Chapter 101…………………………
“Feed a monster…?”
It was a concept Lin had never even considered.
The monsters Lin had learned about until now were always something to be defeated, enemies of humans.
And now, the idea was to actually give food to a creature that drains life?
Confronted with something incomprehensible, a natural question slipped from Lin’s mouth.
“Why on earth?”
“So that it can appear as though the monster has been defeated.”
The boy twisted his lips into a cynical smile.
“The Law King, Numenka being the only divine beast capable of eliminating monsters—it’s all lies. They don’t have a shred of divine power, not even as much as their own conscience.”
“The Law King family…”
“They merely stole the outward form of the Parma power that is innate to our Tigris, especially the Black Tiger, and used it as a fake. A false purification ritual, that’s all it was.”
Lin’s golden eyes spun with tension as she absorbed the shocking revelation.
Kaidan brought up a close example to support his claim.
“Remember the last Pegasus hunting festival? The monsters that appeared near the ritual site showed up again in the forest after the purification ritual.”
“After the ritual… huh, no way!”
“Yes. The monsters absorbed as ‘food’ during that ‘purification ritual’ became stronger and reappeared.”
Kaidan’s expression darkened as if recalling something unpleasant while mentioning the purification ritual.
“Why does the monster proliferation worsen in surrounding areas after the Holy Nation performs a purification ritual? It’s no coincidence. Cause and effect, that’s all it was.”
Caligo, listening to Kaidan beside Lin, opened the puppet’s mouth.
[It’s like a spell using a kind of sacrificial offering.]
“What do you mean by spell, Caligo?”
[It’s similar to magic here. But rituals that involve offering a sacrifice… often have nasty qualities.]
A dark black shimmer passed over Caligo’s puppet eyes.
[Did they always use a specific tool for the purification ritual?]
“They always brought a staff said to contain the power of the divine beast lineage. I heard it was the same during the hunting festival.”
[So they stored the essence of the sacrificial offering in it.]
Tsk. Caligo clicked his tongue and added an explanation so Lin and Kaidan could understand.
[A spell pretending to imitate Parma power would’ve required offering a sacrifice to calm the monsters and make them disappear.]
As he compared it to offering human sacrifices to a cannibalistic demon, deep wrinkles formed between Caligo’s puppet brow.
He continued with a very displeased expression.
[The offering to appease a life-consuming monster? Most likely they stored the life energy of humans. Plants or animals wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy them.]
“They put human life energy into that staff? To give to monsters as food?”
Lin’s mouth hung open in disbelief at every word.
Caligo explained in a quieter voice than usual.
[There’s probably a spell to condense life energy and store it separately. That’s how the energy was gathered in the staff.]
When Caligo first heard the term “divine beast lineage,” he had laughed it off as a joke. Now, he spoke their name with a solemn anger.
[Numen. The ones who dared to defile the name of the divine beasts like that.]
For Caligo, whose existence was dedicated to eradicating monsters, this was nothing short of an insult.
[You say you exterminated them in the future?]
Finally, Caligo’s gaze turned toward Kaidan, now showing interest.
[The ones who were your parents’ enemies, right?]
“Yes. They killed our parents.”
Perhaps because he had already gone over it so many times, Kaidan’s voice sounded calm as he spoke of his parents’ murderers.
“Our parents found out the truth that the ritual they were hiding wasn’t really a purification.”
“!”
Startled by the unexpected connection, Lin asked.
“You mean they killed your parents because they knew the ritual was fake?”
“Not only because it was fake, but because they knew the ritual used human lives as ingredients.”
Though his voice sounded calm, Kaidan’s crimson eyes burned like magma that had been ignited long ago.
“That was the real reason the hypocrites of the Holy Nation issued the damnation order against my parents.”
“…”
The boy’s eyes reflected not only old anger but also grief for the parents he had lost.
Unsure what to say to comfort him, Lin simply held Kaidan’s hand tightly.
Hoo.
Kaidan exhaled, releasing the inner heat that had involuntarily risen.
“Of course, they presented another excuse instead of the real reason. They cited the Doctrine of No Contact with the Eastern Continent.”
“No contact with the Eastern Continent…?”
“You wouldn’t know. From the time of the current head of the house, the Pegasus family kept their distance from the Holy Nation. That doctrine wouldn’t have been known either.”
Kaidan continued, attaching reasoning to Lin’s confused expression.
“The people of the Eastern Continent knew what divine beasts were and how rituals were used.”
[Indeed.]
Caligo, piecing together the information, spoke up.
[These so-called divine beast lineage people, the ones using the Numen surname, came from the Eastern Continent too, right?]
“Correct.”
Kaidan nodded in agreement at the accurate deduction.
The grandfather had crossed over to the Eastern Continent.
“The Eastern Continent… is across the sea, really far away. Even wizards couldn’t cross due to the magical barrier…”
[True. But nothing in the world is absolute.]
Though no record existed of someone successfully crossing intentionally, the mysteries of nature and life sometimes allowed a rare Eastern Continent person to drift across the sea and be discovered.
“The knowledge we have of the Eastern Continent comes mostly from those drifted individuals.”
“Ah…! That makes sense. If no one came, we wouldn’t know anything about it.”
“Of course, those records are very old.”
Kaidan’s voice turned cold again when mentioning someone.
“All those records were written before the Numen people demonized the Eastern Continent humans.”
“They demonized them?”
“Yes. To hide unfavorable information, they made followers of the Holy Nation report any discovery of Eastern Continent humans immediately.”
The Holy Nation claimed that God placed the Eastern Continent far from the Beastfolk continent and surrounded it with treacherous seas for a reason.
Eastern Continent humans were dangerous.
They looked entirely human but persecuted the kind Beastfolk, and if accidentally contacted, one would face terrible harm.
Since they were entirely different, normal Beastfolk couldn’t detect the evil methods they might use.
So any discovery had to be reported to the temple immediately.
“When reported, the Numen people used the excuse of protecting humans’ safety to capture and kill the Eastern Continent people.”
Although they claimed they would release the innocent after confirming danger, none were ever seen alive after being captured by the temple.
“Our parents happened to meet an Eastern Continent person and realized that they weren’t an evil being as the Holy Nation said.”
“That Eastern Continent person…”
Lin couldn’t finish her question, having noticed a sad expression flash across Kaidan’s face.
Kaidan answered the unspoken question calmly.
“That Eastern Continent person returned home safely. They were really lucky.”
“Back home… I see.”
It wasn’t said, but it was clear Kaidan was thinking the next words.
“Our parents… weren’t so lucky.”
Not fortunate, not returned home safely.
Recalling their faces now only in his mind, Kaidan closed his eyes quietly.
“My son… my precious Kai… always…”
He recalled the voice now only remembered as a memory.
When he opened his eyes again, the burning red gaze no longer wavered.
“That’s why I want revenge on them.”
The Holy Nation. The Law King. Numenka.
The false divine beast lineage.
The hypocrites who harmed people with fake powers imitating Parma.
His hatred for his enemies burned within him.
“…Tch. A kid who’s seen it all… I’ll hear you out.”
And to save the allies who had never been happy before,
The boy spoke with the resolute voice of a hero from a story.
“To do that, we need the Mercenary King Felrod to return early… your grandfather’s return.”
