Audrey was stunned. "???"
"That's right. George I, George II, and George III were actually all the sa George from the very beginning! With the help of certain secret organisations, he chose the right monts to 'die' naturally, then replaced his successor and beca the 'new' king. During each reign, he continuously launched wars, created conflicts, built mausoleums, issued currency, anded constitutions, and so on. For more than a century, he caused over a million deaths—all to complete his advancent ritual piece by piece! Oh, and the tens of thousands of innocent victims in the last Great Smog of Backlund disaster? That was orchestrated by him as well."
Audrey froze. "Y-You're saying…"
"Exactly. For nearly two hundred years, the king of Loen had always been the sa person—the one who was once George I, and now George III."
There was no denying that this revelation was far too shocking for Audrey. Although she had already learned of George III's conspiracy through Edward and the Tarot Club, she had not expected an even deeper secret to be hidden beneath it.
Edessak said, "And now, he believes the only thing separating him from the final step is a continent-wide war. So the war has co."
"On the surface, it appears that the Feysac Empire initiated the war and Loen is rely resisting. But in truth, this war could never have happened without his behind-the-scenes manipulation."
He paused there.
Helena looked at Audrey with a smile and asked, "Alright, story ti is over. Audrey, now it's your turn to vote~"
"Are you going to help this old lunatic who caused endless slaughter and stained himself with the blood of a million innocents just to beco a god? Or will you pull him down from his throne and pedestal, letting him receive the punishnt he deserves?"
Audrey fell silent for a mont, then suddenly said softly, "I abstain."
"???"
The siblings froze simultaneously.
Audrey continued, "I'm abstaining not because I don't believe your story, nor because I disagree with you. I simply feel that…matters involving nation, war, and even deities couldn't possibly be decided by a vote among just the four of us."
"Of course, even if I abstain, the final result is still two to one, which fits your expectations."
As she said this, she looked toward Althea. "What do you think, Althea?"
"Ah? I don't mind either way~"
Althea shrugged with a cheerful grin. "Then that settles it. Do whatever you two want!"
Edessak and his sister exchanged a glance, then placed their hands over their chests and bowed in unison. "Much appreciated~"
"And thank you as well, Audrey."
They stepped back a few paces and turned to leave.
In the room, only Audrey and Althea remained.
"Althea…do you really think our little vote could influence anything at all?"
She yawned again and muttered, "Who knows?"
"But…there's sothing you might be mistaken about."
Audrey blinked. "What?"
"The four of us together are actually really, really strong."
Althea slipped a slender, alabaster hand into her pocket, pulled out a crystal-clear monocle, and placed it over her right eye. Then she smiled faintly.
"What do you think?"
"!!!"
Audrey's heart felt as if it had been violently clenched. Her pupils shrank sharply. "Y-You're—"
Just as the words "Amon" were about to leave her lips, her mind abruptly blurred.
When she ca to, Althea was waving a hand in front of her face, frowning in confusion. "Audrey, what's wrong?"
"What?"
"W-What happened to ?" Audrey paused, then said, "Oh, it's nothing. I just spaced out for a second."
…Huh?
But why did I suddenly zone out?
It felt like sothing extrely important had just happened.
What was it?
Why can't I rember anything?
Althea waved her hand dismissively. "Alright, head back for now. I'm going to rest too."
"Okay~ see you."
Watching Audrey's figure disappear into the distance, Althea narrowed her eyes and curled her lips into a smile.
"The show's about to begin~"
"Cheek, oh Cheek…if Lilith actually succeeds in leaping to Red Priest this ti, you're going to be in big trouble."
"The struggle for the Primordial Demoness is finally approaching its curtain call."
———
Backlund, on a street in the North Borough.
Leonard had changed into a worker's outfit and wore a patched, worn-out beret. He followed behind a horse-drawn carriage as it slowly moved forward.
"Hey!"
The sudden voice startled Leonard so badly that he nearly jumped. Thinking he had been discovered, he instantly ducked to the side and muttered inwardly, Old man, what are you doing? You scared half to death.
"I should be asking you that. Why are you suddenly tailing Daly? Don't tell you…"
"Please don't say nonsense!"
"You're not thinking she's suspicious, are you?" Pallez chuckled. "Hmm? What was that reaction just now?"
Leonard stayed silent for a couple of seconds before explaining, "I just feel like Miss Daly has been acting strange lately—especially after learning about the Feysac bombardnt. She suddenly made up an excuse to go ho."
"Heh. She's worried her place might have been bombed. Isn't it normal to go back and check?"
"My intuition tells it isn't."
Pallez laughed pleasantly. "Did your intuition tell you what the truth is, then?"
"No. But Miss Daly must be hiding sothing—sothing she doesn't want to know."
"Heheheh."
The old man suddenly laughed. "Her carriage slowed down again."
Leonard paused. "What?"
"Idiot! You've followed her all this way and still haven't realised? Every ti you fall behind a little—every ti you're close to losing her—the carriage slows down with you. Why do you think that is?"
"???"
Leonard scratched his head blankly. "Huh? Really? How did I not notice?"
"…"
Pallez sighed inwardly. Before the Chairman went into deep sleep, he had told him to go to Tingen and find Leonard after a century or so, and he had done just that.
He had to admit: the kid was pretty decent—just adorably stupid at tis.
Leonard suddenly stopped walking, his expression frozen. "Wait! You an Miss Daly has known I was following her all along—and she's been deliberately waiting for ?!"
"At least you're not completely hopeless."
"But…why?!"
Pallez curled his lip. "How would I know?"
Of course, he could guess most of it: that girl nad Daly wanted to confess everything to Leonard—and to the Church of Evernight—through this thod.
The reason was simple: to protect Dunn.
With Ince Zangwill on the loose and a war erupting, Backlund's situation changed by the day. Besides the Church, nowhere else could truly be considered safe.
But because he, the old man, had insisted on not letting Leonard learn the "truth," she hadn't told the idiot boy directly. Instead, she used this thod to intentionally guide Leonard toward discovery—while also testing His attitude toward the matter.
Hmph. These youngsters, honestly.
As if I were so unreasonable old fogey, Pallez thought. How they underestimate .
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of a refined little house. Daly paid the coachman and hurried inside. Leonard hesitated for a few seconds, then quickened his steps. With Pallez's help, he silently approached the window.
"Cough, cough, cough."
The mont he reached the window, a series of coughs drifted out, followed by Daly's gentle voice. "Why are you out of bed again?"
"It's too boring."
A familiar voice answered, "Besides, my body has almost recovered. Cough, cough."
"You can say that again when you stop coughing."
"Hehe, soon, soon."
After a brief pause, the voice asked, "Any progress regarding Feysac's bombing?"
Daly answered, "Loen has officially declared war on Feysac. The Church hasn't given us any instructions yet—just told us to cooperate with the authorities and help the affected civilians."
"Then you must be careful."
"I know."
Daly smiled slightly—but her gaze suddenly flicked toward the window. She saw nothing, and her eyes dimd with faint disappointnt. "I've already arranged a rental near St. Samuel Cathedral. We'll move there this afternoon."
"Alright."
Leonard walked silently into a deserted alley. His complexion had gone pale, and his fingers trembled slightly. Leaning against the wall, he muttered, "That person just now…was…was that the Captain?"
Pallez spoke calmly, "Seems like it."
"So Captain…isn't dead?"
"What do you think?"
After a long mont of silence, Leonard suddenly slamd a fist into the wall. "Then what about Klein?! Is he also alive? And Edward—what's his situation?! Have they all been…all this ti…"
"Hey now, kid, don't tell you're going to 'fall to darkness' or sothing?"
"…!"
Leonard gritted his teeth. "I'm asking you a question!"
"I don't know. Besides, I'm not answering questions for soone who doesn't know how to respect his elders."
"Old man! Lord Pallez—"
He clenched his fists, forcing out the words from deep in his throat. "Please…tell the truth!"
"There's no such thing as truth or falsehood. Back then, they were simply forced to stage a fake-death incident in order to survive."
Pallez imdiately exposed all the thoughts swirling in Leonard's mind. "No one tried to trick you. No one saw you as an outsider. No one targeted you on purpose."
"…So you really did know everything. But why hide it from until now?!"
Pallez said calmly, "What else would you have do? Tell you that Dunn and Klein were alive and well, that Edward wasn't a traitor, and let you continue being the sa lazy, self-satisfied kid—always thinking you're the protagonist of the era, yet never truly putting in effort? While everyone else improved day by day, you would've stayed a low Sequence fool dreaming laughable dreams?"
"Dunn and Klein's deaths were fake, but their enemy was real—and he was a high-Sequence powerhouse about to advance to Sequence 3. You might rember him: Ince Zangwill, that traitor who left the Church of Evernight. And behind him stands soone of even higher Sequence."
Ince Zangwill?
The wanted poster issued by the Church imdiately appeared in Leonard's mind.
"So now that you know this so-called 'truth,' what can you possibly do? Rely on to bail you out at critical monts? Let make you shine for the crowd—so you can keep pretending you're the protagonist blessed by fate?"
———
[Note]: 1420 Powerstones for another Extra Chapter tomorrow! Go, VOTE!
I noticed so of you were upset about the higher powerstone goal yesterday. Guys…I only raised it by 10 stones! Seriously?!
And if you are like and want to read 40 Chapters in advance of the current story right now, you can support on my Patreon. Thank later~
Link - (P)atre(o)n.c(o)m/ Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]
Reviews
All reviews (0)