CHAPTER 67………………
‘Whether he was alive or dead, I couldn’t know.’
If he was alive, it was highly unlikely that he was living a normal life.
“We’ve found it.”
Raksa, who had disappeared, suddenly revealed himself again.
“Eek!”
“…!”
The two boys clung tightly to Esther.
“Where is it?”
“There was a warehouse surrounded by magic. Beneath it, there was a staircase leading underground.”
“Mm, let’s go.”
Raksa took the lead, with Esther and the brothers following behind.
If everyone born with the Brand had been locked up in the annex, there had to be a reason.
To spirit them away, quietly and without a trace, a secret space was necessary.
A place secluded, where no one could ever stumble upon the secret.
So they built a structure above the underground space, left it deliberately decrepit and eerie, and made no effort to maintain it.
That way, no one would dare approach.
“There’s nothing here…?”
“It’s just bare ground.”
Dylan and Aaron, who had followed tensely, frowned.
All they could see was smooth walls and flooring.
Esther crouched, placed her palm on the ground, and channeled magic into it.
At once, red lines etched a square, and the ground within it vanished.
“…The floor disappeared?”
Beneath, a long staircase stretched down.
It was very narrow and steep, pitch-black so that not even an inch ahead could be seen.
“Hey, hey… Skull. We’re not actually going down there, are we?”
“Nope, we are.”
“…It’s too dark. We don’t know what’s down there…”
Aaron, staring into the abyssal dark, cautiously voiced his worry.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see your father?”
“…”
At Esther’s words, the boys froze. Fear was written all over them, but determination flickered in their eyes.
“Should we not go?”
“No—we’re going! But…”
“Mm?”
“C-can we… keep holding your hand?”
Dylan, head hung low, asked timidly. He clearly had no intention of letting go even if told to.
As Esther glanced down at his hand gripping hers tightly enough to hurt and nodded, Aaron quietly slipped his own hand into Esther’s other.
The passage was so narrow only one person could barely squeeze through, yet suddenly she was sandwiched like a sausage.
When Esther glanced at Raksa, he nodded.
That meant there was no immediate danger ahead.
Esther, the brothers, and Raksa squeezed into the narrow passage and slowly descended.
Since both her hands were held, Esther had no choice but to be in the middle, with Raksa inevitably leading.
The farther they went, the stronger the stench became.
It smelled like dust long undisturbed, like mold trapped for ages.
One thing was certain—it was not a pleasant smell.
“Are we there yet?”
Sweat beaded in Esther’s palms as she asked.
“No, this is the last stop.”
In the darkness, Raksa’s glowing red eyes gleamed.
“I smell old oil. There are lamps nearby. Shall I light them?”
“Mm.”
Raksa snapped his fingers. With a fwoosh, flames leapt to life one by one, flooding the area with light.
“…What the—? Is that butler a wizard?”
“…Uwaah!”
While Aaron stared at Raksa in fascination, Dylan caught sight of their surroundings and screamed in horror.
“Brother?!”
“Wh-what is this place…?”
All around lay corpses—or rather, skeletons.
When Esther turned back, the staircase they had descended was gone.
‘So the passage only appears temporarily when the door is opened from above?’
If so, then these skeletons had likely died searching for a way out.
Not all of them had met noble deaths.
“S-Skull… our father isn’t… isn’t down here, is he?”
“Mm. Hard to say.”
“No way… They said Father willingly sacrificed himself for the family, in a good place…”
Dylan and Aaron looked around, aghast, murmuring.
‘Horrific.’
Most of them must have wanted to live rather than die. That’s why skeletons were strewn everywhere.
“…”
Looking at the pale boys, Esther turned back.
“Let’s go.”
“…What if Father’s dead?”
“Well, then at least we can find the body. That’s a relief, isn’t it?”
“…”
The two went even paler. Esther walked on.
‘Ah, I hope I don’t mess this up again.’
She had thought all she needed to do was help them find him. Only then did Esther glance at her de facto clients’ expressions.
Dylan and Aaron trudged after her, heads bowed, faces clouded.
“Brothers!”
Esther forced a bright smile.
“Pfft.”
Damn Raksa laughed.
When Esther glared daggers at him, he promptly shut his mouth and busied himself with fake fussing around.
‘You’re dead.’
Raksa’s shoulders jerked, as if he’d actually heard her threat.
“It’s fine! I’ve got this!”
Even as she said it, Esther felt the words sounded somewhat hollow. Still, she kept smiling.
“…What, are you trying to be our parent now?”
Aaron’s voice was hollow, tinged with despair.
The last of their faint hope seemed to vanish.
“Yup! I’ll be your dad and your mom too, sure.”
In truth, Esther was old enough that it wasn’t even a stretch.
“…And what could you possibly do for us? Would you love us?”
“Mm-hm, I’d love you!”
“…You’re really weird.”
Aaron Eggbert muttered with a sigh.
They walked on and soon reached a wide underground chamber.
“What is this place?”
At the center stood an altar, upon which lay an open coffin.
On the floor, a massive magic circle was carved.
And encircling the altar, corpses lay in neat rows.
Not skeletons—corpses.
‘This is…’
Judging from the clothing, some were over a thousand years old. Esther’s eyes widened slightly.
‘A thousand years?’
Yet they were all preserved far too well for that.
“Haha, fascinating. Esther. Humans, using a spell that seals souls as sacrifices.”
Raksa laughed, but his eyes were cold.
“Such arrogance.”
At his words, Esther gazed into the air, her brow furrowing.
“It’s suffocating.”
“The cost of holding the Demon King’s seal seems to have been these souls.”
But the irony was that the Demon King had already lost all his power.
All that remained were souls stripped of purpose, chained to this plane, wandering restlessly.
“What are you going on about? Is our father here or not?”
“Don’t know. Search for him!”
“B-but we wouldn’t even recognize him…”
Aaron looked at the corpses lying pale as if merely asleep.
“We’ve never seen Father. Not even a portrait…”
The Eggbert family had erased every trace of “Hakan Eggbert.”
The only things they couldn’t erase were the two lives already born.
‘Just a fragment…’
Only a trace of the Demon King’s power lingered. Barely enough that Esther could consume it in an instant.
Time had worn everything down. Even hatred had weathered away.
No black magic remained strong enough to drive a person insane, no curse potent enough.
Just scraps of shattered souls.
Perhaps the Demon King’s seal had resonated only because of the bloodline.
‘They punished the wrong man.’
Even without throwing him in here, Hakan Eggbert likely wouldn’t have gone berserk.
“Search. If we don’t find him, we can’t bring him back.”
“…But we’ve never… seen him once in our lives.”
Aaron whispered faintly, while Dylan, expression firm, began carefully examining each corpse’s face one by one.
They all bore similar features.
After all, from the same bloodline, few would look truly different.
Yet Dylan, as if searching for some faint memory, touched each forehead gently, then moved on.
Though he looked pale enough to faint at any moment, he persisted.
Meanwhile, Esther and Raksa hopped onto the altar and peered into the coffin.
Inside lay a man of breathtaking beauty, so young and flawless it seemed unreal.
‘The first head of House Eggbert…’
In his arms rested a simple, aged dagger, its shine long gone.
The blade was inscribed with something, though rust and dust obscured the words.
“Skull! Esther!”
Dylan’s voice rang out, as if he had found something.
Just as Esther was about to let go of the coffin’s edge and jump down from the altar—
Flash.
The corpse’s eyes opened.
