Chapter 57 : Chapter 57

Chapter 57 - The Family Head’s Call

It was a summons from the Youngest Son.

“It's been a while since the two of us were called by a blood relative at the same time.”

Even as he stroked his beard, the tendons on the Construction General Manager's forearm twitched.

The Land General Manager snorted.

“Nothing good ever came of it. Do this, do that. Isn't it just a place where they spew out things that aren't even feasible?”

“I'm telling you, the conceptual plan itself was fine. Aren't you having too low expectations?”

“That's fine only for your side. To our side, that proposal is trash not even worth considering. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You're being too harsh. Did something unpleasant happen?”

“This whole situation is unpleasant.”

The burly man's brow was sharply furrowed downwards, just like his words.

The biceps of his crossed arms squirmed like snakes every time he huffed and puffed.

The reason was centered on the Youngest Son's summons.

“Did the Fifth Son say the same to you?”

“What?”

The Construction General Manager sipped his beer during the brief pause.

Just thinking about it made me want to snatch it away and pour it all down my throat in one go.

“He said he would shatter the hardened old ways in this very place today.”

“Hoh. How full of spirit.”

The hardened old ways didn't just refer to Eclipse.

The perception of Eclipse.

The mindset of giving up from the start, concluding it to be a demonic realm.

The ignorance that stifled even one's own imagination because of that thought.

The Youngest Son was telling the Land General Manager.

Today, I will fix your rotten concept.

So, the Land General Manager was waiting with his arms crossed.

‘Come, Fifth Son. I'm more than ready to be surprised.’

This was the half-demolished reception room of the Youngest Son.

The Construction General Manager had been clicking his tongue ever since he entered.

—Since he can't go to Eclipse anyway, should I just give this place a complete makeover?

Both General Managers had concluded that they couldn't go to Eclipse.

It was a thought that had stagnated and hardened.

“The Youngest Son is entering.”

With the Head Maid's voice, the reception room door opened.

Two people entered.

The Youngest Son. And a boy wearing a formal uniform that was a bit too large for his body.

The two came in and faced the two who were already there.

“We greet the Youngest Son.”

“Ahem. We greet the Youngest Son.”

One man's face was red with annoyance.

The other's face was red with alcohol.

Receiving the greetings of the red-faced men, I gestured for them to sit.

“You must have waited long.”

We did not.

One would expect some similar response to come out.

The two General Managers closed their mouths and said nothing.

The Youngest Son and the other two sat down and exchanged glances.

The eyes are the window to the soul.

The Youngest Son gauged the intentions of the two, and the two gauged the intentions of the Youngest Son.

The reactions were different.

‘Even after facing them like this, they still don't believe me at all.’

Well, I expected as much.

On the other hand.

‘What is this…. Why is he so calm?’

‘Just looking at his eyes makes me want to believe him now.’

The Youngest Son's eyes were the same.

They were the same as when he first spoke of the plan.

He himself spoke of hope and dreams, but that was truly his own hope and dream.

To those who had some wrinkles on their faces in the eastern lands, it was nothing but an illusion.

It was nothing more than the nonsense of being able to bend light and hold it in one's hand.

This was the place to confirm that.

It was the place to declare that the nonsense had become established theory.

Jureureuk─

The Head Maid poured tea into three cups.

The Butler stood blankly until then.

His education was insufficient.

But he was the most important person here right now.

The Youngest Son looked at the teacup and opened his mouth.

“In the past, the Land General Manager said. That he doesn't know tea well, but that he likes the land.”

“……”

“I am the same.”

However, my area of expertise was not land.

“Instead of land, I like tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?

The two General Managers' eyebrows bent.

It was the reaction of those who disliked riddles, who used their bodies more than their heads.

“It means that I love being alive so much. Because I live every day in a crisis of death, every single moment I am breathing, that one moment is precious.”

“…What is it you want to say?”

“It means that I fear dying much more than you all, and I hate it much more. The biggest coward in Millesdusk is probably me.”

Such a coward chose Eclipse as his home site.

He chose the demonic realm of Eclipse, and as if that wasn't enough, he said he would make it a house with a bed and a closet.

The two General Managers thought.

The words don't add up.

If he's a coward, it's right for him to just hole up in this mansion.

But why did he walk into Eclipse on his own two feet?

He had already given the answer before.

“I hate dying. I rolled the dice today because I didn't want to die tomorrow. That was the only way to survive.”

So I rolled the dice again today.

Nevertheless, this was not a gamble.

The stakes that only the Youngest Son had.

Information power, military power, manpower, financial power, etc.

I bet many things together to raise the success rate somehow.

But because others couldn't see those stakes.

“…Did you try to obtain Eclipse by using your life as a stake? Is that even obtainable?”

The pitch of the Land General Manager's voice gradually rose.

“Youngest Son. To be honest, I don't know what you did in Eclipse. So I will ask just one thing.”

Quietly, in contrast to the twitching vein on his temple.

“The demonic realm of Eclipse. Did you reach the center?”

Land General Manager Felson asked.

The answer was, of course, negative.

-is what I thought it would be.

Because if he had touched even the tip of a finger to the center, he would not have survived.

It was a place that even the new generation of blood relatives who had already established their power did not touch.

It was a land that had been evaluated as a "white elephant" even at the Millesdusk family level.

And yet, the Youngest Son.

“I reached it. I entered that altar and saw the demon.”

“……”

So this time, the Construction General Manager got excited.

It was not anger.

It was excitement in the pure sense of the word.

“W-What was it like? How big is that altar of the demon worshipers…?! What shape is the interior! W-What about the patterns! Was there anything that stood out? Where is their knowledge stored—”

“Dred! Shut that mouth! You don't actually believe this, do you!”

“I'm just believing it for now!”

“F-For now, you believe it?”

“Hey, Felson. You have too much tension in your shoulders. It's not like I don't know the obsession you had for Eclipse in the past.”

“…Dred. That's enough.”

“But you know.”

The Construction General Manager's short index finger pointed at Felson's rock-hard head.

“You worked harder than anyone to discover the potential of Eclipse, but don't think that just because you failed, others will fail too.”

“……”

“And the person before us is a direct blood relative. All direct blood relatives cause an incident that surprises the east at least once.”

The Land General Manager took out something he had brought just in case.

It was the conceptual plan sent by the Youngest Son.

He spread it out on the table.

The theme engraved on the conceptual plan.

The words "demonic realm of Eclipse" were no longer there.

[Domain of Eclipse]

The Construction General Manager chuckled freely and opened his mouth.

“I will keep Felson's hands and feet tied up well. So, Youngest Son. Please convince us from now on.”

This is what I wanted.

The Youngest Son first raised his hand.

It was a gesture calling for the person standing behind him.

“Butler. That thing.”

“Yes. Youngest Son.”

A boy with a somewhat strange honorific system.

He, whom the Youngest Son called the Butler, took something out of his bosom and placed it down.

It was a piece of stone.

As it came onto the table, it dropped soil.

What importance would stone and soil have, but to those here, the meaning was different.

Land General Manager Felson guessed its identity just by looking at the finely crumbling soil.

“It's certain that you went inside Eclipse. This is, without a doubt, the soil of Eclipse.”

“I-Is that all? Look at the pattern engraved on that fragment!”

What others would have dismissed as just a piece of stone was a fragment in the eyes of the Construction General Manager.

A fragment of something that could be called great, considering only its historical value.

“That human eye shape…! It's from the demon worshipers of the past! Th-That means this is from the altar…!”

“It's a fragment from the altar's floor that was broken during a battle.”

“M-May I perhaps touch it….”

“Go ahead.”

“Th-Thank you!”

The Land General Manager lifted it up as if he were about to cry.

His gestures were gentle and careful, as if handling a newborn baby.

While he caressed the fragment and examined every part of it.

The Youngest Son's next piece of evidence followed.

“Butler. Show them.”

“Is it okay?”

“They will only believe if you do.”

“I understand.”

The Butler, having sought permission once more, climbed onto the table.

A series of seemingly rude actions.

Since the Youngest Son said nothing, the General Managers could do nothing.

Anyway, what was he going to show—

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaah─!!

The shell that made up the boy's skin instantly burst into flames.

The human shell.

It turned to ash in an instant and disappeared, and what remained was the ferocious-looking demon, Amon.

[Humans. I, the demon of the altar, have entered the service of the Millesdusk Fifth Son and escaped my prison.]

A size that the reception room ceiling couldn't contain, along with the hellfire.

His back was bent, and looking down at the humans below, the demon of the altar declared.

[Eclipse shall no longer be my home. It shall be used as the master sees fit.]

Kurrrrrrrrrrr─

He put back on the shell he had taken off.

The fierce flame that seemed to cook his face disappeared in an instant.

“Hahahat. Don't be too surprised. I just showed you my true form without much power.”

Only a pure boy remained.

Nevertheless, they had no choice but to believe now.

The one they thought was the master of the house came out himself and declared a new master.

That was the Youngest Son of Millesdusk.

“I wonder if this is enough to convince them. I'm not sure.”

“I'm completely finished. As expected, of course.”

The Construction General Manager was cracking his stiff joints and looking only at the conceptual plan.

In his head, the input of manpower, materials, and the budget for it were probably already being decided.

All that was left was the Land General Manager.

He was silent for a moment, then stood up.

He kicked his chair back and stood.

And then he strode forward and arrived in front of the Youngest Son.

Is he going to hit him?

Even as I thought that was unlikely, it seemed possible if it was Felson.

His first words also gave strength to that thought.

“Shit. Youngest Son.”

Kuuuuung─

The giant body knelt.

As if that wasn't enough, he slammed his head down.

The sound of a rock falling echoed through the reception room.

Not once, but twice. Three times. It rang out several times.

“You, Youngest Son, have made my dream come true. A land that I had given up on early and deemed impossible, you, Youngest Son, have gifted to me.”

This grace.

It's not enough even if I repay it ten or a hundred times.

Because this was not just my dream alone.

“My master too, and my master's master. All the previous Land General Managers of Millesdusk dreamed of Eclipse.”

And yet, no one achieved it.

If they even tried something similar, they would only realize why it was a dream.

The so-called land experts of the east had all failed, but he had succeeded.

He even dragged out the demon of the altar and made it his subordinate.

What kind of ridiculous story was this?

If I could, I wanted to record it and tell it to my descendants.

The descendants would probably be the descendants of land experts.

Shouldn't they remember?

The name of the land expert hero who gifted the last puzzle piece of the eastern land to the family.

“Get up now. I don't want to break it any further, even if it's a house I'll be throwing away soon. You have your own work to do, don't you.”

“Yes. I do.”

The Land General Manager's eyes, with his reddened forehead, became resolute in an instant.

It was the same for the Construction General Manager.

Furthermore, the Youngest Son's eyes were also equally firm.

Because one more thing to think about disposing of had appeared.

That included the vampire hunter Halsin and his family relationships, but.

The place that instigated the assassination request against him.

The Fourth Son's mother's family and the best illusionist family in the east, Mystics.

‘The Mystics will continue to interfere. And if I turn to the Fourth Son for help, another dangerous deal will be made.’

It's best to resolve it on this side.

‘What should I do.’

While contemplating what to do about the Mystics.

The Head Maid uncharacteristically approached in a hurry and whispered.

—The Family Head has summoned you.

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