MTM 80

Saela, a village nestled at the southern edge of the desert, exuded a completely different atmosphere from Hipora. Outside, sand dunes glittered like gold dust, but the scenery inside the village was entirely different.

A small mountain covered with a dense forest stood at the center of the village, and the people lived by drawing drinking water from there and farming their fields. It was a very simple and peaceful village where everyone lived like neighbors.

“The villagers helped us a lot while you were asleep.”

Not long after Zed woke up, Allen and Leon came into the room. Allen gave a brief explanation of the village, then handed Zed a cup of clean water.

“You were sick for three full days.”

“Three days?”

Zed’s eyes widened in disbelief. He thought maybe a single day had passed at most, but three days had gone by.

Allen explained everything step by step to Zed, who looked lost.

When the illusionist who kidnapped Harto disappeared, the magic barrier covering the desert broke. While Harto and Zed fought, Leon worked hard to break the barrier, but he said the magic had been too complex and too powerful.

“I’d never seen magic like that before. It felt like forbidden dark magic.”

Leon murmured with a vacant look as he recalled that day.

‘Zed!’

‘They took Harto. Because of me…’

When the barrier broke, the first thing they found was Zed covered in blood. He coughed out words as painful as the blood pouring from his body, and passed out.

After that, the two of them carried Zed and walked for half a day to escape the desert. Carrying an unconscious person along a road barely survivable even for the living was almost unimaginable. It was a grueling march, but they refused to give up and eventually reached the edge of the desert.

When they arrived in Saela, they received all the emergency help the villagers could give. Even so, Zed’s bleeding wouldn’t stop and he didn’t regain consciousness. The next day he burned with a high fever, and Leon spent the whole night trying to cool him down using magic tools.

“I, I really thought Zed was going to die…”

While Allen explained everything, Leon’s eyes turned red. He usually didn’t let emotions sway him, but this time had been too much for him.

Allen reached out and roughly mussed Leon’s hair.

“This kid took care of you day and night. The fever went down very quickly, but your wound kept tearing open, so it gave him a hard time.”

Allen’s eyes told Zed to at least praise him. Zed slowly opened his mouth.

“…Thanks.”

“Ah, no. I only did what I needed to do… sniff.”

Leon tried to finish his sentence but ended up pulling out a handkerchief and covering his face because he couldn’t hold back his tears. He must’ve been really exhausted.

“While Leon was taking care of you, I asked around the village.”

Allen spoke again, his expression turning serious.

“Lately the Regnovar Empire’s knights have been acting aggressively. It looks like they’re following orders, but something about their movements feels strange. And among those rumors, I heard one that’s really strange.”

“A strange rumor?”

“They grab any blond person they see.”

“That’s true. In Hipora Village, people said a blond woman was taken.”

Leon nodded while holding the handkerchief to his face.

“That’s why I’m asking. The people who attacked you… were they the Regnovar Empire’s knights?”

“……”

Zed didn’t answer. Allen glanced at Leon and they exchanged a short look as if they already expected it.

“I heard there are mages among the knights. Was it….”

“An illusionist. He handled crows.”

“So it was them.”

Allen nodded with a grave expression, he understood everything now.

“Then Harto…”

Allen opened his mouth, but he couldn’t finish the sentence. Being taken by such merciless people gave no guarantee of survival.

“Harto is alive.”

Zed answered. It was short, but he spoke with complete certainty, as if he already knew what they were trying to say.

Yes, Harto was alive. But…

‘He’s waiting for you.’

Right before he lost consciousness, the illusionist’s last words echoed in his ears. Zed knew very well who the illusionist meant by “he.”

Magnus, the crown prince of the Regnovar Empire. The man who had hated him and wanted to kill him since the moment he was born.

Zed didn’t want to think about why Magnus took Harto. Or maybe he knew the answer too well, and that was exactly why he didn’t want to think about it.

‘He’ll want to kill me in the cruelest way possible…’

Magnus had watched Ares since childhood. Unlike Magnus, who was the legitimate son, Ares had been born a concubine’s child, but he took the emperor’s attention. Because of that, Magnus disliked him.
After he ascended to the position of crown prince, even after Ares’ mother passed away and lost all political influence, his hatred toward Ares never faded. It was no longer jealousy or rivalry. It had turned into obsession.

Maybe that was why the pursuit continued even after Ares escaped from the Regnovar Empire. Only then did he realize that as long as he lived, Magnus’ madness and obsession would never end. The reason Magnus didn’t kill him in the desert and the reason he took Harto were the same. He had simply found the cruelest punishment he could inflict.

When Zed imagined Harto in the hands of someone as merciless as Magnus, the blood in his body felt like it was turning cold. Harto’s frightened face, the one he last saw, wavered in front of his eyes.

“…I have to go save Harto.”

Zed suddenly spoke in a low voice and forced himself to sit up. Allen grabbed him in panic.

“What are you saying! You’re hurt. Where do you think you’re going.”

“To the Regnovar Empire.”

“I know that. I know. But pull yourself together first…!”

Before Leon even stepped in, the wound on Zed’s knee, which had only just begun to close, split open with a ripping sound and blood spattered. That was only the start. Blood trickled from the scratches on his face, neck, arms, and legs.

“Ahh! Bring, bring a towel!”

At Allen’s urgent cry, Leon ran over with a bundle of towels. Zed ended up lying back on the bed, receiving treatment to stop the bleeding again.

Fortunately, it slowly stopped after some time.

“Haa…”

Leon exhaled, he gathered the blood-soaked towels in his arms, and went outside the room. Now only Zed and Allen were left inside.

“What exactly happened to you in the desert?”

Allen took the chance to ask again while Leon was gone, but Zed kept his mouth shut. His eyes mirrored indescribable worry. Eventually he couldn’t seem to hold it in and started to get up. The towel placed on him after all that effort fell to the floor.

“I need to save Harto first. I don’t have time for this…”

“Zed!”

Unable to take it anymore, Allen jumped up and blocked him.

“You’re right. We need to save Harto. We’ll go too. But think rationally. You can’t go right now.”

“No, I…”

“Listen to me till the end. What are you going to do in a body that starts pouring blood the moment you move. You need to recover first. Only then can you save him or do anything at all.”

Allen tried to persuade him, he was both impatient and frustrated.

“….”

Zed sat back down, looking like Allen’s words got through at least a little. Allen realized he had gotten too worked up and sighed before dropping into his chair.

“I want you to stay here a few more days judging by your condition, but… fine. Let’s leave in two days.”

“That’s too late.”

As Zed countered, Allen felt exhaustion wash over him.

“Then… try to recover. We used an expensive potion we scraped everything to buy, and you still look like that.”

“….”

“And Harto will be fine.”

Allen said, as if he could see right into Zed’s thoughts.

“He’s a monster.”

Zed glared at him, seemingly asking what exactly he meant. Allen told him not to misunderstand and explained in a quiet voice.

“He’s the one who controls even those rare elemental powers. Even when we were practically out of our minds in the desert, he defeated a beast alone. Harto is timid, but he’s much stronger than he looks. He might’ve escaped by now. Even if he was locked up in some prison, he’d slip right through.”

Allen smiled as he imagined a slime slipping between the bars of a cell.

But Zed didn’t find it funny.

“You don’t know what kind of people took Harto.”

Allen had tried to lighten the mood at least a little, but it didn’t work on Zed.

Zed couldn’t agree with any of his words. The Harto that came to his mind was crying. He cried so hard that tears streamed down and even his pale cheeks flushed red.

Zed remembered leaving him alone in the cabin and coming back to find him crying by the river because he wanted to go together. He remembered Harto’s face as he cried in his arms after escaping the horrible event in the Feast District.

His heart ached. A burning pain stabbed deep into his chest.

“…ugh…”

Zed let out a groan of pain and Allen grabbed him, startled.

“What, what’s wrong? Stay still. Leon said he had some incense that helps with pain…”

Allen fumbled around on the shelf and pulled out a stick of incense.

“Ah, no fire. Wait.”

He took the incense and hurried out of the room. Now that Zed was finally alone, he closed his eyes, turning away from reality.

‘Zed…’

He heard Harto’s voice from when he held him tightly. Whether it was an illusion or not didn’t matter. He just wanted to hear it again.

His heart hurt. It wasn’t pain. It was guilt. The fact that Harto was taken because of him, and the fact that he saw it happen and still couldn’t do anything… He was furious with himself.

It was the first time in his life he felt such overwhelming helplessness since the days he lived as the prince of the Regnovar Empire.

“Harto…”

Zed’s consciousness slowly sank into the darkness.