TLWCL 58

Chapter 58 …

I watched Yelena kill someone with an expressionless face.

She hesitated for only a moment before gripping the halberd and striking down.

The head of the marquis, stiffened by Kalebrin’s magic, tumbled to the floor.

Blood splattered up to the ceiling and pooled on the floor.

Yelena was almost drenched in it, and even from a little distance, some splashed onto me.

As soon as it touched the hem of my clothes, it turned white and vanished.

‘So this is how much blood sprays when you cut someone’s throat.’

I had seen corpses many times, but this was the first time I witnessed someone dying directly.

Even the death of someone I had tortured and threatened…

‘Normally, I would have been shaken. Mentally broken.’

But now, astonishingly, I felt no such disturbance.

My mind didn’t break. Surely, this was the first time I had seen a person die.

Even with a person’s head falling before my eyes, my heart remained calm. Except for the rare occasion I met the widow, my composure was absolute.

An unsettling sense of detachment even crept in.

Just like when I ordered the torture, I instinctively felt that this was a clear sign of my own twisted nature.

Performing the role of a cult leader, a mere con artist, for survival should carry a completely different weight.

But now…

‘Enough. This was what I was already thinking earlier. Showing mercy to someone who tried to kill me is a luxury…’

I consciously stopped myself from thinking any deeper.

Healing could now be done without touching, but purification still required manual effort. I crouched down.

Because of that, my snow-white clothes repeatedly touched the blood puddle, turned red, and vanished in a shimmer from the purification.

I drew upon the power of purification and plunged my hands into the blood puddle.

The blood under my hands glowed, filling the dark space with light.

Everywhere blood had splattered, it turned into sparkling light and disappeared when I stepped on it. Yelena watched calmly. So did Kalebrin.

I reached out my hand to Yelena. She looked at it with a puzzled expression.

“It’s about the halberd. It got blood on it.”

“Ah…”

Yelena hesitated for a moment, then handed the halberd to me.

I roughly wiped the edge of the halberd with my hand; the blood and flesh stuck to it disappeared. As expected, the purification ability was ridiculously convenient.

I handed the clean halberd back to Yelena. She took it lightly, exhaled deeply, and spoke.

“So, what about these two?”

She was referring with the halberd’s blade to the marquis’s now-separated head and body. Kalebrin stepped slightly forward.

“Anyway… he got caught in… the… terror… went missing… and… the funeral, so… here… yeah.”

I didn’t need to hear the rest; the meaning was clear.

They intended to handle it here to avoid the hassle of moving the body elsewhere.

“I’ll do it… D-do we have a fireplace…?”

The old villa lacked proper plumbing, but it had at least a fireplace. Yelena lifted the head.

“Put it in the fireplace… I’ll handle the rest.”

It was a late thought.

Although Yelena and I were fine, it was a huge relief that Kalebrin didn’t seem shaken.

If Kalebrin had a fragile mindset, seeing this could have shocked her into fleeing, despite being an exceptionally skilled dealer.

‘Cardil must never find out about this.’

If Cardil saw this scene, he would likely punish me, the one responsible, rather than lose his composure.

Taking the lead, Yelena placed the marquis’s head and body into the fireplace.

Because of the marquis’s large build, no matter how much she pushed, his legs stuck out.

Thanks to her stepping forward first, I didn’t need to move a single step to handle everything.

Yelena was covered in blood and dust.

“Clean me up.”

Now she considered me a dry-cleaning service.

Her earlier hesitant and scared attitude was gone, replaced by her usual cheeky demeanor.

I just smiled faintly, patted the top of her head a couple of times, and brushed off her clothes.

The blood dust vanished with the smallest gesture. Cleaned up, Yelena twirled lightly. Her high blonde ponytail traced a perfect arc in the air.

Kalebrin tapped the marquis’s protruding legs with her staff.

His bare ankles turned slightly at the tap, then quickly returned to position.

“Do the torso and head both have to go in?”

Kalebrin’s answer of ‘yes’ implied she’d split it if needed.

Her earlier hesitation wasn’t about killing someone. Curious about her inner thoughts, I wanted to level up my observation skills quickly.

“N-not really… I’m just worried the fire might spread…”

“Would three parts be enough?”

Kalebrin thought for a moment, then shook her head.

She coated the tip of her staff with the marquis’s blood and drew a semicircular ritual circle on the fireplace floor.

With a tap of her staff, the head and body burst into flames.

Burning a person takes time, even with modern equipment.

But the green flames Kalebrin summoned quickly reduced the marquis to bare bones. In a few minutes, the bones turned to dust.

In less than ten minutes, the marquis became a large pile of ash. The blood-drawn ritual burned the floor pattern like a desk without a trivet.

I crushed the pattern underfoot. The scorched lines vanished as if erased. Like using a stick to clean kimchi stains from clothes.

While I stomped out the marks, Yelena cleaned up the surrounding mess. In no time, the old villa looked as if nothing had happened.

I lifted my head and spoke as kindly as possible to the two women.

“Shall we go?”

Kalebrin handed me her staff.

“Clean me too…”

She seemed concerned about the blood on the staff’s tip.

Being treated like a dry-cleaning service felt odd, but it was better than her struggling.

Of course, I’d need to assert authority when necessary… but this was fine.

I cleaned Kalebrin’s staff thoroughly.

Back at the mansion, I sat alone in the large room I had received as a so-called saint.

With the marquis taken care of, I had a little time left.

“So, the magic sword was obtained there…”

Here’s what I knew of the magic sword’s quest timeline:

The first owner was a saint highly revered by the Central Church, named Hezrail.

Few knew the full story, aside from maybe the widow. Perhaps even she didn’t. The Central Church had worked hard to hide it.

In short:

The first saint, Hezrail, was worshiped as God’s proxy. But he contracted an incurable disease and became desperate to change the world. Despite his painstaking efforts, the world fell further into corruption. He killed 99 people with a sword and then used it to commit suicide.

Thus, the magic sword was born. Passing through various owners, it ended up in the hands of the “Thief King,” causing bloodshed… and it was the role of a great player to stop it! That was the story.

But among all owners, I had never heard of Marquis Bernator. That was the mystery.

The magic sword was a story-rich item, full of hidden lore about the Demon King and Lumensia, making it a favorite among lore enthusiasts. My doubts only grew.

“Hmm…”

Even though I had survived, that only meant the later parts of the setting would change.

Problems before the appearance of Cernuan Lumiere, like the magic sword, shouldn’t have changed…

But hearing the marquis’s story suggested otherwise.

The fact that the Demon King spoke to me in that way was strange from the start.

I recalled the marquis’s dying words:

-“A horned man… a demon saved me on the battlefield and gave me this sword! I swear, I only touched the magic sword to survive! Who in that situation would refuse? I used it solely for the empire…! Not heresy, not for my gain…!”

Horned man. Demon, though distinct from demons of the demon race. He likely received the sword from a demon of the demon race.

-“When did I meet that demon? During the Second Demon Subjugation… I received the sword then… I cannot forget those eyes! Not human eyes!”

Demon eyes are naturally defaulted as different, so yes, not human.

The Second Demon Subjugation was roughly ten years ago…

‘To receive the magic sword, he must have been a high-ranking noble. Connected to the Demon King… It’s plausible the Demon King commanded it. Demons obey absolutely…’

The Demon King had been preparing to change the game story for ten years…

But how…?

The conclusion was clear: I needed to reach the demon subjugation quickly and speak with the Demon King.

“World Tree of Centa… maybe I can reach it in a month.”

A rare defensive item lay dormant there. Essential for meeting the Demon King, who could try to kill me at any moment.

“Ugh…”

There was so much I didn’t know, despite loving this world more than anyone and dedicating my life to it.

A few weeks later.

I departed with grand celebration.

“It’s the saint!”

“God’s proxy, grant us peace!”

Children held clean white lilies in their small hands, lined along the road. Elders prayed, foreheads touching the ground.