Chapter 145
As Erich reached the staircase where the lich was, his explosive headache began to subside.
The building with only plain, ashy stone walls looked, strangely, as if it were a well-kept mansion.
Eventually, Erich saw a man seated on a throne.
If that was truly the lich, then he should have been gaunt and unnaturally elongated in appearance.
However, when Erich saw the subtly flickering face, he instinctively knew that it was by no means the creature's true form.
Erich was the first to speak.
"You're up to your usual filth again, lich."
"...'Lich', yes, perhaps that's quite an appropriate way to call me."
The lich slowly curled his lips into a smile. He, too, rose from his throne. Facing Erich, he spoke.
"My master holds a great interest in you. Of course, I feel the same. Was it Erich von Krupp?"
"... So you even know my name."
The lich wore a mysterious smile, then put his hands behind his back and gazed out the window.
The scenery outside, which should have been covered in falling snow, had somehow transformed into a flower garden.
"Your actions are most intriguing. How was it that, as soon as you entered here, you could follow and disrupt every part of what we had planned... Almost as if it had all been set from the beginning."
"......."
Erich stared quietly at the lich.
He had already suspected as much, but it seemed that even the Lord of the Dead had been keeping close watch on Erich's movements.
'So that's how they were able to lay traps for me.'
Erich recalled the times he had fallen into their traps in the past.
Perhaps back then he had just been an annoyance, but now, it seemed he was viewed as a significant threat to them.
"The Lord of the Dead believes these feats could not be accomplished by human strength alone. But... what did you call her, 'Incensus'? She has always been one to bestow power upon humans. It's nothing particularly special."
"Well, to be honest, I don't recall receiving anything that grand from her."
"Is that so? Our master, however, seems to think otherwise."
Erich slowly moved his hand toward his sword, glaring at the lich as if ready to cut him down at any moment.
The lich shook his head.
"So hasty. It is rare for humans to have a chance to converse with us."
"I'm pretty sure I could leave just your head behind and we'd still have plenty of time to talk."
"Khuhu, so belligerent. I do not dislike that about you humans. Since such a good opportunity has presented itself, do you not have any questions?"
"Questions...?"
Erich narrowed his eyes, quickly scanning his surroundings. He wondered if the lich was simply stalling for time while planning something.
Even though his vision was being consumed by the lich's illusion, he couldn't hide the primal sense of foreboding that came with it.
But soon Erich realized the lich wasn't waiting or scheming for anything in particular.
'Is he really just trying to have a genuine conversation?'
The tension left Erich's hand. He, too, was extremely curious about the intentions of the dead.
Besides, he might be able to extract some valuable information from this encounter.
If he could discern the enemy's intent, it would certainly make understanding their methods much easier.
However—
'Even so, I can't let myself get caught in his game.'
Standing before him was not a simple being, but one who had lived for hundreds—if not thousands—of years.
The lich was a creature with at least dozens of times more experience than Erich.
If he wasn't careful, instead of gaining information, he could end up unknowingly sharing secrets the enemy wanted, only to have his own confusion grow.
At that thought, the lich spoke once more.
"Ask your question. As long as it isn't too offensive, I'll consider answering. But in return, you must answer my question as well."
"A game of jokes, huh... Well, I don't dislike it. Alright then, here's my question: why do your kind invade the living?"
The lich's brow furrowed.
An atmosphere of subtle displeasure seemed to linger on his face, but soon he replied in a calm voice.
"Is that so. So much time has passed that perhaps you wouldn't know. Why not just call it your original sin."
"... What crime did we commit, exactly?"
"Forgetfulness, for some, can be a grave sin. Though I find it unpleasant, I shall graciously forgive it."
The lich looked at Erich with a bitter face. Behind the strangeness of his expression, there was a faint, peculiar pity aimed at Erich.
But Erich couldn't understand what the lich was saying.
To him, the dead were simply monsters who had suddenly stormed the Great Wall.
However, even then, Erich sensed that the dead had not invaded for some simple or trivial reason, as he had subconsciously felt until now.
'There's something I don't know.'
—Ssshhh.
Erich folded his arms and looked at the lich with a sullen expression. The lich understood the meaning behind this and let out a faint laugh.
"Was my answer insufficient? I suppose it was. Still, isn't that enough of a reason to hate someone? You committed a crime against us. And we are simply enacting judgment upon you."
"So you're saying we should just take it quietly?"
"You asked for a reason, and I gave you one. How you choose to accept it is up to you."
"... Hmm."
Erich pondered the lich's words for a moment.
There wasn't much he could discern, but it was clear that at some point in the past, something had happened between their two sides.
'So, revenge or something like that. At least they have a justification.'
But Erich let out a low breath. In the end, it didn't matter. Whatever anyone had done in the past had nothing to do with Erich, who lived now.
He then responded.
"Maybe our ancestors did something to you. But no one now remembers that. We are just their descendants. The sin is not ours."
"Our perceptions, born of living eternally and you ordinary mortals, could never be the same. I know this. But you—"
Suddenly, the eyes of the lich, who wore a human face, flashed from black to white.
"Your nature, that instinct of yours, is terrifyingly dangerous."
"Hearing someone who lives off the flesh of humans talk about dangerous instincts is a bit rich, don't you think?"
The lich snorted. Then, he began to change his form slowly. From an ordinary human outfit, the colors gradually shifted to black robes.
And his blue skin began to grow through his flesh. His limbs became even longer and thinner, adopting the lich's original appearance.
Erich instinctively felt disgust at the sight of the lich. It was the same unease one felt upon seeing a cockroach.
'There must really be some connection, then.'
If he'd never had any encounter with the dead, he wouldn't have felt anything.
But now that he understood there was a persistent tie of fate, he found himself able to recognize the true source of his revulsion.
Once he had returned to his original form, the lich revealed sharp teeth from his long jaw as he addressed Erich.
"Now, it's my turn to ask a question."
"What do you want to know?"
"Were you ever planning to answer me honestly?"
The lich curled his lips in a sneer, as if he'd never entertained the expectation.
"I'll see what you say. You didn't exactly answer my question straight either, did you?"
"... True. Then, here is my question."
Erich felt as if the shadow stretching behind the lich was swelling, growing larger and larger.
The pressure he felt was surely the psychic force of the lich intensifying.
Soon, the lich's blue lips moved.
"Did you turn back time?"
Erich's eyes narrowed. The question was even more direct than he had anticipated.
'... He knows about regression?'
To guess anything was one thing, but to suggest regression as a possibility was exceptional.
The fact that regression was an answer at all was, itself, astonishing.
Right now, the lich was asking Erich: "Did you regress?"
Of course, Erich had achieved things only possible for a regressor and gained power through it.
Yet until now, no one had ever even uttered the word "regression" to Erich directly. That's how improbable such a thing was.
But at this moment, the lich was asking him outright: "Did you regress?"
'For the lich to say that, it means the Lord of the Dead also suspects as much.'
Erich slowly considered recent events. Even though he was changing the past, the things that were happening were occurring far too soon.
The uprising of the Ungrim's horde, the rebellion inside the Watch—these were all events that should have been far off in the future.
Yet these things were unfolding so soon; perhaps the Lord of the Dead suspected Erich was a regressor for this very reason.
And as he watched Erich dealing with these events, he might have grown ever more certain of regression. Above all, the Lord of the Dead was a god-like being.
Being of the same class, incensus surely would not have been ignorant of the powers of regression.
With that, Erich smiled faintly.
"You'll see."
"... That's not an answer, is it?"
"Let's call it an ambiguous response."
The lich also wore a strange smile. And then—
—Crash!
Cracks appeared in the scenery around them, and the illusion crafted by the lich twisted like a shattered mirror.
Soon, the warm landscape vanished, and once again the bleak, ashen stone walls were revealed.
White snow began to fall again outside the window. At the same moment, the lich's hand began to emit a white light.
At the same time, Erich glanced sidelong at Barnes and stepped forward. His eyes shone with the brilliance of the sun.
Now, the time had come to answer not with words, but with steel.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Fight!
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