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< Other methods >
The bonfire crackled.
Late night in the forest.
The area around the carriage was quiet. Perhaps that was why the sound of the wind, the crickets, and the occasional howling of animals were heard louder.
“I···.”
Hawkin glanced at the man sitting across the campfire, looking like he wanted to say something in the awkward atmosphere.
“I’ve always wondered, what book is that?”
The man was reading a book under a campfire.
A book he would take out and read whenever he had time. It was a book written in letters that even Hawkin, who prided himself on being quite knowledgeable, had never seen before.
The man spoke without taking his eyes off the Geomhwangbirok. He had been reading the same page all these days.
“It’s just like a diary written by someone.”
“I guess you’re having fun. Can I ask you what it’s about?”
The man took his eyes off the book and looked at Hawkin, smiling.
“Are you anxious? Because you’re left alone?”
“Huh? Oh, no! Not at all!”
Hawkin shook his head vigorously, but his face clearly showed signs of anxiety and impatience.
The Great Man sent Alina and Leonard to the Elf Forest.
Alina had to go to the elder and tell him what she said, and the old man who was doing it today or tomorrow would only be a burden to keep.
In the end, only Hawkin was left as a hostage.
‘Actually, we don’t need hostages.’
The man fiddled with the royal seal of the Hicks family in his bosom.
As long as this was in her hands, Alina had no choice but to persuade the Elder to bring her here.
‘Or maybe we could sneak a surprise attack at night.’
That was the reason why the man stood guard in front of the campfire until dawn.
Knock knock.
The man stirred the bonfire with a poker. Sparks flew up, and insects that saw the flames danced along the swaying waves before falling into the flames.
“If you’re sleepy, go inside and sleep.”
At the man’s words, Hawkin shook his head with a bitter expression.
“It’s okay. I don’t even have the face to see Lily’s face···.”
The little ones were sleeping in the carriage.
Perhaps shocked by the verbal abuse she had received from Garland during the day, Lily was locked in the carriage without even eating dinner.
Hawkin glared at Garland with an angry face.
“How could you say something like that to a child···.”
“······.”
The blonde elf was lying under the man’s buttocks, her blood transfusion still in place, acting as a cushion.
Hawkin said.
“I thought all elves were kind and had mature personalities… Today, my thoughts about elves have changed.”
The man nodded in sympathy.
“It’s all just blushing. If you’re handsome and pretty, your personality tends to seem good too.”
Hawkin clapped his hands vigorously.
“That’s right. Who would have thought that face would tell such a lie? Lily was baptized by the devil. How can that be possible!!”
Hawkin was furious, as if it were his own business.
It hadn’t been a long time, but coming this far with the group of people he was sure that they were definitely not bad people.
“In the first place, it’s ridiculous that a child like that would be baptized by the devil. That forbidden magic kills even healthy adults in nine out of ten cases…”
The man thought as he stirred the campfire with a kindling stick.
‘Baptism of the devil.’
I knew that the kid had been sold to some organization and subjected to some kind of experimentation.
The ability to manipulate fire was also acquired through that experiment, and it was also because of that that he was constantly hungry.
Among those experiments, there appears to have been one called ‘Devil’s Baptism’.
The man slapped Garland’s cheek as he fell asleep.
He was a cocky and arrogant guy, but there was no way he could have said anything wrong.
‘Fallen Elf Garland.’
After about 7~8 years, the name is recorded as the elf who killed the most humans on the continent.
A being who obtains Halpas, one of the Seven Magic Swords, and fuses with the dark spirit living within it to become a transcendent being.
I remembered the huge bounty on Garland’s head at the time.
‘I’m really weak right now.’
In fact, it wasn’t so weak that I would say it was weak, but by today’s standards, it was weak.
Hawkin continued to talk.
“To receive the Baptism of the Devil, you need a tremendous amount of money and materials. First of all, you need a high-level black magician as the practitioner, and as far as I know, just the materials are···.”
Thanks to that chatter, the man was able to gather information about what the devil’s baptism was like.
“According to a book I read before, there were people who committed suicide because they could not endure the terrible pain.”
The more I listened, the more I wanted to see the face of the goblin mask.
Hawkin, who had been speaking passionately for a while, quietly shut his mouth when he saw that there was no particular reaction from the person.
“······.”
There was silence for a while. As the silence grew longer, Hawkin eventually began to nod off.
The man said.
“Because you go in and grow up?”
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“···No. Your Majesty, you should rest for a bit. I will take care of the net···.”
“How can I trust you and let you see me?”
“Hey. Don’t be so upset···.”
Swish.
Hawkin closed his eyes, buried his face between his knees, and began to snore.
The man clicked his tongue softly at the sight.
If I slept like that, I was sure my back would hurt and I would catch a cold the next day.
“Well, it’s not my part-time job.”
It was when the old man was putting a little more firewood into the campfire.
“mister.”
“Can’t sleep?”
Lily, in her pajamas, approached the man. The two sat down side by side on the blonde elf.
Lily looked at the campfire with puffy eyes.
“······.”
A blazing fire that devours firewood.
The flies that fly into it and turn to ash.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen it, but today, for some reason, the sight of this bonfire felt like me.
Lily shivered slightly as if she had a slight chill. The girl sat down close to the man and said.
“Sir, there is.”
“why?”
“Am I a devil? Or will I become a devil later?”
The man scratched his chin and answered.
“Well.”
That was clearly not the answer the girl wanted, Lily said with a sullen expression.
“Mom… what if she hates me?”
“hmm···.”
The man who saw that thought for a moment and then said.
“Actually, you’re a devilish little brat. You don’t listen well, you eat a lot, and you have a bad temper···.”
“Mr. Lee!”
The man grabbed Lily’s cheek and tugged on it, pinching her side without mercy.
“But I did that too.”
“···huh?”
The man looked straight into the swollen eyes of the girl looking up at him.
“He doesn’t listen, doesn’t study, and just hangs out at PC rooms with his friends… My mom and dad would have been like that too. Oh my. That devilish kid. I wonder if someone will catch him.”
The man was looking at Lily, but his eyes were looking further into the distance.
The man said with a bitter smile.
“But you were always worried about me. Did you eat? Is something wrong? Wear warmer clothes… Do you think your mom would be any different?”
“huh···.”
After a while, the two sat side by side and looked at the campfire.
Crackle crackle. A flame that slowly dances and burns.
Lily leaned against the man’s shoulder and muttered absentmindedly.
“I miss my mom.”
“I miss my mom too.”
Lily giggled and said again.
“Sir, if we find my mom, the three of us can live together.”
The man was disgusted. The three of them were going to live together? He knew what people around him would say.
“Are you crazy? Why should I stop a bachelor from getting married? I’ll get you an apartment near the guild, so you and your mom can live there.”
For a moment, Lily turned around to look at the man. Her expression was like that of a girl who had been betrayed by a man she had trusted.
“Then what about you, sir?!”
“I should build a 3,000-pyeong mansion and live like a king.”
“It’s fatal! I want to live there too!”
“If you really want to live there, pay rent. It’ll be very expensive.”
“Instead, can I eat as much chicken as I want?”
“Well, I’m thinking of hiring a chef.”
“I suddenly really want to eat chicken···.”
“Anyway, you···.”
The two chatted about this and that for a while. Then Lily fell asleep first.
“Cool···.”
The man lifted the girl up gently. He opened the door of the steel carriage and carefully laid the girl down on the seat.
While I was at it, I picked up Hawkin and stuffed him roughly into the carriage.
“It’s annoying.”
When the man returned to the campfire, shaking his hands, he saw a silver-haired elf sitting on the other side of the fire, warming himself.
“······.”
In that moment, goosebumps ran down the man’s spine.
Even while engaging in pointless conversation with the kid, he continued to expand his senses.
But the fact that he didn’t notice it until it came this close meant that the opponent was far stronger than him.
‘Or maybe you have some very special abilities.’
The man hid the fact that he was nervous and sat down calmly across from the other person.
“When did you come?”
The silver-haired elf smiled brightly at the man’s question.
“After hearing the story of the two of you, I also started missing my mother a lot.”
“······.”
It seems he came earlier than expected. The man secretly raised his Heavenly Sword and looked at the silver-haired elf.
Silver hair that flowed down to her waist like a waterfall, and her skin was so pale it was almost transparent. The arms and legs that were exposed outside the robe were thin, but the area above and below the waist belt boasted a definite sense of volume.
A fascinating being that makes your heart flutter just by facing it.
But the man’s expression was surprisingly cold.
Because I knew who I was dealing with.
“You are the elder of the elves.”
One thing I didn’t know was that the Elder seemed much stronger than I thought.
At that moment, the elder rose from his seat and bowed his head.
“I heard that our children were rude today. There was a misunderstanding. I apologize.”
“······.”
The elder’s speech was polite and her attitude respectful. She continued.
“And I wanted to thank you personally. Thank you for saving my granddaughter and changing her fate.”
“······.”
At the unexpected reaction, the person who had been thinking of the worst relaxed a little.
Of course, I loosened it just a little bit.
“I’ll accept your apology. But the person who deserves the apology is someone else.”
The man glanced at the carriage and then turned his head again.
“I just need to achieve my goal. Did you hear what Alina said? What I got for bringing you here.”
The elder nodded.
“I heard you wanted to meet the wisest dragon.”
The wisest dragon, Abraxas.
The purpose of the person coming here was to meet him, ask him some questions, and hear his answers.
“That’s right. You reserve the seat.”
The elder smiled faintly and nodded.
“I have already contacted you.”
The man asked with a slightly nervous expression.
“What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t heard from you yet. It will take a few days to get an answer.”
A few days…
Then, would it be better to first go to Teru Kingdom and find the kid’s mother, and then ask for the answer on the way back?
It was when Daein was worrying about his future schedule.
“Would you like to stay a few days in the Elf Forest?”
The elder’s suggestion made the man look doubtful.
Her overly friendly attitude was suspicious for no reason.
“I heard there was a curfew earlier?”
The elder shook his head.
“That was Garland’s unilateral decision. As the elder, I will invite you to Sefersil. Also···”
The elder trailed off. Her gaze turned to the steel carriage behind the man.
The little girl inside me.
‘Poor thing.’
The Elder felt the demonic power within Lily, just as Garland had felt it.
The baptism of the devil. And it wasn’t an ordinary strong devil.
‘If we leave it as it is, it will surely bring disaster to the world.’
Even if it hadn’t been for the request of his granddaughter whom he had not seen in ten years, the elder would not have turned away from that poor soul.
And the way she was going about it was completely different from Garland.
“I will cleanse the demonic baptism that resides in that child’s body.”
***
It was a dungeon with little light.
And it turned out that sounds were better heard in places where they couldn’t be seen.
Horrible screams, roars, and explosions,
And the smell of blood that tickles my nose every time I breathe.
The man couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had been brought here.
“······.”
He caused great damage to the organization and lost an arm, so he was brought here.
In the prison, there were criminals in similar situations to the man. They were called experiment numbers and were subjected to all kinds of experiments.
A man who had once done something similar thought that he had no chance of surviving here.
But I held on.
A week, a fortnight, a month, a few months…
When I couldn’t even remember how long I had held out, I heard a voice I had heard from beyond the bars.
“This is a terrible sight.”
“······.”
The man raised his head and looked at his opponent.
The man wearing the orc mask was looking at him. The gaze was just as he remembered. Infinitely cold and frigid.
“But seeing as you’re still alive, it seems like you have quite a bit of bad luck.”
The man wearing the orc mask held out a crystal ball to the man. A certain image played in the crystal ball.
“······.”
A uniquely shaped steel carriage. Those riding on it. The goblin masks they wear.
And one of them is···.
“···Child of Fire!”
A dry, cracking scream burst from the man’s throat. The one wearing the orc mask grinned.
“Yes. That’s the child you missed.”
“!!”
The man’s eyes shook violently. The being that had brought him here was, disgustingly, imitating his past self.
“Eeeeeeeee···!!”
Geuggeuggeuggeuk-!
The man’s hands were bending the iron bars. The metal, which was one of the three strongest in the world, began to bend.
“Ugh···. Euaaaahhhh!”
The orc mask spoke coldly to the screaming man.
“I decided to give you one last chance. You made a mistake. You have to make up for it.”
And the orc mask held something out to the man. At that moment, the man’s gaze was fixed on the object as if he was possessed.
“ah···.”
It was a blood-red goblin mask.
< Other method > End
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