Ch.10334. Something Trying to Devour Me (2)

“Leo. The people of your village are not dead yet.”

You once told me this.

That sometimes small misunderstandings can escalate into big fights.

That most issues turn out to be nothing when people actually talk.

That problems often arise because conversations don’t happen, and misunderstandings and distrust build up between people.

…Still, what you experienced was by no means a small matter.

However, it’s not something that can’t be reversed.

While spilled water can’t be gathered back up…

…A spilled bowl can be used again.

In other words, it might be possible to turn things around.

“Don’t you think?”

Kariel’s words were enough to hold Leo back.

Furthermore.

“You were determined to fulfill your contract. But that became impossible because of me. So taking a step back here is by no means your fault.”

Approaching Mines, Kariel forced these cryptic words on her, causing her to leave the place.

Above all.

He provided a reason why she couldn’t act recklessly by somehow knowing about her contract.

“Did you say goodbye to the children before coming?”

“……”

And that statement essentially sealed the deal.

She had made separate arrangements regarding the children’s safety.

But in truth, she had been half-dragged here, almost like an escape.

And so, with Mines gone, the commotion was forcibly concluded.

Of course, the situation wasn’t completely resolved yet.

After shaking off those who tried to get involved,

Kariel went straight to meet Ruslan, handed over his entire fortune, and conveyed his requirements.

And Ruslan agreed to his proposal.

Additionally.

“This is our gesture of goodwill.”

A blue letter was handed over from her hand.

“So your alliance was also interested in the sword?”

“Of course.”

Those who had shown interest in Grandeus’s sword were not few.

Even excluding the Salvation Knights and those influenced by their prophecies.

The Eden Revan Alliance securing a branch here was, all things considered, likely aimed at encompassing all those interests.

And now, with that purpose gone, they were freed from certain constraints in a different sense.

“We still plan to maintain this post. That way, we won’t draw suspicion. We can’t abandon all the effort it took to settle in this region just because of one sword, can we?”

Leaving as soon as the sword is drawn and disappears? Turning off all interest?

That would make our intentions too obvious.

For demons who already had plenty of ill will directed at them, there was no reason to voluntarily create elements that could be used against them.

So instead, they would likely use this opportunity to expand their business structure and scale.

Though their position wasn’t great, it was all in how you handled it, wasn’t it?

Watching Ruslan calmly explain his thoughts and plans, even if not in detail, Kariel said nothing.

“So where do you plan to go now, Lord Kariel?”

“…Somewhere quiet.”

Now there was only one thing left to do.

“I’m not ready yet. For anything.”

……

Unlike when he entered this place, he was leaving alone.

Though they had provided a guide to drive the carriage, that guide wasn’t Luirin.

That fellow had been left with Leo for now, told to hang around with them for a while.

“……”

Compared to Filbar’s grand carriage from before, this one was somewhat cramped, but that previous one had been excessively luxurious.

This one was plenty fine as it was.

Including the coachman’s seat, it could hold up to six people.

Following the paved road would allow for a very comfortable journey.

Thanks to this, he could catch his breath for now.

His physical condition was such that it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed at any moment.

“Haah.”

His body was still emitting disharmony.

He had gained much, but only a small portion had been digested.

But what was certain was.

“……”

Now, it would be impossible to live the same life as before.

I have, in effect, died twice.

Perhaps the first time was related to the World Tree or that cursed Legion Commander or whatever it was when I was young.

And the second death was today.

More precisely, when I encountered ‘that.’

It was truly a post-mortem experience.

It’s still vivid.

More vast than the night sky, yet brilliant and lush with starlight.

And yet, a massive darkness that rendered even that meaningless, surrounded by an enormous light.

It was a spectacle beyond imagination.

Anyway, Grandeus’s test can be summarized in a few points:

Can you be prepared to die?

Can you throw yourself into danger for others, even at the cost of abandoning yourself?

Can you carry through with your own will?

And.

…How desperate are you?

The sword that the blacksmith repaired and handed over.

However, it was still in an incomplete state.

The essence of the Golden Beast is the earth spirit.

It secured all attributes and became an omnipotent spirit king.

Even though it abandoned that and fell to become a demon lord.

Its essence remained unchanged.

In the concept of metal, its attribute and essence must be something unparalleled in the world.

Hence the symbolism and meaning of beheading it.

In other words, this sword, received from my father and eventually through Patina.

While not a holy relic in itself, it was a sword that contained the potential to be an artifact and a treasure.

And that was Grandeus’s intention.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

The past Grandeus substituted this function with a holy sword, but.

That was only half the solution.

He wanted to pass on a complete, finished product to his descendant.

The inspiration gained from there was.

The sword used and left behind by Saint Kariel.

For instance, that sword classified as an artifact, though not a holy relic.

At the time, it was nothing.

That which was nothing.

Through it, Grandeus glimpsed Saint Kariel’s past and present.

While holy swords or divine swords are generally bestowed by heaven or closely related to it,

Holy relics are treasures written by myth and history.

For Grandeus, who had to live as a wild grass, that heaven-ordained thing must have been quite displeasing.

‘But even that will fade one day, break, bend, or shatter.’

Or there’s ample room for misuse.

Because it was a tool.

Then what is the best solution?

What should be done?

Of course, there’s no absolute.

But.

One can design something close to absolute.

‘My realization came late, among other things.’

Because he didn’t know the essence of the power he was using.

If he had known, he might have approached it differently.

-It’s gravity. But that alone would be hard for you to understand.

The Demon Lord spoke calmly.

He said there’s something called the universe.

It’s a place higher and farther than the sky.

A place deeper, farther, and more distant than that.

For Kariel, it’s perceived as the sky above the sky.

He has a basic understanding from academic knowledge or what he learned at the academy.

But that’s the extent of his depth.

-I don’t know well either. Based on what I heard from the Great Demon Lord, it’s a supreme natural phenomenon that even absorbs light, and perhaps even bends and absorbs time and space, devouring them. But because it can’t be placed within the framework of nature, he used the slightly exaggerated expression of ‘super-nature.’

One of the answers the Great Demon Lord gave to Grandeus.

-He said there are a few methods if one wants to kill me. First, bring a power equal to that of the sun. Second, a power that devours light. Third… a powerful force and collision or explosion, blooming, that can’t be substituted by those. Mentioning these three examples, he said that if even one of them is realized, the world would be instantly destroyed.

In other words, it means this.

Unless you have the power to blow away the entire world at once.

…Don’t even think about it, that’s the meaning.

-At that time, Grandeus asked what was the closest method to defeat you while keeping the world intact. Then, the Great Demon Lord mentioned the second power.

The cause and culprit that made Grandeus obsess and immerse himself in it.

-He found an answer to that, but it was still incomplete.

Above all, the absurdity of not understanding something despite achieving it himself.

“Aren’t you also, in a way, just being used? Don’t you feel resentful or anything?”

-If you put it that way, isn’t everything from being born, living, and existing being used?

One must approach it wisely.

-I merely built a boat and sailed on a river or sea. Why should I fuss over every milestone, lighthouse, or reef I encounter on the journey? How would one live in this world with such an attitude?

“……”

That kind of thinking is even more frightening.

-Why did it have to be emptied? The cause was clear. That fellow was also somewhat empty, so it had to be that way.

The Demon Lord said.

You too, now.

-You’re very similar to that. Though empty, it was something of a different dimension from mere emptiness.

Truly.

Something that could devour everything in the world and still have room for more.

But that, in a way, is a path and a passage, and though it looks like an empty vessel, it’s like a vessel with no entrance or limit from the beginning.

…It’s contradictory. In many ways.

-But are you going to keep ignoring those followers?

“……”

People following the carriage at a certain distance.

Ases and the mercenary group she leads? A private mercenary group?

Of course, they weren’t many.

“As long as they don’t interfere, I don’t need to worry about them.”

-There’s also the Salvation Knights or whatever, and your father who’s chasing you?

“……”

Isn’t that why I’m in this state, unable to collapse or rest, even giving away my entire fortune?

Normally, it wouldn’t be strange if my consciousness gave out at any moment.

Perhaps because I’ve passed the critical point, though my body feels like it’s about to collapse, my mind is strangely clear.

When fatigue accumulates and overlaps, this sometimes happens.

Feeling like you’re dying of sleepiness and wanting to close your eyes and collapse right away… but for some reason, not being able to sleep at all.

This might be why I can listen to the Demon Lord’s ramblings.

“Now, as you said, I just need to build a body?”

-Yes. Originally, that would have been necessary to survive without dying… but things have turned out peculiarly.

Does he know my condition too?

Though I’m not in a state of just consciousness like Grandeus.

For instance, the life? Sense of life? that we naturally enjoy.

But now it feels completely irrelevant to me.

-That holy sword nonsense mentioned something about four stars to you? Now it’s starting to make sense.

I don’t know, but the Demon Lord seems to have an inkling.

-Now there are six. One on your left wrist, one on your right arm joint, one on your forehead, one on your solar plexus, one on your right hip joint, and lastly, one on your right ankle.

“…?”

-Roughly speaking, if all those stars are formed, there would be a total of 14.

The Demon Lord said.

Wrists, joints, shoulders.

Six in total, left and right.

Ankles, knees, hip joints.

Also six, divided into left and right.

Then the solar plexus and head.

-This structure is completely different from the method of placing mana storage in specific organs. Instead of focusing on storage, it emphasizes circulation and connection… seeing this, I’m getting a sense of where your ability to manifest such power comes from.

“…What’s the reason you know now but didn’t know before?”

-That’s because my senses were limited then. I told you. The fragments of the world I could understand were just a partial sharing of your senses.

But now it’s different.

-Many constraints have disappeared. That means you’ve… started to take on a form closer to spatial awareness rather than an object or subject.

“……”

The words are difficult.

Hard to understand.

Though I grasped the context.

“So, rather than a living being, I’m becoming closer to nature and space? Is that what you mean?”

-It’s a cheap expression, but yes. It wouldn’t be bad to understand it to that extent.

“……”

You and me.

The world and me.

I had been increasingly aware that these reference points were becoming ambiguous.

But I never expected my very existence to change in such a way.

“Ah.”

Is that why I’ve naturally come to understand the properties of trees, rocks, wind, and water without realizing it?

No, rather than understanding… maybe I’m becoming those things?

Yet, I haven’t lost ‘myself’ yet.

If I lose that, I would literally cease to be me.

At that point, I’d be more of a natural object than a living being.

…Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad end either.

If there’s no ‘me’, then anguish, worry, pain, and sadness would also disappear.

……

-Haah.

As if his breath had truly stopped.

Looking at Kariel, who was leaning to one side with his eyes closed in quiet sleep,

The Demon Lord was gripped by an indescribable sentiment.

‘Though most of my questions have been sorted out.’

Also, due to Grandeus’s arrangements, he had come to one certainty.

‘Do you wish to hand over not only yourself but also mine to him? How greedy.’

Few in the world know.

That the Demon Lord of Wisdom did not possess his own unique armament or demon equipment.

Moreover, he did not leave behind any private legacy.

Therefore, they only recall that wisdom and gold were fearsome in themselves.

But in reality, no one knows.

Except for a very few.

Because he had one treasure that even the Great Demon Lord did not spare praise for.

‘What an impertinent comrade.’

Wielding that is the prerogative of its owner.

Whether it’s held by someone who doesn’t know or someone who does, that’s a later issue.

He doesn’t cling to such things.

If deficiency is prominent in ownership.

Isn’t everything simplified by renouncing ownership?

Nothing is infinite.

Nothing is permanent.

Also, it’s because people try to possess what cannot be possessed that they anguish, worry, suffer, regret, conflict….

It’s truly a needless worry.

After all, everything will be left behind when you die.

If you know it intellectually, just apply it to life.

That’s why slightly wiser individuals strive to engrave themselves and their traces in the memories, records, and history of others rather than themselves.

But with wisdom, one eventually realizes that even that is meaningless.

Nevertheless, the process and consciousness of succession and transmission must never stop.

It’s truly a contradictory matter.

Because even that will be the greatest grace for those left behind.

Good things are shared equally.

Isn’t that a just principle?

-You.

The golden girl sitting across, with her legs crossed.

For a long time, she continued to watch the sleeping boy, seemingly without getting tired of the sight.