Chapter 62: Leo falls into a predicament (1)

“Ugh…”

Leo woke up feeling strangely lethargic. He blinked at his surroundings as he lay down, trying to take everything in.

(Where… am I?)

His eyes slowly adjusted to the flickering candlelight, and he scanned his surroundings.

(Let’s see… What was I doing again…? Oh right, Safita… I ran away from Gustav… I escaped too, so I took care of the bird… then, the elder showed up… and then… wha—!?)

Leo gasped, his body tensing up at the sight of a goat’s head placed nearby.

As he recoiled in shock, a heavy clinking sound echoed from his feet. He looked down and saw chains, which only added to his confusion.

“Wh-what…? No way…!”

Leo discovered his right ankle was chained, and he was lying on what seemed to be an altar.

“What—? What… no, no… what’s happening!?”

He forgot about any spells that might seal his vulgarities and started shouting, his throat burning as he tried to make sense of his situation.

(A sacrifice!? Am I going to be killed?!)

It seemed that the church and the elders were indeed untrustworthy.

They had tried to go after Leo’s precious Tama three times now.

(No, no, Why am I cracking jokes at a time like this!?!)

Just as Leo was about to lose it, a calm voice reached his ears from the entrance of the dimly lit room, near where a pig’s carcass lay.

“Oh? You’re awake, I see?”

The voice belonged to an older man with a deeply lined face and thoughtful gray eyes—Aril Ad, the grand elder and advisor of Safita.

Aril Ad casually tossed aside the knife he had been holding.

“Maybe it’s best to leave handling such lowly animals to the appropriate people.”

He muttered as he pushed the pig carcass aside with the clean tip of his shoe.

“Aril Ad…?”

Leo recognized the older man.

“Well-fed goat head, bloodstained coins, and pig entrails. The darkness spirits are quite demanding. They’re hard to please.”

“What…?”

Leo was at a loss for words, and Aril Ad gave him a smile.

The guru then began walking over, showing no sign of finding it odd that a girl was chained to an altar.

“But this time, we’re offering a beautiful and intelligent girl. The spirits will be satisfied, and they’ll grant me power. I’ll lead Elrand instead of that young upstart.”

Leo could sense the elements of conspiracy and revolution in Aril Ad’s words, and he grimaced.

“Uh…”

Aril Ad seemed to refer to Safita as the young upstart.

It seemed the older man wanted to eliminate the former prince he was mentoring and seize power.

All with the help of dark spirits.

“Aril Ad, aren’t you worshipping the spirits of light?”

Leo asked, throwing a desperate question at the old man.

Aril Ad narrowed his eyes as if to say, “you know better than that.”

“You know very well. You saw it at the praise ceremony, didn’t you? My inability to summon the spirits of light anymore.”

“Huh…!?”

“You saw through the impurity of the spirit bead and that the being that appeared was nothing more than a fake.”

Leo didn’t intend to see through anything.

He tried to explain himself, but Aril Ad seemed uninterested.

“It was unfortunate that you saw through the truth. I was going to use you to start a war, but now I’ve changed my mind. I’ll kill you right here.”

“No, stop…!”

Realizing Aril Ad was serious, Leo yelled in alarm.

The seemingly gentle elder guru looked down at him with a ruthless expression.

“Don’t worry. This is sacred land of the spirits. Your soul will reach the greatest spirit and satisfy its desires.”

“Wait! Please!”

As Aril Ad reached for him, Leo shook his chains and pleaded.

The older man grabbed Leo’s chin and smirked coldly.

“Your body may be young and unremarkable, but it’s still beautiful. Perfect as an offering. The cries and blood of the innocent as they suffer are the dark spirits’ favorites. You better put in some effort.”

“Wait! This is a joke! You think you’ll get away with this?”

Leo’s voice shook as he realized the gravity of the situation.

Aril Ad, drunk on his sense of superiority and the prospect of summoning dark spirits, merely raised his brows and gave a dismissive laugh.

“I will get away with it. My lord, who is kind and foolish, will take all the blame. With some manipulation, he’ll take the blame for the impurity of the spirit bead and provoking fights with Weitz.”

“Wh—?”

Leo couldn’t grasp what Aril Ad was saying, frowning in confusion.

Impurity of the spirit bead? Provoking fights with Weitz?

Instead of explaining, Aril Ad danced back to the door, and before leaving, he turned to Leo with a disappointed look.

“Taking your life in this holy, blood-stained underground cell would’ve been appropriate. I’ll leave the role of defiling and killing you to the lower-class folks, like dealing with pigs.”

With those final words, Aril Ad left the room.

“What’s happening…”

Leo stared at the door in shock.

Aril Ad clearly had a sinister plan.

He seemed convinced that Leo had uncovered it and intended to manipulate Safita, placing the blame entirely on him.

Leo was unsure about the impurities in the spirit bead or the fight with Weitz, but—

(I don’t know what’s happening, but I need to get out of here!)

“The ambitions of the old man were of no concern at this point. What mattered now was escape.”

If he didn’t leave here, his life would be in danger. Leo, who had snapped back to reality, shouted at the top of his lungs

“Are you kidding me?! Let me out of here!”

He screamed so loudly his voice almost cracked. The irony of being more fluent in Elrandic and asking for help in that language wasn’t lost on him.

Despite his desperate cries echoing in the room, no one showed any sign of coming to his aid. He was panting heavily and trying everything he could, flailing his chained legs and scratching with his nails, but it only resulted in injuring himself.

“Damn, damn it! This is the biggest pinch since I was tied to a bed and nearly lost my jewels! My life and Lena’s honor are both in danger!”

The memories of a similar situation in the past came flooding back. Once, when Leo had been tangled with an unpleasant man in the slums of Ricard, he was somehow able to comprehend the threatening remarks in Elrandic. This was thanks to his frequent reading of novels from Elrand.

The current situation was eerily similar to that experience, so much so that he couldn’t help but be reminded of past trauma. A cold sweat started to bead on his forehead, and he felt tears welling up.

“Master! No, money can’t solve this! Bruno! Sister Hanna! Please help me!”

Just like last time, he called for help, but of course, they wouldn’t show up just because he shouted for them. Leo was on the verge of tears as he called out the names of everyone he could think of.

“Kai! …he’s not here, Gustav! …but I chased him away just earlier, damn it!”

Someone, anyone must have heard his cries.

“Khaje! Surya! The slum boy! The guard in the hallway!—Lena!”

In his panic, he found himself calling Lena’s name as if he were about to play back a crystal recording. He realized he was doing so out of habit, having relied on crystal communications recently.

“Damn it, magic doesn’t work here! The one thing I can use is crystal magic, and it’s useless here… damn!”

Just as his rational mind concluded this, something unexpected happened.

A faint, glowing ring appeared at his fingertips. He watched as a crystal materialized in his hand.

Surprised, he cautiously said:

“Rewind the crystal. Show me Lena’s current situation.”

As he spoke, the crystal glowed gently and then projected the familiar face of Lena.

“Le-Lena…?! Holy crap, it worked! What kind of miracle is this?!”

The option he thought was least likely had miraculously worked, leaving him in awe. But Lena seemed unusually upset and immediately started berating him.

Leo, overwhelmed, forgot the gravity of the situation for a moment and listened to her angry tirade.

“Wow…”

After comprehending what she was saying, Leo shook his head, astonished.

“How did you know?”

“Huh?”

As Lena furrowed her brows in suspicion, Leo raised the crystal to show her his surroundings.

“I’m literally in the exact same situation you described.”

He proceeded to summarize the recent events for Leina and the others.

“So, I somehow ended up uncovering an elder’s conspiracy and have been taken prisoner for it, and they’re planning to offer me as a sacrifice to some dark spirit!”

Bruno was peering into the crystal as well, his expression grim as he looked over Leo’s surroundings. When Leo mentioned the name of the elder, Bruno grimaced, as though trying to suppress pain, and murmured, “Consumed, perhaps…”

Leo didn’t understand the significance of that comment, so he called out to Bruno.

“Bruno?”

Lena, who had been listening quietly, suddenly let out a low growl.

“You… You mean to tell me…!”

Her expression twisted in fury, as though about to cry blood, as she glared at him.

“Both at the magic competition and now, why do you keep so casually uncovering conspiracies like this?!”

“Neither of those were my choice!”

Leo shouted back.

Yes, he had a knack for getting caught up in unknown situations, but he believed it was the conspirators who were at fault.

As they continued shouting at each other, Bruno pushed Lena aside and took over the crystal screen.

“Leo, do you have any idea where you are?”

His calm, steady voice brought Leo back to his senses. He looked around, but had to shake his head dejectedly.

“Sorry, no clue. The elder said I’m in a dungeon, but that’s all I know.”

Even with Bruno’s knowledge of Elrand, that information wasn’t enough to pinpoint his location. Bruno’s deep-set face showed a hint of urgency.

“Is there any other clue? The construction of the walls, the size of the room—”

“Lena, I think it would be faster to end the call and have him replay the moment he was captured.”

Lena, who was familiar with using the crystal, interrupted.

Leo listened closely as Lena instructed him, trying to focus despite his rising panic.

“Listen carefully, Leo. Hang up the call. Replay the moment you were captured. We’ll call you back immediately, so answer right away. Then, afterward—”

Lena said something shocking.

“We’ll switch places.”

“What…?”

Leo was so shocked he forgot his situation and gaped in astonishment.