Chapter 194: After Death Part 2

“Wait! Wait! Calm down, Johan. Let’s talk this out first.”

When I arrived at the incineration chamber, holding the Book of Lemegeton, Mephistopheles suddenly realized what I was about to do and frantically tried to stop me.

What a fuss, coming from someone who wouldn’t even burn if I threw him into the fire.

“All right, I admit it. I was wrong.”

“Yeah? Then tell me. What exactly were you wrong about?”

“Uh…”

“Forget it. You’re always like this.”

I’d spared him before, thinking he might actually be useful, but that was a mistake.

I should’ve just asked Helena to purify him when I had the chance.

Whoosh!

I tossed the Book of Lemegeton into the flames.

Hmm, hard to tell from the outside. Guess it doesn’t burn easily after all?

As I stared at the fire for a while, a new Book of Lemegeton appeared right before my eyes.

Of course, not a single mark of soot on it.

“Feeling better now?”

“You still smell like smoke.”

Yeah, of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

The Book of Lemegeton was merely a medium; no matter how many times I threw it away or burned it, I couldn’t get rid of it.

“Anyway, now that you’ve calmed down, talk to me properly. What happened?”

“I don’t even know where to start with this one…”

***

Whenever something important happened, that idiot Mephistopheles somehow managed to sleep through it all, so I patiently explained everything I’d seen, heard, and experienced.

“No wonder I couldn’t read your mind; so that’s what it was.”

“You bastard, when I asked if anything about me had changed, that’s what you should’ve told me first!”

Seriously, what is wrong with this guy?

If he’d mentioned that earlier, I wouldn’t have dragged myself all the way to the incineration chamber.

And what was that nonsense about my haircut? What was he, a boyfriend failing some kind of relationship test?

“So? What do you think this is about? I can’t communicate with it at all.”

I pointed to Mastema who had been chirping nonstop on my shoulder.

“Ah! Damn, what’s that thing?”

“……”

Only now did Mephistopheles notice the bluebird perched there, jumping in surprise.

At this point, I couldn’t even be disappointed anymore. Maybe because I’d stopped expecting anything.

“That’s a spirit.”

“A spirit?”

“Yes.”

“A spirit, huh…”

It might have something to do with the World Tree sapling.

Considering the World Tree’s original purpose, it wasn’t impossible.

Or maybe Tillis had given up her own soul.

Thinking back to her final moments… yeah, that seemed plausible.

Either way, the idea that Mastema had become a spirit sounded convincing enough.

“Can you communicate with it? All I hear are bird noises. Can you understand it?”

“Of course.”

“Chirp! Chirp!”

“Hmm, I see.”

“What’s it saying?”

“It’s making bird sounds.”

“…You’ve hit your head, haven’t you?”

He usually shows up in puppy form, but damn, what a load of bullshit.

“Calm down. I know I’ve lost a lot of your trust, but do you really think I’d make something like that up?”

“….…”

I’ve never trusted you. And haven’t you talked nonsense a lot? I was just being reasonably suspicious.

“This spirit is no different from a newborn. It’s practically an animal. So it can’t use language.”

“Then you should’ve said that from the start. Who told you to be so blunt?”

“B-But you always fling things to the ground if I don’t answer quickly!”

“So now this is my fault?”

“Ah, no.”

That sly devil trying to gaslight me right away. Can’t let my guard down for a second.

“It didn’t used to be like this. How did it end up this way…?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? Back then you didn’t know, so you were scared.”

The more I know, the more I realize this thing is pathetic. What good is great power if it’s always useless when it matters?

During the Kult incident, at least the opponent used divine power so I could understand, but with Tillis he just slept for no reason. What am I supposed to expect or fear?

“If you don’t like it, quit. Do you think I’ll miss you? You’ll miss me.”

Just carrying the Book of Lemegeton was already a risk that basically brands you a social outcast. He should be grateful to me.

“You say it can’t communicate, so I don’t know what its angle is.”

Surely it didn’t approach me with malice, right? Right now it looks harmless enough as a bluebird…

Well, it should be fine. If it’s a spirit and not a demon, it won’t try any tricks like Mephistopheles.

And since things between Tillis and me didn’t end badly, it shouldn’t resent me.

“Did it come to help me by any chance?”

“Chirp!”

“Okay.”

I still don’t know for sure.

There are too many scattered problems right now. This one can wait.

What matters most is what’s happened to my ability. Actually, it’s not even clear if it’s still my ability at all.

“So? Whether it’s the Demon King thing or my ability. Don’t you know anything about it?”

“Not a clue.”

“….…”

“It’s not that I’m incompetent, it’s just… unavoidable circumstances—”

“Who said anything?”

Useless bastard.

If even Mephistopheles, a demon, doesn’t know, then there’s no helping it.

I’ll have to figure it out myself.

But there’s another problem.

“Nothing ever comes easy.”

Information about awakened abilities was strictly controlled by the Imperial Family.

***

In the end, I returned to the hospital room without solving a single thing.

Well, if a few words of conversation could’ve fixed it, I wouldn’t be worrying this much in the first place.

All I got out of it was another reminder of Mephistopheles’s incompetence.

Maybe I was the one trying to take the easy way out.

I’ll just have to work through things one by one, slowly.

All right, time to try what I can for now.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

It was about time to sleep.

I felt a little bad for Lobelia, still hunched over paperwork under a dim lamp, but she was the best person to ask.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Well, after all that’s happened, this much is rather simple. So? I doubt you suddenly came to worry about me. Do you have something to say?”

“Yes.”

“Straightforward, huh? If only you spoke that simply all the time.”

Lobelia let out a small chuckle and glanced over at me for a moment.

Was it because I was wearing a hospital gown? Or maybe because she was a patient too?

The usual stern air about her was nowhere to be found, replaced instead by a relaxed atmosphere.

Thanks to that, I didn’t feel uncomfortable or awkward, and I could get straight to the point without wasting words.

“Would it be possible for me to access the Imperial Archives?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

Lobelia looked at me with a displeased expression.

“Only members of the Imperial family are allowed in the Imperial Archives, obviously. So if you’re bringing that up, could it be that…”

“No, that’s not it.”

What is she misunderstanding right now?

Don’t tell me she thinks I’m considering marriage to become part of the Imperial family?

I get chills just thinking about it.

“Right, I thought so. Then let me ask you. What on earth made you say something like that, especially when the rumors about us are already exhausting?”

“Well, I just… thought I’d ask, just in case. I was wondering if there might be a way.”

“You should at least say something that makes sense.”

So it’s a no, huh.

There really isn’t a more direct way than this.

But there’s no way I have the courage to stir up more scandal with Lobelia.

I’d rather avoid drawing the Emperor’s attention at all costs, too.

“You must be trying to find something, right? Wouldn’t it be better to just ask me to look it up for you instead?”

“Hmm…”

Honestly, that would be the most reliable way.

But asking Lobelia to look into my awakened ability would mean having to share the problems I’m dealing with.

Things like the Demon King, demons, and my special powers. Those are way too sensitive to talk about.

I can’t just stand before a member of the Imperial family and say, “Hi, I’m a socially inept potential terrorist.”

Of course, unlike before, the relationship between us had become more amicable.

But that didn’t mean I was brave enough to try anything risky.

To me, Lobelia was still someone I had to be cautious around.

“If it’s hard to talk about, then forget it. I know well enough that you’re uncomfortable around me. I suppose that’s because of the way I’ve handled our relationship up to now.”

“……”

“So if you choose to keep your mouth shut, I won’t press further. After all, you’re Ariel’s fiancé. I can’t apply pressure the way I used to.”

The way she said that made it feel like I was the bad one here.

Maybe it was because she looked frail, but something about her seemed pitiful.

“Ha…”

What was the right thing to do?

Was it really the right call to trust Lobelia and open up about my situation?

She was still a member of the Imperial family, after all.

And not even a perfectly virtuous one. Just pragmatic enough to be self-serving when it suited her.

But still…

“The exact reason is a secret, but I’m trying to look into my awakened ability.”

It wasn’t like we were in a relationship built on complete distrust.

Just as she made compromises for the sake of the world, I probably needed to find some kind of middle ground in dealing with her too.

If I kept drawing a line like this, it would just end up being a repeat of the past year.

There was also the precedent of Monia…

“Your ability… if I remember right, it was called thought splitting?”

“Yes. That’s what I thought too, but now I’m thinking it might be something a little different.”

“Couldn’t that just be due to individual differences?”

“I hope that’s all it is. But something about it feels off.”

“I take it you don’t want to say what that off feeling is?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t exactly bring up the Demon King. And for all I knew, she might even be the Demon King herself.

Explaining everything from the beginning was a hassle, and trying to clarify something potentially unsettling felt even more off-putting.

“If I have time, I’ll look into it. Will that do?”

“If you’re willing to do that, I’d be grateful.”

“Hmm, then let’s do that. It’s late now, so you should get some rest. I’ll be wrapping things up myself.”

“Got it.”

Had I been seeing the world too cynically? With just a bit of compromise, it had been surprisingly easy to gain her cooperation.

Well, either way, I was relieved.

She hadn’t pressed with unnecessary suspicion and had let it go without much fuss.

“Johan.”

“Yes?”

“Good work. Thanks to you, I was able to resolve a major issue.”

“…Thank you.”

Lobelia smiled.

As if a heavy burden had been lifted.

It was a smile of relief.

***

Emperor Abraham was walking through a dark, gloomy graveyard.

A space entirely devoid of life.

As Abraham strolled through the vast graveyard, he came across an unexpected presence.

“I knew you would come.”

The master of Under Chain, the great sage Faust, greeted Abraham as if he were a familiar neighbor.

Even as he looked at Faust, Abraham neither flinched nor showed surprise. He simply gave a dry chuckle in reply.

“Well, as always.”

The First Archmage. His title had a longer history than the Empire itself.

Once, this foolish great sage had even taught Abraham.

The only reason he had been able to build such a vast graveyard was because Abraham had turned a blind eye.

No, more accurately, this space had been created at Abraham’s request, even before it became a holy site of the Under Chain.

Here lay those who could not leave a name in the world.

Crude memorial stones with no bodies or belongings, but still…

“The one you’re looking for is over here.”

“……”

They remained, in some form or another.

Abraham stood silently in front of the gravestone Faust had led him to, lost in thought.

Ostillis Liberatio.

The elf who lost everything and died a criminal, all because of Abraham’s schemes.

Though she had been labeled a criminal, it was Abraham who had made her that way.

Standing before the grave of the poor young elf, Abraham quietly nodded, reflecting on his own sins.

He would continue to sacrifice the few for the many, choosing the lesser evil to avoid the worst outcome.

“Do you regret it?”

“Of course not.”

Tillis had been a grave prepared by the emperor to draw together the sins known as demons.

Through her, he had been able to efficiently deal with a significant portion of the demons wandering this world.

As a result of sacrificing one for the sake of many, the outcome could hardly have been better.

A grave formed by gathering together sin—

This was the method he had chosen to stabilize the Empire.

“It had to be done.”

Among the countless graves he had prepared this way, Abraham had already engraved his own name as well.

Waiting for someone who would one day bury the villain that he was.

He began to walk again.