Chapter 179 – Stopped Footsteps.
“Are you sure it’s okay to send them alone?”
Jeremiah, who was taking care of Usher in a dugout on the outskirts, asked Belka who came early in the morning. At his question, the girl stood beside Usher and brushed his forehead.
“Because he is by Helena’s side.”
And he looked at Jeremiah.
“And I’m not what you deserve to be called so high. Be comfortable with me.”
“Okay… No, it is.”
After those words, only Usher’s painful voice continued in the dugout.
“I finally found it. I was with him as expected. Helena.”
Even though they were just standing there, Jude’s face was so terrible that the alley where they stood was filled with the smell of blood. Helena thought that Krikaliev had seen her hand, but he had seen it.
“Hmm, the time. What are you like?”
“Wasn’t that what you did?”
“Moller. I’ve only had one headbutt. And that’s not his blood.”
She listened to him and looked closely at Jude. There was obviously a lot of blood on her face, but it was mostly dry and there were no visible wounds. When he wondered if he had killed someone, what came to mind was the nameless harpy that Jude had knocked out in that alley. He didn’t care because he was also trying to rape the girl anyway.
“What did you do to the harpy you were with?”
If someone hadn’t taken special care of it, he would have been down with Jude.
“What is it? His blood? He was cheap even if he died.”
“Were you acquainted?”
“I don’t know him. He’s famous for being annoying around here. I heard that the Cattsy were thinking about kicking them out. It was difficult to catch the number.”
He didn’t think he was a normal writer, but he seemed to be the kind of person who was usually joking around here and there.
“Belka! Where are you? Where are you!”
But I couldn’t have a leisurely conversation any longer. Jude, who had been watching them while blocking the alleyway, started screaming and looking for Belka.
“You won’t find it. The lady isn’t here.”
“Come out! Here you are! Belka!”
Despite Helena’s words, he looked for Belka as if they couldn’t be seen. It was then that she realized that his condition was strange. He is covered in dark red blood, and his eyes, which are wandering around looking for a girl who will be hiding by their side, are terrifying. He was a reluctant writer, but did he even go crazy? When Helena frowned and tried to speak again.
“It’s here. Isn’t it? Otherwise, there’s no way the magic won’t work. Where did you hide it?”
Following his words, she realized. Jude’s hand, which he thought was shaking aimlessly, continued to draw runes according to certain rules. He had been searching for the voice of Belka, who was suffering from using magic to get rid of it. But Helena knew. That the girl is not here. Because they personally brought Belka to Usher’s dugout. But why can’t he use magic even now? There was also an assumption that the power of the girl might still be binding him, but that was unlikely.
“Isn’t it possible to seal the wizard’s power forever with the witch’s power?”
Helena has repeatedly checked that Jude is asleep while on her way to Parz to subdue him, and she and Belka have been discussing countermeasures against him.
“That’s impossible. It’s too much for this body, and I can’t use it unless I’m nearby.”
Because of this, she tried to distract him as much as possible in a situation where she had no choice but to keep the girl by her side. Even so, if it weren’t for Krikaliev, their plan would have failed.
“Belka! Come out right now! We can treat him as much as he wants. Just tell him, right?”
“What are you talking about? The lady here…”
When Helena frowned at his inability to speak.
“Are you just a kid? Just use it when you’re laughing!”
“Gagging!”
Krikaliev, who had been standing beside her and watching Jude’s actions, stepped forward in annoyance, approaching him and punching her. He shook his head as he looked down at Jude, who was rolling on the floor gasping for breath.
“What if I forcefully tie you up for liking you? Did you really think I would fall in love with you? Wake up in a dream. Where did you live only seeing strange things?”
“Eh, there’s no way. If it’s a monster’s aphrodisiac.”
As Jude rolled on the floor, he was looking at Helena, not the one who hit him. He told her that she was resistant to aphrodisiacs, but she was not immune to Belka. Also, from many records, we know that many witches have succumbed to humans like that.
“Oh, no matter how much I used the monster’s aphrodisiac, I thought it would be possible? The world was crazier than I knew.”
Hearing his words, Krikaliev was taken aback.
“There was a record that even witches succumbed. Why the hell…”
“Did you only use aphrodisiac? It must have been a way to make a disabled man!”
Jude then looked at him.
“What is it? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Look at yourself if you wake up. What can you do without magic?”
Krikaliev said, squatting in front of the fallen Jude. It was the same question Helena asked. Then, the sound of grinding teeth comes from Jude.
“This guy and that guy. Since I can’t use magic, all sorts of things are barking at me. These puppets just live without knowing anything…!”
“Draw it, let’s call it a puppet. So what are you?”
Jude tried to get up off the floor and looked around. He had to find Belka. If only I could catch her canceling her magic. Then, suddenly, he realized something strange. There was no girl anywhere. If Belka was dispelling his magic nearby, she should be able to hear a little bit of anguished breathing, but no sound. She was nowhere to be found.
“Belka, where is Belka?”
“Hi-go. If anyone hears it, they’ll think we’re bad guys. How many times do we say it? They’re not here.”
“It can’t be. It can’t be…”
Witches weren’t the only ones who could get rid of a wizard’s magic. The same sorcerer could also dispel the same sorcerer’s magic. In this case, neither of them would be able to use magic. If Belka had been there, as before, he would have thought that she had made her magic unusable. But now, the girl was nowhere to be found around here. If so, what remains.
“You can’t.”
He was also a wizard.
“Did you notice now?”
“Why can wizards exist again?!”
Jude’s words startled Helena, and she looked at Krikaliev, but he didn’t notice it.
“Why? There’s no rule that there must be only one wizard in the world. Isn’t it?”
As Krikaliev said, there wasn’t just one wizard in the world. Wizards who lived in the same era could easily find it by looking for records.
“No! You can’t be a wizard! You’re neither the second nor the third!”
But Jude couldn’t acknowledge his existence. There was no rule that there was only one mage, but there were limits to the number of people who could be present at the same time. Just as there are three special witches, only three wizards could exist at the same time. Since the wizards were uncomfortable with each other, they could notice each other’s presence if they were nearby. And who took that position. Someone had briefly become a second wizard before, but somehow it disappeared again in an instant, leaving the position vacant again.
After that, there was no information coming in that someone else had taken the place of a wizard. In such a situation, there was no way I could believe that another wizard existed.
“Then I guess I’m the fourth.”
“What?”
“Uh. I’m just telling the truth, but it’s so cheesy.”
Whether or not Jude was speechless at his words, Krikaliev rubbed his hands on his arms as if he had goosebumps. Even so, he was wearing old cloth.
“How the hell is that possible? Breaking a taboo.”
“Isn’t the existence of another wizard specifically taboo?”
It was true. There was no taboo that said there shouldn’t be another wizard beyond the third.
“And if you knew how a paladin could use magic, albeit weakly. Wouldn’t that be so strange?”
“…I see. You bastard.”
It was then. The sound of footsteps came from across the alley.
“Stop! What’s going on!?”
And it was the two Cattsie who came into the alley.
“Anyway, I thought this man was injured, so I was looking at his condition.”
At Krikaliev’s calm words, Helena wondered if Jude would pass on.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. They were looking at my injuries.”
Helena didn’t know what had happened to his behavior, which he naturally accepted. It would be a good situation to put them in trouble, but why. The Cat Siege listened to them and let their guard down.
“Is that so? Then we’ll take you to the nearest medical center, so you can go on your way.”
They had no choice but to leave behind the Catsy who supported Jude and leave the alley. And when he left the alley, Krikaliev clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, he’s a very meticulous guy.”
“What did he do?”
“You should look at it that way. I tried to kill you at this opportunity. That’s a dangerous guy.”
Even Helena could understand his words. Jude was too dangerous to be left alone.
“But why?”
“There was one more person in the alley.”
At those words, I could see why Krikaliev couldn’t kill him. When she glanced down the alley they came from, she noticed a small child shivering behind a pile of trash, hidden as best she could in her old blanket. From their location, they were obscured by piles of garbage.
“And it seems that he had been wandering around here a bit before meeting us. That’s why the guards come so quickly.”
The situation that he thought he had encountered unexpectedly was in fact thoroughly calculated by Jude. Helena watched her alley as she struggled to control her trembling body. There, with Jude being supported, he was glaring at them with bitter eyes. She barely gave strength to her almost untied legs and got out of the place with Krikaliev.
“Take it away.”
“”Yes.””
Krikaliev and Helena left, and the guards, who had heard Jude’s words, followed his words as if they had been ordered to, and withdrew their hands. He brushed off the body the guards had touched and gnashed his teeth.
“If it’s necessary. If it’s necessary!”
He couldn’t hold back his anger and slammed the ground with his feet. Jude, who couldn’t hide his anger for a long time, finally opened his mouth in a genuine voice.
“Hey, you boy.”
“Heeep!”
The child hiccuped as he slowly crawled across the ground. As he slowly approached, he clicked his tongue as he looked at the frozen, motionless, trembling child with fear.
“It’s dirty.”
Jude took some fairy tales out of his pocket and threw them at the child. The child thought he was going to hit him, so he crouched down as much as he could, but he looked at him in bewilderment at the sight of the fairy tales colliding with his body and rolling around. Jude’s fingers were in front of the child’s eyes. At the same time as the light that runs from his fingertips.
“Forget everything.”
That was the child’s last memory. When the child came to his senses again, he was puzzled by the fairy tales scattered around him, but soon he excitedly picked them up and left the alley. Jude stood against the wall of the alley and watched the child’s back. Now he was alone. It was after the guards were sent back because they were useless. He was so miserable and ridiculous that he couldn’t say anything else. After washing off the blood covered with magic water and drying it, he became a normal body as if he had never been covered in blood.
“It’s futile.”
Magic was very useful. From trivial things like this to wiping out a country, it’s the kind of power that anyone who is free to want. He was not allowed anything other than this semblance. In the alley that was far away, only a pile of garbage was scattered.
