Episode 4
Even the Duke of Concl and the mages who had visited the Concl territory countless times hadn't noticed what was happening.
The divine beast Red Tide that clung to Diarin's soul needed an enormous amount of magic power.
If there had been refined mana stones stacked in front of Diarin, she might've rushed at them and devoured them raw.
But there was nothing like that.
Nowhere to draw power from.
Her soul, helpless in the vast emptiness, aimlessly wandered in search of powerful magic.
That was how it ended up beneath the Gate Stone.
It was almost natural that her shattered soul, fallen into a hell-like place, ended up devouring the magical creatures in front of it.
One.
Two.
A hundred.
A thousand…
As the number of magical beasts she tore apart and ate alive passed ten thousand, Diarin's soul began taking on a strange form.
Her soul grew hardened skin like scale armor. Her elongated limbs, now monstrous, were uneven. Red wings on her back splashed blood whenever they flapped. Her nails and claws looked like those of a beast.
She looked like a chimera sewn together from countless magical creatures.
It was a terrifying appearance, but it didn't matter. Diarin couldn't see herself anyway.
She was just a monster craving prey, and the path she walked was stained with rivers of magical beast blood.
Even so, Diarin couldn't stop. Her hunger never faded.
Sometimes, while fighting strong magical beasts, her limbs would be torn off. Blood would endlessly flow from her eyes, and her ears rang like she was underwater.
Did any of Diarin's sanity remain then? Could you even call her human at that point?
A monster. Just… a monster.
"..."
Anyway, she barely remembered what happened after that.
She only recalled the first few days underground at the Gate Stone.
What mattered was the result Diarin had achieved.
She had finally engraved the long-lost divine beast, Red Tide, within her.
That meant Diarin had become the summoner of Red Tide.
Of course, not even the Duke of Concl or the mages who examined her every day knew this.
That's why…
There was only one thing Diarin was curious about.
Ezet…
Her fiancé, and the prince who had survived two years in the underground Gate Stone.
Did we meet down there? Or not?
Hoping deeply that they hadn't, Diarin closed her eyes.
Today had been a truly exhausting day.
"…Arin… Di…"
A voice drifted into her sleeping ears. Diarin groaned, frowning.
Her heavy black dress from the day before had worn her out, so she was still very tired. Even as her mind slowly cleared, she was confused.
Why are they waking me up so early?
The Duke of Concl had been delighted when she said she'd arranged a reunion with Ezet.
So for at least three days—
Even the servants of Concl Mansion were supposed to act politely toward her.
Even the rude maid who always ripped the blankets off her in the morning would have to hold back for now.
Naturally, there shouldn't be any early wake-up calls like this…
"Diarin!"
The sudden shout made Diarin open her eyes wide.
It was the middle of the night.
The moonlight streamed in through curtains the maid had forgotten to shut tightly.
Then she realized—it wasn't a maid. It was her familiar, no, her divine beast that had woken her up.
More precisely, Ol.
The right wing of Red Tide. Diarin groaned, burying her face into her pillow.
"What is it, Ol? I'm tired…"
"This isn't the time to sleep. Please, pull yourself together. Okay?"
A red feather glowing with magic floated over and poked her cheek. Still buried in her pillow, Dia-rin lazily waved her hand.
Instead of catching the feather, her body flipped over completely.
Her nightgown skirt fluttered down a beat late.
"What's… going on—oh."
Sleep vanished in a blink. Her eyes sharpened at once.
She cautiously sat up, never taking her gaze off the direction Ol's feather pointed.
Near the bedpost, a semi-transparent butterfly was holding its breath. It was the size of a stray cat, and glowed with dazzling rainbow light. Around it rose a cloud of black mist.
As its wings gently fluttered, sparkly powder floated down.
Beautiful—but dangerous.
No wonder the sleep felt so sweet.
Diarin pulled her sleeve up to cover her nose and mouth.
"It must've followed us from the Imperial Palace."
"That dangerous thing?"
What's going on with the palace's security?
"They say the one who died was the crown prince, right? I guess many people's anger turned into that."
"It was noisy. People blaming the Swan Summoner and all that…"
Without taking her eyes off the monster, Diarin slowly rose.
Just before she rolled to the side, the beast lunged with a tearing sound through the air, baring dozens of teeth.
Its teeth were as strong as steel—enough to crush human flesh like pudding.
But steel could still be shattered by a diamond.
Crunch!
With a shattering sound, the creature's teeth broke into pieces.
It hadn't bitten Diarin's neck, but a solid lump of magic power. The monster instantly vanished without a trace.
Her bedroom returned to silence, as if nothing had happened.
A little noise wasn't a problem anyway. Diarin's room was in one of the most remote annexes of the Concl Mansion.
So even if it got a bit loud—
It's fine.
Diarin rushed to the dressing table.
She grabbed a handkerchief, bundled it thickly, and held it to her mouth. With a short groan, she coughed hard.
After a few more coughs, she lowered the cloth. Bright red blood had soaked into the once-clean fabric.
"Hoo…"
She calmly rolled up the handkerchief and stepped outside toward the bathroom.
Noble households used magic plumbing. When she turned the faucet, warm water flowed. She washed the blood from the handkerchief in lukewarm water.
She returned to the bedroom quietly, carefully avoiding attention. Luckily, there were no maids standing guard.
Diarin sank back into her bed.
Isn't this a bit much to deal with in the middle of the night?
After catching her breath, she glanced at her wrist.
Summoners of divine beasts always bore their beasts' marks on their bodies.
In her case, the mark was on the back of her hand.
A red symbol, representing Red Tide, glowed there.
The very same legendary mark. The one the Duke of Concl was desperately searching for—it belonged to Diarin.
Red Tide—Ol—asked her,
"Why are you looking at us like that?"
"Wouldn't you be worried?"
Ol hesitated.
"Is it because of us? Because you coughed blood? Are you in pain? Is it hard to handle our power?"
"I told you, I'm not in pain. I don't feel anything."
She wasn't trying to comfort him. She really didn't feel anything.
Normally, coughing blood meant a mage had overused magic and harmed their body.
But Diarin was under a powerful pain-blocking spell.
"Hey. Aren't you going to remove that spell?"
A deeper voice chimed in. Diarin answered,
"I told you, no. Lor."
Lor—the left wing of Red Tide. Always calling her "hey," "human," or "demon." A cranky familiar.
"I don't know where you learned such advanced magic, but this isn't good. Just avoiding pain… is a bad way."
He sounded more mature than Ol, but still lacked proper vocabulary. Like a smart, cold, cynical kid.
"I was a mage, remember? I can handle it."
The spell she used was a high-level pain blocker. It didn't react to normal injuries, but erased pain from magical causes almost completely.
"And I need this to handle you two."
Both Ol and Lor cleared their throats at her casual tone.
Ahem.
With great power comes great responsibility.
"Yeah, yeah."
Diarin replied like she was soothing a child. Lor fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
"Anyway, human. You approached that kid to deal with this situation, right?"
"If you mean Ezet? The Eighth Prince?"
"Yeah."
"He's not a kid. He's a prince. And I didn't 'approach' him. I made a proposal."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No, it's not."
"…Humans are so hard to understand."
Then Ol cut in with a curious tone.
"He's your fiancé, and you're seeing him again after two years. How do you feel?"
"…I don't know. I was kind of worried, to be honest."
Diarin and Ezet.
They had both returned alive from the underground of the Gate Stone, though under different circumstances.
Of course, back then Diarin hadn't been in human form. She had become a magical beast herself.
And there was one more troubling issue.
Why can't I clearly remember what happened underground?
Not only Dia-rin, but even Ol and Lor couldn't recall much from the two years they spent wandering in the underground.
That made it really—no, extremely—frustrating.
Especially since Ezet had also spent that time trapped in the same place.
But if they had met down there…
Well, if they had, Ezet wouldn't have come back alive and whole like that.
Back then, Diarin had been a demon consumed by hunger. If they had met, she would've ripped him apart and eaten him.
It sounded gross, but it was the truth.
"By the way, Master."
Ol spoke again.
"When I saw that prince earlier, he didn't seem that cold to you. Maybe he has some feelings for you? Going to the North Gate territory might not be as bad as you think…"