Ch.542Celestial Barrier

“This is insane…”

I glared at Rotholandus with a face full of contempt and disgust, like I was watching a pig swimming in a cesspool.

The Blessing of Fire. The blessing that Hersella’s ancestor bestowed upon me was, amazingly, a blessing that became stronger the more clothes one removed.

How excellent was its performance? If I wore not a single thread, I could laugh while taking Rurik’s attacks!

…Crazy bastard. Getting stronger by exposing your naked body? What kind of fucked-up blessing is that?

“What kind of ridiculous blessing is…”

“…There’s no need to be so flustered. Exposing skin is merely a way to strengthen the blessing’s power, not a necessary price to pay. I too wore armor when traversing battlefields.”

Rotholandus, who was now branded in my mind as a perverted middle-aged man, offered this pathetic excuse as if trying to comfort me.

Well, he’s technically right. I confirmed that it could properly block even Frosting without removing clothes.

But still.

“For someone saying that, didn’t you fight completely naked yourself?”

I put a new cigarette in my mouth and sneered. What a liar. His image flailing about with everything dangling was even carved into the shrine walls as a record.

Now that I’d heard the explanation about the blessing, I understood his crazy behavior. It meant there were limitations to fighting while wearing armor.

“…That incident was recorded?”

Rotholandus stroked his beard, seemingly quite embarrassed.

Instead of answering, I pointed with my cigarette toward the relief carved on the wall. The image of a crazed exhibitionist tearing people apart while naked. It was carved with such detail that if it had been colored, one might mistake it for the real thing.

Except for the horse-sized thing hanging between his legs.

“That…!”

Rotholandus’s face contorted. Whether from anger or shame, or perhaps both. He looked like a bald man whose wig had just been snatched away.

“Astolfo…! To play such a prank on my tomb, even with age his frivolous nature never changed…!”

Apparently, the one who had preserved his black history was his former comrade.

Well, that makes sense. Only another of the Great’s Twelve Knights would have the guts to permanently preserve such an embarrassing moment of one of their own.

—-

“My successor, would you not break that carving for your ancestor’s sake?”

After glaring at his nude sculpture for quite some time, Rotholandus let out a deep sigh like a lamentation. Judging by the deep wrinkles between his brows, he was thoroughly mortified by this humiliation in front of his descendant.

However, unfortunately for him…

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. If I were to arbitrarily destroy a historical cultural relic, I’d be in quite a predicament. I’d have no explanation to offer the priests of the Church of Elpinel.”

I inhaled the cigarette smoke deeply as I rejected his request. This was qualitatively different from smashing the Colossus.

Though it was an obscene relief, it was still part of the Great’s Twelve Knights’ shrine. Whether for its historical or religious value, it wasn’t something to be casually destroyed.

Well, this was just an excuse I made up; in reality, I simply wanted him to suffer.

Honestly, wasn’t it unfair? He packaged the blessing as flawless before I received it, only revealing its true nature after the blessing was engraved and irreversible.

At least it wasn’t necessary to strip completely. If becoming naked had been a condition for activating the blessing, I would have helped him achieve enlightenment with my own hands.

—-

“So, what exactly was happening there? It seems particularly out of place compared to the other carvings. It’s not some side effect of the blessing, is it?”

The naked dangling was so shocking that I had overlooked it, but honestly, it was quite an unusual relief.

Not only was he the only one naked, but he was also attacking other humans rather than different races or monsters.

It was like having a madman inserted among depictions of heroic deeds.

“That disgrace… has nothing to do with the blessing. It was a period when I lost my reason and went berserk, which is why I wasn’t wearing clothes.”

What is he saying? He’s not an exhibitionist, but becomes one when he goes mad? These are the kind of people who strip naked and dance when they get drunk.

“What made you go crazy?”

“…It’s a personal matter.”

Rotholandus turned his gaze away from the relief with a quiet mutter.

…So he has no intention of explaining. If something made one of the Great’s Twelve Knights go berserk, it must have been quite serious… I wonder if Lacy would know.

“If it’s personal, then fine. So, is that everything?”

I shrugged my shoulders while sheathing Durandal.

Having been appointed as successor and received the blessing to prove it, I was thinking of heading back if there was nothing else.

“No. As a Knight of the Oath who stood with the Great, I have words of warning to convey to you.”

…Warning?

I flicked the ash from my cigarette and let out a white sigh.

A warning left by a hero from eight hundred years ago. Just hearing about it gave off an ominous and serious vibe.

Ah. Perhaps it’s related to the latter part of the story.

Information that would normally be learned through the holy sword, but since Carlos the Great was the former owner of the sword, his subordinates, the Great’s Twelve Knights, were likely to know information related to the main story as well.

“Sigh… go ahead.”

“It’s not a short story, so if you wish, you may sit while listening.”

If that’s allowed, then sure. I plopped down on the platform and listened attentively to Rotholandus’s story.

“Eight hundred years ago, this world was filled with transcendent powerful enemies. In those days, we…”

Like all old men reminiscing about their youth, Rotholandus began to elaborate on the past in a verbose manner.

—-

The first part of the story was content I already knew. Though somewhat summarized, it was a rehash of the heroic tales I’d heard many times.

In an era when other races were incomparably stronger than they are now, Carlos and the Great’s Twelve Knights fought to liberate humanity from the yoke of slavery.

I was hearing the founding legend of the Empire from one who was actually there.

“It was truly a horrific war. Each time a dragon breathed fire, a city would perish, and when a giant swung its arm, castle walls would crumble. The fairy guardians and the king of the werebeasts would slaughter thousands of troops single-handedly, and the dwarves’ war machines were bizarre things beyond comprehension. Karl Las was a nation built upon millions of deaths. Before transcendent powers, human lives were that insignificant.”

I suppose that’s true. Even I can slaughter a decent army single-handedly, so I can only imagine how it was back then. It’s evident even in today’s Empire.

—-

The secret to the Empire’s ability to suppress other races and maintain peace for hundreds of years lay in its overwhelming military numbers that no combination of other races could match.

A hundred thousand professional soldiers. Add to that, tens of times more if conscription were implemented. The violence of numbers was humanity’s greatest strength.

In a world where the limit of strength was at the level of a Master, there was no greater power than numerical superiority.

In other words, the moment superhumans capable of slaughtering thousands of troops single-handedly appeared, the Empire would lose its greatest advantage.

A prime example was the last Great Invasion.

As soon as Rurik, the king of the werebeasts, appeared, the supposedly impregnable northern wall collapsed, and the Empire’s main legion was utterly defeated.

I was able to defeat Rurik, which led to victory, but without that, the north would have fallen in an instant.

“After each battle, His Majesty was inconsolable with grief. But there was no other way. The only method to save humanity, which had become enslaved by other races, was to recover the six Holy Grails they had stolen.”

……Holy Grails?

That’s the first I’ve heard of this.

“Therefore, we-“

“Wait, wait a minute. Holy Grails? What are those?”

“Golden chalices for salvation. Divine artifacts that Elpinel commanded us to recover. Vessels meant to contain divine power, which had been stolen by the accursed other races.”

Rotholandus continued his explanation.

After Carlos and the Great’s Twelve Knights recovered the Holy Grails, they performed rituals as instructed by Elpinel’s revelation, and the gods who responded to their prayers revealed their divine status through the grails.

“The Celestial God Elpinel and the five gods showed us, who were searching for a way to save humanity, the answer. That was the Heaven’s Wall. The birth of a great blessing that weakened all divine blessings by blocking the connection between heaven and earth.”

Though it was a vague expression, I could understand what he meant.

I had already witnessed the existence of a barrier between heaven and earth during Invidius’s descent.

…So that’s the setting attached to the level restriction.