Chapter 70 : Chapter 70

Chapter 70 - An Unbelievable Thing

A dilapidated mansion.

The Butler ran to the Head Maid in broad daylight.

“Head Maid! Head Maid!”

He ran up in a flurry, grabbed her apron, and shook it.

“What is it, Butler.”

The morning when the sun was just rising was off-duty time in the Youngest Son's absence.

The Head Maid, who was enjoying the rare leisure along with the sunshine, sensed that something had happened.

“Did something happen to the Youngest Son.”

“No! The Youngest Son, to me! Uhm, he sent a thought into my head! No. Should I call it his will?”

“...Whatever it is, doesn't it mean the Youngest Son contacted you.”

“That's right!”

“What did he say.”

A human and a demon connected by a ring.

With the Magic Sword as a medium, it was possible to exchange thoughts even over long distances.

Though it was a one-sided communication of will.

The Youngest Son had conveyed his will that way.

“He said to invest all the money I have in Eclipse!”

“...All the money, you have.”

“Yes! The treasury, was it? He said to borrow as much money as I can from there too?”

“To even borrow money. The Youngest Son must have made up his mind.”

The Head Maid also made up her mind in a single breath.

An investment made by taking out a loan on top of one's entire fortune.

It was incredibly unsettling in the eyes of others.

Especially considering it had been a demonic realm just a few weeks ago.

And if the money gathered like that was a huge sum that would surprise even a giant merchant.

It was a waste even if it was someone else's money.

Nevertheless, the Head Maid stood up without hesitation.

In the first place, wasn't it the Youngest Son who had gathered such a large sum of money?

“Butler. Have Lubosch prepare the carriage and ask the Gatekeeper to accompany us. Also, inform Lord Jubel of this fact through a Messenger Ghoul.”

“Okay!”

“And Butler, you must remain here at the mansion. You know the reason, right?”

“Of course. Humans are timid, aren't they?”

The Head Maid smiled faintly and temporarily took off her apron.

The Millesdusk family treasury manages the family's assets.

Assets are another form of the family's power.

The General Manager of the Treasury, who holds that power, accumulates wealth by making deals like loans even with members of the family.

The family's merchants also go to the General Manager of the Treasury to receive investment funds.

“But it's no easy task to get money from that stiff character.”

The Head Maid, muttering softly, put on the overcoat the Youngest Son had prepared for her.

The navy blue woolen coat was embroidered with gold thread, making it luxurious and neat.

She herself had refused it repeatedly, but.

─How long are you going to wear only a damp work uniform soaked in water. You'll get sick if you go outside like that. Then who will do your work.

The Youngest Son had put the overcoat on her, adding all sorts of superfluous remarks.

A smile spread as those remarks came to mind.

She stroked the warm and soft clothes with her hand.

As she arrived at the carriage first and sat down.

The Gatekeeper arrived next.

“I heard roughly from Lubosch. You're going to the treasury.”

“Yes. I have to borrow money.”

“How much.”

“He said to borrow as much as possible.”

The Gatekeeper shook his head.

“Even if you wanted to toss a copper coin to some beggars, the General Manager of the Treasury is someone who would sit next to that beggar and beg himself. It will be difficult against such a miser.”

“You can't always do only what you want in this world.”

“In that world, there are things that can be done and things that cannot.”

“We are the subordinates of those who have repeatedly succeeded in those impossible things, aren't we? Then shouldn't we also try to succeed at an impossible thing at least once?”

“......”

The Gatekeeper, sitting with his arms crossed, had the recent battle flash through his mind.

That battle was also an unbelievable thing.

The First Family Head's sorcery, the Six Paths.

To think he had won by unleashing the Path of the Asura.

He would never be able to forget the feeling of that moment for the rest of his life.

Hadn't he handsomely succeeded in something even he himself thought was impossible?

A drug-like pleasure seeped into his brain.

Perhaps the Youngest Son felt this pleasure all the time.

“Do your best.”

“Yes. Gatekeeper, you just need to be by my side. But with your helmet off.”

“...I'll fall for your trick.”

“Thank you.”

Lubosch, who had been listening from outside, turned his head this way.

“Still, he's the Youngest Son who normalized even Eclipse, and this loan is for that purpose. Would he really refuse this?”

“The General Manager of the Treasury is not that kind of rational person.”

When working as an Executioner Knight, corruption related to money was the most common.

And the reason for the corruption was the sorcerers' research funds.

The absence of those research funds was because the General Manager of the Treasury would not lend them money.

The excuses they had unfairly shouted were still etched in his memory.

He had heard it repeated so many times that his ears had grown calloused.

“A person with bad credit. In his eyes, everyone is a person with bad credit.”

People who should not be lent money.

People who must be refused.

“He has to open the wallet of a guy who only thinks of refusing, without even listening properly. It won't be easy.”

“...Why is such a person the General Manager of the Treasury?”

“There are definitely those who have obtained that guy's money. And those guys have enhanced the family's prestige. And of course, they paid back all the money.”

“Jubel Maxman is a prime example of that.”

“Hmm.... So his judgment is incredibly good.”

“I wonder.”

The Gatekeeper was skeptical this time as well.

“It's not that the General Manager of the Treasury's judgment is good, but that if you're good enough to get through him, you're already destined to succeed.”

“Ah....”

At this point, Lubosch looked at the Head Maid with concern.

Was she really destined to succeed?

He still didn't know.

No one here knew.

Only the General Manager of the Treasury would judge that.

***

The Forest Witch built a separate wing for her guests.

The process was the same as with her son.

“Would you plant a seed here.”

“Like this?”

“Yes. Like that.”

He dug the ground, planted the seed, and Kio made it grow.

After that, the Forest Witch took over, increasing the plant's size and weaving it to build a wall.

JOREUREU─

She took out a bottle from her pocket, opened it, and poured it on the roots.

The fragile plant visibly toughened and was firmly fixed with vines.

“What is that?”

A question thrown by a brat younger than her son, instead of her son.

As the Youngest Son looked on with interest, the Forest Witch retrieved the bottle.

“None of your business.”

“You're being stiff. Even though you'll have to entrust your life to my hands soon.”

“...It's not completely decided.”

“If there was another way, I would proceed with it right away. Of course, if there was, you would have done it long ago.”

“......”

“Isn't it that there's no sharp way? Then let's try my soft way.”

Halsin, who was watching that ridiculous conversation, bowed his head deeply.

The banquet from before.

The method the Youngest Son had talked about was absurd.

But the face of the Youngest Son talking about that absurd method was so serene.

If this method was a lie.

‘That young brat has the makings of a swindler who will go down in history, unprecedented and unparalleled.’

The Youngest Son had explained.

─Forest Witch. The way to break your prohibition and escape the forest is to die here and be resurrected outside the forest.

The Youngest Son had said exactly that.

“Crazy bastard.”

Even though he wasn't the subject of that story, a curse came out.

Because the Forest Witch had also revealed her secret story in the conversation about the Curse of the Forest.

“I finally managed to emotionally detach myself and send my child away, and this guy brings him back. And the words he says upon bringing him back are that he'll kill the mother and bring her back to life. Hah, really.”

He was truly nothing short of a madman.

“Hey, werewolf. Do you think that makes sense.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“...You think killing a person and bringing them back to life makes sense?”

“It happened to me, too.”

What was this now?

The werewolf girl's features were flat, without a hint of change.

“It's not a lie. I was completely possessed by an evil spirit and was no different from being dead, but he returned me to my original state. I'm very healthy now.”

“Yes. You look healthy.”

The meat stew the Forest Witch had generously made for her son was all eaten by some wolf.

The painstakingly baked bread and even the butter, which would be hard to find here, all of it.

If it hadn't been for the family reunion, the ingredients for the next meat stew would have been decided.

Halsin shook his head.

“Being no different from dead and being dead are different. That thread of life has to be there, even if it's really thin, to be revived.”

But the moment that thread of life was there, even thinly.

The Curse of the Forest would activate and she would be resurrected in the same state.

“The Fifth Son is saying he will cut even that thin thread and revive the Forest Witch from complete death.”

“...Hmm.”

“Do you think this is possible.”

“Wouldn't Dante somehow manage it?”

“Are you some kind of fanatic of that guy?”

“He's my benefactor. Isn't it a foolish thing not to believe the benefactor who saved your life? And Dante is a benefactor to you too, isn't he?”

“......”

Halsin's mouth closed.

He pretended not to know and approached Kio and the Forest Witch.

“If Kio is okay with it, there's also the option of us just living here. It's faster to research a way to prevent the Curse of the Forest from being transferred.”

The Forest Witch shook her head.

Her dark green hair swayed from side to side.

“No. Kio's precious people are outside. To ignore that and wish for him to live here is greedy.”

“Then what do you want to do? Are you really going to entrust your neck to that guy's hands?”

“I will follow Kio's decision. If my life is entrusted to the hands of my creation, I have no complaints.”

The Forest Witch's hand, for the first time in a very long time.

Stroked her son's hair.

The brown hair became entangled between her fingers.

There was a pleasant smell of wood.

But her eyes, looking at Halsin, were heartless.

“The strange one is you, Halsin. A madman who ran around the forest with his eyes red for his family's revenge, suddenly wants to settle down with a new family.”

“You mean you can't believe me.”

“A man who cut off his own hair and handed it to a witch for the sake of revenge. It's hard to believe easily.”

“Then don't believe, and watch.”

Halsin answered simply.

If the prey's behavior was strange.

If there was a fishy smell, waiting was the first thing to do.

The order was to observe until the very end, uncover the suspicion, and then pull the trigger.

“Deciding whether to kill or not comes after that.”

“...The only regret is that if I die now, you are the only person I can entrust my child to.”

“You just have to not die. I accepted what came to me as an opportunity. What you do is your freedom.”

Kio, who was listening to their conversation, added.

“I know best here how important mother's survival is to the Youngest Son. The Youngest Son always succeeds in what he sets out to do.”

“Yes. Since Kio says so, I suppose I can put my worries to rest.”

A warm smile that still felt awkward.

Today was the first time I knew that face could change like that.

So I didn't want to leave it as a memory.

Once a day. No, twice. I wanted to see it any number of times.

The very person who would present such a daily life passed them and entered the separate wing.

“I also need to prepare. The great event is tomorrow at midnight. If you need personal preparations, do so.”

The villa was closed.

Though it was hastily made, the interior emphasized comfort for the guests.

Along with a bedroom-like space, there were separate rooms for each person.

Forest Witch. If I take her with me in the future, her preparations for bed will be amazing.

I sat on the wooden chair that was made, looking forward to an increasingly comfortable future.

Let's think.

“In the Path of the Beast, there's a sorcery useful for a situation like this.”

The problem was that it couldn't end with just the Path of the Beast.

One more of the Six Paths was needed.

Only then could I pull the Forest Witch, who was crossing the river of death, back to the world of the living.

“I'll need the Path of the Human.”

Chwareureureu─

I opened the Scripture of the Dark Wheel.

The Path of the Human in the scripture depicted the lives of numerous humans.

Here were the various human figures the First Family Head had seen in his life.

Mother and father. Someone's daughter and son. Teacher and student. Ruler and dominator. The dominated and the beggar.

There were countless people, but the end for all of them was death.

Life and death.

The sorcery that depicts what makes a human human is the Path of the Human.

“This is the first time I'm using two of the Six Paths at the same time. To do this without dying.”

The atrocity of reviving a dead person.

It was possible because the one to die was the Forest Witch, bound by the Curse of the Forest.

To survive an act that goes against the laws of heaven, tireless effort was needed.

And most of the people gathered around the Youngest Son were making tireless efforts.

But could he himself rest?

The Youngest Son sat on the floor without even giving his dinner a chance to digest.

“Alright. Let's do this.”

It was a seated meditation for a sure step forward.

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