Chapter 324
Chapter 324
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Bendel Comes to an End
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"Huff...!!!"
Deep into the night.
Idor Bendel bolted upright in bed, as if pursued by something.
With frantic movements, he snatched the sword propped beside the bed and glared into the darkness with piercing eyes.
It had become routine now.
Ever since that day.
Ever since the dark elf's assault.
Idor was frequently tormented by nightmares.
Utterly horrific ones, in which he was completely powerless.
The nightmares were always identical.
A dark elf effortlessly crushing Bendel's swordsmen and knights with malevolent magic.
The heir of the family vanishing.
When he awoke at the nightmare's conclusion and returned to reality, Idor realized.
"Huff...! Huff...! Huff...!"
It wasn't a nightmare at all.
It was reality.
The nightmare made real gradually gnawed away at his mind.
But.
The man bearing the name of steel did not break easily.
Idor endured the recurring nightmares day after day with unyielding will and spirit.
With each passing day, the nightmare's constricting grasp weakened—
And so, Idor seemed on the verge of overcoming those past torments.
"Ri, Rishir...!!!"
Until a certain bastard invaded his nightmares.
That name, arriving alongside news of Roera, plunged Idor's daily life into even deeper horrors.
"Come to think of it, that dark elf bitch— she definitely uttered that name right in front of me!!! So that's how it was!!! Rishir!!! It was you all along!!! You who brought that cursed being into our house...!!!"
Idor's paranoid soliloquy echoed softly through the darkened bedroom.
The eyes of the man, once gleaming with steel-like resolve, had fully merged with the shadows.
"That it became the master of the holy sword...? That it subjugated the demon sword!?! No!!! I know that wretch well!!! A pathetic, foolish bastard like that couldn't possibly...!!! It's all lies!!! Baseless rumors!!!"
In truth, the family head had first heard rumors of the bastard long ago.
Back then, he had dismissed them without difficulty as nonsense.
While deploying every means to conquer his nightmares—
The most reliable remedy had been denying the very existence of that 'bastard'.
"He's nothing but a shameful coward who fled the family after receiving wicked power from the dark elf witch!!! What holy sword would ever choose such filth as its master!!!"
Idor's gaze whipped around.
He bellowed into the darkness, as if responding to some voice addressing him.
"A worthless fool who squandered his life swinging a blade that could never amount to anything!!! Without the witch's gift of power, how else could he suddenly wield magic!!!"
He nodded emphatically to himself.
"Yes... that witch must be backing him... And behind her— the devil itself. They're deceiving the world with that vile, impure, repulsive power!!! All of them!!!"
Yes.
The devil's power.
The family head nodded vigorously, deeply satisfied with the conclusion he had reached on his own.
"That explains it all... How that pitiful worm could be chosen by a holy sword— how he could accomplish the feat of demon sword subjugation!!! It was all because the devil bestowed power far beyond his worth—...!!!"
The family head's pupils blazed fiercely amid the gloom.
What tormented him most now was neither his estrangement from his beloved daughter nor the shadow of ruin looming over the house.
It was inferiority.
The bastard he had deemed the family's disgrace had achieved feats that—
Lightly eclipsed everything he had accomplished in his lifetime.
And even the legacy of the Bendel house across generations.
A reality unchanged no matter how vehemently he denied it.
The rising hero Rishir.
He was magnificent.
Greater than Bendel's family head.
Greater than Bendel itself.
Even if history forgot Bendel, his name would endure.
"No!!!"
The family head shrieked convulsively.
Clang!
The sword emblazoned with the Bendel crest clattered to the floor.
The family head clutched his head with both freed hands.
"I— Bendel too!!! If we had borrowed the devil's power, we could have done it easily!!! At the very least!!!"
Roera.
The family head uttered her name in a quavering voice.
"At the very least, if it hadn't stolen Roera away, Bendel now would be... Bendel...!!!"
Haeren was basking in unprecedented prosperity.
Crowds poured in from across the continent, lauding the heroes and Bendel's renown.
It was the dream the family head had chased his entire life.
Restoring the glory of their illustrious forebears!
Achieving even greater heights!
And so the family head lived in fear.
Soon, they would come to understand.
The blessed hero Roera.
That she was no longer of Bendel.
The rising hero Rishir.
That he was the bastard Bendel had cast out.
They would speak of Bendel thus:
The house that could have been history's greatest.
And therefore, history's most foolish.
It was the fulfillment of the family head's dream.
Bendel's name would now be etched indelibly in the annals.
Alongside the current head, 'Idor'.
"...Ha! Hahaha! Ahahahaha!!! Aaaaaah!!!"
Idor erupted in laughter.
Laughter twisted like a rage-filled scream.
At last.
He muttered into the utter darkness.
"Witch and bastard... You cursed abominations... Things will never go your way..."
He did not realize.
That his present self bore scant resemblance to the revered ancestor he so admired.
It appeared as torment over inexorable fate, yet also like self-delusion.
It can't be helped.
It can't be helped.
It can't be helped.
"Since you're forcing my hand, I have no choice but to abandon all restraint..."
The family head bewailed his plight.
A grotesquely warped smile curled his lips.
Haeren.
The city reveled in extraordinary boom.
Meanwhile—
Darkness was steadily descending upon the house.
"Doesn't the mansion feel a bit— off lately?"
A cautious topic raised by a maid in the midst of cleaning.
"Ah! So it wasn't just me!"
One maid hugged herself and shuddered dramatically.
"Doesn't the mansion feel kinda cold these days?"
"Not that."
"Huh? Then what—"
"For starters, the family head— with guests pouring in from across the continent drawn by Lady Roera's fame, he's holed up without a word—"
"What? You haven't heard?"
"Huh? Heard what?"
"They say Lady Roera might not come back to Bendel at all."
"What!? For real!? Why?"
"I don't know the details— but it's not so surprising? She never felt much loyalty to the house anyway."
"Then... is that why the mansion's vibe is so strange now?"
"Nah, my take is—"
One maid glanced around and lowered her voice; the others astutely clustered close.
Thus began their furtive, impish chatter.
"You know who. The one the family head brought in recently—"
"Ah! That creepy lady!?"
"Hey! 'Creepy lady'!? Watch your mouth! Though yeah, she does look unsettling, pale as a frozen corpse—"
That woman.
The maid raised a finger emphatically.
"Ever since she showed up, the mansion's atmosphere went all weird."
"You hear about this? Sophia woke up at dawn 'cause she couldn't sleep, peeked out the window— that woman was just standing rigid in the garden, staring at the main house!"
"Ah! And get this, something else weird! She went around telling us not to clean certain spots— absolutely no approaching— bossing us like she owns the place! I asked the head maid later, turns out even the family head didn't know about it?"
"What!? Is that allowed!?"
"Weirder still! The family head got wind of it from the head maid and still said leave her be! Don't bother that woman!"
"What!? That's not like our family head at all...?"
Bendel family head Idor.
He was the very model of knightly virtue.
Or rather, an imperious and rigid aristocrat.
For such a man to delegate mansion affairs to an outsider.
Unthinkable for the household maids.
"Something about her rubs me the wrong way... Is it really okay to just let her—...!"
Then.
The maids' clandestine talk cut short abruptly.
Her skin and lips gleamed deathly pale, like a corpse locked in permafrost.
The woman herself approached from the far end of the hall.
The maids scattered in unison, feigning diligence at their chores.
Such conspicuous behavior might have sparked curiosity—
But.
Click-clack.
Click-clack.
The woman strode past without a glance.
As though the frantic insects scurrying before her were beneath notice.
"..."
The maids dared not speak until long after she vanished.
"Bendel... is it going to be okay...?"
No.
It wasn't.
Even mere maids like them could sense it plainly.
Darkness had fallen over the house.
The darkness seeped in precisely on cue.
As if it had lingered nearby, awaiting the slightest breach.
—Lord Idor. You appear to require aid. And perhaps... I can provide it.
Bendel mansion.
To that place abuzz with tidings of the two heroes, a mysterious woman had come.
Her origins and identity utterly unknown.
More than that, she radiated an ineffable unease.
Some retainers whispered she might even be a black mage.
Yet.
The family head welcomed her into the mansion.
Precisely because of that.
The family head welcomed her.
No knock. No announcement.
Creak.
The door to the family head's study flew open.
A flagrant breach never tolerated in Bendel—
"Horn."
But the seated family head permitted it.
He nodded toward the pallid woman who entered.
"Family head."
The woman called Horn dipped her head faintly.
"Your visit at this hour means—"
Once.
The man hailed as steel incarnate was gone.
Skin drained of color.
Cheeks hollowed deep.
Idor Bendel fixed hopeful eyes upon the pale woman.
"Yes. All preparations are complete."
He lurched to his feet.
His emaciated frame teetered faintly.
"Then—"
"At your command, family head, the ritual can begin here and now."
"No delays. Proceed."
Staggering forward, the family head shoved aside the furnishings dominating the study's center.
The pale woman exhaled onto her palm.
Breath bloomed white, like midwinter's chill—
A geometric sigil, cloaked by unseen forces, materialized.
Incomplete in isolation, it resembled a fragment of some colossal design.
"As I explained before, the enchantment spanning the entire mansion now stands finished."
"..."
A faint ripple stirred in the family head's dulled gaze.
The entire mansion.
That phrase evoked Bendel in its entirety.
"Are you truly resolved?"
Sensing his doubt, the pale woman broached it first.
"This rite will enfold not only you, but the whole mansion— all of Bendel— in merciless frost."
"All of Bendel encompasses—"
The ripple faded swiftly.
His eyes, restored, bored into the pale woman.
"The bastard who already departed the house as well, yes?"
"..."
Horn, the pale woman, sneered inwardly at him.
What manner of steel man was this?
Even now, hapless maids and servants toiled devotedly for Bendel, slick with sweat.
Yet.
On the cusp of offering it all, his lone fixation was base grudge.
She beheld the profound shadow veiling the family head's eyes.
A ghastly smile stretched her lips, as if rending them.
"Naturally. Frost's embrace is boundless. It will cradle all Bendel has and more."
"Instruct me."
"Everything. For all must stem from the will of Bendel's master—"
With a gesture, the pale woman guided him atop the sigil.
"..."
The family head mounted its heart without pause.
He lifted his wrist, aligning the Bendel-crested sword against it.
A motion ingrained by rote, enacted anew.
Idor Bendel.
He surrendered himself to something profoundly wicked and immense.
Drip.
Drip.
Hot blood pattered onto the sigil, crystallizing in an instant.
The crystals vanished into its lines.
That instant.
The air grew laden with biting cold.
Crack—
Frost rimed the windows; Idor's exhalations plumed as vapor.
"Aaaaaah..."
The pale woman—
Horn, apostle of merciless frost, exulted with arms flung wide.
She sensed the frost's dregs alighting upon Bendel.
"Family head of Bendel... Rejoice. Your intent reaches the frost. He heeds your voice now— voice your desire."
"I offer all Bendel possesses."
The family head intoned without hesitation.
"Curse the bastard who dragged our house to ruin."
As his words flowed, the ambient chill intensified.
Kyahahahaha!!!
The woman's eerie laughter wove into the backdrop.
Amid thickening cold and frenzy—
She cried out.
"Frost attends your wish— its ice pillar has left His grasp, launched forth!!!"
"Then...!"
"Naught alters! This is your will!!! Make haste! Designate! Its destination!!!"
—Speak!!!
Her voice blurred into the vortex of frost.
Crack—
Her flesh iced over incrementally.
Presently, an effigy of madness in frozen form importuned the family head.
—Name him!!!
"Huh?"
"Oppa? What's up?"
"Nah, just— some gnat buzzing around..."
Rishir squinted into empty space.
Soon.
Smack!
He clapped his cheek.
"Gotcha?"
He inspected his palm.
Shatter!
"???"
Idor's eyes brimmed with consternation.
It was the instant he named the target per her directive.
The frozen woman's form—
Detonated abruptly.
—Ah, aah...! Bendel...! Your wish... is granted—
She rasped on with half her face intact.
"Then...!"
Idor's features lit with eager anticipation.
Time to witness the fruition of his all-consuming curse.
—Thus, your curse's quarry...
"Yes!!! Ruin upon that witch-spawned bastard...!!!"
—Shall endure slight headache...
"?"
Idor could not parse the ensuing query.
—Crack
For the frozen mass crumbled pathetically.
Idor Bendel.
He had, unwittingly, wrought a monumental deed.
Slaying, perhaps, the frost devil poised to eternally bind a certain bastard as kin.
"??????"
Yet.
Idor never grasped what had transpired.
At length.
His body slumped limply atop the ice shards.
The feeble gleam in his eyes extinguished.
Like the chill that sought to engulf Bendel.
The same moment.
In some corner of Bendel mansion, maids conversed.
"Huh? Weird. Felt like it got freezing cold for a sec, but now it's toasty?"
"Phew! Finally, I can breathe!"
"Hope that creepy woman clears out soon—"
Bendel mansion's air reclaimed its warmth.
It was summer.