Chapter 200
Chapter 200
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Cultist
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Chapter 199 - 199. Cultist”
“Luaneus? Quite an old-fashioned name.”
“Indeed, he looks like he has some noble air about him.”
The Black Necromancer and Han So were being friendly toward the boy named Luaneus who had saved their lives, but my expression had no choice but to harden.
It was obvious that the boy had deliberately omitted his family name, but the other two didn't mention it.
But I couldn't let it slide that easily.
Luaneus Luden Griffin.
The youngest son of the Griffin royal family 200 years ago.
But an illegitimate child whose true identity must not be revealed carelessly.
The name Luaneus was not mentioned even once in the history books, but on the contrary, the boy was an indispensable figure in Griffin's history.
The source that intensified the existing suppression of black mages in Griffin and instilled a obsessive hatred for black magic.
The black mage who single-handedly led an army of corpses and souls to bring Griffin to the brink of destruction.
It was the boy in front of me who was known not by the name Luaneus, but as Heralhazard.
Of course, the truth was that it had only been a charade under royal orders.
That didn't mean he was blameless, though.
“But what was that magic just now?”
The Black Necromancer subtly asked Luaneus. She had immediately realized that what he wielded was black magic.
“Uh, um.”
He openly hesitated, as if he didn't want to say, but the Black Necromancer didn't back down and waited for his answer.
“Let's not do this here. Let's go downstairs and talk.”
I cut in midway, and Luaneus nodded before hurriedly descending the stairs. Han So chased after him, warning not to run or he'd get hurt, leaving just me and the Black Necromancer.
I wanted to look around the third floor a bit more, but for now, we needed to go down and sort out the situation.
As we descended the stairs alone together, the Black Necromancer casually asked,
“You know that was black magic just now, right?”
“Yeah.”
I didn't know the details of how the boy Luaneus grew into Heralhazard.
But considering his talent, it wasn't particularly strange for him to use black magic at around ten years old.
“You're awfully calm about it? Do you know who that kid is?”
At the Black Necromancer's question, I pondered for a moment. If it were the Black Necromancer I knew, I would have answered without hesitation, but I couldn't predict where the current one might go.
Telling her the truth about Heralhazard might even plant other ideas in her mind.
She might find it suspicious that someone from 200 years ago was here.
A moderate truth.
Just that much would be good, so I revealed another truth about Heralhazard.
“You know about Dante, right?”
“Hm? Those crazies shouting about saving the continent? Yeah, I know them.”
“…….”
“I've only heard rumors. They say they approach outstanding black mages, but they haven't come to me yet, despite my sharp eyes.”
The Black Necromancer crossed her arms with a tsk, looking disappointed. Being only 18, she apparently didn't yet have the skills to receive an invitation from Dante.
No need to tell her that she would eventually get one.
“He's their leader.”
“Huh?”
The Black Necromancer whipped her head around at the completely unexpected truth. Then, with a hint of suspicion, she asked,
“You're with Dante too?”
“As if.”
“Then how do you know?”
I've met him countless times in the game and killed him countless times.
In fact, that boy's life was practically a trigger for a game over.
Those words rose to the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them and arrived at the first floor without answering.
The Black Necromancer looked dissatisfied, but since I clearly had no intention of answering, she didn't press further.
When we reached the first floor, Luaneus and Han So were talking with someone.
A person covered head to toe in a robe like white cloth, wearing an expressionless iron mask.
“Who's that one?”
Ignoring the Black Necromancer's casual probing, I approached the three.
“That is how we live our lives. Lord Romuleus has taught us so very much.”
‘Romuleus?’
A name I'd never heard before.
Tall but gaunt build.
Only after hearing the mumbling voice from within the iron mask did I realize it was a man.
Probably one of the guests.
He saw me and the Black Necromancer and shrugged his shoulders in welcome.
“Ah! More guests have arrived! I am glad to spread my gospel!”
At his words, the Black Necromancer and I simultaneously glared at Han So, who awkwardly scratched the back of his head under our stares.
“He suddenly came and said he'd share some good words. I thought maybe he'd mention some rules we didn't know.”
I wanted to ignore him completely, but since he was here, he probably had some skills.
“Haha, everyone. It seems you do not yet know Lord Romuleus's mercy. Please come to the dining hall and talk with me.”
“After you get rid of this lunatic.”
The Black Necromancer turned toward the dining hall, not even wanting to converse. Han So and Luaneus naturally followed her, leaving me alone with the man.
He shrugged, showing his embarrassment.
“Everyone is like that at first. You think we're just fools scattered around. But Lord Romuleus is near us.”
“I wouldn't know.”
Having never even heard the name Romuleus, I could only give a vague response.
But he seemed to think I was responding positively, clasping his hands in prayer and bowing his head.
“Who comprehends the truth from the start? Come with me. I will tell you more about Him.”
“Sigh.”
Was I mistaken?
With the Black Necromancer, Han So, and now even Luaneus.
After seeing all these prominent figures in the Dream Demon Inn, I might have assumed the man in front of me was also something special.
It was far more likely he was just a cultist obsessed with some unknown god whose name I'd never heard.
“Just go.”
Wasting no more time, I turned toward the dining hall, leaving him behind.
Hoping he wouldn't follow and cause unnecessary trouble.
As my footsteps echoed in the first-floor entrance hall, he spoke again.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
A strange chill emanated from his low, drawn-out voice. Importantly, his threatening tone carried a sensation similar to the eerie feeling I'd sensed on the fourth floor moments ago.
I stopped walking and slowly turned my head. He had removed his mask.
Snow-white hair falling loosely.
His white pupils, visible through the long hair reaching his waist, held a sense of purity.
“And yet, bearing the name Necromancer, how dare you ignore me so.”
“You know me?”
Did he come from around the same time as me, or from the future?
His appearance was one that could win favor not just from the opposite sex, but even the same. If he hadn't been wearing the mask, he probably wouldn't have been shunned like before.
“Ah, how could I not know? To us, you are a being of love and hate.”
“Love and hate?”
“Because of you, we exist, yet we truly hate you.”
“Looks like you need to relearn how to have a conversation.”
Even as I shot back at him for just spouting his own words, his expression didn't change.
No, unlike his earlier bright voice and bouncy tone, his face was stained with hatred.
“Did you come from a time after mine?”
I'd never encountered this god Romuleus or the masked zealot, so I asked, but he shook his head.
“11th rule. The higher the room number, the more recent the time the guest came from. You are the very last, room 110, right? I am 109.”
That was new information.
So, in the end, there were no beings from later than me.
It seemed my dilemma about whether I prevented the continent's destruction wouldn't resolve so simply.
Glancing around the Dream Demon Inn, he ground his teeth and asked,
“You went to the fourth floor, didn't you?”
“Yeah.”
“Truly revolting, isn't it? No different from blasphemy. It brought tears of blood.”
“……You were the one who found rules 27 and 29.”
The man waved it off as unimportant.
“To dare to depict a god in form—truly irreverent. The archdemon Learic must die.”
“If you want to talk to yourself, I'll be going now.”
Conversation wasn't getting through anyway.
His words were intriguing, but I had no intention of letting him derail things further.
“My name is Mull.”
As I started toward the dining hall again, the man shouted from behind that he wasn't wrong.
“You will come to know that only we who serve Lord Romuleus can truly console souls.”
“…….”
“We'll see outside, Kim Shin-woo.”
“What?”
Whoosh.
Splurt!
The sound of flesh being pulverized rang out. Startled, I turned to see Mull collapsed on the floor, a stake driven into his own neck.
His white robe stained red, the blood pooling on the floor listed out rules just like with Jortu.
-11. The higher the room number, the more recent the time the guest came from.
-15. There is no daytime in the Dream Demon Inn.
-27. Guest rooms go up to 110. There is no 111. If you find 111 and someone staying there, kill them immediately. They are an uninvited intruder.
-29. There is no fourth floor in the Dream Demon Inn.
It felt like a storm had just passed.
He had introduced himself as Mull, a zealot serving some unheard-of god named Romuleus.
Content that didn't exist in the game.
He knew my real name, and his words 'Because of you, we exist' gnawed at me.
Things were already flowing very differently from the game. Pinden A, the boss of one chapter, was on my side; Dante was already on the move; the Clock Republic had fallen; and Aria had quit being a hero.
I knew not to expect the same flow as the game, but the bizarre, unexpected elements popping up were making my head spin.
“Whew.”
It was a time when I particularly missed the voices of the others back in the lab.