Chapter 333

The curse Juno had poured out before dying, just as we'd expected, faded cleanly away as time passed.

The moment she confirmed the curse had lifted, Minerva went straight back into her true form, and Su-yeong started rotating through different spells and workings on her own body, healing wounds and checking herself over.

Mercifully, neither of them had their frostbite turn serious or anything of the sort, and there didn't seem to be any other real problems.

"The artifacts are working properly too."

Su-yeong muttered the words as she fiddled with the charm that warded off chill and wind.

The state of things inside our packs, on the other hand, wasn't nearly so good.

"Look. Every single thing in here is spoiled or rotten."

The potions had changed color so plainly that one glance was enough to tell they'd be dangerous to use.

When I opened a canteen and smelled it, that distinctive mildewed, metallic stink of rot came wafting out.

The preserved rations we'd brought as food were all rotted through, the canned goods either swollen or corroded, smeared with what looked like some kind of strange, rusty water.

I went through the sleeping bags and the rest of the cold-weather gear just to be sure, and they were broken down past any hope of use.

"…The only things in one piece are the artifacts."

Su-yeong muttered, sounding genuinely sorry about it.

For now, we couldn't just leave the stuff here, so I shoved it all roughly into the packs and stood up.

Later we'd have to take it somewhere off the beaten path, purify it, and burn it on the spot.

"For now, let's get back quick and get some food in us first."

I said it and looked over at the two of them.

"And after that, soak in some hot water and just sleep and laze around for a few days. I'm genuinely wrecked."

It was the honest truth, not a word of exaggeration.

After the fight with Juno was over, I'd held Dragonification for almost four more hours, circulating dragon blood the whole time without a break.

If it were up to me, I'd have collapsed right there on the snow and gone to sleep.

"Could I ask you a favor, Minerva."

[……]

Minerva said nothing, just stared steadily at me.

[You haven't forgotten the promise you made me back there in the snow, I trust.]

The fifteen-day promise.

In other words, she was saying she wanted to bring the duel that had been cut short between us to its proper end.

"…No. I haven't forgotten."

I slowly nodded as I looked up at her.

With her, more than anything, what mattered was giving her trust and faith in the promise.

"Like we agreed at the start — once we get back, you and I will fight for real. There won't be anyone left to cut in or get in the way this time."

[Yes. There won't. We've already swept aside everything that might've interfered.]

"Mind if I ask just one thing, though?"

[What would that be.]

"Why now of all times?"

Minerva blinked, as if to say go on, elaborate.

"Milited is still out there. We never spelled it out properly, but I'm pretty sure we said we'd finish the duel after the rest of them had all been put down."

[That's simple enough.]

Minerva answered as if the question barely needed asking.

[Because this Minerva has changed her mind.]

She said it and let her eyes close in a slow, deliberate blink, just the one.

Seeing it, the Minerva in my shadow slipped me a quiet aside — that's a tic of mine, the kind I always fall into when I'm trying to rein in my emotions.

[Venus. And Juno — their sealing succeeded perfectly. There's no one left who could undo either of them. Only the passage of time will set those two free. Which means the Seven Calamities still loose in this world, this Minerva included, number only four.]

Minerva.

Milited.

Ahriman.

And then, supposedly, Margo was loose as well.

Honestly, I didn't care what happened to that one.

[From the way it has stayed quiet so far, Ahriman has no intention of stepping in. More to the point, that creature doesn't involve itself in matters like this. And Margo… that crawling thing, less than a worm, won't even know what's going on. There's no chance of this Minerva undoing Venus's and Juno's seals, so what remains is only Milited — that one centipede of a thing.]

Here she paused for a small, scornful snort.

[But the likes of that one we could catch and kill at a moment's notice.]

[Unlike Venus and Juno it isn't hard to find — it's only holding its breath, hiding its presence. The forces it always took such pride in — if you and I put our minds to it, we could wipe them out in a matter of days. Above all, there's no longer anyone in this world capable of stopping me or you.]

[Save for the two of us.]

Her scarlet eyes slowly turned on me.

She held my gaze for a long while, as if trying to take in every part of how I looked, and then she spoke.

[Which is why now, of all times, is the moment to make good on the promise.]

[…And once we've sealed Milited as well, who's to say you wouldn't simply vanish on me.]

"What?"

[Above all else.]

Minerva cut off my dumbfounded reaction and brought her speech to a close.

[If not now, then perhaps… this Minerva would….]

She let the rest trail off, and then nodded as if she'd said her piece.

[So you'll grant this Minerva's request, won't you? Surely you're not planning to refuse—]

"That's what I said from the start, Minerva. I'm not going to refuse, and I'll absolutely keep my promise to you."

I said it as I took a step closer to her.

When I gave her a slightly awkward smile, her eyes seemed to tremble, just barely, for some reason.

"But like I said — let me get a little rest first. I'm seriously hungry, and sleepy, and… honestly just exhausted."

[This Minerva wants it done now.]

She said it and brought one forefoot up, slamming it down onto the ground like she meant to drive a point home.

A soft thud echoed.

"If we did it now I'd lose outright, though."

[All the more reason to do it now, then.]

At her words I muttered to myself, feeling a little hard-done-by.

By now I had a rough sense of how to handle her, from all the experience I'd built up.

"You guys are why I haven't been able to rest at all, you know — I've been wringing out every last drop of strength. And to keep you from getting frostbitten, I sat down on the cold snow, let you sit on my lap—"

[Wh….]

"And on top of that, I covered you with my wings to keep you warm, worked your frostbitten feet for you, and—"

[Enough, enough! All right!]

Minerva cried it out in a hurry, letting a low growl slip past.

Then, muttering something under her breath, she lowered her body slightly toward me and Su-yeong, as if to say get on.

When I climbed slowly up onto her, Minerva let out a growl that made clear she really, genuinely was not happy about this.

[Should you fall off along the way, I have no intention of stopping. Know that well. In fact, I'd rather you did fall and die.]

With that, she beat her wings even harder than usual.

Was she really that put out? — I was thinking that when Su-yeong, sitting right next to me, checked Minerva's mood and then leaned in to whisper to me.

"…Ji-hyeok, did you really not know?"

"Know what?"

"Um, this varies, of course, but it's also the most common version of it, and just in case…"

Su-yeong hedged, dropping her voice to a near-whisper.

"You know — apparently, when dragons mate, one of them will cover the other with its wings like that. And things like stroking the other one's feet — apparently that's the kind of affection only mates or family do…"

"……"

For an instant my head went blank, as if I'd been hit hard, and I couldn't say a thing.

If Su-yeong was right, then I suddenly understood, perfectly, what was up with Minerva right now.

It was too late to apologize, and I was sitting there flustered when Su-yeong, watching me, quietly opened her mouth one more time.

"And, uh… this is a slightly different topic, but…"

"Uh, yeah. What now?"

I asked back, wondering if there was some other huge mistake I'd made, and for some reason she was hedging in a way she didn't normally.

"Uh, well…"

She was murmuring something in a small voice and then shook her head, as if saying it was nothing.

"Yeah, never mind. Just — be a little careful from now on… When we get back later I'll fill you in properly on the dragon stuff."

She said it and shut her mouth, like she didn't want to talk about it any further.

In the middle of all that, a small click of someone's tongue reached my ear.

Sbeungali.

[To be this dense, of all things….]

He went tsk, tsk, tsk on purpose, clicking his tongue at me again.

[Want me to tell you what she just said?]

If you're only going to be a jackass about it, do everyone a favor and shut your mouth while I'm asking nicely, Sbeungali.

[Ha. Is that you asking nicely? If you'd asked unkindly, a weaker man would have wet himself.]

Still as obnoxious as ever, he tossed out the next line in a voice laced with amusement.

[She said thank god there wasn't a weird smell, at least.]

Wait. What?

[How thick can you be? What kind of smell do you think she'd be checking for, given the moment? Up until a second ago you were—]

I cut the rest of Sbeungali's snickering off by drowning him out with a mental scream, and I shot a sidelong glance at Su-yeong.

Her expression hadn't changed at all, but her ears were burning bright red.

"……"

There were times when silence was the best choice.

"This should do it."

A woman in a black robe quietly muttered the words.

She turned her head to look at another woman, identical to her, and casually issued an order.

"That's enough. Once the last of it is wrapped up, head back. Go and keep maintaining your faction under the pretext of carrying out your master's last wishes."

At the order, the vampire — Natalia Milited — nodded blankly.

She turned around right away to move the workers along as they wrapped things up, and a low voice carried after her back.

"And of those connected to this place — apart from you and the others important within Milited's faction, kill every last one. There's no reason at all to leave many people involved in this matter still walking around."

Ahriman, wearing the form of Natalia Milited, said it and let its eyes drift around.

It was, at the moment, in an undersea temple located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

The reason was simple — to place the Milited it had sealed itself, by its own hand, here.

It carefully looked over the jar in which Milited had been sealed, the altar the jar rested on, and the rest of the chamber, and muttered:

"A place far too lavish to suit you, Milited. Don't you think? Hmm… come to think of it, the same could be said for Sbeungali. He's sealed inside the World Tree, after all."

Venus inside a pyramid.

And Juno asleep as a statue in the frozen south.

Having confirmed both again, it thought for a moment, then nodded.

"As for that wretch Margo… well, he'll be sealed soon enough. No need to spare him any concern separately."

It looked around the chamber for a long time.

Strewn here and there, under the heading of grave goods or burial offerings, were precious metals and gold chests, weapons and fine clothes, silks and the like.

Ahriman's gaze settled on a ceramic jar with a picture etched into it.

There were similar murals carved here and there, but it kept its eyes only on the jar, slowly picking it up.

"Wine? No — scented oil."

It muttered the words and turned the jar over in its hands.

Etched across the surface of the jar were Yu Ji-hyeok and, alongside him, Han Su-yeong, drawn in fine enough detail that she looked almost like she was pushing him forward.

Drawn finely enough that anyone who knew the two of them would have spotted it in an instant.

"……"

After spending a long while running its fingers over the Yu Ji-hyeok and Han Su-yeong etched into the surface, it pressed the tip of one finger firmly against the part of the engraving where Han Su-yeong's face was.

The face etched onto the surface was scrubbed away enough that it became hard to tell who it had been.

"Hm."

After erasing every drawn face on the murals and the other jars as well, it abruptly raised a hand and covered its right eye.

"At last."

It nodded slowly.

In its right eye, it could see Yu Ji-hyeok and Minerva standing across from each other, facing off.

"So he means to fight in human form for the first round."

At the sight of Yu Ji-hyeok holding a sword, with Minerva facing him empty-handed, it muttered with what looked like genuine interest.

To be precise, it was looking at Juno's energy clinging to the sword in his hand.

"Hmm…."

Not long from now, Minerva would surely return to her true form, and to match her the man would take on the form of a dragon while pulling the World Tree over himself.

Who would win was not even slightly of interest.

It simply thought, evenly, that there was no being left now who could face that man head-on alone and come out on top, and Ahriman quietly drew its hand back from its right eye.

"Just… a little more."

Ahriman muttered the words and quietly worked its fingers across the surface of the jar in its hand.

Beneath its fingers, the figures of Yu Ji-hyeok and Han Su-yeong had been drawn.

Slowly, slowly moving its fingers, it suddenly flinched and looked up into empty air.

"What…."

In front of its eyes, a notification window had appeared.

The very notification window it had thought it would never see again.