Shh. Shh.
White sand scattered as he walked.
Marquis Helson stopped walking and looked around.
This white desert had cut through the black sand and dark fog to appear.
He motioned toward the black mage standing next to me.
"…Please cancel it."
"...."
The black mage was blanking out looking up in the air before he responded.
"…Yes, Marquis-nim."
Marquis Helson took a deep breath once the barrier that was preventing dead mana from getting to them was canceled.
In the decades he had spent in the edge region…
The air that he had breathed during that time… Air that was so clear and completely different from the air he was used to came in through his nose and spread throughout his body.
'How refreshing.'
It had truly been a long time since he had felt something like this.
Just breathing in made him feel as if he wanted to cry.
'…Marquis-nim.'
He called out to the former Marquis in his mind.
The place he was standing right now, this now white sand desert was, ironically, the location of his territory in the past.
'For the black tree to have been planted in my hometown.'
Thinking about this made him angry, but seeing the blue sky washed away all of his anger.
He recalled what Chief Eaen had said.
'Marquis-nim, dead mana was no longer able to approach the area with the white sand.'
Normally, the polluted land around the white sand should have tried to spread its demonic reach toward it, but for some reason, the dead mana did not approach the white sand. That was why there was no black fog here and they could see the blue sky.
He didn't know the reason behind it.
Maybe it was normal that he didn't know the reason.
'Everything here is what the esteemed Purifier-nim has achieved.'
The individual who had come after receiving the call of the world…
That existence had created this.
How could he decipher the deep thoughts of such a person?
'I was so crazy.'
Marquis Helson got chills.
'I tried to use such an esteemed individual.'
Marquis Helson wanted to slap his old self, the one who thought about working together with the Purifier to go against the Imperial Palace and the House of Huayans.
'Hmm?'
He raised his head after sensing an odd feeling.
"Ah."
The sun that had been hidden behind a white cloud revealed itself, shining down on Marquis Helson's face.
It's warm.
It's hot.
It's too bright.
He was feeling such things in the middle of the polluted area.
"...."
A single tear drop dripped down the side of Marquis Helson's face.
Coming here in person to see this purified landscape gave off a holiness that he had not felt while looking at it from the Lord's Castle.
"Marquis-nim."
He heard the Vice Chief's concerned voice next to him.
Marquis Helson opened his mouth.
"…Looking at this purified landscape-"
Of course, he had not forgotten his duty.
"It makes me think about the noble sacrifices of the people who have passed to create this. I too should have been here."
His gaze moved toward the Huayans patriarch and his group.
'They are shocked.'
The black mages and knights couldn't hide their shock while looking at the same sight as Helson.
'The reactions are varied. I'm sure some of them have heard about the black tree from the Huayans patriarch in the past.'
The subordinates who came here with the Huayans patriarch were basically his hands and feet.
That was why some of them would know how this place used to be.
'But their reaction is not important.'
Marquis Helson's gaze moved to the Huayans patriarch.
This was the current leader of the House of Huayans, the instructor of the current Emperor.
Reddock Huayans. (TL: In ch 18, the author named him Wallot. He is not suddenly Reddock. Blame the author.)
"...."
Reddock Huayans reached his hand out and grabbed some white sand. He then quietly inspected it.
He closed his eyes.
'!!'
Helson's eyes opened wide in shock.
'I didn't know this person would act like this.'
Reddock Huayans had taken a deep breath just as Helson had done. He then let the breeze with the fresh air hit his face before opening his eyes and looking up at the blue sky.
His mouth opened and his voice was extremely low as he spoke. It also cracked.
"How beautiful."
Reddock Huayans said that this place was beautiful.
He sounded honest.
"However, seeing the size of this place makes me believe that there was indeed a huge explosion as you mentioned, Marquis."
His voice sounded submerged. No anger could be felt in his voice.
"…Everything disappeared."
His voice was so empty that it sounded sad.
Helson was shocked that he was having such thoughts.
'…Sad?'
The Huayans patriarch's sadness was felt through his actions?
Helson had heard about these so-called 'Black Bloods' from the Purifier. He also heard about the Hunters.
He now knew how this world had ended up like this.
That was why Helson could not understand the Huayans patriarch's actions right now.
'He's a scary person.'
That was the reason Helson decided that the Huayans patriarch was a scary person.
"Marquis."
"Yes sir."
"…You said that you lost your niece?"
"Yes sir."
Chief Eaen was reported to have died.
The Huayans patriarch looked at Helson. Helson thought that it was good that he had shed some tears earlier.
Reddock's mouth opened.
"…I'm sure we feel the same way right now."
"…I'm sure, sir."
"You said that you saw a red light?"
"Yes sir. We saw the red light a total of two times. Once before we sent the black tree attack team and once after. Those were the two times."
"Marquis."
"Yes sir."
"We must find the person who made it like this."
"…Will you capture him and make him pay for his sins?"
Smirk.
Helson saw a smile appear on the Huayans patriarch's face.
"Marquis."
"...."
"Look at this sight."
Reddock Huayans raised his wrinkled face to the sky.
"We must do whatever we can to make someone who is capable of creating a sight like this be on our side."
The House of Huayans was known as one of the pillars of the Empire. Reddock was saying something fitting of a patriarch of such a family.
"No matter what sacrifice it might take, we must recreate such a sight. You should know about it, don't you, Marquis? The Empire needs the individual who was able to create this sight."
Reddock mumbled almost as if he was talking to himself.
"Before the world is destroyed even more."
He looked at the silent Helson, who was deep in thought, before continuing to speak.
"I will go take another look at the surroundings. It looks like I will have to walk quite a bit as it is so wide."
"I will escort you, sir."
"That is okay, Marquis. I am fine looking around with my subordinate."
The patriarch only took one subordinate and slowly walked through the white sand desert, moving away from Helson.
Helson had a thought as he watched this.
'…The mask is thick.'
Helson believed that revealing the truth about the House of Huayans was necessary to change the Empire.
The current reputation of the House of Huayans was very good not just in the Empire but throughout the continent.
They needed something that could topple that…
'I'm not even a match.'
Even Helson, who had quite the political influence, could not help but be anxious while talking to the Huayans.
'I hope the Purifier-nim is able to find something in the Huayans Estate that can serve as proof.'
Wouldn't that be necessary to flip the Empire over?
Helson looked at the back of the disappearing Reddock Huayans as he thought to himself.
'Should I stealthily approach and listen to what he is saying to his subordinate? Will any proof come out?'
The subordinate next to the Huayans patriarch opened his mouth as Helson had that thought.
"Marquis Helson is not following us but he keeps looking at us."
"...."
The patriarch was silent.
He was simply inspecting the now white sand as he walked.
The subordinate was by his side and the patriarch opened his mouth.
"They are not dead."
Reddock Huayans took out two small jewels from his pocket.
The qualities of these two jewels with extremely small magic circles were different, but they were both slowly being dyed black.
"Both the First Imperial Prince and the Fourth Imperial Prince are alive."
"…I will find them, sir."
"There is no need to do so."
The subordinate flinched at the stern response. However, Reddock Huayans was calm.
"This is not something someone like Marquis Helson and his lack of abilities can do. Even I would find it difficult to handle such strong power."
"...!"
The subordinate was more shocked than when he had seen the white sand desert.
He had never heard the patriarch say that something would be difficult to handle.
"That is why if there is an existence or faction with this kind of power, I'm certain that they will appear in front of me again. Pfft."
Reddock let out a quiet chuckle. The subordinate got chills on his back.
"…Patriarch-nim."
"Kill Marquis Helson."
"...."
"And did he say that Imperial Princess Olivia is still alive despite seeing the black tree?"
"Yes sir."
"Make her spill everything before you kill her."
"Yes sir."
"Take care of it quietly."
"…Yes sir."
"All we need is for the next generation's Emperor to come out of this."
The subordinate bowed slightly and Reddock looked at the blue sky as he continued to speak.
"We will earn the karma of this destroyed world if we push a little more."
Of course, a meddling existence did appear right before the finish line, but…
"It is difficult to handle but it is not something I cannot handle."
And once he got rid of this obstacle…
"I'm sure that the life of a world would be a greater offering of karma than the individual lives of humans."
Reddock Huayans could imagine a future where he would play a central role in the grand vision that the families were aiming for.
'Nobody is moving quicker than us.'
Reddock Huayans believed that he had always been a step ahead of others.
It was at that moment.
Piiiiiiiiiiii– piiiiiii-
There was an emergency alarm going off on the subordinate's video communication device.
"Patriarch-nim."
It was a call from the family.
Reddock heard a similar sound just as his eyes headed toward the black magic video communication device that was turning red.
Piiiiiiiiiiii– piiiiiii-
Marquis Helson was approaching Reddock with a black mage by his side.
"We just received a call from the Imperial Palace!"
The Imperial Palace and his family…
Emergency calls from the two places…
Reddock debated for a moment before connecting the call from the Imperial Palace first.
– Unknown assailants have infiltrated the Huayans Estate and destroyed the building!
Helson looked at Reddock Huayans at that moment.
There were no changes in the Huayans patriarch's face. The smile was just gone and his face was stiff.
This was pretty calm of a reaction.
'Hmm?'
However, Helson soon saw a change on the patriarch's face as he received the video communication device from his subordinate.
Deep wrinkles appeared on the patriarch's forehead.
He started to frown.
Reddock Huayans… He was looking at the message that was left on the black magic video communication device because he had not picked up.
It was a message from his family.
The person who left it was the butler.
'It's a code.'
It was a coded message that Marquis Helson would not be able to decode even if he was to see it.
Reddock opened his mouth as soon as he saw the message.
"Let's head to the capital."
The butler had left a short coded message.
It was short even after it was decoded.
[The safe in the secret area has disappeared along with the wall.]
Reddock scowled.
'…Aphei is alive as well.'
He realized something else as well.
'That, they stole the whole safe?'
Reddock looked around the white sand desert.
The person hindering him…
'The culprit is either another Hunter household… Or the person aiming for us Bloods.'
The Black Bloods household.
'It is the person aiming for the Black Hunters.'
The patriarch had an odd sense of déjà vu.
"…How slow."
He felt as if the enemy was one step ahead of him.
Whether it was that he was slow or that this mysterious enemy was fast…
Reddock immediately made up his mind.
"It looks like we need to hurry back to the capital."
* * *
Baaaaang! Baaaaang!
Cale's jaw dropped a bit as he blankly looked forward.
"…Is there..."
Words barely managed to flow out of his mouth.
"…Is there a need to do that...?"
Raon shook his head.
"Human! Magic doesn't work on it!"
Baaaaang! Baaaaang!
Raon's front paw struck the wall with the safe.
Crumble.
The wall turned into powder as it broke. Cale flinched for a moment after seeing that Raon's physical strength was stronger than he had expected, but Raon just continued to destroy as he spoke.
"I don't know what they did to this safe but it cannot be opened with magic!"
Raon spoke in a clear voice.
"Then the answer is the fist! Isn't that right, Choi Han?"
Cale's gaze moved from Raon to Choi Han.
Choi Han was pulling his sword out of his scabbard but hesitated for a moment after sensing Cale's gaze and put an innocent smile on his face.
"I will slice the safe with aura."
"…Okay."
Cale saw the chuckling black hawk behind Choi Han but he ignored him.
He started shaking his head and shrugged his shoulders once he made eye contact with Dark Elf Shawn.
"Why are they doing this when it would be so easy to just melt it with fire?"
"…That is true, young master-nim."
Shawn responded in a low-spirited voice but Cale looked away from the blank-faced Shawn and looked toward Choi Han.
Oooooo– oooooo–
Black aura surrounded the sword and Choi Han used the aura to strike down on the safe.
Clang!
The safe reflected the aura.
Choi Han stiffened while Hong commented in shock.
"Neither magic nor aura works, nya! I don't know what this safe is, nya!"
Choi Han's eyes were wide open as he looked at Cale in shock. On also looked at Cale before shaking her head.
"Should I give it a try?"
Crack. Crackle.
Cale stood up with a compressed rose gold thunderbolt in his hand.
"Yeah yeah, human! Your fire is strong! That is why I am worried!"
"Worried?"
Cale looked at Raon who shouted brightly.
"I think you're going to burn everything in the safe too!"
Cale flinched and looked at the safe.
It was a black safe with the door firmly shut despite not having any locks.
'I never saw what the patriarch put in here, but he cherished this safe quite a bit.'
Aphei's comment was believable.
The fact that it was so hard to open this safe's door must mean that something was in there.
"Human, be careful! Don't burn everything! That would be a waste!"
Cale listened to Raon's chatty nagging before questioning whether Raon grew up as a child who desires treasures too much, but… He did his best to ignore it.
Instead, the hand with the fiery thunderbolt touched the safe.
'Let's be careful.
Just carefully burn only the safe.'
Drip.
Cale's forehead filled with sweat. He was extremely tense.
Sui Khan chuckled while seeing the punk who had been completely calm when he destroyed a building being so nervous, but unfortunately, Shawn was the only one in the group who noticed.
Everybody else was looking at the safe.
Even Aphei and Jezna.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Cale was extremely nervous.
'What could be inside this safe?'
The moment the corners of his curled up without stopping… The fiery thunderbolt touched the safe.
Crackle, crackle, chhh—!
The safe melted as soon as the rose gold current touched it.
"!"
Cale then moved his hand in shock.
"Shield!"
Raon immediately cast a shield to protect the group. He then shouted from inside the shield.
"Human, it's dead mana!"
Dead mana rose up once he burned the safe.
This dead mana was extremely dense.
"Huh? Human, what is that?"
Raon asked in confusion but Cale could not respond.
His eyes could not move away from the safe that had been melting until just moments ago.
The safe had turned white once the dead mana melted away.
There was something recorded on the white surface.
Cale's mouth opened.
"…Offer a world in order to create an omnipotent god."
He mumbled.
"…Each family's goal, dimensional coordinates..."
Raon, who was watching, stuttered as he spoke.
"H, human! The safe, the safe was real!"
—
Translator's Comments
No laptop for two days so early chapter. Enjoy!