Chapter 174 – Stopped Footsteps.

I thought it was finally my own. I thought I’d erased that nasty guy named Usher from the girl. Jude clenched his fists in utter rejection of him.

“Did you hate me enough to do this?”
“No.”

Belka shook her head. Surprised by her unexpected answer, the moment she met her eyes.

“There have been people like you before. It’s just this opportunity to get away from you and heal Usher.”

Her hopes, albeit slightly, were dashed. Because the golden light that looked at him did not show any emotion. Jude didn’t even exist in Belka’s mind. To her, he was just one of many people who had a crush on her. Rather, it might be great to show him such a rejection.

Haha. Yes, you were like that. Agafia is.”
“Agafia…?”

Helena muttered incredulously, but he didn’t hear her words.

“It was just my illusion. It was an illusion.”

From the beginning, the girl was a being with a different way of thinking than humans. It’s just that he was mistaken. He had already known that it would be impossible to get her in that way, but he had mistakenly thought he could fall for her human-like reaction. He realized why he couldn’t help but be mistaken.

“You were so precious? Did you love you so much? Was that Usher guy so important?!”

Because it was Belka’s sincere consideration. He was a tender consideration for Usher, not for anyone else. That consideration was only given to those around him. But to Jude, it was a means, not a consideration. He was such a cruel being to him. The moment he realized that, he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“What the hell is that guy?!”
“Lady. Step back.”

Helena noticed Jude’s momentum had changed and she pulled Belka further back.

“…I doubt if it’s really the same person.”

She inspected the blade of the dagger. She doesn’t look very intimidating because she’s had the gloss removed, but her blade is coated with a paralyzing poison. In her heart, she wanted to apply the deadly poison, but she couldn’t be saved because the situation was not good, so she applied it instead, but now it doesn’t seem that the poison works.

“Has it been poisoned?”

He chuckles as Helena hardens her face.

“I thought she would be like you. But since she became a wizard, she couldn’t be killed by that kind of thing.”

This is valid no matter how much the witch can cancel the wizard’s magic, so she couldn’t affect Jude with any poison. As he slowly approached them, Helena pulled out her little pottery from her pocket and held it up.

“I don’t know what will happen if I get closer than this.”

It was no ordinary pottery. It was the same item as the bomb used to expel the green dwarves from Lantua. She lamented the fact that this was the only thing she could have packed. Alchemy could only use some of its skills in combat, but it wasn’t as suitable for combat as I thought.

“Do you think I’m stupid? Who do you think taught me alchemy?”

However, Jude ignores Helena’s warning and immediately lunges right in front of her face and swings her fist. A situation where she threatens to throw her dagger but end up mutually nipping at each other as he backs away. There was a difference between alchemy and magic, but considering the connection, it was strange that Jude didn’t know. That she can’t detonate a bomb here. She wouldn’t know if she was alone, but Belka was here too. Even a small piece of debris was dangerous for her.

“Kuk!”

It was fortunate that Jude didn’t seem to have learned to fight. As he dug in again and swung her fist, she bent her arm holding the pottery and struck him with her elbow as if stabbing him in the pit of the stomach. In pain, he tried to hit him between the legs with her leg, but he couldn’t come any further and retreated greatly.

“You’re annoying.”

When Jude couldn’t use magic, he was nervous because he was only hit one-sidedly. If he, like Helena, had held at least one dagger, the situation would not have been so difficult. If you want to show a gap, the sharp dagger and kicks aiming at the man’s vital points are fierce. He was annoying to Helena as well. At least, he was attacking with a dagger and chess and hitting one-sidedly, but it was difficult to make up for the difference in strength. Besides, the problem was that she hadn’t hit Jude properly until now.

He didn’t seem to have learned the proper technique, but it wasn’t unusual to twist his body to dodge an attack and land a punch. It must have been a fight somewhere. At least he wouldn’t have had to fight so hard if poison worked or he could make guns like the Holy Land or Pasiphenia. Thanks to Belka, I was able to seal the magic, but the situation didn’t get much better. Sealing magic was the limit for the girl, and Helena lacked her physical advantage over Jude in many ways.

“It’s funny that you can’t subdue a girl because you can’t use magic and you’re at a loss.”
“What?”

Seeing Jude distort her face at Helena’s provocation, she felt a little thrilled, but even more wary. She had to end the fight ASAP.

“Aren’t you ashamed? What do you have left without magic?”

In order to do that, she had to stimulate him as much as possible and make him lose his temper. It was Helena who was at a disadvantage the longer her fight went on, so she decided to provoke Jude.

“…What did you just say?”

Helena noticed that Jude was glaring at her and that it was his wrath.

“You really are nothing without magic.”

She used it to provoke her wildly, and sure enough, he rushed at her without answering. Her effect was certain, but her fists, which tried to hit her without hesitation, ran fiercely. She also swung her dagger and tried to shake it off.

“Ugh!”

In the end, being able to use only one hand properly due to the porcelain held in her other hand caught her ankle and grabbed her wrist holding her dagger. She again tries to kick her foot in the vital, but even then she is caught by him. Her hands and feet were grabbed by him one by one, and Helena, who was weaker than he, was helpless.

“Let’s talk about it one more time. Do you still think I’m nothing without magic?”
“Oops.”

Helena opened her mouth again to Jude, who smiled at her as he writhed in pain from his grip on her feet and wrists.

“Yes, you really are nothing without magic.”
“Even in this situation, bluff…!”

But his words didn’t go any further. Because she hit him hard on the head with the pottery she hadn’t used so far, afraid that it might explode. Jude opened her eyes and felt her strength drain from her hands that held her, her blood dripping from her head. Perhaps this was unexpected. The pottery she was holding looked just like the bombs she used, but it was just pottery without any special devices or materials. It was for this reason that she dared to take out something that would get in the way of what she was holding in her hand, in a situation where she could also be harmed.

“I really hope we never see each other again.”

When I tried to stab him with a dagger to make sure I finished him off.

“I don’t think that will work.”
“It’s great! This!?”

Thinking she had lost her mind, he sprinkled something of her on her face, the smell of the powder that she smelled the day he first attacked her.

“It’s because I was aiming for the moment when you were most alert.”
“Ouch!”

In the meantime, Helena was lifted up as Jude strangled her.

“It’s hard for a girl like you to do the same move over and over again.”

That’s why Jude also wasn’t using Helena to think he wasn’t holding this powder. She struggles and kicks his body, but she’s not even close to it.

“I’m nothing without magic? Funny. I told you before. What alchemy has its origins in.”

He was concerned and prepared for a situation where he might not be able to use magic. The powder she sprinkled on her now was one of them.

“Seriously, where else are there other guys who deserve the word ‘failure’ like this? Aren’t they?”

The alchemist and wizard John tried to preach the truth to the world even a little bit and trained them, but unfortunately failed. The reason for the failure was so simple. Because most humans aren’t good enough to accept their knowledge or ideas. Those who understood at least were called alchemists, but their level was really the basics of the basics or barely understood. Those who caused greater danger because of their clumsy knowledge. Alchemists were stupid and pitiful people who volunteered to become apostles without knowing what they were doing.

“You should know that alchemy is not the exclusive property of alchemists.”

But it was also true that it was quite difficult.

“But you’re definitely excellent. Don’t worry. It’s a waste to die like this. I’ll lock you up with Belka and cherish you for the rest of my life.”
“Keuuugh!”
“Don’t struggle too much. You don’t want to bother me more, do you?”
“Gup!”

He drove her until she was in danger. The females who resisted and even injured him needed to be firmly subdued and thoroughly tamed. More than ever. He only let Helena breathe when she passed out.

“Aren’t you curious what kind of child Helena will have? Belka?”
“Yes.”

She bites her lip as she talks to Belka, who has no choice but to watch their fight, suffering from the cost of erasing the magic.

“Let Helena go.”
“Why should I?”
“That…”
“Don’t think you’ll have to sacrifice yourself. I won’t even give you a chance to think about it this time.”

No, there would be no reason to think. Leave him alone for a few more days and Usher will die on his own. Eventually, the girl bowed her head in resignation.

“Now turn the magic back.”

It was when he told Belka to return the magic that was still unused. The sound of iron hitting the alley where they were was heard. It was clear that someone had entered this alley again. In the case of the harpy, he was still unconscious.

“Quickly return it.”

He said, thinking he was bothered, but the magic didn’t come back. No matter how much time passed, Jude became nervous that magic was not being used.

“Bring it back! You want to see Helena die?!”

It was when he tried to grab Helena’s dagger to threaten. The fact that a large knife that flew from somewhere slashed the dagger he was trying to hold and then returned to the direction it had come from. And Jude remembered seeing the knife cutting off the dagger somewhere. In the direction where the thick, square-shaped large knife turned, stood a merchant who sold dvayakas wrapped in layers of old cloth. In his hand was the knife that had just slashed the dagger. Seeing that the cloth he was wearing was tied to the hilt, he seems to have pulled the cloth and held it back.

“What are you?”

It couldn’t have been a mere merchant doing such a thing. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if he could use magic, but magic hasn’t returned yet. There was no answer from the merchant to his question. He seemed to check the condition of Helena, Belka, and the fallen harpy under the old cloth, and then responded by throwing a knife at him again. The magic still doesn’t come back.

“If you’re a merchant, you’ll sell things like a merchant…!”

He dodged the flying knife, but when he belatedly noticed that an old cloth was attached to the path of the thrown knife, the cloth was already wrapped around his neck.

“Kuuk?!”

Then, at the same time that he was pulled and dragged to the merchant, Jude passed out after seeing the merchant bumping his head against him. Belka was staring blankly at him who had subdued Jude so easily, and he scratched his head.

“Uh, um, so who ordered the Dvyaka Head Pie?”