The Name of Despair
“······ That form—is that you, Fifth Lord?”
“How many times must I say it, caw.”
“Hearing that cawing, it does sound like the Fifth Lord. But why is only the voice the same?”
Inside the White King’s Hall, the White King stared at me with open astonishment.
I had become the one who blooms darkness, and my appearance had changed—yet that cawing cry remained exactly as before. A few of the Corpse Crow’s traits must have fused along with everything else.
It was something that needed addressing sooner or later anyway.
“You need not know, caw.”
“Still, the more I look, the more astonishing it is. That form······ hmm. Truly hideous.”
The same reaction the monster rats had given. If even the White King found it repulsive, that said everything. With the expression of a man who had seen something he would rather forget—something that might haunt his dreams—he turned his gaze slightly aside.
“Why did you summon me, caw?”
“Ah. The reason for the summons, you ask? That is······.”
In an instant the White King’s eyes grew infinitely grave. Then he spoke of the reason he had called me.
“······ The Death King has been captured by the Black King. He may already······ be dead.”
For a moment I doubted my ears.
The Death King. That monstrous powerhouse—what? Captured? Possibly dead?
The fleeting thought that a creature already dead could not die again crossed my mind, but the “death” the White King spoke of surely meant the end of existence itself—true annihilation.
I recalled the Death King’s final words:
—I shall investigate the Black King’s intentions myself. And White King, you must recognize that the Fifth Lord is different from the other Lords. Unlike us, he has received no “grace” from you.
The last image of the Death King flashed through my mind—the moment he had mediated between the White King and me. The White King had deliberately tried to set the Black King and me against each other. I had no intention of accepting so obvious a scheme and refused outright, cooling the atmosphere. That was when the Death King stepped forward. Afterward he left Kramdel to track the Black King’s movements.
Given his mastery over the undead, if he moved carefully he should not have been easy to catch.
Yet a faint unease remained. The Death King was a being bold enough to style himself “King of the Dead.” A creature who elevated death into art would not have approached the Black King without any contingency. And yet he had been captured—or rather, even his life or death could not be confirmed.
······ He had been the only one in all of Kramdel with whom conversation was possible.
“In any case, the Death King left me a final ‘message.’ I summoned you all to seek the other Lords’ opinions regarding it.”
Whatever the Death King had sent the White King before vanishing—it would certainly be intelligence on the Black King. I was curious myself. If the White King ruled the North, the Black King ruled the South. Yet the Black King rarely showed himself. Related quests were few. That was only natural; the South was a remote wilderness even among remote wildernesses.
The desert city of Faisalmer is one of the southern regions, after all.
Faisalmer, infamous as the worst starting point of all, was also counted as part of the South.
“······ Fifth Lord, now that you have arrived, we may begin in earnest.”
A council of the White King and his Lords. By now word of my arrival would have reached the others. One by one the Lords began to appear at the entrance of the White King’s Hall.
“I greet the White King.”
First to arrive was Dae-to-ryong. The colossal dragon had taken the form of a dragon-man and thrust forward the same arrogant face as always. That swaggering demeanor was his usual self, yet one detail caught my eye.
······ His level had risen. From 12 to 13. Something must have happened while I was gone.
Sensing my gaze, Dae-to-ryong turned his head toward me—
“Hm······?!”
A single strangled cry escaped him, his face contorting with pure horror.
“What a truly hideous appearance······!!”
······ Exactly the reaction I had expected. But what part of me was so hideous? To my eyes I was merely a humanoid form wreathed in black fire. Why did every monster of Kramdel react this way?
“······.”
“I heard the Fifth Lord had arrived. Where is he?”
Medusa and Gungi appeared as well. Approaching the White King, they turned their heads and confirmed my face.
In that instant—
—······!!!
“Insane······!”
They too let out strangled cries. Was my appearance truly that grotesque? The rulers of the Abyss had never reacted like this.
All three of them have leveled up.
More surprising than their reactions was the rise in level. All three Lords had climbed from 12 to 13 in unison. One might be coincidence; three together meant something was afoot. Something I did not know had clearly occurred.
“I’ve never seen a creature this hideous.”
“Hmm. In all my long years I’ve seen many hideous things, but this is on another level entirely.”
—······.
The three Lords openly tore into me. Or perhaps, in the world of monsters, “hideous” was a compliment.
Gungi spoke.
“White King. Who is this hideously formed one?”
“······ He is the Fifth Lord.”
“······? Is the Fifth Lord not a Corpse Crow?”
“Hard as it may be to believe, it is the truth.”
“······.”
Gungi fell silent and simply stared at me. I let out a quiet sigh.
“I am the Fifth Lord, caw.”
“······ Hearing that caw, it does seem so.”
“Hah. How did you end up looking so hideous······.”
—······.
Eyes full of something like pity. Now even I was curious. Just how hideous was I, to draw such uniform reactions?
Once the brief uproar settled, the White King cut straight to the point.
“I have gathered you because of ‘this’ that the Death King sent me.”
The Death King’s final message. Apparently he had left something with it. The White King drew “it” from his robes.
“Can any of you tell what this is?”
Silence fell over the assembly. Of course it did. What the White King held was no ordinary object. It appeared to be a fragment of bone. Yet identifying anything from a mere “bone fragment”—and a shattered one at that—was nearly impossible.
“··· It does not seem to be the Death King’s bone.”
“Judging by the thickness, it did not belong to anything small.”
That was the full extent of Gungi’s and Dae-to-ryong’s speculation. The White King turned his gaze to me.
“Fifth Lord. Whose bone do you believe this to be?”
As if I would know. To the naked eye it was nothing more than a shattered scrap of bone. Yet the White King seemed to know its origin already. Asking me separately meant he expected me to recognize it.
Unidentified
Even to me, nothing was visible. The Great Sage’s appraisal failed to reveal whose bone it was. I was about to shake my head when—
Thump! Thump!
My heart began to race. With the Eternal Lord’s heart, such agitation should have been impossible. This······ this reaction was not coming from me. It came from what had been fused inside the heart—Baal, and the Fragment of Ruin.
A moment later the question marks floating above the bone fragment vanished.
One of the Four Calamities
Confirming the name that appeared in place of the vanished question marks, I stiffened.
Despair. In this world only one monster bore that name.
I had no idea where the Death King had obtained it, but after a brief moment of thought I opened my mouth.
“It is a bone fragment of the Four Calamities’ ‘Despair,’ caw.”
“······ As expected, you recognize it.”
One of the four beasts that, together with Baal, had brought the world to ruin. Unlike Baal, however, it possessed no proper name. It was simply called “Despair.”
The White King spoke heavily.
“Not long ago, ‘Baal’ awoke on the Mountain of the Cultivator. And the Black King sent ‘Laktusha’ to that mountain. The Death King, who had been watching the Black King, sent me this bone fragment of Despair.”
The Orc Great Warrior, Laktusha. After being thoroughly beaten by the awakened Baal, his subsequent whereabouts had been unknown. The White King was speaking of that now.
“Does any of this seem mere coincidence? The Black King is awakening the Four Calamities. He has already secured Despair, and by sending Laktusha he even succeeded in waking Baal. He intends to make those monsters his own.”
Had the Black King truly intended to awaken Baal on the Mountain of the Cultivator?
I was the one who woke Baal.
That could not be it. The Orc Great Warrior and Swordmaster Laktusha’s true purpose had been to kidnap the White King’s daughter. After loudly advertising that he would abduct her, he had planned to capture the other Lords—but my awakening of Baal had reduced every scheme to ashes. Of course, there was no need to volunteer that fact.
“The Four Calamities······!”
“But was Baal not ‘annihilated’?”
News of the Four Calamities Baal’s resurrection had naturally reached Kramdel. Moreover, they already knew Baal had been annihilated.
The White King nodded.
“The Black King did awaken Baal, yet failed to control it properly. In the end the rampaging Baal was annihilated within the Abyss it itself had created. The question is ‘who’ annihilated Baal.”
“Could it simply be that the Four Calamities are weaker than the legends claim?”
Dae-to-ryong offered an opinion. Everything about the Four Calamities was only story. No living being had ever faced those ancient monsters firsthand. Yet the White King shook his head.
“The Four Calamities are strong enough to stand equal to me. Depending on the circumstances, they could even kill me.”
“······!”
The Lords stared at the White King with disbelief. Though he had once been defeated, even that human “Wilhelm” had failed to kill the White King. Who, then, could have slain a Four Calamity as powerful as Baal?
“Do you have any idea who annihilated ‘Baal’?”
“Who can say.”
So saying, the White King turned his gaze to me once more.
··· Why is he looking at me? Had he somehow realized I had fused with Baal?
“One thing is certain······.”
Still boring into me with his eyes, the White King continued.
“Fifth Lord Randolph. The Death King asked that this bone fragment be delivered to you.”
To me? Because I, too, partook of “death”? The White King handed me the bone fragment of Despair.
··· Yet I had the distinct feeling he had been about to say something else and stopped midway.
“What do you intend to do now?”
When Gungi asked, the White King answered without hesitation.
“War.”
Now that he knew what the Black King had been hiding, there was nothing left to hold him back.
“The Black King’s side has issued a declaration of war against me. I must return the favor.”
A faint smile touched the White King’s lips.
“You, my Lords, will each ‘conquer’ one city of the South. We shall use those cities as forward bases. In the name of the White King, I shall provide every resource you require.”
“Ahh······!”
“At last!”
—······!
All the Lords except me grew visibly excited, as though the Black King were their personal blood enemy. Conquer one of the southern cities······.
Gungi asked carefully afterward.
“And if the Black King appears?”
“He will not. He watches only me. When I show myself, he will show himself as well.”
“Yet Your Majesty has not fully recovered······.”
“Even without the ‘Fang,’ he cannot kill me. Of course, if he completely awakens ‘Despair’ the story may change—but I will settle the match before then.”
Despair had not yet awakened. It remained sealed. Had it already woken and come under his control, the Black King would have attacked long ago. The Death King had left behind a crucial clue. Thanks to that, the White King could finally move in earnest.
What to do.
Honestly, this had little to do with me. I held no grudge against the Black King, and though I had spoken with the Death King, we had never grown close enough to form any real bond. I was curious about “Despair,” yet I had no desire to get crushed between two clashing whales.
“The four cities to be used as forward bases are the desert city ‘Faisalmer,’ the Lake of Death ‘Lakan,’ the Tunnel Hell ‘Hartun,’ and Dry Wind’s ‘Elsaldo.’”
······ The problem was the names of those cities. One of them—the desert city of Faisalmer. Isabella was still there.
“By tomorrow, decide which city you will assault. And.”
The White King looked at me again.
“Fifth Lord. Do you have a moment?”
“You mean you wish to speak privately, caw?”
“Yes. There is someone I wish you to meet.”
“Someone to meet, caw?”
Was there someone the White King needed to show me? Perhaps because of this “war.” Unlike the other Lords, I had no foundation in Kramdel. He might think I needed an assistant of some kind.
Yet the words that followed were completely unexpected.
“I would like you to share a meal with my daughter ‘Aria.’”
“······!!!”
“······!!!”
—······!!!
In this official gathering of Lords, the White King’s declaration made every single one of them widen their eyes.
The White King’s daughter, Aria. His only blood relative, the thing he valued above all else. This was no mere meal. None of the Lords gathered here had ever shared a table with Aria. For the thoroughly calculating White King to reveal his most precious piece meant he had judged the Fifth Lord to possess value beyond even that. No other explanation came to mind.
“W-White King, is this not far too sudden?”
Dae-to-ryong spoke urgently. Suggesting that the Fifth Lord obtain the “Fang” and exchange it for Aria had originally been his own half-joking proposal. He had doubted whether the Fifth Lord could truly recover the White King’s Fang, and whether the Fifth Lord was truly a being capable of “killing” the White King. Mentioning it here, of all places, could only be interpreted as an order for the other Lords to acknowledge the Fifth Lord as well.
Yet the White King’s will was firm.
“Originally it was the Death King who assisted the Fifth Lord. With the Death King gone, is there anyone here in Kramdel who can aid the Fifth Lord and prepare for war?”
“That is······ if we assign the administrators······.”
“Even so, he is a ‘Lord’ in name. There must be some matching of station. Or will you, Dae-to-ryong, set aside your own preparations to assist the Fifth Lord?”
“······.”
Dae-to-ryong had nothing to say. The White King intended to attach Aria so that the Fifth Lord—who possessed no base in Kramdel—could prepare for war. The other Lords, unlike the Death King, would never even consider helping; they needed every resource to claim merit in the coming conflict. The White King himself could not assist directly. That left only Aria.
“Is Lady Aria······ well enough at present?”
Gungi spoke with clear concern. Since returning from the Mountain of the Cultivator, Aria had been growing at a frightening pace. She had shut herself away, refusing all contact, devoted solely to training. Would she truly accept the role of assisting the Fifth Lord at such a time?
The White King shook his head.
“The matter is already settled. More importantly, all of you—return and ponder the ‘cities’ you will ‘conquer’ tomorrow. We can no longer simply watch the Black King’s games.”