127. Beyond The Door (1)
“Okay. Now let’s go meet Cornelia.”
“······Yeah.”
The harvest was quite large.
First of all.
I got the information that Sola is not one of the Four Heavenly Kings yet.
In other words, one of the remaining seats is still vacant.
And secondly.
I also found out that Belphegor is not in the Holy Kingdom at the moment.
Sola said that he went to the sea to meet the sea dragon······.
Then there’s a high probability that he’s at the St. Francis Maritime Fortress.
But why do I have a bad feeling about this?
There’s no way to deal with it in Cologne, which is inland.
I’ll find out what he’s been up to when I get to the maritime fortress later.
‘Then why did Magi send a message here?’
This is where the question arises.
Belphegor’s Magi clearly sent a signal in a westerly direction, towards Hameln and Cologne.
If Belphegor’s main body is not here, who was the signal sent to?
Perhaps Belphegor is not the only one in the Holy Kingdom right now.
From Noble mtl dot com
If the remaining one of the Four Heavenly Kings is a necromancer······.
I need to be a little nervous.
And the long-awaited third.
I got the Eye of Maan.
[Eye of the Originator]
[This is the right eye of the first sorcerer. It can intermittently see 1 second into the future. If you stare at it for a long time, your mind will become confused.]
Simply put, it’s a 1-second future vision.
It may not seem like much when you say it like that, but it’s a very valuable item.
In a battle between superhumans, the outcome can be decided by a difference of 1/1000 of a second.
Although it does have the problem that it takes a long time to adapt to.
Once you get used to it, it’s an item that gives you a huge advantage in one-on-one combat.
But if you ask me if it’s a big enough merit to make me want to gouge out my good eyeball and put this creepy thing in its place······.
“······It’s gross.”
“I think so too. Oh, I’m going to puke.”
Absolutely not.
Ji is rolling her eyes around and making eye contact with me, and every time she does, I feel like the baguette I ate this morning is going to come back up.
They say that if you stare at it for a long time, your mind will become confused.
I’ve only looked at it for a short while, but my head is already spinning.
I just want to bury my nose in Cornelia’s head and sniff and sniff to calm my mind and body.
I guess that’s why she became so corrupt after having this in her eye······.
Maybe Sola will come back to her senses after I help her get this out?
No, I don’t think so.
‘Maybe I should give it to the Magi Sword. It’s been grumbling a lot because the only way to communicate with the outside world is to talk to me.’
For a moment, I thought about sticking this Eye of Maan into the Magi Sword.
But I quickly shook my head and discarded it.
A sword with an eyeball stuck in it.
It’s horrible just to imagine.
‘So the question is, what do we do with Sola from now on······.’
I buried Sola alive in the ground, but it’s too early to rest easy.
The place where I imprisoned her is the ‘Celestial Plate’ that I created with my ability.
It is an extremely strong defensive ability that reflects all physical force applied from the inside and outside.
Sola’s magic is an electrical system, so it can all be blocked by physical force protection.
Furthermore, the Celestial Plate does not emit mana or magic, so it is impossible to detect unless someone digs up the dirt.
However, the Celestial Plate is an ability that consumes mana to operate.
In other words, it doesn’t mean that I can keep Sola locked up for a thousand years.
When I calculated the amount of mana being consumed, it seemed like it would last for about 24 hours.
In other words.
In 24 hours, I will have to deal with Sola, who is furious and running wild.
‘I’ve already used the trick of impersonating the Four Heavenly Kings······.’
It seems that there is no way to stop Sola’s hostility towards me.The best thing to do is for Sora to escape the Holy Kingdom before she is released.
It is uncertain whether she will be able to achieve all her goals and leave the Holy Kingdom within 24 hours.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll take this guy’s sister hostage.’
I’m not particularly worried.
Because I have a last resort.
“Misung-ah. Take out the communicator. I need to contact Kern.”
“······Yes.”
But just in case.
I need to summon Kern through Linda.
In the worst case scenario, I may need his help.
***
“Whew······.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of fingernails being bitten could be heard repeatedly in the room.
Saintess Jill looked out the window in frustration, sighing continuously.
“It’s gotten bigger······.”
White smoke covered the entire Cologne.
The smoke, which was visible only to Jill, had not yet cleared.
No. It seemed to have become even thicker than yesterday.
She had mobilized the Holy Knights to find the source of the smoke, but to no avail.
The knights seemed to be investigating, as instructed to look for ‘something suspicious’.
However, after searching the entire city, they found nothing and eventually withdrew.
It was impossible, even with the power of the Saintess, to continue an indefinite search simply because it was ominous.
Even when she told them about the white smoke, they all just pretended to believe her on the surface.
No one seemed to believe her.
Jill was so frustrated that she could go crazy.
“Eugene······ believed me without asking or questioning······.’
Before the regression.
It was one day when she was close to Eugene.
Jill went to a neighboring city with Eugene to do volunteer work.
And there, she saw a faint white smoke.
Everyone was surprised by Jill’s appeal that there was a corpse nearby and began searching.
However, as time passed and nothing came up, they gave up one by one.
But even after everyone left, there was one person who silently searched the area until the end, even after the sun had set.
It was none other than Eugene.
Eugene dug up the ground, lifted the roof, and searched, enduring the persecution of the residents.
Late at night, he finally found it.
The remains of a person huddled inside a wine barrel.
As soon as the body was removed, the white smoke disappeared.
However, even though a body was actually found, few people believed Jill’s ‘white smoke’.
Everyone just thought it was a coincidence.
Eugene was the only one who believed her seriously.
“Why? Why did you search so hard? It could have been my mistake. It could have been a lie.”
“I will believe everything the Saintess says. No matter how absurd or ridiculous it may sound. Even if everyone in the world turns their backs on you and doesn’t believe you, I will stay by your side until the end.”
As she thought about the old days, tears streamed down Jill’s cheeks.
She missed Eugene.
She wanted to go back to the way she was with Eugene before.
But now that she has been wanted for attempted rape, such a future will never come.
She had a hunch that if Eugene were caught in this dragnet, he would never be forgiven.
She needed Eugene to find out the source of the white smoke that covered Cologne.
It was an ironic situation where if she found Eugene, she would surely be hated by him forever.
Jill was confused about which way to choose.
“I need to talk to someone······.”
Jill walked out of the room, her face haggard, brushing her bangs roughly.
At this hour, Cornelia would be working in her office.
Just as she was about to knock on the door.
The door suddenly banged open.
And then it became quiet again.
“Cornelia······?”Feeling a strange sense of incongruity, Jill cautiously made a sound.
.
.
.
Just until now, I had been thinking of Eugene.
I had been praying to the heavens to see him.
And then, just then.
“Huh?”
“It’s been a long time, Cornelia.”
“······!”
The moment I turned my head at the sound of the window being opened,
I froze in place.
There was Eugene, squeezing his body through the small window, smiling awkwardly.
My surprise was only momentary.
My heart was so full of joy that I had no time for other thoughts.
I almost screamed, but Eugene put his index finger to his lips and cautioned me.
“Jill is in the mansion. I came to see her secretly. Don’t make a loud noise.”
“Then, even the barrier······.”
“The barrier is no good either. That guy is like a ghost when it comes to magic casting. It’s best to just whisper quietly.”
“I understand······.”
That guy?
I felt a strange sense of familiarity from the way he addressed the Saintess.
What kind of relationship did the two of them have before, that they could still call each other like that even after a bad breakup?
I was a little bit annoyed.
“Are you okay? Jill didn’t bother you or anything, did she?”
“No. We’ve become really close. The Saintess is also very kind to me.”
“That’s good. I was worried that you might be suffering because my spy was discovered.”
“Hohoho. I’m not that clumsy.”
At Cornelia’s confident smile, Eugene couldn’t help but smile back.
After all, there had already been a big fuss when he had been caught spying.
“But how did you get through the wanted network?”
“Uh······. The situation is a bit complicated. There was someone who noticed the Saintess’s rampage and wanted to help me, but I buried that person in the ground.”
“What?!”
“I’ll take them out tomorrow, so don’t worry. But about this wanted thing. Jill didn’t just put it up because she wanted to see me, did she?”
“What do you mean?”
“There must be another reason. A reason why you need to find me urgently.”
“······.”
Eugene’s tone was as if he was sure of it.
At this, Cornelia’s mouth closed.
Eugene was convinced that the Saintess had not put up the wanted notice just for her own selfish desires.
It was something that would have been impossible without absolute trust in the Saintess.
Cornelia smiled and replied.
“Do you know about the white smoke?”
“White smoke? I think I’ve heard of it somewhere.”
“It’s a story that the Saintess told me······.”
Cornelia relayed the story she had heard from the Saintess to Eugene.
The Saintess claimed that she could see white smoke coming from dead bodies.
And that white smoke was now covering the entire city of Cologne.
Eugene’s expression became serious as he listened intently.
Far from laughing, he seemed to not doubt the Saintess’s words at all.
‘I’m a little jealous.’
What kind of relationship did these two have that they could have such a strong bond of trust?
How deep was their connection?
Cornelia was annoyed at the gap that she couldn’t seem to close.
“Eugene. I wanted to see you.”
“Me too. I was starting to run out of checks.”
“You······ Are you meeting me because of the checks······?”
Eugene’s mouth, which was about to answer, closed.
Swoosh, Cornelia’s hand came up and caressed Eugene’s cheek.
And then, slowly.
She pulled his head towards her.
I had known for a long time that Eugene drew a line with me.
But it seemed that it was not because he didn’t feel any romantic attraction to me, but rather for some other reason.
“You seem very blunt. But you’re not really. You just pretend to be blunt. You don’t share your feelings with people on purpose. Why is that?”
“······.””Is it because we’re all going to part ways someday?”
“I won’t deny it.”
“Every encounter is followed by a parting. In the end, it’s just a matter of whether it’s short or long. They’re all the same. So, Eugene… Don’t suppress your own heart too much. If you do, you’ll most likely get sick at heart. Admit that encounters are precious because there are partings, and be honest…”
Eugene’s pupils shook.
It was evidence that he was being persuaded.
Cornelia was not one to miss this confusion.
Slowly, Cornelia pulled Eugene’s neck with force.
Eugene did not resist and followed her.
The two of them turned their heads.
Cornelia hesitated as she came close to Eugene.
She raised her chin and kissed him on the lips.
Eugene couldn’t bring himself to push her away.
He pulled Cornelia even closer.
For a long time, their mucous membranes touched and rubbed against each other.
After exchanging saliva, their lips parted.
Eugene’s pupils were still shaking in confusion.
“Heh heh. You don’t seem to be used to this?”
“……”
A remark that strangely scratched at his pride.
Eugene gritted his teeth and grabbed Cornelia’s shoulder.
And then, boom.
He pushed Cornelia against the door.
With nowhere to escape.
The moment he grabbed her cheek and kissed her again.
“Cornelia?”
A familiar voice came from beyond the door.