* * *
So it was magic.
I nodded, reflecting on what Sehir had explained.
I never would’ve imagined that Ruen’s ability to see through things came from magic.
It made me wonder if his constant bickering with Owen might have something to do with this magic as well.
Of course, their clashing personalities played a role, but Owen had always had a dislike for mages.
With my curiosity somewhat satisfied, I looked at Sehir thoughtfully.
He appeared as calm and kind as ever, his usual gentle manners intact.
My once chaotic mind now felt a sense of clarity.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You seemed really shocked after hearing Kaindel’s story. I was worried I might’ve added to your confusion.”
“Hmm.”
Sehir smiled warmly as if he had already seen through my thoughts.
“To say I wasn’t shocked would be a lie, but I’m fine now. I had already suspected there was a reason why the notorious Mother hadn’t been dealt with yet.”
He added playfully, “At least it’s good we know before it’s too late,” as he dusted off my robe and straightened out the wrinkles.
His touch was so skilled that I was reminded of how Sehir, despite his noble upbringing, had a younger sibling back in the capital, making him accustomed to taking care of others.
Once his hand left my robe, I continued the conversation we hadn’t finished earlier.
“What do you think? Does it sound too far-fetched?”
“You mean the idea that the Mother’s core is in his egg?”
“Yeah.”
“To be honest, it’s hard to believe. There’s no precedent of a monster separating its core from its body. But if we’re just considering possibilities, it’s a reasonable thought. The part about his maternal instinct makes sense, and if the core is in the egg, it would explain why the Mother’s nest is so well hidden.”
Sehir spoke thoughtfully. In that brief moment, I could tell how much he had considered my theory.
I felt relieved that Sehir had given my hypothesis a positive evaluation, but then something in his last sentence made me pause.
Even if the core really was in the egg, we still had a problem.
We had no idea where the Mother’s nest was, and if we had to fight his without finding it, Daniel’s concerns would come true.
The Mother, with his regenerative abilities and no risk of his core being destroyed, would be nearly impossible to defeat.
“The nest… where could it be?”
We hadn’t found anything resembling the Mother’s nest on our way to the cave. Despite wandering around the forest trying to lose him, we hadn’t seen it.
I had no idea how large this birch forest was, but at this rate, even with all of us searching, it would take a long time to find the nest.
In the worst case, we might even have to search outside the forest.
The Mother lived in this forest, but his nest could be anywhere.
“It seems like Kaindel has already figured it out.”
Sehir pointed his chin toward where Ruen and Kaindel were.
I looked in the direction he indicated.
Ruen was rubbing his mouth as if he had just realized something after Kaindel pointed it out.
Fixing his gaze on the dark forest, he let out a small laugh.
“Kaindel, you crazy bastard,” he muttered under his breath, his words filling the quiet cave.
Kaindel, avoiding Ruen’s brown eyes, spoke again.
“And those trees, too.”
He scanned the birch trees that densely filled the space outside the cave.
Aside from the fact that they had lost all their leaves due to winter, the trees appeared perfectly healthy.
He seemed to take in the sight with unusual intensity, as if it was something rare.
What is Kaindel seeing?
I tilted my head in confusion, looking at the birch forest alongside him.
From my perspective, it was an ordinary scene, so I couldn’t grasp what Kaindel was thinking.
My doubts began to grow.
Finally, Kaindel glanced at Ruen once more.
His eyes now glimmered with a new excitement, as if he had discovered something thrilling.
“The Mother is a poison-type monster. Everything his secretions touched turned black and rotted.”
“…”
“But how could the trees in the Mother’s forest be this healthy?”
The moment I grasped the direction of Kaindel’s thoughts, it felt as if someone had smacked me on the back of the head.
I suddenly remembered the birch trees that had remained unharmed, even when the Mother rubbed his injured wing on them and scattered purple liquid.
Despite the soil decaying from the poison, the trees remained unaffected.
Why hadn’t I questioned their condition?
I chuckled to myself.
That’s not all.
Why hadn’t I questioned why so little sunlight reached the forest even in broad daylight?
Even if the trees had lost all their leaves, there was no way their bare branches could block that much sunlight.
A chill ran down my spine.
It was a blatant contradiction that I should’ve noticed immediately.
Yet, I hadn’t picked up on it until now.
It wasn’t like I had been distracted, but I simply hadn’t thought to question what was right in front of me. As if I had been fooled by its seeming normality.
I wasn’t the only one who had failed to notice the oddness of the forest until Kaindel pointed it out.
Sehir and Daniel both remained silent, their eyes downcast.
Meanwhile, Ruen, who had actually seen the Mother in the forest, furrowed his brow in frustration, seemingly blaming himself for not realizing sooner.
Breaking the silence, Owen suddenly raised his head and extended his hand toward Daniel.
“Daniel, could I borrow your dagger?”
“Here you go.”
Without asking for an explanation, Daniel handed Owen his dagger immediately.
Whether Daniel had already figured out why Owen needed it or simply didn’t care, I couldn’t tell.
Owen took the dagger he received from Daniel and stepped out of the cave. He then drove the dagger into one of the birch trees just outside.
With his index and middle fingers resting on the handle, which was embedded perpendicularly into the tree, he closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them again, his blue eyes glinted behind his glasses as he turned to look at us, an oddly excited expression on his face.
“It’s an illusion,” he said, brushing the white bark of the tree with his fingers and glancing up at the sky.
“Not the entire forest, but I’d say most of it is an illusion. No wonder it’s been hard to pinpoint the nest’s location. This is the nastiest illusion I’ve ever seen. Layers upon layers of foul energy.”
The term “foul energy” referred to the aura released by monsters.
So it was clear that the illusion Owen was talking about was created by Mother’s foul energy.
An illusion over most of the forest…
I stopped examining the closely-packed birch trees and reached out to touch the wall of the cave.
Everything, from what I could see to what I could feel, seemed so real.
The idea that most of it was an illusion was hard to believe. I’d never seen an illusion before, let alone one so intricate.
Although I had suspected it after hearing Kaindel’s words, now that it was confirmed, it felt surreal.
While I was silently marveling, Kaindel, who had risen from his spot, began stretching lightly.
He turned to Owen, who was retrieving the dagger from the tree, and asked, “Can you break it?”
“I’ll give it a try, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
“Go ahead and try. Even if it doesn’t work, we’ve got Ruen.”
Kaindel glanced briefly at Ruen, who had been standing by Owen’s side for some time now.
While Owen was figuring out the illusion, Ruen had silently approached and was surveying the forest.
His narrowed eyes swept the surroundings before landing on the inside of the cave.
The strange gaze I felt on my back eventually fell away as he yawned.
“Alright, I’ll give it a shot,” Owen said, nodding in agreement with Kaindel.
He then drew a cross on the ground with his dagger and placed it on top of the mark.
From his palm, a stronger light than before began to shine, causing a faint breeze.
His platinum blond hair floated slightly in the air, indicating that this time, he was applying his divine power in a different way.
As Owen focused on dispelling the illusion, Daniel, watching from behind, spoke up. “What about Mother?”
He was worried that Mother might notice them while they were searching for the nest.
* * *
nice
Bom