153. Intersections (2)
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The top floor of the Petenburg Building.
In the dark office, the sound of fingernails being bitten echoed.
“I, is it this······ serious······?”
Julia sighed as she stood up from her desk, which was covered in various documents.
Information gathered by mobilizing all of Petenburg’s resources.
Secrets that each country kept were all in her hands.
“It started in Cologne······.”
Thud.
Julia’s index finger pointed to Cologne, a city in the middle of the Southern Continent.
The suspicious death of Lawrence Briem, the mayor of Cologne.
It was officially stated that he was killed by a monster in a dungeon.
However, the Vatican’s autopsy revealed that ‘something’ had possessed Mayor Briem’s body.
A dark magic that did not belong to Mayor Briem was detected.
The appearance of an unprecedentedly powerful demon.
The Vatican seemed to be calling the mysterious being a Great Demon.
And the man who killed the demon-possessed Mayor Briem.
He was definitely Eugene.
Even the Vatican seemed to be unaware of who Eugene was, but Julia was able to confirm it as soon as she saw the description of his appearance.
“Next is Elvengarde······.”
Next, Julia pointed to the lush forest area of the Southern Continent.
Julia’s hometown, a place she never wanted to return to.
The second strange phenomenon occurred here.
The spider monster that tried to take over the World Tree.
It was highly intelligent, hunting down all the Sword Masters and Archmages who entered, but the fearsome enemy was killed overnight.
Coincidentally, it was around the time Eugene visited.
“Finally, back to Cologne······.”
The third strange phenomenon.
It happened shortly after the spider monster’s body was taken from Elvengarde.
A necromancer who had taken Cardinal Nicholas’s body and impersonated him revived the spider monster and burned Cologne to the ground.
It happened when the main force of the Order of the Holy Knights was absent.
However, it was said that the Vice-Captain’s efforts suppressed it without any major casualties.
However, the strange thing was that the Vice-Captain of the Order of the Holy Knights was out of contact for about 20 minutes after the incident.
With that amount of time, the spider monster would have killed hundreds, so how could the damage have been so minimal?
That question was answered when it was revealed that Eugene was involved in this incident as well.
“There’s no way Eugene could have been in all three places by coincidence······.”
Once or twice might be a coincidence, but three times couldn’t be.
Julia was finally able to come to a conclusion.
Eugene wasn’t chasing after some intangible being.
Eugene wasn’t desperately entering dungeons because he wanted to die.
An existence that others did not know.
Eugene was dealing with an enemy from another world that only he knew the true nature of.
It was a chilling thought.
“Then all the times he’s been avoiding me until now······.”
In the previous regression, Eugene didn’t show the same behavior as he did in this regression.
Perhaps he didn’t know about the existence of the enemy from another world at that time.
He only entered dungeons occasionally, when he had work as a mercenary.
However, as he repeated the regression, Eugene noticed something.
He realized that a great threat was approaching this world.
That’s why Eugene started distancing himself from people.
He kept his distance from the people he loved the most.
That was the only way to protect them.
That was the only way to keep his loved ones out of the clutches of the fearsome enemy.
“Sob······.”Emotions boiled within her.
Julia bit her lips, barely holding back her tears.
She never thought he would distance himself from her for such a reason.
She suddenly felt sorry for suspecting his affair with Mia.
Of course, the affair between the Saintess and the Frost Lord had turned out to be true.
But she had decided to let it go since it was something that had already happened.
“Then it seems like······. It’s time······.”
As Julia rolled up the map, various tools for witchcraft appeared beneath it.
Julia shut her eyes tightly.
She had to admit it.
This was not the time to be selfish.
She could not unilaterally impose her childish desire to be with him on Eugene, who was now sacrificing himself and fighting alone.
If she truly cared for Eugene.
If she cared for Eugene, she had to help him.
To do that, she had to do something she really, really hated······
“It’s time to face my enemies······.”
It seemed like she had to join hands with her most hated enemies.
.
.
.
A few days later.
A train arrived at the platform in Petersburg.
A blue-haired woman in a fur coat stood up, folding the grimoire she was holding in her hand.
Along with her was a pale-skinned vampire with a longsword in his hand, escorting her.
“What grimoire is that? It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
“It’s nothing. It’s a grimoire that helps suppress my madness, so I’m studying it.”
“Why are you suppressing your natural talent?”
“My dear brother gave it to me······. Stop training and cover your front a little. Do you have an exhibitionist?”
“Unlike the Frost Lord, I have a body that I can show off-“
“Be quiet.”
The two women entered the platform, bickering.
In an instant, all eyes were on the two of them.
Both the Frost Lord and the Murderer were famous, each being the best on their respective continents.
Before the rumor that the two of them were gathered in one place could spread and cause a commotion, Yerina and Transylvania quickly left the platform.
Since they had just arrived from another country, they didn’t have any guards, so they just wanted to stay quiet and leave.
“I’m going crazy. I’m so busy, why are you calling me······.”
“If you hate it that much, you could just refuse.”
“If it was some nobody who called me, I would have. Witch. An invitation from the Witch of Petersburg.”
“······.”
Yerina grumbled and walked on.
Just a few days ago, she had been chasing Eugene like a madwoman.
After losing him due to Transylvania’s blunder, she had searched high and low for any trace of Eugene, but it was impossible to catch Eugene, who had already become adept at escaping.
At that moment, an invitation from the Witch of Petersburg arrived.
It was a good enough excuse to give up the pursuit.
Only then did Yerina suppress her anger and give up the pursuit.
It was her way of admitting that she had lost Eugene.
“If it’s nothing special, I’m going to stop investing······.”
Chewing her lips.
Yerina headed towards the conference room.
The invitation said that there was a matter that needed to be discussed and coordinated.
Phalana was not deeply involved with the Petersburg Foundation other than having a stake in it.
It was also the first time she had a private meeting with the Witch.
It was such an unusual event that she couldn’t just ignore it as a nuisance.
It was likely to be an important matter.
“Come this way, Frost Lord.”
“······?”
As soon as she arrived in front of the conference room, Yerina’s eyes widened.
Weren’t the paladins standing guard next to the door?
The Witch was on bad terms with the Holy Kingdom.
She wondered what the paladins were doing here.”Your escort must wait here. Please enter alone.”
“Do you know what’s inside?”
“I promise you. Only the parties to the talks are inside. Lady Julia would like to minimize the number of people listening, so I must ask you to enter alone, even if it seems rude.”
“······.”
Enter alone without an escort.
She was no longer in a position to be escorted by Transylvania by force, but she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
Yerina pulled the rings that were rattling on her fingers and poured them into Transylvania’s palm.
“I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere and stay around here.”
“I think the bloodletting is a bit far away.”
“Then starve. Take good care of my sword and rings so you don’t lose them.”
“······.”
Leaving Transylvania with a hardened expression behind.
As Yerina approached the conference room, the door opened automatically.
After walking down a short corridor for a while, the door slammed shut behind her.
The front door opened, revealing the full view of the conference room.
“Wow, wow, you’re here······.”
“Huh?”
Yerina froze in place.
It wasn’t because the witch couldn’t make eye contact and was hesitating.
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Of course, that was embarrassing in its own way, but what was more embarrassing was.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was called, so I’m here.”
The saintess. It was the existence of Jill Diner.
I wondered what the paladins were doing here, but they seemed to be the saintess’s escorts.
Yerina clicked her tongue as she glared at Jill with a gentle smile.
“But why are you so aggressive from the first meeting? If I did something wrong······.”
“It’s okay. I’m just not feeling well today, so don’t worry about it.”
“······.”
Yerina closed her eyes tightly and stepped inside the conference room.
In the past. That is, before the regression.
At that time, Eugene went down to the Southern Continent on business and often traded with the saintess.
So I followed him with a lot of escorts and surveillance, but I couldn’t find any circumstances of infidelity from either of them.
In the end, I concluded that he was innocent, but I couldn’t completely dismiss my suspicions because the number of meetings was so large.
That feeling remained until now after the regression.
Even though she knew that she had no such suspicions about Jill this time, Yerina couldn’t help but dislike Jill.
It’s just that the person herself is not very good.
Somehow, that smile and gentle tone of voice seemed awkward, as if it were all an act.
“Three people who don’t belong together have gathered. There are some strange things in life. So, why don’t you tell me what’s going on, witch?”
“Wi, wi, witch······ Do, do, don’t······ ca, ca, call······ me, me, that······. I, I, I’ll······ be, be, begging······.”
“Lord of Petersburg. By the way, may I ask why you stutter?”
“We, we······ al, al, always······. Re, re, reason······. I, I, I don’t······ kn, kn, know······. So, so, sorry······.”
“Oh! No. I asked a useless question. I thought you were saying that on purpose.”
Julia’s shoulders slumped in self-confidence at the innocent question.
Will this meeting go well?
Even before the main topic came up, Yerina already felt exhausted in body and mind.
She was holding back the urge to slap Julia every time she said a word.
“I, I, I ca, ca, called······ yo, yo, you······ be, be, because······. It’s, it’s, not······. This······.”
Knock.
As Julia snapped her fingers, the lights in the conference room went out.
The magic crystal ball floated in the air, casting a hologram into the void.At that moment, Julia returned to being the charismatic witch of Petersburg.
But if she opened her mouth again, the illusion would be broken.
“What is this…?”
“Isn’t it witchcraft?”
The photos displayed by the hologram showed traces of various witchcraft carved on a wall.
Neither Yelena nor Jill knew much about witchcraft.
However, as leaders who had to deal with sorcery, they could be proud of knowing more than others.
After examining the photos closely.
They were scenes of witchcraft attempted in various ways, such as voodoo dolls, totems, and magic circles.
The only thing they had in common was that the location was the same.
“Huh?”
Finally, one more photo appeared.
Jill and Yelena’s eyes widened as the image of a huge stone gate appeared.
It was the unmistakable entrance to a dungeon.
The photo, taken from a distance, contained all the traces of witchcraft from each photo.
The target of the witchcraft was none other than the dungeon.
“I found something new… The, the dungeon can be, bewitched.”
“…”
“…”
Julia said with a slightly unpleasant smile, as if she were bragging.
Jill and Yelena’s mouths fell open.