Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Berbandes
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The embers of an unquenchable calamity must not be passed down to future generations.
For Sahila. For Kehlin. For the dark elves.
The hero Sahila devoted every effort to completely eradicate the demon Berbandes.
It was an effort that willingly embraced even the sacrifice of his own life.
And thus, the final resort he reached was to seal the demon Berbandes within his own body.
The great hero's will would surely suppress the demon's existence.
No one doubted that fact.
"..."
The demon's whisper echoed.
It was a faint sound, like the leaking breath from the lungs of a dying old man.
Sahila simply ignored it.
"Noisy."
The demon's whisper echoed.
Sahila spat it out with a weary expression.
"Enough. Enough. Enough."
The demon's whisper echoed.
Sahila closed his eyes and muttered.
"Aaaargh!!!"
The demon's whisper echoed.
Sahila plugged his ears and screamed in a fit.
"Shut up!!!"
The demon's whisper echoed.
Sahila swung his fist toward the mirror.
"...Sir! Family head!!!"
"...!"
Sahila barely regained his senses.
"Ah, Father..."
The first thing he saw was the small boy pinned beneath him.
It was none other than his son.
One hand was reaching toward the boy's throat.
And the other hand was restraining it.
Retainers, armed but unable to act, surrounded them.
"What... happened..."
"During the meal, you suddenly stood up and approached the young master. And then..."
The retainer couldn't continue, but it was enough.
Sahila had been overtaken by the demon's power, momentarily losing himself.
And that brief lapse nearly led to irreversible consequences.
"Father, a-are you... okay...?"
Even amidst it all, the child was worried about his father.
It was beyond maturity; it was possible only because he didn't know what had happened.
How could he even imagine it?
That just moments ago, his father had tried to kill him.
Sahila hugged his son with all his strength.
"Family head..."
The retainer's short words carried much meaning.
It was time to endure humiliation.
"Prepare to transfer the seal."
In the end, the great hero had to accept it.
The humiliating fact that bearing Berbandes' existence was beyond him.
That completely eradicating Berbandes' power and being was nearly impossible.
Berbandes' power had vanished.
That was the conclusion Kella reached upon belatedly realizing her own state.
The immense demonic power that had been part of her until moments ago was gone without a trace.
"Impossible..."
That power was on a different level from the paltry forces other demon followers received from their master.
It was the result of gathering the power sealed in 'Berbandes' Eye,' a true fragment of his essence.
In other words, Berbandes' existence itself.
To eradicate Berbandes' existence?
Even Sahila, the great hero who had grasped a star's name on the cusp of 8th realm, couldn't achieve it.
Who, or what, could possibly eradicate Berbandes' power?
So Kella denied it.
Retracing her senses, she awakened Berbandes' power once more.
Joy lit her face.
Some force had reacted to that sensation.
It was certain.
That power was undoubtedly the authority of the mighty and evil desert demon, Berbandes.
Kella drew out the power of her worshipped being with all her might.
Pure desert energy, untainted by impurities, gathered at her fingertips.
"?"
What?
Kella stared blankly at her hand.
Thwack!
Until the moment she lost consciousness from Kayren's strike, freed from mental interference and back to his senses.
"..."
Kayren was stunned.
He looked down at the hilt of his sword, which he had used to knock out Kella.
Was it really okay to resolve it this easily?
Having felt Kella's power with his whole body and been cornered, he now felt a pang of conscience.
Wondering if this was part of some vile scheme by Kella, he warily eyed her fallen form.
That was when it happened.
Cough! Hack!
Kella's body convulsed and spasmed on the floor.
-Where is this?
In an empty world where nothing existed, it pondered.
-...
It tried to remember but ultimately gave up.
There was a more pressing question.
-Who... am I?
It pondered.
-...
Same as before.
No matter how hard it tried, nothing came to mind.
Just as it was about to give up entirely—
-No...
An arrogantly clear ego roused it.
-I am... the sand dune that blots out the sun...
-How dare anyone judge me... imprison me...
The empty world filled with a raging sandstorm.
It was a grotesque sight.
Kella, the demon follower, was rolling on the floor with her eyes rolled back.
On the dark red blood she had just vomited, no less.
Greedily, like scooping up spilled gold coins.
"Lady! Step back!"
Kayren hurriedly blocked Kartria.
Setting aside the ominous and bizarre aura, Kella's power was rapidly recovering.
Though not as stable as before.
Crack.
Crack.
Freakish movements ignoring her body's structure.
She was no longer a being wielding demonic power.
She had become a being wielded by it.
The power of Berbandes that Kella had accepted.
The faint demonic ego melted within it had reacted to its rampaging true will somewhere, devouring and dominating Kella's ego.
"Grraaah—"
The thing that was once Kella drooled blood-mixed saliva and swung its hand toward Kartria and Kayren.
Billowing darkness surged like waves of sand to swallow them.
Kayren immediately hoisted Kartria and put distance between them.
After safely setting her down, he charged back into the fray.
Even at full strength, Kella had shown reluctance for an all-out battle with Kayren.
There was no way a fair fight could happen now that she had lost her ego and was blindly swinging power around.
The battle ended in an instant.
The ominous sandstorm filling the room ceased.
Thud.
Kella's head, severed from her body, hit the floor.
Everything was truly over.
Kayren wanted to savor the victory with Kartria.
"Kayren, we need to head to the magic tower right now."
But what reflected in his eyes was the restless lady.
"What's wrong?"
The series of anomalies Kella had shown.
Kartria instantly recognized their nature.
Berbandes.
He was rampaging.
Why?
She didn't know.
What was clear was the aftermath's power.
It had driven even Kella, wielding power without ego, to madness.
Then what about Rishir, who had the demon's full ego sealed inside him?
"Rishir. He's in danger...! We have to go help him now!"
"Oh, Kartria. Perfect timing. Take this back— it should be fine now."
Rishir.
He was still in Meltas' lab.
With Master Meltas, and one other... something.
He showed Kartria something on the desk.
Berbandes.
His final struggle had come to naught.
To the end, he thrashed within the prison called Rishir until he lost himself completely.
The massive sandstorm with evil will was no more.
"Little one. What's your name?"
-I am Berbandes! Sand dune that bwots out the sun!
"Not Berbandesu, Berbandes~"
-Beru... Beru... Weird name!!! Want different name!
What remained was a sand spirit in the form of a little girl.
"..."
Family head Borad Sahila.
He made Berbandes' annihilation his life's task to honor his father's legacy but ultimately failed.
However, the vast achievements he left became a heritage passed to posterity.
Drhon Sahila.
He inherited his ancestor's legacy, making Berbandes' annihilation his life's task but failed as well.
Yet he detected Berbandes secretly building power within the seal, discovered flaws, and reinforced it.
Yona Sahila.
Abandoning annihilation, he focused on sealing.
Realizing no seal could stop Berbandes' power growth, he devised a new sealing rite.
In the end, he created a contract seal that bound the target via contract and consumed its power to halt growth.
Rophis Sahila.
Recognizing the contract seal's limits, he sought a new rite but failed.
Realizing no more efficient seal existed, he refocused on annihilation.
Failed again, then uncovered a new truth.
Warning posterity that Berbandes' reincarnation was near.
Sahila family head of the era, Rishana Sahila.
Berbandes' sealing and annihilation were not her concerns.
Her predecessor mother's warning.
Rishana knew Berbandes' reincarnation couldn't be stopped and was imminent.
Perhaps she would be the first Sahila since the founder to face him.
What greater honor?
...What greater burden?
Resignation. And resolve.
Rishana Sahila began solidifying foundations.
To prepare for the soon-approaching reincarnation of Berbandes.
To protect kin and ancestors' legacy from that mighty being impossible to fully seal or annihilate.
The burden choked her.
A great task inheriting ancestral glory, yet terrifyingly heavy.
She often asked herself.
Can I really do this?
The answer was meaningless.
Regardless of possibility, it had to be done.
Thus, Rishana Sahila spent her days in anxiety and determination.
Ready for the day of reckoning whenever it came.
Sudden loss of contact with her son, among other suspicious movements around Kehlin.
The Sahila family had already captured numerous demon followers.
Rishana Sahila sensed it.
And one day.
"Family head!!!"
That it had finally come.
The Sahila family head closed her eyes wearily.
Some time passed, and Rishana spoke with resolve.
"Speak."
"Berbandes' curse...!"
Berbandes had cursed Sahila.
The curse of imprisoning his existence would swallow Sahila upon his reincarnation.
The first target would be none other than the family head.
Rishana smiled calmly. Her seasoned smile soothed the other.
"Calm down. I'm fine."
"Berbandes' curse... has vanished...!"
Rishana Sahila.
In her generation, she annihilated Berbandes' existence, finally completing the Sahila family's long task.
"Why?"
Somehow, she completed it.
If Kella hadn't landed the killing blow on Kartria back then, none of this shitshow would've happened, right?
"Please let me remain your maid from now on too, until I pay off your debt!"
Once the series of events wrapped up, that was the first thing Kartria said to me.
From living together, I knew a maid handling chores and conveniences warms a man's heart in many ways.
"Troublesome."
But I refused.
I mooched off the magic tower far too long under the pretext of mediating between it and various sponsors.
But all things must end.
Most mediation was done, and I'd gained most of what the tower offered.
What remained—diving deeper into magic theory or getting specialized combat lessons from Sir Meltas and other masters—
Couldn't be casually picked up while freeloading under 'earning my keep.'
Touching them would turn honorary mage into some hybrid official honorary mage.
It was greed now, putting cart before horse.
To maintain positive ties with the tower going forward, it was time to build my own base.
In short, I'd soon leave the tower and lose my fixed residence again.
No means or reason to keep a maid.
Especially when she wasn't some homeless slave, but the lady of a great southern noble house.
Kartria couldn't stubbornly argue against such rational reasons.
"Got it! Then, soon, formally, proudly, I'll come visit you! Not in this fake form, but as my true self!"
Thus, the dark elves cheerfully returned home.
With promises of repayment fitting their debt—
-'That thing' holds great meaning to our family and kin! Leave it with you! Consider it proof of my sincerity and trust!
—Leaving behind a mischievous hill sprite, some desert trash demon Ber-whatever.
So, while fiddling with moving prep in the tower dorm I'd crashed at for a while—
"...Huh?"
Something odd caught the corner of my eye.
If I wasn't seeing things, it was—