Chapter 74

"It seems we're too late."

Russel and Leandros, who had returned from surveying the city, said.

It was a horrific scene reminiscent of the mud that had flowed out of the eastern pit.

Except the mud had turned into frost and ice.

There must have been many stone buildings in the past, but none remained intact now.

Everything had collapsed and shattered, disappearing without a trace.

"What on earth happened..."

"Your Grace!"

-Kyaaaak!

The moment he turned around to look at Amelia behind him while opening his mouth, something brushed past his cheek.

When the dagger flew like a fiercely shot silver arrow, he thought Amelia was trying to kill him.

But seeing her shocked face, he realized something was wrong.

A silver dagger was embedded in the forehead of a monster writhing on the ground.

The monster had two arms and two legs like a human.

But the similarities ended there.

Arms so long they almost touched the ground, a body withered and twisted without internal organs, frozen long white fur, and gleaming bright white eyes.

The monster, about the size of an adult male, was struggling to get up.

But Leandros was faster.

Drawing his sword, Leandros finished off the monster without a moment's hesitation.

Leandros pulled out the dagger, which was turning white with frost on the monster's forehead, and threw it to Amelia.

"Well done, Amelia. ...Instead of residents, strange creatures have made their nests. Hide with Lady Amelia."

"Y-yes. Th-thank you for th-throwing it back."

Sounds similar to what the just-deceased monster had made began to be heard from everywhere.

Amelia pulled him and put him on Sleigh.

While heading to the outskirts of the city to find a hiding place, his mind became complicated.

"Why is this place in this state with only monsters? Where are the people?"

"W-well, all the o-other villages we've s-seen so far had n-no people either!"

"But the villages were intact. They didn't destroy places of residence!"

The city looked as if it had been mercilessly trampled by a giant.

If the Margrave or the Margrave's vassals were truly ruling here, this city should have been in better condition than other places.

But it had become even more miserable than other places.

As if deliberately done.

"...Deliberately."

For the descent of an ancient god, an appropriate price must be paid.

The north had paid the price and summoned the 'Lord of the Extreme Realm'.

But the 'Lord of the Extreme Realm' mentioned in the original work didn't have the power to destroy an entire city.

Pale blue flames, icy flames that freeze everything, Aphoom-Zhah, the Lord of the Extreme Realm, had no form.

A vast abstract concept resembling the form of a flame.

That was the true nature of Aphoom-Zhah.

Then why had this city become like this?

The north divided into five parts.

Five divided regions.

What if it was all for a purpose?

What if Aphoom-Zhah had taken only one of the five regions?

His heart grew cold.

Then, the ancient gods who descended in the remaining four regions...

When his thoughts reached that point, sounds were heard from all directions.

-Kyaak, Kiiik, Kik!

Unlike before, the cries seemed fearful rather than aggressive.

The sounds didn't come closer but rather receded.

All around became quiet in an instant.

Despite the monsters' retreat, the anxiety didn't subside.

Rather, it felt like the calm before a storm.

At that moment.

They discovered stars.

Two stars that looked like shining fireballs in the gray-white sky.

At first, he thought the weather had cleared.

The fireballs, buried in snow fog and clouds, slowly began to move.

Below the stars, at a dizzying height, there was a face too awful to behold.

It shouted.

The sound that reached his ears was indescribable.

He had the illusion that the sound a giant had been calling since ancient times had finally reached him now.

Time and space lost meaning.

The personality, the self, everything that constituted him as a human being here, felt like garbage in an instant.

This was a world where everyone was bound to go insane.

Despite knowing this, he felt like he would lose himself.

In this world, madness wasn't human misfortune.

It was the only weapon to protect humans from incomprehensible beings and to prevent the complete loss of self.

Amelia had her mouth open.

The dagger slipped from her hand, and her empty hand slowly rose to the sky.

Her body slowly tilted, but there was no strength left to resist, nor the mind to do so.

He should tell her to close her eyes.

This was the only final thought he could manage.

* * *

When the giant disappeared without noticing them, only Leandros remained standing.

He didn't exactly understand what he had seen with his own eyes.

But he clearly understood that it violated the laws of the world.

The laws that Leandros recognized were simple.

The weak are eaten, the strong survive, power and wealth reign over everything, and peace is a privilege enjoyed only by those who meet the conditions.

But those were just human laws.

Leandros felt his world being forcibly expanded.

From the fights between demonic beasts, Yurik, and humans, to an even broader realm.

Beings that might bare their fangs from the unknown at any time.

"Your Grace."

Leandros looked around like someone waking from a long sleep.

Russel was on his knees, praying.

He wasn't praying to escape fear.

He was simply offering praise of gratitude stemming from pure religious belief.

Watching Russel's lips move quickly without a moment's rest, Leandros staggered away.

He had to find Arenheit.

Demonic beasts and Yurik had threatened Arenheit.

The world was never generous to him, so if something happened, he had to protect him.

That was the Duchess's last will.

Because he couldn't hear anything after that.

So, protect her son, and someday when all this ends.

Ends?

When?

Leandros found Sleigh not far away.

The horse was sitting down.

Beside it, Arenheit was lying with a pale face.

"Your Grace."

His limping footsteps seemed broken.

Leandros, who had forgotten how to walk, knelt down beside Arenheit with a clatter.

His hand, bare of gloves, touched below the nose.

He could feel the breath, or maybe not.

Everything came a beat late.

Finally, Leandros placed his hand on the Duke's chest.

Beneath it, he could feel the presence of a faintly beating heart.

It seemed like it would disappear at any moment.

If this heart stopped here, now.

Would he be able to open his eyes again?

If he met that giant again, if the Duke fell into the giant's hands.

Would he be able to do anything then?

Rather than that, perhaps killing him once now, and then until he wakes up, to a safe place...

Just before strength entered Leandros's hand.

A shallow cough came from Arenheit.

"Ah. Damn. I hit my chest when I fell, crazy. How old am I to be doing this kind of..."

Arenheit, who had been rambling something, barely managed to sit up.

His pupils widened upon seeing Leandros, and then grew twice as large as he looked around.

"Why are you here? What happened?"

"Your Grace."

"The, the giant? Fortunately, the monster suddenly ran away. But then a giant appeared and I suddenly lost consciousness."

"Your Grace."

"Why is Amelia like that? She's swaying her body like a roly-poly toy. Leandros, go check on Amelia... Leandros?"

Arenheit stopped speaking.

Leandros couldn't guarantee what his face looked like.

But he had to speak.

He shouldn't hide anything from him.

"Can I do it?"

"Do what?"

"Can I continue to do it from now on?"

Anything. At any time.

Arenheit was silent after hearing Leandros's words.

A Duke couldn't fail to grasp his intention.

Then was the meaning of this silence a negation?

To Leandros, who had bowed his head, a single sentence reached him.

"You have to do it."

"......"

"No one else but you can be here. Neither I, nor Russel, nor Amelia or Arndt can do it."

"But."

"What's holding you back?"

Everything, Your Grace.

I'm different from you who finds everything easy.

If someday I become unable to protect you.

If I see you shattered, unable to keep the Duchess's words.

To Leandros's silence, Arenheit added.

"Even if you think you can't do it, I'll make it possible for you. Don't be intimidated with that face."

"Your Grace will do that for me?"

"Of course, I won't be able to teach you anything. I've never even held a sword. But instead, I'll help you until you believe you can do it yourself."

"How?"

"However I can. Even if I have to stake everything I have. I'll make you like that."

Leandros looked at Arenheit's hand.

It was a smooth hand without a single callus.

But looking at that hand, Leandros recalled a verse from a doctrine he had heard from someone once.

[Fear not, for I am with you. I am your God, I will strengthen you. Indeed, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.]

He couldn't count how many times he had been held.

But all of those were unconscious actions that Arenheit had done without calculation.

This was the first time Arenheit had called for him.

So Leandros responded to Arenheit's first grasp.

"I swear that my every word and action will be a tool solely for Your Grace's well-being."

Arenheit, hearing those words, looked like he didn't understand but smiled at him nonetheless.

For now, that was enough.

Leandros finally felt like he had come home.