EP.198 After the curtain falls (4)
The royal family, who visited for the first time in several months, was confused.
The disappearance of the 1st Prince, Isaac.
The impact of the disappearance of Isaac, the heir to the throne, was significant. Numerous nobles belonging to Isaac’s faction expressed their intention to visit the royal family, and among them, there were countless others trying to contact the first princess, Lruel.
“They are like rats.”
About them, Leruelle said:
“My brother is missing. “There are now only three royal bloodlines left, one of whom is at Battlefield and the other is studying at Aplia… Currently, the main daughter is the only one left in the royal castle.”
As if it’s boring or like it’s the same.
“I guess that’s why.”
She sat with her legs crossed and sneered.
“They tried to keep me in line by making good excuses. Showing all kinds of flattery. “It’s like he abandons his master overnight and wags his tail in front of me…”
Ha, she let out a short breath.
“There was no other way to see these horny cubs who had traded all their fidelity and spirit for their own sake. “It wasn’t something I wanted to see.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Professor. “It’s been a while.”
The office of the first princess, Leruelle.
There, across a table, I was facing Lruelle. Looking a little tired, she stroked her platinum hair and touched her temple.
“It’s a confusing situation, but your visit is a welcome event. and···.”
Leruel’s lips opened and closed repeatedly.
It didn’t seem like her. After a few moments she spoke her next words with difficulty.
“···I heard a report about the incident that struck Aplia through Lord Kalt.”
Her voice softened a little.
“I heard that you performed a key mission in solving the case. Also, he was seriously injured.”
“It’s not a major injury.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“My physical condition is improving, and I don’t have any permanent injuries. “Potions are so popular these days.”
“I heard your life was in danger.”
“Isn’t it okay because I survived in the end?”
To Leruelle, who was still giving me a confused look, I smiled bitterly and answered.
“I just did what I had to do. “It’s something I would have done even if I wasn’t asked.”
“…I always feel indebted to you.”
A softened gaze, a softened voice.
Lruelle said this with a faint smile.
“Looking at your face, I feel a little relieved. “I guess I was quite crowded too.”
Maybe it’s because I’m used to seeing him always give instructions with a strong look in his eyes and a sharp voice. The sight of her with a soft smile felt a little unfamiliar.
“···People are crowding around? Because of that?”
I pointed to the outside of the office. The voice coming from the gap in the tightly closed door was quite loud.
『Princess Leruelle, please give us a chance…!』
『Just once, just once is fine…!』
『Currently, with the disappearance of Prince Isaac and the King’s silence, the Princess is doing something…』
The loud voices of nobles.
To be honest, the voices talking about their own circumstances were a bit noisy.
‘···It looks a bit familiar.’
I felt like I had seen a similar scene here a few months ago. I asked her a question, wondering if this was why she looked tired…
“I like that kind of noise.”
Leruel just shook his head lightly.
“The sound of animals barking can be said to be familiar to you because it is a sound you have heard since you were born or when you were in your mother’s womb. “You may feel irritated by familiar things, but you don’t become anxious.”
She slowly raised her hand. White and slender fingers wrap around the teacup on the table. I narrowed my eyes and looked at her fingers.
Parr.
Her fingertips were trembling. The room was warm enough for her to shiver from the cold. I looked up and looked at her face.
“…I ran into my brother in the hallway.”
Golden eyes tremble with anxiety.
She spoke with a shaking gaze and a slightly trembling voice.
“My brother, who I heard had apparently disappeared without a trace, was walking calmly from the other side. “By dragging a shadow.”
“···Shadow, you say?”
“Yes, Shadow. Even though it was broad daylight, the hallway was dark, and shadows moved around as my brother walked.”
She said, looking at the teacup with her head down.
“It looked like my brother, but it wasn’t my brother. No, I doubted whether he was human in the first place. It was something, something strange. “It was foreign.”
‘that.’
A word that seems to refer to something other than a human.
“When it approached me, dragging its shadow, I couldn’t move a single step. “I couldn’t even breathe until I couldn’t hear the footsteps at all.”
She smoothed the back of my neck.
“I always thought my brother was mentally ill. “Even if something was twisted, I thought of it as a being within the category of human beings.”
But, that wasn’t it.
Leruelle muttered like that.
“That, that…”
She raised her head and looked at me. Her eyes were trembling more than ever.
“What on earth is that that is not human?”
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“We should find out about that now.”
I answered that way and stretched out my hand.
I covered the teacup she was holding with my hand.
Heating.
A chilled teacup contains just the right amount of warmth. Due to the heat coming from the teacup, the tremors in Lruelle’s fingers as she held the teacup slowly subsided.
“…Thank you.”
Lruelle raised her teacup.
After quenching her thirst with lukewarm tea and taking a few deep breaths, she put the teacup down again.
“Are you okay?”
“Thanks to.”
She smiled faintly.
“Yes, you probably have something you want to ask me.”
I nodded.
“Could you tell me in detail about the sentence written in the letter you sent?”
2.
“Right after my brother went missing, a foul smell wafted from the Red Palace. “It is said that as the knights searched the Red Palace following the stench, a large number of corpses were discovered.”
“It was not an ordinary corpse.”
“Because the skin on their faces was completely peeled off.”
A letter I received from her.
“A red circuit was also found along with the body. However, it was not a typical circuit. I couldn’t figure out its purpose. “It was a type of circuit I had never seen before.”
I heard the following story from that letter through Leruel’s mouth. To summarize the story I heard, it was as follows.
‘In the First Prince’s residence, a large number of faceless corpses were discovered.’
And the problem doesn’t end there.
“An unidentifiable red circuit that appears to have been drawn with blood was also discovered.”
“That’s it. It is said that all the court wizards shook their heads. “It is an unknown circuit because its results are different from ordinary circuits.”
Kalt, who was walking next to me, said.
Kalt and I were walking side by side towards the deepest part of the Red Palace, the residence of the First Prince, where access was restricted.
“Do your clothes fit well?”
“It’s comfortable. It fits well.”
I was now wearing the uniform of the Royal Guard, like the Kalts. A uniform black outfit with a robe to cover the face.
‘They say that the only ones in the royal family who can cover their faces are hounds.’
Thanks to that, there was no need for any special disguise. It was a comfort that could not be compared to the ‘outfit’ she wore last time while performing her duty as Princess Leruelle’s escort.
“I thought you wouldn’t like it because it’s so sticky.”
Kalt muttered and pointed to my pants. Tight-fitting leather pants. I ended up laughing bitterly at that point.
“What’s not a skirt?”
“···yes?”
“It is nothing.”
A fluttering skirt.
A maid uniform with lots of frills.
‘Compared to that, what is this…’
No complaints. I was very satisfied, really.
“Here it is.”
No matter how long we walked, we stopped in front of a tightly closed door. Kalt lifted the magic tool towards the door, and the door opened with a squeak.
“I left the person there for about an hour. I think you can check it out during this time. Do you need more time?”
“An hour is enough.”
I pulled down my gloves.
“I will wait for you at the door.”
I nodded and entered the room. The moment I stepped into the room, a foul odor swept over me. There was no smell of rotting corpses or blood.
‘···This.’
It’s the smell of drugs.
The foul odor that stings your nose is an artificially created odor. I walked after it.
‘The deepest part of the Red Palace.’
The place where the first prince stayed.
As I heard before, there were a lot of corpses piled up there. The corpses had their faces torn off and their bodies bent into bizarre shapes.
‘It looks like he’s trying to make a doll or something.’
With those sentiments in mind, I went further in. Go beyond the corpses gathered in one place and head to the deepest part of the Red Palace. The further I walked, the worse the smell got.
and.
“······.”
Arrived at destination.
I stop walking and raise my head. It was in the deepest part of the Red Palace, beyond the rubble that seemed to have collapsed the wall.
Circuit drawn in blood.
A huge circuit carved into the wall.
I looked at it in silence. Certainly, the result is different from a normal circuit. It was no wonder that the court wizards did not recognize him.
“…circuit of the ancient kingdom.”
This is because it was a circuit created in an ancient kingdom that was reduced to ashes. This circuit is completely different from the current circuit in terms of both the method of engraving and the method of circulating mana.
It was used by the ancient lich, Skebal.
A circuit that can be found in all kinds of old ruins.
No one understood the circuitry of the Old Kingdom. It has to be that way. Because there was no data left to analyze the circuit.
‘All information related to the ancient kingdom was burned down. ‘It literally turned into ashes.’
This means that even if you encounter something related to the ancient kingdom, you can guess that it came from the ancient kingdom, but it is difficult to figure out what it means.
However, it was not impossible.
I approached the wall with the circuit engraved on it. One step, another step. I stopped in front of the wall and stretched out my hand toward the wall. I traced the circuit by hand.
‘We’ve faced each other several times.’
From the ancient lich, Skeval.
In the ruins left behind by Gletus, the Apostate.
From the records of the investigation of the remains of the Gray Magic Tower.
I had encountered the circuits of the Old Kingdom and had experience studying them. Of course, the results of the study were not very good. It was still impossible to fully interpret ancient circuits.
‘but.’
If we assume that the ancient circuit is a sentence.
“You can at least read the context.”
Among the long sentences containing dozens of words, I was able to interpret ‘a few words’.
‘A few words, interpretation through words.’
In fact, it’s close to hitting.
However, no matter how ancient the circuit is, it is a circuit for using spells. When you read words and words, you can see the direction in which the order will flow.
Sarah.
I groped the wall.
I felt the texture of the circuit and interpreted the words located where lines overlapped.
『Continued.』
connection.
『Life』
Life, or lifespan.
“blood.”
blood. blood. Or blood.
“drunk.”
Drunkenness, robbery.
“······.”
I raised my head without saying a word.
Slowly backing away, I took in the entire circuit at a glance. Then, I arranged the words I read in the order in which mana circulates through the circuit.
『Blood』 『Take』 『Life』 『Connect』
A little more.
『Takes』 『Blood』 and 『Connects』 『Life』
sleekly.
『Takes』 『Blood and Kin』 and 『Connects』 『Life』
again.
‘Connecting’ ‘life’ by ‘robbing’ ‘blood and flesh’
like that.
“Blood and blood.”
I mouthed the complete sentence.
“We connect our lives by robbing our blood relatives.”
3.
“I found it.”
A room hidden in the deepest part of the royal castle.
A place where no one can reach.
There is a throne decorated with human corpses, bones, and facial skin. A human being sits on a throne covered with a curtain.
“I found it, finally.”
A human voice soaked in joy echoes. It is not only human voices that resonate.
『Why did you bring in a madman?』
Fluttering darkness.
The lich hidden there casts a shadow on the throne.
『It was a hindrance. A plan destined for success was ruined by a madman. Don’t you have anything to say about this?』
“Because it will be fun that way.”
“fun? Are you saying you missed work just for that little fun?』
The lich’s mental waves tremble with anger.
However, humans only laugh.
“Oh. Skebal, when you live for over a thousand years, you become thirsty for entertainment. “I thought you would understand me.”
『You want to be understood, it’s a joke you can’t laugh at.』
“Everyone wants understanding. “Anyone.”
The human sitting on the throne smiles inexplicably.
“The first gray light that endured hundreds of years of life, the child who was immersed in darkness for hundreds of years, and the first saint who was consumed by madness, all hope for understanding.”
Same goes for me.
The human who said that opened his arms wide.
“Imagine, Skebal. He is a madman. A madman who resembles the first saint! In the midst of madness, he endured a hundred years of life. “It is something that deserves praise.”
He speaks passionately in a voice filled with joy.
However, that is far from praise.
“–so that.”
It’s a mockery.
It is a laugh that is close to mockery.
“Wouldn’t it be sweet when those hundred years of life become meaningless? I just wanted to see it.”
『You have a bad taste.』
“Once again.”
Crack, the throne twists.
The ancient lich’s fingers begin to crumble the throne. Nervous mental waves shook the entire area.
『I did not come to share Zen questions with you. I came to take responsibility for the failure.』
“Oh, Skebal, you dull fellow.”
The shadow stirred beneath the human’s feet.
“Shouldn’t we look at the bigger picture?”
Humans are merely vessels to contain shadows.
“This many people gathered.”
Humans laugh.
“This much starlight has gathered.”
A shadow wearing a human mask laughs.
“This is the first time this has happened in hundreds of years. “Do you still not understand what this means?”
『That means.』
“It means it’s time to move on.”
next.
“Next, next again.”
The shadows fluttered around as if mocking someone’s words. The slanted and shaky shadow throws away the chess piece it was holding in its hand.
A shattered knight.
Bishop collapsed.
Lots of words rolling around on the floor.
And, what remains in human hands is a pawn.
“There is a phone that has just reached the starlight and has taken a big step forward. “This child will continue to move forward.”
A platinum colored phone.
“And we will arrive at the end of the chessboard.”
The shadow grabs it and grabs it.
“We just have to wait for that day. All you have to do is wait calmly.”
A place where no one’s eyes can reach.
The back of the stage.
Beyond the fallen curtain.
Black screen.
The shadows hidden in the black curtain are mocking.
A word from the author (author review)
Forgive me for being late!
It was packed in plenty…!
*Typo. This is an illustration created by the author.
