Episode 1155
by CristaeEpisode 1155
“Do you know the mages from Einrogard?”
“Are the bandits plotting some kind of rebellion in the west…?”
They couldn’t bring themselves to ask Lee Han, whose lips were stained with blood as he focused on healing, so people turned their questions to Giselle beside him.
Giselle answered with a practiced smile.
“The only mages I know are from Baldrogard. I don’t know anything about any rebellion plots, either.”
“……”
“……”
Scattered around, the White Tiger Tower students were quietly impressed.
As expected of Moradi, she really was something else.
Any of them would have rather bitten off their own tongue than mention Baldrogard.
‘Saying she only knows Baldrogard mages makes even a flat denial sound believable.’
“Cough!”
Lee Han coughed again. His friends were startled.
Could it be—again?
But Giselle remained calm. There was no way this Wardanaz friend of hers would ever make the same mistake twice.
“You just drank water down the wrong way, right?”
“No. I had a wound in my lung, but my constitution is so weak, it’s hard to heal it outside. I didn’t want to waste time, so I just transferred it to myself and cast healing magic.”
“…Isn’t this guy insane?!”
“?!”
Lee Han was baffled by his friend’s outraged betrayal.
Why?!
Few in the empire truly knew, but anti-magicists were actually an ancient group with traditions going back to antiquity.
Their grand ambition was to block all magic and paranormal phenomena and sever the material plane—including the continent itself—from all dimensions.
But compared to the days when they’d conquered entire kingdoms, modern anti-magicists were just a handful of radical groups.
Those who’d ended up here were merely people with grudges against magic or magicians, or just greedy for profit from killing wizards.
Except for the leadership, most were mindless puppets with no awareness of ideology.
The remnants currently in Marheim City were no exception.
No matter how experienced or skilled they were in battle, if they lacked clear goals and only followed their greed, they’d always end up dancing on someone else’s palm.
Hallenken, a knife-fighter sipping northern spirits at their lodgings, muttered,
“I’ve been feeling off lately. Is that priest’s plague really not affecting us?”
“Off? I feel fine. If the plague could affect us, we’d have collapsed ages ago.”
“Still, something’s… wrong…”
Hallenken, nicknamed -Helhest-, was the most skilled among them.
Few mercenaries could manifest aura, and few had killed more than three knights.
Hallenken was both.
The others didn’t brush off his concerns. You could never be too careful with evil god worshipper maniacs.
“I heard there are some skilled healing mages in the city now. Should we get checked by them?”
“Healing mage?”
It sounded ridiculous—a bunch of anti-magicists wanting to get checked by mages—but nobody really cared.
“How good are they? I don’t want to waste time on a quack who only takes money.”
In the empire, there were far more bogus mages than real competent ones.
Especially among so-called healers, who often wandered around boasting but were barely better than snake-oil salesmen.
If all they could do was patch up a shallow cut, you were better off trusting a warrior’s aura-based recovery.
“They say this one’s pretty good. Can cure the plague with a touch, and sometimes even absorbs the sickness himself.”
“……”
The anti-magicist remnants fell silent at the outlandish rumor.
“You expect me to believe that? If it’s that good, he should be a bishop.”
“It might be exaggerated, but it’s supposed to be true. There’s nothing to lose, right?”
“What do you mean, nothing to lose? There’s no good in drawing attention now.”
Even these remnants had heard wild rumors about the ferocity of Einrogard mages.
Something must have happened with some bandits or mercenaries, because apparently Einrogard mages were rampaging across the west.
They never dreamed it was all because a single mage was acting on personal motives.
Surely some criminal must have committed a heinous, insulting crime, and the madmen of Einrogard were hunting them down!
Either way, they had to be careful, being not so far from the west.
“If there were Einrogard mages nearby, there’d be chaos already.”
“Hm…”
Hallenken wavered at his comrade’s persistent persuasion.
Nothing really to lose by checking it out.
“Fine. If he’s such a saintly type, he won’t make a scene if we don’t pay. Can you call him here?”
“If you say someone can’t even get up, he’ll come.”
The remnants quickly made a plan.
They’d done everything before—faking illness to call someone over was nothing to them.
One hour later.
Lee Han and Giselle visited the remnants’ hideout.
The low-ceilinged building was dark and cramped, but neither of them paid it much mind—there were lots of buildings like this in Marheim City.
“Doesn’t it seem like most patients are gone by now?”
“Looks like it. We’ll probably finish everything today.”
“What about that suspicious priest?”
“Hm. I figured he’d make a move, but nothing.”
“Maybe we look more suspicious? Or maybe they realized we’re from Einrogard.”
“That’s possible… to be honest, competent healing mages aren’t exactly common. Earlier, I tried quietly dropping that I was from Baldrogard, but no one believed me.”
“…So? What are you planning next?”
“When the plague dies down, we go back to normal.”
The reason Lee Han wasn’t using his regular methods was because of the plague in the city.
Trying to drag out a supposedly trusted priest while a plague was raging?
Obviously, that would backfire. Lee Han wasn’t dumb enough to miss that.
At worst, the priest’s followers might throw themselves in the way as shields…
“When the plague dies down, the people around the priest will also disperse, so we can snatch him in a surprise raid.”
“…Hauling someone off is one thing, but if you do that without explanation, there’ll be complaints.”
“That’s why I mentioned Baldrogard earlier.”
‘Like anyone’ll fall for that.’
Giselle was dumbfounded.
They might be unsure now, since he hadn’t shown his true colors, but if he dragged someone off, people would immediately think it was Einrogard!
Still, Giselle didn’t argue further.
Even if force was used, the impact would probably be smaller than expected.
Since Wardanaz hadn’t stopped for a moment and kept clearing the plague, even if they snatched the priest…
‘With the added weight of Einrogard’s reputation, citizens will probably trust us more.’
“Cough, cough. This way.”
“!”
When the door opened and they saw Hallenken lying there, Lee Han and Giselle were greatly surprised.
But for different reasons.
Giselle was startled by the aura of a strong person. Pretending to be sick, but he couldn’t hide the poised tension unique to the skilled.
For Lee Han, it was because of the man’s soul.
Watching over the sick, his soul sight wide open, he saw a strange worm squirming deep in the man’s soul.
And the others nearby, too!
Even for Lee Han, this wasn’t an easy call to make on the spot.
‘What? Enemies?’
But he didn’t feel any hostility.
On the contrary—they seemed merely curious about their condition.
‘Victims of an enemy? No, even so, it’s strange. They’re strong, but all of them are like this…’
Lee Han organized his thoughts.
Right now, the priority was figuring out what that worm was.
The faint aura coming from the worm.
This is…
‘High chance it’s an evil god’s authority!’
Lee Han’s eyes flashed deeply.
His prodding had finally drawn the Sangvilos cult back out.
His attitude was different from before.
Last time, he’d tried to be cautious and discreet; now, he was itching to make the first move.
If you want a fight, bring it on!
“There’s a worm parasitizing your soul.”
“?!!”
“What kind of nonsense… Don’t spout garbage!”
The remnants erupted.
Not even Hallenken, nor any of them, would have failed to notice a parasite in their own soul.
“I think it’s a worm created by evil god worshippers.”
“……”
Suddenly, the remnants faltered.
For a mere healer, he had hit far too close to the truth.
A ‘No way…’ flashed through everyone’s mind—including Hallenken.
Could this guy…?
“Can you take it out?”
Hallenken coughed and asked.
Revenge on that crazy priest could come later. The pressing matter was removing the worm in his soul.
Lee Han nodded. He’d wanted to extract and examine it anyway.
“I’ll heal you now.”
The anti-magicist remnants swallowed nervously as they looked at Lee Han.
Rumor had it that this healer could cure a plague with a touch, and for difficult illnesses, he’d even take them onto himself.
If that was true, it was no wonder people called him a saint.
Not that they’d believed it—but after hearing him talk about the worm, their minds changed.
Maybe this guy really had some skill…
Crunch!
Unlike transferring a curse, removing the worm was a whole other matter. Something actually tore as it was ripped from the soul.
But no matter how great the evil god’s authority, a mere worm’s power couldn’t overcome the ancient archmage’s secret.
The worm, created by an evil god’s authority, was swiftly drawn from Hallenken’s soul to Lee Han’s. But it bounced off, unable to enter Lee Han’s soul.
‘Got it.’
Lee Han stared at the worm in his hand, planning to seal it.
That’s when Hallenken’s face suddenly changed. It looked as if he were struck by dozens of terrible curses.
“…!!!”
As a skilled swordsman, Hallenken immediately realized what was happening.
The black curses that had pooled in his soul were flooding out!
“The worm…! If you remove the worm…!”
“What? What are you saying?”
“The worm… if you remove it… you die…!”
Those were Hallenken’s last words before his gaze turned black. He’d totally lost his reason.
At the same time, one of the nearest anti-magicist remnants had his head cut clean off. As screams and shouts erupted, Lee Han and Giselle had already leapt back.
Whoosh!
A savage chill burned from the twin swords Giselle drew.
“Wardanaz! Get ready!”
But instead of casting a spell, Lee Han just stared blankly at the worm in his palm.
Seeing that, Giselle felt her heart drop. Clearly, the transfer of the evil god’s worm had had an effect.
She shivered even more, remembering how many mistakes Wardanaz had made lately.
‘…I should have stopped him!’
But what happened next once again exceeded Giselle’s expectations.
“Obey my command!”
Lee Han gripped the worm tightly and gave an order. The other remnants screamed in pain as the worms in their souls reacted.
“…What the hell is he!?”
Even in this chaos, he was stealing and using the evil god’s authority!?