Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Dark Elf Katría (2)
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"..."
"..."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the basement.
Even the ominous aura filling the space seemed to glance around awkwardly, as if unsure of itself.
The devil worshipper who had cornered the young lady, Kella.
The knight captain who sought to protect the young lady, Kayren.
In the midst of their fierce standoff, something utterly unthinkable had happened.
The young lady had awakened.
Because the young lady's mind had fully revived in spectacular fashion, the devil worshipper who had been confidently threatening her with it, and the knight captain who had been burning with hatred and a sense of crisis at those threats, both looked utterly awkward now.
The topaz forming Verbandes's eye shamelessly gleamed on, oblivious to the mood.
Of course, they were no ordinary folk.
They quickly regained their composure, reigniting the suffocating tension.
Even the ominous aura filling the space seemed to amplify its presence, heightening the tension further.
Pfsh!
It was a sudden strike that unfolded in that moment.
Like sand flowing down from the peak of a dune.
The drawn blade pierced the devil worshipper's body, the entire motion captured in a single fluid flow.
Before anyone knew it, the Night Shadow Knight Captain stood right before the devil worshipper, skewering her sidewise with a dagger of peculiar shape.
It was already plenty lethal, and with just a bit more force, it would shred her lungs and bring certain death.
Some derisively called the Night Shadow Knights an assassination squad.
A title born of awe and resentment at the irrational movements their secret arts produced.
The death they wrought was dry and silent, devoid of screams or commotion.
The Night Shadow Knights' secret art, Sand Step, had been unleashed.
"...!"
The devil worshipper had largely transcended the shackles of the flesh.
Physical damage and the pain it brought held little meaning for her.
Yet her expression was filled with utter bewilderment.
Shards of lingering humanity she hadn't fully shaken off reminded her of the terror of death.
Without sharing in "His" power, she wouldn't have dared lift her head before this man.
And she would have surrendered her life to him all too easily.
She, who had been a dark elf before becoming a devil worshipper, felt a shiver anew—experiencing the Night Shadow Knight Captain's famed prowess firsthand.
How irrational a strike was this?
How irrational a power?
And she shivered once more.
At herself, now able to face that Night Shadow Knight Captain on equal footing—or even superior.
At Him, who had bestowed such power upon her.
She had merely absorbed a portion of the power sealed in Verbandes's eye.
But what if she fully accepted the very existence sealed in Verbandes's grasp—
If she restored all the power weakened by the seal—
Haah.
The devil worshipper's face flushed with eager anticipation for the future.
"Getting impatient, are we?"
The Night Shadow Knight Captain had planned to leverage his clear physical advantage and turn the conversation into an interrogation.
But just as he opened his mouth, the devil worshipper beat him to it by a beat, seizing the momentum.
Her voice brimmed not with pain or fear, but with exaltation and ecstasy.
"...!"
Kayren was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer grotesqueness of it.
The devil worshipper, Kella, didn't miss that emotional gap.
Kella's hand touched Kayren's hand gripping the sword.
First softly, then viciously. Like a snake coiling around prey before squeezing, she yanked his hand with all her might.
Pfsh!
Thus, she shoved the remaining blade fully into her own body.
"Haah..."
A melting sigh escaped Kella's lips.
It was the thrill of bearing the strength of a man like Kayren—and proudly proclaiming she could.
"I get it. You can't help but be impatient."
Kella's demeanor shifted completely.
Shedding entirely the guise of the dark elf overshadowed by Kehlin and the Night Shadow Knights, she now confronted the pitiful mortal before her as the proxy of a great existence.
"You still don't know a thing. Right?"
"..."
That the killing blow from Sand Step hadn't ended in death wasn't all that surprising, but it wasn't enough to sow true confusion in the Night Shadow Knight Captain.
From the moment Kayren entered the basement and felt the ominous aura permeating the space with his skin, he had considered every possibility.
He could shake off her grasp right now and thoroughly dismantle that defenseless body.
A flicker of curiosity even stirred.
Would she truly feel no pain even then?
Could she still speak so leisurely?
But the reason he didn't—
Was, as Kella said, that he knew nothing.
What rippled the serene lake of the Night Shadow Knight Captain's inner world wasn't the devil worshipper's ominous power, but the unknown threat menacing the young lady and young master.
That was why he, as Night Shadow Knight Captain and Katría's protector, had cast aside principles and plunged unprotected into enemy territory.
Just moments ago, Kayren had tried making the first move, but in truth, it was already far too late.
The battle had begun long before.
From the moment Kella, that devil worshipper, approached the defenseless young master.
How many moves had she made in the interim?
He didn't know.
What was certain was that this horrific, vile devil worshipper's clutches had thoroughly ensnared the young master.
And perhaps the young lady as well.
Kayren's momentum faltered, his stance shifting to a more defensive one.
Kella smiled in satisfaction, caressing his jaw.
"Wise choice. As a reward, I'll tell you one thing. About Drian's exact condition. Whatever method our young lady used, he's regained consciousness for now—but don't get complacent. He's essentially in the same state as me, just to a different degree."
"No way...!"
Kayren's calm shattered, his face paling in shock.
Kella twisted her lips into a grotesque grin of rapture.
"That's right. He's become a part of Verbandes, just like me. He might act fine on the surface now, but deep down, he's rotting away, feeling the demon his ancestors sealed."
"Mm..."
The dark elf perched on the windowsill, lost in thought.
Bathed in the sunlight's glow, she was unmistakably the young master who had made countless women of Kehlin's hearts flutter—
Drian of the Sahila family.
"Feels like I'm forgetting something..."
He carefully assessed his current state.
To figure out how he'd awakened in this unfamiliar yet welcoming place.
But he came up empty in the end.
His body was far too pristine to draw any inferences.
Like all the filth that had caked him had been thoroughly washed away.
Along with the memories tied to that filth.
"Eh, whatever."
So Drian felt perfectly at ease.
Feeling hunger, he left the bedroom.
The living room came into view at a glance. And atop the table, a lavish spread.
Drian realized it immediately.
That this meal had been freshly prepared every single day for him, not knowing when he might wake.
He smiled, feeling the warmth of that heartfelt care filling his belly.
Drian was happy.
"..."
Kayren's face clouded with anguish as he imagined Drian's state from Kella's words.
She eagerly pried deeper into the crack in his heart.
Pressing her body against his, she whispered into his ear.
"And when she finds out? How will Katría react?"
"..."
"True despair always comes after hope. Take a good look."
She showed Kayren the brilliantly glowing eye of Verbandes.
"You've noticed our young lady hasn't been well lately, right?"
Of course.
Eyes that had lost their light, courting death.
Kayren clearly remembered the young lady's precarious state.
Right on the edge of the cliff.
One more step, and she would crumble.
"In that state, what if she learns her brother has become part of a demon?"
"..."
"What if she realizes, for the family's sake, she must kill him with her own hands?"
The Night Shadow Knight Captain's eyes wavered.
The devil worshipper stared straight into them and said,
"Face it, even if it's hard. The only one who can save your young lady is me."
Katría burst into laughter bordering on a guffaw.
The resigned expression from moments ago, when she'd let everything go, vanished without a trace.
She'd tried to hold it in.
"Four Hundred Lotuses... So that's what was in that stew back then. It was so tasty, and it turns out it was a poisonous herb?"
But seeing Rishir's response, she couldn't hold back at all.
His utterly serious face spouting the world's most absurd line made a mockery of her resignation and resolve.
Thus, Katría had no choice but to laugh.
And doubt her own ears once more.
"Rishir. Is that the right reaction in this situation?"
Meltas felt the same, asking with a deeply conflicted expression.
"Truth be told, I'm confused too. What am I supposed to do here? Feel betrayed? But the Four Hundred Lotuses were too sweet. Feel grateful? But it was actually a poisonous herb you fed me."
"...From a normal human perspective, you usually focus on the intent in cases like this."
"Intent— that's a good point."
Rishir's gaze turned to Katría.
Intent.
A look as nonchalant as if saying, well, spill it then.
"..."
Katría was speechless.
Originally, she had no intention of ever revealing her motives.
Out of a defensive instinct born from anxiety that it was unforgivable, and guilt at the thought he might forgive her.
But Rishir's attitude now.
It wasn't accusation, reprimand, or pleading.
Just pure curiosity.
Katría had braced for every scenario of contempt and resentment from him.
But this was wholly unexpected.
And so, unbeknownst to herself, her mouth began to move.
"So?"
Smoothly.
"Uh. And then?"
Smoothly, smoothly.
"Oh my, such a thing happened. And then?"
Smoothly, smoothly, smoothly.
"...I see, so that's what happened."
"...!"
Oh no.
By the time she snapped out of it, she'd confessed every last detail.
Having heard it all, Rishir began mumbling and gesturing like he was working out an equation.
"I get it. Tia had plenty of reason to misunderstand. Your brother was sold into slavery, so it's no wonder your thinking got warped. As someone with a cute little sister myself, I totally sympathize. And you tried to fix your mistake too."
Finally, he nodded and said,
"Well, so let's just call it even?"
"I—"
Katría tried to retort in exasperation.
But she was so exasperated, the words wouldn't come.
"I tried to kill you...!?"
What came out in the end was a dazed croak.
Her choked voice cracked high.
Almost like when she was playacting the lively maid.
"It's fine. Turns out I'm the type that doesn't get hurt by stuff like that."
"..."
Not bravado or boasting.
Just a calm statement of fact.
Katría stared at Rishir in a daze, utterly lost.
"Rishir... For reference, that 'murky truth' is one of the deadliest poisons on the entire continent. No antidote exists, and those who ingest it meet a gruesome end."
"How so?"
"It turns the victim into a husk that only responds to specific commands."
"...Ah. Kinda feels like that."
"That?"
"Someone tried something similar on me before."
"...! What happened to him!?"
"Turns out he was a good guy."
"?"
"Cleared up the misunderstanding, and now we're on decent terms."
"...You, well—what can I say— you're too magnanimous. Overly so."
"Aw, magnanimous? Nah."
Rishir grinned sheepishly.
This man.
Was genuinely embarrassed.
By all the outrageous things he'd done, undone by a single word like "magnanimous."
"..."
"..."
Katría and Meltas stared at Rishir with blank faces.
...It was winter.
What she'd thought would upend everything passed by as if it were nothing.
As Katría still reeled from the bewilderment,
"Oh, right. Tia."
Rishir spoke up as something occurred to him.
"Ah."
Katría responded as something occurred to her too.
"It's Katría."
"Huh?"
"My real name is Katría."
Late, but at last, she'd revealed everything to him.
Showing her true self for the first time.
Tia felt a rush of relief and joy.
Finally, she could build a genuine relationship with him.
"...!"
Rishir was stricken with shock then.
"Kar...tia...? No, Katría...? You've been deceiving me all this time...?"
"...?"
Katría was baffled.
He'd laughed off the murky truth, Four Hundred Lotuses, even the demon—but betrayal over this?
"Rishir...? I'm sorry..."
"...Well, yeah. It happens."
Rishir smiled bitterly.
Katría started feeling guilty, then stopped—her pride stung for some reason.
If you're gonna make me feel guilty, do it back then.
"Anyway, what I was gonna say was— Katría. Want it back?"
"Give it back...?"
"Murky truth and Four Hundred Lotuses are already digested, but Verbandes. That I can return."
"...?"
Katría faced extreme cognitive dissonance.
Talking about a mighty demon's possession like a borrowed tool.
"Return it how...? Wait, more importantly—are you really okay?"
"Suddenly again? Oh, Verbandes? No worries. This Verbandes guy actually—"
Ah. Right.
Come to think of it, the one who sealed this Verbandes was the dark elves' hero, wasn't it?
And Katría seemed to be that hero's descendant.
Rishir nodded.
Facts weren't always the best.
There was such a thing as a "white lie."
To preserve the dark elves' pride, he gladly told one.
"He's actually an incredibly powerful demon. Right?"
"...Yeah?"
"Still gives me chills thinking about it. How vicious he was—but I got lucky."
Rishir pulled a black orb from his hand and handed it to Katría.
"...What's this?"
"Verbandes."
"?"
"...Used to be?"
"...?"
"Anyway, Verbandes said that was his core."
Katría accepted the black orb in a daze.
"The part still in me, I'll return it once I figure out how."
Rishir tapped his head.
"...Yes!"
A lively reply!
Katría gave up trying to understand.
Meltas watched her fondly from the side.
In the end, the outcome couldn't have been better.
All problems resolved, Drian and Rishir unharmed.
All that remained was properly rewarding their benefactor.
"Kayren!"
Katría returned to Reisha's mansion with lively steps.
To share the joy of everything that had happened with her escort knight.
"...Kayren?"
He was definitely there.
"Young lady."
With that woman named Kella.
Taking in the sight, Katría fell into thought.
That thought soon turned to shock. Then hostility.
"You're Drian's—..."
Through the clues, Katría pieced together the full story.
At her reaction, Kella wore a grotesque smile.
"Figured it out right away? How sharp. Perfect. Saves me the breath of explaining or convincing."
Kella nodded to Kayren.
Then Kayren spoke.
"Young lady. Hear me out for now. You must hand over Verbandes's hand to her."
"...What are you talking about?"
"Young lady. Please. If things go wrong, I'll take full responsibility—"
The devil worshipper might not have fully seized the knight captain's will, but she'd succeeded in bewitching him.
Her power was severely limiting his thought processes.
Protect young lady and young master. Protect young lady and young master. Protect young lady and young master. Protect young lady and young master. Protect young lady and young master.
What horrors would unfold if Verbandes's hand went to the devil worshipper?
Kayren's darkened mind couldn't reach that far.
Right now, all that mattered was protecting the endangered young lady and young master.
"Kayren...?"
Katría instantly realized Kayren's state was off.
The ominous aura filling the space seemed to erode her mind as well.
Despair.
That word etched itself clearly into her brain.
"Young lady!"
Before Katría could steel herself, Kayren approached.
His polite hands roughly rummaged through her bosom.
"Kayren! No!"
Ignoring her protests, he seized the interspatial pouch holding most of her belongings.
"This is all for the young lady and young master's sake!!!"
He dumped the pouch's contents onto the table.
Clatter.
The topaz bracelet—Verbandes's hand—that the devil worshipper so desired appeared.
As Kella reached for it in satisfaction,
Thud.
Her gaze fell on the black orb that had tumbled from the pouch.
"...!"
Her face filled with shock.
Then that shock turned to ecstasy.
What lay before the devil worshipper now was a crystallized power bereft of its master.
What could be better than breaking the demon's seal to bask in its full favor?
Becoming the existence itself.
"Incredible..."
How had she separated such a mighty demon's power from its vessel?
An unforeseen situation. Unexpected fortune.
Kella picked up the black orb as if entranced.
And swallowed it without hesitation.
Heh heh heh heh heh.
Keh keh keh keh keh.
Kyahahahahaha!!!
Mad laughter bubbled up with rapture.
The devil worshipper—
No.
The soon-to-be demon writhed in ecstasy.
"Cough...!"
Then, something rose up her throat.
"Urk!!!"
Dark red blood poured from her mouth like a waterfall.
"Why!?"
Kella thrashed.
In excruciating pain dominating her body—
"...?"
No.
In excruciating refreshment.
Light returned to Kayren's dazed eyes.
He couldn't comprehend what had happened.
...Light returned to Kella's eyes, too, steeped in that sinister aura.
She too couldn't comprehend what had befallen her.
"..."
Katría understood what had happened.
She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her brow.
One man's face came to mind.
The mighty demon that the great dark elf house of Sahila had failed to destroy, keeping sealed for centuries, had vanished into nothingness.
"Wow..."
The Sahila young lady's impression.
A sigh-like exclamation.