Free Web NovelChapter 10: Across Death Itself
Since the Empire was busy with the House Mograth incident, it made the general public easily notice the uproar and the urgency around them.
They didn’t make the announcement public yet, but the news had already started to spread among them.
And just like the Empire they too thought that was the Demon’s doing.
The guards had discovered a teleportation gate right near the banquet hall last night.
Because of that, and the stuff they had discovered from Morgrath’s lab and underground facility, the Empress had concluded that the Morgrath Family was planning to launch a rampage in the capital.
But something went wrong, and they were all wiped out because of it.
The Empress had ordered the four great houses to make this matter their priority.
And due to which, the entire estate of Orlok had been visibly busy since Orion Orlok returned this morning.
Stepping out from his room, Rian told the maid passing by to prepare him a breakfast.
After that, he climbed down the stairs to the main hall of the house.
It was six in the morning.
In his past life Rian had always slept until well into the afternoon.
It wasn’t laziness.
It was simply that his mind worked best at night.
’The quiet hours are when a man does his real thinking,’ he mused.
It had been the same at Caelistra.
He’d spent his nights buried in the books at the restricted library and his mornings dead asleep, which was, admittedly, why he’d missed most of his classes.
But he’d never lost a wink of sleep over it. He’d been productive, and in the end, that was all that mattered.
It was only after he joined the Dark Empire’s military that the habit broke.
Once he rose to First Captain, he had little choice but to live up to the image.
As the war dragged on, waking before dawn simply became second nature.
And sometimes, he didn’t even get any sleep.
Old habits, and it seemed it had followed him across death itself.
"Wow. You’re up early...?"
Rian had barely stepped into the main hall when the voice reached him.
Lilly was lounging on the sofa.
Beside her sat their mother. And beside her...
...their father.
’...You’ve got to be kidding me.’
What are they doing waking up this early in the morning?
Bianca’s mouth rounded into a small ’O’ the instant she spotted her son.
"Ooo Lilly was right, something really has gotten into you."
Orion said nothing.
Which made sense though, the man was clearly buried in his own thoughts at this point, no doubt he was still chewing over whatever the Empress had thrown at him last night.
"Good morning, Mother... Father."
Rian crossed the hall toward them.
It would’ve been rude to just walk past, much as he might’ve liked to.
Lilly puffed her cheeks.
"Where’s my good morning?"
Rian shoved her aside and dropped onto the sofa, claiming a seat for himself.
Bianca turned to the maid standing behind her and ordered her to bring some breakfast for Rian.
Once the maid had gone, she let her gaze drift back to her son, studying him properly this time.
He wore a crisp white shirt, the collar tied with a blue neckband, brown leather gloves on his hands which reached his elbows for some reason, and brown trousers.
He was all dressed and ready, at six in the morning.
It made Bianca raise a brow.
"Are you going somewhere?"
Rian gave a simple nod.
"I want to gather some books before we leave for the Academy. The library fills up by the afternoon, so I figured I’d get there early."
Lilly tilted her head once he’d finished.
"But... are you sure the library’s even open this early?"
"Of course they are. I asked them ahead of time."
It was a lie, naturally.
Rian had no intention of visiting any library, nor of shopping for anything at all.
The real reason he’d dragged himself up at this hour lay nearly 1400 Kilometres from Garissa, out near the contested South-West border between the Dark and Holy Empires.
The [Labyrinth of Zelda].
In his past life, the Labyrinth had first been discovered by Jeanne and her forces.
They had stumbled upon entirely by accident while they were on a mission deep within [Pandora’s Rainforest].
It was sheer, dumb luck.
Without it, they’d never have found the place in a hundred years.
He’d always wondered how a girl like her had managed to uncover something like that.
It was all a fluke, he’d called it that time.
Rian himself had searched for hidden Labyrinths more times than he could count, and failed every single time.
’...Wait a damn minute.’
His mouth fell slightly open as the pieces clicked together at last.
’That was never a fluke at all.’
She was a regressor.
Of course she’d known where to look.
What if, in some earlier regression, it had been Rian who discovered the Labyrinth, and in the next, she’d simply gone and found it before he ever could?
’...That’s exactly how she found it.’
He still remembered the insufferable way she’d bragged about the discovery, as if she’d done something clever.
’That cheating little—’
He shook the thought off.
In any case, the Labyrinth had mattered a great deal in Jeanne’s life.
She had found it right before the campaign against the Demon Lord of Pride.
Inside the Labyrinth, Jeanne had claimed an artifact, the [Archon Blade of Zelda], a holy weapon that amplified her power to staggering new heights the moment she wielded it.
It was that very blade that had let her sever the Demon Lord of Pride’s head from his shoulders.
But, unfortunately for her...
The Blade of Zelda had crumbled to fine dust the instant the battle with Pride was over.
Even now, Rian had to fight back a laugh just picturing the look on her face.
’NOOOOOOOOOOO! You damn fucking demon, you ruined it!’
That shriek of hers still brought music to his ears, even now.
"...Haah."
He exhaled, the corner of his mouth twitching.
’What a glorious day that was.’
This time, Rian would claim the Blade of Zelda first.
He suspected that, wielding it himself, he could draw out the same holy power she had.
And unlike her, he’d handle the thing with care, and not burn the poor artifact to ash after a single fight.
Best of all, Jeanne couldn’t possibly beat him to it. The Labyrinth sat within Dark Empire territory, which meant that, until the two empires settled their war, she could do nothing but dream of reaching it.
That was likely the very reason she’d only gotten her hands on it so late in her own past life, even with all her carried memories.
"...."
Two maids returned wheeling in Rian’s breakfast on a silver cart.
It was always far more than one person could ever finish.
Warm milk in a porcelain cup, fluffy buttered toast, eggs prepared three different ways, some slices of smoked ham and cured sausage.
Rian picked up the warm cup of milk.
His gaze drifted, subtly, to his father seated on the far side of the room.
The man had been in a daze ever since he returned.
’The Empress really does act like a spoiled brat.’
This time, Rian had no intention of dancing to her tune.
If anyone was going to be doing the dancing, it would be her.
He brought the warm milk to his lips, and as he drank, and soon a thought settled over him.
Maybe he should try talking to the man once.
After all, until yesterday, it had been years, years, since he’d last seen his father’s face.
Gulp...
His hand trembled faintly around the cup.
Rian bit his lips and forced his expression back.
Because there had been a time, in his father’s life, when Rian had knelt over Orion’s sliced open body on a battlefield.
He had then turned his own father’s corpse into an undead.
He’d had no choice.
By then, the war had stripped him of everything.
And the only strong shoulders to lean on were all dead ones at his feet.
And he had learned, long before that day, the cruelest truth of war.
When every path is a bad one, you choose the least bad, and call it victory.
So he had done what the victory demanded.
He had raised his own father to fight on as one of his undead.
It didn’t matter how monstrous or immoral it looked.
It didn’t matter how others had felt seeing the boy raising his own father and using him as a weapon of disposal.
Since he had been stained by it, no one in the battalion had liked what Rian did to the dead.
Both Dark and Holy Empire.
No one would like to see their loved one turned to a disgusting looking corpse.
But, Rian had to do it...
Afterall, it had what kept the living alive one more day to talk shit about Rian.
Rian set the cup down.
"Father, what did the Empress tell you?"
For a moment, the entire hall seemed to stop breathing.
Bianca froze mid-sip, Lilly’s jaw came unhinged, even the two maids by the wall went stiff as boards, their eyes blown wide, everyone exchanging a single, and silent look that screamed the same thought all of them shared:
The young master spoke to the Archduke first?
Of his own free will?
...Is the world ending?
Somewhere, Lilly was fairly certain a star had just fallen out of the sky.
Orion, on the other hand, slowly turned his cold gaze upon his son.
"...And why would that be any concern of yours?"
A vein twitched at Rian’s temple.
’...Old man, I’m trying to make things right here, you realize that?’
"I am just curious, It’s not every day the Empress drags an Archduke out of his own children’s banquet."
This must have sounded like a mock to his ears.
"Curiosity you say? The last time you were curious, half the east wing of my estate burned down."
"That was one time, and it was a controlled experiment, I did tell you."
"The people who had trouble putting down the fire disagreed."
"Those people lacked vision."
"...."
Orion said nothing.
He simply held his son’s gaze, giving away absolutely nothing about the Empress, the summons, or whatever that had been decided in that castle last night.
Rian held the stare a moment longer.
’...he still pisses me off.’
He tried alright, but the man in front had pride beyond him.
Rian let out a slow breath.
"...Haah, forget it. I’m getting late anyway."
He rose from his seat and started for the main door.
Behind him, Bianca half-stood, about to call after him.
But her gaze caught on her husband instead.
Because Orion, watching his son’s retreating back, was very faintly... smiling.
