Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Capital Advance - 3
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As I fell silent for a moment, Jenia quickly added, interpreting it her own way.
“I’ll finish my business quickly and rejoin you. Just let me know where you’re headed via the communication orb.”
I hesitated before responding.
In the meantime, Neril asked,
“You’re meeting Dame?”
“Yes. No matter how I think about it, I need to have it out with him. Don’t worry. I don’t know what your weakness is, Neril, but you said you’d burn me if I mentioned the shadow contract to you, right?”
“...”
“I’ll handle this on my own. If my father tries to touch on your weakness, I’ll block him with everything I’ve got.”
Neril stayed quiet for a moment.
Her eyes wavered, as if she was deeply moved.
“...What do you plan to do?”
“Who knows. Honestly, I don’t really know myself. I’ll figure it out when I see him.”
Worry clouded Neril’s face.
Jenia teased her with a mischievous expression.
“Grandma. That face really doesn’t suit you?”
“Ha. You wanna die?”
“Yeah. That expression’s much better.”
“...”
“Maide. Is it no good?”
No. Whether it was good or not, our next destination was the capital anyway.
[What’s going down in the capital?]
‘Something absolutely massive.’
I chuckled and said,
“Fine. But we go together.”
“Huh?”
“Truth is, the capital was my next stop anyway. Looks like a chance to build some fame there.”
“Maide, you don’t have to lie for my sake.”
“I’m not. It’s true.”
Neril and Jenia stared at my face.
They nodded at my utterly unwavering expression.
“It’s true. What a coincidence.”
“Less coincidence, more good fortune. A pleasant twist of fate.”
I said,
“Of course, I’ll be focused on building fame there. You can act separately.”
“Thank you. I’ll wrap things up quick and come help.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“I’m the one who’s grateful. But Maide.”
She looked up at me quietly.
“You said the capital was our next destination anyway, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better not to tell me that?”
“Huh? What’re you talking about?”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to not mention the capital as the next stop and just say something like, ‘I’ll tag along and give up on my fame for your sake’?”
...?
I still had no idea what she meant.
[No. She’s got a point. Saying it like that would’ve moved Jenia big time.]
‘Huh?’
[Frame it like you’re going for her sake, then later reveal it ‘coincidentally’ overlaps with capital business. Better narrative.]
‘Ah... yeah, that makes sense.’
I’d never even considered it that way.
Neril and Jenia giggled at my dumbfounded look.
“You could’ve fooled me. Too bad.”
“Yeah. He lies to everyone else but never fools us.”
“Guess he can’t. We’re comrades.”
“Soft in the weirdest places.”
“True. But...”
Jenia turned to me with the gentlest expression.
“I like that side of you much better.”
The next day.
We set off for the capital.
The carriage was lively inside.
Hard to believe yesterday’s gloom was real.
“By the way, what happened to Gert?”
“Didn’t kill him.”
“Scary answer.”
“Don’t worry. With Adwin here, I couldn’t do anything too brutal.”
Jenia glanced at Adwin at my words.
He had his knees up, arms wrapped around them.
“Hoo... hoho. To one who has lived an eternity, this is but lukewarm.”
Jenia said,
“Seemed shocking enough.”
“Sorry, but half that shock was from your torture.”
“Ugh.”
That’s when Offense spoke up.
“Anyway, what’s going down in the capital? Not Jenia’s thing.”
“Hmm.”
“I know you’re chasing fame opportunities like Kaild. Spill it casually.”
[Yeah. I wanna hear too.]
Seemed like I was hearing voices.
Before regression, around this time, something bizarre happened in the capital.
Bizarre was putting it mildly?
‘More like earth-shattering enough to remake heaven and earth.’
[Oho. That huge? Kaild must’ve gotten involved. How’d he stop it back then?]
‘He didn’t.’
[Huh?]
‘Kaild was in the Reyners territory then. Around the time he was debating recruiting Adwin. Same timeframe.’
I figured Kaild must’ve agonized over his ‘path to hero’ back then too.
Recruit Adwin, or handle the capital’s bizarre event.
Which to choose?
[That big a deal? On par with snagging a party hero-tier like Adwin?]
Obviously.
I turned to the waiting group and spoke.
“Soon, a black sun will rise over the capital.”
The oracle made the descent of the Demon King of Lies and Deceit a continent-wide fact.
But even before the oracle, the capital’s citizens had somewhat foreseen it.
Thanks to the black sun that lit the capital’s sky right around then.
The black sun.
No one knew what it was.
Before regression, the black sun hung over the capital for a week, then vanished.
Not resolved, just gone—so its identity remained a mystery to the end.
It only left rumors that it might’ve been a harbinger of the Demon King of Lies and Deceit’s descent.
[So you don’t know how to solve it either?]
‘Right. That’s why we’re hurrying. Get there first, gather intel.’
[Still some time left, huh.]
I nodded and told everyone,
“Let’s see... On Agril, we’ll reach the capital in two days? Then, two weeks from our arrival, the black sun rises.”
“Bit late to ask, but you really read the future or something?”
“Something like that.”
“‘Something’? Sigh.”
Neril sighed lightly and changed the subject.
“Anyway, give us the rundown with that ‘something’ ability. What exactly is this black sun?”
“Exactly that. Two suns in the sky. One’s the normal sun, the other... like it’s diseased, pitch black.”
“Spectacle.”
“The real show’s on the ground.”
“Huh?”
“The black sun doesn’t just ruin the view and stop.”
I swallowed involuntarily.
Everyone straightened up at my expression.
“People under the black sun’s light will slowly change.”
“...”
“And eventually turn into monsters.”
An absurd silence blanketed the carriage.
Yes.
That was the black sun’s true malice.
Its light turned ordinary, good people into monsters.
Adwin shuddered and spoke.
“Um, bro. I think I’ve read about something similar in history books.”
“Probably what you’re thinking.”
“...”
“The power of one of the Three Great Demon Kings, the Demon King of Corruption.”
Neril’s brow twitched as she continued.
“Indeed... The Demon King of Corruption turned humans into monsters for his army. Testimonies of slaying friends you laughed and drank with yesterday exploded across the continent simultaneously.”
“Yeah. My guess: the black sun might be the Demon King of Corruption’s core.”
“Ah. That tracks.”
Unlike other Demon Kings’ cores, the Demon King of Corruption’s had no fixed form.
Rock, tree, painting, building—even human or monster.
The Three Heroes’ party struggled big time finding and destroying it.
“The core of one of the Three Great Demon Kings, the Jewel of Corruption, can become anything. Stretch the imagination a bit, and a sun fits.”
Silence fell.
Then Jenia asked,
“Maide. The Demon King of Lies and Deceit Idria definitely implanted the Withering Jewel in the Martial King, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then maybe...”
“Not maybe—definitely. I’m sure Idria’s hand is in the capital’s article.”
“...”
“And referencing the Martial King or Marianna cases, Idria’s contacted someone as the capital’s ‘vessel.’ Our job: find that someone fast.”
Neril asked,
“Then what?”
“Play it by ear.”
“Sigh. I’ve thought this before, but are you meticulous or reckless? Can’t tell.”
“Meticulously reckless.”
“...Fair. No need to panic yet. Strategy changes completely depending on who it is.”
Neril had taken to interpreting my words positively lately.
The other party members too.
I turned to Jenia.
“As I said earlier, black sun in two weeks.”
“You want me to wrap my business in two weeks?”
“Yeah. The black sun’s monsterfication has an order. Weakest in mind and life force first. No effect on us, but...”
“The citizens take the worst hit. Got it. No matter what—even if my business isn’t done—I’ll rejoin two weeks early.”
“Sorry.”
Jenia shook her head vigorously.
“Giving me two weeks is what I’m thankful for.”
“Yeah. Contact if anything comes up.”
“Will do.”
And so we hashed out a rough plan.
Then rode Agril to the capital.
Jenia dropped us at the capital entrance and flew straight to Knights of Light HQ.
Neril eyed Agril, now speck-sized, and muttered,
“Maide, how’s it gonna go?”
“The black sun? Or Jenia.”
“Ah... Obviously the black sun.”
“Don’t worry. Jenia’ll settle it clean and return.”
“You listening?”
Offense chuckled.
“Not acting your age.”
“Yeah. Maide’s got some childish sides.”
“That was aimed at you.”
“Shut it. Plain-looking bastard.”
“That’s not much of an insult?”
And so we entered the capital.
First time stepping on capital soil since regression.
Being in the continent’s south, Kaild’s fame still dominated over mine.
‘On the flip side.’
Handle this cleanly, and it’d deal a fatal blow to Kaild’s fame.
Irreversible.
After entering the main gate and driving a bit, murmurs from outside grew loud enough to disrupt talk, so I opened the window.
“Today?”
“Patrick Benjamin’s supposed to be such a hunk.”
“Our girl’s totally smitten. Not that he’d ever mix with us.”
“Hey, hurry. Time’s almost up.”
Roughly that chatter.
Patrick Benjamin?
Rang a bell from before regression.
Then Offense’s voice.
“Come to think of it, right on schedule. He was prepping since Kaild’s capital stay.”
“Huh?”
“Patrick Benjamin’s Alcahad’s vice-captain now.”
Ah, right.
That was the name.
Before regression, unrelated to our Demon King hunt or quests, so I glossed over it.
“Early twenties, I think.”
“Oho. Hero remembers even Alcahad’s next captain?”
“I’m not Neril.”
“Hmm. True.”
Neril scowled.
“You think I lack common sense lately?”
“Nah. Not lately—from first meet.”
“Don’t say that with a straight face?”
“Then you know Patrick?”
Surprisingly, Neril nodded.
“Alcahad’s vice-captain.”
“That’s what Offense just said.”
“Yeah, I don’t know Patrick specifically. But I know the Benjamin name.”
Huh?
I was about to ask more when—
Neigh.
The coachman stopped the horses.
“Guests. Carriage can’t go further. Too crowded.”
“No other way?”
“Only road to your inn. I know a better one—shall I take you?”
Salesman coachman.
He’d get a referral fee from the innkeeper.
I chuckled and nodded.
“Do that. Consider the inn reward our tip.”
“Oh, caught me. But food’s better, rooms cleaner. Let’s go.”
I agreed and turned.
That’s when I spotted Adwin.
Face smashed against the window, leaving marks.
“What’re you doing.”
“Hoho. What do these mortals seek, what do they crave? Even foolish desires, massed like this, stir my heart.”
“Wanna go watch?”
“Ah, yes.”
Back to normal, he mumbled.
“I rarely left home. Capital’s new to me, and citizens gathering like this? Intriguing.”
“Hmm.”
I scratched my head.
The event around now... Ah!
“Inauguration ceremony.”
Offense nodded at my words.
Neril asked,
“Inauguration?”
“Capital folk mentioned Patrick Benjamin. Festival crowds... connects to inauguration.”
“Promotion from vice to captain?”
“Yeah.”
“I see. That kid’s descendant’s already captain. Time flies.”
Suddenly, my ears perked up.