Aelcardo was in a good mood.
Although Freeman’s attitude irked her, she didn’t resort to violence as she usually did to teach him when to be polite.
After all, just recalling the person she had met in the underground was enough to make her sit on the chair with a silly smile, lost in thought all day long.
It wasn’t Christine.
She hadn’t expected that delicious—no, rather, melancholic and gloomy boy had grown into such a handsome young man.
She only regretted that she had been sealed at the time and couldn’t properly hold him in her arms. Otherwise, he would have already been spoiled rotten, and Christine’s rude interference wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Thinking of this made Aelcardo a bit annoyed.
That detestable “Black Sword”… No wonder he occasionally disappeared during their previous work together. Turns out he was using some kind of spatial teleportation method to meet Loki.
Just now, too, he suddenly appeared and blocked her path like a wall… truly rotten to the core.
Why? She only wanted to cup Loki’s face to take a good look; she wasn’t going to eat him!
…Alright, she had been a little too excited and probably scared Loki, but that was understandable, wasn’t it? After all, it was so rare to finally see him in person that she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed and say strange things.
“Then what do you suggest we do? Baron Fleuret didn’t send you to Kaisarnia for a vacation!” Freeman shouted anxiously.
That damn witch had played him.
She had sent a secret letter asking for backup, but then vanished at the last moment?
Now all they could do was hope the martial law would have some effect on the witch and keep her confined within Kaisarnia; otherwise, all hope was lost.
And he had even been willing to play along with her sad act before…!
“In any case, you must find a way to bring her before me as soon as possible—”
Baron Freeman closed his eyes.
Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to expect something for nothing. For mercenaries and the like, who only cared about profit, there was only one way to boost their efficiency.
“More money!”
To this, Aelcardo just turned her back and waved off the employer without a care.
If it had been her before, she might have had stars in her eyes at those two words, but now she had risen above such petty interests.
After all, the fundamental reason she collected money was simply to travel while searching for that person.
“Alright, alright, I know you’re anxious, but calm down. I’ll think of a way.”
—Yeah, right.
She didn’t care about any witch.
*****
In Christine’s room.
Loki gently laid Sailulu on the bed.
The girl’s complexion was much better than at first—though Ina’s sedative seemed a bit too strong, and if it weren’t for the noticeable rise and fall of her chest, Loki might have thought she wouldn’t wake up.
Speaking of which, when she was a little girl, sickness was almost a daily occurrence due to her environment and constitution.
Even Loki himself was unsure whether his care back then came from pity or a mindset of “can’t let the asset get damaged.”
…Such a contradiction.
He had always been mindful of her behavior, yet couldn’t suppress his inner worry.
Forget it, better not overthink.
Loki looked at Ina.
“How’s she doing?”
The witch was examining Sailulu.
In her hand was a device resembling an old-fashioned camera. With a serious expression, she scanned the girl’s body thoroughly from head to toe.
A few seconds later, she put down the device and tilted her head.
“Strange.”
“Strange?”
“No visible internal or external injuries, but her magical power inside is like a derailed train… Hmm, what exactly is going on with this soul? It’s like a jigsaw puzzle haphazardly thrown together by children…”
Ina’s expression darkened.
“No, how has she managed to survive until now?”
“Because she herself is a miracle.”
Loki reached out and brushed Sailulu’s bangs aside.
“I think I introduced her to you in the underground base of the Hand of Truth, didn’t I? She’s the only child to ever walk out of the experimental field alive.”
“So her soul is fused with… over a thousand…”
Ina instinctively covered her lips.
To be honest, she should have guessed earlier, but during that underground time, her attention was mostly on Loki.
Compared to pondering the story Loki told, she was obviously more distracted by the youthful profile of the man recounting it.
But Ina wouldn’t admit she was love-struck; otherwise, how could she maintain her cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside persona in front of Loki?
“Is such a thing really possible?”
“Of course. After all, the one who developed that forbidden magic was someone cherished by the Lords. But I ground him to dust; there shouldn’t be anyone like Sailulu left in this world.”
Loki smiled wryly as he patted Sailulu’s head.
“At least not anytime soon.”
“No wonder she became a Saintess. Setting aside stability, just her power alone makes it hard to say whether her soul is human or monster.”
Ina curled her finger and telekinetically poured two cups of tea from a teapot, placing one beside Loki.
“The Holy Church couldn’t have missed this anomaly. And the fact she still retains full self-awareness, unpolluted by other souls…”
She turned to Loki.
“Could it be related to you? Did you do something to her?”
“I fed her my blood.”
Loki confessed.
“No matter how powerful she is, even if she were another child, they’re all prepared as sacrifices for the final ritual. But I didn’t know she’d actually become the sacrifice, so every day I mixed my blood into her drinking water.”
“That way, the ritual would inevitably fail, and the cost would only be her life.”
“But as you’ve seen, I ended up taking her place.”
Ina was silent for a moment, studying Loki’s expression.
It wasn’t icy indifference, but a mixture of emotions—proof that even after growing up under the Hand of Truth’s education and committing many reckless deeds, his humanity had never been extinguished.
She didn’t believe Christine could have tamed a heartless madman in five years.
Unless he had a heart of steel from the very beginning.
“The flesh and blood of a soulless one…”
Ina recalled what Loki had explained before.
The method was bizarre, but undeniable—there probably was no more effective way in the world to protect oneself from the influence of the Sea of Souls.
A priceless treasure.
A thorn in the side.
And the Lance of Longinus, capable of striking down gods.
“In another half hour, the medicine’s effect will wear off.”
Thinking that, Ina seemed to fully understand why Christine was willing to risk her reputation and life to protect him.
That champion knight… or perhaps even the empire’s emperor, might have motives beyond just wiping out the never-ending defilers.
“Don’t just wait around. Before she wakes up, let’s go grab something to eat.”