Chapter 682
“This can’t be happening!”
“P-please calm down, Philia.”
“Viviana, how could you? How could you—!”
Viviana clasped her hands together desperately, trying to soothe Philia’s fury. She had just found out that Roel had secretly left for Hielo without his mother’s knowledge. And that both Viviana and Romandro had been involved in helping him.
Philia trembled with rage. Though they had known each other for a long time, this was the first time Viviana had seen her so furious. She kept apologizing over and over.
“I’m sorry, truly sorry. But there was no other way, neither for me nor for Romandro. Philia, you know Roel—if he sets his mind to something, he will see it through no matter what. If we hadn’t sent him with reinforcements, he would have gone alone anyway. This way was better—”
“That’s not the point! You should have told me! Viviana! Roel is only ten years old! I’m his guardian! How could you—how could you—!”
“Philia… I’m truly sorry.”
“The palace is being utterly heartless! Yes, Roel has mysterious powers. And yes, maybe someday he could lead the Chonryeo. But that’s far in the future. There’s still Nersarn, and countless warriors protecting Hielo. How could you send such a young child there?”
At the mention of Nersarn, Viviana stiffened. She knew that he, along with most of the Chonryeo, had become a star in the desert. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell Philia that now. It would be too much of a shock, and Philia’s sharp anger was already hard enough to bear.
Viviana gently took Philia’s hand, pleading for her to calm down.
“I’m sorry, Philia. I have nothing more to say.”
“Viviana, you’re Bibi’s mother too. How can you make this so hard for me? My husband and children are all at war, and you expect me to live comfortably here in the capital alone? Do you think I’m so useless?”
“Philia! Don’t say that. I made this decision for your sake. Please trust me.”
“If you truly cared for me, you wouldn’t have sent Roel away like this.”
“Oh, Philia…”
“That’s enough, Viviana.”
“Wait—”
“No! I don’t want to hear any more.”
Philia turned her back, refusing to continue the conversation. She went straight upstairs, locked her door, and began packing. Outside, she could hear Viviana pacing anxiously, but Philia was resolute.
“How long have I been broken like this? How long has Roel been gone? This time, he’s really going to get a serious scolding. How could he even think of going there without telling me?”
Philia bit her lower lip hard. Since Romandro had tacitly approved, she couldn’t expect help from the palace. She would have to sell her jewelry to raise travel funds.
Even now, Roel was probably nearing the border with the central army. She would find him and bring him back before that. Nersarn and Ian were enough to be caught up in the war.
“Roel is only ten years old… really.”
How could everyone be so indifferent?
Wiping away the tears that fell, Philia pulled out paper and pen. She knew Viviana and Romandro were good people. And that there must have been a good reason for sending Roel off alone without telling her.
But…
“I can’t allow this.”
When she had failed to protect Ian in Bratz, how much had she blamed herself? How anxiously had she watched Ian struggle to survive on his own?
She couldn’t just let go this time. Roel’s situation was different from Ian’s.
“Ian has magic. And above all, he’s part of the palace. But Roel? Aside from glimpsing fragments of the future, does he have the strength to protect himself?”
Besides, he wasn’t even part of the palace. That little boy had no reason to be sacrificed for the empire’s glory.
Scratch, scratch.
Philia scribbled furiously. It was a brief letter to Viviana and Romandro. Overflowing with sorrow, anger, and guilt, her hand shook as she wrote.
Though lengthy, the message was clear: she would bring Roel back to the capital. If not, she would meet him and have a serious conversation before making a decision about his future.
“I-Ian?”
“Lady Darcy’s reply just came in…!”
The mages reading the message froze in surprise.
Ian’s expression darkened as he lowered his gaze. They had asked if Mayor Karenna was a doll, but the answer was unexpected.
“It seems to say ‘excluding Mayor Karenna.’”
“Yes, that’s what it clearly said.”
“Darcy, check again. Did it really say ‘excluding Mayor Karenna’?”
“Yes! Yes!”
Though a small town, the population was not insignificant. If all the residents had been turned into dolls, it would be a truly horrifying situation. Distinguishing who was a doll and who wasn’t would be difficult, and it meant the Toalun forces were right in the middle of Bariel.
Lady Darcy carefully pieced together the message on her letterboard.
“Mayor Karenna and the Onyx family are dolls.”
“Oh, so excluding the mayor means just the mansion.”
A sigh of relief swept through the mages. They had misunderstood. But a new question arose.
“Why target the family and not the mayor?”
“…Because the mayor likely has some connection to the capital. To hide that, they targeted the family.”
The mayor’s position was appointed by the capital. If the capital’s forces confronted her, the secret would be exposed quickly.
But her family, while influential over the mayor, wouldn’t come into contact with the capital’s forces, making them relatively safe. They were spies.
The mages exhaled in relief and turned back to Ian.
“Though we feel sorry for Mayor Karenna, it’s best to clear out the mansion.”
“Yes. The central army will arrive soon. It’s better we act before things get messy.”
“If possible, sever the connections. If not—”
“Ugh, no choice. Eye Granny, did they touch the residents too?”
“No! No!”
Lady Darcy insisted with all her eyes that she hadn’t had time to do that while moving to Hwan. Then, sensing an opportunity, she cautiously proposed:
“Dolls can’t cut their own strings. Only a doll master can. If they give their bodies to you… you can cut the strings and quietly disappear?”
“They’re struggling to survive.”
“Why would we give our bodies to you?”
“Yeah. Even if we did, who knows how you’d stab us in the back? Better to ignore it.”
“It’d be better if they told us how, so we could try. Or find a magical way to break it.”
The mages spoke in unison.
Beric spat out bluntly:
“Ugh. What a pain. Just kill them all.”
His tone was indifferent, as if telling them to empty the trash. The mages were horrified.
“W-wait!”
“Hey, Beric! Do you think we’re all as inhuman as you? These are Bariel’s residents. How tragic.”
“It’s the cleanest and easiest way, but you keep going around in circles. What if they sense it and scatter? That’d be a problem too.”
“But they probably won’t scatter immediately. They know reinforcements are coming from the capital, so they won’t act rashly.”
“That assumes we don’t know who they are.”
Ian studied the map carefully and nodded. That was true. If they stayed gathered in Karenna, it was fine. But if they sensed the leak and disappeared, it would be a real problem. Things were already chaotic enough; they couldn’t afford the time and effort to chase after them.
The mages’ eyes narrowed.
“Does King Toalun think Lady Darcy would spill everything so easily?”
“Judging by her personality… maybe. But didn’t King Toalun cut the strings connecting to Darcy first? If he thought she’d spill everything, he’d have kept her under watch.”
“Or maybe he thought she was completely melted down and couldn’t confess.”
“Hmm. That makes sense.”
Who would have guessed Lady Darcy could move her eyes and that the mages had created a letterboard to communicate?
Ian shifted his gaze toward Kalamath.
“…Hale, Tommy.”
“Yes, Ian.”
“You two will go to Karenna and clean up the situation. Identify, bind, and break the dolls. If that doesn’t work, eliminate them decisively.”
“…Understood.”
“Find all the images leading to other countries and destroy them on the spot. Once the job is done, confirm Bariel’s reinforcements have joined the Klipford army, then return to Kalamath.”
Erika had said Hwan would join Bariel, but she was already dead. Which way the giant ship without a rudder would move was only known to the wind.
Ian asked Lady Darcy again.
“We confirmed that among Hwan’s rebel leaders, Erika and one aide have been turned into dolls. Are there any others?”
“No! No!”
“Good. We’ll leave Hwan’s cleanup to Bariel’s reinforcements and Klipford. Whether it’s negotiation or war, that’s for those sent by the palace to decide. The mages’ work here is done.”
Rebuilding Hielo would have to wait until after the war. The mages needed to hurry back to Kalamath, where Emperor Jin was. King Toalun knew Jin was alone now.
“Yes, understood. Ian, but it might be difficult for just Tommy and me to open a portal.”
Reaching the central region might still be possible, but opening a direct path all the way to Kalamath in one go was out of the question.
“How about opening a portal in Kalamath about a week from now?”
“Agreed. It will open above the Luswena royal palace, so have everything ready by evening a week from now.”
Ian shot a quick glance at Darsi’s eyes. Once the Karenna incident was settled, it was a signal to eliminate the author completely. Hale, understanding the cue, gave a slight nod.
Mrs. Darsi, busy fiddling with the rune board, didn’t notice the secret orders exchanged behind her back. She simply seemed preoccupied with how to obtain something equivalent to a ‘body.’
“Then—”
Hale lifted a glass vial, capturing Darsi’s eyeball along with a thick, jelly-like liquid. Startled, Darsi spun around in panic, but there was no escaping the sealed container.
“I’ll open it again if you have more questions later. If this goes smoothly, I’ll seriously consider your proposal then.”
This was the punishment Mrs. Darsi had to endure—the price for her sly, arrogant, and insolent lies, promising to cut the puppet’s strings if she behaved.
Mrs. Darsi swirled inside the vial, trying to reassure them not to worry.
“Ian, about the reinforcements—who do you think will come?”
“Probably someone from the Imperial Defense Department.”
“I was wondering if Lord Romandro might show up.”
“Lord Romandro?”
“Yes. Since he’s the lord of Hielo, he’s the right person. Of course, I mean in a non-military support capacity.”
He had lived there before, and more importantly, it was directly under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Magic. So it wasn’t impossible for Romandro to go in his place.
But Ian, stationed on the frontier, couldn’t predict the palace’s decision. He tossed the documents to Hale with a smile.
“…That could very well happen.”
Amid the massive wave of Bariel reinforcements descending rapidly, Ian had no idea who might be among them.
“If you happen to see a familiar face, be sure to send my regards. Let them know we’re all safe.”