Chapter 265. Relic
From the backlash of using the artifact recklessly, Silis had fallen into a deep sleep.
Whether she was having a bad dream or not, beads of cold sweat were forming on her forehead, and slid down.
Her face, at times twisted, clearly revealed the agony she was in.
Flona wiped the sweat with a dry handkerchief.
Using a magic item imbued with faint chill, she cooled the heat rising from Silis's body.
Watching her devoted nursing, Adel bit her lips hard.
"Flona, how is Her Highness…?"
"Her physical condition is improving, but it's her inner self that's the problem."
Silis's body was recovering day by day.
The side effects of the Crown of Thorns, which would have already cost another person their sanity, had been completely offset by the witch's bloodline and memories.
But, conversely, the time she spent in suffering grew longer.
It wouldn't be strange if she regained consciousness immediately… yet it was as if she was refusing reality itself.
Adel and Flona.
Even without words, both knew exactly what the cause was.
They were survivors who had lost all their families to the group called Gluttony, and who had themselves died, only to regain life thanks to Silis.
There was no way they could not understand her heart.
Revenge they had long dreamed of, but could not achieve themselves.
In the end, they could not bear the helpless result.
"Is there no way to help Her Highness?"
"This is not something we can resolve. It is something Her Highness Silis must overcome."
Flona carefully covered the back of Silis's hand.
"If we wait, she will endure it. Her Highness is strong. So, let us remain by her side, as we always have."
Adel, Flona, and Lorian.
The three swore to themselves that they would live for Silis.
Whether it was a path toward revenge, or an unknown road that surpassed the dream of vengeance, they would walk it together. Even if that path led to death.
Adel and Flona, who had been watching her with worried eyes until the end, left the chamber.
As they strolled down the corridor, they came face to face with an unexpected figure. The greatest variable in their plans, and the overwhelming being who had ultimately executed Leonil.
"Adel, and Flona, was it?"
Verden asked.
Their bodies stiffened.
"…Yes, that is correct. But Lord Asher, what brings you here?"
"If you came to see Her Highness Silis, please wait for another time. She has not yet recovered, and she needs stability."
"Do not worry. I have no intention of barging in. Rather, where is Lorian?"
Lorian?
"Lorian is with the dark merchant Cland, no, with Sir Sebas. After finishing the remaining matters, he is expected to return to the capital… Do you have business with him?"
The reason could not be guessed.
Could it be, he meant to take revenge for the sealing in Roafra?
Holding their breath, the two waited. Verden said,
"When you see him, tell him this. That I have something to say to him, alone."
***
The Coronation, which had ended in peace.
That day, there were some who vanished without a trace.
"…Ugh."
Mercenary Captain Geul slowly opened his eyes.
His blinking vision was filled with gloom. The faint light from the mana lamps hanging on the ceiling illuminated nothing but a desolate space.
Dark, filled with dust.
A musty smell lingered, mixed with a faint scent of burning.
"Where… am I…"
Clank.
He tried to rise, but something held him down.
His gaze dropped naturally, to see his arms, legs, and waist tightly bound to a metal chair.
Thick, solid ropes with no gaps bound his flesh, ropes that seemed impossible to break with his strength.
'Damn it, what the hell is this.'
Geul looked around frantically.
To his right were familiar figures lined up.
Madman Tolav.
Tycoon Dario.
The schemer Nelita.
All were bound like Geul.
He could not understand the situation, but there was no time to think deeply.
"Tolav! Dario! Nelita! Wake up! Open your eyes!"
Geul shouted urgently.
Only after he called their names several times did they start regaining consciousness, one by one.
"What is this…? Why, why am I tied up?!"
"Urgh! What the hell is this all of a sudden!"
"Tch, it won't come loose?"
Confusion deepened.
They all tried to free themselves, but none succeeded.
They questioned Geul, but of course he knew nothing. He had simply woken up earlier.
He knew only one thing.
The four of them were members of the secret social hall of the First Prince. It was evident someone had abducted them for some purpose.
A presence stirred in the darkness.
Footsteps striking the floor, overlapping with a dull tapping sound. Likely the movement of someone holding a staff.
Along with that, heavier footsteps, and the sound of a wheelchair being pushed.
At last, the figures revealed themselves.
"…The dark merchant?"
The dark merchant Cland.
Wearing his fedora low, he tapped his staff against the floor and lifted his head. The distinct burn scars on his chin were clear.
Beside him was a man reclining in a wheelchair, body covered in burn scars, face hidden by a mask.
Behind them, a blond man with green eyes gripped the handles of the wheelchair, moving only his gaze.
Cland stepped forward.
"It has been a long time, all of you."
"…Dark merchant, what is the meaning of this?"
"Do you not see? I brought you here, and you are here because you were brought by me."
"Are you playing games with us?"
Nelita snapped.
Cland chuckled softly.
"Playing games, you say. But isn't that what you are best at, Nelita? Unfortunately, I lack such a talent for rousing the masses."
His response was calm.
Geul bared his teeth with a growl.
"I don't know what you're after, but stop this nonsense now. Unless you want consequences you cannot undo."
"Kikikik! An abduction out of nowhere, huh. Seems there's someone crazier than me?"
Threats steeped in hostility, and brazen defiance.
Cland, calming his emotions, removed his fedora and tossed it behind him. The unfamiliar attitude drew everyone's eyes.
"Consequences you cannot undo, you say. But wasn't that exactly what you did?"
"What?"
"I know it may not make sense to you. But that doesn't matter. You will simply listen, and endure. Just as I, and we, once did."
Uneasy murmurs spread.
What the hell was he saying? Even Madman Tolav frowned, not understanding.
"There was once a noble house that was annihilated under false charges."
Step, step.
Cland moved.
He approached Geul first. With his staff, he tapped both of Geul's hands.
"Geul, captain of the mercenary corps. You were hired by the royal family, disguised as bandits, and pillaged the Duchy of Rubinelian. You murdered, plundered, and violated the poor territory's people, systematically. Because of that, the duchy fell into unrest, and its troops split up to subjugate you. In the end, you paved the way for the royal family and other ducal houses to invade the duchy."
Next was Nelita.
With his staff, he pressed lightly against her chin.
"Ugh…!"
"Schemer Nelita. You used the newspapers and information brokers in every city, spreading false rumors about the Ducal House of Rubinelian. Crimes, rebellion, all kinds of vile and cruel slanders—corrupting public opinion. The ignorant citizens scorned and hated Rubinelian as if it were natural. You dragged the house's honor through the mud."
Then Tolav.
He tapped the man's head with his staff.
"Madman Tolav. As a drug dealer, you poured immeasurable amounts of narcotics into the Duchy of Rubinelian. You forced the streets into addiction. And you planted information about narcotics deep within the house, giving other ducal houses a pretext to intervene."
Finally, Dario.
He poked the folds of fat on his belly with the staff.
"Dario, the eastern tycoon. You received rewards from the Royal Family of Estiria, and drew vast funds to support those three from behind. With that blood-soaked wealth you so pride yourself on."
The silence turned into restless agitation.
Their eyes demanded to know how he knew. And beyond that, they could not understand why he was dragging up events from decades ago.
Unease grew heavier.
Dario swallowed, his eyes twitching.
"Dark merchant Cland. Who, exactly… are you?"
Cland stepped back two paces.
He threw his staff to the floor, and placed his right hand over his chest. The unique etiquette seen among noble houses.
"I am Sebas, butler of the Ducal House of Rubinelian. One of the two survivors of the burning manor and duchy."
"Sebas…?"
It was a name they knew.
Memories of the past returned unbidden. One of the ones whose body had never been found.
But as years passed, with no trace discovered, and with no threat even if he lived, the House of Rubinelian had written him off as dead.
For a moment, Nelita flinched and shrieked,
"Lies! Sebas never had such a face───"
"There are many peculiar magic items in the world. I received help from a noble person, permanently discarded my former face, and hid my identity. All for today."
Sebas, who had cast aside the alias of Cland.
He approached the wheelchair, and placed his hand on the shoulder of the masked man.
"Ugh… ah…"
"The only thing pointing to who I was in the past, are these burn scars from that day. My disciple here, Chemion, is the same. Now, do you understand why you were brought here?"
Sebas smiled.
At his chilling smile, everyone flinched.
"You bastard…! If His Highness Valrgna learns of this, he will not stand idly by!"
"Valrgna is already finished. So is the detestable Royal Family of Estiria. And even if they were not, it doesn't matter. My hand will reach you before Valrgna's ever could."
Sebas laid out his torture tools.
The bag was filled with cold, blue metal. From it, he lifted a metal hammer, its weight concentrated at the head.
"..."
Lorian stood quietly behind Chemion, watching.
Then, someone interfered with his mind. It must have been a message through Mind Resonance, from Adel or Flona.
Hearing the words, Lorian's eyes widened in surprise.
"Well then, Sir Sebas. I must return to the capital. It seems someone is asking for me."
"Do not worry about this place. I will finish here as well. Though, it will take some time."
"Then take your time, and enjoy yourself."
After giving his greetings to the two, Lorian departed.
The air, which had lightened for a moment, grew heavy again. In Chemion's gaze, Sebas moved.
He stuffed the hammer into Tolav's mouth.
He tore out Nelita's lying tongue.
He burst Dario's belly, swollen with gold.
He smashed Tolav's head, steeped in madness.
He would sever Geul's hands, the hands that had committed countless murders.
Revenge began there.
"There is no need to feel too wronged. We have already grasped all your subordinates and factions, and soon they will all be erased from the kingdom as well."
"No! Stop this, dark merchant!"
"I-I was wrong! Forgive me! I'll buy forgiveness with money! No matter how much it takes!"
"Kyaaa! Spare me!"
"Mmmmmmph?!"
All of them raved.
They struggled, desperate to survive.
Just like those who had perished in the burning duchy.
"I already told you. You will simply listen, and endure."
Sebas pulled his arm.
The sound of flesh tearing echoed through his fingertips. Within the sealed chamber, their wretched screams resounded.
But, there was no one to hear them.
The mansion of the Ducal House of Rubinelian, burned to ashes in the past. The hidden basement beneath it, was the homeland of Sebas and Chemion.
***
Verden, with eyes closed, recalled the memories of last year.
In the principality's city of Marceau, he had accepted a request from the adventurer's guild, and with Iris's party, headed to the Viron Territory.
There, he first met Galliark, and entered the mine where the Undead appeared.
And there, he faced the Undead who sat atop a pile of bones, the Wailing Knight.
At the time, it had been a formidable foe.
Its strange power, shrouded in darkness, was immune even to the miracles of the priests.
Exhausted from using
That Wailing Knight, before vanishing, left Verden a 'necklace' and his memories.
A soldier who had fought for his family.
The Kingdom of Estiria, which had massacred its own soldiers and buried them alive.
The buried soldier had risen again with hatred and rage, becoming a Wailing Knight, in order to return to his family.
'At that time, I could not guess the reason for the massacre…'
Now he could understand.
The Elder Lich he had encountered in the Cave without Light, one of the kingdom's two forbidden places.
Like that, the kingdom's large-scale human experiments must have been accidentally discovered. And for that, they had been silenced cruelly.
'Never thought that incident would lead all the way here.'
Even for Verden, it was surprising.
Of course, he did not believe in fatalism, that results were predestined.
Even coincidence was but the path Verden had walked, and the situations born from it. His choice now was the same.
Knock, knock.
From outside the door, a sound was heard.
The guest he had been waiting for had come. Using his magic power, he pulled the doorknob.
Lorian entered, and gave a courteous bow.
"I heard you were looking for me."
"Sit down, first."
Lorian obeyed without resistance.
Even as he did, he wondered inside.
For what reason did Verden want to see him alone? If not revenge for the sealing in Roafra, he could not guess at all.
"Hm."
Verden pondered for a moment.
The suspicion he held was nearly certainty, but it was not fitting to leap directly into the matter.
So how should he bring it up naturally?
"Lorian, you said you were experimented on by Gluttony, like Flona and Adel."
Lorian tilted his head slightly.
The sudden topic made him hesitate, then he nodded.
"…Yes, that is correct."
"How old were you at that time?"
"I was six."
Faintly, he remembered.
His father, a soldier, leaving for the battlefield, and the days he spent with his mother in the village. Then one day, swept into a refugee procession, he and his mother became test subjects.
The rest had been weathered away by the years, but the pain he felt then, and the sight of his mother dying before his eyes, remained vivid.
"Your father was a soldier?"
"Yes, he was───"
"His rank would have been Centurion."
Lorian's eyes widened.
How could he know that? It wasn't in any records. The only ones who knew were Adel, Flona, and Princess Silis.
'As I thought.'
Lorian's reaction was proof enough.
He was the very 'Lorian' whom the Wailing Knight had sought.
Verden opened his spatial bag.
From within, he drew out a rusty, charred necklace. With Telekinesis, he placed it in Lorian's hands.
"This necklace, what is it…"
Stiff.
Lorian's gaze froze.
His green eyes stared blankly at the necklace.
He could not remember clearly, but it was strangely familiar. At the same time, memories long buried in the darkness surfaced.
The image of a man, waving at him and his mother before leaving for the battlefield.
"…Ah?"
Lorian's hands trembled.
At first unconsciously, but soon he realized. He knew exactly what this necklace was. More than anyone else.
Unable to hide his turmoil, he looked back and forth between Verden and the necklace.
His eyes reddened, filled with disbelief.
"It all began from mere coincidence."
Verden began to speak quietly.
About the remnant thoughts left by the Undead, the Wailing Knight.
Lorian, dazed, opened the locket as he had done in childhood.
Inside was a portrait.
A family, sitting together peacefully.
The parents' faces had not endured the long years, but the boy seated between them, with golden hair and green eyes, was clear.
It was unmistakably Lorian.
Fearing it might tear, he gently caressed the picture.
A familiar yet strange sensation spread in his fingers. Choked, emotions long suppressed surged.
His father was dead. His mother too.
It had been decades since, yet the remnants of family, buried deep in his heart, had returned to him in the form of this relic.
His face unreadable, Lorian gripped the necklace tightly.
As if never to let go again.
Verden rose from his seat.
It would be best to give him space now. As Verden turned to leave, Lorian's trembling voice, tinged with sobs, called out.
"Lord Asher, was my father's end… peaceful?"
The Wailing Knight who had given the necklace, had turned to dust.
Complete annihilation. His last look had been vacant, but freed from hatred, he would suffer no more.
By now, he would surely be at rest.
"Yes."
Leaving that answer, Verden exited the chamber.
Alone, Lorian buried his face in his hands. He could not hold back the tears.
Just as he had, when he had tripped on the road and cried in the arms of his mother and father.
In a hushed voice, Lorian said,
"Thank you… for bringing this to me…!"
His gratitude lingered in the air.
Even unspoken, it was conveyed.
The relic of parents, passed down to the child.
Thus, one of Verden's tasks was erased.
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