Ch.29296. You Have Been Defeated (3)

[“I’ll erase it for you. That was the promise from the beginning, wasn’t it?”]

No. I cannot allow that.

These truths, I can never forget them! Never!

[“That’s your problem. Actually, if you had desperately wanted to forget, I would have gladly left you alone, but since you’re being like this, I have no choice but to erase it, right? You brought this on yourself.”]

Shut up! What kind of ridiculous game is this! If you’re truly a Demon Lord, you shouldn’t resort to such underhanded tricks!

[“Hmm, is that so? Then… fine. Seeing your sincerity, I shall bestow mercy upon you.”]

Someday these memories will return.

When, you ask?

[“A few days before your death.”]

You, you! Until the very end, you’re still—!

[“Think about your second child. Do you really believe you could raise them normally while carrying these memories?”]

Why are YOU concerned about that?!

[“Even if I don’t care, Kariel would worry, wouldn’t he? Probably?”]

That… child?

[“You’ll live carrying only the feeling that you’ve lost something significant. You’ll long for the day of your death. Only then will you realize that something is coming back to you. No matter what methods you try, you won’t be able to do anything about it. So accept it calmly, and live forever with a spirit of dedication and sacrifice. Isn’t that the saintly life you wanted? A noble~ life obtained by sacrificing even your son!”]

No! That’s not it! I just wanted everyone! Everyone to be well… I just wanted to save as many people as possible…

[“Ignorance is a terrifying thing. Don’t you think?”]

Ermina.

[“Don’t worry. So that you can continue to serve the world.”]

What happened here.

[“Everyone will remember it as just a small disturbance and move on. I’m not completely heartless. Despite appearances, you all managed to defeat me, didn’t you? If I let you live such a miserable life, it would rather damage my dignity, wouldn’t it?”]

Well, anyway, that’s how it turned out.

[“I’ll get out of here. Burn brightly in your happy hell as you save others.”]

Just as your Lord so desires.

Live nobly, tearing off pieces of your own flesh as you go.

Ignorant Ermina.

====

I wish for you to fulfill your duty of helping and saving everyone completely as yourself.

Is that why you refused to even resent me directly?

Look me in the eyes just once and try to say it.

…Kariel.

====

“So that’s how it is.”

In the reception room frequently used by imperial officials, the Emperor, Empress, and Ermina were seated.

As the Emperor moistened his throat with wine from a silver cup, he seemed momentarily lost in thought.

“Has he ever secluded himself like this… before?”

Ermina nodded slightly at the words of the Empress, Melineos.

“It’s not difficult to deduce what happened.”

The Emperor said this as he set down his cup and let out a small sigh.

“In the end, we were thoroughly played by that child.”

“……”

Ermina let out a tiny groan at the Emperor’s lamenting tone.

“Trust.”

What that child had said to Loroana still haunted her.

“Aureas Aurum. That one… even in death, continues to make us miserable.”

The Golden Beast.

Not many knew that name to begin with.

In fact, it’s uncertain whether that was even a real name or an alias.

It was said that from the demon realm, she had not one name but many.

At some point, her titles and epithets became more well-known than her name.

This was no exception during the invasion.

Her representative titles, the Demon Lord of Wisdom and the Golden Demon Lord.

People only referred to her using these titles as proper nouns.

“Ermina. If it weren’t for you… even we might have passed by without knowing what happened.”

If that were the case, perhaps Rueld would have had to bear that enormous burden all alone.

“…Huh.”

The Emperor rarely shows emotion.

Yet even he couldn’t help but sigh faintly and reveal his grief…

“How pathetic. At the very least, she could have shown her face to this father before leaving.”

“……”

Because Princess Elhermina had also disappeared as of that day.

Of course, she had left a letter.

A greeting along with an indefinite farewell message.

The content wasn’t particularly long.

But the core message remained vividly imprinted in the Emperor’s mind.

[Through dying once, I have been liberated from the shackles placed upon me. Reborn like this, I am free but also a traveler who must wander without a fixed destination.

But do not worry. As Kariel has gone through this process once before, he will guide me as my pathfinder.

My journey does not mean an eternal farewell. I will come to see you again in the near future, or perhaps a bit later. My dear and beloved father. My revered mother. May you both remain in good health until that day.]

She called me father, not Imperial Father.

“…I wish I could have heard those words directly.”

Whew—!

He finally grasped his cup again and tilted it toward his lips.

Yet he still couldn’t bring himself to get drunk.

He still couldn’t allow himself to feel sad or regretful.

The Demon Lord’s machinations had no impact on the world, like a faint fantasy emerging from a brief nap—

Nevertheless, one couldn’t be sure. There was no telling what kind of aftereffects might have occurred.

Though not even two days had passed, the Emperor couldn’t let his guard down.

Some unknown seed might have been planted that could later germinate into a great calamity.

The Demon Lord of Wisdom was the type who always made moves looking at the future rather than the present.

Perhaps this time too, she had set up something similar.

‘If not that.’

Then perhaps this situation itself was the fruit of her preparation.

“Rueld has been working hard all this time. It’s only right that he takes some rest like this. So… Ermina. Please comfort him.”

“……”

Though knowing it was rude, Ermina merely nodded without answering.

“How is Geornia?”

When the Emperor asked while keeping his gaze fixed on his cup, the Empress beside him informed him.

“She’ll wake up soon. It seems she lost consciousness after the fire that occurred when El woke up… She had been watching over El continuously. It must be due to accumulated fatigue as well as shock.”

“Hmm.”

A silent sigh ripened.

The three of them continued in that atmosphere for a while without saying anything.

Later, when Geornia woke up, she examined Ermina.

But it seemed she couldn’t break the seal that the Demon Lord had personally guaranteed, as she merely clicked her tongue helplessly.

“What about that bastard Rueld?”

“…He’s in seclusion.”

“…Tell that bastard to come see me when he comes out. You too.”

Geornia drew a line as if she had something to tell him, but he needed to come in person to hear it.

“You can also come ask then if you’re interested.”

The Emperor responded with a bitter smile.

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

But still…

Geornia sighed softly.

“Elhermina. Did that child end up leaving? Where to? Did Kariel follow her?”

“……”

They didn’t know.

They were merely making assumptions…

In fact, Kariel’s whereabouts remained unknown, and the same was true for Princess Elhermina’s location.

Above all.

…With Rueld, who would have directly confronted Kariel, in seclusion like this,

they could only continue to focus on understanding the situation.

“Those who remember what we experienced are just us, and that’s all.”

Besides them, perhaps the Second Saint, Tronel, who contacted them midway?

In that sense, the empire seemed eerily… unchanged.

Especially considering that after the jousting tournament, the festival celebrations were in full swing.

Above all, the apparitions and ghost armies that had appeared in broad daylight across the empire had all subsided long ago.

Even the soldiers, military forces, knight orders, and mage corps who had been fighting them off had suffered injuries but not a single fatality.

Only.

Despite the clear law enforcement, given the vastness of the empire, problems arose here and there, and some even testified to being saved by these very apparitions.

Monsters, robbers, bandit groups.

In addition, mercenary group members who had turned to lawlessness due to decreased work, or free knights who had joined them.

Such individuals had been swept away like ghosts and turned into cold corpses.

Especially those who had planned to attack remote and frontier villages during the festival period were reportedly utterly devastated by the ghost armies, not even leaving proper bones.

In some villages, they were even regarded as guardian spirits or protective deities because of this…

“Ermina. By the way… what’s the status of the citizens who haven’t awakened?”

“There’s no physical abnormality. Just…”

They simply won’t wake up.

Among them, some have been neglected, drifting away from everyone’s attention.

Others are still cared for by family members and blood relatives with mixed feelings of love and resentment.

“So we still don’t know the reason.”

“There must be a common factor. The Demon Lord… wouldn’t have done this without a reason.”

What’s certain is that she didn’t engage in direct massacres or display acts of slaughter.

Or even if the entire city had been transformed into a golden land with everyone turning into golden statues, it wouldn’t have been surprising.

Or perhaps through memories implanted by the Demon Lord, their personalities could have been shattered or split, completely… depriving them of the ability to live as normal people.

All of these were sights that could have been seen in the past.

There were numerous examples of manipulating memories to create non-existent personalities and exploit them.

Or breaking someone’s beliefs by giving them memories and personalities equivalent to hundreds of rats’ souls, making them wallow in sewers for months, then restoring their memories to destroy their dignity.

…In extreme cases, making someone misremember their own child as a slave, causing them to abuse and sell off their child as a cruel slave trader.

The list is endless.

That being was, in terms of malice, unparalleled… an existence of extreme evil.

“Why… did she leave us alone? I still can’t understand.”

Even the desperate resistance they thought they were putting up was actually the Demon Lord’s machination.

…They only realized this after Ermina pointed it out.

For instance, every moment they thought they had escaped from its mental attack was an illusion and hallucination.

“……”

Ermina said nothing.

The Empress also remained silent.

Geornia was still lying on the bed, struggling to maintain consciousness and breathing weakly.

“As Nedes said, perhaps it was because Kariel didn’t want it. Should I seriously consider that explanation? I’m still… pondering.”

“……”

“Rueld. I hope that friend will gather his thoughts and provide us with an answer about this.”

“……”

“It’s been hard on all of us.”

Even though we’re always struggling to avoid the worst.

The world constantly asks us to prepare for the worst as if it were routine.

“Al must also find the situation perplexing.”

Is he perhaps smiling with satisfaction inside?

Or…

While missing his departed sister yet also resenting her.

Will you sharpen your blade once more?

====

“Heh! You truly look miserable, don’t you?”

In the northwestern edge of the empire.

In a small tower perched on the edge of a cliff, a former high-ranking imperial official was imprisoned on one of its floors.

Though the room was certainly luxurious, this was the entirety of the space given to him.

He always reluctantly observed the sea breeze, rain, and tiny rays of sunlight that filtered through the small barred opening, barely large enough to stick his face through. This was his only pastime and daily routine.

He had been focused on writing ever since, and perhaps having said all he wanted to say,

at some point illness and lethargy had found him.

And.

Though visits were normally impossible due to the location, perhaps because the prisoner didn’t have much time left.

One of his two granddaughters had brazenly entered this place.

“……”

Only faint groaning sounds could be heard.

Perhaps due to his rapid aging.

Wrinkles clung densely to his pale skin, and even a liver spot decorated the right side of his face like a scar, looking rather grand despite its shabbiness.

Eras.

He could only vaguely sense that name.

Playing with the ends of her short blue hair with her fingers, Eras let out a sigh.

“It’s not certain, but Prince Alesius might inherit the next throne.”

…

“Is this the outcome you wanted?”

The old man trembled with a groan.

The thin blanket covering him twitched slightly, but he could only tremble pitifully without being able to pull out even a hand.

“How fortunate for you. You got what you wanted. Now you can die without regrets, right?”

…I don’t know.

The old man still seemed to have something to say.

Looking down at him while standing, Eras’s eyes showed not a trace of sympathy or pity.

“As for my sister… don’t worry. I’ll let her live.”

What do I have left now?

Vengeance? Resentment? Hatred? Irritation? Directionless anger? Blind hostility?

“It ended so anticlimactically, didn’t it, Grandfather? Perhaps the House of Esdina will end in our generation. I might join the imperial family or… who knows what will happen to me… As for my sister… I don’t know anymore.”

Whether Seras Esdina, the current head of the family, can properly maintain her position after Elhermina’s disappearance…

Even someone as exceptional as her cannot go against the general trend and flow.

Or…

“I’ll see you next in your grave. Since we can’t even enshrine you in a mausoleum, I won’t be able to visit often.”

Those imprisoned here are, without exception, interred in the columbarium located in the basement of this tower.

Even for imperial family members, there are no exceptions to this rule.

The reason he could be imprisoned here was because the House of Esdina had once been a solid pillar supporting the Hero Emperor and the Knight of Radiance, both in front and behind.

If not for that, his head would have been cut off like others during the purge.

And the family would have collapsed accordingly…

Naturally, the same consequences would have befallen both Eras herself and Seras.

“I’m leaving now.”

Poor grandfather.

Though such words briefly circled in her mind, she deliberately didn’t voice them.

Already, all vitality had long drained from his body.

Eras secured only the manuscripts he had written and left without lingering.

The prison tower where he was confined, and which would now become his resting place, if not a place of peace.

As she drove the carriage away from the tower.

She cast a cold smile at the old man seated inside the carriage.

“You came on your teacher’s recommendation? If you’re recommended by the Cyan Prophet, you must be no ordinary person.”

“We are seekers of the black truth.”

“Ah! The Demon Cult? What business does such a lowly person have with me?”

“Our master wishes to make you an offer in exchange for immortality.”

“…Immortality.”

Eras involuntarily recalled the warning Kariel had given her previously.

As well as the boy who had looked up at her with mysterious eyes from a tiny house when delivering that message.

…

And so.

While a tight-lipped coachman drove the luxurious two-horse carriage with a sealed interior.

The clandestine meeting between the old man with ominous eyes and Eras continued for quite some time afterward.