Chapter 13 : What I Saw

“Brother Kael, then how many times did you see yourself die?” Standing in front of him, her gaze down toward the ground, she asked hesitantly.

Hearing her words, Kael’s eyes widened in surprise, though he quickly calmed himself before replying. “What… do you mean? I never…” He tried to deny it, but Milian interrupted.

“In the cave, when you tried to attack me, you dropped the knife. When I barely touched it… I saw something.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I never saw anything like that,” Kael denied, masking his lie with confidence.

This is troublesome, he thought. How was she able to see such a thing when even Valerius and Cassandra couldn't see it when they were holding it?

“You are telling a lie…” Milian said, lowering her voice before adding, “Your mana is fluctuating very high. You might be able to control your expressions, but mana never lies. So, please tell me—did you see any other visions besides that?” She leaned in.

He ground his teeth in frustration and sighed. “What if I say I had a vision where I saw a future where I end up dying? Will you let me go?”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that. If I did, Sir Rudoff’s image would be tainted. But I assure you that I will keep this between us. I will also try to help you get rid of those visions, but…” She paused, fidgeting with her fingers.

“But?” he pressed as she looked at him with determined eyes.

“I want you to go with me so we can solve it ourselves!” she raised her voice, panting heavily afterward as if the outburst had exhausted her.

“Huh? Why would I go there if I know I’m sure to die?”

“No, you will not die! I mean, you got the vision before dying, right? That can be an advantage for us! Whenever you die in your vision, we can…” She raised her voice again, but Kael interrupted.

“That only guarantees I will survive. I still don’t know whether this curse will work if someone I know dies while I survive,” he stated plainly, adding, “So, I think you should leave this thing to the Crowns. They are strong, after all.”

“You are wrong…” She said, her voice darkening as her bangs fell over her eyes. “The Crowns… they might be strong, but in the end, they are human too… Also, through your vision, I became someone who killed her own Crown.”

As the atmosphere turned awkward, he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it after finding no words.

She wiped her tears with her sleeve and bowed to him. “Please! Help me… After that, I will do whatever you ask, so please!”

Seeing her determination, Kael looked down at her tiny figure and sighed. “Well, okay. But I have three things I want from you.”

“Okay, please tell me!”

“First, untie me. Second, write a letter stating that whatever happens to you is entirely your own responsibility. And the third one…” He paused, then said, “I want you to find out how I can remove this curse from myself.”

“Okay…” She leaned over to untie him. He checked his wrists as they throbbed with pain.

“Thanks. Now I want the knife you were hiding behind your back,” he said sharply.

Milian looked surprised. “How do you…?”

“Well, my first profession was stealing, after all,” he said.

“Stealing?” She tilted her head in confusion.

“Anyway, let’s go…” He reached the window, gauged the distance to the ground, and jumped down, gesturing for Milian to jump so he could catch her.

Confused, Milian walked back inside while Kael waited below. Moments later, she walked right out through the front gate, saying, “I didn’t understand what you meant back there…”

“I was…” His face flushed red with embarrassment as they set off toward the cave.

Along the way, Kael gathered information about what her power actually was. She explained that she could easily manipulate the mana flow in others. She also possessed extraordinary sensory power, able to locate people from a distance through their mana. Kael was confused at first, but understood once she provided examples.

“One more important thing: How do you stop yourself from becoming like that? I mean, as if you were possessed?”

“Ah… Don’t worry about that. I just need to lessen my skill range to stay safe. Back then, I absorbed too much corrupted mana.”

“I see.” With that, they continued walking.

When they reached the cave entrance, they found two guards stationed there.

“Lady Milian, what are you doing here?” one of the guards asked.

“Well, Sir James, I came here to patrol the outer layer of the cave. Sir Rudoff was worried, so Lady Cassandra offered her shadow to assist me,” she said, presenting Kael, who remained silent.

“Ah, I see… But Sir Rudoff himself ordered us to let no one enter the area without his presence. I’m sorry, Lady Milian.”

“But…” She pressed, but Kael stepped forward.

“I was just thinking, but do you both know someone is staring at you from the cave entrance?” he said, trying to distract them.

“Huh?” Panicking, both guards looked behind them. Kael immediately choked out one of the guards from behind. As the other guard turned to call for help, Kael struck him over the head with a rock, sending him unconscious to the ground.

“Now we can enter.” He dusted off his hands and looked at her as she stared at him suspiciously.

“What? I’m just making things easy for us. Anyway, from now on, be cautious.”

“Hm.” She nodded and began following behind him. He grabbed a torch, and they marched deeper inside.

“Be careful, the ground here is slippery. Are you able to find the source?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, nothing yet.”

They walked deeper, but every path they took led to a dead end. “Another dead end? Are you sure we’re going the correct way?”

“Well, sorry, but it seems limiting my power was a bad idea. Brother Kael, you should wait—I’ll check things out.”

“Wait!” He stopped her. “Don’t go alone. This place isn’t a picnic spot. Neither of us are trained soldiers—if we face someone out of our league, we’ll be in big trouble.”

She stopped and nodded.

“Good, then let’s search further.”

They went deeper, searching for the core, but found nothing except continuous dead ends. After around three hours had passed, they kept walking.

It’s strange. No matter how deep we go, we face a dead end every time. He took a sip from his water bottle, threw it aside when he found it empty, and looked back at her. Seeing her exhausted, he walked ahead again.

This is problematic. It seems like things are going wrong, and if we face something right now, we’ll probably be doomed. I should call this mission off for now.

“Hey, Milian, listen. Maybe we should call this off…” He turned around, but his eyes widened.

“Milian? Hey, where are you?” Confused, he called out. After receiving no response, he called for her again, but failed to find her. Panic set in as he ran back.

What now? Where did she go? She was right behind me just a second ago! Geez, that’s why I told her to be cautious!

He dashed back, only to find himself at another dead end. He punched the rock hard.

“Damn it! Why now?! This path was open before!” He raised his voice, continuing, “Is this why she vanished? Because this cave changes its structure continuously?! I need to find her soon!”

He turned back around, but the moment he took a step, the ground beneath him sank, slowly pulling him down with it.

“Wait!” He struggled desperately to break free. “Aughh…! Come on, I just need to hold onto something…!”

He reached toward a large rock, but before he could grab it, the ground swallowed him whole.