Ch.254253. The Starvation Cult (5)

On that day, as usual, Dongnae Magistrate Jo Gaphyeon was holed up in his office, lamenting his fate.

Though the room was adorned with antique paintings, calligraphy, and porcelain that reflected his refined and elegant taste as the head of a prestigious family, these artistic treasures no longer stirred any emotion in Jo Gaphyeon, whose spirit had been devastated and whose heart had grown sick.

It would be no exaggeration to say that he once held a political position that made him among the most outstanding of elites, but now he had fallen to rock bottom, branded as a corrupt official in league with cultists.

Ironically, because he had risen so high, he felt his fall all the more intensely and miserably. After spending considerable time steeped in lamentation and grief, he finally picked up his brush to perform the duties assigned to him.

Jo Gaphyeon’s sovereign, the Great King praised for his greatness due to his pinnacle of scholarship and achievements, supposedly said that the more his officials suffer, the better the lives of the people become.

Of course, there was no actual evidence that the Great King had ever uttered such words, but Jo Gaphyeon, who understood the current king’s character and personality better than most, somehow felt that this sounded like something that might have slipped out in private conversation.

Indeed, the officials of the Kingdom of Corea were currently suffering under crushing workloads every day, and Jo Gaphyeon, despite his high position as Dongnae Magistrate, was no exception.

The workload designed by the universally acknowledged “Greatest Intellect of Corea” wasn’t quite enough to cause death by overwork—which, conversely, meant that officials were driven mercilessly right up to that threshold.

Therefore, Jo Gaphyeon, who had stopped lamenting his fate and was now thinking about the tasks at hand, reached for his marten-hair brush gifted by his wife and was about to extend his hand toward the enchanted inkstone when…

“Pardon my intrusion at this late hour, Lord Magistrate of Dongnae.”

“—Who goes there?!”

The moment a voice suddenly came from behind him, Jo Gaphyeon was startled. He quickly channeled magical power into his brush as he turned around.

As a civil official who had studied the “National Literary Arts” of the “Eoje School,” Jo Gaphyeon had reached the level of an intermediate magic user thanks to his outstanding scholarly achievements. At the same time, he had not neglected training in the six arts that every scholar should master.

Etiquette (禮), Music (樂), Archery (射), Horsemanship (御), Calligraphy (書), and Mathematics (數).

Having trained in all six virtues required of a scholar, he maintained keen senses unlike those feeble bookworms.

In particular, local magistrates often served as bulwarks against the invasions of hostile mountain tribes that occurred as annual events, so while not quite as formidable as military officials, Jo Gaphyeon’s senses had reached a considerable level.

However, despite all this, he had not detected the slightest presence of this being until it directly addressed him.

Though he felt a shock and terror as if the sky were falling, he believed he must maintain the dignity befitting the head of the Eunsong Jo clan and the Magistrate of Dongnae. He barely suppressed these emotions as he turned around and…

“…Huh!”

The moment he directly encountered “him” behind him, Jo Gaphyeon was plunged into such shock that he could barely comprehend what he was seeing, a shock so profound it nearly stripped away his basic rationality.

The identity of the being before him was a Westerner with colored eyes. He wore a cloak similar to the “Dragon Scale Armor” said to be issued only to the most exceptional members of the Royal Guard, and in his hand, he held a staff that displayed its splendor without exaggeration… presumably a magic user.

But such trivial details were completely unimportant.

“…!!”

Because the presence Jo Gaphyeon detected from the colored-eyed man before him was on par with those who had reached superior levels, like his king or the commander of the Royal Guard.

Different class. Different level. His presence, which could only be described with such trite expressions, felt to Jo Gaphyeon like an immense natural phenomenon wearing a human disguise.

A raging storm, striking lightning, erupting volcano, sweeping waves. Beasts growling with killing intent glared at Jo Gaphyeon from beneath a single layer of skin, and the surging currents of power moved harmoniously according to will.

Fear, overwhelming and terrible fear. That was the emotion he was feeling now.

Having lived almost his entire life as a victor until becoming entangled with the Gia Cult, Jo Gaphyeon, who had spent most of his life above others, could not maintain his composure.

And while Jo Gaphyeon was in panic, blankly staring at the being before him…

“…Oh my, was I a bit too much? Ahem!”

The moment the being cleared his throat as if he had made some mistake, the terrifying presence flowing from him instantly dissipated.

“W-Who are you! Who are you to come at this late hour….”

Thanks to this, Jo Gaphyeon finally regained his senses and shouted in his usual scolding manner, but the response he received was utterly cold.

“I don’t think there’s any need to worry about such things, cultist collaborator.”

“…!”

And immediately after hearing that, Jo Gaphyeon, quite unlike himself, ended up revealing his emotions openly.

A fatal mistake that he would never have made if he had been his usual self, Jo Gaphyeon who would never have been outmatched in the field of politics.

Though he belatedly changed his expression back to a poker face, it was already too late.

“Oh? It seems my lord knows shame. Well, what you did because of your son was quite extraordinary.”

“…How do you know that?!!”

Jo Gaphyeon could not deny or refute those accursed words uttered by the man before him.

This was the product of the last conscience he possessed as a person who had studied and acquired the knowledge of the great ancestors.

Therefore, he decided to be straightforward given the situation.

If the being before him harbored killing intent, he wouldn’t be able to resist anyway, so he might as well speak his mind before dying—a manifestation of the scholar’s spirit.

“…Yes, have you come to kill me, a filthy collaborator?”

Judging by the fact that he was still alive, that possibility seemed low, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility that the man was simply dragging things out to mock him.

So when he asked that question, the colored-eyed man before him smirked and then…

“Originally, that was my intention… but those fucking Gia Cult bastards messed with my acquaintance? I was planning to wipe them all out, but I see your name is on the list?”

“…”

“Now, what should I do with you?”

Though his speech was as casual as a street thug’s, Jo Gaphyeon sensed the political intent melted into it and couldn’t respond.

In essence, the colored-eyed magic user before him was saying something equivalent to this:

If he voluntarily cooperated now, he might be spared, but if he harbored impure intentions and was caught thinking otherwise, he would be killed immediately.

‘Think, think…’

Therefore, he, Jo Gaphyeon, thought with accelerated cognition using his magical power. About issues like how to most easily navigate this situation.

And the first thing that came to mind was that blowing the whistle to the Gia Cult was out of the question.

After all, his feelings toward them, with whom he had been forced into cooperation, were close to hatred and anger…

‘…Wait a moment.’

Just then, a truly brilliant idea occurred to Jo Gaphyeon.

In essence, since he was also being coerced into cooperation, why not hand everything over to this colored-eyed magic user before him and cooperate with him instead?

After all, how could Jo Gaphyeon possibly view the Gia Cult favorably after seeing his own son half-transformed into a ghoul?

Moreover, the fact that Jo Gaphyeon was a collaborator with the Gia Cult could easily be concealed amid the chaos this man would create.

After all, only a select few in the cult’s leadership knew he was a collaborator, and they would all likely be killed in the process of this being’s rampage.

“I-I’ll cooperate! I’ll help manage all the chaos you create and assist in purging the Gia Cult!”

Therefore, he bowed his head sincerely and expressed his willingness to cooperate, and whether his determination was conveyed or not… the man expressed some degree of affirmation.

“Very well. Make sure I don’t regret this. …Though perhaps you’ll be the one with more regrets.”

Thus, Jo Gaphyeon deliberately ignored the blatant warning from the superior being before him, too immersed in joy.

But Jo Gaphyeon, drowning in the joy of finding a ray of hope amid despair, would not have known.

‘….’

That this Archdruid had never intended to forgive him in the first place—him, who had indirectly taken countless lives while serving the cultists.