Ch.259259. Fulfillment of the Contract

The severed head of the great dragon lay blocking the alley beside the sewer, its tongue lolling out.

The moment I saw the cold, dead body of the great dragon, various thoughts crossed my mind.

“W-what happened here?!”

As Soho shouted urgently beside me, her voice echoed deep into the sewer.

‘Someone’s there.’

Someone else was in the sewer besides us. But they were escaping so quickly that I couldn’t even think of pursuing them.

After all, I’m weak in this kind of situation.

‘I need to find a way.’

I can’t just stand by helplessly watching enemies escape forever.

“Great Dragon! Great Dragon!”

The opponent who just fled could have easily killed Soho if they had wanted to.

The young girl, unaware that her life had been in momentary danger, embraced the dragon’s head while crying.

Though called a great dragon, it was essentially a guardian deity and a spiritual being.

The massive corpse, neither floating nor sinking in the underground waterway, was slowly disappearing into particles of light.

‘For a guardian deity, it must have possessed considerable power.’

From how easily it died to the fact that its corpse still maintained its form, its consciousness should still be somewhat intact.

Yet it said nothing.

‘Or is it focusing on something else so intently that it can’t speak?’

What was it looking at even as its death approached?

Looking at the dragon’s corpse, I felt somewhat curious.

* * *

“You might have thought you were invincible, but there are ways to kill guardian deities.”

After returning from the underground waterway, we arrived back at Lanlan Restaurant.

Outside the window, the sunrise announced the start of a new day.

I had been moving all night without proper rest, but being a mechanical body, I didn’t actually feel fatigue.

This body couldn’t even sleep. I only needed to close my eyes for a few hours if I moved continuously without rest, to alleviate mental fatigue.

It could be considered meditation.

As Soho brought tea while listening to me, hatred gleamed in her eyes.

The killing intent emanating from the teacup was quite blatant.

She wasn’t particularly talented as an assassin.

But I was a mechanical body.

I drank the tea regardless of whether it contained poison and continued speaking.

“Guardian deities. Literally, the moment they lose the sanctuary they protect, their power diminishes significantly.”

“…Aren’t you feeling sick?”

“I don’t know what poison you used, but don’t do it again. It ruins the taste.”

“Are you some kind of immortal?”

Soho was dumbfounded by my minimal reaction. But I continued speaking with my chin resting on my hand.

“But it’s just called a sanctuary—it’s not necessarily limited to a physical place.”

It was easy to recall Setima’s angel that had wreaked havoc at the academy.

She displayed overwhelming power when acting for Setima’s souls, but had no power when acting against their wishes.

“What was the great dragon protecting?”

At my question, Soho made a blank expression before answering honestly.

“I-I don’t know.”

“…”

“M-maybe it was protecting us monsters?! So when you killed them all, its power disappeared…!”

“If that were the case, it wouldn’t have sent you to me.”

The great dragon had tried to cut off its monster tail to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

If its power disappeared because of that, it would have changed its approach and engaged in a direct confrontation with me.

Soho didn’t know what the great dragon had been protecting either.

I roughly guessed it might be this land, but seeing how it died without putting up a proper fight, that didn’t seem right either.

After all, this land was peacefully greeting the same day as always.

No, from the beginning.

‘A being that kills guardian deities.’

It sounds easy, but actually doing it is incredibly difficult.

It didn’t exist in the original game.

Of course, that’s natural since the Han Empire itself didn’t appear in the game.

‘Still, they’ve done something quite bold.’

The opponent killed a guardian deity right under my feet and slipped away smoothly.

They moved with such stealth and speed that I only noticed roughly what happened after arriving at the sewer.

‘How cunning.’

I wondered if this incident happened by chance as I was passing through this city, or if it was deliberately staged for me to discover.

It bothered me on several levels.

“I’m going to avenge the Great Dragon too.”

Soho declared firmly beside me. To avenge the monsters, she needed to kill me, and to avenge the great dragon, she needed to kill the mysterious being.

A girl whose dreams had grown implausibly large in a short time.

But Soho looked quite serious.

“Now I have nowhere to go, and no monster friends left.”

“…”

It seemed like a girl growing up amid tragedy was about to follow me around.

* * *

“Hey, where are you going?”

Early morning.

Deia was leaving the mansion with a bundle containing various foods.

Findenai, who had been smoking tobacco beside the mansion since morning, spotted her and asked.

“The mountain. I need to offer tributes.”

Deia had been offering tributes to the Mountain Lord of Norsweden once a month.

She used to leave flowers at Emily’s grave in the mansion’s basement, but knowing she had already departed, she no longer did so.

After all, the girl who would receive them had gone to the land of rest.

“Huff, I’ll come with you.”

Findenai slung Baekseol over her shoulder and followed along.

Her attire wasn’t a maid’s uniform but ordinary clothes like a coat and shirt, reminiscent of her junkyard days.

“Why you?”

“Remember when that tiger helped me return from the Republic before?”

“Ah…”

It was definitely during the end of last year’s summer vacation at Robern Academy.

Deus Verdi had briefly returned to Norsweden. When Findenai heard that Doberman was recruiting resistance in the Republic, she participated out of curiosity and almost died.

It was the Mountain Lord who had dealt with the Rescue Corps members in the Norsweden mountains and brought her back.

“I realized I never had a chance to thank him.”

“Then don’t smoke on the way. He doesn’t like the strong smell.”

“Sounds like someone else I know.”

Findenai smiled bitterly, extinguished her tobacco, and followed Deia.

Since drinking together last time, the two had developed a strangely close relationship.

Perhaps sharing drinks while longing for the same person had brought them closer.

But Findenai still had a strange question, so.

After approaching the mountains, she asked with one hand deeply thrust into her pocket.

“By the way, you don’t like Deus romantically, right?”

“…?!”

The question came so suddenly and inappropriately that Deia was about to ask what she was talking about, but Findenai’s blood-red eyes were quite serious.

“I mean, you’re siblings. But the vibe doesn’t exactly seem that way.”

“Then… how does it seem?”

Deia asked somewhat timidly, and Findenai answered while lightly swinging Baekseol up and down on her shoulder.

“Forbidden love?”

“Fuck!”

Deia’s face immediately turned red as she shouted. Her voice echoed across the mountains, startling birds into flight.

Findenai, right beside her, showed no change in expression.

“Me? Him? Are you crazy! We’re siblings, you lunatic!”

“But he’s Shinwoo Kim.”

“No, that’s…!”

Deia was about to shout something, but Findenai’s words caught in her throat.

“He’s still Shinwoo Kim.”

“…”

Her mouth gradually closed.

Wondering how to explain this to Findenai, Deia eventually quickened her pace and pushed ahead.

“So what! He’s still Deus, you crazy woman! His body is Deus! Do you think I’d get turned on looking at his face like you do?!”

“Hmm?”

“He’s my brother! Even if he’s an idiot, he’s my second brother!”

“Well, if you say so.”

Findenai seemed to drop the subject, but that bothered Deia even more as she frowned and turned her head sharply.

“Why don’t you sound convinced?”

“I am convinced. Sort of.”

“What do you mean ‘sort of’? Properly…!”

Deia was about to raise her voice to explain until Findenai properly understood.

But a cold wind swept through the mountain trees and struck the two.

A sudden gust.

Along with it appeared a massive white tiger.

The two were momentarily flustered by the Mountain Lord’s early appearance.

But Deia immediately unwrapped the bundle she had brought.

“This month’s tribute is…”

[Deia Verdi.]

The Mountain Lord’s voice resonated heavily, still solemn but with a strange urgency.

“Yes?”

This was the first time he had directly addressed her by name, so Deia responded with undisguised bewilderment.

[Where is Deus?]

The rather direct question pierced the hearts of both Deia and Findenai.

“We don’t know either.”

“He’s missing.”

The timing of the question was somewhat odd.

It had been three months since Deus disappeared. If he wanted to ask, he should have done so much earlier.

The Mountain Lord exhaled a sigh and slowly looked at the two.

[Do you know that there are several other guardian deities like me on this continent?]

“Like Horua of the Great Marias Forest?”

Having experienced it through the Great War, Findenai answered without difficulty, and the Mountain Lord nodded.

[Yes. And recently. There are those who hunt these guardian deities.]

“…”

The moment she heard this, Deia felt uneasy enough to think she shouldn’t get involved in this matter.

People hunting beings similar to the Mountain Lord who was emanating an overwhelming presence before them?

It was clearly something she didn’t want to be associated with, but.

[I don’t know when they will reach me.]

The Mountain Lord continued with determination and some desperation.

[I made a deal with Deus. I defeated that woman crossing the mountains two years ago.]

“Ah, damn.”

Findenai ran a hand over her face as if recalling an embarrassing memory.

She momentarily wondered how she would fare fighting the Mountain Lord now.

[And I also protected that woman at Deus Verdi’s request.]

Mentioning how Findenai had safely returned from the Republic of Clark thanks to him, the Mountain Lord made his request.

[Woman of Deus Verdi’s blood, with him absent now, it is time to fulfill the contract.]

“…”

[Protect my sanctuary.]