Julios is Gilead and the Wing of Prophecy. He sees things that others cannot.
Of course, this does not mean he can see everything he wishes to. Even Julios himself does not know when, where, or what he will see.
Only after the vision passes does he realize, “Ah, what I just saw was the future.”
Most people, however, are unaware of this fact and tend to hold illusions about Julios, a Gilead, and the Wing of Prophecy.
At first, he tried to dispel their misconceptions, but before long, he gave up.
He realized that the public found comfort in the idea of someone with great power within the imperial family and that even a misunderstanding could serve a purpose.
Well, it often led to awkward situations for him, though.
“Your Highness, will my son be able to enter the Magic Tower this time? Since the new Tower Lord took over, the exam has become increasingly difficult. I don’t know if I should have him give up or not. He’s already failed five times. Could you, even for just a moment, glimpse the future for me?”
“Ha ha. You see, I can’t just look at any future I want to.”
For instance, he’d be approached by a lord worried sick about his child’s future.
“Lord Julios, I’m debating whether to sell my current house. It’s close to the hospital, but it’s too far from the academy Irene attends. I’ve scouted a few places, but I’d have to empty my entire savings. I just can’t trust my own judgment. Could you use Gilead’s power to make a choice for me so I can rest easy…?”
“Hmm. Gilead’s power isn’t always accurate. How about discussing it with Irene? The new house needs to be to her liking as well.”
Or he’d help someone like the doctor choose a new house to move to, hearing all sorts of perplexing worries from the people around him.
It would be a lie to say that their expectations weren’t burdensome, but even so, Julios enjoyed it.
After all, he was living his second life after escaping death. Such things, he could gladly accept.
Occasionally, he would foresee a scene that was actually helpful to the other person. When that happened, he would happily share what he saw. Seeing people delighted and relieved after resolving their long-standing troubles filled him with pride.
“Doctor, what about a house with rose vines? It seems like it would suit Irene well.”
“Oh, really? I’ll go make the contract immediately!”
“Ha ha. Talk it over with Irene first. I have a good feeling about it, though. I saw Irene smiling in front of that house.”
And then, one day.
Not long after escaping death, he had a very peculiar vision.
Someone who had never once asked him about his power and seemed the least likely to care about Gilead’s abilities appeared in the vision.
That person was standing alone in front of a mirror, muttering to themselves.
“Hello, isn’t the weather lovely today? Ha. Ha. Ha… Hello, isn’t the weather lovely today? Ahem. Hello, the weather is really nice today.”
After practicing their greeting several times, they eventually grabbed their head in frustration.
It was so unexpected for that person to behave this way that Julios was initially quite bewildered.
He couldn’t tell if this was truly a vision of Gilead or just a bizarre dream.
At the time, he didn’t realize.
That the perplexing foresight marked the beginning of a long unrequited love.
* * *
“How unfair, how unfair! What did I do so wrong? All I did was live diligently, deceived by an old lizard! Boohoohoo!”
Heinz, who had just wrecked Kailas’ hospital, was on his way to the world of Transcendents.
Weeping bitterly, he began chanting in the primordial tongue, and fury surged within him.
“I mean, what did I do so wrong? What sin did I commit to deserve being banished to the world of Transcendents?”
He couldn’t bear the injustice.
“I’m not going. I refuse. I have the right to visit Genos, too!”
Replaying Sigmund’s scoldings in his mind, he finally lost his composure.
“What? Go to the world of Transcendents right now? Don’t make me laugh. I’m not going. I’ll stay in Genos, drink myself silly, and cause all sorts of trouble for the rest of my life!”
Though briefly worried about Sigmund’s retaliation, he quickly shook off his fear.
‘I don’t have time to waste! This is my only chance, while Lord Sigmund, now turned into a cat, is too preoccupied with his date with Romiya!’
After the date, consequences would inevitably follow, but what did it matter?
With rebellion seeping out of him like that of a fifteen-year-old boy, Heinz entered the capital of Genos.
He had only one goal.
To irritate Sigmund, who would sense his presence and have his date disrupted.
More precisely, he wanted Sigmund to be annoyed yet unable to express it in front of Romiya, merely meowing on the outside while inwardly grinding his teeth in frustration.
‘I’ll show you the ultimate level of annoyance, you arrogant dragon!’
Blinded by vengeance, Heinz’s first destination was a wine shop.
“Sorry, sir, but we’re closed for the day. Could you come back tomorrow?” the shopkeeper said.
“There is no tomorrow. Bring out all the alcohol, from here to there.”
“Pardon? All of it? Right now?”
“Yes. I’ll take it all with magic. Don’t leave a single drop behind. I’ll pay you whatever you ask, so don’t worry!”
The flustered shopkeeper hesitated. “B-but, sir, the total cost will be substantial.”
“Humph. No matter how high it is, it’s nothing compared to the gems a dragon hoards.”
Heinz casually waved his hand, causing a pile of jewels to tumble out. All of them had been pilfered from Sigmund’s lair.
“D-d-dragon’s gems?”
“Exactly.”
Heinz lifted his chin arrogantly.
“These are the jewels collected by the Black Dragon you all revere. Heh.”
How he managed to use Sigmund’s jewels was a mystery. In truth, Heinz had been siphoning off treasures from Sigmund’s lair for quite some time.
If caught, it would be the end of him, but as long as he wasn’t discovered, all was well. After all, Sigmund was too busy with romance to pay attention to his lair.
Rather than let precious jewels gather dust, it was better to use them.
And today’s events proved his choice to be right.
Buying alcohol with Sigmund’s lair jewels just to spite Sigmund.
How flawless was this plan?
“I’ll show that foul-tempered dragon the might of a drunkard. Hahaha!”
* * *
Heinz got what he wished for: he was thoroughly drunk. Or more accurately, he became the drunken fool he had aspired to be.
The problem was, it wasn’t Sigmund suffering from his drunken antics—it was Julios.
The moment Heinz handed over the jewels, the shopkeeper, sensing something suspicious, reported him to the city guard.
The guard captain, realizing the individual wasn’t an ordinary human, contacted the palace.
Hearing the report, Julios quickly surmised that his earlier encounter with Heinz had taken a surprising turn and decided to intervene personally.
Though, deep down, he hoped this detour would give him an excuse to stop by Kailas’s hospital.
In any case—
“Juliossss? Whaaaaat brings you hereeee?”
Heinz’s drunken rambling was utterly shameless. At best, it was messy; at worst, downright filthy.
When Julios entered the shop, Heinz was sprawled on the floor, flailing about.
Recognizing Julios, Heinz flapped on the ground a bit more before drunkenly attempting to rebuke Julios, who was trying to help him up.
“Sir Heinz? How about sitting in a chair for now?”
“Youuuu. You came at just the right tiiiime. Heyyy. I’m sooo upset and wronged. I did nothing but live like a slave! I always respected and served Lord Sig! You’re Gilead, sooo you know, don’t you? You saw everything, didn’t you?”
Though Julios hadn’t actually seen anything, he gave a warm smile.
“Ha ha. Yes, I’ve seen it all.”
“Right? You saw it, didn’t you? Hey, I worked so hard, and just because of some wings and a few words, they’re telling me to get lost to the world of Transcendents.”
“Ha ha. Is that so? Wings, you say?”
“I even gave them jewels. A whole mountain of them! Way more than this! Enough to build two hundred hospitals! And then they tell me to leave? Does that make any sense?”
As Julios half-heartedly listened to Heinz’s drunken rambling, something peculiar caught his attention.
“Wait, hospitals?”
“Isn’t this just too much? Huh?”
Heinz, unable to register Julios’s question, kept ranting on. Ignoring it as mere drunken nonsense would have been easy, but Julios had a bad feeling.
“Are you saying you gave jewels to someone today? Who exactly?”
Julios asked, his tone growing serious.
“Don’t tell me it was Kailas?”
“That’s right.”
“What?”
“Oh, and this morning, I said I’d help with your crush, didn’t I? But forget it! Your foresight is useless! Useless!”
For a moment, it seemed like a coherent conversation might happen, but then Heinz descended into chaos again. Stunned by the revelation, Julios grabbed the flailing Heinz and tried to clarify.
“Maybe I misheard. Can you repeat that? Who did you give jewels to?”
“Wuuuuh.”
“You gave jewels to Kailas? A whole mountain of them? Why? What did you say that made Lord Sig tell you to leave?”
Knowing Kailas’s personality, Julios was certain they wouldn’t have accepted jewels without a reason. There had to be an explanation.
Julios tried to shake Heinz back to coherence, but his efforts were in vain as Heinz slumped further into drunkenness.
Just as Julios was on the verge of losing patience, holding back the urge to grab Heinz by the collar and shake him, Heinz shouted something absurd.
“Hey, lizard! If you’re a cat, I’m a dog!”
…Then Heinz started barking.
“Woof woof!”
Hearing the former Tower Lord barking made Julios’s head spin with frustration.
“Ruff ruff ruff woof woof woof!”
“Oh, Goddess above,” muttered the shopkeeper in horror from behind Julios.
Unable to contain his exasperation, Julios finally gave up on stopping Heinz and rose to his feet, rubbing his temples. He had focused so intensely that his forehead felt hot.
‘What is going on here?’
If Gilead’s power worked as people believed, how much easier would life be? He’d know everything he wanted to know, see everything he wanted to see.
Instead, a few drunken words from Heinz had his head on the verge of exploding.
‘Why would Heinz give jewels to Kailas? Why?’
The word “jewels” haunted him.
Drunk and messy though he was, Heinz was still a Transcendent, far beyond human limits. If he kept his mouth shut, he was handsome enough to be called a stunningly attractive man.
And this man—so exceptional—had given jewels to the person Julios had liked for years.
Not just a few jewels. A mountain of them.
‘So, why?’
Running through countless possibilities, Julios slapped his own cheek.
‘Get a grip.’
Imagination does not solve any problems. If you want to know what happened, just check it out yourself.
* * *
“Your Highness, are you sure this is fine as it is?”
“Don’t worry. It should be safe enough.”
Julios said.
“We’ve even installed the artifact that Lord Sigmund created for emergencies.”
“That may be true, but imprisoning a former Tower Lord in a jail meant for drunkards is a bit…”
“…….”
The head of the guard looked at Heinz, who was sprawled out and snoring.
Julios, following his gaze briefly, spoke firmly.
“There’s no other way. We can’t just leave Lord Heinz in the middle of a residential area.”
Well, there was a better way.
For instance, staying by Heinz’s side until he sobered up. As a former Tower Lord, Heinz deserved that level of consideration.
But Julios was in a hurry.
The quickest way to deal with a drunken Heinz was to lock him up in jail until he sobered up.
At first, Julios was only concerned about the jewel. As long as Sigmund was in Genos, Heinz wouldn’t harm Kailas.
Knowing that, he had been at ease regarding their safety. But as time passed, his worries grew.
Today, Sigmund had spent the entire day transformed into a cat, keeping Romiya company.
Could it be that, in focusing on Romiya, Sigmund had overlooked Kailas?
Moreover, Heinz was a self-proclaimed lunatic.
Who could say what he might have done while avoiding Sigmund’s watchful eyes?
Listening to Heinz’s ramblings, Julios naturally arrived at such thoughts.
There was no more time to waste.
As he was quickly finishing up matters and heading toward the hospital, it happened.
“I want to stop my unrequited love. It’s been too long.”
The third vision about Kailas came to him.
Julios stopped abruptly in his tracks.
Kailas was looking up at him with a flushed face.
No, she was looking up at *someone*.
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
“I like you.”
That was the end of it.
In just a few seconds of vision, Julios froze as if struck by lightning.
‘What is this?’
What kind of vision was this?
‘Someone Kailas likes? Someone she’s been in unrequited love with for a long time?’
Who in the world is that!
What kind of person are they!
Leave a Reply