Free Web NovelChapter 14: Arcane Blade of Zelda
It took Rian a walk of nearly fifteen kilometers before he finally stood before another entrance.
Unlike the last one, which had been the skull of a dragon, this was... a plain, worn-out wooden door, with a doorknob.
It looked so decrepit that a single good kick would have knocked it clean off its hinges.
’...What the hell is this?’
He’d been expecting another piece of Zelda’s madness.
Rian’s eyes twitch in disappointment.
’...Should I just kick it open?’
No. No, absolutely not.
This was Zelda’s Labyrinth after all, and forcing his way in was exactly the sort of thing that would end with him joining those poor skeletons back there.
Although...
’Now that I think about it, there weren’t any skeletons along this stretch at all.’
"...The hell happened here?"
Don’t tell him that none of them had ever made it this far.
"...That’s impossible."
For Rian, the way here had been little more than a stroll through a park.
Rian took out the pocket watch.
’It’s getting late.’
He swallowed, and before he made another move, he reinforced himself with consecutive magic spells.
「Weapon Art: Mana Forge」
「Curse Art: Bone Enhancement」
A translucent shell of purple and black smoke crawled across his body, hardening over every joint and every vulnerable point, and stopping just short of his head.
Then the Curse Art took hold, and his bones hardened until they rivaled forged metal.
It was a Grade 7 spell, not even a dragon’s breath would leave a mark on him now.
’I have tested it against a dragon.’
Rian gripped the knob, fully prepared for it to be locked.
Click.
But it turned so easily, like any ordinary door in any ordinary house.
Creak...
The door swung open the other way, and the full view of what lay beyond came into sight.
A dark, gloomy chamber, completely empty except for a long, double-edged blade, colored deep purple and black, floating silently in the middle of the room. It was slender, roughly the length of his arm.
The 「Archon Blade of Zelda」
"...You’ve got to be kidding me."
Rian just stood there, blinking at it.
How in the world was this so easy?
He stepped inside, careful to brace for a trap, and as he set foot, the Holy Mark on his left arm shimmered to warmth once again.
He stopped and pulled off his glove.
The Holy Mark was radiating a brilliant golden light, coiled around his forearm like a serpent.
Badump.
Its golden light blinked in rhythm with his heartbeat.
BADUMP.
And so did the faint purple glow of the Archon Blade before him.
Badump. BADUMP. Badump. BADUMP—
It went on like that for several seconds.
Rian didn’t even have to reach for the blade. It drifted toward him on its own, settling at the exact height of his hand, offering itself.
Rian stretched out his left hand to take it.
And the instant his fingers brushed the metal, a voice rang out from just ahead, from somewhere in the darkness.
"I have been waiting, Lady Zelda."
. . .
At the same time.
"Why is this taking so long?"
A man in a dark blue cape turned to snap at the group behind him.
He looks way too pretty for a man.
He had long black hair that reached the length of his shoulder, a similar pair of golden eyes, a neatly carved black beard, and a hard, angry face.
Each of their capes carried the same mark of a holy cross with a snake coiled around it.
"S-Sir Luthan! It’s the Dark Magic in this area. It keeps pushing back against our Holy Magic."
Luthan, one of the 13「Cardinals」 of the 「Holy Order」, snapped back at him.
"It’s been two whole weeks! If you can’t do it, just say so. Stop wasting my time."
They were here to plant a Holy Anchor deep inside Dark Empire soil. It was a hidden formation that would let the Holy Empire’s forces channel their power across the border whenever the next war came.
He turned away, grinding his teeth, and muttered to himself.
"...The Emperor’s gone mad this time, sending me out here. This is clearly suicide."
He hated every part of this.
Work this low should have gone to someone 「High Priest」 looking to make a name.
The Emperor clearly knows how much Luthan loathes this kind of work.
And yet here he was sneaking around the edge of Pandora’s Rainforest, right at the border of Dark Empire, with a team of idiots doing a job far beneath him.
All of this, for what?
Because he spent one night with the Emperor’s Concubine.
And honestly? The man had what, twelve of them? Or Thirteen? Luthan had lost count at this point.
"Tch. It’s not like I forced her to; she is the one who came to my chamber, dammit! Punish her, not me."
He muttered it to no one in particular.
It was obvious the Emperor wasn’t satisfying them anyway. What would one expect from an Emperor with such a large set of Empresses and Concubines?
Luthan had simply shown one of his Concubines how it was really done.
If anything, he’d done the poor woman a favor.
"You’re welcome," he muttered to no one, entirely pleased with himself.
He felt no guilt at all over what he’d done, especially when it came to the Emperor.
And clearly, the Emperor couldn’t execute him for it either. After all, a Cardinal’s life and death were decided by the Saint and not by the Emperor.
Lying on the ground with hay inside his mouth, Luthan simply looked upwards to the leaves providing him with shade.
’This is bullshit....’ The young Cardinal mused inside his head. ’Both the Empires, they had all gone mad.’
They should be focusing on the Demons instead of slitting each other’s throats.
Luthan feared this war between the two Empires would be the real reason humanity would fall, long before the demons did anything.
But he couldn’t do a thing about it. If he could, he would have done it long ago.
He could do nothing but follow the Saint’s orders, as was the work of a Cardinal.
Even the men the Emperor sent along with him today belonged to the Emperor himself.
The Emperor thought Luthan was a fool who wouldn’t see through his petty little plan of dragging him out into the Dark Empire and calling it an unfortunate death at their hands.
Seriously, he had far too many enemies.
At the mere age of twenty-two, Luthan had risen to the rank of High Priest. At twenty-three, he proved his worth and became a Holy Knight. And by twenty-five, he had climbed all the way to Cardinal.
They were the highest of them all, the ones who worked directly under the Saint, and even the Emperor couldn’t lay a hand on their lives anymore.
Their life and death were bound to the Saint alone.
But even so...
’...The Saint is getting old.’
It was clear that her end was near, which meant they would soon have to choose the next candidate for the Holy Saint of a new Era.
A month before the Saint takes their last breath, the Holy Mark vanishes from their body and passes to the new Holy Saint, chosen by the will of the Gods.
No one knows who the Holy Mark went to next...
...no one except Luthan.
Luthan gritted his teeth as frustration boiled up inside his head.
"Just wait for me, Jeanne. Your brother will find a way to save you."
He would do anything for her, even kill the damn Emperor if he had to.
Luthan d’Aurelle, head of House Aurelle, a Grand Duke.
After his father passed away, he took the position of family head at just twenty years old.
No one questioned it, and no one so much as pointed a finger at how he had risen so high, so fast.
It was simple. He got the position because he was Luthan, and his name alone was enough.
But before that—
"You bastards, are you still not done—!"
His voice caught in his throat as he turned his head and saw the scene unfold before his eyes.
All of his men, all twenty-one of them, had their throats pierced through with rotten bone.
"Oh my~ How truly sad. And here they were, so close to finishing the job. Sigh... sorry for ruining the fun."
Luthan turned.
A short, dark-haired girl in a maid’s uniform stood in the middle of his fallen men. One of her eyes was covered by a white eyepatch, and the other glowed with a sinister crimson light as she tilted her head at him.
"...Did you truly not notice? They were about to kill you."
She bowed, blood streaked across her face and offered him a smile that didn’t reach anywhere near comforting.
"Such a wonderful day, isn’t it, Cardinal?"
All her undeads pulled their bones free from the throats and skulls of the fallen men.
"I am called Thalia, and I belong to my Great Master."
She said it so politely, so gracefully, like a maid receiving a guest at the door, that it stood in complete contrast to everything she had just done to the men around her.
[A/N : Every 100 Golden Ticket = 2 Extra Chapters]
