Chapter : 192

I tried somehow to stop the hand that forcibly pried my jaw open, but it was not enough.

“Urgh!”

I absolutely refuse a life of being controlled as a snake-human! I never thought I would experience the biggest crisis of my life like this.

I gritted my teeth and pushed Iris away with my whole body to resist somehow.

“Don’t resist.”

Goosebumps rose on my arms at the sweetly soothing voice. That’s not something a person trying to change another’s entire species to suit her taste should say!

I struggled, trying to escape Iris’s grasp, but I couldn’t muster any strength in my body.

“Stay still.”

“Ugh!”

Eventually, I was caught, and my mouth was forced open.

I barely managed to grit my teeth to stop the cold scale that forced its way into my mouth from sliding down my throat.

Absolutely, absolutely must not swallow. I’m going to spit it out just like this.

I barely calmed my breath, which was running wild with the approaching fear.

“Well, it wouldn’t be fun if it were that easy.”

Smiling brightly, Iris covered my mouth and nose so I couldn’t spit out the scale.

I hid the scale in my mouth under my tongue and tried to breathe somehow, but Iris didn’t give me even a little gap.

“Mmph!”

Inside my ears, a sharp ringing sound like a needle scratching glass began to rise.

As anxiety soared, my body flailed instinctively.

Tingling as if pricked by needles, the edges of my vision began to narrow as if ink were spreading.

The sensation of my heart collapsing on its own was transmitted.

‘Ah….’

Death by suffocation, or become a snake-human and be controlled by Iris.

If I had to choose one of the two, wouldn’t the former be better?

The snake-human I faced with the senior was truly in a terrible state.

Ah, dying really would be better.

Rather than becoming Iris’s puppet and becoming an enemy to friends or family, dying would be a hundred times better.

The moment I closed my eyes and tried to entrust myself completely to the approaching death, the hand covering my nose and mouth disappeared.

I spat out the snake scale I had struggled not to swallow and inhaled the air with all my might.

The air that rushed in through my airway felt like broken glass as it entered my lungs and pierced the inside.

“Cough, gasp!!!”

The air was hot and stinging.

A cough burst out as if vomiting, and I felt like my throat was turning inside out. Tears even leaked from my eyes.

The pain, as if my lungs were tearing, made my mind feel faint.

“What on earth is happening?”

My vision, which had turned pitch black, returned, and it felt like I was reconnected with the world that had been cut off.

“I lived.”

Only after muttering softly did it feel real.

Ah, I lived.

I really… almost died, and I was about to die.

I was about to choose death so simply.

At the same time, a question arose. Who on earth saved me?

“Theo, it’s okay now.”

“That was dangerous, Young Master. Right?”

The senior helping me up and Fel speaking casually.

And the person watching me and the two from afar—

“Mordegar?”

It was Mordegar wearing a school uniform. Why is Mordegar wearing a school uniform?

* * *

Despair is familiar, and hope is unfamiliar.

Yes, let’s give up everything.

Let me die satisfied just with the fact that someone like me dared to have hope, even for a moment, and lived like a human.

《I’ve got a body to replace.》

I closed my eyes even when I heard the murmuring of someone greedy.

Just as it opened its maw wide to swallow him whole, someone’s hand barged into his mind as if swept by a wave.

“Senior Lerwon!!”

A hand forcibly grabbing his shoulder.

Widely dilated pupils, no longer white but grey.

And even the Holy Magic painfully touching his skin.

“Fel.”

It was Fel. Lerwon, with Fel before his eyes, suddenly felt tears welling up.

The temperature of hope that instantly dug into his embrace was warm.

“Senior.”

As if he hadn’t known Lerwon would cry, Fel looked at him in surprise.

“Theo remained alone with Iris. While telling me to run away….”

Even if he told me to run away, I shouldn’t have run. Belated regret surged in.

If there was to be a sacrifice, I should have been the one to sacrifice myself.

Lerwon, explaining the situation gibberish, turned his eyes to Hartain standing behind Fel, and soon to the other person who accompanied them.

“Mordegar, you…!”

“I am Mordin.”

“You might not believe it, but for now, he is on our side.”

Despite Fel’s explanation, Lerwon, unable to believe it, just stared blankly at Mordin’s figure.

“Mordegar is?”

He’s the type who wouldn’t be strange sacrificing his life for Iris, isn’t he?

To the puzzled Lerwon, Mordin corrected firmly once again.

“I am Mordin.”

“I didn’t think you were naive enough to think I’d just let it slide because you insist on that.”

Lerwon scoffed lightly as if it were absurd.

“It seems we have the leisure to argue like this right now.”

At Mordin’s reply, Lerwon ground his teeth.

He’s right. It’s a situation where I ran away leaving Theo behind.

It’s right to go back to where Theo is with them right now.

But hearing the damn human in front of me say that was annoying.

Even more so because Lerwon had seen him listen to Iris Viden’s orders more faithfully than anyone else, showing an appearance that wouldn’t be lacking even if called a fanatic beyond loyal.

Seeing Lerwon looking like anger was surging up, Hartain finally stepped in.

“Can I explain while we go for now?”

“…Fine.”

Because it was true that there was no leisure.

The four people began to run quickly towards where Theo would be.

Hartain’s explanation was simple and clear.

Evan engraved a brand on his neck. Besides that, Beatrice even placed a restriction so he would die immediately if he showed signs of siding with Iris.

When he heard that, although Lerwon’s expression still looked disapproving, he seemed to have accepted it to some extent.

Clearly, the time spent running away didn’t seem that long, so why did the way back feel so far?

At that moment, the figures of two people were seen from afar.

Iris Viden, whose face showed a glimpse of enjoyment, along with Theo’s face, perilous as if he would suffocate and die at any moment.

Checking that sight, Mordin immediately broke the wind artifact Beatrice had given him.

The gem containing magic shattered in his hand, and the layered magic engraved on the artifact instantly turned into a whirlwind.

Perhaps because she was engrossed in the dying figure of Theo, Iris, who hadn’t yet discovered Mordin, was easily pushed back by the wind.

Next was the artifact imbued with binding magic.

When he broke the artifact once again, dozens of trees grew and thoroughly bound Iris.

“Hm?”

Quickly, Lerwon and Fel ran towards Theo.

Hartain still stood next to Mordin.

“Aren’t you going to check?”

“Fel and Lerwon will take care of it.”

Hartain hadn’t come all this way specifically because he was worried about Theo’s safety.

As a Heretic Inquisitor who must judge sinners who committed taboos, he followed Fel even while putting his name on the Academy register for Fel’s safety.

One could say there was a completely different purpose besides that, but anyway, right now was the time to interrogate the heretic.

“And, I have to monitor you too.”

Because you never know when a person’s heart might change.

Although the professors put several layers of safety devices, the opponent is that Mordegar.

If he changed his mind, he would become the most troublesome enemy.

It was the best policy to stay by his side so he could be dealt with immediately even if he betrayed.

Hartain’s eyes directed at Mordin were unprecedentedly sharp.

To think he distrusts him so much, when he was the one who persuaded Lerwon to cooperate. Is this indeed a Heretic Inquisitor?

Mordin, with calm eyes despite the fierce distrust behind him, ignored Hartain, who raised his sword and declared.

“Master of Gold, Iris Viden. I arrest you for the heresy of committing a taboo.”

“Ah.”

At Iris’s small breath, the situation that was turning urgently froze in an instant.

Iris, who lightly escaped from the binding magic used even by breaking an artifact, leisurely rotated her wrist and stretched her neck as if stiff.

That calm attitude, as if she were out for a walk somewhere, felt rather more eerie.

“Evan is outside, huh?”

Hearing Iris mutter with a grin, Theo’s two eyes shook.

Iris clearly saw his mouth forming the words ‘No,’ muttered quietly.

“My son, the former Sword of Doctrine, Hartain, and… even the traitor.”

“Iris.”

Mordin stepped one step further ahead than Hartain and looked at his former master.

“You shouldn’t be unaware of what the end of a traitor looks like.”

“There is no way I wouldn’t know.”

Disposing of traitors in the Golden was always ‘Mordegar’s’ job.

Mordegar trampled traitors thoroughly without a shred of forgiveness or mercy.

Amidst the fierce disposal, the Golden became a terrifying group no one could go against, but at the same time, it slowly drifted away from the merchant group the ‘young Iris’ and ‘Mordin’ of the past dreamed of and talked about.

“Noona, let’s stop here now.”

Therefore, now he speaks not as her faithful right arm and the fake Master of Gold, Mordegar, but as Mordin, who used to converse with her in the back alleys once upon a time.

“You can still stop.”

Mordin intuited.

“However, if you take just one more step.”

From then on, there is no turning back.

She will completely enter the path of ruin and will never be able to return.

“Please, Noona.”

* * *

Noona.

It was a title evoking strange nostalgia.

Iris stared blankly at Mordegar.

Come to think of it, it seems she was called that at one time. Whenever she was called that, she felt incredibly good—

“Ugh!”

The moment she let her guard down, Iris frowned at the fierce vow of love towards god filling her head.

“Noona?”

To think it interrupts like this even when I indulge in sentiment for a moment. Haa, really.

Iris calmly swept her face with her palm.

It would be better to kill ‘that thing.’

Iris lightly flicked her finger.

Then, an arrow of mana flew towards Mordin’s heart with fierce momentum.

If it weren’t for Hartain being by Mordin’s side, his heart would have been pierced and he would have died as is.

“Why? Did you try to persuade her?”

Hartain mocked Mordin.

“If something like that were possible, there is no way God would have cursed her.”

“…Understood.”

He just tried to bet on the last hope, however faint.

Mordin gauged the number of artifacts Beatrice gave him to use.

“As a Heretic Inquisitor, I will take over the combat command. Fel, assist while protecting the injured if you can. Mordin, you take charge of rear support. Lerwon will fight in the front with me.”

At Hartain’s instructions, each took their position.

“The priority is suppressing the sinner; if that is impossible, killing is permitted.”

Hartain’s cold instruction fell.

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