Chapter 45

Translator: Nox

Chapter 45

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Raonel was overwhelmed by a surge of emotion and prostrated himself.

The light that washes away sins and saves souls.

The true savior who descended upon this land.

All of Raonel's faith crumbled, and the void was swallowed by blind faith in Odelia.

That day, Odelia became someone's 'god.'

'……What's wrong with him.'

The person in question, however, indifferently looked down at the fanatic prostrating himself on the plaza floor as if he were a strange person.

In fact, she had no time to pay attention to Raonel.

Cough—

Blood welled up in her mouth.

'……I overdid it, after all.'

The Purification ability could purify all impurities in the world.

Instead, all malice and remnants flowed into her body.

Only by embracing the remnants of Demonic Energy, as if swallowing poison, could Purification be completed.

Odelia bit her lip and swallowed the blood.

Not a single drop was allowed to leak.

She naturally wiped the corners of her mouth.

And, conscious of the gazes around her, she raised her head as if nothing had happened.

At the same time, her eyes met his.

The silver emblem engraved on the black armor symbolized the Order of the Glimmering Dawn.

The man at the forefront was Gawain Quinton.

The captain of the royal guard of the Order of the Glimmering Dawn.

A man who had roamed the battlefields countless times with Ludville.

The Grand Duke's oldest sword, who considered it a disgrace to fall before his lord.

'He hated me so much.'

In thousands of regressions, he invariably hated Odelia in every iteration.

And for good reason.

Odelia was always the one who ruined the lord he had risked his life to protect.

But…….

"Because my lord values the Princess Odelia more than his own life, it is right that my life should also be used to protect the Princess."

He had once died for Odelia.

She still remembered it.

His loyalty as he desperately shielded Odelia, collapsing while spitting out red blood.

When the Cardel family sent a group of assassins to create a new Purifier.

That day, the man who took the place of Odelia, who was struck by numerous swords, was this man.

And now.

Having lost all his memories, he was looking at Odelia again.

With a cold gaze, observing and judging Odelia as if dissecting her.

Without knowing that he had once given his life for her.

"……That was quite an impressive sight."

Gawain said, breaking the silence.

His low, heavy voice cut through the silence.

"A dying city has come back to life, and people have been healed as if washed clean."

He said, slowly moving towards her.

"But it's strange."

A brief silence.

"The one who spread the epidemic was Gawain Cardel, and now, the one who saved it is, coincidentally, the Princess of the Cardel family, who shares the same blood."

He did not take his eyes off Odelia and asked firmly.

"Can you swear that the two of you are unrelated?"

Gawain, who stopped in front of her, placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and said in a low voice.

"I don't easily believe in the word 'miracle.'"

His tone was polite, but the blade hidden within was quite blatant.

Gawain's eyes narrowed slightly.

It was a look that asked if she knew how many people had died in this incident.

"If you are truly unrelated to this situation, you will have to prove it here and now."

"……."

"I don't just carry out orders based on hunches. I'm not naive enough to be fooled by plausible performances."

Odelia quietly accepted his gaze.

She didn't bother to make excuses or explanations.

After a moment of silence.

Odelia broke the silence and spoke first.

"Have you said everything you wanted to say?"

"……."

"If you're done, I'd appreciate it if you could help me. The follow-up measures are not completely finished yet."

Gawain was speechless for a moment.

"……Help you?"

Then he frowned and asked back.

His face showed that he couldn't quite understand what she was saying.

"Is it more important for me to prove myself to you right now, or is it more important to save the village as soon as possible?"

"……."

"Demonic Energy feeds on human despair. Even if it's subsided now, it can spread again at any time. We have to seal it properly."

Odelia said that and carefully opened the sack she had prepared when she came from the Ducal Palace.

Inside were rare herbs, brown lime, mana crystals, and ore fragments.

She knelt in the middle of the plaza and began to lay out the ingredients with neat movements.

It was originally Ludville's 'treatment.'

After thousands of regressions, he had discovered the most effective way to quell the epidemic.

It was to develop a barrier that completely blocked Demonic Energy from approaching through the emotion of despair.

But in order to recreate Ludville's 'barrier' in her memory, there was a necessary ingredient.

Odelia asked Gawain.

"Could you get me a rock?"

"……A rock?"

"The size…… I'd like it to be about that big."

She pointed to a huge rock near her, about ten times the size of an adult male.

"And split the rock exactly in half to make a stone slab."

"……You want me to do that?"

"Well, who else would do it here besides you?"

"You want me to cut that in half?"

"Can't you do it?"

Odelia asked, as if puzzled.

She didn't intend to provoke him.

In her memory, Ludville had 'cut' such rocks without much thought…….

Gawain was silent for a moment at her question, then drew his sword and headed for the rock.

To put it bluntly, Gawain barely managed to split the rock in half.

"……."

He was exhausted and kept looking at her with a look that seemed to say he had a lot to say.

Anyway.

Odelia placed the flat stone slab on the ground and began to place the ingredients one by one.

And she meticulously drew a magic circle with a special chalk.

Relying on her memory, without a single line of error.

"…Done."

She drew the last line and placed the mana crystal in the center.

She was not a mage, so she converted magic power into 'mana energy' specialized for magic through the mana crystal.

At the same time, she felt the sensation of magic power flowing through her veins.

Her heart was racing like crazy, and she was breathless.

Her arms were shaking, and her vision was blurring.

'Ugh.'

She felt the limits of her body, but Odelia did not stop.

Until the light from the magic circle drawn on the stone slab burst out and instantly covered the plaza.

The barrier was complete.

The space for despair to take root had completely disappeared.

The remnants of Demonic Energy that had been wandering around the plaza had now completely disappeared.

However……

Odelia's body, standing in the center of the barrier, staggered.

The sudden rush of dizziness whitened her vision.

Her skin became as cold as ice, and her fingertips began to tremble.

"Princess, are you alright?"

It was Gawain's voice.

Surprised, he momentarily reached out to her, but then hesitated and withdrew his hand.

"…I'm fine."

Odelia forced the words out.

But she was not fine at all.

She tried to catch her breath, but her inhales and exhales were mixed, and a pain that felt like piercing her lungs struck her chest.

'I should have hired a mage separately.'

But there was no time, and Odelia doing it herself was the best decision at the time.

Ludville did it so easily, as if it wasn't even post-meal exercise, so she didn't expect it to lead to this outcome……

The figures of the people in front of her overlapped one by one, then began to blur.

'Ah, this… I'm going to faint soon.'

It was when Odelia felt the familiar premonition.

Just before Odelia's collapsing body touched the ground, someone hugged her tightly.

A rough, hot, and blood-stained embrace.

"Are you crazy? What do you think you're doing here…!"