Chapter 90
Astrology (2)>
“Heh.”
A hollow laugh escaped . After a bout of commotion passed, we finally found so semblance of calm. Aro guided us to her table.
—Crash!
The only round table in the room. Unlike the others, it bore luxurious engravings, clearly ant for receiving guests.
Of course, as was typical of a magician’s laboratory, it was dirty and cluttered. The round table had been covered in various items, but at a gesture from Aro, they all vanished.
“Th-the glass just broke.”
“So what? It’s clean now. Co, sit down. Pretty one.”
She’s insane. I muttered the thought flatly. She flipped the table over as if overturning a al table and then set it back upright, and sohow it was spotless.
Watching that, Canis clapped her hands like a seal, apparently amused. She made a comnt about the broken glass flask, but Aro paid it no mind.
“So. What brings this handso young man to see ?”
Aro asked, cupping her chin with her hands. I pressed firmly at my brow, feeling an inexplicable fatigue. Her fussiness felt excessive.
“Unni~ That thing I ntioned before.”
“Ah.”
According to the setting, Aro was a third-year. She was a whole year above , who was rely a second-year. I had treated her too casually out of flustered surprise.
I had no interest in why she seed so close with Canis, so I skipped past that and got straight to the point. At Canis’s words, Aro nodded exaggeratedly.
“More importantly, this young man before ? No, even seeing you again, you’re handso.”
“Senior. I’m sorry, but could you be a little more serious?”
“Oh my. How polite.”
Her face was filled with an expression that said she found unbearably adorable. I swallowed the irritation slowly rising within .
“Our Canis said there’s soone who wants to learn Blood Magic. Is that why you’ve co?”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, she seed to possess at least a modicum of reason. By my standards, Davide’s face did fall into the handso category, but I wasn’t sure it warranted this level of reaction.
In any case, there was a possibility. All I had to do was push forward.
“And you’re that famous Davide Duhein as well.”
“Yes. I was expelled, so I’m just Davide now.”
Aro buried her face in her hands and trembled. Honestly, she looked like a madwoman.
I shot a glance at Canis. You’re showing this? No, she wasn’t this bad before.
“But did you know?”
Aro continued, her face flushed red. We hastily ended the silent conversation we had been exchanging with our eyes.
“That the Blood Magic I use is an Eastern secret art, and a form of sorcery classified as a curse?”
Blood spurted up from Aro’s palm. It shot up about 30 centiters, yet instead of flowing down, it began to take shape.
I stared blankly at the blood-red dagger that ford, then turned my gaze to Canis. It was true that it was quite an attractive sorcery, but if it was a curse, that changed the story.
“A curse, huh. That makes things a bit different.”
I growled at Canis. I had seen Aro a few tis in the ga, but I didn’t know much about her in detail.
If Aro’s magic was a sorcery based on curses, then Canis had just screwed over.
“Even if I’m ignorant about magic, I know that curses are illegal.”
Curses were considered so wicked that the Empire had designated them illegal. Magic that brought about results by offering things such as the body, mind, or soul as sacrifice.
It was a high-risk form of magic that inflicted trendous damage on both the user and the target. Canis rolled her eyes.
“You’d better explain yourself well. You’re not trying to screw over, are you?”
“Of course not~ I know what you’re worried about~ but this case is a bit different~”
Canis voiced her opinion without the slightest hint of intimidation.
“If that were the case, even I wouldn’t be able to use it. Don’t worry, junior. It’s all legal, officially permitted by the Imperial House. It’s not a typical curse, so it’s not dangerous either.”
Only after Aro’s firm confirmation did I calm my agitation. Whether it was legal or illegal didn’t matter to .
If it was for profit, I could cross that line whenever I wished. But the side effects brought by curses were another matter.
“The side effects too?”
“Of course.”
The more one used curses, the more their mind collapsed, and the stronger the curse, the faster the deterioration.
Aro answered confidently. Even in the ga, Aro used Blood Magic and maintained her sanity all the way to the ending. I could trust this part.
“So what’s the condition?”
“Marriage?”
She was joking even now. At this point, I felt I had been quite patient. A hollow laugh escaped . I couldn’t afford to lose either.
“What would you be offering as a dowry?”
At my sudden words, my companions’ mouths fell open. The most shocked was Canis.
Aro quickly regained her composure and flashed a bewitching smile.
“What do you want? I’m the daughter of a wealthy family, so I can provide quite a lot.”
“The Far East.”
“…What?”
Aro, who had stepped forward so confidently, went speechless.
“If you can give the Far East in its entirety, I’ll marry you.”
I said that with a fierce smile. As expected, Canis shook her head with an I-knew-it expression.
“You’re telling to try? That’s not bad. Fine! I’ll teach you Blood Magic! Consider it part of the dowry!”
Still, Aro’s response was remarkable. She boldly declared she would bring it to .
I flinched at first, but that was hardly an easy task. I rely gave a vague nod in reply.
“Instead, I have a simple condition. You recently founded a religious order, didn’t you?”
“……That’s correct.”
“I want to join as well.”
A completely unexpected answer reached my ears. I let out a hollow laugh.
“Then let’s pretend this deal never happened.”
“?”
“?”
I flatly refused and rose from my seat. Hearing my response, the two of them gaped stupidly before hurriedly grabbing hold of .
“So quick-tempered, Davi~ Why are you like this~”
“Exactly. If you decide that fast, I’ll be hurt, you know?”
The first thing that ca to mind was Aro’s performance. In the community, Aro was nicknad ‘RMP.’
A combination of ‘Aro EMP,’ the nickna ca from a skill that activated when Aro retreated from battle. A top-tier crowd control ability that rendered opponents completely defenseless over a wide area.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
Crowd control was already covered by alone, wrapped in lightning. I didn’t need anything more.
On top of that, I possessed not only paralysis but also the powerful damage-dealing ability of Lightning Spike, and I was a tank capable of self-recovery.
“Davi~ Davi~ how about calming down for a mont~”
I didn’t particularly need curse-based debuffs either. Winter, who was being built as a buffer, would take over that role in the future.
So there was no need to bring Aro into the Order. Considering Aro’s personality and her unfiltered mouth, there would be more harm than good.
“I’m not disregarding you, senior. But the Order isn’t sothing you can just join.”
It was hard to see clearly behind the mask, but Aro’s expression gradually stiffened. I continued speaking with a calm face.
People from the Far East, Aro’s holand, tended to have strong pride and a firm sense of identity. No matter how good-natured Aro was, she would take this as an insult.
“This isn’t a simple club. The path we’re walking is far from easy. It’s not sothing to treat as a ga.”
Canis’s expression turned strange. It was the kind of look that said, You forced Worden to join and now you’re saying that?
I shrugged. In Worden’s case, it had been forced, but it was a recruitnt made with his personality in mind.
‘Aro is a bit unreliable.’
Even in the face of death, I wanted soone who could take a step forward and whom I could trust to guard my back. Winter was a given, and Worden could be that as well.
But Aro was different. The world held too many temptations for her. Even if I brought just Dike from the Karata Order, Aro would fall head over heels. I couldn’t trust soone like that.
“That’s why.”
On top of that, her sudden request to join the Order felt suspicious. It was obviously an offer hiding sothing.
Knowing part of Aro’s past only reinforced that feeling. Still, she would be a useful asset to have. A business partner-type position suited her best. At my words, Aro let out a small laugh.
“I see. I can understand why it would look that way.”
Aro stood up from her seat. I looked at her while maintaining my posture as if I were about to leave. She slowly approached .
“Would being ready to die be enough?”
Aro, who had been fastening the few undone buttons of my shirt, spoke quietly so that Canis couldn’t hear.
When I glanced down slightly, the area around her eyes had sohow been covered in red makeup. I let out a similar faint laugh.
“More than that.”
At my words, Aro’s hand stopped. Soon, she lightly tapped the area over my solar plexus where the Stigma was, using her finger.
“Then can you handle , junior? Are you prepared to hear my secret?”
I gently took Aro’s hand and lowered it.
“Of course, senior. However.”
I brought my mouth close to Aro’s ear. Soon, I whispered softly.
“Don’t you sll a fox sowhere?”
Leaving behind a stiffened Aro, I gave a brief farewell. Aro’s motif was the Gumiho, a fox spirit passed down in legends of the Korean Peninsula.
In other words, she was a different race like the rfolk. That fact was a powerful leash. It was the cornerstone for establishing a relationship with Aro as nothing more than a business partner.
“Unni~”
One minute after Davide left following a short goodbye. Canis called out worriedly to Aro, who was quietly staring at the door.
“Yes, Canis.”
Only then did Aro turn around. Her expression didn’t look bad. Canis had expected her to be upset by Davide’s high-handedness, but it was unexpected.
“Are you okay~?”
“Of course. That handso one has quite the temper too.”
Aro replied in a bewitching voice. Canis tilted her head. The last exchange had been whispered so only the two of them could hear.
It seed that conversation had greatly affected Aro.
“So~ what are you going to do?”
“He’s attractive. His looks, his personality, and his ability.”
Looks were a matter of preference, so fine. His abilities were appealing, but his personality too? Canis couldn’t fully agree with Aro’s assessnt.
Still, she thought things hadn’t gone badly. At this rate, it was obvious a complaint from Davide would co later.
“Do you know~ how startled I was?”
Canis groaned.
She had co in advance and received Aro’s permission.
Even if it was secret magic, it wasn’t particularly extraordinary, so Aro had agreed to teach Davide in exchange for money.
“Startled? But I just couldn’t help myself.”
Aro readily offered an apology. The deal that was supposed to proceed as discussed had nearly turned volatile because of her sudden antics.
Thinking about it, it was fortunate that Davide, the Cult Leader of the Order with such a foul temperant, had let it pass this quietly.
“So~ you just liked him?”
“That’s true, but.”
Aro recalled Davide. His cold gaze and fierce eyes. The wildness clinging all over his body.
It was the kind of scent of the wild one might experience while living in the Far East. Without realizing it, Aro murmured,
“He was from the Duhein Family?”
“Yeah~ though he got expelled after stabbing a classmate~”
“That’s wonderful.”
At Aro’s blissful remark, Canis faltered. She had found him unusual, sure, but that reaction was a bit much.
“It’s wonderful. And besides.”
Aro swallowed the rest of her words. A fox’s scent. The scent of the wild was rare, but a few individuals carried it strongly.
Even Canis standing before her now carried the strong scent of a wolf. When Davide had first entered, the room had filled with the scent of the wild—but strangely, it hadn’t been just one scent.
“Do you know a herbivore that hunts carnivores?”
“What~ are you talking about? Is there such a thing?”
As a mber of the fox tribe, Aro possessed a heightened spiritual sense of sll. In the scent she had detected from Davide, there had been the briny sll of a deer.
“My heart’s already racing.”
Aro knew of a spiritual creature that bore such a scent. The Qilin, a divine beast with the body of a deer and the scales of a serpent.
To think that the scent of a creature regarded as a divine beast of the Far East lingered on Davide. Aro felt a powerful pull because of it.
“What does he do during vacation?”
There was no way Davide himself was that divine beast. But he seed connected to it. Perhaps he might even beco a great help to her family in the Far East.
At Aro’s question, brimming with excitent, Canis smiled alluringly.
Well, well?
User Comments
0 comments from readers