How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 50
As the black earth, which looked as if it had been ground to powder, was dug up, a faint light began to show from within. It was so small that it would have been difficult to find if one didn’t know exactly where to dig.
After Pudding, who had finished digging, moved aside, Ante knelt on one knee in front of the hole and, upon checking the object inside, let out a wry laugh. “It really looks pathetic.”
The sacred object named ‘The Black Lake Containing the Shadow of the Sun’ was a mirror about the size of a palm. Moreover, it wasn’t in a complete state but was broken.
However, as if to prove that it was indeed a sacred object, the broken mirror pieces didn’t fall or scatter but remained in place. It was a strange object, broken yet not broken.
Ante reached out his hand.
Patzut-!
But before his hand could touch the sacred object, something blocked it.
Ante grimaced and withdrew his hand, feeling a stinging pain at his fingertips. The barrier that had been fiercely attacking disappeared once Ante’s hand moved away.
Ante tried a few more times, but it was useless. Each time, the path was blocked in the same way, and magic was of no use.
“Can you take it out?”
Realizing he couldn’t reach the sacred object with his own power, Ante asked Pudding, who was sitting and waiting beside him.
Pudding snorted and turned its head away.
“You can’t do it either?”
When Ante asked in disbelief, Pudding snorted more and then stretched out its front paw into the hole.
Pachijik-!
The sacred object rejected the divine beast as well.
“…What’s going on?”
Ante knew that just finding the location wasn’t enough to obtain a sacred object. But since the journey here had been quite treacherous, he hadn’t expected there to be any other mechanisms.
The method of acquisition…
As he was pressing his forehead, unable to think of anything, Pudding moved.
“Kreung!”
Pudding, who had gone to the lakeside, dipped its paw in the water. The water cleared for a moment, but when Pudding withdrew its paw, it turned black again.
“You want to go back? Just a moment, there must be a way…”
“Sniff. Kreung!”
But when Ante didn’t focus on it, Pudding, now irritated, approached him and tugged at his sleeve with its teeth.
“Why are you suddenly so impatient? Just a moment…”
“Sniff!”
Pudding returned to the lakeside and again dipped its paw in the water and withdrew it. It wasn’t asking to go back.
Watching this behavior for a moment, Ante’s eyes suddenly lit up as if he had realized something. Then he took out a small potion from his pocket.
Inside was a healing potion. It was an expensive potion worth several hundred million each, but Ante opened the lid and poured it all out.
“Try again.”
And instead, he filled it with lake water, timing it with Pudding dipping its paw.
Unfortunately, only a few drops of water made it into the bottle. Moreover, it became slightly murky as it mixed with the remnants of the potion in the bottle.
Ante quickly dropped it into the hole before it could become more contaminated. The liquid that fell towards the sacred object touched the barrier and burned through it with a hissing sound.
As it was only a few drops, the barrier recovered in the blink of an eye.
“…So it needed holy water.”
Ante sighed.
The divine beast’s ability to temporarily turn liquid magic into holy water was impressive, but the people of the past who had created such a mechanism were also quite remarkable.
“The holy water you make won’t be enough.”
“Sniff.”
Although Pudding could create holy water, Ante had no means to transfer it cleanly, and holy water mixed with magic couldn’t completely burn through the barrier.
“Haa… So sprinkling holy water wasn’t just for finding it.”
Ante pressed his closed eyes tightly.
‘If it’s hard to find, sprinkle some holy water. The stream of holy water will find it on its own.’
He had thought it was for locating and hadn’t brought any. He had figured that with a divine beast beside him, how could he not locate a sacred object?
It was his oversight.
“In the end, we’ll have to come back.”
Ante, letting out a long sigh, refilled the hole.
“Let’s be satisfied with having found it and go.”
After restoring everything to its original state, Ante turned to leave. Pudding followed him without much resistance.
As they moved away from the center, the magic in the air thinned. So before completely leaving that place, Ante snapped his fingers.
Thick magic enveloped him.
The clothes he was wearing changed into a dark cloak, and his hair turned a deep black. His hair, now reaching down to his waist, contrasted with an elaborate mask.
With only his mouth slightly visible below the mask, long bangs covered his eyes. With the hood of the cloak pulled up as well, he became a completely different person.
“You too, whoosh.”
Ante waved his hand at Pudding.
Then Pudding’s body also changed. It shrank back to the size of a cat and then silently disappeared into the air.
The invisibility skill, though seen throughout the journey, was still amazing. A technique that even erased its presence.
“Even invisibility magic isn’t this perfect.”
As expected of a divine beast, huh?
Thinking that he should research this someday, Ante emerged above ground.
Coming outside, the magic in the air thinned, and the smell changed.
Ante, who was comfortable with magic, honestly preferred the magic-filled air of the underground, but he didn’t show his disappointment.
It was because of the man walking towards him.
“Is your exploration finished?”
It was Blake Kadenhart.
“Exploration? I just took a little look around.”
The voice coming from Ante’s mouth was different from his usual voice. Instead of his usual thin, high-pitched voice, it was a rough, raspy sound.
“So, are you satisfied?”
At Blake’s question, the Tower Master turned his body to scan the mine again.
‘Originally, I was going to pass without making a deal.’
When the Tower Master learned that the sacred object was here, he showed interest when Blake came with the mine proposal.
Of course, it wasn’t for the magic stone, but to see the lowest level that Angelina had mentioned.
But since he didn’t need to buy the entire mine for that, he insisted on exploring it himself before making a contract.
He had planned to explore alone, retrieve the sacred object, and act as if the contract never existed.
But because of the damn holy water, the plan went awry.
“Let’s make the contract.”
He was forced to buy the mine.
“I heard the magic stones here are of the highest quality, and it seems the Tower Master’s eyes see the same.”
Blake said it was fortunate and took out the contract. Sean handed over a pen from behind.
Since the Tower Master came alone, Blake also brought only Sean with him. Minimizing the number of people was an initial condition.
The Tower Master, holding the pen, didn’t immediately sign the contract.
“Is there something you’re not satisfied with?”
Blake asked as the Tower Master just looked at the contract.
“I think it’s a ridiculous contract. The object of the transaction being ‘reputation’.”
While he muttered in disbelief, Blake smirked.
“It might seem that way to you. But in the outside world, your name carries great power. Just the fact that I’ve made a deal with you allows me to gain quite a lot.”
The content of the deal wasn’t important.
The Tower Master, who had distanced himself from politics and ignored the nobility, had made a deal with someone.
Whether it was a political move or for personal reasons didn’t matter to others.
The mere reputation of being someone who could move the Tower Master’s heart would drastically change how people viewed Blake.
For Blake, who needed a stepping stone to advance, there couldn’t be a more attractive contract.
“It’s not even funny.”
The Tower Master snorted softly and wrote something at the bottom of the contract with the pen. It wasn’t a signature.
“These are my conditions.”
Blake looked at the added sentence.
There were no restrictions on using the name, but instead, it would be effective from two weeks from now.
Why two weeks?
He was curious, but the Tower Master didn’t seem like he would answer.
“Alright.”
As both of their signatures were placed on the contract, the paper began to glow. Then the paper scattered and disappeared into the air.
Instead, the remaining light split in two and seeped into the bodies of the Tower Master and Blake.
“It’s going to be an enjoyable two weeks.”
He added the two-week grace period to prevent rumors from spreading and reaching the ears of the temple, which might lead to them snatching the sacred object first, which would be troublesome.
In the meantime, if he could bring holy water again and get his hands on the sacred object, his business would be finished.
After that, how much Blake used the Tower Master’s name in the world was none of his concern.
The reason he didn’t get involved in politics in the first place was that all the nobles in the empire who served the Sun God were cut from the same cloth.
If the existence of the Tower Master caused more chaos in the empire, that could be its own kind of fun.
The Empress might be a bit troubled, though.
“It was a good contract. Let’s not see each other again.”
The Tower Master giggled and tried to leave first. But Blake’s quietly added words made him stop in his tracks.
“I’ve heard that the Tower Master’s relationship with the Order is beyond mere incompatibility.”
A statement implying that he knew the Tower Master was targeting the Sun God’s Order.
A moment of silence fell.
