◈ Episode 289. Neither Vast Nor Great (1)
Claudi.
The moment he heard that word, Wolf recalled the rumors that had circulated through the world of adventurers. After all, the word the demons of the Demon King’s Castle had howled when they appeared here, in reality, had been “Claudi.”
It was only natural that this world would be plunged into doubt.
Interviews, smartphones, the internet.
Even they themselves did not understand the things adventurers prattled on about.
Adventurers were beings of the Arcana Continent.
So what would they know about the stories demons raved over?
—“Have you ever heard of it, Vice-Captain?”
But the problem was the Shadow Mercenary Corps.
Even they knew nothing about Claudi.
It was not merely a handful of common demons.
It was a word uttered by tens of thousands of the Demon King’s Army.
For even the Shadow Mercenary Corps to know nothing about a word with that much influence? ‘I did think it was strange.’ Claudi.
Unless someone had deliberately hidden it.
Unless someone had denied it outright, it should have been impossible.
But at last, he began to understand.
Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The Great Evil faced the Commander-in-Chief and opened its mouth.
Then spoke clearly.
“You are…… a Claudi.”
A possibility flashed through his mind.
“……!”
Wolf felt as if his heart had dropped.
No, it couldn’t be. It couldn’t.
Thinking so, he looked at Hoyeol.
He was certain Hoyeol would deny it.
However.
“Do not dare put that name in your mouth.”
What Hoyeol uttered was an answer no different from confirmation.
“Seriously……”
Wolf bit down hard on his lip. ‘……You know, Captain? I wasn’t going to forgive you.’ Kichi.
No matter what unspeakable circumstances she might have had, he had not intended to listen. No reason could possibly excuse her throwing away the position of captain and vanishing without a trace.
And yet, damn it.
The pieces were beginning to fit together in his mind.
The Great Evil’s request that had been entrusted to the Shadow Mercenary Corps.
The fact that the request had succeeded.
Kichi, who had declared she would take all responsibility after realizing it and then disappeared. And even the Great Evil, staring at the Commander-in-Chief, who had been called Claudi, as if it could not believe its eyes.
A series of events was telling him.
“I would have run too, Captain.”
The Great Evil’s request.
That it had been Claudi.
That it had been a request directly connected to the Commander-in-Chief.
Wolf forced his lowered head up. ‘……Just how much does the Commander-in-Chief know?’
He did not need to hear the answer to that question.
“If you have spoken it, then take responsibility for it.”
Sssss—
An immense energy poured from Hoyeol’s body.
It was not ordinary mana.
It was black and dark enough to swallow everything—suitable mana.
“Hoo.”
Simply looking at it made his breath quicken.
So much so that he almost felt as though the Commander-in-Chief’s emotions were being conveyed to him.
Thanks to that, he could tell. ‘No, there’s no way he doesn’t know what I’ve realized.’
Above all, the Commander-in-Chief was the person directly involved.
Wolf suddenly looked at the members.
They too seemed just as shocked.
“Then does that mean the Commander-in-Chief is connected to Akshan?”
“……Somehow, it doesn’t suit him.”
“More importantly, what is that magic, old man?”
“……Black magic. Black magic beyond explanation.”
“Black magic?”
Even if it had not been Claudi.
There were more than enough astonishing elements on the battlefield.
Wolf smiled bitterly. ‘So this was the weight of a captain, Kichi.’
Perhaps the view truly differed depending on one’s position.
In that sense, Wolf had no choice but to look at Hoyeol once more.
A position as lofty as the weight he bore.
A view from high above.
And. ‘Why did you show us mercy once again……?’
A vessel whose limits could not be fathomed.
But Wolf’s sigh did not last long.
For soon, Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins burst into wild laughter.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”
Because it dared to speak.
“In the end, you too were nothing but a pitiful human.”
*
Great Evils.
Compared to them, humans were endlessly weak.
Compared to them, who lived for eternity, their lives were no more than mayflies.
And the majority of them wasted even those short lives meaninglessly.
“I shall praise you.”
Compared to that, Akshan.
The demon hunters had been decent.
For they had not chased meaningless original sin.
Crunch, crack—
Envy’s form began to change.
The body that had been shattered by Meteor Strike peeled away as if shedding a chrysalis. From within it, a new body sprouted like a shoot.
“And.”
Envy’s gaze shifted.
From the demon hunters to Hoyeol.
Silver hair fluttering.
“I am truly impressed, Claudi.”
It was not sarcasm.
At this moment, Envy was more sincere than ever.
It continued solemnly.
“To think that you could look after the hideous Arcana Continent and its humans. I sincerely respect you. You are better than some god or goddess that does not even exist.”
But it could not suppress the laughter that burst forth.
“However, what became of the end of that Claudi? The Arcana Continent you loved so dearly! Those worthless humans! In the end, they plunged a dagger into the backs of the great ones that you were.”
Envy looked at Hoyeol.
So you can still bear to listen for now.
But how long can you remain upright?
The cruel history of the Claudi family had not even begun.
Envy thought. ‘I respect you from the bottom of my heart.’
Was that not why it had personally devised a scheme?
Akshan.
And Claudi.
Either one alone had been troublesome enough.
Yet he carried both backgrounds.
But Akshan and Claudi.
Those backgrounds were both nothing more than phantoms of the past. ‘You cannot help but waver.’
Envy had faith.
The Claudi family and Akshan.
To bring down those two powers.
It knew the past in which they had reached out to lowly humans.
Because they had endured the humiliation of joining hands with mere humans.
Because it believed that such humiliation had not been in vain.
It could pity him with all its heart.
“Yes, now that I know everything.”
It had become able to transcend itself.
“I can no longer feel envy toward you.”
Molting.
A new form that even it had not known.
No words could be more fitting than saying it had surpassed its limits.
Quite literally, Envy.
It had surpassed its own original sin.
Had it not spread such radiant wings?
Fwoosh!
They were not the gaunt wings of a bat.
They were wings made of black, abundant feathers.
A sight that would evoke despair in humans just by being seen.
“?”
Yet it was strange.
For some reason, from the pitiful survivor of Claudi.
Not even the slightest agitation could be felt.
“The screams of your kin are still vivid in my ears.”
Even when it defiled that family.
“Akshan’s end was utterly insignificant.”
Even when it insulted Akshan.
His upright posture did not collapse in the slightest.
He merely looked at it as if observing it in silence.
……What is that thing babbling about right now? ‘I know full well that Akshan was stabbed in the back.’
Thanks to the demons’ schemes, Akshan had been isolated before the holy war.
I don’t know the exact details.
But they were annihilated without leaving so much as a trace.
And yet. ‘The Claudi family was also abandoned by the continent?’
The setting of the Claudi family.
I have no way of knowing how much of it was realized, from where to where.
After all, I had only just discovered the ruins of the Claudi mansion.
I had only just begun its restoration.
To put it metaphorically, I had only just taken the first step.
But I could guess. ‘Yunaxus.’
The dragons, including Yunaxus, followed me, saying they had been unable to repay the debt they owed Claudi. Perhaps the setting of the Claudi family had swelled far beyond what I remembered.
But do not misunderstand, demon.
“What is so amusing?”
I, Lee Hoyeol, do not misunderstand.
The cruel history of the Claudi family?
Yes, even that must be no more than part of the setting I wrote down back then. Just because I acknowledge the Claudi family and take responsibility for it does not mean I intend to bury myself in that dark history.
Haven’t I said it over and over?
For my chuunibyou to flare up again now.
I’ve aged far too much.
I’ve tasted far too much of society.
Dark history is not something you immerse yourself in, but something you overcome.
That’s right.
In the end, I only need to be certain of myself.
No matter how long-windedly it mentions the cruel history of the Claudi family. If those words came from the mouth of a demon, Granfell’s attitude would remain unchanged.
I continued speaking to Envy.
“Not a single thing has changed.”
But if the past was that complicated.
It also had to be used at the same time.
At this moment, what covered the area was not the Hidden Piece Envy had manifested.
It was suitable mana.
As you said, it was suitable mana drawn from Claudi’s past, a past worthy of being called a cruel history. The black magic manifested through that suitable mana, 『Black Coffin』, was more than enough to not only steal the five senses, but dominate them.
“You are unable to free yourself from an illusion made only of phantoms.”
That’s right.
From my point of view, the bastard had not changed at all.
It had been struck by Meteor Strike.
Envy was writhing painfully with its body ruined.
Tremble, tremble—
Did it wish to flee before the [Natural Enemy Relationship], which even a Great Evil could not overcome? It was spouting arrogant words. And despite that, it had the nerve to keep babbling.
“Everyone on the continent has turned their backs on you.”
Yes, well.
If you add Akshan’s end to the cruel history of the Claudi family……
Perhaps that statement might not be an exaggeration.
“You know better than anyone, do you not? The race known as humans does not change. They are beings who are of no help to anyone. How can you deny the ‘true truth’?”
The true truth.
That is a phrase I haven’t heard in a while.
Karimzeva, the elder mage and demon worshiper known as the Fire Dragon.
That was probably what he babbled at the very end, wasn’t it?
Back then and even now, I did not know what it meant.
“It is not too late, even now. Join us.”
No, I misspoke.
It was not that I did not know.
I did not even want to know.
After all, every word a demon spits out is bullshit, isn’t it?
There was no need to provide concrete proof.
Even now was proof enough.
“Do you truly think that ‘everyone’ has abandoned me?”
“……What are you talking about?”
Envy’s voice was full of incomprehension.
Then it changed the subject.
I knew without a doubt that it would head in that direction.
“Even those ones, the Shadow Mercenary Corps, are the same, are they not?”
I may not look it, but I’m quick on the uptake.
If I hadn’t even had that, there would have been more than a few times when my mouth would have sent me straight to the underworld. So I had a rough guess. That request from the Great Evil that Kichi had mentioned. ‘That it was related to the destruction of Claudi.’
It must have brought it up while aiming for that.
It probably wanted me to waver.
But that was the worst possible misjudgment.
“You are neither vast nor great, you inferior race.”
Do you still not understand?
“Unlike demons, humans can change.”
“……What?”
“Even if they have made the wrong choice.”
“What absurd nonsense are you……!!”
“If they realize it, they can set it right.”
A living witness is right here, isn’t he?
A puberty that nearly went astray.
I, Lee Hoyeol, who overcame my dark history properly.
Of course, I am not generalizing based on only my own case.
Shiiiiing—!
Soon, the sound of wind splitting pierced my ears.
There was no need to confirm the source of the sound.
Nine weapons shining as they reflected the light of dawn.
[You have obtained command authority over the Shadow Mercenary Corps.]
[Shadow Mercenary Captain Wolf Sakarin and the eight members under his command]
[Current Status: A struggle prepared for death]
Thud!
Wolf, who had driven a crossbow bolt into the nape of Envy’s neck, spoke.
“We will take responsibility for our wrongdoing.”
[A ‘Critical Hit’ occurs against the Great Evil, Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins.]
[‘Bleeding’ occurs against the Great Evil, Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins.]
[‘Stun’ occurs against the Great Evil, Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins.]
…….
I continued speaking to Envy.
“Did I not tell you?”
“……Kugh?”
“Not to look down on human pride.”
“……!!!”
[‘Fear’ occurs against the Great Evil, Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins.]