Chapter 116

As Hayden had said, Graum was extremely annoyed.

He grumbled, asking if he’d really been summoned just to be used as a means of transportation.

Still, given the circumstances, he knew his power was needed, and he didn’t refuse Enria’s request.

“But… am I allowed too?”

Roseanne asked, looking at Graum.

She was a mage, but not a spirit contractor. She worried whether a spirit—especially one contracted to Caldeon—could move her as well.

“If Enria wants it, anything is possible.”

Graum continued, saying that since Enria could call his name without any contract, if she asked him to move Roseanne along as well, he naturally had to comply. He then asked Enria where she wanted to go.

Enria said they should start with the village closest to the Grand Duke’s castle. Instead of replying verbally, Graum immediately transported Enria, Roseanne, and Hayden.

“Wow!”

The movement felt completely different from using a teleportation stone, and an exclamation escaped Roseanne without her realizing it. Her vision went black for a moment, then brightened, and the space changed instantly—it was only natural to be amazed.

Until now, Roseanne had never had the slightest interest in spirit arts, but this experience made her decide to study spirit magic.

She was the kind of person who always succeeded once she made up her mind, so the idea of impossibility never even crossed her thoughts.

With that in mind, she looked toward Enria—only to see Enria frozen stiff, as if struck by shock. Following Enria’s gaze, Roseanne turned her head.

“My god…”

The village they had arrived in with Graum’s help was devastated and horrifying.

As if a demon of death had swept through, people lay everywhere, dead with blood spilled from their mouths. The streets were stained red with the blood vomited by those who had drunk the poisoned water.

Humans couldn’t survive without drinking water—no wonder the damage was this severe.

Faced with the gruesome scene, Roseanne felt a pounding ache in her head.

“There’s no one alive here. Shall we move to the next village?”

Even Graum, who had been complaining about being used as transportation, seemed to think they should hurry on after seeing the situation. He looked at Enria as he spoke.

“Yes… we should.”

Enria, who had been standing stiff in shock, nodded as she answered.

At the same time—

Caldeon, who had gone with Rahar to the river supplying water to the North, clenched his teeth as he saw the black magic flowing along the current.

He didn’t know when that rat-like dark mage had tampered with the water supply, but if the contamination of the northern waters was this severe, the entire empire was undoubtedly in danger.

Caldeon quickly drew out the black mana within his body and began pouring it into the river.

“If you’re going to erase all of this, won’t you have to use all your mana? Did you bring an inhibitor?”

Rahar asked with concern.

Caldeon nodded and replied that he had.

Rahar let out a relieved sigh and looked around.

“But there isn’t a monster—or even a strand of a dark mage’s hair—in sight. Don’t you think I’m kind of unnecessary here?”

“We still have to be prepared for anything. There’s always a ‘just in case.’”

At Caldeon’s words, Rahar nodded, agreeing, then glanced around again, muttering about whether things were going well on Enria’s side.

Caldeon thought that with Hayden—who possessed both holy power and black mana—they’d be able to erase the dark magic inside people’s bodies and save many lives.

Watching the polluted river slowly clear under the influence of his black mana, he worried about how many souls the dark mage must have gathered through this incident.

If a large number of souls had already been collected, the preparations to summon the Evil God would surely begin.

“There’s also the possibility that the Evil God could enter the body of the fire spirit.”

That thought brought to mind Panz, who was still under guard by Fyoren in a room sealed with a barrier of black mana, unable to choose either side.

“Rahar. Tell your fire spirit to make his choice quickly.”

“Huh? Panz?”

“Yes. The dark mage has probably gathered a considerable number of souls already. He poisoned monsters and even the water supply—if you consider the scale of the damage, it must be enormous.”

“…That’s true.”

Rahar nodded with a troubled expression.

“He could try to summon the Evil God at any moment. That’s why the vessel—the spirit—must be destroyed as soon as possible.”

“I know… but…”

Rahar trailed off, his face darkened.

He knew, but he couldn’t openly tell Panz to choose annihilation. Before falling into the dark mage’s hands, Panz had fought alongside him—it would be a lie to say there was no attachment.

Even after making the wrong choice and becoming a mass of evil that devoured countless human and spirit souls, the memories they’d shared hadn’t disappeared. More than hatred, Rahar felt pity.

“The other spirits must feel the same.”

Silri, Undy and Lonn, too.

No—having formed familial bonds with Panz the moment they contracted with him, they must feel it even more strongly than he did.

He could persuade Panz to choose annihilation by saying that Hayden, with his absolution ability, would help him revive—but now that he knew Hayden’s life force was the cost of that ability, he couldn’t say it lightly.

“Tell him to choose annihilation. Say Hayden will save him with absolution.”

As if reading Rahar’s thoughts, Caldeon spoke.

Rahar looked at him in shock, and Caldeon met his gaze and continued.

“Hayden himself said he’d do it. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“B-but then Hayden’s life force—”

“That’s not something you need to worry about. That’s for Hayden, Enria, and me to decide.”

Caldeon said calmly that, for now, Panz’s annihilation was what the empire needed most. He added that the dark mage might attempt to summon the Evil God as early as today using Panz.

Everything else could be thought about later—Rahar needed to persuade Panz and make him choose annihilation as soon as possible.

Rahar nodded and said he would go see Panz as soon as Caldeon finished purifying the water.

“Go now.”

“Now?”

Rahar’s eyebrow twitched upward at Caldeon’s words. Earlier, Caldeon had insisted that Rahar come along “just in case,” yet now he was telling him to leave immediately.

“The most important thing right now is making sure your fire spirit’s body doesn’t get taken by the dark mage.”

Still pouring black mana into the river, Caldeon spoke calmly. When Rahar still didn’t move, Caldeon waved his hand, gesturing for him to hurry.

“Oh—right.”

Rahar nodded.

In truth, “just in case” had never really mattered to Caldeon. Like the time he’d wandered the Monster Forest alone during their academy days, encountered a top-tier monster, and defeated it by himself—Caldeon was the kind of man who could probably kill even the Evil God on his own if it appeared.

Realizing that belatedly, Rahar felt an inexplicable sense of defeat and pouted slightly.

***

After confirming that everyone in the first village was dead, Enria’s group moved on to the second village.

Still held in Enria’s arms, Hayden spread his holy power and black mana over the entire village when he sensed many people were still alive. The sight made Enria and Roseanne’s eyes widen in shock.

“That’s incredible…”

Roseanne murmured, staring in disbelief at the light of holy power and the shadows of black mist covering the entire village.

Enria nodded in agreement.

She felt a pang of discomfort, realizing that without Hayden, she wouldn’t have been able to purify so many suffering people with her own holy power.

Dark magic clinging to the outside of the body—like a plague—could be cleansed sufficiently with holy power. But dark magic that had penetrated deep inside the body, like this time, was nearly impossible to purify.

In theory, it was possible.

But to cleanse internal dark magic, one had to divide the light of holy power—something that felt like a solid mass—into extremely fine fragments and attach them to each individual cell. It required immense concentration and took an enormous amount of time.

Against this many targets, purification itself would have been unthinkable.

“If Hayden weren’t here, purification would’ve been nothing but a dream.”

The honest thought slipped out of Enria’s mouth, and Roseanne looked at her.

“You gave birth to Hayden. In the end, this was something you were always meant to accomplish.”

The words were comforting, yet bittersweet, and a faint, bitter smile formed on Enria’s lips.

Ultimately, this was all the mercy of a god who had decided to send a part of himself into the human world through her body, for the sake of humanity.

If the god had abandoned humanity and offered no help, far more people would have lost their lives by now, and the dark mage would have summoned the Evil God much sooner using their souls.

If that had happened, the empire—no, the entire world—would surely have fallen into ruin.

Enria worried about how long the god would continue to help humanity, which kept creating hell through its own selfish desires. She hoped that no more foolish people like the dark mage, driven by such desires, would ever appear again.

Her son was a part of god, yes—but he was also a human who had to live in this world under the name Jupiter. She wished for the world her son would live in to be safer and more peaceful.

Not just for Hayden, but for the world of the other children who would one day come into her life as well.

Unaware that her thoughts had already drifted to Hayden’s future siblings, Enria simply prayed that the dark mage would be stopped quickly—before the god ever chose to abandon humanity—and that a peaceful world would finally arrive.