37. Soul Orb (3)
The Soul Orb.
It was said to have once been bestowed by angels in the distant past, and this object—something none but elders among the high elves could even touch—was the one and only treasure in the world capable of revealing how turbid or how pure its possessor’s soul was.
The more evil deeds one committed, the darker and murkier the orb became.
The more good one did, the brighter it shone.
A murderer’s soul would be deep gray, while the souls of dark mages and Spirit Killers became an even deeper black than that.
The soul of Baek Yuseol, who was both a dark mage and a Spirit Killer, should by all rights have shone black.
“How…… is this……?”
And yet.
Why, then, was it shining with a white light so bright it hurt the eyes?
Not even a saint could possess such a color.
Only beings with noble souls like angels and spirits could have a white that perfect.
‘It is absolutely impossible for a human to produce a color like that.’
But there was no use doubting it.
That light was not some magical trick.
It was truly the light coming from the Soul Orb.
“Ah…… you gave it to me as a gift last time, so I accepted it, but that means this was the Soul Orb?”
When Baek Yuseol said that indifferently, lightly shaking the pendant, people began murmuring.
He had not formally been given the Soul Orb—it had been disguised as a gift and handed over?
Oranha wanted to shout immediately that it was slander, but he could not.
The moment he mentioned the magical vow, the truth would be exposed at once.
Under the Magician’s Accord, a magical vow could never be forced.
Even if the other party were a murderer.
To a mage, mana was as vital as life itself, so if someone tried to force a magical vow, the Association of Mages as a whole would rise up and stop it.
But…… Oranha had already committed one of the taboos.
‘Never accuse a mage of being a dark mage without proof.’
There had once been a history on Earth of ordinary women being branded witches and burned alive.
In Aither World as well, there had once been a similar incident in which perfectly innocent mages were all lumped together as dark mages and slaughtered wholesale.
As society fell into chaos because of that, the Association ultimately established a taboo: never accuse a mage of being a dark mage without proof.
By the modern day, taboos had all but faded away, but regardless, accusing a perfectly legitimate mage of being a dark mage was still an act that damaged that person’s honor.
And now, not just anyone—but at an official public venue like this…… the aide to the Elf King himself had committed exactly such an act.
As the price for violating that taboo, Oranha could be forced into a magical vow then and there, which meant it was absolutely impossible for him to lie.
So all he could do was clench his fists tightly and lower his head, while Eltman Eltwin at last relaxed into a calmer expression.
“……Aide. Do you grasp at all how grave a mistake you have just made, both diplomatically and as a mage?”
Every race and noble attending the awards ceremony looked at Oranha with uncomfortable eyes.
Some were openly hostile, while others looked at him with something like pity.
“I do not know why you committed such an act…… but your attempt to drag down the honor of a cadet who should have been receiving praise in the most glorious of places will not be allowed to pass quietly.”
“W-wait……!”
Originally, he should have become the one with the upper hand here.
And yet somehow, the opposite had happened—he had become the one cornered.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
‘There’s no way this can be happening!’
How could a human have a soul that shone with such purity?
How could a human carry energy as clear as a spirit’s—how could that possibly make sense?!
“A trick……”
That was the only explanation that came to mind, and so the words slipped out before he could stop them, but that only became yet another fatal blunder.
“Good grief. So now…… are you trying to tarnish the honor of the most precious and wondrous treasure possessed by the high elves themselves?”
“T-that’s not what I……”
“Then by what would you prove it to be a trick? Are you saying the Soul Orb can be deceived?”
To the elves, the Soul Orb was their most precious treasure.
If it had been fooled by some mere dark mage’s trick…… then that, in itself, would be a serious problem.
‘What…… have I done……?’
One verbal slip led to another, and another, and after circling around and around, those words became a sharpened blade that tore open Oranha’s chest.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
His head burned, yet his mind felt paralyzed, as though all thought had stopped.
All he could do was indulge in the stupid fantasy that perhaps this situation was a dream.
Heavy.
The weight of people’s eyes.
Each and every gaze felt as though it were pressing down on his heart and his throat.
How ridiculous did they think he looked?
He had boldly waited for the exact moment Baek Yuseol was to receive his award, then proudly accused him of being a dark mage—
only for it all to turn out false.
Oranha had spent his whole life lording over others, so the humiliation and despair of becoming a laughingstock like this was so unbearable that he wanted to bite through his own tongue on the spot.
“……Wait a moment.”
Then.
A clear voice rang out, and the attention of the entire assembly swung in that direction.
Was it because the voice was beautiful?
Because someone had suddenly spoken in a moment like this?
No, it was neither of those things.
Rather…… as though drawn by a magnet,
the moment that voice was heard, instinct forced everyone to look that way.
No one looked at Oranha anymore.
Elf King Kkotseorin.
She, who had wrapped her entire body in black cloth and recoiled from showing herself to the world, had appeared in public after a very long absence.
Clack—
Though tens of thousands of spectators were gathered there, the click of her heels rang out more clearly than anything else in the world.
Even though she was dressed in garments so concealing that not a single patch of skin could be seen…… everyone held their breath in silence, simply to look at her for even one second longer.
Stepping outside the barrier that had hidden her from view, Kkotseorin walked forward until she stood before Baek Yuseol.
“I know well that this is not something that can be repaid with a single word…… but in place of my aide, I offer my apology.”
A king must not bow her head lightly.
And so Kkotseorin offered her apology with all the dignity and authority befitting her station.
However…… the problem was that the king of an entire race had personally chosen to apologize at all, and at that, Oranha’s face turned pale.
Only then did he truly realize the magnitude of what he had done.
‘Because of me…… Her Majesty personally apologized to some mere human commoner.’
That struck him with tremendous force, and he could only stand there opening and closing his mouth like a fish, unable even to breathe.
Eltman Eltwin, too, looked slightly surprised.
He had not expected Kkotseorin herself to apologize.
Knowing better than most how she avoided appearing in places like this because of her unknown curse, he could imagine just how great a resolve it must have taken for her to step forward personally.
“……This was not something that required the Elf King herself to apologize, but Stella will accept it.”
“Yes. I hope you will kindly set aside your anger.”
A king stepping in directly could have sent the situation in a rather strange direction, but it was also the surest way to calm the conflict that had arisen.
What might have spread into a diplomatic dispute between humans and elves had now been clearly cut off by Kkotseorin herself.
‘Well now……’
Baek Yuseol, too, looked at Kkotseorin with slightly strange eyes.
According to the setting, she was almost like a shut-in hermit, terrified of going outside and showing herself in public, yet here she was stepping forward in person.
He had even been considering trampling Oranha properly into the ground himself, but now it no longer mattered.
In the first place, Kkotseorin personally apologizing would hit Oranha harder than anything else ever could.
Because of this incident, Oranha had lost Kkotseorin’s trust.
For Baek Yuseol, that was quite a gain.
Kkotseorin, too, was someone who often ended up on bad-ending routes in the original game, and most of the cause lay with Oranha.
If Oranha could be separated from her side early, the possibility of her falling into an unhappy route would drop drastically.
“Well then. We have shown a less-than-pleasant sight at what should have been a glorious awards ceremony. I hesitate to say it myself, but it truly was an eventful tournament. With that, the interschool tournament awards ceremony will conclude, so I hope everyone will continue enjoying the rest of the festival.”
Eltman quickly gathered and settled the situation, and at his signal, the announcer hurriedly took the microphone and continued.
—Then, up next, we will have a magical fireworks show by Stella’s Ailac Performance Troupe. Dear spectators, please……!
The moment the awards ceremony ended, an opaque spatial barrier formed, cutting the podium off from the outside.
Thanks to that, Kkotseorin, now at last free from the eyes of the crowd, seemed to lose strength in her legs and sank weakly into a seat.
“……Your Majesty, there is something I must say.”
Oranha approached her to apologize, but without even turning her head, she spoke.
“Oranha.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You know very well…… what the Spirit Killer means to me.”
“……I do.”
“And yet you tried to use that politically…….”
She had even said from the outset that she wanted to speak quietly with Baek Yuseol alone.
And yet Oranha had ignored all of that and stained the elves’ honor before a gathering of every race.
Kkotseorin trusted Oranha.
No—she had trusted him.
Enough that she could forgive and overlook almost any mistake he made.
But…….
This time, he had crossed the line far too thoroughly.
Not only had he used the matter of the Spirit Killer—the greatest wound in her heart—for his own purposes……
he had also tried to bury Baek Yuseol, a student who might even be the benefactor who had saved Iphanel, in an official public setting.
“Your Majesty, the truth is that……”
It had been for the eternal peace of the elves.
That was the excuse he tried to make.
But—
“Enough, enough. Please…… I do not want to hear any more excuses. Return first, and get some rest.”
Then she turned to Eltman and asked:
“Thank you very much for your consideration earlier. I know this is rude of me, but…… might I speak privately with cadet Baek Yuseol?”
“I have no objection, but you should ask the man himself.”
While the other award recipients were leaving, Baek Yuseol, who had been standing there blankly and awkwardly, looked wide-eyed when the attention turned to him.
Smiling weakly at him, Kkotseorin said:
“There is something…… I personally very much wish to discuss with you.”
……Kkotseorin left with Baek Yuseol to speak with him alone somewhere.
Though Her Majesty had instructed that no one was to wait for her, Oranha remained in Stella, waiting for her return.
“Damn it……”
VIP waiting room.
In the corner of a broad, empty room, he bowed his head low and clawed at his hair with both hands.
There had been no mistake.
His deductions, calculations, and evidence had all been perfect.
And yet…….
Why had Baek Yuseol’s soul burst forth with such a brilliant light?
‘It’s a trick!’
He had no proof, but he was certain.
There was no doubt that Baek Yuseol was a Spirit Killer and a dark mage, hiding his true identity with some method Oranha did not know.
‘And Her Majesty, without even knowing that……’
The fact that Her Majesty would not even look at him filled him with bitterness.
How hard had he worked, and worked again, for her sake!
Was one single mistake enough for her to turn so coldly against him?
And on top of that, the look Kkotseorin had turned on Baek Yuseol had been strangely warm…… and that left a filthy taste in his mouth.
How could she look at that wretched human—whom she had surely only met properly today—with eyes like that?
‘Baek Yuseol……’
There was no doubt he had used some underhanded, despicable means to deceive the innocent Kkotseorin.
‘I have to save her.’
His fingertips trembled.
He still could not forget the looks people had given him.
Those disgusting eyes that had looked at him—a great and noble high elf aristocrat—as though he were something contemptible and revolting.
And Kkotseorin’s cold gaze.
‘I have to…… take it all back.’
He had to regain her trust.
‘How?’
I am elite.
Until now, I have handled everything perfectly, and I have not allowed even a single failure.
So there is no need to panic over a first failure.
Even monkeys fall from trees, don’t they?
Sometimes there are simply days like this.
What did he have to do to set everything back the way it had been?
The first answer that came to mind was, of course, Baek Yuseol.
The fundamental reason Oranha had fallen this far into ruin.
He did not entertain the foolish option of killing him.
No.
More intelligently. More cunningly.
To reveal Baek Yuseol’s true identity and cast him down.
If he did that, all the disgrace he had suffered would be wiped away.
Then, as a certain girl who had been involved in this matter with him from the beginning came to mind, Oranha’s eyes flashed.
‘Zeliel. I need to meet that woman.’
— Read only on MugenCodex —
