Chapter 81
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: The Brand
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"......?"
It was, for lack of a better word, out of the blue.
Anyone else would have dismissed it as a joke.
But coming from the ever-expressionless Parsha, its meaning was all the more difficult to grasp.
Just as the Vault Keeper wore a puzzled expression at the unexpected question,
the spire that stood tall amidst the surging shadows began to tremble.
*Rumble!*
"...To think you still had a card up your sleeve. My master is truly full of surprises."
"Are you saying the young master is responsible for this?"
"Hmph, but it's useless to get your hopes up."
The Vault Keeper spoke with conviction.
This was a mental world.
A boundary between reality and illusion, created by the authority of the King of the Dark Grotto.
Even for Dion, who had overturned impossible situations time and again, refusing the succession once trapped in this world was absolutely impossible.
*CRASH!!!*
"Kyaa?!"
...At least, that's what she believed.
Until the surging waves of shadow erupted, and the entire spire came crashing down.
Tossed away along with the top of the spire, she flailed in the waves of shadow she herself had created before finally managing to pull herself free.
And at the center of this explosion.
More precisely, she stared, aghast, at the figure standing tall there.
"......!"
"......"
To be perfectly clear,
it was a familiar sight.
The boy's slender, handsome form, so fine it could be mistaken for a beautiful girl's, was all too familiar to them.
But to be even clearer,
it was an unfamiliar sight.
*Drip.*
*Drip.*
One drop.
And then another.
A drop of blood trickled from the boy's fingertip.
And the sight of the shadows covering this world writhing as if screaming, melting into a pool of blood wherever it touched.
The boy's appearance, so eerie that simply standing there sent a chill down one's spine, was utterly bizarre.
"...What is that?"
And so.
The Vault Keeper understood.
The all-too-instinctive question Parsha, who had looked after Dion his entire life, had posed to her.
And she wanted to ask.
What *is* that monster?
What kind of monster has your... no, has your family been serving as its young master?
But unfortunately, she was not given the chance to ask that question.
Before the Vault Keeper could even open her mouth, the boy had opened his thin eyelids, revealing them.
Deeper than death.
More distant than the sun.
More ominous than flowing blood.
—Eyes that held blood-red stars.
***
"H-How..."
"It's a simple principle."
"......!"
As if she were witnessing the impossible,
her wide eyes filled with disbelief, shock, and questions, I spoke to the girl nonchalantly.
And I explained it to her as she swallowed dryly.
"You can't pour more water into a cup that's already full."
"What kind of nonsense is that?!"
"In that sense, Shuttle, I'm grateful to you."
"G-Grateful, you say?"
"Yes."
I could understand the feelings of the Vault Keeper, who had blurted out a rebuttal even in the midst of it all.
The legacy of the King of the Dark Grotto was nothing if not meticulous and elaborate.
Above all, the King's authority was not something anyone could withstand with talent and effort alone.
...Yes.
That would have been true, if it wasn't me.
That's why I smiled faintly.
"Because thanks to you, Shuttle, I was able to obtain the legacy of the King of the Dark Grotto in its entirety this time as well."
"......!"
Her face twisted hideously, as if she had been insulted.
Honestly, that's a shame.
I was being sincere in my thanks.
Thanks to Shuttle opening this mental world just as planned, I was able to feel a sensation I'd missed for a long time.
Of course, this was a shortcut only possible in this mental world, this boundary between reality and illusion, but...
It's fine.
This is more than enough.
—Enough to seize the authority of the King of the Dark Grotto.
"How dare you...! To spout such nonsense to me, and in this place of all places!"
*RUMBLE!*
Perhaps she had finally realized my intentions.
The moment the Vault Keeper roared,
the world twisted with a tremor.
No, it was the shadows that were twisting.
The shadows that had surged and covered the entire world, save for the small pool of blood at my feet, began to swirl at her will.
I could feel it.
The immense power contained within.
The full power of the Vault Keeper, which she could only use because this space was created for the succession of all that belonged to the King of the Dark Grotto.
An authority that transcended even classes and traits, one that even a transcendent Awakened One would struggle to handle.
And so, the moment the vortex containing that power swallowed me,
I reached out my hand.
And...
*Crack.*
"......?!?!"
Like an eggshell.
The vortex crumbled.
What poured out was a crimson flood.
Perhaps because she never imagined her full power would be thwarted so futilely,
Shuttle gaped at me, her face a picture of someone whose eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. I smiled faintly.
"...My... My power, how?"
"Didn't I tell you? I've obtained the legacy of the King of the Dark Grotto."
"Are you saying you forcibly stole the King's authority from me? That... that can't be possible...!"
As if she couldn't believe it.
The Vault Keeper trembled.
But for me, it was an expected outcome.
From the moment we passed the Vault Keeper's test and entered this mental world, we were already the rightful successors to the King of the Dark Grotto.
We were worthy of inheriting everything he possessed.
And while it might be different for others, for me, taking it was all too easy.
Especially since it was something I'd already done once in my second life.
"You haven't changed, Shuttle."
"......?"
"So arrogant as to hold on to a foolish faith, and so foolish as to be unable to accept reality even when you see it."
"What...! What do you know about me to spew such nonsense!"
"At the very least, I know just how hollow your goal of avenging the King of the Dark Grotto—specifically, the extinction of humanity—truly is."
That was why.
Then and now.
After chuckling at Shuttle, who was still just as pathetically cute as ever,
I decided to tell her the truth.
"—Because the human race went extinct in Odobaekryeong a long, long time ago."
"......?"
Whether she couldn't understand,
or didn't want to understand,
I kindly helped the girl, who was blinking blankly, to grasp the situation.
"Shuttle, have you seen a single human since you were unsealed?"
"......"
"Of course not. After all, back in the days of the Old Kingdom, you all called our Demonic Domain by another name."
Ah, her face went pale.
I suppose even someone as dense as her would have figured it out by now.
Demon species like Imps and Demons.
Demi-human species like Orcs and Goblins.
Beastkin species like the Lycanthropes and the Myoto.
On top of that, species like Elves, Vampires, and Giants.
The strange familiarity of this Demonic Domain, where one could see all sorts of species, but never humans.
Because even in the era of the Old Kingdom, the composition of the Demonic Domain wasn't much different.
A place where humans could not live.
A place where only non-human species could survive.
An utterly harsh and unforgiving land.
The intelligent species living in such a Demonic Domain were called this during the Old Kingdom era.
"The Demon World."
"......!!!"
—The Demon Race.
No humans, so it's the Demon World.
They live in the Demon World, so they're the Demon Race.
Even for an era where intelligent species were treated like monsters, that's a terrible naming sense.
Well, I guess it's understandable, since humans were good prey back then.
The important thing is that humanity's prosperity was a thing of the Old Kingdom era, a past that was over 1,000 years ago.
"There's no way a species like humanity would still be left in a place like the Demonic Domain."
"......"
"And it's the same for the other Four Domains."
Right.
It wasn't just the Demonic Domain.
The Prayer Domain, inhabited only by automatons. The Martial Domain, the martial world of the dragonkin. The Outer Domain, home to followers of the Outer Gods. And the Mystic Domain, where youkai cultivate their powers.
In none of the five worlds swallowed by the Labyrinth did humanity survive.
Odobaekryeong was not a peaceful enough place for a species as weak and vulnerable to mana contamination as humans to survive.
And very unfortunately,
that fact meant only one thing.
"Does that mean, then, that my purpose..."
"Yes, it's already been achieved."
"......!"
"—Hundreds of years ago, while you were still sealed away."
Hollow eyes.
A vacant face.
Slightly parted lips.
Looking at Shuttle, who looked for all the world like her soul had left her body, I thought.
—How truly cute.
This level of pathetic brokenness.
And the despair, emptiness, and bewilderment so clearly displayed.
Above all, that foolish loyalty, still following the command left by her creator even after a thousand years.
Just looking at it makes my lips curl, and it stirs an impulse to pick at that wound.
And so, with a faint smile,
I spoke.
"So, Shuttle."
"......"
"Serve me."
Perhaps the truth was too much of a shock.
Or perhaps my proposal was too unexpected.
Still with a dazed face and unfocused eyes, Shuttle asked me blankly.
"...For what purpose, I ask?"
I could have just said, "Because that's the only thing you should do, and the only thing you can do."
Shuttle would have followed anyway.
She did in my second life, after all.
But I deliberately chose not to.
Instead, I lowered my head slightly and whispered into Shuttle's ear.
"Don't you want to see the successor to the King of the Dark Grotto conquer the world, and have his name passed down for generations to come?"
"Do you... truly believe that is possible?"
"You're the one who knows that best, aren't you?"
"......"
"—Because you, Shuttle, are the 'Ninth'."
"......!!!"
Her body stiffened.
Her eyes widened.
Her pupils trembled as if in an earthquake.
The shock was as clear as when she learned of humanity's extinction, or perhaps even clearer.
"...Don't tell me."
"Yes."
"You, Master, don't tell me you're...!"
"It's exactly what you think."
Yes, she must have realized it now.
How I knew about the King of the Dark Grotto in this era where even his name was not passed down, where he had vanished even from the oldest of texts.
To call Shuttle the 'Ninth'.
To forcibly seize the authority of the King of the Dark Grotto.
Throughout the long history of Odobaekryeong, only we could have done all this.
Rejoicing in Shuttle's foolishness for only now realizing the reason,
and savoring the distinct fear and turmoil that arose in her eyes,
I asked.
"So, what's your answer?"
"......"
It was just a question.
For a moment, she shuddered as if stabbed by a knife.
Temptation.
Fear.
Hesitation.
At the end of a vortex of countless emotions, two feelings remained in those violet eyes.
A longing that bordered on resignation.
And a despair that wished to be hope.
Looking at me with eyes like someone clinging to a cliff,
*softly,*
she moved her pale, bare feet.
Coming right up to me, Shuttle knelt in the pool of blood I had created.
And slowly,
she lifted the chain connected to her neck with both hands and offered it to me respectfully.
"I, the Vault Keeper, pledge my loyalty to the true successor of the King."
I did not refuse Shuttle's oath.
I simply grasped the end of the chain she offered.
And...
*Ssssss!*
"Hngh...!"
On her pale white neck,
black flames flared up.
A single pattern was engraved.
As Shuttle, now branded with a mark that encircled her neck like a choker—resembling both a collar on a wild beast and the lock on an old vault—swallowed a groan,
I checked my status window.
『Succession Trait 【Dominator (EX)】 acquired.』
The beginning and end of the authority that allowed the King of the Dark Grotto, betrayed by all and fallen into corruption, to fight the entire world alone.
【Blood Slaughter Star Kai (EX+)】
【Status Window (EX)】
【Class Changer (EX)】
It was a trait that was in no way inferior to the three unique traits I'd had since the start of my third life.
I was satisfied to have finally obtained a fourth extra trait that was, in some ways, even more broken than the others.
I smiled faintly.
"Welcome to being my first vassal."
"......"
Hmm, she's just bowing.
Compared to her reaction in my second life, which was filled with despair and terror, Shuttle's response now was so boring that I honestly felt a little disappointed.
Shuttle is cuter when she cries, after all.
But I didn't bother tormenting her.
It wasn't just because the Voice always nagged me that it was bad to bully my vassals for no reason.
There would be plenty of opportunities to make Shuttle cry in the future.
Besides, if I wanted to torment someone right now, there was still someone else left.
For example...
"Just..."
In the crumbling mental world.
A certain dark elf maid, her usually expressionless face now showing clear disbelief.
"Who... are you?"