Chapter 108: Chapter 108: Thinning (4)

“Well…”

I intentionally pulled up the corners of my lips. It was a deception to obscure the truth by making it seem plausible.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised.

He could have suspicions, but how did he reach such certainty through reasoning? Nothing came to mind immediately.

With Phiri, there was also an alibi.

The Imperial Intelligence Agency came to confirm it. Since there were also devil worshippers there, the leader must have heard about it too.

The matter of Chenarus’s assassin was another issue.

The only factor for him to suspect me was that the incident happened on my day off…

Did I miss something? In any case, he didn’t become a leader for nothing.

His intelligence shows in such insights. He’s quite smart.

Absolutely not to be taken lightly.

‘Just looking at how nonchalant he is now proves that.’

The fact that I came for him means a drastic change in Haisen’s actions.

He must know what it means for me to abandon my post as the imperial princess’s knight.

Could he have expected it? That seemed likely. So did he prepare separately?

But there were no signs of anyone approaching nearby. This area was under my Winds.

Because he didn’t know the exact date? Or too risky to gather devil worshippers in the current climate?

Neither seemed convincing.

‘Either he is confident he can survive, or he has faith in something.’

The leader’s feeble appearance bothered me. Why did he become like that? There must be a reason.

The devil should have descended. He should have become stronger after the unholy baptism.

With my top condition. Plus senses sharpened sixfold, I stared at the leader.

He is not stronger than me. And he is not concealing his power either.

He just became weakened.

I can feel it. The leader also knows we are unequal in power. Since I’m not hiding my power.

‘I wonder why.’

Yet his face remains tranquil. Could he feign such composure in this situation through acting?

Unlikely. It bothers me. An ominous abnormal sign. A variable beyond what I anticipated.

The leader sat quietly with his mouth shut. That weighed on me even more heavily.

Should I just kill him?

A weakened opponent. That would be easy. And time is urgent too. The problem is something is holding me back.

Just what could the leader be hiding?

“Can I ask one thing?”

“By all means.”

“Why are you so unconcerned?”

I asked directly but the leader was no fool. I didn’t expect to get meaningful information from him in this situation.

I just wanted to relieve my frustration somehow.

Although physically I have the advantage, psychologically I do not. Better to acknowledge that.

On the off chance, he might let his guard down. I observed the leader’s reaction.

The leader spun his dagger once with an expressionless face, then shrugged.

“Because I have planted the seeds. Now I just need to wait for the flowers to bloom.”

As expected. Vague, metaphorical words.

It could simply mean preparations are complete for the future. The leader chuckled.

“Also, my life is used for the grand plan. I have no regrets dying today either.”

Words a common zealot might say.

Reckless disregard for one’s life can be found on Earth too occasionally.

But the leader made one mistake. And that is I played Valhǫll for quite a while.

I felt I knew what seeds he meant.

‘The devil’s seeds.’

Can’t be a hundred percent certain but the likelihood is over ninety percent. More of an educated guess, but the situation fits.

I quickly racked my brains.

Derek was a playable character in the game. He wasn’t in such a feeble state.

If my assumptions were correct, this was a variable I’d created.

I’d introduced many variables, but in this situation, there was only one person it pointed to.

“So, you planted the devil’s seeds in the empress’s body.”

“…The devil’s seeds? What’s that?”

For a moment, shock flashed in Derek’s eyes. Did Derek feel a similar sensation when he first saw me?

Back then, I was equally astonished.

Of course, that expression could also be a deception.

Seasoned spies know how to manipulate their opponent’s psyche with falsehoods. I did the same earlier.

But in this case, the likelihood that my intuition was wrong is very slim.

Derek couldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams that I knew about the devil’s seeds.

In fact, the devil’s seeds itself only appear in the latter part of the main story in the game.

It was practically something one could only see just before reaching the limit as a player.

‘Things have gotten fucked up.’

The devil’s seeds are the devil’s remnants implanted in a person’s body. That person then becomes the flower pot and vessel for the devil’s descent.

The seeds can bloom depending on the person’s actions even without any special ritual.

In the game, the one with the devil’s seeds relentlessly chased after the empress.

The founding emperor killed the great devil long ago. To take revenge by killing his bloodline and obtaining that blood. That was to make the seeds bloom.

The one who plants the devil’s seeds becomes a cripple.

To keep the devil’s nutrients and vessels intact, the planter bears that backlash.

‘That must be why the leader looks so feeble.’

A calamity brought upon himself. I didn’t expect the snowball I set rolling to hit me in the back of the head like this.

In the game, it was planted in someone else because the empress died.

Frankly, no one would be better than the empress for the devil worshippers. She is the princess’s mother.

Even with the bishop dead, the leader still had ties to the princess making secondary recruitment easy.

I stupidly overlooked that.

It was a self-reproach. But what’s done is done. I should focus on dealing with the immediate problem.

“Let’s stop the lame acting. Derek Ruessfel, or should I say Demorick Ruessfel now?”

The leader’s face betrayed even greater shock. Since that was the name given by the devil when he went north and the devil descended.

His right hand quietly moved under the desk.

“Come to think of it, you were also surprised when we first met.”

“I was? Did I?”

“Who are you?”

“I told you. The Inquisitor.”

Further questioning was meaningless now. The pressed time became even more urgent.

It was impossible to get any more meaningful information from the leader.

I leaped without warning. High speed. Thrust the sword already in my hand forward.

The leader’s reactions were also quick.

Despite his frail body, his eyes followed my sword. Just slow because of his weakened state.

Winds restrained the leader’s right hand that went under the desk. My sword slashes over the leader’s neck.

‘Huh?’

At the very last moment, Derek made a sinister smile. Even as he was about to die. That scene was etched into my brain.

Thud- the severed neck bounced and rolled around the office floor. Blood sprayed from the neck stump.

What was it? Pondering, I stopped the blood flow with the Winds. I did not search the leader’s body or nearby drawers. Nothing would come out anyway.

It’s unlikely they embedded their tattoos into a high-level personnel’s body. Instead, I thought about the pressing issue before me.

‘This is a loss.’

With the empress having the devil’s seeds, the time I hoped to buy may not be possible.

Things could explode before I escape the empire and return.

Yes. The time since the bishop’s death must have been sufficient to brainwash the empress for the leader.

I underestimated the threat.

Because it was a known threat, I mistakenly thought it could be dealt with.

I may not have much time left. Even if the brainwashing is incomplete, it remains the same.

Judging by the leader’s composure, he must have people to brainwash the empress even if he dies.

Always expect the worst. This could unfold tomorrow or next week.

Or…

‘Right now this instant.’

The leader’s last smile is still vivid in my mind. Why did he smile as he was about to die?

It could have been a final deception. Can’t be certain. But my intuition leans that way.

Yes. I can’t leave the capital like this. I must go to the imperial palace now. I know it’s insane.

Since there are two Sword Masters there.

Can I kill the empress and shake off their pursuit afterward? Can’t guarantee that.

But I must do it.

To some degree, I was prepared for this. I even felt the warning of Death Avoidance when I came to the empire.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

And even longer ago, the moment I realized I had fallen into this world, I became someone inseparable from death.

So to survive, I had to be ready to die anytime.

And most important of all…

I must save Erendil.

Suddenly, it felt like my heart sank down. My heart that stopped for a moment pounds up forcefully again.

‘This is…’

I know from having felt it in the sky. It’s the manifestation of the Devil’s Blood.

I wonder what effects it will have.

The answer came right away. Devil’s Blood manifests from desire. My desire to survive awakened the blood.

Because if something happens to Erendil, I too will only await suspended death.

Indescribable excitement. My condition was already optimal, now amplified by the Devil’s Blood.

The senses became even sharper and keener. The area I can detect through Winds expands.

‘This is the power of Devil’s Blood?’

And I could feel the composition of the atmosphere and its subtle flows that I hadn’t before.

The expanded Winds now covered one-seventh of the capital.

Mana circulation accelerates to match the quickened heartbeats. It was hard to contain the overflowing power.

After a run of bad luck, misfortune follows it seems.

The leader made the optimal moves as a devil worshipper.

Subverting the empress and planting the devil’s seeds, then driving me into a trap.

What he missed was that I was a player of the game, and my condition today was optimal.

And even I didn’t expect the manifestation of the Devil’s Blood.

‘Here it comes.’

Expanded senses. Something non-human approached.

Strange signs flit through the shadows. It means the Duke’s confidant is coming.

Without the blood manifestation, I wouldn’t have noticed. Coming to check my escape route?

Unimportant.

No time to deal with them. I must go to the imperial palace. I tore down the dark curtains and jumped out.

The moment I landed, I dashed down the alley. Direction – the imperial citadel.

At the same time, I pull the lever under the leader’s desk through Winds. The means the leader tried to use.

Boom-! The branch exploded.

The princess was strolling in the imperial palace gardens at the empress’s suggestion.

It was late at night but she accepted the offer because she rarely saw the empress lately.

The empress who used to while away her time gardening and having tea without much to do was now busy these days.

The princess felt the empress had changed somewhat. But she attributed it to increased meetings with nobles.

Compared to the past, her mother being noticeably more cheerful also made the princess feel proud.

That’s why she agreed to the empress’s suggestion despite feeling awkward.

“I hear you’ve been avoiding Sir Carl lately.”

But the empress’s abrupt words made the princess’s expression stiffen. She didn’t want to hear about it.

Not just Emmet noticed the change in their relations.

With maidservants and ladies-in-waiting near the princess, and even fencing lessons halted, word spread around the imperial palace.

“That is not true.”

“I heard you even stopped lessons.”

“I did that because I’ve been unwell lately.”

“I see.”

The empress smiled lightly. The princess sighed to herself. Even answering was taxing.

She was trying hard not to think about Carlyn.

She had barely been able to eat after hearing he would leave.

From that day, the princess had been realizing the feelings she kept denying.

At first, she thought him a strange man. Speaking such nonsensical things when truths and lies were indistinguishable.

Without any mystic abilities, she would have taken him for a fraud.

Since he insisted on their first meeting that her becoming emperor would be the path for the continent.

However, everything that followed exceeded human capabilities.

The subjugation and the war.

It was a short time. Yet in just those two events Carlyn completely changed the princess’s position.

‘Unbelievable things.’

In truth, apart from her mother, the princess was the one treated properly by almost no one in the imperial family.

Because of her looks, she had continually received only lust from men.

But not anymore now. From the powerful nobles of the empire to outstanding knights, they fretted over saying even one wrong word to her.

Carl Schurtafen made her into this person.

Of course, she didn’t harbor such feelings from the beginning.

He was certainly a handsome man. But there were dozens more attractive men who lusted after her compared to Carlyn.

‘When did it begin?’

When he saved her life? The princess shook her head to herself.

If she had to point it out, it was probably from the subjugation. When he charged at the rushing gigantic monster on a swift horse.

Yes. That was the beginning of change. As the results of the subjugation changed, the princess began to find the changes surrounding her interesting.

Looking back, Carl Schurtafen lay at the center of her living vigorously.

‘He is someone I…’

Like. It was a shameful thing she couldn’t even think to herself. Her face flushed even now. Concealed only by the darkness of night.

She knew of the feeling deep down.

She was scared and ashamed to directly face her own emotions, so she hid it and hid it.

Only when she heard he was leaving could she properly see it.

That moment. Suddenly, the surroundings became noisy. Someone was running toward them under the moonlight amidst loud voices.

The princess recognized it was Carlyn even from afar. His hair color was recognizable in the moonlight despite different garb.

‘Why is Schurtafen here? What for?’

But the vibe of the approaching Carlyn was not what she knew. Ominous wickedness.

There was bloodlust to some degree.

The chill she felt when riding the flame dragon. The red glow of guards flickered in the darkness.

However, the empress could not discern who her opponent was. She only stared blankly.

The knight guards who kept their distance could not block Carlyn from sprinting at wind-like speed.

“Hukh!”

And so Carlyn’s sword pierced the empress’s heart.

The empress felt her breath catch. Chill and heat alternated around her chest.

Though the princess herself was not stabbed, it felt as if she sensed something similar.

She could not believe this situation. Her loyal knight stabbed her mother.

The princess’s gaze fixed on Carlyn’s face. Could she be seeing wrong?

But that was the face she saw just this morning too.

Carlyn also looked at the princess.

Over the empress’s shoulder, the red glow from the manifestation of Devil’s Blood flickered.

Author's Thoughts

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