The blizzard intensified.
With each step Siern took across the snowy field, the snow around her scattered into the sky from the force of her magic.
It looked as if a living whirlwind was in motion.
Whooosh!
Whistle!
Though her eyes were filled with emotions of rage, Siern no longer raised her voice.
Aiselin was rely soone she had t a few weeks ago, just a passing acquaintance.
She was the complete opposite of Siern. They had nothing in common, so they couldn’t have been particularly close.
That was why it was strange that her death enraged her so much.
Whistle!
Yet, seeing Aiselin buried in the snow, unmoving, Siern bit down hard on her lower lip.
Even with such a brief encounter, Siern could tell.
She was a person of such integrity that she deserved to be called the flower of the Duplain family, and so understanding that she tried to comprehend even soone like Siern, who everyone called a monster. She was a beautiful girl, as if everything in the world had blessed her.
Even Siern’s frozen heart trembled when she saw her.
Siern, who couldn’t control her murderous instinct, probably would’ve tried to push her away sohow… but even so, she wasn’t soone who deserved to die so easily.
‘Even human life has value and dignity.’
‘If soone had to die, it should’ve been .’
‘It’s far too unjust that soone so precious, who tried to embrace and care for
despite what I am, should die like that.’
That’s why the girl raised her head and looked at the rcenary before her.
Lifting her hand and clenching her fist tightly, she effortlessly invoked a second-tier summoning spell: “Call of the Beast.”
Whooosh!
Dozens of wolves made of magic erged onto the snowy field.
Those spectral beasts bared their fangs and lunged at Dereck. Each one was human-sized, but Dereck stepped back without a trace of panic and brandished his staff.
Grrrr! Grrr!
Clang!
Steam burst from the fiercely bared fangs.
Dereck kicked the belly of a drooling wolf that lunged, rolled once on the ground, unsheathed his sword, and slashed its throat.
Swoosh!
The series of movents was so fluid and skillful.
The wolf, not even realizing it had been struck, returned to magic and vanished.
Yet dozens remained. The pack surrounded Dereck and charged in unison, but not a single one managed to scratch him.
Fwoosh! Whoosh!
The massive flas that exploded engulfed the surroundings, and the summoned wolves scread as they were consud by fire.
So managed to get close to Dereck, but were soon taken out by his sword.
Slash! Whoosh!
Dereck, who rolled once in the snow and stood, held a long sword in one hand and a staff in the other.
Dereck, skilled in both magic and lee combat, could handle any attack Siern threw at him.
Siern knew this as well.
Though her magical achievents were astounding for her age, she couldn’t surpass Dereck. Knowing she could never beat him in a direct confrontation, she thought only of distracting him.
And so, among the many spectral wolves, she blended in a real beast.
Kaang!
Siern’s claws flew and clashed against Dereck’s drawn sword.
Though her small, white fingers had soft, blunt nails, when they struck the blade, sparks flew and a fierce sound erupted.
Crack! Crackle!
She rembered that the first ti she t Siern, her fingers had been vividly stained with blood.
She uses transformation magic to control even the hardness and strength of her body. There’s no one else in the world who uses such advanced transformation magic at her age.
Siern then saw the expression of the white-haired rcenary across the blade.
That expression was so serene that Siern clenched her mouth tightly again.
“You must see
as a monster too.”
“…”
“But you don’t seem particularly human either.”
Siern gritted her teeth and gathered more magical power.
As mana flowed into Dereck’s sword, Siern grabbed the sharp blade.
Crunch, crunch.
Crackle!
Finally, the sword Siern held shattered. As Dereck scowled and leaped back, Siern’s claws slashed at where he had been just a second before.
Whoosh!
With one strike, the massive surge of mana blew away all the accumulated snow. And through the swirling snowflakes, she charged with glowing white eyes.
She had the appearance of a beautiful young girl, but she was no different from a beast blinded by bloodlust.
‘Transformation magic?’
Dereck threw the sword, now reduced to just the hilt, into the middle of the field and picked up his staff again.
The magic that changes the properties of matter is extrely difficult and requires a vast amount of mana.
If she altered the essence of Dereck’s solid sword to break it like a cracker, even a second-tier mage would be gasping for breath.
However, Siern’s nimble movents didn’t slow. Using third-tier transformation magic and acceleration, she ran through the snowy field with even more determination.
By this point, it was obvious why even the most renowned mages couldn’t control her.
To subdue a girl who charges without warning and radiates murderous intent, magic knowledge, culture, or elegance alone aren’t enough.
What’s needed is an overwhelming spirit that crushes her.
Bang!
When Dereck conjured a magical shield to block Siern’s next attack, she was already panting heavily.
She had used too much advanced magic in a short amount of ti. Any ordinary mage would’ve collapsed from exhaustion.
Yet Siern stared at him intently.
Faced with the clear murderous intent radiating from her body, anyone would swallow nervously.
But Dereck let out a low chuckle.
“Are you this angry because Lady Aiselin died? What is it that angers you so much?”
“…”
“Do you really think Lady Aiselin would’ve accepted and embraced you, Siern? Are you angry because you feel like you lost soone so valuable? What does that even an?”
Crackle, snap.
Dereck’s protective magic showed no sign of breaking. In front of him, Dereck lowered his gaze and spoke with a fierce look.
“Either way, weren’t you the one who killed her?”
“…”
“So it doesn’t matter at all, does it? Lady Siern, you truly are peculiar.”
In those ice-cold eyes was an emotion that seed to genuinely not understand Siern.
“Isn’t it better this way, that her hands aren’t stained with blood? Or are you disappointed that you didn’t get to kill her yourself? If that’s the case, I understand.”
“…”
“I can’t quite understand the mind of a monster driven by a killing instinct. If you feel so kind of pleasure or joy from directly killing soone you cared about, well, I don’t respect it, but I can understand it. Is that it?”
“Hahaha…”
Snap!
Siern leapt back, widening the distance.
As she landed on the snowy field, she straightened up with her blue hair fluttering in the wind.
Her face was shadowed by her deeply bowed head, hiding her expression from view.
anwhile, Dereck casually shook off his staff with an indifferent expression.
“Yes. The lady you killed was truly wonderful and complete, to the point that she didn’t even seem to match a monster like . Even so… I don’t think I can agree with everything she said.”
— There is no one in this world who deserves to die, Lady Siern.
Even amid the freezing snowfield, she reaffird it to the end, speaking with a determined face.
Until the mont she coughed up blood from Dereck’s sword, she looked Siern in the eyes and spoke.
Recalling that scene, Siern slowly revealed her fierce gaze. She pronounced each word, laden with seething hatred.
“People like you deserve to die.”
Finally, even the faint light of humanity left in her pupils disappeared.
Abandoning her human reason, she listened to the voice of the great monster that wished to dominate the world.
Soone whispered in the heart of Siern, who had been suppressing her true nature.
‘He is a person who deserves to die. He is a person who deserves to die.’
Thus provoked, the beautiful lady of the Rochester family finally hid herself from the world.
Hwaaak!
What took her place was a monster driven mad by slaughter.
*
A massive swirl of mana could be seen from the window.
Seated in his office with his chin resting on his hand, Lord lverot maintained the sa expression as he looked up at the scene.
It was a phenonon that occurred when Siern completely lost her reason and revealed her true monstrous nature.
When she showed her monstrous form, she destroyed everything in her path and killed indiscriminately.
Without even her own will, she moved like a natural disaster, guided solely by instinct.
Usually, lverot personally intervened to suppress or stop her.
However, Dereck had asked him not to interfere until the end, only to observe from there.
Perhaps it was an arrogant judgnt.
The unleashed murderous intent of Siern would make even the most seasoned veteran sweat cold.
Perhaps everything would end with one more victim of Siern.
— If you taught her the weight of death, you must also teach her to control her instincts.
— Is it possible to control a monster’s instincts?
— It shouldn’t be impossible. After all, humans don’t live by instinct alone. If you can create just one chance for her to overco that intense impulse, and if she succeeds just once… the second, third, and fourth tis will be easier.
— …
— So what’s crucial is after she completely loses her reason. I’ll take responsibility and try to restore Lady Siern’s reason. Will you trust
just this once?
Dereck was an expert on monsters. lverot knew that, but it didn’t an he could trust him blindly.
However, from lverot’s perspective, he had nothing to lose. If Dereck acted recklessly and died, it would be solely his mistake.
But as he observed, lverot felt a strange certainty.
lverot murmured to himself with his chin still resting on his hand.
‘If he really is that capable of a talent, I wouldn’t mind granting him one or two titles.’
The problem was whether he could prove his ability.
Bang!
The bluish mana began to turn dark red and surged violently.
The beast, consud by madness, charged at Dereck with her dress fluttering.
The amount and intensity of mana were several tis greater than when she still retained a shred of reason.
Crash! Crack!
Thud!
Every ti Siern moved her arm, combat spells that first-class mages could barely cast with full power flew forth.
Dereck could block them all with a single movent of his staff, but he had to dodge with his own feet the body of Siern, which flung itself wildly at him.
Whoosh! Bang! Whoosh! Bang!
Each attack seed like a massive explosion.
For soone without defenses, even a graze would’ve been fatal.
Despite the countless heavy blows hurled at him, Dereck’s face showed no emotion.
He was a young man who had lived his life killing countless monsters.
He had eliminated so many frenzied and desperate beings that he couldn’t even count them. The strength and power of those monsters were imnse, and it wasn’t uncommon to lose a limb if one let their guard down.
However, a monster that has lost its reason has simple attacks and predictable movents.
As long as one didn’t get swept away by their montum, dealing with them wasn’t that difficult.
Booom!
Though it was easy to say, the reality was very different.
The mont one of Siern’s magical arrows missed and hit the ground, a deep crater appeared.
Her body, leaping across the snowy field, was difficult to follow even with one’s eyes.
Her long hair fluttered behind her like the tail of a great beast.
Thud!
As she charged again, wrapping her claws in transformation magic, Dereck cast a protective spell.
The tremor of her claws as they were repelled. As Siern took a deep breath on the other side of the barrier, a massive exhalation billowed into the cold air.
There was no reason in the light that emanated from her eyes.
The masters who had fled calling her a monster had made a rational decision. That mont proved it.
*
What does it an to teach soone?
It was a constant concern for Dereck, who had sohow beco a magic teacher among the nobility.
Whether it was Diella, Ellen, or Denise… Dereck always seed to carry that concern when teaching soone.
If it were only about transmitting knowledge, reading a book would be better.
In the end, being soone’s teacher and teaching them must have a deeper aning.
Aiselin always thought it was admirable to see Dereck, who constantly reflected on how to better guide people, caught up in those worries.
Aiselin, who had discovered and recruited him while he worked as a rcenary in taverns, believed she understood his deepest thoughts better than anyone.
That’s why she thought Dereck’s detour in trying to kill Siern was just a small misstep.
‘There is no life in this world that deserves to die.’
‘No matter who it is, one must think about how to guide them down a better path, not just resolve everything by killing them.’
That’s how the upright and kind Aiselin saw the world.
She believed that one day Dereck would understand that vision, and she wanted to believe in him, to wait for him until the end, even if he went down the wrong path.
However… was that too arrogant a thought?
At the mont Dereck’s sword stabbed her and blood spurted out, Aiselin thought:
‘Trying to embrace and understand everyone might be overestimating oneself.’
‘Maybe Dereck’s impulse to resolve things through killing was sothing innate, sothing I couldn’t change.’
‘There are many things that can’t be solved with warm idealism.’
As if to remind her of that fact, the young man’s sword turned toward Aiselin.
While slowly losing consciousness in the middle of the snowy field… Aiselin thought:
‘I still don’t know anything about this boy nad Dereck.’
That ignorance and arrogance must have been the cause of her death…
“…Ahchoo!”
That was the mont Aiselin accepted her death.
When she regained a bit of consciousness, it was so cold that she sneezed.
“…?”
The blood spreading beneath the accumulating snowflakes was undoubtedly from Aiselin.
However, as soon as she ca to, she was able to sit up quickly. She didn’t feel any pain in her body, just a bit of cold in her fingers.
Kang! Kang! Kaang!
While the sounds of battle echoed in the distance, she finally ca to completely.
“Huh…?”
Aiselin opened her eyes wide and looked around.
She clearly rembered being stabbed by Dereck’s sword. However, there was no wound on her body, just a large hole in the side of her blouse.
Dereck’s sword had only pierced her loose clothing. It wouldn’t have been hard to miss, considering Aiselin usually wore loose and billowy clothes.
“….”
Looking around, she saw a large leather pouch with a hole lying on the ground.
She picked it up with a trembling hand and found that it was filled with red dye soaking into the ground. The distinct floral scent of dye from the western continent floated in the air.
Aiselin instinctively understood.
At the mont she was stabbed, she had definitely felt mana rising.
Using the confusion spell “Chaos,” her consciousness had been temporarily scattered.
“Oh… my God…”
The reason for such a troubleso act was obvious. It was to fake Aiselin’s death and provoke Siern.
Why do sothing like that? To imprint the weight of death into Siern—at least once.
Only by making Siern understand the deep aning of the word “death” over and over again could the foundation to control her instincts be laid.
That’s why Dereck took on the role of the villain.
She rembered the back of that man, standing firmly on the snowy field, holding a sword dripping red dye like blood.
As she understood the whole scene, Aiselin’s fingertips began to tremble even more.
“When… did it all begin…?”
From where had he been painting this picture? It was obvious. From the very beginning.
Dereck, who didn’t trust Aiselin’s acting skills, had prepared the entire setup so that she would believe everything was real.
Aiselin, without knowing it, had tried to stop Dereck by rebelling against him.
What is a teacher? What does it an to teach soone? If necessary, it ans pushing the student off a cliff and enduring being seen as a demon.
The grace of such teaching is only understood too late. If the student detects those intentions from the beginning, then they have no value.
That’s why Siern would still know nothing.
Dereck’s uproar was only to correct Siern. That fact hadn’t changed from the beginning.
And the fact that Aiselin was still alive was the clearest proof of that.
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