SYOV 13

Chapter 13

I pulled myself together again.

Right now, saving the child who had been unfairly separated from her mother was far more important than my childish jealousy and worries.

“Big Sister Libby, Aunt Dallis, you heard everything, right? We’re heading home now. We’ll call again once we enter the forest.”

[Okay! Be careful on your way back!]

[Everyone…]

With tears in her voice, Aunt Dallis pleaded desperately.

[Please… take good care of Flora!]

“I’ll protect her with my life.”

Ian answered in a firm, reassuring voice.

The video call ended.

I slowly turned to Ian.

“So now it looks like you’re the only one who rescued Flora?”

I narrowed my eyes and stared at him.

Embarrassed, Ian awkwardly coughed.

“Ahem… I-I was just trying to reassure Sister Dallis…”

“Sure.”

I nodded dramatically.

“I understand.”

“Brother Ian, who wants to become Flora’s new father.”

“T-That’s not it!”

Ian’s face turned bright red as he denied it.

But it was already too late.

“Don’t worry.”

I patted his arm encouragingly.

“I’ve actually known for a while that you like Aunt Dallis.”

“W-What…?”

“And it’s not just me.”

“Everyone knows.”

“I figured it out too.”

Verity casually joined the conversation.

“I only stayed in the village for a single day.”

No matter how comfortable life in exile had become…

It was still mentally exhausting.

In such a harsh environment…

Ian’s impossible crush had become one of the few little entertainments everyone secretly enjoyed.

It was also a reminder that life was still worth living.

“They say slaves often fall in love with each other.”

I wholeheartedly supported Ian’s feelings.

“Slaves and prisoners aren’t that different.”

“So there’s actually a pretty good chance you and Aunt Dallis could end up together.”

“Of course…”

“If Aunt Dallis doesn’t like you…”

“I’m taking her side.”

“Haha…”

Verity smiled nostalgically.

“This reminds me of the old days.”

“Ancient nobles loved holding events called things like ‘You’re a Slave,’ ‘Transfer Slave,’ or ‘Breeding Hell.'”

“They just kept increasing the slave population.”

He sighed.

“Human rights really didn’t exist back then…”

I wished for some clothes from Verity.

Then I helped Flora change into them.

The clothes she had been wearing were even worse than the uniforms from the exile settlement.

If we took her back looking like that…

Aunt Dallis would only be heartbroken.

“Flora.”

After changing her clothes, I crouched down in front of her.

“From now on…”

“You absolutely can’t cry.”

“And you can’t make any noise.”

“M-Mom…”

“That’s right.”

“We’re going to your mom.”

“Mom…”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go together.”

She quietly repeated,

“Mom…”

Over and over.

I wrapped one of our cloaks around her.

It was the cloak that erased a person’s presence.

“You can do it, right?”

“…Yes.”

She bit her lip tightly.

Tears still clung to her long eyelashes…

But she didn’t cry anymore.

“Good girl.”

“You did great.”

We retraced the same route we had used to sneak into the Deste Mansion.

For the sake of speed…

Ian carried Flora in his arms.

The mansion remained eerily silent.

“…”

I finally voiced the question that had been bothering me.

“Isn’t it strange?”

“The mansion is way too clean considering there’s almost nobody here.”

“You think the servants are being held somewhere?”

Ian asked.

I nodded.

“From what we’ve seen…”

“The fat rat and that Demon have completely taken over this mansion.”

“But I seriously doubt those two are cleaning the place themselves.”

“If we’re counting…”

“There are actually three rats.”

Verity reminded us about the skinny one we had forgotten.

For the record…

After Ian knocked the fat rat unconscious…

We injected him with anesthetic.

I was the one who gave the injection.

Why?

Because I was still a minor.

Even if I got caught…

I’d probably just receive a warning instead of real punishment.

“We can’t save all the servants.”

“Our own situation is already dangerous enough.”

“But if the things we’re doing end up getting those innocent people hurt…”

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Because…

It had already happened.

“Wait.”

“I sense something…”

Verity suddenly stopped.

Ian’s face turned serious.

“Verity…”

“I smell blood.”

“Young Lady.”

“Stay close to me.”

Ian hugged Flora tighter so she wouldn’t see what was ahead.

Verity also pulled me beside him and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

A few moments later…

We reached the second-floor hallway overlooking the entrance hall below.

“…”

There…

We found the servants we had been worrying about.

Dead.

Their bodies were piled up like a mountain in the enormous entrance hall.

Beneath them…

Dark red blood formed an upside-down pentagram surrounded by a circle.

‘A summoning circle…!’

I had become far too familiar with Demon summoning circles.

“Well…”

“Well…”

Someone calmly walked out from behind the pile of corpses.

It was the skinny man.

He smiled awkwardly…

Then pushed up the bridge of his glasses with one finger.

“I suppose…”

“You’ve seen everything.”

“…Wow.”

We had frozen in horror.

But somehow…

His unbelievably cringeworthy way of speaking snapped us back to reality.

Without another word…

We turned around and ran.

“You know…”

Verity muttered while running.

“Nothing makes people lose all expression faster than an antisocial nerd trying too hard to sound cool.”

“Verity…”

“What’s a nerd?”

Ian asked.

“Brother Ian.”

“That’s not the important part!”

“You’re right.”

“The real problem was how he carefully adjusted the angle before pushing up his glasses…”

“That’s not the important part either!!”

Since I couldn’t keep up with everyone’s speed…

Verity simply threw me over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

As we ran…

He explained the horrifying scene we had just witnessed.

“What you just saw…”

“Is the biggest reason Succession Rituals are forbidden.”

The Succession Ritual.

The ultimate taboo that forcibly transferred the price of summoning a Demon onto someone else.

“As I said before…”

“A Succession Ritual requires a price equal to…”

“Or even greater than…”

“A Demon Summoning itself.”

The price for interfering with another dimension was originally meant to be paid by the summoner.

Cause created the effect.

That was the natural law of causality.

Trying to force someone else to bear that burden…

Was denying causality itself.

“An ordinary payment isn’t enough.”

“So people usually offer something equivalent to life itself.”

“…Life…”

I remembered something I had read in Everything About Clavis.

Life.

The one resource that could never truly be replaced.

That was why…

Life was considered the most valuable payment in Demon Summoning.

But…

Since people only had one life…

They usually offered things connected to it instead.

‘Like bodily fluids…’

After all…

I had traded saliva and blood with Demons myself.

“So that’s why they killed…!”

Ian stopped himself before finishing.

He didn’t want Flora to hear.

But…

There was no need.

“Mom…”

The overwhelming smell of blood had already brought back her traumatic memories.

With a frightened face…

Flora kept whispering the same words.

“Mom was there…”

‘Baron Deste…’

‘You insane bastard!’

I glared back toward the mansion growing farther away.

‘You made your own daughter watch the Succession Ritual?’

There must have been mountains of corpses back then too.

Yet…

He had forced that little girl to witness such hell.

Rage boiled inside me.

Why were evil people able to commit such horrible things without hesitation?

And why…

Was one crime never enough for them?

Then…

A terrifying thought crossed my mind.

“Verity…”

I forced my trembling voice to stay steady.

“What happens…”

“To the victim who’s forced to inherit the price?”

Ian looked sharply at me.

He had probably realized what I was thinking.

After a brief silence…

Verity answered.

“…Forcing someone to bear another person’s causality…”

“Is an incredibly dangerous act.”

“It shouldn’t even be possible.”

“That’s why it requires such an enormous price.”

“So…”

“What happens?”

“They die.”

“So that’s why…”

Only Aunt Dallis had been treated as a criminal caught in the act.

‘She was supposed to die during the Succession Ritual.’

‘But she survived.’

‘So they turned her into a criminal and got rid of her instead…’

‘Because she had learned Baron Deste summoned a Demon.’

And behind Baron Deste…

Was probably the Emperor.

‘Maybe…’

‘This wasn’t even the first time.’

Baron Deste knew far too much.

He had successfully performed Demon Summoning and even Succession Rituals.

That meant…

Someone powerful had been supporting him all along.

‘He had experience.’

‘Nobody could accomplish this after only one attempt.’

Who knew…

How many Demons had been summoned across the Empire this way?

‘Emperor…’

‘You damn… disgusting bastard!’

The four of us escaped from Deste Mansion and kept running without stopping.

“…Isn’t something strange?”

Ian said between heavy breaths.

“Was this city…”

“Always this quiet?”

Deste Territory was famous for its magical engineering.

Normally…

The city stayed brightly lit even late into the night.

The streets were always full of people.

But now…

Everything was silent.

As if the entire world had fallen asleep.

“We weren’t even inside the mansion for very long…”

“It must be that Demon’s ability.”

Verity gently set Hebenia back on the ground.

“Every Demon possesses a unique power.”

“It looks like this one put the entire city to sleep.”

“Something related to Silence…”

“Or perhaps Sleep.”

“Then why are we okay?”

Hebenia asked.

Verity pointed at their cloaks.

“The cloaks don’t just hide your presence.”

“They also contain protective magic.”

“Protective magic…!”

Hebenia’s eyes widened.

She suddenly remembered something from the newspaper.

“The Prince is staying at the temple to strengthen the city’s defensive magic…”

But…

She couldn’t finish the sentence.

She couldn’t bring herself to suggest going there.

‘If the Prince is at the temple…’

‘Then the Imperial Knights guarding him will be there too.’

For Ian…

Who had been falsely accused of embezzlement by his own comrades…

Imperial Knights were the last people he wanted to meet.

If someone recognized him…

Everything would become even worse.

But Ian remained calm.

“The temple always has protective magic active.”

“So it shouldn’t be affected by the Demon’s power.”

“We need to go there.”

“Brother Ian…”

“Are you sure?”

“We’re wearing the cloaks.”

“We won’t be discovered easily.”

Ian smiled gently.

“Besides…”

“It’ll be better if we stay out of Verity’s way.”

“So he can fight without worrying about us.”

“And Flora needs to rest too.”

Ian looked down at Flora, who was still quietly clinging to him.

Just as she had promised…

She hadn’t cried once.

But ever since smelling the blood inside the mansion…

Her fear had become obvious.

She needed somewhere safe.

And the temple was the perfect place.

“…How did you know?”

Verity looked genuinely surprised.

“That I was planning to hunt that Demon down?”

“Well…”

“We saw enough back there.”

“Right, Brother Ian?”

“Yeah.”

Hebenia and Ian exchanged a glance and nodded.

“After everything we saw inside that mansion…”

“That Demon is a completely hopeless piece of trash.”

“A piece of trash?”

“It means…”

“A really, really terrible bastard.”