Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Polia—no. Bedervel—looked at me with a stiff expression.
I didn’t avert my gaze and accepted her stare head-on.
“You disappeared deliberately. The articles saying Bedervel went missing, the rumors that you vanished—those were all spread by you, weren’t they?”
“…….”
“You left the last sighting in Kirhen, and even put up an enormous reward and an imperial knighthood. All to make adventurers flock here, chasing a once-in-a-lifetime fortune.”
“…….”
Bedervel was ultimately unable to say anything.
“If the number of people increased, you thought someone would eventually find it. Adventurers collect herbs as a matter of course. You were waiting for one of them to find a rare medicinal herb like Moonlight Herb.”
She still neither denied it nor made excuses.
Only after seeing that silence was I able to face a thought I had kept buried in my mind.
The possibility that Polia and Bedervel were the same person.
At first, it was nothing more than a simple guess.
‘It was practically a gamble.’
The timing of Polia’s disappearance—someone so famous she existed even as a rumor in the game—and the timing of Bedervel joining the imperial knight order roughly overlapped.
Because of that, though the probability was low, I thought they might be the same person.
So I deliberately sent her glances in the guild cafeteria, luring her to approach me.
Lying that Rapin was my younger sister, deliberately mentioning Moonlight Herb in front of her—every single one of those actions was to draw her interest, on the chance that she might be Bedervel.
‘But the reason Bedervel wanted Moonlight Herb… that it was for the Guardian Deity—I only learned that this time.’
The giant wolf I had thought was merely a monster was actually the Guardian Deity of Kirhen, and that Bedervel was the adopted daughter of that Guardian Deity was a setting that was never revealed in the game.
‘Now that I know Polia and Bedervel are the same person, the puzzle is starting to come together.’
Giving up a free adventurer’s life to enlist in the Empire’s imperial knight order must have been to borrow the might of the great Empire to purify the Guardian Deity’s corruption.
‘But Bedervel said that no professor or magician could purify the Guardian Deity’s corruption.’
Right. Even that mighty Empire was incapable of curing the Guardian Deity’s corruption.
In the end, there was only one thing the Empire could do.
Designate the area where the Guardian Deity resided as a restricted zone, preventing casualties.
Because nothing would be more tragic than the Guardian Deity that had protected the people of Kirhen for hundreds of years becoming their enemy.
When I finished speaking and looked at Bedervel in silence, she let out a deep breath.
“…I didn’t want this to be found out until the very end. But you noticed, boy.”
Paaang—!
As if her aura exploded outward, the tie binding her hair flew off.
Her black hair whipping in the air gradually turned silver.
Her dark eyes, too, had already taken on a blue hue.
Before every battle, she always wore a wolf helm that covered her head.
It seemed it wasn’t merely to block enemy attacks, but to hide her true appearance.
“So that was your real appearance, hidden beneath the helm.”
“…….”
Silver hair reminiscent of a wolf’s mane, and blue eyes.
It matched exactly with the picture of Bedervel I had seen on the leaflet.
She raised her sword again.
“Boy, I don’t have the leisure to go easy on you.”
Clink, clink…….
In my mind, the ‘Danger Detection’ Skill activated.
As the skill triggered, it meant my life was currently under threat.
‘Get a grip.’
It was important to clearly reveal why I had reappeared before her.
“What are you talking about. Do you think I’m crazy enough to come here to fight you?”
“…Then?”
Bedervel voiced her doubt.
“Before long, the Guardian Deity will be corrupted beyond any possibility of intervention. You know that better than anyone.”
Bedervel had advanced the North Mountain攻略 ahead of schedule. Seeing with her own eyes that the Guardian Deity’s level of corruption was severe, she had grown anxious.
“There’s only one reason I came all the way here. To stop that corruption.”
“…?”
Bedervel raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
“You saw it, didn’t you. I have purification power strong enough to restore even corrupted Moonlight Herb.”
I showed her the fresh Moonlight Herb in my hand once more and added,
“Give me the chance to treat the Guardian Deity of Kirhen.”
“…….”
After a moment.
Bedervel slowly lowered her sword.
“…Boy. Are you serious?”
“If I were joking while staking that wolf’s life, that would mean becoming your enemy. I don’t value my life so lightly.”
“…….”
Bedervel remained silent for a while, but she seemed convinced.
She opened the path she had been blocking in front of the Guardian Deity.
I approached the Guardian Deity and slowly placed my hand on it.
‘Pau.’
Pau’s gentle light collided and reacted with the wolf’s purple darkness.
Paaang—!
With a small explosion, pain surged through me.
“Kuheok, cough…! Guhk!”
Pain as if my bones were being struck.
This was probably just a fraction of the pain the Guardian Deity had endured for ten years.
I looked at that massive body again.
‘Only a fraction, and it lived while enduring pain even greater than this?’
I took a deep breath and used Pau’s card once more.
Puh-eong—!
“Guhk…!”
Pain spread as if sliced by blade-like wind.
But there was a change in the Guardian Deity’s pitch-black body.
Though extremely faint, the color was growing lighter.
‘Every time I use Pau’s ability, the corruption is definitely being purified.’
However, using the ability once or twice didn’t even purify an amount equivalent to its little toe.
It looked like I would have to repeat it dozens… no, hundreds of times.
‘I can use Pau’s ability about once every forty seconds.’
Then to purify something this massive, like a mountain stronghold……
‘Looks like I’ll be staying up all night.’
A hollow laugh escaped me on its own.
It was going to be a long campaign.
Once more, I used the ability.
Pung—!
“Guhk!”
Was it because I clenched my teeth too hard? Blood flowed from my mouth. When I finally couldn’t suppress a groan, Bedervel grabbed my arm.
“Wait, boy. There’s no need to push yourself that far!”
“Take your hand off me. You touching my body doesn’t help with the purification at all, so there’s no need for that.”
“You have nothing to do with my father or me. Why would you go so far as to suffer like this…….”
Bedervel asked me, as if she couldn’t understand.
“Do I look like the type to do good deeds out of pity?”
I let out a sigh and opened my mouth.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this for anyone else. I’m doing it because I want to.”
I clenched my teeth and glared at Bedervel.
“This is something only I can do.”
“…….”
Bedervel was rendered speechless and couldn’t continue. In the end, she slowly released my arm.
I took another deep breath and placed my hand on the corrupted area again. An unpleasant pain rose up from my palm, but I didn’t pull my hand away.
‘Endure it to the end, Pau.’
There was no special reason for treating the Guardian Deity while enduring such extreme pain.
In the game, I had naturally thought of this wolf as nothing more than a monster I had to defeat.
‘But to think it wasn’t a monster.’
The more I looked at the Guardian Deity, the more it overlapped with Shuck and Rapin.
They too were existences that had been abandoned and were supposed to die.
That irrationality—where they were recognized as nothing more than enemies, monsters, things to be defeated.
‘Damn it. I played the game dozens of times and still knew nothing. What a trash world.’
The fact that this wolf had been the Guardian Deity that protected Kirhen for hundreds of years.
Without even realizing that, I played through the game dozens of times and massacred the Guardian Deity every single time.
I had only ever recognized it as a monster that dropped good material items.
‘……But I’m different now.’
Now that I knew the truth, I couldn’t do that anymore—at least not in this world.
I didn’t want to kill this wolf just to get good items.
They might have been rare and valuable materials, but I didn’t even feel regret about not obtaining them.
Materials obtained by killing the innocent could go to hell.
I didn’t want such materials badly enough to commit unnecessary slaughter.
A fierce anger was rising within my heart.
‘This maggot-infested world.’
Irrationality.
I wanted to resist this injustice with everything I had.
If I could save the Guardian Deity, I wanted to save it no matter what.
Because that was the only way to give the middle finger to this shitty world where fate flowed like garbage.
“Bedervel. I will save the Guardian Deity no matter what. So watch closely.”
I stared straight into Bedervel’s blue eyes.
“Watch your family stand back up after overcoming their pain.”
“…….”
Bedervel could no longer say anything to me.
Paaang—! Paaang—!
The purification continued.
The pain was overwhelmingly severe. For a moment, it felt as if I was seeing hallucinations before my eyes.
But I closed my eyes and endured it.
Grrrrrrrrr!
The Guardian Deity, like me, was grinding its teeth and enduring the excruciating pain.
Perhaps it noticed that purification was happening, even if only little by little—it remained still until the very end.
“Endure it. Please endure it, Father!”
Bedervel clung to the howling Guardian Deity with her entire body, unable to do anything but stay by its side.
……How much time had passed since then?
It must have been quite a long while.
Even though it was midwinter, my entire body was burning hot like a lump of fire. Cold sweat poured all over me.
“……Haa.”
I looked at the Guardian Deity.
The fur that had been pitch-black with corruption had, before I knew it, turned into a dazzling white mane.
“……So it was white to begin with.”
One of my arms trembled.
‘A curse terrifying enough to make you shudder…… I purified it all in the end.’
I didn’t need any reward.
The fact that I was able to resist the irrationality of this world.
That alone was a greater reward than anything else.
I smiled in victory, while Bedervel could only stare without being able to say a word.
……Before long, the Guardian Deity’s clear, blue eyes were looking straight at me.
“How truly laughable.”
……A low, heavy voice.
It wasn’t Bedervel’s voice.
By process of elimination, the owner of that voice could only be the Guardian Deity.
‘……I can hear a voice?’
‘Come to think of it, I feel like I saw something while purifying.’
I looked around.
Beside me, a pink-hued system floated into view.
The Guardian Deity of Kirhen feels a great deal of affection toward you!
Your bond with the Guardian Deity has deepened, allowing you to converse together!
“……Everything is exactly the same as back then.”
The Guardian Deity of Kirhen murmured as it looked at the boy before it.
“So many ages have passed that I can no longer even recall my master’s face.”
As it looked at Billet, it felt that old longing from back then.
It had been 300 years since it lived as a ‘Guardian Deity,’ not a ‘monster’ that hurt people.
It must have been thanks to its ‘master’ that it was able to walk the right path.
Though its mind had been eroded now, and it had almost walked a twisted path for a moment.
……This time as well, it received someone’s help.
Yes, its master too…… felt just like this boy.
Had the time finally come to keep the promise?
“Kid.”
After long deliberation, he called out to Billet.
“I want to confirm your potential.”