“Yes, just cooperation.”
Rebethra slightly nodded. The man in the mask, Riley to be precise, smiled as if he found this to be entertaining. He then asked the next question.
“You stirred up the people from the Holy Temple and sent them to charge in to the Solia Castle. Is that just cooperation as well?”
“Stir them up? What do you mean?”
“…”
Having heard Riley’s second question, Peruda looked confused. Meanwhile, Rebethra’s face could not look more violent than this.
“Just how long have you been…”
“You are not denying this?”
The voice coming from inside of the mask was echoing inside the mask, changing Riley’s voice. It was making others unable to identify the voice.
“In that case, how about the fact that you put the dark mage inside the body of dead Astroa, the dark mage that is famous for controlling dead bodies?”
Having heard Riley’s next question, Rebethra and Peruda both furrowed their brows.
The man in the mask, who appeared to be an assassin, said something that could not be taken lightly. This was why.
“Um. You are showing wishy-washy response to this question.”
Riley leisurely mumbled. He casually rolled his eyes and looked at Astroa. Astroa had been glaring at Riley since a while ago.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
Astroa’s body was shaking. Riley was wondering why, but what he said right after made Riley realize why.
“You runt… You were that runt!”
Astroa’s eyes were buldging with murderous intent.
Riley wondered if he figured out who Riley was despite wearing a mask. However, it seemed that was not the case.
Riley thought so because…
“You dared to do this to me, Astroa… How dare… I am a grand mage… Ugh… Fuck. My body is… moving on its own…”
It was because his face’s left and right each had a different expression.
It was as if he was suffering from a mental illness. One side of the face was breaking cold sweat, trying to calm his body down. The other side was exuding thick deadly aura toward Riley.
“S… Shut up! The owner of this body is now… Astroa! No, Hurial!”
It seemed that the body was losing control. It looked unstable. Riley twisted up the tip of his lips as if he found this entertaining.
“Just what is this?”
Not able to figure out what was happening, Peruda and Hamil tilted their heads side to side. It was Hamil that decided to act first.
“… Tsk!”
With an uninvited guest making an entrance to the scene, it seemed Hamil thought something was not right. Hamil slowly turned his body and was trying to leave the place. However, his ankle was wrapped tightly by vines and restrained him from walking.
“Where do you think you are going! You can’t run…”
“… Uuuaaa!!”
While observing Astroa going berserk, Peruda used his vine magic. However, Peruda could hear shouting of an old man. It was close to a scream.
“I’ll kill… I’ll kill you.”
The old man had foams coming out of his mouth.
It was hard to believe that this man used to be the grand mage of Seven Circles that represented Magic Tower. He looked pathetic.
Looking at the masked man, Astroa kept repeating ‘I’ll kill you.’ Not able to understand it, Rebethra turned his head with a confused look.
‘Hurial is not able to control his body?’
It meant the original owner of the body was showing a severe response.
‘… Is it because of that runt?’
When the man in the mask made the entrance, Astroa’s body went out of Hurial’s control. It was going berserk, and it started when he appeared.
In other words, it meant the man in the mask and Astroa have met before. Also, the fact that Astroa was showing such a severe response meant that the mask man was related to Astroa’s death.
‘By any chance… that runt…’
Although it was not officially made known last spring, those that should know already knew well that Astroa died.
It was Nainiae, the girl with the scarred face, who killed the grand mage of Seven Circles.
‘I always thought something was odd… I thought that girl was lacking in power to defeat Astroa on her own.’
Rebethra had been suspicious of Astroa’s death.
After he died, Priesia quickly escorted to the Holy Temple the Six Circles mage girl who was full of scars and was on her way to death. Rebethra could not believe that this girl defeated Astroa.
“By any chance, are you the one who defeated Astroa last time in the Lower Solia?”
Having heard Rebethra’s question, Peruda opened his eyes wide.
“If that is not it, there is no way Hurial’s body would show severe response like this.”