IWLMS 53🔐

Chapter 53

Rune raised her eyes to the White Temple, its white marble pillars gleaming so brightly they were almost blinding.

Beneath the arched, curved ceiling, a white dragon was delicately carved above the firmly closed doors that divided the sanctuary. The dragon spread its massive wings, enveloping a sharply defined sun.

It had been a long time since she had rung the bell by pulling the cord, yet the doors still showed no sign of opening. From inside came the soft sound of singing, suggesting that some ceremony was underway.

After waiting for a while, a young acolyte, no taller than Rune’s shoulder, appeared.

Leaning on the railing, Rune straightened up at the sight of him, but when he spoke in a clear, youthful voice, she couldn’t help but turn away helplessly.

“Right now is the priests’ prayer time, so entry is not allowed. The ceremony will end soon, so please wait in front.”

Descending the white marble steps, she saw Daniel and Ellen looking up at her with curiosity.

“Why are you just coming back?”

“I think we’ll have to wait a bit anyway. See, I told you it’s fine if I came alone.”

Rune said apologetically, and Daniel laughed, interlacing his fingers behind his head.

“Well, whatever. A little fresh air isn’t bad.”

“Yeah, anyway, you said you wanted to check out this area again,” Ellen added, stepping forward.

Following behind, Daniel asked Rune,

“So, what exactly are we looking for here? With the dam collapsed, everything must have been washed away.”

“…I mean that abandoned cemetery. Doesn’t it seem strange?”

Frowning, she rubbed her chin and spoke carefully.

“People abandoned without anyone knowing, without names… think about it. Even if they had no connections, could there really have been so many?”

“Hm… true, those ghouls were ridiculously numerous.”

“Exactly. And all concentrated in one place.”

Ellen squinted and turned to look at their conversation.

“So you think not all those corpses were unclaimed?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

Even with dark alchemy, creating ghouls from non-existent corpses is nearly impossible.

In magic and alchemy, the principle of equivalent exchange always applied. To create something new, there had to be a corresponding cost.

That cost was pure mana in magic, and the essential material in alchemy.

“I don’t know the intention, but if their goal was to produce many ghouls, there would have been a clear limit to the corpses they could obtain.”

The missing persons list she had seen recently at Kailian’s office lingered in her mind.

The outskirts, where women had disappeared over many years. The temple that took women from the slums under the pretense of protection. And coincidentally, the graveyards where many ghouls appeared.

She hoped she was wrong, but the coincidences were too many to ignore.

Daniel shivered at the growing seriousness of the conversation and shook his head.

“Ugh, are you saying some crazy person killed people just to make ghouls?”

“There’s no other way to get corpses.”

“I get that, but all this talk about dark alchemy is just speculation, isn’t it?”

“But at least we can confirm clues to support that hypothesis.”

Rune walked quickly toward the river they had reached. The area below, swept by the flood, was more disastrous than she had imagined.

Stopping at where the bridge once stood, she clicked her tongue at the sight. The remnants of the collapsed bridge jutted out, barely touching the water below.

“Damn, crossing is impossible.”

“If we go upstream, we’ll be able to see the other side of the cemetery.”

“Hey! Ellen, why are you acting like this too?”

As Ellen calmly began walking upstream, Daniel exclaimed in protest.

Soon, the three reached the upstream area where the cemetery had been. Daniel grumbled the entire way but kept following.

“Let’s check it out quickly. Just thinking about that time still gives me chills.”

“Agreed. You know, every time you make a fuss, I get goosebumps too.”

“What did you say?”

Leaving their bickering behind, Rune carefully inspected the slope below.

The water had receded significantly, revealing most of the riverbed. Muddy water trickled among rocks and broken branches.

Narrowing her eyes, she gazed across. The graves that had at least retained some shape were now mere mounds of dirt.

“…Is there really nothing salvageable?”

Just as she was about to turn away, her eyes widened at the sight of a sunken slope across the river.

‘That!’

Ignoring Daniel’s alarmed voice, Rune leapt over the wooden stakes placed to block access around the river.

“Hey! Rune! Where are you going?!”

Gripping the steep slope, she slid downward.

‘If I’m not mistaken… that’s definitely…!’

Reaching the bottom, Rune waded through the water without noticing her ankles getting wet, heading toward the opposite side.

Reaching a large depression in the slope, she brushed away the surrounding mud to reveal a distinct black soil, starkly different from the earth around it.

Dark traces remained faintly, like veins in rock, growing deeper and more pronounced the further down she went.

Squatting, she dipped her hands into the flowing river below.

Clink. Picking out a large stone embedded in the ground, she revealed a hollow puddle where muddy water collected. Dark powder floated up, mixing with the murky water.

Dark powder.

Her heart thumped irregularly at the sight of something she had long forgotten.

“…Why is this here?”

After a brief shock, her rational mind quickly assessed the situation.

She had to secure the traces before they were lost.

Pulling a flat silver flask from her waist, Rune emptied the remaining water. Submerging the flask into the muddy water, the black powder flowed into the narrow opening.

“What’s going on?”

Ellen’s voice followed her, tinged with surprise. Even he, usually calm, seemed startled by her sudden actions.

‘How much should I tell them about this black powder?’

Sealing the flask, Rune bit her lower lip, unable to speak. Amusingly, it was harder than revealing that she was a girl.

Daniel, shaking mud from his pants, frowned and asked again.

“What the hell is that?”

Exhaling, she concluded: these two had silently respected her secret about being female.

“…It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we return to the academy.”

Ellen nodded at her awkward expression.

“First, let’s get out of here.”

Following the others, Rune crossed the river again and looked back at the slope.

The antics of the orcs, the appearance of ghouls, the black powder that had always appeared at that spot—whatever its nature, it was clearly connected to these events.

‘At a time when the whereabouts of the missing women are unknown… what on earth is this?’

Rubbing her head, Rune squeezed her eyes shut, wondering how she would explain all this to her father. A headache came just thinking about it.

When she opened her eyes, she saw two hands extended toward her.

The others, having climbed the slope ahead, looked at her as if she were foolish, holding out their hands.

“Stop overthinking and just take our hands. Thinking alone won’t solve it.”

“Yeah, come on up. Whatever happens, we’ll help you carry it.”

Blinking at their round eyes, Rune gave a wry smile.

The tension that had consumed her vanished almost comically. Why did all these difficult problems seem so easy in front of these two?

“Wow, my arms are falling off. Grab me already!”

“Okay.”

At Daniel’s urging, she grabbed both their hands firmly. With their help pulling her up, she easily climbed to the top of the slope.

“By now, the prayers or ceremony should be over. Let’s hand over your sword and go.”

Daniel shrugged, muttering that he still felt uneasy being back here. As Rune dusted her mud-covered pants, a man in a white robe approached the three of them.

“What brings academy cadets this far?”

It was the priest she had seen recently in the outskirts. Rune placed her hand over her left chest and bowed slightly.

“Good to see you again, Isis.”

“Oh, so you’re the ones from that day. What brings you all the way here?”

“I had business at the temple. We were waiting since it coincided with the priests’ prayer time.”

“I see. The riverbed has weakened and it’s dangerous, so come this way.”

Isis gestured lightly in the direction he stood. Satisfied at their obedience, he said with a smile:

“To be blessed, there are usually many waiting, especially with recent unfortunate events wearing down the temple threshold.”

He was likely referring to the ghoul incident. Rune briefly shook her head and drew the sword at her waist.

“No. I came to request a replacement of the magic stone.”

Isis’s eyebrows drooped in sympathy.

“Ah… it seems your sword got damaged back then.”

“Yes. Here’s the request from Lepium.”

Rune handed over both the sword and the request.

As Isis reached out, a glimpse of pure white silk gloves appeared beneath his robe. Stepping closer, he suddenly grasped her wrist and whispered,

“The cadet’s mana is surprisingly depleted.”

A chill ran over her entire body.