Chapter 113: Dark Forbidden Magic (Part 1)
The door shut with a loud bang.
I heard the click of the lock turning, and I couldn’t help but hold my breath.
“W-Where… are we?”
The place Aymok had brought me to was a cramped room, more than half of it occupied by a simple pipe-frame bed.
At the back, I could see a bathroom. It seemed designed for someone to stay here overnight.
“It’s a break room. Usually used for nursing drunk customers back to health… though I hear it gets used for other purposes more often.”
The room, illuminated by indirect lighting, was dimly stained with a purplish hue, giving off an unmistakably shady atmosphere. The box of tissues sitting by the bedside somehow made things feel even more explicit.
“…So then, what is it you wanted to ask me?”
Completely unconcerned by the atmosphere, Aymok dropped himself onto the bed, lounging against the wall as he asked the question in his usual, composed tone.
“I-I… um…”
But I couldn’t get the words out. The unfamiliar mood of this place was overwhelming me.
“What’s wrong? …You’re the one who asked for somewhere without interruptions.”
That was true. I’d asked him to move.
Inside the shop, staff occasionally passed by, making it impossible to talk about sensitive matters like this.
Even if we used telepathy, we’d have to sit there silently the whole time, which would only draw unwanted attention. It wasn’t practical.
“But… I mean… the lock…”
That said, being locked in a closed room like this with him—especially a room clearly intended for… that—made it impossible not to feel like I was in danger.
But Aymok just looked at me, surprised.
“I merely ensured we wouldn’t be interrupted. In any case, for someone like you who can use magic, such a door is hardly an obstacle.”
“…Y-Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
He had a point. Maybe because I’d come here steeling myself to do whatever it took, I’d let strange assumptions get into my head.
“If you understand that, then sit down already. I dislike being looked down upon.”
“R-Right…”
I sat down as far from Aymok as I could, settling at the very edge of the bed.
After straightening the hem of my uniform skirt, I placed a hand over my chest, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down.
“Ha… right now, you’re like a maiden visiting a brothel for the first time.”
“Wha!?”
Does Aymok actually have experience with that?!
Priests are cheating.
“Come to think of it… you were a man once, weren’t you? No experience as a woman then… so, what is it? Curious about men? If so, I wouldn’t be entirely unwilling.”
“D-Don’t be ridiculous! Who would ever want that?!”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I snapped back instinctively, but Aymok’s expression didn’t shift in the slightest. He looked as composed as ever.
“In that case, get to the point. You’re the one who said you had something to discuss.”
Snapping like that had helped ease my nerves a little.
Remembering why I’d come here, I turned back to face him.
“It’s about Alicia—the one sharing my body.”
Once I started, the awkwardness and tension faded.
I began explaining everything to Aymok.
How Alicia and I ended up sharing a soul.
How her soul was gradually fading.
And how I was searching for a way to manipulate souls to save her.
“I want to save her. Alicia said there’s no such thing as soul-related magic… but I figured someone like you, who knows about dark magic, might know something.”
“Soul manipulation… it does fall within the realm of dark magic, that’s true.”
“Really?!”
“There’s a spell that creates pseudo-hands from magic to touch a soul… though it won’t get you the results you want.”
“…Why not?”
“You can use magic to touch a human soul, even extract it from the body. But once a soul leaves its vessel, it can’t maintain its form. It disperses instantly, like mist.”
“So if I could just find a way to—”
“Impossible. The method of extracting a soul and transferring it to another body… it’s been researched countless times. No one has ever succeeded.”
After saying that much, Aymok looked at me—and then corrected himself, as if remembering something.
“No… I suppose there is one exception sitting right in front of me. You used your soul’s identity to transfer yourself during a world jump, didn’t you? Honestly… the fact that you thought up something that reckless is baffling.”
“Was what Alicia did really that reckless…?”
When I asked, Aymok let out a sigh, his expression visibly exasperated.
“Calling it reckless doesn’t even begin to cover it. Even if it’s theoretically possible, there’s every chance the souls could have fused into some warped mess, or both could’ve been shattered, leaving you a drooling husk. Frankly, the fact it worked is nothing short of a miracle.”
…Alicia had risked something that dangerous… just to save me.
“…So basically, there’s still a chance an undiscovered method might exist, right?”
“I won’t deny the possibility. But say you do find the magic—how exactly do you intend to test it?”
“Well, I’ll… actually try it out and… ah…”
I trailed off.
What was I thinking? I couldn’t exactly perform human experiments.
“Long ago… a certain king, obsessed with immortality, conspired with mages to perform experiments on his own people. Countless lives were lost in the process, and that nation was wiped from history.”
That incident, Aymok explained, was why the followers of Daklihpos ended up persecuted and driven from human lands.
Apparently, the desire for eternal life was universal among rulers, no matter the world.
And in a world where supernatural power like magic exists, the temptation to chase that possibility must be even harder to resist.
“Our ancestors, who fled to the Demon Isle after their numbers dwindled, forbade soul manipulation magic entirely—to prevent such tragedies from happening again.”
“…I see…”
“I imagine even Alicia, as the priestess of Minstia, knows this. Yet she chose not to tell you. Deliberately, no doubt.”
Soul magic, once buried as a forbidden art.
Alicia, as a priestess, must have known about the existence of dark magic that no longer remained in the world.
And judging by Aymok’s tone… he wasn’t lying.
“…Even so… I can’t just give up. I want that magic.”
“I see…”
…I couldn’t give up now.
Not when this was the first lead I’d found to save Alicia.
“In that case… I suppose I could teach you that magic.”
“…What?! You know it?!”
“Of course I do. I am a priest of darkness. I’ve learned even the forbidden spells.”
“Please… no, I’m begging you. Teach me! I’ll do anything you ask, anything I can do!”
“…Anything, you say?”
“Yeah… if it means saving Alicia, I’m willing to give you everything I have.”
I looked him straight in the eye as I said it.
Aymok glanced over my body, completely unbothered, before opening his mouth.
“…No need. I’ve no particular interest in bedding underdeveloped girls like you.”
“!? B-But you said before… that you wanted to make me your queen…!”
“I only desired the Priestess of Water as the king’s consort. I no longer hold the slightest interest in that. It’s not as if I’m lacking for women, after all.”
“I-I see…”
Having braced myself, I felt oddly deflated.
I should’ve been relieved—but for some reason, an uneasy feeling lingered in my chest.
“If you’re truly desperate to be taken by me, though… I could be persuaded to reconsider.”
“W-Who the hell would say that?!”
“Well… for today, I’ll put it on your tab. I’m sure there’ll come a time, living in this country, when I’ll need something from you.”
“F-Fine…”
I didn’t like the idea of owing him a favor, but… there was no way around it.
Either way… this was a step forward.
It felt like I was only one step away from being able to save Alicia.
Even if that last step was a distance no one chasing immortality had ever been able to cross.
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