillia had run away from home.

“What?! You canceled the engagement and want to join the Imperial Magic Research Division? Have you lost your mind? If you’re going to live so selfishly, get out of my house!”

So she did.

Raised like a hothouse flower for the sake of her noble family, she now wanted to live for herself.

She ditched the suffocating dress, abandoned the boring embroidery, and left home with only her dreams and bold determination.

She knew she’d been a bit reckless.

But it wasn’t like she had never gone outside before. She brought plenty of money and was sure she could manage until the exam for the palace’s research division.

Yet somehow, things had taken a terrible turn.

“I saw this girl’s bag packed with valuables. She must be a runaway maid who stole from a noble house.”

Brillia heard her captor explaining to his companions.

She couldn’t scream—her mouth was gagged, limbs tied, and she was stuffed into a sack.

She’d heard there were dangerous slums where war refugees resorted to kidnappings and loan sharking.

So she’d deliberately stayed in good hotels and walked only crowded streets.

But just her luck—she got spotted by criminals from another region right at the hotel counter.

Unbelievably unlucky.

I can’t be taken like this.

She couldn’t just cry and blame misfortune forever.

As she pulled herself together, the sack opened and she was dumped roughly onto the floor.

“Keep quiet. No one here’s going to hear your screams anyway.”