Chapter 350: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 6
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 350: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 6
The first sign that something was wrong was the low hill I saw in the distance. Behind it, the ridgeline of a mountain range was visible—a perfectly ordinary, everyday sight.
Except for the fact that no such hill had existed before I arrived at the Golden Palace.
A scene invisible from the outside. Was it real, or an illusion? For someone like me, with no other abilities, telling the difference would require mind-reading.
But right now, I had no way of finding out.
Because among all the beings in this Golden Palace, not a single one was alive!
Hector, the only living human in the Golden Palace, pointed at me and spoke.
“Goldenarch. This is him.”
Elric stared at me intently. I calmly read her—or should I say, its—expression.
Residual thoughts aren't alive. While they are traces of what were once human, allowing me to glean some details, I can't read them as perfectly as a living person. In other words, my mind-reading was as good as sealed.
Tyr was gone, and I was alone in the heart of enemy territory. And on top of that, my mind-reading was useless. This was getting a little dangerous, wasn't it?
While I was debating whether to run, Elric took out a notebook, read something from it, and spoke.
“An envoy, you said? Here to negotiate a truce.”
“That is correct. It seems they do not wish for conflict in the Abyssal Wastelands.”
“…The Abyssal Wastelands, you say. The land of opportunity, now that the Abyss is gone.”
She once again flipped through the notebook, reading something. Even when I stared at the back of it, I couldn't see its contents.
If my mind-reading were working properly, I would have read the contents of Elric's notebook, her current thoughts, her plans, her likes and dislikes, and even her past. But now, I was getting nothing from Elric.
Only the cause of the Golden Empire's fall long ago and the regrets she held for it drifted in the air.
What on earth happened? I wanted to know more, but my mind-reading was useless.
While I was thinking, Elric—having finished her own thoughts, or whatever passed for them—opened her mouth.
“Dominarch. What is your judgment?”
There was no awkwardness in the way she spoke down to the elderly man. Even as a corpse, the king's remains possessed a certain dignity.
As if accustomed to such treatment, Hector respectfully addressed the much younger-looking woman.
“I believe it is not a bad proposal. It has been too long since the Fallen Dominion properly cultivated its lands. If we were to give the Dholes seeds now, I fear they would simply turn them into their next meal. Would it not be more rational to let the Military State cultivate the land and take a portion for ourselves….”
“Wrong.”
Elric's declaration left no room for argument. Hector clamped his mouth shut. While he cautiously tried to decipher the Goldenarch's intent, Elric turned back to me and held out a hand.
“The Abyssal Wastelands were originally the land of the Golden Empire. It was so from the Empire's beginning, and so it shall be in the future.”
The Golden Empire…? Why bring up a nation that fell ages ago?
“If you have not forgotten your history, you would know that the Elric royal family used the Abyss as a tomb for its failures. Is that not so, envoy?”
Elric spoke with the arrogance of a reigning monarch. It was an overly confident attitude for a king who had been ‘devoured’ by the Golden Lord.
Perhaps. If my guess is right… but could it be?
I took a deep breath.
Time to accept it. My trusty friend, mind-reading, which had been with me my entire life, was useless right now.
But mind-reading isn't my only strength.
My mind-reading can't read anything other than human minds. It can't read the thoughts of animals, nor can it predict tomorrow's weather. I don't even know what the seeds I've sown will grow into. I'm no prophet.
But the true ability of a human isn't mind-reading. A human's real power is the ability to use any and all means to achieve a goal.
To investigate the world, deconstruct it, predict it, and use it. Even when they fail, humans use that failure as a stepping stone to move forward again. The word ‘impossible’ is a sentence passed only after careful deliberation, once all possibilities have vanished. And even then, new possibilities often arise with the passage of time.
Branding something as impossible can wait until after it's been proven so. Giving up beforehand is what prophets do.
Let's do this. Starting with my hypothesis.
“You're right. The Golden Empire, a nation of artisans, had a custom of dumping the ash from their forges and useless scrap metal into the Abyss. Between the Kingdom and the Golden Empire, it was the Golden Empire that showed more interest in the Abyss and held effective control over it.”
“You are well-informed.”
“But that was a matter between the Golden Empire and the Kingdom.”
The Golden Lord is known as an Arcane of the Fallen Dominion, but the name itself is a contradiction. ‘Golden’ refers to the Golden Empire. ‘Lord’ refers to a king's subject. The name itself implies a connection to the Golden Empire. Why? Has the Golden Lord not forgotten the empire? Or perhaps….
“The relationship between the Fallen Dominion and the Military State is the exact opposite. After becoming the Fallen Dominion, the nation of alchemy, you didn't even go near it, afraid of the permanent loss of alchemic cost, right? The Military State invested in the abandoned land and reaped the rewards, so doesn't the Military State have the greater claim now?”
“An envoy who only mentions what is advantageous to his own country. However, I shall point out your foolishness.”
Who cares. It doesn't matter if the Abyssal Wastelands belong to the Military State or the Fallen Dominion. All I need right now is information.
The Golden Lord is constantly creating things as it moves. But everything it creates is somehow strange. A cornfield is one thing, but a city built of stone or high castle walls are structures that don't fit the modern era. The development of alchemy rendered castle walls obsolete, yet the Golden Lord, the progenitor of all alchemists, is the one building them.
The reason they exist is because the Golden Lord made them, but the question of why the Golden Lord made them still remains.
However, that question, too, can be answered with one simple hypothesis.
“You are wrong. Because this place is the Golden Empire.”
Perhaps, the Golden Lord…
…is trying to build the Golden Empire on this very land.
“That's absurd. The Golden Empire was destroyed by the Golden Lord's own hands.”
“You are wrong. This place has a king, it has territory, and it has subjects who follow. They are the king of the Golden Empire, the territory of the Golden Empire, and the people of the Golden Empire. Therefore, this nation is the Golden Empire.”
“King Elric of the Golden Empire is dead. At the hands of the Golden Lord! You are not King Elric!”
“I still exist. What will you call me, who possesses the king's memories, the king's appearance, and the king's abilities?”
The most necessary component of the Golden Empire was none other than its king. For the Golden Lord to create the Golden Empire, it would have first needed to manifest King Elric.
Good. I'm starting to see the bigger picture. Goldenarch Elric is a homunculus, a creation of the Golden Lord. If that's the case, the Golden Lord itself must be here somewhere in this space.
“I came here to negotiate with the ruler of the Fallen Dominion, the Golden Lord. Not King Elric of the Golden Empire. Call the Golden Lord. I will negotiate with him.”
Let's try calling for the Golden Lord. If I can see the Golden Lord in person, all these mysteries will be solved.
But Elric didn't move as I expected.
“You have not a speck of courtesy. Very well. Then I shall make things clearer for you.”
Elric extended her hand.
Transmuting the earth, a massive spear shot up from below like a tree. Transmuting common dirt wouldn't normally produce high-cost alchemic steel, but this was the Golden Lord's domain. Outdated concepts like equivalent exchange did not apply here.
Elric lifted the spear, twice her height, with a single hand. The spear, made of an extraordinary metal, aimed for my neck with a cold gleam.
“There is no clearer declaration of war than beheading an envoy. I will show you with actions, not words.”
Uh oh. Did I push too hard? I asked for the Golden Lord, and now she's suddenly trying to kill me. That must have been a sore spot!
“W-wait a minute. Hold on. Do you have any idea who's backing me?”
“It matters not. I shall execute you myself.”
“No, Your Majesty! For real!”
I'm going to die. With my mind-reading useless, I have no way of beating this homunculus. If I had my mind-reading, I could have found a way to escape. No, in the first place, I wouldn't have even asked for the Golden Lord! Give me back my mind-reading!
Just then, Dominarch Hector, who had been listening quietly, hastily tried to stop Elric.
“Wait, Goldenarch. Their military strength is not to be ignored.”
According to the Witherarch, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka is their ally. Vampires who wield the power of blood are tricky. It would be better to send him back to the Duchy unharmed….
But Elric ignored Hector's counsel and readjusted her grip on the iron spear.
“It matters not who comes. The Golden Empire shall be eternal, forged in steel.”
“Ugh…”
Do I have to fight? I don't even have my diamonds. How long can I last with just my magic cards?
Just as I held up my cards, bracing for a final stand, a clear bell chimed.
The sound wasn't loud, but its fullness told me it came from a masterfully crafted bell. If it had been made of iron instead of gold, its harmony would have moved the hearts of all who heard it.
Elric's gaze swiveled. At the end of her line of sight was the slowly opening door of the town hall. Through the gap, an innocent voice drifted out.
“Your Majesty! I've finished it!”
At the same moment, a sensation of the entire world receding pulled at me.
It wasn't just a sensation. A thin but invisible barrier now separated me from them. The air felt as if it had solidified into glass, and my hand could move no further.
My voice probably wouldn't reach them either. They might not even be able to see me. It was as if my very existence had been excluded from the world on the other side.
This wasn't my imagination. At his appearance, the expressions on both Elric and Hector changed. Elric broke into a radiant smile I hadn't seen before and welcomed the owner of the voice.
“Demo.”
She said the name of the Golden Lord.