Hasel and Aman, who had arrived at the place where the corpse was lying.

Hasel was also showing a similar reaction to when Aman had first discovered the corpse.

"What in the world!"

Hasel was also constantly cursing at the strong magi emanating from the corpse.

"You bad... bad bastard!"

"Father. For someone who's upset, your curses are quite mild, aren't they?"

"Shut up."

Hasel, with his brow furrowed, began to undo the spells woven into the corpse one by one.

As if he were a detective chasing clues to catch a culprit.

"Is it not going well?"

"...Sigh."

Hasel, who had let out a small sigh at Aman's words, was concentrating on the spell again.

But it was the same for Hasel, it was not going well.

The spell, which seemed to have been randomly mixed by someone, was as annoying as untangling a tangled skein of thread.

"What kind of pervert wove this?"

The skein of thread, which seemed to be on the verge of being untangled but was not, was ultimately not untangled.

"Can't you undo it either, father?"

"It's not that I can't undo it. It's just that it's an annoying job, so I don't want to do it."

"Then please undo it."

As Aman, with his brow furrowed, spoke in an annoyed tone, Hasel let out a sigh as if he were at a loss for words.

"Ha! I'm at a loss for words? Son. Think about it. As you said, it's true that there's the energy of a demon here."

"So?"

"But it could be a spell woven with an artifact like the Molek's Breath you brought."

"..."

Hasel's words were right. Even if there were no demons left, the remnants of the demons could still be there.

But if that was true, it would be complicated in its own way.

"Then what do we do?"

"You'll have to figure that out on your own. But if this is really the work of a demon, then that demon bastard... no, I'll have to go down to the demon world myself and deal with it."

"Father..."

At this moment, his father, Hasel, could not be more reliable.

"Then I'm going."

"Pardon?"

"I'm going, so you figure it out on your own. Don't bother me."

But that reliability was also very brief.

"...Hoho."

Aman let out a hollow laugh at Hasel's attitude.

"Are you laughing?"

"N-no."

Aman, who was laughing hollowly, quickly shook his head.

"Ah, and. If you find out anything, let me know."

No matter how much he was his father, he was too annoying.

So much so that he wanted to punch him if he weren't his father!

"I'm going."

-Flash!

He could be so cool!

Hasel had thrown it away, saying that it wasn't that he couldn't undo it, but that it was an annoying spell to undo, and had left.

"Lies... it seems he can't undo it..."

In the end, he had been beaten to a pulp and had gotten nothing.

"Hoho..."

Aman, who was looking at the spot where Hasel had left, was at a loss for words.

Aman, who had been looking at that spot for a long time, turned his gaze back to the corpse.

If he couldn't undo it, he needed to find out as much as he could.

He didn't feel like facing this unpleasant corpse again, but what could he do.

"I'll find you. Who you are. Or who the bastard who did this to you is."

Aman, who had placed his hand on the corpse, concentrated his mind once more.

Aman was thinking of thoroughly examining the corpse from head to toe once more.

'From the head... huh?'

Among the curses cast on the head, there was one strange thing.

One of the complicated spells cast only on the eyes, not the entire head, was 'exchange'.

It was a common spell that existed in black magic, ancient magic, and also in curses, but this was on a different level.

"...He changed the organs?"

That was right. Someone had exchanged the eyes of this corpse with someone else's.

"What kind of son of a b-tch did this...!"

The spell of taking a part of someone else's body and changing it was a spell that was strictly handled even among black magic.

It could change someone's life completely, and even if this magic succeeded, the price that followed was enormous.

Lightly, it was from losing the exchanged organ again, to greatly, it was a situation where one had to give up one's life.

It was handled more strictly because it was unknown whether it would be one's own life or someone else's.

Aman, who was examining the body one by one, starting from the head, got goosebumps all over his body at the hideous act that someone had done.

Not only had he changed the eyes, but he had also changed the hands and legs.

In a word, someone had exchanged all the parts of a healthy person's body with someone else's.

What was even more creepy was that the exchanged body parts were not from one person.

"What in the world!!!"

For a dragon, a magical creature, magic was no different from a sacred realm.

It was unbearable for someone to touch his sacred realm.

But even for a dragon, there were of course dark magics that were tacitly acknowledged.

Black magic and black curses were all included in that.

Because they were all performed based on magic power, and not all black magic and black curses were bad.

And they did not pose any threat to the dragons.

"But this is crossing the line."

Aman's face, who had taken his hand off the corpse, contorted fiercely.

"And... this doesn't make sense."

The pattern of the spell used on the corpse didn't make sense.

"Alberto..."

The spell used on the corpse was similar to the pattern that Alberto had used in his lifetime.

No, it was almost the same.

But Alberto was a person who had died and had disappeared about three years ago.

And hadn't he thrown his corpse to the emperor with his own hands!

"He's definitely... definitely dead..."

Aman was not so foolish as to not know whether a human's breath had stopped or not.

Alberto had definitely died that day.

But just as a human's handwriting was unique, the way of using a spell also had its own unique way.

Although there were few who could recognize it, wasn't Aman a dragon!

There was no way he couldn't recognize the spell pattern that a mere human used.

No matter how much he thought that it was from another human who used a similar method, this was Alberto's.

"No, it can't be..."

But it didn't make sense. Alberto was dead.

"...What did I do with the corpse?"

But one thing bothered him.

He couldn't remember his funeral at all.

No matter how chaotic it was because the imperial palace had been attacked, a prestigious Mage Tower Master had died, so a funeral befitting him should have been held.

'What happened to Alberto's corpse...?'

***

Allie, who had come to Cibie's office, was as comfortable as ever.

"Count. Who's that person lying on the ground in front of the mansion?"

"The person lying on the ground...?"

"Yes, the one with the shiny head..."

The Count let out a small sigh at the sight of Allie, who was spinning her palm over her head.

"Ah... he's a grateful person who brought my son and daughter here. They said they were the Blue Wolf Mercenary Guild."

"Ah, I heard about that too. That they went missing from the academy."

"Yes, that's right. I wonder if I should send the children back to the academy..."

The Count had been reluctant to send the children from the beginning.

The feeling of throwing his precious children into the capital, where no one in his family was welcome, was really... dirty.

But the children were living quite well in the capital, and since they had become close friends with the son of his friend, Duke Cirus, no one could easily touch the children.

And his relationship with Duke Cirus had been maintained quite well since then.

"Hmm... if you don't feel like it, you don't have to send them, do you?"

"But the children quite like living at the academy."

"But didn't your children almost die this time?"

Allie's words were right. Although the children didn't talk about it in detail, it must have been dangerous.

It was a test that should have been held in a dungeon that the academy had prepared.

But the children had entered another space that had been created in a crack.

Then they must have been thrown into a real dungeon, not an artificial dungeon where the dangerous elements had been removed!

The Count, who had thought that far, nodded his head as if he had made up his mind.

"Allie-nim's words are right. I can't send the children back to the academy."

The distrust that had once formed could not be reversed.

Hadn't he sent his son, Lucas, and his adopted daughter, Nella, with great determination when Aman had come to visit?

Now that he thought that the academy might not be able to protect the children, he didn't want to send the children there again.

"Hmm~ I think so too. That... no, anyway, you can't trust an academy like that."

Allie almost let the words 'a pathetic school run by humans' slip out of her mouth.

A satisfied smile bloomed on Allie's lips as she swallowed a small breath.

It was better to remove the cause of Aman's expression.

The cleanest way was to kill them all, but... he couldn't kill innocent human children.

And since these humans seemed to be especially cherished by Aman, he couldn't do that even more.

'I have to endure it even if I want to kill them.'

Allie was very proud of herself right now.

To have made such a merciful choice for Aman!

By making the Count's ears flutter and just tying the children here.

"And now Citata has become quite a livable place, right? Life here will surely be fun too."

At the sight of the brightly smiling Allie, the Count felt that he should do so even more.

Although the woman sitting in front of him was a crazy woman who was crazy about money, her words were never wrong.

"Yes. Of course."

The Count also answered with a smile.

"Ah, by the way, I heard that some religion has come to Citata. Have you heard?"

"Ah... you mean the Resurrection Cult?"

"Pfft! The Resurrection Cult. The name is so childish."

"Well, aren't all religious names like that? It's not even a temple, but a religion... I don't know if this will be of any help to Citata."

The question the Count had was a natural one.

In the case of a temple, it was mostly built when a high priest or another priest received an oracle.

That's why the priest who had received the oracle would go to the owner of the land, convey the voice of the god he had heard, ask for understanding, and then buy the land and build a temple.

And all countries had made it a law to give land to the priest who had come with an oracle.

Even if that wasn't the case, since they didn't know what kind of punishment would befall them if they refused the oracle, everyone, regardless of who the owner of the land was, would naturally give up the land.

The priests also paid a suitable price to the landowner.

"Well, it probably won't be bad. There's no proper temple in Citata, and I also heard that the Resurrection Cult does a lot of good things."

The Count was rather surprised at Allie's indifferent answer.

"I didn't expect Allie-nim to say something like that."

"Huh? Why?"

"Religion doesn't make money, does it? And it's not even a temple."

"Hahaha! Count, you're so funny. Anyone would think I'm a person who's crazy about money~"

Allie, who was shamelessly flapping her hand.

Goosebumps appeared on the Count's arms as he looked at her.

"Well, the Count's words are not wrong. And whatever that religion is, it probably won't last long."

"Why do you think so?"

"Hmm~ just my feeling?"

Allie, who was smiling brightly.

In fact, Allie was a living witness who had witnessed many religions that had appeared and had disappeared.

People who served something other than a god did not last long.

A few hundred years ago, there was even a religion that served magical beasts. Their end was, as expected, tragic.

Because all the people who had gathered to hold a ritual had been brutally eaten by the magical beasts.

And the gods she knew were not so merciful.

'How crazy are the gods. To serve something other than themselves? That's absurd.'

If her thoughts were not wrong, the Resurrection Cult would also not last long and would wither away.

"Then Allie-nim's words must be right."

"They probably are."

(End of Chapter)