Ch.6262. Heralazard

“…….”

I bow my head silently as I enter the audience chamber of King Orpheus.

If other nobles or courtiers had seen this, they would have been outraged at my rudeness, but since this was essentially a private audience, I didn’t bother with excessive formalities.

And King Orpheus, pleased with this, gives a hearty smile.

“You read people well. You know I don’t particularly care for excessive formality.”

He simply mentions that he noticed this when Deia initially knelt and observed protocol before promptly leaving.

In truth, I only did so because I remembered him saying that in the game.

“Did you enjoy your time with your sister?”

“Yes, thanks to her I was able to tour the royal capital.”

“Hmm. Surprising. I thought you had little interest in your sister or other family members.”

King Orpheus, tapping his chin with his finger, suddenly rises from his throne and walks toward me.

The Grand Mage Rockpellican, who had been standing at the king’s right, naturally follows behind him.

“Well, only the final trial remains now. You’ve admirably completed two trials that would normally be difficult even individually.”

“…….”

“In the first trial, you proved your abilities by defeating Magistrate Judge Tyren.”

Orpheus pats my shoulder, calling it a remarkable achievement.

“In the second trial, you showed compassion and healing by breaking the nightmare that had tormented my sister Elenoa for so long.”

The king’s hand tightens on my shoulder. His firm grip seemed intended to prevent me from escaping.

“Only the final trial remains. Once you complete it, the kingdom will officially recognize you as a Black Mage. Truly a historic event.”

For a kingdom that extremely rejects Black Mages to directly employ one and even grant a position?

This would likely cause a stir for years, and my name would certainly be recorded in history.

Of course, none of that mattered to me.

“And from what I can tell, you already seem to have figured out what the final trial is?”

“…….”

I deliberately don’t answer.

Unlike the first and second trials, I had known about the final trial since I was first imprisoned.

In essence, the final trial was the king’s personal wish.

It was a matter entirely different from the previous two.

“This note, you remember it?”

King Orpheus holds out a crumpled note in his open palm.

It was the note he had given me while I was imprisoned, telling me to read it if my faith in him wavered.

Inside was written the final words of King Orpheus’s father, the late King Opert, to his son.

– Simply, always be foolish.

Words that made little sense as a final message from a former king to his son who was about to inherit the throne.

No matter how one interpreted it, it was clearly more of a curse than a blessing.

King Orpheus, looking down at the note in his palm, chews his lips as if trying to expel something deep within it.

The hand on my shoulder tightened, making it seem as though he was forcibly leaning on me for support.

“This is the final trial. You already seem to know, so in reality, it may be the easiest trial.”

Looking away from the note and forcing a casual smile as he looked at me, King Orpheus appeared truly precarious.

“Why did my father tell me to be foolish when I had to shoulder the burden of this kingdom?”

A question he probably thought would never be answered.

While the first two trials were assessments of whether I had the ability to help the citizens of the Griffin Kingdom.

The last was simply…

Simply a matter of resolving the king’s doubt.

Suddenly, a story from the Bible I had once read came to mind.

Joseph, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, who interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams.

Just as he gained Pharaoh’s trust by interpreting dreams.

I too would gain his trust if I could unravel the meaning behind the former king’s last words.

But I hesitated to speak.

Despite having imagined this moment many times, I wasn’t certain if King Orpheus could withstand it.

That was my only concern now.

Even in the game, if you took the wrong route, King Orpheus would break down after learning the truth.

Starting with amnesia, then delusions, hallucinations, phantom pain, and more. He would shake the Griffin Kingdom to the brink of destruction.

But.

Because there was also a route where he overcame all of that and grew, a route where he repented and vowed not to make the same mistakes again.

Having seen such futures, I was able to confess to being a Black Mage.

“From now on.”

After a pause, I calmly continue speaking to King Orpheus, whose pupils had dilated with uncontrollable anticipation.

“I ask that you listen to my words calmly.”

“…….”

Gulp.

The sound of the king swallowing seemed to echo throughout the audience chamber. It indicated just how tense he was.

This was an episode that existed in the game as well.

A linked quest received from King Orpheus that influenced the main storyline significantly.

At that time too, starting with the question about former King Opert’s last words, it unraveled various secrets within the kingdom and the sticky secrets the royal family had been hiding all along.

While it could be heard as simply a curse upon his son.

It was a statement weighty enough to shake the entire Griffin Kingdom.

It was the entrance to understanding where the kingdom’s absolute hostility toward Black Magic originated, and why.

And it implied that the roots of Griffin, which had deeply established the royal family’s identity, were actually rotten.

“The reason why Your Majesty’s father, the late King Opert, left such last words was solely out of consideration for Your Majesty.”

“For my sake? What does that mean?”

As a father, he had hoped his son would never touch the truth, but paradoxically, because of those last words, Orpheus would reach the truth.

The Griffin royal family’s disgustingly hypocritical double standards.

Practicing hypocrisy and malice, deceiving millions of citizens.

And that they had been standing on a pile of corpses all this time.

“Your Majesty’s ancestors, who established the brilliant dynasty of Griffin through numerous wars and victories…”

It was the moment when the truth, dusty and long buried, saw the light of day.

“Were Black Mages.”

* * *

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

“…….”

The sound of footsteps like a long echo fills the otherwise silent corridor. We continued forward without saying a word.

Like people focused solely on that task, we placed weight on each step.

Especially King Orpheus, who seemed to unconsciously quicken his pace, which the Grand Mage noticed and looked at the king with concern.

At a fork in the first-floor corridor.

Going right leads to the dining hall, going left leads outside to the garden.

A Griffin statue placed as if forcing a choice between the two.

From within it, a woman with her face covered by a black cloth emerges discreetly.

[This is it. As you said, there’s something here.]

Having sent the Dark Spiritmaster ahead just in case, it was confirmed.

I impassively pulled down the wing of the Griffin statue with force.

With a cracking sound, the wing folded and the wall behind it began to open.

“…….”

“Hmm.”

Seeing this, King Orpheus and Grand Mage Rockpellican lowered their voices in gloomy displeasure. They had never thought there would be such a secret passage in the royal palace.

“Let’s go.”

I take the lead and enter. Suddenly, I’m reminded of the path to the basement in the Verdi mansion two months ago.

Going down a much more stable and well-constructed passage than that one.

Inside was what appeared to be an archive like a library. Numerous books shelved all around and a massive desk in the center.

“This is…”

The Griffin emblems stamped throughout symbolized that these were royal possessions.

Dusting off the accumulated dust, the Grand Mage carefully pulls a book from the shelf.

Then he startles, eyes widening. The book had no title, but judging by its deep red color, it likely contained content about blood magic.

And blood magic, along with necromancy and corpse magic, was one of the representative Black Magic disciplines.

[This is truly an amazing place. If I had known about this place when I was alive, I would have gone mad trying to infiltrate it somehow.]

The Dark Spiritmaster can remain so calm only because she’s dead.

Otherwise, she might have gone berserk and indulged in books indiscriminately.

King Orpheus walked with heavy steps toward the desk in the center.

A photograph placed before it, along with faded writing where the ink had dried up.

“…!”

The king’s eyes tremble upon seeing it.

In the photograph stood a brightly smiling boy.

Even at first glance, he was remarkably handsome, with a slightly small build but a smile that would have been loved by many.

And I knew his identity.

Luanes Luden Griffin.

The youngest son of the Griffin royal family 200 years ago, and the king’s disgrace—his illegitimate son.

Also known as Heralazard.

A Black Mage who single-handedly brought the Griffin Kingdom to the brink of destruction, and the root cause of the Griffin Kingdom’s obsessive hatred toward Black Magic today.

The numerous letters beneath the photograph were handwritten correspondences between the king of the Griffin Kingdom at that time and Heralazard.

All were written during the time he was committing massacres, and the contents detailed specific information such as which settlements had reduced troops or lacked supplies.

The phrase “To my beloved son” written at the end.

Pierced King Orpheus’s heart painfully.

Crumple.

Orpheus, with trembling hands, roughly grips the letter. Learning that Heralazard, the plague-like villain of the kingdom.

Was actually a plot orchestrated by the royal family.

He sheds tears and slowly turns his head to glare at me.

“You…”

His voice, filled with resentment, seemed to chew through the words.

“Did… you know all of this?”

His bloodshot eyes, red with tears, violently demand an answer from me.

Meeting his gaze calmly, I nodded slightly.

“Yes, I knew.”

And then.

Bang!

“Rockpellicaaaan!”

King Orpheus slams the desk and screams for the Grand Mage as if his throat would tear.

The thick layers of dust scatter in all directions. Through them spreads the Grand Mage’s vast mana.

Rockpellican calmly closes his eyes and taps the floor with his staff, ready to receive orders.

“Ar…”

Whether due to shock or guilt toward me, his words don’t come out properly.

For whatever reason, King Orpheus covers his face with both hands.

The voice that leaked from behind them was dripping with despair.

“Arrest him.”

In pain that felt like flesh being carved away, the king’s declaration was made.

Immediately, chains made of the Grand Mage’s mana constricted my entire body.

And I silently accepted it.