Chapter 3 : The Cultists’ Chapel

Chapter 3: The Cultists’ Chapel

It was still back when I had been living rough in the Ilneon Dungeon.

That was, until I turned seventeen.

The reason I swung my sword all day long was because otherwise, I felt like my heart would shatter.

Only after I had become completely exhausted every day, washed myself in the stream, and returned home, Daisy would come running from the entrance of the ruins, calling out, “Oppa!” and throwing herself into my arms.

My youngest, exactly ten years younger than me.

I couldn’t explain why that small, warm child pierced my heart so deeply.

Thanks to her warmth, I was able to drift into sleep with a quiet snore on those harsh nights.

“Daisy. Why did you do that?”

Daisy’s sharp eyes looked pretty beneath her short crimson hair.

Now that she had turned seventeen, she pressed her lips shut and only stared down at the tips of her toes.

Her whole body was covered in blood, but thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any deep wounds.

The blood seeping through the bandages wrapped here and there made me feel sorry for her.

I scratched my head roughly.

“You shouldn’t be doing that. What’s with fighting with family using knives? Seklan. Say something too.”

At that, Seklan hung his head low.

“…I’m sorry, teacher.”

Maybe Daisy got irritated by those words, because the lips she had tightly pressed together finally opened.

“Bullshit.”

Seklan glared at Daisy.

Daisy only looked away with defiant eyes.

Then, the younger kids nearby began chattering and tattling.

“Teacher, teacher! Daisy noona was the one who swung the knife at Seklan hyung first!”

“That ugly man told her to do it!”

“Yeah! He said he’d accept whichever one won the fight with knives!”

“Seklan hyung didn’t even want to fight, but Daisy noona just kept slashing at him!”

Daisy…

I felt like I understood what was in her heart.

We were falling apart.

With Count Kxias turning a blind eye, we were slapped by one thug, kicked by another.

To escape from that damned situation, five of my siblings who had already become adults had left my side.

They said they would make a new safe haven where all of us could live together.

But after that, the situation only worsened.

Sir Ibsen had died.

The kids were constantly getting beaten.

Even the few businesses we had left were in ruins.

My youngest, Daisy, must have felt anxious.

Maybe she had felt an obsessive urge that she had to do something, anything.

I could understand that.

I could understand.

But still,

This wasn’t right.

“Daisy. Did you really want to become a vampire?”

When she didn’t answer, I asked again.

“Daisy, answer me.”

She tried to avoid the question, but eventually, unable to hold it in any longer, she exhaled sharply and locked eyes with me.

“Why? Can’t I become a vassal of Kxias? Didn’t you also become a vassal at my age!? So why are you interfering!?”

Uncle…

When she had been little, she had always called me “Oppa” so sweetly…… but at some point, she had started speaking like that.

A pang struck one corner of my chest.

I quickly stiffened my wavering expression and spoke firmly.

“Daisy. Do you really not know? Because of that bastard, everyone died. Only I survived. And even then, I ended up like this. And now you say you’ll serve under him? Even become a vampire who lives by drinking blood?”

When I shook my prosthetic arm, Daisy’s eyes wavered.

But she clenched her teeth again and spat out cruel words.

“What does it matter to you! Are you my dad or something?”

“I’m not your dad. But does that mean I’m not family either?”

Daisy fell silent.

I wanted nothing more than to comfort her.

But,

“Enough! I said enough! We’re strangers anyway! Who are you to protect us?! You don’t have to! It’s my life, and I’ll live it how I want! Why do you keep meddling! It’s so annoying!”

Daisy shouted at the top of her lungs.

Strangers…… That was far too harsh.

“Hey. Daisy. Because of who do you think I—”

“Who! Asked! You! To kneel?! Why! Why do you keep doing this?! Why do you always……!”

“Daisy…!”

“Forget it! Who cares about who! You’re the one who’s always bleeding everywhere. Uncle. Please, just live your own life. Stop sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong!”

Daisy turned away from me, then suddenly leapt up and vanished.

A chilling silence fell.

Was it because two of my teeth had been knocked out? I felt dizzy.

As I sank into my seat, Seklan cautiously approached and spoke.

“Teacher…… Daisy didn’t mean it. She’s…… you know, at that age.”

Though he was the same age as Daisy, he still said that.

“I know. When she was throwing her tantrum earlier, she couldn’t even look me in the eye.”

Seklan nodded at my words, then carefully added,

“And… I know this. That kneeling in that situation also takes courage…… You’re the one who taught me that, teacher. Don’t care about the means. And once you’ve made your decision, don’t ever look back.”

…Was he trying to comfort me in the middle of all this?

This kid was deeper than he let on.

I reached out and patted his head.

He examined my wounds.

“You’ll need a potion. Please wait here. I’ll go call Uncle Burson.”

Seklan hurriedly stood and brushed himself off.

But just then, a rough voice rang out.

“Ransen? Ransen! Are you all right?!”

Thud, thud, thud!

A massive man, like a bear, came rushing through the shadows of the ruins.

In his enormous hand was a comically small potion vial.

Knight Burson. Our protector.

But how had that man known to come so quickly?

Burson answered as he drew near.

“Lina came earlier. She said Daisy sent her. She told me there was a fight, and that Ransen might get hurt, so she came to call me.”

And then, from behind Burson’s towering frame, a young girl popped out.

The twin-tailed Lina suddenly shouted.

“Ah! Uncle! Daisy unni told me it was supposed to be a secret! If she finds out, I’m dead!”

Burson smacked himself on the head a beat too late.

“Ah, right. She did say that.”

At those words, a laugh slipped out of me without my knowing.

I jerked my chin toward Seklan.

See what I meant?

Even if she says all that, look at how Daisy worries about me.

That’s the kind of bond we have.

*         *         *

Thanks to the potion, the cuts closed up quickly, but the molars that had been knocked out and the cracked ribs still hurt quite a lot.

Even so, since Uncle Burson had wrapped me in bandages, I could at least move around without much trouble.

‘Still… what should I do…’

Nagi would come back tomorrow.

Maybe he’d even come every day.

That pig-like bastard would toy with me all he liked and then, in the end, turn all of my siblings into his vampire clansmen.

That’s the kind of coward he was.

“Ah, damn, my head hur—… cough, cough!”

Damn it…

I was coughing up blood again.

Clumps of dark, congealed blood dropped onto the ground with a splat.

This was why I had come to sit where no one could see me.

Every time I forced my shattered Aura Core, my body, already a wreck, only became more broken.

I probably wouldn’t live much longer.

That was what worried me.

Before I died, I needed to untangle this twisted situation and say goodbye to Kxias once and for all…

“Right. The problem isn’t Nagi. In the end… I have to settle things directly with the Count.”

I gripped the worn pendant hanging from my neck.

An antique silver necklace. It was my mother’s keepsake and a treasure of the Banroa royal family.

An ancient artifact engraved with none other than subspace magic.

When I had fled the kingdom, I had packed the royal treasures into this.

Wooooong—

My hand blurred like smoke as it reached near the necklace.

I groped around inside the subspace for an item.

‘…There’s hardly anything useful left.’

What remained were mostly symbolic items like the royal seal or the king’s sword—things too awkward to sell. The few actual treasures had long since been sold off.

“In the end… this is all that’s left, huh…”

What I finally pulled out was a single book.

It was the first time I had ever taken it out of the subspace. It was an object whose true nature I still didn’t understand.

The cover was so thin and metallic that when tapped, it rang with a clear ching.

It was white overall, but when I held it, tiny grooves glimmered with a greenish light.

“The Book of Fate…”

They said that within the royal family, this had been considered just as important as, or perhaps even more important than, the royal seal itself.

The book of the first king—no, even the first king’s ancestor’s ancestor’s ancestor’s ancestor…… It was said to be the book that our house had guarded since time immemorial.

Father had always told me that protecting this was our duty, our calling.

But why we had to, what it was used for, what it even was—I had never heard a word of that.

It was simply an unknowable book.

‘All of it’s pointless now, anyway.’

The royal seal might bring the Empire’s pursuit down on me… so this was the only thing left with any use.

“Still… it might be worth trying for a negotiation. Count Kxias likes ancient relics, doesn’t he? Anything with the word ‘ancient’ stuck on it goes for a high price.”

Yes.

I would offer him this, and in return receive a firm promise.

That he would not lay another hand on my family.

That he would not interfere when we left Kushan City.

Those two conditions.

Count Kxias was a damnable robber count… but if you gave him something, he was the sort you could at least talk to. It was worth a try.

I didn’t have any other way left.

“Teacher!”

Just as I was settling my thoughts, Seon came toward me out of the darkness.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

His small hand clutched tightly at my sleeve.

I subtly shifted my body to hide the blood clots I had coughed up on the ground.

“Yeah. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Thank goodness! Were you looking at a book?”

“Huh…? Ah, this?”

Answering, I absentmindedly opened the book.

Flutter—

Pages full of ancient script made my eyes blur.

“Wow! Teacher, can you read this?”

“Of course not.”

Probably no one in the world could read it.

But then—

“Huh…?”

As I flipped through, one page suddenly caught my eyes.

Wooooong—

Only that page began to glow with a greenish light.

But what drew my attention even more was…

“Why can I read this…?”

Words from at least ten thousand years ago, written in the tongue of the ancients, were unfolding as naturally as if they were the common language of the continent.

They said:

“Year 4673 of the Ruceras Calendar. March 17th, cloudy. The cultists’ secret chapel was filled with ominous symbols……”

The moment those words entered my eyes and seared into my mind—

Thung!

My vision flipped upside down.

It felt as if I were a fish caught on a hook, yanked out of the world.

All at once, everything receded from me.

“Huh? Teacher? Teacheeer! Where did you go!”

Seon’s voice, searching for me after I had suddenly vanished, grew fainter and fainter.

Time itself flowed around me like a great river.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock

The ticking of a clock’s hand burrowed into my ears.

And then, I plummeted into a place I could not know.

*         *         *

A corridor of granite.

Candle stands lined the walls in a long row, their flames painting the surroundings in the colors of sunset.

Tatadadak!

‘What the…’

When I came to my senses, I was already running.

A deep black hood was pulled down over my head.

Ahead of me, and to either side, six others in the exact same garb were running with me.

‘What is this? Where am I? Why am I running like this?’

Just a moment ago, I had been reading the book.

Where was this, and why was I here?

Even my clothing had changed.

‘…First, figure out the situation.’

I didn’t recklessly show my confusion, only let my eyes move as I observed my surroundings.

‘…This isn’t an illusion. This is real.’

I had once been a Swordmaster.

My sharpened senses could easily pierce through something as flimsy as an illusion.

But then—

‘Huh……?’

As I heightened my senses and scanned the area, I realized something strange.

This place felt familiar.

The man running at the very front spoke in a low, cracked voice.

“There has been an intruder in the chapel.”

It was a language I had never heard before, and yet, somehow, I understood it naturally.

“First, secure the safety of the Elixir.”

At his words—he was clearly the leader—the rest of the hooded figures answered with silence.

I followed suit, keeping quiet.

‘I don’t know what this situation is, but… at least they don’t seem to think I’m out of place.’

Tatadadak!

All seven of us, myself included, ran together down the torchlit corridor as if we had been a group from the start.

‘Who are these people?’

From the way they ran, they were quite well-trained swordsmen. Though still, they were no match even for Nagi’s subordinates.

The only one with any notable skill was the leader guiding the group.

But—

‘Something about him feels ominous…’

The leader.

My instincts were warning me. That man was dangerous.

‘This is the first time I’ve felt something like this. I feel like I could win…… but I don’t want to fight him?’

I raised my guard higher.

I tried not to draw attention to myself as I quietly examined the surroundings.

Looking closer, I became certain.

‘As I thought… this is the Ilneon Dungeon.’

Our hideout.

At first, I hadn’t recognized it.

The crumbling, eroded dungeon I knew was now like new.

The granite cladding the floors and walls shone, and strange carvings stood out all around.

But judging from the overall structure, it could only be the Ilneon Dungeon.

And then—

‘They said Elixir, didn’t they?’

The story of how Elixir had been excavated from the Ilneon Dungeon 200 years ago was famous.

Elixir, the miracle of the ancients, which could no longer be made.

‘That Elixir… is here?’

A shiver crawled up my arms.

One hypothesis lodged itself in my mind.

The Ilneon Dungeon, in the exact same structure.

But its interior, brand-new.

The Elixir.

And most decisive of all—

‘Year 4673 of the Ruceras Calendar.’

The words I had read in the book just before arriving here.

‘Didn’t they call the civilization that vanished ten thousand years ago “Ruceras”…?’

All of these facts pointed to only one possibility.

‘Time travel…?’

Which meant, right now,

I was standing in the very heart of that brilliant, ancient Age of Magic from ten thousand years ago.

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.