Ch.544Who Stole the Holy Grail

Having finished his words, Rotholandus began to slowly fade away, as if he had accomplished all his purpose for remaining in the mortal world. Leaving behind a warning that since they had failed and died of old age, I should clean up their mess.

“Wait, wait! Is that all? Aren’t you going to tell me about the identity of those who misused the Holy Grail, or its location?”

“How would I know… such things……”

Rotholandus’s voice grew increasingly drawn out and faint. Come to think of it, this certainly wasn’t information a spirit who had been confined to a tomb for hundreds of years would know.

…Still, is this really all? He left behind a fragment of his soul just to pass on the blessing of naked exposure and advice to struggle? This isn’t even teasing, what is this?

“This is not something you can accomplish alone… find those who will share the weight of your duty… as we did……”

With those final words, Rotholandus rippled and dispersed like cigarette smoke. Silence and stillness settled over the sarcophagus.

—-

After that, there was no response no matter how much I knocked on the sarcophagus, so I turned around and began to retrace my steps.

In my mind, I tried to piece together what Rotholandus had told me with what I already knew about this world, attempting to predict what I needed to do and what would happen next.

Let me think. In the original story, the enemies grew stronger at a faster rate as human casualties increased. When human losses reached a critical point, Baltyr, the king of monsters, would appear and it would be game over.

And according to Rotholandus, the way the enemies grow stronger is by weakening Heaven’s Wall to receive thick blessings from their god as they did before.

So… I don’t know who stole the Holy Grail—probably Mein?—anyway, it seems reasonable to assume that they need many deaths to break Heaven’s Wall.

It makes sense that Valenstein joined Isabella’s side and drove the Empire into civil war to increase casualties.

…There are too many suspicious characters.

The demented tree-dwellers want to use humanity as fertilizer, the beasts from the north want to use humans as food, and the Ka’har who disrupted Carlos the Great’s plans want to conquer the Empire.

Not just non-humans, but also those directly connected to evil gods like Mein, or those involved with ancient gods like the Forgotten Gods’ Church are suspicious.

Especially suspicious was Feirus, the First Apostle of the Forgotten Church and a half-soul sorcerer. A boss who appeared in the late game, spouting nonsense about realizing the falsehood and deception of this world.

Moreover, according to Lacy, he was the leader of the Holy State about four hundred years ago… so it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to steal the Holy Grail that was strictly kept in the depths of Alhebron.

I continue my contemplation, mixing deduction and speculation as I walk through the corridor of the tomb.

I can’t be certain, but let’s assume Feirus is the one who stole the Holy Grail. After stealing it from the Holy State, he organized the Church of Forgotten Gods and began breaking Heaven’s Wall by driving people to their deaths.

Then what is his purpose?

Feirus is an apostle of the ancient gods, but what appears after Heaven’s Wall is completely destroyed isn’t an ancient god but the monster king Baltyr… Does that mean Baltyr is related to the ancient gods?

…That might be possible. Considering the ancient temple where I obtained the Kenaz had inscriptions cursing the ancient god Alfodhr.

That place definitely seemed like somewhere monsters and ancients had fought, so if Baltyr was allied with Alfodhr as I suspect, it would make sense to have curses against Alfodhr written there.

It would mean that the ancient god they had been worshipping was actually connected to the monsters trying to destroy them.

“Sigh…”

Let me organize this. For reasons unknown, an ancient god who wants to destroy humanity has made Feirus his apostle to break Heaven’s Wall, then summon Baltyr to cleanse humanity…?

It was speculation based on circumstantial evidence without any proof, but it was surprisingly plausible. Like a bull that accidentally catches a mouse while backing up, I might have stumbled upon the correct answer.

…I should keep this in mind for now.

—-

Although I had heard an incredibly complex and serious story, when I thought about it, what I needed to do hadn’t changed.

Find the enemies threatening humanity and eliminate them before massive casualties occur. All that had been added to what I’d been doing was the need to find the Holy Grail.

From now on, I should interrogate enemy leaders about the Holy Grail whenever I defeat them.

They probably won’t answer willingly, but if they show any reaction, it would mean someone among their associates possesses the Grail.

Now… I just need to think about what to tell Lacy, who must be waiting for me outside the tomb.

As I walked down the dusty corridor, flicking my cigarette, Hersella, who had been silent for a while, spoke to me again.

[What a bizarre tomb visit. Meeting the spirit of an ancestor who passed on blessings and warnings. Such a tale would be hard to imagine in the great plains.]

‘Isn’t that because you killed everyone capable of such feats? Though it seems that wasn’t the case seven hundred years ago.’

The Death of Heaven, was it? What kind of person were they? As a Ka’har warrior comparable to Carlos the Great but uninterested in humanity’s salvation, it would have been natural for them to interfere with the Heaven’s Wall plan.

The question is, where could they have gotten that information? It seems they had no contact with the Empire before ambushing Carlos. Did they consult some kind of oracle?

[That too was an incredibly strange story. That so many warriors dabbled in sorcery… what on earth was happening in that era…]

Hersella was also curious about their story, but unfortunately, Rotholandus didn’t know much about the Ka’har sorcerers of that time either.

He only shared his speculation that the Ka’har had apparently annihilated the giants and earth dragons that had stood between the westerners and the Ka’har.

‘Haven’t you heard anything from Orhan? About your tribe’s past or old legends. Things like that.’

Those who would know Ka’har history would be the Ka’har themselves. I asked Hersella about their past.

However, Hersella just snorted, as if telling me not to talk nonsense.

[Did I and Orhan seem to have that kind of relationship?]

…No, not really.

[What I know is at best a few legends I read in the library when I was very young. Stories about the incarnation of nothingness that destroys the sky, the Heavenly Horse… or tales of warriors who have passed away ascending to the heavens, becoming wolf spirits, and eternally enjoying the hunt with the ‘Sky Wolf’ across the celestial plains.]

You mean the stories that produced your dark history.

‘…About that Heavenly Horse story, could it be that they were the ‘Death of Heaven’? The names and descriptions seem somewhat similar.’

[The Heavenly Horse would never have relied on sorcery. The Heavenly Horse pursues only the ultimate martial arts, is bound by nothing, and subjugates the entire world with its own strength. Someone who depends on sorcery, launches cowardly ambushes, and yet still retreats is not worthy of the name of the Heavenly Horse.]

Her tone was unprecedentedly firm.

Like a madman who seriously claimed about the woman he had a crush on that she only consumed dew and never went to the bathroom.

Dew my ass, he should have seen her guzzling straight from a liquor bottle.

—-

I silently walked on, deliberately ignoring Hersella who had started praising the Heavenly Horse in a resolute tone. When I showed no reaction, she too seemed to tire of it and soon returned to the original topic.

That is, the warning Rotholandus had given us.

[The Holy Grail, Heaven’s Wall… there was even talk of dragons? I’ve noticed recently that bizarre events that others might not experience even once in a lifetime seem to occur frequently around us. Like the evil god that appeared in the city of Arvil, or the stigmata bestowed upon you. Being with you makes me feel like all the common sense I’ve built up is being denied, which is truly a strange feeling.]

Well, that’s probably because I’ve been trying to somehow salvage the twisted main storyline.

If I hadn’t crossed over to the Empire, or if I had lived like an ordinary academy student after defecting, I would have rarely encountered such incidents. Instead, Isabella, Rurik, or Valkers would have run rampant, causing tremendous casualties.

‘Well, two people sharing one body is an incredibly bizarre thing to begin with, isn’t it? It’s only natural that strange things follow strange beings.’

I shrugged as I offered a casual response.