"Did a short-haired girl with pink hair pass by here?"
"Yeah? Pink hair? She seemed to be heading to the carriage station a little while ago."
"Thank you."
As soon as Adrias heard the news about Lucia, he was chasing after her.
He didn't know how things had come to this point, but he had to meet Lucia and talk to her to understand the situation.
"Haa."
A puff of hot breath escaped as he ran.
The side effects of the evolution of dark magic had worsened, and he was now in a state of high fever and intense headache. However, he couldn't give up on Lucia.
Running toward the carriage station, Adrias spotted Lucia boarding a carriage in the distance.
"Lucia!"
The distance was quite far, so his shout might not have reached her, but he managed to catch a passing carriage and hopped onto it.
"Could you please follow that carriage behind?"
Fortunately, he managed to follow without delay.
As he followed Lucia's carriage, Adrias's mind was in turmoil.
'What action could have caused the butterfly effect? Lucia withdrawing, no, this is the first time any of the player characters have withdrawn.'
Perhaps because Adrias was urging him, the carriage increased its speed, gradually catching up to Lucia's carriage. It seemed like the person in the other carriage had noticed that we were following, as their movements became subtle, and they gradually slowed down, eventually allowing us to catch up and face them.
"What? Why are you following?"
The driver of the other carriage shouted as we ran side by side.
Upon that, Adrias opened the window of our carriage and called Lucia.
"Lucia! Lucia Everlast!"
In response, the window on the other side opened, revealing Lucia's face.
"Sen...ior? Why are you here?"
"For now, stop the carriage!"
It was hard to have a conversation with the noise of the carriage running.
Lucia nibbled on her lips for a moment, nodded, and then brought her carriage to a stop.
Finally, when both of our carriages had come to a halt, Adrias and Lucia got off their respective carriages.
"Why is Senior here?"
"Let me talk. What's all this about? Why did you withdraw all of a sudden?"
Even though Adrias asked, Lucia didn't respond, just staring at the ground.
Seeing her like that, Adrias sighed and grabbed Lucia's arm.
"Let's go back. It's not too late yet."
"Thank you for caring, but I'm not going back. It's already too late."
As she spoke, she pointed in a certain direction.
There, a middle-aged man with long hair and a long spear slung over his shoulder was approaching.
"What's this? Some sort of souvenir event? Why are you here too?"
"Why are you here?"
Adrias and Salem looked at each other in confusion.
"You're calling me casually, huh? Well, you sure have some nerve. Am I someone you can just call casually?"
"Salem. So, why is Salem here?"
When Salem's name was mentioned, the eyes of the carriage drivers who had been there until then widened. At first, they seemed to doubt what they heard, but as Salem appeared this time without changing his appearance, the drivers, recognizing the distinctive figure, tried to run away in a hurry.
"Where do you think you're going? Huh?"
In an instant, Salem, who had disappeared without a trace, reappeared in front of the carriage drivers.
And then he swiftly "ate" them.
"Ah."
Lucia let out an amazed sigh, seemingly disbelieving her eyes.
On the contrary, Adrias shook his head and sighed, visibly exasperated.
Salem, in the first place, was closer to a villain than a hero. He had a strong tendency to act on his own, and for him, killing a couple of people before any annoying incidents arose was a piece of cake.
After making the carriage drivers vanish without a trace, Salem casually struck up a conversation.
"So, where were we in the conversation?"
"Why are you here?"
"Yeah! Why are you here?"
"I came to bring Lucia. Is Lucia's withdrawal related to Salem in any way?"
"Seeing that you don't even know that, you seem to have just followed. Yeah. Lucia Everlast has decided to become my disciple from now on."
It was the worst.
Although Salem was kind to Adrias, he was unmistakably a villain, a true dark magician.
Becoming his disciple meant there was no turning back.
'No, wait. There's one exception.'
If Lucia became as strong as or stronger than Salem, then she could betray him and come out unscathed.
There had already been such precedents.
However, setting all that aside, he couldn't allow Lucia to become Salem's disciple. Salem's magic was fundamentally based on body manipulation. Lucia couldn't possibly learn such cruel magic, even among dark magic.
Being a dark magician was one thing, but during the process, she could experience tremendous physical and mental pain, and her mind could crumble.
"Lucia, think again. Salem is a dark magician."
"Hehe. Some people talk as if it's not always the case."
Salem muttered beside her, but Lucia seemed not to understand.
Despite the intensifying headache, Adrias made an effort to ignore Salem's interjections and continued.
"You'll be chased. You won't be able to see your family comfortably, and you won't be able to walk around freely outdoors. Do you want to live that kind of life?"
"Yes. I want to live that life."
From Lucia's response, Adrias could infer why she had made this choice.
'She chose Salem's hands for the sake of the cure.'
Adrias paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before speaking again.
"Lucia, I actually knew. I knew you were in pain."
"What? How could you, senior..."
"I have a feeling why you're following Salem right now. But trust me. I will definitely create a cure for you. Just give me about two months."
"Knowing all this until now, were you pretending?"
Lucia's reaction was far from ordinary.
Adrias froze in response to her unexpected reaction and couldn't say anything.
"All this time, you knew I was in pain, and yet you've been acting like this? I'm dying, and you've been watching from the side so indifferently..."
From Lucia, whose eyes were reddened, an unusual flow of mana emerged.
Uncontrollable emotions were manifested in the form of mana.
"Lucia, that's not it. I've been..."
"I don't want to hear any more. Don't hold onto me."
Lucia managed to suppress the mana and began walking towards Salem.
Startled, Adrias reached out to her, but in an instant, he felt an intense chill and knelt on one knee.
'Side effects...'
Looking at Adrias like that, Salem asked, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Upon seeing that Adrias was in pain, Lucia's head snapped back.
A deeply worried expression that she tried to hide was evident on her face.
"Salem, you can't. You can't take Lucia with you."
"What are you talking about? Why are you interfering with something we've already agreed on?"
"Lucia... I can't let her go with you, ever. I won't allow it."
Pain and headache made his words tumble out without much thought.
Lucia Everlast was one of the keys to saving the world. Such a crucial key couldn't be left to be tainted right in front of their eyes, which is why Adrias was so desperate.
But no, it wasn't just that. Personally, he couldn't let go of Lucia. She had already taken a place in his heart, and he couldn't let her go.
"Lucia, please. Give me one last chance."
Adrias's plea, his weakened state evident, carried a deep sense of desperation.
Feeling both betrayed and moved by his cry, Lucia couldn't ignore his plea.
With a trembling lip, she approached Adrias.
"You have a fever."
Kneeling down to match his eye level, she touched his forehead. She could feel the heat radiating from his body. Knowing that he had chased after her in such a state, her heart swelled with mixed emotions.
And from that sight, she ultimately surrendered.
As Lucia turned her head to refuse Salem and explain that she couldn't follow him, Salem preempted her.
"I don't think you'll be saying that you can't go now."
"Ah..."
Lucia lost her words, gazing at him.
Salem wasn't a pushover.
"Lucia Everlast. Don't test me. If you don't come with me, I will kill Adrias Cromwell right here. I'm not joking. If you want to confirm it, you can go anywhere you like."
His stern warning echoed, and both Adrias and Lucia froze in place. It was as if life itself had turned into a solid form, unable to move, facing a massive serpent.
As if standing before a giant snake that had taken on a tangible form, they felt paralyzed.
Activating their bodies with mana, Adrias managed to break free from the binding and shielded Lucia behind him.
There was no chance of winning against Salem in a fight.
But even so, he couldn't just send Lucia down an obvious path of destruction.
For now, they had to rely on Salem's mercy.
"Salem, I apologize. Instead, I'll find a way to compensate for the time you wasted."
"Compensation? Hey, Adrias. Because I've been so nice to you, you're shamelessly asking for more?"
Salem aimed his spear at them.
The concentration of his mana at the tip of the spear was formidable.
"Your compensation will be your life. You little shit."
As 'Sinister Snake' shivered and then unfolded into dozens of branches, it lunged toward Adrias.
Adrias immediately drew his sword and parried the dozens of snakes that struck at him.
Clang! Clang! Clash!
Each of the snake's heads held formidable power.
As Adrias blocked with his sword and Lucia raised a protective shield, it was all in vain.
It felt as though he was facing dozens of exceptional spear masters at once, and Adrias was sweating profusely.
Thunk! Thud!
The attacks that Adrias couldn't completely block began to pierce through his body.
The snake attacks, powerful enough to penetrate rocks, easily pierced through Adrias' mana-fortified body.
"Stop!"
Lucia shouted as she stepped forward.
"I'll go with you. So, please spare Adrias."
"Fine. Don't ruin my mood any further, and come quickly. I don't have the desire to kill Adrias for no reason."
Salem hesitated at Lucia's surrender.
As he withdrew his spear, the snake heads that were impaled on Adrias' body were pulled out.
Blood poured out, and although Adrias staggered, he managed to thrust his Galakshur into the ground to support himself.
Lucia tried to approach him again, but Salem warned her.
"Now, your free rein ends here, Lucia Everlast. Don't act like a child."
With a regretful look, Lucia stepped back.
Thus, Lucia headed toward Salem, but she couldn't help turning back as if unable to take her eyes off Adrias.
"Adrias. I'll let it slide this time, but if you cause trouble like this again, no matter how much I like you, I'll kill you."
With those words, Salem turned around, leaving Lucia at the forefront.
Lucia had no choice but to leave, while Adrias managed to pull Galakshur out of the ground and stood up with great effort.
He couldn't protect her.
A sense of emptiness filled Adrias' mind along with the pounding headache.
'No, it's not over yet.'
There must be something that could change this situation.
The knowledge gained from countless gaming experiences surely held the key to piquing Salem's interest.
Just then, a message appeared in Adrias' mind.
[Adrias Cromwell: Evolution of Dark Sorcerer Mastery Lineage has occurred.]
[Talent 'Dark Sorcerer Mastery Lineage (Intermediate)' has evolved into 'Dark Sorcery (Intermediate).']
Thunk.
Salem, who had been walking, suddenly felt something grabbing his foot and came to a halt.
He glanced down and saw a shadowy figure entwining around his ankle.
"Wait."
His mind cleared, and the shivering sensation vanished.
Adrias Cromwell used the shadow magic he took from Kyler and spoke.
"Salem Yedidia. I have a proposition for you."