◈ Episode 221. It Is a Dark History, the Cloudy Family.
It was one unbelievable story after another.
But if he accepted it as the truth……. ‘It makes sense.’ It could explain every event currently unfolding across the Arcana Continent.
There was no need to look far. Had he not witnessed it himself? Legendary beings gliding brazenly through the sky—dragons.
A whole flock of them.
The warrior of the Sunrise opened his mouth.
“……
There’s no doubt it’s true, is there?”
A cold reply returned.
“How insulting. Do I look like the sort of man who would speak that name and then add lies to it? There is a limit to how far I can indulge ignorance, warrior of the east.”
“That was not what I meant. It is just…….”
Silence hovered over the social hall. ‘Is this what they call the calm before the storm?’ The warrior looked around.
It was the first time he had seen the social hall so empty.
Even he himself
had stayed in the social hall for quite a long time to resolve his curiosity about Cloudy. Only then had he barely managed to encounter the transcendent before him. ‘I suppose that makes sense.’ If all the past history surrounding Cloudy was true,
then it was understandable that the transcendents were moving busily.
But at the same time, a question arose.
“……
May I ask just one more thing?”
“You are more curious than you look. Very well, I will hear it.”
“Why did such a great family disappear?”
The transcendent murmured softly.
“That is truly a question only someone hopelessly ignorant could ask.”
Then he continued in a solemn voice.
“Even I cannot answer that question. I have neither the right nor the courage to speak of that day. However, I can offer you one piece of advice.”
Advice out of nowhere?
“Forget the question you just had, here and now.”
“……
Forget it? Why?”
“Because that curiosity may shorten your life.”
Simply having the question could shorten his life?
Was this not a curse disguised as advice?
The warrior instantly felt displeased.
But then, chilling words reached his ears.
“You surely thought it was a curse, did you not?”
“……!”
As expected, he was a transcendent.
To think he could see through his inner thoughts.
He truly could not let his guard down for even an instant.
However, the warrior of the Sunrise was mistaken.
The transcendent genuinely pitied the warrior’s ignorance.
And so he added,
“If the concept of curses exists in the east as well, then I need not explain any further. If you know enough to be wary of curses, that means you also understand their danger. That is precisely why I am telling you to turn your interest away.”
The warrior swallowed dryly.
How could he not know of curses?
Curses, or black magic.
It was a power more alien than anything else. ‘It was a dreadful experience.’ The warrior of the Sunrise himself had once been cursed and robbed of his voice for several days. Thanks to that, he had no difficulty understanding the transcendent’s following words.
“It is an immeasurable debt owed to Cloudy.”
“……?”
“A history darker than any other, one that no one in Arcana wishes to dig up, so terrible that even peeking into it would bring down a curse one could not withstand.”
Yes.
That was precisely why every powerful being on the Arcana Continent had begun to stir.
Because that Cloudy had returned to Arcana.
If Cloudy themselves ever chose to dig up that dark history…….
“No one would dare raise their head before them.”
“……!!!”
*
Seven Deadly Sins, Gluttony.
The name Seven Deadly Sins had long since become meaningless.
After all, including himself, only five of the Seven Deadly Sins remained now. Greed had been cast into Hell, so that was one thing, but Envy’s whereabouts were utterly unclear.
As if it had not been enough for him to wander around with one arm severed,
now he had completely vanished from the continent.
Gluttony ground his teeth.
“A useless, idiotic bastard who’s no help at all.”
“……?”
At his murderous muttering, every gaze in the tavern focused on him.
The Arcana Continent had been reduced to a shambles.
If a tavern was still operating on such a continent, its quality needed no explanation.
Clatter—creak—clatter—the smell rising from the shoddy tables, and cheap liquor so vile it was overpowering.
Food so tough one would believe it was just leather with seasoning added.
The customers were no different.
“You’re ruining the taste of my drink, you shithead.”
“What, did some buddy of yours drop dead somewhere? Hahaha.”
“Hey, shut the hell up, bastard. Don’t kill the mood.”
Swords and armor soaked in blood.
Their desolate eyes told what sort of lives they had lived.
That was what it meant to have survived on the abandoned Arcana Continent.
Of course, Gluttony heard none of it. ‘……
That is absolutely impossible.’
It had been several decades ago.
If they could have returned, they would have returned long ago.
It must have been words spoken by someone who had misunderstood something.
Gluttony’s mind worked ceaselessly.
Then, without realizing it, he let out a hollow laugh.
“You expect me to believe that kind of bullshit?”
Evil born from Evil itself.
Naturally, he did not trust the words of others.
Even so, the reason it was weighing on him so much was simple.
Likewise,
he had once dismissed something as bullshit and then been struck from behind.
Akshan’s revival.
A rumor he had written off as nonsense.
But when he heard the news that Akshan’s last survivor
had cast Gamigin into Hell, Gluttony realized.
There was no such thing as an absolute in this world.
Gluttony muttered,
“……
If they returned, then who returned?”
It was then.
Bang!
With a crash, the table overturned.
“Crazy bastard, can’t you hear me?!”
“?”
“I said get the hell out, you bastard! The taste of the alcohol went sour the moment your ass walked in. You’ve been muttering to yourself this whole time, too. Are you possessed by a demon or what? Huh?”
Broken dishes.
Gluttony looked at the food strewn across the floor.
It was wretched food, but it had undoubtedly been his meal.
He shifted his gaze to the man.
“And if I am not possessed?”
“What the hell are you saying, you crazy bastard?”
“I am asking what you would do if I were a demon.”
“……!!!”
Sching—there was such a thing as instinct.
“I knew it, you demon bastard!”
No matter what kind of lives they had lived, these were men who had crossed the line between life and death countless times. In other words, they instantly realized that Gluttony’s words were no joke.
The man growled, holding a dagger to Gluttony’s throat.
“No wonder my drink tasted like shit. You damned bastard.”
Soon, a group surrounded Gluttony.
There seemed to be well over twenty of them.
But Gluttony did not budge.
He merely muttered,
“I do not want to fill my stomach with this.”
And then everything ended.
Crunch—grind—crack—the sounds of things breaking, shattering, being chewed.
“Ugh…….”
The tavern owner curled up and trembled.
The scene had unfolded in an instant, leaving him no time to stop the fight.
The men were sucked into Gluttony’s palm.
Crunch—and only a dreadful noise filled the tavern.
A customer called out.
It was Gluttony.
“Owner.”
“……!”
“Sorry, but could I trouble you for a glass of water?”
There was no strength in him to resist anyway.
The man suppressed his fear and handed over a cup filled with water.
Gluttony spoke as if it were nothing.
“I am sorry for causing a disturbance.”
“……
Not at all.”
“I was already troubled enough, and they should have chosen their quarrel in moderation.”
“I apologize. I will be quiet.”
“Ah, will you? Thank you.”
Fights were not a big deal in a tavern like this.
Ordinarily, he would have calmly cleaned up the tavern that had become a mess and demanded repair costs, but the man could not move a muscle.
Because there was a demon before his eyes.
A demon that had swallowed twenty grown men.
“Whether the rumor is true or false, I need to find an effective solution.”
Gluttony paid no attention to the man trembling in terror.
Even now, after having swallowed twenty humans,
his mind was still filled with thoughts of Cloudy.
The tavern had fallen silent.
All that could be heard was the owner’s heart pounding in fear.
Perhaps thanks to that, a rather good method came to mind.
“I only have to step forward and confirm it myself.”
Good.
He would cast bait.
Bait that Cloudy, if it was truly Cloudy, could not help but bite.
There were those perfectly suited to serve as that bait.
Yes, those demons who did not know their place.
Demon Kings.
Mongrels born in the Demon World,
yet absurd creatures who called themselves kings of Evil.
Aside from Demon Kings of the Ten Seats who had existed from the beginning, like Gamigin,
they were all vermin.
Ah, now that Gamigin had fallen into Hell, perhaps only nine true Demon Kings remained.
“This may become a fitting dinner show in many ways, if all goes well.”
Good. He could not hesitate.
Dragons, elves, even transcendents.
Had not everyone who had been there heard the news of Cloudy?
He needed to move before they made their move in any form.
“I will pay.”
“……
It is fine.”
“Are you certain it is fine?”
“I truly will not accept payment.”
“Is that so?”
As if rummaging through a pocket,
Gluttony searched inside the maw that had opened in his palm.
Even if gold and jewels came out of such a place, the owner could not accept them.
Soon, Gluttony rose from his seat and turned around. ‘……
Goddess.’
Thank you for protecting me
from that nameless demon.
Just as the man was calling upon a god he had never even believed in,
Gluttony suddenly approached him.
“By the way.”
“?!”
“I do not know about the alcohol, but you had best stop selling food.”
He glanced at the food strewn across the floor and grinned broadly.
“You should thank the man in my stomach. If I had put food like that in my mouth, I think I would have swallowed you first. For the crime of serving food that tastes worse than a human, that is.”
A wicked smile.
Tremble, tremble—the man’s legs shook.
“Haha, it was a joke. A joke. Keep up the hard work, owner.”
Only after Gluttony had completely left the tavern did he realize.
It had not been the goddess’s protection.
The reason he had survived was simply because of a demon’s whim.
*
At any rate, there is not a single day I can rest.
As soon as I finished the Round Table Conference, I returned to my office.
There was not much for me to do at the Round Table Conference.
Before the Round Table Conference,
the Tower Master himself had stepped forward and expressed his apology for the trouble he had caused. ‘……
Putting that aside, he is strangely annoying.’
As you know, the Round Table Conference had changed.
It was a meeting unconstrained by rank,
but precisely because of that, the Tower Master, the head of the Magic Tower, could not be absent.
And yet, to think he would attend in the form of a cat! ‘He is so brazen he might even surpass Granfell.’
Apprentices and skilled mages could not see through the Tower Master’s transformation.
But Tower Master, you are the person in question, aren’t you?
What is with a human calmly pretending to be a cat?
He even stayed still when someone rubbed his belly, and later he outright started purring. ‘Must be nice, living so comfortably.’
Some of us had been repeating hunting and agonizing contemplation in the Zero Mountains until just now.
Yet he was that carefree.
Even if he was recuperating,
I could not help feeling my temper twist.
Still, if I were to look for some consolation……. ‘Was the regular conference starting next week?’
I resolved myself.
At this conference, I would put the Tower Master to proper work!
I had more than enough justification.
It did not go against Granfell’s pride either.
You see, there is such a thing as noblesse oblige.
The responsibility demanded by one’s position.
If you hold a high seat, you must bear that responsibility, dear Tower Master.
Clack—of course, I, too, am suffering under that sense of responsibility.
As always, my desk was piled high with leave-the-tower applications.
Let’s see, I set down my teacup.
And by scrawling “rejected” across Bensch’s leave-the-tower application,
before beginning my workday…….
Following my instincts, my gaze shifted to a piece of parchment.
An unfamiliar handwriting I had never seen before had appeared upon it.
This damned meddlesome nature that loves to step forward.
Thanks to it, I had carefully examined the leave-the-tower applications of everyone in the Magic Tower.
And yet, if the handwriting was unfamiliar, it meant it was that person’s letter. ‘The Tower Master.’
The large seal stamped on it confirmed the owner of the handwriting. ‘What is this?’
A cat pawprint seal.
Yes.
It was definitely a letter sent by the Tower Master. ‘Why a seal?’
If he could write letters, could he not sign his name too?
What was with the random pawprint stamp?
I had thought nothing of it.
But after reading it, it was indeed a matter that required a seal.
However…….
──────As the current Tower Master, I recommend you, Chief Lee Hoyeol, as the next Tower Master.──────
Whaaaaaaat?
Me, the Tower Master?
No, where do you think you’re running off to, you scheming bastard!!