Ch.680If It Doesn’t Exist, Couldn’t We Just Make It?

I laid Ragnar’s body at my feet, waiting for the others to arrive.

The original plan was for me to either separate Ragnar from the palace, or to remove his head from his body and then break through the wall as a signal for the others to rush in, but…

I glanced around at the ruins. There wasn’t a single intact spot to be found. The palace walls, pillars, and even the roof had been completely blown away. All I could see was a pile of rubble on top of a torn and crushed foundation.

…I hadn’t intended to destroy this much.

No, this massive destruction was more Ragnar’s fault than mine. Unlike warriors who cleanly take the lives of their enemies, magic users are like bombs that cause tremendous damage to their surroundings whenever they fight.

Anyway, with the palace completely gone, I had no choice but to wait for Knut and the others to find me without any signal.

In this area, all the mana in the atmosphere had been depleted, making it impossible to activate rune magic, but the moment we left this place, Ragnar would surely struggle desperately while using rune magic again.

I thought there wasn’t much a man with severed limbs could do, but it was better to be safe than sorry. It seemed wise to wait here for now.

“Ugh… grrk…”

But I couldn’t wait too long.

Looking at his pale, trembling state, Ragnar didn’t seem like he had much life left in him. He might die if I just gave him a little push.

Perhaps sensing this fact, he wasn’t properly answering the questions I had planned to ask the Apostle.

“Tell me everything you know about the identities of the other Apostles. From the third to the seventh.”

“Kugh… is that… what you’re curious about…? The identity of the third Apostle is…!”

“Is?”

“Well… was it your mother…?”

He consistently gave such answers to most of my questions.

When we first met, he spoke with a somewhat formal tone befitting royalty, but now, facing death, he seemed to have abandoned all pretense of dignity and spoke like a common thug.

“The Holy Grail of Heaven’s Wall, do you have it? Where is it hidden?”

“I put it… inside your mother’s… womb…”

Hersella would have had a fit if she’d heard that. Fortunately, she had fallen asleep after excessively using the power of Karma of Murder.

“The smell was so bad… the Holy Grail was rotting and falling apart…”

Such eloquent trash talk. I almost suspected he might be a Korean like me who had possessed someone.

When I asked him a question in Korean, he replied that he didn’t know the language of Ka’har, so he wasn’t a possessed person—just someone with a filthy mouth.

“…Why are you trying to destroy Heaven’s Wall?”

“To find your mother… and make you a little sibling…”

“……”

Finally, I gave up interrogating the eighth Apostle.

When I asked about Volberg’s identity and he babbled about him being Imelia’s new husband, I realized that no matter how much I questioned him, I wouldn’t get a proper answer.

As for using the “Haschal-style interrogation method,” even the simplest torture would immediately kill him in his current state, so it would be meaningless.

—-

Knut and his companions arrived at the ruins of what had been the palace about ten minutes later. They said they had stayed back to avoid getting caught in the aftermath of the battle.

From my perspective, they weren’t really late. Ragnar was still hanging on, fortunately.

“Grrrglk…”

He was rolling his eyes and foaming at the mouth, but as long as he was alive, that was all that mattered.

I threw my cigarette on the ground and called over the approaching group, who were looking at the palace ruins with shocked eyes. For some reason, contrary to the plan, there were only two of them.

“Where’s Hrafn?”

“He went to clean up this mess. He said he would deploy intelligence agents to prevent news of Edric’s death from spreading outside.”

Frigg answered with a respectful bow. The destroyed palace and the dying Ragnar seemed to have instilled infinite politeness in her.

“Isn’t that dangerous? He might try something. He could even run away.”

“After seeing that battle earlier, I doubt he would have the courage.”

“Well, if you say so.”

“So, what happened? Prince Harald…”

“I’ll explain later. Let’s deal with the urgent matter first.”

I postponed my explanation and pointed at the soon-to-be corpse lying at my feet. I intended to explain everything, but first, we needed to finish off Ragnar, who looked like he was about to breathe his last.

“Ragnar Lokan… do you intend to keep him as a prisoner?”

“No, I’m going to kill him.”

I shook my head.

“This bastard is too dangerous to keep as a prisoner. You saw us fighting, so you should know.”

“I see. Then why have you kept him alive until now…?”

“Because it’s Knut who needs to kill him, not me.”

“…You mean me?”

Knut expressed his doubt. His face showed he didn’t understand why he had been assigned the role of executioner.

“Yes, you need to kill him. The only way to resolve this situation is for you to behead Ragnar.”

“I don’t understand what you’re thinking. But I won’t refuse.”

Though Knut still looked confused, instead of arguing, he drew his axe and raised it high above his head, like an executioner at the scaffold.

“I’ve been wanting to chop off his head anyway.”

His axe traced an arc as it came crashing down.

—-

“Oh Volberg…”

After beheading Ragnar, Knut closed his eyes and offered a prayer to Volberg, thanking him for helping him achieve his goal. A grayish holy light surrounded him, shimmering like a heat haze.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched the scene.

It might have seemed solemn, but having vaguely realized Volberg’s true identity, I felt nothing but wariness instead of reverence.

Volberg wasn’t one of the principal deities protecting humanity, but rather one positioned on the opposite side.

A subordinate of the Ancient God, or perhaps another name for the Ancient God. If my suspicions were correct, not only Volberg but all the members of his church could be considered my enemies.

Even Knut, though we were on the same side now, might one day turn against me.

So I needed to convert him somehow… but I wasn’t confident that telling Knut the truth about Volberg would be enough to convert him.

Considering he had been granted three powers at such a young age, Knut’s faith in Volberg was probably no less fervent than Lacy’s devotion to her deity.

Would such a person accept an explanation that Volberg was essentially an evil god? He might become angry rather than persuaded.

…I should keep quiet for now.

The moment I revealed the relationship between Volberg and the Ancient God, the Church of Volberg would be branded heretical, just like the Church of Grimnir. That would make them enemies of both the Holy State and the Empire.

The problem was that most citizens of Dane were Volberg worshippers.

Wasn’t that why the Church of Volberg was merely expelled from the Eleven Principal Deities rather than being designated as a cult? They feared Dane’s backlash.

The Church of Grimnir had so few followers that there wasn’t much resistance, but the moment the Church of Volberg was declared heretical, all of Dane might rebel.

Therefore, I decided to keep Volberg’s identity secret for the time being. Eventually, I would have to reveal it, but for now, stopping Orhan’s army was the top priority.

—-

After killing Ragnar, Knut received immense holy power and a new ability from Volberg.

「 Polar Bear’s Hide 」

Despite its plain name, it was quite a useful ability.

A blessing that dramatically increased physical abilities for a certain period, eliminated pain, and reduced damage from projectiles aimed at him.

It was similar in nature to Ceylon’s “Judgment Day.”

Of course, even with this ability, he probably wouldn’t reach Ragnar’s level.

Perhaps because he hadn’t defeated Ragnar with his own strength, despite receiving a reward for killing Ragnar, Knut couldn’t surpass Ragnar’s level.

Or maybe it was because he couldn’t recover from the aftereffects of the injuries he sustained in our battle.

Having greatly depleted his vitality and suffering from Frosting’s curse, he still couldn’t even run properly without the power of runes.

—-

“So what happened to Prince Harald?”

After Knut finished his prayer, I explained to the two of them that our plan had completely fallen apart.

I told them that all the royals gathered in the inner palace had been killed by Ragnar’s hand, and even their bodies had been torn apart during our fierce battle.

Naturally, both of their expressions darkened immediately. Whether from the shock that the royal bloodline had been completely severed or from the frustration that all our future plans had been ruined, I couldn’t tell.

“This is serious.”

“…This is troubling. With the royal family wiped out, we have no way to command the Dane army.”

Maybe it was both.

“I do have an idea…”

Of course, I had a plan. It was hastily put together, and I wasn’t sure if it would work… but there was no alternative. We had to push forward.

“If there’s no king, why don’t we make one?”

I spoke while looking at Knut, whose face had darkened.