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EP.464 To Become an Empire (3)
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Face what you have abandoned and broken.
The moment I heard those words, what came to mind were the treacherous scum I had purged, the vermin that gnawed at this country. To gather such things and claim they would bring down Arcadia? Am I, who has built this fortress over centuries, to have it torn down? It was laughable. Nonsense not worth listening to.
“Go ahead, try to bring it down.”
My centuries.
For the past few centuries, I had done my best. I gathered the shining ones, the brilliant ones. The Dragon Sorcerer, the Swordmaster, the Grand Magus, the Saint, the astrologer who reads the heavens, the piercing spear, the final archer, the knight of the sun…
“It will be different this time.”
It would be different. I was neither powerless like before, nor weak enough to rely on someone’s sacrifice. My centuries are solid. They won’t crumble. Such was my conviction at that moment.
“Sister.”
Acrita laughed wickedly.
As if she couldn’t hold back her amusement.
“Do you think only your time is solid?”
He gestured. Following his gesture, murky filth erupted. The gushing muck overflowed.
“Time is both relative and absolute. If your time is solid, then so is my time standing opposite you!”
I.
“Isn’t what you’ve abandoned over the course of centuries also absolute?”
What I have abandoned.
The moment I faced the erupting muck, I realized.
“…Ah.”
It wasn’t the scum that my brother had gathered, those I had purged. It was something different. Those I had crushed, who caused me to lose so much. Those who had only lost during my centuries were there.
‘The lord of the forsaken land.’
Those called devilkin.
The human foes, and the sub-races bordering Arcadia. They were the beings I had hunted for centuries to fortify Arcadia’s foundation and eliminate variables.
The poison formed from them surged.
The ditching muck reeked.
It was not a stench formed in a day or two. It was the smell emanating from years, decades, centuries of stagnation. Voices echoed from the muck that began to flow in the palace corridors. Screams reverberated.
The taint of the crushed evil.
Endless hatred.
Grievances, resentment, disgust, and curses.
A mass of resentment that hated the star that abandoned them, longing for starlight that did not shine upon them. The muck reacted to my blessing and starlight. The royal castle trembled. As the castle at the center of Arcadia shook, the entire country began to quiver.
The earth roared. The heavens screamed. Cracks began to show in what I had built.
“Is your kingdom… your empire still solid?”
Acrita Clen Arcadia jeered.
With his laughter, the palace flipped. Out of the overturned walls came beings no longer alive nor dead. Those that could only exist by cursing others. Their mouths creaked open.
■■, ■■■■■■■■, ■■■■■■■■■■.
They howled. The screams echoed.
As the echoes of screams weltered in the muck, it took form. The muck transformed into hands that clawed at the walls of the royal castle, tearing and pushing in.
“Go ahead, struggle, sister.”
He disappeared amidst the muck.
As I looked at him receding, I clenched my teeth.
“…Your Majesty!”
A voice sounded from afar.
I tore away at the grasping hands clinging to my body and moved towards the voice. My vision was blurry. After blinking several times, I finally saw ahead. A figure running towards me called out.
“Ah, it’s you.”
As I watched him slice through the muck and rush toward me, I couldn’t help but smirk. The fastest and sharpest sword among those I possessed. He knew the weight of his strength, making it heavier than anything else.
Ganikalt van Galatrick.
He approached me without hesitation, swinging his sword. Kneeling before me, he tore away the hands that gripped my body.
“Are you safe, Your Majesty…?”
“I am well. Not as much as you, but I possess enough strength to look after myself.”
It was a lie. The black hands left wounds that festered wherever they scratched. They rotted. But it was bearable. No, I had to bear it. I am the king of this nation. If I, standing at the highest point, waver, the chaos will only grow.
“For now, let’s get outside. Can you clear a path for me?”
Ganikalt swung his sword.
Cutting through the muck-covered wall, I pushed aside the hands and headed out. I ascended to the highest point to assess the situation at a glance. When I arrived, my vassals were already waiting for me.
Once they confirmed my safety, they began to report. Listening to their reports, I stood at the highest point, gazing down at Arcadia.
“…Ah.”
It was crumbling. Everything.
The muck spread through the sewers and waterways to every corner of Arcadia. No matter where I looked, it was only muck. Hands were rising everywhere across the kingdom.
The screams of the people, the chaos, and the groans of those crushed echoed back.
The muck then rose towards the sky. All the muck spread across the royal capital started to converge into one place. A massive sphere was forming—a gigantic black sun that could swallow Arcadia floating above.
“Master of the Ashen Tower.”
“Yes, did you call?”
“Can you find out what that is?”
Grand Magus, Cardi van Armiel.
I asked the one who knows the most in this nation, but no answer came. It meant he, too, did not know. I waited a bit longer, but still, no reply returned from anywhere.
Though the most capable and wise among us gathered in the royal capital, none knew the true identity of that thing. A complete unknown cast a shadow over Arcadia, blocking the sun.
“It is stirring. It is pulsating. Like, a living thing.”
“…It seems so to me as well.”
“And it is growing larger.”
I pointed at the sphere made of muck.
“It looks ready to burst—what do you think?”
“…”
Cardi van Armiel swallowed nervously.
After some contemplation, he finally spoke.
“It possesses qualities opposite to starlight and mana. And it is rampaging. Once it reaches its critical point, it will explode.”
“Can it be stopped?”
“…I have poured all the spells I possess into it, but there was no effect. It disrupts the mana itself.”
So it cannot be done with magic.
“Captain of the Guard.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Can you cut it?”
“…”
Creak, Ganikalt tightened his grip on his sword’s hilt. The answer did not come immediately. One second, two seconds, three seconds. Only then did he finally speak.
“I will attempt to…”
“No, stop.”
If there is something that can be cut, Ganikalt always pulled out his sword without hesitation. Yet now, he hesitated. The hand gripping the hilt trembled. It was a sign of uncertainty, and it did not seem like something one could cut.
“It seems there are things you cannot cut.”
I smiled bitterly.
“If it explodes, what would be the range?”
In response to my question, Cardi answered.
“…Half.”
“The royal capital’s?”
“Half of the continent.”
Something akin to a star.
Cardi added that it was something close to a god. If it explodes, it would sweep away not just Arcadia but most of humanity as well.
“You need to evacuate.”
“Evacuate? Where to? Didn’t you say half the continent would be swallowed? There’s nowhere to run.”
Thud, I stepped forward.
“Is there a way?”
“…”
“You, too, don’t know something. I feel like I’m often witnessing a new side of you today.”
Muttering as if in jest, I shot Cardi a glance. Peering into his eyes, it was clear he wasn’t merely ignorant. He knew the answer but couldn’t speak of it easily. It was likely not the ‘best’ answer that the elf always sought.
I thought I might know what that answer was.
‘Someone must be sacrificed.’
Truly, my infernal brother.
I began to understand why he allowed me to escape the royal castle. As always, he forces choices upon me. Watching me suffer and struggle from somewhere, he must delight in it.
…Is that it? Am I still merely a source of amusement for him? Has nothing really changed since centuries ago?
No, perhaps it hasn’t changed altogether. I looked at my vassals gathered here. They were the talented individuals I had gathered over these years. Unlike before, there were many around me who were more capable than I.
‘Even if I were to disappear.’
Even if my time were to end here.
‘If they are here…’
Arcadia will not end.
If they survive, there will be a future for Arcadia. That alone was enough. I pondered and, after much deliberation, made my choice.
“I see the answer before me.”
I took another step forward. I moved past my vassals, continuing to walk ahead.
“You said it’s like a god, a being of immense power. To me, it appears to be searching for the vessel to contain it. If it cannot be contained, it cannot maintain its form, and thus will overflow.”
It seeks a vessel.
“What is needed here is a vessel to hold that muck—a vessel for the divine.”
I laughed lightly.
“How fortunate that there is a fitting being right here.”
My vassals looked at me.
Cardi’s eyes trembled as he understood my meaning.
“Blessed by the stars. The one who carries the most starlight in their body. The one who has already contained the power and authority of the divine is right here.”
A being loved by the stars, possessing the eyes of the stars.
“There is no one more fitting than I.”
This shall be the place.
Where I conclude my time.
“I will become the vessel.”
Just as I was about to stand before everyone,
Someone stood in my way. I attempted to move past all my vassals, but that much was not allowed.
“An unusual occurrence.”
Always standing by my side, just behind me, guarding me. The knight who protects my nation.
“You block my path, Ganikalt van Galatrick.”
He looked straight at me, for the first time since the day we met.
“I have received the order to protect Arcadia. That is my mission.”
“Yes, I commanded you so.”
“You are Arcadia, are you not? I must protect you. What value does a sword hold that cannot protect its master?”
Indeed, I smiled bitterly.
“A country without its people cannot exist.”
“That, is…”
“Where there is power, there is responsibility. To bear that responsibility, I ascended to the highest point of Arcadia. Thus, I must accept it.”
It is something I cannot turn away from.
“Will you step aside?”
Gritting his teeth, Ganikalt tightened his grip on his sword hilt. A frustration at the newfound powerlessness. The knight, once arrogant in his strength, felt his inadequacy. Perhaps now, he would reach even greater heights. I regretted not being able to witness that sight.
With a bitter smile, I spoke.
“May I ask you one thing?”
“Command me.”
“Not a command, but as an old friend of yours.”
I chuckled lightly.
“Have you found the meaning to infuse into your sword?”
“…I have found it.”
“Do you have faith now?”
“I have gained it.”
Ganikalt tightened his grip on the hilt.
The task I had entrusted to him was protection. As a bulwark for humanity, he wielded his sword for their sake. In that process, he must have developed faith. The weight of his sword must have been added.
“Is that so? There was meaning after all.”
I smiled.
“That’s good. Let me say it now, you have always been more than I deserved.”
I moved past him, continuing on.
Standing at the forefront, I turned back.
“Ganikalt, you are not alone. Cardi, Belial, Gleria, Abaddon, Rugran, Tristan…”
The brightest among this nation.
Reciting the names of the vassals I cherished the most, I stood at the highest point of Arcadia.
“I trust you all.”
Though it will be a heavy burden.
“Please protect Arcadia.”
That was my final wish.
I leaped toward the false god.
The queen sacrificed herself.
The queen swallowed by the muck vanished beyond the horizon along with the muck. Those who lost their master lamented. The first to move were Ganikalt and Cardi.
“I will find the cause. Your Majesty always said, there is poison in the kingdom. The muck began deep within that palace. First, I will cut that down.”
Protect Arcadia.
This was the queen’s last wish, so they spoke of restoring order to Arcadia first. Cardi, Ganikalt, Belial, and Gleria prioritized clearing all the muck remaining in the royal capital.
“I will head to the forsaken land.”
“I will accompany you.”
Abaddon spoke of tracking the traces of the vanished queen, holding only a spear made of tree roots. Tristan, wielding a shield modeled after the sun, followed Abaddon.
“Rugran.”
The only one left was Rugran.
The scribe, Rugran.
What do you plan to do? Cardi asked. In response, Rugran calmly closed the notebook he was holding. Laying down the quill, he looked up.
“You asked me for something separately.”
“Is that so?”
“I plan to go into exile outside the kingdom.”
“…Fleeing from what?”
“Rather than fleeing, it is to prepare for the worst.”
Rugran, who faintly bears the blood of the royal family.
“Prepare for the worst. For you have told me so.”
Rugran Clen Arcadia spoke.
