Episode 272
EPISODE.136
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“Whoa…”
Endymion’s King Alfonso Ratmos sighed as he headed for the meeting after taking a break of at most a few hours.
The monarch of the Great Powers, the only two of them on the continent.
The only king of the country who can compete with the empire.
Contrary to his prestige, his shoulders, which were always confident, were drooping excessively.
It has to be.
The reports pouring in from all over the past month were making him unable to even take a proper rest.
‘In the first place, it wasn’t even an atmosphere where I could sleep properly.’
Is it because of accumulated fatigue?
The body, which has become quite old and decrepit, staggers and shakes in an instant.
“your majesty!”
“Your Majesty the King!”
The knights and attendants who followed him stood in admiration and tried to step out.
However, there was one person who supported the king before them.
“Are you okay? your majesty.”
Purple hair and eyes just like the one who accompanied and followed the king right next to him.
It was Hecate Latmos, the regent of Endymion and the first heir to the throne.
“I was just tired for a while. Okay.”
“I’ll attend the meeting instead, so it’s better to take a break now…” Hearing his
daughter’s worried voice, the king shook his head quietly.
“I have entrusted you with the position of regent, but there are times when the king has to step in. And…”
He stood up with his daughter’s support and put his hand on the window frame.
“…How can you rest in a situation like this?”
He looked up at the sky above the palace outside the window frame and chanted.
“A month and fortnight after that, I still can’t believe it.”
The sky is all purple.
Is the end of this world approaching?
Even though it was still quite early for the sunset, the sky covered in turbid purple was just turbid.
An ominous purple that disturbs people’s hearts just by looking at it.
No, you don’t have to worry about time.
Regardless of time, it has already been over a month since the sky took on that color.
A world where the boundary between day and night disappears and only the purple end remains.
There is probably no sentence more suitable to describe the present material world.
a month and a half ago.
He let out a small sigh as he recalled the report he had received from Hemingway, who had returned from the war with the Empire.
The contents of the report were hard to believe even for the residents of this world where magic and auras exist.
[The new emperor of the empire was actually a cultist, and he brought an unknown entity to the territory of the empire.]
If you were to briefly summarize the contents of the report, it would roughly look like this.
‘It’s an unknown existence.’
He was a cult who was said to have power comparable to that of a transcendent.
If such a cult was worthy of descending, there was nothing else that came to mind other than high-ranking demons and demon lords.
However, Hemingway, who witnessed the scene directly, answered the emperor’s question by shaking his head quietly.
‘your majesty. God has never seen the demon lord himself, but has ever sealed an ancient object containing their power. But…’
“The power that flowed through the cracked sky that day was very different from that of the demon tribe or the demon king—”
“your majesty?”
When Hecate questioned the sudden murmur, the emperor shook his head.
“no. Nothing.”
It’s still hard to believe, but there’s no way not to believe it.
It was from that day that the entire sky was colored with an ominous purple light and the boundary between day and night began to disappear.
If the contents of the report that came up that day are true, such a change in the sky must have been influenced by beings from outside the world.
A sky full of purple despair without day or night…
The bigger problem was the situation of the empire after the war.
With the death of the emperor and the destruction of the imperial capital, the empire lost its function as a state.
Not only that, until the people of the empire became widely known to the people of the empire for the act of turning the whole territory into undead, including the subjects living on it.
It was only natural that the surviving nobles of the empire and the territories under them surrendered to other countries and became naturalized.
The largest number of nobles and citizens surrendered to Endymion.
As a result, Endymion was also experiencing quite a bit of confusion internally, but anyway.
Compared to the series of incidents that followed after that, the affairs in the country would not be even on the axis of chaos.
‘I heard that human greed has no end.’
A large land left behind after the imperial dynasty collapsed and the imperial family disappeared.
What grew on it like wild grass was the nobles’ desire to take the place that had disappeared.
There were people who started moving soldiers and attacking neighboring territories with the thought, “What if it’s just me?”
Had it been left as it was, a war would have ensued to occupy the remaining positions.
But is it good or bad?
Their plan didn’t work.
Because a bigger problem broke out before they raised an army and established a country.
‘Plague and monsters started to spread in the vicinity of the imperial capital.’
Thinking about the reports that followed later made my head hurt again.
Thinking so, King Alfonso Ratmos firmly gripped the window frame.
The pupils that appeared in the sky, which were written in the report, disappeared, but the ecliptic, wrapped in purple brilliance, had become a land that no one could enter.
The purple glow itself acts as a strong magic barrier and refuses to invade at all.
In addition to that, did all the residents of the cities near the ecliptic die of withering away?
‘Looks like a mummy whose vitality has been sucked out.’
Even that was not enough, until things like cocoons were wrapped around the dried up bodies of the residents.
It was from the inside of the cocoon that the monster came out.
In other words, monsters made from the corpses of dead people.
The appearances of the monsters born that way were bizarre.
The appearance of a terrible chimera that looks like a mixture of several types of humans, beasts, or insects.
It was an appearance that naturally reminded me of warlocks and cultists.
However-.
‘According to the report of the Magic Tower, there is no way to create monsters in that way even in the cult.’
A monster that cannot be found in any historical records left in this era.
What does that mean?
‘Either the monsters of the forgotten era of the age of gods or otherwise…’
These are monsters of a kind that have never appeared in the material world.
Alfonso sighed softly as he swallowed his whispers.
‘Mmm.’
Dealing with the pouring undead, probably because of the collapse of the empire, losing control and rampaging.
It was a big problem just to accept the refugees of the ruined country who escaped from them.
But now, in addition to that, he had to deal with unknown monsters.
‘I’d rather have someone who could answer this question.’
The only one who could possibly do that is currently collapsed and unable to wake up…
Alfonso asked one of the ministers following him.
“What did he say about the Grand Duke?”
A question filled with worry and frustration, the minister who received the question answered with a smile.
“yes. majesty. According to the people in charge of him, almost all of the wounds in his body have been healed. However, it is highly likely that the reason why he has not regained consciousness yet is a mental problem…”
As he blurted out his words, he glanced at them, and Hecate opened his mouth.
“It’s fine.”
He pretends to be resolute, but he cannot hide the fact that his voice trembles as he speaks.
After all, Russell is her fiancée. There was no way I wouldn’t be worried.
“As always, he will overcome this crisis well.”
Nevertheless, Hecate, who responded in a rather firm voice, continued as if changing the subject.
“Rather than that, it’s time to go in. your majesty.”
As she said, envoys from various countries who had gathered to discuss how to deal with the current issue were waiting inside the conference hall.
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The time when the meeting was in full swing.
Daria was sitting on a chair, looking at one side of the hospital room.
At the end of her gaze was her youngest student, Russell Raymond.
Alongside him, Muyaho and Io were also lying together.
Since that day’s battle, all three of them have been unconscious.
“You bastard…why aren’t you waking up?”
I mumbled in frustration, but I still couldn’t hear an answer.
It was then.
smart-.
Along with the sound of knocking, a chuckle was heard from outside the hospital room.
“Come in.”
Kik-.
When permission was given, the hinges rang and two men entered the room.
They were Russell’s brother-in-law and also Daria’s pupils, Vermilion and Hubert.
“Master.”
“Did you come…”
Daria replied, looking as if she had aged for several years.
rustle-.
Vermilion put something down next to Daria.
It was a sandwich that looked like it had just been wrapped.
“For now, eat something. If you do this, Master will also get sick.”
according to his words.
Ever since Russell collapsed, Daria hadn’t even eaten properly.
“How can you easily put food in your mouth? It’s all my fault.”
If I had been a little stronger, if I had been strong enough to protect my pupil, the youngest would not have become like this.
Such guilt squeezed Daria’s heart.
“It’s all my fault…”
“It’s not Master’s fault.”
Hubert cut her off firmly.
“If it’s Master’s fault, then we, who were sentenced to death and were weaker than the priests, must also be at fault.”
“The priest is right.”
thud-.
As Vermillion sits on the chair next to Russell’s bed, the ground shakes and the wooden chair screams for death.
“If that’s a sin, then we, who couldn’t protect the youngest, must have committed the same sin.”
At the words of the two disciples, Daria quietly shut her mouth.
A heavy silence fell immediately after.
What broke the silence was not the three people present, but a knock from outside the door.
smart-.
“…?”
Was there anyone else to come? Thinking so, Hubert opened the door.
rattle-.
“Lord of the Tower of Flames.”
Standing beyond that was an errand boy for the imperial family wearing official uniform.
After discovering Daria, he bowed his head and opened his mouth one after another.
“It is His Majesty’s order to enter the palace immediately.”
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After Daria left, Hubert and Vermillion also escaped to the hospital room.
Only the strong scent of medicine filled the interior of the hospital room, and Russell’s body flinched and trembled as the three unconscious fell as if dead.
Then, along the back of Russell’s hand, shiny scales like obsidian were cut and sprouted and disappeared.
“Umm….”
The wizard who swallowed the dragon
