◈ Chapter 368. Taking Up the Brush (1)
Click.
The magnificent staircase was more than enough to put me deep in thought.
-“……
C, c, c, Claudy?!”
Ulrich, the orc I had encountered in the Mythic Quest.
The reason Ulrich had been so horrified upon seeing me was simple.
-“W, what is it you want from us……!”
Apparently, he had been thoroughly tormented by a Claudy other than me. The purpose of a Mythic Quest was to interfere with the past and bring forth a new reality.
In the distant past, Claudy had not been wiped out. The existence and immense influence of another Claudy might have been enough to make even savage orcs tremble in fear.
However.
-“Have you not already taken our lives as well?!”
Ulrich’s reaction was more familiar to me than that.
It was not awe, but fear. As a demon hunter, I had seen humans who had grown sick of demons, and I had watched the terrified faces of demons confronted by their natural enemies.
Thanks to that, I could smell it.
This was something that could never exist in the Claudy vocabulary.
Claudy was different.
Shall I compare it to the Tower of Magic, the strongest military force on the Arcana Continent?
Even if Claudy’s influence on the Arcana Continent had been comparable to that of the Tower of Magic, the Claudy I knew did not harm others simply to achieve its goals.
Even if they were orcs.
-“You want me to tell you everything exactly as it happened? Are you truly saying that you do not know what happened? Claudy, a man with the same silver hair as you……!”
Swallowing his rage, Ulrich told me everything that had happened.
It was closer to humiliation.
No, to be precise, it was closer to a demon’s mockery.
-“He took the lives of my fellow orcs.”
As a demon hunter, I could be certain.
The Claudy who had approached the orcs was a demon.
The first person who came to mind was undoubtedly the man I had encountered in the Claudy domain on ‘that day.’
The man who had declared his hatred for Grandfel because he coveted the position of head of the family, and who had driven Claudy to ruin.
Yet the pieces did not fit.
For the man to have fallen into corruption, there had been a clear catalyst.
Grandfel had been chosen as the next head of the family.‘That means this happened in the future, beyond the timeline of the Mythic Quest.’
It was my experience that sorted out the thoughts that could have become hopelessly tangled.
That’s right, the Arcana Continent I had traversed to resolve Marcelo’s terminal condition. The curse of the Simuard family I had encountered there.‘……
Yula Simuard.’
The demon who had impersonated Yula Simuard and devoured the family with a terminal curse.
Could such a cunning demon have been the only one, Yula?
What if there had been a demon like Yula within Claudy as well?
The story fell into place.
Suppose that demon had passed down its lineage through Claudy’s bloodline and possessed the man.
Then it all made sense.
Why even Grandfel, of all people, had been powerless before the man who had driven his family to destruction.
The great Claudy family had been slowly eaten away by a demon from long ago. For Grandfel, who had been the heir to the family, that must have been an unacceptable reality.
But what mattered was that I, Lee Hoyeol, had learned the truth. That’s right. No matter how tragic the history, if it concerned the Claudy family, to me it was nothing more than an embarrassing chapter in the past……!
Above all, it was a setting that could very well exist.
Chuunibyou, a family secret, a tragic protagonist……
It would not have been strange for him to be crazy about such things.‘My tastes back then were……’
Whether through the Understanding of Darkness or the highest-grade spacetime request.
I was now capable of changing even that tragic history. That was why I did not hesitate.
I revoked the orders issued by Claudy to Ulrich and the orcs, and corrected the atrocities committed by the nameless Claudy—the demon.
-“May I dare ask your name?”
Overwhelmed with emotion, Ulrich asked me that.
So I answered proudly.
I told him I was Lee Hoyeol.
And then he repaid my kindness with enmity.
-“Lee Hoyeol Claudy……!”
……
You people really have no prejudice, do you?
Not even about how bizarre the name sounded.
Well, perhaps that sort of perspective did not exist for you at all?![You have completed the quest.][Your relationship with the orc race has risen dramatically.][Your influence over the orc race has risen dramatically.][The status of the orc race is changing.]
And so, the first Mythic Quest came to an end.
The relationship and influence that had risen through my meeting with Ulrich.
I still did not know what changes they would bring about now, but……
Tick─
At the sound of the second hand reaching my ears, I sensed it instinctively.
It was time to return once more to the top floor of the spacetime social hall.
So, without forgetting, I asked him.
If he had asked for my name as well,
then he must have asked the demon who called himself Claudy for his name too.
In response to my question, Ulrich answered:
-“Pride. That was definitely what he called himself.”
Pride.
That was when I became certain.
A fool bold enough to extend his claws into the Claudy family?
A demon incapable of understanding his own place.
A ‘Grand Evil’ who pretended to be great despite being a mere demon—there could be no other.
And so I spoke.
-“Is that not right, Grand Evil Pride of the Seven Sins?”
If this had been in the past, I would have whined about how I was supposed to find a Grand Evil across the vast Arcana Continent.
But not anymore.
Whoosh─!
Tempest, the guardian spirit of Aksan that appeared wrapped in hellfire.‘……
Still, it is fortunate that your name is not undeserved.’
An appearance worthy of that resplendent name, befitting Aksan’s figurehead.
Tempest rubbed its head against my hand.
I stroked Tempest appropriately.
Only enough that no fur would cling to my clothes……‘Anyway, what a relief.’
What did you mean, “ask as much as you like”? You really meant it……!!
Perhaps my troubled expression had been rather serious.
Or perhaps they had overheard me.
Maybe they had decided among themselves that they were not qualified to ask questions.
“……
Gulp.”
Everyone merely swallowed dryly.
Not a single person in the mansion approached me.
Thanks to that, I was able to make it safely outside the mansion.‘……
The future will be a problem too, but in any case.’
I immediately removed two of the jewels decorating the Dawn Jacket and held them out to Tempest.
They were not real jewels.[Neutral Parasitic Lifeform Envy][Neutral Parasitic Lifeform Lust]
The Seven Sins.
As could be seen from the set item,
they were like siblings, beings born from primordial evil.
Naturally, they must have carried similar scents, no?
Sniff, sniff─!
I intended to track Pride using the scents left behind by Envy and Lust.
Of course, the same applied to the other members of the Seven Sins.
If I encountered them, I would have to hunt them without hesitation.‘Even if I can’t handle the High Demon Kings, Grand Evils should be manageable.’
They were demons growing ever stronger in reality.
And in that reality, I had already hunted three Grand Evils, including Greed.
There were four remaining, meaning they outnumbered the ones I had killed, but my attitude remained unchanged.
I adjusted my clothing once more.
After placing the two jewels on my jacket, I opened my mouth.
I commanded Tempest.
“From this moment forward, you may howl as much as you like, Tempest.”
Awoooooooooo!!
Tempest immediately answered with a howl.
The cry of a natural enemy in the truest sense.
The demons of the continent would have no choice but to tremble in fear.
Some might ask: Wouldn’t such a conspicuous display alert the Grand Evils and cause them to hide somewhere?
Well, that was not wrong.‘What do you mean, hide?’
They would pull every dirty trick imaginable.
They might even cause chaos to distract me.
No, they certainly would. Considering the traits of the growing demon-type monsters, the Grand Evils would manipulate the Arcana Continent more skillfully than most humans.
Even knowing that,
if someone asked why I was racing across the continent while advertising my presence like this……
It was because I had confidence.
Because of that damned pride.
Because I had something I could rely on.
Even if that were not the case,
“Those who worry about being noticed are prey, not hunters.”
It was probably Aksan’s stubbornness, or something.
In that sense, Tempest obeyed very loyally.
It howled so thunderously
that legends themselves were trembling……![The legend ‘Hero of the New Age, the Legend of Aksan’ is spreading even more widely across the Arcana Continent.]
The legend was another well I had dug.
That well was being filled, but I could not rejoice without reservation.
A rumor that Aksan had returned was spreading across the Arcana Continent?
To make that overestimation a reality,
I would inevitably have to shoulder another burden.
A sigh was swallowed down of its own accord.‘It seems I’ll have to make that ridiculous rumor about me being Aksan’s leader a reality too.’
I had only just escaped the crisis of being elected Tower Master by parachute, and now it was Aksan?
I wanted to shut Tempest’s mouth right away.
But I could not revoke an order I had already given for such a petty reason.
Awoooooooooo─!
……
Thanks to you, my ears are itching terribly, Tempest.*Grand Evils.
Seven siblings born from primordial evil.
Pure evil knows no brotherly affection.
When Greed met its foolish end, they had all poured scorn upon it.
Yet one brother had fallen into Hell, then two, then three.
The demon hunter who had sent three of the seven to Hell
had even learned the horrifying truth that they were connected to Claudy.
Gnaw, gnaw─
Gluttony of the Seven Sins bit at his fingernails. He had bitten them so fiercely that all ten fingers were already stained with blood. No matter how ceaselessly he moved his mouth, the extreme anxiety did not fade.
Then, suddenly—
Awoooooo─……!
“……!”
The howl of a beast rang in his ears.
Gluttony trembled in terror at Tempest’s howl, having forgotten even that he had possessed a human and hidden himself in an inn in a small village.
As if that were not enough, he snapped at the innkeeper.
“Didn’t you hear it? I’m asking if you can’t hear that howl!!”
“What? Hey, you there. If you’re drunk, lie down and sleep it off.”
“……!”
Crack, crack─
Not a single fingernail remained. The flesh had been torn away as well, and from then on, only the sound of bone striking bone could be heard around Gluttony’s mouth.
Forgetting even the dignity of a gourmet, Gluttony desperately racked his brains.
“……
There’s no choice but cannibalism.”
To escape the pursuit of his natural enemy,
to conceal his own scent,
he had no choice but to scatter blood.
But Gluttony knew.
He could not be the only one trembling in fear.‘Even if the mongrels cannot understand this terror.’
His bloodline, the Seven Sins, would be trembling in the same fear as him.
As his siblings and as himself, he knew that much.
They, too, would evade their natural enemy’s pursuit in their own ways.
“Let’s synchronize our efforts, you damned brothers.”
Drip, drip.
Gluttony staggered out of the inn, his hands limp at his sides.
Blood soaked the ground.
The innkeeper’s face was painted with shock.
“Th-that crazy bastard, what the hell is he?!”
The innkeeper angrily chased after him, but Gluttony paid him no heed.
He merely began to activate his Authority, Cannibalism.
A sinister voice spilled from Gluttony’s mouth.
“Eat and be eaten. Those who survive shall take flesh and blood, and inherit my Authority. Eat and be eaten. Hunger without end, devour without end. In the end, we shall devour the world. Eat and be eaten by one another. If there is nothing left to swallow, tear off and eat your own flesh.”
Creeping, creeping.
An uncontrollable negative energy flowed from Gluttony.
The anger vanished from the innkeeper’s eyes.
No, the vitality vanished.
A hollow voice spilled from the innkeeper’s mouth.
“Eat, and be eaten……”
It was unmistakably a status ailment.
And the innkeeper was not the only one affected.
In the small village, its mere few hundred human inhabitants gathered around Gluttony.
Drool ran from their mouths.
They gazed at one another, swallowing hungrily.
Gluttony murmured one last time.
“The festival of this small village shall shake the continent……!”
However, there was one being who shattered the revelry of the festival that had finally begun.
Red eyes that did not lose their focus, but instead shone even more sharply from within the darkness hanging over the village.
“What is this, a festival?”
He could not sense even the slightest negative emotion from them.
They merely surveyed the village with their red eyes.
A subordinate reported to the man who appeared to be their leader.
“It does not appear to be a festival by any definition.”
“Is that so? Well, given the state of the continent, I suppose that makes sense.”
Soon, the man’s gaze turned toward Gluttony.
Gluttony did not recognize them.
Even if one had lived for a period approaching eternity, the Arcana Continent was vast. It was impossible to know every faction. Even more so if they were factions that had been unable to reveal their presence because they were overwhelmingly powerful.
A major power.
The red-eyed clan, Dune.
Their leader, Shahin Dune, smiled as he looked at Gluttony.
“Then I suppose it must be a funeral!”
Gluttony stopped his recitation and looked at Shahin Dune.
Because he had sensed something extraordinary.
But no matter how extraordinary he was, he was still human.
Gluttony spoke to Shahin Dune.
“You are slow to understand, nameless one.”
This body’s hospitality.
Cannibalism.
How could he fail to understand fine dining?
The howl of his natural enemy still rang in his ears.
He needed to deal with this intruder quickly.
Gluttony was just about to subjugate Shahin Dune and the red-eyed clan when—
Shing!
Shahin Dune elegantly raised his curved saber.
“You’re slow to understand. I wonder who that remark truly applies to.”
“……
What?”
“How could I fail to recognize my own funeral?”
“……!!”
Shahin Dune’s words that followed
were more than enough to freeze Gluttony in place.
That was right.
“As Claudy told us, demons truly are incredibly foolish.”
“……
Claudy?”
“Do not sully his name with that filthy mouth of yours.”
The picture was already being drawn.
Even the Grand Evils……
A vast design so immense that even they could not recognize it.