Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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A suffocating and crushing sensation.
Moreover, the surrounding water was filled with the Magical Power of enemies hostile to me.
Malice, murderous intent, and deep water.
I felt dizzy from the lack of air.
―!
The water seemed to grab my limbs and drag me to the bottom.
Burrr, the remaining breath escaped as the constricting force tightened.
In my listlessly opened eyes, I saw Dielo.
He must have bitten his lip, as I could see blood spreading.
At that moment, I snapped back to my senses.
As Argenta of Fire, he couldn't last long in this water.
Especially since the water, filled with animosity, was swirling around him as if to engulf his flames.
No.
My mind cleared in an instant.
This is underwater.
Even if it's the enemy's Power of Origin, blood-mixed water, it would bow before overwhelming Magical Power.
Instead of rejecting the water touching my entire body, I accepted it.
And I unleashed my power.
―Paaat!
The seawater, sensing a power even more overwhelming than the Power of Origin, submitted to me.
I could feel the immense Magical Power escaping my body, but I had to endure it for now.
―……!
It was the moment I involuntarily exhaled as the water compressed my entire body.
―Thuk.
I felt something small cracking in my head.
To be precise, it felt like a blocked wall was breaking down throughout my entire body, like a dam or embankment collapsing because it couldn't withstand the water, and a rough movement of power was felt.
「……?」
Hesitating at the unfamiliar sensation.
Dielo, noticing that the flow of water attacking him had changed, turned to look at me and tightly embraced my waist.
Due to the shock, I seemed to have sunk deeper below the surface of the sea than I thought.
Behind him, I could see the sunset I had been watching.
「…….」
Dielo's hair was tossed wildly by the currents. His lake-like eyes were looking at me.
With a slightly frowning face.
As if in pain.
But he quickly held me tightly.
And, as if to reassure me, he hugged me tightly and swam upwards.
* * *
"Puhah!" As soon as I surfaced, I involuntarily gasped for air.
"Madam!"
"Lady!"
I thought I could hear urgent voices.
The Argenta people who had survived the chaos were moving quickly on the ship.
They seemed to be lowering a ladder.
―Hwaaaak!
I clenched my fist tightly in the water.
Then, the seawater beneath us clumped together and instantly transformed into a solid plate.
"……Ah."
Dielo, who had somehow come to stand on the water-turned floor, widened his eyes.
As I raised the plate I made of water higher than the ship's deck, he jumped off the plate with me in his arms.
―Tatak.
Dielo lightly stepped onto the deck. And then he laid me down on a blanket that had been prepared.
"Are you alright, Krua?"
He examined my body.
I thought I might fall into the sea.
But I never imagined that the Alloze Assassins would use all their blood to draw out the Power of Origin.
Who would willingly endure such pain to draw out power when they were going to die anyway?
The eyes of the Alloze Assassins, who I had made eye contact with at the last moment, were gleaming with malice and murderous intent.
"……Ah."
I exhaled a short breath.
"What about Alloze?"
"They are all dead."
If those who had drawn out the Power of Origin had been even slightly more conscious, we might have been in a more dangerous situation.
But at the last moment, they lost consciousness and collapsed.
The light I saw in their necks at that moment.
A dagger reflecting the same light was concealed in Rick's hand.
"……I reacted too late. I'm sorry."
Even for Rick, it would have been difficult to find the Alloze who were tightly packed with the Power of Origin in that chaos.
It was when I shook my head.
Dielo, after confirming that I was only wet and not injured, picked me up in the blanket.
"Krua. You used too much power."
Dielo was right.
I had been trying to suppress my slightly labored breathing since earlier.
I thought it was because I had swallowed water when I fell into the sea.
But it didn't seem to be the case.
My whole body was stiff. Even more than the day I saved রেডিয়াস.
If all I moved back then was the water on the beach, it was only natural that I used my power in the middle of the sea now.
"You need to rest, Krua."
He led me away.
"First, the battlefield needs to be cleared……."
But the battlefield was already chaotic due to the unexpected counterattack, followed by the Clan Lord and his wife falling into the water.
We had to clear it up before leaving.
It was when I grabbed his shoulder with my hand.
"……Ah."
Hot.
Even though he had fallen into the water with me, he was hot instead of cooling down.
Was it because he was Argenta, or.
I thought his arm was shaking more than usual.
Surprised, or, nervous?
What was certain was that both he and I needed rest now.
"Clear the battlefield."
Dielo looked back at the people as if telling them not to worry.
I don't know what was contained in that gaze, but the atmosphere on the deck froze coldly.
But there was no time to pay attention to that.
My breathing became rough due to using too much power, making deep thought impossible.
"Just bear with it a little longer, Krua."
Dielo quickly took a step.
Only after the surroundings darkened did I realize that he had entered the cabin.
I had already lost consciousness.
* * *
After that, I was actually out of it.
Every time I opened my eyes, I felt like I was in a different place, with different people.
'……Krua!'
I thought I heard Dielo's voice, and I thought I heard Pielle's voice.
My head, which had become hot as if I had a fever, stopped trying to assess the situation.
When I briefly regained consciousness, it was when soft bedding touched my cheek.
"Krua."
Dielo's voice was deeply filled with relief.
He must have been very worried. Enough to be felt even in my hazy state.
"Dielo."
It was when my voice, calling his name, involuntarily cracked and I burst into a dry cough.
"……."
Dielo's gaze turned to the others.
Only then did I realize that the surroundings were as quiet as a graveyard.
Of course, the Argenta people became strangely quiet in front of Dielo, but it was even more so now.
As if a sharp blade had been placed at their throats, like when Dielo had beheaded the servants due to an emotional outburst.
It was an atmosphere as if a sharp blade had been placed at their throats like back then.
I could see the servants who had received Dielo's gaze bowing their heads in unison and leaving the room.
'For the Clan Lord to fall into the water of all things.'
'He's completely soaked. He must be uncomfortable. Besides, the Magical Power of Alloze―'
'Shhh, be quiet.'
The words I had heard between my blurred consciousness came to mind.
Dielo…… does he hate getting wet?
In particular, the story about the Magical Power of Alloze clearly meant that the water was tainted with Magical Power.
Because it was the water that the Alloze Assassins, who had even used the Power of Origin, had touched.
Besides, I had touched it too…….
Thinking that far, I suddenly realized something strange.
What about at the swimming pool?
There, Dielo was clearly soaked from head to toe, and he was also immersed in water that was heavily infused with my Magical Power.
"……Dielo."
I called his name again.
Dielo received my words with his usual gentle face.
"Yes, Krua."
The sound that came back seemed to echo around me. Still, I had to ask.
Perhaps because my body was in pain, a slightly mumbled voice leaked out.
"Do you hate falling into the water?"
He spoke after a slight pause to my words.
"……I don't like it."
"Then why."
As if knowing what I was trying to ask, Dielo gently took my words.
"I don't like being surrounded, whether it's by water or fire."
Water is one thing, but Argenta of Fire, why fire?
When I closed my eyes for a long time in my dizzy mind and opened them again, Dielo, who had already approached, kissed the back of my hand.
"Not unless something better is next to me. Unless there is someone who allows me to endure, next to me."
I don't like being surrounded by fire or water.
He whispered.
That voice, which sounded almost plaintive, was trembling slightly.
"……Why, fire?"
Dielo's hand, which was holding my hand, seemed to pause for a moment.
"If it's difficult to talk about, you don't have to―"
The words I belatedly added barely leaked out. Dielo shook his head.
"There's no way there's anything I can't tell Krua."
He sat down closer to me.
"When I was young, I was often trapped in fire. When I didn't have the ability."
"……Ah, that."
The previous Duke……. I couldn't bring myself to continue.
I remembered what he had briefly mentioned at the last meeting.
"For the reason that the one who will become the next Clan Lord must directly realize fire dominance."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Those guys would throw me into a pit of fire."
Even without warning.
It was a cruel thing to do. Ah, I gasped.
……I want to comfort him.
My blurred mind was gradually fading away.
