Chapter 284 : Calm Before the Storm (9)
Chapter 284: Calm Before the Storm (9)
The dagger pierced Valen Zeisho’s chest absurdly easily, and deeply.
Thud.
The chilling sound echoed with an eerily clear resonance.
“…Cold.”
Valen Zeisho murmured in an extremely indifferent voice.
Even with a blade embedded in his heart—one he had driven in with his own hand—he remained utterly calm.
“Hah.”
His composure was so extreme that someone watching might have thought he was performing some sort of street act. Even Berenistella clicked her tongue softly at the sight.
“Cold.”
Valen Zeisho muttered blankly.
He released the dagger he had been gripping.
Staring quietly at his hand, which had begun trembling little by little regardless of his will, he slowly lowered his gaze.
The dagger lodged in his heart.
Blood spreading outward as though a flower were blooming.
Even at the sight that seemed to embody the approach of his death moment by moment, Valen Zeisho did not let out a single groan.
He merely stared at the dagger embedded in his chest, his eyes unable to hide the disappointment of someone betrayed by something he had believed in blindly.
“…As expected.”
A self-mocking laugh escaped him.
“I should have known my place.”
He had already given up, but it would have been a lie to say he had not held even the slightest expectation.
Valen Zeisho muttered bitterly.
“Such a sweet… dreamlike story could never come to someone like me.”
“Foolish thing.”
Berenistella clicked her tongue.
“Has your mind grown hazy from losing blood, or has age turned your eyes into knot holes?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Look at your fingers.”
“My fingers?”
At her words, Valen Zeisho blankly looked down at his fingers.
Fingers he had always seen—calloused and covered in wounds from drawing a bow every day without a single day of rest.
Those fingers felt unfamiliar.
The appearance he remembered was nowhere to be seen.
“Ah…”
His fingers were hardening like ivory.
The change was slow and subtle, but unmistakable.
As if firmly sealing proof of his death, the transformation continued.
Valen Zeisho quietly closed his eyes and murmured.
“…This is truly a joyous thing.”
He still had the qualification.
He could meet the same ending as his wife—the person he had loved.
At that realization, he quietly smiled.
“Talia.”
“…Yes.”
Talia replied in a slightly damp voice.
No matter how many times one experienced it, watching a dying comrade was not something that could be taken lightly.
“Arpentia will be… very confused. Please calm her down well.”
“I’ll try.”
“If my wife and I had ever had a child.”
He murmured quietly.
“I would have hoped for a daughter like that girl. Someone who resembled her… kind, wise… and strong like that child…”
It had been a dream that could never come true from the start.
The Evil Dragon and the Eight Demon Lords.
To end the Great War, he had abandoned and let go of many things.
Among them were his future—and even the qualification to receive a noble death.
“I’m leaving a great burden behind, Talia.”
“It’s the weight you and Arpentia carried for hundreds of years.”
She forced a smile.
“So I can carry a little of it for you.”
“Hah.”
“Anyway… go on ahead, Jay.”
“‘Go ahead’? That’s a strange way to put it.”
“Is it? Anyway, the afterlife isn’t so bad. …I’ll follow soon.”
“Yes… you should.”
Valen Zeisho chuckled softly.
Then he turned his head toward Berenistella.
“You surely know this as well, Berenistella.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our corpses… the corpses of transformed High Elves—if you consider them as catalysts, their rank is immeasurably high. Their power and value surpass even a Dragon’s Heart.”
He let out a small sigh.
His breathing was growing ragged, and his vision was slowly blurring.
Yet his posture remained firm, and his voice was still clear.
“It will be more than enough to fill one of the seats.”
“…”
Berenistella did not answer.
It was a silence that affirmed his words.
“…Ah.”
While they spoke, his body had nearly finished hardening.
“…She went, and everyone else went.”
He began muttering blankly.
Even his voice faltered as he rambled.
“I lived on… clinging to life in disgrace…”
“I wanted to meet a death I could show them without shame… a final moment I wouldn’t be ashamed of…”
“This body… grown old, sick, and weak…”
“At last… even if only like this…”
“Finally…”
“….”
Silence.
Soon, even his voice was gone.
Where Valen Zeisho had stood, only a statue resembling him remained—like a massive jewel of ivory.
“That makes four.”
Talia spoke quietly after catching her breath.
Berenistella gazed at the end of her former archenemy—and perhaps even friend—with complicated eyes.
“…Then who is the last one?”
“They’ll arrive soon.”
“Arrive? Here?”
“Yes.”
“Was there still someone among you who remained alive? Most were human, and even the long-lived ones should all be dead by now.”
Talia simply smiled without answering.
“You visited the Room of Memories, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“I wonder if you saw how many reservoirs were placed there.”
“They were all shattered. If my assumption was correct, there were five.”
“Correct.”
Talia nodded.
“Each of us was responsible for one.”
“…”
One for each of the Three Founders, including Talia.
One for Arpentia.
And one remaining.
‘…It wasn’t Valen Zeisho.’
Then the final one was…?
Berenistella frowned.
“…Surely not.”
“That ‘surely not’ is correct.”
As she spoke, Talia turned toward the entrance of the Auction House.
Berenistella also turned her head, sensing the presence.
Smoke.
Thick smoke—almost seductive in its density—had taken the shape of a human.
“….”
Berenistella observed it calmly.
Several unfamiliar yet strangely familiar energies were mixed within it.
Above all, within its embrace—
“A Dragon’s Heart? And one old enough to be called an Ancient Dragon. Where did that come from?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe it took it from the Uninvited Guest who came before you.”
Talia answered casually.
Judging by her attitude, she had already known that the smoke would bring the Dragon’s Heart.
This too must have been told beforehand.
‘Anastasia Mayblin.’
Berenistella silently repeated the name of the Saintess.
The Saintess who could see the future.
Had she truly been able to see this much detail?
She hated to admit it, but when it came to prophecy, the gap between them was so vast that she could not even reach the Saintess’s heels.
‘….’
What path would the future she had seen take?
And what would become of herself and Lian?
Setting those thoughts aside, Berenistella spoke in a voice filled with rare vigilance.
“So what exactly is that?”
“….”
“I asked you a question.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t ignoring you. I just… don’t know how to explain it.”
Talia shrugged.
“That is our composite.”
“…Composite? Do you mean a chimera?”
“Not that kind of monster. Let’s see… when we first created the Room of Memories, five people provided what you could call the base body. You can think of it as a mixture of their memories, energy, and power.”
Talia spread her fingers and folded them one by one.
“Three of us, including me. Then Arpentia. And finally…”
“The Saintess.”
Berenistella spoke first.
“Anastasia Mayblin.”
“…Yes. That’s right.”
Talia nodded.
Then she quietly said while looking at the smoke standing there blankly.
“That will take the final fifth seat.”
I had a dream.
Everyone who had left first returned to life, and we relived the memories from back then.
A dream I had dreamed countless times before, only to wake up feeling empty and swallowing tears.
A dream worthy of being called a nightmare.
Yet even such a dream was precious to Arpentia.
Because in the dream, she could at least see their faces and hear their voices.
“…Tia.”
A voice.
Yes, this voice belonged to Talia.
“Arpentia.”
“…Ah!”
Arpentia abruptly opened her eyes.
Before her stood Talia exactly as she remembered—smiling gently at her.
“You’re awake.”
“Talia… I…”
“Sorry to say this right after you woke up.”
Talia carefully supported her back.
Arpentia wanted to talk even a little, but there was no time left.
“Do you remember, Tia?”
“Remember… what?”
Arpentia murmured in a dazed voice.
It wasn’t just because she had just woken up.
Looking at the iron needle embedded in her chest, Talia bit her lip slightly before continuing.
“When we said you were truly strong.”
“Ah… yes. I remember. Everyone said that.”
Arpentia shook her head.
“I couldn’t understand it. I’m weak… I’m a crybaby, and without you and the others I can’t do anything… I’m just a burden…”
“No.”
Talia shook her head as well.
“You are strong. More than anyone among us…”
She whispered softly.
“That’s why we entrusted this to you.”
“Entrusted… what?”
As Arpentia murmured that, she suddenly seemed to feel something strange and raised her head.
She quickly looked around.
Then she gasped in shock the moment she saw a statue placed nearby.
She instantly recognized that the statue resembled Valen Zeisho.
“A… Ah! Ah…!”
As she trembled in shock, Talia embraced her gently to calm her.
“I’m sorry, Tia.”
“T-Talia! Talia, Lord Valen Zeisho…!”
“Yes. Jay is dead.”
Talia said quietly.
“He chose death himself. To finish the task for all of us.”
“Why? Why…! Why now? We only just reunited… we only just met again…!”
“And now we must go too.”
Arpentia cried out desperately.
“No! No, you can’t! Why—why?!”
“I can only say I’m sorry. But this is the only way. …You know that, don’t you?”
She spoke as if soothing a child.
“The dead must not return to life. And we… you remember the oath we all made, don’t you?”
“No… no. I don’t remember. I don’t know anything like that…”
“We must fulfill our duty. Just as we all swore.”
Talia smiled bitterly.
“I said I don’t know anything about that!”
Arpentia screamed in a shrill voice.
“Don’t make me laugh! Now—after all this—you expect me to accept that?”
She glared fiercely at Talia.
But Talia only continued to look at her with the same gentle smile.
Confused by her refusal to obey, Arpentia murmured.
“Why…?”
“I’m truly sorry.”
“W-Wait…”
Arpentia finally noticed Berenistella standing in one place, along with the other four occupying the remaining positions.
And beneath them, the magic circle engraved on the ground.
The moment she recognized what it was, she cried out again.
“Don’t tell me…?”
“And this is our end.”
The final fragment of the prophecy the Saintess had once told only to her.
“Using us as sacrifices to restore Berenistella’s power to its original state.”
That was the only path that could prevent the destruction of this world.