Episode 176
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The kingdom of the dark elves, and the monarch of the desert and sand who claims to be queen of that kingdom.
The place where Master Baro and Dale were was the luxurious living room of the royal palace.
“Haha, who would have thought that on this piece of land, there would be kingdoms of monarchs like this, other than the empire.”
“Didn’t you say that you bought a sword from the old woman on the mountain?”
“I never thought my teacher would be Her Majesty the Queen. If I had known, I would have served her better.”
“Judging by his appearance, he wasn’t a very good disciple.”
“Haha, to be honest, even the teacher was not in a position to gossip about others.”
Master Baro shrugged his shoulders as if it were someone else’s business.
“When I was young, I was on the verge of starvation and had no parents in the back alleys of the empire, and you took me in. You know, there’s a way to cut off people’s balls or something.”
“… … I’m not in a position to talk about other people, so I feel like I wouldn’t be able to do it even if I spent my whole life with my head down.”
Master Baro continued speaking, paying no attention to Dale’s words.
“At that time, the Master was active as an ‘Assassin of the Mountain’ while traveling around the empire, and thanks to that, I also had a lot of fun f*cking around and eating all sorts of things by the Master’s side.”
“So you were able to be reborn as a killing sword?”
Master Baro nodded.
“Then, my teacher returned to the desert of martyrdom, and I also went my own way to make a name for myself and then joined a noble family. Well, after about twenty years of working in a sweet job, I sucked in some honey… … After that, as you can see, it was just as I said.”
He stabbed his master in the back, who was running wild, claiming that his daughter was possessed by a demon, and gave up everything he had as a knight to protect his daughter. As Master Baro said, that was the truth that Dale witnessed from his shadow.
‘The power to distinguish between truth and lies.’
At the same time as unfolding the Shadow Lord’s avatar, he acquired the ability of the Eye of Truth. As he finally understood the weight of that ability, goosebumps ran down his spine. At the same time, the absurd amount of magical power consumed to maintain that power.
Even now, with the ability to generate a heat engine in the heart with red magic along with the 5th circle, it is difficult to maintain that ability. And it was a power that was capable of that much value.
“Didn’t you come to this desert of Yeolsa in the first place for your teacher’s work?”
As Dale was lost in thought, Master Baro opened his mouth. Dale nodded silently.
“I heard that there was some disagreement among the assassins of the mountain about her actions. I went to the land of the martyr to negotiate… … .”
I never imagined it would grow to this scale.
When the story of Sepia was brought up to the mountain woman and the monarch of the desert and sand, the queen gave her a listless reply that she alone could not determine Sepia’s conduct.
The kingdom of the dark elves in the land of the heat, and furthermore the kingdom of the snow elves in the frozen land of crystal. Sepia, an outcast of the elven society, still exists at the center of the complexly intertwined interests and conflicts between the two kingdoms.
“Well, it looks like all the plausible plans you had at first have been ruined.”
Master Baro said with a chuckle.
“Who would have thought that your master was of elven royal blood?”
The young daughter of the Crystal Queen and an exile from the Snow Elf kingdom.
“… … Nothing will change.”
Still, Dale shook his head quietly.
“Protecting Lady Sepia from the mountain assassins is the only way I can repay my debt, and to do so, I will convince them as the Shadow Lord.”
It was never just the queen of the dark elf kingdom that Dale had to convince.
“The Fairy Council, the name itself smells so stuffy and stuffy.”
“What can I do?”
Dale answered blandly.
Sepia is not so weak that she can easily be defeated by the blades of the mountain assassins. However, she was certain of this because she knew what the old woman of the mountain had shown her before. If they really wanted to do that, even the world-class Sepia would not be able to save her life from them.
Sepia, who has been released from the blue hint and has gained free will, is unknown where she is. There is no guarantee that she will see her again, and there is no way to know what she thinks of Dale.
Still, as Dale said, nothing changed.
“Haha, I really admire your concern for the teacher.”
Master Baro shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t understand, and Dale remained silent.
* * *
Blue butterflies flew up before the exile who was wandering aimlessly through the lands of the empire.
“… … Is this a new mission?”
Sepia, the blue puppet and foolish fairy, opened her mouth. In the empty air.
The most important thing as a blue spy is that they themselves do not realize that they are spies. Just like Dimir, the head of the church’s spy organization, once did. Sepia was no exception.
When Sepia served Dale as a Blue spy, she was never aware of her mission.
But after realizing the truth about Sepia, ‘her disciple’ would not let it be.
It was a freedom that was miraculously obtained, but nothing changed.
The Blue Tower still holds her life in mortgage, and Sepia is just a puppet of the Blue Tower, waiting for another mission to be handed down.
─ No, you foolish daughter of the Queen of Crystal.
But what the blue butterfly whispered in her ear was quite unexpected.
─ The ‘debt of life’ you owed us has all been repaid.
“… … Are you free?”
But the commotion was short-lived. She could not have been unaware of what would come after she had achieved freedom.
The mountain assassins, gods of death from which the outcasts of elven society can never escape.
“It should have been this way from the beginning.”
Sepia smiled bitterly, unmoved.
─ What are you misunderstanding?
But the words that followed were of a nature I could not even dare to imagine.
─ Your life debt has literally been forgiven. And fortunately enough, the Shadow Lord who forgave your debt asked for nothing in return.
It wasn’t Sepia who didn’t know what those words meant.
“Why… … .”
However, Sepia’s presence at Dale was nothing more than a mission carried out as a spy for Blue. Despite knowing this, the ‘Shadow Lord’ willingly repaid her life debt to Blue.
Without expecting anything.
─ And now the Shadow Lord is staying in the land of the martyrs to fulfill his debt with the ‘Mountain Assassins’ on our behalf.
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At the following words, Sepia had no choice but to hold her breath again.
─ Now, my child, you have finally achieved freedom. Now, go your own way.
The blue curtain whispered.
In her nest, filled with damp cobwebs, on the top of the blue tower… …leaving behind the whispers of her butterflies.
* * *
The Dark Blood’s armor enveloped Dale’s body, and the Shadow Lord’s avatar unfolded.
“… … !”
But the avatar didn’t stop at providing power in a more easily recognizable form than before.
The light has gone out in the world.
The sunlight illuminating the scorching desert disappeared, and Dale’s eyes were filled with darkness.
The afterlife unfolded as if it were a world for the dead.
At the same time, the magic power of the heart is rapidly depleted, and the ‘heat engine’ is covered with red magic power while rotating the five circles.
An otherworldly image of converting thermal energy into mechanical energy to generate power.
In order to maintain the Shadow Lord’s avatar, which sucked up magic power like a bottomless pit, he began to squeeze out all the magic power he could.
As it was, in the dark elf queen’s palace, Dale, who had the ‘Eye of Truth’, turned his head.
The streets of the royal capital stretch out beyond the window. The presence of dark elves passing by came into view.
“… … !”
In the midst of a headache that felt like my consciousness was about to fly away, whispers could be heard. Whispers coming from everywhere.
Truth is far from beauty. Furthermore, it could not be an exception for the elves.
All things that exist have a shadow, and what the Shadow Lord sees is the truth.
The ugly truths poured in, making Master Baro feel like a saint.
Jealousy, lust, hatred, the most secret skeletons they keep hidden in their closets were laid bare.
Dale’s body writhed in excruciating pain that felt like his brain was going to burst.
Just then, his shadow moved and formed a female silhouette.
Lady Shadow, Aurelia.
“My lord!”
It was Aurelia who supported Dale who had lost his composure and was collapsing, and her shadow was no exception.
A bloody virgin who, in a sea of blood, is determined to take revenge only on the empire.
The joy of slaughter she must have felt, the bloody truth hidden behind the name of the Virgin, was there.
Furthermore, there was even despair at having to watch the kingdom burn as it was defeated by the ‘Black Prince’.
Nonetheless, she willingly volunteered to be Dale’s loyal puppet and sword in the shadows.
“… … .”
That was Aurelia’s truth, and Dale could say nothing.
The weight of what Dale must bear as the Shadow Lord is finally beginning to sink in.
It was as heavy as a thousand pieces of gold, so heavy that I felt like I would be crushed to death at any moment.
* * *
It seems that the presence of humans in the elven kingdom is not entirely unprecedented.
However, it was unprecedented for a man to claim to be the Lord of Shadows and further interfere with the rules of elven society.
Knowing the weight of it, it wasn’t long before the ‘Fairy Council’ was called together.
Some time after Dale arrived at the land of the heat.
The border area between the kingdom of the dark elves and the kingdom of the snow elves.
The border between the land of heat and crystal was the sea, and the fairy council existed on an island in that sea.
The Shadow Lord and Master Baro were there.
Along with the mountain nymphs, the lords of the deserts and sands, and the dark elf society’s decision makers who can participate in the Elven Council… … .
With the mother who banished her daughter from the frozen lands, the Crystal Queen, and the elders of the Snow Elf society.
It was a place where the leaders of two kingdoms, over which even the empire that had once unified the continent and declared itself the only nation, could not exert its influence, gathered.
It’s not that I don’t know the weight. But it didn’t make any difference.
Dale finally obtained the ‘Eye of Truth’ after realizing the meaning of gold and shadow. What he had to do was clear.
As an exile, he forgives Sepia’s debt to his own people, who threaten his life, and furthermore, as a shadow lord, he faces the standard-bearers, and above all else…
Why was she banished from her people’s homeland and wandering in a foreign land?
It was finally time to face the truth about Sepia.
