An Abandoned Village in the Northern Frontier

The northern part of the empire, about thirty miles south of the border.

The terrain begins to rise here, and the faint silhouettes of snow-capped mountains can be seen in the distance. The vegetation is sparse, consisting mostly of hardy coniferous forests and low shrubs. The wind comes from the north, carrying the chill of the snow-capped mountains, sweeping across the exposed rocky ground and permafrost, producing a continuous and low whistling sound.

The village sits on a gentle slope between two groves of low trees.

What was once a village is now nothing but ruins. Most of the dozen or so stone and wood houses have collapsed, their roofs long since rotted away, leaving only charred beams that pierce the gray sky like broken ribs. The walls are collapsed, piled with rubble and rotten wood, with years of withered leaves and dust accumulating in the cracks. There are no intact doors or windows, no trace of smoke, no sign of life.

Quiet.

Only the mournful whistling of the wind as it passed through the hollows of the ruins.

Ubel and Lanto stood at the only remaining relatively intact entrance to the village—a stone archway that no longer had a door.

Ubel looked around. Today, she wasn't wearing that restrictive dress; instead, she had changed into a light green dress that allowed for easier movement, and her long hair was tied into a neat low ponytail. Her purple eyes slowly swept over the collapsed houses, the desolate courtyards, and the lifeless forest in the distance.

"There's nothing here." She tilted her head, her tone casual and indifferent. "The intelligence says Clematis used to frequent this area? What, has he been a priest for too long and now wants to build an orphanage here?"

Lanto stood a step behind her. He pushed up his glasses, his gaze calmly sweeping over the ruins behind the lenses. He wore a thick travel coat, the collar turned up to shield him from the chill.

"The Imperial Capital an orphanage, and there's plenty of space. After all, the empire is powerful, and there aren't many orphans to begin with. Building an orphanage in a place like this, near the border, with a harsh climate and sparse population, is completely unnecessary."

Ubel turned around to face him, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Hey—" she drawled, "Can't you tell I'm joking?"

Lanto glanced at her, but didn't respond to that sentence. Instead, he said something else.

"I really don't understand why I'm paired with you again this time."

Ubel's smile deepened. She took a half-step forward, tilted her head slightly, and looked directly into Lanto's eyes behind his glasses with her purple eyes.

"What," she said, a hint of provocation in her voice, "Are you afraid of me?"

Lanto did not look away.

Why would I be afraid of you?

"Really?" Ubel's smile deepened. "Back in our hometown, who was it that said those words and immediately grabbed their suitcase and ran away?"

Lanto was silent for two seconds. Then, he looked away and gazed at a half-collapsed wall next to him.

That's a strategic shift.

"Oh? Is that so? What a strategic shift!"

Ubel smiled and didn't press the matter further. She turned around, faced the ruins again, and then squatted down.

She stretched out her right hand, fingers spread, and gently pressed it onto the cold, hard ground. The surface of the soil was covered with fine sand and dried moss. She closed her eyes and pressed her palm down slightly.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes.

"There's a strange lingering magical energy in the soil... It's sticky, somewhat like the residue on Clematis." She turned to Lanto. "It seems he really was here."

Upon hearing this, Lanto walked to the spot where she had been crouching and squatted down as well. He didn't touch the ground directly with his hands, but instead held his palms about an inch above the soil, and closed his eyes. A faint, almost invisible blue electric light flashed at his fingertips and then disappeared.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, stood up, and patted non-existent dust off his hands.

"You're quite reliable." He looked at Ubel, his tone carrying a hint of serious admiration. "I considered myself quite skilled in magical perception. Judging from your usual fighting style, I thought you were more of an intuitive and adaptable mage. I didn't expect that you're even better than me in the precision and range of your magical perception."

Ubel blinked. She gave that signature, slightly mischievous smile, took a small step forward, and leaned closer.

"Want to learn? I'll teach you!"

Lanto looked at her face so close to his, and at those purple eyes that reflected his own image. He paused for a moment, then turned his face away.

"... I don't want to."

"Oh?" Ubel's smile widened. Suddenly, she raised her hands, with the same hands that had just touched the ground and were still covered in dust and grit—with lightning speed!

He pinched Lanto's cheek and rubbed it hard.

"Why wouldn't you want to?" she asked with a grin, deliberately leaving a few dusty marks on his fair cheek with her fingers.

Lanto's body stiffened for a moment, his brows furrowing noticeably, but he didn't look away. Behind his glasses, his eyes were filled with helplessness and a sense of accusation, "Why is it like this again?"

"... I just don't want to." His voice was muffled because his cheek was being pinched, but his tone was firm. "Also, don't rub my face with your hands that just touched the ground."

"I'm going to take advantage of this."

Ubel smiled and rubbed against him a couple more times before finally letting go, satisfied. Looking at the obvious gray marks on Lanto's face and his slightly disheveled expression as he tried to maintain a serious demeanor, she seemed even happier.

Lanto raised his hand and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, but the ash wasn't so easy to remove. He sighed, as if resigned to his fate.

Just then--

Ah... how wonderful!

A voice, without warning, came from the densest shadow of the ruins behind them.

It was a woman's voice. The tone was high, with a trembling, almost frenzied excitement, each word seeming to be squeezed out from a constricted throat, echoing sharply in the silent ruins.

Mutual understanding! A meeting of minds! This is precisely "love"!

Ubel and Lanto turned around at the same time.

The shadows of the ruins flickered.

A figure slowly emerged from behind the broken wall.

It was a thin person, his entire body wrapped in old bandages. The bandages started from the top of his head, tightly wrapped, covering most of his face, leaving only a left eye and chapped lips exposed. His left eye was a deep purple, the pupil small, churning with a wild light. On the parts of his face not completely covered by bandages, severe burn scars were visible, distorting the original texture of his skin.

She wore a large, tattered black robe that almost dragged on the ground, its edges frayed and torn. Thin hands emerged from the robe's sleeves, also wrapped in bandages, but with unusually long fingers. Each finger was bound with a twisted, rusty gold chain, the other end of which dangled to the ground, making a faint, unsettling scraping sound as she moved across the gravel.

She stood on the edge of the shadows of the ruins, her bare purple left eye fixed on Ubel and Lanto. Her gaze moved back and forth between the two, finally settling on the few smudges of ash on Lanto's face and the smiling lips of Ubel.

"Thank you! Thank you for letting me see this beauty! Thank you! Thank you so much!" She clasped her hands tightly together in front of her chest, the chains rattling with the force, her body trembling slightly with emotion. "I am Sirius Romani-Conti, the Sin Archbishop the Witch Cult, the master of 'Wrath'! Love! Love! Love! This is love! It is love!!"

Lanto frowned slightly. He adjusted his glasses, his gaze calmly sweeping over the other man's bandaged body, unnatural posture, and those fanatical eyes.

"... You don't look very well, Miss Bandaged."

Ubel's smile remained unchanged. She even tilted her head slightly, as if examining an interesting object.

"Really?" Her voice was light and cheerful. "This is love? Then thank you for your blessing. Glasses Guy, did you hear that? This is love~"

Lanto: "..."

Sirius's purple left eye suddenly widened. The pupil contracted violently, and a chaotic burst of light exploded from within.

"Thank you for acknowledging my 'love'! Thank you! Thank you so much!..."

She spoke at an astonishing speed, each "thank you" like a heavy hammer blow to the silent air. But then, her words abruptly stopped.

She maintained the position of clasped hands in front of her chest, but her body began to tremble slightly, spasmodically. Her bandaged head twisted strangely from side to side, and the chains rattled loudly.

"Ah... ah... no..."

She spoke in a low voice, which suddenly became hoarse.

"No... no... no, no, no!"

The last "no" suddenly rose in pitch, so sharp it almost cracked. Her clasped hands abruptly released, her fingers forming claws as she frantically clawed at the air, the chains whipping and lashing the air with a series of cracking sounds.

"You're all too bland! Too perfunctory! Too calm!!"

She roared, her left eye filled with a furious rage of insult and desecration.

"This is 'impure' love! It hasn't stood the test of time! They shouldn't love each other like this!!"

Lanto paused for a moment. He glanced at Ubel, who was still smiling beside him, and then looked at the bandaged man whose emotions were fluctuating wildly.

"... Which eye of yours saw us 'in love'?"

Ubel chuckled softly, his gaze falling on Sirius's head and neck, which were wrapped in bandages.

"It seems her mental state is probably worse than her physical condition."

This sentence was like a key, suddenly unlocking a frenzied gate within Sirius.

Her body, wrapped in bandages, shuddered violently, then tilted her head back in a contorted, dance-like motion. A strange, hissing sound, like air leaking, came from her bandaged throat.

"Test! Test! Love that hasn't been tested is impure! It's not allowed!"

She began to scream in that sharp, singing tone, every word imbued with fanaticism and pain.

"Love! Love! Love! Because we've met eyes countless times every day! I was always on edge, and even taking his things wasn't a problem! He allowed me to suck his leftovers and breathe his breath without saying a word! He didn't show any reluctance when we used the same bedding, and he even praised me for cleverly burning the half-demon! He gave me a name! He smiled at me! At me, at me, only at me!!"

She took a large step forward, the chains snapping taut with a clang. Her purple left eye nearly bulged out of its socket, locking onto Lanto, then abruptly turning to Ubel, its contents churning with a suffocating, twisted possessiveness and jealousy.

"This is... love!!"