Episode 563. The Being in the Well (1)
Crystal Hall.
Steady postures and unflinching gazes.
Adept mages who were now quite reserved.
Lynne looked around the hall and smiled smugly.
“I’ve never seen such dedication to learning before. Anyway, you’re more interested in demons than magic. I suppose that’s why I despise the world of adventurers, don’t you think, Miss Jibril?”
Lynne’s voice was actually more heated than anyone else’s when she said that, and rightfully so. This was Linne, who had no interest in magical research or the regular conferences in the first place.
“Have you forgotten about the time you were kicked out of the regular conference hall for dozing off?”
Jibril said coldly.
“Put some spit on those lips and speak, Lynne.”
“……Yes, my lips, are they cracked, my lips?”
“Don’t show me.”
Klee looked away from Lynne’s wide eyes.
Then she followed Jibril’s gaze to the audience.
Now she understood why Lynne was so excited.
The staff members were exchanging news with each other.
“Okay, we’re almost there!”
“Barbatos, we’re right in front of the Magic Tower!!”
“Let’s go into the standby. Are you ready?”
Klee muttered to herself.
“……Are you really going to step in?”
If anyone saw more blood and gruesome dismemberment in the Magic Tower than anyone else, it was the mages of the Healing School, and for some reason, Klee felt uneasy.
“What kind of demon.”
What would a demon think of peace?
Klee dared to hope.
No matter what sophistry Barbatos spouted.
It would never resolve the pain in her heart.
It was then.
“I guess that’s because you’re shy, Klee.”
Jibril opened her mouth.
“We’ll have to wait and see what he’s up to, but Barbatos has already made a huge mistake, and you know it.”
“What? I don’t know, Miss Jibril?”
“Are you sure you don’t know, Lynne?”
“……Am I the only one who doesn’t know, this time?”
Lynne looks around.
But no one is making eye contact.
She sighs.
She should have just pretended to know.
She realizes, but it’s too late.
Jibril’s tone became even more stern.
“This is the formality Chief Lee was so insistent on.”
“What, formality?”
“There’s nothing formal about Barbatos, is there, Lynne?”
Despite the correct answer, Lynne was still puzzled.
“But, Miss Jibril, isn’t he, in fact, a very polite demon? Why, he was said to have appeared in the adventurers’ non-lying vision? Barbatos even gave his blessing…….”
“You’ve been deceived, Lynne.”
“What, a deception? Me? I’m fine……?”
Not one to miss an opportunity.
Jibril shrugged.
It was time to show off the dignity of nobility for the first time in a while.
“Barbatos said he wished to ask for forgiveness on behalf of all demons. But the act of asking for forgiveness can only be done when the person is ready to accept an apology.”
Jibril asked.
“Lynne, are you ready to accept the demon’s apology?”
“No, of course not, Miss Jibril!”
“Yes, as you are.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“I’m sure not everyone is in the mood to accept the demon’s apology.”
As if to prove her point.
The faces of those gathered in the Magic Tower were grim. Jibril dared to hope. Whatever he was hiding, Barbatos had made the wrong choice.
“In some ways, humans are scarier than demons.”
“Yes. You’re scaring me today, Ms. Jibril. Haha…….”
“Maybe so, because I have some questions of my own.”
Jibril.
The question in her mind was still running through her mind.
The door to the Crystal Hall opened.
“Hmm?”
Jibril’s eyes narrowed once more.
“Hey, take a picture first!!”
At this moment, the figure at the lectern in the Crystal Hall was too unexpected. It was not Barbatos, who was heading to the Magic Tower. It wasn’t one of the senior mages, certainly not Chief Lee.
That’s right, that conical hat…….
“I have a few words for everyone!”
The Archmage.
It was Jesse Heinness.
A fellow Adept Mage, though unbeknownst to the rest of the group, of the same rank.
It was Jibril, who harbored a rivalry with Jesse.
Suddenly, she remembered the rules of the Crystal Hall.
Apparently, a mage of lesser rank must have permission from a mage of higher rank, or be pre-qualified by Topaz Hall, before he or she can stand in the lectern of Crystal Hall.
“Why would Jesse take the lectern?”
Lynne was always quick to notice things like this.
” …… Looks like she’s got something up her sleeve, too, doesn’t it, everyone?”
Stares and focused camera angles.
The former Tower Master in the conical hat said.
-You’re always under pressure.
The apprentice was great in that way.
-But you look like you’re having fun, Jesse.
Jesse didn’t deny it. Ever since Barbatos had emerged from the rift, he’d felt a heavy feeling in her heart.
It was inevitable.
Jesse may be new to the Shining, but that doesn’t mean she’s forgotten Dmitri. Jesse’s feelings for Barbatos were not so different from Camilla’s.
And that worried her.
If Hoyeol ever forgave Barbatos…….
What if humanity and demons were really moving toward peace…….
What should I do with this lump in my heart?
But I was wrong.
So it was.
There was a ‘procedure’ to everything.
“Barbatos will soon be entering the Magic Tower, which, of course, you all know! But one thing. There’s a discipline you’ve forgotten, or perhaps overlooked!”
……Are there any disciplines you’re forgetting or overlooking?
“The kind Chief Lee spoke!”
And it’s from Hoyeol himself?
In the midst of all the attention.
Jesse continued.
“According to the procedures of the Crystal Hall of the Magic Tower…….”
Jibril opened her mouth in disbelief.
“……No way, Topaz Hall pre-verification?!”
*
Topaz Hall.
Vangrit sat down in his room.
He stared at the parchment.
Barbatos, the Eighth Throne Demon King.
“Hmm.”
The questions to be asked of him were organized. Vangrit recalled his order. Let’s see, what was more reassuring than anything else was that it didn’t seem like it would be his turn.
He stared at the front door.
“Because you are quite harsh, the seniors in front of you.”
kkiig.
“Ew, what a surprise!”
“What’s so surprising, Vangrit?”
“No, you’re not surprised when the door suddenly opens behind you?”
The back door swung open.
It was Bensch William who stuck his head out.
I don’t know how I ended up sitting right next to Bensch, even though he was the senior……!
It was like a swamp that I couldn’t escape from.
Whether you know it or not.
Bensch says.
“Anyway, let’s flatten that bridge of his nose!”
“Excuse me, Senior Bensch.”
“Yes, I’m listening. Vangrit. By the way, we shouldn’t be asking each other questions……. Why don’t we switch parchments for a moment?”
A fluttering parchment.
At first glance, it doesn’t look like his own parchment, too much white space.
Then it is.
Senior Bensch.
He must have scribbled the questions down like he was filling out an application form.
Vangrit shook his head emphatically.
“I don’t like that. It’s not like we’re switching papers, what do you mean, and it’s not like it’s going to be our turn anyway?”
I didn’t understand what he was expecting.
“Well, right now, right in front of me, there’s Senior Bellier. And Senior Bensch, you know her well, don’t you? You know how much Senior Bellier is gnashing her teeth at Barbatos.”
Bensch rubbed his chin.
“Well, that’s certainly…….”
He and Bellier had been talking while Topaz Hall had been reorganizing itself for pre-verification. She’d always had a smile on her face, even when they’d made a scene in her spare room.
Bellier’s cold voice still rings clear in his ears.
-“Green. The character overlaps with mine.”
Even if she was just like the rest of the seniors in antagonizing demons. Bellier doesn’t take kindly to Barbatos, who has green hair and dresses like her.
-“Makes me feel pretty dirty.”
Bensch shuddered.
“I joked to Senior Bellier that they were twins for nothing……!”
“She even asked if I wanted to be kicked out of the spare room?”
“Of course, that’s my fault, but… Keuhum.”
Bensch clears his throat.
“Anyway. Let’s just make sure everything is clear, Senior Vangrit! Isn’t this something you don’t know? Excluding overlapping questions in advance, we will ask questions and answers that get straight to the point so that Barbatos does not reach Chief Lee…….”
Vangrit turned away quickly at that.
“If that’s what you’re asking, I’m done.”
“It’s too much between us, Vangrit……!”
“Too much is Senior Bensch’s parchment.”
Bensch’s pleading didn’t sway Vangrit.
Still, Bensch was persistent.
Eventually, the impatient Vangrit used his last resort.
“If you keep this up, I’m going to tell Senior Matisse…….”
“I’m closing the door right now, Senior Vangrit!”
Bang.
Bensch slammed the door behind him and disappeared into his room.
Vangrit spat out a thin laugh.
The tension that had been strangely coursing through him was gone.
“You’re helpful in times like these, aren’t you?”
That stopped my heart pounding.
Like I said.
I’ll never face Barbatos anyway.
‘Still, there’s no point in getting anxious, is there?’
Vangrit’s attention shifted back to the parchment.
kkiig.
The door opened once more.
Seriously, can’t you stop it?
Vangrit said without turning his head.
“I’m really sending a telepathy message to Senior Matisse, am I?”
But the voice wasn’t Bensch’s.
“Senior Matisse.”
“……?”
“Is that the name of the person in the next hall?”
“……!!”
Green hair, similar to Bellier’s.
There he was.
There was Barbatos in front of him.
For a moment, he couldn’t help but panic.
‘How?’
Was he pulling some kind of trick?
‘No, he couldn’t have done that inside the Magic Tower.
That would be suicide.
Even knowing that, Vangrit still couldn’t believe it, so he looked toward the open door, where he saw Bellier’s back. Bellier had indeed passed Barbatos through the preliminary verification.
Barbatos sat down and said.
“No, I wasn’t in a position to ask questions.”
“……?”
“Let me just answer your question. As much as you want.”
.
.
.
I wasn’t sure.
“Cataclysmic. As I said, it is unfortunate. But I am innocent. In all the chaos, I have not harmed a single Arcanian, nor an adventurer.”
Something about him was different from the other demons.
“Can I prove my innocence? Of course, and I make you an oath: if I ever take the life of an Arcanian or an Adventurer, I will be damned to hell on this very spot.”
Even though I know that deception is the demon’s skill.
“I am both the Ten Thrones and the Mediator of the Ten Thrones. Not all demons are created equal, and I have the power to end this never-ending battle.”
I was shaken.
“You know this from watching, don’t you, Senior Bellier? As long as the fight continues, someone is bound to get hurt, maimed, and eventually killed.”
“I am no exception to the rule of the Ten Thrones, and having been cornered at the bottom of the hierarchy, I am merely trying to negotiate with you according to our interests.”
“And yet, if.”
Barbatos flashed a gentle smile.
“If you are not convinced, then let me go.”
It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.
“If it were Chief Lee, and no one else, solve your agony? So please pass me through your verification. For the Arcana Continent, the world of adventurers, and all the innocent.”
Thus spoke Barbatos, the Ten Thrones.
“I ask this of you.”
He bowed before them.
“……!!!”