Chapter 53 - On the Borderline

A moment ago, Rhema swung his hand with the intention of killing. According to his intention, magic was naturally cast. If it was not for Ofeq, who was his oldest familiar spirit, old to the point that he could be called the father of all familiar spirits, it would have turned into dust.

He put that much strength only because he was displeased when Ofeq tried to touch the pocket watch that Azriel gave him. His reaction was too much for mere displeasure. Rhema measured the depth of his affection with the degree of his reaction. It was deeper than he expected.

In fact, if he was a normal human, it was not an affection to be considered serious. However, he was Rhema Reshith, the Wizard of the horizon, and for him, such a degree of affection was at a serious level.

“Before I knew it—”

He hurriedly swallowed his words that were coming out like a groan. He did not know how it had deepened like this before he knew it. The girl became precious in only three years. If this much was achieved in three years, what would happen from now on? Rhema glanced at the cracked egg.

“See?” realizing that Rhema had finally admitted its seriousness, Ofeq straightened itself up, “Now, do something before anything big happens.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Do you really not know? You know there’s a way that’s the simplest and easiest,” Ofeq narrowed its eyes. “Kill Azriel Esthera and forget about her as if nothing happened.”

He imagined the child dying. The light from her sparkling eyes like the stars would die, the smile from her face that she showed him would disappear, and her warm temperature would get cold. Rhema Reshith wanted to kill his familiar spirit for the first time in his life.

Ofeq, who was deeply linked to Rhema, sensed that feeling. The bird opened its beak widely and cawed. It sounded like a sneer.

“You are teaching her magic. Aren’t you going to kill her later anyway? You’d only be killing her a little early, so what’s the difference? Why are you overreacting like this?”

“Azriel has the dragon eye. So, there can be another possibility.”

“What possibility?”

“If she reaches my mastery, she can replace my role.”

“Oh, you want to make her cut out the emotions like you and live for a thousand years, killing other wizards?”

“…”

“Well, if you like it better that way, it can’t be helped. She indeed has a high probability to reach your level.” Ofeq landed on Rhema’s shoulder, fluttering. Not caring about Rhema’s frowning, the bird said in an intentionally tender tone. “But can you hold out, not giving her more affection, until she reaches your mastery? Can you be calm while you make her that way? When the seal already has a crack?”

“…Another way.”

“What?”

“Shut up and tell me another way.”

“What do you keep asking me? You know it better than me,” the bird tweeted as if singing, “If you really don’t want to kill her, take magic away from her. Erase her memory about you and close her dragon eye with force.”

“…”

“Then let her live as a person who has nothing to do with you at all. Don’t ever see her again.”

“I can’t see her again?”

“You ended up like this because you kept her close by. Why do you act stupid, pretending not to know what you already know so well? You don’t like this to the point that you want to ignore it?”

Rhema irritably brushed off the bird from his shoulder. Ofeq soared quickly and avoided his hand.

“If you want to keep her by your side, there’s another way. Lock her in a safe place first, then make her an idiot and raise her like a pet. Then the egg won’t break.”

The grey eyes looking at Ofeq turned cold. The bird casually went back to its nest and sat down.

“Think carefully, Rhema Reshith, which one is the best way.”

With that as its last words, Ofeq shut its beak. And it began grooming its feathers deliberately like an ordinary bird. Rhema looked at that remotely and turned around. When he took a few steps, magic was cast and the location changed. It was the farthest possible place from the house where Azriel was asleep.

Rhema did not return home all day long. Traveling all over the continent, he thought and thought. However, no matter how much he thought, he could not make a choice. He wanted to maintain the current life. Teaching Azriel, seeing her happy, listening to her chatter, just like now, continue like this…

It was over midnight, after a full day had passed, when he came back.

“Why are you here now?! Why didn’t you receive my communication?!”

As soon as he came back home, Blanchet screamed at him sharply. With its tail puffed up, the white cat showed a temper.

“What’s going on?” Rhema asked back.

“Azriel disappeared! And…”

Stunned by the news, Rhema momentarily could not hear the rest of the sentence.

“What do you mean Azriel disappeared?” he urgently asked.

“She said she was going to the village to help a person who was injured. Then she didn’t come back and strangers came to the house and talked nonsense, asking to hand over Azriel to them for a generous amount of money, so I—” Blanchet pointed to one side of the living room with her tail. Three bodies were randomly piled up. “I was going to keep one alive, but all three of them were swordsmen. Largo is hurt.”