228. The Saintess and the Princess (2)
228. The Saintess and the Princess (2)
- 1 -
I had my share of worries on the way to this ancient ducal estate.
Too many guards would make a covert operation difficult.
But the situation here came as a pleasant surprise.
"Indeed, there are almost no guards."
"That is because this place is protected by a separate presence."
Saya's deep pink eyes glittered in the darkness.
They had always done so since she regained her memories, but now they shone a little brighter than before.
Following her lead, my gaze shifted toward the floor.
As she said, the presence guarding this place was simply invisible, yet clearly existed.
And the method of that protection was...
"Halt."
Sarak—!
Just now, a wave-form swept past our bodies, surveying this vast ancient palace.
'Demonic mana.'
The level of the 'enemy' I could sense indirectly was quite formidable.
Above all, the density and volume of mana was staggering.
The amount felt comparable to the maximum mana I could mobilize while inside my dungeon.
I tilted my head and assessed the unknown enemy.
'The power is strong. But the way they use it is excessively crude.'
This current method of detecting space, for example.
If I had such massive power and had to guard this place,
I would have inscribed mana circuits throughout this passage and then emitted mana in a way that reacted to those circuits.
An analogy to electrical wires would be a method that reduces resistance somehow.
If the wire becomes thicker, it can naturally carry more electricity.
But the detection this enemy used simply expended an enormous amount of mana to forcibly brute-force through the resistance.
'Rather like a child with far too much power.'
Thus, while they could sense the entire area at once, the gaps were too many.
Just as the power was strong and thick, exploiting those gaps was hard, but the fact that gaps existed at all was what mattered.
My method of evading detection was precisely by exploiting those gaps.
"The owner of this mana is..."
Saya's face grew serious in the darkness.
"If things happened 'as I knew them,' it is highly likely to be that 'princess.'"
"Princess?"
At my question, Saya silently nodded.
With a gravity that underscored her certainty.
Her voice dropped even lower.
"The dungeon lord and core we seek here belong to the royal family, do they not? They have already achieved several results. One of those results is..."
She paused a moment to choose her words before speaking.
"Currently the youngest princess of Haisen."
The explanation that followed concerned the secret history of the royal family.
A story about the collection of dungeon lords, experiments, and the results thereof.
At the same time, it turned my assumptions into certainties.
"So they have already obtained results from the hidden dungeon lord and core..."
"Yes. Had it not been for the task of finding you, Master..."
Saya's eyes glinted coldly.
"I would have dug into this side of things and attempted to negotiate with Haisen. To keep this secret hidden, in exchange for leaving me and my... 'former master' alone."
I nodded.
It meant that the 'previous' her would have done exactly that.
I had already heard from her about her former master, the prince of the Han Empire.
'A finished product, is it...'
The assumption that they had created something by mixing royal blood and demon blood.
But if the result had truly been something combat-ready, there was no way the royal family wouldn't have announced it in some form.
"There must be a reason to keep it hidden."
"It could be extremely dangerous. I am not yet capable of protecting you, Master, to the degree..."
In the darkness, black hair swayed gently from side to side.
As expected, she seemed unusually sensitive about my safety.
But my intuition suggested the opposite of her assumption.
"Still, it seems merely taking a look might be possible."
"... Yes. I shall guide you."
She immediately bent her own opinion at my words.
'It was excessive worry.'
Though I couldn't call her a sound advisor, it was still a loyal and praiseworthy attitude.
Shwik—!
While passing through the corridor, the wave of detection swept past our bodies several times.
My magic easily deflected such detection.
Then, I discovered something.
"Seeing it again, it is truly horrific..."
Saya's lovely face hardened coldly.
Her words must have encompassed both her 'previous' life and her current one.
As both yokai and demonic beast, it was only natural for her to wear such a disgusted expression at the sight unfolding before us.
"Hnggh..."
Demons with bodies similar to humans.
But all of them were unconscious, either drooling through their groans or staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.
From those barely clinging to breath, the cloying scent of night-blooming flowers and ammonia stung my nose.
It wasn't hard to guess what had happened to them.
- Ah, aah...
Further inside, we now saw demons chained to the walls, only moaning in pain.
All were individuals whose jaws had been dislocated or tongues cut out, unable to communicate through any normal means.
Most had bestial forms, and every single one had at least one part of their body that was not normal.
Melted, severed, or surgically grafted together.
- ... Kill me.
There was one among them who had unlocked language.
A female orc whose lower jaw was gone, sorcerous patterns faintly glowing across her skin.
Looking at me, muttering in a desperate tone, I whispered back.
"I have something to do. But once that task is finished, I will return and grant you peace. In the manner each of you desires."
- Ahh...
She saw me off with eyes filled with equal despair and hope.
Dalkak!
Further in, there were long rows of machine-like devices.
Magical engineering devices that periodically spat out gem-like things that sparkled.
And the identity of those gems was...
"... Magic stones."
"To be precise, artificial magic stones."
"I see. That's likely why the mana's volatility is a touch stronger. But as long as they function as magic stones, they are simply magic stones."
Turning my gaze upward, I found the raw materials for these magic stones.
Those placed inside cylindrical containers suspended above the machines.
Demons like slimes or doppelgangers, composed of indeterminate forms and possessing bodies made of mana.
Their bodies repeated a cycle of minutely expanding and contracting, expelling highly concentrated magic stones.
"... The core's presence is not here. We need to go deeper."
Even if I wanted to do something for them, I couldn't make a scene right now.
We descended to the second basement floor.
It was quiet there. Not that anything about it stopped being horrific.
All manner of tools were strewn about. Devices for extracting demon blood, tools for separating souls, machines for refining mana...
A 'dumping ground' where the energy of death surged.
"No one on duty, either."
"These people all commute to work. They go home and lead ordinary lives, I suppose."
Saya's voice was calm, but at the same time, laced with subtle contempt.
Her feelings transferred to me as well.
"Is that so. Ordinary lives, huh."
A smile naturally rose to my lips.
A smile that masked negative emotions, not joy or pleasure.
People who drove countless lives into death and agony, yet lived out mundane daily lives outside.
The irony was that they themselves would consider that justice.
"Let us look around."
"Yes."
The laboratory was well-organized.
To the point that not a single fragment or speck of dust rolled about.
The traces of death and pain were confined to the hole on one side and the iron bars beyond.
"Found it."
Inside the laboratory, I finally found what I wanted.
Large test tubes lined up in a row. And the pure white spheres floating within them.
"They are cores."
Saya's voice was low.
The shapes inside were unmistakably dungeon cores.
Cores that had lost their dungeon lords, been subdued in the process of rampage, and now slumbered as if dead.
"Let's take them on our way back."
"Understood."
This time, I held no particular compassion.
Cores possessed a certain programmed intelligence, but it was closer to a program.
It's difficult to regard these as sentient beings.
To make an analogy, they'd be closer to robots.
Few would feel attachment or pity for an entire machine.
"Master. This is it."
What Saya pointed to was a massive iron door.
A door far too large and heavy to be considered someone's living quarters.
From within, the intense demonic presence I had been feeling this whole time emanated.
"Let's go."
After wrapping our bodies in a barrier of mana to prevent her from perceiving us,
we entered through the door.
- 2 -
Esther had slipped out of the duke's mansion with the women.
"I don't know if it's all right for me to have snuck out like this."
"Don't worry, Ash. They won't even realize you've slipped out."
Yuran's lips curved into a gentle smile.
By now, she'd even stopped using honorifics and was calling Esther by a nickname, yet Esther didn't find it bothersome or unpleasant.
Because it felt familiar, as if she had been called that for a long, long time.
"The Duke will happily claim that you and he conversed together in a private room the entire time."
"How..."
"That's not really important now, is it?"
Meeting Yuran's smiling eyes, the affairs of the Holy Kingdom and Haisen Kingdom truly felt inconsequential.
"Let's get to the main point."
The next to step forward was the blonde knight.
She too was treating Esther familiarly by now, but again it didn't bother her much.
Rather, freed from countless excessive formalities and hidden agendas, it even felt liberating.
"Esther. By any chance, are you still receiving revelations from the Holy See these days?"
But the next topic was not nearly so comfortable.
Only then did Esther think it strange to find herself at ease with them, but...
Yet still, an instinct screamed that being guarded would be stranger.
"Why do you ask that?"
The white eyes that met the knight's green ones calmly settled.
Within that comfort, she consciously raised her guard.
"You already know, don't you? That the revelations to you have already ceased."
"How..."
Esther's eyes widened.
The admission had slipped out before she knew it, startling even herself.
In truth, she had not received a revelation from God in quite some time.
The voice of God was no longer heard as it once was.
Even after praying for three days and nights, even with solitary fasting to focus her consciousness.
"Esther. Your predecessors likely had similar periods. I don't know the details, but you will."
Evangeline tilted her head slightly.
In her eyes shone pity for Esther.
"I mean tales like... revelations ceasing despite prayers, being married off to a noble at some point, and eventually all news of them ending."
Esther's face stiffened, going pale.
She immediately understood what this knight was talking about.
She simply hadn't acknowledged it, though she had already felt it.
But that was...
"Are you blaspheming the Holy Kingdom...?!"
The wariness on her face instantly spiked.
But it wasn't because she didn't believe Evangeline's words.
"Do you not already know?"
It was because she didn't want to believe them.
"The Holy Kingdom intends to sell you off."
Despite that refusal, there were far too many suspicious circumstances.
Starting with the whereabouts of her predecessors that Evangeline mentioned.
The clerics whose gazes toward her had turned abruptly cold recently. The various valuables now adorning their bodies.
Even the Pope's reply urging her not to return to the Holy Kingdom.
"That can't be. The Holy Kingdom is the light of the continent and the foundation of order... How could they do such a thing to saints...!"
"Precisely because it is light."
Evangeline's words, dropped into the midst of it all.
That cold statement pierced Esther's heart like a wedge, firmly and decisively.
"If light rises high, deep shade is inevitably cast. There are those who live within that shadow."
"... That can't be. Absolutely never...!"
"Ash."
A warm heat settled on the hand of the bewildered Esther.
It was Yuran, who had been quietly listening beside her.
Meeting her golden eyes, filled with comfort, Esther felt the turmoil in her heart gradually subside.
"... I cannot judge based solely on your words."
"Of course."
"I will have to ask directly."
Contrary to the determination in her words, she hesitated a moment.
The Duke's gaze and the eyes of the clerics came to mind.
She lacked confidence in whether she could slip out again if she returned among them to ask that.
"I'll go with you."
Esther met the eyes of the one who stepped forward.
Red eyes glittered beneath the white shade, and the voice was low yet firm.
Esther drew a deep breath.
The familiarity and support she felt from these three women shook her heart.
"But before that, there's someone you need to meet."
"Who...?"
The three exchanged glances, and then Yuran whispered to her.
"Our master, and the greatest person, Ash."
"Greatest...?"
Esther's eyes were full of questions.
"You don't mean someone from Norn...? Or Zenota?"
Naturally, she was thinking of the royalty or imperial family of neighboring countries right now.
The greatest beings she could imagine, excluding 'God'.
"No, someone destined to become far greater than them."
A playful smile settled on Yuran's lips.
The moment when her dear friend, the continent's saintess, would encounter their master, the Dungeon Lord.
She couldn't stand the anticipation of watching that wheel of fate turn.
- 3 -
The thick, heavy steel door opened, and what became visible inside was the form of a mansion, better appointed than expected.
A mansion built in a style even more splendid and elegant than the surface, despite being underground.
"... Who are you people...?"
In the center of it, a girl stared at me with surprise in her eyes.
"Libertas."
I smiled.
"I am someone who will give you 'freedom'."
As I toyed with the demonic mana I could clearly feel emanating from her.