Chapter 104 - You Die (7)

The rooftop of a hotel at dawn, wrapped in blue-tinged darkness.

A beautiful girl with silver hair.

Elsea rubbed her eyes, dressed in pajamas with a plush robe draped over her shoulders.

"Mmm... Raziel-nim... I'm sleepy."

Beside her, <The Book of the Angel Raziel> floated in midair, gazing far beyond the dark city in the distance.

[..........]

The sun rose, carving a boundary of light between sky and earth.

Raziel watched a light of magic soar into the sky, mingled with the spreading glow of sunrise.

[The Second Pentacle of Saturn]

Magic from <The Lesser Key of Solomon>.

Raziel had deliberately chosen not to give chase, and while this had been expected...

Yo-han, who had escaped from the shopping mall hall, was not dead.

He had survived that chaos.

A light of destruction, shattering the darkness that blocked the wizard's path, pressing forward.

[Ahh....]

Raziel let out a beautiful sigh.

How could such radiant light come from such an insufferably arrogant human?

And then.

"Isn't it funny and adorable?"

A seductive voice echoed across the quiet hotel rooftop, where only Elsea and Raziel stood.

"He's never even been loved."

A beautiful, enigmatic girl with red hair, dressed in something that looked like a cosplay school uniform.

A great demon in the guise of a girl.

"...And yet he loves and treasures himself like that."

Gremory smiled affectionately, watching the glittering light.

"He's like a giant hedgehog curling up to hug himself because no one else ever held him."

Gremory gently shifted her gaze to the side, looking at Raziel.

"...Are you trying to say Yo-han is a pitiable creature?"

At some point, Raziel had borrowed Elsea's body and transformed into a mature, silver-haired woman. Cold eyes glared at Gremory.

"The world is overflowing with people more pitiable and unfortunate than that wretch."

"Haha~ That's not what I was saying. And I do feel sorry for the unfortunate, but...."

Gremory reached a hand toward the light.

"I'm a demon, after all. The only ones I reach for are those I can see and those who catch my interest."

She turned her head again, red eyes crinkling with a smile as she looked at Raziel.

"And isn't that the same for you, Raziel-nim?"

".........."

Gleaming red eyes and cold blue eyes faced each other in a standoff.

"You're interested in Yo-han, in that child, aren't you? That's why you've put off killing him and stand here watching like this."

Raziel's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

...Interested. It wasn't a wrong thing to say.

The reason Raziel hadn't pursued Yo-han to the end and killed him.

Of course, part of it was that Yo-han hadn't been completely consumed by the Outer God Magic of <De Vermis Mysteriis>, but....

It was because it would have been a waste.

That didn't mean Elsea was lacking as the grimoire's master.

In fact, looking at Grimoire Affinity for <The Book of the Angel Raziel> alone, Elsea surpassed Yo-han.

It was simply that if Elsea was a sharp awl, Yo-han was a vast hexagon.

<De Vermis Mysteriis> <The Lesser Key of Solomon> <Baopuzi>

An overwhelming Grimoire Affinity that encompassed multiple grimoires.

To grimoires that instinctively sought a master who would wield them well, Yo-han must have looked like an ocean they could swim freely in.

Wasn't it a waste to watch power that could be used properly being squandered carelessly?

...Yes, that was it.

Raziel spoke in a cold, haughty voice.

"And what about you... Do you intend to wrap Yo-han in your skirts and turn him into a puppet?"

"As I've said before, I simply want to teach him love."

Raziel's eyes, which pierced through lies, studied Gremory, but it was not a lie.

Gremory had no genuine intention of corrupting Yo-han, nor any desire to harm him.

Which was precisely what made her dangerous.

"Huhu~ Somehow, talking like this with a man between us..."

The rising sunrise enveloped Gremory, her form silhouetted in backlight.

"It feels like the story of the North Wind and the Sun."

Her beautiful red hair shimmered.

"Who will be the one to strip the traveler of his heavy coat, I wonder?"

Fwap-!

A flock of white doves that had gathered around the hotel rooftop took flight, and Gremory vanished.

Raziel glared at the spot where Gremory had stood for a moment.

Then turned away, looking out once more beyond the distant city.

The light of magic had already faded.

Originally, the plan had been to simply watch and see how Yo-han would act going forward.

But if the demon was planning something strange....

"...I suppose a small conversation is in order."

Raziel murmured quietly.

***

The Mountain Lodge, its roof and walls blown away to nothing.

I breathed in the cool morning air and looked up at the sky.

Perhaps because the setting was somewhat similar.

It reminded me of my very first Ghostbuster job.

Exterminating the Boogeyman in that mansion.

Looking at the clouds, I thought of the victims who had been hurt by the wicked evil spirit.

'The shaman, the pastor, ...what was his name? Smith's disciple.'

Back then, three people had died because of the Boogeyman.

In this Anomaly Incident, only two had died: Kwon Do-yun and Kim Cha-ryeo.

Considering Kim Cha-ryeo was essentially an Anomaly herself, only one person had actually died.

I felt good, like I'd grown as a Ghostbuster in my own way.

Obviously, that was a joke.

The reason I felt good was that the new magic item I'd gotten from [Mephisto Market] had performed better than expected.

I looked down at the white leather glove on my right hand, a Magic Circle drawn on the back, and clenched and unclenched my fist.

A simple enough idea, just engraving a Magic Circle onto a glove to have it prepared in advance.

But the actual crafting process to achieve the desired effect had apparently been extremely labor-intensive.

The process required skinning an ungelded animal with an enchanted reed knife and magical tools, then tanning the hide.

The Magic Circle was then engraved using a pen made from the third feather of the right wing of a white goose, similarly ungelded, with no differently colored feathers on its body.

On top of that, further enchantments were required.

And the entire process had to be carried out personally by a skilled wizard.

One of [Mephisto Market]'s users.

The commission had apparently been entrusted to a wizard called "Dress."

I knew who they were from seeing their posts now and then.

A fairly well-known robe and clothing crafter among wizards in Europe.

Mephi-chan had sent word that after testing the performance, if I liked it, I should at least send a brief thank-you email.

In any case, the performance was solid.

And this was something I hadn't anticipated, but...

Perhaps because I'd contracted with the earth Elemental Gnome and gained an earth attribute?

Even when I cast magic using my own body as the foundation instead of the ground, the strain on my body was minimal.

Well, that might also have been because my body had been toughened through my Breathing Technique, letting me endure it better.

Regardless, even if the magic's output was lower, this meant I could prepare for situations where I couldn't draw a Magic Circle in the future.

While I was reviewing the glove's performance.

"Yo-han-ssi!" "Mister!"

Ellie and Soo-ah approached, and Ellie checked over my condition.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Luckily, no. You two?"

"...That's a relief. Oh, we're fine too."

Soo-ah looked around at the total wreck of their surroundings, then looked up at me and said,

"You're the one who took out the Anomaly, right, Mister? So what do we do now?"

In the pouring sunlight, Grizzly yawned quietly and curled up.

"Gyaaaa~ Gyao... Gyagyagya... Gyagya...."

Translated into human speech, that would be something like:

'I had so much fun playing with Master~ That was fun....'

At least, that was my best guess.

The Mountain Lodge Anomaly hadn't even had the means to kill Grizzly, and from Grizzly's perspective, it had just been an exciting romp with me.

"What do we do, you ask...."

I said, returning Grizzly into <De Vermis Mysteriis>.

"Report to the Special Operations Division, then head back and rest."

I was exhausted from being up all night.

In any case, another job wrapped up, one way or another.

. . .

I contacted Si-on.

A Special Operations Division team arrived promptly and investigated the Mountain Lodge.

Since this wasn't our first Anomaly Incident, we cooperated with the investigation and were given permission to leave.

".........."

In the back seat of the car, Soo-ah's eyes grew heavy with exhaustion, and before long she fell asleep.

I was tired and drowsy too, but Ellie was the one driving.

It felt wrong to just pass out next to her, so I stayed awake and watched the scenery outside the window.

Then Ellie suddenly spoke in a deflated voice.

"...Yo-han-ssi, I'm sorry about this time. Getting you dragged into things again."

I'd told her it wasn't her fault, and it really wasn't.

But knowing her personality, she probably felt bad about booking that strange lodge.

Still, I didn't think it was her fault, and it wasn't, so there wasn't much to say.

"Saturday."

"Huh?"

"Schedule the camping date on a Saturday."

So I said it casually.

"Then I'll make it work somehow."

And honestly speaking.

It might not have been Ellie's fault at all but mine, with my presence attracting the supernatural and triggering the Anomaly Incident. That stung a little.

After all, even Edward Coffin's attack on the campsite was, when you got down to it, something he'd done to get his hands on <The Lesser Key of Solomon> that I possessed.

"Ah...."

Ellie's eyes gazed blankly at Yo-han.

Then they softened, and a bright smile spread across her face.

"Haha~ Thank you."

The traffic light changed, the car ahead pulled forward, and Ellie turned her eyes back to the road and drove.

But for just the briefest moment, she lingered, stealing one more glance at the side of Yo-han's face.

The car moved forward, carrying them home.