Darkness enveloped Lev's vision. As far as he could remember, he had lost consciousness, but the sensation he felt now wasn't like that of someone who had fainted. His mind was still active, able to think about things.
He couldn't control the direction of his gaze. His body felt very faint… Was it accurate to say he had turned into a ghost? He was confused about how to describe his current state.
'Where is this?' Rather than trying to understand what was happening, he focused on the strange scene before his eyes.
If he had to describe it in one word, he thought he was inside a cave. However, the interior of the cave was incredibly bizarre. From the floor to the ceiling, the height was no less than that of the tallest skyscraper on the Earth.
In the center of the cave's interior stood a massive altar. The altar was hexagonal, with majestic pillars firmly planted at each of its six corners.
Right in the middle of the grandeur of the altar was a girl bound by chains. Her knees were pressed to the ground, while her arms were raised and shackled by chains as thick as a human body. Her hands, feet, neck, and torso were all bound by six chains, each connected to the six pillars of the altar.
Although Lev was looking at her from the front, he couldn't see her face because she kept her head bowed. Not long after, she lifted her head, and her pink hair no longer blocked Lev's view of her face.
"Help…" Reading her lips, Lev understood what she was trying to say. However, he was shocked because the language she spoke wasn't one from the Avalon continent.
'English?'
He was stunned when the girl used English.
There was something even more shocking. If he could control his facial expression, he would have widened his eyes in disbelief. Although he couldn't control his expression, a spark of anger still flared in his heart.
The reason was the two devils who suddenly appeared in front of the girl.
Even though Lev could only see their backs, he already recognized who they were. The circular halos above their heads explained everything. They were the two figures who had disguised themselves as his parents back on Earth, Enki and Damkia.
The urge to move his body and approach them surged intensely within him. He wanted to grab their necks from behind right then and there. At the very least, break their necks… But instead of getting closer, his vision began to darken.
As if his consciousness was being sucked away, he began to lose consciousness once again.
***
"Hmm."
Now Lev could hear his own murmur.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a canopy, indicating that he was in his private room.
He wanted to say he was sleeping on the bed, but for some reason, he couldn't move his body. When he looked to the side, he realized that Daria was tightly hugging him. Although her body was beside him, her arms and legs were draped over him, locking him in place and preventing any movement.
"What are you doing?"
"Hmmm… Snore~"
Daria's eyelids were tightly shut. Occasional snores escaped her slightly open mouth. Thankfully, she wasn't drooling, or Lev wouldn't have hesitated to slap her awake.
'Looks like she fell asleep because she took too much cake.'
Up close, Daria's face wasn't ugly. She was actually prettier than he had thought. However, because her body proportions didn't align with most people's ideals of beauty, her attractiveness was often overlooked.
'Why am I even thinking about her?!'
"Ugh."
A sharp pain in his hand made Lev frown slightly. When he lifted his head a little to look at his hand, he saw that it was bleeding. The skin on his palm was torn, and bits of it were stuck under his fingernails, meaning he had injured himself.
'It must be because of that strange dream.'
The mysterious woman, the plea for help, the use of Earth's language, the hexagonal altar, and the appearance of… Lev decided to store all this information in his memory for now.
"Wake up. How long are you going to sleep?" Lev said to Daria. He also blew a small breath onto her eyelashes.
Perhaps tickled by Lev's breath, Daria finally woke up. 'It's not because my breath stinks, right?!' he thought to himself.
"Hoam~" Daria slowly opened her eyes. She looked very calm at first, but when she realized she had fallen asleep while hugging Lev, she immediately sat up in a panic. She got off the bed and knelt on the floor. "Y-You're awake, Young Master?!"
"I-I'm sorry…" She even started to bow her head to the floor to apologize, but Lev stopped her.
'From this distance, it's not visible.' Lev thought to himself. His gaze was fixed on Daria's neck. One thing that he had noticed when they were just a hand's breadth apart earlier was a white circular mark on her neck. 'If I'm not mistaken, that mark only belongs to the Whitescarf tribe of the Beastkin race.'
[Skill Observation - Active.]
[Status Window:
- General Status:
Name: Daria Kareline
Race: Human/Beastkin
Job: None
- Main Attributes:
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 3
Dexterity: 3
Mana: 0.1.]
Lev's right lip twitched slightly when he saw Daria's race. A mix of human and Beastkin. His guess had been correct.
"Daria, how old are you now?"
"I'll be 20 soon, Young Master."
"So you've already had your Coming of Age Ceremony, right?"
"Ah, do you want me to tell you about the results of your Coming of Age Ceremony, Young Master?!"
Although that wasn't Lev's original intention in asking about Daria's age, on second thought, he was also curious about the results of his own ceremony. There was no harm in hearing about it from Daria.
Before Lev could nod and give the go-ahead, Daria had already started talking. However, the longer she spoke, the more her tone dropped. Her expression also grew increasingly concerned.
Since Daria added a lot of unnecessary details, Lev only absorbed the important information from her words.
Initially, after he fainted in the middle of the banquet hall, everyone panicked. Even High Priest Elias joined in the panic.
Fortunately, the panic didn't last long. They determined that Lev had simply fainted. Although the cause wasn't identified, no one really cared. Everyone was only concerned about the results of his Coming of Age Ceremony.
Did he fail to create a mana pool?
Would the son of the useless Duke also become useless?
Was the last hope of the Razanov family lost?
That was roughly the reaction of the guests when he fainted.
Andrei, hearing all the mockery from the guests, immediately ordered Elias to announce the results of the ceremony.
Just as everyone assumed Lev had failed, Elias touched Lev's stomach and declared that he had successfully created a mana pool. However, Lev's mana pool was extremely small, meaning his chances of becoming a high-level magician were very low.
"It's okay, Young Master. I was also very shocked when I found out my mana pool was tiny. At least we have that in common… hehehe."
A strange smile appeared on Daria's face.
Lev couldn't help but suspect that she wasn't comforting him but rather mocking him.