Chapter 680

“Ugh, damn it. This is horrifying.”

“She’s still alive, right?”

“Seems like it. She’s moving pretty well.”

The mages huddled together, murmuring seriously. Inside the glass bottle was a transparent liquid—and a single eyeball. It was unmistakably a remnant of Lady Darcy, melted down during the battle.

They stared at this grotesque, baffling creature, unsure what to do.

“Any other parts?”

“No idea. It looks so disgusting I don’t even want to touch it.”

“Damn it, what are we supposed to do? This is driving me crazy.”

The liquefied parts looked sticky and viscous. Even if they were paid a fortune, none of the mages wanted to touch it. So they fell silent again, glaring at Lady Darcy’s remains.

Knock knock.

“What are you all doing?”

“Captain! Waaah!”

“Captain Hale, you’re here!”

“Take a look at this!”

As the mages gathered, Hale knocked on the door to get their attention. They had mountains of work, but the mages were frozen in place, looking puzzled.

Their eyes sparkled as they grabbed at Hale’s clothes.

“This is—”

“That crazy puppeteer, isn’t it? She’s still alive.”

“I have no idea what to do with this.”

Frowning, Hale picked up the glass bottle and opened the lid. Without hesitation, he poured the contents into a drawer.

The mages screamed in unison and stepped back, clutching each other as they shouted at Hale.

“Ahhh! Gross!”

“Ew, disgusting! Damn it!”

“Captain Hale, why did you open it all of a sudden? Are you crazy?”

“How else are we supposed to figure this out?”

Hale crouched down and carefully watched Lady Darcy’s eyeball. The pupil moved. She was definitely alive—though whether she still had a consciousness was another question.

“If you’re alive, send a signal.”

At his words, the eyeball rolled to the right. Was it a coincidence?

“Right means yes, left means no. Can you hear me?”

The eyeball kept rolling to the right.

“Lady Darcy?”

“Captain, can we really communicate with her?”

“Is it a male?”

Roll—left.

Hale pulled the drawer out and placed it on the desk.

“She’s responding well and seems mentally sound.”

Though calling it fortunate felt wrong, given the pitiful state she was in.

The mages hesitated, then asked worriedly.

“If she’s still alive… could she be sharing her vision with King Toalun?”

“Yes. It’s the same with Agent Varsabe. Even if their consciousness is taken, sensory sharing is still possible.”

“Then just blow her up already.”

“Ugh, you’re cruel.”

“Well, what else are we supposed to do?”

Roll! Roll! At the suggestion to kill Lady Darcy, her eyeball rolled left repeatedly. King Toalun had already severed the connection with her. She wanted to signal that no visual information was leaking, but there were limits to what she could do. Desperately, she rolled left, begging for her life.

Seeing this, Hale gave an order.

“…Get a letter board made.”

If they had a Gaia common language letter board, communication with Lady Darcy would be much easier.

The mages rushed out, running here and there. Prince Noah, noticing this, tilted his head in confusion.

“…What’s going on?”

“Not sure. Seems like something’s happening upstairs.”

“It’s only been a day or two,” Mei shrugged as if it was no big deal. Noah nodded in agreement.

“Mei, how long would it take to bring all the soldiers here?”

“At least five hours, I think. The passageways are narrow, and there’s a lot of supplies to move. Oh, and Prince, this is a dispatch sent to Western Luswena. It’s from His Majesty.”

From his father? Ignoring the pounding above, Noah unfolded the letter. His expression darkened quickly, and he went looking for Ian.

“Sir Ian! Are you up there?”

“Oh, Prince. You’re here early.”

“What’s going on? I heard you were looking for Beric—”

“You’re here. Come in.”

The mages peeked over the railing, pointing toward the main gate. Ian looked tired as he entered with Beric. Noah hurried over and asked.

“Oh, the prince of Krimford Kingdom. Good to see you.”

“Sir Ian, I heard there’s poison in the river connected to Burgos. Do you know what’s happening?”

“Then why are you here?”

“The Burgos river flows past Kalamath, where His Majesty is.”

Though they didn’t interrupt each other, they took turns speaking quietly. Ian explained.

“I heard from the mages as well. It seems something was done upstream in Toalun. The mages opened a portal in the river, diverting it to Luswena for a time. As you can see, it’s closed now, but the poison has already flowed down to Krimford.”

“Toalun? Last time they just shut off the water completely.”

Now they’re poisoning it? These guys have really lost it. The poison was no ordinary toxin—the land it touched was dying.

Ian nodded to calm him.

“His Majesty in Kalamath is doing everything he can. And more importantly, they’re moving quickly to gain support in Holinga. They want to resolve this as soon as possible. This isn’t a trivial matter for them.”

“The crops in Krimford are dying.”

“…They’re truly distressed about it.”

Noah rubbed his temples, clearly troubled. Burgos had been a problem before, but now Toalun was causing chaos upstream.

Seeing Noah’s frown, Ian reassured him.

“Krimford is an important ally of Bariel. If crop production drops significantly, it’s a burden for Bariel as well. They’ll resolve this as quickly as possible.”

Though Luswena had fallen, it was uncertain whether they could compensate for the lost agricultural output. The poison had seeped into the mage forest, the golden fields outside were still burning, and many farmers had gone to war and been seriously injured or killed. It was unclear if the fertile lands Luswena once had would remain viable.

“So, you’re heading back to Kalamath right away?”

“Not today, but as soon as possible. We can’t leave His Majesty’s side for too long.”

“Understood. Then we’ll send our people to the front lines immediately. Mei!”

“Yes, sir!”

The sooner Luswena was secured, the sooner the mages could return. That meant stopping the poison as quickly as possible. Mei left the palace with her officers, issuing orders.

“Secure the Luswena survivors. Use the mages’ help to deal with the dragons and the black-armored soldiers. We’ll send word from the center of Elbasa to prevent panic among the residents.”

“The walls are all down. Many have fled.”

“Don’t worry too much. It’s the palace that fell, after all. The local lords won’t even glance this way. They know the mages are here—who would dare interfere?”

Watching Noah and Mei hurry away, Ian sighed softly.

The timing was perfect. If they hadn’t come, they might have wasted nearly two weeks waiting for Bariel’s main force.

Tap tap!

Boom!

“Watch where you’re going!”

“No, you!”

Upstairs, Beric shouted, but the mages were too busy going their own way. Only then did Ian and Beric notice the mages running around the hallway, each carrying strange items: huge wooden boards, pens, gloves—various things.

Curious, Ian and Beric followed them upstairs and found a crowd of mages gathered in Elderet’s office, completely absorbed in their work. They didn’t even notice Ian’s arrival.

“Write in order. Leave enough space between.”

“If it’s too wide, the eyeball will lose strength rolling around.”

“Still better than it cracking. Does it matter if it tires out a bit?”

“True.”

They carefully carved Gaia common language letters into a concave wooden board. Then they poured the liquid from the drawer inside. Lady Darcy.

Beric grimaced in disgust, while Ian leaned against the doorframe, watching the mages.

“Hey! Do it right from now on, or I’ll blow it up. See these gloves?”

Roll roll! Roll!

“Write ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on top too. From the other side, it’s hard to tell if it’s rolling left or right.”

“Okay. Alright, questions coming up.”

“Are you really disconnected from King Toalun?”

Lady Darcy’s eyeball rolled vigorously toward ‘yes.’ Then, painstakingly, it moved to form letters. The mages pulled out notebooks, piecing together the letters she lingered on.

“…Completely… cut off… they severed the thread?”

“Yeah, that’s what it seems to say.”

“Maybe that’s why she was abandoned.”

“Could be lying. How can we be sure?”

Then, roll roll!

“…My body is breaking down. No strength to lie. Even rolling is hard.”

“Hmm. This must be a side effect of forbidden magic, right?”

“Ugh, thinking about it again just pisses me off. Captain Hale, let’s just kill this thing already. The eyeballs rolling around are disgusting, and thinking about those damn wizards just makes my blood boil.”

Roll, thud!

“Sorry! Sorry! Damn it.”

“Saying sorry won’t fix this.”

“By the order of the King of Toorun, Kumasha… especially at the end, it was never my chair—wait, what?”

“This guy’s in such a rush he even made a typo.”

If only I had tear glands, I’d prove how wronged I feel! Lady Darci struggled helplessly, spinning around in place as her only form of protest. The wizards watching her still had cold, hard looks in their eyes, though.

“Except for the Prime Minister and his followers, everyone is under the control of the Puppeteer. Even I couldn’t escape it.”

“You mean the Prime Minister, like the bureaucrat?”

“Ah, right. Kumasha is an elected king chosen by the bureaucrats. But why leave the Prime Minister and his people alone? If I were Kumasha, I’d start with them first.”

“Exactly. I heard Toorun has spirit mages too. Are they also absolutely obedient under the king’s command? Their terms don’t seem very long, so why is that?”

“Spirit mages? Oh, the ones who fought Beric?”

“From what I saw, he got his ass kicked. They say he hit and ran, but knowing Beric’s personality, is that even possible?”

Chuckles “I thought the same thing.”

“What, man? What did I do?”

Beric, fed up, cut in, and the wizards all turned around at once. Then, just like when they first saw Lady Darci’s eyeballs, they screamed as if their heads might spin off. Beric’s reaction was one thing, but since when did Lord Ian—

“Huh, huh.”

Did we just badmouth Lord Ian? The wizards exchanged glances in an instant, all suddenly watching Ian closely.

“You’re here?”

“Continue.”

Ian gestured, and Beric smoothly pulled up a chair. The wizards parted to either side, clearing a path so Ian could comfortably read the text.

Lady Darci, who had been rolling around energetically, paused and looked up at Ian. He slowly crossed his legs.

“Lady Darci, you must be cautious and do your best. Your fate will be decided by the information you provide. Living without any senses… would be truly dreadful.”

This wasn’t a threat to kill her. It was a warning that if she failed, they’d strip away her last two senses—sight and hearing—and abandon her where no one would ever find her.

Startled, Lady Darci spun around again in place, hovering nervously near the ‘agree’ side.

“Good. Seems like you can hear me well. Now, continue. Tell us about the King of Toorun.”