Chapter : 177

Dozens of magic circles unfolded.

Beatrice gently covered Lerwon’s eyes with her palm as he watched.

However, Lerwon called out to Beatrice with dissatisfaction at her attitude of not covering Laurel’s eyes.

“Professor.”

“Ahem, I know you’re not an ordinary student. That’s why I’m covering them, you punk.”

It didn’t matter for Laurel, who was largely ignorant of magic.

But it was precisely because Lerwon had learned advanced magic from Iris that his eyes needed to be covered.

If it were Laurel, who knew nothing at all, there would be no room for problems, but if it were Lerwon, the moment he understood, his head would be cooked.

It was magic of a level that even Beatrice felt a slight headache just by looking at it.

To use such magic so nonchalantly, this is why I hate geniuses.

I’ll assassinate that guy someday. As if sensing Beatrice’s thoughts, jjaerit, he felt Evan’s sharp gaze.

“Ahem. Anyway, no.”

As Beatrice stopped him again, Lerwon finally closed his eyes quietly and waited for the magic to end.

Thump-thump, he could hear his heartbeat.

Several conditions were needed to use tracking magic, and since the contact with Theo was so short, a few conditions were not met.

Nevertheless, dozens of magic circles were needed to succeed in the tracking.

By the time a drop of sweat formed on his forehead, Evan opened the eyes he had lightly closed to concentrate.

However, he simply remained silent without uttering a word.

As if frustrated by Evan’s appearance, Beatrice quickly asked.

“Have you specified the coordinates?”

“…Yes.”

“Where is it?”

Even at Beatrice’s question, Evan looked at Lerwon silently without answering.

At the gaze directed at him, Lerwon clenched his fists.

“It was a wise decision to contact me immediately.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I hope you continue to make wise decisions in the future.”

Although they couldn’t directly question him, the faculty was convinced that the culprit of this incident was Iris Viden.

As soon as Artemia, who had no choice but to send the two professors for the tracking and was left alone to treat Lucian, woke Lucian up, the Emperor was preparing his troops to suppress Golden immediately.

In the current situation where things were changing every minute, every second, Lerwon was the most dangerous existence.

Iris’s adopted son and the person Theo tried to save.

“Hey, still, to your student.”

“Because he’s a student, I’m being this gentle and not touching him.”

That’s true. Beatrice also admitted it.

If Lerwon wasn’t an Academy student right now, he would have been hit once before all this began.

“Remember why Theo contacted you and not us.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

With those words, Evan immediately disappeared with teleportation magic, and Beatrice remained for a moment and squeezed Lerwon’s shoulder.

“He may be a bit sharp with his words, but he’s worried about you.”

“Yes, I know.”

If Evan hadn’t thought about Lerwon at all, he would have subdued Lerwon at the point Theo disappeared and thrown him like bait in front of Iris.

I’ve brought your adopted son here, so now give me back my son.

So Lerwon really didn’t have a single complaint. Rather, he was just grateful.

“…Yeah, don’t worry about it too much.”

After patting Lerwon’s shoulder, Beatrice also followed suit and teleported, and only then did Laurel let out a breath.

“Heoeok, this is really tough.”

“You’ve certainly seen the two of them together quite a few times this time.”

Usually, Beatrice and Evan were only seen together at important Academy events.

Evan was the Empire’s greatest magician, and Beatrice was one of the few magicians who could be compared to him.

Gathering the two of them in one place was no different from using a butcher’s knife to catch a chicken, but this time, he kept witnessing the two of them together.

“It’s all because of that guy, Theo.”

At the sight of Laurel slumping down on the spot as if her legs had given out, Lerwon didn’t smile and just clenched and unclenched his fists a few times.

Seeing Lerwon seemingly contemplating something seriously, Laurel put on a cold, serious face.

“Don’t get any funny ideas. One trouble-making junior is enough.”

“Speaking of which, wasn’t Lilia also quite the troublemaker?”

He remembered it wasn’t just a day or two that Laurel had screamed because of Lilia’s affairs.

“Lilia sometimes acts like my older sister.”

“Theo said the same thing.”

“Ah, I think I know what you mean.”

There were always people who took responsibility for things that weren’t even their own.

Theo must be that kind of person. What impudent juniors.

“So ask for help within a range where you won’t be in danger.”

“Pardon?”

“I said I’ll help.”

Laurel bit her lip for a moment and then shouted with all her might.

“Magical Girl Transformation!”

After a flashy transformation scene, Laurel, now in a glamorous one-piece dress full of pink frills, shouted.

“Leave the bodyguarding to me!”

Her face was bright red as if she was embarrassed.

But, at the strong voice that contrasted with her face, Lerwon let out a small breath.

“…Ha.”

Lerwon muttered as if snapping at Laurel.

“What do you know about my situation to say that?”

“I went through all the trouble of transforming, and this is what I hear? This is upsetting!”

Did I, huh? The transformation, huh? It’s not something I do often!

Amidst Laurel’s shout with her eyes wide open, Lerwon’s eyes wavered endlessly.

“Your life could be in danger.”

“Since entering the Academy, it’s not like my life has been in mortal danger just once or twice.”

“Still, back then, there was at least the safety net of the professors. But the Master of Gold… is different.”

An average-skilled person wouldn’t even be able to touch the tip of Iris’s toes.

The only one who could definitively overwhelm the Master of Gold was Evan Lisitoel.

Laurel didn’t yet know how incredible that was.

“It was pure luck that Theo managed to steal something from the Master of Gold.”

Iris’s arrogance, Theo’s secretive and unique ability, and luck.

All of those combined to barely achieve victory that day.

Lucian and Zephyros’s escape was also only possible because Iris was watching from afar; if she hadn’t allowed it in the first place, their escape drama would not even have been possible.

And yet, now Laurel was shouting that she would willingly help in backstabbing such a Master of Gold.

“You could really die.”

“Death, it’s really scary.”

At Lerwon’s serious advice, Laurel answered calmly.

“I almost died just a while ago, you know?”

When the ancient demon appeared, if it weren’t for Theo, she would have died.

Professor Evan drove away the ancient demon without blinking an eye, but just by watching from a step behind, the demon vividly imprinted the fear of death for the first time in a long time.

“But there’s also a saying. If you don’t move at this moment, you might regret it more than death.”

“……”

“I think now is that moment. Above all, the reason I’m alive until now is all thanks to Theo Lisitoel. I have to repay him.”

At Laurel’s serious gaze, Lerwon’s stomach churned.

“And I’m not planning on moving recklessly alone, you know? I’m going to ask Lilia and Cecilia-sunbae for help too! If I ask, they’ll both follow along somehow.”

“Then go ahead and convince them and bring them before me.”

“Huh? Just trust me and wait!”

Falling for Lerwon’s provocation, Laurel shouted confidently, flung open the door, and ran out.

Watching her pink hair flutter, Lerwon pressed down the hot emotion that was welling up inside him for some reason.

Let’s be sure to express my thanks and gratitude. To do that, the option of sacrificing himself could not and should not exist for him.

“Mother.”

You cruel person, who I can no longer call mother.

Do you even know that such a warm world exists?

Will the day ever come when you understand that firm resolve to say, ‘Since you saved my life, I will also risk my life to save you’?

“You won’t come looking for me, I’m sure.”

Because you are a monster that has been broken beyond repair.

* * *

“Hmm.”

Iris let out a faint sigh.

Was it a bad choice to fall asleep in a situation like this?

The blonde woman forcibly tore off the snake scales that had sprouted on the back of her hand and sighed.

“Hmm.”

Iris, who was tilting her head as if sizing something up, left a thick smile on her lips.

“This timing isn’t bad.”

Her gaze was strangely averted from Theo, but it was clear she was looking at something.

“Ouroboros, the monster that swallows the world. A being cursed by all living creatures in the world. And a divine beast born to support the world.”

The voice flowing from Iris’s lips was like a sweet whisper to a lover.

“In the first place, it wasn’t born to swallow the world.”

If anything, it was a pitiful creature that fell into becoming a monster because it loved God too much.

“But it was killed by the god it loved.”

That’s why it left a curse.

To one day return to this world and swallow it.

To monopolize the love of the god it loved so dearly.

“That’s why the beings who reappeared in ancient times by borrowing the bodies of others were eventually killed by the person they loved most, you see?”

There is a reason for everything in the world.

Just as Theo was born because Evan existed, because the first Ouroboros was killed by the god it loved, those who later chose to become monsters under the curse were all killed by the being they loved most.

“There are exceptions, but that will be fine.”

Because Iris had several useful cards.

“So, my plan is simple.”

Iris, who lightly crushed the torn-off scale with a kwajik, smiled brightly.

“I won’t be swayed by that stupid snake.”

The powdered scales scattered from her hand.

Iris willingly smiled and declared.

“I will swallow the power of Ouroboros and put the world in my hands.”

She won’t do something like swallowing the world.

God’s love? She didn’t need that crap.

In this fictional world where faith was being lost, Iris was convinced that there was no human who loathed and hated God as much as she did.

“I plan to inject the poison that is myself into the monster’s purely distorted love.”

Iris smiled brightly.

“When a monster that loves only God steadfastly and the monster of Gold that loathes God most terribly mix, what kind of being will be born? Aren’t you curious?”

Iris smiled brightly as if the mere imagination was ecstatic.

* * *

“Are you planning to proceed with things on your own?”

At the blunt question, the man who had closed his eyes and seemed lost in thought slowly opened his eyes.

“Do you think things are proceeding on their own?”

“Then what is it if not that!”

Anxiety and nervousness were visible in his shouting figure.

“You’re worried that Iris Viden will kill Theo Lisitoel.”

At the man’s mumble, another man, once called the Pope, Caelus Levian, shouted.

“Didn’t you promise me that man’s life? On that condition, I am cooperating with you!”

The man, looking at Caelus who had lost all his past nobility and mask and had fallen, didn’t even sigh.

Not because he found him pathetic, but because he truly understood.

That man, too, had once existed high in the sky before his wings were broken and he fell to the ground.

“I understand.”

“Then why don’t you restrain Iris?”

“Because Iris will not kill Theo Lisitoel.”

The man said firmly.

“She says to become her son, but Iris has no intention of truly making Theo Lisitoel her son.”

She just thinks of him as an amusing toy with many useful aspects.

If a substitute could be found to replace that usefulness, she would quickly lose interest and discard him.

“Iris Viden’s one and only family is ‘Lerwon Viden’.”

She hadn’t realized it herself, but Iris was that kind of being.

At the man’s question full of conviction, Caelus let out a breath of anger and finally turned his body to head to his hideout.

The man, who had been following his figure with his eyes, turned his head.

What kind of spectacle would Iris show?

What would be at the end that God desired? The man didn’t know anything, and in fact, he didn’t want to know.

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