*
EP.462 To Become an Empire (1)
*
“First Light, the one who lost their name.”
The greatest sinner who committed the biggest crime under the era of Stars. The Star could not forgive the sinner who placed a gigantic weight on a world striving for balance as an imbalance. The entity that created the false god was hated by the Star.
Because it was hated, because it was not forgiven, it was taken.
The Star seized the name from the Braver.
The value of existence was stolen. Thus, the name of the Braver was erased from history. Forgotten in everyone’s memory. Even the Heroes and Grand Magus who quelled the Braver could no longer recall the name.
“Acrita Clen Arcadia.”
Ayla pronounced that name.
“You seem curious about how I know this name. A name erased from history and memory. Indeed, no matter how many history books you search, there are no tales of the Braver. Because it is a forgotten existence.”
But, Ayla smiled slightly.
“There was one person who remembered that name.”
Only one person did not forget that name.
The one who escaped the Star’s dominion, the one who was no longer interfered with by the Star, the one who was loved and blessed by the Star but ultimately came to hate and wish to pull down the Star. That person had already escaped the Star’s shackles when the Star wiped history and memory. They had become an equal being to the Star.
“The last Queen of Arcadia.”
The sister of the First Light…
“The records left by that individual, who became the source of the Demon Lord, have remained intact and unerasable.”
The woman who became the vessel of shadows.
Ayla pulled an old manuscript from her bosom.
“This is the record left by her.”
*
“…”
“…”
Raniel silently stared at the weathered manuscript laid before her. A worn-out manuscript. Focused on it, Raniel slowly opened her mouth.
“…Where did you find this?”
Even Cardi, who had witnessed the demise of the ancient kingdom of Arcadia, did not possess something like this. Raniel couldn’t shake the suspicion that the existence of this item might be a trap set by the Braver.
“I searched every place associated with the royal palace. In the process, I followed the remnants left by the founding ancestor of Cartedia.”
Ayla exhaled deeply.
Just before Raniel departed for the battlefield as a Hero, she had given Ayla a task. Ayla had been chewing on that task for several years.
…The reason why a child loved by the Star is born into the royal family is to eliminate the deep-seated poison hidden within. That is her reason for existence, and that is why such power was bestowed upon her.
Determined to not forget that reason, Ayla had done her best to trace the remnants of the Braver.
“At first, I went to where the ancestor was buried, then to places they frequently visited during their lifetime, locations they stayed before founding Cartedia, other bloodlines of that individual, and so on…”
In the endless search, Ayla arrived at a certain location. An abandoned village not too far from the ruined ancient kingdom. The very place the ancestor longed for until the end.
“A village abandoned for centuries. It was filled with signs of wild animals and beasts digging through. Yet, there was one strangely intact area. No animals dared to approach… not even plants grew there.”
As if time had stopped.
“There was a sinister box radiating ominous energy in that place. Ordinary knights would go into convulsions just by approaching it, and even the strong-minded knights couldn’t get close to that box.”
In the end, Ayla took it upon herself to retrieve the box. This wasn’t the first time she had seen such ominous energy. After purifying the box, which bore the traces of the Demon Lord she encountered in Apuria, she opened the lid.
“Inside was this manuscript.”
“Then you also know the name of the fallen ancient kingdom…”
“It was written in this manuscript. Of course, I didn’t solely learn it from this manuscript.”
With a playful smile, Ayla opened the manuscript.
The manuscript was filled with neatly inscribed letters. It was the record left by the last queen and the life she lived.
“Would you like to read it?”
Raniel slowly nodded.
She accepted the manuscript from Ayla.
“I consider myself a quite perfect human, yet I have one flaw. Regrettably, that flaw is one I have no power over. It has followed me since my birth.”
“What is there to hide? It’s about my bloodline.”
“Even born to an ordinary family, I could have become a hero, yet I received such a damnable sibling as a gift. Who knows why? Is there truly no such thing as a perfect human in this world?”
The first page of the manuscript began thus.
Raniel wore a rather peculiar expression.
“I had a brother.”
“To the future generations who will read this record in a distant future, let me add that my brother was a thoroughly irritating human. Beyond what you can imagine.”
“A human as if all the filth in the world had been gathered and boiled down is my brother. I swear there’s no exaggeration in this description. I stake everything on it.”
“…”
Raniel tilted her head slightly. As she read the manuscript, she looked up at Ayla. She was reminded of how familiar this manner of speech felt.
“…Was it written by Princess Lruiel?”
“…I thought the same at first.”
Ayla gestured for her to continue reading, and with a somewhat reluctant expression, Raniel shifted her gaze back to the manuscript.
“Acrita Clen Arcadia.”
“Let me speak about that damned human.”
“There is poison in Arcadia.”
If I were to give it a fitting name, it would be Acrita Clen Arcadia. From the moment I was born, I was rather clever and capable of discernment.
Don’t ask me if that’s arrogance.
In this world, there exist people who are extraordinary from birth, and I was one such being. Despite being born with all sorts of talents and blessings, as I lived my life, I felt a sense of unease.
The world seeks balance. Whether it be the will of the Star or not… all things strive for balance.
Then what is my existence?
What is the significance of my existence, being born with all talents imaginable? Power comes with responsibility. Talent comes with duty. If you are born as an extraordinary being, there should be a proper place to use that excellence.
“Sister.”
And.
“What are you thinking?”
I did not need to search far for the answer.
“What are you thinking that so intently?”
The enemy lay closest.
Acrita Clen Arcadia.
My bloodline, born ten years before me, is my true enemy. When he looked down upon me, I would often feel an inexplicable fear. An unnameable shadow loomed there.
My exceptional talents.
All the numerous blessings given to me by the Star.
In comparison to the presence before me, they became insignificant. Eyes like an abyss. Strange mana. A twisted and corrupted soul. He was a being worthy of being called an evil incarnate, my bloodline.
I wanted to believe it was a delusion, at first.
I learned the true nature of my brother on my tenth birthday. That day, half of the servants working in the palace disappeared, and a dark red blood flowed along the sewers. Wherever blood flowed, a plague spread. Because the blood coursed through the sewers, the horrific plague engulfed the kingdom.
Countless people fell ill and died.
Unable to properly dispose of the bodies, the corpses of the citizens piled up like mountains in one corner of the kingdom.
“Sister.”
Pointing at that, my brother said.
“Happy tenth birthday.”
That was the gift my brother gave me and, as far as I can remember, the first smile he had ever bestowed upon me.
*
Whenever a plague broke out in the kingdom, the culprit was my brother. Whenever an unknown massacre occurred, my brother was the one behind it. Where blood flowed, there were his footprints, and where maggots swarmed, there was his breath.
Secretly, insidiously, lurking behind the facade, my brother was everywhere. He was the dark mastermind.
But no one knew of this fact.
My parents, the king of this land, had long fallen under my brother’s puppet strings. He manipulated everything of the kingdom from its deepest depths. On the surface, my brother appeared to be a wise and benevolent prince.
Only to me.
To me, my brother revealed his true nature.
As if to show, as if asking what I could do, as if questioning the meaning of all the blessings I held.
Clank.
My brother shackled me with countless chains.
Taboos, restrictions… curses, including him, bound my actions. I couldn’t ask anyone for help, and since I couldn’t disclose this fact to anyone, I was thoroughly isolated. Thus, time passed.
*
I witnessed the deaths of many.
I saw my brother lead the broken to destruction once more. I bore the responsibility. Even if I couldn’t save their lives, I had to stop the atrocities my bloodline committed.
The power given to me is for that purpose.
The talent I was born with must also be for that purpose.
I researched. In the agony of my flesh burning away, I pondered how to bypass the restrictions, how to take my brother down a peg. For a long time, I prepared. I gathered the discarded dolls of my brother. I amassed what he had regarded lightly and turned them into my people.
I attempted assassination. I attempted poisoning. Strangulation, ambush, traps, countless countless attempts all failed. With each failure, the ones I lost met gruesome ends. From their sacrifice and death, I realized: my brother viewed my struggles as merely a jest, considered them as light amusement.
And.
I realized that my brother could not die. He had artificially acquired immortality. His true essence was surely hidden in some unknown location. However, after countless attempts, I gained one additional revelation.
Though I couldn’t purify the poison.
There was a way to banish it from this land.
*
I succeeded.
On the year I turned twenty, my coming-of-age year, I successfully exiled my brother from this land.
“Of course.”
Pierced by a spear, his soul bound in place, my brother smiled at me. It was a curse.
“I dwell in the deepest places. You may think you have ended me, but I have not…”
“I do not think you are finished.”
I replied.
“I have merely banished you. I know you will not end with just this.”
Therefore, I smiled.
“With the current resources I have, I cannot kill you. I can only banish you. But do you know what, brother?”
I looked at those gathered below me.
“During the time you are gone, during the time you cannot set foot on this land, I will make this kingdom perfect. More perfect than anything else.”
Arcadia, this nation is just beginning.
“I will gather my people. I will attract talented individuals from many places. Even if Arcadia is merely a small nation now, on the day you return to this land…”
I smiled.
“This place will have become an empire.”
“You speak of grand dreams. Surely, you do not know that human life is short? It’s impossible within a lifespan that barely lasts a hundred years…”
“There is no impossibility.”
Because it is impossible, I said.
“Until the day this nation becomes perfect, I plan to emulate you.”
