# Chapter 122
—
Ian blankly stared at the hole pierced through his chest.
“……”
From the moment he first gripped a sword, he had always been prepared for death.
Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined his end would come like this.
*Who could have ever predicted it?*
That the great Ian Dormund would die with his chest skewered by the mute, Arthur Bayern.
Ian spat up blood thick with phlegm and laughed.
“Keuk… kuhahaha….”
Arthur tilted his head as he watched.
“Why are you laughing, Ian? Are you happy to be dying?”
“Heh… Not happy—just absurd.”
“Absurd?”
“Yes… I never once thought I would meet such a pathetic end.”
Arthur chuckled faintly.
“How is that absurd?”
“What?”
“I literally died and came back to life just so I could kill you.”
“……”
“And not only that—I even returned to the past. After going that far, wouldn’t it be stranger if you *didn’t* die?”
At Arthur’s words, Ian let out a hollow laugh.
To think he would spew such nonsense until his final breath.
In the end, Ian had no choice but to acknowledge it.
“You’re insane.”
“It’s all because of you.”
Ian didn’t answer.
He was staring at death itself looming right before him.
Barely clinging to breaths that could cut off at any moment, he muttered:
“…Soon enough, you too will face the same end.”
Arthur shrugged.
“Well, I don’t know about that. But wouldn’t your father and Khan Madrid reach that point before me?”
“…You mean you’ll kill them?”
“Yes.”
Arthur grinned brightly.
“So don’t wear such a lonely expression.”
“…What?”
“You’re scared right now, aren’t you?”
“…!”
“You’re scared of dying. That’s why you keep talking to me, isn’t it?”
Ian’s eyes widened.
It was as though his hidden weakness had been laid bare, and he froze, unsure what to do.
“No… I…”
Arthur smiled warmly at his faltering words.
“Don’t worry.”
“……”
“I’ll be right here by your side, watching over your last moments.”
Ian’s expression twisted grotesquely at that smile.
“Arthur… Arthur Bayern!!!”
He roared, grabbing Arthur by the collar.
Arthur merely looked at him quietly.
That calmness only stoked Ian’s fury further.
“You… you mock me to the very end…!”
Ian raged, clutching Arthur’s throat with his hands.
But even with such violence, Arthur didn’t react in the slightest.
Then, with tears streaming down his face, Ian muttered:
“Why… why did you kill me… why… must I die here…?”
His words faded, his mouth falling open.
“……”
Slowly—so very slowly—
Ian’s hand, clutching Arthur’s neck, fell limply away.
Watching it, Arthur murmured:
“He’s dead.”
Ian Dormund.
One of the targets of vengeance he hadn’t managed to kill in his previous life—
had finally drawn his last breath.
At that moment, Arthur let out a soft gasp.
“Ah…”
The hazy, muddied world regained its colors once again.
At the same time, a surge of emotion brought back an old memory.
*‘In the end, the more you pursue revenge, the more it will torment you.’*
Advice someone had once given him when he was consumed by vengeance in the future.
Back then, he had half-believed it could be true.
After all, the life he led chasing only revenge had been unbearably bleak.
But now, having slain Ian, Arthur knew the truth.
“This is torment?”
He shook his head as he looked upon the radiant world.
“No… what’s tormenting is not getting revenge.”
He had succeeded—and the world looked so bright, his heart so elated.
Clearly, that person must have failed to see their vengeance through.
Arthur’s lips curved faintly upward.
“That’s why I can’t wait. If I kill Cain and Khan as well… what will I feel then?”
Anticipating that end, Arthur rose to his feet.
It was time to return home.
—
—
The enraged monkey began to rampage.
*I’ll kill you, bastard!*
The staff of Dormund, handed to him by Arthur Bayern—
The monkey mistook Leon as the one who had slaughtered the Dormund soldiers with it.
At the beast’s furious strikes, Leon hurriedly shouted:
“W-wait, misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding, monkey!”
*What misunderstanding!*
“I wasn’t the one who killed the Dormund soldiers!!”
*Not you? Then who was it?!*
“It wasn’t me, it was A—…”
Leon cut himself off mid-sentence, lips snapping shut.
*…Wait. If I mention Arthur Bayern here, won’t I just end up being chased by not a monkey, but a madman even scarier than a monkey?*
Leon groaned.
Between facing the monkey and an enraged Arthur Bayern, the choice was obvious.
*D-damn it! That bastard! He gave me this staff knowing this would happen!*
In the end, Leon shut his mouth.
The monkey’s eyes rolled with rage.
*You dare make a fool of me to the end!!!*
Its enormous fist crashed down toward Leon’s head.
At the last moment, Marshal lunged in, grabbing Leon and rolling them both aside.
Boom!
The ground where Leon had just stood caved in deeply.
Leon let out a heavy sigh at the overwhelming force.
“…Phew. Seems I have no choice. I’ll have to suppress the monkey, even at the cost of my lifespan.”
Marshal, groaning beside him, urgently signed words.
*Your Highness, you must not!*
“There’s no other way, Marshal. First we have to survive.”
—But! If you use that power—!
As Marshal tried to dissuade him, Leon muttered bitterly:
“If I die, be sure to tell Arthur Bayern—if things go wrong, I’ll come back as a ghost to demand answers.”
Just as Leon prepared to invoke the imperial bloodline’s power—
a familiar voice called from behind him.
“…Your Highness, what are you doing?”
It was Arthur Bayern’s maid—
Jeannie.
Leon turned, startled.
“Miss Jeannie! Where did you come from?”
“…Where else? I was with Mr. Carpe, holding off Dormund’s soldiers.”
“Perfect timing! Please, you must deal with that thing!”
At Leon’s plea, the necromancer Carpe emerged from behind Jeannie, eyes widening.
“No, that creature…? That’s him! Dormund’s black magician!”
Recognizing the beast at once, Carpe pushed past Leon and strode forward.
“Hey, black magician!”
The monkey’s expression twisted at his shout.
*Necromancer!*
“Looking at you, I should call you a shapeshifter instead of a black magician!”
*Silence! How dare a corpse-handler lecture me!*
This time Carpe’s face contorted with rage.
“What!? Says the creep who sits in a dark room chanting curses all day!”
*You’re one to talk! You’re the creep in a dark room fiddling with corpses!*
Leon and Jeannie blinked at the absurd exchange.
“…That’s quite a conversation.”
“Agreed.”
Then the monkey burst into a hideous laugh.
*Keh… perfect. Since I’ve revealed this form, I was planning to kill you all anyway. And to think you’d come to me of your own accord.*
Carpe’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re after me?”
*Why? Think I can’t kill you?*
Carpe scoffed.
“Hah… have I ever seen a dumber black magician? You don’t even know what kind of situation you’re in.”
The monkey chuckled in turn.
*I’ll give your words right back. You don’t know your situation either, corpse-monger.*
“Tch. Fine then. Let’s see you try.”
The monkey smirked viciously at the provocation.
*Gladly. I’ll kill you in an instant, corpse-monger.*
With that, its fist shot out.
Leon and Jeannie gasped.
“Mr. Carpe!”
But instead of panicking, Carpe leisurely crossed his arms.
Just as Leon and Jeannie’s eyes widened in shock, Carpe bellowed:
“Tacen!!!”
At his cry, the monkey’s punch swerved off course.
Boom!
Its fist slammed into the ground, staggering it.
As Leon and Jeannie gaped, someone emerged from the distance.
“…Carpe. What is that thing?”
A warrior of the northern snowfields, eyes bloodshot red—
Tacen.
Carpe answered with glee.
“Tacen! That’s the one! The one who cursed you!”
“…!”
At the explanation, Tacen’s eyes widened.
Meanwhile, a sudden strike from his greatsword sent the monkey reeling.
*M-monster!*
At its cry, Tacen slowly turned his head.
A sinister grin curled at his lips as he asked:
“How do you want to die, black magician? Living is not an option—so tell me anything else.”
—
—
Leaving Ian’s corpse behind, Arthur stroked his chin.
“Hm… will Yenika die?”
After being cursed by the monstrous Ian, she had yet to awaken.
Her breaths were faint, so shallow they seemed about to vanish altogether.
From her condition alone, it wouldn’t be strange if she died at any moment.
Even summoning Undine had been useless; not even a high spirit of water could heal her.
*This isn’t a physical wound, Arthur. Her very soul has been gravely damaged. Even I cannot heal a soul.*
At that explanation, Arthur recalled something.
*…Could it be? That smoke the monstrous Ian absorbed—was that Yenika’s soul?*
He gasped.
“Good lord… so souls actually exist.”
An astonishing revelation.
Then did that mean the afterlife also existed?
For a moment his mind wandered, but soon he refocused and muttered:
“Hm… but I absorbed Ian’s power, didn’t I?”
If so—wouldn’t it be possible to return Yenika’s soul to her?
Smiling faintly, Arthur concentrated.
At that moment, the vampire within him—
more precisely, the blood of the Vampire Lord—awakened.
Focusing his mind, he sought.
*Yenika’s soul… Yenika’s soul… Yenika… huh?*
But then—what exactly *was* Yenika’s soul?
Tilting his head, Arthur opened his eyes—
and saw a thin thread unfurling from his fingertip.
“Oh?”
His eyes gleamed as he guided the thread toward Yenika’s lips.
Though unconscious, she accepted it, the thread slipping into her mouth.
Watching, Arthur’s lips curved.
Already, her pallor was easing noticeably.
She did not wake—perhaps still reeling from the shock.
But after feeding her a bit more of the thread, Arthur rose.
“Haah… I really am too soft-hearted. Even with a fanatic leader, I can’t just ignore her because I know her.”
He shook his head and turned away.
“Well then, time to tidy up.”
Dormund’s corpse or Ian’s body left lying about could cause nothing but trouble.
So Arthur summoned Gnome and ordered the traces erased.
$Erase the traces, Arthur? How?$
“Hm… just bury them neatly.”
At that, Gnome’s eyes widened.
*B-bury them?*
He let out a gasp of admiration.
To clean up traces by burying the dead with his own hands!
Gnome gave a thumbs-up.
$As expected of you, Arthur!$
“…?”
With that odd praise, Gnome got to work.
Arthur silently observed when a forgotten memory resurfaced.
*Come to think of it… what was that memory?*
When he absorbed Yenika’s bloodline, her memories had flowed into him.
The abused child Yenika Hazel.
The young woman meeting Carpe and Tacen.
The student of Arcane University looking at him.
Her vivid memories resurfaced clearly, making Arthur’s eyes sharpen.
“Wait… could this be…?”
Was this one of the hidden powers of the Bayern bloodline, as the whitebeard had once mentioned?
Arthur gasped.
“Oh… that makes sense.”
Otherwise, there was no way he would suddenly see Yenika’s childhood.
His eyes glimmered as he murmured:
*So that means… if I drink Ian’s blood, I can peer into his memories too?*
If his guess was right, he could uncover unresolved mysteries.
*From the secret of the Grail, to the hidden truths of House Bayern—*
Not to mention Dormund’s classified knowledge.
Unable to suppress his excitement, Arthur shouted:
“Gnome! Leave Ian’s body as it is!”
$…Ian? You mean this old man?$
Without replying, Arthur approached Ian’s corpse.
He tore open the palm and let the blood flow into his hand.
Gnome’s jaw dropped.
*No way…! He wouldn’t, would he!?*
Living blood wasn’t enough—would he now drink from a corpse?
As Gnome shuddered in horror, Arthur thought:
*Still warm. Hm… but will blood from a corpse even work?*
He shook his head.
Rather than doubt, it was better to focus on the possibility.
With that decision, Arthur drank Ian’s blood.
Gulp.
The bitter, foul taste slid down his throat.
Ignoring it, Arthur closed his eyes.
As his focus deepened, his heart thudded violently.
“…!”
Startled, Arthur opened his eyes.
And in that instant—the scenery around him had changed.
“Huh? Where am I?”
Looking around in confusion, a familiar voice seeped into his ears.
$Your Highness. Why do you seek to target the Bayerns?$
Cain Dormund.
Ian’s father.
—
