Chapter 24

The forest was so dark you can’t even see your hand in front of you. For Pharzus, he can’t even see his hand because he is missing one. He ran through the forest with no sense of direction. His feet slowly became numb from the cold. His magic slowly ran out as his mana depleted. Even if he ran as far and fast as he could, he could still sense Esia somewhere near him.

One he takes a break, a knife suddenly lands near him, either pierces a tree or the ground near him. She was intentionally aiming there, he thought. With almost no energy to run, he shouted, demanding Esia to show herself and fight her.

He cast light magic in his vicinity, illuminating about four metres in radius and there he saw Esia standing alone. He immediately cast magic to attack her but was dispelled immediately. He felt way more exhausted when he casts magic, more than other times. Was it age? Or the temperature?

“It seems the drug took effect, albeit slow. As expected of a magician with high mana capacity” Esia spoke as she inched closer to Pharazus.

He conjured more spells and directed them at her, but were all dispelled almost immediately. When she was just a metre away from him, he can barely cast anything and when she was a foot from him, the light magic was dispelled and he can no longer cast anything.

Now it was Esia who cast light magic. It illuminated a smaller area but it was enough for both of them to see each other. With no other choice, Pharazus tackled Esia. As soon as he grabbed her legs, she slapped it off. His arm bent the wrong way and no longer moved the way it was supposed to.

“Do not touch me.”

Pharazus screamed in agony, not knowing what had just happened. All he knew was that his arm is now broken. A severed right hand and a broken left arm from the elbow down. He fell to his knees and cried. He apologised as he looked up to Esia, but she stood there glaring down at him as if she was looking at such filth.

He made a sorry attempt to escape. He slowly got up and walked away, sobbing. Even Esia could no longer contain her sigh of disbelief. An arrogant man broken down to this state in such a short time.

“Illar truly was the best assistant I had in centuries.” She sighed once again while shaking her head.

“Illar... don’t tell me... you killed Illar...” With just one word, Pharazus reacted. He stopped at his tracks and asked Esia with fearful eyes.

“Oh, worry not. He’s still alive. He reformed himself and became a gardener now.”

“Shut up! You killed Illar!” He refused to listen any further despite asking what happened to him.

“Ah, right.” Esia tilted her head slightly. “The both of you are partners in crime but it was a good thing he left your side when things escalated. He made the right choice of not releasing those beasts. Your jealousy over Relkas and Osar got the best of you and you wanted them dead. Although that made my job easier, you execution is just terrible.”

She spat on the ground and looked even more disgusted at Pharazus.

“You sent out an unfinished experiment out in the woods to kill someone and still failed at it.”

“Failed?! Relkas died then.” Pharazus seems to have regained some of his sanity and rationality back.

“How do you know? Their bodies were never found, including those beasts. And besides, I dealt the finishing blow to Relkas. His and the other’s bodies are in my dungeon. Even Illar’s.”

Pharazus could not speak. He was confused and doubtful of her words, but it felt so sincere as if she was never lying to begin with. After all, there was a chance that she knew of this relationship with Illar. Maybe even all of his crimes as she previously stated.

“Do you remember Suya? She was still young that time, the same age as Frianne when she started working at the orphanage.”

“S-Suya? Who?” Pharazus genuinely doesn’t remember who this Suya person was.

“She was one of my assistants. She was a great friend to the other children that time but then she went missing. Then her body was found in the forest two days later.”

Pharazus jolted. He remembered the incident. But it wasn’t just him who was in the scene, there were three others.

“Because of a little accident, you brought your rage onto a child. Although she is considered an adult by law, she has not even fully developed. And you dragged Illar back into your petty group of misfits. I remember there were two others who joined in after their patrol as hunters. Ah, yes. Abram and Weile. Sadly, Weile was killed because he was the only moral person in you group.”

Pharazus was still silent. He had remembered that time a child bumped into him and soiled his clothes by accident as she was delivering food. His temper and arrogance brought him to killing her and dragging Illar, who had long distanced himself from him, back into his actions when he saw him in the forest.

“Well, that’s enough story time for now. We can catch up when I prepare your flesh for your family’s dinner. I can remember the day you threatened Senya as well. It was also quite a refreshing sight. Seeing your reaction when the Haveloft Company stopped dealing with Heom all because of your arrogance. You insulted Brulam for being a beast-kin not knowing he is the vice-president of the Haveloft Company. Speaking of beast-kin, what you have done to the Vulupis was going too far. Because of you, I was labelled a traitor. Just because I was the only one interacting with humans, and now their village was attacked by humans, I bore the brunt of their rage even if we were completely unrelated back then. But after digging deeper into your past, we are waaaaay much too interconnected.”

Esia laughed and cheerfully spoke of the past crimes and relations of Pharazus. Although he doesn’t reply, he started sweating so much that he doesn’t even feel the pain from his severed hand, broken arm, or even the numbing of his feet.

“Well, come, let’s go meet Illar and-“

She threw a knife somewhere mid-sentence. As her knife hit a tree trunk, some snow fell off from it. Her eyes were focused in that direction. She walked closer to it and found nothing but just her knife stuck on the tree and snow that had fallen. After waiting for a bit, she walked away while dragging Pharazus away. He walked on with her but with only a blank expression.

“Now that you’re my new assistant, my research can reach further heights. New drugs to be developed, their interaction with mana and magic, all for the greater good.”

After a while, someone emerged from a small curve, like a grotto the size of a human. Snow had fallen on top of him when Esia threw the knife, so he was very relieved when he got away without being caught. He had heard almost everything from when the magician’s arm was broken. Although it was very risky, especially being almost caught, he followed their trails.

After a while, they ended up somewhere in the walls of the city. Esia placed her palm somewhere and light illuminated from it. The stone walls moved and hovered nearby, paving a path into the dungeon. As the two entered and the opening sealed again, he followed the wall back to the entrance of the city. He ran with all his might thinking of the information he got and reporting it directly to the Count.

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The three men who are usually inside the study of Count Garthus held their heads in surprise, trying to keep their mouths shut or their eyes widened. Unbelievable things entered their ears one by one to the point they have heard the story multiple times, too many times to count, in fact. They inquire about every little detail the man in front of them had heard from Esia.

After the man acquired the information, he rushed towards the gate but was stopped by other guards. The other search teams were still out looking for Pharazus yet he returned, and alone at that. Although he had answered most of their questions and even identified himself, he was still under suspicion. Especially so since he wanted to talk to the Count directly about Esia, who was almost unrelated to this whole incident. He was fortunate enough to be granted entry after Aniem and the captain of the gate on duty had spotted him. He was still under their suspicion but they let him enter anyways. He then dashed towards the Count’s estate and forced himself in after the same thing happened at the estate gates.

“The pieces are all coming together if you add in different situations.” Count Garthus said as he tried coming to a conclusion.

“Different situations and variables that we never thought of adding.” Osar added.

“I think we should calm the situation down first. Now the whole city is in lockdown.” Zila added and suggested. “But are you sure it was Esia, and are you sure Pharazus was walking with her?”

The soldier confirmed enthusiastically.

“But it would really make sense if we assume she’s some kind of devil that has lived for centuries that specialises in transformations.” Zila reiterated their conclusions from earlier. “Reading and writing the Belia-Morsas language at the age of four, being a skilled hunter enough to teach others at the age of eight, and even having an abundant knowledge that isn’t even known in this region.”

“Realistically speaking, it would be close to impossible having a child like that, but her attitude and her idiosyncrasies were so much like that of a child her age it would seem like she was just particularly gifted in many aspects. Like a child of god.” Count Garthus added on.

“But, to think that Pharazus had done something like attempted murder on Relkas and threatening Senya out of jealousy.” Osar deeply lamented and was enraged. “Although it’s pretty common, Relkas never liked fame and fortune. So, why did Pharazus try to kill him?”

“Maybe because of Senya? I remember him trying to court Senya.” Count Garthus explained.

“That’s news to me.” Osar spoke. “But there are still many mysteries that have yet to be solved.”

“We now know that there is a dungeon underneath the orphanage, so I think it’s reasonable as to why Osar’s men never found anything unless they scrutinise the inside.” Zila agreed to his earlier statement but decided to continue with his questioning. “Moving on, is Veyrr still alive or was it all an act?”

Everyone, except the soldier came to the same realisation and spoke their thoughts in unison.

“Johannes.”

They decided to bring him in for more inquiry, trying to link everything they found so far.

“Still, what does she mean by research?” Osar pondered.

“We never know. Not unless we see that dungeon of hers ourselves or ask her directly. Although capturing her will be tricky.” Count Garthus replied. “Well, let’s end it for now. We need to suppress the chaos happening outside. We shall continue next week.” He continued.

“I will bring in Johannes next week when he is fully healed and discharged as well.” Osar added.

With that, the meeting ended for the time being. The soldier who was there the whole time, was told to rest in the estate under heavy protection as he would participate in the meeting the next week.