Chapter 010
Chapter 10. Access to the Truth
‘…Huh?’
I wasn’t a frog facing a snake, yet I found myself foolishly frozen in place.
An enormous maw, seemingly capable of devouring the entire world, lunged toward me. Just before the dark-red tongue and venomous fangs could snatch me away, a familiar hand pulled me back first.
Clinging to that accustomed warmth and touch by instinct, I felt long, slender fingers coil firmly around me as if they had been waiting.
Suddenly, my sense of reality snapped back. The terror of death, arriving a moment too late, made my entire body tremble, and my breath came in ragged wheezes.
“It’s alright. Calm down.”
Along with a pleasantly low voice, a dry fingertip lightly brushed the crown of my head.
In an instant, all the tension drained away. My shoulders, which had been stiff as stone, relaxed, and only then could I breathe properly.
Holding me with painstaking care, the strange mastermind charged toward the gargantuan serpent.
Swaaaa—
The shattered, jet-black demonic sword cleaved through the air in a diagonal arc.
And then.
Slice.
A cutting sound, so clean it felt surreal, echoed through the space. The head of the snake, which had been reared high in the air, began to slide slowly down the slope of the cut.
— Why…
I jumped at the voice that suddenly rang in my ears. This fading, flickering voice surely belonged to the snake.
— This world… ruin… you…
However, the snake’s lament could go no further. The final villain’s sword had pierced directly between its eyes.
Thud.
It was a merciless strike, as if intended to silence the snake’s rambling once and for all. The moment he extinguished the serpent’s life:
[Hidden Dungeon (Special Grade) Cleared! (1/6)]
You have defeated the Demon King of Pride, Possessor of Deadly Poison.
3pt has been awarded as a reward.
A perfectly functional status window suddenly appeared before my eyes. …Or so I thought, before a massive wave of static erupted across the screen.
[~~Hidden Dungeon (Special Grade) Cleared! (1/6)~~]
[~~You have defeated the Demon King of Pride, Possessor of Deadly Poison.~~]
[~~3pt has been awarded as a reward.~~]
The system crossed out the reward of its own accord and promptly outputted a new screen.
[A reward unclaimed due to a critical error has been identified.]
Completion reward for the total war against the Final Mastermind: <Access to the Truth>
My eyes widened involuntarily.
Access to the Truth?
Was that blacked-out square not a “Return to Reality” ticket after all? However, as if refusing to give me a moment to be surprised, the status window busily flashed the next popup.
[Would you like to accept?]
YES / NO
I selected ‘YES’ without a second thought.
After all, isn’t there a saying that knowledge is power? …Besides, I’m not exactly in a position to be picky. It is the fate of a weak and ugly mouse to gratefully accept whatever is given! Whether it’s breadcrumbs, breadcrumbs, or breadcrumbs!
[Reward acquisition will begin in 10 seconds.]
During the reward acquisition process, your consciousness will be separated from your physical body. It is recommended to take a comfortable position in a safe location.
‘What? No, you should have told me this in advance! Did the status window go completely insane after breaking down once?’
While I stared in horror, the ten-second grace period slipped away mercilessly. Beyond my darkening vision, I caught a glimpse of Calix’s face, shouting something urgently.
‘Hmph. Look at you, making a face like you’re about to cry, for a villain.’
But that thought was fleeting; my consciousness was completely swept away by the system’s forced command.
* * *
[Calix Neferto was born as a calamity.]
I furrowed my brow at the dry, mechanical voice echoing in my head—though I wasn’t sure if I even had a brow in this state of pure consciousness. While I entertained that idle thought, the mechanical voice embedded itself into my mind a few more times.
[He was a being born to lead a world abandoned by God toward its ruin.]
[Since the ‘God’ who guarded and maintained the world has vanished, it is the natural order and providence for the world to meet its end.]
[He was the tool and arrangement of cosmic logic, sent to fill the void left by God.]
‘…What?’
I asked back reflexively.
‘Then what? You’re saying the mastermind didn’t become a villain by his own will?’
As if responding to my doubt, the indifferent narration cut off abruptly. In its place, information in the form of images flooded my consciousness.
*
“Your Imperial Highness! Your swordsmanship grows more impressive by the day!”
A middle-aged man in the uniform of the Imperial Knights spoke, unable to contain his joy. The young boy standing before him, looking to be about six or seven years old, replied with a shy yet mature air.
“It is thanks to your excellent teaching, Master.”
Perfectly groomed, lustrous black hair. Mysterious and noble violet eyes. I recognized him instantly. It was the young Calix Neferto.
‘So back then, he had a face like that and said things like that.’
Before I could finish my brief observation, the scene shifted rapidly.
“Your Imperial Highness. It is grave news. Lord Conrad was found dead at his residence this morning.”
At the knight’s report, the violet eyes that had sparkled like jewels dimmed instantly, as if overcast by storm clouds.
“What was the cause of death?”
“Investigations must proceed for certainty, but poison is the most likely culprit.”
“The suspect?”
“…I am sorry.”
At that answer, Calix’s expression sank into even deeper shadows.
The dog he had raised since childhood. The nanny who had embraced him with love in place of his deceased mother. The chief attendant he had trusted and relied upon. And as if that weren’t enough, even the Master he respected and followed. All had met mysterious deaths.
‘…To think he had a past like this.’
I feel like I can understand just a little bit why he turned into the final mastermind and a villain.
‘By the way, these mysterious deaths—were they Marev’s doing?’
As if answering the suspicion I naturally formed, the scene changed once more.
“First Imperial Highness. Congratulations on your tenth birthday.”
The banquet held at the Imperial Palace for his tenth birthday was incredibly grand and magnificent. This was because the investiture ceremony for the Crown Prince was scheduled to take place before the banquet began.
Excelling in both swordsmanship and magic, and possessing an outstanding character, he was quite literally “Emperor material.”
Until he went on a rampage in the middle of the banquet hall, that is.
“H-help me…”
“Aaaaahhhh—!”
The banquet hall was half-destroyed. People fled in a panic, and others bled beneath the rubble of collapsed structures. Calix Neferto stood alone at the center of it all. Having lost his reason, he was frantically emitting an incredibly sinister black energy.
“Mother! I’ll save you right away. So please, wake up. Please?”
“Second Imperial Highness! You must escape!”
“But my mother is…!”
Marev, Calix’s half-brother, wailed beside his already deceased mother before being carried away by a guard knight. Meanwhile, Imperial Knights and mages arrived and surrounded Calix.
“Subdue him by any means necessary!”
At the Emperor’s command, the knights and mages charged all at once. Calix was only subdued after claiming dozens more casualties, and he was subsequently imprisoned in a detached palace.
I watched Calix, frozen. My heart grew cold at the sight of the child lying on the frozen floor, covered in blood.
In the meantime, the scene changed again. Calix Neferto struggled alone in the cold detached palace.
“It can’t go on like this.”
He attempted to break the ‘curse’ rooted in his soul but failed.
“There must be a way.”
He tried to place a magical seal on himself but failed.
“Then, even if I have to use anesthetics or sedatives…”
Even drugs were insufficient to suppress the ‘curse’ dwelling within him. He constantly sought to escape the fate he had been given, and each attempt ended in a seizure or a rampage.
During the ten years he spent in that palace, he was ruthlessly worn down, aged, and broken.
“…In the end, you died too.”
It was a day when even the resilient weeds in the flowerpot on the windowsill had withered black.
“Hello?”
Along with a clear, high-pitched voice, bright pink hair peeked through the gap in the door. Golden eyes sparkled through the soft, wavy locks.
I stiffened at the sudden appearance of a “familiar scene.” This was the moment just before I—the one who had revealed that the First Prince was the true final mastermind—made my move, even though he hadn’t even had a proper appearance in the original work.
I felt as if the blood had drained from my entire body. I knew better than anyone what would happen next.
“Uhm, for now, I’m the Saintess who came to bestow a blessing on the Prince. Are you, perhaps, the First Prince himself, who is stuck in this palace because of some nameless evil curse?”
As the Saintess asked with a slightly awkward air, the Prince spat out sharp words immediately.
“Get out. If you come any closer, I’ll kill you.”
But the Saintess, rather than retreating in offense, simply snorted.
“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and try to kill me. I’m an incredibly strong Saintess, so I won’t die even if you kill me, okay? Besides, believe it or not, I’m someone who’s already died once before…”
“Can you not hear me telling you to get out?”
“My goodness, you’re being quite feisty!”
“What? F-feisty?”
“I don’t know what you’re so afraid of, but I’m not going to eat you, so just stay still!”
While he faltered, overwhelmed by her momentum, the ‘Saintess’ promptly poured holy power over him.
【Purifying Flame】
This was the last thing ‘Calix’ saw and heard.
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