Chapter 371 – Dragon Heart (8)
A carriage stopped at the door. A bloody atmosphere was still flowing around the door today. Soldiers roamed around from time to time to check for abnormalities on the door, and knights stood there with their foreheads tightened. Some of them were familiar faces.
The knights and Felix Karin who fought alongside me on the Eastern Front were there. She belongs to the Ministry of Public Security, and it seemed she was assigned security work here today. Karin continued to stare at the carriage I rode on. I too got out of her carriage and waved her hand at her. Karin came towards me and shook my hand.
“Long time no see. Lord Lucius.”
“Long time no see. Felix Karin. I heard that there are a lot of difficult jobs in the capital these days, but it’s good that you look good. It must be difficult because you are in charge of a heavy responsibility.”
Karin shook her head and said.
“Thank you for noticing. But being here isn’t that hard. These days, the inside of the capital is more noisy, so it’s just a pity for my colleagues to rest here.”
“What’s happening in the capital?”
Starting from the plaza, I looked around the capital’s union memorial hall and entertainment district, so the capital was just the capital. But Karin smiled bitterly at my words.
“Yes. Every evening at 6:00 academy students gather in the square for a demonstration. Controlling these demonstrators is a headache for the Templars.”
“It is a big deal that academy students are protesting. Did something scandal happen at the academy?”
Matilda was attending that academy, so I was a little concerned. Karin told me a bit more about the inside story when I drew attention to the academy protests.
“It’s not a scandal inside the academy, but… Did you know that Sir Lionel James is marrying Suin this time?”
“Yes.”
It was a fantasy pair that I connected, so of course I remembered it. I also knew that the wedding was planned. However, I didn’t know that the inside story was a bit complicated. Karin said.
“This is a protest that took place in the aftermath of a group of aristocratic families rejecting the wedding. Academy students took to the streets to treat beastmen and mermaids as human beings.”
It was a demonstration that I wanted to see at least once just by listening to it. I had quite a bit of time after sending Artie anyway, so shall we go and take a look? Artie, who was in the carriage, opened the door with a slight frown as Karin and I greeted each other for a long time.
“Lucius. Why are you so late?”
When Karin saw her Artie jumping out of her wagon, she looked a little taken aback. She blinked her eyes and looked at me, then at Artie again.
“Oh, excuse me. That… Are you the wife of Lord Lucius?”
“Yes. Okay.”
Artie replied with a wry smile. I said as I crossed my arms with Artie.
“Karin. Sorry for the late introduction. This is my wife, Artie, an archaeologist. I explained a little about this door this time, and he said he wanted to see it, so I brought him.”
Artie nodded her head. From the time she entered this door, it was something she had kissed beforehand. Better than saying that she brought her unconnected wife and tried to give her a tour. In fact, Artie had a wealth of archaeological knowledge as well.
Karin was visibly embarrassed. She questioned her new wife if she thought I was a fairly stoic person.
“I didn’t know she had an archaeologist’s wife,” She says. That… Excuse me, may I ask where you two first met? I haven’t seen you when I recently stopped by Lord Lucius’ mansion…”
“It’s been quite a while. However, I was living somewhere other than the manor due to circumstances.”
“Okay.”
After that, Karin blinked her eyes and nodded as if she was at a loss for words. I said.
“Karin. Then, may we go see the door?”
“Ah yes. Excuse me. Have a good time.”
Karin was started, saluted us, and opened the way. Artie said.
“She is a cute beauty.”
It was the first time anyone said that Karin was cute. She was, in fact, if you think about it, she was a very ordinary and cute woman, except for the fact that she was a torturophile. I grinned and walked to the door with Artie. Artie squinted her eyes as soon as he looked at her door.
“What’s this?”
“What’s wrong?”
Artie looked at her door again and then she carefully reached out her hand to her. The sleek door was full of patterns that I didn’t even want to see. Artie looked around at the door, then she said.
“I can feel the magic.”
“Magiyo?”
“I can feel the demonic energy beyond the door. What is it? Who made these doors? It’s not just the energy flowing out of the door. Beyond the door, the Pandemonium is connected.”
Artie said, then raised her finger toward her door her. She seemed preoccupied with the idea that she too would break down her door. A black energy bloomed at her fingertips her, then faded again. She compared the thickness of her door to her own magic power her, then shook her head.
“Artie. Are you thinking of breaking it?”
“I thought about destroying it, but now that I think about it, I think it’s right to leave it as it is. I don’t know the purpose. Why am I leaving this here? If you wanted to destroy this world by connecting with the Demon Realm, it would be enough to open it now. Why are you leaving it this way?”
What she said made sense. I asked.
“But Artie. Didn’t you say Arty and other demons were using magic circles to prevent the demon world from connecting with the human world? Isn’t the fact that a door like this came into existence itself a big problem?”
“If there was a hole in the barrier, you would have noticed. But there is nothing wrong with the barrier. It’s supposed to signal me right away, so that’s for sure. And, am I from the demon realm? Lucius. If your connection to the Demon Realm is stronger, then I have no choice but to know.”
“By the way, there are no traces of that at all?”
“Right. How did you connect it? First of all, I don’t think I can break this one now. The side effects of destroying it are unknown, and the purpose of the existence that created it is unknown. I need to do a little research…”
Artie cautiously reached out for her hand to her. The moment she touched the door, her jet-black lightning flashed slightly. Artie frowned. Startled, I grabbed her hand her. Artie ran her finger lightly and glared at her door again. A black current surged through the door. The drawing of a black dragon painted at the top of the door began to glow brightly. Artie met her gaze with the dragon painted on her door her, then frowned.
*****
“Annoying.”
Because of the sudden change at the door, we had to suffer a barrage of questions from knights and scholars. Artie, who pretended to be a secluded archaeologist, responded to the scholars with a sharp attitude, probably displeased with the recent phenomenon. While reading her, I was answering her articles her roughly and in moderation.
“We don’t know either. It seems that we met certain special conditions by chance, but isn’t there another condition? I still think that it is an area that needs more research, and now my wife will talk about this in a thesis later. So, we’ll just go. My wife is suffering from heat stroke.”
The sun was setting. People didn’t believe my excuses, but they flinched and shuddered back from her. It seemed that what had just happened was very displeased with Artie. She suppressed her life in her own way, but even so, a ghastly aura pervaded the entire ruins.
The knights were trying to look like soldiers somehow, but the aged scholars were shaking and fainting or urinating and foaming.
I urged the coachman, who was trembling just like the soldiers, to get out of the ruins. Artie had her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. I said, holding her artie’s arm carefully.
“Artie. Was she offended a lot?”
Artie looked at me and then she let out a breath, then she smiled softly and she hugged me tight.
“Sorry. Lucius. It wasn’t a matter of getting mad at the humans here. Are you a little surprised by me?”
“No. Artie. I just wondered why Artie was so mad.”
“As I touched the door a little while ago, a message entered my head. A very clear message.”
“A message?”
“Okay. Message. It was very clear what you wanted. They said they found a way to sever the connection with the Demon Realm.”
“Severing the connection with the Demon Realm? It is selfless.”
“Instead, all four people in the picture, including me, have to touch the door. If you touch the door and inject magic into it, that door will become the center of the magic circle. Then it’s a bit complicated…”
Artie slurred her words. I decided not to mention the complicated magic formula problem. Instead, he held her hand to her and asked.
“Ahti, did you just lose your mana?”
“I haven’t done it yet. I just got a message telling me to do that. First of all, the contents claimed by the owner of the door are quite trustworthy. It’s not impossible in theory. Just pouring mana little by little into that door in turn won’t break the barrier.”
“Then, good news for Artie.”
When I heard it, I thought it was a story that would make me angry. Do the demons consider it very rude to talk to them telepathically? Even taking that into account, Atty and the other demons were guaranteed freedom, and since she could completely escape from the threat of the Pandemonium, Arti had no reason to be angry. Artie nodded her head and said.
“Right. But the owner of the message put a condition instead of doing this.”
“Conditions?”
Artie pointed at me and said.
“The condition is that you go through that door. The owner of the door promised to send you back, but… Actually I’m not sure. Why did you set this condition? Didn’t tell me why I just said that I just needed to see you and asked you to send me through the door.”
I felt like I got a sense of who he was when he said he wanted me. There was only one year that he had a relationship with me and with the demon world. Artie said.
“I was furious when I heard that condition. It seems like you’re trying to tempt me into a dangerous situation.”
I hugged Artie without saying a word. Artie said while rubbing my back.
“Lucius. Don’t worry I…”
“It’s okay. Artie.”
It’s Evangeline. It was clear to her that Evangeline was calling me from across the door.
