Free Web NovelAs he spoke, Bishop Kore wiped the sweat from his forehead, his gaze fixed tightly on Pero, afraid she might suddenly say something like, since those people spoke so nicely, why not keep staying down there and chat with them...
It was not that he was cowardly. It was just that he was currently locked in magic-sealing shackles, and after being trapped for so long, his stamina was basically exhausted. He truly had no strength to even truss a chicken, so he was indeed afraid this little one would take revenge for what had happened before.
“In your eyes, am I really that scary? You were the one bullying people before.”
Pero snorted unhappily and reached back into her clothes to take out...
a needle.
“!!!”
Bishop Kore nearly died of fright on the spot, his soul almost flying out of him. He thought to himself that this kid was no longer satisfied with using ordinary methods to take revenge on him. Was she actually planning to stab him to death one prick at a time with such a thin needle?
Although, after being tortured by the nun, he had already grown somewhat used to the feeling of needles and blades piercing him. But if he died like this, would it not be a little too tragic for a dignified bishop?
“Perhaps this is the fate I deserve after doing so many wicked things.”
Thinking that, Bishop Kore tightly closed his eyes and waited for fate to arrive.
Click.
But as time passed second by second, he did not wait for pain or death. Instead, his hands suddenly felt lighter.
“Huh?”
He opened his eyes in surprise and discovered that Pero had not used the needle to stab him. She had bent the tip and picked open the lock on the shackles.
Although the shackles were used to seal magic, the locking method was still purely mechanical for the sake of ordinary people using them. That was why Pero could open them so easily.
“You... you’re not taking revenge on me?”
“I did hate you once, because I knew those two hundred thousand Aimier basically sealed off every path my sister had to survive.”
Pero put away the needle, tossed the heavy shackles aside, then took out a piece of black bread and handed it to Bishop Kore.
“But you’ve already received the punishment you deserved, and I know you’ve been helping him too. So for now, I’ll be magnanimous and let you off. I’m not that petty.”
“Really? You’re really letting me go?” Bishop Kore was still somewhat cautious, afraid Pero had simply changed methods, such as putting poison in the bread.
“If you don’t like it, you can come over right now and let me stab you to death.”
“No, no, no, I like it. I like it very much...”
Bishop Kore let out a long breath of relief. To be honest, when he remembered who Pero was, he had thought that even if he did not die here, he would at least have a piece of flesh cut off.
It seemed that “washing his hands clean” and siding with that Mr. Bruce had been the correct decision after all.
Although it had also almost gotten him killed here.
“Speaking of which, why are you in a place like this?”
Pero looked around.
“This looks like... a prison cell?”
“No need for ‘looks like.’ This is a prison cell.”
Bishop Kore took a fierce bite of the black bread, feeling that rough texture he had not tasted in a long while, and gave a bitter smile.
“I suppose Archbishop Ision discovered that I was helping Mr. Bruce, so I was locked up here. Then the Hall of Rituals exploded, and I almost got buried too. Fortunately, this prison was sturdy enough. I guess it counts as a blessing in disguise.”
“Your luck really is good.”
Pero looked not far away. The person lying there was probably the one Bishop Kore had said spoke so nicely. He was outside the prison cell forged from steel, likely one of the guards, and at this moment, a large amount of earth and stone had smashed him into a two-dimensional object in the most literal physical sense.
“Only the Goddess’s blessing.”
Bishop Kore clasped his hands and prayed for a while, then asked,
“What’s happening outside now? Did something happen? Even the Hall of Rituals exploded?”
“You should go see that for yourself.”
Pero did not say much and merely stepped aside.
Bishop Kore looked doubtful, but still followed her step by step and walked outside.
With the shackles removed, the earth and stone of the ruins naturally could not stop him. He reached out and shook his hand, easily opening a path to leave.
Lofty Holy Light illuminated the sky. In that moment, Bishop Kore seemed to regain his former dignity.
Yet when everything happening in this city entered his eyes, from far to near, he suddenly felt just how tiny that dignity was.
“...The whole city has already become like this?”
The foul air poured into Kore’s lungs as he took a deep breath. Bishop Kore’s voice trembled slightly. There were many things he wanted to ask, but in the end, he could only ask this one sentence.
“Probably... but it’s not completely over yet.”
Pero shrugged.
“At least right now, there are still people who haven’t given up on this place, acting like fools and using every method they can to try to save it.”
“Is that so?”
Bishop Kore showed an expression of understanding, as if he already knew who that fool was.
“What are you going to do next? The cathedral seems to have suffered heavy damage. It can’t be contacted anymore,” Pero asked.
“I...”
Bishop Kore fell into a daze.
That was right. What was he going to do next?
Even the cathedral was gone. What could a bishop like him, who had climbed up through shortcuts, possibly do?
“Wah...”
As Bishop Kore was thinking, he suddenly heard a cry.
Almost without any hesitation, as if it came from instinct, he said,
“Then I’ll go save people. There should still be many others trapped like I was. I’m going to save them.”
“That’s dangerous.”
Pero reminded him, “At this point in time, there are still many irrational Imperial soldiers wandering through the city. Among them are strong fighters even you may not be able to handle.”
“I know.”
Bishop Kore took a deep breath.
“But I still have to go. You should have things you need to do too, right? Then this kind of thing can only be left to me.”
“...How surprising.”
Pero looked Bishop Kore over again, as if she were meeting him for the first time.
In her memory, this man had been potbellied and repulsive, with nothing but money in his eyes. He was a pure villain.
She had never imagined he would say something like this.
“Heh. I’m a little surprised too.”
Bishop Kore revealed a complicated smile and gazed into the distance, as if recalling something from long ago.
“But despite how I look now, when I was young, I also had great ambitions.”
“Oh? What great ambitions?”
“To become a real bishop.”
Bishop Kore’s hands unconsciously gripped the holy cross pendant at his chest as he said softly,
“To rely on my own strength and become a bishop worthy of the title. Unfortunately, I was too eager for quick success and immediate profit. So much so that one day, I even forgot my original intention.”
“I see...”
Pero looked at Bishop Kore’s expression and began to vaguely imagine what he must have been like back then. Then she nodded.
“That really is a shame.”
...
...
After saying goodbye to Bishop Kore, Pero continued forward.
Along the way, she encountered wandering soldiers several times, but she easily avoided them all. Soon, she arrived before an estate.
An abandoned estate.
“So this place has already become like this?”
The familiar walls, the familiar gates, quickly stirred Pero’s memories. Once upon a time, Pero had thought she had already forgotten many things, even that she could no longer clearly outline this place in her dreams.
But now she discovered that her memories were still that clear.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons she could not escape.
She could not forget this place.
Nor could she forget the words her elder brother Aurier had said.
“At this point, there’s nothing left to be afraid of.”
Pero stepped forward and directly pushed open the gates. The formations and seals on the gate had already been destroyed, and she could guess who had destroyed them.
And so she passed through without obstruction, crossing every inch of the estate.
Pero’s steps were very fast, because she could not bear to look at the traces that still remained even after several years. They would stab into her. Hurt her terribly.
But she did not walk too quickly either, because this old mansion from her dreams was still trying to keep her there. It could not bear for her to come in a hurry and leave in a hurry.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back again. And not as someone running away, but as a victor. I’ll return everything here to where it belongs.”
Pero made a soft promise to the empty courtyard.
Then she arrived before that well.
It was the very well she had escaped through. When the enemies attacked, her wet nurse had hidden her inside, only for Aurier to find her.
And then let her go.
After so many twists and turns, after wandering so far, she had returned here again.
“This time, I won’t run away anymore.”
Looking at the calm surface of the water, Pero did not hesitate at all and leapt straight in.
Cold.
So cold.
So cold her teeth chattered, so cold it sank into her bones, so cold even her soul trembled.
A familiar cold.
But this time, Pero was no longer afraid. She turned in the well, like a swimming fish, and dove toward the depths.
Finally, she reached the bottom.
The bottom of the well was pitch-black, yet in complete defiance of common sense, there was not a trace of silt. Only smooth stone walls.
Pero felt around for a while. After confirming the position, she took out the same needle from before and lightly pricked her finger.
Blood seeped out and diffused into the water.
Then heaven and earth turned upside down.
Pero suddenly rose from the water, gasping in fresh air.
She looked around. This place was slightly different from her memories. Aurier had already remodeled it into a usable underground chamber.
But Pero’s gaze quickly swept past the traces Aurier had left behind and locked onto the waterway where she stood.
She was in the middle.
One end connected to a sewer somewhere in the western district, the place she had once escaped through.
The other end connected to an unknown area.
But Pero already knew where it led.
Because...
Weapons, soldiers, and even the method to break the grand barrier—Aurier had already prepared them all.
Then for Aurier to complete that thing, only one problem remained.
The route.
And the route that could bypass layer after layer of obstruction and lead directly into the deepest part of Saint Haze Palace was right before her eyes.
“This was probably the route that runaway royal uncle dug. Aurier didn’t have that much time or opportunity.”
Pero took a deep breath, and her gaze gradually turned resolute.
“But no matter whether it’s that royal uncle, Aurier, or me... one of us will pass through that route and arrive before you.”
My dear...
Father.
...
...
Corpses were piled one atop another, and blood flowed until it nearly gathered into a lake.
Muen stepped out of the “lake” and climbed the familiar stairs.
On the stairs, Donna quietly watched Muen, unconcealable shock in her eyes.
And behind her, the gauze curtains swayed. The withered old man lay quietly, as if utterly unaware of the outside world, still high above the clouds.
