Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - To Change the Future (3)

 

My eyes swept the surroundings.

The interior of the great hall reeked of blood.

The knights surrounding me were all aiming their swords at me, radiating hostility, and the royal Treasure Sword, Estera, glittered in the light.

And atop it stood an elderly man with an air of confidence.

This place was.

The battlefield of betrayal that had been both the beginning and the end of everything.

“……An illusion?”

I knew it was an illusion.

There was no other way to explain it.

But my consciousness was growing clearer by the moment, and the stinging sensation from my wounded body seemed to remind me that this was reality.

“What trickery is this?”

“Oh, what remarkable mental strength. To think you have already seen through this space.”

Duke Asus, whose true nature had been exposed, stroked his chin and approached.

Listening to his voice buzzing in my ears, I slowly raised my head.

“Drop that manner of speech that does not suit you. You are nothing but the remnants of black magic.”

“How rude. This was all created based on your memories.”

He was right.

The bloodstained great hall and this situation in which I stood on the brink of death had been created to break my spirit.

Of course…….

“Even this manner of speaking, that is.”

Tsk.

The events before my regression came to mind, and I clicked my tongue softly.

This was not a situation I had expected.

In fact, I had been surprised that a mere artifact could implant illusions.

‘This mana is more dangerous than what I heard.’

Whether I thought that or not, the creature began examining the Treasure Sword, Estera, turning it this way and that.

“This is quite a fine sword. It is almost a pity that it is being held by someone like this.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“If you feel that way, Allen Esteban, then it means you are admitting your own pathetic nature.”

I had been foolish, and because of that, I had failed to protect anything.

It was a truly simple matter, so simple that it sounded blunt.

“I have no intention of denying it.”

“Keuheuheu. What a truly pleasing disposition.”

His expression looked as though he was both laughing and crying.

Because it was no different from the image in my memories, nausea rose in me.

He slowly bent down and met my eyes.

“That must be why you came to me. Because you need power.”

“…….”

“Are you going to say that I am wrong this time?”

I felt no need to answer.

Since he had already glimpsed every fragment of my memories, he must have been saying such things to shake me.

Instead, I threw a question at the face of the creature that was grinning at me.

“You desire my body.”

“Of course.”

As though he did not even intend to hide his desire for a physical body, he merely nodded with a bright expression.

“To be precise, I am saying we should both gain something from this.”

“How arrogant.”

“This is not a bad offer at all.”

Black mana rose over the shell of Duke Asus.

He had begun directly eroding my mental world.

“You will gain powerful mana, and I will gain a new body instead of a discarded skull.”

“…….”

“Do you think it is a loss? I merely want a body I can reside in. Of course, control will belong to you.”

I could not guess what kind of calculation he had made in that brief moment.

However, I could easily understand the meaning behind his words.

As though he were offering to give me power without any conditions.

As though he were saying that if I simply reached out my hand, he would give me overwhelming power…….

“See for yourself. What do you look like right now?”

I lowered my gaze and examined my body.

A body covered entirely in wounds, painted with blood.

It was the very image of a loser.

“That will not do, will it? Not for the great Sword King.”

“…….”

“But if you accept me, everything will change.”

The illusion distorted, and a new scene unfolded before my eyes.

I was no longer collapsing in solitude, and the eyes of the ministers standing in rows showed deep loyalty.

“What do you think? Of your new future?”

It was the ideal future I had dreamed of.

The dreadful sense of defeat that had already eroded my heart had long since dyed my entire body, and now only one streak of ugliness remained within me, the longing for power.

“Now, make your choice.”

Would I accept power and be reborn as a strong man, or would I continue living the life of a defeated man?

Standing before a choice that would determine life and death, the only thing I could do was…….

“Ha, haha!”

Laugh loudly.

Duke Asus’s eyebrows twitched.

“……Have you gone mad?”

“Mad? Did you say mad?”

Could the emotion I was feeling right now be expressed that way?

Rather, it was the opposite.

……Yes.

If I had to describe it, I was feeling joy right now.

“How laughable.”

“What?”

“I was going to wait and see what nonsense you would spout, but it is so pathetic that I can no longer listen.”

Duke Asus, sensing that something was wrong, took a step back and twisted his face.

I shrugged at the sight, then rose to my feet.

“……What!”

“Still, you dared to entertain me, so in consideration of that effort, I will not send you off painfully.”

“D-don’t tell me! The mind control did not work?!”

“Mind control? Hmm…….”

The sense of defeat and the longing for power that had been eating away at my body.

As long as I existed in this space, they must have been temptations that could never be avoided.

However.

“So what?”

Being cut down by the swords of subordinates I had trusted, and finally being stabbed through the heart.

It was a scene I had recalled a hundred times whenever I closed my eyes.

The self-loathing and despair that repeated every day.

Even so, I had never collapsed under that sense of defeat.

Because I had regretted it and sworn I would never live like that again.

Because I had vowed never to let go of the things precious to me again.

That very sense of defeat was the driving force that proved my existence, so I could laugh off such petty tricks a hundred or a thousand times.

The “me” of now was not the puppet who had died helplessly inside a nightmare.

“You are nothing more than the vengeful spirits of the dead, yet you dare try to devour me?”

-Damn it!

“Where do you think you are going?”

I grabbed the neck of Asus as he hurriedly tried to escape.

My blood-red eyes, reflected in the Treasure Sword that had fallen to the floor, shone like those of a beast.

Although it was nothing more than an illusion, the sight of me dying helplessly was nowhere to be found.

“I will make sure you can never appear before me again.”

-Keuh, keuk!

A fool? A scarecrow? A warmonger?

Even if I had been incomplete and immature, it did not matter.

At this moment.

I faced the nightmare of my past and proudly seized victory.

***

WHOOOOOM!

The space slowly began to collapse.

And my body was standing in the middle of the storage room.

“……!”

At the same time, I felt as though the muscles throughout my body were burning, and every bit of energy within me began connecting explosively.

It felt as though a dam that had artificially blocked the flow of energy had burst apart.

FLASH!

Before I knew it, the mass of negative mana had become a single black point and was slowly seeping into my body.

However, this was not a light phenomenon, such as it merely taking root inside me.

“Urgh!”

An ego that was endlessly faint, yet clearer and stronger than any other energy.

In contrast, a negative force uglier and more enormous than any other energy.

When the gap between the two energies finally disappeared, what remained was only aura, filling and enveloping my body.

It had acknowledged its defeat in the struggle for control and chosen to become wholly a part of me.

Huff. Huff.

I caught my balance while breathing hard.

My eyes, which had turned black for a moment, slowly returned to red.

Even so.

Apart from the headache that was beginning to set in, my body was in better condition than ever before.

“……I feel light.”

I lightly clenched and opened my hand, then began examining the inside of my body.

The aura flowing naturally through my veins was no longer lacking. Rather, it felt as though it filled my entire body.

It was an unquestionable success.

By fully absorbing the negative energy as power, I had succeeded in reclaiming some measure of my former glory.

It had been a harsher path than I expected, but I had gained just as much from it.

I could tell from the sensation I felt unconsciously alone.

At least ten times the amount of aura.

Now, not only my mastery of aura, but even my power itself had reached the level of a Sword Master that no one could deny.

Had the youngest Sword Master in the history of the continent been thirty years old?

Since I had advanced that by ten years, it was a rate of growth so absurd that even I found it unbelievable.

‘I expected it would take at least three years…….’

One factor was that I had discovered the hideout earlier than in the original timeline.

The reason no particular energy had been felt from the outside was simply because the energies trapped inside the skull had not yet leaked out.

I had suffered because of that, but the fact that I had been able to absorb all the energy was an undeniable variable.

“Finding this place was the right decision.”

I stood for quite some time, staring at the spot where the skull had been.

The lingering feeling of growth? Regret that the situation had ended? A sense of liberation at finally escaping the nightmare?

……Perhaps all three.

Whatever it was, what held my ankles was an emotion I had not even realized I felt.

However.

Had I not only just laid the foundation? It was too early to remain still like this.

For the sake of the baron, too, who must have been anxiously waiting outside.

“In the end, I truly did purify it, just as I used as an excuse.”

I chuckled and my eyes gleamed.

With this, the future in which the surrounding villages were attacked by undead would disappear, and the hideout would not be discovered because of that either.

The future had changed once again.

Was this also what one called fate?

“Let us go.”

CREEEAK.

“Your Highness!”

When I opened the storage room door and stepped out, I saw the baron’s deathly pale face.

For some reason, his fussing felt welcome, and I smiled faintly.

“A-are you all right? Just now, there was a tremendous vibration…….”

“I am fine, so stop making a fuss. More importantly, how much time has passed?”

At my curt question, the baron wiped away his cold sweat and said,

“Roughly two hours.”

“Hmm. That much time has passed?”

“That…… I apologize. Your Highness ordered me to return to the royal palace, but I could not possibly leave like that.”

I had told him thirty minutes in preparation for any possible danger, but…….

The fact that he had stayed in place out of concern for me, even after experiencing a vibration strong enough to shake the hideout, was probably an act he had carried out without even realizing it.

It went without saying that this was why I wanted to keep him as one of my people.

‘In any case…….’

It had been a trial that passed in an instant, yet two hours had gone by?

I had wasted far more time than expected.

“My business is finished, so we will return now.”

The way out was teleportation through the door, just as when we had entered.

I also had to check my increased abilities, so there was a need to move quickly.

However, what stopped my steps was the baron’s urgent voice from behind me.

“Ah, Your Highness! Something just appeared over there!”

“Mm?”

“Beneath the statue!”

I moved my gaze in the direction the baron indicated.

What I saw was an antique ring set with a black jewel.

“What is this?”

I slowly approached and picked up the ring that had fallen on the floor.

Then the baron came closer with slightly cautious steps and glanced at the ring.

“It does not seem to be a mimic. It appears to be a kind of artifact.”

“Hmm.”

“Um…… I apologize for not being of help. This lowly one is terribly dull-witted……”

My subtle reaction was by no means because I did not know the identity of the object.

Rather, the corner of my mouth slipped upward without me realizing it.

Because I had found a truly unexpected harvest.

“So it was hidden within the thorns of negative-dimensional mana.”

A band engraved with geometric patterns. A black jewel set atop it that drew the eye.

At first, I had not been certain, but on closer inspection, it seemed to be the very object I knew.

“Good. If you had not found it, I would have passed over it without knowing. Well done.”

At my sincere words, the baron’s expression brightened.

“I am glad to have been of help.”

If it was the object I knew, it would not be of much use even if I used it here.

Every object had a method of use suited to it, and a person suited to that use.

I placed the ring inside my clothes and said,

“For now, let us return to the royal palace. It would not be good to be away for too long.”

“Understood.”

WHOOOOOM.

With a roar that no longer felt unfamiliar, my vision flickered.

The hand that opened the stone door felt lighter than ever before.

……

A moment later.

When we came to our senses, we were standing where we had first been.

“Haa. I cannot get used to this teleportation.”

We had returned to the cemetery.

Even though it was already morning, the mist that had gathered once again made it impossible to secure a clear view.

However, my senses, now broader than before, showed me the cemetery spanning several hundred meters as clearly as if it lay in the palm of my hand.

“There is no need to get used to teleportation.”

“That is true, but…….”

“That is enough about that.”

I shrugged and placed my hand on the sheath of my sword.

At that, the baron shook his head with a sickened expression.

“Surely it is not ghouls again?”

“No. It seems different guests have come this time.”

“Th-then could it perhaps be ghosts……”

At the baron’s fussing, which had flared up again, I let out a short sigh and answered.

“Fortunately, they are living creatures.”

“Phew. Then…….”

“But in a certain sense, ghosts would have been preferable.”

At least if they had been ghosts, I would not have been offended.

I spoke while seeing through the jackals hiding their killing intent within the mist.

“Assassins.”