~Chapter 125~
Captain Marque led a search party through the city, scouring every corner for Nocturne, who had not shown himself even after the demonic beast alarm had sounded.
During the search, a report came in from the youngest knight, a mental-type Eshafe.
— Captain, this area suddenly went completely dark!
“That’s only natural, isn’t it, rookie?” Marque replied indifferently. “It’s night. Of course it’s dark.”
But the rookie, sounding frustrated, insisted:
— You need to come see this for yourself!
Reluctantly, Marque decided to check it out in person, and he was quickly taken aback.
“What is this…?”
It was late at night, and the large moon hanging in the sky gently illuminated the city. But one district alone was swallowed in utter pitch-blackness, as if every trace of light had been devoured.
“Where is that?”
“That’s where the Premier Show Club Theater is—suspected to be run by Cambiata.”
“Has anyone checked inside?”
When Marque asked, the rookie shook his head.
“I didn’t use my sensitivity. It felt like something terrible would happen if I looked too carelessly.”
“You made the right call.”
Marque drew his sword, pushing it into the darkness as he spoke.
“Seeing this reminds me of the strange testimony left by survivors after the Cambiata war.”
“What kind of story?”
“‘Suddenly, midday turned to night. And then…’”
Just then, Marque’s upper body jerked. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his sword back with all his might. The knights watching recoiled in horror.
“There—!”
A black, sticky hand clung to the blade as it was dragged out. Marque quickly spun the sword, slicing it in half.
Kiiiieeee!
The black shape let out a final scream before vanishing. Marque continued, unfazed:
“…‘The dead from hell crawled up and returned to life.’ That’s what they said.”
“Captain, was that just now—?”
“Yes.”
Marque glared at the building swallowed by darkness and issued his command.
“Gather everyone in the city here. Now.”
After assembling the knights, Marque led those with psychokinetic abilities to search for an entrance. The building was sealed tight, but for A-rank combat types, breaking through the door was trivial.
But as soon as they set foot inside, they were attacked by bizarre entities like nothing they’d ever seen.
They looked less like demonic beasts and more like vengeful spirits. Some knights saw enemies they’d killed in the past; others saw departed relatives.
It seemed like an illusion, yet even the mental-type Eshafes couldn’t say for sure it was just a hallucination.
‘Is this a mental ability beyond A-rank…?’
Marque and the knights advanced, tense and wary. But the moment they entered the building, the light suddenly returned and the darkness vanished.
The hellscape from just before disappeared as if it had been a lie, replaced by the elegant interior of a modern theater.
“What… what is this…?”
“Is everything gone?”
Marque and his knights glanced around in confusion.
The scene inside was far from ordinary.
Countless people who looked like ordinary citizens lay sprawled across the floor, utterly exhausted.
“P-please… let me live…”
“Sob… sob…”
Cries and moans echoed from all sides.
The atmosphere was tragic, but not a single person was physically hurt; everyone looked perfectly intact.
Some had lost consciousness, but others seemed relatively fine. Marque approached a middle-aged man in a suit who was sitting on the floor.
“Excuse me. Can you tell me what happened here?”
“Eeeek!”
The man suddenly clung to Marque’s leg.
“I—I’m sorry! I’ll be good to my daughter from now on! I’ll never throw stones at Eshafes again! Never—!”
Stunned by the man’s desperate begging, Marque pushed him off, realizing his mental state was far from sound.
Just then, the rookie knight hurried over.
“Captain! We’ve found the Duke!”
“Oh, so we needed a mental-type Eshafe after all.”
Marque followed the rookie, but noticed the younger knight looked rather unwell.
“Are you sick? You look drained.”
“I tried reading the minds of people here while looking for the Duke…”
“Was the fighting too traumatic?”
Marque spoke as if he understood. Even brief contact with those monsters had been terrifying; the citizens who endured it all night must be in shock.
But the rookie shook his head.
“No, it’s the people here… their minds are strange…”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re disgusting people. I think I should tell the others not to use sensitivity on them.”
Marque thought it was improper for a knight to speak of civilians that way, but the rookie looked so unwell, he let it slide.
The place the rookie led him to seemed like a hidden room—its door was open, and inside, many citizens lay scattered about.
Several knights from the Bendrix family were there as well, but completely depleted. Marque and the search party moved through them easily.
Upon entering, the search party paused, holding their breath.
Nocturne was there.
He knelt on the floor, holding someone precious in his arms.
The person’s face looked like the princess’s, but the search party knew she was a clone made to resemble the princess.
“Duke.”
Marque called out to Nocturne, but he did not look up. His gaze remained fixed on the clone in his embrace.
No—was she really a clone?
Marque furrowed his brow, recalling the bizarre phenomena he had just witnessed.
It was unsettling how the same strange events from the Cambiata war had repeated here.
“Duke Bendrix.”
Only after Marque repeated himself did Nocturne turn to face them. The instant their eyes met, the search party collectively froze.
Nocturne’s eyes were sunk in a darkness with no bottom.
His sculpted face was eerily calm, with disheveled black hair falling over his brow, but rather than seeming relaxed, he radiated a dangerous tension, as if something suppressed might burst out at any moment.
The knights standing behind Marque felt suffocated by the oppressive aura emanating from him.
Then Marque spoke.
“I’d like your cooperation. Isn’t it time to return to the Empire?”
“Eek…”
“C-captain…”
The search party looked at Marque in horror.
‘Please, just shut up!’
‘Does the captain not realize the situation?’
‘He’s going to get us all killed!’
Their silent cries went unanswered as Marque swallowed hard.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t sense Nocturne’s murderous energy. But he judged that this was the only chance to bring him back to the Empire.
“You can’t stay in the North forever. With so many troops pulled out to search for the princess and the Duke, the Empire is dangerously short-handed. If a demonic beast attacks now, the damage could be catastrophic.”
Marque’s gaze dropped lower.
“And the person you’re holding needs medical attention.”
“…”
“We have plenty of healers and potions. You may have guessed, but that’s how we managed to challenge you again the very next day, even after you defeated us so thoroughly.”
The rookie muttered to himself:
‘Captain, that’s not something to brag about…’
Then Nocturne finally spoke.
“Fine.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I’ll return to the Empire.”
All the knights, including Marque, stared at him in shock.
Nocturne glanced over the knights and added:
“On one condition…”
Warm sunlight tapping at my eyelids gently woke me from sleep.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Nocturne’s softly smiling face.
“Are you awake?”
“Mmm, Nocturne…”
Still half-asleep, I mumbled, then suddenly started and sat up.
This bed I’m lying in…?
I found myself in a luxurious, spotless bedroom.
