Chapter 217: The Popular Man
The pitch-black iron staff was etched with intricate geometric patterns and spells, its upper half glowing orange from the heat, with flames flickering at its tip.
Even as I ran, feeling the wind against me, it wavered but did not extinguish.
From the “King’s Branch,” something white rose like a heat haze. By the time it had attached itself to the burning iron staff, it had transformed into the figure of a girl with silver hair cascading down to her ankles.
The white girl gazed at me with a reproachful look.
Karn, you pervert! “At least let me meet the woman I love one last time!”
“Ah… ahhhhhh…!!!”
A scream erupted from behind me, and when I turned, I saw the remaining priest staggering toward me. They might have been trying to run, but their movements were so sluggish that it hardly looked like it.
A thin arm reached out, its wrinkled black skin stretched tight. Before the claw-like fingers could reach me, Karn slashed from behind, cutting them down with a swift kick.
The fallen priests squirmed on the floor, only to be engulfed by Baylis, who pulled them into the cracks between the stones, mixing them with sand.
“Ugh!”
Karn clutched his chest, dropping to one knee.
From Karn, heat haze rose, slowly extending toward the “King’s Branch.” The black mist took on a female form halfway through. With a beautiful white face marred by wrinkles, fangs peeked out from between her lips. Her black hair and the hem of her outfit melted into the mist, disappearing into Karn.
“Ah, I see. One misunderstanding after another… Come! Zanzenken!”
I swept aside the scabbard that had appeared in my hand and struck at the “King’s Branch.”
With a sound that seemed impossible for wood, metallic in nature, the white remnants on the branch leaped into the air.
“…!”
The white girl’s hair was severed by about twenty centimeters, leaving just a bit of white on her form. Does that mean the spirit weakens too?
The astonished face of the white girl looked at me. The black woman, who had been advancing slowly, suddenly sped up and slipped past the girl.
Once again, the white girl gazed at me reproachfully.
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
The black woman wrapped around the “King’s Branch,” trying to stifle the flames, but her clothes, fingertips, and hair turned gray, crumbling away like powdered sugar dissolving into the air.
Just as I cut off the black branch, which was barely untouched by the flames, the fire finally engulfed everything and blazed up.
“Ahhhhhhh!!!!”
A scream erupted from Karn.
I seized the head of the crumbling black woman, twisting her face to look at me instead of the branch.
“Descend.”
The contractor of the “King’s Branch” resides in the land of the king, receiving the branch’s blessings. There are no people here, and the only king left is his vessel. There is no contractor for the blackened “King’s Branch.”
The woman glared at me with hatred, crumbling into the form of a girl. A girl with black hair, strikingly similar to the white girl.
Despite being smaller than a horse, she was rapidly losing magic power. It was quite taxing. She glared at me, her teeth grinding in frustration.
“I wish to ask again, help that man!”
The moment I said that, the power drained from the black girl’s body.
“What’s your name?”
“Shahira.”
I released my grip on the now docile girl and picked up the two severed branches. One white, one black. The white girl looked at me with curiosity.
Trying to look cool and composed, but this is tough!
“You are…?”
Baylis seemed at a loss for words, so I quickly turned my gaze to Karn.
I laid Karn, who was still sprawled on the floor, on his back and placed the branches in his hands. The girls approached, touching the branches.
The black woman’s form, with the white hair, must be the original form of the “King’s Branch.” Karn’s perversion was just my momentary misunderstanding.
The white girl was the “King’s Branch” retaining its sanity; once she returned to her true form, her influence would strengthen. That’s why she had rejected her crazed black self. I didn’t know why they had split into two.
And whether sane or mad, I like Karn.
As if the muscles were losing their tension, Karn seemed to shrink. The black spirit had allowed him to live for countless years. The spirit had lost most of its power, having been torn away from him.
Baylis cradled Karn’s head in her lap, looking at him lovingly.
“Shahira.”
When I called her name, both girls nodded.
Huh? Two?
Before I could pursue that question, roots sprouted from the two branches in Karn’s hands, burrowing into his palms. Tiny shoots emerged from the small branches, delicate like needles, branching out to cover Karn’s arms.
White branch in his right hand, black branch in his left.
Wait a minute, the magic power is being drained at twice the rate I expected…!
The two girls smiled at me as if to thank me. Please stop with the mysterious trust; this is tough, really tough!
“Ah…”
Seeing Karn’s body return to normal and start to stir, Baylis let out a sound.
The girls nestled against Karn’s chest from either side and then faded away. Before I knew it, the branches that had been in Karn’s hands had vanished.
“When Karn wakes up, tell him this pervert!”
I glanced at his chest, which had begun to rise and fall in a steady rhythm, and left that message for Baylis before using Teleportation.
Before I could enter the house, I collapsed on the terrace of my destination. I bumped my chin! It hurts! But I can’t move anymore.
Sweat poured down my face. I’ve collapsed from magic power depletion before, but never to this extent. Am I completely empty?
I knew I had Healing magic, so I wasn’t too anxious about recovering, but it was still tough, and my vision was fading to black.
Something cold touched my face.
“Rishu? Sorry, I’m fine.”
But I’m going to sleep right here today.
Rishu sniffed around my face and licked my cheek, making me feel a bit ticklish yet comfortable…