The mont the golem collapsed in the middle of the battle, the lich suddenly started speaking to Nellin in a friendly tone.
And it wasn’t the kind of voice that echoed inside their heads — it sounded like an actual human voice coming from his throat.
Most of the group looked on warily, puzzled by the lich’s sudden behavior.
However.
Only two people.
Nellin and Presia reacted differently from the others.
“Ah, ahhhh…”
Presia looked like she might burst into tears at any mont.
Because that voice still lingered in her mory.
It was the voice of the man she loved.
“Hah, so you were faking it too, huh?”
Nellin lowered her bow and frowned.
— Hahaha, wasn’t it pretty convincing? Didn’t I sound like an evil lich?
“Evil my ass.”
Troll found Nellin’s reaction strange.
He thought he’d acted pretty well, but judging by Nellin’s response, she must have realized from the start that he was Ventus Frail.
— Looks like you were already suspicious. How did you know?
“Well, I was half convinced, half not. But that tacky crown you made back in the day gave it away.”
— Tacky?! That design was ant to make look intellectual!
“Getting all defensive like that proves it’s really you. Anyway, that was the start, but once we started fighting, I could tell you were bluffing.”
Nellin smirked slightly as she spoke.
“The fight was just way too gentle and easy.”
— Gentle? I tried to add a bit of danger, you know.
“It was tough, sure. But that’s all. You didn’t summon so many golems that Paulen and the others couldn’t handle them, your magic was powerful but you didn’t really try to stop us from blocking it. Above all else.”
Nellin pointed her thumb at the tree behind her.
“You used all that magic and not a single scratch on that tree? That doesn’t make sense unless you protected it with a barrier from the start.”
The barrier was supposedly to prevent them from escaping.
But in truth, it was to keep the hill from being heavily damaged by magic.
The others turned their gazes from the lich to the tree.
Despite such a fierce fight, neither the tree nor the hill had suffered serious damage.
Those on the front lines had been too focused on the golem to look back, Gracie had been busy countering magic, and Alia was constantly casting blessings and holy attacks, so they hadn’t noticed at all.
But what surprised them even more was that the lich was now chatting so casually with Nellin.
“B-Brother… what in the world is going on?”
“I don’t know.”
“What is happening, seriously!”
“S-So… does this an the fight is over now?”
Godrick’s group stood there bewildered.
anwhile, Paulen stayed on guard, ready to move again at any mont.
Nellin put a hand on her hip and leaned to one side, questioning Troll.
“So, why the hell did you do all this?”
— Hahaha! It’s been so long since we last t. I also wanted to show off the new magic I’ve been developing. How was it? Pretty amazing, right?
“Ugh. You still can’t stop bragging about your magic, huh.”
Nellin shook her head in exasperation.
“Really… is it really you?”
Presia approached Troll with a trembling voice.
“Ventus.”
“Ventus?”
“No way…!”
Presia spoke the na.
Ventus.
That was the na of the Sage of Magic who had been Nellin and Presia’s comrade 50 years ago.
Alia doubted her ears, and Paulen stared wide-eyed at Troll.
But the most shocked of all was.
“W-What!? Ventus? You an that lich is our ancestor?!”
It was Gracie, who admired the Sage of Magic more than anyone.
Troll wanted to tease them seeing their reactions, but he prioritized talking to Presia who was walking toward him.
— Yes, Presia, it’s been so long. And I’m sorry. I took the joke too far, didn’t I?
Troll answered Presia in a gentle voice.
“Ah… Ventus… it really is you.”
“Hey, aren’t you going to apologize to too?”
— Yeah, yeah. Sorry to you too, Nellin.
“Such a half-assed apology!”
“Aah… just… what on earth happened, Ventus? Why did you beco a lich? I thought you died in a magic accident…”
— That’s right. I didn’t die in a magic accident. Actually, I fell into a trap.
“What? A trap? Who set it up?”
Nellin scowled at Troll’s casual answer.
When he ntioned that his death, which had been publicly known as an accident, was actually a murder, she let out a dangerous aura.
— Let’s talk about that sowhere else first. Oh, and.
Troll looked at Godrick’s group, Paulen, and Alia one by one.
— I’ll also talk about the sli, so follow .
“T-The sli?!”
— Yeah, the sli.
Snap!
When Troll snapped his fingers, the barrier around the hill vanished, and a dark space appeared in midair.
Now then, co on in.
“By the way, what is that black thing?”
— It’s a space transfer magic I developed, called Warp. Once you pass through it, you’ll arrive straight at the place I live now.
“Space transfer magic…”
Gracie still couldn’t believe Troll was really Ventus, and stared at the warp magic with wide, curious eyes.
For a mage, any unknown magic naturally drew their attention like a magnet.
The first person to approach the warp was Presia.
“If I really go in there… you’ll tell everything, right, Ventus?”
— Of course. Ah, but now that I’m a lich, I don’t need to eat anymore. So, sorry, I don’t have any tea or snacks to offer you. If I could, I would’ve prepared the tea you like.
The more she heard him say such caring words, the more Presia realized that the lich before her truly was Ventus.
“It’s fine. Even without those things… I could listen to you talk forever.”
— Mmm.
Tears welled up in Presia’s eyes.
Tears of joy at being able to et Ventus and speak with him again like this.
Troll awkwardly scratched his cheekbone at the sight.
‘She’s this happy to see … I’m glad, but sohow… it’s embarrassing.’
Presia didn’t doubt him at all and willingly tried to step through the warp.
At that mont.
“Please wait, Saintess Presia!”
“Paladin Paulen?”
“For safety, I will go in first.”
Though Paulen was tasked with guarding Alia, Presia was also a saintess.
As a paladin, he couldn’t allow a saintess to take a potentially dangerous action before him.
‘I wanted to go in first myself… but it can’t be helped.’
Holding back her disappointnt, Presia stepped aside for Paulen.
Without hesitation, Paulen stepped through the warp.
“Pa-Paulen.”
Alia felt worried about Paulen.
What if sothing went wrong?
Even though she trusted him, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
At that mont.
Suddenly, Paulen’s head popped out of the black space.
“Kyaa!”
“It’s all right, everyone. On the other side is a cave that looks like a research lab. You can co in.”
“Pa-Paulen! Don’t scare like that!”
“Huh? Ah.”
Paulen lowered his head to check his own appearance.
Only his head had co out; from the neck down, he was still inside the black space.
“I see. So if I only stick out my head, this is what it looks like.”
This ti, Paulen stepped all the way out.
“Then I’ll go in next.”
Once Paulen confird it was safe, Presia imdiately stepped into the warp.
“Hey, you guys! Hurry up and follow .”
“Yes, Sister Nellin! Wait for us!”
“Heh, another unknown experience.”
“Quit saying dumb stuff and get moving already!”
“J-Jiggly! I’m coming!”
“T-Tongtong!”
Following Godrick’s group, Alia also passed through the warp, leaving only Paulen and Gracie behind.
“Miss Gracie. Let’s go.”
“Y-Yes!”
Snapping out of her daze from staring at the warp magic, Gracie nodded and stepped into the black space.
Finally, Troll went in last, and the black space disappeared from the air, leaving no one on the hill.
***
The group had arrived at Troll’s secret workshop through the warp magic.
Above them, floating spheres of light illuminated the inside of the cave.
“Where are we?”
— This is my secret workshop that I built while I was alive.
“Secret workshop~? Well, I guess soone like you would have one. So… now tell us. How did you die? You said you’d explain once we got here.”
— Of course I will. For now, everyone, take a seat.
Rumble!
With a single gesture from Troll, stone chairs rose up, each one matching the number of people.
‘Amazing.’
Gracie was amazed.
Creating stone chairs of different sizes tailored to each person’s body would require incredible skill.
And yet, he had done it all at once so effortlessly.
‘Really… he really is my ancestor? Then that ans…’
Gracie suddenly rembered what she had shouted back when she first stopped Inferno Fall.
[I’m… Gracie. Gracie Frail! Proud descendant! The Sage of Magic! Descendant of Ventus Frail!]
Wooooosh!
Gracie’s face turned bright red with embarrassnt.
Because if this lich truly was Ventus Frail…
That ant she had said sothing so embarrassing right in front of her proud ancestor.
“Miss Gracie? Are you all right? Do you have a fever?”
Alia, who happened to be sitting next to Gracie, looked at her face and asked worriedly.
After such an intense 30-minute battle, it wouldn’t be strange for soone’s body to react all at once after the fight ended.
“Ah, no. I’m fine. I just… feel embarrassed about what I said earlier…”
“Huh?”
“Um, where is Jiggly?”
anwhile, Def was looking around the secret workshop searching for the sli.
But since he couldn’t find it anywhere, he turned to Troll and asked.
— I’ll explain that step by step too. Don’t worry. The sli is safe.
After everyone took a seat, Troll began to speak.
— Then first, I should tell you how I died. Like I said before, I died because I fell into a trap. I drank poisoned liquor.
“W-What? Who did it!?”
They finally heard the true story.
Hearing that Troll had died by poisoning, even the usually gentle Presia couldn’t hold back her anger.
— The culprit was Brooks Vessilja. That bastard who is now the Tower Master.
“What!? Y-You an the Tower Master is the one who set up the trap for our ancestor!?”
Shocked by this revelation, Gracie jumped to her feet reflexively.
She couldn’t believe it.
Because for Gracie, the current Tower Master, Brooks Vessilja, was soone who had always supported her decision to pursue the path of an arcane artifact mage.
— That’s right. He handed poisoned liquor, pretending it was a gift for my hard work. Then, when I collapsed from the poison, he blew up the room to make it look like a magic accident.
“That… that can’t be…”
Gracie’s eyes trembled violently, unable to accept the shocking truth.
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