The latter half of the game.
In a world steeped in despair, there was almost nothing one could call good news.
On the rare days when a few scraps of good news did arrive, bad news would invariably swell by dozens of times and come pouring down as if in retaliation.
For instance,
- They say the Lord of Flame annihilated the Abyss monsters that appeared in Imenia.
On a day when such news spread,
- The kingdom of Pieria has fallen. The Thousand-Year Ice they protected was shattered, and crimson blood was scattered across the pure white snow, dyeing it red.
- No news comes from the commercial kingdom of Achaia anymore, either. Even their vaunted Golden Tower was of no use.
Stories like that would inevitably follow.
As if the very sight of people holding on to hope was unbearable.
But just once.
Amid the days when countless bad tidings and rumors raged like a storm, there was a single day.
A day when all the noisy chatter sank into silence.
A day when everyone fell quiet and lowered their heads.
- Sword Saint Vitalianus Mahel. The great star of the sword has fallen.
Because there was no worse news than that.
Once they heard that news, there was no room left to prattle on about anything else.
The radiant star who, ever since the world had fallen into this state, had always stood firm at the vanguard of every battlefield.
The great hero who did not give up even when the emperor himself turned his back on the people, raising a golden aura instead.
Even such a hero had died.
Only then did it truly sink in.
Ah, there is no hope.
With the symbol of hope, their spiritual pillar, collapsed, destruction accelerated all the more.
And it was not long after such rumors spread that Hio, who was then the Supreme Heavenly Demon, went to find the Black Mist.
There was no other reason he sought out Black Fang, which had gone quiet at some point.
Had it not been for the Sword Saint’s final request, the great hero’s final request, he would not have gone out of his way to find Ataolf in such a busy time.
He pushed through the mist of Baal Forest, hunting the few demonic beings that still remained, and thus arrived at the center of the forest. A small gray castle.
Ataolf was at the top of that castle.
With empty eyes that seemed to gaze at nothing at all.
They did not exchange any grand words.
Only a few.
He conveyed the few words Vitalianus had wished to tell his friend, and Ataolf burst into laughter.
After laughing like that for a long while, the words he spoke next were something even the Supreme Heavenly Demon of that time already knew.
Because he had already heard them from the Sword Saint.
So when he said as much, Ataolf burst into laughter once more. It was laughter that sounded rather sorrowful.
Then he pulled an old sword from one corner and examined it this way and that.
It had not been maintained and was rusted in places, but originally, it must have been quite a decent sword.
- Did you know? I embedded an artifact into this worn-out old sword. It is the secret of the mist that pervades Baal Forest.
Though it was quite a tremendous secret, he was not particularly surprised.
Because by then, such things no longer mattered.
At the Supreme Heavenly Demon’s reaction, Ataolf chuckled, then gripped the old sword upside down.
He aimed the tip of the blade at his own heart.
- Then do you know this as well?
The symbol of terror that had drenched the continent in blood.
The final words left behind by the worst and strongest villain of the age lingered in his memory for a very long time.
- The truth is, I wanted to become a hero.
And so, rumors spread through the world once more.
Rumors, slightly different from the truth, that the Lord of Flame had killed Ataolf of the Black Mist.
The continent’s worst villain was finally dead.
But there were not many who rejoiced.
Because hope had died before him.
* * *
Ataolf, the leader of Black Fang, the continent’s worst criminal organization.
And Airaitz, who commanded an organization no less formidable than his.
If he had to summarize his newlywed life with these two villains, it was a complete mess.
“I love you!”
Airaitz burrowed into his arms and kissed him on the cheek.
At that soft touch and sweet scent, desire surged up within him.
But if he surrendered to it, it would be the end forever. Countless people, including Vitalianus, must have been waiting for this dreadful mist to clear.
The moment he was completely caught by the charm, there was no telling what Airaitz might do.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Patience: 356 / 1000)]
He had to suppress the surging desire, endure, and outwardly continue acting as though he had fallen in love.
“I love you too, Airaitz.”
If there was one small mercy, it was that Airaitz did not make any particularly unreasonable demands.
Well, in truth, he had no idea how that might change with time, but for now, she seemed satisfied with merely hearing him say he loved her all day long.
“Could you not do that ridiculous nonsense where I can see it? It is severely disturbing my rest.”
Ataolf spoke in a low voice, his expression crumpling.
But his words had no effect whatsoever on Airaitz.
“What? You go somewhere else. You’re the one interrupting us while we’re making love.”
“…How irritating.”
In the end, it was Ataolf who left.
Making love… The wording was a bit strange, but in any case, he did not seem to suspect that Hio had fallen under the charm.
“He’s such a weird person. Right, Hio?”
“…Right. What kind of bastard is that?”
“Hehe. I love you!”
“Yeah. I love you too.”
After they carried on that nauseating act for a while, Ataolf would turn into black mist and leave the castle.
It was not because the sight was too sickening for him to bear, but to hinder the imperial army and the Sword Saint as they slowly advanced.
And that moment was the only time Hio could move to search for the artifact.
“I love you!”
“…Release it already.”
“Tch.”
Fortunately, if it could be called that, Airaitz released the skill and cooperated obediently in searching for the artifact.
Well, if he heightened the effect of his trait and used Cancellation, there was no reason he could not break the charm himself, but it would not be easy.
To manifest magic and rebuild a mental barrier when he had already yielded most of his mind required tremendous mental strength.
It would also take quite a long time.
“We have to find it quickly. He’ll be back soon.”
Unlike Hio, who moved urgently, Airaitz moved leisurely, smiling all the while.
“Yeah. We should.”
He had no intention of criticizing even that.
With that unpredictable personality of hers, the fact that she was cooperating at all was already something.
“Look for places where an old sword might be.”
When he visited this place in the game, Ataolf had already kept that old sword by his side.
Now, however, many things were different from back then, so he had to search for it himself.
The mist that covered the entire vast Baal Forest.
And not ordinary mist, either, but mist that robbed one of cognition and a sense of direction the closer one drew to the center.
Since it was an artifact capable of producing such an effect, there should have been traces of powerful mana, and so he had expected it to be easy to track… but it was not as simple as he had thought.
The first reason was that it was not simply mana; Ataolf’s power was mixed into it as well.
If the mist had been maintained purely by the artifact’s power alone, there would have been no need to go through all this trouble.
The second was that there were quite a lot of artifacts inside the castle.
Black Fang had reigned as a symbol of terror for decades. The vast wealth, treasures, and artifacts they had acquired during that time were piled up inside the castle.
So searching through that place was one method, but Hio passed by the room where the artifacts were piled with a certain conviction.
It was an action based on his intuition.
The intuition that Ataolf would not have left his old sword in that place.
And the third reason it was difficult to trace the mana was—
“…This was a Wizard’s House.”
Because this small gray castle was a Wizard’s House.
“Seriously, there were Wizard’s Houses all over the world. Even in the middle of a forest like this.”
- Hehehe. Was it not the age when we wizards ruled the world? It is only natural.
At Hio’s muttering to himself, Airaitz tilted her head.
“Hm? A Wizard’s House?”
“…Never mind. Don’t worry about it and hurry up and find somewhere a sword might be.”
He urged her on, but unfortunately, the time they had been given was over.
Ataolf had returned.
As if she had been waiting for it, Airaitz immediately activated her charm.
「Trait - ‘Can’t Live Without Style!’ has activated」
The trait instantly raised a wall, and when he pushed that wall back to make room for the charm, desire once again began to take control of his mind.
That entire sequence unfolded in an instant.
“Why did you come back so soon? We were just getting to the good part.”
Airaitz narrowed her eyes prettily and glared at Ataolf.
Her real body should have been so weak that one gesture from Ataolf would be enough to kill her, yet that boldness of hers, not caring in the slightest, was almost astonishing.
“Be quiet.”
Ataolf passed by Airaitz as though used to it.
This time, too, there was no particular sign of suspicion.
“Then shall we go into the room and continue what we were doing?”
Hio wrapped his arms around Airaitz as she naturally clung to him and nodded.
“Let’s.”
“Yeah. I love you!”
“I love you too, Airaitz.”
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Patience: 373 / 1000)]
He pressed down the boiling desire that wanted to give in to temptation, enduring and enduring again.
* * *
That process repeated itself again and again.
Day or night, Ataolf left the castle, and Hio and Airaitz searched inside during those openings.
But the time Ataolf spent outside was extremely brief.
That was only natural, since his purpose was to slow the army’s advance, whittle down the Sword Saint’s strength, and buy time for himself to recover.
“…Where the hell is it?”
Even though they kept searching during those brief windows of time, there was no telling where he had put it.
“All that’s left is the warehouse where the artifacts are piled up……”
“Wouldn’t that be a bit dangerous?”
“That’s the problem.”
The reason it had not been an issue even if Ataolf returned while they were roaming around was that there was nothing in the other rooms.
But a warehouse of sorts, filled with artifacts, was different. It was packed with all kinds of treasures, wealth, and artifacts, so searching it would take a long time, and if Ataolf returned while they were near it, he would have no choice but to suspect their intentions.
“Tsk… That aside, I really don’t think it’s there.”
There was such a thing as a feeling.
Though it had been inside a game. Though all he had seen was through a monitor screen. But now, he knew this had not been a mere game.
The feeling when Ataolf took his own life. That empty atmosphere.
What had he wanted?
How had he ended up becoming the villain of the age?
Why had he kept the old sword he had used decades ago all this time?
What state of mind had he been in when he gripped the sword upside down and stabbed himself through the heart?
Perhaps Ataolf had—
Ataolf, the strongest and worst villain on the continent, had—
“Maybe he wanted someone to stop him.”
Perhaps he had wanted someone to stop him, now that he could no longer go back, now that he could no longer undo what he had done no matter how he tried.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“…Follow me.”
At the thought that flashed through his mind, Hio crossed the corridor and headed for the stairs.
He bounded up the stairs, and after climbing several more floors, another narrow staircase leading to the top of the spire appeared.
Once he climbed even that, the highest point of the castle was revealed.
A place with a fine view, where he would have been able to see in every direction if not for the thick mist.
And the most conspicuous place, one that could have been seen from every direction.
“So it was here.”
The structure of the room felt somehow familiar. In the game, this had been the place where Ataolf chose his own death.
He went straight to the window, stuck his head out, and looked upward.
“As expected.”
He could see it.
An old, old sword stuck into the roof.
And in its hilt, an artifact like obsidian came into view.
“Found it.”
Hio tried to step outside without hesitation.
All he had to do was summon Phantom Steed, turn ethereal, and take the artifact in his hand.
But perhaps he had become too absorbed in that thought.
“…Yeah. You found it.”
Or perhaps he had trusted Airaitz a little, after she had been cooperating so obediently until now.
“Hio Pavlenko.”
At the voice calling his name, he turned back without thinking.
“Come here.”
What filled the room was a sticky scarlet.
A feast of scarlet so dense it could not even be compared to anything he had seen before.
「Trait - ‘Can’t Live Without Style!’ has activated」
The force that ruthlessly pierced through his mental barrier even seemed to contain something faintly resembling will.
“Come to my side and tell me you love me.”
Amid the distant scarlet light, he could just barely make out Airaitz’s figure.
A smile still hung on her lips.
Not the bright smile she had always worn since meeting Hio.
[Hidden Trait: Violence Is Not Allowed! (Patience: 423 / 1000)]
But a smile that somehow seemed a little bitter.