Chapter 294

“I am weak.” Aurelia said.

This was after she declared herself to be the Golden Emperor from 400 years ago.

“I am a tumor-like existence that the ‘Last Emperor’ excised from herself. Kosavagarobira is for imprisoning me.”

The woman who was once an emperor still wraps her body in noble cloth.

Her body had been gnawed by time, almost losing its lovely shape, revealing rows of white bone joints.

However, nobility was something that could not disappear in such a way.

Nobility that could not be fully proven by purple cloth and embroidered gold thread still remained in Aurelia.

The Duchy of Volmark is a vassal state of Cordis.

So the two warriors of Volmark, Yosef and Velgil, naturally had to pay homage to her.

Whether that loyalty was genuine or feigned.

Aurelia raised her hand, which was nothing but bone joints, and asked.

“Why have you come here, Velgil?”

Velgil spoke with his head bowed.

“…Have I ever told you my name?”

“No.”

Aurelia shook her head.

“I am sorry. Understand this. Since I have been kicked out of the story, I often look inside from outside the story. There are also times when I end up knowing things I should not know yet.”

She spouted incomprehensible words.

“I will ask again. Why have you come here, Velgil?”

“I am a messenger. I came to deliver words.”

“To whom did you come to deliver?”

“To His Highness Zionis, the fifth son of Great Emperor Continua.”

“There is no such person here.”

Aurelia stroked the black egg in front of her.

Whose debris would the egg emitting black heat be?

It goes without saying.

“It is because he refused to be Zionis himself.”

“Then I wish to meet Shion of Merion.”

“I am truly sorry, but he refused to be even Shion.”

“…Then who is that?”

“He is no one. This is just ‘something’.”

Aurelia looked down at the pulsating black egg.

She looked at it so lovingly just a moment ago, but now she tried to push it away with contempt.

But soon, as if she could not do so, she embraced it again.

It resembled the attitude of a parent dealing with a painful finger.

“This forgot what it is. It decided not to choose to be anyone either.”

“…How long will you keep spouting sophistry?”

“Velgil, young warrior. You do not know yet.”

She looked at Velgil.

She looked at him as if looking at a lovely child.

It resembled the gaze of a god.

Though it is unknown whether gods exist.

“We are always swayed by sophistry. Even knowing it is sophistry. That is life. It is a topic that misery throws at us.”

“…….”

“But I am sorry. Old people are always like this. It is the way to easily thrust upon young people what they themselves realized with difficulty.”

Something I realized only after becoming an excised weakness.

Aurelia covered her mouth and laughed.

Below her breast area, it was nothing but bone joints.

Even though she looked as if a living bust was attached to a human skeleton, she was strangely and elegantly beautiful.

“This is neither Zionis nor Shion, but once was clearly Zionis and was Shion.”

She pointed to the black egg.

“Take this and go up. Whisper the words to be delivered there.”

Though I do not know if he will wake up.

***

Shion was asleep.

No, he wanted to sleep but could not, and was curled up suffering.

His soul had completely gone bankrupt.

However, there was a power not his own that allowed him to barely endure.

Mana Armor Valziart.

The surging black shadow.

Did Sen Sorti foresee today when Shion would go bankrupt?

Did she plant Mana Armor Valziart in him for that reason?

He could not know.

Shion simply could not know anything.

Amidst the pain and cold, he only chewed on his own heart endlessly.

He wanted everything to end.

But the end was fearful.

When these two facts met, it became misery.

Shion was brazen and irresponsible, hiding inside the black egg and suffering.

That was Shion’s best.

He wanted to stand up, but he had no strength to stand up.

Also, there was not even a reason to stand up.

Therefore, he decided to just suffer.

***

“-Ugh!!”

Yosef Haider shouted abruptly.

“It’s filthily heavy!”

He was in the middle of carrying the black egg with Velgil.

This black egg was truly, monstrously heavy, so even for Yosef Haider, it was unbearable.

He tried to carry it silently somehow by gritting his teeth, but due to his hasty temper, he ended up throwing the egg down.

“-I said it’s damn heavy!”

The black egg rolled on the floor.

Yosef was covered in sweat all over his body.

From Aurelia’s quarters to Yosef’s shelter is only about a few hundred steps at most.

But it took over an hour to move just this distance.

Velgil was on the verge of exhaustion.

“I can’t stand it anymore!”

Now they only had to go ten or so steps.

But those ten or so steps were difficult.

Yosef shouted thunderously toward the thrown black egg.

“Your Highness! Please come out!”

He did not care whether Shion heard or not and pointed his finger while getting angry.

His voice was so loud that Belcram came to watch wondering what was going on.

“Do you still think you are an eleven-year-old kid? If you’ve done that much, it’s enough! I’m telling you to come out and walk on your own feet!”

“…….”

Naturally, there is no answer.

The black egg remains silent.

Yosef ground his teeth in irritation.

“…To call something like this Highness…!”

Damn it, I should have killed him 7 years ago!

The irritated Yosef saw the sword worn at Velgil’s side.

It was the dead Amethus’s.

Did he say there was a letter to be delivered to Shion in the handle?

Yosef’s single eye flashed.

“…I had a good idea.”

“…Good… huff, idea, …huff, you say…?”

“…You seem to need physical training, Velgil.”

“…Huff, me… ha, haha, huff…?”

Velgil felt aggrieved.

He was the possessor of stamina that would not tire even if he ran for twenty days without eating or sleeping.

He even broke through the pit of fire of Kosavagarobira with his bare body.

It was just that that black egg was filthily heavy.

“Anyway. Give me that sword.”

“…Yes? Hik, where, hik!”

“Now you’re almost hiccuping! Hand it over!”

Yosef did not hide his hasty temper and snatched the sword from Velgil.

Then he twisted the handle open and took out the letter inside.

Velgil realized Yosef’s intention and opened his eyes wide.

But since he was on the verge of exhaustion, he could not stop him.

“His Highness Zionis!”

Yosef Haider raised his voice loudly toward the black egg.

“There is a letter from Your Highness’s wife. I will start reading now!”

“…….”

“If you can’t bear to see your love letter being read aloud, crawl out or something!”

Ah, he shouldn’t do that….

Velgil wanted to cover his face.

But it was also true that he felt somewhat gratified.

Yosef spread the letter wide.

“I’m really reading it?”

“…….”

“Damn it! He won’t budge! I’ll really read it!”

The one-eyed old man huffed.

“Where else would there be something as fun as reading someone else’s love letter?”

Yosef looked into Serena’s letter.

Before he knew it, a few onlookers gathered.

It was the likes of Mileyu or Belcram.

Velgil also caught his breath and pricked up his ears.

“…….”

The old man only looked into the letter for a long while.

“…Hmm….”

He let out a groan.

“…This is troubling.”

“What is written that you are hesitating so much?”

“No, about this….”

Yosef scratched his bearded chin.

He laughed awkwardly.

“……It’s the Western language?”

It is no exaggeration to say that the Duchy of Volmark and the Bururade Peninsula are the ends of the continent.

Serena naturally wrote the letter using the language of the Bururade Peninsula, and for Yosef who is more familiar with an axe than a pen, there was no way to read it.

The onlookers dusted off their seats and stood up as if dumbfounded. ‘I wasted my time!’ ‘I don’t know the Western language either.’

Mileyu and Belcram went back.

Only Velgil, Yosef, and the black egg remained again.

Velgil, who recovered a bit of energy, caught his breath and spoke.

“…Do you not know the Western language at all?”

“No. No. I know the spelling at least, spelling at least…. Though I don’t know the words….”

The single eye narrowed.

He struggled to read the letter somehow.

It was a matter of pride.

“Right, this, I can read this much…. Looks like a person’s name. This is Se, this is Re, this is Na, all together ……Serena! This is read as Serena!”

“Yes. It is the name of His Highness’s wife.”

“Right? I told you I know the spelling!”

Yosef laughed loudly.

The laughter of Ha, haha, ha echoed in the dark underground.

It seemed the black egg flinched at the name Serena, but no one noticed.

Yosef Haider gained confidence and thrust his face closer to the letter.

“Let’s see, I think I can read this too…. As expected, it looks like a person’s name….”

This is Po. This is E. This is Si? A? No, A! All together, let’s see…, do I read it like this…?

“……Poesia……?”

***

Shion was still curled up inside the black egg.

He was in the middle of melting down.

‘I should have died back then.’

He was regretful.

The regression was especially painful and regretful.

‘No, I should have.’

Bitter juice flowed profusely as he ruminated on his heart.

He could not understand at all how a person’s heart could become miserable like bile like this.

‘Embracing a vain dream that could not be achieved, I should have died.’

It became like this because he had expectations like another chance.

It must be so.

‘I should have rather died as a hero. I should have ended it together when my world ended once.’

Soul fire soared and melted him.

Amidst the blue flames, Shion fought with his secrets and ended up losing.

‘If I had done so….’

His crying resembled a clamor.

Yet it was silent.

Because he became afraid of even a single word of ridicule toward his clamor.

‘…If I had done so… I wouldn’t have been clawing here and there with a dream that became vain.’

Another regret.

‘…Even that guy with jade eyes….’

Sobbing.

‘…Even the guy who barely reunited with Shadi now… would have been still alive….’

***

It was completely dark.

The deep night that could not be explained even with the word pitch-black visited Shion.

Shion was alone in it.

Since he was so alone, he had no choice but to fight with himself.

He won. However, since the opponent was himself, he ended up losing.

Terrible contradiction clawed at him.

But even that contradiction was him.

The sobbing that resembled a shadow wrapped around him and cut him off from the outside.

However, abruptly, a single word permeated.

Pushing through as if to pierce all darkness, it painfully pierced the isolated Shion’s eardrums.

Just four letters.

***

Poesia.

***

The black egg cracked open with a snap.

A goosebump-inducing sound occurred.

It was a ghostly wail.

A howl and clamor of Woo, woo woo woo seeped out from the black egg.

Millions of grudges made Velgil and Yosef feel fear.

“…You….”

In the middle of the grudges is the Regressor Prince.

He has blond hair and blue eyes.

But he is beautiful no more.

He was in a state of completely melting down.

Black scales eating away at the pure white skin, fangs packed in the mouth, skin flowing with pus.

Scars of life engraved due to endlessly hacking at himself.

“…How do you… that name….”

Shion glared at Yosef.

Indescribable resentment was felt.

The thoroughly rotted heart rode his gaze and overflowed sharply.

Shion screamed and rushed.

“…Do you know that child’s name, Yosef Haider-!!!”

“This is absurd.”

Yosef grabbed the nape of the rushing Shion’s neck too easily.

It is natural.

Shion still has a hole in his heart.

Yosef Haider frowned his only eye fiercely.

“Ungrateful! I am going through this hardship just to help you!”

“You…! It is a name you cannot know!”

Shion shouted with full anger even in a state of being caught, looking like a herbivore right before being eaten.

His deep blue pupils were not looking at Yosef.

“Only I-!”

Demonic blue flames flickered.

Velgil trembled without realizing it.

“-Only I-!!”

Because Shion’s voice was so heartbreaking, because such grief was felt that made others swallow a sneer beyond bewilderment.

Shion vomited out the pain that no one would know.

“-Only, I know that name-!!! A name that no one can remember, now… now…… forever, no one… got to know……!”

He cried.

It was strange.

Tears flowed from the tear ducts that had dried up completely.

“…How do you know that name…!”

“Wake up!”

Yosef was a man without hesitation.

He slapped Shion’s cheek with a smack.

He hit so hard that it made a thud sound, not a smack.

The cheek did not swell but tore, and blood flowed profusely.

However, it was effective, and a little light returned to Shion’s eyes.

“It is written in the letter! In the letter!”

“…Letter….”

“So you should have come out when told to come out! Read it! Since your wife told me to deliver it!”

“……Serena did?”

Shion extended his hand like a child.

The tips of his fingers on both hands were all melted, and they were trembling.

Yosef clicked his tongue, saying Tsk, as if he felt pity, and placed the letter in that hand.

“I will give you space. Read it.”

Let’s go, Velgil.

Yosef moved his steps while snorting angrily.

He even shouted at Belcram, who was hiding and peeking, to get lost.

Shion became alone.

A letter was held in his hand.

What Serena delivered.

What had to be delivered to him even by running from the far West.

[Shion.]

He slowly raised his eyes covered in pus and began to read it down.

[I had a dream.]

[I met a child there.]

[The child.]

[Said her name was Poesia.]

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