Chapter 293 : Sin of Greed (4)
Magrina looked at Eliban.
Eliban also looked at Magrina.
However, no words were exchanged between them.
Just silence.
How long did that silence last?
"Honestly, I didn't think you'd recognize me."
It was Eliban who first broke the silence.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, because even if it hasn't been long for me, it's been a while for you, hasn't it?"
"I'd say it's the same for both of us."
"Well… I'm human, after all."
To Eliban's lighthearted tone, Magrina responded with a subtle smile.
"After living so long, isn't it strange to still call yourself human?"
"Living long… well, you could say that's half true and half false."
At his response, Magrina's smile vanished.
In contrast, Eliban still wore a calm smile as he spoke.
"May I ask you a favor?"
"What kind of favor?"
The man, who had remained composed the whole time, paused for a breath.
"Please keep this matter a secret from the Marquis."
At that, Magrina began to deliberate.
A rather lengthy hesitation.
However, Eliban waited patiently without pressing her.
"Alright."
Eventually, she gave a light agreement compared to the long pause.
"...That's unexpected. I didn't think Her Majesty would agree so easily."
This time, Eliban sounded genuinely surprised.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. To be honest, I thought we'd have a longer conversation. I also thought we'd each have to reveal a bit more of what we've been hiding."
"Hiding things?"
"Come on~ I admitted it willingly. Aren't you planning to do the same?"
At Magrina's continued reactions, Eliban let out a brief chuckle before saying, "You consumed it, didn't you? Baarma."
As he spoke the name, Magrina's smiling face instantly froze.
"You're deeper than I thought. No one's figured it out until now."
"I know a lot of things. For instance, that Her Majesty has gone beyond just mastering the power of Baarma."
"You really do know a lot."
"But don't worry. Just like you won't reveal my identity to the Marquis, I have no intention of exposing yours either. So let's keep this as our shared secret."
Eliban held up his pinky finger.
Watching him quietly, Magrina slowly opened her mouth.
"Then since we're here, let me say one more thing, Eliban."
"What might that be, Your Majesty?"
"If you ever do anything to my brother—"
In that moment, the world bathed in blue moonlight suddenly transformed.
The surroundings turned shades of red and violet.
Those lights mixed in chaos, creating a bizarre, painted world.
The moon in the night sky shifted to a violet hue.
Krrrrk—
Strange forms undulated in the sky where the Milky Way once floated.
A grotesque sight that anyone would call terrifying.
And in the center of it all, Magrina scattered terrifying magical energy.
"You should think very carefully about what might happen next."
Her red glowing eyes pierced through her green irises and bore into Eliban as she muttered softly.
Eliban remained silent for a moment at her warning.
"Don't worry. I would never harm the Marquis. In fact, isn't that why Your Majesty agreed to keep my secret in the first place?"
He replied without backing down.
He was right.
The reason Magrina didn't reveal Eliban's secret—
Was because she judged that he would never harm Alon.
Eliban's power was no small thing.
If he wanted, he could have harmed Alon at any time.
But he didn't.
On top of that, for reasons unknown, he had even brought Alon's ring to her.
Still, Just in case, she had prepared to use force.
But Eliban didn't waver in the slightest.
In fact—
A clear smile spread across his lips.
"Once again, don't worry. I received the same thing Her Majesty did."
"The same thing?"
"What did you receive from the Marquis?"
Magrina remained silent.
There were many things she had received from Alon.
He had saved her life more than once.
He had protected her multiple times.
In the end, he had even solved her greatest problem.
And that wasn't all.
She had received so much from Alon that she couldn't even begin to list it all here.
He had given her the strength to live among these detestable kin.
He had made it possible for her to become the queen of these people.
He had given her—
He had—
He had—
Alon had.
He had given Magrina far too much.
So much that it couldn't possibly be summed up.
That's why Magrina thought of a single word that could encompass everything Alon had done for her.
That word was—
"Hope."
In the depths of a void where there had been nothing, he had given her the one thing she needed most.
"I feel the same."
As Magrina was lost in thought, reminiscing about that time, a voice suddenly snapped her back to the present.
Eliban was still standing there.
His blue eyes shining as if they would never fade.
With a gentle smile, "I was given hope, too."
Eliban spoke clearly.
"Hope that was like salvation."
***
Eastern Greynifra.
Once a protector of the World Tree's roots, Now a member of the Shadow Leaves, serving the Queen since the roots were purified—her name was Ramu.
Keeeeek~!
She stared at the oncoming horde of goblins and orcs.
Their number was at least several dozen.
But despite being outnumbered, Ramu showed no sign of panic as she simply gripped her spear.
And after a short while—
Only the corpses of greenskins lay around her.
Bodies pierced with precise strikes to their vital points, all life extinguished.
However, Ramu's expression remained anything but satisfied, even though she had taken them down with such ease.
The reason was the unusual phenomenon on the bodies of the greenskins.
The ones she had dealt with weren't ordinary.
They were noticeably more savage and far stronger.
But above all else, what truly caught Ramu's eye was—
"That..."
The ash-gray patches visible on their skin.
And not the ordinary kind of ash-gray.
"Why is there ash powder?"
It was the same type of skin as the ash that had once lingered beneath the roots.
As ash began to scatter among the corpses, Ramu turned and began walking in the direction they had come from.
When she ventured deeper into the forest—
"!"
She saw it.
The being that the primordial elf had once defeated: the "Ash Rooter."
And not just one of them.
"Four of them?!"
There were four of them.
She froze in shock for a moment.
But then Ramu quickly turned to head back to Greynifra.
She had to report this immediately.
However—
Unfortunately, Ramu had to stop after only a short distance.
Because—
Krrrk—!
An absurd number of greenskins suddenly surrounded her, as if they had been waiting.
"!..."
Ramu clenched her teeth silently.
***
"The control is still unstable, but it should help your spell to some extent."
"...Is that so?"
"But don't keep it up too long. If you don't want your brain to fry and kill you without you even realizing it, shut it down the moment it feels like it's overloading."
Alon listened as he faced Kylrus, absorbing the explanation.
"Understood."
Alon nodded.
But Kylrus gave him a strange look and added, "Just in case, let me say this: under no circumstances should you try to complete it. You wouldn't survive in your current state."
He emphasized once again.
"You sure do worry a lot. I don't want to die either."
"I've never seen someone who doesn't want to die pushing their body that hard, though."
At Kylrus's remark, Alon momentarily fell silent, then changed the subject.
"So is this training finished?"
"You could say that. You still need more practice, but from now on it's something you'll have to do on your own."
As Alon fell into thought, gently petting the purring Kylrus on his shoulder—
"Come to think of it, there's something I should tell you."
"What is it?"
"You asked before, remember? About wanting to unify your powers."
Alon let out a quiet breath of realization.
After it became certain that the Sin of Greed would emerge, Alon had asked Kylrus the same question.
"Rather than trying to merge my powers into one, it's just that everything feels too scattered right now."
Kylrus looked at Alon for a moment before he began speaking.
"To be clear, I don't know how to unify your powers. I'm a mage, not a god."
"I see~"
"But, I can at least tell you how to grow stronger."
"Are you talking about the Dragon Spirit?"
"No, I'm already teaching you that, aren't I?"
"Then what?"
At Alon's question, Kylrus tapped the side of his own head.
"You're different from me. Even without inheriting any mental image, you're able to use other mages' spells without any issue."
He continued the explanation.
Then suddenly—
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue and fell silent.
"What's wrong?"
Alon tilted his head in question.
But Kylrus replied—
"Seems like this isn't the right time to tell you anything more."
He muttered that under his breath.
"We'll talk later. Looks like something urgent is happening outside."
He stretched out something black toward Alon.
"?"
In the next instant—
Alon realized he had been thrown out of that space, as if he'd been killed and expelled from running through the past.
While he was still dazed and trying to understand what had happened—
"My lord!"
Penia's urgent cry rang out.
And the moment he saw her, Alon's eyes widened slightly.
Just before he had gone to see Kylrus, Penia had been happily immersed in reading books in the library.
"What's wrong?"
"It's serious!"
She grabbed Alon with an uncharacteristically grim face.
Sensing that something was definitely wrong, Alon immediately got up.
And when he followed her to the front of the cathedral walls in Fildagreen—
"...That's—"
He was at a loss for words.
And understandably so—what stood before Alon was none other than the "Ash Rooter" he had previously defeated.
And not just one, like the one from beneath the roots—
"The Ash Rooter...?"
But four of them.
Four Ash Rooters were approaching Fildagreen, spewing magma and turning the green forest into a blazing inferno.
Alon froze in place without realizing it.
Not because of how powerful the Ash Rooters were.
With Alon and the current residents of Fildagreen working together, they could surely fend them off.
The reason Alon froze—
Was because of the very existence of the Ash Rooters.
As far as Alon knew, they only appeared when the "Sin of Greed" emerged.
And if four of them had gathered in one place, it could only mean one thing—
"No way... the Sin of Greed..."
It pointed to one undeniable truth.
Alon had no choice but to accept it.
Right here, in this very place—
The Sin of Greed had been born.