HTWBB Chapter 8

Before entering the floating tomb, he was someone who had easily passed through even high-level illusion magic. Rietta entrusted the necklace to Melian and picked up the key again.

"Half a day should be enough for recovery."

"You're overestimating me."

"I think it's an underestimate."

Click. When she unlocked the second lock, the unpleasant feeling of having power drained abruptly stopped.

Rietta didn't hesitate and unlocked even the third lock. Then she held out a sheet of paper she'd taken from her pocket to him as he rotated his wrists this way and that. Abel, recognizing at a glance what it was, shook his head.

"You really are a ruthless person."

"If you don't like it, don't do it. You must have someone else you can ask."

"I need to see it too."

Abel complained that even without this, he didn't break promises he'd spoken aloud. However, without dragging it out, he borrowed Rietta's dagger and shallowly cut his finger. A red signature was drawn smoothly on the paper.

"State the conditions."

Rietta wrote down the conditions concisely and clearly.

<1. Party B completely transfers Brynhildr's Necklace to Party A and cannot subsequently steal or seize it.

2. Party A must give Party B one opportunity to examine the necklace. If Party B does not wish it, this shall not be done.
3. Party B cannot divulge without permission any and all content seen and heard regarding Brynhildr's Necklace and Party A.>

Through the same process, when Rietta also finished signing, the paper glowed white and then rolled up and sealed itself.

It was a contract where if one violated the contents, the violator would immediately burn to death on the spot.

"This is the first time I've seen such an unfair contract."

He muttered as if incredulous but showed a somewhat interested expression. Rietta replied flatly.

"There are no penalty clauses."

"Do you not burn if there are no clauses?"

"Just don't violate it."

"That's true, but..."

Abel closed his mouth. It was a face contemplating how to respond.

Rietta didn't care and put the completed contract in her pocket, then carelessly pushed the scattered restraints to fall from the table.

Realizing he was completely free from restraint, Abel looked down at his arm with a strange expression.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. I was thinking the restraints were an object made with quite malicious intent."

The drained power wouldn't return. However, if he rested sufficiently, recovery was possible. They said it was something put on prisoners who handled magical power—it could be called the very best choice for easily restraining someone in a short time.

Rietta approached Abel, who was lost in thought. When he'd suggested half a day, he hadn't said it was impossible. Then there was no need to waste unnecessary time.

Rietta roughly threw him onto the bed while he was off guard, then she too lay down with her head on the opposite bed. He blinked with a bewildered face.

"...What are you doing?"

"Sleep for now. I'm tired."

Rietta asked Melian to keep watch only until late afternoon and closed her eyes. She heard Abel sigh softly.

"This is really the first time I've been treated like this."

However, his complaints didn't last long. Soon both fell asleep as if losing consciousness.

Thanks to Melian's consideration, Rietta was able to wake up a bit later than planned, around early evening.

Abel, who hadn't regained consciousness until then, opened his eyes very slowly when she shook him a couple of times. Every time his eyelids, clumped with sleep like weights attached, slowly blinked, his violet eyes disappeared and reappeared.

Melian, who had been watching that sight pitifully, spoke somewhat sharply.

"Wake up, mister."

Abel, half-drunk with sleep, met Melian's eyes. However, his gaze that glanced away soon turned toward Rietta, who stood a step back.

"How much time passed?"

"Much more than half a day."

"I see..."

Muttering in a lowered voice, Abel sluggishly left the bed. His movements, which seemed unbearably sleepy, became perfectly fine as soon as he sat at the table, as if nothing had been wrong. However, with his eyes still hazily unfocused, it seemed he had a long way to go before coming to his senses.

Melian, shaking his head, said he'd bring water and went outside. Rietta approached the open window and firmly locked it shut. The boisterous sounds of evening suddenly decreased. After glancing at the still-lively street, she even drew the curtains. Appropriate quietness found the room.

"Are you alert now?"

"Yees. Thanks to you, I slept soundly."

Abel drawled his words while slowly closing and opening his eyes. Rietta asked back with a suspicious face.

"Are you really alert?"

"Of course."

"Then we won't need to waste more time."

The first emperor's treasure was placed before Abel once more. He stared at it listlessly, then raised his hand. The drowsiness had already cleared.

"I'll check it once."

Simultaneously with his words ending, intangible energy gathered in his hand. After trying to insert magical power as a test, he reached the same conclusion as Rietta and completely covered the black jewel with his palm.

There was a method to break all the layers at once, but there was a risk of damaging the jewel. The probability they'd planted traps between the layers couldn't be ignored either. So without much deliberation, Abel chose the frontal method of breaking through one at a time for the first time in a while.

He compressed his magic power thin as thread and began breaking through the defensive magic as if slicing. Each time a layer of magic disappeared, undeniable energy flowed out bit by bit. Rietta, who had been quietly watching, leaned closer to the table.

"The word 'treasure' wasn't attached carelessly."

"Will it take long?"

"No. Just a bit more from here..."

He trailed off as if starting to concentrate again. Through the gaps where opposing magical powers collided, small sparks flew. Rietta's long hair swayed in the wind, and after some time had passed, she had completely lifted her body from the chair.

It was familiar magical power, hers. She had never once thought she would feel it from the outside. Though it couldn't be, the surging magical power that seemed ready to explode at any moment appeared to be struggling to come toward her.

Finally, Abel removed all the magic. The dark red magic she'd seen in the tomb revealed itself, rippling. She somewhat hesitantly received the necklace he held out.

"Is it what you were looking for?"

An answer didn't come readily. Rietta, who had only quietly examined the necklace, touched the jewel with a careful hand.

Power shimmering like heat haze clung to her fingertips as if drawn to them. It was a coldness that felt like one body.

She drew up her magical power and focused it on her fingertips. For a moment, the jewel seemed to ripple like liquid.

"Wait...!"

Abel shot up from his seat. Almost simultaneously, something hard touched Rietta's fingertips. Some sharply cut fragment was there. It looked like the iridescent inside of a shell, or like a pearl with a gentle radiance.

"Right."

Rietta steadied her trembling hands. In that instant, the lamp's flame flickered. Her hair, half-swallowed by shadow, brightened from the ends. Her eyes burned blue, holding heat like the firelight.

"This is what I was looking for."

She swallowed the fragment without hesitation.

Firewood made warm sounds as it burned in the fireplace. On a deep winter night, snow was falling soundlessly.

'So what I mean is, they have cores or sources in gem form.'

'Most do.'

'Are you saying there are cases that aren't?'

An old book turned carefully. It was already the third time reading this book. White fingers supporting the spine moved lightly, tapping a few times.

'It might exist somewhere in the body like a body part.'

'Really? I'm hearing this for the first time... You too?'

The gaze that had been directed at the book finally lifted. Eyes looking at the other person were as warm as the fireplace.

'Well. I suppose you could say so.'

'Then what should things like that be called?'

'I don't know why you're curious, but we call that...'

Melian descended downstairs with reluctant steps. Leaving Rietta and Abel together made him very uneasy, but it wasn't something he could interfere with.

The boy knew that Rietta was soft on children around his age. So he also knew that she usually overlooked actions that narrowly crossed the line. If he'd used his apparent age as a weapon, he could have stayed by her side.

Melian asked an employee he met near the fireplace for water.

"Water? Sure. Wait just a moment, would you?"

She handed the boy a tray with a kind face. A child's body had stark advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest advantage was that it was easy to gain adults' favor, like now. Though he was easily exposed to danger, there were also many who would protect him.

That was something anyone could do. A kind of human courtesy one could extend even without established trust.

What the boy wanted wasn't simple favor or anything like that. He craved a relationship where he could at least entrust his back in dangerous situations, and furthermore, one where they couldn't abandon him in any situation.

Actually, it didn't matter if that person wasn't Rietta. However, right now it was Rietta in that position, and to stay by her side as long as possible, he had to know well when to strike and withdraw.

Having lived off others' good graces, the boy matched that timing better than anyone. So even without being asked, he'd left on his own.

"Where's your guardian?"

"My sister is sleeping."

"You snuck out alone. Mercenaries frequent this place, so hurry back upstairs."

Melian nodded. He knew the worried gaze followed him, but didn't immediately leave and sat at an empty table to look around the interior of the dining hall.

As a village connecting cities, the inn was ceaselessly crowded with many people coming and going. Being dinner time, it seemed especially busy. After killing time appropriately, the boy headed back to the room when the dining hall was nearly full.

The hallway was quiet, perhaps because most had gone to eat. Melian knocked on the door, as firmly closed as when he'd left, and threw it wide open.

"Miss Rietta!"

Melian, who had entered with a bright face, stiffened in place. Rolling his eyes to alternately examine Rietta and Abel, he keenly noticed something was wrong with her condition.

It wasn't just because of her gorgeously changed hair and eyes. Nymphs were a magical power-friendly species, so they often keenly caught even slight changes.

Even for mixed-bloods, though it might dilute, it didn't become an exception. The boy hastily locked the door and rushed to the table.

"What happened?"

Even at the wary gaze, Abel didn't provide an answer. Instead, he only sharply examined Rietta before his eyes. Staring intently at her peaceful face as if nothing had happened, he opened his mouth.

"You swallowed it just like that knowing what it was?"

"It's fine. It's mine."

"Yours?"

What did she swallow? Melian opened his eyes wide.

"Miss Rietta. What happened? Did this bastard do something bad?"

"Abel didn't do anything."

"What? Then?"

At the very unexpected tone, Abel stared at the boy. His icy gaze looked like it was contemplating what to do with Melian.

Actually, for Melian, no matter how harmlessly Abel acted, he couldn't help but instinctively be wary of him. Though he was a mixed-blood of at least a quarter, his sense of energy was born as good as pure-bloods', so he could feel even a little of the essence lurking beneath him.

"I recovered something I'd lost."

Rietta continued her explanation. It was a rare occurrence. Having finished her brief summary, she lowered her eyes and stroked the now-unremarkable black jewel with her thumb. Melian hesitantly asked again.

"Isn't that good?"

Rietta shook her head.

"I've been searching for a long time... Unfortunately, it's not the real one."

Even saying this, she seemed somewhat relaxed. She revealed her appearance she'd always hidden and didn't try to conceal it. It looked like she didn't have the capacity to do so.

Though the answer she provided wasn't positive, on her indifferent face without a trace of a smile, there were clearly signs of happiness.

The lamp's flame flickered again. A red light seemed to briefly appear on her white cheeks. Abel, who had been quietly watching, opened his mouth.

"You mean the real one exists separately."

"Yes."

"How do you distinguish them?"

"The color is similar. But that one doesn't break apart, so it's not a fragment like this but round in shape."

This time too, her words were long. Melian noticed the air had changed suddenly.

The calm atmosphere became heavy, and in the next moment, Rietta suddenly covered her mouth. Her seated body swayed once, then red blood gushed out between the fingers covering her mouth.

Melian jumped up in shock. Rietta, who had made eye contact with the startled Abel, removed her hand. Half her face was a mess of blood. She roughly wiped the blood dripping down her chin with her other hand.