Chapter 82

Unless she was out on a mission, Maleia never left her laboratory. She’d hole herself up inside and not take a single step out.

So I’d never crossed paths with her directly, but I’d heard plenty about the kinds of missions she handled.

‘Using her specialty—fire magic—to eliminate Duke Tierney’s political enemies. Burning their property. Intimidation… that kind of filthy work.’

As far as I knew, at least twenty people had burned to death in Maleia’s flames over the past ten years.

Most of them had been covered up as nothing more than accidental fires.

The one case widely known to the public was the death of Raul’s parents in a territorial war.

‘Not that I’m trying to understand Raul.’

But there was no way to ignore how he’d ended up with that trauma.

Or why he loathed the Tierney family so fiercely.

He had been eleven at the time. Still a child who should have been under an adult’s protection—yet he’d been forced to become head of the house.

Which meant he would have had to confirm the bodies of his parents when they were transported back from the battlefield. That, too, was the duty of a lord.

What Raul saw that day were two corpses, charred so black they were barely recognizable.

For an eleven-year-old boy… it was too horrific.

‘Did Maleia… not feel even a shred of guilt? After doing something like that…?’

I stared quietly at her face, now stripped bare for all to see.

The burn scar carved across the right side of it looked like proof of every crime she had committed.

Maleia stood frozen for a few seconds, like a statue, before hastily lifting a hand to cover the scar.

A strange madness flickered in her reddish-gold eyes as they fixed on me.

“H-how did this happen? That bastard can use magic too? Maleia! Explain!”

Meanwhile, an idiot who still hadn’t grasped the situation was berating her.

I shot Kabil a look as if he were a revolting insect.

‘Of course he wouldn’t know anything—he’s always drunk and fooling around….’

A man so drowned in pleasure and indulgence that he couldn’t think straight. I’d bet my life his frontal lobe had completely rotted away.

Maleia, still covering half her face with her right hand, answered in a voice trembling with dismay.

“My apologies, Young Lord Kabil, but I believe it would be wise to withdraw at this point.”

“What? What are you talking about? We just need to take Muriel, that bitch, with us! What’s so hard about that? Retreat? Maleia, and you call yourself a mage from the Magic Tower?!”

‘From the Magic Tower…?’

That was the first I’d heard of it. Had Kabil only recently found out too?

Maleia was quick to read situations, but with Kabil continuing to press her arrogantly, she had no choice but to lower her left hand again.

The unease plain on the side of her face she could no longer hide.

Maleia was clearly afraid of Lycian.

“Shouldn’t provoke him…. You’re asking for it.”

Dante, having just taken down a knight, muttered the words almost to himself.

Boom!

Boom, boom, boom!

Several bright blue fireballs burst into existence like fireworks in midair, encircling Lycian and me.

Ordinary magic wouldn’t be enough to handle him. It seemed she’d decided to bring out her specialty.

Maleia spoke in a steady voice.

“Young Lord Kabil, would it be acceptable if Lady Muriel suffers burns? I will ensure they are not life-threatening.”

“Doesn’t matter! As long as she’s alive! And that platinum-blond bastard—burn him to ashes!”

‘You piece of—.’

Rage surged up from my gut.

I knew Lycian wouldn’t just stand there and take it—but it still made my blood boil.

‘How dare Kabil touch him?’

I was just about to open my mouth.

“Hiyaaap~!”

Suddenly, dewdrop rice cake leapt into the sky.

The spirit spun through the air, conjuring several large droplets of water that hovered in midair.

But—

Chiiiiiik—

The droplets evaporated into hazy steam the instant they touched the flames.

“N-nooo~!”

Our idiot wailed pitifully, continuing to produce more water.

But Ninabel’s ordinary water was no match for flames at their highest temperature.

If it were extreme ice with the chill of an Ice Star, maybe she’d stand a chance….

I looked at Ninabel with a pained expression.

“Idiot…. Stop that and come here.”

“Waaah~! But those bad guys! Saying they’ll burn him whole—that’s horrible!”

Exhausted, Ninabel finally drifted back and collapsed into my arms.

‘This little….’

She bickered with Lycian every day—had she grown attached in spite of herself?

As I patted her while she sobbed, the fireballs hovering in the air grew larger and larger.

An immense heat pressed against my skin.

That was when—

“Ha….”

An eerily cold laugh sounded right beside me.

And—

‘Huh…?’

My body began to tremble again.

A prickling sensation along my skin. My heart pounding as if it sensed instinctive fear.

When I glanced sideways, Lycian’s eyes were burning a brighter gold than ever before.

Golden mana surged around him, expanding its dominion as it whirled outward.

In the next instant, a massive magic circle was drawn at his feet.

It wasn’t even comparable to Maleia’s casting speed.

Geometric patterns and characters swallowed not just the farm but the distant forest beyond.

Within Lycian’s golden domain, Maleia could not use magic.

It was the sensation of being crushed beneath something far greater than oneself.

As if she felt it too, her eyes flew wide—and she vomited blood.

The mana swirling within her body had reversed.

The blue fireballs that had filled the sky vanished in an instant—

and Maleia began spewing blood from her mouth, from every orifice of her body.

“W-what is this…?”

Kabil muttered in a frightened voice.

Lycian lifted his sword into the air and sent it flying like a bolt of lightning.

The blade sliced through the air in a flash—shhk—cutting something before returning to his hand.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

The next moment, Maleia’s left hand dropped from her arm with a dull thud.

“Ah….”

She murmured blankly, staring down at her severed wrist.

The focus in her reddish-gold eyes slowly faded.

“Aaaahhh!!”

A piercing scream tore from her throat.

…A mage who loses her left hand can no longer cast magic.

It was no different from a death sentence on her life as a mage.

“Told you. She was asking for it.”

Dante clicked his tongue softly.

The Tierney knights stood frozen in shock, unable to move a muscle.

“H-huff, wh-what is, what is this? Y-you… what are you…?”

Kabil staggered back, gasping, his mind clearly gone.

Instinctively retreating, he tripped over a stone and fell flat on his backside.

Meanwhile, a few knights who had regained their senses tried desperately to stop Maleia’s bleeding and reattach her wrist—but it didn’t look easy.

“Not a high-grade potion! Do we have a top-grade one?!”

“W-we didn’t bring one. We didn’t think we’d need something that high-grade….”

“Damn it!”

Watching the scene quietly, I felt certain.

‘It’s over.’

Maleia was now an ordinary person.

The infamous mage who specialized in trapping people in fire and burning them alive—her life had ended like this.

All because she had acted arrogantly before someone stronger than herself.

The golden mana that had filled the air around Lycian slowly began to fade.

The magic formation etched across the ground disappeared. The golden blaze in his irises dimmed back to normal.

The Veratis Guild members glanced at him but couldn’t bring themselves to speak. As for the Tierney knights, there was no need to mention them.

They dropped their weapons and scrambled away, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Lycian as possible.

At this moment, everyone was certain of his identity.

Even the frontal-lobe-rotted idiot.

“Y-you can’t be…! B-but how…? Why…? Why someone like Muriel…?”

At Kabil’s incoherent babbling, Lycian paused briefly, then let out a chilling laugh.

Clutching Ninabel tightly, I watched him with mounting tension.

This expression on Lycian’s face—so merciless—was so unfamiliar it felt like he was someone else entirely.

An icy fury settled in his golden eyes.

“You still haven’t come to your senses. …‘Someone like’?”

His voice was so cold it felt as if the air itself might freeze.

“Where should I cut you, Kabil Tierney?”

“W-what…?”

Tilting his head slightly, Lycian looked Kabil up and down.

Then one corner of his mouth twisted cruelly.

“That woman is infamous for burning innocent people alive….”

“W-what are you trying to—”

“And you’re infamous for raping anything that moves. Man or woman. Human trash.”

Lycian didn’t lift a single finger. But his sword, wrapped in golden mana, moved of its own accord.

A dazzling flash carved a golden arc through the air.

Shhk—

Something was severed again.

“…Hk.”

I clamped a hand over my mouth and unconsciously took a step back.

Dark red blood began spreading between Kabil’s legs.

For a moment, everyone froze in horror.

Not long after, Kabil’s scream erupted.

“Argh!! Aaaagh! Agh! Haaagh! Aaaagh! Agh!!”

Even amid the shocking, terrifying scene, Lycian remained utterly composed.

He frowned as if the blood staining his sword were distasteful, then wrapped the blade in mana and cleansed it clean.

Only then, apparently satisfied, did he sheathe it.

Lycian turned to me with a bright, refreshing smile. I flinched without meaning to, and he immediately drooped his ears and tail as if he were a pitiful fox.

With trembling eyes, I looked at him… and at the bluish window that had risen into the air.

…As I stood frozen, utterly stunned, the system delivered an even greater shock.

“…….”

Cold sweat slid down my spine.

My pulse thundered so loudly I could feel it beneath my ears. A sharp ringing whined in my head, my vision flickering.

Through it all, I sensed him drawing closer to me.

My mind went completely white.

No thoughts came.

Only a blaring red danger alarm, flashing and buzzing in my head.