NOVPUBAfter returning to their quarters with Lisir,
Katria felt as if she were drifting through the deep sea.
She suddenly recalled the pond they had gazed upon together.
Would falling into the depths of that pond feel like this?
The sights, the sounds—
Everything around her seemed blurred.
It happened as she tried to commit his final moments to memory.
Because, paradoxically, she was now conscious that they were his final moments.
At some point, she came to her senses and realized—
She was curled up in the dark corner of the room.
Ah.
So that’s it.
It’s really over.
Regret surged in late.
Couldn’t she have done just a little better?
Of course, she knew it was a meaningless hypothetical.
Once you’ve driven someone’s life into complete ruin, anything you do after becomes nothing more than deception and self-satisfaction.
She felt as though she finally understood the meaning of despair.
Her chest felt as if it had been hollowed out completely.
She knew.
She couldn’t let this despair consume her.
There were countless things left to do.
She had to take responsibility for what she’d done. Clean it up.
Katria began to calmly form a plan for what to do next.
Or tried to.
"..."
But the next thing she knew, she was once again staring blankly at the wall.
Lying on the bed.
How much time had passed?
She didn’t know.
This won’t do.
She knew that.
So then...
...
...
...
The faint chirping of birds drifted in.
Morning had come.
"...Ah!"
Katria sat up reflexively.
A bright smile crept onto her foggy face.
It was nearly time for him to wake.
She had to prepare breakfast and get ready to wake him—
"...Ah."
Right.
The maid’s routine.
She didn’t have to do it anymore.
Katria froze in place, her expression and posture unmoving.
The daily rhythm that had defined her life was suddenly stripped of all meaning.
It was fine.
Being a maid had only ever been a temporary role.
There were plenty of other things she needed to do.
For example—
"..."
But again, she found herself lying down, staring at the wall.
She couldn’t make herself move.
Couldn’t make herself think.
She knew this wasn’t right.
But that was all.
Wouldn’t she look like a worthless husk to anyone watching her now?
...A husk?
Katria sat up and walked to a cabinet in the corner of the room.
She opened a small pouch kept deep within it.
From that spatial storage artifact, she retrieved two vials of Clouded Truth.
One was a vial that, despite her efforts, had become completely harmless for reasons she had never uncovered.
The other was still sealed. Untouched.
She had asked Kairen for another dose in order to study the purification process.
To identify the cause behind its transformation.
And now, with that reason rendered meaningless,
Katria simply stared at the vial in her hand.
...
A method of atonement surfaced in her mind.
Normally, the Katria she had been wouldn’t have considered such a thing.
Had she not spent the night in such a wrecked state, she never would’ve thought of it at all.
But now, even her thoughts were hollow, riddled with emptiness.
And so, just as her hand reached for Clouded Truth—
Knock knock.
A knock, followed by a voice beyond the door.
Katria let out a bitter smile.
She knew she wasn’t in her right mind.
But even so... had it gotten this bad?
"Tia. Wake up. We’ve got a city to tour—Bondales is waiting."
"..."
A voice that shouldn’t exist... was saying exactly what she most wanted to hear.
A strange thought came to her.
Had he come to fetch her?
And with that thought, her resolve solidified.
Katria picked up the vial of Clouded Truth.
"...Tia? Is something wrong? I’m coming in."
The door opened.
Lisir entered and spotted Katria standing near the cabinet.
"Huh. You were already awake? Then why—"
"..."
"Wait—don’t tell me you were pretending to sleep because you didn’t want to get scolded for missing breakfast prep? Damn it. This is so awkward. Should I just close the door and act like nothing happened? Go back to my room and lie in bed again?"
Is this another illusion?
No.
Her imagination couldn’t possibly conjure up something this detailed... or this stupid.
Katria murmured in disbelief.
"Lisir...?"
"Not Master? Did I just get fired? Damn. I’ve been dismissed by my own maid. I’m no longer qualified to be a master. That’s right—I’ve been disqualified from being a master because I was disqualified as a master..."
Lisir mumbled with dead-serious expression while spouting absolute nonsense.
Then his eyes landed on the vial in Katria’s hand.
She instinctively tried to hide it.
But... was it just her imagination?
That distinctive violet hue—the color that signaled Clouded Truth’s toxicity—
...looked faded.
Katria lifted the vial to eye level and inspected it closely.
And then, she saw it.
She saw it with absolute clarity.
The violet hue of Clouded Truth, fading in real time.
And beyond the glass—Lisir’s reflection, watching her calmly.
"What is that?"
Lisir leaned in beside her, now also staring at the vial.
And then—
The deadly poison known as Clouded Truth
...turned into clear, harmless water.
"?"
Katria turned the vial of Clouded Truth this way and that, observing it from every angle. She even gave it a pointless shake.
Then observed again.
The deadly poison Clouded Truth—
Had clearly become water.
Katria set the vial down and stared at Lisir with an utterly blank expression.
"What's wrong? You’re acting weird today. Did something happen?"
"...No. I’m just... very... extremely... unbelievably confused."
"Well. If you’re just very extremely unbelievably confused, then I think we’ll need to start running the numbers on how confused that really is. Anyway, you okay? Think you can still go out and tour Bondales?"
"..."
Even through the confusion, Katria nodded instinctively.
***
"Oh right. Tia. If it’s okay with you, could we make a quick stop somewhere before heading to Bondales?"
The place Lisir took Katria to was the Alchemy Wing, specifically the research room of Master Didoa.
"Didoa, you called for me?"
"Yup. I hope you’re not upset. I didn’t mean to bother you for personal reasons, but remember that thing you asked about? I think I figured it out, so I kind of ended up calling you over. Sorry if you were busy. And hey—good to see you! Morning! You know, seeing you first thing in the morning just makes me feel pumped. Did you have breakfast? Actually, I’ve been experimenting with this new sandwich combo and I think it’d be great if you tried it—of course, I’m not forcing you or anything, the opinion is just an excuse, I really just wanted to serve it to you because I like it—"
"Calm down, Ms. Didoa of the Infinite Lung Capacity. Please. You're going to pass out. And I mean me, from listening."
"Oh. Sorry. I just got excited seeing Lisir. Didn’t mean to bother you."
"I’m not bothered at all, thank you. Actually, if it’s alright, could I try that sandwich combo you mentioned? Funny enough, my maid here overslept after getting too excited about today’s outing, so we both skipped breakfast."
"Really? That’s great! I mean, not great that you skipped breakfast, but great that you’ll try it. Here you go!"
Didoa handed him a plate.
Lisir looked up.
A majestic tower of sandwiches loomed over him.
"You have quite the generous hand."
"Sorry if it offends."
"Tia, did you hear that? If we leave any leftovers, Master Didoa will feel guilty. So let’s consider this like visiting grandma’s house. Time to pull it together."
"..."
Lisir and Katria sat down and began to reduce the sandwich tower, layer by layer.
In front of them, Didoa resumed speaking.
"Eat while you listen."
In her gloved hand, she held a rough gemstone.
A mana crystal—charged with Lisir’s mana.
Lisir had brought it to Didoa after noticing it had begun to emit a strange fire aura, asking her to investigate.
"Let me get straight to the point so your appetite isn’t ruined. Remember how you said, for some reason, your mana started to carry a fire attribute? ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Well... it’s not actually fire."
"Mah ma mah mah mmamah? (But it was totally burning.)"
Lisir replied with a mouthful of sandwich.
"It’s a more fundamental force than fire. Heat. More specifically—what southern alchemists call Solar Mirage. It’s the energy of the sun."
"Meh mah meh mehmo? (Energy of the sun?)"
"It’s rare. Incredibly rare, to acquire it naturally. Lisir, have you ingested any rare herbs recently? Something you purified and consumed?"
"Mahmiyo? (No?)"
"I ask because there are only a few ways to obtain solar energy naturally. Mainly through herbs like Saebaekryeon, Magma Grass, or Mandalian Bloom—all of them absurdly rare. And even if you found one, it would have to be refined, which only a handful of people on the continent can actually do properly."
"Gulp. Then... maybe I accidentally ate one without knowing it?"
"I doubt it. Those herbs only grow in the most condensed zones of spiritual energy, in the most remote wilds—and they only bloom once every few decades. Usually, they’re strictly controlled by the region’s ruling powers. To exaggerate a little, most people go their whole lives without even seeing one."
"Then... why did this solar energy decide to move into my body? I have been sunbathing more regularly lately..."
Katria, in the middle of aggressively chewing through her sandwich, froze with her mouth wide open.
The toxic herb Saebaekryeon.
Refined... in the stomach.
***
Their next stop was the Magic Wing—Master Meltas’s research room.
"Lisir. You’re sure the name you said was Verdandes?"
"Yes. That’s correct."
"And you heard that name where?"
"I coughed."
"?"
"And a black orb came out."
"?"
"It turned out to be a remnant of Verdandes."
"Got it. Makes perfect sense. Totally normal occurrence."
"Really?"
"Oh, no. I mean you doing completely ridiculous things is what’s normal."
"Heh. So, who exactly is this Verdandes guy?"
"A powerful demon who ruled the southern desert for centuries."
"And... why was he in my body?"
"That’s what I’d love to know. It’s driving me crazy. From what I know, Verdandes was sealed by the ruling Sahila family. There’s no reason he should be anywhere near you."
"Ah. I might have a guess."
"What is it!? Tell me!"
"Ms. Didoa said something about me having solar energy now. Maybe... because my body has a similar climate to the desert—oh no, never mind. Please pretend I didn’t say that."
"Good thinking."
"..."
Off to the side, Katria’s eyes trembled.
The demon Verdandes.
Digested.
She mentally compiled all the information gathered so far.
And then—
"Hm? Tia. What’s wrong?"
Maybe it was from staying up too late.
Because after locking eyes with that incomprehensible existence—
Katria fainted.
***
"Will she be okay, that maid girl?"
"Yeah. No idea what happened, but she probably didn’t sleep all night. Definitely not because your lecture bored her, Lord Meltas, so please don’t worry."
"You’ve reminded me of a possibility I didn’t even want to consider."
"...Hm?"
Lisir, having gently laid Maid Tia on the research room sofa and tucked a blanket over her, tilted his head.
"What is it?"
"She’s... talking."
"Oh, she woke up already?"
"Not her."
"Huh? Then who—explain in plain words, please."
"Verdandes. That guy."
"...Come again?"
***
Verdandes, the mountain of sand that blocked the sun.
A towering presence who summoned sandstorms with a mere flick of the hand. His body alone could eclipse the desert sun and summon night.
He was the undisputed ruler of the desert, enslaving all life beneath him.
The great hero Sahila freed the people from the demon’s tyranny.
In the process, corpses piled high as sand dunes.
It was a tragedy never to be repeated.
Sahila paid a heavy price to seal him away.
Verdandes, unable to find a way to destroy his own existence, hurled scornful words at his captors.
—Pitiful mortals.
—The moment I break this seal, night shall return to your desert.
***
"...So, what is this Verdandes guy saying now?"
"...He wants to make a contract."
"And you said?"
"...I told him no. Then he said he just wanted to talk."
"And then?"
"...I still said no. So he begged me to listen."
The demon Verdandes.
Trapped in a human body.
"..."
Even Meltas, despite mentally bracing himself, was struck speechless.
"A demon... begging a human...?"
Not even the vast knowledge of a Tower Master had ever encountered such a thing before.
