Chapter 18: What Exactly Does Seongyeon Think I Am?

“No, what does that have to do with anything! Idel being a monster-!”

I tried to argue right away.

“What if he uses magic that dumps a whole pile of bugs on Seongyeon?”

“Eek!”

I couldn’t even bring up the obvious point that Idel wasn’t a bug or a monster.

The scenario Inas casually suggested sent chills all over my body. It was so specific that it felt disturbingly realistic.

“What if he traps Seongyeon inside an illusion filled with crawling insects?”

“Ugh!”

“What if maggots crawl all over Seongyeon’s body-”

“Ahh! Stop! Stop talking!”

I couldn’t take it anymore and quickly clamped my hand over Inas’s mouth.

“Mm!”

His lips were unusually soft and warm, his skin smooth enough that I panicked and pulled my hand away almost immediately.

“Seongyeon can’t beat Idel.”

The moment he regained the freedom to speak, Inas said it bluntly.

Honestly, it was painfully true. If Idel attacked exactly the way Inas described… I wouldn’t be able to do anything!

I couldn’t even protest that Idel wouldn’t stoop to such underhanded tactics. Because he absolutely might.

The fact that I’m terrified of bugs was probably known by every citizen of the Empire. No, the rumor might have spread across the entire continent by now.

And Idel had seen me up close, so he’d know it even better.

“You couldn’t beat him either, Mr. Inas.”

Still, I couldn’t admit defeat so easily. I was the one who said pride doesn’t feed you, but I wanted to deny the premise that Idel was unbeatable for me but somehow beatable for Inas.

Besides, Idel had been leading the Imperial Mage Corps, steadily growing stronger. Meanwhile, Inas had basically been living like a recluse… almost like a zombie.

“…That’s the first time someone has said that to me.”

No one usually said something like that outright. Calling someone weak to their face was basically psychopath behavior. I was only saying it bluntly because the situation demanded honesty…

And besides, Inas was a disciple of the Archmage Allegrius. Not someone people openly criticized.

‘Idel probably wouldn’t kill Inas…’

Even if their relationship wasn’t great, they still shared the same master. Surely it wouldn’t go that far.

“Anyway, no way. I absolutely refuse to go in there alone.”

Even if that part was reassuring, I still couldn’t go in by myself.

If Inas fainted, I’d be in serious trouble. No, more importantly, the house I cleaned with my tearful labor would be in danger…

“…”

Did my words hurt his pride?

Inas didn’t respond.

But there were more pressing issues than soothing his ego.

“And what about the dawn delivery? Are you just going to leave it like that?”

“Dawn delivery?”

“Oh, the ingredients the merchants sent.”

Let’s say hiding was necessary. Fine. But for how long? How long was Idel going to stay? We had to eat at some point.

“He won’t stay all day, right? Idel has to eat too. Maybe we can grab the ingredients quickly while he’s gone?”

“…”

“But how do we know if he left? We can’t see from here. Should we sneak out and check…?”

“Seongyeon, are you stupid?”

“…Huh?”

What kind of random attack was that when I was seriously thinking things through?

“You shouldn’t relax just because you can’t see a mage. It’s probably a trap.”

It wasn’t wrong, but it still made me feel oddly defensive.

“Then are we just going to starve?”

He wasn’t offering any real solution, just telling me to hide in the archive. It was frustrating.

My irritation from starving for a whole day also added fuel to my resistance.

“If we keep starving, we’ll die, Mr. Inas.”

“I won’t die even if I don’t eat for a long time.”

What nonsense is he saying now…

“Oh, really? Well, I will die.”

My tone came out sharper than intended. I didn’t even have the energy to argue with his ridiculous claim about surviving without food.

“…”

Inas’s expression suddenly turned serious.

He looked slightly surprised, as if the possibility that I might die had never even crossed his mind.

“…We need to get the ingredients.”

Was this indifference… or just a lack of common sense?

“What if I distract him? I’m confident in my ability to run away.”

I had the agility to escape even from the Imperial Palace, and the system that detected monsters approaching from afar.

I trusted the latter especially. Sure, it failed to detect the trap near the fruit tree once, but everyone makes a mistake sometimes…

“No.”

Inas shook his head. The certainty in his eyes that I couldn’t handle it drained my strength immediately. Well, I was weak… but the thought of waiting indefinitely while starving was unbearable.

“I’ll… go get them…”

That was when Inas finally muttered weakly, as if he had given up.

“Mr. Inas will?”

“Yeah.”

“…You can do that?”

“Yeah…”

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

“It won’t be dangerous? You’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine…”

The energy was draining out of his voice in real time.

“The one he’s targeting… is Seongyeon…”

“Won’t you get attacked because of me?”

“No… Idel can’t kill me…”

That sounded far from reassuring. Sure, he probably wouldn’t kill him. But something about it still felt unsettling…

“H-hold on. Why are you pushing me?”

“Go inside…”

“Again? What if something happens? I’ll wait here.”

And now he was trying to shove me back into the archive again. I was supposed to stay in a room where communication was impossible while leaving Inas outside? Even if he said he’d be fine, you never knew what might happen!

“Hey, why are you so strong?!”

Despite my determination to resist, I was dragged away by Inas. No matter how hard I tried to hold my ground, he didn’t budge at all.

“I said I’ll stay out here! Let go of my hand!”

And just like that, I was about to be locked in the archive again.

“Take this…”

While firmly holding onto me as I struggled desperately, Inas placed a small crystal sphere in my palm.

“If you hold this and speak… I can hear you.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“I can hear you too?”

“If I talk.”

…So something like this existed?

Like a phone… no, more like a walkie-talkie.

“Then I’ll go…”

The moment I had a means of communication, I immediately calmed down. Inas turned away as if he really didn’t want to do this.

I watched him walk away with heavy, reluctant steps.

Then I quietly spoke up.

“Please… take care.”

“…”

Watching the back of Inas’s head as he walked away without answering made me feel a little guilty.

Not because it seemed dangerous…

But because it felt like I had forced someone to meet a person he truly didn’t want to see.

****

“Long time no see, Inas.”

Idel greeted him as soon as Inas stepped outside the house after leaving Seongyeon in the archive. His expression showed a flicker of surprise that disappeared in an instant.

“…”

Inas walked past him as if he didn’t see anything. His steps toward the cart didn’t pause even for a moment.

“You’re still the same, huh?”

Whatever Idel said, Inas didn’t care. It was nothing new.

“How many years has it been? Aren’t you even a little happy to see me?”

Inas spotted the ingredients Seongyeon had been talking about and lifted the entire cart with magic. The floating cart slowly drifted toward the house.

“I’ve been standing here for quite a while, and you’re not even going to invite me inside?”

Naturally, Idel continuing to chatter despite receiving no response was annoying.

Inas had originally planned to just starve to avoid meeting him.

He could survive without eating for a very long time. He’d lose strength, grow tired quickly, and feel mentally drained, but he could survive.

But Seongyeon had said he would die.

That was… inconvenient.

“Cold-hearted junior.”

Idel chuckled.

At that moment, Inas was looking at the floating cart and thinking about Seongyeon.

‘You could float objects with magic? You should’ve helped when I was cleaning!’

Seongyeon had been incredibly shocked.

Inas was equally confused.

If Seongyeon had asked him to float the objects, he would’ve done it.

…Or maybe not. Perhaps he would’ve refused because it was annoying.

“I don’t want to chat with you for long either, so I’ll get straight to the point. The Hero is here, isn’t he?”

Idel suddenly stepped in front of Inas, blocking his path. He was smiling, but hostility filled his eyes.

Annoying.

“The Emperor is very angry. If I bring him back as soon as possible, I might save my reputation. So will you hand him over? You hate troublesome things, why bother protecting the Hero?”

Just as Idel said, Inas hated troublesome things.

Therefore, he was not protecting the Hero.

“I’m not protecting him.”

Inas finally spoke. But Idel’s face twisted in irritation.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to claim the Hero isn’t here? You?”

“He isn’t.”

There was no Hero in this house.

A coward like Seongyeon… wasn’t a Hero.

“Well, this is a surprise.”

Idel scoffed mockingly.

“Do you pity that thing that belongs nowhere, like you, neither human nor anything else?”

Inas lying to protect someone was impossible.

Yet it was still more plausible than the idea that the Hero had survived alone in Ens until now.

“…”

Inas stared at Idel quietly.

Perhaps this was fortunate.

Idel was still stupid.

“Check for yourself.”

Now that there was nothing to hide, Inas opened the door wide and pushed the cart inside.

Unfortunately, the cart was too large and got stuck in the doorway, so he left it outside and started carrying the ingredients inside instead. It wasn’t something worth getting flustered over.

“Once you step away from there…”

Inas’s eyes turned ice-cold.

At the same time, a massive sphere of water swallowed Idel whole.

“Urgh…!”

From the outside, it looked calm. But inside the sphere was chaos.

Violently spinning currents of water turned into sharp blades that slashed at Idel relentlessly.

“Inas!”

There was no response to the furious shout.

His magic power was draining rapidly. The water sphere was absorbing it.

“How dare you…!”

Eventually, the sphere would disappear on its own. It was a spell their master had used often.

He used it to restrain reckless disciples. Once the trapped person’s mana dropped below a certain level, the sphere would vanish naturally.

Of course, there were no blade-like currents in the original spell.

Their master had created a peaceful magic.

Inas had copied it… in a monstrous way.

“You dare tamper with Master’s magic? You? How dare you!”

Idel screamed hysterically.

That monster, Inas, had no right to use Allegrius’s magic.

“Gah-!”

In response to Idel’s rage, the blades grew longer and sharper.

The spell wasn’t meant to kill.

It was designed only to disable and torture.

Idel’s pained screams echoed loudly.

‘Don’t kill people carelessly, Inas. This is… my request.’

So noisy.

Inas had promised not to use the easiest method of silencing someone forever. Sometimes he wondered why he had to keep that promise.

Then again, killing Idel would only make things noisier.

He already knew he couldn’t kill him.

That’s why he had tried to avoid meeting him in the first place.

“I’m hungry.”

Inas muttered with a sigh.

Perhaps because he was influenced by Seongyeon, who claimed he’d die if he skipped meals, Inas had started feeling hungry more often as well.

He used to go long periods without eating and barely notice.

How had things changed like this?

Shaking his head briefly, Inas moved to finish what he was doing.

The floating items began drifting inside the house.

“Um, Mr. Inas? Can you hear me? You didn’t lie, right?”

Seongyeon’s voice came through the crystal just as the last item entered the house.

There wasn’t a trace of trust in his tone.

“I mean, suddenly I got worried. It’s taking longer than I thought… At first I figured nothing would happen since you studied under the same master, but then I thought about it and realized that doesn’t guarantee you won’t fight. I read somewhere that when there are only two disciples, someone usually develops an inferiority complex… So I’m getting nervous. Um… Mr. Inas? You can hear me, right?”

“…”

“I mean, even if you studied together, there’s always someone better than you, right? But you’re talented in research, Mr. Inas! You’re even called a genius mage! So maybe you shouldn’t provoke him… Just flatter him a little and quietly bring the ingredients back…”

Inas turned his head without thinking.

Inside the water sphere, Idel’s screams were still echoing miserably.

‘What exactly does Seongyeon think I am…?’

Inas found himself genuinely curious.