**221. The Little Brats**
—
The Awakener community, *Player Talk.*
A fierce whirlwind swept through the place.
> – Looks like those Hero Council guys are f*cked.
> – Why?
> – You know Serengeti, the Knight of Pure White? One of Wilhelm’s closest knights during the Grand Expedition.
> – Of course. She’s famous. The NPC who never betrays.
> – Yeah, wasn’t there a guy who offered two whole cities just to recruit Serengeti?
> – Ah, that old dude from the Aslan Trading Company?
> – You’re talking about the Serengeti recruitment war, right?
> – But didn’t all of Wilhelm’s close aides die?
The Knight of Pure White — **Serengeti.**
She was already extremely famous among the players.
Only daughter of Marquis Weiser, backed by a guaranteed pedigree and terrifying growth potential.
Beautiful, incorruptible, and with her reputation among the residents already bound by *“absolute loyalty”*, the moment Serengeti reached adulthood, a war that was not quite war erupted.
To employ her… or to marry her.
The well-known story of the master of the Aslan Trading Company — one of the three greatest on the continent — proposing a transaction worth two cities just to obtain her was still spoken of everywhere.
But Serengeti chose Knight-King Wilhelm.
Without the slightest hesitation, as her master.
After that, she upheld her loyalty without wavering even once.
> – Serengeti is currently in the Kingdom of Valan revealing the truth about the Grand Expedition. She’s openly calling out the Hero Council and the Sages of the Tower of Magic for betraying them LOL
> – Holy sh*t. She’s alive?
> – Alive and more — she’s flying. The knights raised by King Friedrich are falling like autumn leaves.
> – If it’s the knights raised by King Friedrich, they’re monsters.
> – If this is true, the shockwave will be absurd…
> – For real. And if *Serengeti* herself is saying it…
> – Popcorn ready LOL
> – Add some soda too!
> – Dude I can’t wait to see how the Sages of the Magic Tower and the 6 Hero Council guys try to justify themselves LOL
> – Justify? They should stick their heads in the dirt first LOLLLLLL
> – Is that all she said? What exactly did Serengeti say?
> – The ending was kinda weird. She said Wilhelm *did* kill the Demon King??
> – Huh? Didn’t they all get wiped out by the Demon King?
Wilhelm was dead.
Absolutely dead.
Everyone had seen his relics dismantled and listed in the “Golden Scale Shop.”
Yet if he really killed the Demon King… then Wilhelm should be alive.
But the only one who returned — out of Wilhelm and his closest aides — was Serengeti.
And she appeared only now, *long* after the Grand Expedition ended.
Contradiction after contradiction.
People had no choice but to be confused.
> – Wait, hold up. Let me log back in. Who the hell is that person?
> – What is it? What’s happening??
> – …Where did the guy telling the story go?
> – Isn’t he in the Royal Castle of the Kingdom of Valan?
> – Anyone currently in the Royal Castle?
> – Damn it. I’m dying of curiosity!
—
—
…A strange Abyss.
I learned the moment I entered — from the notification windows — that the master of this Abyss, the *“God-Skin Hybrid”*, had taken interest in me.
But afterward, nothing.
If an intruder enters, you’d expect them to respond.
Yet—
*Nothing shows up.*
Not a single ant in sight.
If this were the Hybrid Zone, at least hybrids should appear.
Do they want something from me specifically?
That wasn’t the only odd thing.
*No Abyssal Poison…*
The Abyss contaminates intruders the moment they set foot inside.
If one stays long enough, the ego collapses, the body dissolves, one becomes a hybrid or simply dies.
But the place I set foot in now was far too peaceful.
Only an endless road, like an ocean without end, stretched on.
“Why are you with the Fang Knights?”
After walking for a long while, I asked.
Isabella replied:
“Lady Dersian came to find me.”
“I heard as much. And that you left together for House Dersian.”
The Dersian heiress I met at the imperial auction.
The girl who became heiress in Isabella’s place because Isabella suffered from the Divine Sickness.
She sought Isabella out *because of me.*
Originally she was supposed to come to me — but ended up running into Isabella first.
“Yes. She said she was only my substitute. She explained the ‘Divine Sickness’ in detail as well.”
“The ‘Divine Sickness’…”
“A disease of the gods that afflicts only a tiny number of Pangaenian natives. Like sleepwalking — the body is controlled by someone else at will. Just as it was for me, Isaac, and Balte.”
Looks like she’s fully pieced it together.
Strictly speaking, it’s players who control them.
Isabella continued:
“Also, in the Empire, those afflicted with the Divine Sickness are replaced by substitutes. The substitutes live their entire lives never knowing they are substitutes.”
“What happens to the people who actually suffer from the sickness?”
“They are erased from all records permanently. Even if they return, they’re treated as someone who merely resembles the original.”
Complete obliteration.
This was news to me.
*The Reaper Cult executives were all said to be afflicted by the Divine Sickness…*
So they didn’t use substitutes?
Well, the ‘Lineage’ Contract required one to suffer the Divine Sickness.
Judging by them, it seems there are exceptions.
Anyway—
“Then returning to House Dersian would’ve been pointless.”
Isabella returned to House Dersian, only to suddenly become an apprentice knight of the Fang Knight Order.
Even Raiga, the Knight Commander, believed Isabella was a child of House Dersian.
“Lady Dersian… has died.”
“……?”
…What?
Did I hear that wrong?
I was momentarily stunned.
Wasn’t she the one who clung to life desperately?
The one who fell to her knees before me, pleading for her life?
And she’s suddenly dead?
I gave Isabella a questioning look. Her expression hardened like stone.
“House Dersian. They killed the heiress who was digging into their secrets and locked me in the ‘underground prison.’ That place… they’re not normal.”
The look of someone who had seen something she shouldn’t have.
If *the Queen of the Desert* makes that face…
If even Isabella, who has endured everything, was horrified — it was worse than anything one could imagine.
“What did you see there?”
Isabella swallowed hard and spoke slowly.
“Human experimentation. Production of substitutes. Brainwashing… I pretended to be brainwashed and acted as the Dersian heiress. Through Knight Commander Raiga, I managed to get out… but…”
Insane.
If what she’s saying is true, they’re absolute lunatics.
House Dersian is among the wealthiest families of the Empire.
They were committing inhuman atrocities in secret underground chambers.
There’s no way the Empire didn’t know — meaning the Empire was intentionally covering it up.
Isabella pretended to be the brainwashed, dead heiress and gained Raiga’s attention, which led to her becoming an apprentice of the Fang Knight Order.
“And in the underground prison, I overheard a strange conversation about the Reaper Cult. They said the executive, the Golden Mask, is actually Wilhelm’s… ‘substitute.’”
The absurdity just kept escalating.
What the hell?
Golden Mask is Wilhelm’s substitute?
Not that Golden Mask is afflicted by the Divine Sickness — but he *substituted for the Wilhelm who had the sickness?*
No — before that — Wilhelm was born in the Empire?
Carrying the Emperor’s bloodline?
Isabella then looked directly at me and enunciated every word:
“They were saying the legitimate heir of the Emperor’s blood is not the Golden Mask — but Wilhelm.”
“……”
I had no words.
Of course, there’s no guarantee this is true.
It could just be utter nonsense.
But it was something that absolutely couldn’t be dismissed lightly.
To confirm it—
*I’ll have to rip off that mask.*
Beyond the mask.
If Golden Mask has a face that resembles Wilhelm, then everything becomes much clearer.
Even if the mask is said to *never* come off — I might just have to force it off.
—
—
The conversation continued.
Mainly about what Isabella had seen while following Raiga and the Fang Knights.
About Raiga hunting the fragments and about the “Blessing.”
“When a fragment of Ruin is exposed externally, it creates an ‘abnormal phenomenon.’ Raiga called that a ‘bug.’ And to fight that bug, you need ‘Blessing.’”
“Blessing?”
Back when there was a debate — whether Wilhelm was stronger or Knight Commander Raiga was stronger.
Isabella had mentioned the “Blessing.”
“Yes. However, only Raiga knows how to obtain the Blessing. Only those he acknowledges as his ‘disciples’ can receive it.”
“So you stayed on as an apprentice knight for that?”
“…Yes.”
Isabella nodded.
She must’ve believed it would help me.
But “disciple,” huh.
Raiga had been wandering the continent searching for a successor to inherit the power of Fang.
This time, he even organized a competition to gather talented people.
*I have to participate.*
…It seems I really will have to participate in that competition.
The Blessing is far more important to me than any reward.
Aside from the goat mask, nothing about my identity has been exposed — if I don’t get caught, it should be possible.
“Randolph.”
“Hm?”
“If… it isn’t rude to ask… may I ask about the ‘insurance’?”
“You’re worried about Serengeti?”
“…Yes.”
Isabella got along surprisingly well with Serengeti.
Their personalities were 180 degrees apart, which was probably why they complemented each other.
And although Serengeti was powerful, King Friedrich was a true monster.
Of course Isabella was worried.
I shrugged.
“I sent my children.”
“C-children…?”
Isabella’s eyes widened like full moons.
A look like — *You secretly had kids somewhere?*
I’d never said anything about children before, so it was reasonable for her to be confused.
I responded casually:
“They call me father.”
Not biological children.
But just thinking about those two brought a smile to my face.
—
—
“Lucaria. What should we do?”
“Dad… said only to intervene if she’s in danger…”
“Not Dad — Divine Father! Did you already forget?”
“But… but…”
The two children.
Issera and Lucaria were in the middle of heated debate surrounded by crowds of people.
When Lucaria looked like she was about to cry, Issera clicked his tongue.
“Her Majesty Hana told us — the titles we speak matter. Lucaria, are you just going to stay a baby who keeps clinging to our Divine Father?”
The two children were born in the Hatchery, created from the hearts of Dragon Gods Issera and Lucaria.
They were loyal **Overlords** who followed Queen Hana and Randolph.
Transcendents who inherited the heart and stature of the Dragon Gods!
“A-alright…”
“Good. Then you know what we’re supposed to do from now on, right?”
“What are we supposed to do?”
Issera pressed both hands to his forehead.
He’d already explained this more than ten times.
Lucaria remembered only what she wanted to remember.
“…Listen. If that woman gets in danger, that’s when we act. You’ll brainwash all the humans here, then I’ll pretend to be ‘Serengeti’ and step in.”
“That demon over there probably won’t be affected by brainwashing though…”
Issera crossed his arms and thought.
Indeed — there was one demon here far stronger than anyone else.
The moment his eyes met the demon’s, Issera tilted his head.
“Hm. So should I take care of that demon first?”
—
