My Husband Was the Master of the Magic Tower - Chapter 57

L5.

“I think we have to walk from here.”

When the Magic Tower was really close, they got off the carriage and walked down a desolate road.

Originally, the scenery around the Magic Tower wasn’t very nice to see. However, even after all that was taken into account, Liliana felt that the road before her eyes was terribly deserted.

Grass and trees withered, as if all the energy of life had been sucked out. The energy of life that should be felt in nature didn’t exist anywhere, and it was gloomy enough to think that it wouldn’t be easy to make it like this on purpose.

It seemed that everything here was already dead from a very long time ago. An ominous aura hung over the roadside, yet they had no choice.

Because this was the fastest way to the Magic Tower, and it would take too much time to turn around.

Liliana lifted her head suddenly and looked at the swaying brown hair.

Even in the darkness that took over her field of vision, the back view of her going ahead casually. Seeing it, she felt something indescribable.

It was definitely not a pleasant feeling. Yet at the same time, it wasn’t unpleasant. Instead of retracing what that feeling was, Liliana remembered a time when she felt something like this.

And a man came to mind.

The person they are looking for, the one purpose.

As soon as she thought of him, what naturally followed was a memory of one day.

***

As the war continued, the Empire slowly but surely seized its victory.

The kingdom, impatient with its successive defeats, began to release monsters it had created artificially or captured somewhere on the battlefield.

It was a dangerous act that could harm not only the enemy but also allies, but that act informed everyone on the battlefield that the kingdom army was cornered.

The battle that day was like that too. A magician from the kingdom deliberately summoned the monsters and then ran away, and the Imperial army, exhausted from the long battle, wasn’t prepared for the monsters’ counterattack. As a result, those who can’t be said to be few were injured.

The moment she thought it might be a really dangerous situation. The one who saved the Imperial army in a difficult situation was none other than the Master of the Magic Tower.

Dozens of magic circles rose at once with his hand gesture, and the Imperial army quickly turned the tide of battle. At that time, Liliana, for the first time, thought that it was fortunate that there was the Master of the Magic Tower.

She was grateful for the Master of the Magic Tower that had only felt frightening that day, and that he was on the side of the Imperial army.

She was a little excited, approaching the Master of the Magic Tower, whom she would normally have avoided, and spoke to him. At that time, the Master of the Tower of Magic held a book in one hand and extended magic with the other hand outstretched, yet Liliana wasn’t afraid of the Master of the Magic Tower.

She thanked him for his support, and the Master of the Magic Tower didn’t seem to be moved by her thanks, just like the miserable scenery in front of them.

Just when everything seemed to be over. What came into her field of vision was the figure of the Master of the Magic Tower lowering his hand, not using any more magic even though there were still monsters left.

[Aren’t you going to deal with that monster?]

[I won’t deal with it.]

It was a cold reply, but Liliana recoiled rather than back down.

[Is it not a harmless monster?]

[…]

He didn’t answer.

[Seeing the shape of its body… It looks like an illusion monster. Ah, looks like Illinan. Is that right?]

Standing behind the Master of the Magic Tower, she narrowly didn’t get caught in Illinan’s illusion, and to her, Illinan just looked like a lump. Almost all of them were dying, and even if the Master of the Magic Tower didn’t kill it, it was going to die soon.

However, wanting to know why he didn’t deal with Illinan, she tried to ask again to satisfy her own curiosity. And she raised my head, at that moment.

Liliana saw the profile of his face flashing past, concealed under the hood.

A look she never imagined he would be making. Really, people do change. Her hair turned white as a reflex to the expression so different from what she expected.

The expressionless face was nowhere to be seen, and a face that looked like it was angry or wanted to cry was visible. And, his gaze twisted in pain as if he was thinking of something.

The purple eyes that contained that line of sight were clearly looking at the monster in the distance.

No, was he looking farther than the monster?

Who was he seeing in Illinan?

[I can’t deal with it.]

[…]

[As long as it’s in that form, I…]

With his voice suppressing his emotions, in the end Liliana couldn’t ask him what he was looking at.

Even after that, he didn’t kill any Illinan throughout the war, and Liliana became the only one  who knew that he ‘couldn’t’ Illinan, not that he ‘wouldn’t’.

And as such a person, when he devastated Illinan’s habitat… She couldn’t believe the sight in front of her.

She wondered what kind of change of heart he had.

“…Do you know what an immortal transcendent must do to die?”

She wondered, what was he thinking?

“The method is simple. Either a stronger transcendent kills them or…”

Was he thinking like this?

“They can do something even the transcendent themself can’t handle. For example, casting all the magic in the world at once.”

As soon as they left the forest, what spread out in front of them was a magic circle that covered the floor in pitch black.

Lines, shapes, and letters overlapped hundreds of times, so black that it looks like a huge hole. She felt a sense of obsession that she couldn’t dare imagine in the shape that was engraved so tightly that she couldn’t recognize each shape.

She felt like she would lose her mind if she looked at it closely. For a moment, she was amazed at the things that were painted, overlaid, and looked bizarre,

In the thick shadows of the forest, Kade, who had summoned the dark spirit, was seen returning the spirit. At the same time, Ivan’s distraught voice was heard.

“…Seriously, it’s like a collection of all the magic in the world.”

Literally, it was a sight that could only be described so.

At the same time, just by standing there, she felt a sense of intimidation as if she was about to be swallowed up at once, and at the same time, they had grown endlessly and were really tightly packed without any gaps. The area around the Old Magic Tower looked as if it had been occupied by a magic circle.

The moment the magic tangled between the formulas entered her eyes, Liliana looked at one person involuntarily.

Yet she couldn’t see what expression she was making as EI had her head down.

“Judging from the fact that he drew a magic circle like this.”

“…”

Kade’s keen eyes studied Ei for a moment.

“The Master of the Magic Tower probably intended to take his own life.”

A silence that was so heavy that it was unfathomable followed as if it had waited for the words to end.

Ei still kept her head down and didn’t open her mouth, and the silence seemed to weigh down even the breathing of everyone present in this space.

That time when even her heart felt constricted because she couldn’t breathe properly.

“Why?”

“…What?”

Ei’s voice, which opened at the end of the silence, was somehow blank.

“Why would Dante want to die?”

The end of her words trembled slightly. She could feel someone, whose feelings were always unknown, or expressed only very lightly, even from time to time.

But just because she felt it didn’t mean she was able to accurately grasp it. For that, there were too many kinds of feelings Ei had, and it was so mixed up that she had no words to express them.

Perhaps unaware that all members of the contingent’s eyes were on her, Ei couldn’t quite comprehend her expression, revealing her own confusion.

There was no one in this position who couldn’t understand her devastation. Even Kade, who hadn’t had a good relationship with Ei, seemed quite cautious at this moment.

“…We don’t know for what reason he thought of death.”

“…”

“That’s why we have no choice but to think like this for now.”

Kade’s words sounded like a declaration of sorts.

“He’s completely crazy with longing.”

Ei didn’t answer. Even so, she didn’t move from the spot and stood there with her eyes on the magic circle.

When Liliana was thinking about how on earth she should stop him from talking.

A quiet voice was heard, the trembling from before had disappeared.

“Actually, when people say Dante is crazy, I wonder if they should go that far. Even if he’s crazy, I wonder how crazy he must be.”

Her tone was carefree, yet she couldn’t take that calmness for what it was. The more Ei spit out her words, the clearer Liliana was feeling what Ei was feeling.

Perhaps it was sadness, perhaps it was remorse, perhaps.

“But now I get it.”

Suddenly, there was the sound of her feet tapping the floor. Casually stepping on the pitch-black formula, Ei lifted her head,

At the same time, Ei’s eyes, which were revealed, were burning with different colors.

“You’re so damn crazy.”

With obvious anger.