Chapter 90
“How many people in this world do you think the Magic Tower Master calls ‘friend’?”
“Did he say that? That I was his ‘friend’?”
“He even made threats about how messing with you would turn the Magic Tower against them.”
“Hahaha!”
Blake had been serious when he said this. He wondered if perhaps she didn’t know the Tower Master was saying such things.
Though he wasn’t trying to cause discord, he carefully shared this because he wanted to know exactly what kind of relationship existed between her and the Tower Master.
But Angelina burst into loud laughter.
Though he wasn’t sure exactly what reaction he had expected, he certainly hadn’t anticipated such a pleased response.
“Ah, I’m sorry. This isn’t something to laugh so loudly about, pfft.”
Angelina slightly covered her mouth with her fist as laughter kept trying to escape. She took several deep breaths to calm her amusement.
“Don’t worry. The Magic Tower won’t turn against Your Grace.”
After all, she was going through all this trouble to prevent that. And now that Catherine and Aesi had begun carrying out their operation together, she could be certain the future would be different.
It had turned into a strange development where the female lead and the villain became allies, but so what?
In any case, she had succeeded in pulling her brother into a safe zone.
But since ‘what-ifs’ always exist, Angelina didn’t plan to stop here. Until death, she would have to do her best.
“Don’t worry too much about the identity of the collaborator. You’ll meet naturally. Rather……”
Angelina pulled out a book she had borrowed from the library.
“While they’re distracting the Order by shaking things up, I think we should focus on finding the remaining sacred objects.”
“That book?”
“It’s like a collection of old tales and folklore. I found it a bit strange that it was in the artifacts section, so I borrowed it.”
Blake received it from her.
Angelina pulled out a book she had borrowed from the library.
“While they’re distracting the Order by shaking things up, I think we should focus on finding the remaining sacred objects.”
“That book?”
“It’s like a collection of old tales and oral traditions. I found it a bit strange that it was in the artifacts section, so I borrowed it.”
Blake received it from her.
“The book itself feels like an artifact.”
“Right? I’m being careful with it too, afraid it might fall apart.”
“But what connection does this have with finding the sacred objects?”
“Actually, I have no idea where to even begin investigating the remaining two sacred objects. That’s why I came to the Grand Library first, without any real plan.”
She mixed in a bit of fabrication since she couldn’t talk about the original story.
“Then suddenly, I had a question. That place where we got the Crimson Thorn… why is it called the Witch’s Tomb?”
“……”
“The formal name of the Crimson Thorn is ‘The Crimson Thorn that Guards the Sun’s Tomb,’ right? So why did the name ‘Sun’s Tomb’ change to ‘Witch’s Tomb’?”
“It does seem a bit odd to be just a nickname.”
“Yes, so I thought maybe searching for the keyword ‘witch’ might turn up something. But since that’s a word that’s hard to find in historical texts…”
“So that’s why you turned to folklore and fairy tales.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Did you find anything in the book?”
“Not yet…”
Angelina didn’t mention the Zeplictus story.
Not only was she unsure if it was related to the sacred objects, but to explain it, she would have to talk about the scene she saw when touching the sacred object.
With Haley and Mason present, it seemed better not to mention it.
If she said she had seen visions, neither Haley nor her brother would stay quiet about it.
“The sun and the witch…”
After crossing his arms and being lost in thought for a while, Blake slowly began to speak.
“Several years ago, there was a small rural village I stopped at while heading north for a subjugation mission. They called themselves an artists’ village…”
As if his memory was hazy, his voice trailed off as he turned to look at Mason, who also furrowed his brow in concentration.
Then, as if remembering something, Mason struck the table.
“I remember! Kuns Village.”
“Ah, yes. Kuns Village.”
“I’ve never heard of that place.”
“It was a truly small village with less than 200 residents in total.”
“That’s right. I remember we even joked that our subjugation unit had more people than the village.”
Mason chimed in.
“The village chief, who insisted on taking me in when I was going to camp with the others, told me a story.”
“What was it?”
“Well… I can’t remember exactly. Since I wondered why they were telling me what seemed like a children’s folk tale, I didn’t pay much attention…”
Blake sighed, reproaching his past self.
“But I do remember that a witch and the sun appeared in that story.”
“Ah…!”
It was then that Angelina’s eyes sparkled.
“Ah! Now that I think about it, I remember something too.”
Mason interjected.
“Among the songs the village children sang while playing, there was one like that.”
“A song with a witch and the sun in it?”
“The lyrics went…”
Mason tried to recall.
‘Oh sun, oh sun, crimson sun.’
‘In the burning red sun, love overflows.’
‘Oh sun, oh sun, gather everyone.’
‘Gathering people, offering the sun high.’
‘Oh sun, oh sun, you must run away.’
‘Bad people appear, stabbing the sun.’
‘Oh witch, oh witch, goodbye witch.’
‘When the Sun Falls, She Became a Witch.’
“Gasp!”
Mason took a sharp breath as he recalled the memory. Angelina was equally shocked.
“Were the song lyrics really like that?”
“I played with the children for half a day and sang it continuously with them. I may not be smart, but I remember things like this well. Really.”
“Come to think of it, I think he was humming that melody until we arrived at the subjugation site. Though I’m hearing the lyrics for the first time now.”
“When the Sun Falls, She Became a Witch…”
Life returned to Angelina’s eyes as she recited the lyrics again.
“This seems right, doesn’t it?”
“Anyone would say it’s a song explaining why the Sun’s Tomb became the Witch’s Tomb.”
What seemed blocked before, finally a clue was discovered.
“But there’s not much we can learn from just a song.”
She sighed softly at the remaining frustration.
“I’m sorry. I should have listened more carefully to what the village chief said.”
“No, even I wouldn’t have paid attention if someone was telling me children’s stories.”
She herself wouldn’t have paid any attention to this old book of folklore in her hands if it weren’t for this situation.
“Instead of this, let’s go back there.”
“To Kuns Village?”
“Yes.”
“It would take at least several weeks from here.”
“Even on horseback?”
“It would still take a month.”
“Hmm…”
Angelina fell into deep thought.
“But besides that, we have no other clues right now…”
Searching through the library again could be an option.
But rather than vague clues where they weren’t sure what form the hint might take or if they’d already found it, Kuns Village was a much more concrete lead.
“You just said Kuns Village is in the north, right?”
“Yes. It’s very close to the subjugation front.”
“Then we can reduce the time. We can return well before the theater time at High Street.”
Blake showed a confused expression at Angelina’s confident voice.
“Even if I ride day and night alone, fifteen days would be the best we could do. Reducing it more than that…”
Angelina cut off his words by raising her index finger. She shook her finger side to side while shaking her head, then smiled broadly.
“You haven’t forgotten who I am, have you?”
“Angelina Flaube… Ah.”
As he spoke her name, he let out a sigh of realization. And Angelina’s smile spread even wider.
“That’s right. There are many things in this world that money can solve.”
Angelina jumped up from her seat and reached out her hand with a bright voice.
“Let’s go!”
And Blake had no choice but to take that hand, completely enchanted.
***
“Is it really okay to continue like this?”
Catherine asked with an uncomfortable expression as she stood near the attic window of what appeared to be a blacksmith’s shop, looking outside.
“What’s bothering you now?”
“Shouldn’t we help those people?”
Her view was filled with people from the Order causing havoc outside.
“You want to get caught?”
The masked man beside her spoke as if it were absurd.
Today he had golden short hair and his voice sounded youthful. His appearance and voice were among the elements he changed daily.
Though he had stayed close by since Angelina ‘handed her over’ to him, he kept himself thoroughly hidden.
Sometimes he would even change his personality to be clingy, childish, or blunt, making it impossible to know his true self.
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