Chapter 49: Kalia is a Carried Lazyhound, Her Score is 3.0

As Fram dropped that massive bombshell, the intelligence that followed was hardly worth paying attention to.

If Fram hadn’t repeatedly insisted that the eccentric Blood Demon Arch-Duke could never leave her current residence to come to the royal capital, and that the Brotherhood of Chaos prelate was a coward who feared the strong and bullied the weak and thus would never dare set foot in the capital either, Roland would have just wanted to log out right then and there.

However, just because those two masterminds weren't coming in person didn't mean their methods couldn't take effect.

Clearly, the means of a Ninth-Circle Mage were not something a small fry like him, who was barely at the half-step Fourth-Circle stage, could fully comprehend.

After all, even upon reaching the Fourth Circle, one merely played a few mental games before the situation was solved by a single landmine.

The current situation still had not improved in the slightest.

Yet, what concerned Roland the most was still Fram's "cause of death."

Just how on earth did a powerhouse like this die?

Had he not been involved, how would the events have unfolded?

Why did that bunch of cultists from the Brotherhood of Chaos persistently target Kalia to death?

If he were excluded from the story entirely and the events were allowed to unfold freely in Riskan, Kalia would never have made it to the royal capital at this moment.

Although Riskan had not yet fallen, the divine plague set to erupt a few days later on December 12th would destroy everything.

By then, the Imperial Military would undoubtedly dispatch a large force to suppress the disaster, and the royal capital's defenses would inevitably be left hollow...

Iluvia!

Roland suddenly realized the consequence of the military dispatching a massive force.

Iluvia's greatest backing would lose the majority of its strength at that very moment.

Unless she was willing to sit idly by and watch the divine plague spread across the entire empire!

Yet, how much help could the military provide her once it was stripped of its core strength? Could she still evade assassination?

Would Kalia, who had unwittingly become an accomplice and was now wanted, still receive Fram's forgiveness?

Without him, could she evade the illusion control of the Brotherhood of Chaos? Could Fram discover Kalia's anomaly in time?

In that very instant, Roland suddenly understood why he had also ended up on the assassination target list of the other party.

If he were the mastermind behind this series of plans, he would indeed feel compelled to resort to murder.

Only...

Following this line of reasoning, even if Fram had failed to notice the signs of Kalia being controlled and had genuinely been stabbed once, according to Fram's own words, nothing serious would have happened to her anyway.

She definitely possessed plenty of emergency healing protocols.

Even though a mage's physique was as fragile as a sheet of paper compared to a warrior of the same tier, she couldn't be killed by a single knife wound.

Yet, working backward from Kalia's redemption quest, it was practically certain that the one who killed Fram was Kalia herself.

Rather than a scenario where Kalia heavily injured Fram, claimed the credit for dealing the critical damage, and ultimately received a 3.0 rating for being carried through the fight.

Could there still be some undiscovered trump card left on Kalia by someone else?

Otherwise, how on earth did she manage to personally cut down her own mentor?

Although this question sounded somewhat grim, Roland couldn't help but become genuinely curious.

Noticing Roland's gaze suddenly staring at her with a complex and curious expression, Kalia nervously lowered her head.

Her unplaceable fingers subconsciously began to twist the strands of hair falling beside her cheek.

"Roland, w-why are you looking at me like that?"

Kalia didn't dare meet Roland's gaze, her face beginning to flush.

Watching from the side, Iluvia felt a surge of irritation.

If not for the consideration that Fram was still watching the spectacle nearby, she would have pouted right then and there to express her dissatisfaction.

"I was just wondering... did those illusionists really leave nothing behind on you?"

"Just as Lady Fram said, merely controlling you to launch a sneak attack on Lady Fram at a crucial moment wouldn't have caused any irreparable injuries."

"Anti-magic stone daggers are useful against mages below the Seventh Circle, but to a powerhouse capable of freely drawing upon primeval magic, they are nothing more than ordinary stone blades."

Roland stood up as he spoke: "The risk and reward involved simply don't balance out."

Roland's words served as a reminder to Fram, who had previously thought there was nothing to worry about.

She walked straight up to Kalia, placed both hands on Kalia's head, and ruffled her hair fiercely, quickly turning Kalia's originally neatly groomed hairstyle into a bird's nest.

Kalia: ＞_＜

Fram: = w =

"Aahahaha, what on earth are you doing!!??"

"Just checking to see if there's any problem~~~ Don't worry, kid Roland, I've checked; there really isn't anything wrong inside her body."

"Is that so... Lady Fram, how about letting me use that technique?"

Iluvia looked thoroughly confused: "Which technique?"

"Isn't it just flashing into someone's face, casting a flash spell, and then hacking away wildly?"

"Ahem, people grow, you know." Roland coughed. Although that was indeed his go-to tactic and proved exceptionally useful, his skill bar was no longer what it used to be!

"Oh? That technique? Are you sure you want to use that technique!?"

Fram's expression turned serious as well; clearly, the impression Roland had left on her that day aboard the magitech train was profound.

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh! Is it that technique?" Kalia grew excited too.

The method Roland had used that night to release her from Fram's binding spell still remained fresh in her memory.

Iluvia: "???"

What on earth are you all talking about? Can you please speak in a language I can understand?

This feeling was rather like being ostracized and left out of the loop.

Roland nodded and reached his hand out toward Kalia.

At that moment, Fram called out to stop him: "Are you sure you want to use it?"

As she spoke, she glanced sideways at Iluvia.

The meaning was quite clear; Fram was reminding Roland to decide whether he really wanted to expose a trump-card-level skill like this in front of Iluvia.

Roland smiled: "Lady Fram, you might not realize it."

"Although Iluvia and I can't be said to have an extremely close relationship, we've at least experienced life and death together through the trials."

"If you can't even trust a companion who has shared life and death with you, then living life is a bit too much of a failure, isn't it?"

"I believe she will keep what happens in this room today a secret."

Without glancing at Iluvia even once throughout, Roland spoke while extending his hand toward Kalia's forehead.

"Relax, Kalia."

"Just relax..."

"Ehwaz."

As Roland softly chanted, the power of the primordial rune was mobilized once again.

Repeating his previous trick, Roland successfully triggered the hidden power lingering within Kalia's body.

In that instant, a sea of viscous blood appeared before Roland's eyes, seemingly eager to devour him.

He couldn't tell whether this was an illusion or actually happening.

Yet, just as his mind and soul were about to sink into the sea of blood, a colossal tree that blocked out the skies rose abruptly from the depths of the sea, emitting a dazzling green radiance...

By the time Roland snapped back to his senses, all that awaited him were the puzzled gazes of the three women.

"So, did you find anything?" Fram asked.

Kalia was also sitting in her chair, lifting her head to look at him, her eyes expressing the same question as Fram's.

"I saw a sea of blood... and then my spell took effect. How much time has passed?"

"Didn't you just start?" Kalia asked, thoroughly perplexed.

Meanwhile, Fram looked thoughtful: "So, your spell took effect, is that it?"

"Yeah." Roland nodded.

"Then someone is about to be in deep trouble."

The mere thought that a certain millennium-old shut-in blood demon who had attempted to harm her was probably currently pulling her hair out in frustration because her racial spell had been nullified brought a smile to Fram's face.

Just you wait. Once I finish dealing with the matters entrusted to me by that kid Salah, I'm going to head over and give you a severe reckoning!

I guarantee you won't have a good time; I'll strip that bat-shaped sleep mask right off your head!

Even if I can't kill you, I'll lock you in a coffin for a few hundred years! Then submerge both you and the coffin in the Holy See's holy water!

And finally, sink the barrel containing the holy water along with the coffin straight into the Storm Ocean!