Chapter 58 : Chapter 58

Chapter 58 - A Different Kind of Greed

The General Manager of Intelligence was briefed upon the Youngest Son's return from Eclipse.

The agent in charge of blood relatives reported in detail.

A departure too small-scale to be called an expedition.

There were only two people, the Youngest Son himself and the Gatekeeper.

But even if the Youngest Son was a question mark, the Gatekeeper was a (former) Executioner Knight of Millesdusk.

His senses might have rusted from being away from the field for a long time, but his skills don't die.

Even so, the General Manager of Intelligence initially shook his head.

“This is impossible.”

Because the two of them didn't have the military power or sustainability to break through the entrance, let alone reach the center.

But what do you know.

A few days later, they returned with the demon of the altar, whom they had installed as a butler.

Although many intermediate processes were omitted, the urgent report had to go up as an urgent report.

Furthermore, the Family Head of Millesd's Dusk could not be unaware of the conquest of Eclipse.

As if it were in real-time.

The Family Head of Millesdusk, Kulsian Black Millesdusk, heard and saw all of it up close.

Time passed, and the report was completed.

It concluded with the acknowledgment of the Land General Manager and the Construction General Manager that Eclipse had become a safe zone.

The Family Head of Millesdusk commanded likewise.

—Bring Dante to me.

That command reached Mirea Rara after the General Manager of Intelligence, and at this very moment.

“The Family Head has summoned you.”

It ended with the Head Maid's whisper in the Youngest Son's ear.

“…Head Maid. See our guests out well. Butler, follow me.”

“Yes. Youngest Son.”

“Yes. Youngest Son.”

It wasn't ordinary, but now the Youngest Son also had a Head Maid and a Butler.

Of course, even if they were a Head Maid and a Butler, neither had any maids or butlers under them.

They would naturally appear once the residence was moved to Eclipse, but for now, the two of them were his limbs.

But the moment he showed the Butler to the Family Head now.

‘He might try to separate me from Amon.’

Even so, hiding him was even worse.

There was no way the Family Head of Millesdusk didn't know about Amon's existence.

That's why he had him unleash his power freely inside the Pantheon.

There was no act that looked more foolish than trying to hide what was already known.

So I will go with him confidently.

“Lubosch.”

“Yes, yes!”

“You'll have to drive the carriage.”

“The carriage? I'd be happy to! Where are we going?”

“To the Mind Demon.”

“……”

The face that had been happy at the thought of riding a carriage instead of a Griffin instantly turned ashen.

All who knew of the Mind Demon would be the same.

You could tell just by looking at the Butler.

“Mind Demon? What's a Mind Demon?”

Because he doesn't know what it is, he asks innocently, and because he doesn't know what it is, he says it.

The demon in the form of a child poked the human fellow who had looked somewhat slow-witted from the first time he saw him.

“Hey, hey. I asked what a Mind Demon is.”

“D-Do you really not know?”

“Yes! Didn't I say I don't know! What is a Mind Demon!”

“Q-Quiet…! Please be quiet. The Family Head will hear you…!”

Lubosch quickly covered the Butler's mouth and looked around.

“Oww! Let go!”

In that frustration, the Butler pushed his hand away.

Noticing that he really didn't seem to know, Lubosch swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth.

“The Mind Demon refers to the place where the Family Head's residence is. Also, the fact that he's listening is what's called the curse of the Pantheon….”

Lubosch whispered as much as possible.

So later on, it became completely inaudible.

Although it was almost at the level of just mouthing the words.

Because he was a demon, he understood.

“…I am, under a curse? A curse where if I talk about the Family Head, it all flows to him?”

“Th-That's right. It's a curse that is automatically cast the moment you set foot in the Pantheon.”

“It would be impossible to start a rebellion.”

“Th-th-th! Mouth! Mouth! If an Executioner Knight comes here right now, you won't even be able to resist once even if your limbs are cut off…!!”

“I get it, you thing. More importantly, didn't the Youngest Son ask you to prepare the carriage?”

“Ah, ah! Right!”

Lubosch hurriedly ran off.

The Butler greeted the Youngest Son who was coming down the stairs.

He was more tidy than usual.

His dark purple hair and his clothes as well.

Without the slight slouch he usually had, he was impeccably clean.

“Let's go. Butler.”

“Alright. I'm curious too. Is the human I'm about to meet the best among the descendants of the First Family Head?”

“……”

At the unreserved definition of the Millesdusk Family Head.

The youngest son couldn't answer easily and closed his mouth.

But he was right.

He was the best, the supreme, and the strongest among those who carried the name of the current Millesdusk.

“Y-Youngest Son. The carriage is ready.”

At the thought of going to the Mind Demon, Lubosch also dusted off his clothes as much as possible.

He hid the sleeves, wet from wiping, as much as possible.

The Mind Demon was a place where one wanted to erase even the smallest anxiety.

Lubosch drove the carriage to a place feared even by beings who deal with death.

The Youngest Son and the Butler, riding in the back, watched the scene outside the window until they got there.

“It's getting more and more like an altar.”

The Youngest Son also agreed in silence.

The Pantheon housed not only the Mind Demon but also all of the family's most important institutions.

The Butler's Office, the Intelligence Department of the Dark Name, the General Construction Department along with the Land Development Department, the Executive Department of the Family Law, and so on.

A feast of huge buildings along with other buildings.

That was the Pantheon, but the Mind Demon was different.

The Mind Demon was a space solely for the Family Head.

The scenery gradually turned grayish-white, and the world lost its vitality as if losing its color.

“Yes. It was a place like this.”

The Youngest Son muttered quietly.

It was so low that it was buried by the sound of the rolling wheels and disappeared.

It was a kind of reminiscence.

In the past, outside the monitor, it was a place I had arrived at and left dozens of times, and this was my true home.

For a Millesdusk faction player, it was a place more comfortable than their own bathroom.

It was the same for the Youngest Son.

Since entering the realm of the Mind Demon a little while ago, I could walk to every corner even with my eyes closed.

But the multi-purpose luggage carrier and current coachman couldn't.

“Lubosch. Turn left.”

“Ye-yes? Did you say to turn left?”

The carriage was passing through a garden that looked like it had been covered in volcanic ash as other artificial buildings disappeared.

There was clearly only one path.

The tough thornbushes that grew on its left and right would not end well if one forced their way through.

But he had to turn now.

“I won't say it again. Turn.”

“Ah, I understand.”

He pulled the reins.

The horse's head turned to the left as much as the reins were pulled.

The thornbush was pushed in as if a hand had been stuck into a membrane, revealing the next path.

“W-What is this….”

“Don't mind it. Just accept it as it is and move on. The moment you think deeply to figure it out, this curse will seep into your very bones.”

The curse of the Mind Demon.

It was a curse prepared in case an enemy of the family reached this place, the heart of the family.

But that curse did not distinguish between friend and foe.

It looks like a straight path, but if you follow it as it is, you can never reach the end.

This is because it originally draws a circle.

Like the curse of the Pantheon, this is activated the moment one steps inside.

To break it, you must not think at all.

For example, like now.

“Y-Youngest Son. The bridge connecting the divided gardens is broken.”

“Just keep going.”

“I-I'll keep going.”

Lubosch steeled his heart and drove the horse as he was told.

The broken bridge was strangely crossable.

Since it was a crossable bridge, they could pass even if a strong torrent was flowing beneath.

The coachman's eyes glanced towards the torrent.

“You won't see anything good by looking.”

At the smell of meat for the first time in a while, fish with saw-like teeth jumped up to the bridge.

They couldn't reach it, but the saw-like teeth that looked like they could cut through anything were clearly visible.

Gulp….

Lubosch swallowed his dry saliva and continued to advance.

The curse of the Mind Demon targets the enemy who is tired from breaking through numerous defensive lines to get here.

They do their utmost not to lose their balance at the final destination, but.

The curse of the Mind Demon mocks them by urging them to make choices that are close to suicide.

But if the gamble fails even once, the conquest fails, and Millesdusk survives.

This time, the Youngest Son survived.

“We're here. At the Demon Head Palace.”

The Youngest Son's party got out of the carriage.

Those who were visiting for the first time looked up at the Demon Head Palace, their necks about to break.

As the Gatekeeper had said.

Although those called Millesdusk were treated as villains on the continent, its heart was not frightening.

The role of the heart is to keep a person alive and maintain their life.

There was no way that doing such a thing would not be beautiful.

‘It's been a while.’

The Demon Head Palace hadn't changed a bit from the one in my memory.

A residence made not of something that looked like it was built with bones, but of real bones, a skull.

The owner of the skull, presumed to have been a king of the giant race, became the foundation of Millesdusk.

The First Family Head made soldiers from the brain fragments and fluids inside the skull.

Thus, the empty skull was used as a residence.

It was truly a head with nothing to throw away.

After breaking through the garden, which was synonymous with the word "trap," I came face to face with the giant skull.

The Family Head of Millesdusk was inside there.

“I'm going in.”

There was no one to guide, no one to protect, not a single living creature in the Mind Demon.

This Demon Head Palace was the same.

A path carved out as if with the jawbone.

It was exquisite, smooth, and sculpted, as if a stone had been placed and carved with a knife.

I followed that path.

This time, there were no traps.

Still, Lubosch was extremely tense.

As if he needed to grab onto something, he gently placed a hand on the Butler's shoulder.

The Butler himself was not much different, so this time he couldn't push it away.

Inside the skull, inside the Demon Head Palace.

It was like a huge library.

The brain, to put it simply, is a space for storing knowledge.

As if taking those words literally, the largest space in the Demon Head Palace was a library.

From the ground to the ceiling.

Bookshelves of an unseen height soared up.

Some books floated in the air, having come out of the bookshelves as if they had to be seen.

“…Butler and Lubosch, wait here.”

“Will you be alright…?”

“What are you going to do if I'm not? The number of times a favorable situation has come to me can be counted on one hand.”

Now too, it was just a crisis situation as usual.

A very usual crisis, a crisis to be overcome as usual.

The Youngest Son left the two behind and advanced between the bookshelves.

He passed through the bookshelves, which were intertwined like a maze or the wrinkles of a brain.

Then a corridor appeared, and at the end of it was a single door.

So what's behind the door?

‘What else. The final boss of Act 1.’

I walked towards him.

I grabbed the doorknob and opened it without hesitation.

Darkness enveloped the Youngest Son.

Koong─

The door closed.

It closed by itself.

The opponent had called, so the opponent wanted a quick conversation.

[Youngest one.]

“Dante Black Millesdusk. Reporting for duty.”

[Welcome. Very well done, avoiding the curse of the Mind Demon.]

Kulsian Black Millesdusk.

He was watching.

He had called for his youngest son, but holding his hand and leading him was not the Millesdusk way.

If there's a river in front, they push you from behind.

If there's a beast in front, they throw you in front of it.

If there's poison, they make you drink it.

The weak died, and the strong who survived in such a way formed the current Millesdusk.

The pinnacle of that survival of the fittest inquired.

[You have brought a demon into the land of Millesdusk. A marquis of the demon world at that.]

“……”

Amon. His true name, which was not revealed in the game.

His identity was the name of a marquis of the demon world.

The Youngest Son knelt on one knee.

“He is my subordinate and my limb, appointed to the position of butler. There will be absolutely no harm to the family.”

[Yes. Before harm comes to the family, it will come to you first. You should be the most careful.]

However, the reason he was called was not just because of the demon.

[I heard that as soon as you extracted that demon, you normalized Eclipse.]

“I plan to make that place my camp.”

[Yes. A good strategy. Even if you search the history of Millesdusk, there is no better strategy.]

With those words.

A brief silence flowed.

The room was pitch black even to eyes accustomed to the dark.

Golden pupils gleamed in a place without a speck of light.

[Eclipse. The family shall possess it.]

That slickness was greed.

A strange light also appeared in the Youngest Son's blood-red eyes.

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