Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: The Guide's Gift (6)
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Niberis had returned to the Dark Snowfields, but the wounds she sustained from Azel were so severe that it took her four days just to regain consciousness. Even after that, she had to refrain from moving and focus entirely on her treatment.
Two weeks passed like that.
Niberis was now at the Sanctuary of the Dead, located north of the Dragon Demon Palace. It was a place of eternal rest where only those honored in the Dark Snowfields were laid to rest.
From what she had heard, this space had once been extremely barren. It was a vast area large enough to hold a military parade for a thousand soldiers, yet there were scarcely any graves. That was only natural.
But as time went on, the tombstones gradually increased one by one. Even now, much of the space remained empty, but over three hundred tombstones was no small number.
Among them was the one Niberis sought.
‘Tomb of Dragon Demon Prince Saibain, Elberis’
Below it were all sorts of flowery phrases praising the deceased.
Buried here was Niberis’s mother. Far younger than Saibain, she had been frail despite being a Dragon Demon. While those treated as nobles in the Dark Snowfields all fulfilled duties befitting their status, she could do nothing. She simply withered away in this frozen land isolated from the world.
Niberis remembered the stories about her father that she had heard from her mother in her childhood.
‘It’s a silly story, but your father was truly like a prince. In human tales, they call such a man a prince on a white horse.’
In Niberis’s memories, Elberis always looked exhausted and weary. It wasn’t just because of her frailty. She lived under constant pressure. Unable to fulfill her duties as a noble, those around her always pressured her to at least bear many children.
In her childhood, Niberis had enjoyed a relatively free position compared to Kirien or Jephers. As the only child of Saibain and Elberis, there was no competition for the successor’s seat. Moreover, Saibain wasn’t a particularly strict father, so he didn’t throw her into suffering.
The hardships from her early years were ones Niberis had chosen for herself.
The so-called elders around her didn’t hesitate to hurl insulting words at her mother, saying that if she couldn’t fulfill her duties, she should at least bear many heirs to their great bloodline. Each time she heard such words, a fire ignited in her young heart. She thought that if she proved herself capable as one worthy of their noble blood through her own efforts, her mother wouldn’t have to endure such talk.
Elberis had said,
‘If not for your father, I might have died much sooner. Back then, it felt like living in a cold prison. But after meeting your father, I could finally breathe.’
Saibain was a gentle man. Their marriage had been purely political. Saibain, who had lived since the Dragon Emperor War, and Elberis, born after the remnants of the Dragon Demon King’s army settled in the Dark Snowfields, were over a hundred years apart in age. And Saibain hadn’t even known her face before the marriage talks began.
Yet Saibain loved Elberis, his wife. He treated her with heartfelt care and didn’t hesitate to do foolish things just to make her smile.
Saibain went missing after Elberis’s death. At the time, Niberis was in hibernation, and when she awoke, she was greeted by the tragic news of her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance.
‘Mother, I… lost the person Father left me with.’
Niberis spoke to her mother’s grave in her heart.
‘He would have done anything for me… but I couldn’t do anything for him.’
After losing her parents, Niberis’s heart had frozen over. She gave her affection to no one and continued her relentless pursuit of power, aloof and ruthless, as befitting her lineage.
But now, cracks had formed in the cold walls that guarded her heart. After suffering a complete defeat against Azel with no excuses and losing Durang, she no longer knew what to do or how.
“…….”
Lost in thought, Niberis flinched. A chilling aura stimulated her senses.
[Hmm.]
It was a voice laced with the eerie resonance unique to the Undying. Where Niberis’s gaze turned stood a Dragon Demon Undying far larger than any other, a giant over three meters tall.
[Did I interrupt? My apologies.]
The Undying, taking the form of a skull knight, spoke cautiously, which somehow felt grotesque. But Niberis, a black magician, quickly composed herself and greeted him gracefully.
“It is an honor to meet you, Duke Reygus.”
The massive Undying was none other than Reygus, the legendary Dragon Demon General of the Dragon Emperor War. Reygus raised a hand to scratch his cheek, then flinched.
[Ah, damn. This habit of mine just won’t go away.]
Even after some time since awakening as an Undying, his old habits from life emerged naturally. He awkwardly lowered his hand and spoke.
[You’re Saibain’s daughter, Miss Niberis, right?]
“Yes.”
[Pleasure to meet you. I’m Reygus.]
It was their first meeting. But Reygus’s existence was known to all in the Dark Snowfields, so Niberis recognized him at once.
[I actually came because I had something to ask you… but it seems like bad timing. I’ll put it off for now.]
“Something you wish to ask me?”
Niberis looked at him puzzled. What on earth could he want to ask her?
Reygus didn’t answer and strode toward the tombstone. He muttered,
[It’s funny for a walking corpse to wander a graveyard… but so many familiar names here.]
Initially, the Sanctuary of the Dead only buried those who died after the remnants of the Dragon Demon King’s army retreated to the Dark Snowfields. But as time passed, they created graves to honor those who had died gloriously in the Dragon Emperor War long ago, even without their bodies, out of a sense of duty to commemorate their spirits.
Silence flowed. Reygus turned his body and said,
[Sorry for the interruption. I’ll visit again at a better time.]
“No… you can speak now.”
Niberis turned to follow him and said,
“As long as we change locations.”
[Thank you.]
Reygus strode ahead. Then he suddenly looked back.
[Ah, damn. I always forget how pointlessly fast my steps are. Same in life and now.]
Reygus’s massive frame meant huge strides, making him walk very quickly. In the past, his adjutant Charnes had to trot to keep up, and even now as an old man, that habit lingered—though Reygus had never particularly accommodated Charnes on that front. But this was different. A man could suffer or not, it didn’t matter, but a young lady deserved respect.
The two left the Sanctuary of the Dead and walked. As they traversed the wide corridor filled with cold air, Niberis asked,
“What is it you wish to hear from me?”
[Well… I heard that you inherited Saibain’s Dragon Demon Armament, the Tome of Dark Souls.]
At those words, Niberis flinched. It was already widely known in the Dark Snowfields, so there was no reason for surprise, but perhaps because she had just been reminiscing at her mother’s grave, a complex mood washed over her.
Reygus said,
[From your report, you didn’t meet Saibain directly.]
“…Yes.”
It was during the mission when Laura was deployed to kidnap Seiga. Under orders from above, Niberis had gone searching for her missing father Saibain. After persistent searches, she had finally tracked down his whereabouts.
However, it wasn’t a place one could easily approach. It was the Demonic Realm, known to be as difficult to scout from outside as the Dark Snowfields themselves. The leadership had sent forces multiple times to find Saibain, but they either vanished without a trace or returned as corpses.
Niberis was deployed for that perilously dangerous mission for two reasons: she was Saibain’s daughter, and she was deemed capable of escaping even if danger struck.
But in the end, Niberis failed to meet Saibain.
“You’ve probably heard already… it was truly bizarre.”
[A dragon passed on the Dragon Demon Armament, or so the report said.]
“It was a Water Dragon.”
A Water Dragon, which lived in water and could freely manipulate its flow, appeared before her. And it transmitted Saibain’s Dragon Demon Armament, the Tome of Dark Souls.
“I even doubted if it was a dream. I couldn’t have imagined such a thing was possible. But… when the Water Dragon withdrew, I had inherited the Tome of Dark Souls, and faintly, Father’s will lingered within it.”
That will simply conveyed the intent to take it and return. Not in the form of a voice, just a feeling, so it was hard to even speculate if Saibain was alive.
But somehow, it felt like she had to obey. Niberis returned to the Dark Snowfields with only the achievement of the Tome of Dark Souls.
[I see…]
Regret tinged Reygus’s voice. Hearing it directly convinced him Niberis wasn’t lying.
[Thank you for telling me. Sorry again for interrupting your important time. Well then…]
“Wait.”
Niberis stopped him. As Reygus turned, she peered into the emotionless sockets of his skull and asked,
“By any chance, the humans…”
[Humans?]
“Long ago. When His Majesty waged the holy war to reshape the world rightly…”
Niberis brought up the Dragon Emperor War but hesitated briefly. She had impulsively stopped Reygus, but now she wavered on whether to ask what she had in mind. In the end, curiosity won.
“…By any chance, did the humans call Father by an insulting nickname?”
[Insulting nickname? What do you mean?]
“Well…”
Niberis hesitated again. The first time she heard it, her blood had boiled in reverse. Saying it herself felt humiliating.
“The Doofus Prince… or something.”
<…>
Reygus fell silent for a moment. Niberis looked at him embarrassedly, but with no expression on the Undying’s face, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
After a while, Reygus asked in a grave tone.
[Who told you that nickname?]