Originally, the affection that should have gone to Medea seemed to have been poured entirely into Viola.
Viola was at a loss for words for a moment.
“…Okay.”
Having a cute and affectionate younger sister wasn’t bad. Yes, it was a good thing. Viola decided to think positively. But no matter how much she thought about it, it still didn’t make sense.
‘Really, coming here alone?’
Still, the Brandia family was relatively reasonable compared to the Bellato family. It was strange that they sent the youngest daughter unprotected.
“Do you know what kind of monster I’m supposed to subdue?”
“Yes! A Black-Veined Troll!”
Selvin sounded excited.
“A two-headed one!!”
“…Right.”
The Black Temple had a total of three floors. The higher the floor, the stronger the monsters.
“Black Trolls spawn on either the first or second floor.”
Black Trolls appeared more frequently on the second floor.
“So, we’ll go directly to the second floor, right?”
Selvin stated it as if it were obvious.
“No.”
“Then?”
“First floor.”
“Why?”
“There are frequently Black Ogres on the second floor.”
“You can just smash them.”
Viola smirked.
“Not with you here.”
Selvin’s eyes widened. If someone else had said that, she might have gotten angry, but Viola was an exception.
“If my sister protects me, it’ll be fine.”
“You need to protect yourself.”
Honestly, she was scared enough just trying to save herself. Unaware of Viola’s true feelings, Selvin responded, “Yes!”
She continued brightly, “As expected, my sister is amazing!”
The two stood in front of the Black Temple. As expected of a temple where oaths are made and vows exchanged, a considerable number of people were gathered at the entrance.
A conversation between two men could be heard.
“I’m feeling a bit off today.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“I’ll make the oath tomorrow.”
It was a relatively common conversation.
The two men looked up and tilted their heads as if it was strange to see children (Viola and Selvin) coming here, but they didn’t pay much attention to them.
Then, a boy with curly brown hair, freckles, and pale skin approached them. His face was round with a pretty smile.
“Ladies, might you need a guide?”
* * *
Tundra continued the lonely battle, all alone in ‘The Place of Blowing Snow.’
Somewhere in the snowstorm was said to be ‘The Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors,’ and Tundra had located it accurately. It was a place without a sense of time, making it impossible to keep track of how much time had passed.
‘This is tough.’
Tundra retrieved his sword, dripping with blood. He couldn’t know how many monsters he had defeated. Forgetting the passage of time, he swung his sword daily. ‘The Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors’ was a mysterious place. Here, one could live without eating or sleeping. Endless illusions were generated here, and within these illusions, Tundra fought monsters every day.
He remembered Hickson’s words, ‘At some point, you’ll even forget that it’s an illusion.’
The Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors was a place that trained people to the extreme. It distorted the flow of time and made one forget their own existence.
‘Don’t forget yourself. The moment you forget, you’ll never be able to escape.’
However, if one could escape from this place, one could achieve tremendous growth. It was said that all the great swordsmen and Sky-Killing Dukes had trained here.
Thump!
The ogre in the illusion fell. Tundra had defeated the ogre by himself.
“Ha… Ha!”
He had forgotten that this place was an illusion, and why he was swinging his sword. Like many others who had come here, he gradually began to forget himself.
‘No!’
Tundra bit his lip.
‘I have a reason to grow.’
The reason was solely Viola. Now, all that remained for him was Viola. The master who had reached out her hand when it was hardest and loneliest. He had resolved to become a companion dog for his master. He did not want to be forgotten here.
Then one day in the illusion, he saw another Tundra.
‘Huh?’
That Tundra’s name was Kang Han-joon. The name and background, everything was unfamiliar. In the midst of it all, one thing was certain.
‘Master?’
The illusion Tundra did not call Viola ‘Master.’ He called her ‘Arin’ and the illusion Viola referred to Tundra as, ‘Brother.’
‘My head hurts… Is this my past? Am I looking at my past right now?’
Tundra suffered for many days in the illusion.
“No!”
Eventually, Tundra swung his sword.
“You are not me.”
He struck down Kang Han-joon in the illusion. It might have been that Han-joon was him in a past life, but it didn’t matter anymore.
“I am just Tundra.”
Kang Han-joon was split in half and died. There was no blood, and the world around them tore apart like a piece of paper.
‘Yes. I am Tundra.’
He had almost forgotten his identity, but Tundra found himself again. Climbing high, to be with the master… It was his grand dream to assist Viola, who stood at the summit.
‘…But is that right?’
Tundra learned much in the illusion as things that had been unseen began to appear.
‘Does the master really want to be an absolute being?’
From their first meeting, everything was reinterpreted and began to appear anew. From the moment she had first shoved a knife into his mouth until now.
‘What does the master really want?’
Thinking about it, it seemed that the master didn’t really like being called ‘Master.’
‘She accepted that title as Bellato because she had no choice.’
His world began to re-establish itself. It felt like the fog that had been clouding his vision was lifting.
‘All my actions have actually been burdensome to the master.’
He thought he was right after reading the Handguide Book. He thought a dog should act like a dog so he approached honestly, and behaved like a dog.
‘She doesn’t want that.’
He began to seriously consider what the princess really wanted. No more monsters appeared in his illusion. Only deep darkness existed. In that darkness, someone extended a small, delicate hand.
“I’ll stay by your side.”
A faint light began to appear in the darkness.
‘To be there for her.’
It was okay not to be a dog. He began to realize what kind of person Viola really needed.
‘She…’
In that dark universe, he thought of Viola. Her emotions. Her thoughts. He also remembered Zenon’s words.
“I’ve heard that on her first day of adoption, she wanted to be loved and had always hoped for a family.”
The darkness that had engulfed Tundra began to clear more and more. Viola didn’t need a companion dog. She needed someone to be there for her. Someone who could be like family by her side.
‘The princess…’
Tundra, sitting cross-legged at ‘The Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors,’ teared up. The loneliness and solitude that Viola must be feeling seemed to pierce his chest like a blade.
‘She’s lonely.’
Like Bellato, she was always trying to act ‘complete’ and show a perfect image. There was no reality in Viola’s life. The bright smile that Arin had shown in the illusion wasn’t present at Winter Castle. The darkness surrounding him gradually cracked until soon, with a crackling sound, it split. The desperation of a person living on thin ice while pretending to be Bellato was felt.
‘My heart. It hurts so much.’
Therefore, he had to escape from this place.
Crash!
The darkness completely shattered. The monsters tormenting him, the appearance of Kang Han-joon, the darkness that consumed his identity, everything disappeared. ‘The Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors’ was clearly in ‘The Place of Blowing Snow,’ but now, no snow was falling here. Tundra’s gaze deepened.
“I will stay by your side. I will prevent you from fighting in loneliness. I will be of help.”
Suddenly, the ‘mana tail’ that had been fluctuating with his emotions disappeared. Tundra naturally spread that mana throughout his body. Soon, a thin invisible layer of mana spread across his body, then concentrated on his sword. Golden mana continued to generate on Tundra’s sword as he concentrated, pushing the mana into the sword. It was now a mana-infused sword, which only high-ranking knights could materialize.
‘Huh?’
But the mana sword disappeared. Tundra’s sword could not withstand that amount of mana and shattered.
Whoosh~!
A snowstorm blew in with great force until the entire ‘Sacred Ground of Ancient Warriors’ trembled. Mana was forming a sword! Tundra’s mana continued to flow and began to take on the shape of a sword. Shaping forms with mana was already a familiar task for Tundra so it could be said that his ‘mana tail’ had now become his ‘mana sword.’ In <The Shadow of Bellato>, this was referred to as an ‘aura sword.’ It was a realm known only to be possible for first-class knights in the empire.
But Tundra was not overly pleased.
‘I need to go back.’
He had decided to stay by Viola’s side. He had decided to listen to Viola’s honest heart and voice. Because that’s what Viola truly wanted. Soon the snowstorm ceased and Tundra started to walk south.
“Don’t interfere.”
As he swung his sword, a golden afterimage remained. A giant spider with a human face was bisected and then disappeared into dust. Tundra did not realize, but the monster he had vanquished was a dangerous Great Monster known as ‘Inmyeonjiju.’
* * *
Meanwhile, Viola, having met a boy who volunteered to be their guide in front of the temple, smiled and asked, “A guide?”
“Yes. I’m a veteran of four years.”
As soon as Viola heard that, she drew a dagger.
“To materialize an illusion, it has to be more precise.”
Without hesitation, Viola stabbed the boy in the neck. Her prodigious physique cleanly severed the boy’s carotid artery, however, no blood flowed. The boy’s form dispersed like a mirage and disappeared.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Applause was heard.
“Wow. How did you realize?”
Someone wearing a robe approached. It was a wizard holding a staff.
Viola sensed it.
‘He’s powerful.’
There were two skulls embroidered on the robe indicating that he was a dark wizard belonging to ‘Death,’ one of the dark wizard groups. This was a skilled person who could boldly cast illusion magic and barriers at the entrance of the Black Temple where quite a few people were gathered. He lowered the hood of his robe. His eye sockets were black pits.
‘No eyes?’
Unkempt white hair caught her eye. It was quite long for a man.
‘No eyes, white hair, a dark wizard belonging to ‘Death.’’
Viola swallowed. This was a villain as powerful as the witch Heidi who appeared in the novel.
‘The dark wizard Dexial?’
Viola calmed her trembling heart and slowly opened her mouth.
“But you know what? I haven’t entered the temple yet.”
Zenon had agreed to accompany her to the entrance of the temple and had been with her until even now.
“Isn’t that right, Zenon?”
Suddenly, the surroundings began to fill with a cold chill, freezing everything.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
This chapter was translated by Bree.
If you like my work please support us in Patreon. Next post will be released on June, 25.
Want to read more?
