Yuliena (4)
“Mr. Kiyoung, what does it say in there?”
“Ah, Heeyoung. It’s the story of Gedrick and Yuliena. I thought I ought to know more about it anyway... ngh... especially because of this sword.”
“Oh. You mean the book you found in that room deeper inside?”
“Yes, that’s right. The more I read it, the more interesting it became. It almost feels like a legend... well... in any case, it’s quite fascinating.”
“That sounds interesting. Could you tell me what it’s about?”
Sun Heeyoung’s face, bright with curiosity, drifted into view.
Even as we walked toward Lindel, she kept glancing this way, so she really did seem to be curious. In truth, we hadn’t had many chances to talk beyond the occasional volunteer work outing, so I figured a conversation couldn’t hurt.
Jung Hayan, who had been clinging tightly to my arm this whole time, shot Sun Heeyoung a wary look for a moment, then seemed to decide she’d rather hear me talk than keep pretending to be patient.
She must have been bored stiff by the endless march.
It isn’t a long story, anyway.
I thought it would make for a decent story to pass the time on the way to our destination.
“The story begins exactly ten thousand years ago.”
“Ten thousand years ago?”
“Yes. It was before the Holy Empire Benigore we live in even existed. According to the record, the battle was beyond brutal. It says it was a religious war that broke out between the followers of the God of Curses and the followers of the God of Blessings.”
“Ahhh....”
“Have you heard of it?”
“Yes. The very existence of the Holy Empire today is because of that religious war. It’s an interesting story.”
“Indeed. Back then, Yuliena was a saintess serving the God of Curses, while Gedrick was a saint serving the God of Blessings. The two of them never clashed directly, but they stood on the front lines, always hearing stories about each other. In fact, it says they didn’t actually meet on the battlefield until fifteen years after the war had begun. In any case, a massive battle broke out, one that threw almost every army in the conflict into direct confrontation.”
“The Battle of Berman Cliff.”
“You know about it?”
“Anyone who serves in the Temple learns it. Of course, I’d never heard of a woman named Yuliena or a man named Gedrick... but if the book you have isn’t false, then this could become a new page in history.”
“I’m not sure how the Holy Empire would react... but if we’re lucky, maybe that’s exactly what will happen. Haha. Anyway, countless believers lost their lives, and Gedrick and Yuliena fought all the way to the end before falling off the cliff, which is how that day’s battle came to a close.”
“So what happened after that?”
“The truth is, the record doesn’t say. It only states that Yuliena and Gedrick returned to their respective temples exactly one year later. Of course, Yuliena’s diary records everything very precisely, but there’s quite a bit in there that would be embarrassing to describe out loud, so I’m a little ashamed to explain it in detail.”
She was probably already guessing what had happened.
Gedrick and Yuliena survived together for nearly a year in the cave at the foot of the cliff, and in the end, they fell in love with each other.
As I gave a rough explanation of what had happened in that cave, I saw them nodding along.
Of course, I left out the indecent details and focused on the interesting parts, which seemed to be enough to make even Park Deokgu—the self-proclaimed romance expert—quietly drift closer to listen.
“So it looks like that’s when Yuliena and Gedrick started meeting each other. By then the war had also entered a lull, so they had more chances to see one another. The losses on both sides at Berman Cliff were tremendous, after all. Naturally, the two gods first tried to separate them, but by then the pair had already fallen hopelessly in love. I suppose they couldn’t see anything else.”
“I can understand how it ended up like this.”
“Yes. Naturally, the two of them ended up earning the wrath of each other’s gods. In that situation, Gedrick built a small shrine inside the Temple of Blessings... and that place is exactly the Abandoned Shrine, the dungeon we visited. The two of them nurtured their love there, and in the end, they were bound to this shrine after drawing the gods’ anger.”
“Ah....”
The God of Curses placed a curse on Yuliena, forbidding her from ever leaving the small chamber in the Abandoned Shrine, while the God of Blessings bestowed a blessing on Gedrick so that he could eternally long for Yuliena.
He was condemned to wander the shrine forever, searching for her.
Of course, the God of Blessings would never allow Gedrick to actually find Yuliena.
“That’s so sad.”
At Jung Hayan’s words, Sun Heeyoung nodded and continued.
“It would only be natural for them to be cursed. To build a shrine to another god beneath the Temple... it’s a truly incomprehensible idea. The undead outside the Abandoned Shrine are probably also under the effect of the God of Blessings’ curse.”
“Gedrick’s diary said that the God of Blessings bestowed the blessing of eternal life, but from their perspective it must have been no different from a curse. And that’s where the story ends: Yuliena is left waiting forever for a Gedrick who can never return, and Gedrick is left wandering forever in search of a Yuliena he can never find.”
It wasn’t a heavy story.
And yet, Jung Hayan seemed so moved by it that she was already sniffling.
“I-it’s sad. To wait for someone who’ll never come back...”
It was only natural that I gently patted her head.
As if she’d been waiting for that exact moment, she immediately burrowed into my arms.
“Then the undead found in the left room back then was Gedrick, was it? Hyung?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
What we’d found while searching for any possible survivors had been Gedrick and a group of undead.
They had been too weakened to move, likely because of Yuliena’s fall, but it hadn’t taken long for us to figure out exactly what the undead we’d found actually was.
That was because we’d found an interesting item in his arms.
[Gedrick’s Engagement Ring — Heroic Grade]
[You can resist Yuliena’s curse.]
As I looked down at the item resting in my hand, I had the feeling I was beginning to understand the dungeon’s original method of clearing it.
And, with that, why Kim Hyunsung had been sneaking around every night, and what the undead the previous party had seen here had actually been.
Most likely, the normal way to clear the Abandoned Shrine was to find Gedrick, who wandered this place.
In other words, you had to find the randomly respawning monster called Gedrick first before you could finally gain the power to resist the curse.
It was a troublesome method of clearing the place, enough that it could easily be judged as Heroic-grade or above.
This shrine was vast.
Even if you wandered around endlessly, you might never find Gedrick, which meant the place was almost impossible to clear at all.
In other words, all you could do was slowly die after being exposed to Yuliena’s curse.
In our party’s case, we’d figured out how to resist the curse before we ever found Gedrick.
If a little more time had passed, Kim Hyunsung might even have found Gedrick for us, but in the end, it was still a decent result.
“Love really is terrifying.”
“Yes.”
I could sympathize more than anyone.
Just looking at Jung Hayan, who was still wrapped around me, gave me the answer. At any rate, for now, all we could do was gather every scrap of information we could about Gedrick.
Yuliena’s consciousness was asleep inside the sword for the moment, but there was no telling when it might awaken, so everything that could be done in advance had to be done now.
“Still, we’ve been in here for a while now, but those supposed reinforcements the old man said he was bringing don’t seem to be showing their faces.”
“Who?”
“That old geezer Lee Seolho.”
“Ah. There are probably all kinds of issues piled up, and the Red Mercenaries haven’t returned yet either. Besides, we finished clearing the dungeon faster than expected.”
“Even so, shouldn’t he have brought someone else? It’s a good thing Hyung and Kim Hyunsung were here. If not, we might have died in there too.”
“There must have been some reason.”
Reason, my ass...
He probably wanted us to die here. That would have been more advantageous for them.
It was a little awkward timing-wise, but Lee Sanghee seemed to think Lee Seolho and the old guard had some unavoidable reason.
“Hyung is too kind for his own good.”
Park Deokgu and Jung Hayan both nodded along.
But Sun Heeyoung didn’t look happy at all.
She doesn’t like it.
People like Lee Seolho and the rest of those old men were no different from the vagrants in the slums.
Useless, and unwilling to move on their own.
They just stayed glued to the place they were sitting and tried to wring every last drop of profit out of it.
I’d said it before: the only difference between them and the vagrants was that they’d had a little more luck.
The tumor at the heart of society—Lee Seolho was nothing more and nothing less than that to her.
I wonder if Jihye’s doing all right.
I suddenly found myself thinking about the task I’d given Lee Jihye.
She was probably finishing it almost perfectly, but because we’d come out sooner than expected, I couldn’t help wondering whether she’d had enough time to wrap everything up.
Then someone came running from afar.
Park Ga-hyun?
The figure in view was unmistakably Park Ga-hyun, the one Lee Sanghee had sent to the guild ahead of us.
Anyone could tell something had happened by the way she was hurrying toward us, out of breath and visibly frantic.
I was curious what news she’d brought, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the unease creeping into my chest.
For someone supposedly bringing good news, she looked far too flustered and unsettled.
At last, reaching Lee Sanghee, she dragged in a rough breath and spoke.
“Haah... haah... Vice Guild Master.”
“Did you deliver the message? Why are you alone...?”
“I-I finished everything exactly as instructed. But... there’s something I have to tell you, so... I had no choice but to come first...”
“Please calm down and tell me.”
She seemed to be gauging the room.
It looked like she was worrying over whether this was the right place to say it, but in the end she made up her mind. A moment later, her voice reached my ears.
“The... Guild Master has passed away.”
“What?”
“The Guild Master... has passed away.”
“What do you mean... I thought the curse had already been lifted...”
“I was told he died exactly three days ago. He apparently passed away quietly in his sleep... I-I thought it was only right to inform Ms. Lee Sanghee first, so...”
“...”
Lee Sanghee, lips pressed tightly shut, came into view.
Park Ga-hyun, tears streaming down her face, looked the same.
I’d never seen the face of the Blue Guild’s Guild Master myself, but apparently his character had not been particularly bad.
Even at a glance, the mood had visibly sunk.
Truthfully, though, it wasn’t a bad situation for our party. Without the Guild Master, it would be even easier for us to seize real power.
But.
Out of nowhere?
It was certainly suspicious timing. Too convenient to call a simple natural death.
Of course, someone who had been under the curse for that long might indeed have been in danger, but for some reason...
Was it Lee Seolho?
It was only a guess, but it wasn’t an entirely implausible one.
“Then let’s hurry back to the guild... Everyone must be exhausted, but we should probably increase the marching speed a li— no, we’ll do that.”
“Yes.”
That was exactly what I wanted.
And so the expedition slowly set off again, its atmosphere a little heavier than before.
Perhaps because of the unexpected news, Lee Sanghee kept her mouth shut and led the party, while the others comforted her and continued walking in silence.
Eventually, the Free City of Lindel came into view.
Of course, Lee Jihye was there too, along with the old men who had come out to greet us before we reached Lindel.
Seeing some of the Black Swans there as well, it looked as though they wanted to put on at least some show of heading this way themselves.
It was so absurd I could only let out a dry laugh.
“Congratulations on returning safely, Ms. Lee Sanghee. We were just about to set out ourselves...”
“More importantly, Mr. Seolho, what happened to the Master? Is it really true that he died?”
“Yes. He passed away peacefully.”
“W-where is the body?”
“For now, we’ve laid him to rest in the guild’s basement. We were already trying to figure out how to handle the funeral when he suddenly... three days ago...”
“Ah....”
I was no longer interested in their conversation.
As Lee Seolho and Lee Sanghee kept talking, I looked toward Lee Jihye and gave her a light tap on the head with my finger. In response, she smiled and tapped my leg right back.
As I thought.
It seemed I’d need to hear a more detailed explanation.