Chapter 18
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18
After all, no one would ever suspect that the boss had broken out of the dungeon.
“Fufu, you look like you’ve been caught red-handed. Don’t make such a face. It is quite embarrassing for Us as well, considering how passionately We went on about the Primordial Core in front of you. Yes, you must have been laughing at Us! Right? How mean! Why did you just stand there listening instead of telling Us the truth?”
“Well, that’s because…”
It was full of things I’d never heard before, so it felt like I was reading a novel.
“Anyway! As you can see, We knew all along! Therefore, We also know just how dangerous your thoughts are. We shall help you. We will hear no objections.”
“Even if you help, it won’t make things any less dangerous.”
“But the danger won’t increase, will it?”
“I wonder.”
I have a feeling it will.
“More importantly, is it really okay for the King of Monsters to act on such simple logic…?”
“One does not become the Demon King by being logical. Rather, whatever the Demon King says becomes logic.”
“It’s not like being the Demon King gives you a free pass.”
What an incredibly unhinged philosophy. As Swallow pondered how things had escalated to this point, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Only then did a bright smile grace Melju’s lips.
“Ah! That expression—now you finally look like the Sir Swald We know.”
“Huh?”
“Were you aware? Until just a moment ago, Sir Swald, you felt like a completely different entity. Perhaps it was just Our imagination, but it almost seemed like something was about to burst out of your back. At any rate, We are truly glad you are back to normal.”
Clasping her hands behind her back, Melju circled Swallow as she spoke.
Her long hair fluttered in the wind. As if on cue, a refreshing melody drifted from somewhere behind them.
Stopping in front of Swallow, Melju wore a completely carefree smile. Her eyes were clear, her cheeks slightly puffed. Leaning in playfully, she spoke with deliberate emphasis.
“Whatever it is, do not worry. We shall help you. So, never speak like that, in that voice, ever again. Promise me.”
Do not worry...?
Rene’s life hung in the balance. How could he not worry in a situation like this? Was Melju acting this way because she didn’t grasp the gravity of the situation, or because it wasn’t her problem and felt distant? Was that why she could smile like that?
To not worry at all was impossible. She was only saying that because she didn’t understand. And yet…
“Alright, I’m sorry,” Swallow managed a smile in return.
Ah, whatever.
* * *
“I expected as much, but seriously, no one ever uses the back gate.”
Muttering to himself, the servant in the shabby shirt yawned repeatedly.
It made sense, considering how pathetic the back gate looked compared to the grand main entrance. For the high and mighty, simply showing their faces at the auction house was a way to show off. Since this was an auction attended by the cream of society, they all entered through the front. In fact, the only reason a servant was stationed at the back gate was to keep out uninvited guests—like drunks or intruders. Unless they were nobles marching proudly through the grand front gates, there was absolutely no reason for anyone to use a back entrance like this.
He wondered what he should buy for dinner with today’s wages. If he was lucky, maybe he could snag some leftovers from the post-auction dinner. Just as he was lost in these thoughts, two silhouettes approached his station.
A woman dressed in a lavish, colorful gown, and a man following closely behind her like a shadow.
The woman was a young, strikingly beautiful girl who looked to be in her late teens at the oldest—just reaching marriageable age. She belonged to that rare class of people whose beauty was undeniable even from a distance.
The man following her was a handsome fellow with several moles who looked a few years older than the girl, but his clothes were shabby. Shabby was an understatement; they were downright pathetic. He wore patched-up garments, almost as if he were intentionally advertising his lowly status.
They can’t be family. A wealthy noble and her servant, then?
They shared absolutely no resemblance, starting with their hair color, so family was out of the question. If they weren’t related, then judging by their attire, the man had to be her servant.
What is she thinking, dragging around a scrawny guy who looks like he’d lose a fight to a random passerby?
The servant let out an involuntary chuckle at the thought. Fortunately, the girl didn’t seem to hear him. If you offended a noble with such bizarre tastes—especially an immature, prideful one of that age—you were bound to suffer a terrible fate.
Once he was certain the noble and her servant were heading toward his gate, the servant bowed politely. The noble girl gave a brief nod in return. Just as he was about to rattle off the greeting he had memorized to the point of exhaustion, his eyes met hers.
…She’s beautiful.
A face so stunning that nine out of ten men would fall for her instantly.
There was simply no other way to describe it. He raised his head to look at her again, and their eyes met once more by chance.
“I would like to attend today’s auction. May we enter through here?”
“Yes, you may. However, I must verify your identity first. Um, excuse me, but may I have your name…?”
“Ah, is a name required? I am Melju of the Agrea family. And this is my servant, Mr. Swald.”
“I-I see. Please wait just a moment.”
Agrea. It was a family name the servant had never heard before. They certainly weren’t one of the Imperial Nine Families. Perhaps they were minor, nameless nobility?
Most nobles were betrothed to other families long before they reached marriageable age. Had no family claimed such a beautiful girl yet? Dwelling on these thoughts made him feel incredibly pathetic about his own commoner status.
If I were a noble, I would have proposed to her on the spot.
Shaking off his brief daydream, the servant engraved the name ‘Melju’ into his heart and scanned the guest list. The Agrea family was not on it. Nor was the name Melju.
“Um, I’m terribly sorry, but your name is not on the list I was given.”
He wanted to let her in with all his heart, but no matter how many times he checked, the name Melju was nowhere to be found. Letting someone in who wasn’t on the list could cost him his head, so he bowed deeply, showing as much remorse as possible.
“Oh? That cannot be. Please check once more… Ah, Mr. Swald, was it an invitation? Do you have it on you?”
“Ah, you mean the invitation.”
The girl’s voice had risen slightly in panic. The deep, resonant voice that answered her caught the servant’s attention.
“Pardon? An invitation? I’m sorry, but for this auction, there are no such things as—”
“Ah, found it.”
Thud.
In an instant, his vision spun. It twisted to an angle impossible for a human neck, then began a slow descent. As his vision plummeted, the servant caught sight of his own body. It had no head. Only after his eyeballs spun a few more times did they make contact with the ground.
“Here is your invitation to the afterlife.”
The servant named Swald sneered, stepping on the man’s head.
“Well, our cover was blown immediately.”
“Indeed. Had We known We would be stopped at the entrance, We wouldn’t have bothered dressing up so much. Besides, changing one’s manner of speech is quite difficult. This way of speaking is much more comfortable.”
“…Anyway, I just went ahead and took him out. Won’t they notice soon?”
“Yes, they likely will. Let us hurry, Sir Swald.”
The two shadows slipped into the building.
Side. 1
I had a nightmare.
It was far too vivid to be just a dream.
In the dream, I was running away instinctively, desperate to survive as if my body were trapped in honey. By the time I regained my senses, I was far from Graphenia’s forest. I had tripped over a stone while crossing a small stream, and only after being drenched in its freezing water did my senses slowly return.
“Ha, ahaha, ahhh…”
In the dream, I was in despair. I was helpless. I don’t know what was so agonizing, but something intangible was twisting and squeezing my throat, making it hard to even breathe.
What happened? What did I do?
I raised my head.
Reflected on the clear surface of the water was the face of a maid, with the moonlight at her back.
She looked hideous. Her silver hair, drenched in water, had never looked so repulsive. The maid who used to constantly say, ‘I cannot live without him,’ had fled all this way just to survive him. It was pathetic. So utterly pathetic and disgusting that I wanted to tear the skin right off my face.
No. Maybe I should just sever my ankles. If I cut them off, would I stop running away from him? But I didn’t even have a single blade on me. I collapsed on the spot. I wanted to cry, but the guilt blocked my tears. I could only look up at the moon and laugh hollowly.
The dream always ended like that.
…Do not deny it, Rene Rellow. You know it better than anyone.
It’s already too late. It’s too late.
I—Rene Rellow—can never return to the Primordial Core.
Ah. If only it had ended with the dream.
Waking up, Rene slowly sat up. Cruelly, reality was no different from her dream.
The memories of a few days ago, which had repeatedly worn down her body, remained as lingering thoughts that bound her even in her nightmares. When she fell asleep, exhausted from struggling to shake them off, the memories she tried so hard to forget bloomed once more in her dreams.
One by one, slowly, as if she were self-harming—as if she enjoyed inflicting pain upon herself.
Her subconscious refused to allow her even the slightest comfort, even within a dream.
Four days had passed since Rene Rellow left the Primordial Core. The wind swept across the desolate plains. The rustling of dead leaves from withered trees echoed from all directions. She stepped on the yellowed grass. Starving crows pecked at the empty air. In this place where everything was dead, only Rene sat perched on the cold ruins of a steeply eroded ancient castle, breathing faintly.
A pair of bloodshot, madness-tinged eyes stared at her back.
Rene slowly turned her head. Their eyes met.
“Poor child.”
Phase. 5
Seized by terror, the man’s body trembled uncontrollably. He desperately scrambled on his hands and knees to escape, but his sweat-slicked palms kept slipping, leaving him flailing in place. Not that crawling away would have saved him anyway.
“Guards! No, anyone, just help me! You bastards! Where did you all go?!”
“Where else? They’ve gone to a place they can never return from.”
“The—the barrier set up by the Imperial Palace Mages! What happened to it?!”
“Hmm? Don’t tell me you were relying on that all this time?”
The voice delivering the leisurely joke was exceptionally low. Raising an eyebrow, Swallow scanned his surroundings.
Three corpses were embedded in the wall at bizarre angles. He had killed twelve guards on his way here. That made fifteen in total. No, sixteen if he counted the man about to die—
“Human, you are unarmed, so We assume it is safe to say you are affiliated with the auction?”
Melju asked with a serious expression. The man didn’t dare lie. The moment he gestured otherwise, his thin thread of life would undoubtedly be severed.
The auction house’s security was bafflingly lax. It was pathetically poor. Inside the building, which was structured like a coiled snake, there were only mercenaries guarding the paths at intervals so wide they couldn’t even communicate with one another.
Judging by their mismatched attire and weapons, they were likely cheap hires. If they had been private soldiers of human nobles who valued dignity, or high-class mercenaries, they would never have been dressed in such rags.
Naturally, none of them were strong. They were so weak that there was no need to waste time breaking through their defenses. Swallow and Melju bypassed them one by one without even slowing their pace. They were so low-level that even Swallow, well aware of his own strength, concluded, ‘It’s not that I’m strong; they’re just that weak.’
Perhaps Melju, who had been casting intermediate magic at the first enemies they encountered, decided it was a waste of mana. She ignored the guards as if leaving the prey to Swallow. She merely cast the `<Mute>` spell to prevent the humans from screaming upon seeing her and the blood-drenched Swallow.
There were also several layers of magical barriers, but they bypassed most of them as if they weren’t even there. Since Swallow possessed a massive amount of backflowing mana, low-level barriers lost their power and collapsed at his mere touch. For the few that were too bothersome to simply pass through, Melju shattered them with her veil-breaking magic or weakened them before smashing them.
Consequently, they arrived at a large hall on the third floor.
It had taken less than five minutes to get here. If they excluded the time spent debating which direction to take, it would have been less than three.
Upon arrival, they were greeted by three armed mercenaries and this man, who had been snickering while reading a list.
Having slaughtered all the mercenaries, Melju and Swallow slowly approached the man, who was now backing away while drenched in sweat, deciding he might be of some use.