Chapter 204 : The Annihilation of House Berg (3)
The road to the Berg estate felt impossibly long.
This was partly because we had chosen the safer route, not the fastest, but the truth was, our exhaustion had not fully lifted. If we hadn’t held that small feast, disaster would have struck long ago.
While I felt a sense of gratitude toward the knights following me, my thoughts returned to my captured family, and a sigh escaped my lips.
They’ll be alive… but I doubt they’re unharmed.
They were taken as prisoners for a reason. There had to be a purpose—likely to draw me out.
It felt self-centered, but it was the only logical conclusion. After all, I was the one who had killed six of the Twelve Nobles.
By now, they would have learned that truth. To ignore me in such a situation would be proof of their own foolishness.
“Whew. They’ll be all right, Captain,” Lancelot said, his breath coming in shallow pants as he marched.
“I know the Count’s temperament better than anyone. I guarantee he’s looking for the perfect moment to kill that Demonkin bastard.”
He could have been complaining, but for now, even he moved forward without a word of protest.
“…Thank you.”
“Blegh… It feels weird hearing you say thanks, Captain,” Lancelot chuckled, pretending to gag.
The other knights, breathing heavily behind him, joined in with weary laughter.
A small smile touched my lips. “So you all have the energy to laugh. You must have stamina to spare. We can pick up the pace, then.”
“Ah!” Lancelot’s face fell into despair.
Muttering under his breath, he began to lead the knights at a faster march.
I watched him, a dry laugh escaping me.
He was a peculiar one, turning himself into the butt of the joke to raise his comrades’ spirits. That, right there, was the greatest talent a commander could possess.
“I’ll walk with you,” I said, quickening my pace to catch up to the departing Lancelot, forgetting my worries about my family, if only for a moment.
* * *
I don’t know how long we walked. Within a few days, we arrived at the Berg estate.
The county was nothing less than a desolate ruin. Countless bodies were strewn everywhere. Maggots and crows picked at the corpses, filling the air with the stench of death.
It was a scene that screamed of absolute defeat.
Without a word, I moved forward slowly. Among the scattered dead, I saw a knight I knew well, his eyes rolled back in death.
“…Sir Bright.”
We weren’t particularly close.
He was just a knight who had always offered me a smile, even when I was living like a reckless fool. He had always spoken of his dream to return to the countryside with his daughter.
“…May you find happiness with your daughter in the next life,” I murmured, gently brushing his eyelids closed.
His face settled into an expression of peace.
I rose and walked on.
My steps echoed through the silence.
Passing through the grounds and into the manor itself, I found more familiar faces. Philip the chef, Kaulslin the head butler, Pence the stablemaster, Tria the head maid…
They were all precious connections, people who had reached out to me when I was nothing but a scoundrel. Before my regression, and after, they had treated me with unwavering smiles.
Now, they were all dead. Slaughtered so cruelly they couldn’t even find rest in the Goddess’s embrace.
Worse, a message from the Demonkin was scrawled in blood on the wall.
To Louis Berg.
Come to Hounds Village.
Let us have a war.
I stood before the blood-streaked wall, watching it in silence.
“…Captain.”
As I remained motionless, Lancelot approached and placed a hand on my shoulder. I could feel its warmth, but my heart was utterly still.
“Are you all righ—Never mind.” Lancelot glanced at my face, then closed his eyes tightly, as if realizing his mistake.
“…I’m fine,” I said, my voice steady, as if nothing were wrong.
I turned my back on the wall and fixed my gaze on the bodies once more.
“I have to do what must be done.”
Using my Stigmata, I activated my Halo.
Fwoooosh!
The Crown of Thorns spun, summoning a vast wave of divinity.
“May you find your rest.”
<Purification>
The same technique I had used on the Third Prince. It shot through the manor, touching every corpse within.
FWOOOOOSH!
In an instant, the demonic energy clinging to the bodies vanished. Their faces softened into expressions of peace.
I watched them in silence before slowly turning away.
My mind was at peace. There was no emotional turmoil, no storm of rage. Truly, there was nothing. I felt nothing at all.
But with every step I took, the faces of those who saw me began to harden, as if they had discovered something unknown and terrifying.
“I have one more unreasonable request to ask of you, knights,” I said, my tone as level as I could make it. “They have summoned me to Hounds Village, and I intend to go. Will you accompany me?”
There were no words.
Only the low ring of steel being drawn from sheaths.
“…Thank you.”
I gave them a slight bow and began to walk toward the battlefield.
To kill the Baron of War.
* * *
We’re in deep trouble.
Lancelot sighed, his eyes fixed on Louis.
Honestly, when he had first seen the carnage here, he too had felt a surge of rage. He’d wanted to lead an army right then and there to take the bastard’s head.
How much worse must it be for the captain, who knew these people so well?
That was why he had approached him. He had expected to find Louis trembling with grief and fury.
“…I never knew he could get that angry.”
He’d never seen it before. The captain, unleashing that kind of fury.
He hadn't been like this when the northern knights had tormented his men, nor when Lady Lea was in danger, not even when he himself had been on the brink of death.
“…Something terrible is about to happen.”
Lancelot watched Louis with a worried expression. Louis was still walking with a steady gait, his face an expressionless mask. It was as if he felt no emotion at all.
But Lancelot knew. He knew what would happen if Louis faced that Demonkin in this state.
I should probably send a quiet word to Lady Lea.
Lancelot sighed and moved on, praying that his captain, at least, would not be demonized.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that very moment, Hera waited, the ring on her finger, for a certain being to arrive.
“Finally…!”
The moment had come for her to gain power of her own. The power to bring despair to her father, and to Louis Berg!
A manic grin stretched across Hera’s face as she let out a peal of laughter.
There was one thing she had overlooked.
It was the question of why she had believed the woman would truly grant her power.
Objectively, the woman was suspicious—appearing when Hera was at her lowest, making empty promises of strength. Yet Hera had felt nothing strange about her actions, as if she had been brainwashed.
“All I have to do is give this ring to Father, and my revenge will be complete…! It will be complete…!” Hera laughed like a madwoman.
Just then, the woman she had been waiting for appeared outside her window. A red-haired woman with the wings of a bat.
Hera was face-to-face with her again.
“You’ve returned!” Hera’s face lit up with rapture. At the same time, she held up the ring clutched in her hand for the woman to see.
“I brought the ring! I did as you said, followed my father’s orders, and didn’t give it to that short stack, the Veilwarden! So please, give me the power!” Hera cried out, her voice a mixture of desperation and insanity.
At that moment, the woman offered a bewitching smile and slipped through the open window.
“So you did. What a good girl you are.”
“Yes, so please!” Hera shrieked, dropping to her knees. It was a posture unbecoming of someone with the noblest blood in the empire after the Imperial Family.
“Give me power…!”
Hera reached out her hand.
In that instant, the woman stared directly into Hera’s eyes.
“…Ah.”
Hera’s hand fell limply to her side. At the same time, her expression slackened, and she began to pant like a dog. She looked like a servant before her queen.
Crawling on her knees like a puppy, Hera approached the woman.
“Ah… ah… my queen…!”
Hera’s pupils were dilated. Where before they had been filled with the fire of vengeance, now they seemed clouded, as if under a spell.
“Now we’re finally at the right eye level,” the woman said, her smile captivating as she lifted Hera’s chin. “You’ve waited well. Thanks to you, I have something to say to your father. I’m truly grateful.”
“Ah… ah…!”
“Oh, that’s right. We made a deal, didn’t we? Since I’ve received my part, I suppose I should give you your power now.”
The woman chuckled, her grip tightening on Hera’s chin. She then pressed her lips to Hera’s, breathing into her mouth.
“Mmph…! Mmph…!”
Hera’s body convulsed as she was overcome with bliss.
A few moments passed.
Hera’s arm dropped lifelessly to the floor. A smile began to spread across her face—the very same smile the woman wore.
“Hmm… this body feels a bit rickety,” “Hera” muttered, moving her limbs this way and that.
After a moment, she sighed and shrugged. “Hmm… her talent is surprisingly lacking, it seems.”
Watching her, the original woman smiled bewitchingly.
“Congratulations, my replica. Now, let’s move on to the next step.”
“Hmm, it might be difficult in this body… but it can’t be helped. Understood, my original.”
The woman and Hera faced each other, sharing a faint smile.
All were one. One was all.
A power that even the Marquis of Envy could not replicate began to stir within them.
<Aspect of Lust - Mass Infection>
A virus intended to infect all living beings had started to spread.