Chapter 89 : Chapter 89

Chapter 89 - An Uninvited Guest's Bittersweet Proposal

The Youngest Son returned from Pantheon.

Normally, he would have opened the castle roof without needing to land outside.

But from down below, the Gatekeeper was staring intently.

The man who still wore a worn surcoat despite being given the armor of the Captain of the Royal Guard.

Something about it drawing too much attention, he had said.

So, instead of the crescent-shaped single-edged greatsword bestowed as a symbol of the Captain of the Royal Guard, he wore a wooden sword.

“What is it.”

The frugal Gatekeeper usually didn't pay any mind even when the Youngest Son came.

Come or go as you please.

That's what was written on his face.

But today, he had been staring since I crossed the castle walls.

“What kind of trouble have you been causing?”

…It seemed something had indeed happened.

“An elder is inside right now.”

“Is it Elder Kian?”

“You knew? He seemed to be an uninvited guest.”

“He was. But appointments aren't important to an elder.”

The Gatekeeper affirmed with silence.

He was an elder of Millesdusk, no less.

The ten elders of a great family were beings who could meet even the king of a country on the spot.

Moreover, Millesdusk did not use its elders as some sort of bag of wisdom.

Only military might.

The way to become an elder was to be among the top ten strongest within Millesdusk.

A sage, my foot.

The knowledge, wisdom, and experience they had accumulated were focused more on how to use their fists than their heads.

And very well at that.

“The succession competition has not yet begun in earnest, yet an elder has come to visit a blood relative.”

“Which means it's not a good thing.”

“You, who knows that, hoo. Never mind.”

This was something that was foreseen from the moment he touched a lump like Eclipse.

Moreover, Eclipse was a place that even the elders had ignored with their eyes closed.

For a brat who hadn't lived even half, or a quarter, of their lives to solve such a thorny problem so ostentatiously.

The positions of some elders must have become very awkward.

Kian would be one of them.

“Young Master. This situation is not good.”

As an Executioner Knight, and before that, as a general and a soldier.

The Gatekeeper knew well how far an elder in a crisis could cross the line.

The same went for the Youngest Son.

“I know full well, so relax your expression. Even with a helmet on, I can see how grim you've become.”

“…This is not a situation to be treated as a joke, for once.”

“I don't know how to make jokes. I was serious even when I recommended a maid's outfit for you.”

“……”

The worry that had risen even slightly vanished in an instant.

It was washed away cleanly, leaving no trace to be found.

“Please enter.”

The attitude of ‘come or go’ had changed to ‘live or die’.

The corners of the Youngest Son’s mouth turned up.

“Elder Kian will return peacefully today.”

“Are you so confident?”

“Because I will make it so.”

“…Prove it.”

If I couldn't, I would die anyway.

So there was only the future where I proved it.

“See you later.”

The outer wall of the Dark Moon Grand Castle opened to accept its master.

The outer wall became the door to the place where the guest was.

And it connected the master and the guest in a single breath.

So, even the Gatekeeper saw a fleeting fragment.

The title of that fragment was Clandestine Struggle.

Dududududuk— Kung—

Until the wall closed, the inside was unusually dark and even flickered slightly.

Just the release of magical power made even the air cry out in pain.

So, the subtitle would have to be Deadly Poison.

The Youngest Son unhesitatingly stepped into a story that would by no means be gentle.

***

A room filled only with silence.

But silence was not the only thing filling the room.

The magical power of one of the two people inside also filled the interior.

This was like gunpowder.

If a single spark was wrongly lit, it would cause an explosion.

The difference was that it was poison, not an explosion, and it was not yet poison.

‘Poison Demon Sorcery, which alternates between deadly poison and ordinary magic according to the master's will. Being directly subjected to it, the pressure is even greater.’

Contrary to my thoughts, my hand calmly picked up the teacup.

“If I had known you would come this early, I wouldn't have had to send invitations to the elders.”

“I just received a message via Messenger Ghoul. That you sent invitations to all ten of us elders.”

I nodded and gestured around.

“This place had completely solidified into a demonic realm. To see it changed like this makes me endlessly curious, but wouldn't coming to visit first harm my dignity?”

“Hahaha. You know us very well.”

Kian nodded.

“Humans are truly like that. No matter how cleanly they live, how cleanly they have risen. Once they sit in a decent position, they completely forget their past.”

That's how they maintain their dignity.

Kian's hood was down.

His right cheek, melted and gone.

His blunt teeth were visible along with the scarred flesh.

“At least, I do not.”

“Oh. Is that so.”

“Dirty. Vile. Tenacious. By any means.”

Jjeojeojeojeok—

The concentration of magical power in the air became excessively thick.

The more he opened his mouth.

The more he spoke, the more the magical power crystallized and fell to the floor.

Like hail, green crystals rolled on the floor and the table.

Green? Why not blue?

[It's not pure magical power.]

Enad also watched and swallowed a groan.

I was breathing fine, but in reality, I wasn't.

Depending on the will of the man sitting in front of me, it could change as easily as flipping one's palm.

Right now, it was as if I was immersed in a pool of poison.

“At least I. Have not forgotten the way I have survived until now.”

The power of life and death in this room was in this man's hands.

….

A period of silence flowed.

By the time crystals were floating in the teacup.

“Now I can tell you the reason I came.”

“You should have said so a little earlier.”

Chwaaaak—

I threw the tea, with the dissolved crystals, onto the ground.

“My apologies. As it is my first time meeting you, Young Master, my introduction became lengthy as I wished to introduce myself.”

“Then let's get to the main point and speed things up, and I'll even try to guess.”

It wasn't a difficult task.

“Agree to change Eclipse to the family's operating system. Isn't that it?”

“That is correct.”

However.

“But there's no way you would accept it just like that, Young Master. Since the Family Head has already given his permission. That is why I am making a proposal.”

The Family Head has given permission. But he makes a proposal.

Kian was here for that.

A being that could make the ruler of the East reconsider his own choice.

Because that was what the ten elders were.

But a direct blood relative was a being who could become such a ruler.

In a word.

“I refuse.”

The level was different.

“……”

To answer before he even spoke.

To explain in more detail out of apology.

“The family that once failed to recognize the potential of Eclipse and abandoned it. The person who recycled the trash the family threw away. Which one would provide better management?”

“That is why I am making an additional proposal.”

As if waiting, a follow-up came.

“Eclipse will be changed to the family's operating system, but the manager of this place will be you, Fifth Son.”

In professional terms, a figurehead president.

“If you're looking for a scarecrow, you should have gone to the market. You've come to the wrong place.”

“That is not it. As the manager and general director of Eclipse, you will be recognized with the appropriate treatment and rights.”

Kian continued without delay.

“If that happens, you will become a worker for the family, and if that happens, what a great advantage you will gain in the subsequent succession competition.”

“For me to gain such an advantage. Are you saying you will lead me to it?”

“Furthermore—”

“Even financial support, which is no different from the tacit support of the elders.”

The corner of his mouth, the only one he had left, rose up.

“Who am I speaking with right now? The Fifth Son, who can be said to be the youngest in the family? Or some other politician?”

“How dare anyone take the place of a direct blood relative.”

“Yes. That is an absurd notion. Just like how you obtained Eclipse, Young Master.”

Kian laughed emptily.

“I am starting to like you, Young Master.”

Even so.

The answer does not change.

“My answer is still no. If that is all you have to say, then leave.”

“Young Master.”

Kian slowly stood up, only his mouth smiling.

“You must look at the situation in the long term. Not just for a year or two. But for ten or twenty years.”

“I don't need to look that far ahead. I plan to finish it before then.”

“If we elders lend a hand in that short period, the time will be shortened even further.”

Ssk—

He placed his hand on the table and leaned his body towards the Young Master.

“Do not obsess over the golden egg in front of you, but rather, get your hands on the goose that will give you not only the golden egg but also power and this entire East.”

Sorry, but.

Dudududuk—

The Youngest Son also stood up to face him.

“From the golden egg I hold, I can make a goose that lays golden eggs hatch. That's the kind of person I am.”

“……”

“I am the one who turned the land you painstakingly ignored as a rotten egg into a gold mine, so I am the one who will dig the gold and the one who can.”

Srrrrrrrr—

The magic crystals began to melt.

The cause was the anger of the two.

[Insolent fool. After I worked so hard to cultivate unusable land, he comes as he pleases and tells me to hand it over?]

Hwarurururururuk—!!

The haze of Bloodflame heated the air.

It melted the crystals and the deadly poison within the magical power.

Leaving only pure heat, it endlessly warmed the room.

Moreover, the Magic Sword was not the only one who was angry.

“Old man. A little insolent, are we?”

Jjeo-eo-eo-eo-eok—

The outer wall cracked.

Kindly, not left and right, but torn and ripped, jagged like teeth.

Dozens of mouths and dozens of eyes sprouted from all directions.

“You are not in an ordinary house.”

This place is the maw of a demon.

The hungry stomach of a demon, its mind, and between its teeth.

On its tongue, its uvula, and inside its winding intestines.

“The me you hesitated to fight hundreds, thousands of times in the past and eventually gave up on. Amon. My power. Where my demons are.”

This is Eclipse.

Jjeojeojeojeojeojeojeojeok—

The roof opened as if it were being torn off.

The sky, which had become a new ceiling, shone down on the ground.

The black sun that should have been floating there had become a single large eye.

That purple eye blinked from time to time.

And stared down at someone below, who was acting recklessly.

“Ha, haha…”

Kian let out a hollow laugh.

Truly, everything was hostile.

The ground he stood on, the air he breathed, the sky above his head, and the sun within it.

Everything became an enemy and tightened its grip on his neck.

What welled up was not greed.

Deep regret.

Self-loathing and humiliation dragged his ego down like a swamp, submerging it.

Why couldn't I do it like this?

Why couldn't I think of this method?

Why am I regretting it only now?

The young blood relative before his eyes had produced a different result with a different way of thinking.

The result was the right answer, but.

“No one can guarantee that there isn't another right answer…”

He muttered and subsided his magical power.

The poison in the air also completely disappeared.

Only then did the sun close its eye.

Dududududududuk—

The castle closed its roof, and the walls returned to their original places.

The inside became quiet once again.

Kian said.

“An elder of Millesdusk must not be wrong. Every choice must be right.”

Or make it right.

He had to do something.

“It seems you have no intention of leaving this place. I will be going.”

“Don't expect a send-off.”

One corner of his mouth twisted up.

“I'm disappointed. We might be seeing each other often in the future.”

“Didn't you expect it wouldn't work out from the start? There's no way the other party would agree to a negotiation that you yourself were not sincere about.”

“…You said you gave me an invitation. I will see you next time in a more pleasant situation.”

Kiiiiiiik—

With a grating sound of steel, a ghost carriage, almost like smoke, brushed past him.

Elder Kian, along with it.

Disappeared, truly like the wind.

Drrrrrk—

The outer wall opened, and the Butler and the Head Maid entered.

The two did not hesitate to approach, even though there might be remnants of poisonous energy.

“Young Master. Are you all right.”

“Yes. I am fine, and the other party has gained conviction.”

“What conviction?”

“The conviction that there is no other answer but his own plan.”

From the beginning, Kian came for that.

To kill his last shred of humanity.

He stopped by here for his final rationalization.

Then it's time for me to prepare as well.

“Head Maid. Have Edwin and Jubel spread a rumor.”

That the war hero of the common people who died on the front lines.

The third prince of the Julsin Kingdom, is actually alive.

And.

“That he was consumed as a sacrificial lamb in an excessive succession competition.”

“As you wish.”

Before they scorch the kingdom's capital with hellfire, we will strike first.

If there is hell below, there is a living hell above.

How large a school of fry that is the crowd can gather.

And how hot the torches they raise are.

The whales that are the nobles and the royal family will now find out.

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