Chapter 85: Awakening Part 4

Dietrich walked confidently toward the main building.

There was no way the Viscount Alec’s mansion, now reduced to minimal defenses due to the Judge’s rampage, could stop him.

“Out of the way!”

Dietrich’s sword struck down anyone who blocked his path like autumn leaves falling in the wind.

By the time he reached the main building, he hadn’t shed a single drop of blood or sweat.

Even after entering, little changed.

The soldiers who tried to block him were so unskilled that they couldn’t even withstand a single strike.

What eventually halted Dietrich’s advance were the servants.

“Do you know what kind of atrocities Viscount Alec has committed?”

Was Viscount Alec, surprisingly, someone with deep support?

Or had he simply hidden his true self that thoroughly?

“We do.”

“Then why…?”

“Because he is the master we chose to trust and follow.”

After subduing them, Dietrich moved on once more.

He concluded they were simply afraid of the consequences that might fall on them later.

That was how Dietrich chose to understand it.

That was what he told himself.

He climbed to the second floor of the main building, strode across the neatly arranged hallway, and flung open a door.

And there, Dietrich discovered the secret Viscount Alec had been hiding.

“Stop right there.”

“……”

For a moment, Dietrich stood frozen, stunned by what he had seen.

Viscount Alec had returned.

Breathing heavily, Alec pointed his sword at Dietrich.

Dietrich turned to glance around briefly.

There were no reinforcements.

Only Alec had returned.

There must have been something he couldn’t even confide in his closest aides. Something he was desperate to conceal.

And Dietrich had already seen what Viscount Alec had tried to keep hidden.

“Viscount Alec. Do you even understand what you’ve done?”

“Please… I beg you, just leave.”

“Your wife has already passed. And yet that…!”

“No! She’s still alive!”

Alec shouted.

But Dietrich had already confirmed that Alec’s wife was dead.

Thanks to divine power, the corpse hadn’t decayed, but it was clear she had long since stopped breathing.

It was a far more twisted ending than even Johan had anticipated.

“My wife is merely in a deep sleep. But even that…the Prophet will take care of it.”

“There is no such thing as the power to bring back the dead.”

“I said she’s not dead.”

A cold voice echoed through the air.

Unconsciously, Dietrich took a step back, unsettled by that quiet madness.

The pitiful, submissive middle-aged man who had once cowered before Johan was gone.

“…Even if that were possible, you’ve crossed a line, Viscount. Even if your wife were truly brought back to life, could you say you’ve acted honorably toward her?”

“Hah… Sir Dietrich. It seems you’re unaware, so let me enlighten you.”

Viscount Alec calmly gripped his sword, facing Dietrich.

“The fact that I was granted this territory is proof that I’ve taken countless lives.”

The war hero Viscount Alec.

A commander who had slaughtered many in the Empire’s numerous wars.

“I’ve been a sinner from the start, and my wife accepted me despite that.”

“And this is… somehow different.”

“Is it? Do you think there’s ever been a war waged by the Empire that didn’t kill innocents? I’ve always slain the blameless.”

“That’s a twisted justification.”

“Then let me ask you Sir Dietrich, can you truly say you haven’t killed anyone on your way here?”

“……”

“Can you truly swear that every one of them deserved to die?”

“I’ll say it again. Son’t try to sway me with such twisted logic.”

At Dietrich’s firm rebuttal, Viscount Alec actually scoffed.

“You’re still so young.”

“……”

“Far too young!”

Clang!

Their swords clashed violently.

Caught off guard by the unexpected force, Dietrich was thrown back, unable even to steady his stance.

“I do not justify my sins. If someone were to punish me, I would not claim it was unfair.”

“……”

“Twisted logic? You’re right. It is twisted. And yes, I was trying to sway you.”

Whoosh!

After driving Dietrich back, Alec lightly flicked his sword as if to shake off dust.

He didn’t seem intent on pursuing him immediately.

“I just wanted to prove how flimsy your convictions are if they can be shaken by such trivial nonsense!”

“Kh…!”

“If mere chivalry is what you rely on to block my path…”

Once again, Alec’s blade pointed straight at Dietrich.

“Then you will never be able to stop me.”

It was, unmistakably, a declaration of war.

***

Clang!

Viscount Alec was strong.

His sword consistently overpowered Dietrich, who was now completely on the defensive, barely managing to parry the incoming strikes.

“Haa…”

His breathing had long since fallen into disarray.

Dietrich realized it. He couldn’t defeat Alec.

The difference in their level was big.

But more than anything else, Dietrich felt it clearly.

Every single strike carries immense weight.

Even the weight of their swords was on a different level.

The man before him was undoubtedly a villain. A piece of trash who would stoop to any depravity for the sake of his goals.

And yet… could such a man’s sword truly feel this heavy?

…No. It’s not Viscount Alec’s sword that’s heavy.

The twisted logic meant to shake Dietrich—

It had succeeded.

Alec had called Dietrich young. And he was right.

Dietrich had swung his sword with a simple belief of evil must be punished.

That flat, one-dimensional conviction had carried him this far.

It wasn’t Alec’s sword that was heavy.

It was that Dietrich’s own sword was far too light.

“Ghh!”

“Urgh?!”

Clang!

Once again, Dietrich failed to block Alec’s strike and was sent flying.

Though he hadn’t taken a fatal hit, each exchange was steadily wearing down his stamina.

“Ugh!”

When he tried to scramble back to his feet, his knees buckled.

Dizziness hit him.

He felt utterly powerless.

Faced with Alec’s ominous and overwhelming presence, Dietrich bit his lip hard.

– Viscount Alec’s supposed to be pretty strong.

Dietrich recalled what Johan had told him before he came here.

Had Johan known it would come to this?

“Then…”

Drifting in and out from blood loss, Dietrich’s thoughts wandered.

“What should I do to win…?”

No, perhaps it was because he was in that dazed, almost unconscious state that he could finally reflect.

– If you don’t want to die, you’d better give it everything you’ve got, no matter what it takes.

Just a simple piece of advice.

However, those were words from Johan, who had anticipated things would turn out this way.

There had to be a way out.

Dietrich thought as he watched Viscount Alec walking toward him.

He had nothing prepared.

The only means at his disposal was the sword in his hand.

And right now, there wasn’t even any terrain or obstacles he could use.

What means or methods did he have left?

“It’s dragged on. I need to deal with you quickly and return to the front.”

“Khk!”

Dietrich ran, for now.

There was no strength in his grip. In his current state, he couldn’t even withstand Viscount Alec’s blade.

Survival had to be his first priority.

As he dashed around in all directions, Dietrich thought constantly. And finally, he arrived at a malicious, unthinkable course of action… something he normally would never have considered.

The moment Viscount Alec caught up to the fleeing Dietrich—

“What the—!”

Dietrich leapt backward, almost throwing his body away in the process.

He hadn’t dodged a great distance. With Alec’s skill, he could have lopped off Dietrich’s head before his feet even left the ground.

But you can’t do that, can you?

That was the method Dietrich had chosen.

He had run around on his last legs just to create this one chance.

Behind Dietrich stood a bed….and lying on that bed was still Viscount Alec’s wife.

He had used Alec’s wife as a shield to escape death.

For Viscount Alec, who had clung to a formless god to save his wife, this was an impossible situation.

“You dare…!”

He could strike Dietrich down right now. But blood would splatter onto the bed.

Even that, Alec found unbearable.

Dietrich had placed his bet, recalling the obsessively maintained state of the room.

In the end, Viscount Alec had no choice but to stop his sword, even if it was by force.

And the price was heavy.

“Die!!!”

Just as his feet touched the ground, Dietrich hurled himself forward once again with all his might.

In that single shout, there was no longer any chivalry or rage.

Only the desperate struggle to survive.

Whoosh!

Dietrich’s sword came slashing down toward Viscount Alec’s neck.

“You think this is my first time facing a brat like you?!”

Clang!

But even in an unstable stance, Viscount Alec managed to block Dietrich’s strike.

The man who had remained calm and composed throughout now let out a voice laced with fury.

“Urgh!”

His decisive blow had been blocked.

Of course, Viscount Alec hadn’t come away unscathed. His posture had broken down far more than at the beginning.

Still, he moved faster than Dietrich.

What do I do?

Dietrich stared at the sword driving straight for his heart.

His own blade had been knocked far off, leaving him with no way to defend against the incoming strike.

What do I do? What can I do?

There was no way.

The outcome had already been decided.

But in that fleeting instant, Dietrich racked his brain desperately to find a way out.

Snap!

It felt as if something in his head had broken with a sudden jolt.

Sring.

Just before Viscount Alec’s sword could pierce Dietrich’s heart, a faint red line appeared across Alec’s neck.

“What?!”

Viscount Alec immediately pulled back, even abandoning his strike, and clutched at his neck as blood began to spurt out.

Dietrich glared at him with a cold, piercing gaze.

“Grrr…”

The wound Alec sustained was serious.

A deep gash had been carved into the neck Dietrich had originally aimed for.

It had clearly been a failed attack.

And yet, just as Dietrich had intended from the start, Alec’s neck had been cut.

“So that’s how it is…”

Viscount Alec let the hand that had been trying to stop the bleeding fall to his side. Blood continued to pour freely from his neck.

The wound was deep. But it was one that could still be stopped, given enough time.

However, Viscount Alec knew this was a wound that could not be healed.

“The Prophet saw you as the greatest threat… That’s why he tried to win you over…”

Dietrich’s ability.

The only variable that could someday defeat Kult after he awakened and obtained the sacred relic.

[Trace]

It was a power that brought the past into the present.

To strike again along the path his sword had once taken.

To prevent a wound he had inflicted from ever healing.

It was the ability to turn the scars he left on the world into [Traces].

Realizing that his death was near, Viscount Alec dropped the sword from his hands.

Dietrich who had collapsed on the ground from exhaustion could only watch Alec’s movements.

But instead of finishing Dietrich off, Alec walked toward the bed where his wife lay.

And spoke just one word,

“I’m sorry.”

Thud!

With that single word, Viscount Alec collapsed to the floor.

Dietrich couldn’t be sure what exactly he was apologizing for.

***

Dietrich thought.

Viscount Alec was undoubtedly a sinner.

He had committed an unforgivable crime and deserved to be punished.

That much was clear.

But he wasn’t the simple villain Dietrich had believed him to be.

At the news that the territory was in danger, he had mobilized all his soldiers.

Even the hired servants, who were only there for pay, risked their lives to stop Dietrich for his sake.

At the very least, he had been a faithful lord.

Of course, everyone has a story.

Who in this world doesn’t carry some kind of burden?

But Dietrich had never thought to look beneath the surface.

To him, he had always stood on the side of justice.

And the enemies he faced were nothing more than heinous criminals.

“…Am I really any different from them?”

Viscount Alec had asked Dietrich whether, among all the enemies he’d taken down on his way here, there had ever been anyone truly innocent.

Dietrich didn’t know.

He had never tried to find out.

He had simply struck them down because they were subordinates of the villain standing in his way.

It had been the same with Eden.

He had thought of them as nothing more than terrorists bent on destruction.

“……”

But now, he knew.

They were people who had been forced to act, with what they held most dear held hostage.

A frog in a well…only now did he realize how vast the sky truly was.

The world, it turned out, was far more bleak and horrifying than he had ever imagined.

And now he thought.

No—he had to think.

He had to understand just how recklessly he had swung his sword, without a second thought.

He had to fully accept the weight of that responsibility.

He had to bear the burden.

“Kult……”

Dietrich was born in the slums.

He had once been the leader of the slum children.

But back then, he had still been nothing more than a child.

“Maybe I was just……”

When their friends were murdered,

Dietrich had stood frozen, pale and helpless, unable to do anything.

In that moment, it wasn’t him the so-called leader who held the funeral and buried the bodies. It was Kult.

From that point on, Kult had taken the lead, solving problems and taking action.

Before long, Kult had become the adopted son of Marquis Hereticus and began looking after the friends who were still wandering the slums.

Yes. Everything had gone well.

“……I guess I was just a coward.”

Dietrich finally realized.

That ever since that day, he had stopped making decisions for himself.

Everything had gone smoothly as long as he did what his capable friend told him to do.

All he had to do was quietly follow along.

So he gave up thinking for himself.

But now, he had to think. Because he had come to recognize his own cowardice.

He wasn’t a righteous hero.

The moment he used Viscount Alec’s beloved wife as a shield to find an opening, he realized he was no different from Alec.

The world wasn’t simple, and even the lines between good and evil were blurred.

That’s why one must constantly think about what is truly right.

“I…”

A sharp pain shot through his head.

His newly awakened ability was beginning to alter the structure of his brain.

And yet, Dietrich kept thinking.

He didn’t stop.

He began to reflect on all the things he had avoided facing.

He revisited the moments he had once brushed aside.

“I won’t rely on you anymore.”

His thoughts drifted back to the moment he had first encountered Viscount Alec.

He had believed in Kult.

It had been blind faith.

But now, he knew.

“I have to do what I need to do.”

He could no longer live relying on others alone.