“Hey? Caelan! Look at this.”

The border region under the Conthana Kingdom and the Periat agreement.

A small village near Periat.

While playing on the ground, suddenly a blue line appeared in front of David.

“Wow, this is amazing.”

When Caelan, David’s younger brother, came running, the blue line gradually grew, reaching the height of an adult.

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

Both of them watched in awe as the portal opened, their mouths wide open.

In this not-so-crowded place, the only remarkable thing was the sound of a distant crow crying.

However, suddenly, a blue light began to open, and the two children were completely captivated by the sight.

Suddenly, a dog jumped out of it.

Creak. Bark!

“Wow, that was a surprise.”

Caelan stumbled, but David bravely blocked Caelan’s way.

“What are you! Don’t touch my brother!”

Tears seemed to be welling up, but fortunately, the large dog suddenly turned around and wagged its tail toward the entrance of the portal.

From inside, a very tall and handsome man suddenly popped out.

“Wow!”

Caelan opened his mouth wide and shouted.

And the next moment.

As Groovy walked out from inside, David couldn’t hold back any longer and shouted loudly.

“Mom! Mom! An angel came out here!”

Caelan also shouted excitedly.

“Dad! A prince came out from the blue light! Grandpa!”

As the children shouted with excitement, people came out of the small, closely packed houses.

There were those tying aprons, and there were old men holding dentures in their hands.

A man standing with a cigarette in his mouth noticed them coming out of the portal and dropped his cigarette on his foot.

“Ah! Ouch, hot!”

In the midst of the commotion, Lacraxan looked around at them and asked.

“Who is the village chief? It’s urgent.”

As everyone looked at one place, a woman in her fifties or so came forward.

Her casual attire and a flashy headband that didn’t match captured attention.

“Who are you?”

Lacraxan exhaled tiredly and said.

“Northern Duke Lacraxan Edkins.”

“……!”

Everyone was astonished at Lacraxan’s words and covered their mouths in shock.

Lacraxan spoke to the surprised village chief.

“Please help. I beg you.”

The village chief took off the flashy headband, spread it on her palm, and gestured toward the inside of her house.

“This way.”

Following her, Lacraxan, Groovy, and even the dog disappeared beyond the fence, leaving the curious people staring in the direction of the inaccessible interior.

“What happened?”

The village chief went into a room with only one messy bed, spread the blanket as if to make Vercheria lie down.

“This is Vercheria.”

The village chief’s face turned astonished once again at Lacraxan’s words.

“You must be the grateful person who made Suho come back.”
Lacraxan, who had laid Vercheria flat, urgently poured out his words.

“There’s only half of the divine water, so I couldn’t control the power. The power is likely running rampant inside right now.”

The village chief closed her trembling eyes.

After a moment, she opened her eyes wide and looked at Lacraxan.

“There seems to be a separate reason for coming here, not just anywhere else.”

Lacraxan talked about the book he read in the library, revealing the hidden truth and the accident that occurred on the way here to share the divine water.

“That’s it.”

When Lacraxan opened his arms to show, the village chief exhaled deeply.

Then, she walked towards the bed head, held onto both railings, and pushed with all her might.

Creak.

Suddenly, the ground below the bed opened, and the bed slid down towards the bottom, disappearing to the floor as if riding a slide.

“We should go too.”

As the village chief hid the path that Vercheria had taken, Lacraxan and Groovy followed down.

Bark!

The lone dog, seemingly unable to go to that place, barked at the closed door of the underground and then whined, lying down on the floor.

“Wow, Emperor Gerard is completely going crazy.”

Suddenly, when there was a commotion outside the window, Loren, walking to the window, shivered as he looked at Gerard, who was kneeling.

“Why is he doing that?”

Bellofai approached, noticed Gerard, and furrowed his brows.

“No matter how much of an emperor he is, this is undignified. Clearly, he’s not in his right mind.”

Loren clenched his fist, leaned against the window frame, and shook his head.

“Can the emperor act like that, no matter how serious the matter is?”

“It’s not easy.”

“Gerard is a perfect match for the Conthana Kingdom, not Periat, right?”

Bellofai shrugged and returned to the table where he was sipping tea.

“There’s a shortage of troops to go to Conthana again.”

Leaning against the window frame, Loren nodded in agreement with Bellofai’s words.

“Actually, humans like Gerard are lacking anywhere. Even if he complains, he’s not good at anything.”

“Yeah, I know exactly.”

“However, it’s not a matter of becoming emperor for Gerard.”

“In fact, it was Leone who made Gerard the emperor.”

After a moment of contemplation, Loren opened his mouth again.

“What do you think of Leone?”

Bellofai raised his eyebrows as if asking what kind of question that was.

“I don’t think about humans.”

“Oh, come on.”

He brushed his bluish hair, so similar to the color of the refreshing sea, and nodded his head slowly.

“Well, in some ways, he’s an interesting human.”

“How is he interesting?”

Bellofai responded as if it was obvious.

“An extra imitating the villain.”

As he finished speaking, he lifted his gaze, and Loren nodded, turning his head towards the window.

“As expected. You knew everything about it.”

“What is all this?”
Lacraxan frowned as he scanned the underground area resembling a laboratory.

The village chief raised her shoulders.

“I won’t come out. This is our eccentric ancestor’s workshop. I don’t even know what he’s doing here. Just use what’s needed simply.”

Anna walked to the bookshelf and handed Lacraxan a diary identical to the one in his library.

“It’s written there. Someday, when a woman and a man come and do this and that, how it should be done.”

Anna gestured to flip through the diary as if it were bothersome, then reached into a deep drawer and took out a small box.

“Hehe. I never expected to actually use this in my lifetime.”

She held the colorful headband with both hands and tore the part with fabric.

Then, a small key fell out from it.

She used the key to open the box.

Inside, sparkling gems emitting radiant light were waiting for everyone.

Anna put on thick gloves, like those used to bake bread, and picked up the gem.

“Do you know what this is?”

Groovy and Lacraxan looked at each other for a moment and simultaneously nodded.

“This is the Locust Ore. They said the upper beings use it to protect themselves when passing through portals, right?”

She gently placed it on Vercheria’s foot, where her tattoo was.

“This is a secret unknown to people. In fact, all divine waters contain this Locust, just in different amounts. Anyway.”

Anna wiped her hands as if waiting for a delicious dish.

“Actually, this guy has a unique ability to absorb and confine the power of gods.”

She looked at Vercheria’s legs quietly and exclaimed in surprise.

“What are you doing? The Duke also needs to put his arms here quickly!”

Lacraxan finally ran to her with his long legs and gently embraced Vercheria’s legs.

“Haah.”

Seeing Vercheria’s face with closed eyes, his heart dropped again.

Please, endure a little longer, Vercheria.

Lacraxan whispered earnestly to her.

If you just recover.

If you do that, I won’t ask for anything more from you.

I’ll give you everything you want, won’t do anything you don’t want, and just stay by your side.

Even if you make unreasonable demands, ask for absurd things.

‘If you just recover. Anything.’

Lacraxan desperately wanted her to understand his earnest wish.

And in that moment.

“……!”

Vercheria’s protective energy dissipated from the entire Periat as if evaporating.