Chapter 66 – Butterfly Effect From Milk (3)
“Don’t move!”
I shouted when Tristan showed signs of doing something.
“Where do you lift one finger? Then….”
He was immersed in acting and almost said another useless word, but fortunately he came to his senses.
“…Anyway, don’t move!”
“… You son of a bitch! Didn’t you come here with the intention of killing Isolde anyway?”
“No!”
“Do not lie!”
“No!”
Doesn’t one say that he catches and eats?
Wouldn’t you say kill one?
I don’t know why the couple are so delusional.
“…”
“…”
After staring at her for a moment without saying anything, as if anything she said would be useless, Tristan seemed to have calmed down as well, and his rough breathing returned to normal.
Only then did I speak slowly.
“… Professor Tristan. My name is Eugene. I don’t know if you know it, but he’s also the third son of Calliope.”
“… So what do you mean? Even if you are from the Calliope family, if you lay your hands on her daughter, I will surely kill you.”
“I didn’t mean to say that. I revealed my family name just to prove my identity. Professor, I only meant to save Isolde because she was suddenly knocked out, but she has no intention of doing any harm.”
“…Are you asking me to believe that now?”
“Believe it or not, this is the truth.”
After a moment of silence, Tristan asked me again.
“Then why are you threatening Isolde now?”
“I couldn’t think of the only way to survive when the professor was throwing magic like that. If I hadn’t done this, would I have already lost my life to the professor’s magic?”
“…”
Tristan shut his mouth, wondering if he was wrong even if he thought about it.
“Professor. Again, I have no intention of harming Isolde. If you swear not to attack any more, I will quietly retreat.”
“… I swear. I won’t attack you if you stay calm.”
“… I believe that.”
I raised both hands and backed away slowly, as if to show I had no will to fight.
After stepping back for a while, Tristan ran over on his limping leg and hugged Isolde.
“Isolde! Isolde! Are you okay!”
Tristan’s body, seen up close, was wrapped in bandages.
After confirming Isolde’s condition, Tristan lightly bowed his head toward me.
“…I’m sorry I attacked you without listening.”
“It’s not something I’m going to say I’m sorry for, but… Rather than that, I’ll have to get Isolde healed. It looks like the professor is not feeling well, so I’ll take him to the infirmary first..”
“No.”
Tristan interrupted me.
“If the infirmary is unreliable, go somewhere else…”
“…No. It doesn’t mean that. Isolde must not be let out of the barrier. …I’ll move it into the house.”
He didn’t know why, but he nodded at Tristan’s determined words.
***
Tristan carried Isolde to bed with his wounded body and covered her with a blanket.
I offered to help, but he refused, so I had no choice but to sit.
After I sat down and waited for a while, Tristan brought me tea with a weary face.
“Sorry for the misunderstanding. I will apologize again.”
The words that a person would die if she misunderstood twice surged in her throat, but she endured it with a sip of tea.
While I was sipping tea, Tristan, who regained his sharp eyes, spoke to me.
“…So how did you get here?”
“I accidentally got lost… “
“Don’t say that you came here because you were lost. In order to prevent that, I also put up a barrier that makes me hate the closer I get. It’s a place you can’t even enter if you don’t have a clear purpose.”
Even the feeling of being caught in a spider’s web when entering this place was a barrier…
All kinds of real barriers were set up.
“…”
After a moment of hesitation on how to respond, Tristan quickly drew his wand and pointed it at me.
“… Let me ask you one last question. Why did you come here?”
It’s a magic that can be used without a wand, but it’s probably to show that you’re sincere.
The look on Tristan’s face reminded me that lying would not do any good.
I let out a short sigh and spoke.
“…Actually, I saw the professor on the black market not too long ago.”
“…”
“To avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to tell you in advance that what I bought on the black market was meat. However, the materials the professor bought were ingredients for an advanced antidote at first glance, such as stream snails, millennial extract, and moonlight bird feathers, but if you change the combination formula a little, you can make an addictive medicine.”
“…Are you so well versed in alchemy?”
“It doesn’t matter. Rather, professor. This time I will ask you a question. What did you make of that material?”
“Would you believe me if I made an antidote?”
“…”
It was honestly hard to believe.
Is there a reason to go back like that when a problem that can be solved by calling a recovery class unique ability once?
After a while, Tristan lowered his wand, took a look at Isolde’s sleeping face her, and stood up.
“…I’m talking here, so let’s move to the studio.”
***
Tristan’s workshop was full of various magic books.
Of course, from barrier-related magic to alchemy, to curses that are forbidden to use.
Unlike most professors who dig deep into one type of magic, Tristan had what he needed, so it felt like he gathered everything at random.
“…Before I explain, do you know why Isolde can’t be let out?”
I shook my head at Tristan’s question.
From here on, it was a hidden story that did not appear in ‘Aka Assistant Teacher’.
I can’t know
“Isolde is at the end of her life.”
“…?”
End of life?
I frowned at Tristan’s words.
Where is the saying that a person is not a machine, not that he is dead, but that his lifespan has come to an end?
Tristan made a bitter expression as if he had read my expression.
“I know it’s hard to believe. But Isolde’s lifespan was over years ago. But I held on to it and I am paying the price.”
“… Are you going?”
“Yes, can you understand if everything in the world wants to kill Isolde?”
I didn’t understand this either.
I shook my head and Tristan opened his mouth slowly.
“It started with my wife. She came home one day and found her distraught wife running to kill her little Isolde …. Embarrassed, I threw her magic her at her wife her.”
“…”
“Her wife her must have come to her senses her while she was dying, and she asked me to watch over Isolde. From then on, I focused on the barrier so that no one could hurt Isolde. However, the barrier only slowed down time and could not be kept perfectly. Even within the barrier, Isolde was poisoned for unknown reasons, and she was cursed. And above all, no matter how much the barrier was set, there were people who broke through it and came to kill Isolde. This is why I overreacted to you.”
It was an incredible story.
A father who struggles to stop the will of the world from killing his daughter who has passed the set lifespan.
However, Tristan’s atmosphere proved that this was not a lie.
“But… Finally today has come. The symptoms my daughter is experiencing now have no way to help me either. This is neither a disease nor an addiction. …It’s just purely consuming life force.”
‘…Therefore. That’s right.’
After listening to Tristan, I now understand.
Why was Tristan so focused on the barrier?
And why was Tristan so single-handedly trying to fend off the ‘tentacles’?
Until now, I thought it was for the students, but I was wrong.
….The truth was much crueler and more selfish than I expected.
“Professor… Let me ask you one thing.”
“…What?”
“What’s that box behind there?”
Where I pointed my finger, there was a black box exuding an ominous presence.
…If my intuition is right, what’s in there must be something that will turn Isolde into the boss of Chapter 2, ‘Creeping Terror’.
“…You are too quick-witted. As if you know everything.”
Tristan stood up and walked towards the box and stroked it.
“…Every time Isolde undergoes an ordeal, the intensity of the ordeal increases. The poison, which I could easily detoxify at first, is now able to make an antidote only after I have brought out all my abilities to the limit. If next time Isolde is poisoned, then it will be the end.”
“…So you’re saying you’re going to make Isolde walk the path of the outside world?”
“Okay. If Isolde becomes non-human, life as a human will be meaningless.”
“What is the point of living apart from humans? And you still don’t know Go to the Parthenon right away. A saintess might be able to cure Isolde.”
“Then what happens when that saintess feels the intent to kill Isolde? Am I driving Isolde to death with my own hands? “
“…”
I couldn’t think of anything to refute Tristan’s sharp question.
“Okay, let’s say you got through it without incident. If you pass this ordeal like that, what kind of ordeal will come next? An accident I can’t afford? Poison? Curse? Damn it! This ordeal is the last chance given to me!”
The voice that the father gave up at the moment of giving up, who had been protecting his daughter without a break until now, contained emotions that I couldn’t even dare to imagine.
“…How much do you think Isolde can stand.”
“… Three days at the most.”
Three days.
The day after vacation begins.
In other words, it was the day when the main event started at Akajo Gyoza.
“… Sorry for shouting. Let me leave This is the last consideration I can give you.”
Right before I went outside for Tristan’s banquet, I looked back and declared.
“…Three days. Until then, I will definitely find the answer.”
After hearing my words, Tristan replied with a wry smile.
“…I’ll wait without expecting anything.”
