Chapter 151 : Chapter 151

Chapter 151: Poison Demon, Iscariot

The Eight Demons of the Empire were revered gods deeply involved in the founding of the Kingdom, a part of a legendary figure from the ancient Empire who divided himself into thirteen.

Each possessing an independent personality, they had carried on the will to protect the providence of creation and destruction.

Their long years were the history of the Kingdom itself.

“When spring comes, winter follows, and even flowers are bound to wilt someday. Everything that is born dies, and where there is a beginning, there must be an end. Why do you deny such a simple principle?”

To a man weeping beside his terminally ill old mother, an old man passing by threw cold words.

It was the Poison Demon, quietly touring the Kingdom.

He hadn't bothered to give himself a name in that era.

“You crazy old man, shut up and get lost.”

“Heh heh. What an impudent fellow.”

If the Blood Devil presided over the obsession and desire for life, the Poison Demon protected providence by placing the yoke of disease upon humans.

The man before him was just another human who could not escape the fate he had ordained.

“There is a bug in your mother’s head, eating away at her memories.”

Sometimes, he would act on a whim like this.

“If your mother were to suddenly regain her senses, what would be the first thing you’d want to do?”

“I don’t know about that… I’d want to hear my name in her gentle voice. Just once would be enough.”

“What a bland fellow. Fine. Bring a turtle into your house right now. Then your wish will come true.”

“You crazy old man, where am I to find a turtle in this cold northern land? Stop joking and get lost.”

“You should at least show that much devotion. The choice is yours.”

The Poison Demon said so and left, then watched the man.

In the end, the man, clutching at straws, went on a long journey and brought back a turtle and he was able to fulfill his wish the very next day.

“How amusing, how amusing.”

The Poison Demon enjoyed his deviations in various ways.

Sometimes he would deliberately cast the trial of a sudden illness upon people with strong minds and bodies and observe their reactions with interest.

There were those who accepted it with composure and tried to overcome it and there were those who fell into helplessness and depression, becoming pessimistic about life.

Of course, most were the latter.

“They are human because they are imperfect. That is why their lives have meaning. Because each has a different color.”

One of the Eight Demons had advised his brothers.

At some point, those words kept lingering in the Poison Demon’s mind.

‘What meaning could there be in an imperfect life?’

The Poison Demon could never accept those words.

In his eyes, the world was always divided into extremes.

Medicine and poison, life and death, thesis and antithesis.

Either way, it was a complete extreme.

There was no place for the ambiguity of imperfection in between.

So, he decided.

This time, he would look at their world from the inside.

The Kingdom of that era was peaceful, and the small seaside village of Aldenfort was utterly tranquil.

In the coastal village where gentle waves broke, even time seemed to flow slowly.

“You want to learn medicine?”

An old hut stood alone by the sea.

The Poison Demon, disguised as a boy, approached the old man who lived there alone.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The Poison Demon knew that people of the Empire who drifted at sea often washed up here in Aldenfort.

A strange land, an ostracized foreigner.

Could there be a more fitting condition to observe a broken human?

“I’m interested in healing the sick.”

And this old man was the village’s only, so-called, physician.

“What a commendable child. What is your name?”

The Poison Demon thought for a moment before answering.

It was a true name he had not spoken in a very long time.

“Iscariot.”

“I don’t know who gave it to you, but they must cherish you a lot. To give you a difficult name on purpose so others can’t call you easily.”

He wondered if this was supposed to be a joke.

He was just contemplating whether he should stop the observation now, thinking he would have to listen to such childish wordplay by his side from now on.

“I’ll just call you Karim for short.”

The old man lightly patted the young Poison Demon’s head.

“My name is Krause.”

***

The Poison Demon, disguised as Krause’s assistant, executed his next plan.

“I dreamt of a Black Tortoise last night.”

“Black Tortoise? You mean that evil spirit from our homeland?”

“Yes. That evil spirit that is a mix of a snake and a turtle. Anyway, that Black Tortoise kept urging me to go somewhere.”

The number of Imperial refugees who had the same dream increased one by one.

They gathered the messages they heard in their respective dreams and set out to confirm them for themselves.

The place they arrived at was, at the time, untouched fertile land in Aldenfort.

The soil was black and soft, and fresh water flowed nearby.

“To think a place like this existed…!”

“The evil spirit of our homeland has chosen a place for us to live!”

Thus, the settlement of the Imperial refugees was established.

The exploits of Black Tortoise, the Poison Demon’s familiar, did not end there.

It was also Black Tortoise who drove away the Aldenfort territorial soldiers and nearby demonic beasts that interfered with the settlement.

The Imperial refugees soon began to worship Black Tortoise not as an evil spirit, but as a guardian deity.

A long tail is bound to be stepped on.

The Poison Demon, worried he would be caught deviating by his brothers, secretly conveyed his wish for them to stop the worship.

In this way, the Poison Demon succeeded in gathering the Imperial refugees in one place as planned.

All that effort was not for the sake of their descendants, but solely to make his observation easier.

The problem lay elsewhere.

“This is a wound aggravated by seawater. If you wash it clean with boiled saltwater and apply dried seaweed extract, it won’t fester.”

Krause passionately taught his young disciple.

It was not just the transmission of medical knowledge.

He raised Karim with all his heart, as if he were his own child.

It was an unexpected development for the Poison Demon.

To the immortal Poison Demon, Krause was no different from a newborn baby and his knowledge was like a firefly under the sun compared to what the Poison Demon possessed.

“Karim, when you have a conversation, look the other person in the eye when you speak.”

“Take off your hat at the dining table.”

“How many times have I told you not to treat patients as if they are your inferiors. We haven't done anything great, we've just done what we could with our skills.”

“That bad habit of yours of lying down right after eating just doesn't seem to get fixed.”

The Poison Demon thought.

This was a true deviation.

But for his grand plan, this too had to be endured.

Thanks to that, he gradually grew accustomed to life with Krause and the settlement of the Imperial refugees also began to take root.

Ten years passed like that.

“An epidemic is spreading in the Imperial village…?!”

The lord of Aldenfort was terrified by the sudden report.

It had only been five years since he had accepted the people of the Empire.

At first, he had been reluctant to give up a part of his territory, but since it helped with tax revenue and, more importantly, the ominous rumors about Imperial demonic beasts never ceased, he had finally, reluctantly, given his permission.

But an epidemic out of the blue, it was a bolt from the blue.

“Seal off the village immediately!”

The lord completely banned the entry of supplies and food into and out of the Imperial village.

As interaction with the outside world was cut off, the Imperial refugees became more isolated with each passing day.

Krause did not yield to this.

He and his disciple broke through the encirclement of the Aldenfort territorial soldiers and infiltrated the Imperial village.

“It’s a symptom of poisoning.”

Krause took off the mask he was wearing as if it were meaningless.

More than half of the villagers were bedridden, and the remaining ones were all holding their breath, looking at Krause.

“The coast is very different from the inland. The seawater is especially a problem. If a wound comes into contact with seawater, or if you eat raw seafood, inland people are bound to get sick easily. In short, these symptoms have appeared because you all have no immunity to the climate here in Aldenfort.”

“Th, then…”

“Yes. This is not an epidemic.”

The people of the Empire breathed a sigh of relief.

But the expression of the Poison Demon standing next to him was different.

‘Not bad, old man.’

Soon, this news reached the ears of the Aldenfort lord.

Of course, it was thanks to the Poison Demon leaking it.

Krause’s diagnosis was soon twisted and began to spread under the name ‘the foreigners’ disease’.

The fear of the native Aldenfort residents grew uncontrollably and the lord saw this as an opportunity.

‘Their numbers were growing, which was a headache, and I didn't have a good reason, so this is perfect.’

The lord soon further strengthened the quarantine of the Imperial village.

He increased the number of patrols around the village and strictly prohibited the entry and exit of outsiders. Anyone who tried to enter was treated as a criminal.

Eventually, an incident occurred.

An Imperial citizen broke through the quarantine and stormed the lord’s mansion.

“Drag that man out immediately! That crazy bastard, who does he think he is, barging in here!”

“My lord, you know as well as I do, there is no other way, we cannot just stand by and watch ourselves die……. Please save us, my lord. If you just save this person, I will do anything you ask.”

The Poison Demon secretly sneered at him.

In the end, to survive, he bows his head to a man he resents.

This is the proof of an imperfect life.

With no value or dignity left.

It was then.

“My lord, this is unjust!”

Krause protested. He did not hide his anger.

“The disease is not contagious! If we leave them like this, they will all starve to death, let alone receive treatment! Please reconsider!”

The lord waved his hand as if it was not worth listening to.

Instead, he had Krause arrested on the charge of violating the quarantine.

The Poison Demon silently watched as Krause was locked behind a cold iron door.

“Karim, listen to me carefully.”

“……”

Krause, holding onto the bars, explained the treatment method to his disciple in detail.

His mind was solely on the Imperial village.

There was not a trace of concern for his own situation.

The Poison Demon’s eyes slowly narrowed.

A normal human would usually plead their innocence or pour out resentment in such a situation.

“I don’t understand.”

No, it was unpleasantly unfamiliar.

“Why are you doing this?”

“……What? You, what did you just say?”

“Even if you save them, you won't be able to save your own life, master. What meaning is there in this?”

“Ka, Karim, you…”

“It is imperfection itself, a lump of contradiction. Was it not you, master, who said that one who heals diseases should always think rationally?”

Krause’s head dropped helplessly.

On the other hand, the corners of the Poison Demon’s mouth slowly rose.

As expected, there is no meaning in an imperfect life.

“I…”

Krause’s hands, gripping the bars, trembled.

When he raised his head again, his face was filled with an anger the Poison Demon had never seen before.

“I taught you to become a human first.”

“……”

“What damn meaning are you looking for, in a human saving another human!”

Unlike himself who lived an eternal life, the life given to humans was only once.

The Poison Demon knew well how desperately they clung to that one life.

Sacrifice can be the meaning of life.

But it does not apply to the imperfect lives of humans.

That was an absurdity that could not and should not exist in the first place.

‘Can your foolishness truly shine until the end?’

He had to witness that end with his own two eyes.

That was the only way to prove his proposition that ‘there is no meaning in an imperfect life’.

The Poison Demon, for now, followed Krause’s will, cleansed the Imperial village, and treated them.

From that day on, the villagers regained their strength with each passing day.

They bowed their heads to the Poison Demon.

“Thank you so much, we are alive thanks to you.”

“You are our savior.”

The Poison Demon’s eyes were just empty.

“Why are you thanking me? I only did as I was told. The one who saved you is my master.”

“Your master? Who is that?”

“……It is Krause, who first examined your symptoms.”

“Ah, so his name was Krause?”

“Still, you are the one who saved us right now, so it is only right that we express our gratitude to you.”

The Poison Demon’s gaze turned cold.

‘……For the sake of such things that don't even know gratitude?’

The day of Krause’s execution approached.

The lord charged Krause with the crime of spreading an epidemic.

The Poison Demon looked at him standing on the execution ground.

“Do you still not have any regrets?”

“Regrets?”

“About saving them by sacrificing your life. They are foreigners, not from the same kingdom, and they are people who didn't even know their benefactor’s name properly. So to speak, they are imperfect humans. At least, more so than you.”

Krause answered.

“I protect them because they are imperfect. If they were perfect, there would have been no reason to protect them.”

In that moment, the Poison Demon’s world was turned upside down.

A mere human was looking down on him.

“You must become a great physician, Karim.”

That day, Krause was executed, and the Poison Demon of that era also disappeared.

Afterward, the Poison Demon went through several lives, lingering by the side of the Imperial refugees of Aldenfort.

At first, it was simply a desire to see how far Krause’s choice would reach.

But as he repeated his lives, the time he spent by their side grew longer.

Before he knew it, he was carrying on the will of a man whose name and face had been forgotten.

Thus, a generation, and then another generation passed…….

The name Krause was no longer that of a single person.

·

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“The will to protect an imperfect life……. That doesn’t sound like you, Poison Demon.”

“……”

“It’s just like him.”

The Poison Demon took out a pair of glasses from his bosom and put them on.

“What is that now?”

“Erase all my memories.”

“……You know that brothers cannot interfere with each other’s authority. Even for me, that is impossible.”

“Can’t you forcibly weaken my will to make me forget my mission for a while?”

After a moment of silence, a faint laugh flowed out.

“Well, there is a way.”

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