Chapter 65
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Translator: volt
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Dinner Time
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Asuero, stepping off the Nautilus, shed tears of emotion as he looked around...
A splendid coastal fortress and straight, long roads welcomed him. He whistled while stepping onto the smoothly paved road cutting through the dense forest.
Anticipation.
A bright anticipation for the future filled his entire body.
Asuero wept as he recalled the harsh life he had endured up to now.
The righteous face trials, and the honest are beset by all the world's lies. All the poverty and frustration he had suffered flashed before his eyes.
Born the child of a poor hidalgo—a low-ranking Spanish noble—he had become a mercenary for advancement, working his body to the breaking point for decades in his prime.
He had wandered countless places beyond his homeland, learning whatever came his way, be it swordsmanship or anything else. When isolated from allies, he had even drunk his own urine. It was suffering beyond measure.
After enduring every hardship and immigrating to Florida for a peaceful old age, what had he encountered?
Disgusting savages and slaves so lazy it was loathsome.
And, contrary to the colonial government's words, not fertile land but a horrific wilderness.
In his rage and exhaustion, the good Christian had committed a "minor transgression"... but now, the day of recompense had arrived.
That suffering had forged these glorious days.
"...This way. Keep going straight, and you'll reach His Majesty's 'palace.'"
"Ah, I've been waiting! Thank you, Mrs. Dare!"
Asuero flashed Eleanor a blatant, oily smile. Though she seemed displeased, he only felt greater pleasure for it.
It made him feel like an even greater man.
After all, he was a guest invited by the native emperor.
The night was already late enough for drowsiness to pour down like starlight, but his eyes sparkled.
He had experienced such late meetings even during his mercenary days when scheduling with employers. Busy people sometimes struggled to make time.
Thus, meeting the emperor at this hour meant the emperor was just as busy and important.
'It means he's such an important man that I have to make time like this...!'
Strength filled each step of Asuero Javier's stride.
With every step he took, the house with the green roof drew nearer in the distance...
"..."
...Was this it? All of it?
He was bewildered.
No, it was a fine house. Neat wooden walls sat beneath the tidy green gabled roof, pleasing to the eye.
But... it wasn't that big.
At least not worthy of being called a palace.
In truth, it was barely a mansion.
This size... wasn't much different from the house he had lived in back in Florida.
Ah, well, of course. Savages, after all.
Heh, Asuero chuckled. What had he been expecting? Walls smoothly lacquered in gold? Or a tower like a mountain?
If a monarch capable of building such a palace existed here, Spain and England would already be on their knees.
No doubt, he was just a native chieftain flailing about, unsure how to use the gold and aluminum piled beneath his buttocks.
Living in this crudely built shack nearby.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
As he approached what appeared to be the door and knocked, the sound of metal scraping and a song suddenly emerged, and the door clicked open.
Peering inside, he saw a quiet, dark space with a narrow corridor stretching straight ahead.
Faint light leaked from the door at its end.
An unfamiliar yet fragrant scent stung his nose, and walls and decorations in strange styles filled the surroundings.
Asuero entered cautiously, somewhat frightened.
Step. Step. Step.
Mud from his boots soiled the clean wooden floor, but he paid it no mind. Quietly opening the door at the corridor's end...
A modest living room appeared, just as before.
And in its center sat a small dining table.
Lobster, roasted beef, strange stews, and more covered the table.
A tall man with black eyes sat behind it.
He extended a large hand, offering Asuero a seat.
Asuero, unconsciously shrinking back, quickly sat opposite and gazed at this mysterious native man.
Without a word, he muttered a brief prayer under his breath before beginning the meal.
Asuero had expected him to grab food with his hands and chew like a savage, but no. Leisurely, he lifted a fork, sliced the meat, and brought it to his mouth.
Asuero followed suit, putting beef in his mouth. But due to tension, he tasted nothing.
His hands trembled.
"S-Sire... is it proper to address you as Your Majesty?"
"..."
He merely smiled silently at Asuero's words.
"...Your Majesty, thank you for inviting me here."
"..."
"I... uh... have always harbored deep disgust toward slavery. And now, to meet Your Majesty, who shares my views... I thank the Lord..."
"The Lord?"
"...Yes?"
"You said you thank the Lord?"
Perfectly fluent Spanish. Like someone born and raised in Castile.
"...Ah, y-yes. Indeed. I thank the Lord."
"For what?"
"Well... of course, for allowing me to meet Your Majesty..."
Something was off.
His lip movements didn't quite match the words coming out. Speaking Spanish, his mouth felt awkwardly overlaid with someone else's lip shape.
Yet the Spanish from his mouth was...
Perfect.
From that dissonance, unnaturalness, a creeping terror welled up.
Yes. This house, the table's form—everything was utterly alien. In this extremely eerie atmosphere, Asuero's tension kept food from going down his throat.
The emperor merely smiled all the while.
"I'm glad you thank the Lord. I feel the same."
"I-Is that so?"
"Yes. Didn't you come here alone?"
"...Does that please you?"
"Of course. Doesn't the Lord rejoice over one lost lamb recovered?"
"..."
Lost... lamb? Was that an apt metaphor here?
Was he revealing his own conversion from slave owner? No... don't think strangely.
Suddenly, a bell tolled from afar—it was well past 11 p.m.
11 p.m. Why had he summoned him so late? Was it for the reason he had thought?
Why...
"Why did you do it?"
Asuero's thoughts halted there.
No, it felt as if all the world's time had paused.
The juices dripping from the meat, the leaves fluttering beyond the living room's narrow window, the table that had wobbled slightly off-balance.
Even the emperor's staring eyes.
All froze for an instant... then moved again.
"...Yes?"
Asuero wasn't a fool.
Yet even knowing what the emperor meant, he could only stupidly ask back.
"I just don't understand. You freed all your slaves? Why come here with such a lie?"
"Wouldn't it have sufficed to say you tormented slaves but repented?"
How?
"Even then, you would have been a sinner—a clear sinner—but I would have considered it. I might have forgiven you. You could have lived happily here with land and a house."
"No, thinking back, you probably wouldn't have, given why you left Florida."
No. The important thing now wasn't 'how did he know?'
"Weren't you dissatisfied with life in Florida?"
"So you wanted to bask in a wealthy native emperor's favor and live richly. You had no intent to repent or any conscience to begin with, so it's a meaningless question."
What mattered was 'how do I escape?'
"You'll pay for your sins here. So speak your last words. I'll give you a chance."
"Say you're sorry to the slaves you locked in the basement and confess your crimes..."
Asuero no longer listened.
Hearing that, he glanced around for guards, but the house was empty and silent.
No one around.
If... I act here.
If I eliminate any 'witnesses' here and flee.
Then he could buy time to safely escape to Florida.
Asuero gripped his knife tighter. Seeing it, the 'emperor' calmly sliced meat and continued.
"Deceiving me is your smallest sin. Your crimes are..."
"Arrrgh!"
He would pay for that arrogance!
Asuero sprang up, repeating with his knife what he had done countless times as a mercenary.
Instead of meat, he sliced a man.
Stab.
The knife pierced the emperor's throat. The emperor's eyes widened in pain...
"...!"
Boom!
The emperor surged up, throttling Asuero's neck and slamming him into the bookshelf.
Crash!
The shelf toppled, books scattering everywhere. A dark frame shattered, vases exploded into shards, fragments flying.
The table splintered, the floor gouged and scarred, objects losing their places and breaking.
"Die! Die! Just die!"
In that fierce struggle, Asuero madly stabbed the emperor's vitals.
Despite all the pain, the emperor never released his grip on Asuero's neck. Each time, terrified, Asuero wildly stabbed and slashed the emperor's body.
And...
Slump.
Time was on Asuero's side.
After repeated slams into walls and crushing under shelves, the emperor collapsed, blood draining from his body.
"M-Monster! Fuck, I thought I was done for... gack... cough!"
Cough. Cough. Asuero recovered his damaged throat from the throttling and spat phlegm on the floor.
Unbelievable. To endure this much. Was this the strength allowing him to meet a stranger alone without guards?
But foolish. Idiot, what emperor receives a foreign stranger without even a soldier?
Asuero hurriedly ransacked the house for valuables, stuffing them into his pockets. Heading to the door, he turned the handle...
Rattle! Rattle!
...It wouldn't open.
He had to get out. Right now, from this house—but where to...
'The window!'
Asuero drew the curtain and hurled a chair, shattering the window. Beyond the broken glass stretched a peaceful, pastoral vineyard.
...It's fine.
Everything had gone wrong, but it was still okay.
The surroundings remained quiet; no one had noticed. Grab a few more valuables here and slip out quietly.
Then, prove it with those treasures. That he had killed the native emperor, that he had done it.
Glory and riches awaited.
Just board a skiff and return to Florida... Huh?
Gone.
Checking his pockets, all the porcelain shards and aluminum figurines he had stuffed in were missing.
Asuero blinked.
Dong.
Dong.
Dong.
Midnight bells tolled.
And Asuero saw it.
The 'miracle.'
Shards of broken glass floated into the air, piecing themselves together one by one.
The reassembled glass fitted back into the window frame.
The fallen bookshelf rose on its own without a touch.
Scattered books sorted themselves atop it.
Cracks in the frame healed like mending wounds.
The statue's broken neck reattached.
Fallen chairs righted themselves, scattered dirt vanishing like melting away.
As if this 'palace'...
Were alive.
As if slowly recovering from wounds.
"D-Demon's... work..."
Everything moved as if time rewound.
Then... no way...
"...Your greatest sin isn't deceiving me."
Clink.
"Nor even deceiving the Lord."
"You deceived your own soul."
"If we claim to have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)"
"You drove the Lord from your heart."
Hearing that 'voice,' Asuero's thoughts froze.
Asuero could no longer move or breathe.
His body rigid as stone, he barely turned his head.
On the table that should have been shattered, with the tablecloth that should have been torn...
He was slicing meat again, as before.
As if nothing had happened.
Yes, he wished it all had been a dream. That nothing had truly occurred...
"Sit down again."
But the 'emperor' said.
In a very cold voice.
"It's dinnertime now."
The living room had returned fully to before midnight.
But his fate had crossed an irreversible river.
Asuero collapsed to the floor, bereft even of the will to resist.
The emperor chewed a hunk of meat. Yes, meat.
Like that meat, he was merely a lump of flesh. Sliced by a knife, oozing red blood—nothing more.
He was a handful of dust. Like an ant crushed by a child's finger, powerless before him. His life more futile than a fly's.
Yes.
"D-D-Demon."
Futile... utterly futile.
"The demon's... power..."
He was merely human.
"It deceives earth's dwellers, telling them to make an image for the beast wounded by the sword yet lived...! (Rev 13:14)"
But he was no human. If not human, then angel or demon.
One who died and lived again—you must wield the demon's power, be the demon's beast. No, you must be.
"D-Demon's power! Demon's beast! B-Begone! Get out! Fuck off!"
Asuero frantically drew his dagger from his bosom toward the bizarre, irrational being silently gazing down. He didn't intend to stab.
"L-Lord! Lord! Please! Drive away this demon. Please, please... Glory, upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. F-F-Fuck!"
His hands shook violently. He formed a cross with the dagger in both hands and raised it.
"Power of Hades, begone! G-Get, get out!"
Please, let this holy symbol repel the evil. Please, he had never neglected worship all his life. Please, please...!
"How dare you try to harm the Lord's shee, His people..."
"How dare you claim to be the Lord's people."
Hearing that, Asuero's mind blanked.
'He' approached calmly. Asuero thrust the dagger-cross forward, and he...
"...What? I-I, I was baptized, I-I go to confession every week."
"What of your baptism? What of confession?"
"Uh... uh...?"
He gripped the blade forming the cross tightly.
Blood flowed.
Droplets fell to the floor.
Grabbing Asuero's hand gripping the blade, he took the knife and tossed it away. Then he proudly spread his hands.
Clean. As if...
The cross refused to harm him.
Asuero squeezed his eyes shut.
"Look at me."
He couldn't bear to. He had to be a demon.
"Look into my eyes."
He didn't want to see. How pathetic and worthless he would appear reflected in those eyes.
"Asuero Javier!"
At that shout, Asuero's eyes snapped open like receiving a royal command.
"Ah... aaaah..."
And he saw.
He was...
"Aaaah... No, it can't be. You, y-you're the savage emperor, no way..."
"..."
"..."
Like a guilty child, he wept.