RUMBLE!
The tightly shut stone door began to open with a heavy rumble. Through the widening gap came the blood-scented air that clung to the underground laboratory, along with anxious gazes.
“Yuto!”
Before the door had fully opened, Levian rushed toward him, crying his name in something close to a scream. Her face, already drawn from nursing him through the night, had grown even paler after witnessing the horrific underground laboratory and enduring the ominous aether and sounds of clashing that had spilled past the stone door.
“What on earth happened... in...?”
Levian, who had approached looking ready to burst into tears, stopped dead.
It was because of Elun, the unidentified girl standing beside Yuto.
“Um... Yuto...? Who... is that beside you...?”
Levian’s eyes trembled violently, as though an earthquake had struck. It was understandable: he had definitely entered the chamber alone, only to return with a girl as beautiful as a doll who radiated a chilling air.
Flokiro’s eyes widened just as Levian’s had. Unlike Yuto, this was his first time seeing Elun, so his surprise was only natural.
“Y-Yuto. Who is she...?”
At Flokiro’s hesitant question and Levian’s gaze, Elun moved as though annoyed and half hid herself behind Yuto’s back. Then she whispered so softly that only he could have heard.
“Explain it yourself.”
Yuto pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead. How was he supposed to explain this?
‘Should I say she’s the Void’s agent, and that she hatched from an egg I was carrying?’
Then he would have to start by explaining what the Void was. If Flokiro were the only one present, no explanation would have been necessary... but Levian was here, too.
“...”
In that brief silence, Yuto could not come up with a plausible lie. Whatever explanation he offered would be a tale beyond common sense, one Levian could neither understand nor needed to know.
“Yuto?”
Levian called his name cautiously. The eyes that had been brimming with tears were now filled only with questions and confusion. Looking into them, he felt that spinning an elaborate lie would only complicate matters further.
Yuto glanced back at Elun. Hidden behind him, she remained expressionless, but a subtle gleam in her eyes suggested she was enjoying the situation.
At last, he let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“I... What?”
“I don’t know who this girl is, either. She was simply inside the chamber.”
This, too, concealed the truth and was therefore a lie, but he added no lengthy justification. Brazenly insisting on it would be better.
“I couldn’t leave her in there forever, and she said she wanted to come with me, so I brought her out. I intend to keep her with me from now on, too.”
“From... now on, too?”
Levian blinked rapidly.
“Could she be... someone the Black Mages experimented on...? Oh, no, even so, how did she get in there? This was supposed to be a hidden chamber known only to Belkain’s royal family...”
“I don’t know.”
“H-Have you asked her?”
“She says she can’t remember. The only thing she remembers is her name, ‘Elun.’”
Yuto wondered whether he possessed an unexpected talent for lying.
“I... I see.”
If she could not remember, asking further questions would be pointless. Levian nodded slightly, then looked at Elun with pity.
“Poor thing...”
“...”
Elun looked up at Levian with an expressionless face. Her chilly gaze seemed to probe and search her very depths, making Levian’s shoulders twitch involuntarily. But she soon put on a gentle smile and reached toward Elun.
“How long were you in there? Weren’t you hungry?”
“Hun... gry?”
Elun tilted her head, murmuring softly. Having entered reality in this form for the first time, she did not really know what ‘hunger’ felt like.
“I do not know what hunger is.”
“Oh...!”
Levian’s smile faltered. She had no idea how the girl had ended up in there... but she felt certain now that Elun was a victim of the Black Mages’ experiments.
“Wh-When we return to Merchant City, I’ll look for a facility that can take care of her... of Elun. Or a good family that could adopt her and give her a loving home...”
“There is no need.”
Before Yuto could answer, Elun spoke coldly and shook her head.
“I will remain with Yuto. I need nothing else.”
“Uh... What? But...”
“I will remain with Yuto. I need nothing else. You therefore have no need to pity me or concern yourself with me.”
Levian’s mouth fell open at Elun’s icy words.
“Enough.”
Yuto intervened before things could grow any stranger. Elun’s blunt, cold way of speaking was far too sharp for someone of Levian’s temperament to handle. If this continued, Levian might be hurt—or begin to harbor deeper suspicions about Elun’s identity.
“Now is not the time to discuss where Elun will stay. Getting out of this passage comes first.”
“Oh... Yes, you’re right. All right.”
Levian hastily composed herself and agreed.
“Flokiro, Levian. Go aboveground immediately and bring the Iron Horses and carriage we left at the royal castle’s entrance to the underground passage’s exit.”
The secret underground passage connected to the cemetery on Belkain’s outskirts.
“Understood, Yuto. We’ll move as quickly as we can.”
Flokiro nodded at once, but Levian turned to Yuto in alarm.
“W-Wait. Yuto, you’re still hurt. Will you be all right on your own?”
“I’m fine.”
He had leveled up and invested a full fifty stat points. His body was now in peak condition.
“How...?”
Levian murmured in disbelief as she looked at his face, which showed not the slightest trace of fatigue. But she asked no further questions and soon headed back along the passage with Flokiro.
Only after the two were far away did Yuto begin walking toward the passage’s exit with Elun.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“You still have questions?”
“How can I save Belkain’s restless spirits?”
At that question, Elun looked up at Yuto as she walked beside him. He, too, was looking down at her, his eyes earnest.
“Even now... the groans and screams of Belkain’s people echo in my ears.”
“...”
“Elun. What must I do... to let Belkain’s restless spirits pass on?”
At his question, Elun changed direction. She approached a nearby wall of the underground passage, reached out, and stroked its surface. Feeling the ‘curse’ flowing along it, she spoke.
“Belkain’s people are sacrifices cursed directly by every constellation in the heavens. The intense aether generated by their deaths flowed into Babylon.”
“Babylon...”
“Babylon is the land where the constellations’ true bodies reside. As long as the constellations exist and Babylon stands... freeing the restless spirits held in their thrall is impossible.”
Yuto’s expression darkened, but Elun continued calmly.
“Still, with the Black Mages dead, the direct torture and corruption crushing the restless spirits will cease for a time. They may remain bound to this world, but they will no longer have to endure the agony of being torn apart screaming as they did before.”
“But Dark Star hasn’t been completely destroyed.”
Yuto ground his teeth, his voice fierce.
“After I leave... what if Dark Star sends more Black Mages? What if they turn this place into a factory for corrupted aether again, torturing and exploiting my people?”
His eyes held the desperate sense of responsibility he felt as the kingdom’s last sovereign. Elun stared into them, then sighed softly.
“There is nothing to be done about that. If it happens, you can return—”
Elun stopped abruptly. As though time itself had halted, she stood stock-still, staring blankly at the ceiling. Then her body shuddered as if an electric shock had passed through it.
“Yuto, you defined yourself as Belkain’s last king and proved it.”
Though her body had stopped shaking, a tremor lingered in her voice. She blinked several times, then slowly nodded.
“Now that our... true, shared interests have been established... the Void grants mercy.”
“...!”
“The Void is silence, and at the same time, a veil that conceals all things. Just as Luke Belkain, that benighted king, issued a royal decree to his people and condemned them to be sacrifices, you, as Belkain’s king, must bestow silence upon your people who cannot pass on, granting them a measure of rest.”
Elun approached him, slowly reached out, and took his hand. The girl’s hand was bitterly cold, but the moment their hands met, an alien vibration stirred within Yuto’s chest.
“Take hold, Yuto. Weave the glory of Belkain you bear and the proof of your kingship together with the Void connected to me.”
At her words, Yuto gripped Elun’s hand tightly. At that same moment, the precious sword at his waist began to respond.
Gloria. The Precious Sword of Belkain, which only its king could possess. A jet-black radiance erupted from its blade, expanding as though to swallow the entire underground passage.
WOOOOOO...!
A wave of the Void, beginning deep beneath the royal castle, surged vertically up its walls. Rather than a radiant pillar of light, it looked like an enormous veil of darkness that sucked in all light.
Amid a chilling shudder, Yuto understood what he had to do.
“I, Yuto Belkain, King of Belkain, command you.”
His eyes flashed with an uncanny black light.
“Sleep. Be free of all the suffering and shackles that tormented you. Until I return and proclaim rebellion against the constellations and Babylon... rest within this veil of silence.”
At the decree of Belkain’s last king, the veil of darkness that had risen from the ruined royal castle swept outward like a wave, covering the entire city that had been reduced to ruins on the night of the catastrophe.
One by one, the forms of the restless spirits wandering and sobbing among the ruins grew indistinct. They could not pass on and leave this world. Yet the instant the Void’s veil covered them, not even the constellations’ curse could touch their souls any longer.
The city, through which the sobs of countless citizens had drifted, sank into an eerie silence in an instant. Yuto, too, could no longer hear the restless spirits weeping. He shuddered and gasped for breath.
The sensation he had just experienced could only be called omnipotence. The Void’s mercy. Once again, he felt just how absurdly vast and mighty the divine authority of that being was—the being that had defied even death to cast him into another world.
“That will do.”
Elun murmured as she released his hand. Her already white face was now utterly bloodless.
“No Black Mage who crawls in here will be able to pierce this veil of the Void and snatch away a soul. This place is now a sanctuary proclaimed by you and the Void, one that even the constellations cannot easily interfere with or peer into.”
Sensing the Void’s veil covering the entire city, Yuto felt the knot in his chest loosen a little. Though this was not complete salvation... it was the best kindness he could offer, as their last king, to the people the benighted king had slaughtered.
“... Thank you.”
“Thank the Void, not me.”
Elun spoke indifferently, let go of his hand, and turned to walk away—only to collapse onto the ground.
“...?”
She looked down at her legs in bewilderment. She could feel them, yet for some reason they would not move. Stranger still, her vision was blurred and her head felt heavy.
It was fatigue, but this was her first time actually experiencing it, and she did not immediately understand.
“Looks like you’re exhausted.”
With a wry smile, Yuto approached Elun and scooped her small body into his arms.
“Exhausted? Me?”
Elun murmured, looking bewildered.
“Just rest quietly.”
“I can walk on my own.”
“No, you can’t right now. So just close your eyes and rest.”
“Hmm...”
Elun frowned slightly, then slowly closed her eyes. Not because she was doing as Yuto told her, but because her eyelids were heavy.
“A body is such an inconvenience,” she murmured softly.
