Chapter 336: The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On (2)
…I was looking out the window. However, there was no view from the chairman’s office, only the sky. It couldn’t reach the objects on the ground, and it wasn’t on the same eyeline as the clouds but at a height full of emptiness.
“…Rain.”
Below, rain-drenched the world. Both in the modern age where Kim Woojin was and on the continent where Deculein lived, it rained. It rained even in the barren desert and the cold north.
“What do you want?”
Someone asked behind me. I turned around and looked back at him, Quay. He was sitting on the sofa for guests and writing his Revelation.
“Your defeat.”
“…Haha.”
Quay laughed and took up the Book of Revelation.
“What do you think? This is a new letter I’ll hand out to the believers, and I’ve half-mixed the divine language and the rune language.”
This must be Quay’s preparations. When the continent was destroyed, the world must be completely new. I took the book and interpreted it with Understanding.
“…A new beginning is with you. The new G.o.d blesses your births.”
“As expected. Your talent is impressive.”
Quay smiled.
“Is it the power of Understanding?”
“…”
Quay recited his thoughts even if I didn’t answer.
“I had a friend who had powers similar to yours.”
Quay’s friend. In other words, it meant a believer.
“Maybe I have the same power as your friend.”
“…Same power?”
“Because Understanding is a unique talent. There is only one in this world.”
Not one person, but one. A unique talent never went away or changed. Even after nearly ten thousand years had pa.s.sed, it remained as it was, waiting for the moment when it would be inherited.
“I have inherited it.”
…The moment of succession was quite absurd. It was when I modified Deculein’s settings with just a few clicks.
“…”
Quay silently watched me.
“Indeed. Deculein. Then, I’ll change the question. Do you want to live?”
Do you want to live? I never thought about it. Was what I was trying to do now a sacrifice, or was it just instinct?
“…It’s strange.”
I looked around. Sophisticated, delicate, splendid, antique… a high-cla.s.s office which all the fancy words suited, designed by Deculein’s personality. This place was as beautiful as that.
The death variable didn’t exist anywhere here.
“I want to die, but the energy of death isn’t moving.”
Was the Villain’s Destiny in jeopardy? Or was this the way I had to live? I wanted to die so much, but death was getting farther away.
“Really? So, is someone sacrificing for you?”
Quay murmured and grinned.
“Julie? Sophien? Or the Luna child? Or is it Yuli?”
“…”
“Will anything change when you die?”
Drip.
A smile spread across my lips as I watched the rain.
“You’re fretting, Quay.”
“…”
Quay’s face hardened.
“You already lost. Sophien, Epherene, Sylvia, Keiron… the whole continent will make it happen.”
Quay laughed, ruffling his hair.
“Even if I lose, there is no happy ending. Rather, this continent, and your people, will become unhappy.”
“That’s possible.”
Sacrifice was necessary for a cause. To break the chains of hatred, we needed a great evil to carry those chains. Therefore, there was no ending where everyone won.
“However.”
There was no paradise in a world that was only happy.
“Even if the dog barks, the caravan must move on.”
I stared at Quay. He smiled, confident of his victory.
“A mere barking dog will lose to a honk.”
b E/N: This sounds better in Korean.}
* * *
Deculein and his forces insisted on the Empire’s expansion. The kingdoms of the continent, starting with Reok, could already be cooperating with the Altar, so they were unreliable. It was the so-called Continental Unification System, which was to strike first and then gather forces to destroy the Altar.
Emperor Sophien was silent. Whether she was reluctant to face Deculein’s powers or whether the might of those powers exceeded her expectations, she locked herself in her boudoir.
Deculein didn’t wait. Only by his will had the Demon Blood ma.s.sacre resumed. However, it wasn’t a direct slaughter but an extinction through the canvas. Demon Bloods from all over the Empire were pulled up, and the Imperial Knights and the Knights of Hadekain marched into the desert and captured thousands more. While there, they found a ledger.
It was a ledger containing the names of all the Demon Blood’s allies.
“Nonsense—!”
This was the residence of the old man Romellock. The mansion was too simple and shabby for his family’s prestige, which had been the main pillar of the political world for generations.
“When did I get along with the Demon Blood—! Do you think you will be safe even with such plotting—!”
Lawaine watched Romellock fight the knights pinning him with sorrow in his eyes.
“How dare the wild dogs of Deculein enter here—! Let go—! Let go—!”
The knights ignored him, throwing him in front of Deculein on his knees.
“T-This!”
Romellock looked up at Deculein with wide, shaking eyes. Deculein shrugged.
“I can’t help it, Romellock. Your name is written on the ledger.”
“Y-Y-You b.a.s.t.a.r.d—!”
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d?”
Deculein froze the saliva spattered from Romellock’s mouth with Psychokinesis and continued.
“You can’t find a loyalist like me in the empire.”
“Loyalist?! Saying that you are loyal—”
“For Her Majesty, for the sake of this Empire, I’m catching the Demon Bloods.”
Deculein looked around. All the knights next to him wore mad smiles except Delric.
He wore a bitter smile but now wasn’t the right time.
“Reok has already gone to the Altar, Romellock. The Princ.i.p.ality of Yuren is obsessed with crazy ideas. It happened because they weren’t attached to the Empire.”
“Deculein! Aren’t you also a dog of the Altar?”
“Why would I serve the Altar? I just want to find and kill those who will betray the kingdom to the Demon Blood and the Altar.”
“T-This….”
For a moment, Romellock’s expression hardened as Deculein showed him the ledger.
“Your name is written here. No, not just yours.”
Romellock’s breathing became rough, and Deculein’s smile grew even deeper.
“There are several of your servants’ names.”
Deculein ran his finger across the names one by one.
“This guy overlooked the Demon Blood’s sins, and this guy made a deal with them, and this guy even sponsored them.”
“…Doesn’t even your conscience feel guilty after doing this? So blatantly manipulating….”
“Well. It’s not manipulation, so I can’t tell.”
Deculein grinned.
“Detain them. All the guys on this ledger.”
“…Be content with me, Deculein.”
Romellock clenched his teeth.
“How long will this go on? You are out of control.”
“Out of control?”
“Yes. I’m sure you can see yourself in the mirror.”
Romellock couldn’t afford to shout anymore. In a low voice, he begged Deculein for mercy. No, he was giving him advice.
“…You also need a way out of this hole. It will be difficult to resist if Her Majesty moves, even for a Yukline. Do not underestimate the power of the Imperial Family.”
But Deculein laughed.
“Do I hear a dog barking?”
At that moment, Romellock’s eyes grew bloodshot. He roared like a beast and pulled out a dagger, but a knight struck him in the back of the head with his scabbard.
Romellock fainted.
“…Hmph.”
Deculein scoffed and looked at the knight. It was Delric.
“That was useless. It was a chance to kill him.”
“…I’m sorry.”
As he bowed his head to Deculein, his eyes roamed over the fainted Romellock.
“Forget it. Let’s go.”
-Yes!
Deculein left with the knights like some emperor, and Delric raised his face again. He stared at Deculein’s back as he left.
“…”
Delric, standing there with his eyes shaking, was special to Lawaine.
“Ahem.”
However, before Lawaine could even approach Delric, Lia stole the drop on him. Before he knew it, she stood beside Delric and handed a small note over to the knight. Then, she walked back and gave Lawaine a wink. They needed to get going too.
“…Okay.”
Lawaine answered, Lia smiled, and Deculein moved.
…That way, the caravan was slowly moving on.
* * *
Back in the mansion of Yukline.
When I got home, I looked around the study. This place was full of books, including tomes on magic, history, and my writings. The magic theory books I invented would be of great help to this continent. They were devoted to post-war restoration.
“…”
I reached out.
Thud—
And dropped a book while trying to get it out. My hands were shaking. I’d only used a small amount of Psychokinesis, but now that was too much.
“…?”
At that moment, a certain warmth touched my back. I turned my head alone to find Julie hugging me tightly.
“…What are you doing?”
“Your back looked cold.”
“…”
My back looked cold. It wasn’t cold, but it didn’t feel bad, so I let her stay.
Then I mumbled.
“It seems to be getting warmer.”
Julie buried her face in my back, wrapping her arms around my stomach and clasping her hands tight. The scent of forget-me-nots lingered in the air around her.
She’d been wearing their scent ever since.
“Professor.”
“…What.”
“I love you.”
Even with that confession, my heart didn’t tremble. I just smiled.
Julie asked.
“Do you have one month left? Or is it two?”
“…I don’t know. I didn’t count.”
“I will be by your side until the end.”
Her voice contained no lies. This was the woman who could make Deculein act so irrationally, with just the merest glance…
I released her hug and turned around.
“I’m glad I’m not alone.”
“…Is that so?”
Slowly reaching out my hand to her face as she smiled…
* * *
“…The end.”
Sylvia turned off the crystal ball. Those watching screamed.
“No! Why all of a sudden?!”
“I think you can show us again.”
As Jackal and Carla glared at her, Arlos cleared her throat.
“Ahem. I must check the performance of my doll. To do anything-“
“Shut up.”
“…”
Arlos moved her lips but made no further sounds.
“Can’t I watch?”
Julie intervened, her face steaming like a bun.
“Can’t I watch?”
“Don’t even think about it.”
Sylvia shook her head.
“…But.”
“Don’t be mistaken. That Julie isn’t you. Do not equate yourselves. Everyone, go to work.”
Sylvia waved her hands to shoo them off. There were so many people in this painting prison now. Too many. Thanks to Zeit, it was being controlled to a certain extent, but it required enormous effort to form a basic organization system. Of course, Deculein had even predicted their internal situation, sending new people to control the population. Though there was a sense, he sent the most capable bureaucrats first.
“You’re doing this because you’re angry, right? I know it all.”
Arlos said. Sylvia glanced sideways at her.
“Gosh, I’m going, I’m going.”
Sylvia was no less than a G.o.d in this world, so with that single glance, Arlos gave up. She ran from Sylvia’s mansion.
“…Tsk.”
But, frankly, it was true. Sylvia was angry. If Deculein started a relationship with someone, she didn’t want to see it, and she hated it. But she wanted him to be happy, even just a little bit, so all she could do was turn off the screen.
“But.”
However, Sylvia looked at Deculein now and made one promise.
“You’re not going to die that easily.”
She knew now what he intended, to become the greatest evil and break all the chains of hatred with his death.
“Because we don’t want that kind of sacrifice.”
However, Sylvia’s drawing of this prison served two purposes. One was to preserve the continent’s life, and the other was…
“Just like you saved me like you saved Epherene, and you saved Julie.”
Giving back even a little bit of what she received from Deculein – that was it.