Chapter 185

Arndt was supporting the drooping Verde as they escaped the castle.

Just as Arenheit had said, there were no people to be seen at all. No servants guarding the hall, no clerks going about palace business.

How had it come to this?

Arndt remembered the moment when knights had stormed into the Hartmann townhouse.

Had their conspiracy with His Grace or Verde been discovered? Arndt had tried to act as dignified as possible, but when they seized him, forced him to his knees, and said they had "caught" him, he realized things were going badly.

The knights said they were arresting those related to the family in connection with Duke Arenheit's charges of regicide.

And as Duke Arenheit's attendant, he would be a very important witness.

But the scene he saw after leaving the underground prison was very strange.

The quiet royal palace. Verde, who had become half a wreck. The Great Hall reeking of decay.

What was happening?

Of course, having doubts wouldn't solve anything. All he could do now was grit his teeth and escape the castle with Verde.

Just in case, Arndt chose to move only along the back paths that castle servants often used.

It had been worthwhile to deliberately poke around various parts of the royal palace during Arenheit's investiture ceremony to learn the layout.

As Arndt gritted his teeth and struggled toward the modest back gate, there was a rustling sound from beyond the closed gate that then subsided.

His steps stopped momentarily.

What was that just now?

Was there a person? Or an animal?

Arndt cautiously approached the gate. Since the gate was made of iron, it shouldn't be too dangerous if he kept this distance.

The moment Arndt put his face between the iron bars to look beyond the gate.

His gaze met a pair of black eyes the size of palms.

Eyes that were completely black without any whites stared at Arndt. Arndt was blankly looking at this sight when he unconsciously thought.

Why are there eyes here?

As if reading his thoughts, the eyes grinned.

A thin crack split horizontally across the eyes. Inside, writhing flesh was wrapped in sticky liquid.

Holes began bursting open on the flesh that was bulging and contracting like breathing, accompanied by popping sounds.

-Waaah, waaah, mama.

The sound of a child crying came from the holes.

The gasping holes were writhing and emitting heart-wrenching cries.

That wasn't human. It wasn't a child either. But what was that thing making crying sounds?

A drop of cold sweat ran down Arndt's neck.

When he didn't move from beyond the gate, the crying subsided, and now different sounds began.

-Please save me! Please help me, sob, is no one there? Is no one there? I'm in here, please help me!

Arndt couldn't move a single step.

Sounds continued to come from the flesh hidden beneath those eyes. Screams begging for rescue, children's cries, and occasionally men's pleas for help mixed together.

Arndt knew that the owners of these voices weren't trapped beneath those eyes, beneath that flesh.

Those sounds... were recordings.

They were recordings of actual sounds someone had made.

People who couldn't possibly be here were remembering the voices that had cried for help.

When his thoughts reached that point, goosebumps rose all over his body. As Arndt stepped back, the black eyes and flesh riddled with holes approached.

-Save me, save me! I was wrong. I did everything wrong. Dear God, please save me, please, please, ahhh!

What was happening outside the castle?

How could this demonic beast remember such sounds?

Why had His Grace told them not to go outside but to stay near the castle?

Stumbling backward and tripping over something, he sat down heavily and frantically pushed Verde behind him while gasping for breath.

Would it come over that gate?

Would it break through and come to devour him?

The thing pressed against the iron gate was rubbing the flesh that was emitting sounds, tempting Arndt.

This sound was bait.

Bait aimed at humans weak to sympathy.

Simple and effective bait that only worked on humans.

The soft, large eyes and flesh began squeezing through the bars.

Part of the demonic beast groped along the high wall, trying to climb over, raising its body and increasing its volume.

Arndt had given up the thought of running away and was watching the scene in dismay. His legs had long since lost their strength.

When it finally managed to lift its heavy body over the wall.

-Squelch.

It was a sound that didn't fit the situation.

But Arndt clearly witnessed part of the demonic beast seeping through the wall.

The demonic beast began flowing down inside the wall. But the wall, the white stone floor, wouldn't allow it.

Squelch, squelch. With sounds like something being chewed, the demonic beast was gradually disappearing before Arndt's eyes. The eyes and the flesh that had been making sounds melted away through the stone cracks of the wall, between the dirt of the stone floor.

Meanwhile, the greedy squelching sounds continued.

The voices of men, women, children, and elderly people rapidly repeated through the holes in the flesh, then eventually mixed completely until only screams that couldn't be identified as anyone's began emerging.

Only after the demonic beast's black eyes were swallowed did Arndt seem to come to his senses, screaming as he frantically pushed Verde toward a nearby flower bed.

The stones were eating the demonic beast.

* * *

"Strictly speaking, it's not just the main palace. Father was too large to build just one castle, and we had to make it rather spacious in preparation for times like this. In the end, what remained after constructing the main palace was laid on the floor."

"What do you mean by 'times like this'?"

"When Father awakens. Of course."

"Why go to such lengths?"

"Father needs magical power to awaken. A great deal of it."

Common sense didn't apply in this world.

The same was true for the man before him.

He had scraped together the being called father to build a castle and had lived within it.

Just hearing this fact left Arenheit somewhat nauseated.

Indeed, Yurik was not in his right mind.

"It doesn't seem like you only tampered with the royal palace."

"Of course. Including the ancient one the Duke encountered in Gallo and Valentine, everything was my plan. Do you know, Duke? I don't fight losing wars. I just said that magical power is needed to awaken Father. The people in the royal palace alone wouldn't be nearly enough. One must be prepared to sacrifice at least an entire nation."

"Why?"

"Unfortunately, the magical power each ordinary person possesses is very small. But humans... reproduction is their specialty, isn't it? If you provide them with safe spaces and give them land where they can produce daily bread, they multiply on their own."

"You're going to gather tears to make an ocean?"

"Wouldn't that work? But contrary to the Duke's thoughts, the demonstration seems to have already ended successfully."

Yurik smiled and extended his hand.

"Shall I show you one more interesting thing? Would you like to go higher?"

"Before that, I have one more question. If you were going to do this anyway, why are you so obsessed with Leandros?"

"You really communicate well with me. You're drawing out the inner thoughts I've never been able to confide anywhere. Really, it would have been nice if I'd met you about a thousand years earlier."

What crazy talk.

Arenheit eventually took Yurik's extended hand.

As he led him toward the main castle, Yurik continued.

"Sir Leandros was the first human I wanted to keep by my side."

"The first?"

"Yes. The first. All humans are the same. Duke, imagine a long corridor. A gallery so long you can't see the end. You're standing there, and there are countless paintings hanging on both walls."

What was he suddenly talking about?

"At regular intervals, paintings of regular size are hanging in abundance. They continue hanging all the way to the end of the gallery. But if they're all the same still life paintings, how would you feel?"

"Not all humans are the same. Even if they look similar, each would have different aspects."

"But to my eyes, they're all the same. Begonias, daffodils, lilies, marigolds, petunias, tulips - each flower may be different, but they're all flowers, aren't they? Can you imagine what happens when you walk through a gallery filled entirely with flower still lifes?"

"What happens?"

"You go mad."

It was a casual remark.

Arenheit thought about that scene and said.

"So Leandros wasn't like that."

"He's the one masterpiece hanging among the still lifes. A landscape painting so beautiful that anyone who sees it would be captivated. A work that makes you inevitably stand before it for a long time, even knowing that what you want is at the end of this gallery."

"Leandros is a person. Not a painting."

"In terms of being captivating, they're the same."

"So do you admire him?"

"If this emotion can be called admiration, then yes. Is the desire to make him immortal and keep him by my side admiration? I'm quite clumsy with human emotions."

"Usually that's called obsession."

"Yes, then let's call it obsession. Anyway, the reason I've staked everything on him isn't simply to look at him."

"Then?"

"It's painful to have your feet bound when you have somewhere to go. So I want him to end this conflict."

They were already climbing stairs.

His breathing gradually became labored and his legs heavy, but he couldn't fall behind.

Yurik was exactly two steps above him.

"I'll be faithful to my duty, but at the same time I hope he'll end it. Will my longing for Father win? Or will the savior who'll end this long, long hesitation win? That's something we'll have to see."

"You're the only one... who thinks of Leandros... as a savior."

"That's not true. Leandros was already being called the hero of Gallo. What about in the south? He's already a hero."

He didn't know the details of what had happened in the south, but Leandros had certainly done something that pleased Yurik.

Had he defeated that god in the south?

The place he reached after climbing with all his might, gripping the wall, was the tower of the main castle.

The tower from which one could look down at anything from the highest point in the royal palace.

Wind fiercely swept through the large windows of the tower, washing over his red hair. The scenery visible from there was...

"Quite impressive, isn't it?"

Yurik asked.

Looking at the sight of smoke rising and hordes of demonic beasts marching like black clustered ants.

Looking down at the capital where the waterways were stained red with blood and human existence could only be proven by sticky bloodstains.

He wasn't frightened. Even knowing that Yurik could throw him among them.

It was a cruel scene, but perhaps because of that, it felt more like a world within fiction.

Verde's words suddenly came to mind.

-Please pity other people. People other than Your Grace are just ordinary people. Please understand the pain of the people Your Grace meets.

"Crown Prince Yurik. You said you raised the kingdom's people like livestock."

"To me, now seems like the right time for slaughter. Is something wrong?"

"It's not that. But, how should I put it."

When he turned around, he could see Yurik standing in the center of the tower.

The wind swept over them once more.

Looking at him, Arenheit voiced the thought he had only vaguely harbored.

"I really hate you. No one, including myself, will save you. Because you don't deserve it."

"You speak as if you're some prophet of God, Duke."

"I'm not a prophet of God, and of course I don't have the force to bring about your downfall here. I'm just the weak and sickly duke you thought I was. But I've finally decided. I hate you."

Yurik still wore a smiling expression.

He knew his declaration wouldn't have much effect on him.

But he had to say these words.

"You don't know others' pain. You don't try to know it and don't want to understand it. You may have given them land, but living was their responsibility. You just robbed them of it. Crown Prince, you're a coward."

"Do you ask livestock for their opinion when eating meat? Do you ask grain for its opinion when harvesting? Just as humans did to livestock and grain, I too simply harvested what I raised."

"You don't take responsibility."

"Duke, there's no immaculate life in this world. Even ancient ones are born by receiving believers' blood, so how could mere humans be pure?"

"You didn't even try. No one ever taught you. I had people who taught me that, but you didn't."

"Do you think so? Many lives gave me lessons. But you know what? Priests who say all creatures are equal under God's name declare holy wars and invade other countries. Lovers who swear eternal love have their hearts stolen by beautiful strangers, and humans who lived helping each other in the same village throw stones at the weak and push crimes they didn't commit onto them when trouble arises."

"......"

"Duke, you're very sympathetic. Because you harbor such useless compassion, you're dying here now."

Suddenly, there was something wrong with the position from which he was looking at Yurik.

Looking down, the floor was swallowing his feet like a swamp.

The floor, which had already covered up to his insteps, was constantly sucking him in while being too solid to pull out carelessly.

Yurik looked kindly at him sinking downward.

"Returning to our earlier conversation, about magical power. Yes. Making an ocean from tears. But now is a time when even a single tear is precious. But do you know? The Hartmann bloodline has always possessed more vast magical power than ordinary people."

"Yurik den Menadia!"

"You're especially special. It must be because the former Duchess raised you that way. It's no exaggeration to say that everything composing your body is a crystallization of magical power. Really, you're a precious human to me. If it had been before ancient ones were reviving everywhere, I would have certainly torn your limbs apart and thrown them to those creatures. Then they could have awakened earlier."

Having sunk up to his shins and knees, Yurik had to kneel on one knee to speak to him.

Watching him being helplessly sucked in, Yurik pointed to the stone tablet he had been holding all along.

"When you're half sucked in, I'll crack your head to draw blood before Father devours you completely. Until I can thoroughly soak this stone tablet with your blood. And when the stone tablet, the 'Book of Life,' gains power from your blood and awakens Father, then everything will be over."

"You're insane."

"Didn't you hear earlier? I've been mad for a long time."

Yurik hummed softly.

Watching him sink lower and lower, he seemed to think it was enough and raised the stone tablet.

"Farewell, Duke. Of course, you'll come back to life even if you die. But what about inside Father's body?"

This was bad. This was going to hurt terribly.

No matter how many times he had died for regression, he didn't want his head cracked while conscious.

The moment he squeezed his eyes shut at the sight of the thick stone tablet.

An ominous sound grew at a fierce speed from somewhere,

-CRASH!

A sharp chunk of ice that flew from somewhere completely blew away the tower's ceiling.

Despite the stones and flying ice fragments hitting his face, there was one name that immediately came to mind.

"Leandros!"

White ice stretched across where the ceiling had been.

A black knight stepping down on the shattered tower debris.

Leandros and Yurik had encountered each other in the story's final chapter.