Chapter 5: Reality (4)

“Robelm!”
“What the hell is going on here?!”

“Su… Lord Surd?!”

Inside a barracks at the First Military Camp on the outskirts of the Demon Realm on the Western Front, Surd entered the barracks where the officers had gathered for a meeting.

“I told you to take good care of my son!”

Boom!

An intense pressure that made the hairs on one’s body stand on end.

At Surd’s roar-like shout, the meeting hall instantly descended into chaos.

“He’s missing, isn’t he?!”
“You’re certain he’s only missing, aren’t you?!”

“…I can’t guarantee that, but at present, that is the case.”

It had been three weeks since Cain disappeared.

In one more week, Cain would officially be declared dead.

Once that happened, the search operation would be called off.

The moment Surd regained consciousness, he had immediately taken leave and boarded a carriage to the First Military Camp on the Western Front.

To save his son.

To find his missing son.

Surd walked toward the desk at the center of the meeting hall.

“Fine.”
“Expand the search area for the missing persons operation immediately.”
“Within the next week, find every missing soldier—”

“Please wait a moment, Lord Surd.”

An officer interrupted Surd and stood up.

“Although you are called the legendary hero, you have retired from the position of hero.”
“Therefore, you have no authority to command us—”

Whoosh…

“What…?”

The atmosphere in the meeting hall instantly turned cold.

Seeing Surd’s golden eyes gleaming, Robelm swallowed nervously.

Gulp…

Surd glared at the officer while emitting murderous intent from his entire body.

“Say that again…”
“Tell me exactly what you just said…”

The officer held his breath and covered his own mouth.

“I said…”
“Say it again.”

Surd, the strongest hero in humanity.

The former hero who had retired from the front lines ten years ago after growing old.

There was no complicated reason why Surd had been called the strongest in humanity.

The title meant exactly what it said.

Because he was strong.

Absurdly strong.

He possessed such overwhelming strength that there was no other word that could come to mind besides “strongest.”

The sheer solidity of his martial power was enough to represent an entire great nation.

Surd’s eyes flashed as he glared at the officer.

Golden eyes reminiscent of a lion’s.

Before him, any human being was nothing more than a rabbit.

The danger that instinct warned them about.

The apex of the food chain.

Even though age had weakened him, his strength remained firm and unshaken.

Step.
Step.

Surd slowly approached the officer.

“Decide.”

He placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder.

Squeeze!

“Or don’t.”

The iron armor covering the officer’s shoulder began crumpling and tearing apart like a sheet of paper.

The officer spoke in a trembling voice.

“I’ll… I’ll find him.”

“Good…”

Surd turned his head toward Robelm.

“Robelm Ken Hynes.”

“Yes!”

“From this moment on, I will also participate in the search operation.”
“Temporarily transfer command authority to me.”

“Understood.”

Nine days.

Only nine days remained.

If Cain wasn’t found within that time, he would officially be declared dead.

‘That won’t happen.’

Nine days would be enough.

No, I won’t even need a week to find him.

‘Even if I have to tear this entire western region of the Demon Realm apart.’

So don’t worry, Cain.

“This father will find you.”

“Oh!”
“What are you going to carve this time?”

“Who knows…”
“I haven’t decided yet.”

At the altar of the enormous temple, I held a blunt stone and pondered for a moment.

“I carved a horse yesterday, so maybe I’ll try a cat this time.”

Various animal sculptures were lined up along the edge of the altar.

Lilac hummed happily to herself.

“Sounds good~”
“Good.”
“The first animal I ever saw on the surface was a cat, too.”

“That was two thousand years ago.”
“Do you really remember that?”

“Of course I do.”

“Hee~”

It had already been three weeks since I came here.

I had searched every corner of the temple in an attempt to find an escape route, but there wasn’t even a small window, let alone an exit.

‘It’s almost as if this place was deliberately designed to be buried underground from the beginning.’

A perfectly sealed temple.

Preservation magic that maintained the freshness of the food.

‘And…’

I placed a finger against one of the chains wrapped around Lilac.

Ssssss…

The mana inside my body was forcibly being drawn out.

The moment I touched the chain, the flow of mana was concentrated into it regardless of my will.

‘What kind of insane bastard made something like this…?’

From the few things I had discovered, I could infer one thing.

This was definitely not a temple.

‘If I had to put it another way, “prison” would be a much more fitting description.’

Scrape.
Scrape.

Had the truth been distorted over the course of such a long time?

According to the stories passed down through the ages, Roflerum was supposed to be one of the sacred temples of the gods.

I frowned as I continued carving the stone.

‘A temple?’
‘What a joke.’

This place had been perfectly designed to imprison someone.

It was completely sealed, not even allowing an ant to enter.

Preservation magic had been engraved throughout every corner.

Because of the preservation magic, the temple, which should have collapsed underground long ago, remained intact even now.

‘And this altar.’

At first, I thought it was simply an altar, but this wasn’t something sacred.

I tapped the underside with my finger.

Tap.
Tap.

I couldn’t be certain because of the material, but the inside of this altar was probably completely hollow.

‘It’s strange.’
‘It’s almost exactly like that thing.’

A resting place for the dead.

A carriage upon which a deceased human’s body was carried to bid its final farewell to the surface world.

A coffin used to contain the cold bodies of the dead who had departed this world, fashioned into a rectangular frame.

[A coffin.]

It looked far too similar to one.

“…..”

Who was it?

What kind of mentally deranged bastard had done something this horrifying?

“Cain?”

It was systematic.

Far too systematic.

There was no way such an absurd coincidence could exist unless someone had prepared everything in advance.

“Cain!”

They must have designed this place specifically to torment Lilac.

So that she would suffer for an unimaginably long time before eventually disappearing.

“F*ck.”
“This is definitely the work of some sadistic bas—”

“Cain!!!”

Smack!

“Argh?!”

While I was deep in thought, a pure-white particle slammed into my head.

Creak!

I carefully set down the knife I had been using to carve the stone.

“What are you doing?!”
“It’s dangerous!”

“Why are you ignoring me?!”
“That’s three times!”
“I called you three times!”

“Uh…”

I clutched my throbbing head.

‘She called me three times?’

Ever since I was young, I had possessed the bad habit of becoming unable to hear anything around me whenever I got lost in thought.

‘She has every right to be angry…’

I thought I had gotten somewhat better after becoming an adult.

Feeling awkward, I bowed my head toward Lilac.

“Sorry.”
“I was just thinking about something.”

“What were you thinking about to become so absorbed?”

“Hmm…”
“Just…”

I glanced down toward the bottom of the altar.

“I was wondering if there’s a way out of here.”

I hadn’t found a way out in three weeks.

I had even tried all sorts of things to break through the walls, but they were so hard that I could barely leave a scratch.

‘Well, that’s why they’ve only developed cracks after two thousand years.’

Lilac tilted her head at my question.

“Why?”
“Do you want to leave?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Honestly, being trapped in this white room for three weeks is making my eyes hurt.”
“I think I’m going crazy.”

“Hehe…”
“Is that so?”

“Ah…”

Damn it.

I’d made a mistake.

It had only been three weeks for me, but Lilac had been trapped here for two thousand years.

‘And she can’t even move around freely like I can.’

A long silence followed.

As I hesitated to say anything carelessly, Lilac gave me a faint smile.

“If you want to leave, I will grant that wish.”
“However…”

A bitter smile appeared on her face.

“There is only about a week left now.”
“Could you stay with me until then?”

“One week?”

“Yes.”
“One week.”
“After one more week, I will cease to exist.”

“…What?”

What had she just said?

I roughly grabbed Lilac by the shoulders.

Grab!

“Hey!”
“What the hell do you mean?!”
“You’re going to cease to exist?!”

“I mean exactly what I said.”
“I will die soon.”

“Why?!”

Lilac pointed at the chains wrapped around her body.

“You know these are divine artifacts that drain my power, don’t you?”
“For two thousand years, my power has been drained without a single moment of rest.”
“Even my vast reserves of mana are finally beginning to run dry.”

“But why does that mean you’ll cease to exist?!”
“You can still live without mana!”

Lilac paused for a moment before giving me the answer.

“A god’s body is composed mostly of mana.”
“If all the mana disappears, the god will cease to exist as well.”

“…..”

Now I understood.

I finally understood the true purpose behind Roflerum.

This place was Lilac’s grave.

The reason there were no windows.

The reason there was no door.

The reason Lilac had been placed upon this coffin.

It was because this entire temple had been designed as a customized grave for her.

A grave didn’t need things like doors.

‘That must also be why they buried it underground.’

Crack…

The sound of grinding teeth echoed beside my ears.

Two thousand years of loneliness.

Two thousand years of exhaustion.

Two thousand years of bondage.

Every single one of those things must have brutally tortured her.

‘Living in suffering without knowing when it would end, she probably never had a single day when she could rest easy.’

Unfortunately…

“Don’t make that expression.”
“I’ll definitely send you back before I cease to exist.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to worry about being trapped here.”
“Even though I’m dying, I can still send someone like you back to the surface.”

“…..”

Send me back to the surface?

I stroked my chin with my right hand and fell into thought.

‘It’s strange.’
‘Why do I feel like I’ve never really thought about returning to the surface?’

Was it because I couldn’t find a reason to go back?

Because I didn’t want to bear the responsibility for the soldiers who had died?

No.

That couldn’t be it.

Such trivial reasons should have been among the first things to cross my mind long ago.

They couldn’t possibly have made me forget something so important.

‘Then why?’

Lilac gave me a gentle smile.

“More importantly, when are we eating today?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Give me food.”
“Food.”

“…..”

Ah.

I see.

It was because of her.

I couldn’t leave her behind.

I couldn’t leave someone who would disappear after suffering through endless pain.

Because she was so much like the person I had once been.

‘Because it was too pitiful…’

That’s why I hadn’t been able to think of leaving.

Because I couldn’t abandon her.

Because I couldn’t part with her like this.

I let out a small laugh and placed my hand on the goddess’s head.

“Even if it’s food, all we have are apples.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of them?”

“Try starving for two thousand years.”
“Anything will taste delicious after that.”

“Coming from someone who spat out my emergency rations because they tasted terrible.”

“I told you, those weren’t food…”

Although I hadn’t found an exit, I had still discovered a few things.

I fiddled with a small sphere inside my pocket.

‘A sweet smell like rotten apples.’

A pinkish bead I had discovered inside one of the apple boxes.

A sweet, rotten stench like the one I had smelled when I first opened the box emanated from the bead.

Ssssss…

At first, I thought it was merely the lingering smell from the apples inside the box having rotted.

But that wasn’t it.

‘Not a single rotten apple had appeared.’

There were so many apples packed into the various boxes that I wouldn’t normally have been able to find it.

—I’ll bring them back soon.
—Wait just a little.

—Mm!

I had been able to discover it because of the enormous amount of apples Lilac had devoured.

I reached into my pocket and took out a black grain.

“Lilac.”
“Have you ever eaten something called chocolate?”

“Hm?”
“Chocolate?”
“What is that?”

“Ah, open your mouth.”

“Hm?”
“Why?”

“Quickly.”

“Mm…”
“Ahh~”

Whoosh!

I tossed the emergency chocolate from my pocket into Lilac’s mouth.

Munch, munch…

“This…”

Lilac’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed.

“What is this?!”
“It’s delicious!”
“Is this what you call chocolate?!”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it!”
“I really love it!”
“This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted!”

“Do you want more?”

“There is more?!”

“No.”
“Not right now.”

“But…”

“I’ll let you eat it again.”
“I promise.”

Seeing her tilt her head in confusion, I slowly walked toward the apple boxes.

And then I had a feeling.

Crack.

Soon, I would meet the perverted bastard who had created this temple.