Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Cleanup and Epilogue #1
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Several dozen minutes after we had dealt with Gamigin and its minions.
A fairly large group of people from the Ark arrived at the old castle ruins, each holding torches in their hands, apparently coming to rescue us.
They all clutched swords, shields, pitchforks, and spears, looking for all the world like hunters out on a witch hunt.
"Over here! Right here!"
I gave them a rough rundown of what had just happened. Professor Ballan using students like living zombies.
How we had taken down Professor Ballan.
And that the survivors we had defeated were sprawled out inside.
━More survivors found here! Hurry and transport them!
━The fortress collapsed, didn't it? It'll take half a day just to lift these!
━Gorgor. Use strength. Patient. Carry. Human. Small. Tiny life.
━Whoa, amazing! The collapsed debris is being lifted!
Thanks to the people, the chaos from the old fortress was finally being sorted out and wrapped up.
However, I, Elga, and Mirna Draco—the ones who had survived that mess—were still stuck in an awkward atmosphere, unable to fully close the chapter.
"Let's head back for now. I really want to wash up."
I led Mirna, who wore an oddly detached expression somewhere, and Elga, who kept shooting her glances, back toward the dorms.
My body was covered in slime, reeking of that foul gas smell, and I was dying to scrub it off and change into fresh clothes.
"Don't you want to wash up too, Lady Elga? You're covered in all sorts of filth."
"......"
Elga, who had tangled with the slime monster the longest, was utterly drenched in its dried-up goo, looking utterly disheveled.
She glanced down at herself and let out a resigned sigh.
"Fine, let's wash up first. Theo, keep a close eye on that Draco girl so she doesn't run off. Got it?"
"Understood."
"I'm not running."
And with that, things were tentatively settled.
* * *
After showers and getting cleaned up, we all filed into Mirna Draco's single room.
Though called a single room, it was spacious and luxurious—easily the size of several triple rooms like mine and my roommates' combined—so there was no discomfort at all.
"Why's the room so empty?"
Elga griped at the vast space with barely any furniture to speak of.
Mirna Draco's personal room only had a bed, sofa, bookshelf, and wardrobe, after all.
But wasn't that enough?
"No beer dispenser around?"
"Nope."
"Boring room."
Did Elga's room have a beer dispenser?
Single rooms must come with some real perks.
Rustle.
Aira settled into the plushest-looking sofa. She took the central seat between the two facing sofas as if it were only natural.
Well, she was the queen, after all.
Queen Aira spoke.
"Forget the beer. Mirna Draco, tell us what you know about Angmar."
Elga plopped onto a sofa too, adding a threat: "Yeah, and don't even think about lying."
Mirna Draco sat on the sofa facing them.
Their positions now formed a perfect equilateral triangle.
I decided to stand by the sofa and listen in, not inserting myself. But that didn't last long.
"Theo Gospel, massage my shoulders. I'm exhausted after working all day."
Aira commanded me to rub her shoulders, so I had no choice but to stand behind her and knead the shoulders of the queen seated on the sofa.
Elga furrowed her brow at Aira.
"Working all day? You didn't do a damn thing today. I did all the real work, so why are you taking the credit?"
Aira clicked her tongue at Elga's question.
"I studied the shapes of clouds drifting outside today. I realized Gracia's clouds aren't all that different from Angmar's."
So basically, you goofed off staring at the sky.
But correcting her would be third-rate.
As a first-rate, I smoothly told Aira:
"Indeed, Your Majesty. Even with your perfect wisdom, your posture of continual learning is truly something we should all emulate."
"Right. A true ruler finds lessons in everything. Even from ants crawling on the ground—that's when you can truly call yourself a king."
Aira's gaze now turned to the Draco lady quietly sipping her tea.
"But enough of that. Mirna Draco, speak. Tell your queen what you know."
Aira's demeanor was utterly aloof and commanding.
"About why you don't recognize the Tarantara family's authority. Because an Angmar heir was still alive somewhere, right?"
"......"
Mirna fell silent at Aira's sharp question, unable to respond right away.
Aira was unpredictable as always, but she had these moments when she struck like a spider's fang.
Clink.
Mirna Draco set down her teacup.
"Yes. The Angmar bloodline still lives somewhere in this world."
Elga slammed the table.
"So why the hell did you hide it? Hiding that means you're betraying your family's alliance, right? What were you plotting behind our backs?"
"What would I have to plot? And betrayal? The Draco family never joined hands with you all to begin with. We merely joined hands with another Angmar."
"What kind of nonsense—"
"Elga."
Spotting Elga's rising temper, Aira raised a hand to pause the conversation.
"My cousin. Don't use such harsh words. It makes you look weak."
"Hah."
Elga tutted in annoyance, crossing her arms and turning her head away sharply.
This inquisition must have been frustrating for Elga.
I knew she was already showing impressive restraint by not slapping Mirna Draco.
Mirna Draco, however—the one on the hot seat—sipped her tea with overflowing composure.
"Our Draco family sought to topple Demon King Solomon and seat another Angmar in his place. That's why we temporarily allied with you."
Ah, so that's it.
Her explanation clicked a missing piece into place in my mind.
That was why the Draco family had spun the sophistry that toppling the Demon King wasn't betraying Angmar.
If they rebelled against Solomon but planned to put another Angmar on the throne, maybe it couldn't be called betrayal.
Rustle.
Aira crossed her legs.
"But you failed. Angmar hasn't sat on the throne since Solomon."
"Yes. Because you cowardly Tarantella family betrayed us at the end. Thanks to that, the Angmar line was wiped out—even the children—and vanished from history."
"Except for the one your Draco family hid, right?"
"...Yes."
"So, where is he? Man or woman? How old?"
Aira's attitude was far more relentless than her earlier languid observer act.
It evoked a predator lunging at prey caught in its web, wrapping it up tight.
Caught off guard by the sudden barrage, Mirna Draco faltered briefly before fanning herself with a whoosh of her blue-feathered fan.
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
As Aira asked with interest, Elga—fidgeting anxiously—bolted up from her seat.
"What kind of bullshit is that? Want a smack?"
"I really don't. My father knew, but he never told me. I wanted to know too, but I never got the details."
Mirna Draco said she'd stumbled upon proof of the Angmar heir's survival while rummaging through family books as a child.
But her father had taken it, and the book was burned.
Grind.
Elga ground her teeth.
"Alistair Draco, huh. Then bring him back right now. I need to ask him."
"Impossible now. My father..."
A shadow darkened Mirna Draco's face.
"My father has passed into nirvana."
"What a pain. Damn Dracos. Useless from start to finish."
Did Elga's jab hit home?
Mirna scowled fiercely.
"But Lady Lioness, before calling others traitors, shouldn't you look to your own family first?"
"What? What the hell does that mean?"
"Did you know my father and yours were classmates here at the Ark? Roommates, even."
"That's..."
"This is what I salvaged from the remnants."
As Elga hesitated, Mirna Draco pulled something from an inner pocket of her uniform. It was a charred, tattered scrap of paper.
A drawing?
A fragment of a drawing.
It showed a pale-looking man, a blond youth grinning heartily, and another figure whose face was obscured by soot.
The upper half of the face was too burned to make out, but the red hair reaching down to the chest? Woman? Man? No, the broad chest said man.
"What's this?"
Elga took the paper and asked. Mirna answered.
"Ark dorms are triples. This man is my father, this one is your father, Sir Reinhardt. And this other redhead..."
Aira provided the answer.
"Angmar. That red hair is Angmar's symbol."
"Exactly. Probably used another name back then, but this man must be King Solomon's son or something."
"You're insane—that mad Demon King's son was alive? And the Draco family hid him? That's outright treason!"
Mirna snorted at Elga's growl.
"Still don't get it? From the circumstances, my father and your father, Sir Reinhardt, were accomplices."
"My father hid something like that...?"
Chaos spread across Elga's face like ink spilled from a bucket. And I felt the same.
Reinhardt?
Knew an Angmar was alive and kept it secret?
Was there any mention of that in the original story?
No, not that I remembered. I wouldn't forget something this huge.
Red-haired Angmar.
My hair's brown.
What the hell.
My mind tangled with all this info.
Who the heck was this guy popping up out of nowhere?
If I had to guess, maybe this Theo Gospel's father? Dead now, anyway.
After all, I'm the only surviving Angmar, certified by the system.
"Lady Lioness. If you call me a traitor, then you're the traitor's daughter. Got it?"
"Lies—it's lies! This can't be real! It's forged! You can fake a drawing like this easy!"
"I swear on my family name. No forgery. If it is, let my soul burn in hell forever."
"Argh, Aira, you know, right? This is ridiculous slander...!"
Elga appealed to her cousin, the current queen, for innocence.
"You know how hard our fathers fought the Angmar restorationists? He nearly died tons of times. My father hiding an Angmar?"
"Elga, calm down."
Aira's expression remained serene. No—tinged with curiosity.
"Classmates with Duke Reinhardt. That means same age as my father. If alive, he'd be around fifty, sixty max."
"Probably that age. Red-haired middle-aged man. Narrows it down a lot. But no clue where he is. Not even if he's alive..."
Soon, Mirna corrected herself: no.
"He's alive. That Gamigin we fought was Angmar sorcery. It activating means an Angmar will endures somewhere."
"I see. Fascinating. Here in this foreign land, the Sorcerer-King's line continues."
Aira let out a soft chuckle.
But I didn't like how their deductions were inching toward the truth.
It felt like bandits with drawn blades stomping toward the wardrobe I was hiding in.
"Theo, your hands stopped."
Aira called out to me then, snapping me from my thoughts. She pressed further.
"Theo, did you know? About this. Ever seen the Angmar king's bloodline alive with your mysterious foresight?"
How the hell do I answer that?
As I racked my brain, Aira chuckled.
"Come to think of it, not that hard. You're capable, Theo. You'll find where the Angmar sprout grows in no time."
"No, you're too kind. How could someone as insignificant as I..."
"Right you are!"
Elga cut in abruptly from the side.
"Theo Gospel! Find the Angmar bastards and prove my innocence!"
Mirna tittered softly behind her fan too.
"Let's see that 'master monk' skill of yours in action."
"Settled then. Theo, you've got the three families' approval for a promotion. Angmar court scribe, gardener, and inspector. Get to work."
Aira clapped her hands.