Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: After the Curtain Falls (4)
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It had been months since my last visit, and the royal palace was in chaos.
The disappearance of the first prince, Isaac.
The aftermath of Isaac's vanishing—the heir to the throne—was immense. Countless nobles aligned with his faction had announced their intent to visit the palace, and among them were innumerable people trying to make contact with the first princess, Luriel.
"Like a bunch of rats."
That was how Luriel described them.
"My brother has gone missing. Now, only three of the royal bloodline remain—one is on the battlefield, another is studying at Aphria—and that leaves just me in the palace."
She said it wearily, or perhaps dismissively.
"And that's why."
She crossed her legs and let out a sneer.
"They come crawling to me with all sorts of excuses, fawning and flattering. Turning their backs on their master overnight and wagging their tails at me... What a sight."
She let out a short "ha."
"They looked like nothing more than beasts in heat, devoid of any dignity or pride. Not exactly a view worth taking in."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed, Professor. It's been a while."
In the office of the first princess, Luriel.
We sat across from each other at a table. She looked a bit tired as she brushed back her platinum hair and pressed her temple.
"It's a chaotic situation, but your visit is certainly welcome. And..."
Luriel's lips parted and closed repeatedly.
It was unlike her. After a pause, she continued with some difficulty.
"...Regarding the incident at Aphria, I've received a report from Sir Kalt."
Her voice softened slightly.
"I heard you played a key role in resolving it. And that you sustained serious injuries as well."
"Not that serious."
I shrugged.
"I'm recovering well, and there won't be any permanent damage. Potions these days are top-notch."
"...They said your life was in danger."
"But I survived, didn't I? So it's fine."
Luriel still looked concerned, so I gave her a wry smile in response.
"I just did what needed to be done. I would've done it even without being asked."
"...I always seem to owe you."
Her gaze and voice softened.
Luriel said this with a faint smile.
"Seeing your face puts my mind a little more at ease. I guess I've been pretty overwhelmed."
Was it because I was used to her sharp eyes and commanding tone? Her soft smile felt a bit unfamiliar.
"...Overwhelmed? Because of that?"
I gestured toward the office door. Voices were audible through the tightly shut gap, quite loudly.
"Princess Luriel, please, just give us a chance...!"
"Just once, even once would do...!"
"With Prince Isaac missing and the king remaining silent, Princess, you must take action...!"
The nobles' loud voices.
Each pleading their own case—it was, honestly, noisy.
'...Feels kinda familiar.'
It reminded me of a similar scene here a few months ago. Wondering if that was why she looked tired, I asked... but
"Ignore the noise."
Luriel simply shook her head lightly.
"I've heard beasts barking since the day I was born—or even in my mother's womb. I'm used to it. It annoys me, but it doesn't make me tremble in fear."
She slowly raised her hand. Her pale, slender fingers wrapped around the teacup on the table. I narrowed my eyes and watched her fingers.
Tremble.
Her fingertips were shaking. The room was warm, so not from cold. I lifted my gaze to her face.
"...I ran into my brother in the corridor."
Her golden eyes trembled with unease.
With a shaky gaze and quivering voice, she poured out her words.
"My brother, who was said to have vanished without a trace, was walking calmly toward me from the opposite direction. Dragging shadows behind him."
"...Shadows?"
"Yes, shadows. Even in broad daylight, the corridor was dark, and they rippled with his footsteps."
She stared down at her teacup as she spoke.
"It resembled my brother, but it wasn't him. No, I even doubted if it was human at all. It was... something off. Alien."
'It.'
A word pointing to something not human.
"When that thing approached me, dragging its shadows, I couldn't move a single step. Not until the sound of its footsteps faded completely... I couldn't even breathe."
She touched the nape of her neck.
"Until now, I thought my brother was just insane. Twisted, perhaps, but still within the realm of humanity."
But it wasn't.
Luriel murmured.
"That... that thing..."
She looked up at me. Her eyes trembled more than ever.
"What on earth is that non-human thing?"
"We'll find out from here on."
I replied and reached out my hand.
Placing it over hers on the teacup.
Heating.
The cold teacup warmed to a comfortable temperature. The tremor in Luriel's fingers, gripping it, slowly subsided with the heat.
"...Thank you."
Luriel lifted the teacup.
She moistened her throat with the lukewarm tea, took a few deep breaths, then set it down.
"Feeling better?"
"Thanks to you."
She gave a faint smile.
"Right, you have questions for me."
I nodded.
"Could you tell me more about the sentence in the letter you sent?"
2.
"Right after my brother went missing, a foul stench emanated from the Crimson Palace. Knights followed it and searched, discovering a large number of corpses."
"They weren't ordinary corpses."
"Their facial skin had all been peeled off."
The letter I'd received from her.
"Red circuits were found with the corpses. But they weren't normal circuits. I couldn't identify their purpose. It was a type I'd never seen before."
I heard the rest of the story from Luriel's lips. Summarizing what she told me:
'In the first prince's residence, a large number of faceless corpses were discovered.'
And the problem didn't end there.
"Unknown red circuits, drawn as if in blood, were also found."
"That's right. The court mages all shook their heads. They said the structure was completely different from standard circuits, so they couldn't identify it."
Kalt, walking beside me, said.
We were heading side by side to the deepest part of the first prince's restricted residence, the Crimson Palace.
"Does the uniform fit well?"
"Comfortable. Fits perfectly."
I was now dressed in the same Royal Guard uniform as Kalt. A black ensemble with a hood to cover the face.
'Only the Hounds can wander the palace hooded, they say.'
So no elaborate disguise needed. Compared to that outfit from Luriel's escort mission last time... this was incomparably comfortable.
"Thought you'd hate how snug it is."
Kalt muttered, pointing at my pants. Tight leather pants. At the comment, I could only give a wry smile.
"Better than a skirt..."
"...Pardon?"
"Nothing."
A fluttering skirt.
A maid outfit laden with frills.
'Compared to that, this is nothing.'
No complaints. I was very satisfied, truly.
"Here we are."
How long had we walked? We stopped before a firmly shut door. Kalt raised a magic tool toward it, and with a creak, it opened.
"I've cleared the area for about an hour. You can check now. Need more time?"
"An hour's plenty."
I pulled off my gloves.
"I'll wait outside the door."
I nodded and stepped inside. The moment I did, a stench hit me hard. Not the rot of corpses or the metallic tang of blood.
'...This is.'
The smell of chemicals.
The piercing odor was artificial. I followed it, stepping forward.
'Deepest part of the Crimson Palace.'
Where the first prince had stayed.
As reported, a pile of corpses lay there. Bodies with skin stripped from their faces, twisted into grotesque shapes.
'Like trying to make dolls.'
With that impression, I ventured deeper. Past the heaped bodies, to the palace's innermost sanctum. The stench grew stronger with each step.
And.
"......"
I'd reached the destination.
Stopping, I looked up. Beyond the deepest part of the Crimson Palace, past what looked like demolished walls, it was there.
Circuits drawn in blood.
Enormous circuits carved into the wall.
I stared at it silently. Indeed, utterly different from standard circuits. No wonder the court mages couldn't read it.
"...Ancient kingdom circuits."
These were circuits from the ancient kingdom, reduced to ashes. Completely different in engraving and mana flow from modern ones.
Used by the ancient lich, Skeval.
Found in various old ruins.
No one understood the ancient kingdom's circuits. It was inevitable—no records remained to interpret them.
'All info on the ancient kingdom burned away completely. Literally reduced to ashes.'
Even encountering something from it, you might guess its origin... but grasping its meaning was hard.
But not impossible.
I approached the wall with the circuits. One step, another. Stopping before it, I reached out and traced them with my fingers.
'I've encountered them many times.'
From the ancient lich, Skeval.
In the ruins left by the traitor, Gletus.
In the Ashen Mage Tower's records of relic investigations.
I'd seen ancient kingdom circuits before and studied them. Of course, results weren't great. Fully deciphering them remained impossible.
'But.'
If treating ancient circuits as sentences.
"I can read the context."
From the long sentence of dozens of words and phrases, I deciphered 'a few words.'
'A few words, interpretation through them.'
Essentially guesswork.
But even ancient circuits were for spells. Reading words reveals the spell's flow.
Swish.
I traced the wall.
Felt the circuits' texture, interpreted words at line intersections.
『Connects.』
Connection.
『Life』
Life, or lifespan.
『Blood.』
Blood. Lineage.
『Seize.』
Take, plunder.
"......"
I looked up silently.
Stepping back slowly, I took in the entire circuit. Then arranged the words I'd read in the order mana would flow.
『Blood』 『Seize』 『Life』 『Connects』
A bit more.
『Seize』 『Blood』 『Connects』 『Life』
Smoother.
『Plunder』 『Blood Kin』 『Connects』 『Life』
Again.
『By plundering blood kin, connect life』
Thus.
"Blood kin."
I voiced the completed sentence.
"By plundering blood kin, one extends life."
3.
"Found you."
A room hidden in the palace's deepest depths.
Untouched by any footfall.
Adorned with human corpses, bones, and facial skins, a jade throne sat there. Upon the throne, cushioned with a hood, one human lounged.
"I found you at last."
A voice steeped in ecstasy echoed. It wasn't the only sound resounding.
『Why invite a madman?』
Undulating darkness.
The lich hidden within cast a shadow over the throne.
『That interfered. A plan on the verge of success was derailed by the madman. Have nothing to say?』
"Because it'll be more fun that way."
『Fun? You ruined things for your petty amusement?』
The lich's mental waves trembled with rage.
Yet the human only laughed.
"Oh dear. Skeval, after over a millennium, one thirsts for diversion. I thought you'd understand."
『Wanting understanding from me—quite the joke.』
"Everyone craves it. Everyone."
The human on the throne smiled enigmatically.
"The first Ashen One, enduring centuries; that child locked in darkness for centuries; the first saintess gripped by madness—they all sought understanding."
Me too.
The human spread his arms wide.
"Imagine, Skeval. A madman resembling the first saintess! He endured a century in madness. Worthy of acclaim."
His voice dripped with ecstasy as he ranted.
But it was far from praise.
"—Thus."
It was mockery.
Laughter bordering on scorn.
"The moment that century crumbles into futility—isn't it sweet? I just wanted to see it."
『Vile taste.』
"Tell me something I don't know."
Crunch—the throne warped.
The ancient lich's fingers began crumbling it. Irritable mental waves shook the area.
『I'm not here for banter. I'm here to hold you accountable for failure.』
"Oh, Skeval, you bore."
Shadows writhed at the human's feet.
"Shouldn't we look at the bigger picture?"
The human was merely a vessel for the shadow.
"This many have gathered."
The human laughed.
"This much starlight has converged."
The shadow, cloaked in human guise, laughed.
"First time in centuries. Still don't grasp the meaning?"
『That means.』
"It's time to move to the next."
Next.
"Next, then next again."
Mocking words left by someone, the shadow rippled. Tilting and surging, it flung the chess piece from its hand.
Shattered knight.
Toppled bishop.
Chess pieces scattered on the floor.
In the human's hand remained a pawn.
"A pawn that has just absorbed starlight and advances boldly. This child will keep advancing."
A platinum pawn.
"And reach the end of the board."
The shadow gripped it tightly.
"We just wait for that day. Patiently await."
Beyond any gaze.
Behind the stage.
Beyond the fallen curtain.
Black curtain.
The shadow hidden in the dark veil sneered.