Chapter 188
“……”
In the early dawn, when the darkness of the night sky had yet to fully fade,
Kuskel was lost in thought.
Was what he was about to do really worth it?
Before the Great War, he had abandoned even the noble title he once held and headed for Forgel.
Perhaps the only reason he had managed to endure until now was because of the ghoul who had stayed by his side.
If that was the case, then it was worth it.
No—this was something he absolutely had to do.
‘Cause a disturbance at the gates of Forgel.’
The rest would be taken care of by their main force.
If he did that, he could reclaim his son.
But was that really his son?
‘…Rigel.’
The ghoul he had lived with for the past twenty years.
Driven by the desire to see his dead son again, he had performed necromancy.
His son had already died during the Great War, yet Kuskel resurrected him as a ghoul and had lived together with him ever since.
To him, that existence was already his one and only family—inseparable from himself.
Having steeled his resolve, he slowly made his way toward Forgel’s gate.
“…Lord Kuskel?”
[Grwok.]
A dark mage who had been inspecting the ghouls at the gate recognized him and greeted him.
“You’ve been coming inside the fortress quite often these days!”
[Grwok. Grwok.]
The ghouls and the dark mage in charge welcomed him warmly.
Kuskel knew him well.
A dark mage of rank 4—not weak by any means.
But compared to Kuskel, the difference was like heaven and earth.
“Why don’t you move inside the fortress while you’re at it—”
“…I’m sorry.”
“…Pardon?”
With a heavy expression, Kuskel opened his spellbook.
It wasn’t a demon’s grimoire.
It was his own artifact, containing the essence of the dark magic he had researched for years.
Rumble…!
As the book opened, black energy spread out around Kuskel.
“W-What are you doing right now—!”
Crunch!
The black energy lashed out like a beast toward the dark mage.
“Gaaah!”
Without any meaningful resistance, the man was engulfed by the black energy and collapsed to the ground.
If Kuskel had wished, he could have turned him into minced meat on the spot.
But fortunately—or unfortunately—the man was merely slammed into the ground, not killed.
“W-Why are you doing this?!”
[G-Grwok……]
The ghouls stood around them, caught in between, not knowing what to do.
“Don’t move. I don’t want to kill someone I’ve shared meals with for over a decade.”
“Ghh…!”
The dark mage struggled desperately to escape Kuskel’s pressure.
“……”
Crack!
A single strand of black energy shot out and wrapped tightly around the dark mage’s neck.
“Kh… hhk…….”
Unable to endure it, he soon lost consciousness.
“…Just sleep for a bit. By the time you wake up, everything will be over.”
[Grrr……]
At this point, even the surrounding ghouls began to take up a guarded stance.
But Kuskel had no reason to fear ghouls that had lost their master.
If anything, he welcomed it.
He opened a new page of the book once more.
Paat…!
The black energy split into several streams,
And was sucked into the bodies of the ghouls.
[…Grrrk!]
The creatures that had been wary of him just moments ago were now reduced to his loyal subordinates.
“…Put down your weapons.”
Clang!
Swords and spears clattered to the ground with sharp sounds.
“Try not to kill them. If you must, then……”
Kuskel trailed off mid-command.
The ghouls, now bearing their feral nature openly, slowly advanced toward Forgel.
“…It’s quiet.”
The royal castle was far quieter than expected.
The Death Knights weren’t moving.
And even if banshees walked around, what sound would they make without feet?
Thanks to that, Forgel’s royal castle was so silent it felt as if not even an ant remained.
‘No—there might really not be any ants left.’
Aside from me and Vint Hagen, there might not be a single living soul in this castle.
Flutter.
To the point where I could even hear Vint Hagen’s mustache fluttering.
‘Damn, that’s annoying.’
We even slept in adjacent beds at night—how irritating it was.
He didn’t snore, but somehow it still felt noisy.
Probably because our relationship was a bit awkward.
“Hey. Time to get up.”
Though he seemed to be awake, he replied with his eyes tightly shut.
“…No. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything to do yet. Times like this are when you should conserve your strength.”
“…Fine. Suit yourself.”
Flutter.
As if he had some secret technique, he quickly fell back asleep, his breathing steady.
Do knight commanders learn some special sleeping method?
“……”
I clicked my tongue and glared at him briefly before turning away.
“…Sigh.”
The sky outside the window was clear.
Even in a kingdom of dark mages, the sky was the same.
I wondered if the sky Eglin was looking at in Isoter was just as clear.
They should be enjoying their honeymoon.
Yet here I was, suffering in this faraway land.
“…Aaah!”
“…Huh?”
Because the castle was so quiet, even noises from outside came through clearly.
In the distance, a ghoul was chasing a small child.
‘Playing tag or something?’
Plenty of energy first thing in the morning.
“……”
But something felt off.
It was the same scene as yesterday, yet the sense of unease was unmistakable.
Just in case, I gathered mana into my eyes.
The child’s tiny face suddenly came into clear focus.
“…Wait.”
Tears welled up in the child’s eyes.
And surrounding that child were countless others with similar faces.
“R-Run!”
“Kyyaaa!”
…Boom!
At that moment, flames erupted from the residential district.
From there, the people of Forgel fell into chaos and began fleeing in all directions.
“What—what is this?”
The ghouls had been everywhere yesterday too.
But this was different.
This was the 모습 of an ordinary human town after a ghoul outbreak.
People ran desperately, while ghouls charged at them.
“…What’s going on?”
Vint Hagen, who had been half-asleep moments ago, poked his head out the window, sensing something amiss.
Seeing the horrific scene before him, he frowned deeply.
“…I knew it. Living alongside ghouls—what nonsense!”
“W-Wait—!”
He began donning his armor before I could stop him.
I blurted out whatever I could to calm him.
“We don’t even know what’s happening yet!”
“Don’t know? You can still say that after seeing people being attacked?”
“That’s—”
“…No matter what His Majesty decided, this is wrong. Cooperating with those who live with monsters!”
“Hmm……”
He wasn’t wrong.
To be honest, I felt the same way.
‘The only good dark mage is a dead dark mage.’
That had always been my belief.
But after spending yesterday and today here, my thoughts had changed somewhat.
The dark mages of Forgel were… normal people.
They had only learned dark magic because they wanted to see their dead families and friends again.
“…Do summoners think the same way?”
“What…?”
“If living with monsters is wrong, then summoners are no different, are they?”
“Are you trying to argue right now? You know how many people dark mages have killed over the years! Have you lost your mind after just a few days here?”
“And knights and mages have killed far more people, haven’t they? Summoners too! Then should we ban rank holders one by one? Eventually imprison all swordsmen with swordsmanship ranks?”
“That’s—”
“Sure, there are plenty of insane dark mages. I admit that. But you saw it yesterday too, didn’t you? Did the kids playing here look like crazed murderers to you?”
Grab!
“You bastard—!”
Vint Hagen grabbed me by the collar.
But I simply stared back into his eyes.
He knew it too.
That the dark mages living here weren’t bad people.
Bang bang bang!
“…What now?!”
In the middle of the heated atmosphere, someone pounded on the door.
Reluctantly, Vint Hagen released my collar and threw the door open.
“…Oh! You guests are safe!”
“Huh…?”
The priests we’d seen yesterday stood outside.
Behind them, banshees guarding the royal castle clustered together.
“What exactly is this commotion?” I asked calmly.
The priests hesitated, stammering.
“W-We told you these guests were unrelated—”
“But the timing is—”
“This is actually fortunate. If anything had happened to them, the Alliance wouldn’t have stayed quiet.”
They muttered things I couldn’t quite follow.
“Was there an attack? Don’t tell me those demon dukes did this.”
“…We’re still assessing the situation, but the demon dukes have been acting suspicious lately.”
“Right. Just this month alone, we received five messages from Lord Kuskel.”
“Kuskel… Lord?”
I knew who Kuskel was.
He was the one who had most changed my perception of dark mages.
Even now, recalling the way he looked at me as if I were his son made my chest ache.
But “Lord Kuskel”?
‘Yesterday they said he was just below a priest in rank. Why are priests using honorifics?’
“Kuskel is a first-grade believer, isn’t he?”
“…Did I tell you that?”
“We met briefly on the way here yesterday. He told me himself.”
“Ah, well… that’s true, but in terms of dark magic rank, he’s far stronger than our priests.”
“…Is that so?”
“Well, that’s why someone like him was serving as Forgel’s gatekeeper.”
Vint Hagen nodded, lips pursed.
“…Wait.”
Gatekeeper of Forgel.
Given the current state of things, something must have happened to Kuskel too.
“Tsk.”
We’d only met for a day, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop worrying.
“How strong is Lord Kuskel?”
“What do you mean by ‘how strong’?”
“Obviously, his dark magic rank.”
“Ah! That’s—”
One priest tried to answer, but the others hurriedly covered his mouth.
“Mmph!”
“W-Why should we tell you that—”
“…We need to know how strong the attackers are!”
“Hic!”
“W-Well…”
After hesitating, the eldest-looking priest reluctantly spoke.
“He is dark magic rank 6. He likely has no other ranks—he devoted himself solely to dark magic.”
“Good heavens…”
Rank 6?
That was tower master level. Why would someone like that be farming outside his territory?
“Then what about those demon dukes?”
“…Duke Ribera is dark magic rank 7. The other two are said to be rank 6.”
“Hmm… I see.”
I picked up Dusk, which was leaning beside the bed.
If someone rank 6 had been taken out, these wouldn’t be pushovers.
It was probably that Duke Ribera leading the attack.
“Let’s go. Vint Hagen.”
“…Hmph. No. Why should I help dark mages—”
He sulked like a brat.
The priests’ faces turned pale—not because of his attitude.
But because of his name.
Vint Hagen.
In Isoter, that name belonged to only one man.
“D-Don’t tell me… Vint Hagen Kalos…?”
“Hoh…”
Even the people of Forgel knew the name of Isoter’s former knight commander.
“Well? Got a problem?”
Vint Hagen snorted, glaring at them.
“N-No, sir…”
That aside—
Even if he complained, once I moved, Vint Hagen would follow.
And if the Death Knights and banshees in the castle joined us—
[We will remain in the royal castle.]
“…What?”
[You heard correctly.]
The banshee who’d been stiff yesterday replied curtly.
Not just her—the other banshees and Death Knights stood still as well.
Stubbornness at a time like this? Were they insane?
“Did becoming a banshee rot your brain?”
[This may well be nothing more than a diversion. And with His Majesty absent, if the enemy were to seize the royal castle, matters would become troublesome.]
“Well, that—”
[Moreover, the order His Majesty gave us was to ‘defend the royal castle.’ Not Forgel itself.]
“Even so, in a situation like this! At least send the Death Knights—”
Clang!
Just as I was shouting at them,
A sharp crash rang out as a window of the royal castle shattered.
Countless ghouls and Death Knights poured in through the opening.
[Kwaaagh…!]
“Find Rdel! Once we subdue him, it’s over!”
“…Ah.”
Just as the banshee said—the commotion at the gates had merely been a diversion.
[See?]
“……”
The banshee shrugged slightly, looking at me with an expressionless face.
