Chapter 122

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on February 6, 2025

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Chapter 122

#122. Cleanup (2)

The rough discussion about Arad’s identity had concluded.

“Anyway, Your Majesty, are you really okay?”

The conversation shifted to a new topic brought up by Valkyrie.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about your condition, Your Majesty. Are you really alright?”

Valkyrie looked at Ariana with eyes full of worry.

“That’s correct. I noticed earlier that the color of your sword energy seemed to have changed… Could it be that you haven’t fully awakened?”

Following Valkyrie, Sun also asked with concern.

“The crisis has passed.”

To the two’s inquiries, Ariana replied with an expression deep in thought.

“Miss, may I examine your pulse?”

When Isabel approached and asked, Ariana nodded slightly.

“Hmm…?”

After a short while, Isabel’s brow furrowed as she scanned Ariana’s mana core and circle.

“I must conduct further research immediately.”

Isabel hastily scribbled something down before falling into deep thought with a serious look.

‘The curse Isaac placed on the family seems to have disappeared. Now that its purpose is fulfilled, it had no choice but to vanish. Currently, Miss’s body… is precarious and murky!’

As time passed, Isabel’s face grew increasingly grave.

‘If this continues, Miss will never…!’

Her hands trembled slightly.

‘In this state, how could she refuse Arad’s examination earlier?! This girl…!’

From time to time, Isabel glared at Ariana.

“…”

Despite Isabel’s rude gaze, Ariana merely avoided eye contact, seemingly having nothing to say.

“When you were pretending to be Mary, didn’t Lord Arad say anything?”

“He didn’t say anything. It seemed like my mana was depleted, so he only administered a mana potion.”

“Did he check your pulse?”

“He said he didn’t.”

” Were you conscious when Arad injected the mana potion?”

“No, I had briefly lost consciousness.”

“…?”

Ariana’s response made Isabel tilt her head in confusion.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

‘While it might be impolite to check someone’s dantian and heart without permission, not doing so even when they’re unconscious and collapsed?’

Isabel’s gaze moved to Ariana’s neck.

‘During all that, you took off the transformation necklace though?’

Right now, Ariana wasn’t wearing the transformation necklace.

Though she hadn’t thought to hide Mary’s magic sword, she had remembered to hide the necklace. Habits are truly terrifying.

Isabel’s gaze moved to the spatial case containing the necklace.

‘In the end, it comes back to that necklace?’

When Ariana was pretending to be Mary, she had been wearing the transformation necklace.

Isabel speculated that this necklace had some kind of mental or cognitive influence on Arad.

‘Even though I made it, it gives me chills. And there’s no way I can take it away now.’

Isabel sighed deeply and shook her head.

Seeing Isabel’s serious expression,

Valkyrie and Sun, along with Ariana, didn’t dare to interrupt.

“Your Majesty’s condition seems to be more than just serious, doesn’t it?”

“We must call for Arad! Hurry, go fetch Arad…!”

Valkyrie and Sun looked at their liege with sorrowful eyes.

Judging from Isabel’s reaction, it didn’t seem like an ordinary serious situation.

“Just wait until Isabel speaks.”

“Not at all! How could you refuse Arad’s examination earlier when things are this serious?!”

Their eyes revealed a mix of worry, frustration, sadness, and melancholy.

“Ugh…”

Once again, Ariana seemed to have nothing to say, merely gazing out the window as if looking at distant mountains.

“Indeed, we should have gone to help… It’s my fault, my fault.”

Sun, who usually advocated for life-and-death battles, wore a melancholic expression as if he had become a prisoner.

“No. As you said, the life-and-death battle was the answer. Thanks to that, we’ve reached a new level. Though it’s slightly unstable.”

Ariana consoled the despondent Sun.

“May we examine your core and circle too, Your Majesty?”

“Please do.”

After examining Ariana, Valkyrie and Sun exclaimed in shock.

“This is…!”

“Now I understand why Isabel became so serious.”

“Goodness! The circle… It’s already at the 6th circle!”

“And the core in the lower dantian is comparable to, or perhaps even surpasses mine.”

“Senior, does this mean…?”

“Your Highness’s body is like Eastern porcelain, fragile and prone to breaking at any moment.”

When both the heart’s circle and the lower dantian’s core reach such heights, the body cannot endure it.

In reality, Ariana’s current body was struggling immensely to handle the mana from both her heart and lower dantian.

If she stumbles even a little in this state? She would shatter like porcelain dropped to the ground.

Judging from this, Ariana’s condition before Arad’s emergency treatment must have been…

“Even fighting in the workshop in this porcelain-like body and coming all the way to the Great Wall! Your Majesty! Do you want to see me collapse from shock?!”

“P-Porcelain? It’s not that bad!”

“Isn’t it though?!”

“Not at all!”

“As long as you don’t overdo it, it should be fine… For now.”

Ariana’s attempts to defend herself fell on deaf ears.

“This time, we strongly recommend that you let Knight Arad examine you.”

“Arad…”

“I’ll just go call Arad right now!”

Following Suun, Valkyrie also spoke up.

“Why didn’t you accept Arad’s offer to treat you earlier?”

“Well… It’s just…”

Valkyrie’s reprimand left Ariana with an uncertain expression.

“Is there some issue, Your Majesty?”

Ariana pulled out the transformation necklace from the spatial case labeled “Arad’s Sincerity” after removing the case.

“Earlier when I was pretending to be Mary, Arad treated me while I was unconscious. Thanks to this necklace, my true identity remained hidden… But when I’m being myself, I have to take it off.”

Understanding Ariana’s words, Valkyrie and Sun gave looks of incomprehension.

“Is the relationship between Mary and Your Majesty important right now? The most important thing is Your Majesty’s health.”

“You’re right. Just reveal your true identity. If it’s Sir Arad, he might be surprised, but he’ll understand.”

The frustrated opinions of Valkyrie and Sun.

“No, it’s not possible.”

Despite the reactions of these loyal ministers, Ariana persisted stubbornly.

“If I reveal my true identity, I won’t be able to be around him comfortably anymore…”

At first, this double life felt stifling, annoying, and exhausting.

But as time went on, Ariana came to enjoy it.

Somewhere along the line, being Mary was more comfortable and enjoyable than being Ariana.

Every day, commuting and working together with Arad, experiencing the lives of the common people up close.

Initiating new projects, witnessing the birth of new magical tools firsthand, pulling all-nighters, and sometimes being called in for overtime even on holidays…

‘Huh?’

Anyway… This was entirely different from the occasional incognito trips she used to take.

‘More importantly…’

Of course, there was a deeper reason for Ariana’s stubbornness beyond these childish ones.

However, Ariana didn’t particularly want to voice it…

“Refusing treatment for such a trivial reason is far too childish thinking.”

That’s when it happened.

Valkyrie addressed Ariana in a firm tone.

“And the Ariana I know isn’t such a childish stubborn person.”

“Huh?”

Ariana blankly stared at her loyal old knight.

“Your body right now is so fragile that you can’t even bear children.”

“!”

“And, Your Majesty, be honest. Isn’t the real reason you’re refusing treatment because you don’t want Arad to find out you’re infertile?”

“…”

Faced with Valkyrie’s question, Ariana fell silent.

Silence equaled affirmation.

“Ah…”

Finally understanding their lord’s feelings, Valkyrie and Sun let out a deep sigh.

A brief silence followed.

“Miss, please let Arad properly examine you. He might have a way.”

The silence was broken by Isabel’s voice.

“How is my condition?”

“It’s not good. I need to study more, but I can’t solve this alone. We need Arad’s help.”

Saying this, Isabel patted Ariana’s shoulder.

“Of course, I understand your feelings, Miss.”

“Granny…”

“The reasons you’re hesitant to be examined by Arad now are two, right? You don’t want him to find out Mary’s true identity or that you’re infertile.”

Isabel continued.

“But to find a treatment, Arad needs to examine you. And resolving the infertility issue might be possible too.”

“…”

“So focus on one thing now: keeping Mary’s identity hidden. That’s all, us.”

“How?”

“I’ll summon Mary’s illusion beside you during the examination. Wearing the necklace.”

“Put the necklace on an illusion? Can it even be touched?”

“With some effort?”

“!!”

Ariana’s frozen expression brightened quickly.

“And what about reinforcing the transformation necklace this time?”

“Reinforce?”

“Thinking about it, it might have been damaged unknowingly during this battle. Let me repair it too. Might as well reinforce it while I’m at it.”

Ariana nodded and took out the necklace from the spatial case.

“But the necklace seems fine.”

“Fine after all that commotion?”

Isabel’s eyes widened as she looked at the necklace in Ariana’s hand.

It was definitely the necklace she had created. Its appearance was pristine, without a single scratch.

‘Something feels off…’

“Still, Granny, you really did make it sturdy. Your magical tool-making skills rival Arad’s.”

“…?”

Isabel tilted her head in confusion.

Flash!

At that moment, a tiny light emitted from the necklace then disappeared.

“?!”

Only Isabel, who was focused on the necklace, noticed it. It was as bright as a firefly.

“…I’m really pleased that our Miss has cherished the necklace I made.”

As Isabel tried to disassemble the necklace,

She suddenly felt a wave of insignificance and annoyance.

“Maybe reinforcing it isn’t necessary. It’s perfect as is. Meddling with it might make it worse.”

Most importantly, she had an intense confidence in the enchantment circuits she had inscribed.

“There’s no need to repair or reinforce the necklace since it’s in perfect condition.”

Other urgent matters piled up besides this necklace.

“This necklace is already perfect, Miss. There’s no need to tamper with it. You can just let Arad examine you as is.”

“?!”

This unexpected reaction from Isabel left Ariana tilting her head in confusion.

* * *

The battle at the Great Northern Wall had ended.

The result was a complete victory for Lenslet.

The white snake that had plagued the north for so long was dead.

The northern orcs, barbarian druids were almost completely annihilated.

The northern dark wizards also suffered near total destruction.

This marked the beginning of peace and a new era.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah…”

“Kkkkrrrhhhhh…”

Wherever there were makeshift altars set up in the High City, the groans of wounded soldiers echoed.

For every joyous light of victory, there must be shadows.

“Aaaaaaah! It hurts! Too much pain!”

“Hold him down!”

“Administer the anesthetic!”

These wounded were treated by Lenslet’s priests.

Originally, this would have been the witches’ job, but not anymore.

The witches-turned-magicians were busy restoring the destroyed walls and workshops and processing the invaders’ corpses into spoils of war.

“This arm can’t be saved with our current divine power. No hope. Bring the saw! Anesthetic too!”

“My arm… My arm!”

“Don’t worry too much. They’ll soon start operating the prosthetic factory at Arad Bio and Medical.”

While comforting the soldier, the healer priest prepared to amputate the rotting arm.

“Give him the injection and proceed once the medicine kicks in.”

“Understood. What dosage should we use?”

“Since he’s quite large, increase the standard dose by twenty percent.”

Without the anesthetic, cutting the arm might cause shock death. Therefore, an assistant priest administered the injection to the soldier’s other arm using the anesthetic developed by Arad Medical specifically for situations like this.

Snip Snip Snip

As they cut the arm, blood naturally flowed profusely.

Though they avoided shock death thanks to the anesthetic, bleeding to death was still a possibility. What about infection?

“Keep casting healing spells. I’ll add purification spells.”

“Understood.”

But here in Lenslet, things were different.

The priests awakened to divine power used it to stop the bleeding at the amputation site and added purification spells to prevent infection.

Now all that’s left is to attach the bionic prosthetic, and this soldier can live out his remaining years without much inconvenience.

Ding Dong Ding

The heavy, melancholic sound of bells rang from afar.

“…”

Hearing the bell tolls, the priests paused their work except in emergencies and observed a moment of silence.