Episode 255
* * *
I had a dream.
It was a dark, white winter night. And the ghost of the winter night was there, watching Dale.
He was a warrior from another world who was stabbed in the back by the Holy Sword Durandal.
“Only our actions can prove our truth.”
The warrior’s corpse spoke.
“And this is your truth.”
At the warrior’s feet was the fallen corpse of Lord Badel, the Divine Sword.
“At the same time, it is also your shadow.”
Then a voice was heard. It was not the voice of the warrior or the divine sword Bardel.
Dale turned his head to face behind him.
There was a shadow there. A shadow that looked very much like Dale.
“Everyone has skeletons hiding in their closet.”
The shadow continued speaking.
“Even if it is the Shadow Lord, it cannot be an exception.”
“Who are you?”
“Shadow of the Shadow Lord.”
Before Dale could say anything else, the world he was standing on came crashing down. That was the last conversation.
“… … !”
When he awoke from his dream, he was in the bedroom of the Duke of Saxony. Beside him was his wife, Charlotte of Saxony. She was the wife of the Black Duke, the Queen of the Knights of Lancaster and the monarch of the Grand Duchy of Saxony.
Dale ran a hand through her golden hair without saying a word.
“Are you awake?”
Charlotte, lying down, opened her mouth as she felt Dale’s touch.
“Sleep more.”
“I can’t sleep because your hands tickle me.”
Dale said, and Charlotte smiled and said. Dale immediately tried to take his hand away, but Charlotte reached out and grabbed Dale’s hand.
“I like you, Dale.”
“……me too.”
Dale nodded silently.
The young girl who had never known the world before now smiles as a mature woman. Dale was no different.
The hardships were over. At least for that day, Charlotte Orchardt’s suffering over her father’s absence was over.
That’s why I didn’t want to awaken her to the cruel truth.
Even if she was just a ‘fake’ with the memories of a warrior, she didn’t want to tell anyone about the memory of stabbing her father.
“I like you, Charlotte.”
As he said that, Dale kissed Charlotte. Charlotte also smiled sleepily and accepted Dale’s kiss.
In the final, final moment, the Lord of Truth spoke a lie. That was his truth.
Because he didn’t want to hurt the girl next to him. Or maybe he was just trying to justify himself. Either way, nothing would change.
It was a curse that would follow him like a shadow throughout his life.
* * *
On the ruins of empires, countless nations have risen and fallen.
Among them, the Grand Duchy of Saxony, along with the Knights of Lancaster, were two of the most powerful powers on the continent.
And the two Grand Dukes, Dale and Charlotte, who reign at the top of the two countries, do not stop at their own territories.
The Shadow Lord willingly volunteered to be the watchman of kings, and through his blue web he listened to all the whispers that were happening across the continent.
No matter how secretly you whisper, there are birds and rats spread across the continent that can never be fooled.
Through the Sorceress Council, a secret organization in the Blue Tower that once listened to all the whispers of the continent.
There was a shadow lord who reigned at the top of the black tower and at the top of the blue tower at the same time.
The curtain rose on the council, gathering the consciousness of the sorceresses who were still working secretly for the Blue Tower.
“Our King of Blue and Shadow.”
Mistress Titania, the Fifth Princess of the Empire, Kiara, and the rulers of the Blue Tower all bowed their heads.
“Thank you for taking the difficult step.”
And Dale bowed his head with a mischievous smile, just as his mother, the Blue Tower, had once done.
“Let’s get right to the point.”
At Dale’s words, one of the sorceresses opened her mouth.
“This is intelligence from the County of Valais, a small southern nation that has decided to become independent from the Empire.”
“Please speak.”
“There are whispers that Count Valina is secretly running a slave industry by kidnapping elven exiles flowing into the south.”
Slave industry. Dale’s expression darkened at those words.
“Hasn’t the Continent officially banned slavery since the days of the Third Reich?”
“That is exactly what you said.”
At Dale’s question, the sorceress smiled as if she had expected that.
“But the Third Reich, which forbade slavery, has collapsed, and shouldn’t the monarchs of the independent countries built on its ruins also respect their rules?”
“… … I said that day in the Imperial Council that I would become a terror to kings.”
“But Count Valais seems not to fear our monarch very much.”
“It looks like that.”
Dale answered calmly, and the coldness in his voice was not missed by the sorceresses.
“Why did you abandon your empire?”
That’s why I tried so hard to tell Dale the truth that he was turning his head away from.
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“The Shadow Lord has destroyed the Golden Lord, and the power to truly bring about the Shadow Empire exists on this land. Why do you reject your empire and tolerate the existence of those who do not fear you?”
“… … .”
Dale didn’t answer right away, but the silence didn’t last long.
“I never opposed the Golden Monarch for the sole nation or throne on earth.”
After a silence, Dale answered.
“It was a fight for what I had to protect, and for those who wanted to change the world for the better against the Empire.”
“Then, Your Highness, do you think the world is better now?”
The sorceress asked, and Dale shook his head quietly.
“You are right. The new kings do not fear me as much as you think, and they are not much better than the old empires.”
Quietly, but with fleeting disillusionment behind her, Dale spoke. The sorceresses all bowed their heads at his words.
“Please give your orders, our king.”
“May the Empire of Shadows descend upon this land once again.”
“Please speak.”
One word is enough.
With one word, Dale can once again establish a nation on this earth that will be as powerful and unrivaled as the old empires, and he will gladly sit at the top of that nation.
No one can deny the Shadow Lord the opportunity to establish his empire and sit on the throne.
Dale knew that too.
“I respect your will and loyalty.”
So the Shadow Lord opened his mouth.
“We will soon be setting out for the Balaiina County.”
“… … !”
“I will be there to witness their foolishness and their recklessness in making light of my warnings.”
Dale said without a moment’s hesitation.
“As you said, I am responsible for the world that will be built upon these ruins.”
“Is that the Shadow Lord’s will?”
“Yes.”
Dale nodded without hesitation.
“And if, as you say, this world is no better than the old empire, and is not worth defending, then I will gladly bring the Empire of Shadows to this land. The County of Valyna will be just the beginning.”
The sorceresses all bowed their heads at the cold voice that was incomparable to anything else.
“Please, do as you wish.”
“I hope so too.”
Dale turned around, leaving the sorceresses silently bowing their heads to prove their loyalty.
The magic that bound the sorceresses’ consciousnesses together disappeared, and Dale finally looked up from his room.
Dale sat up, leaving the sunlight streaming in behind him.
The empire collapsed, his enemies fell, and yet the world remained unchanged.
Anything.
“… … .”
After a moment of silence, Dale sat up. The midday sun was pouring down from above, and that meant only one thing.
* * *
Young Lize was crying, holding the corpse of a rabbit that had fallen at her feet.
It was a rabbit that was covered in blood after being bitten by a beast, and Lize desperately tried to raise it. With a little effort, the rabbit moved its body as if it was twitching, but that was all. It was dead to begin with. And necromancy is never about reviving a dead being.
“Brother… … !”
Dale looked at Lize sobbing and stroked her head silently.
“Lize, no one can bring the dead back to life.”
“Still, the Black Tower’s necromancy… …!”
Before Lize could finish speaking, Dale extended his arm.
The dead rabbit, its bones scattered, raised its body. The blood and flesh scattered everywhere coagulated into one, forming an incredibly bizarre creature.
“Do you think that rabbit that is moving right now is still alive?”
Even though she was a young Lize who knew nothing about the world, she could intuitively feel that the rabbit that Dale was moving was not a rabbit that had been resurrected from the dead, but a puppet that was dancing according to his will.
“This is the magic of our black tower.”
Dale said in a voice devoid of even a shred of emotion.
“We don’t raise the dead. We only teach them how to move the dead.”
At those words, Lize was left speechless.
“When you first moved the dead rabbit, did you think it came back to life?”
Lize couldn’t continue speaking at Dale’s question. She remembered how when the rabbit she had saved started jumping around and then stopped moving, Lize cried for days and nights.
“No one can bring the dead back to life.”
Dale spoke as he watched Lize, who was trying hard to suppress her sobs. Not as the kind and caring older brother she usually is, but as someone who tells the cruel truth.
“Then why did your father and brother learn black magic?”
At the same time, Lize asked back while sobbing. At those words, Dale held his breath for a moment.
“Because there were things I had to protect.”
The hesitation didn’t last long.
“No matter how horrible and ugly it may seem to you, we needed the power to protect ourselves from our enemies.”
“strength……?”
“okay.”
Dale answered blandly. Even though Lize was still too young to understand, Dale didn’t care.
“I will leave the Saxon Duchy for a while and go on a trip.”
At Dale’s subsequent words, Lize began to sob again.
“Are you going away alone again?”
“no.”
But at Lize’s words, Dale quietly shook his head.
“Lize, would you like to go on a trip with your brother?”
After stirring, Dale spoke. Lize tilted her head for a moment, not understanding the meaning of those words, and her hesitation did not last long.
“Come see the wider world with me.”
“Yes, brother!”
