Ch.199199. Cult

“Luanes? That’s quite an old-fashioned name.”

“He certainly looks noble from the outside.”

While the Dark Spiritmaster and Hanso were being friendly to the boy named Luanes who had saved them, I couldn’t help but frown.

It was obvious that the boy had intentionally avoided mentioning his family name, but the other two didn’t bother to point it out.

But I couldn’t let it slide so easily.

Luanes Luden Griffin.

The youngest son of the Griffin royal family from 200 years ago.

A half-blood descendant whose identity should never be revealed.

The name Luanes was never mentioned even once in history books, but conversely, the boy was an absolutely essential figure in Griffin’s history.

He was the root cause that intensified the already existing persecution of Black Mages in Griffin, making people hate Black Magic to an obsessive degree.

A Black Mage who led an army of corpses and souls that nearly brought Griffin to the brink of destruction.

Rather than by the name Luanes, the boy standing before me was better known as Heralazad.

Of course, the truth was that it had all been a staged act ordered by the royal family.

But that didn’t mean he was innocent.

“By the way, what was that magic just now?”

The Dark Spiritmaster casually asked Luanes. She had immediately recognized that what he had used was Black Magic.

“Uh, well…”

He hesitated, clearly not wanting to talk about it, but the Dark Spiritmaster didn’t back down and waited for his answer.

“Let’s not stand around here. Let’s go downstairs and talk.”

When I interjected, Luanes nodded and hurriedly went down the stairs. Hanso followed after him, warning him not to run or he might get hurt. Only the Dark Spiritmaster and I remained.

I wanted to explore the third floor more, but first we needed to go downstairs and sort out the situation.

As we descended the stairs alone together, the Dark Spiritmaster casually asked me.

“You know that was Black Magic just now, right?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t know exactly how the boy named Luanes would grow up to become Heralazad.

But considering his talent, it wasn’t particularly strange for him to be using Black Magic at the young age of around 10.

“You’re quite calm about it? Do you know who that kid is?”

At the Dark Spiritmaster’s question, I hesitated for a moment. If it were the Dark Spiritmaster I knew, I would have answered without much thought, but the current Dark Spiritmaster was unpredictable.

If I revealed the truth about Heralazad, she might develop different intentions.

She might also find it strange that someone from over 200 years ago was here.

A moderate truth.

Thinking that would be best, I revealed another truth about Heralazad.

“You know about Dante, right?”

“Hmm? Those crazy people who claim they’re saving the continent? I know them well.”

“…”

“I’ve only heard rumors. I heard they approach talented Black Mages, but they haven’t come to me yet, which shows their lack of discernment.”

The Dark Spiritmaster crossed her arms in disappointment. Being only 18, she probably wasn’t skilled enough yet to receive an offer from Dante.

There was no need to tell her that she would eventually receive one.

“He’s their leader.”

“What?”

The Dark Spiritmaster turned her head abruptly at this unexpected truth. Then, with a hopeful expression, she asked.

“Are you part of Dante too?”

“Of course not.”

“Then how do you know?”

Because I’ve met him countless times in the game, and killed him just as many times.

Essentially, that boy’s life was nothing more than a trigger leading to game over.

Such an answer rose to my tongue, but I swallowed it and remained silent as we reached the first floor.

The Dark Spiritmaster looked unsatisfied, but since I clearly had no intention of answering, she didn’t press further.

When we came down to the first floor, Luanes and Hanso were in conversation with someone.

A person covered from head to toe in a robe like white cloth, wearing an expressionless iron mask.

“Do you know who that is too?”

I ignored the Dark Spiritmaster’s probing question and approached the three people.

“That is how one should live their life. Lord Romuleus has taught us so much.”

‘Romuleus?’

A name I’d never heard before.

Tall but thin.

Only after hearing the muffled voice from behind the iron mask did I realize it was a man.

Probably one of the guests.

He noticed me and the Dark Spiritmaster and shrugged his shoulders in welcome.

“Ah! More people have arrived! I am delighted to be able to spread my gospel!”

At those words, both the Dark Spiritmaster and I glared at Hanso, who awkwardly scratched the back of his head under our gaze.

“He suddenly came and said he wanted to share some good words. I thought he might tell us some rules we didn’t know.”

Though I wanted to ignore him completely, I thought that if he was staying here, he might have some skills worth noting.

“Haha, everyone. You seem unfamiliar with Lord Romuleus’s mercy. Let’s go to the dining hall and have a chat.”

“Come after you’ve gotten rid of this idiot.”

The Dark Spiritmaster turned toward the dining hall, not even wanting to engage in conversation.

Hanso and Luanes naturally followed her, leaving only me and the man standing alone.

He shrugged his shoulders, expressing his awkward feelings.

“Everyone is like that. When they first hear it, they naturally think it’s just another foolish belief. But Lord Romuleus is close to us.”

“I wouldn’t know about that.”

Since I was hearing the name Romuleus for the first time, I could only give a vague answer.

But he seemed to think I was showing interest, as he put his hands together in prayer and bowed his head.

“Who could understand the truth from the beginning? Come with me. I will tell you more about Him in detail.”

“Sigh.”

Was I mistaken?

The Dark Spiritmaster, Hanso, and even Luanes.

After seeing such prominent figures from Mongma Palace, I naturally assumed the man in front of me would be extraordinary too.

But it was much more likely that he was simply a cultist devoted to some obscure deity I’d never heard of.

“Let’s just go.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, I turned to head toward the dining hall, leaving him behind.

Hoping he wouldn’t follow and create unnecessary conflict.

As my footsteps echoed through the first-floor entrance hall, he spoke again.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

There was an eerie chill in his low voice. What was important was that the threatening tone of his voice gave me a similar sensation to the bizarre feeling I had experienced on the fourth floor earlier.

I stopped walking and slowly turned my head to see that he had removed his mask.

Ghostly white hair.

Pure white eyes visible through the long hair that reached down to his waist conveyed a sense of purity.

“How can you ignore me so, despite bearing the name of Spiritmaster?”

“You know me.”

Did he come from a similar timeline as me, or perhaps from the future?

With looks that could attract both men and women. If he hadn’t been wearing the mask, he probably wouldn’t have been rejected by others as he was earlier.

“Ah, how could I not know? To us, you are an object of love and hate.”

“Love and hate?”

“We exist because of you, but we truly despise you.”

“It seems you need to learn how to converse properly.”

Despite my sharp retort, his expression remained unchanged.

No, contrary to his bright voice and bouncy tone from earlier, his expression had been twisted with hatred all along.

“Did you come from a future beyond mine?”

I asked because I had never met this cult follower with an iron mask or a deity called Romuleus, but he shook his head.

“Rule 11. The higher the room number, the further in the future the guest is from. You’re in room 110, the very last one, correct? I am in room 109.”

That was news to me.

So it meant there was no one from further in the future than me.

The question of whether I had prevented the continent’s destruction wouldn’t be answered so easily.

As he glanced around Mongma Palace, he asked through gritted teeth.

“You’ve been to the fourth floor, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What a truly disgusting place, isn’t it? It’s nothing short of blasphemy. It made me weep tears of blood.”

“…So you were the one who found rules 27 and 29.”

The man gestured dismissively, as if that wasn’t important.

“To dare depict a god… truly sacrilegious. The Arch-demon Learic will surely die.”

“If you want to talk to yourself, I’ll be on my way.”

There was no point in continuing a conversation that was going nowhere.

His words were intriguing, but I had no intention of letting him keep derailing the flow.

“My name is Mul.”

As I started heading back toward the dining hall, the man shouted from behind that he wasn’t saying anything wrong.

“You will come to know that only I and the followers who serve Lord Romuleus can truly comfort souls.”

“…”

“I’ll see you outside, Shinwoo Kim.”

“What?”

Whoosh.

Squelch!

The sound of flesh being crushed reached my ears. Startled, I turned my head to see Mul collapsed on the floor, having driven a stake through his own neck.

His white robe was turning red, and the pool of blood spreading across the floor began listing rules, just as with Jortu.

-11. The higher the room number, the later the time period the guest is from.

-15. There is no daytime at Mongma Palace.

-27. Guest rooms go up to 110. There is no room 111. If you discover room 111 and someone is staying there, kill them immediately. They are uninvited guests.

-29. There is no fourth floor at Mongma Palace.

It felt like a storm had just passed through.

A fanatic who called himself Mul and worshipped an unheard-of god named Romuleus.

Content that wasn’t in the game.

The fact that he knew my real name bothered me, as did his parting words: “We exist because of you.”

Things were already flowing very differently from the game’s content. Findenai, a chapter boss, had already become my ally; Dante had already begun to move; the Republic of Clark had fallen; and Aria had given up being a hero.

I knew I shouldn’t expect the same flow as the game, but with such unpredictable and bizarre things popping up, it was becoming overwhelming.

“Huff.”

It was a moment when I particularly wished I could hear the voices of the others back at the research lab.