◈ Episode 339. A World Line Without You (2)
It is beyond what I had steeled myself for.[Warning: Your understanding is far too low.]
As if Grandfel’s deep, endlessly dark past alone were not burden enough. It must be because of the warning message that surfaced on top of it. As proof, it feels different from when I entered [Curse, Irresistible Flow].‘What understanding is lacking?’Is it simply lacking because my suitable mana affinity is 0 percent……?
Even if I rack my brain, a single line of message is not enough to grasp its intent.
I cannot accept it right away.
However.[The First World Tree’s Blessing rejects the ‘Warning’.][Warning: Your understanding is far too low.][The First World Tree’s Blessing rejects the ‘Warning’.]…….
Thanks to the World Tree’s boundless favor.
I was able to force my eyes open.
As though I had turned on a channel with the wrong frequency.
My vision is filled with crackling noise.
As if that were not enough, even the point of view feels unfamiliar.‘……It’s getting in the way.’Especially this long hair hanging down feels awkward.
I immediately guessed by instinct.
According to Understanding of Darkness and its effect, I was supposed to face the past.‘Could this be Grandfel’s past point of view?’I recalled Grandfel’s setting.『He is characterized by long, flowing silver hair and handsome features, and in his usual speech and conduct he uses a manner of speaking that conveys the nobility of his status.』Ah, so this is that long, flowing silver hair. To think I considered this cool. It makes me think it wasn’t for nothing that the me of those days liked the demon hunter’s gaudy, trailing outfit.
But.[The past is unstable.]
This message that has been appearing since earlier.
What does it mean that the past is unstable?
As expected, making guesses is the best I can do.
Let me focus on the instability and think about it.
The crackling vision.
The mismatched frequency.
Yes, this is as if……
Grandfel’s past.
Is trying to push me away.‘Well, the situation is different from the darkening.’Even if I am seeing through Grandfel’s point of view.
I do not know whether my voice can reach Grandfel.
Still, as an adult, there is one thing I must say.
Please, don’t even think about carrying everything alone again, will you?‘Because I might have a share in this too!’One must take responsibility for one’s mistakes.
That was the pride of an adult as I, Lee Hoyeol, saw it.
I do not know whether my thoughts reached Grandfel or not.‘How am I supposed to know when he’s always like this?’But one thing is certain.‘……What is that?’My understanding is lacking.
Just as the message said.
Perhaps my understanding of Grandfel was lacking.
Because.
Within my violently swaying vision, I saw it.
Silver hair.
The hair of Claudi.
The back of a man.
And to me.
From his back alone.
I could not identify who the man was, and he spoke.
“I hate you, Grandfel.”
The annihilation of the great house, Claudi.
After awakening as a player, I had thought countless times about the setting I had written down. Especially as I discovered one trace of Claudi after another, that question only grew larger.
Just how did Claudi fall?
One could tell merely by their deeds.
They had simply not shown themselves on the continent.
To the old powers of the Arcana Continent, including dragons and elves, Claudi’s greatness remained unchanged.
Even the four houses, each possessing military strength beyond that of an empire, could not properly raise their heads before the name of Claudi.
That was why I.
Even though I had written it with my own hand, even though I wanted to look away from it.
On the other hand, I had been curious.
How exactly had the annihilation of the Claudi family, which seemed impossible to bring about even if one tried, been realized?
And now, at last, I came to know.‘What kind of ridiculous melodrama is this……!!’Yes.
In trashy dramas, the thing that always resolves plausibility is a secret of birth, a story tangled with blood relations! Claudi’s enemy was not outside.
The annihilation of Claudi clearly began from within, by that unidentified man.
As if answering my thoughts, the man continued.
“I remember your eyes from when you were young, when you held my hand and looked at me. Even then, you were looking down on me. With those arrogant eyes that are no different from now.”
Let me put to use the eye I developed from peeking over shoulders at the absurd dramas Madam Choi Kanghee and my sisters watched together. I don’t know who he is, but from that line just now, I can tell one thing.‘First of all, he’s older than Grandfel.’Thanks to that, I could even guess the circumstances behind his hatred.
“Yes. Those were the eyes of a family head. Something I could never have.”
So that was it after all.『There was a proper reason why Grandfel was chosen as the successor of the family at the mere age of seven.』That unidentified man.
Had truly hated the fact that a seven-year-old brat had stolen the position of family head from him.
If I try to understand how he feels, it is not entirely impossible to understand.
Even in my opinion, Grandfel was so outstanding it was almost hateful.
Judging by his fierce reaction, he must have been quite sincere about wanting the position of family head.
But.
Even so.
Isn’t it too much for an adult to hurl abuse at a little kid?
Step—The man moved away, leaving his final words behind.
“Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, accursed head of the Claudi family. I sincerely hope you protect the Claudi family until the very end. Until the day I come to visit you once again, that is.”
With that sarcastic honorific tone as the end.
Bzzzzzzzt—!
My vision began to shake violently.[The past is unstable.]
Along with the message, the scenery began to change.
Only now did I understand why my field of vision had been subtly different.
Unlike before, my point of view was clearly higher.
So just now had been a memory from Grandfel’s childhood, before he had fully grown.‘Then from now on……’I must have come to a relatively recent past.
Indeed, aside from the noise, there is no sense of incongruity in the point of view.
It is just that the background glimpsed at a glance is shockingly unbelievable.
Claudi’s territory.
“Y-you must…… flee……. My lord…….”
The man, who must have been one of Claudi’s retainers, said that and breathed his last.
When I shifted my gaze, I saw the burning Claudi mansion.
I saw a garden splattered with blood.
The fountain spouted blood instead of water.
It was the memory of “that day,” when Claudi was annihilated.
The moment I realized it.‘!’My body staggered. Only then did I realize that this body, tottering precariously, was terribly slick and heavy. It was because it was soaked with blood flowing from a body hacked apart.‘This……’How many percent of blood must leave the human body before one dies? Regrettably, as a liberal arts major, I do not know the exact figure. But there are limits.‘……Isn’t this dangerous?’The amount of blood loss had not only soaked my clothes, but drenched the entire area, and that was enough for me to be certain. It would not be strange if he had already collapsed, fainted, or long since stopped breathing from this much blood loss.‘So you really had been obsessed with sinking from back then.’Grandfel was standing upright in such a body.
Whether it was because of pride, because of formality, or if neither of those.
Whether it was because of the man before him, I could not know.
It was definitely the man I had just seen.
This time, not his back, but his front.
However, I could not examine his face in detail.
The crackling noise remained, and perhaps because of all the blood lost.
My senses had grown hazy, so I could not even focus properly.
Of all times to show me, it had to be at a moment like this.‘Would something go wrong if it started just a little earlier?’I might have been able to obtain even a little more information.
The only information I could gather in this state was…… that the man had come to pay off the foreshadowing he threw down earlier. Just as I swallowed my regret, a voice came.
“You failed to protect it, Grandfel.”
It goes without saying, but I do not care about that sort of deception.
This is not an opportunity that comes often.
I bring Grandfel’s setting to mind once again.『Though he was the successor of a great family, that family fell to a demon. Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, hereafter Grandfel, the sole survivor of the family……』That’s right.
In the fallen territory of Claudi exists the demon that led the Claudi family to extinction.
Of course, I already knew that the great evils, the Seven Deadly Sins, were connected to the annihilation. After all, they were the ones who commissioned the Shadow Mercenary Corps to assassinate Grandfel’s older sister.
However.‘The Seven Deadly Sins alone couldn’t do it.’Greed and Envy.
I have already hunted two of the great evils, the Seven Deadly Sins.
Thanks to that experience, I can estimate it.
Claudi, as I know it, is not a family that would stagger even if all seven sins rushed at them. A demon that far surpasses the power of the Seven Deadly Sins is involved in Claudi’s annihilation.
But even this time, damn it.‘I can’t even see right in front of my nose, so what am I supposed to look at……’……
So my dark history is not easy to understand, is it!
As I had grumbled earlier.
On top of the noise, the flowing blood now began to cover my eyes.
The only thing I could see properly was one thing.[The past is unstable.]
Only the message that had been blinking since earlier.
Footsteps gradually drew closer.
The man was approaching Grandfel.
Step—I could be certain. That was a gait filled with killing intent.
But there was no reason to be afraid.‘Grandfel didn’t die here.’Yes, he did not die.
Because he survived and has been tormenting me until now, hasn’t he? At this timing, a loyal retainer or some force serving Claudi will appear and save Grandfel from danger.
Step.
Step.
Step.……
That is how it should be.
Yet somehow, even as the man continued to draw closer.
There was no sign of anyone.
“Do you see it, Grandfel? This is the result of you stealing my seat as head of the family. Look with those eyes, so unbearably arrogant. Look upon Claudi’s end.”
A distance at which he could easily take Grandfel’s life in his dying state.
Even while the man spat out his deception.
No savior appeared to rescue Grandfel.
The man spoke in a voice that sounded as if his interest had cooled.
“As expected, conversing with you is not enjoyable in the slightest.”
Shing—The sound of metal scraping pierced my eardrums.
“Now it even gives me chills. How can you remain utterly unshaken in every situation? Look properly, Grandfel. Everyone in Claudi except you is dead. The Claudi family was annihilated because of your arrogance. Is this not a situation where even atoning with tears would not be enough?”
Thud—The blade the man thrust out as though to rebuke him pierced Grandfel’s chest.
If that blade had been aimed at his neck……?
Grandfel would have died instantly.
At that point, I could be certain.
In Claudi’s territory on that day.
No one came to save Claudi.
No one came to save Grandfel.
“So you will not even scream? I understand.”
Shing—A sword gripped not in one hand, but with both.
Was it because I had grown accustomed enough to the sword to handle sword aura?
Just from his stance, the next scene unfolded vividly in my mind as though painted there. If he swung with all his strength like that, Grandfel’s neck and head would be separated. Like what is commonly called a beheading.
There was not the slightest hesitation in the man’s actions.
Swoosh—!
At last, the sword came rushing in.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
This was clearly Grandfel’s past.
A situation in which no one came to save him?
Looking back, it was not impossible to understand.
Even the dragons had been sincerely repenting over the fact that they had been unable to take any action on “that day.” So there was only one question in this situation.……
How on earth did Grandfel survive?
No, more than that.‘If Grandfel dies like this, what happens to me?’I recalled the memory from [Curse, Irresistible Flow].‘Baal definitely reacted after hearing my loose tongue.’And whether thanks to that or not.
—“Why are you wasting that immense sacrifice, Baal!! Do you know how great a sacrifice the Demon World paid for this day? The Demon World cannot be satisfied with the Seorn Continent alone. Fulfill the contract. Open the gate to the Arcana Continent with that sword!!”
The Arcana Continent was able to remain safe.‘Then isn’t the opposite situation also possible……?’I cannot be certain.
But with my life on the line.
If there is even a one percent possibility.
I can no longer stay still.
Fine.
It does not matter if no one comes to save Grandfel.
At this very moment.
I am here.
More precisely.『Though he was the successor of a great family, that family fell to a demon. Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, hereafter Grandfel, the sole survivor of the family……』I, Lee Hoyeol, who added an unnecessary line after that lonely background.『Walked the path of a demon hunter in order to take revenge on that demon.』It is possible, Hoyeol.
You confirmed it thanks to that bastard Baal, didn’t you?
The curse is so damned twisted.
That it can even interfere with the past.
That if the past is changed, the history of reality can change as well.
So.
My.
No.
Our vision flickers.[Skill, ‘Natural Enemy Relationship’ is activated.]
The mouth that had been firmly shut moves.
“Do not make me say it again and again.”
“……What?”
“Do not dare try to test my patience.”
Now I can see properly.
I thought it would be so after all.
It was you, the demon who drove Claudi to ruin.
The symbol of possession.
Looking at the man’s blackened pupils, I spoke coldly.
“I do not converse with prey.”