Damn Reincarnation

ding Balzac’s limbs.

“I forgot to ask you an important question,” Eugene suddenly recalled.
“What is your secret desire?”

“Although it’s not really a big deal, I hope you can wait until we’ve succeeded in our mission.
Please allow me to tell you then,” Balzac sincerely requested.

Eugene grumbled, “The fact that you don’t want to tell me right now only makes me more curious about what it is.”

Instead of responding, Balzac just put on his glasses with a wry smile.

* * *

The next day, ahead of the huge advancing army, Eugene’s party left the capital of the Zoran Tribe early in the day.
They were leaving in order to inspect the Zoran Tribe’s northern frontier, which had been encroached on by the Kochillas while Ivatar was away from the tribe.

Balzac was the one to propose this plan.
Even though he had sworn an oath and had a dagger embedded into his heart, the party still didn’t fully trust Balzac.
As such, they needed to see the Earth Vein that had been encroached on by the Kochillas with their own eyes in order to confirm the truth of Edmond’s ritual.

“As I told you yesterday, they’re taking advantage of the Earth Veins that flow throughout this forest.
By twisting and redirecting the mana flowing through the Earth Veins, Edmond is collecting the souls of those who have died in this war as sacrifices.
The blood and souls that sink into the land are being led to Edmond by the twisted flow of the Earth Veins,” Balzac explained on the way there.

The previous day, Balzac had fully described the contents of the ritual to them.

Balzac continued, “During their conquests, the Kochillas have been erecting bone towers made up of human bones.
These human bone towers are devices that fuel the ritual.
However, now that things have come to this point, it would be pointless to destroy the human bone towers.
From the moment the human bone towers were built, the flow of the Earth Veins was already twisted.”

“If that’s the case, can’t we just correct the flow by destroying them?” Eugene asked.

“Even if we managed to destroy a few of the devices, that will only stop the blood and souls of a few dozen of the deceased from being used as sacrifices.
Moreover, the Demon King of Incarceration’s dark power is being used to fuel this part of the spell, so no matter what we do, we cannot reverse the flow of the Earth Veins.” With a glance at Eugene, Balzac slowly continued speaking, “Of course, I do have access to the same channels as Edmond.
If I were to do the same as Edmond, as long as I used dozens… no, considering the difference in our capabilities, as long as I offered twice as many sacrifices as Edmond is offering, then yes, I should be able to shut down the flow.”

Eugene asked sarcastically, “You’re not saying that because you really think I’ll give you permission to do so, are you?”

“Of course not,” Balzac denied.
“I believe there is no way you would permit such a thing, Sir Eugene, and I would also prefer not to use live sacrifices.
Haven’t I said as much to you before? Not all black wizards are focussed on necromancy and willing to use human sacrifices.”

However, it was important to note that Balzac had said he could do it.

For this entire morning, Balzac had searched for the eyes that Edmond had hidden within the capital.
Balzac had pointed out those individuals who had obtained strength or affluence by using their souls as collateral, following which, Ivatar had executed them without showing even a shadow of a doubt.

In addition to those, they had also found the familiars hiding on the outskirts of the capital.
There were no longer any of Edmond’s eyes remaining in the capital.

But that alone wouldn’t have any influence on the outcome of their mission.
Edmond had already found out that Eugene’s party had come to the aid of the Zoran Tribe and that Balzac Ludbeth, his fellow Mage of Incarceration, was cooperating with them.

This meant that Edmond would be left with no choice but to make haste.
As the Hero, Eugene might still be able to foil his ritual.
Or perhaps Balzac might try to seize control of the ritual by offering up his own sacrifices.

“To destroy the ritual, we will need to destroy the central location where the twisted Earth Veins are sending their flow of mana, but… at that site, Edmond, along with Vladmir, will be the one maintaining the ritual,” Balzac warned.

A black wizard who had signed a contract with a Demon King and a magic staff that, just like Akasha, had been created using a whole Dragonheart.

“In other words, we won’t be able to disrupt the ritual unless we can completely destroy either Edmond or Vladmir, one of the two.
Since he can no longer afford to continue making slow and steady preparations for the ritual, Edmond should also be hurrying to complete the ritual,” Balzac surmised.

“That means we’ll need to confront them head-on,” Eugene grunted.

“Yes,” Balzac nodded.
“Since they’ve already secured enough Earth Veins, losing a few won’t hurt them, but what they really need are the blood and souls.
If we confront them head-on, Edmond should also come out to meet us.”

Edmond no longer had any reason to stay in the background.
After dispersing the rest of Kochilla Tribe’s grand army to secure the remaining Earth Veins, Edmond himself would be able to take part in the war.
He could appear in person, quickly clear an entire battlefield, and obtain some of the necessary blood and souls.

“What about destroying the Earth Veins first, then advancing on the central location?”

Cyan, who had been silently listening, proposed this suggestion, only for Eugene to shake his head and explain.

“If this ritual simply relied on draining the land, that might work, but with Edmond now taking action himself, seizing control of the Earth Veins is no longer that important.
The more that they have secured, the better, but if it comes down to it, they can still proceed with the ritual without any of that.”

Cyan complained.
“Like I thought, shouldn ’t we have brought the knights from the Lionheart clan with us? In the end, it turned out just as we had initially guessed.
Hector, that traitorous bastard, was also in cahoots with Edmond Codreth.
The mess Eward left was leaked, and now Edmond is making use of a modified version.”

Eugene sighed, “Really now.
At that time, how could I know that things would turn out like this? Also, now that things have gotten to this point, can’t you consider how long it would take to go and bring back the Knights of the Lionheart clan?”

Cyan put on a puzzled expression after hearing Eugene’s response.

He might be saying this and that as an excuse, but in the end, didn’t this mean he just didn’t want to get the clan involved? Cyan could also understand why Eugene might have that opinion.
Cyan himself didn’t want to see the sight of someone from their clan shedding their blood and collapsing….

‘…However, the Lionhearts are a martial clan,’ Cyan thought.

They were a clan of knights.
So when the time came for it, none of them should hesitate to go to war.
If their blood must be shed to do what is right, the Lionhearts should be the first to bleed before anyone else could.

That was the sort of chivalry that had been instilled into Cyan by Ancilla and Gilead ever since he was a child, and it was also part of the Family Commandments that had been passed down from their ancestor, the Great Vermouth.

‘…But still…,’ Cyan glanced at Eugene, who was riding on the back of a summoned beast.

This might be stating the obvious, but the spilled blood that Cyan didn’t want to see included the blood from his siblings.
Whether it was Ciel, who wasn’t here with them, or Eugene, who was right next to him, he didn’t want to see either of them bleeding out in front of him.

Instead of the two losing any blood, he would rather it be….

‘…Hold on,’ Cyan suddenly had a thought.

He didn’t know about Ciel, but Cyan found it impossible to imagine the sight of Eugene losing any blood.

‘Also, the next Patriarch isn’t Eugene.
It’s me,’ Cyan reminded himself.

If Eugene was the one who had been selected as the next Patriarch, Cyan would certainly have been prepared to shed his blood for Eugene.

However, wasn’t Cyan the next Patriarch rather than Eugene? Even though he had suggested to Eugene that he become the Patriarch several times before now, hadn’t he just been met with refusals that were accompanied by acts of violence?

Cyan thought with some relief, ‘Although I might be willing to shed blood for you, as the one who will become the next Patriarch, I can’t allow myself to bleed so easily.’

In his opinion, this was only natural.

Without Ivatar there, the trees of the forest weren’t opening a path for them, but thanks to Lovellian’s summoned mounts and Melkith calling upon the spirits of the land, they were able to travel plenty fast.

They soon reached the northern frontier of the Zoran Tribe, where the battle had taken place.
All the corpses had been retrieved right after the battle, so there wasn’t any remaining scent of blood.
The human bone towers, which had been built after the battle was over, had also been knocked over by the Zorans in the process of collecting the bodies.

However, just like Balzac had said, it was pointless to collapse the human bone towers after they were erected.
The blood and souls of the retrieved corpses had already sunk into the ground and been sent to Edmond by the twisted flow of the Earth Veins.

“I really hate black magic,” Melkith grumbled.

Even in this jungle, she was still wearing high heels and tight denim jeans that were also fashionably ripped.

“The ground here doesn’t have any remaining spirits of the land.
The moment that the Earth Veins were twisted, the spirits all left this place.
Janos is also feeling extremely enraged by all this,” Melkith said as she stroked the ground with a stern expression.

“So you can’t correct the flow of the Earth Veins, even with a Spirit King’s power?” Eugene asked.

Melkith shook her head, “It’s impossible.
Just like Balzac said, the Earth Veins have already been irreversibly twisted, with its flow leading to an entirely different direction.
Do you know what that means? Unless we can destroy the ritual, the land here will die.”

In fact, they could already sense that the trees and grasses here were dry enough for there to be a noticeable difference compared to other areas of the forest, and the soil here was so parched it was as if there had been a drought.

“Although they’re all currently trying to hold on with the remains of their original vitality… it won’t be long before everything here dries up.
The grass will wither[1], the leaves will leave, and this forest will slowly die….
Hold on, the leaves will leave? My amazing sense for puns surprises even me,” Melkith declared proudly.

Eugene tightly gritted his teeth in anger.

Since when did Melkith become such an airhead?

Damn it!

Eugene had suddenly been reminded of a similar conversation he had had with Ciel a few years ago.
Even thinking about it now, Eugene couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and ashamed.
He had spouted such a pun at that time only because he had felt the urge to say something.

What was even more embarrassing for Eugene was that the moment Melkith had said those words, Eugene actually had the same pun running through his head.
So when Melkith finally said that pun out loud, he had almost burst out laughing unconsciously….

“The techniques that were used here are no different from what Balzac described,” Lovellian, who had been carefully examining the ground, reported after he was finished with his inspection.

Melkith also agreed with his opinion.

Kristina silently thought, ‘What do you think, Sister?’

Anise also shared her conclusions, [There are still traces of black magic and dark powers here.
Although it’s possible to purify what’s here, it would be futile to try and correct the twisting of the Earth Veins with divine magic.]

Having confirmed these facts personally, they couldn’t help but feel their suspicions towards Balzac lessening.

Eugene started to say, “In that case, let’s head ba—”

Only for the ground to shake lightly, but the vibrations weren’t strong enough to be called an earthquake.
Eugene was surprised as he looked over to the site where the shaking had begun.

The soil was rising up and clumping together.
In mere moments, a pillar of soil the same size as a human body had been created.
Before the party could even react to this sudden strange phenomenon, the pillar of soil split apart.

From within this newly-opened gap, a pair of glaring eyes met with Eugene’s.

1.
The original line is the grass will die, the trees will die, and even the forest will slowly die….
The line has been adapted because the original pun in Korean is actually meant to be in the first past where ‘the grass will die.’ In Korean, the grass dying is actually an expression of being depressed, which matches the situation in a sense.
The ‘trees will die’ has been changed to ‘the leaves will leave’ so that a pun remains in English.
☜