Chapter 98

Mason muttered as if he had realized something, and Yansen nodded.

“That’s right. Though over time their properties have changed and the efficiency is terrible, their roots are the same after all.”

Many things that had been puzzling until now were being explained all at once.

And then Yansen revealed another surprising fact.

“The Magic Tower was established by the believers who survived and didn’t die at the hands of the apostates back then.”

“What?”

This was the most shocking story they had heard since coming here.

“Ah! Now that I think about it, it was written in our Magic Tower’s genealogy!”

This time, Haley shouted as if she had realized something.

“In the beginning there was the sun, and where drops of sunlight fell, magicians were born… I thought it was just nonsense written metaphorically to sound cool…!”

At these continuing revelations, Angelina let out a dry laugh.

“So the original magicians were actually the Sun God’s believers before they were corrupted…”

As Angelina muttered softly, Blake added.

“This historically explains why the Magic Tower Master is so hostile toward the Order.”

‘I wonder if brother has more reasons to hate the Order besides personal ones?’

She could understand her brother a little better now.

“The last Saint created all sorts of traps to prevent the apostates from reaching the sacred objects. Among them, it’s said there are traps that require magical power that only the original believers could touch. Only the Saint would know if that’s true.”

Angelina nodded slowly.

‘That makes sense since the Black Lake sacred object is in a place filled with magical power.’

“Do you know where these objects are?”

Blake, who didn’t know there was a sacred object in his Black Land, asked.

Yansen shook his head with an apologetic expression.

“Only the last Saint knows all of them.”

“Not even the village chief knows?”

“Hmm… The chief might have hints. But nothing was left to me.”

“So we need to find the chief after all.”

“But I do have this.”

Yansen held out a music box large enough to fill both hands.

The thick book had swallowed Yansen’s necklace and transformed into a music box.

“This is the song we’ve protected most preciously, we who live to pass down the empire’s truth to future generations through art.”

A song that was like their mission.

“But to play this, you need both magical power and holy power. According to what’s been passed down, it was designed so that it could only be seen when past wrongs were acknowledged and forgiveness received to wash away sins…”

Yansen took out two devices he had prepared in advance.

“Anyway, you can use these. Direct injection of magical and holy power would be best, but these devices should be sufficient to check the contents. I tried it last night and it worked fine.”

However, just as Yansen was about to activate those devices, Blake interrupted.

“If direct injection is better, let’s do it that way.”

“What?”

Yansen, who had been fiddling with the devices, looked up in confusion.

Then Angelina and Blake’s heads turned simultaneously toward Haley and Mason.

“Haley.”

“Mason.”

Each called their subordinate.

“I can provide magical power anytime.”

Haley confidently materialized magical power in her palm.

Meanwhile, Mason hesitated.

“Um… While I want to help badly, this isn’t something I can control at will…”

So Angelina offered encouragement.

“Sir Mason, it might be easier than you think. You don’t have the necklace anymore, right?”

In the original story, didn’t Mason freely use holy power after discarding his necklace? So it should be possible now that the necklace is gone.

“Well… Then I’ll try…”

Just as he timidly extended his hand.

Whoosh-!

“Aack!”

The vast holy power that burst from his palm enveloped everyone.

Mason fell backward with a thud after releasing power so strong that everyone had to squeeze their eyes shut. He had fallen over from being surprised by his own power.

“I-Insane! What is this!”

Then he excitedly drew out more holy power.

As if something had been unblocked after using his power once, holy power flowed from his body like water from a bottomless pot.

“Sean! Look at this! I, wow, amazing!”

“What a fool, being amazed by his own power.”

Though Sean spoke teasingly, there was a proud smile on his lips.

It was because he knew better than anyone how much Mason had struggled because of holy power.

“It works! Now that we have enough holy power, too, let’s do it!”

Unlike his dejected state from earlier, he shouted with an expression full of confidence.

“So you brought both a magician and a priest?”

Yansen looked at the two with surprised eyes.

“While the Order and Magic Tower haven’t reconciled, there are always those who make the effort.”

Angelina provided a plausible excuse, and Yansen couldn’t hide his amazement.

“Then……”

He set down the music box.

Haley and Mason each extended their hands, focusing through their fingertips. Well-condensed magical power and holy power began to be drawn into the music box.

And then……

Click.

The music box, which looked like an ornate case, opened on both sides. Along with misty smoke, red and blue lights flowed out.

The light drew shapes above the smoke.

A hologram appeared in mid-air, and music began to play.

A languid and sweet voice flowed out along with the music, as if a minstrel from long ago had recorded it with all their heart and stored it here.

[The rose loved the sun.

The sun filled the world.

The sun loved the world.

The rose was part of the world.]

Like paint being applied to a white canvas, the music box’s light drew pictures in the misty smoke.

Though it drew a woman, one could instantly tell it was the ‘Sun’ from its warmth, and though it drew a man, one could immediately recognize it as the ‘Rose’ from how splendid and beautiful it was.

[ But the rose.

The rose was greedy.

It tried to monopolize the sun.

But the sun.

The sun was protected by a knight.

Always followed by a priest.]

Faint figures moved in harmony with the song’s sorrowful melody.

[So the rose.

Deceived the sword knight.

Stole the knight’s sword.

Gained forbidden power.

So the rose.

Stabbed the silver priest.

Stole the priest’s heart.

Grew large wings.]

The figures did their best to convey this urgent and sad story. They captured perfectly the red warning and the black pain.

[Rise high, oh wings,

Silver wings stained red,

Before the sun notices.

Cut deep, oh sword,

Sword of blue edge,

Before the sun knows.

Do not regret, oh rose,

This is the rose’s choice,

The sun will surely fall.]

Lost in the poet’s tale, they listened entranced to the heartbreaking story.

[But do not worry.

Do not cry, my dear.

The sun…]

That’s when it happened.

The sound crackled and cut off abruptly, and the light suddenly went out. The smoke dispersed and vanished as if it had never existed.

“Huh? What’s wrong with this?”

“I-I’m still properly channeling holy power.”

Haley and Mason spoke in confusion.

Angelina turned to Yansen with a frown, and Yansen wore an expression as if his heart was being torn apart.

“This… is all.”

“The rest?”

“What I mentioned earlier about it being somewhat damaged, this is why.”

“Ah…”

“I’m sorry….. I couldn’t even properly fulfill my role as messenger…”

“Isn’t there any way to find out?”

Angelina asked, but Yansen hung his head low.

“For now…”

“Haa…”

Angelina sighed with regret. But she couldn’t blame Yansen for the damage caused by the Order’s attack.

It seemed like if they could hear the whole song, they might discover the truth about the scene she had witnessed.

There too, there had been a man holding a ‘rose,’ a man with ‘wings’ had appeared, and a man wielding a ‘sword’ had been present.

She thought they might be the priest, knight, and rose from the lyrics.

But in the end, the clue was cut off abruptly.

“The village chief might know.”

“How?”

“Since the chief can open this and listen to it anytime, maybe they’ve heard it at least once?”

Yansen spoke with hope.

“Just like now, the village chief might have memorized it all in case the book got damaged.”

“That makes sense.”

Angelina nodded and turned to Blake. She felt at a loss.

The broken clue had been connected again, but……

“We need to rescue the village chief.”

She couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed since this led to a major objective of having to break someone out.