Believing Eustar’s words were true, the blue spirit’s wings moved faster. The spirit flew up to a height where hands couldn’t reach, pretending to stomp its feet while squeaking.

“Naughty descendant of Hyanmorik! I’ll tell Miss Muge and have you turned into a toad!”

Eustar crossed his arms with an interested expression.

“Before that, my wife will turn you into blue mushroom soup.”

The spirit screamed again with a squeak! Its already large eyes widened even more, and its gaze trembled as it alternated between Laila and Eustar.

“Wife! Are the descendant of Hyanmorik and the witch connected by blood?”

Eustar’s eyebrows slightly rose. Laila also looked at the spirit with a puzzled expression. However, the spirit no longer looked at the two and just mumbled something to itself.

“It’s strange that a descendant of Hyanmorik married a witch. Someone must have tricked them…”

“Tricked?”

Laila asked, but the spirit didn’t answer and flew up high into the bookshelf. As Laila raised her head to look for him who had disappeared from view, she saw an enormously large book falling at a tremendous speed above her head.

“Laila!”

Eustar reflexively reached out towards her and quickly pulled Laila’s body towards himself.

However, the book wasn’t falling alone. When it reached above their heads, the book suddenly stopped, and beyond it, the spirit poked out its blue head.

“The descendant of Hyanmorik is a coward.”

Eustar glared at the spirit with a seemingly angry expression.

“Stop playing around.”

“I wasn’t playing. Perlengi was just coming down with the book.”

As the spirit made a turn, a small table suddenly appeared in a place where nothing had been before. Laila felt a bit dizzy as she approached the book placed on the table.

“Is this the book?”

“Yes. The book passed down from the first witch. A book written in the language of demons, from a place boiling hotter than fire, from a bottomless bottom. The first witch shed her blood to write this book.”

The feeling of dizziness intensified. As Laila staggered, Eustar grabbed her arm.

“Laila, are you alright? Your complexion…”

“I’m fine, Eustar.”

Laila gently shook off his hand and touched the book.

At that moment, a white flash blinded Laila’s eyes. She collapsed while still holding the open book.

Muge hated the sound of footsteps spreading across the entire street every time she stepped on the city’s hard pavement.

Wizards don’t wear shoes with heels. They only wear shoes made of soft leather down to the sole, and sometimes eccentrics even walk barefoot.

They abhorred loud noises, and were particularly sensitive to the sound of footsteps when someone passed in front of their house.

Muge found this very amusing from the moment she was born, no, from the moment she was created, but she too disliked the clacking sound of footsteps.

She never hesitated for a moment on the complex paths that were designed so inefficiently as to be terrible.

Although it had been a very long time since she left the city and never returned, all the shapes of the streets initially inserted into her head were still vividly alive.

‘It can’t possibly be human. Only the shell is human. Humans can’t have this kind of memory. No matter how intelligent or wise a human might be.’

This was something she had never told anyone, among the various reasons and excuses for not returning to the city. Not even to that spirit who sometimes squeals and even sheds tears when she contacts it.

Turning her head, she saw dusk settling in the eastern sky. Stars and the moon were peeking out all at once through it. This city is a place separated from the original space.

The shape of the sky, the movement of celestial bodies, the time and color of day and night coming, even the weather, were all meticulously created by magic.

Now night was coming from the east. Seeing that bright sunlight was still shining from the south, it seemed that the wizard in charge of one side was either dozing off or playing a mischievous prank.

Muge stopped in front of the tallest tower. The air around it was particularly cold and dry, occasionally giving off a feeling of being very old.

Time flows very slowly around this tower. At the top of the tower, a round black night sky is spread out like a roof, where the celestial bodies that can be observed are so far away that ordinary humans could never see them.

She slipped into the smooth wall of the tower. The outer wall of the tower, which had bent softly like jelly, swallowed Muge’s small body whole and then changed back to a state like hard obsidian.

It was dark inside the tower. There were flickering lights that looked like stars at a dizzying height, but that was all. A cold wind poured down like a waterfall from the top of the tower and then surged up.

“Sigrid.”

Muge’s voice echoed far. Like in an endless cave, it created gentle echoes and left lingering sounds. She closed her eyes with her head raised. Because she knew what would happen next.

There was a popping sound. A light so bright it hurt the eyes was pouring down, surrounding her. Muge twitched her lips as she saw the black shadows sitting in that light.

“My daughter has returned.”

One of the black shadows spoke in a buzzing voice. Muge showed an expression as if she was about to vomit and brushed up her flowing hair.

“I’m not your daughter. I’m just your creation. Stop saying creepy things and come down here, why don’t you? Unless your two legs have withered from sitting in that high place.”

“We ordered you not to carelessly call the name of an elder. Sigrid, is this not a defective product?”

Another voice was heard from within the light. Muge glared in the direction of the voice, grinding her teeth.

“What’s wrong with calling a name that was made to be called? You humans need names to distinguish each other. Because you’re foolish.”

“Insolent!”

Muge covered her ears and frowned at the voice loud enough to resound throughout the huge tower. The moment she shrank her body, the dazzling light went out and the entire tower brightened a little. It was still dark, but at least she could make out what was in front of her.

Muge looked around at the five wizards surrounding her and twisted her lips upward. The appearances of those wearing dark purple cloaks and hoods were varied.

There were some who looked as young as Eustar, and some who looked so old it seemed strange that they were alive.

However, Muge knew that they were all incalculably old. Even older than her, who had lived much longer than humans because she was not human.

“You’ve finally come down.”

“Come here, Muge. Let me see.”

Among the five elders, an old man with a long beard spread his arms. He was Sigrid, who had created Muge and gained the qualification of an elder.

Once called ‘Nasty Sigrid’ or ‘Eccentric Sigrid’ and almost excluded from the canon several times, he was now one of the five most respected in this city.

“Don’t touch me, Sigrid. There’s nothing for you to see.”

Sigrid’s white eyebrows drooped. As he stepped back a little, an old man whose waist was bent almost at a right angle adjusted the monocle barely hanging on the tip of his nose and said,

“There must be a reason why you suddenly visited the city. Created human.”

“Of course there’s a reason. Why would I come to such a creepy place without any reason?”

The elders did not answer. Muge didn’t like that silence either. Shuddering as if she couldn’t stand it, she thought it would be best to quickly finish her business and leave this place.

At that moment, a woman with her hair twisted up high in the shape of a tower silently took a step towards Muge.

“Before that, we need to know why you brought the descendant of Hyanmorik and the witch into this city.”

Muge suddenly smiled as if tempting. However, it didn’t even take a second for her smile to become biting and cruel.

“Because they found the ‘wrong wizard’, Nierodora.”

For a moment, a stirring air was felt among the five elders. The wizard called Nierodora looked down at Muge with a cold expression and waved her hand. Then, a space that had been empty opened up, revealing the scene of a library.

“If we leave that witch in the library like this, she will go mad.”

Muge widened her eyes at the sight of the fallen Laila. Beside her were Eustar and the spirit ‘Perlengi’, both seeming to be in a posture of trying to approach Laila in surprise… but frozen in place.

Muge said,

“Did you manipulate the time in there?”

Nierodora answered,

“To be precise, I only manipulated the time in that space. But we can’t keep them there for long. The book that witch wants to see is a book written by the first witch with her own blood. A book that can understand the language of the cursed race. So answer. Why did that young witch look for that book, and why did you help her?”

“It seems you still haven’t given up your spiteful habit of making others confess with their own mouths even though you already know everything.”

Muge pressed her lips tightly and took a step back from her, sighing almost imperceptibly.

“That young witch is the companion chosen by the descendant of Hyanmorik.”

“You mean the one caught on the devil’s fingertip?”

Muge shook her head.

“No, his younger brother.”

She nodded towards the open space.

“That long-haired human man. That is Ord Hyanmorik’s only brother. The pitiful human who doesn’t even know that he has become a devil’s contract, Eustar Hyanmorik.”

Nierodora’s eyes blinked. As she closed the space, Elder Sigrid said,

“Then is that young witch looking for that book to read the contract engraved on her companion?”

“Probably. There’s no need to look for such a thing otherwise. That child is different from the witches you knew. That one is the most powerful medium in this continent. Her ability as a medium is far superior to her ability as a witch. You probably couldn’t find a better medium than that young witch even if you searched this entire city. That’s why she can’t interpret the seal engraved on Eustar’s back even after seeing it.”

“Can’t you interpret it?”

A sharp voice interjected. Muge turned her head towards the elder who looked like a young man and chuckled.

“Why should I interpret that? It’s kept secret, and even Eustar himself, who has become the contract, doesn’t know what Ord Hyanmorik sacrificed. If he finds out on his own, that’s one thing, but if someone else tells him, what would be the consequences?”