Chapter 361: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 15
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 361: The King Who Kills Others, The God Who Kills Himself - 15
A clear ring echoed from the bell in my hand.
Bells have long been used to awaken people from their slumber. The Golden Lord's relic was no different; its clear tone pulled me from the depths of his mindscape and back to reality. My deeply submerged consciousness surfaced. When I came to my senses, I was back at the very moment I had shaken the Golden Lord’s bell.
No matter how much time passes in a Spiritual World, it is but a fleeting moment in reality. I had spoken with the Golden Lord for some time in there, but to anyone else, it must have looked like I was playing some kind of speed-ringing game.
Regardless of my consciousness, my body had frozen for a moment, struggling to process what had transpired in that brief instant. Did I read too much? I need to snap out of it.
“Demo!”
It was then that Elric, with all the force of her charge, shoved me. Unable to read her mind, I couldn't react and was sent tumbling harshly to the ground. A dull ache spread through my back and waist.
Right, pain is proof that I’m alive. The ache is clearing my head. Not that I particularly wanted it to.
“You bastard, what have you done to Demo—!”
Elric, who had been glaring at me with furious eyes, froze mid-sentence. Her eyes widened as she turned her trembling head to look at the Golden Lord, her expression a mixture of shock, dread, and an unknown terror. Elric called the Golden Lord’s name.
“De…mo?”
No answer came to the king’s call. Instead, the Golden Lord moved with a clearer purpose. As the small boy took a single step, a great roar echoed, as if a giant were leveling the very earth.
He does not walk a path because it is there. A path is made wherever he walks. Instead of following the world as it is, he cuts and mends it to create the world he desires. He is truly worthy of the name Divine.
Shhhhrrrrrk. The world before the Golden Lord was remade. As he took a step, the soil was ground fine and flattened, and rocks were cut into neat squares to pave it. This momentary act of creation was like turning back time. The Golden Lord, having forged a grand road, strode forward with confidence. Following him, the homunculus soldiers and their war machines began their march. As did Elric, the Goldenarch who had once overseen the Golden Palace.
The relic of the Divine Demo, the Golden Lord. A final work, created just before the Divine’s death, born from his wish to rebuild the Golden Empire.
It was strange that he had been content to live peacefully in the Golden Palace, playing with his dolls. It wouldn't have been strange if this had happened sooner. The Golden Lord’s wish had always been the same.
However, the guilt-ridden Golden Lord had hesitated to engage in the creation that necessitated destruction. That was why he had wandered the Fallen Dominion, repeating only futile acts of creation.
But now, having recognized his inner self and broken free from his shackles, there was nothing to stop him.
Things shattered and crumbled. The materials, once objects, soon took on new forms and descended upon this land. As a part of the Golden Empire.
For the sake of true creation, the Golden Lord advanced, leaving decisive destruction in his wake.
The army surrounding us retreated. Or perhaps, I should say the army moved on. The Golden Palace itself was moving, making it feel as if the entire world was marching forward.
Hilde watched until they were a sufficient distance away, then let out a sigh of relief and turned back. She approached me with a cheerful demeanor.
“That’s my father for you! ‘I’ believed in you all along!”
‘Oh my? He actually pulled it off? I thought he’d just make him angrier!’
Her thoughts and her words were completely different. How dare she lie to my face? I pushed myself up and retorted.
“You believed in me? Really?”
“Of course. If ‘I’ don’t believe in you, Father, who will? ‘I’ know you better than anyone!”
“What do you know? You should at least wet your lips before you lie.”
“Lick. I did!”
“Wetting your lips is an admission that you’re lying.”
“Aah! You caught me!”
Hilde hadn't trusted me one hundred percent. It wasn't that she doubted my power, but rather that she had hoped this plan would fail. Still, the fact that she followed along and cooperated with the plan proved she wasn't in her right mind. I couldn't tell if she had the heart of a gambler or was just too immersed in her act.
In any case, just as Hilde said, the mission was a success. There would be no war.
The problem was the side effects it would bring… How should I explain this? I needed to think.
More than anyone else…
“…What happened? Where is the Golden Lord going?”
…I had to figure out how to explain it to Peru. This required serious thought. For the sake of my own life.
I should just explain it quickly and get it over with. Maybe I should list things out to make it easier to understand.
“Everyone. I have good news and bad news.”
Hilde picked up on my line with a theatrical tone.
“Why do I suddenly feel a sense of dread~? If it’s news that even you would call ‘bad,’ Father, is the world going to end tomorrow?”
“No. The world isn’t going to end.”
“…?”
‘What does he mean? Does he mean something else is going to end? No, surely not!’
She understood perfectly. Why didn't she react to that? I might miss the golden window of opportunity if I dragged this out, so I spoke a little faster.
“First, the good news.”
“I don’t get a choice, I see~. ‘I’ wanted to hear the bad news first~.”
“Whatever. After a serious discussion with the Golden Lord, it seems the war with the Military State won’t be happening!”
Huh, why the cold reaction? It was definitely good news, but their response was smaller than I expected. Hilde whined in a reluctant tone at my news.
“That’s not exactly good news for ‘me’~? I’d rather have a war. Without the Golden Lord, the Fallen Dominion is nothing~.”
“…And the bad news?”
Peru cut Hilde off, pressing me.
Ugh. I was hoping the good news would soften the blow, but I guess that failed. My attitude from here on out was crucial. Clearing my throat, I put on a look of deep regret and delivered the bad news.
“The Golden Lord is going to destroy the Fallen Dominion.”
It was a simple fact, with nothing added or taken away. Perhaps because it was too plain, too unadorned. Neither Peru nor Hilde understood immediately and took a moment to chew on my words.
Hilde, recovering relatively quickly, tilted her head.
“Oh? But that’s good news for ‘me’?”
What’s good news for one person can be a terrible tragedy for another. A life lesson, right here.
Peru asked again, her face etched with disbelief.
“…What?”
‘…Wh-what? What did he do? Why would the Golden Lord…’
“I’ll explain it briefly. Peru, the Golden Bell is the Golden Lord’s relic. I was going to take a test to be acknowledged by the relic. But, uncharacteristically for a relic, it refused to give me a test and kept insisting on rebuilding the Golden Empire. So I berated him, asking if he could even call this a nation when the Dholes would tear it apart in two days, leaving nothing behind. And then, you know what he said?”
Technically, the Golden Lord was the one testing me, but whatever. It was close enough, so I’d just go with it. I wet my lips and continued.
“I barely said a thing, and what does he do? He declares he’ll kill all the Dholes just to grant some permanence to his soon-to-be-gone empire!”
“…Lies. That can’t be.”
“I wish it were a lie, too. Go and see for yourself. You probably don’t have much time. Because the Golden Lord is on his way to burn the Dholes’ nest right now.”
At the last moment, the Golden Lord had thought of a place. I had read its location just before I was ejected back to reality.
The Fallen Dominion had become a semi-nomadic nation entirely because the Golden Lord was always on the move. Its people had to avoid him as he went about his destructive creation, while also scavenging the byproducts he left behind. As a result, no one could establish a permanent residence, and all were forced to wander.
But there was one place, a village nestled at the foot of a mountain, that the Golden Lord’s steps had never reached. It had become the only permanent city in the Fallen Dominion.
A city ruled by the greatest of the Primarchs, the Thunderarch, where children were taught alchemy and provided with whole food to free them from the Golden Lord’s curse.
“Claudia. The only settled land in the Fallen Dominion, and its most populous city.”
The Golden Lord, who until now had only ever made things for the sake of rebuilding the Golden Empire, had changed his approach.
A ‘Golden Empire’ left with no one to live in it becomes prey for the Dholes. In that case, wouldn't killing all the Dholes and using them as homunculi to protect the Golden Empire kill two birds with one stone? With that conclusion, he was now on the move to capture the Dholes and turn them into watchdogs.
As a relic, the Golden Lord would try to kill the Dholes with rational, methodical means, and he wouldn't overlook the simplest method. Morality? That was for the living. For the Golden Lord, who had already died a terrible death, it was of no concern.
“The Golden Lord will destroy that place first and turn everyone living there into homunculi. Homunculi who will protect the Golden Empire for all eternity!”
Furthermore, the new homunculi the Golden Lord would create would be on a completely different level from the current ones. The Golden Lord, who had been so deeply disappointed in humanity, had never truly ‘designed’ humans with all his heart until I released him from his shackles. Just how far could a truly serious Golden Lord go in creating humans? And at what point would they stop being human?
As the King of Humans, I was curious, but before I could ponder it further, Peru reached out and grabbed me by the collar. My back bent instinctively.
“…What have you… done…?”
Peru was glaring at me with a ferocity I had never seen from her before, her eyes burning with enough emotion to kill.