Chapter 54: The Missing Piece

In The Grand Theocheirós Manor, there was a village being built. Under Raymond Theocheirós’ supervision, the progress had somehow become faster and the water systems were now close to completion.

Raymond walked through the village road, his feet took him to one particular house that had just been recently built. Lifting his hand, he knocked on the wooden door.

It opened, revealing a slim man with brown, slicked back hair.

“Come in,” he said to Raymond.

After entering, Raymond adjusted the jacket of his suit and then took a deep breath. He looked around and then asked:

“What do you think of the house, Silver Cloud?”

A curt laugh escaped the man’s lips.

“I am offended. How come I get the same type of house as these slum rats? And here I thought we were friends.”

The blonde man in a suit smiled at him without uttering a word.

Silver Cloud continued.

“Well, I guess it’s fine. It’s all gonna get destroyed in a few days anyway.”

Raymond walked up to a chair and then helped himself. Raising his feet and putting them on the tabletop, he grabbed a roll of tobacco from his pocket and then used fire magic to light it up.

“Exactly,” he replied before putting the cigar between his lips.

Blowing the thick gray smoke into the air, he added:

“Axerion’s daughter, Zarria, is trying to create a cure for the cursed food.”

“Hm,” Silver Cloud muttered, walking up to one of the chairs and then sitting down across from Raymond.

Fidgeting the cigar in his fingers, Raymond spoke.

“I gave her a sample and promised I won’t turn her friend into a monster in exchange for the authority over the manor’s human resource management. The poor girl completely trusted me.”

Silver Cloud shook his head.

“But deep down, you’re hoping she would find a cure, aren’t you?”

Raymond scoffed at his words.

“Not really.”

Silver Cloud sighed.

“So, what do you have for me?”

There was a few seconds of silence. Raymond blew out the smoke once more before opening his mouth to speak.

“Silver Cloud, the acting clan head, Neral, is on her way to the south border as we speak. She knows our plans to let the demonic forces through the continent.

He looked at the pale, brown-haired man and then added:

“She’s expecting to see the clan guards there. But since I have the access to that now, I ordered them last night to come back to the manor for a staff inspection. I told them that a replacement squad will be sent, but of course, the border will be left defenseless. I lied, after all.”

“She will be all alone. That’s when you, Silver Cloud, will go there and kill Neral. Actually, you can let her die by the demon’s hands and just bring her head to me.”

Silver Cloud stared at Raymond with narrowing eyes.

“You’re the most vile man I’ve ever met,” he mumbled with a grin of amusement.

The blonde man in a suit just chuckled to that.

“Remember, Silver Cloud. No matter how fucked up we might turn out to be, we could never hold a candle to Axerion. Before that man, we are saints. He is the devil incarnate, the most selfish and ambitious bastard in the face of this earth.”

***

In Zarria’s room, a stack of books, papers and used coffee mugs were scattered everywhere. The once-girly chamber had turned into a full fledged laboratory with all the tables and flasks messily placed all over the place.

Pacing back and forth, the dark-haired girl was biting on her nails. She had been reading the formulas that she had wrote on a piece of paper several times now.

She couldn’t accept the result.

’I can’t make it…’ she thought with a grim expression.

There was no cure — no, the curse wasn’t meant to be lifted. Zarria’s assumption that the cursed food itself made the victims subject to monster transformation was wrong.

After studying the mechanism of the curse, Zarria found out that it tied the victim’s soul to the one in control of the curse somehow. Like numerous strings connected to one single point, all of those who had eaten the food, including Zarria, had a dark energy coming off and traveling all the way to the demonic continent.

More importantly, Zarria discovered that the one who controlled the curse had to fullfil a condition before gaining the ability to turn a victim into a monster. And she found out that the process for each individual was not exactly the same.

Since all the curse did was create a way for the mastermind to manipulate the anatomy of the soul, changing its very essence to that of a demonic one, this process required the mastermind to solve each of the unique soul of his victims. Therefore, what Zarria had to do was to reverse that process.

She had figured it out. All of the necessary materials had already been prepared…

Except one.

The missing variable, the main ingredient of the reversal potion.

It was something that couldn’t be synthesized no matter what sort of alchemy she did. And even if it wasn’t, it would take her years to create such a complex element that could interact with the realm of souls.

Zarria stopped and then put the piece of paper down. She looked over the books one more time, maybe there was something she had missed. Maybe something went wrong along the way and the solution she had been looking for was just right there.

She spent another hour going through her work, verifying its accuracy.

There was nothing wrong. No matter how hard she looked, she was indeed missing one crucial element for the reversal potion.

Slowly, dread crept through Zarria’s heart. The image of Rose’s crying face as she finally had some hope for life suddenly appeared in her mind.

’Did I… Did I mess it up again?’ she thought to herself, her eyes widening with intense anxiety.

Raymond had tricked her again. He never intended to have a race. He knew she wouldn’t be able to find the cure.

Her breathing was growing faster and faster. It felt like she had been trapped inside a deep well with the rope beside her, but there was no way to climb up. A different kind of fear and hopelessness filled her system.

And then suddenly, the door was pushed open. Turning her head to the doorway, she saw a female servant looking at her with enthusiasm.

“Lady Zarria, Master Dheinyrus has come home!”

The girl dropped the book from her hand and lingered for a few seconds. Then, when all sounds faded, replaced by her beating heart, she slowly walked out of the room.

An emotion that she couldn’t explain overflowed in her heart. It was as if nothing else mattered at the moment except getting to the mansion’s main door.

Her mind flew away for some reason. She absentmindedly took the stairs to the main hall and then walked to the grand doorway.

There, she saw several people standing. But only one of them had her eyes.

The tall, dark-haired man looked at her with his sharp, golden eyes that were brimming with gentleness.

Dhein smiled, and then said:

“I’m home, Zarria.”

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