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Episode 9
Contractor. You were born a dark mage.
You may have gotten rusty from neglecting your training, but you awakened to the mana flowing through your body from a very young age, didn’t you?
“Yeah.”
The way dark mana is used and manifested differs for every dark mage.
Some can awaken the dead, like you.
Others can dig through people’s minds.
Some even transform parts of their bodies into monsters.
Rev narrowed his eyes and slowly scanned me up and down, as if weighing something.
Ideally, you should specialize in demon summoning… but for now, learning how to properly command familiars would be more practical.
“I want to make them stronger. More stable. What should I do?”
There’s a reason your siblings are moving around like scarecrows.
Dead bodies can’t regenerate on their own, and you revived them using your blood while they were already badly damaged.
Of course, they’re fragile.
At best, he added, all I had done was lubricate joints stiff from rigor mortis with my blood.
“Isn’t there a better way than fixing Isaac’s wrist? It’s just a temporary solution.”
It’s possible if you use a large amount of blood, or extract it and use only the pure mana from it.
“Th-then… how do you extract only the unique mana from the blood?”
Weren’t you looking for something you can use right now?
Extracting refined mana smoothly requires training from childhood.
Rev said that, then licked his front paw. He really looked like a normal cat.
“Then… is there another way? Something that makes them permanently stronger?”
You keep looking for shortcuts.
He looked me up and down again and clicked his tongue deliberately.
I wasn’t even sure a cat’s mouth could make that sound.
Corpses rot over time. It’s only natural that they grow weaker.
There’s only one way to prevent that.
“What… is it?”
I swallowed.
Offer sacrifices.
“…What?”
Have them absorb other corpses. That would solve the problem quickly.
Fresh human bodies are best, of course.
He said it so casually.
“…Just teach me how to extract mana properly.”
Finding nameless corpses in the middle of the capital felt way less realistic than that.
Clatter.
The carriage jolted, waking me from a light sleep. I startled and looked around.
“We haven’t arrived yet. You can rest a little longer.”
The man sitting across from me laughed warmly. His brown eyes curved gently.
Oh. Right. I remembered where I was.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night…”
“Oh dear. Must’ve had unsettling dreams.”
“Yes…”
“After hearing what you did yesterday, that’s only natural.”
Werner patted my shoulder sympathetically.
Crown Prince Tristan, sitting beside him, glanced at me briefly before turning back to the window.
Of course, the reason I barely slept wasn’t because of rumors about dark mages.
It was because I’d been training in dark magic all night.
‘That Rev… he kept guzzling mana like crazy.’
I had managed to extract refined mana in the end.
More accurately, I kept trying until it finally worked.
After pulling mana more than twenty times, I couldn’t even move a finger.
And still, Rev insisted it wasn’t enough and pushed me to keep going.
“Such a demon…”
“Hah. I understand why people shudder at dark mages, the traitors of humanity.”
Werner immediately agreed with me. Feeling oddly guilty, I nodded quickly.
“We’ve arrived.”
As soon as Tristan spoke, the carriage came to a halt.
“Let’s get off.”
Werner naturally escorted me down. Holding his hand, I stepped out—and saw a familiar scene.
Broken trees. Shattered carriage debris was scattered everywhere.
Dark stains where blood had soaked into the ground.
‘Was it really this bad…?’
I thought I’d cleaned it up decently.
But we were all zombies—barely able to move, let alone clean properly.
We erased what we could. Removed the family crest and decorations.
Now it looked less like a noble carriage and more like one a wealthy merchant might use.
Beep. Beep. Beep!
A loud noise came from Werner. He pulled out the detector.
“See? It’s glowing red.”
“Yes.”
So the device was real.
If I used dark magic carelessly, I really could be exposed.
“There was clearly a carriage accident here. But no report to the local guards?”
“None.”
This time, Tristan answered.
“With damage like this, someone should’ve been injured. But no patients with serious wounds visited nearby clinics.”
“That is suspicious.”
“There was blood, so someone was here. But no injuries, no bodies… and traces of dark magic.”
Tristan frowned slightly.
“It raises suspicion that innocent citizens were taken as materials for dark magic.”
That was… half correct.
“Of course, if there truly was dark magic involved.”
Werner added carefully.
“Do you see anything?”
Tristan leaned against a tree as he asked.
He didn’t know it—but that tree was the one that had pierced Yulia’s heart.
The branch was stained dark with dried blood.
“…I’m not sure.”
I forced myself to stay calm and spoke vaguely.
My lips felt painfully dry.
If I said I did see something, I’d be confirming that a real dark mage existed.
If I said I didn’t, the Empire would accuse the Papal States of deception.
‘What am I supposed to say?!
I almost wanted to grab my head.
“The remnants of dark magic…”
As I dragged out my words, both of their gazes locked onto me.
Tristan’s stare felt sharp enough to pierce me.
“…Can I… explain in 60 seconds?”
“You’d best not test my patience.”
“Y-yes. Of course.”
I smiled awkwardly. Just as I was about to speak—
“Werner.”
“Yes.”
“You felt it.”
Tristan’s gaze slid past my face, toward something behind me.
Confused, I blinked. Werner immediately stepped forward.
“Looks like we have some unwelcome guests.”
I tried to quietly step back—but Tristan suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Stay close.”
“Y-yes.”
Tristan drew his sword. I knew nothing about swordsmanship, but I did know he was highly skilled.
“I’ll handle this. Please return to the carriage.”
“There are five of them. Can you manage alone?”
Werner nodded confidently.
Tristan slowly sheathed his sword and climbed into the carriage.
I followed, stiff and unsure.
Inside, a heavy silence fell.
Soon after, the clash of weapons echoed loudly outside.
Slash—! Bang! Crash—!
The battle was chaotic, but inside the carriage, everything was still.
‘This’ll ruin the site… but I guess only the dark magic traces matter.’
Either way, the damage made it even harder to identify our carriage. So that was good.
“Don’t worry.”
Tristan spoke calmly, still watching outside.
“I don’t know how information leaked, but dealing with uninvited guests isn’t rare.”
“Sir Werner is an excellent knight. He won’t lose to five assassins.”
He sounded like someone who’d lived through this many times.
“…This happens often, doesn’t it?”
“Some people can’t accept that the son of a heretic could become emperor.”
He said it lightly—but the meaning was heavy.
Tristan Bellond.
The sole heir of an empire covering a quarter of the continent.
No siblings. Crown Prince from an early age.
Yet life was never easy.
“My mother converted long before I came here, too.”
The Empress was from the Tahil Kingdom, whose religion differed from the Empire’s.
It was nothing more than an excuse.
She had converted to Helios’ faith and lived devoutly.
“Looks like it’s over.”
Tristan stood.
He looked slightly tired—one of the few times his humanity showed.
“Let’s go.”
Outside, the smell of blood hit me immediately.
Just as I turned my head.
A hand covered my eyes.
“This isn’t something a young lady should see.”
Werner’s voice. I nodded quietly.
“Any survivors?”
“They all committed suicide. None.”
“Figures. That’s fine.”
While they spoke calmly, I stared at my feet.
Drip.
Blood flowed from behind, soaking the heel of my shoe.
I stepped aside—but the blood followed.
It painted a clear picture of what had happened here.
“What should we do with the bodies?”
“Bury them roughly. No need to draw attention.”
“There are five.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, sir.”
Werner returned with a shovel from the carriage.
I still stood there, frozen.
“If you feel sick, you can wait inside.”
He wiped blood from his face, thinking I was in shock.
…He wasn’t wrong.
But not for the reason he thought.
‘What a waste…’
that I’d thought that about the bodies.
