Episode 87

The icy cold that filled the room constricted Diego’s throat.

“C-cough!”

White puffs of breath escaped his lips as his limbs felt frozen solid. In an instant, the room was engulfed in an unbearable chill.

Diego realized this was Sierra’s ability.

She was one of only three water elementalists in the empire. It was well known that she had inherited the power of water from her grandfather and father. However, her lack of public activity and infrequent displays of ability had led many to believe her power was weak.

People assumed that physical strength correlated with the magnitude of one’s ability, and Sierra’s frail health fueled such assumptions.

But Sierra’s actual power was far from weak—strong enough to snuff out Diego’s pathetic life in an instant.

As the room filled with frost and breathing became increasingly difficult, Diego barely managed to speak.

“P-please, withdraw your ability! I… I didn’t mean to say it was completely impossible!”

Sierra took a step back, and the frost that had consumed the room dissipated.

Diego collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Just moments ago, he had been on the verge of freezing to death, but now the room returned to its previous state as if nothing had happened.

After all, the monstrous bloodline of Teragon Drenihan didn’t dilute easily. Even with her illness, Sierra was still Teragon’s granddaughter.

“Think carefully before you answer this time. Time is running out, and so are your chances.”

If Teragon’s condition worsened and he passed away, Diego could only expect a grim fate.

Trembling, Diego prostrated himself before Sierra.

“It’s difficult, but… there is a way.”

“What is it?”

“You need to break the curse imbued in the elixir.”

“A curse?”

Elixirs were typically imbued with the divine power of healing mages during their creation. For one to carry a curse instead meant it was effectively a poison.

Poisoning had crossed her mind, but a curse? That was far more insidious.

This wasn’t something an ordinary healer or physician could accomplish.

“Who ordered you to create and deliver that cursed elixir to Teragon Drenihan?” Sierra demanded.

“Baron Zetrin. I worked as his physician for many years, and about a month ago, the baron secretly summoned me and gave me this task.”

As expected, Diego had acted on the baron’s orders. Extracting information about the person pulling the strings behind Baron Zetrin was unlikely to yield results.

“The baron introduced me to a dark sorcerer. My job was to prepare the elixirs using healing magic, and the sorcerer would then curse them.”

“What kind of curse could reduce him to such a state of unconsciousness?”

“It’s a spell that slowly drains life energy from the body. That’s all I know…”

“Let me be direct. What is Teragon Drenihan’s current condition?”

Diego hesitated, fearfully glancing at Sierra. The icy aura from earlier was still fresh in his mind, but he also knew he couldn’t avoid answering.

“He won’t last a week. The curse placed through the elixir is tightening its grip. The dark sorcerer said their job was complete the moment Teragon lost consciousness.”

“…”

Hearing it confirmed made Sierra’s mind grow cold and focused.

“Your life depends on your answer to my next question,” she said, her voice as icy as the chill from before.

Diego flinched at the sheer coldness of her tone.

“How can the curse be broken?”

* * *

Dark magic, and by extension its subset, curses, are universally forbidden across the continent. Yet, hidden in shadows, there exist clans and groups that persist in passing down the knowledge of dark magic.

“Eve, have you heard of ‘Twilight’?” I asked.

“It refers to the time of day when the sun sets, doesn’t it?” she replied.

“That’s the literal meaning. But I’m talking about a group.”

Eve thought for a moment before answering cautiously, “Are you referring to the dark magic practitioners?”

“Exactly! So, you do know about them.”

I first learned of them from Diego:

[‘Twilight’ is a group of dark magicians. The one hired by the baron belongs to that organization.]

“They operate in such secrecy that it’s natural most people haven’t heard of them. As dark magicians, they’ve been designated as a high-risk criminal group by the imperial family. While there are ongoing efforts to track them, their nomadic nature makes it difficult,” Eve explained.

Then she looked at me with confusion. “But, my lady, why do you ask about Twilight?”

I smiled. “Because I think we’ll need to capture one of them.”

Diego had laid it out simply: the only way to break the curse was to kill the caster.

The difficulty of that solution was precisely why Diego had said it was nearly impossible. According to him, the dark magician had left the baron’s household yesterday after receiving payment. Not being a member of the baron’s staff, the magician hadn’t disclosed their destination.

Dark magicians, being top-priority fugitives of the imperial family, were masters of concealment. Finding this one was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

And even if we managed to locate the magician, killing them would be no small feat.

‘I learned that the hard way during the banquet.’

If it hadn’t been for Desar and Peter, I might have lost my life to that dark magician.

But giving up wasn’t an option. If the Marquis of Avon was indeed behind this, Father might be their next target.

The marquis had always used the tangled history of the family line to argue his own claim, constantly asserting that his side had the greater legitimacy. He had gone so far as to train his children in imperial leadership, aiming to position them as successors.

With me unexpectedly named as the heir, the marquis was undoubtedly fuming. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t try to strike at Father out of spite.

“My lady, tracking a dark magician is nearly impossible. Their concealment skills are something even the imperial family struggles against,” Eve warned.

“True,” I admitted.

The one stroke of luck was that the magician had only left the baron’s household yesterday. Diego had given me a faint clue:

[Dark magicians tend to wander for about a week after completing a private job before returning to their group. They do this to avoid leading imperial trackers to their base.]

[And?]

[From working with that one for about a month, I picked up on a few things. Even while wandering aimlessly, they tend to gravitate toward certain places unconsciously.]

“It’s a slim chance, but it’s worth a try,” I said. “We have to do everything we can.”

Eve sighed, then nodded. “If that’s what you’ve decided, I’ll follow.”

* * *

And so, here I was, face-to-face with an unexpected figure.

“Ludwig? What are you doing here?”

Amidst the preparations for the succession ceremony, I hadn’t crossed paths with Ludwig lately. Yet, here he was, in the last place I’d expect.

A sprawling underground casino reeking of smoke and buzzing with deafening noise.

Diego’s key piece of information had been that the dark magician was a gambling addict. Their cigarette case bore the logo of a famous gambling district: Deveris Street.

No matter how skilled a dark magician might be at concealing themselves, addiction was their Achilles’ heel. This was the only place they could have come after receiving a fortune from the baron.

But before I could even search for the magician, I spotted a striking figure near the entrance—a tall man whose presence was impossible to ignore.

Despite wearing a deep-brimmed hat and casting a spell to change his eye color to blue, his exceptional features betrayed him.

It was Ludwig.

“Don’t tell me… you’re here to gamble?” I asked.

Ludwig flinched. His body visibly stiffened at my words.

Behind me, Eve groaned, pressing her fingers to her temple.

 

 

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