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The lingering darkness, thick enough to sting my skin, seemed to be warning me to flee this place.

Unlike mana, the darkness that spread through the air swirled around, unable to merge with the world.

It displayed an undeniable alien feeling, indicating that it was fundamentally not of this world, and just sensing its presence evoked a sense of disgust within me. Even though I was seeing this darkness for the first time today, I already understood very well what it was.

Heretics.

This was the very group that had caused all sorts of incidents in the novels, said to have received such power from the god of another realm. Considering their future actions, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they could become Elena’s main enemy. But that was not what mattered right now.

Elena was gone.

The mere fact struck my mind like a blank sheet of paper.

I had no time to ponder why there were traces of heretics here. What mattered most to me now was her safety and knowing where she was.

Holding on to the fraying thread of my sanity, I glared at the unsettling darkness that discomforted me.

The feelings of distaste and hatred, combined with an unsettling familiarity emanating from the darkness, made me frown. It seemed I was not the only one affected; as soon as the darkness noticed me, it rushed toward me like a swarm of ravenous insects.

As the darkness tried to cling to me, I unleashed my aura.

The aura that stretched from my heart quickly formed a stream of black wind, beginning to drive away the darkness.

No matter how powerful the divine force might be, it was merely residual echoes, insufficient to overcome the winds created by one who has entered the realm of superhumans.

In the end, the darkness was swallowed by my aura, yet the unpleasant sensation it left in this space persisted.

That was the nature of foreign beliefs.

Absolute destruction that can never coexist with the world.

Its mere existence brings harm to the world.

Focusing my mind, I directed my aura toward the scars left by the darkness in the space.

I needed to find the source of this power before the severed space could mend itself. The aura slithered and squeezed into the space, beginning to ride the twisted currents. But the order of the world would not allow it. The forcibly opened space began to close again, and I had no power to stop it.

In the end, my aura could not withstand the pressure and crumbled, crushed between the cracks of space.

“Damn it!!”

No matter how much I tried to hold on, I only discovered the limits of my power each time, with nothing changing.

This sense of helplessness ultimately severed the thread of my sanity.

I had thought about the possibility of Elena no longer being by my side, but I had never considered her death. Even if she was to become a great archmage who would later save the world, her time had not yet run out.

Yet, the thought that the variable I had created might have taken her life sent me spiraling into madness.

The obsession I had kept suppressed towards her began to fill my mind with near-frenzy. My uncontrolled emotions broke free from my power’s limits, and my body, endowed with overwhelming magical energy due to the blessing of the dragon, unleashed aura without restriction.

In the storm of raging aura, a single fact emerged from the chaos in my mind.

Teia.

She was still here.

Having lived for a millennium, as a great dragon, she must possess superior magical skills compared to any archmage left on the surface. Surely she must have a way to take me to Elena.

As hope seemed to settle in my grasp, I suppressed the emotions boiling within me.

Despite having reached a situation akin to a ticking time bomb, this was the time for me to regain my composure. Coincidentally, Teia too must have sensed the anomaly and was approaching me.

“Teia.”

Upon calling her name, Teia looked at me with a surprised face. Come to think of it, didn’t she fail to introduce herself when we were talking? I couldn’t quite recall.

She seemed to be in need of an explanation but I brushed aside her words lightly and opened my mouth.

“Teia. If it’s you, you should be able to trace the remnants of power left here. Please, take me to the source of that power.”

“Wait! First, explain that name! What is it about that name?!”

“We don’t have time. I’ll tell you after we finish this. Hurry.”

At my words, she muttered something under her breath, seemingly unconvinced, but perhaps realizing the urgency of the situation, she immediately began to cast magic without further remarks.

She conjured a butterfly with her magic.

As it passed over the spot where darkness had gathered, the butterfly became black. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Completely inexperienced with magic, I could only speculate that this butterfly would inform me of Elena’s whereabouts as I naturally followed its movements with my gaze.

Could I find Elena by following this?

But contrary to my thoughts, the butterfly soon disappeared without a trace in mid-air. I hurriedly looked at Teia, but she let out a sigh of relief, looking pleased.

“Thank goodness. It seems the source of power has been extinguished.”

At her words, I finally recalled how I had spoken earlier.

Her magic was to locate the origin of the darkness, not to find Elena. While it was certainly good news that the entity leaving traces here had perished, what mattered was where she was now; the fact that the heretic had died was of no importance to me.

In trying to find a clue, I had only learned that the existing clue had become useless.

With the root cause now gone, it felt as if all means of finding her had vanished. The realization left me feeling dizzy.

“Damian?”

As my vision began to plunge back into the abyss, a familiar light burst forth. At the same time, I turned to the voice calling my name.

“…..What on earth happened? Why are all the bookshelves in such disarray?”

There she was, the one I had searched for so desperately. Seeing her looking around in confusion at the mess reassured me, and I shouted her name.

“Elena!”

*

I felt a warm breeze gently caressing my surroundings.

Even so, Elena’s face was already blushing redder than could be covered by her hands. Normally, I might have kept some distance, but right now, I had no intention of letting go of her hand or leaving her side.

“D-Damian, enough already…”

“You can’t.”

I felt like if I let go, she would vanish just like before, so I couldn’t release her hand, even at her request.

“By the way, Elena. Where have you been?”

At my question about where she had been, Elena silently pointed to a door beyond the collapsed bookshelf with her head bowed. It was then that I realized I had been misunderstanding things.

Could it be she was just in the restroom?

Ultimately, everything I had done was in vain, yet I couldn’t undo the changes it made to my heart. It might have been just a misunderstanding this time, but I couldn’t guarantee such a situation wouldn’t happen again in the future.

As I held her almost in an embrace, I felt her warmth intensify. Her rising heat was almost a testament to her being right next to me, prompting me to draw even closer.

“Umhum!!”

A loud cough startled us, prompting us to turn towards the source of the noise.

There stood a small girl, hood pulled over her head, looking at me with a displeased expression. The surroundings, which had been a chaotic mess at some point before, seemed to have magically returned to their previous state.

Upon seeing the glimmering eyes of the girl, Elena briefly looked startled, as if recognizing the being before her. After a deep breath, she swiftly regained her composure.

“Hey, you. Don’t you have something to tell me?”

“Ah.”

“Ah? Ah????? You just realized how important this was and forgot about it?!”

“Ah, I’m sorry. This was more important on my end.”

Teia looked at me with an incredulous expression.

Come to think of it, did the name Teia carry any specific meaning? Her reaction made me slightly anxious. Regardless, I already had several thoughts regarding her response, so I wasn’t overly worried. I just needed a moment to come up with an excuse.

But then she said something completely unexpected, rendering my preparations moot.

“…No, never mind. You there, that hair and eye color. You’re Edelweiss, right?”

“Uh, yes…”

“Then you will replace that girl and help me with just one request.”

She shook her head and turned her attention to Elena with a sly expression. I realized then that something was awry. In the novels, the relationship between her and Elena began with ‘some’ request, and I could guess what she was about to ask Elena.

Before Elena could reply, I hastily tried to intervene, but Elena spoke up first.

“Alright.”

“Don’t! Elena! Wait just a moment. It will only take one answer from me. There’s no need for you to obligate yourself.”

“Oh come now. That girl already said yes. So where do you think you’re going with this?”

“I wasn’t turning the conversation—you are!!!”

Caught in a twisted situation, I felt a throbbing in my head.

It seemed Elena had no plan to refuse, and Teia was equally unwilling to take back her words.

Two people who were never meant to meet at this time had.

The butterfly effect from that encounter had led to this moment; I sensed that, since I had been possessed in this world, the story was completely unfolding in a new direction.

*

As I sent a telepathic message with my crystal, Winter Castle promptly dispatched a carriage to the front of the store.

I stepped into the carriage without releasing her hand. Perhaps she had grown accustomed to it, as she made no objections to our clasped hands. In fact, the better expression might be that she lacked the strength to say anything at all.

After boarding the carriage, Elena leaned against me, looking dazed.

Though it was quite late, she appeared even more tired than usual. I adjusted my seating position so she could comfortably lean against me, lowering my shoulder to suit her head’s position.

As her eyes nearly closed, I gently poked her nose and quietly asked her,

“Why did you do that earlier?”

“Hmm…? What do you mean…?”

“About the dragon. I didn’t understand why you had to take that on yourself when you could have just left it to me.”

In the end, despite my objections, Elena had decided to fulfill Teia’s request. The request itself was not difficult; it merely involved finding a stone that was stored somewhere in Dawn’s Tower. However, I felt deep disappointment over it.

Because that stone was, in fact, her egg, and once Elena found it and awakened it, that would mark the beginning of their master-disciple relationship.

It was a kind of fateful encounter that had just been devolved into a mere mishap. I couldn’t help but feel sorrowful over it. But since Elena was unaware of this fact, I could only express my regret through my eyes as I looked at her.

“You said I was a burden before… You noticed what happened earlier, so I thought it was right for me to solve it. Above all, it’s a chance to bond with that legendary dragon, right?”

“But… It was just an exaggeration. What sort of dragon would tear up over a tiny aura scratch?”

Elena began to giggle softly, recalling the moment Teia had dramatically shed tears over her hand.

I had seen her, and while a scrape is a scrape, it was just that; it might not have even drawn blood, like paper cuts.

If anyone else had suffered such a minor cut, they’d likely have lost a finger. So the dragon’s scales must be exceedingly tough. After all, one of our family’s treasures was armor made from dragon skin.

I tried to say more to Elena, but before long, she had let out a faint sigh and drifted into sleep.

Carefully moving as little as possible, I removed my outer coat and laid it over her as a blanket, then took her hand once more.

The softness of her skin and warmth slipped back into my grasp.

Seeing her peacefully smile while asleep made me smile as well, but I still had unresolved questions that lingered beyond just this day.

Was her sudden disappearance a mere coincidence?

Given the traces left that scarred the space, she couldn’t have been an ordinary heretic. Yet it didn’t make sense that she had been extinguished in that brief moment. But what good would it do for me to worry about it? Since all traces had been erased, finding the answer would be impossible.

Thus, I decided not to dwell on this torment for long.

One thing was made abundantly clear through this incident. What truly mattered to me was that she was by my side, and everything else was secondary.

Accepting a farewell? What truly an arrogant statement that would be. I had caused such chaos over her temporarily vanishing, and here I was, even contemplating parting from her. In hindsight, it was truly ludicrous.

At last, my previously incomplete heart began to solidify fully. In truth, it should’ve been this way long ago; I wondered if it was too late.

I tightened my grip on her hand again and gazed out the window.

The Winter Castle, basking under the bright glow of the moon, looked particularly beautiful today.

 

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