Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Do You Remember Banpellyon?
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Drip, drop―.
Amid the sound of falling water droplets, an underground space crisscrossed with pipes everywhere.
The place Kabala had brought them all to.
It was the underground area Tendr had been developing to launch the magic train line.
Here, at least, the eyes of the surveillance magic orbs filling the skies wouldn't reach.
“August.”
Kabala continued, his golden eyes gleaming.
“As Baria said, it was them who joined hands with Tendr and leaked the information.”
Just as Baria had claimed, one of the families had sided with Tendr.
“Thanks to that, traps are set for the new climbers entering. Don't hold it against them too much. We originally planned to catch Memento Mori in a cage.”
Havel finally understood why August had allied with Tendr.
Memento Mori was practically an enemy to the Five Great Families.
They'd just had the misfortune of stumbling into the trap laid for them.
“That's beside the point.”
The relationship between Memento Mori and the Five Great Families was of no concern to Havel.
“Cain family direct descendant.”
Instead, a chilling glint flickered in Havel's eyes.
He was staring solely at Kabala.
“Does your family remember Banpellyon?”
The reason Havel had followed Kabala despite the risks of the trap.
It wasn't solely because he trusted his own strength.
He had a question he absolutely had to put to the Cain family.
Havel remembered it clearly.
The day he and Jerak Isia, patriarch of one of the other Three Great Families, entered the Demonic Palace to rescue the emperor.
The patriarch of the astrology family Cain.
Atavala Cain.
He hadn't joined the rescue party.
Instead, he'd passed a message to Havel.
“Havel, only you can overcome the trials.”
He could divine prophecies through astrology.
So Atavala must have known everything.
That everyone who followed Havel would meet their end.
And that Havel alone would be trapped in the hell of regression, thrashing about.
Everything.
But Havel had no particular intention of raging over it.
The Demonic Palace was hell itself.
Even if Atavala had entered, it likely wouldn't have changed much.
Except for one thing.
There was one thing he could never forgive.
“If you remember, then why did you let Banpellyon end up like that?”
Atavala had deliberately taught Havel that prophecy.
So Havel would mull it over and hold on just a little longer.
What he couldn't forgive was Banpellyon's current state.
After emerging from the Demonic Palace, thanks to Havel, Banpellyon had recovered somewhat.
Havel had always invoked the Banpellyon name when introducing himself.
That had spread their name far and wide.
But originally, Banpellyon had shone as one of the Three Great Families.
It had recovered somewhat, but compared to a century ago, it was woefully insufficient.
“The Three Great Families were named to aid and coexist with one another.”
The three pillars supporting the Unified Empire Arhan.
That was the Three Great Families.
Yet Cain had failed in that duty.
They'd simply watched as the other pillars crumbled.
And when the pillars fell, Arhan vanished into the pages of history.
“Cain, who shirked that duty, now bears the name of the Five Great Families.
It's utterly revolting to see them standing tall with their heads held high.”
Thick rage burned in Havel's eyes.
After he'd ended up like this, the one who'd suffered most was his little sister.
Aria Banpellyon.
How desperately must the young girl have struggled to keep Banpellyon afloat?
Havel trembled with fury.
With the patriarch gone.
And the Dawn Knights vanished too.
No matter how hard she tried, it must have been impossible for her to maintain Banpellyon's prestige.
And now, she was nothing but a pile of bleached bones buried in a grave.
Aria, who must have searched for him until the very end, dying alone and desolate.
Even Havel's heart ached at the thought of her.
During the Unification Wars, he'd lost his mother and father early.
She was his one and only little sister.
So Banpellyon now was all the more precious to him.
The final thread his sister had desperately clung to preserve.
That was Banpellyon.
“Answer me. Does your family—do the Three Great Families—remember Banpellyon?”
“...Of course. The Cain family remembers you. Remembers Banpellyon.”
Kabala's previously light tone shifted.
The response was agreement, as expected.
Boom!
The underground space warped and shook in sync with Havel's fury.
His intense emotions were even affecting the surrounding nature.
Baria, Pyod, and Elashia all stiffened.
None of them had ever seen Havel this enraged before.
Not one dared speak to him.
“...Grandfather.”
Except for one. The one carrying on his past legacy.
“Grandfather often spoke of you. And he said we must apologize.”
Atavala Cain had lived quite a long life.
Not just because of his longevity, but because he'd clung tenaciously to life, vowing to wait until Havel emerged from the Demonic Palace.
But in the end, he'd breathed his last at 124 years old.
Ninety years after Havel had entered the Demonic Palace.
Even on his deathbed, he'd spoken to his grandson, Kabala Cain.
If the name Banpellyon ever rang out again.
Find the one who made it so and convey his apology.
“Grandfather wanted to apologize. For the burden you had to bear alone, when he couldn't lift even a fraction of it.”
Atavala had known how dearly Havel cherished Banpellyon.
Yet he'd had to watch its fall.
“He spoke of failing to protect Banpellyon too.
He said that if, when you returned, Banpellyon still stood as one of the Three—or even Five—Great Families.
You would have been satisfied and retired into seclusion.”
Atavala had foreseen that far, so he'd let Banpellyon fall.
Only their collapse could spur Havel into action once more.
“...”
Havel silently regarded Kabala.
“We know we can't ask for forgiveness.”
Kabala endured the silence, then dropped to his knees.
As he'd said, the Cain family had no right to beg forgiveness.
All they could do was.
“The Cain family offers its deepest apologies and utmost respect to the guardian of the returned empire.”
Express the greatest reverence possible.
Kabala's face bore a striking resemblance to his ancestor Atavala.
Proof of their bloodline.
During the war, sleeping on frozen ground with Atavala.
The words they'd shared there flashed through his mind.
“My goal is to make Arhan the brightest, undying star.”
Even in his youth, the old-soul Atavala had always dreamed of Arhan's victory.
“And Havel, you are the one who will make Arhan shine.”
The man who desired Arhan's glory more than anyone.
And who'd swallowed tears watching its downfall more than anyone.
Recalling his comrade from the Unified Empire Arhan, Havel let out a breath.
“Haa.”
That breath carried a multitude of emotions.
A hundred years.
Far too long.
If only he'd emerged even ten years sooner.
Damn it, he hadn't even been able to punch that comrade's face once.
“Is Atavala's grave still intact?”
“It's enshrined in the family.”
Kabala answered immediately.
Hearing that, Havel reached into his bosom.
There was a gem engraved with the crest of Isia, another of the Three Great Families.
The finger-sized gem glowed with white light.
The gem that Jerak Isia, patriarch of the Isia family, had always carried.
“It's for my future wife's ring. Pretty, right?”
The man who'd jokingly held up the gem he'd found somewhere amid the wartime chaos.
But both he and Havel had devoted their time to the Unification Wars.
Then lived frantically day after day for the empire and their families.
Both had missed their chance at marriage, remaining bachelors, so the gem had gone unused.
'I meant to pass it to an Isia direct descendant.'
He'd taken the gem as a substitute since he couldn't recover his body.
But after a century.
The Isia family was in an even worse state than Banpellyon.
Not even their roots remained.
Their bloodline utterly severed.
Atavala had foreseen that too, merely watching.
If Isia had endured, they could have joined with Banpellyon to rebuild.
While his comrades' families crumbled before his eyes.
Lamenting that he couldn't enter the Demonic Palace with Havel.
Living alone for the future he'd foreseen.
Even as his old comrades' houses fell.
Atavala had only been able to watch.
Imagining his heart a little, Havel looked up.
“Guide me to that grave later.”
Havel's rage had subsided before he knew it.
He'd known, deep down.
Why Atavala had made that choice.
'You probably think I'd resent you to ease your mind a bit.'
So he'd bared his emotions honestly.
Hoping the star now closed its eyes might rest a little easier.
'Now I can somewhat see what your prophecy meant.'
Havel thought of the path ahead.
He didn't know what lay at its end.
But he knew the whole world would soon be caught in dire events.
Then he just needed to act worthy of that prophecy.
Only you can overcome the trials.
Worthy of it.
And when that prophecy was fulfilled.
He could share a drink with Jerak's memento.
In an old memory.
The day the Unification Wars ended, cherry blossoms in full bloom.
The cup he'd raised with those two men before him.
How sweet that day had been.
Havel had never forgotten that cup, even in the Demonic Palace.
So Havel resolved.
On that day when cherry blossoms bloomed again.
To share one more drink beside Atavala and Isia.
Recalling Atavala, Havel turned to Kabala.
Time to return to reality.
“What's the clear condition for the 76th floor?”
So Havel asked about the 76th floor's clear condition.
Hearing the question, Kabala fell silent for a moment before parting his lips.
“Nothing's been uncovered about that yet.”
Even as a Cain direct descendant.
He knew nothing.
“However, if you climb the Tower, the Cain family will spare no support possible.”
The Cains were still one of the Five Great Families.
According to Atavala's prophecy, Havel was the star to change the world.
So Cain intended to aid him from the start.
“Fine.”
Havel accepted it as Atavala's help, magnanimously.
What was wrong with a comrade's goodwill?
“I'll go check on Graiza too.”
At that moment, Baria spoke up as well.
Baria didn't have great standing in the Graiza family.
He was the youngest direct descendant, like Penbola.
But a direct descendant was still one.
He could at least snag some scraps.
“Got it. The rest of you, search for the Star Sword first.”
The Star Sword was always tied to floor clears.
It had played a big role last time, so it'd help here too.
So Havel planned to secure the Star Sword.
Ding!
It was then.
A strange sound suddenly rang from Kabala's waist.
As all eyes turned there, Kabala winced.
“Sorry, got a call. Mind checking it quick?”
Kabala held the communication orb the Tendr clan had used earlier.
Kabala answered adeptly.
“Yeah, uh-huh, and?”
As he conversed with the other side, he soon tilted his head.
Kabala's gaze turned to Havel.
Havel, meeting his eyes, tilted his own head.
“Uh, well, Lord Havel, that Star Sword you just mentioned.”
Kabala gave an awkward smile, pointing at the communication.
“The Tendr government says they've made it a special reward for the martial tournament—you get a chance to draw it.”
A martial tournament had popped up out of nowhere.