Chapter 364: About the Sins (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 364: About the Sins (2)
About two weeks later.
Following Alon’s suggestion, soldiers began to gather at the Magic Tower.
As if preparing for a final decisive battle, the soldiers and knights arrived with determined expressions. Their numbers had already grown large enough to fill the areas surrounding the tower.
It was a truly massive scale.
Amidst the Magic Tower, where an army was constantly assembling day after day...
“Yutia.”
“Line, it’s been a while.”
Line and Yutia were there as well.
“I suppose your main body is still—in Phildegrin?”
Line nodded at Yutia, who asked with her usual serene smile.
“Yes. As I mentioned before, I’m still not in a position to move.”
“That’s a shame. You would certainly be a great help to the Professor.”
As Yutia spoke with genuine regret, Line stared at her silently for a moment. Her eyes looked as if she were deep in thought.
“What is it?”
When Yutia asked about her expression, Line shook her head a couple of times.
“I just had something to think about for a moment. And you don’t need to worry about that part.”
“Which part?”
“The help. I think I can provide that, at least.”
Yutia nodded calmly and then asked.
“So, why did you come to see me?”
“Can’t I just visit?” Line asked back.
However, Yutia’s smile didn't fade.
“It doesn’t look that way to me.”
“...That’s a bit hurtful.”
“Is it? Whenever you want to meet, don't you always make up some trivial reason? Like when you were little, coming to ask about words you clearly already knew—”
“H-Hey! Why bring up something from so long ago all of a sudden...!”
Line hurriedly cut her off, her face flushing slightly.
With a relaxed laugh, Yutia naturally took a seat in her assigned office.
“It just means I know you that well. We did spend quite a lot of time together, after all.”
“...Sigh.”
“So, what is your business?”
Line let out a resigned sigh and remained silent for a while before finally speaking.
“Yutia, did you know about Pluto?”
“Of course. You showed it to me yourself, didn't you?”
Yutia answered, but Line shook her head.
“No, I mean ‘before’ that.”
“Before?”
“Yes. I’m asking if you knew about it even before I used Pluto.”
Yutia fell silent at that question. Instead, she simply stared at Line with eyes that betrayed nothing of her thoughts.
After some time had passed...
“Why do you ask?”
Yutia’s calm voice rang out. Line kept her gaze fixed on her.
“I know you’re hiding something, Yutia.”
“...”
“But I don’t intend to ask what it is. You wouldn't answer anyway.”
“You know me well.”
“More than anything—it’s because I know you.”
“Hmph.”
The end of Yutia’s voice trailed upward, sounding somewhat amused.
However...
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Because you wouldn't do anything that would cause us harm.”
At Line’s repeated conviction, Yutia wavered, if only slightly.
The smile didn't vanish from her face. She remained the same—the smiling face, the relaxed eyes.
However, for a split second...
It was easy to perceive that she had frozen in that state.
“So, I don’t intend to ask about your secrets,” Line continued. “There’s only one thing I’m curious about.”
From the beginning, the answer she sought wasn't found in Yutia’s reaction.
“...What is it?”
“Who destroyed the Illanef Empire?”
Line stared straight at Yutia.
“Is that important?”
Yutia, who had been looking at Line without much expression, replied calmly.
“...Until now, I thought the world was destroyed by the Sins.”
Line relayed the facts she had discovered so far to Yutia.
Starting from the fact that Pluto and the Sins were created in the Illanef Empire. That the names of the Sins were the Guardian Weapons of the Illanef Empire. And that the Sins had never been used during the time the Empire was being destroyed.
“You’ve done a lot of research.”
“My Library contains all information... though it has nothing on you.”
Yutia didn't give a specific answer to Line’s remark. She simply continued her thoughts, tapping the desk with her index finger.
Tap. Tap.
Line didn't rush her and simply stayed quiet. She knew well that Yutia wasn't the type of person to give up information easily just because she was pressed.
After some time, Yutia, who had been silent, finally spoke to Line.
“First, I can’t answer your question directly.”
“...I see.”
“But I can give you a few hints.”
“...Hints?”
“Yes, hints.”
Nodding with a smile again, Yutia pondered what to tell her.
“First, as you’ve researched, it’s true that the Sins were made in the Illanef Empire. The same goes for them being ‘Guardian Weapons.’”
In other words, just as you saw in the Library, it wasn't the Sins that destroyed the Illanef Empire, Yutia added.
“The second is—”
She stared at Line and uttered a word.
“Aberrant Blood.”
“...Aberrant Blood?”
“Look up the Aberrant Blood in the Library. Then you might get close to the answer you want.”
Yutia smiled as she finished speaking. Line opened her mouth as if she had more to ask, but...
Knock, knock.
She had no choice but to close her mouth at the sound of knocking.
“Cardinal Yutia. It is time for the meeting.”
At the sound of the voice, Yutia stood up from her seat.
“It seems our conversation ends here. I’ll be going now—”
Leaving behind the words, “I hope you find the answer,” she walked out of the room.
Left alone in the office, Line quietly muttered the words Yutia had left behind.
“...Aberrant Blood...?”
* * *
About a week later.
Most of the forces had gathered around the Magic Tower. They began their march toward the ruined Ashtalon Kingdom.
“...”
The sight of the troops, enough to wrap around the Magic Tower several times over, moving all at once was so overwhelming that even Alon, who had little romanticism for such things, felt a momentary shiver.
That was how massive the gathered army was.
“Whew.”
But regardless of that thrill...
Alon let out a sigh that was either relief or a lament.
“What is it, Marquis?”
Penia, who was busy calculating something beside him, looked back at Alon.
“Just... I have a lot on my mind.”
“Is it about the strategy?”
“That too.”
Penia nodded and continued.
“Hmm—it’s certainly natural to be anxious. A strategy is bound to collapse in an instant if things don’t go as expected. But—based on what you said, Marquis, it seems like that’s the only way.”
“I suppose so. It’s just that if a problem arises, sacrifice will inevitably be a prerequisite.”
At those words, Penia tilted her head and replied.
“...Looking at you, Marquis, you’re quite strange.”
“In what way?”
“In that way.”
“...This way?”
“I mean—the way you try not to accept sacrifice.”
“...Is that strange?”
“It is, isn't it? It’s impossible for sacrifice not to follow a war or a subjugation in the first place. Even small conflicts involve sacrifice. That’s an idealistic story, after all.”
Alon scratched his head. Her words weren't wrong.
“Still, can’t I at least think about it?”
“For someone just ‘thinking’ about it, your emotions show through unlike your usual self.”
“...Do they?”
“Yes. You look quite gloomy every time. Rather than someone who has compromised with reality, you look like someone who truly wants to make an ideal into reality.”
“...Really?”
Alon tilted his head, touching his face belatedly.
Naturally, Alon was no idealist. He knew well that sacrifice was inevitable. In fact, he didn't usually feel particularly pressured or sad.
So, after questioning Penia’s words for a moment...
“Ah, by the way, how is the magic you’ll be using?”
“Preparations are finished for now. I can control it.”
“Then there won’t be any setbacks in the plan.”
“Yeah. As long as the power doesn't exceed my expectations, there shouldn't be any problems. But—what are you doing?”
He looked at Penia’s hands. Her hands had been moving restlessly even during their conversation.
Penia let out a belated exclamation.
“Ah, this?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a Scripture I received from Silli.”
“A Scripture?”
“Yes.”
“...Why are you reading that all of a sudden?”
“Hmm—rather than looking at the content, I think I found something good to use as an Activation Word.”
“An Activation Word?”
“Yes. I stopped after interpreting the magic, but remember how we were researching when we utilized the formulas last time?”
“Ah.”
Alon nodded. Indeed, until he interpreted and used the magic, they had been conducting research focused on utilizing the Art of Defying Heaven.
“Were you researching that?”
“Yes. Well, strictly speaking, I was just looking for an Activation Word, and this is the real deal.”
Penia’s fingertip pointed to the side of the Scripture. Activation formulas were written all over the blank spaces.
As Penia and Alon shared various conversations and moved along with the marching army, exactly one week had passed.
“...”
Alon arrived in Ashtalon.
No, could this place even be called Ashtalon anymore?
“...Ugh.”
The knight standing next to Alon frowned overtly.
Just like the knight’s reaction, the first thing that brushed past Alon was the fishy scent of blood. Next, a mountain of countless corpses greeted him.
And finally, what he saw...
[...]
Far off in the distance.
In the middle of the ruined capital of Ashtalon, a single red knight stood silently.
The knight’s condition didn't look good, to put it mildly. The helmet he wore looked very old, and the tattered armor, with parts protruding like veins, made those who saw it feel a sense of revulsion.
““...””
Yet, even with the Sin in such a state before their eyes...
No one let out a laugh or a jeer. Rather, what could be felt from the faces of the knights and soldiers was tension and fear.
The red knight was doing nothing. He was simply standing there with cold indifference.
Nevertheless, everyone here shared the same emotion—no, a sense of biological homogeneity.
The sensation all living creatures instinctively feel when faced with something dangerous.
“...”
In that situation, Alon stared intently at the Sin of Wrath—no, at ‘that thing’ which had once been Elivan.
Alon still knew nothing.
He couldn't grasp why he had tried to spread his achievements far and wide. He didn't understand why he had felt such anxiety about dealing with the Strange Gates. He didn't know why he had stared blankly at the night sky, which he didn't even like.
He knew absolutely nothing.
However, right now...
He knew what he had to do.
And so...
“...Blackie.”
[Kyu.]
He spoke softly, and at that moment, as stars rose above the red sky stained with the color and scent of blood...
[You’ve come—]
From the middle of the ruined capital, too far for anyone else to hear...
[The Blind One.]
The Sin quietly murmured.