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I saw a shabby-looking blonde woman trapped behind bars.

The blonde woman must have sensed my approaching presence, as she stirred in the darkness and opened her eyes.

The moment she woke up, I recognized who she was.

“…Daisy?”

She was Daisy, the employee of the Red Bear Inn.

Daisy’s eyes desperately adjusted in the darkness as she looked at me.

Struggling to sit up, she spoke with a voice that was weak and trembling.

“That voice… Ion? Is it really you?”

Daisy gasped with fear, her voice mixed with tears.

“I thought no one would know I was here… Did you come to rescue me? I was suddenly kidnapped by a stranger and brought to such a place… I was really, really scared.”

Daisy gripped the bars with her slender, shaking hands.

“Could you help me get out of here? Ion… I need your help…”

“……”

I silently stared at Daisy, who was crying.

“Why, why are you saying nothing? Did you not come to save me? Please, I don’t want to stay in this horrible place any longer. Get me out of here. Please. I’m begging you…”

Her voice was filled with fear of the unknown and a desperate wish for rescue.

But I didn’t move.

I simply kept my gaze fixed on her and asked a simple question.

“Why were you just watching?”

Daisy’s eyes widened.

She looked confused, as if she couldn’t understand the intention behind my question.

“Ion, what do you mean…? Are you asking why I didn’t help the kidnapped people? Can’t you see? I couldn’t get out of here either. Why are you asking that? Are you questioning me?”

“……”

In truth, it wasn’t doubt; it was certainty.

Her body was clean and uninjured despite her shabby clothes, the coachman who was presumed to be a high-ranking member of the Future of the Empire guided her to the inn, rumors stated that the Future of the Empire operated in District 21, and there were reports of a gang working for the Imperial Intelligence Bureau visiting the Red Bear Inn. The distance from here to the Red Bear Inn and the testimony about the blonde woman Hans mentioned.

All those suspicions piled up until the moment I met her here, turning into certainty that I didn’t feel the need to voice.

I simply stared at Daisy with unwavering eyes.

As Daisy realized I was serious, her green eyes grew cold.

“Ah… you’ve caught on?”

Daisy said this and quietly reached out to touch the bars.

With just a touch, astonishingly, the lock on the door magically clicked open.

Daisy opened the iron door and slowly stepped outside. The frail woman who had just moments ago been crying and begging inside the bars was now completely gone.

In the darkness, Daisy’s gaze met mine clearly.

“How unfortunate. If you had brought me along as you are now, I could have gotten close to being a victim kidnapped by a terror organization.”

Daisy smiled wistfully, as if genuinely regretting it.

I looked at her and casually asked.

“Did you not think of killing me?”

“Me? Kill you? Why would I do that? You have everything our organization needs.”

Daisy spoke with sincerity, showing no hesitation.

“You can enter the academy anytime and make contact with targets without anyone suspecting you. It would be great to extract information from you, and if I could recruit you into the organization, that would be the best of all.”

“It seems it’s already too late for that.”

I pointedly gesture with my chin to the side. There lay the gruesome bodies of about twenty members of the Future of the Empire.

Daisy chuckled softly.

“It doesn’t matter if we can easily replace those pathetic bodies with money and power right in front of us. As long as I achieve my goal, a loss like this is of no concern.”

Daisy’s gaze on the corpses was remarkably indifferent. It was as if she saw not a colleague, but something less than a discarded tool.

With a more favorable gaze, she turned back to me and asked.

“So, what do you think about joining our organization? With your skills, you could rise to a much higher position in the clean empire where only humans survive!”

From her tone, it seemed that her standing within her organization was quite high. Much higher than the coachman who was presumed to be a high-ranking member.

It was likely that she was close to being the one effectively leading the Future of the Empire, more so than that elder who seemed to be her patron.

However, my answer had already been decided.

“I refuse.”

At those words, Daisy’s faint smile froze.

“…I see. What a pity. What exactly has that elf done to make you risk your life like this? Could it be that you are a student of hers? It hasn’t even been a few days since you met, so wouldn’t that make her just another stranger?”

“Do you hate elves too?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Anyone in my position would hate elves. I lost my hometown, my country, and countless people.”

When Daisy treated me to dinner, I guessed that her origin was from the Ionia Kingdom.

And the Ionia Kingdom had been destroyed during the last great war.

By a single elf necromancer known as the Undying King.

The refugees from the Ionia Kingdom, which had now turned into a land of death inhabited only by the undead, would not be able to set foot on their homeland again until the deathly forces that ravaged it and the undead that filled the land disappeared.

Of course, even so, it did not justify the act of oppressing a different race.

“That can’t be the fault of all elves.”

“Those who don’t know could say that. But do you know? The ‘Undying King’ is your student’s real brother.”

“…What?”

My expression immediately twisted in shock. Seeing me, Daisy burst into a delightful laugh.

“Exactly. The ‘Undying King’ was a high elf from the Great Forest of Linia. He was also a prime candidate to be the next leader. You could say he was the prince of the elves?”

Daisy’s cheerful smile began to fade. In her eyes burned a cold flame of hatred.

“Even so, the elves of the Great Forest did not take responsibility for the kingdom’s fall; instead, they further isolated themselves in the Great Forest and erased all records about their prince. They are not bystanders. They are disgusting collaborators.”

It was an unexpected truth. If this fact became known, the relationship between humans and elves might worsen irreversibly.

However, I crossed my arms and said.

“Still, it’s not Titania’s fault.”

Daisy’s response was a bit delayed.

“…It’s the elves’ sin. It’s not completely unrelated.”

She continued with a tense expression.

“I wanted to expose this truth somehow, but there wasn’t enough evidence. But if it comes from a fellow high elf, people will believe it, right? I’ll make it so that no one can hide the truth anymore. That way, my revenge will be realized.”

“Even if you do that, it won’t bring the kingdom back.”

“Since the elves destroyed Ionia, I must destroy the elves. That’s only fair, right?”

Well, what a grand advocate of equality you are. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Daisy smirked, saying.

“…You know, Ion? Why am I sharing this story with you at length?”

“Well, I don’t really know.”

“I want to convince you by any means necessary. I’d rather not have to fight you.”

Daisy looked deeply into my eyes. In that moment, her gaze, so mismatched for the situation, left me speechless.

“When I first entered the inn, I saw your eyes. They were sad eyes filled with deep loss. It felt like I was looking into a mirror, seeing myself. I knew at once that we were kindred spirits. If our hearts were aligned, we could be great partners.”

In the tense silence, nothing remained but the sound of breathing.

Daisy took a step closer to me, within arm’s reach.

The resemblance to a first love was striking as she gazed at me with a look of intense longing.

It was a familiar scene. This was a continuation of what I had rejected back at the inn.

So my answer remained unchanged.

I shook my head.

“I’m sorry, but I refuse.”

“…You’ll regret that.”

“Maybe. But I’ve decided to move forward now.”

Even if two wounded souls comforted each other’s pain, in the end, they would remain tethered to the past.

I resolved not to be bound by the past any longer. So, Daisy’s proposal was not worth considering from the start.

“Is that so?”

She sighed softly as if she had anticipated this outcome, then looked down momentarily with a sad gaze before raising her eyes to me again.

Her look carried a deep malice.

“Then you must die.”

In that moment, my hand shot out like lightning toward Daisy’s neck. But even in that brief instant, my hand grasped not her neck but empty air.

Turning at the sudden sound, I found Daisy had effortlessly floated into the air.

“Hahaha! Did you think I’d just naively approached you, asking to be killed without any preparations?”

“…A blink spell?”

“Don’t treat that trivial magic so lightly.”

The dark underground warehouse gradually brightened. Daisy’s green eyes glowed with light as overwhelming magical energy surged from her.

I didn’t know much about magic, but it was clear that this wasn’t normal magic.

“The royalty of Galatea wields the power of dragons, and the royalty of Al Camille handles the blessings of the night. So, what do you think the royalty of Ionia would use?”

The massive magical power flowing from Daisy swept through the air violently. The walls of the warehouse, which had divided the underground from the ground above, were ripped away as if caught in a storm, revealing a starlit night sky.

“The bloodline of Ionia has long used ancient magic that excels in summoning. Spirits, familiars, and even beings from other worlds!”

A massive gray mist filled the night sky.

No, it wasn’t mist. It was a legion of evil spirits.

Ghosts, specters, banshees… The numbers of evil spirits circling around Daisy were so innumerable that I couldn’t even count them, filling the sky over District 20.

It had been a long time since I had seen so many evil spirits at once.

I watched the scene indifferently and said.

“So you’re a princess of Ionia.”

“Exactly! Just the last meager bloodline of a kingdom that has now vanished. Do you think you can win against evil spirits that cannot be harmed by ordinary weapons? Surrender now and pledge your allegiance to me, and I’ll spare your life!”

Daisy emphasized the word “pledge.” I didn’t know much about the ancient magic of the Ionia royalty, but it probably meant that false oaths wouldn’t work in front of her.

I silently braced myself, and Daisy smiled bitterly.

“What a pity.”

That word seemed to serve as a signal, and the legion of evil spirits that filled the sky surged toward me in unison.

The screams of the legion alone would send anyone but the most hardened minds reeling and vomiting blood. They charged at me like a massive wave, screaming horrifyingly.

Indeed, it would be tough against them with ordinary weapons.

I extended my hand into the air. And I pulled my arm back as if drawing out a weapon. The item that had been in the void responded to my call, materializing into my grasp.

It was a long spear shaped like a red thorn.

I gripped the spear tightly with both hands and spun it, swinging it towards the shrieking banshee that charged at me first.

Evil spirits were beings that could not be harmed by ordinary weapons; they were the most fearsome beings during the last war for soldiers.

The banshee seemed to recognize this, as it charged straight at me without even attempting to dodge my swinging spear.

– Kyaaaah!!

Soon, the banshee’s shriek turned into a genuine scream and vanished.

Daisy’s eyes widened in shock as she watched the banshee disperse.

However, she was more focused on the spear in my hand than the banshee disappearing.

“The Red Spear? Could it be…!”

Yes. What I held in my hands was one of the ten divine artifacts from across the continent.

The spear that could strike down the intangible, the Spear of Evil Spirits, Ezetus.

 

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