Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Ghosts of the Past (5)
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The Dark Snowfields were vast. The Demonic Realm, untouched by human hands, was immense, and within it, the Dragon Demon Worshippers expanded their sphere of activity centered around the Dragon Demon Palace left behind by Atein. Using human slaves as labor, they built new structures, resulting in a scattered setup resembling a small kingdom.
Moreover, it was a land of severe cold. Unless they had no choice but to live in such infertile ground, no one would seek to build a civilization here. Everything froze year-round, and when blizzards raged, even those with superhuman strength hesitated to venture out on long journeys.
Whooooosh....
Snow was falling. From outside the Dark Snowfields, it poured down in such an enormous quantity that one's jaw would drop. Walking through such snow would turn anyone into a snowman before ten steps.
In fact, a snowman was trudging through the piled-up snow.
It was a bizarre sight. A figure over a meter deep in snow, or rather, what looked like nothing more than a snowball, pushed forward.
"Cute, isn't it, Reigas?"
A hazy, phantom-like presence floated around the large snowball. In the snow, the silhouette of a person faded to pure white, almost like a snow fairy.
The snowball that Reigas had become replied.
[Cute? Where's the cute part?]
"The fact that you don't know how cute you are makes you even cuter. You're cuter now than when you were alive. If you hadn't married the King, I might have wanted to hold you myself, but now it's an impossible dream. Such a shame."
[I can never figure out what you're thinking now compared to when you were alive, Queen Kayalia.]
"Hmm. I thought about it on the way. Drop the formal speech. And don't call me Queen. It's been so long since I died—what queen?"
The white silhouette giggled. Amid the swirling snow, she appeared as a girl of about fifteen by human standards. But between her platinum hair, which melted and scattered like snowflakes, protruded rocky grayish-white horns, her ears were long, and embedded in the back of her hand was a bluish-gray Dragon Demon Stone matching her eyes.
Reigas brushed the snow from his face and spoke.
[So, what should I call you?]
"Just Kayalia. In return, I'll call you big brother. How's that?>
[That's a proposal too tempting to refuse. Fine. Kayalia.]
"Yes. Reigas big brother."
[Oh, what a beautiful ring to it. But aren't you chattier now that you're dead than when you were alive?]
"Pot calling the kettle black, isn't it? Besides, only you can see and hear me anyway. The best way to alleviate loneliness is chit-chat."
[If you wanted to talk to someone, wouldn't you nag me anyway?]
"I have to save those chances. You said to keep my existence a secret as much as possible, right? So I'm pondering who to talk to."
[It's coming into view now.]
Reigas suddenly said. Over the hill, the grand silhouette of the Dragon Demon Palace appeared.
Kayalia, who over 220 years ago had been one of Dragon Demon King Atein's queens, gazed at the Dragon Demon Palace with distant eyes and asked.
"Is it like the villages we saw on the way?"
[Even worse.]
"Well, Sister Ainsera was always so rigid. No wonder it's gotten even more so under her rule."
[Still calling her 'sister'?]
"That's why she hates it."
[You're as twisted as ever. Good that you haven't changed even after death.]
"You're the one who seems more twisted, big brother. Anyway, we really fought to create such a boring world. No wonder the King thought it wasn't right after trying it."
[Don't say that where others might hear you. They worship you like a goddess down there.]
"A goddess. Not exactly pleasing. I always hated them anyway. Now that I have no responsibilities, I can hate them openly without worry, right?"
Kayalia laughed like a spoiled human girl.
For a while, Reigas looked around the Dark Snowfields from outside the Dragon Demon Palace. Partly to see how the world had changed, but his real purpose was to find Kayalia, who was now clinging to him. Her existence was also part of Atein's arrangements.
The Dark Snowfields, over 220 years ago, were a distorted miniature of the world they had sought to create through the Dragon Emperor War. At the top of the hierarchy were the Dragon Demon Race, followed by Dragon Demon Hybrids, with humans at the very bottom.
The atmosphere of such a society was, surprisingly, nothing special. It was merely steeped in fanaticism, appearing no different from human society with a few components swapped out.
No, actually, it seemed even worse. The society formed by those who deified Atein and harbored fanaticism toward him was overly stagnant. Over time, irrational madness became rationalized, and the members converged on it without even rebelling.
"Neither the Dragon Demon Race nor humans... nothing's changed."
[Always the same. We all despaired over it.]
"Even back then, I thought it was a pipe dream... but the Dragon Demon Race were rotten from the start. How could they twist the King's ideals to suit themselves like that?"
Kayalia was a close aide who knew and understood Atein's entire plan. That was why she sighed, knowing the system now in place in the Dark Snowfields was far from Atein's vision.
‘When beings form groups, dividing them by superiority is the nature of life, so place the clearly superior Dragon Demon Race as the ruling class and establish a rational system. Thereby, the Dragon Demon Race controls their desires, performs more duties to maintain society, and earns respect from the members.
In this society, humans will be equal. They won't suffer from innate status, nor despise each other based on physical superiority or wealth.'
...That was Atein's basic plan. At a glance, it resembled the society built in the Dark Snowfields, but the details were entirely different.
Currently, in the Dark Snowfields, the Dragon Demon Race held the position of human nobles. They enjoyed more privileges and viewed humans as inferior and lowly. Even among the Dragon Demon Race, they divided by bloodline and origin... so what difference was there from humans?
The ‘ruling class' Atein envisioned was not like this. If one looked for alignments with the original plan, it was only that they operated society. And now, thinking back, the ‘Dragon Demon Race as ruling class' that Atein imagined was a phantom that could not exist in reality.
"Big brother, I have a question."
[What is it?]
"During that war, did everyone really believe this was the answer to erasing the world's sorrows?"
[We did.]
The societal structure of the Dark Snowfields that Kayalia called a ‘boring world' was the result of Atein's followers arbitrarily interpreting the solution he proposed for building an ideal society. Atein and the Dragon Demon Generals believed this class structure would overcome the world's myriad tragedies and sorrows, but... was that truly the case?
Kayalia perched on Reigas's shoulder, resting her chin in her hand as she spoke.
"If the King had won and ruled directly, would it have been different?"
[Who knows. Even if the King had achieved his goal, I doubt it would have been much different.]
"So he acknowledged failure?"
[He thought he knew everything about humans but knew nothing. So now he must learn. That's what the King said.]
"He was truly grand."
[Hm?]
"Everything he did was on an enormous scale. His achievements were grand, his mistakes were grand, even his nuisances were grand... that's why he was a bit cute."
[...I can't understand how you arrive at that conclusion.]
"It's fine. You don't have to understand. That's what makes you cute, big brother."
<......>
Reigas shook the snow from his head and asked.
[I have something to ask you too.]
"What is it?"
[Why did you die?]
"Hmm? Because I lost in battle. You died before me, big brother—what's with that?"
[Queen Ainsera said you went missing during the escape from the Dragon Horn Citadel on the way here. Why?]
"That sister, really."
Kayalia pouted. As she flung herself into the air, she said.
"I just hated everything."
[Hated everything?]
"I wanted to quit it all. I was originally human, and though I once thought humans were a rotten race, there were definitely people I liked."
Kayalia's eyes turned to past memories. As Atein's concubine and formerly one of his prized disciples, she was an exceptionally special existence in the entire Dragon Demon King army.
"But because of my position, I kept doing things I hated. We fought to erase sorrow from the world, but it seemed like more and more people were crying. Azel big brother said so."
[Azel big brother? You mean Azel Karzark?]
Reigas looked at Kayalia in surprise.
"Yeah. He told me not to call him old man, so big brother."
[You called him that?]
"Not to his face. But in my heart, it was always Azel big brother. It was so sad that we had to fight each other to the death."
[Heh, I had no idea you two had that kind of relationship.]
"No one did."
[Hmm. A hidden story, how intriguing.]
"Women have many secrets."
[I want to hear it slowly. So, what did he say?]
"That I knew how high the mountain of corpses I'd piled up with my own hands was. That I knew what I was doing but kept doing it."
[Common words.]
"Right? I could ignore others, but when that big brother said it, it stabbed right into my heart. With eyes like a true hero, he charged desperately to save the world we'd ruined, and I thought, ‘Is this why I kept doing things I hated?'"
Kayalia hugged her knees while floating in the air. She spun round and round amid the scattering snowflakes.
[So you threw the fight?]
"I didn't throw it."
[Really?]
"You really... You got defeated yourself, why pick on me?"
[Hmm. Weren't you special?]
"At that time, Azel big brother was ridiculously strong. Even the King lost in a real swordfight, not because he threw it."
[I'm a bit skeptical about that.]
"You didn't see his true power, big brother. He grew at a frightening speed even after you died."
[True, his growth rate was miraculous. Anyway, fine. But did you really have to go missing alone and die?]
"You're right. I was half-dazed, stuck with the remnants, and everyone was half-mad with their ramblings. It annoyed me so much I stormed off. And died. Looking back, it was such a stupid death... I regretted it a little. I could have just stuck it out here, survived, and slipped away later. But I wasn't in my right mind then... Only after dying did I come to, and then I heard the King's last words."
[So you skipped over 220 years. But why this form?]
"I said I didn't want to be undead. I didn't want to be a skeleton, so I threw a fit to respect a girl's feelings."
[...Absurd, but so you.]
"I agreed to be exploited even after death. Can't I be a bit selfish?"
A deflating wind sound came from the holes in Reigas's skull. He was chuckling out of habit from life.
Suddenly, Kayalia asked.
"But is Azel big brother really alive?"
[Maybe.]
"How?"
[That's what I'm wondering. Circumstantially, it seems like him, but I can't be sure.]
"If you meet him, let me talk to him. I need to pretty myself up."
[You won't refuse to lend power or something, right?]
"I'll think about it."
[...Hey?]
"I'm already dead. Freed from all duties, so helping or not is my choice. The King said to do as I please, right?"
[That reckless guy...]
Reigas grumbled. Kayalia stuck to the side of his face and said.
"So, when do we meet and confirm?"
[Since I slipped out of the Dark Snowfields' intelligence network, I took separate measures. I'll confirm his movements soon.]
"Exciting. Oh, what face should I use to meet him?"
[...Helping is optional, but please don't betray me. It hurts.]
"Depends on what you do, big brother."
Kayalia stuck out her tongue and melted into the air like vanishing.