Chapter 73

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Fire and Water
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A suffocating pressure, a dizzying darkness.

Worse, the water around me was saturated with the hostile magic of my enemies.

Malice, bloodlust, and the deep sea.

My head spun as I ran out of air.

—!

The water felt as if it were grabbing my limbs, dragging me down.

A shudder wracked my body as the constricting pressure forced the last of my breath out.

Through my fluttering eyelids, I saw Diello.

He must have bitten his lip; I could see blood spreading from his mouth.

In that moment, my mind snapped into focus.

An Argenta of fire, he couldn't last long in this water.

Especially not in water teeming with hostility, which coiled around him as if to snuff out his flame.

*No.*

In an instant, my thoughts became crystal clear.

This was the sea.

No matter if this water was tainted with the blood and the very source of my enemies, it would have to bow before a greater power.

Instead of fighting the water pressing against me, I embraced it.

And I unleashed my power.

—Pah!

The seawater, sensing a power far greater than that of the assassins, submitted to my will.

I felt an immense amount of magic drain from my body, but I had to hold on.

—…!

The immense pressure of the water forced an involuntary gasp from me.

—Tuk.

I felt something small snap inside my head.

To be precise, it felt like a barrier inside me had shattered. Like a dam unable to hold back the water, it crumbled, releasing a torrent of raw power throughout my body.

「……?」

As I froze at the unfamiliar sensation.

Diello, perhaps sensing the shift in the currents that had been assaulting him, turned and pulled me firmly against him.

The impact of our fall had plunged us deeper than I'd realized.

Beyond his shoulders, I could see the faint glow of the sunset I had been watching.

「…….」

Diello's hair swayed wildly in the current. His lake-like eyes were fixed on me.

His brow was slightly furrowed.

As if he were in pain.

But he quickly tightened his grip on me.

Then, holding me close as if to reassure me, he began to swim toward the surface.

* * *

*Pfft!* The moment we broke the surface, I gasped for air.

“My lord!”

“My lady!”

I thought I heard urgent voices calling out.

The Argenta men who had survived the chaos were scrambling on the deck.

They looked ready to lower a ladder, but…

—Fwoosh!

I clenched my fist beneath the waves.

The seawater beneath us instantly solidified into a flat platform.

“…Ah.”

Diello's eyes widened as he found himself standing on the platform of water.

I raised the platform higher than the ship's deck, and he leaped from it, still holding me.

—Thud.

Diello landed lightly on the deck. He then gently set me down on a blanket that had already been laid out.

“Are you all right, Croire?”

He examined me from head to toe.

I had considered the possibility of falling into the sea.

But I never imagined the Alloje assassins would use all of their blood to draw upon the power of their source.

Who would inflict such pain upon themselves to draw out power when they were already on the verge of death?

The eyes of the Alloje assassins I had met in their final moments had gleamed with malice and bloodlust.

“…Ah.”

I exhaled sharply.

“What about the Allojes?”

“They are all dead.”

If the ones who had drawn upon their source had been more conscious, we might have been in even greater danger.

But in their final moments, they lost consciousness and collapsed.

The glint of light I saw at their throats.

A dagger reflecting that same light disappeared into Rick's hand.

“…I responded too late. I apologize.”

Even for Rick, it would have been difficult to spot an Alloje brimming with the power of their source amidst that chaos.

As I shook my head.

Diello, having confirmed that I was only soaked and not injured, lifted me into his arms, blanket and all.

“Croire. You used too much power.”

Diello was right.

I had been struggling to suppress my ragged breaths for a while now.

I'd thought it was from swallowing water when I fell.

But that wasn't it.

My entire body ached, even more so than the day I saved Redius.

Back then, I had only manipulated the water at the beach. It was only natural, given that I'd just used my power in the middle of the ocean.

“You need to rest, Croire.”

He started to lead me away.

“First, we need to clean up the battlefield…”

But the battlefield was already in disarray, first from the unexpected counterattack, then from the lord and lady of the house falling overboard.

Things had to be put in order before we could leave.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“…Ah.”

He was burning up.

He had fallen into the water with me, yet instead of being cold, he was hot to the touch.

Was it because he was an Argenta, or…

I thought I felt his arm trembling more than usual.

Was it from shock? Or nerves?

What was certain was that we both needed to rest.

“Clean up the battlefield.”

Diello looked back at his men, his expression telling them not to worry about us.

I didn't know what his gaze held, but the atmosphere on deck froze over.

But I was in no condition to care.

I had expended so much power that my breath came in ragged gasps, making it impossible to think clearly.

“Just hold on a little longer, Croire.”

Diello quickened his pace.

It wasn't until the world around me darkened that I realized he had carried me into a cabin.

Sometime after, I lost consciousness.

* * *

After that, everything was a blur.

Every time I opened my eyes, I seemed to be in a different place, surrounded by different people.

‘…oire!’

I thought I heard Diello's voice, and then Pielle's.

My feverish head, hot to the touch, had long since given up trying to make sense of anything.

When I briefly regained my senses, I was aware of soft bedding against my cheek.

“Croire.”

Diello's voice was thick with relief.

He must have been very worried; I could feel it even through my daze.

“Diello.”

My voice came out as a cracked whisper, and I broke into a dry cough.

“……”

Diello's gaze shifted to the others in the room.

Only then did I realize how deathly silent it was.

The Argenta servants were always unnervingly quiet around Diello, but this was different.

It was like that time he'd beheaded the servants during an emotional outburst.

The air was just as tense, as if a blade were pressed to everyone's throat.

At his glance, the servants bowed their heads in unison and filed out of the room.

‘To think the master would fall into the water of all things.’

‘He's completely soaked. He must be uncomfortable. Besides, the Alloje's magic—’

‘Shh, be quiet.’

Words I'd overheard in my delirium came back to me.

Does Diello… hate getting wet?

The comment about the Alloje's magic surely meant that their power had tainted the water.

It was water the Alloje assassins had touched, water they had imbued with the power of their source.

And I had touched it, too…

As I thought about it, a strange question came to mind.

What about the swimming pool?

There, Diello had been completely submerged, steeped in water thick with my own magic.

“…Diello.”

I called his name again.

Diello responded with his usual gentle expression.

“Yes, Croire.”

His voice seemed to echo in the room, but I had to ask.

My voice came out as a mumble, perhaps because of the fever.

“Do you… hate falling in the water?”

He paused for a moment before answering.

“…I don't enjoy it.”

“Then why.”

Diello answered gently, as if he knew what I was trying to ask.

“Whether it's water or fire, I don't like being surrounded.”

Water, I could understand. But he was an Argenta of fire. Why fire?

My head swam, and I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again, Diello was closer, pressing a kiss to the back of my hand.

“Unless there is something better beside me. Unless the one who helps me endure is by my side.”

I hate being surrounded by fire or water.

he whispered.

His voice, which held a tinge of sorrow, trembled slightly.

“…Fire, why?”

The hand holding mine seemed to flinch.

“If it's difficult to talk about, you don't have to—”

The words tumbled out of me. Diello shook his head.

“As if there's anything I couldn't tell you, Croire.”

He moved a little closer, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“When I was young, I was often trapped in fire. Back when I had yet to awaken my abilities.”

“…Ah, that.”

The previous duke… I couldn't bring myself to finish the thought.

I remembered what he had briefly mentioned at our last meeting.

“Under the pretext that the next head of the family had to awaken his control over fire on his own.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Those people used to throw me into a pit of fire.”

Always without warning.

It was cruel. I gasped.

…I wanted to comfort him.

But my consciousness was already beginning to fade.