I Don't Believe in Coincidences (2)
Unfortunately, she heard it.
Agentress muttered to herself.
"Darkness. Darkness. Darkness..."
She was even chewing over it, repeating it obsessively. Diend's full name was just so damn long, after all. She was trying her best to memorize it, reciting each word deliberately.
I couldn't blame Agentress for that. The real culprit wasn't her.
It was my own terrible naming sense that had saddled him with that ridiculous title.
More importantly...
...thank goodness she doesn't seem to have the brainpower left to memorize my epithet.
I swallowed a sigh of relief and opened my mouth.
"Speak freely, Diend."
Of course, I hadn't summoned him. If those byproduct scraps had overwhelmed me, that might've been different. But as you can see, they hadn't.
There was something I absolutely had to convey.
Diend must have appeared on his own.
Shhh—
Diend dissolved into darkness, sweeping over the surroundings once. He lingered on Agentress, his gaze intense.
Is it okay for a third party to hear this?
Of course it was fine. I might not know elven facial expressions that well, but I'd watched them up close for long enough, hadn't I? Take Elcidoir, for example.
Tormented by the hierarchy, yet...
He'd never bent his pride to the end. In short, elves couldn't do it unless it came straight from the heart—they'd sooner die.
Their rotten innate nature kept them far from pretense or fakery.
"Then I shall report to my lord."
Good. Let's hear it. Just how urgent was it that he'd shown up screaming all those epithets?
I leaned in, and Diend's voice came, grave and serious.
"The darkest place on the Arcana Continent."
I flinched at those very first words. The nuance felt off, but...
I couldn't miss it. Those were words I had spoken myself.
The darkest place on the Arcana Continent.
That was Grandfell's way of referring to the Claudy Territory.
And yet.
"Something is amiss there...!"
...Something amiss there?
In other words, something unnatural was happening?
Even if we'd ended up tracking the Primordial Evil unexpectedly in Sisli.
Searching for traces of Claudy had been part of the plan even before entering the Arcana Continent.
Letting myself get swayed by some mere demon and fail to follow through? Unthinkable in Grandfell's dictionary.
Once this quest wraps up to a certain point...
Of course I'd planned to head straight there, guided by Diend.
To that darkest place on the damn continent.
Black history doesn't vanish just because you ignore it. Now that I knew it was real, I had to make use of it—that was my pathetic situation.
'And now there's a problem?'
What a ridiculous twist. Why did everything have to pile up like this?
First things first—I needed specifics. What exactly made it amiss?
That way, I could set priorities.
'If things get too tangled here...'
I might even have to entrust the tracking to Tempest and Agentress.
I asked Diend right away. So, precisely where, and what was happening?
"My lord...?"
Instead of answering, Diend trailed off.
Still hesitant to speak? But no, that wasn't it.
Diend looked around. More accurately, he was gauging our current position.
Then he asked.
"Forgive me, but is your destination perhaps...?"
Shhh—
Diend's darkness pointed beyond the horizon.
He was asking for the direction, but how should I know? I'd just been following Tempest's lead.
I glanced at Tempest, and soon a howl rang out.
"Awoooo!"
Agentress added the translation.
"He says the direction is correct."
"...!"
I could see Diend flinch.
That's when it clicked for me too. Things were overlapping here.
"My lord...!"
The Primordial Evil. It seemed the bastard had headed straight for the darkest place on the Arcana Continent.
The Claudy family's territory.
Diend's voice brimmed with concern.
"This lowly one cannot yet be certain. It may be mere coincidence. But my lord, presuming upon your indulgence, I beseech you—dispel my unfounded fears...!"
...No need to be so formal. That was my plan anyway.
Why? Because I'd answer with the phrase Grandfell always had on his lips.
I told the bowing Diend.
"I do not believe in coincidences."
Exactly. If I don't even believe in fate.
How could I believe this was simple chance?
So I was certain. The Primordial Evil heading for Claudy Territory had a reason.
Viewing it from that angle, it started to make sense.
With such a clear purpose, he'd tried to tie my feet using those byproducts.
Now that I knew his scheme, I had no intention of playing along.
'Time to go.'
To the darkest place on the Arcana Continent.
The Claudy Territory.
Someone might worry. What about dealing with the byproducts like this?
Those chunks of flesh only I could defeat. Wouldn't they spread across the Arcana Continent while I was gone?
A valid concern, sure.
But don't overlook this. The spirits listening might take offense.
Not just me—others held the [Blessing of the First World Tree].
"High El."
High El manifested in midair, and Agentress cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Ahem."
Come to think of it, they knew each other, didn't they? Back on that chaotic day when fortune churned wildly. High El had perched on Yunak Seus's snout.
"High El shall obey my lord's will."
As expected of my number one familiar. He grasped it without me saying a word.
With Tempest and Agentress, plus High El bearing the World Tree's blessing.
Dealing with the byproducts should be no trouble. I could entrust it to them with confidence.
"Tempest. Agentress. I'm leaving the rest to you as well."
"We shall follow swiftly."
"Awooo!"
"Diend."
"I shall uphold my lord's will."
I had a rough idea of the layout in my head, but it was vague and abstract.
To manifest a portal, I needed precise coordinates.
Soon, Diend transmitted them via telepathy. I extracted the coordinates and fed them into the interference process, manifesting the portal instantly.
'Well...'
The shimmering portal looked different from usual.
Maybe because I knew what lay beyond it.
My greatest black history.
'It's terrifying in every sense, but...'
Clack—
No hesitation. Even if I wanted to waver, with a demon meddling, my lofty pride wouldn't allow it.
So I stepped forward.
And soon.
The darkest place on the Arcana Continent entered my sight.
...
What I saw was flesh. Flesh. And even more bloated flesh.
"...The audacity."
Diend's alien aura surged. From that, I realized.
Beneath that flesh, something truly existed.
I checked the quest objective.
—Track the Primordial Evil. (In Progress)
I'd half-suspected as much.
How diligent of you. Already ditched the byproducts and slipped away.
I opened my mouth.
"No need to falter, Diend."
"Forgive me, my lord. I should have been swifter."
"You owe me no apology."
It was simply that we'd noticed too late. Blaming anyone now was pointless.
The past was hard to fathom from the start. From the primordial times.
This was just one piece of the Primordial Evil's grand scheme.
No need for self-reproach, then. If anything, now was the time to be brazen.
"It's fine."
I said it calmly, but... truthfully, I, Lee Hoyeol, wasn't the least bit upset.
Because the Claudy family black history was buried under flesh? No, not some petty reason this time.
This was the thrill of capturing evidence.
Shiiiik—
Whoosh—
Shiiiik—
As if nothing had happened. Taking deep breaths amid the flesh blanketing the area.
Gazing at the scene, I continued nonchalantly.
"It is they who should worry, not us."
Yes. Through the quest.
Through the dragons.
Through the elves.
And through the arrangements left by the World Tree.
I had a grasp on how the Primordial Evil had acted thus far.
In that sense, even if everything went according to its plan, I couldn't argue.
Fooling the dragons and elves perfectly, escaping the World Tree's chains—it must have seemed flawless then.
But that mighty Primordial Evil, once free of the World Tree's shadow.
Had come straight here first.
To the great Claudy Territory.
Blanketing it completely.
'Obviously...'
Until I saw it with my own eyes, I had no idea to what extent the Claudy family existed on the Arcana Continent.
Even if dragons like Yunak Seus bowed their heads, or Agentress recognized me as Claudy.
'My settings had even more outrageous stuff.'
So this sight before me was the surest proof.
"It seems you desperately wish to hide it."
Like how it exterminated its natural enemy, Akkshan, from the continent.
Erasing even the remnants of Claudy.
Because Claudy terrified it.
But alas.
"However, it is futile."
Why? Because I'd once thought the same.
Yes, I'd thrashed about trying to bury my black history.
But it didn't work. The more you cover it, the more it surges back—that's the past for you.
You can't just smother it.
In grandiose Grandfell-speak, that would be.
"For darkness cannot cover the light."
So I gave up. Black history be damned, I'd mentally win by telling myself death was death anyway.
And face it head-on with grit and evil.
Don't make that resolve meaningless.
The Claudy backstory surfaced in my mind.
『The reason Claudy Territory was unknown on the continent was simple. Claudy willed it so. In their domain, Claudy's word was absolute...』
This moment, I wouldn't let shame hold me back.
Claudy Territory wasn't waiting for the pitiful Lee Hoyeol tormented by black history.
It awaited the voice of Claudy's last survivor and heir.
The unbreakable one who returned through any trial.
[Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo].
So right now, I'd embody that voice—shamelessly, perfectly.
I opened my mouth.
"In the name of Claudy, I command."
『Be they emperor, dragon, or elf. None can defy Claudy's ordained laws in Claudy Territory.』
I declared to the grotesquely writhing flesh.
"Breathe not without permission in my domain."
And the flesh halted its breathing.
"Defile not my domain."
It ceased moving.
"Begone to hell."
In an instant, it ignited and vanished without a trace.
Physically. Magically. By reality's standards. By Arcana's.
An inexplicable phenomenon.
That was Claudy's law.
Soon, the Claudy Territory emerged from beneath the flesh.
My black history I wished to ignore filled my vision.
'Damn it.'
If I denied it even after seeing it with my own eyes, what difference would there be from the Primordial Evil that had blanketed the territory moments ago?
Yes. Now was the time.
To fully own my past.
To embody an adult's pride, Hoyeol.
I stepped forward.
As if welcoming me, the wind blew.
My jacket fluttered. Silver hair danced before my eyes.
"Prepare to receive."
I declared, gazing at the ruined mansion.
"Your master has returned."