chapter 21
21 episodes
squeaky.
Matilda poked her face through the door and looked into the hallway.
‘great. no one is here.’
She closed the door again.
The young men and women gathered in Matilda’s room burst into laughter at the sight.
“ha ha ha! Matilda, out of shape, what the hell is that?”
“By the way, where did the old legs you usually wear go? It’s always what he did.”
Matilda frowned and returned to the sofa.
“Actually, that’s it, but Thomas is gone.”
“What?”
“Last night I saw you. I haven’t seen you since morning.”
The young men and women who were flirting while enjoying wine and cheese stopped for a moment.
It was certainly strange to see an attendant disappearing from the new city.
It was uncomfortable for them, who have corners with a stiff back.
“Maybe someone lead him… … .”
“Why is everyone here? With only one attendant missing.”
A woman with a sharp impression cut off the horse of a tall man.
She looked at Matilda as if pathetic.
“The ordination banquet is over, but meetings with high-ranking priests are still piled up like a mountain. But because of your words, everyone has gathered here. But aren’t you just calling us for something like that?”
“What? Something like that?”
Matilda was furious.
But the woman shrugged.
“Am I wrong? Besides, when you talk to Priest Ethan earlier because you’re crazy, we got our ugly hairs stuck in there for nothing. Do you know how hard it was for us to get back on track? I’ll just go see.”
As the woman rose from her seat, a large man, Philip Gordon, intervened between them.
“You didn’t even say that the reason Matilda called us was because of the attendant. Let’s talk more.”
“Hey, there’s nothing more to talk about. He said he came to us because he was scared because something like Mana Thomas or something had disappeared.”
“Calm down and be still. Matilda, why did you call us?”
At Philip’s question, Matilda paused as she tried to open her mouth.
They were all members of the Dark Followers, but they were also rivals.
Who is the first to achieve the desire of the Demon King’s resurrection?
This is because the reward promised by the Demon King was different.
Just as in the Niilum Empire a hundred years ago, there were intrigues and schemes due to constant competition, the Dark Followers today are no different.
Talking about what happened with Ethan would only put him at a disadvantage.
‘Why didn’t I think of this?’
With belated regret, Matilda quickly turned to another word.
“It’s just, it’s nothing. I was just wondering if everyone was doing the right thing.”
“under? This girl is really funny. Did you just call us for that?”
The woman with a sharp impression eventually left her seat and got up.
A woman with a gentle impression intervened between them.
“stop it. It was necessary to exchange information with each other in the middle anyway. It’s not a bad decision that Matilda asked us to meet.”
“look? Am I right?”
Matilda sighed and sighed in relief.
‘I can’t bring myself to talk about it.’
Her co-workers were too clever to confide in her.
Matilda, who had known them since childhood, knew it all too well.
“… … .”
Matilda bit her lip.
Philip was the first to speak.
“Then, have you all made contact with the priests you were targeting?”
“Of course. That old man was begging very much, wasn’t he?”
The woman with a sharp impression burst out laughing.
“Doesn’t it look like you have a different heart?”
“Hey, who is it that has survived so far with an old, rotten body? If it is revealed that you have betrayed the Church, you must know that you are only at a disadvantage. That old man is quite cunning.”
The two men and women talked about Shunin.
“By the way, when I ignored that priest named Edan earlier, it was a bit of a thing, wasn’t it?”
“right. I thought it was an exaggeration because the rumors spread. But it must have been true.”
“He said that he had never had an ordination ceremony like this before. It will definitely help if you include them.”
“But someone almost ruined it.”
A woman with a sharp impression grunted.
“Puff.”
“ha ha ha!”
The other dark followers laughed at Matilda.
The opponent was a boy who revived Seongbaeksu.
For the Dark Followers, it was advantageous to make friends by any means possible.
For information gathering or for future use of chess pieces.
However, Matilda looked like she was studded with ugly hair, so it was clear that she was too tired to set the ball.
‘Damn it.’
Matilda gritted her teeth in shame.
But that’s why I was more fortunate that I didn’t talk about what happened with Ethan today.
‘I can’t help it. What he was doing, I had no choice but to solve it myself.’
That was then.
The shadow that had been shimmering outside the window disappeared with a whisper.
The shadow had the shape of a boy.
* * *
That night, in Matilda’s room.
Matilda drove the maids out and drew a magic circle on the floor.
‘First, let’s look at Thomas’s track.’
What Matilda fears now is that my family’s secrets will come out of Thomas’ mouth.
Matilda, who drew the magic circle, quietly memorized elemental magic spells.
It was magic to find the location of a specific person using the wind.
It was a tricky magic that required knowing the name and appearance of the person and mobilizing nails and hair.
However, it boasted a high hit rate.
She was also a daughter of a magician family, so she knew about this kind of magic.
Whew.
But the wind blew past her once and then calmed down.
What did that mean?
“… Can’t you find it?”
Matilda’s eyes widened.
‘Nonsense. This magic is not limited to living people, so we should be able to find a corpse.’
So it meant that no body was found.
Confused, Matilda quickly looked through the book and drew the next magic circle.
It was a magic that traced the whereabouts of a specific person.
He could only follow where he went for a day, but for now, this was the only way.
After completing the magic circle, a small firefly appeared in front of Matilda as she cast a spell.
It was a light that served as a guide.
Matilda took the lamp and went outside.
She escaped the public eye and escaped to the outer castle.
‘Where?’
Matilda frowned.
The secluded alleyway was very messy.
However, the traces of Thomas were cut off here, so we had to track them down.
A small light stopped in front of a warehouse and disappeared.
gulp.
After swallowing dry saliva, Matilda opened the warehouse door.
profit.
The warehouse door opened with a bang.
“… … !”
But there was nothing there.
It means ‘Thomas has disappeared from this place’.
It wasn’t that he was dragged anywhere.
It literally meant that it had ceased to exist.
As soon as Matilda realized this, her hair stood up.
There were no traces in the warehouse.
It was so clean that I even thought that someone had cleaned it.
“Is it Luisa that bitch?”
When I thought about it that far, my legs moved on their own.
“Ugh! Whoops!”
Matilda ran out of the warehouse and headed somewhere.
It was the priest’s quarters where Luisa was.
* * *
It was a time when everyone was in a deep sleep.
But Ethan was awake.
It was because he was meditating to control the divine magic.
“Whoa.”
Taking a deep breath, Ethan opened his eyes.
He exhaled lightly as if pulling a skein from his body to organize the new magic accumulated in the danjeon.
“At this point, the existing magic system would be useless. It’s not going to be sorted by circles.”
The more I researched the new magic training method, the more I was amazed at its power.
Although the amount of divine magic accumulated in his current danjeon was small, the condensed power was dangerous.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the possibilities contained in the condensed small power are endless.
In addition, while studying the training method, changes were coming to Ethan’s new magical powers that he used in Danjeon.
Condensed and condensed energy was gradually changing into something with an overwhelming mass.
This is fundamentally different from circles.
“It’s fun. I’ll have to think about the magic system for a moment.”
As much as he had dealt with dark magic in his previous life, Ethan had an academic interest in it.
He got up and opened the window.
Then I looked at the building opposite.
Unlike the building where Ethan was located, it was a dormitory where only female priests stayed.
“The time has come for something to happen.”
While monitoring Matilda, Ethan learned important information.
First of all, it was information about the Dark Followers.
The conversations of acquaintances that Matilda had gathered into her room were not unusual to hear at first glance.
Ethan recalled their conversation.
-Have you all made contact with the targeted priests?
– Doesn’t it look like you have a different heart?
-Heh, thanks to who has survived so far with an old and rotten body? If it is revealed that you have betrayed the Church, you must know that you are only at a disadvantage. That old man, he’s pretty cunning.
‘The force that the denomination is hostile to is, of course, the Demon King. So, abandoning the Order means that you have joined hands with the Dark Followers.’
And after approaching the traitors, the relationship of exchanging information with each other.
Who else would they be if they weren’t Dark Followers?
‘After all, Matilda didn’t move alone.’
It was just as Ethan expected.
And secondly, Matilda knew how to move forward.
Seeing the Dark Followers ridiculed Matilda, the situation inside the Niallum Empire was not much different from that of the Niilum Empire a hundred years ago.
‘So, even if you felt uncomfortable with me, you probably couldn’t tell me honestly.’
It was a familiar sight to Ethan.
The Demon King encouraged a competitive spirit over the nobles to see who had the greater achievements.
‘I lost my limbs without trusting anyone, so of course there is only one place to go to find out who I am.’
The moment he reached that conclusion, Ethan thought he no longer had to chase after Matilda’s tail.
So he leisurely returned to his room and studied divine magic.
Unsurprisingly, there was a commotion outside immediately.
“Outsiders are not allowed to enter the dormitory!”
“Hey, let this go!”
A woman’s shrill scream was heard.
It was the sound of an argument with the guards guarding the priest’s quarters.
Ethan smiled at the familiar voice.
“Finally here.”
Matilda came.
He must have approached Luisa to inquire about Ethan.
But her clumsy intrusion was caught by the guards.
Ethan leisurely watched Matilda and the guards fighting from the window.
Matilda’s clumsy behavior was already being read by him.
* * *
“for a moment.”
The door to the dormitory with the guard’s back opened.
It was Luisa who came out of it.
“She is my guest. Bring it in.”
The guards were forced to retreat back.
But Matilda, who was still resentful, dared to push him and enter the dormitory.
It was the moment when Luisa entered the room and looked back.
match!
Matilda smacked Luisa’s cheek.
Luisa asked, not surprised.
“Did you come all night to slap me on the cheek?”
“I’m glad it ended with a cheek. Are you, by any chance, betraying our family and joining the church altogether?”
“What do you mean? And kill your voice. Are you saying that I am your family spy?”
Luisa frowned as if she did not understand the English language.
Matilda burst out laughing in shock.
“At the banquet, that bastard gave me a face plate! Where everyone gathers! And now even Thomas is gone! He knows something about me?!”
“You know what? I never told you about your family!”
“It’s all over!”
Matilda raised her hand to slap Luisa on the cheek again.
widely!
But Luisa grabbed Matilda’s wrist.
I don’t know if it’s a sudden hit, but I wasn’t stupid enough to sit still and hit him.
“Aww!”
Matilda groaned and screamed in pain.
Unlike Luisa, who learned self-defense, Matilda had never lifted anything heavier than a fan.
Matilda saw the tattoo on Luisa’s eye and pulled out the bell.
It was meant to activate the tattoo of soul subordination.
“Does the dog dare ask the owner? I need to educate you… … !”
That was then.
squeaky.
The sound of the door opening was accompanied by the sound of a calm boy’s voice.
“Looks like I’ve come to the right place.”
Luisa and Matilda looked around the door in surprise.
A boy was standing there.
It was Ethan.