EP: 115
Muriel waited for Kaiton. Because in the dream she had seen, he didn’t die; instead, he entered the demon realm and became the Demon King. She waited for him to return to her. So long as he wasn’t dead, she wanted him to appear before her, even if as the Demon King.
But even when one year, three years, and even five years passed, he did not appear. If he had truly become the Demon King, she wished he would at least appear in her dreams, so she could confirm he was safe, but Muriel had not dreamed since that day. How tightly had he bound her pacio? Although she occasionally had brief prophetic dreams like fleeting afterimages, they were so fragmented that she couldn’t remember them upon waking.
The star of disaster would soon rise again. The day when the gates between different worlds would open once more. If Kaiton did not come that day either, Muriel planned to seek revenge on him. She intended to free herself from all the memories that left her tormented in loneliness. She would erase him and his world from her mind.
“August. I have a favor to ask. Can you arrange for me to meet Katrina Knox?”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Katrina Nocks, who had informed Sharan Kasal about Kai Crawford’s identity, was imprisoned in an underground dungeon. Although she had been the one who provided Sharan Kasal with a decisive opportunity to capture Kaiton, she was also a dangerous figure who knew Sharan Kasal’s greatest weakness.
Sharan Kasal was a thorough and cautious man. No one was supposed to know that he had been unaware of Ur’s unabashed use of the sculpture and stealing of pasio despite being Sharan. Therefore, Katrina, who knew exactly who Kaiton was and where he was, was imprisoned in the underground dungeon and interrogated daily.
How did she know who Kaiton was? How did she know that Kasal did not have Sharan’s eyes? What was with the untimely rise of the star of disaster? Where did Kaiton Ur go? Sharan tortured Katrina over and over again until he got the answers he wanted.
Katrina offered him no answers, only repeating that she was a powerful saintess who could save the kingdom. The reason she hid the story about Muriel’s involvement was that she could not give up her ambition. She believed that Muriel would come looking for her someday. If Muriel, exhausted from suffering, were to seek her out for a place of rest, Katrina believed she would become the most powerful saintess’s teacher, protector, and guardian of the kingdom. Therefore, she persisted with tenacity despite Sharan’s cruel torture. However, knowing that willpower was too easily broken by pain, she cast a spell on herself—a spell that would prevent her from feeling pain, the same one she had put on Muriel.
Now, Katrina was free from pain. She could endure Sharan’s brutal torture without even blinking an eye. So Sharan changed his tactics and began using spells to coax and extract confessions from her, and so Katrina sealed her memories as well.
Still, Katrina was confident. She had set conditions so that her pain and memories would return automatically as soon as Muriel returned.
“Muriel just needs to come back. Then I can get it all back.”
Katrina muttered this to herself every day. In the underground dungeon, where the only view was a tiny patch of sky visible through the darkness and iron bars, Katrina spent her days murmuring these words. Eventually, she recited them like a mantra, day after day, without even understanding what she was supposed to get back.
“Muriel just needs to come back. Then I can get it all back.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
“What will you do when you meet Katrina Knox?”
“I’m thinking of erasing all my memories.”
Muriel’s calmness made August wonder if he had heard her correctly. It was similar to when she had declared war on Sharan, who kept tripping over Tapahite, and proclaimed her region as autonomous.
He sensed a firm resolve, as if no amount of persuasion could change Muriel’s set mind.
“Erasing memories… How far exactly do you mean when you say that?”
“All of them. Just enough to not become an idiot… just everything.”
“Muriel.”
“That’s why I’m asking you. I can’t ask Sadie or Debbie for this favor. Nor can I ask the other magicians.”
“You mean to forget not just Kaiton, but all of us…? Why?”
“…I’m thinking of leaving this world. I want to go to another world and live there.”
“Muriel.”
Once again, unable to say anything else due to the shock, August could only call Muriel’s name in futility. Muriel responded with a wry smile, stretching out in her chair.
“I wonder if names can be erased too. Would that be too difficult…? If I go to another world, I’ll have to create a new name first.”
“…I don’t understand. I’m sorry. I tried not to stop you because I know it’s no use saying anything when you come to me with that look in your eyes… but I really don’t understand. Why? How could you… after suffering so much to regain your memories… after working so hard to make the estate prosper… why…?”
“Because I’ve grown to hate this world. For 1,882 days, longing, expectation, disappointment, worry, guilt, regret… all of that pain has built up and up, and now I’m sick of it. The star of disaster will rise in three days, right? If Kaiton doesn’t come back in three days, I’ll destroy this world. I’ll blow up the world he’s supposed to return to and take revenge on that wicked man.”
“And by ‘this world,’ you mean…you?”
“Isn’t it funny? Kaiton said I… I was his world, but he just won’t come back. I wait and wait, but he just doesn’t come back. I can’t stand it anymore.”
“….”
Until then, Muriel seemed fine. She appeared to have recovered a lot. Although she sometimes made a desolate and lonely expression, as if her heart was bleeding and rotting, she never once cried out in pain or complained about her suffering.
That’s why he thought she was forgetting with time. He had mistakenly thought she was living bravely even without Kaiton. However, it seemed that Muriel’s heart was empty, charred black by burning away.
“And that’s the only way I think I can live. My mind is already in ruins, and if Kaiton doesn’t return in three days… I’ll still want to wait. But I’d rather wait for him as a fool who remembers nothing than wither away and die. That way, I can wait forever, can’t I? Until Kaiton comes back and finds me… without going insane or dying.”
“You really… both you and Kaiton are extreme, you know that?”
Muriel, who had been dangerously close to shattering the glass wall that locked up the waves of emotions inside her, disguised herself with a calm expression at August’s words and forced a bitter smile.
“Will you help me?”
“…I’ll prepare everything. If Kaiton doesn’t return… you can do as you wish.”
“Yes… thank you.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Magic was not usable when the star of disaster rose because God’s blessing disappeared. Therefore, all preparations had to be completed before that time. With a magic circle that contained pasio drawn beforehand, it was possible to cross over to another world before the star of disaster set.
So she’d come to Sharan’s palace to find Katrina. Although Nicholas Neville’s note contained a magic circle for memory sealing, she had only one chance, so Muriel came to someone who could erase her memories more skillfully than anyone else.
“It’s something I can’t get used to no matter how many times I look, seeing my knights on the other side.”
Sharan clicked his tongue in displeasure as he looked at Jaron and August standing behind Muriel.
“They are now my guardians.”
When the title that only Sharan’s protectors bear came from Muriel’s mouth, Sharan Kasal’s expression distorted, but he only twisted his lips without saying much. This was because what Muriel offered in exchange for taking Katrina Nox was the location of the Guardian Tree.
Muriel had no need to hide the location of the Guardian Tree since it was better if there were more people capable of dealing with demons, and Sharan Kasal could not tolerate the royal palace having fewer divine gifts than a small lord in the countryside. He desperately wanted to find out the location of the Guardian Tree. It was a point where the interests of the two met.
“…So where is the location of the tree?”
“I’ve made a map. Once Katrina Nox and we have safely left this palace, the magic cast on the map will unravel by itself.”
“If you try to deceive me, your arrogant estate will no longer receive my tolerance.”
Originally, the Ghost estate was able to declare autonomy because all the black wizards in the highlands had prepared ironclad defense barriers, so Sharan had been unable to intervene recklessly. However, Muriel did not point that out.
“We also welcome more people capable of defeating demons.”
“Hmph. The underlings of the Demon King are saying such astonishing things.”
“…Do you have any intention to apologize?”
“Apologize?”
At Muriel’s words, Sharan Kasal twisted the corners of his mouth maliciously, like someone who had heard that a snow blizzard was raging in the middle of summer.
“To glorify Sharan’s power, you accused the dark mages of being the Demon King’s underlings; to hide your weakness, you imprisoned your brother in a dark, underground dungeon all his life; to maintain Sharan’s myth, you massacred the innocent Ur family and drove Kaiton to be the Demon King. If you apologize, I might not forgive you, but I would grant you some leniency.”
“Ha! You will grant me, the king, leniency? Muriel Storm! I could seize you right now as a traitor to the kingdom and condemn you with the authority bestowed upon me by God. It is I who is showing leniency!”
Muriel hadn’t expected an apology. She just felt a sense of regret. Now that she was leaving, she wouldn’t be able to continue the cycle of revenge that threatened Sharan by strengthening the ghost territory and the position of the dark mages. August and the others would surely do well, but it was regrettable that she wouldn’t be able to do it with her own hands.
“I suppose so. Not just anyone can apologize, after all. I didn’t expect it. I just wondered if you might.”
Sharan seemed very eager to know the location of the Guardian Tree, so even though Muriel showed blatant disregard for him, he did not imprison or expel her and obediently guided her to Katrina. In fact, for Sharan, nothing could be a greater achievement than getting divine gifts, so even if Muriel had slapped Sharan’s cheek and spat on him, he would have overlooked her atrocities.
Jaron had been seething at Sharan’s servility and opportunistic behavior, but when he saws Katrina’s completely changed appearance, he exclaimed in surprise,
“What? Is this truly her?”
Katrina looked like a woman over seventy. Her hair was thinning, and he could see her black gums crumbling through her murmuring lips, perhaps they were black because her teeth had been pulled out. Although she could have been healed with magic, there wasn’t a part of her body that was unharmed.
“Horrible. Just how inhuman has Sharan Kasal been? Not that this woman is pitiful… Damn it… They must’ve met each other and tore each other apart.”
Jaron stroked his neck as if the pain of wounds that couldn’t be healed by healing magic was resurfacing, his face adorned with a frown. He turned his head as if he couldn’t bear to look at Katrina any longer, but Muriel stood before her without even blinking.
Katrina, perhaps not even mentally sound, continued to mumble incomprehensible words.
“…If only she… comes, then I… can… everything.”
“In the end, you were right. I… want to erase my memories again.”
Eyes devoid of light looked at Muriel. She seemed not to recognize Muriel at all.
“You don’t remember me?”
“Muriel…! If only you come, then I can get everything back! Muriel!! If only you come!! Then!! I can get everything back!!”
Katrina had no teeth, so she kept repeating the same thing with her lips. She acted as if she only knew how to say that one thing, like a madwoman. August looked back at Muriel, sending her a worried look as if to ask if she would still erase her memories, but Muriel extended her hand to Katrina with an expressionless face.
“Yes, Muriel Storm is here. Miss Katrina.”
At the sound of Muriel’s name, Katrina fluttered like a moth to a flame. She reached out fiercely as if trying to grab Muriel’s hand, causing Muriel to take a step back.
“Do you want to hold my hand?”
“Perhaps holding hands with you or something like that is the condition for releasing the seal. She wouldn’t have wanted to lose her memories forever, so she must have taken some measures. Judging by how she’s been looking for you all this time, even if it’s not physical contact, the condition must be related to you.”
August, who had been observing Katrina from the side, said. While Muriel turned to look at August, Katrina desperately tried to reach Muriel by pulling her emaciated bony arm through the iron bars. Her actions seemed more instinctual than rational, like a fly drawn to sugar or a cat drawn to the scent of blood, as if only her instincts remained.
“If her memories don’t return… she won’t be able to draw the magic circle, right?”
Muriel looked at Katrina’s hand, filthy and covered in scabs, with a troubled expression. She guessed that Katrina had sealed not only her memories but also her pain. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to maintain such a beastly appearance.
“Well… she doesn’t seem to be in her right mind.”
“Even if her memories return, I feel like she’ll go crazy again. She used to be quite a beauty, but now, what should I say… It’s as if a Murishi is mimicking a human. When she realizes her own appearance, she’ll probably go crazy again.”
“That’s true. Jaron, you have an anesthetic incense, don’t you? Please light it so she at least becomes drowsy.”
While Jaron lit the anesthetic incense from the 0-point store, turning the underground dungeon into a musty badger’s den, August cast healing magic on Katrina to treat her minor wounds. However, the permanent damages remained. Her hair was still patchy and thin, her teeth were missing here and there, and her dull eyes looked like those of a dead person.
Muriel confirmed that Katrina was lying on the floor and opened the door of the iron bars. She took Katrina’s hand and put on a kind and obedient face.
“Teacher, are you awake?”
“Muriel…?”
Confirming the return of light to Katrina’s eyes, Muriel gave a gentle smile. Due to the potent anesthetic incense, Katrina wore a dazed expression, but she no longer looked like a beast as she had before.
“Yes, Teacher. It’s Muriel. I’ve come back. I wanted to apologize to you. In the end, everything you said was right. I don’t think I can bear to live with this pain and these memories. You are my only savior. Please erase all these tormenting and painful memories of mine. You will help me, won’t you? You know that I have no one else but you now.”
“Muriel. My baby. You’re back. You’ve come back to me. Yes. Let’s forget the painful and tormenting memories. Your teacher will protect you.”
Katrina embraced Muriel with her hideous frame, but Muriel did not even grimace and showed an expression that reassured her. This was thanks to her long experience with Murishi, who often fed on rotten monsters.
gonna recommend this novel to people and tell them it’s a comedy
