“I hate you, Mister! I’m not going to play with you anymore!”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ sobs in heart-wrenching pain.]
Charlotte was sulking.
This time, she wasn’t pretending to sulk for attention; she was genuinely upset.
Whether she was truly angry or not, she went to the training ground wielding the Super Super Strong Sword and practically lived there.
“Should I go apologize?”
“Why? She’ll come back when she gets hungry. You don’t need to worry about it. Charlotte quickly forgets both favors and grudges…”
“…”
Scribble.
Writing in her notebook, Julia spoke as if it was no big deal.
Having known Charlotte for a long time, she seemed to understand Charlotte’s psychology perfectly.
“What would you have done?”
“Me? I would never act like a fool, jumping around happily, thinking I succeeded after failing the magic in the first place. It’s self-inflicted…”
“…”
Right? Charlotte was the one who opened the opportunity, after all.
I had no fault in this.
She just created the perfect situation to tease.
Kali was also in a spectator position, so she could chastise without being teased.
If I were actually in that position, I wouldn’t be able to hold back from teasing.
I’m sure of it; no matter who the person is, whether it’s an adult or someone else, they wouldn’t be able to endure it.
So, it could be said that this was a kind of reflex.
“Oh, and Aslan.”
“What do you want?”
“I think it’s okay for me to sleep alone now.”
“Really? That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“…”
“…?”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ claps joyfully, saying our necromancer has grown up!]
Unconsciously responding casually, a moment of silence passed.
Then I jolted in surprise. …What did she just say?
That she thinks she can sleep alone now?
‘What does that mean? Has her insomnia been cured?’
I had to suppress my agitation with great effort.
Julia originally couldn’t sleep because the voices of spirits flowed in without refinement.
But that was resolved when she awakened as a Necromancer.
The fact that Julia still couldn’t sleep for a long time was merely a lingering effect of inertia.
It was only a matter of time before she would be fully cured.
I also knew that one day, Julia wouldn’t need my hand anymore.
I had steeled myself for that. Isn’t it strange that at such a young age, she couldn’t sleep alone?
It’s a sign of growth, and I should be happy about it.
For some reason, one side of my chest began to ache. Ah, tears welled up.
If I had known this would happen, I would have touched Julia’s chubby cheeks a little longer while she was asleep…
‘Children grow up. That’s an irreversible truth of time that I cannot change…’
Both Charlotte and Julia are slowly growing up.
One day, they will become adults.
And I have neither the strength nor the will to stop it.
Why is the innocence and naivety of children beautiful?
Because I know the reason.
What is unchanging is never truly beautiful.
What is genuinely beautiful are the transient things, like flowers that wither shortly after blooming.
A child’s early years are also but a fleeting moment in time.
The fact that it is endlessly fleeting makes it beautiful.
‘I must accept it…’
Swallowing my tears, I barely managed to calm my mind and body.
Isn’t Julia growing up quickly a good sign?
It must mean that the day she becomes my wife is approaching rapidly.
Just as I was trying to comfort myself with that thought…
“W-What’s with you? Why aren’t you more disappointed…?”
“…?”
Glancing back, I saw Julia looking at me with a slightly embarrassed expression.
As soon as our eyes met, she flinched in surprise and turned her head away.
“It sounds like you want me to be disappointed.”
“Th-That’s not it! More importantly, look at this! I found something interesting…!”
“Are you trying to change the subject because you’re embarrassed?”
“Not at all! Just come and see…!”
At Julia’s urgent call, I approached reluctantly.
Then, she pointed at a neatly written note.
I thought she was just saying something to brush off her embarrassment, but it seemed she actually had something to show me.
“What’s this?”
“I looked through all the books and records Aslan gave me. And I analyzed the experimental data regarding Neomium written there, and organized it here…”
“All of that? I can understand the books, but the data must have been thousands of pages long?”
“Of course, it wasn’t done in just a day or two.”
“Wow. You really worked hard. How did you do all this by yourself?”
“Ugh. My hair is all messed up…”
Pat Pat.
As I placed my hand on her head, Julia pulled away as if fleeing.
When I chased after her and patted her head again, she glared at me with a sulky expression.
‘What incredible perseverance.’
Research on black magic often starts not as formal research but as a sort of hobby.
While they call it research data, in reality, it’s a disorganized collection of notes that are practically diary entries.
I had been hesitant to look through everything because it seemed like it would take too much time.
I hadn’t expected Julia to have done it all.
“So, what’s this interesting discovery you found?”
“Look closely. There’s an amazing secret hidden here! When I gathered all the cases, don’t you see any commonalities…?”
“What commonality?”
“I counted them all, and out of 282 cases, 208 were experiments conducted in monasteries! That’s a whopping 70 percent! I hypothesized that the substance Neomium reacts with something in the monasteries to trigger black magic. What do you think? Doesn’t it sound plausible…?”
“…”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ smacks its forehead in disappointment.]
Julia looked up at me with eyes full of expectation.
However, Julia’s hypothesis was completely off base.
The reason about 70 percent of the experiments on Neomium were conducted in monasteries is simple.
In the Empire, the only places where intellectuals gather are universities and monasteries.
Universities often receive no investment for research on black magic, so they hardly even get started.
However, monasteries are located in secluded areas, and the sons of local dignitaries become monks, which provides ample funding for black magic research to be conducted relatively frequently.
“I wonder. If there is a direct causal relationship between the monastery and black magic, shouldn’t we compare it with research done in other places? If the success rate in monasteries is significantly higher than in other places, then you would certainly be correct.”
“Um… well, that…”
Julia, seemingly flustered, began flipping through her notes and entered into calculations.
After a while, once she had finished the ratio calculations, she looked up at me with a dejected expression.
“Both have a similar success rate… I guess my hypothesis was wrong…”
“It’s fine. Even if the hypothesis is wrong, you still have the organized data. Thanks to this, the research has progressed much faster.”
“Really? Ugh, hehehe.”
Julia couldn’t hide her joyful expression and started to laugh softly.
I received the organized data from her and examined it closely.
However, something felt off. A sense of discomfort washed over me.
“Let’s try organizing it chronologically.”
“Chronologically? Okay, got it…”
I arranged all the data in chronological order and then recorded the success status of each study along with the weight of the Neomium chunks used in the research.
Once I checked the completed table, a noticeable sign appeared that anyone could recognize.
“Ah, this…!”
“Just as I thought.”
“The weight of the Neomium chunk is decreasing as time goes on! I thought Neomium was a material that doesn’t corrode or break easily!?”
“Look a bit more closely. The weight of the Neomium chunk decreased only after cases where black magic was successful. It didn’t decrease right after failures.”
“Y-You’re right! Does that mean Neomium is consumed when using black magic…?!”
That would be the general conclusion.
But with a bit more information on black magic than others, I couldn’t help but draw a different conclusion.
The condition that determines the success of black magic is whether the researcher is possessed by an Evil God.
So, rather than saying Neomium was consumed as fuel for black magic, it seems more convincing to consider that Neomium serves as a sacrificial offering to summon the Evil God.
‘So, did Irene acquire Neomium to summon the Evil God Laura…?’
I realized this only now, but those from the Vermont family who summoned Evil Gods must have known long ago.
Irene holds the key to summon an Evil God.
Now, I had a reason to seize the Neomium chunk from her immediately.
‘That means she could summon even more Evil Gods after Laura.’
I need to plan an assault on Irene’s residence as soon as possible.
Should I mobilize the undead army?
Ah, speaking of that, when is the undead army going to arrive?
Since they couldn’t be transported by carriage, I ordered them to march on their own to the Vermont territory…
As I was chewing my lips in contemplation, the door suddenly slammed open with a bang.
Charlotte appeared, looking very dignified.
“Charlotte…?”
“I’m sorry, Mister! I didn’t mean what I said! I don’t hate you at all! The part about not playing with you was a lie! I said that out of anger! Please don’t hate me…!”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ is heartbroken, saying that nobody hates our Dark Knight.]
Swoosh.
In a rush, overwhelmed by the torrent of emotions, she ran up to me and threw herself into my arms.
It was exactly 6 o’clock—just before dinner.
Just as Julia had said, it was just about meal time.
I knelt on one knee to match Charlotte’s height and wiped away her tears.
“I never held that against you. I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have known when to stop teasing you and held back, but I went too far.”
“Uuuu! I’m so relieved! I’m glad I’m not hated by you…!”
Beaming, Charlotte pulled my neck and hugged me tightly.
As I patted her trembling back, I let out a deep sigh.
With just a few words, she could laugh and cry…
Perhaps being one year younger than Julia, she still had many childlike qualities.
Charlotte’s tears were a bit salty.
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ sighs deeply at your dullness.]
What does that even mean?
