Chapter 223 (1/2)
Chapter 223: Chapter 223
“Can you tell me the reason?”
“…Now that I think about it, Roy is already 10 years old, isn’t he?”
That wasn’t the answer Su-hyeun was anticipating.
Herrels’ gaze shifted over to Roy. The boy hadn’t seemed to have recovered his wits yet after throwing up everything inside his stomach earlier.
“Time does indeed move on too quickly. It feels like only yesterday that I had gotten married, yet here I am, already with a son, and that son is already 10 years old…”
“Why bring up Roy’s age all of a sudden?”
“Since he’s 10 already, my son probably has learned all that he needs to know by now. He’s pretending to not know anything despite that fact because he has closed his sight and his hearing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was once like him. The stories that I didn’t want to hear and the sights that I didn’t wish to witness—I closed my eyes and ears to them. Only after I reached 16 and stood tall as an adult did I finally start seeing and listening properly to the world that I was living in.” Herrels stopped his explanation briefly, seemingly lost in the reminiscence of his past, before continuing on. “The world I live in is different from everyone else’s. I tried to make them the same, but in the end, what’s different will always remain different.”
“Are you referring to the ability to see dead people?”
“Do you know why the dead follow me?”
Of course, Su-hyeun wouldn’t know the answer to that.
Herrels didn’t seem to be asking for one either, as he carried on immediately from where he left off. “Because I’m the king.”
“King…?”
“The king of the dead. That’s what the ones carrying the Rawlsman bloodline always hear from the mouths of the dead. It’s not that different from what the Lichs say. Although they are the undead that reject death itself, Lichs are still not exempt from the authority of my Rawlsman bloodline.”
“Why are the Lichs targeting Roy, in that case? Is he not their supposed king?”
“Roy’s situation is slightly unique, and the Lichs’ purpose is not to murder Roy, either.”
“I’ve already noticed that. They seemed rather fearful of even leaving a single mark on the boy.”
“I’m sure that’s the case,” Herrels replied and nodded as if he had foreseen this. “Roy is supposed to be the vessel for their god, after all.”
Act 2
The capital’s streets at night were eerily silent—so quiet, in fact, that you could clearly hear the sound of a rat busy scurrying about in the darkness.
Somewhere above this deathly quiet street, Su-hyeun was sitting on a window sill.
[Remaining time: 164:28:56]
He checked the remaining time.
Less than 80 hours had passed. He couldn’t even venture to guess what might happen next during the remaining time.
A god, is it…?
Su-hyeun recalled what Herrels had said.
The vessel that would become the god of those bastards, those Lichs.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a literal god. No, it’d be more symbolic in nature than an actual physical deity. Besides, Su-hyeun knew better than anyone who the Lichs’ god actually was.
The Lich King—
The being referred to as the god of the Lichs and the dead is also the boss from one of the indigo-hued dungeons, as well as one of the worst monsters ever, according to Su-hyeun’s memories.
Will Roy end up like that guy?
Step—
He couldn’t stand still, so he began circling the same spot.
Or, could it be that Roy will…?
A hypothesis he didn’t even want to imagine surfaced in his mind.
What if the monster called the Lich King, the one he was so familiar with, was Roy who later transformed into that abominable creature? Was this world based on the creation of the Lich King? Could it be that he was sent to the past of another world?
“Dammit.”
He roughly scratched his head currently filled with complicated thoughts and swore softly under his breath. He did his best to shake off all the useless thoughts out of his head and began analyzing the situation.
The city was deathly quiet. Even if there was some distance to consider, no sounds of battles taking place between the knights and Lichs could be heard coming from the ruins of the imperial palace.
It seemed that the undead had managed to escape.
They’ll be back.
It didn’t take long for him to regain his cool.
Roy is here, after all.
There was no need to get agitated. He was inside a trial. Not only that, but it was one found on the 50th floor, no less.
He already had anticipated a high-enough difficulty, and this level of toughness was within the acceptable norm for a trial related to none other than the Lich King. Meaning, nothing was strange about this situation.
When he looked at it that way, he felt that his scrambled thoughts were settling down just a tad.
My job is to protect Roy from the Lichs.
The purpose of the Lichs was to turn Roy into their “god,” and Su-hyeun’s goal was to protect the boy from those undead for the next 10 days.
He could glean a single clue from that.
Why 10 days, though?
He didn’t think this trial would end simply because he managed to protect Roy for the next 10 days or so.
This trial couldn’t have been that simple. Without a doubt, something else must be waiting for him afterward.
As long as the Lichs aren’t completely wiped out, Roy will continuously be…
When his thoughts reached that far…
Step—
Su-hyeun suddenly stopped circling the same spot, his head snapping in a certain direction: toward a building where Roy, Herrels, and Miru were currently sleeping.
He hurriedly kicked the ground and dashed forward before urgently flinging the door open to enter the building.
Bang—!
“Lord Herrels!”
Herrels and Roy sleeping alongside Miru were startled and jerked awake.
The nobleman must’ve been really fatigued because he had been drooling in his sleep. He hurriedly wiped his saliva away and replied, “W—what happened?! Are the Lichs—?”
“My apologies for waking you up so abruptly, but I need to ask you about something.”
“Regarding?”
“I heard that Roy’s been kidnapped by the Lichs several times before. Is that true?”
“Yes, that is indeed so.”
“How did you find Roy every time that happened?”
Herrels, still not fully awake yet, heard Su-hyeun’s urgent question and replied in a slightly confused tone of voice. “That is… I asked the dead for a favor. I requested them to find Roy for me.”
“…Thought as much.”
Su-hyeun grinned widely when his thoughts proved to be right on the money.
He found it rather odd that Herrels, a man who clearly loved his child dearly, remained in the capital despite Roy’s disappearance. Surely, he would’ve immediately set out to find his son, which was an action more in line with his character.
However, it wasn’t as if he had given up on finding his missing boy; instead, he stayed put in the capital while relying on the dead to search every corner of the continent.
“Can you also do that now?”
“I beg your pardon? But Roy is here with me.”
“No, not Roy.” Su-hyeun grasped Herrels’ shoulders tightly and continued, “I meant the Lichs.”