Belzerak (2)
The wind howled across the barren desert.
A lone carriage trudged through the sand.
With no escort guards, just two coachmen blankly driving the horses.
“They’ve got no fear at all.”
The men hiding behind the rocks snickered.
“Crossing Cardin’s territory all by themselves like that.”
Srrrng!
Without a second thought, they drew their curved blades, spurred their horses, and surrounded the carriage.
“Hey! Hand over everything you’ve got! We’ll spare your lives!”
The horses snorted and came to a halt.
But the coachmen didn’t move an inch.
They showed no signs of panic, nor any intention of alerting their master in the back.
Just the casual attitude of oh, someone’s blocking the road.
“…What the hell. These arrogant bastards.”
A few of them would need to die before the rest learned their place.
The bandit leader, the one acting like their field commander, approached with his sword raised—
Whoosh!
Suddenly, flames erupted around the carriage.
“Whoa, whoa!?”
The fire blazed in a perfect circle, as if protecting the carriage.
It spread out like a red carpet, welcoming the woman in the crimson robe who stepped down from the vehicle.
She descended along that fiery path, lightly lifted the brim of her oversized wizard hat, and frowned.
Not because of the bandits. Because of the damn sunlight.
“Haaaam.”
Was it already this late?
She tilted her head and muttered.
“Guess I should call it a day and get some sleep.”
Her completely nonchalant attitude left the bandits momentarily stunned.
Still, they tried to finish what they started.
“A mage? Coming here all alone… You’ve got some serious guts, huh?”
That was their fatal mistake.
The moment a spark of interest flashed in the woman’s eyes—
Shhhrrrr…
Red flowers bloomed everywhere.
Boom!
From beneath their feet, flames at several thousand degrees Celsius erupted in an instant.
In two seconds, they were reduced to black ash.
The dry desert wind swept even that ash away, leaving only bleached bones to collapse to the ground.
“W-what the…!?”
The other bandits finally realized something was wrong and began backing away.
“Ugh, seriously… Not even demons, and you’re making me waste mana.”
She swept back her reddish-brown hair and turned toward the coachmen.
“Pat, Matt. Kill them all except one.”
Swish!
The coachmen vanished with movements far too agile for their names.
Then the bandits’ heads began flying through the air, one after another.
“Gack!”
“U-ugh!?”
The single bandit who had “won” the lottery of being the one spared from the “kill them all except one” order collapsed to the ground and muttered.
“The Red Witch of the Crimson Flower… Meyrin… Is that… really you…?”
“Oh. You know me?”
“H-how… How are you still exactly the same as in the portraits?”
Meyrin approached.
“Good skincare routine.”
“?”
“Anyway, I heard a divine oracle came down around here. You know anything? Something about a hero.”
“I don’t know anything! But if it’s about a hero, wouldn’t he be in Helket, where they’re at war with the demons!?”
“Ha? No matter how bad my sense of direction is, do I look stupid enough to fall for a lie like—”
Swish.
She unfolded the letter and showed it to him.
“Look, idiot. See the map? The oracle appeared right here. Stamp, stamp. The old geezers at the Ivory Tower sealed it with their big fancy stamps.”
“…W-where the hell do you see that as here? That’s Helket!”
“…?”
Meyrin’s expression hardened.
“Pat. Matt.”
“W-wait! I was just telling you the truth—”
Swoosh!
The head of the honest man soared into the sky.
“You were planning to kill me anyway. What’s with the attitude.”
Meyrin brushed the blood off the letter with a few flicks, stuffed it back into her bag, and said again.
“Pat, Matt.”
Whoosh!
The coachmen instantly climbed back onto the carriage.
“We’re heading to Helket.”
The carriage made a complete U-turn.
“Sirvelis’s right arm…?”
The king asked Serien in a dignified tone.
“Isn’t that a bit much to ask of a single hero?”
But her answer was already decided.
“I am merely conveying the Goddess’s will. My personal opinion cannot interfere. However, even I…”
Serien removed the eyepatch that had covered her eyes and looked at Julian.
The one and only hero.
‘Julian…’
The previous hero who had borne that name had met a terrible end.
His final moments had deviated so completely from the prophecy that prophets across generations had analyzed them as an anomaly.
‘This time, he broke the prophecy from the very moment he appeared.’
What about this Julian?
He had shattered the prophecy right from his entrance.
He was not bound by the flow of causality.
That was why a prophet should never add personal commentary to a prophecy.
Serien opened her mouth.
“Even I believe that cutting off Sirvelis’s right arm will not be easy.”
This was an enormous risk for a prophet to take.
“Therefore, how about selecting and sending soldiers from this kingdom to assist him?”
“Hmm…”
The king pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll speak with the supreme commander.”
Throughout the entire conversation, Junil had simply stayed silent.
‘You think attaching a few soldiers will let me cut off that guy’s right arm?’
His sense of scale was just as bad now as it had been back then.
The supreme commander would probably throw a fit and shout that it was impossible.
Because Sirvelis’s right arm wasn’t just an arm.
‘It’s practically seventy percent of his combat strength.’
That arm was the result of a deal with the demon of bitter cold.
It was a method of offering part of one’s body to them in exchange for greater power.
‘You’re basically telling me to just kill Sirvelis. That’s absolutely impossible.’
Perhaps sensing Julian’s troubled expression, Serien spoke.
“The Goddess’s guidance will be with you. Please do not worry too much.”
“Ah, yes…”
Sure it will. Of course.
* * *
Even if he was only a temporary dispatched hero, he was still a hero.
“The mission begins tomorrow, so let’s eat, drink, and enjoy ourselves today.”
Following the king’s generous mood, Julian received the most lavish hospitality.
The ugly, scheming ministers had vanished, replaced by beautiful noble ladies who filled the room.
“My name is Yuria Estina.”
“Hello, Hero! I’m Maria.”
“I’m…”
These were young ladies who would normally never behave so boldly.
But the appearance of a hero in this world ravaged by war with the demons was enough to make any girl’s heart flutter.
“Lady Maria, it’s a pleasure. I’m Julian.”
Even Julian—who everyone assumed had a severe allergy to women—surprisingly exchanged greetings with them quite smoothly, making eye contact with each one.
‘It’s the opposite. The complete opposite, you idiot.’
Julian wanted to snap back at the chat that was teasing him, but he held it in for now.
A short while later—
The banquet began.
“To the hero who has safely arrived in Helket!”
“Cheers!”
With the welcoming speech, everyone raised their champagne glasses in a toast.
“Even in the middle of a war, they sure know how to party.”
Julian muttered as he looked at the countless dishes spread out before him.
‘This looks delicious.’
It was an incredible feast.
Julian was hungry too, so he figured he might as well eat his fill.
Once he went back, it would be studio apartment life again.
When would he ever get to enjoy a banquet like this?
But after making a few cuts with his knife, he suddenly set it down.
‘Huh…?’
His eyes trembled.
Gate stay allowance time remaining: 3 hours.
What the hell was this?
Only three hours of allowed stay time?
Then how was he supposed to sleep, and how was he supposed to carry out the mission?
‘Are you telling me to just leave by myself right now and die?’
It was an absurd demand.
‘Is the flow of time different?’
The time inside and outside flowed differently.
Those three hours were based on outside time. Inside, it could be days or even weeks.
When Julian had completed ten years in his first round and returned, not even a minute had passed on Earth, right?
‘…Like hell it is!?’
02:59:55
The timer was ticking as if to say don’t get any funny ideas.
Even the Constellations were panicking.
It was that shocking of a situation.
But a veteran was still a veteran.
He closed his eyes for a moment and calmed his emotions.
‘Think, Moon Junil… No, Julian… They wouldn’t have given me an impossible mission.’
He had received many oracles as a hero during his first round, so he knew.
They were vague and ambiguous, but they had never once asked for something truly impossible.
‘That’s right. They just phrase it in a way that’s hard to understand, but everything is possible… Huh?’
At that moment, Julian realized something and his eyes snapped open.
‘Why… is this oracle not ambiguous at all?’
Now that he thought about it, this oracle had been unusually specific, hadn’t it?
Cut off Sirvelis’s right arm—in other words, sever the demon of bitter cold that resided within him.
Had there ever been an oracle this concrete before?
‘There hadn’t.’
Julian closed his eyes again and reviewed everything that had happened so far.
‘They said five heroes were supposed to come, but only three…’
Pirin had said five heroes, but Serien had said three.
There was a reason, but it was still vague.
‘And there were definitely people here who seemed to be in league with the demons.’
Traitors clearly existed.
‘Then is the prophet… a fake?’
If the oracle was strange, it was natural to suspect the prophet.
‘But her Constellation is “The Definition of Justice.”’
Even by physiognomy reasoning, it didn’t add up.
And considering that the quest message had appeared exactly as she had relayed the oracle, it was impossible for her to be fake.
Besides, the only person here whose lineage continued into the future was the king.
If the prophet had been a fake or in league with the demons, the war would have ended long ago.
‘Then what is it?’
02:58:57
A whole minute had passed while he was thinking.
“Does it not suit your taste, Hero?”
One of the noble ladies sitting beside him asked worriedly.
Since he wasn’t eating and seemed lost in thought, it must have looked strange.
“Ah, it’s not that…”
Huh?
The moment their eyes met as he tried to come up with an excuse—
Julian froze, then asked her.
“Excuse me, but didn’t you greet me earlier?”
“…?”
The lady blinked a few times, then smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yes. I’m glad you remembered. I’m Yuria.”
“Ah…”
What was this?
There was… something here.
Julian’s eyes darted quickly across her face as he thought.
‘Sirvelis’s right arm…
Cut off the right arm.
What if this wasn’t a literal oracle?
What if, like all oracles, it was a metaphor?’
“By the way, why aren’t you eating? You’re the star of the banquet. This lamb pie is quite delicious.”
Yuria offered him some food.
‘Ah.’
The corner of Julian’s mouth twitched slightly upward.
“I don’t eat well before a fight.”
“Oh my… I was told the departure was tomorrow…”
Her face flushed and her eyes sparkled.
She looked completely smitten.
“Ah. The departure isn’t tomorrow.”
“Pardon? Then the day after?”
Julian ignored the question and answered with another.
“As I saw earlier, your eyes are quite mysterious.”
Smirk.
At Julian’s compliment, Yuria smiled and turned her face away.
She swept back her flowing golden hair.
“My, you were staring quite intently at my eyes, then.”
The Constellations were making a huge fuss like panelists on a dating show at the sudden flirting(?).
Then Julian suddenly dropped a bomb.
“Right now.”
“Pardon? Y-you mean you’re still looking at me right now…”
“No. You asked when I was departing, didn’t you?”
“???”
“It’s right now.”
Neither the Constellations nor the noble lady could understand what he meant.
They simply assumed he had gotten so nervous in front of a woman that he had lost his mind.
But everything happened in an instant.
“Right now, you demon bastard!”
Whoosh!
Julian hurled the knife he had been using to cut meat with tremendous force.
The Constellations all thought Julian had finally lost it.
That is, until Yuria barely deflected his mana-infused blade with nothing but a fork.
Clang!
“…How rude.”
Grin.
Her beautiful lips curved into a smile.
“I went through all that effort to dress up nicely.”
Sssss…
Her emerald eyes gradually turned amber.
“Just because my eye color flickered for a moment, you pull a knife on a lady’s face.”
Following her eyes, her fair skin quickly took on a murky violet hue. Her height grew taller and more elegant, and her body’s curves deepened.
“Allow me to introduce myself. The black flower that blooms from lies…”
Jet-black hair cascaded down, framing her seductive eyes.
Whoosh!
Within violet flames, a black rose-shaped horn bloomed on one side of her head.
A high-ranking demon and Sirvelis’s right arm.
“Belzera. I am your master’s right hand.”
The black flower that blooms from lies.
Belzera.
Her strength was measured at Level 50.
A level that surpassed the highest level of Chapter 2 by a full twenty.