EP.219 Traces of disaster (6)
The deepest part of the ancient kingdom of Arcadia.
At this place, which was the residence of a madman and marked the beginning of his journey, Cardi reminisces about his past. If you think about it, it all started here.
The coronation ceremony of a new king.
The tragedy began the day the woman who shone brighter than anyone else ascended to the throne.
‘Black flood.’
An old object that obscures the sun and stars.
Black rain pouring down endlessly.
Overflowing black flood.
The black flood that engulfed the entire country and engulfed half of the continent was prevented through the princess’s sacrifice. It was prevented, but it was only a temporary measure. The disaster that got the bowl revealed its existence in royalties in a clearer form.
Demon King.
The king of those abandoned by the stars.
The one who commands all the demonic beasts.
Who exists to bring down the stars
A king who clawed and cursed the entire world was born, and as his notoriety grew day by day… warriors gathered one by one to stand against him. The gathered warriors paid attention to the birth of the Demon King.
“It was not created in a day.”
“It’s a concept that simply cannot exist.”
“Someone created something that shouldn’t exist.”
The investigation begins under the great sage’s guess, and they face the truth in the depths of Arcadia. The warriors groaned before the hell created by one madman.
And they swear before hell.
“To save those who are suffering.”
“To protect humanity.”
“To protect the children.”
Embracing their own beliefs, they set out on a journey to keep the resolve they swore to themselves. Therefore, this is where the journey began…
“This was supposed to be the place we would return to at the end of our journey.”
The end had to be here too.
I had to come back here and put an end to it.
‘However, it was not captured.’
The story was still left unfinished.
“······.”
Now, hundreds of years later, the great sage remains silent in front of hell. The journey is still not over. There was no end, and many things changed.
‘The story is broken, they are lost.’
Nowadays, there is no one left who even remembers their story. Only hell exists here, the same as it did hundreds of years ago.
okay.
It’s still the same as it was then.
“…I left this alone.”
A hero of humanity who returned after being transformed into a disaster.
They have swept through Arcadia, and at the end of their blaze is this hell. They did not touch the royal castle that embraces this hell.
As if warning.
They left a warning to humanity, even turning this land into a land of death, as if no one should approach the devil’s origins.
‘but···.’
Trudging.
‘Now, shouldn’t someone know?’
chin.
Cardi raises her head at the sound of footsteps.
There is a human who crossed the barrier and returns here. She is a human being who has stepped into the truth that has been hidden for hundreds of years through the human body and human lifespan.
Raniel van Trias.
She comes out of the barrier and stops walking.
She lets out a short breath and looks at Cardi.
What is reflected in the blue eyes is confidence.
‘Eyes that seem to have realized something and understood something.’
Cardi opened her mouth while facing blue eyes.
“···Are you here?”
Cardi has a hunch.
Once again, she is one step closer to the truth, and thus has a story she can tell.
“It seems like you understand everything.”
Cardi asks with a bitter smile.
“Will you listen?”
Raniel nods his head to that question.
Cardi also nodded.
“We’ll talk as we go.”
There were many stories to tell.
2.
“Hey, Cardi.”
I stopped Cardi who was trying to walk.
Cardi looked back, and I continued, pointing to the barrier.
“I saw a shadow in there.”
Before hearing what I needed to hear, there was something I had to point out first.
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“Beyond that barrier, a shadow was sitting on the throne at the end.”
“···shadow?”
“The first madman, the one who lost his name.”
Cardi frowned at my words.
Cardi, who had only turned her head to look at me, turned her body and looked straight at me.
“···What did you say just now?”
“There was a shadow inside, and that’s how the shadow introduced itself. The first madman, the one who lost his name.”
Cardi’s expression as she looked at me became somewhat serious.
“…That would be impossible, right?”
“Impossible?”
“I cut it with Ganikalt’s sword. His soul must have been burned with the sacred fire summoned by Gleria. Belial and I clearly saw it from there.”
There the madman’s soul burned away.
It didn’t even leave any trace.
Cardi mumbled and touched the corner of her mouth.
“…But, if you look at it that way, the fact that you know about the Red Palace makes no sense. “What did the shadow say?”
I explained what happened inside the barrier. The explanation was not very long, and Cardi slowly nodded after hearing everything I said.
“It certainly seems right.”
“then···.”
“I don’t know by what means you survived, or how you were able to escape from there… but the shadow you faced must be that madman.”
A madman, the first madman.
“···The madman who created the shadow.”
“Yes, if we assume that that entity is behind it… the incident that occurred in Aplia also makes some sense. “There was a bit of a problem.”
“Something that catches?”
“Sukebal, because it wasn’t a plan he could have come up with on his own.”
Cardi let out a short sigh.
Cardi was always like that when talking about Skebal. For some reason, Cardi used to describe Skebal in a tone that made it seem like he was talking about a pathetic guy.
“Why do you seem to underestimate Skebal so much? No, it actually deserves to be a bit underrated…”
“Because he’s a guy whose thoughts don’t have a variety of directions. “When I get stuck, I don’t think about going back, and I think of only the same number of defective people, and hundreds of years later, it’s still the same.”
“uh···.”
“So I guess I’m just going around beating you up on a fake day?”
Is that how it works?
“Anyway, that’s not important.”
Cardi pointed ahead.
It was a gesture for us to go and talk. Cardi walked ahead, and I followed behind him.
“Did you say the shadow said three years?”
“huh. “Three years.”
Kill yourself within three years.
Or, create something to counter it.
The shadow spoke to me like that. I don’t know why he told me that… but three years was a period I had in mind from a long time ago.
‘The dark ages of humanity.’
The era when the lights went out.
A time that comes at regular intervals when all warriors are replaced.
“This is the period when the lights go out.”
“···That’s the way it is.”
“Until that time comes, if you want to achieve what you want… you will need to know more than you do now.”
Goals become clear.
What needs to be done begins to become more specific. I nodded, holding the Holy Grail in my robe.
“I guess so.”
“I guess I can help you with that.”
After walking and walking, we came out of the Red Palace.
A place where you can see the ruined center of Arcadia at a glance. Cardi stood right there and looked back at me.
“The origin of shade and understanding of shade.”
Conditions required to reach the second contract.
“Let’s hear the answer.”
3.
Prove the answer you got.
You have to prove it before you can hear the truth.
“Resentment that arises from pain.”
Raniel opens his mouth in response to Cardi’s question.
To tell you the answer you found.
“The scream of something dying. “A curse that is uttered while suffering forever, unable to live or die.”
A scream has an origin.
There is power in intense longing.
“A star is a being that answers its origins. When you strongly wish for something, the stars answer that wish. For some, it may be a prayer, and for others, it may be a transaction.”
Whether you are a wizard or a priest, the essence is the same.
It is praying because you want it, paying something because you want it, and getting what you want.
“Someone’s wish alone can become a commodity. “One may not be enough, but if it becomes tens or millions… it has enormous value.”
Dozens and millions of deaths.
Raniel witnessed it.
At the edge of death, they did not stop cursing. Their origin was resentment.
“Resentment meant to scratch, bite, and pull down. What is born when its direction is limited to the stars…”
To bring down the stars.
To destroy the stars.
A king who exists only for that purpose.
“He is a shadow and a devil.”
Demon King.
“That’s the correct answer.”
Cardi nods to Raniel’s answer.
“Then, have you realized why they get to that point and blame the stars?”
“···To some extent.”
The end of the Red Palace.
I opened it with the key and went in, and saw Raniel there. What was placed there was an altar, and there was more intense resentment than ever before on the altar.
The person who held that grudge was not human.
As he left the room and walked down the hallway, Raniel paid attention again to the death on the floor, and in the process, he realized that his guess was correct.
human corpse.
Mixed with that, things that resemble humans but are not human.
“Those abandoned by the stars.”
One history book described them that way.
And, to this day, they are called this.
“Demon.”
I was abandoned by the stars, and I cannot contain stars in my body.
They were born unable to live under light and were given the name demons by humans.
“Because they will have every reason to blame the stars.”
“…Yes, they had a good reason.”
Cardi sighed.
“Everything is in balance. “It was those abandoned by the stars who created balance with those who lived under the same light as humans and elves.”
But, Cardi said.
“Men have God, but they have no God.”
That’s why the imbalance arises.
“For those who lived under the stars, there were ancient dragon wizards, people loved by the stars, and people who embraced starlight… but they were not there. “They were pushed into a corner and into a corner again.”
A balance that continues to tilt to one side.
“Therefore, they longed for the presence of God for them.”
“…Even if it means suffering forever?”
“Even so, they hoped in God. “The person who answered that wish was a madman who lived the life of a human being, not a star.”
The origins of those abandoned by the stars.
The origin of this story is humans living under the stars.
“It’s funny if you think about it.”
In the end, that was the story.
“It happened because everything wanted to be balanced. In a way, it may be that things that the star has been ignoring for a long time have finally come to light now.”
Raniel was silent, and Cardi spoke.
“This is the origin of the Demon King and the truth.”
A being born because of a wish.
Raniel pondered that one line of sentence. In that one line of sentence, she feels something that threatens to catch her.
“It’s been hundreds of years.”
While Raniel was drooling and muttering, Cardi smiled faintly.
“Congratulations on reaching the second truth. It will be your responsibility to reflect on the enlightenment you have gained. And, this…”
Cardi drew a hand in the air.
Starlight gathers and a single scale rises.
“This is the enlightenment I gained when I reached the same truth as you. “It would be good to keep this in mind.”
There is a key on the scale.
Cardi lifted the key and handed it to Raniel.
“···What is this?”
“Well. “The key is exactly what you see.”
“No, what key does it open?”
Cardi raised her arms.
The tip of his raised finger points to the south.
‘Didn’t they say that the south is a place lined with magic towers?’
It was just as Raniel remembered.
Looking towards the direction Cardi had pointed to, the remains of the collapsed tower could be seen sparsely beyond the castle walls.
“It is the key that opens the tower I built.”
A tower built by a great sage.
Raniel’s eyes opened wide. Cardi smiled as if confirming her thoughts.
“It’s the first gray magic tower.”
“Are you giving this to me…?”
“What’s in there will help you. “Those who overcome difficult conditions and reach the truth should be given appropriate compensation.”
What is the reward?
Before Raniel could ask that question, Cardi answered.
“Even if you take everything inside…”
Cardi kept her mouth shut before speaking. This was because he felt a very strong gaze. And, here he was, there was only one person looking at him.
“······.”
Cardi silently glanced at Raniel.
Her blue eyes were burning hot. Cardi feels intense desire in those eyes. She has eyes like a grave robber with a treasure chest in front of her.
“…You can bring everything with you.”
This is the moment when Cardi finished speaking with a feeling of reluctance.
As if he had been waiting for just that moment, Raniel lightly shook his wrist. The spell that was completed with just that flowed down her hand and onto her floor.
Chain.
Cardi’s eyes narrow as she looks at the chain that makes a clanking sound.
“No, wait. “Now I can walk on my own feet…”
“What are you doing? “I won’t hold it.”
“no.”
“let’s hurry.”
He seemed more motivated than ever.
A word from the author (author review)
Sorry for being late…!
