The Runaway Maid is Loved by the Archmage - Chapter 246

※ This book contains depictions of coercive/dubcon/noncon acts, violence, and immorality. Reader discretion is advised.

Roina looked up from the bottom of the lake. The water was deeper than she had thought, and it felt like sunlight was streaming in from a distant place. The light, beautifully refracted by the water, faintly illuminated the lakebed. Aquatic plants of a type she had never seen before grew everywhere, and on top of them, things like bluish flowers emitted a faint, firefly-like light, just like the ones she had seen in Neilla’s temple. Small fish, moving in schools, simple yet beautiful, were playing among them.

“…It’s beautiful.”

At her involuntary murmur, Ethan nodded. He had been silent since earlier, and seemed to be lost in complex thoughts.

At that moment, far in the depths of the lake, a cave was visible, its entrance gaping open towards them. It was made of black rock with a bluish glow, and aquatic plants extended even to that place, so there was a faint light inside as well. Roina wondered if it was perhaps a blessing from Aiha.

Roina and her group slowly entered the cave. As the light coming through the water faded, the water temperature noticeably dropped. Feeling Roina shiver slightly, Ethan approached her and gently stroked her back, as if asking if she was alright.

“I’m okay.”

Roina smiled slightly and then arranged the fire element around them to raise the temperature slightly. She felt much more comfortable.

The inside of the cave was dimly lit, but the luminous aquatic plants were everywhere, so it wasn’t completely invisible or dark. They slowly made their way forward through the cave.

“Damn it!!”

Thud, a now quite hardened fist struck the prison wall.

The official successor of the Amasto Marquis family, a multiple major with top grades in all subjects of four academies, a genius in magic studies and ancient languages, the representative of the anti-Crown Prince faction who overthrew the imperial family and succeeded in the revolution, and the patron of the revolutionary army. It was Yoseph.

Despite the numerous titles that modified him, he was feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.

Had he underestimated the Crown Prince, who had been briefly possessed by a divine being, too easily?

He had been too complacent, thinking that he had won. He couldn’t bear the pain of his own defenselessness.

The empty prison had traces that truly looked as if the space had been eaten away. Neither the bars nor the spells surrounding them remained. Yoseph moved his eyes busily, checking what the magic analysts had recorded before he arrived, and reading the severed spells around the area.

‘Everything… has disappeared without a trace.’

Everything was broken in that way. The ancient words, which lined up in a certain array, bestowing meaning and power, were dangling, having lost their power due to the interruption in the middle.

Magic related to space and time was still an unknown realm, impossible to handle with human power, but the opponent had gone beyond controlling such space and had annihilated existence itself.

At times like this, he bitterly regretted not being a Grand Magician.

‘If I were a Grand Magician, I could have pursued this being immediately.’

But he couldn’t. He clutched his chest in agony.

At that moment, something sparkling caught his eye. When the soldier who had come with him cautiously moved the lamp, something was reflected by the movement of the light.

Yoseph hurriedly went to that place.

“This is…”

In the place where the space had been eaten away, there was a flat, round, black metallic object. When he picked it up to examine it, it turned out to be a scale-like object. A cold chill was felt from where his fingers touched it.

“A Black Dragon’s scale…”

Yoseph muttered involuntarily and clenched his fist, holding the scale tightly. Even with the piercing cold that surged and penetrated to his bones, he gritted his teeth and endured it. He stood up, filled with rage. The Grand Magician’s Magic Tower was not a place anyone could go, and neither could he, but he had received a way to contact the Magic Tower while frequently visiting to teach Roina common sense for a while.

“I will absolutely not let you have your way.”

He would not allow her to be taken away again. Yoseph moved his feet, filled with rage.