Chapter 116 Demon King (2)
What exactly did Elle see? He didn’t know. She lost consciousness and collapsed before he could ask.
“…?”
Yoon-seok, who grabbed Elle, suddenly hesitated. He thought it was simply exhaustion, but her whole body was hot as if it might burn his hands. It was to the level he was worried it might be threatening to her life.
‘Damn it.’
Yoon-seok sent Skywrath Energy through her body, but there was no sign of improvement. Yoon-seok hurriedly woke Kanna Blitz. The Pontiff… no, the saint now, might have an idea of what to do.
“No one can fix this.”
Kanna said so without even trying. As a result of checking with the Eyes of the Executor, he knew she spoke the truth.
“You said you interrupted the ceremony, right? That’s why. The body collapses because the emptied shell to put in a deity was not filled up.”
In short, the reason was that Yoon-seok brought her out during the ceremony.
“What should I do then?”
“What do you mean? There’s no other way. She’s going to die soon.”
The tone was as if it was a good thing because she didn’t have to do it with her own hands. Yoon-seok was frustrated rather than angry.
“Don’t you know what happened to you isn’t Elle’s fault?”
“So it’s my fault?”
Kanna clenched her jaw and shouted. Sometimes what made humans endure in despair was hatred, not hope, and he sensed that now. Yoon-seok knew. Therefore, he could speak without hesitation.
“It’s not anyone’s fault.”
Who was the victim, and who was the perpetrator? It was meaningless to distinguish because they were both victims.
“Don’t you know that?”
“…Don’t try to deceive me. That kid is a heathen. The blood of a dirty heathen is flowing through her body!”
Yoon-seok knew about it from the last mission: the Lady position of the Trejan Cult was inherited by blood. Elle’s mother was a Lady who escaped and gave birth to Elle.
“Is she someone you should resent?”
Yoon-seok took a step back to the side to make the unconscious Elle more visible to Kanna. The heathens robbed her of a happy childhood, and she even lost both of her eyes. And now, she was on her deathbed. If Kanna didn’t break her stubbornness even after seeing this, he’d have nothing more to say.
“What do you want me to say… everyone says it easily. But you guys don’t know what I’ve been through. Even at this moment, you have no idea what I’ve felt up until now. Huh? No?”
“Yes, I don’t know.”
He didn’t. There were times when he suffered, but how could he say he knew? No, even if he had gone through the same experience, it would be arrogant to say that he could sympathize with her pain. The depth of pain each person felt was different.
That was why Yoon-seok didn’t know. How long she struggled and suffered and screamed where no one could hear her.
“But you’ll get through it eventually.”
Yoon-seok knew one thing. There was no such thing as an erasable wound in this world. Only beasts who had committed sins that couldn’t be washed away.
“I’ll help you.”
Yoon-seok reached out to her, offering the touch that Yoon-seok of the past had longed for in his hellish days.
There was nothing dramatic that occurred.
“…”
After a long silence, Yoon-seok retracted his hand in embarrassment. Kanna didn’t reach out to him. However, he could feel it from the way she looked at Elle. Not now, but it would get better and better.
“Is there no other way?”
Yoon-seok asked Kanna urgently. He felt like he could receive a more coherent answer now.
“As far as I know, there’s no such thing. But it might be different for that person.”
“That person?”
“Rick Gerssey. When it comes to heathens, he’s almost like an expert.”
That name again. At this point, he had no choice but to think that he was intertwined with something important in this mission.
“Can you tell me more about him?”
“Well, I don’t know either. Other than the fact he saved what had been held captive by the heathens a few years ago and enacted a tremendous vengeance against them.”
Kanna wasn’t aware that the man was one of the guard mercenaries in her caravan before.
‘Am I at a dead end again…?’
When he felt a sense of frustration as if something was caught in his throat, Kanna opened her mouth.
“If you’re curious, why don’t you meet him in person?”
“…Can I meet him?”
“Yes. As far as I know, he participated as a mercenary as soon as the war broke out. But, will it be okay?”
Kanna suddenly asked as she looked at Yoon-seok. Even if he didn’t know what the words meant, Yoon-seok wasn’t that senseless.
‘She’s asking if I can trust and follow her, who just tried to kill Elle.’
Well, the answer was already set. Yoon-seok nodded without hesitation. In fact, rather than believing in her, he had greater faith in himself. No matter how many enemies there were, he was confident he could protect Elle. Even if there were unexpected dangers, it was worth taking them if he could dig into Rick Gerssey’s secret.
“I’m jealous of that kid.”
“What did you just say?”
“No. I didn’t say anything. Let’s go. For now, this is the middle of the enemy’s territory.”
Yoon-seok, carrying Elle, joined Kanna’s troops and headed to the Holy Trinity Cult’s camp. They moved quickly beyond the mountain to the center of the plain without saying anything, but as if they had grown comfortable, Shiori spoke as they drew closer. In a quiet voice that no one could hear.
“The people here aren’t real.”
As soon as he heard that, his head tilted. She wasn’t wrong, but it was questionable why she suddenly said that.
“Nothing changes even if you do something here.”
“I know that much.”
“Then why did you do it? I didn’t want to change my mission because of the challenge, but I don’t understand what you said to the saint.”
She seemed genuinely curious about the reason. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked him when she was so scared. Yoon-seok answered briefly.
“If you don’t understand, don’t worry. Because no one expects that from you.”
“…”
Did she realize that her question made Yoon-seok uncomfortable? After that, Shiori kept her mouth shut and didn’t bother him.
“All of you can return.”
Finally, after returning, Kanna sent the challengers who served as guides back. Then, she led a few of her bodyguards to her camp with Yoon-seok.
“I sent someone ahead. If he’s alive, he’ll be here soon.”
A private camp larger than the barracks used by more than 30 people awaited them. After setting Elle in bed, he waited for the person he hoped had answers. He didn’t have to for long.
“I’m Rick Gerssey.”
“…?”
Yoon-seok hardened like stone. He had no choice but to do so. Suppose he had blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin; he would look just like him.
“Is it you? The one who wanted to ask about the heathens.”
Even their voices were similar.
“Ask away. I’ll answer anything if it helps to kill them.”
How and what on earth was happening? Yoon-seok was confused.
Yoon-seok’s appearance was quite common. Even when he was a student, he often heard that he looked like someone people knew. Looking through the world regardless of time, some people had existed that looked so similar that their parents couldn’t even differentiate.
‘It can’t be a coincidence.’
Coincidence. The countless things in the world couldn’t be explained by that word alone. He couldn’t just pass this as fate, either. There was something else.
Rick Gerssey, this man, held a huge secret that couldn’t be grasped in any form.
“I’m Choi Yoon-seok.”
“Okay, nice to meet you. Then shall we hear about why you are here?”
“Elizabeth Lorwen. What’s your relationship with her?”
“…You. Who are you?”
Was it like a paradox for him? The moment Elle was mentioned, his atmosphere changed.
“Why did you find me?”
Until just now, he was a kind man who seemed ready to cooperate in anything, but now he was on guard as if he would be cut just by approaching him.
“I don’t intend to fight. I’m just curious. The identity of the person whom Elle calls mister.”
“Did you, perhaps… did you meet that kid?”
Rick asked urgently. Yoon-seok could see a light of hope in his desperate eyes when he nodded silently and looked to the bed where Elle was lying; Rick., who followed his gaze and turned, trembled as if he were struck by lightning.
“Oh my god…”
After approaching carefully and confirming it was indeed Elle, he knelt and began to sob.
“…Elle. It’s me. I’m here. I’m late, I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
Yoon-seok waited for his feelings to be sorted out. It didn’t take long. He was surprisingly quick to judge the situation even though his emotions were at a peak.
“Seeing how her eyes are gone, she inherited the Lady’s position. Did you save her midway? Is that why she can’t get up?”
It was said he was an expert on the heathens, and that appeared to be true.
“That’s right. Is there a way to save her?”
“Yes, I’ve prepared for all possible situations over the past few years.”
Yoon-seok was relieved, too. If Elle died, the mission would be failed.
‘Still, this is also a challenge, so there’s no way it’ll be hopeless.’
Now he heard there was a way, Yoon-seok decided to check what he had been curious about.
“Rick Gerssey.”
“Call me Rick.”
“Rick, I want to ask you a few things.”
“Anything.”
Was it because he saved Elle? His attitude was as if he were dealing with a benefactor of his past life. He thought it was good timing, as Yoon-seok could question him comfortably.
“I want to know about you. I heard you took care of Elle for three years. Why did you go to such lengths when you have no connections to her?”
“…I don’t know why you’re curious about that, but I’ll give you an answer for now. Well, I can’t guarantee you’ll understand.”
After Rick took a moment to calm his emotions, he explained.
“At that time, I was looking for a place to die. So, the Pontiff… no, I felt happy when the Saint asked me to bring back the child kidnapped by the heathens. That I could die for anything worthwhile….”
But Rick didn’t die. After fighting to survive, he defeated the pagans and rescued Elle. It was a miracle.
“I couldn’t die leaving that little child behind. I decided to do as much as I could.”
That’s how three years passed. It was a series of anxious days as if everything was about to collapse, but one day Rick realized something. The smile that he thought he had lost was suddenly around his mouth.
“Rather, it was me that was saved. But God is capricious.”
Reading Kanna’s expression, Rick paused. He seemed to think that it wasn’t something he should say in front of her, who was a saint of a huge religious organization, but…
Ironically, Kanna, who was lowering her head, was most sympathetic to his words.
“After the child was taken away by them, I began digging around about them like crazy. Then I learned about the inheritance of the Lady and came here after hearing they were at war.”
Rick was using this opportunity to save Elle, but eventually, that would fail.
“Thank you so much.”
Lastly, Rick’s story ended with a thank you. There were no lies in any part of it. Therefore, his doubts grew even more. He thought he could reach the answer if he gathered the clues one by one.
“There’s one last question I want to ask you.”
He didn’t take his eyes off Rick’s.
“Do you know about the Tower?”
The question that might solve this twisted thread.
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