Chapter 66 - The Monstrosity

Bera flinched, his body trembling.

'Why is this...?'

Why was the dagger crying out? His thoughts raced. He recalled what had changed at the moment this strange phenomenon began.

His gaze turned toward the king, who was approaching one step at a time. The dagger had begun crying when the man emerged from among the troops.

Even in his confusion, Bera sharpened his thoughts as he watched the king. He did not indulge in the comforting delusion that it was a coincidence. This was a trace of the Demon King reacting, of all things. There had to be a reason.

With that thought, Bera heightened his vigilance, ready to confront him at any moment. The king approached him and Dovan beside him.

"A pleasure to meet you, imperial scion. This is the first time we have met in person."

His first greeting was directed at Dovan.

"And... you must be the apostle. Allow me to offer my greetings. I am Todd, king of the alliance's third kingdom."

The king, Todd, smiled. Facing that smile, Bera began calculating his next move.

'I must not show hostility prematurely.'

He had no information. He could surmise that the man had some connection to the Demon King, but how they were connected, why he had come here in person, and how he had acted in Bera's previous life—all of it remained shrouded in mystery.

'He shows no hostility for now.'

Bera did not even know whether there was none or whether Todd was concealing it.

Bera reached a decision.

'... I'll observe him for now.'

Rather than acting rashly, he would watch how things unfolded.

"... A pleasure to meet you."

"I am ever grateful for His Holiness's grace. May the grace of the Supreme God be with you."

Todd made the holy sign.

Without relaxing his all-consuming vigilance in the slightest, Bera carefully observed Todd's every movement and made the holy sign in return. It was then that Dovan spoke.

"... Go back. I have no intention of involving myself in your political struggles."

His words were laden with hostility.

Todd turned his gaze from Bera to Dovan at those words, his smile deepening.

"I am already aware of your wishes, imperial scion. I came today to apologize for our past discourtesy."

Dovan flinched, his fingertips trembling. His eyes remained full of hostility as he glared at Todd. It was the inscrutable intent behind those words that had unsettled him.

Meeting that gaze, Todd bowed his head.

"There was something I failed to realize. No amount of clamoring for legitimacy will bring glory to the third kingdom. The only one with a rightful claim is you, imperial scion."

Todd was so enormous that even with his head bowed, it remained above Dovan's. Viewed casually from a distance, he would have appeared to be looking down at him. Maintaining that posture, Todd continued.

"Even if we persuaded you to cooperate and achieved unification, would it truly be complete? The kings and ministers of the other kingdoms, unable to relinquish their ambitions, would all resist. The legitimacy they cry out for would become meaningless in that instant. War would break out again. They would deny even your rightful claim."

The corners of Todd's mouth stretched upward into a broad smile.

"Would that not dishonor you, imperial scion? Would it not mean forgetting my respect for the former imperial family? Condemn this fool who has only now realized it. Do not forgive this ill-mannered man for his belated apology."

Todd continued in a posture that made it impossible to tell whether he was bowing or looking down at Dovan.

"I intend to achieve unification in its truest sense, without dishonoring you. Thus, I have come to tell you that I shall never seek you out again. I felt that words such as these ought to be delivered in person."

Todd raised his head. Standing straight, he quietly concluded, the same smile still on his face.

"That concludes my business here. I shall take my leave."

Todd turned. In that instant, Bera felt the king's gaze pierce him.

Having turned away completely, Todd receded into the distance. He passed between the parted ranks of soldiers, who then re-formed their lines and followed him.

"... What?"

Dovan's mutter was thick with bewilderment and questions. His face remained creased for a moment before he shook his head, dismissing his thoughts.

"No, it's none of my concern. Whatever shit they get up to, it has nothing to do with me now."

The king had left after spouting incomprehensible words, but their intent was that he would no longer seek Dovan out. Since he had gone to the trouble of coming in person and saying it himself, it could hardly be a lie.

Having reached that conclusion, Dovan turned to Bera.

"Let's go back inside. The Saintess will be waiting."

"... Yes."

The reply came a little late. Bera was still staring toward the place where Todd had disappeared.

* * *

That evening, after finishing his birthday celebration with a lingering sense of unease, Bera pulled his robe's hood over his head, covered his face with a mask, and left the smithy.

He was going after Todd.

It was suspicious, however he looked at it. The dagger's reaction, the king coming all this way only to say those few words and leave, and the gaze that seemed to pierce him—all of it stirred Bera's suspicions.

'He can't have returned yet.'

They were halfway up the mountains. It would take several days to reach the western interior, where the third kingdom lay. Todd would probably descend the mountains and spend a night in a nearby village. Otherwise, he would have set up camp.

Bera had to infiltrate their quarters and learn something—anything. He ran through the darkness, applying sacred arts to his body one by one.

[Nightstep], which silenced his footsteps.

[Twilight], which suppressed his presence.

[Mirage], which clouded others' perception.

He had memorized these sacred arts without using them, having had little need for them until now. Once he applied them all, his body melted into the darkness.

Not the faintest sound remained. Nor did any visible form. A lone figure became a shadow racing through the dark, traveling for a long while.

After running on and on toward the village at the foot of the mountain, Bera detected nearly a hundred presences gathered a little way off from it. He guessed they belonged to the third kingdom's troops he had seen earlier.

He swiftly changed course and headed toward them.

* * *

In a broad clearing in the middle of the forest stood one large tent, surrounded by densely packed smaller tents. A wooden palisade enclosed them all.

Bera frowned as he crossed the palisade.

'Security is tight.'

It was too tight to dismiss as a precaution for a royal procession. However he looked at it, it could only strike him as suspicious.

This was more than a mere hunch. Wasn't erecting a palisade around a camp meant for a single night, or a few days at most, far too inefficient?

Moreover—

HUMMMM!

The dagger's cries were growing far stronger than they had been during the day. There was definitely something here. Perhaps this place held a clue. Here might lie the first link in the chain of events that would bring Dovan's resentment to fruition and put the demonic sword in Aisha's hands.

It was a conjecture bordering on pure instinct, but Bera could not ignore it. Gripping the short sword he had received as a gift, he headed toward the central tent to which the dagger was pointing.

He did not worry about being discovered. Even now, his sacred arts kept him blended into the darkness.

He passed the outer tents, evading both the soldiers resting around scattered campfires and those moving through the camp's interior, until he reached the central tent.

As he approached it, the dagger's cries turned into screams. Bera reached inside his robe, clutched the dagger tightly, and poured divine energy into it.

SCREEE!

It was a drastic remedy: pouring in divine energy, which opposed the Demon King's red light, to stop the dagger's cries.

Once he confirmed that the dagger was gradually quieting, Bera pressed himself against the tent wall and focused on what he could hear from within.

"The preparations?"

"They are proceeding smoothly."

"Good. Very good."

He heard Todd's voice, brimming with amusement, and a soldier's voice that, for some reason, carried fear.

"So stupid. Utterly stupid. Aren't they all half-formed fuckwits?"

The voice snickered. Bera's brow furrowed at the sound.

'It's different.'

Unlike the formal voice he had heard during the day, this one had a coarse, scraping quality.

"What does an imperial scion matter? What does legitimacy matter? They have all already experienced something more important than either, yet they turn away from it in fear."

The voice, charged with what could only be called ecstasy, continued.

"Overwhelming might. That is all one needs. Resistance? Arguments? What can they accomplish? If I crush them, aren't they all meaningless?"

His voice became engulfed in emotion. It began to shake so much that his reason's gradual dissolution was unmistakable.

"He showed us, didn't he? The Tiger King proved it."

Bera jolted, his eyes widening. He had realized what those words meant.

"With Haman's might, all of it could be crushed. Yet they make every effort to look away."

"You are absolutely right..."

"So I must eliminate them. Clear them all away."

A growl bubbled through Todd's voice.

"Those stupid, cowardly fuckwits. The imperial scion, should he become an obstacle. That damned apostle, too."

A wavering energy seeped out.

"I must clear them all away."

Bera clenched his fist tightly. The short sword in his hand gleamed keenly.

'I have to kill him.'

Todd was targeting Dovan. He was targeting the kings of the other four kingdoms. He was plotting something. Bera ought to kill him immediately, but...

'... This energy.'

The energy flowing from inside held Bera's steps in check.

He could clearly identify what it was.

'The Demon King's energy.'

The same savage energy he had felt while fighting Gilli was seeping from within. It had emerged as Todd's voice became consumed by emotion.

Suddenly, a doubt arose within Bera.

'Why...?'

Why hadn't he noticed it until he came this close? How could he have failed to sense such blatant, savage energy?

As he pursued that train of thought, an idea belatedly crossed his mind. He brushed a hand over the tent. His fingertips sensed mana.

'... A barrier.'

A barrier had been erected around the tent.

Bera held his breath, further suppressing his presence, and made up his mind.

'I have to look inside.'

He had to see what they were doing in such secrecy and uncover its true nature.

To his body, already blended into the darkness, he added one more sacred art: [Skywalk], which allowed him to climb through empty air for exactly seven steps.

A faint trace of divine energy silently rose beneath Bera's feet, then faded.

Bera set a foot against the tent and began to walk carefully up its side. A shadow walked over darkness, passing from the wall to the roof, then from the roof to its central peak.

At the peak, he used the short sword in his hand to cut a small slit in the fabric, then put his eye to it. The opening was tiny. He had to twist this way and that just to glimpse portions of the interior.

Bera focused all his attention on what he could see. Just as he had initially suspected, a long, continuous barrier formula ran around the tent's perimeter. And farther inside—

'... Sorcery.'

A sorcery array had been drawn in an elongated, intricate pattern.

Bera narrowed his eyes, studying the spellcraft array. It was unfamiliar even to him, despite all the sorcery and spellcraft arrays he had studied thoroughly to strengthen Sanctuary.

A single evenly drawn circle. Four lines dividing that circle into exactly eight parts. Unfamiliar sentences forming each line.

And in their center sat an enormous figure.

'...!'

Swallowing his startled gasp, Bera stared intently at it.

He could see a back hunched toward the floor. Shimmering red markings crawled over it like snakes. As they traveled across the body, muscles twisted. Blood vessels burst, then regenerated. Red energy erupted outward and seeped back in.

"Grrr..."

A phlegmy rattle struck Bera's ears.

"Your Majesty..."

The soldier spoke. Only upon hearing those words did Bera realize that the thing was Todd. Meanwhile, the enormous figure—Todd—spoke again.

"Haman... Khh... I am becoming Haman."

Haman.

'... That thing?'

Could something like that be called Haman? It was a natural question to ask.

It was not merely because of its grotesque appearance. Bera already knew the name for that thing. Not in the present, but farther in the future, when the battle against the Demon King had been intensifying, he had seen it from a distance.

He could say with certainty: that was absolutely not Haman.

The name for that thing—the name the continent had given it in that era—was...

'... Gartea.'

Gartea, the vanguard of the legion that had destroyed half the continent.