Chapter 488: Change (2)
Money. In this world, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished with money.
Some say that money cannot buy happiness.
Nonsense. While money may not be able to buy happiness directly, it can certainly buy all the conditions necessary for happiness.
Jeliel firmly believed in that conviction.
She was happy.
If asked whether she was happy because of money, she would answer half yes and half no.
It wasn’t entirely because of money, but it was thanks to money that she was able to meet someone who made her happy.
And so, she no longer loved money. Instead, she freely donated her wealth to the world.
To prove to herself that her happiness did not come from money—and, in doing so, to atone for her past.
"Miss, as per your orders, we have hired a thousand magic warrior mercenaries."
"It wasn’t an order. It was a request. I’m not a dictator, you know."
When Jeliel spoke with a slightly dissatisfied expression, the magic warrior awkwardly smiled and nodded.
In truth, no one found the current Jeliel particularly intimidating.
The Jeliel of last year, however, had been thousands of times more terrifying.
With a smile devoid of emotion, she would cast people aside without even explaining what had displeased her. Back then, she truly seemed like a madwoman.
But now, Jeliel was much better at expressing her emotions. She no longer lashed out indiscriminately or dismissed people without cause.
If something displeased her, she would first lecture, then negotiate.
Sometimes those negotiations would escalate into arguments... but no one could deny that the current Jeliel was far more lovable—and far better—than the Jeliel of last year.
Now, she truly looked like a wealthy and noble young lady of her age.
"Miss Jeliel. We dispatched agents to the areas where dark mages were recently sighted, but we have yet to receive any reports."
"As expected. If the dark mages were hiding somewhere so easy to find, they wouldn’t even be worth searching for."
"I’m sorry we couldn’t provide more useful information in such urgent circumstances."
"It’s fine. I think I can handle this myself."
Jeliel had a lot of money.
And she also had an extensive network of connections.
When those two were combined, there was hardly anything she couldn’t accomplish.
She returned to her office, picked up the receiver, and called the student affairs office of Stella Academy.
The staff member who answered was startled the moment she identified herself.
— What brings you to call us so suddenly...?
"It’s nothing serious. Could you put me through to the student, Anella?"
Anella was an Class S human mage who had enrolled in Stella Academy earlier this year.
She was one of the most well-known first-year mages, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jeliel had practically raised her.
From magical education to handling all of Anella’s needs, Jeliel had taken care of everything.
As expected, it didn’t take long before a flustered and breathless Anella answered the call.
To Anella, Jeliel was more than just a benefactor. She was also one of her few friends.
— Miss Jeliel! It’s been so long!
"Yes, it has. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch."
— Huh? Uh...?
Anella sounded confused at Jeliel’s unusually gentle tone.
Was she always this kind?
— Ahem! Anyway, what’s up? It sounds like something urgent.
Jeliel let out a bitter smile.
Since she rarely made personal calls, everyone automatically assumed there was always a specific reason whenever she contacted them.
And unfortunately, they were almost always right.
"That’s true. Actually... Some people I care about have been kidnapped by dark mages. I need your help. Of course, I wouldn’t ask you to help for free. I’ll make sure to compensate you—"
— I don’t need anything like that.
"...!"
Before Jeliel could finish, Anella cut her off with a cold tone, leaving Jeliel momentarily stunned.
"What do you mean you don’t need anything...?"
Was she refusing to help?
If so, Jeliel thought she might feel a little heartbroken.
But just as that thought crossed her mind, Anella continued speaking.
— After everything you’ve done for me, how could I possibly take a reward for something like this? Just tell me the location. My abilities might come in handy since I’ve encountered several dark mages during my missions.
"..."
Jeliel felt a strange sensation at those words.
It was true that she had done a lot for Anella, but this was the first time someone had offered to help her without expecting anything in return.
"The location is the Waning Moon Plains..."
Jeliel gave a rough explanation of the area where the kidnapping and the recent attacks had occurred.
Anella jotted everything down in her notebook and, within minutes, responded.
— I narrowed it down. There aren’t many groups capable of launching attacks while hiding their dark magic so effectively. Most of them are backed by the cult.
"The cult?"
— The Dark Mage Cult.
"..."
Jeliel had heard about them before, but she had never imagined she’d become involved with them.
So she hadn’t paid much attention until now.
— There are three locations. As of last year, each was led by a risk level 7 dark mage and had over 100 members. You’ll need to be careful.
Anella’s information was unexpectedly detailed, even down to their troop strength.
Of course, the groups might have reinforced their forces for this operation, but that didn’t matter.
Jeliel was planning to mobilize an army ten times their size.
"Thanks. It’s not much, but should I at least send you some spending money?"
— I said I don’t need it!
"Then... How have you been lately? It’s already summer. Don’t you need summer uniforms? And you’re not still using those cheap school-issued supplies during training, are you?"
—The school-issued staff here is better than most standard staffs, though...
"Wait. You’re seriously using those?"
— Uh... For now, yeah...
"Got it. I’m hanging up."
Click!
Jeliel hung up the receiver, quickly scribbled something onto a notepad, and handed it to one of her subordinates.
"Send these items to Anella at Stella Academy. Make sure any returns are strictly refused."
"Huh? Oh! Yes, ma’am! Understood!"
Jeliel then turned to her agents and asked.
"Are the preparations for deployment complete?"
"Yes."
"We’ve identified three suspicious dark mage groups."
"Three groups, huh..."
"Let’s hit all three at once."
"W-what?!"
Jeliel remained dead serious despite her subordinates’ shock.
It would be a disaster if they attacked one location, only for the others to catch wind of it and escape.
"But... What if all three turn out to be false leads?"
"That’s fine. Dark mages communicate with one another, so as long as we capture even one or two of them alive, extracting information won’t be difficult."
She then flashed a smile. One so bright yet chilling that it sent shivers down their spines.
Her voice was as cheerful as ever, but the undertone carried an unmistakable menace.
"Now you understand, don’t you? Not a single one of them can be allowed to escape. They’ll all kneel before me."
Overwhelmed by the sheer force of her presence, the agents instinctively snapped to attention and responded.
"Y-yes, ma’am! Understood!"
It was impossible to fathom how a girl barely in her teens could exude such commanding authority.
***
Meanwhile, as Jeliel swept through the dark mages in the southern Waning Moon Plains like a force of nature, leaving chaos in her wake, Flame and the girls had just boarded the train back to Stella Academy after completing their final mission.
Hong Bi-Yeon was already unconscious, her cheeks flushed bright red, and she was breathing heavily.
Meanwhile, Eisel, despite being utterly exhausted, stubbornly kept her eyes fixed on a book, dark circles shadowing her eyes as she muttered, "I need to study more since I earned so many practical training points!"
Flame, on the other hand, didn’t really have anything particular to do. But every time she tried to take her eyes off Hong Bi-Yeon, an unbearable sense of anxiety crept over her. As if the girl might actually die the moment she looked away.
Even in such a state, Hong Bi-Yeon kept waving her hand dismissively, insisting she wasn’t going to die. It was frustrating to watch.
"Hey... Are you okay?"
Hong Bi-Yeon, with her eyes still closed, gave a weak nod.
She claimed to be fine, but she didn’t look fine at all.
’Is she really okay... or not?’
Dragging that frail body around all summer break was an achievement in itself. She never used her illness as an excuse and managed to carry out her role all the way to the final mission.
Of course, her firepower had been far weaker than usual, which forced Eisel and Flame to work even harder to make up for it...
"Haaa..."
"Ugh...!"
While Flame was staring at Hong Bi-Yeon’s face, lost in thought, a sudden wave of hot breath escaped from Hong Bi-Yeon’s lips.
It wasn’t just warm. It was blisteringly hot.
So hot that Flame couldn’t believe it came from a human body.
"What... Wh-what is this...?!"
She had never seen anything like it before.
Was this what happened to someone cursed by flames? With breath that hot, wouldn’t her internal organs just melt away?
A flood of terrifying thoughts raced through Flame’s mind, making her chest tighten with fear.
’Is... is she dying? Is she really going to die? No, this can’t be happening!’
How could someone be so clueless about their own condition and push themselves this hard?!
Flame had reluctantly allowed Hong Bi-Yeon to accompany them, mostly out of respect for her pride. But still, shouldn’t she at least know how to take care of her own body?
However, there was one thing Flame didn’t know.
The hot breath escaping from Hong Bi-Yeon’s lips was actually a sign that her body temperature was stabilizing.
Before Hong Bi-Yeon set out on her mission, Baek Yu-Seol had requested a special spell from Blue Winter Moon. A spell designed to activate when her body heat reached a dangerous level, lowering it just slightly.
Because of this, Baek Yuseol himself had to endure the discomfort of feeling like his limbs were frozen most of the time. But since it was summer, it wasn’t a big deal.
’Haa... I think I’ll be okay.’
Feeling a bit more at ease after the final spell activated, Hong Bi-Yeon lost consciousness.
But Flame was completely unaware of what had just happened and panicked. She grabbed Hong Bi-Yeon and dragged her off the train, rushing straight into the Magic Tower nearby.
It took her just 10 seconds to identify herself as a Stella Academy student, 29 seconds to declare that the great princess of the Adolevit Kingdom was critically ill, and 2 minutes and 18 seconds to receive a communication device linked to Stella.
In less than 3 minutes after entering the tower, Flame managed to contact Stella Academy and began desperately searching for Baek Yu-Seol.
"T-this is bad! Hong Bi-Yeon is dying! She’s breathing out heat—like fire! Actual flames!"
"Yes! It’s really serious! Her breath was so hot you could fry an egg with it!"
"Hey! Eggs? Are you serious right now?!"
"...Uh... pork belly, then?"
While the two girls were busy having their ridiculous conversation, Baek Yuseol, who had received the message, was utterly dumbfounded.
— So this is why it took so long...
His voice sounded exasperated as he responded.
— The hot breath and her falling asleep? That’s part of the measures I prepared. Stop freaking out and stay put. I’ll be there soon.
"R-really?!"
— Do you really think I’d lie about someone being critically ill? And Flame, you can even use holy magic. How do you not know something like this?
"Ah... uh..."
— You said you’re in the Waning Moon Plains, right? Just wait there. I’m coming. Bye.
Click!
Baek Yu-Seol abruptly ended the call after delivering his message.
Feeling somewhat relieved, Eisel leaned back in her chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Seriously... nothing about this has been easy until the very end."
The past month of summer break had flown by in such a blur that she could barely even remember what had happened.
It seemed Flame felt the same way, as she slumped down beside Eisel and leaned against her.
"Still, it was a fulfilling month."
After countless battles and intense training sessions, they had grown stronger—strong enough to feel somewhat satisfied with their progress.
With that thought, Flame closed her eyes for a moment.
Summer break was almost over, but just for now... Even if only for a little while... She wanted to rest.