Chapter 55

Chapter 55

There was one thing I was curious about.

Lavina Lorentze.

It was a question I had had ever since immediately after meeting her.

‘Why did Lorentze send Lavina alone?’

She was neither experienced nor in possession of great power.

That did not mean her build was overpowered either. Rather, she was a Priest, someone who found it difficult to fight alone.

I wondered if she had simply run away recklessly like Persica, but apparently, that was not the case either.

Lorentze had clearly sent Lavina into the dungeon alone.

From what I heard, even the Adventurer who had come as her Escort was someone she had personally hired.

Even if she was not a candidate to become Head of the House, a blood relative should still be important, so what on earth was Lorentze thinking?

“Ah, that?”

Persica answered my question.

“She probably does not know it herself. I only happened to learn it by chance too…….”

She spoke in a somewhat uneasy tone.

“That is because…….”

***

Several days had passed since we returned to White Cloud Castle.

In that time, Lavina had finished all the investigation of South Spirit Mountain, which had been her purpose for entering the dungeon.

Fortunately, there were no circumstances that made me suspicious, and from the outside, it seemed she had returned without any particular gains.

Having finished all her schedules, Lavina spoke with Jin Baek in the Meeting Room where we had all gathered.

“First of all, I am grateful for your help.”

“What did this old man do?”

Perhaps because the relationship between White Cloud Castle and Lorentze was uncomfortable, the conversation between the two was quite distant.

Even if there was no personal grudge between them as human beings, the same could not be said between their houses.

Lavina looked uncomfortable, and Jin Baek seemed to find her rather displeasing.

“I will make sure to repay you after I return, both for saving my life and for allowing me to investigate South Spirit Mountain.”

“Hmm. Do as you wish.”

“Then…….”

She glanced at me for a moment.

Why was she looking at me? Did she have something to say?

At her strange reaction, Hyeollyeo, who was beside me, spoke.

[She is reluctant to leave.]

‘What do you mean?’

[It means that girl covets you greatly.]

Ah…… It seemed she had wanted to make something like a recruitment offer.

And it seemed she had given up after looking at the people around me.

Just how reluctant was she, for regret to drip from her sidelong glances?

“……I will return now.”

“Before that, there is a report that the Downfall Order will arrive on the Second Floor. Does Lorentze perhaps have any intention of stepping forward?”

“Th-The Downfall Order?”

Perhaps she had not expected him to bring up a conversation between houses, because Lavina was startled.

Judging by the way she was breaking out in a cold sweat, it seemed she had never had this kind of constructive conversation before.

“That is…….”

“If it is the Downfall Order, are they not also an enemy of Lorentze, which handles the Enforcement Division?”

“That is true, but…….”

It seemed Jin Baek intended to seek Lorentze’s cooperation through Lavina while he had the chance.

Even if the relationship between their houses was uncomfortable, it was a proposal asking whether they might call a temporary truce now that the threat of the Downfall Order had appeared.

After struggling for a while as she chose her words, Lavina slumped her shoulders and spoke.

“……I know that surveillance of the Second Floor has been strengthened. With the Golden Order joining in as well.”

“I am saying that might not be enough.”

“I am sorry, but I think that will be difficult.”

Lavina tightly shut her eyes and shook her head.

“The security of the Second Floor belongs to White Cloud Castle. Trinity, including Lorentze, has no intention of interfering with it.”

“…….”

Lorentze’s opinion was firm.

Since White Cloud Castle had taken charge of the floor’s security in exchange for monopolizing the Second Floor, Lorentze had not the slightest intention of involving itself in that.

To put it another way, if White Cloud Castle wanted Lorentze to break that principle of noninterference, they would have to offer compensation.

‘How tiresome.’

Even with the unprecedented threat of the Downfall Order before their eyes, they were acting like this.

It was a scene that made me feel in my skin what Jin Sohwi had said before, that Trinity looked upon White Cloud Castle with displeasure.

‘At this rate, I wonder if the Enforcement Division will step forward either.’

For now, the Enforcement Division’s manpower was being mobilized to monitor the Downfall Order, but if something actually happened, there was a possibility that they would not step forward.

The Enforcement Division was a department of the Temple, but the authority to command it belonged to House Lorentze.

“……If that is Lorentze’s opinion, I understand.”

Jin Baek did not hold on to her any further.

If he began giving something away even once, it might become difficult to turn back from that point onward.

Lavina also bowed her head politely.

Face-lover or not, it seemed her nature was not bad, because she looked ashamed as someone who had received help.

“…….”

If it had been any other time, I probably would not have found fault with their decision.

White Cloud Castle’s forces were not exactly weak, and I would have thought Jin Baek would surely handle it well enough.

But now that I had met Jin Ryeon’s Thought in the Forest of Returning Souls, things were different.

‘We might lose the Second Floor.’

The voice of warning circled intensely in my mind.

Why had he said such a thing?

Because he did not trust White Cloud Castle? That was probably not it.

‘It means their threat is that powerful.’

It must mean that the rise of the Downfall Order was dangerous enough that a Master had left behind a message even at the cost of shaving away his own power.

Perhaps it was to the point that White Cloud Castle’s power alone would not be enough.

If so, would it not be better to have as many beings to borrow strength from as possible?

Even if that was a house that was practically my natural enemy.

“Lavina. Help us.”

When I stepped forward, everyone’s gaze turned toward me.

Jin Sohwi and Persica looked at me with faces that said, ‘What is wrong with you?’

Jin Baek, his eyes lifting sharply, shouted.

“You brat! This is a matter between houses. Do not step forward.”

“I am sorry. But I will be presumptuous just this once.”

“What……?”

When I answered without backing down, Lavina looked utterly troubled and then opened her mouth with a hiccup.

“Hic…… M-Me……!? N-No, what authority do you have……?”

“Authority…….”

I fiddled with something like a small coin inside my pocket.

It was a weapon that would not work on Lavina of Lorentze, but would absolutely work on Lavina of the “Temple.”

“First, Lavina Lorentze is a person of the Temple. Right?”

“That is true, but why?”

“Wait, you…….”

Persica seemed to have realized what I was about to say. After all, she had been in the same place when I received this.

I rummaged through my pocket and took out a small Seal.

The Archbishop’s Seal.

It was the Seal Archbishop Elos had given me immediately after I defeated Vormir.

“Th-That is!”

“With the authority of Archbishop Elos Kashiria, I request this of you. Help White Cloud Castle.”

“You……!”

No matter how much she was a person of Lorentze, as long as her status was that of a Priest of the Temple, she could not disobey the order of an Archbishop, her superior far above her.

Lavina’s complexion turned pale in an instant.

“Wh-Why are you doing this to me! Even if I stay here alone, I will not be of any help!”

“I know that.”

The only one I could give orders to with this was the Lavina in front of me, not the Temple or Lorentze.

Certainly, she was nothing more than an inexperienced 2-Star Adventurer, so tying her down would not be of much help.

However…….

“I was not speaking only to you.”

“What……?”

“I know you are listening.”

“……?”

The truth Persica had told me.

I spoke to the being “behind” her.

In that instant,

drip.

The sound of the world ceased.

The pendant she wore shone with a dull white light.

The expression vanished from Lavina’s tearful face, and she transformed into an endlessly cold, expressionless figure.

A chilling sharpness began to gather in her cold, half-open eyes.

And then,

“Kugh……!”

“Ugh……!?”

An immense Thought-Force began pressing us down.

Persica, Jin Sohwi, and I fell to our knees under the sudden pressure.

[How dare you.]

From Lavina’s mouth flowed a voice that was not hers.

“Someone” who had taken possession of Lavina’s body was enraged at me.

[A mere insect.]

The being before my eyes revealed anger toward me.

An immense pressure carried contempt and killing intent.

[What……! Do you mean to say that is a True Person!]

Hyeollyeo, having realized what that being was, revealed shock.

The being that had descended through Lavina was the lord of Lorentze…… in other words, a being who had reached the place of a “Master.”

I saw an unprecedented energy rippling around her before I knew it.

‘A Precept……!’

Jin Ryeon had said that the power symbolizing a Master was a “Great Precept,” and had explained that the things composing it were Precepts, referred to as pillars.

Perhaps because I had personally experienced even a part of that Precept, I could tell what that thing was as soon as I saw it.

“Kuuuugh……! Wh-What is this……!”

“Agh…… Ughhh……!”

Jin Sohwi and Persica cried out in pain while collapsed on the floor.

Before I knew it, I could see faint smoke rising from their bodies.

Unable to withstand the power of the Precept, their souls and flesh were attempting to vanish.

“Ugh…… Kugh……!”

I could not breathe.

It felt as if my heart would stop at any moment.

‘This is…… the being behind Lavina.’

I had once asked Persica why Lavina traveled alone.

After all, carelessly leaving a blood relative alone could cause a serious problem for a house’s prestige.

‘That was not it.’

The answer was simple.

Lavina had not been alone from the beginning.

Persica had also learned it purely by chance, and had quietly told me the truth while asking me to keep it secret if possible.

The pendant Lavina wore.

That was an artifact connected to the existence of Lorentze’s lord…… the Master.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH─

It felt as if my whole body was breaking apart.

An enormous storm of Thought-Force was pressing down on all sides.

However, I had personally faced the existence of Jin Ryeon, even if only as a Thought.

I had experienced with my own body a fragment of the Great Precept, one of the Precepts established by a Master.

So if it was merely revealing its presence…… I could overcome it!

“I am……!”

I raised my head.

I put strength into both legs and lifted my body……!

I began to recite the “certain” incantation Jin Ryeon had breathed into me.

He had said it was a power that firmed the shape of Thought-Force and allowed me to protect myself from the laws of a Precept.

A strand of ability given by one who had reached the place of a Master.

─As I exist, the world exists; as the world exists, I exist.

As the incantation continued, an unknown power enveloped me.

Honestly, I did not understand even a single bit of its meaning or principle…… but for some reason, I could use it.

This was a kind of gift Jin Ryeon had given me.

‘At least he does not make me work for free.’

Each time the incantation continued, I felt the forms of my Mana and Thought-Force becoming even more solid.

The helplessness that had seemed ready to scatter slowly diluted, even if only little by little.

I began to slowly raise my kneeling body.

[……Hm?]

A brief question appeared on “his” expression.

As if he had seen an insect that should have died beneath his foot somehow endure and stand.

“I am requesting…… a legitimate…… right……!”

That thing was a being residing there to protect Lavina.

Therefore, if I asked Lavina for help, that thing had no choice but to help us in order to protect Lavina.

[You…….]

“He” spoke.

[Would you rather I kill you here and now? Are you saying that I must waste my precious time…… because of the likes of you?]

The pressure grew stronger and stronger.

At the materialized anger, the floor and walls split and cracked.

Clack, clack-

Ishara, hanging at my waist, was trembling.

She had sensed the fierce hostility directed at me.

However, this time, I pressed down firmly on the hilt before she could come out.

Because this was my fight.

I wanted to overcome it.

Just as “he” was about to raise his hand, Jin Baek, who had been behind us, stood up.

“That is enough.”

Before I knew it, he had drawn his sword, and when he raised his Mana, the power pressing down on the surroundings vanished as if washed away.

“This place is White Cloud Castle, Executor of Divine Punishment. No matter who you are, I cannot permit you to cause such a disturbance in the land of White Cloud.”

“His” expression crumpled violently.

“He” displayed his displeasure openly and wore a twisted smile.

[Heh…… The land of White Cloud, is it? For a scrap of Jin Ryeon, you speak well.]

“Observe proper law and order.”

[Tsk…….]

The energy filling the surroundings vanished in an instant.

“He” glared at Jin Baek with murderous eyes, then muttered in a voice as if he would chew him up and trample him underfoot at any moment.

[Fine……. Your petty scheme of using my descendant as bait to draw me out is deeply unpleasant, but as one who safeguards the solemn laws of Ebla, I will play along with that scheme.]

Although “he” poured out venomous words, “he” did not reveal any further anger.

“He” turned back toward me.

Releasing killing intent that seemed as if it would stop my heart, he continued speaking.

[You. Insect.]

“…….”

[You will regret this.]

And with that, “he” disappeared.