99 – Dark Magic Workshop – 8
“Because I’m stupid. I’m not asking you to answer the question because it will save your life. Tell me everything I know if you want to die painlessly? You’re fucking stupid, really.”
Catherine mumbled in a low voice. Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t understand that feeling either.
Normally, it would be correct to say that if you want to live, tell all the information you know, or if you do not want to die, tell all the information you know.
But since I suddenly pushed forward the option of telling her all the information I knew if I wanted to die painlessly, it must have been absurd from Catherine’s point of view.
But what do you mean it’s true?
It’s not for nothing that there is a saying that life is worse than death, and the Charlotte behind me is the person in this kingdom who can bestow a fate that fits that word most accurately.
It wasn’t too difficult to get the words, please kill me, instead of please save me, out of a human’s mouth.
At least for Charlotte.
“Stop talking nonsense and answer me.”
“You have to know to answer, you punk! I told you, I don’t know anything!”
“No, you obviously did research on black magic here. And although you failed, you even left a magic circle on the scroll. Lastly, I warn you, don’t even think about lying in front of me. Charlotte has already extracted all the memories of your other personalities. You said you looked, and you confirmed that you don’t have any memories related to black magic. You’re the only one who could be the culprit.”
“Don’t you think that woman might have lied to you, idiot? Maybe you’re on the wrong foot?”
“Charlotte is lying? To me?”
I chuckled. When Katherine saw me laughing, she threw a blood clot around her neck before swearing once more.
“why?”
Why did I throw it here? The question did not mean that Charlotte never lied to me.
I don’t know if it’s Christine or Serena, but Charlotte has enough personality to lie to me.
The reasons may be various.
I thought it would be more beneficial to tell a lie than to tell the truth in my own judgment, or I simply don’t want to tell the truth, or I have other ulterior motives, and so on.
It’s just that I don’t notice which of Charlotte’s words are false and which are true. As long as you don’t get caught, it’s not a lie.
However, he was also the kind of person who would never try to lie even in a situation like this.
Charlotte is very quick-witted, so she must have noticed long ago that I am extremely serious and sensitive.
It wouldn’t be hard to imagine my reaction if you recklessly leaked false information to me in a situation like this.
So, why did I throw Catherine? The question was in line with why Charlotte would lie to me ‘in this situation’.
“Why? You idiot, why? Did you just ask me that in return? You fucking believe in that Blood Queen unconditionally? Then you would believe what she said, even if I told you that you could slice through an iron shield with a wooden knife?”
“Of course. Charlotte is someone who can cut iron with her hair, not with a wooden knife.”
Maybe Serena and Christine could do something similar.
“…this, crazy…”
Perhaps tired of my reaction, Katherine hesitated and then shut her mouth. The left cheek was slightly bulging.
I know that the expression of cutting iron with wood is kind of like a proverb, but there were three people next to me who could make that analogy a reality.
In other words, clumsy metaphors don’t work.
‘Should I use another method?’
Katherine’s reaction was so firm that we changed our plans. It seemed that he would do either one of the two, whether he would stop evasive or be agitated, if he had to put physical evidence right in front of his eyes.
Or rather vehemently deny it.
If you say you don’t know, then you’ll have to close one eye and continue the conversation because it’s useless.
I didn’t need my eyes to hear the answer anyway. The input organ, the ear, and the output organ, the mouth, are enough.
“I think I pushed too hard without proof, but putting what you found in front of one eye might help you remember. Think about it. This is from your desk. Maybe you can explain where that bundle of scrolls was. I have.”
He took out a scroll from his pocket and held it in front of Katherine’s face.
didn’t unfold it. There’s nothing more stupid than showing a wizard an open scroll. If Catherine recited the incantation, it would be the end.
No, it would be better if it was a magic that was activated with a chant. Charlotte might be able to stop it. Worst of all, if this is a magic that can be activated with an incantation.
Of course, it wasn’t clear whether Catherine was a wizard at the level of being able to use magic with a spear, but there was another reason to be careful.
Because this is black magic.
And it could be a magic that unluckily draws in black mana itself.
Unless I had left my brain somewhere, there was no way I would do such a stupid thing. can’t do it either
It was confirmed that this was a failed magic circle, so it might not matter.
However, the problem was that when I first found this scroll, the magic circle was glowing, albeit dimly.
As long as there is even the slightest chance left, never be careless.
“Look straight ahead. This is the scroll you found on your desk.
“Nimi, there is something you can catch. Would I have written a name on it? I don’t even know what magic circle is inside, so how can I tell you?”
“Show the wizard the magic circle he drew? I’d rather leave the fish to the cat.”
“Then what the fuck do you say to me! I said I don’t know anything about black magic, so I told you not to fuck me, and I told you that I don’t have any memory, so I pulled out my other personality’s memory and tested it, and it wasn’t it, so I said I was the only one. Shiver with that, you son of a gun! How am I supposed to know by looking at it, you jerk!
Katherine shuddered and screamed. The expression and voice were really sad. In fact, from the outside, it was a pretty unfair situation.
Yes, just by looking at it.
“If you erase the magic circle drawn on your left cheek, I’ll open the scroll and show you.”
“Oh, did you get caught?”
Catherine’s expression changed drastically at my words.
Where did the screaming face just before go, and only the smirking wizard remained.
It was to the extent that there was silence for a moment at the appearance that had changed so clearly.
“Hey, damn it. I tried really hard not to notice you, but how did you get caught? Are you sure you were a wizard too? It’s strange, you didn’t look like a wizard.”
“I’m sure if you want to die gracefully, I’ve told you not to do useless things. You don’t want to do that, do you?”
“I’m sorry. As you can see, it’s because I have this kind of personality. My other personality to stop me has died, so now all that’s left of this body is negative emotions.”
“Only negative emotions remained? Then, was it the positive side that died first?”
“Well, it’s similar, right? It’s because I made it by collecting only positive emotions. Things like envy and jealousy.”
“Envy and jealousy are positive emotions…”
Katherine giggled and added, perhaps noticing my half-hearted reaction.
“Can’t you see how my way of speaking and personality change so quickly? A normal person would go crazy if he took over some of the feelings left from me right now? That’s why ‘at least’ it’s a positive emotion. In absolute terms, it belongs to the negative axis, but it’s positive in its own way. Things with a phosphorus aspect.”
“Why did you separate your personalities?”
“Fuck you. They say they’ll kill you if you tell them, but why am I telling you that?”
“Then you won’t even answer questions related to black magic?”
“Of course. How can you answer something you don’t know?”
Something is strange. My intuition was telling me that, and it was ringing the alarm bell.
I calmly organized my thoughts. Katherine’s condition was strange even at first glance.
Clearly, the person’s explanation that the personality was divided into two was overshadowed, and now it is safe to say that a third personality has been created.
The first one who died without enduring Charlotte’s torture, which he said was made by gathering only positive emotions.
As soon as it appeared, it tried to bite my face off and failed, and the second one, which had been exposed until just now.
And now, the smirking third.
“Ever since I pretended to be unfair and cursed at you, I had no intention of telling you anyway, so wake up, idiot. And what? Please, make me beg for help? It’s so fucking funny. If you can, try it. It was only because I screamed a little in name.”
An expression that dismisses it as a mere nominal scream, even though it was obviously painful.
“What are you doing without starting the torture? You said you made me beg for help? Could it be that they were idiots with only their mouths alive?”
Conversely, the attitude of even provoking this side.
Watching Catherine chatter leisurely, not even paying attention to the blood dripping from her crushed eyes, I finished organizing my thoughts and turned my head to Charlotte.
“Charlotte.”
“Tell me, my dear.”
“I told you not to take out this memory carelessly, and there is a possibility that you will be contaminated as well.”
“It is.”
“You seem to have listened to me. Because you are not contaminated.”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes, perhaps realizing the true meaning of what I said.
“Go and burn everything here. Leave no ashes behind.”
Charlotte quietly disappeared.
He met Katherine’s eyes again as he heard a protective magic circle set against the broken wall and literally everything on fire beyond it.
“Do you know what I mean by contamination?”
“I don’t know what it is and I don’t want to know, you bastard.”
Catherine’s tone grew more and more stern.
“The fact that a specific object is contaminated with black magic is quite different from general contamination. Yes, let’s take an example with black blood monsters. Their blood and flesh corrode the ground, fill the air with miasma, and purify water. It makes it rot. That’s common pollution. It’s the way people think of the most. Then, what do you think about the pollution caused by black magic?”
My fingers alternately tapped Catherine’s head and chest.
“This is what’s in here. Mind. And soul.”
Soul and spirit are distinctly separate concepts.
Sometimes there are wizards and scholars who refer to the two together, but in all likelihood, such people stay at that level or learn more and change their thoughts naturally.
“The contamination of black blood monsters is nothing more than an act of corroding material things. No matter how much they corrode the ground, fill the air with miasma, and rot the water, it’s only a one-time thing.”
However, black magic is different.
“Dark magic distorts and destroys the human way of thinking and concept itself. So there is no way to save a target once stained with dark magic, and that shouldn’t be the case. The act of trying to save it would be contaminated.”
He raised his finger. I couldn’t see what expression I was making on myself, but I could be sure that I was probably burning with cold rage.
“Let’s take an example. Let’s imagine that your bastard stared at water because the concept of water was corrupted in his head by black magic. Then the water rots just by looking at it. Do you understand what I mean? Yes. Since the concept of water is polluted in my head, it means that it also applies to reality. Do you understand?”
It’s better at this level. You can isolate it in a space related to water or kill it before that.
What if black magic contaminates the concept of air? Or if it contaminates the concept of land? What if you go further and contaminate the concept of mana?
At all, what if it contaminates humans themselves?
It would spread in an instant, in a way that people tainted by black magic create people tainted by black magic. In that case, the destruction of the world was also an instant.
“Listen. I call this contamination for convenience. It might be easier to understand if I substitute another word for it. You’ve heard of it, right? ‘curse’.”
It was said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It’s hard to know exactly what was tainted in this damn mage’s head, but one thing was certain.
As for the curse, you can just press down with a stronger curse.
I grabbed Catherine by the hair and pulled her closer to me. A few strands of hair snapped through her fingers, but she didn’t care.
What’s the point of a few strands of hair to a bitch who’s going to die soon anyway?
I lowered my voice. As much as I could, I poured all my nerves into every single word that was about to come out of my mouth.
And he opened his mouth.
“What’s my name?”
