Published at 22nd of January 2020 5:33 pm

Volume 8, Chapter 3: The Northern Key, The Southern Gate

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

For some reason, time was passing awful slowly.

It was a quiet village out in the countryside. Everyone here was kind. They were always smiling. Warmth seemed to radiate from them. It was the kind of place where one could end up forgetting all about their hatred, anger, and other dirty emotions. They just felt stupid to have here…

It was Grensled Village. In the Gastark Empire. It was kind of an odd name. She wasn’t really sure what it meant.

Kiefer Knolles was currently looking at herself in a mirror in said village.

“…Uwah, I’ve been tricked,” she groaned.

She had straightforward red eyes and hair. She had a thin body, but a little bit of weight to her limb, and right now she was wearing the fanciest dress in all of Gastark.

She scowled at her reflection. “Th-that bastard Riphal… he said he had something he needed me to do so he needed me to change into Gastark’s military uniform and gave me this, but isn’t it just a normal dress…?”

The older lady who helped her change spoke. “Aww, Kiefer, stylish clothes look so good on you! You get a big thumbs up from me!”

“Ah, n, no, I…”

“It’ll be alright, don’t worry about a thing! You’ll have that Edea boy smitten!”

“No, I… augh.” Kiefer sighed.

By the way, ‘that Edea boy’ was referring to the man who’d conquered the whole Northern Continent, king of the Gastark Empire, Riphal Edea… Nobody called him the king in this town. They called him the Edea brat, the Edea lad, or the Edea youngster… Apparently that was just how things were here.

“What the hell,” Kiefer muttered to herself, scrunching up her face.

The old lady seemed to misunderstand that, too. “Really, you don’t need to look so worried. I’m sure you’ll shock that Riphal guy with your beauty!”

“I don’t actually care what King Edea thi—”

The old lady ignored her and set to double checking her outfit. “Got the ribbon. Got the sash, too. You have nice skin so your make up’s perfect like this. Alright, my job here’s done. Have fun, won’t you?” She said as she gave Kiefer’s back a firm pat. Firm enough that Kiefer let out a strangled noise.

Kiefer looked back to the lady to see what the hit was for, but when she did, the old lady’s eyes were glistening with tears. “Huh? Wh-what?”

The old lady wiped her tears. She looked happy. “I’m so glad you’ve come… I can finally relax.”

“…Whaat?” Kiefer said. It came out pretty dumb, but she really had no idea what was going on. She shouldn’t have anything to do with this lady.

“See, that dumbass kid’s gone and become king, and do you know what he says? He says it’s for our village… for the world… He’s always dreaming big and doing his very best, and I’ve gotten to be so worried about him. But…”

She turned her teary eyes to Kiefer and continued.

“I’m sure he’ll stop getting into so much trouble now that he’s got a cute girl like you to be his wife, Kiefer…”

“Wh-what are you talking about!?” Kiefer yelled.

The old lady’s eyes widened. “Huh? Aren’t you two getting married?”

“Huh? Wha? Since when?”

“Well… Yesterday Riphal said that he was going to marry you today, so I needed to get you in the prettiest dress possible…”

“That fuckeeeeerrrrrrr!!” Kiefer yelled. She picked her dress off from the ground and made a run for it, out of the civilian house she was currently in. Once she was outside, she glared up at the castle next door where the king lived.

“……”

Okay, ‘castle’ was a major stretch.

It was a bigger house than the other ones. By a little. That was it. It was a big, wooden house. Even the townspeople just called the place ‘the Edea house.’ Only Riphal called it the castle…

Kiefer stomped on over, then pushed the door open without knocking. Doing so put her in a pretty big room with a massive table. There was a raised platform on the other side of the table for the throne. Though Riphal was, again, the only one who called it that. It was literally just a cheap looking chair made from a wooden desk he bought and then repurposed.

A man was sitting in it backwards. He had the same peculiar brown… no, pink hair as everyone here, loosely curling down his back. His left eye was gone, so he kept it closed. It made him look nice and calm, but the other eye… seemed to suck Kiefer in the moment it focused on her. And not just her. Anyone would feel the same. His eyes shone with childish innocence, the belief that he could do anything… and the strong ambition to truly accomplish whatever he set out to do.

Riphal Edea, the dictator of the north.

He was Gastark’s young king. He was looking around at his retainers sitting around the table with a sharp gaze. “Alright, let’s end this discussion. There’s another, more important conversation that we should be having right now - a conversation about Gastark’s biggest issue.”

The man sitting closest to Riphal nodded. “Yes. Yes, you’re right!” He said, his voice strained.

Kiefer shrunk back. This was actually her first time seeing so many people here at the round table. Honestly, in the few days she’d been stuck here with him, he’d done nothing but wander around and loiter like free time was all he had. When Kiefer went to the library to research the Cursed Eyes, he’d get in her way.

“How about I tell you about them?” He’d offer. Then a few hours would pass and he’d end with, “So, as you can see, I’m actually a really earnest guy. Did you know that?”

“I don’t care about that!” Kiefer would yell back. “Don’t you talk about anything but your own ‘good’ qualities!?”

“Huh? Well, I thought you wanted to know about them.”

Then he’d go back to the Edea house in a good mood. That was the kind of life he led. To be frank, Kiefer had never seen him work like a king before. But now, for the first time, he looked very king-like.

The man next to Riphal sounded upset with him. “Just what are you doing with all of this, King Edea!”

It was rare to hear someone address Riphal so politely here. This subordinate in particular looked like he had his head on right, too. He seemed like a smart, rational guy. He was about the same age as Riphal - twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He had the same characteristically pink hair as everyone in Gastark and sharp, intelligent blue eyes. He wasn’t really wearing Gastark’s military uniform - it was a bit different, formal and blue. Kiefer didn’t know what his uniform was exactly, but judging by his position right next to the king, it was likely one that signified a high ranking.

The man to his other side was dressed formally. He had a noble air about him - a member of Gastark’s nobility, perhaps…? He was a bit different from nobles in Roland, though. Decidedly less refined.

Aside from Riphal and his closest retainer, those at the table got younger the closer they were to Kiefer’s side. Everyone appeared tense, like they were seriously ready to get some work done.

It wasn’t the kind of atmosphere that Kiefer could rush in to yell ‘the hell do you mean you want to marry me!?’ so she stood soundlessly, then took a step back to leave.

But then the man in the blue uniform spoke.

“Your Majesty, who is that woman you’ve taken in!?”

Kiefer froze. Th-the biggest problem… was her? W, well, yeah, that was certainly a problem. She was someone with an unknown background from another country. The first thing anyone would think was that she was an assassin or a spy. There was no way she could pass as some tourist. There was no way that Riphal would take a liking to her just like that and have her join up with them.

She looked to Riphal. She couldn’t understand why he’d reached out to her in the first place, why he’d outstretched his hand and asked her to come along with him.

He would have killed her if she hadn’t taken his hand - she’d already seen proof of it. He’d kill her if she betrayed him, too. That was where they stood now. That was the deal she’d agreed to so she could read the books in Grensled Village’s library to her heart’s content, something that was worth the risk to her. They had information here that no other country had, fairy tales and mythology that had a deeply realistic feel to it. There were accounts of Cursed Eyes, too.

She’d heard that it was a unique place. One that had a deep heritage, inheriting countless relics and stories from the olden days, though she didn’t know the details yet… But she’d heard about the black sword that Riphal used to fight Stohl. Its name was Glowvelle, and at the cost of a piece of the user’s own body, it could obliterate as many as one hundred thousand soldiers with ease…

Its destructive power wasn’t the problem. What Kiefer was curious about was the voice she’d heard back when she saw it used. No, maybe ‘heard’ wasn’t accurate. It was more like a voice had descended upon her, like it was making direct contact with her mind.

It was just like what had happened when Ryner went berserk. A voice rang out, descended. It froze her with its solumness, its overwhelming power.

Thein lie what Kiefer was always, always searching for.

“I shall answer you. I shall answer you. Now, offer your sacrifice. Doing so will release my power.”

Then the sword devoured Riphal’s eye and massacred Stohl’s army.

“……”

It was a strange power. It was Gastark’s secret. They killed all who knew about it to avoid letting it get out, because it was something the rest of the world could never know about. Holy swords, Cursed Eyes, contracts, heroes. And… gods. Riphal said that those were clues, and the library might hold them.

She needed leads on the Alpha Stigma. Clues that might help her save Ryner…

That’s why Kiefer took Riphal’s hand. She did it with the full intention to betray him. She’d get what she needed, learn what she needed, then return to Roland. That’s what she thought, but…

“…Looks like I won’t be able to return so easily after all…”

Hindsight was twenty-twenty…

The man in blue was glaring at the king with unabashed disapproval. It was an awfully strong expression for someone who was just trying to childe his king about a woman. It was more like he’d already looked into Kiefer and was now aiming to dispose of her…

Kiefer shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. The blue guy had just asked who she was. They didn’t know who she was yet, but this guy’s tone suggested that he was willing to torture her to find out.

She couldn’t stay here…

“……”

Kiefer looked down at herself and scowled. She was wearing a long, flowing dress that’d hinder her movements as well as tall heels. Escaping like this would be impossible. Even just getting away from here quietly would be difficult due to the click of her heels…

The man in blue suddenly pointed towards her. “What do you see in that woman who’s been stooped over there suspiciously for a while now?

So he did notice her!!

Kiefer cursed internally.

Everyone at the table turned to look at her.

“Owah, Kiefer, you’re here!” Riphal said. He sounded happy despite the situation.

Kiefer stood up straight, powering through the discomfort of it all. “N-no, um, I didn’t want to interrupt your conference—”

“Whoa, you look stunning!” Riphal interrupted. “Just like I was picturing. I knew the dress would look great with your red hair, and damn if it doesn’t. Look, everyone, that’s Kiefer. Total babe, right? This isn’t even an issue once you see her. See? See? Get a good eyeful.”

Everyone stared…

“She’s pretty, but that’s about it…”

“How’s her lineage?”

“Huh? Uh, what?” Kiefer said.

Riphal grinned. “They’re asking because of our marriage—”

“Seriously, where’d that come from—”

She was interrupted again. Apparently people from Gastark took pride in their ability to interrupt others. This time it was the man in blue, who shouted, “I absolutely refuse to acknowledge her!”

“Now, now, have a good look at her before shouting that you object, Riz,” Riphal said. “She’s a real beauty, right? I’m marrying a beauty. Isn’t that every man’s dream? Is there really something wrong with—”

The man in blue - Riz, apparently, interrupted again. “Beauties are a dime a dozen in these parts. You’re this country’s king! It’s all-you-can eat beauties as far as the eye can see!”

“Yeah, but I already told you. That’s boring so I don’t wanna. I need something a little more stimulating, you know? I long for an exciting romanc—”

“You’d aim for a woman of unknown origins who might be a spy or an assassin for that!?”

Riphal grinned. “It’s exciting, am I right?”

“I won’t let you get away with that as an excuse! You never looked at any of the beauties I chose for you, and now this!”

Riphal grimaced. “You only picked out women who already have the hots for you!”

“Because you said you wanted something more stimulating! I thought you’d enjoy stealing women from me! I thought maybe you’d enjoy the thought of a wife if you could just steal her from another man—”

“You fucking moron!! I don’t need your leftovers!!!”

“M-moron!? You, our ‘stupid Edea brat,’ dare to call me, Gastark’s greatest protegy, Rigwaltz Pintest a moron!? I’ve reached the end of my rope with you. I will now reveal the contents of your very first love letter, written when you were twelve years old, from memory—”

“Y, you little… How come you’re always trying to pick fights with me!!”

“Hehehehh. Very well. I will now begin. ‘Oh, my beloved—’”

“I-I’m gonna end youuuuu!!” Riphal yelled, leaping up.

“Ha! Then kill me,” Riz said. “Reach over and kill me instantly. The moment you do, traps I’ve set all over Gastark will activate, releasing millions of copies of your love letters into the air. You know that, right?”

“…Ugh, ghh…”

Riphal was on the verge of tears…

It was the kind of fight children would have. Everyone else at the table was standing, too, goading them into it…

In the end, it was the same as everything here. This country was always, always like this. The retainers didn’t see their king as a king and the king didn’t act like a king.

“……”

Was someone like Riphal really the dictator of the north?

Riz turned around, his expression triumphant. “Once again - for the 421st time… no, 422nd time now, in fact - our king has forgotten the power I hold over him. How pitiful! My name is Rigwaltz, but if you don’t have the braincells for it, you may call me Riz just as he does. And knowing his short memory… he will soon forget your face, too, my lady. If you think becoming his plaything is sad, then I offer you a trade—”

Riphal interrupted him from behind. “Seriously, don’t go deciding that stuff on your o—”

Now it was Riz’s turn to interrupt again. “I have to work hard since our king can’t quite figure out how to use his own head—”

Then Riphal interrupted again… and it devolved into another petty fight. Kiefer didn’t bother to listen to it. This whole meeting was weird. She sighed loudly. “Could you guys please give me a second!” She yelled over them.

The fighting stopped. Everyone looked at her.

“So I never agreed to marry Riph… I mean, King Edea—”

Just then, another interruption came, this time from outside of the room. It was a girl, her voice raised. “Riphal!!”

Kiefer put her head in her hands. People in this country seriously didn’t give a shit about letting someone finish…

“Riphal, help!!” The girl yelled again. No, screamed. Like she was in pain, on the verge of tears. Like she was full of despair.

Kiefer turned to look back towards the door. Riphal jumped out past her, rushing outside. Kiefer followed.

There was a man collapsed in the clearing, a girl holding onto him and wailing. She looked about thirteen, and was wearing a black dress with good maneuverability, but it was covered in dirt and mud. Her hair was all messed up, too, and even her gracefully pretty face was streaked with mud…

“Riphal! Riphal!! M, my brother!!”

Kiefer looked at the man collapsed under the girl.

“…This is horrible,” she said. She had the urge to look away. His skin was open from his shoulder to his heart, like a beast had ripped into his flesh… and the wound itself was surrounded with ice, somehow.

“Kuu! How long have you been icing his wounds!?”

Kuu shook her head. “I, I dunno. I just—”

The dying man opened his mouth to speak. “R-Riphal. I’m okay… m, more importantly, get Kuu some rest… she’s been using her s, scythe the whole time… until we got here…”

“Are you conscious, Sui!? That means you’ve been taking care of your wounds, right? Then…”

Riz came out by Kiefer. He inhaled sharply at the sight of the man called Sui. Three men with black hoods appeared to stand by him. “Prepare for the ceremony,” Riz said. “We’ll use the Sacred Hollow.”

“Yes, sir!” The men said, then dispersed.

Riz looked down at Sui. “Just who—”

“Who cares about that now!” Riphal yelled. “Don’t talk, Sui. We’re definitely going to save you, so I need you to focus on preserving your warmth.”

“N, no… I can… talk,” Sui said. “This might be my… last chance to…”

“No, you idiot! Don’t even start. I’ll definitely save you! Shit, aren’t they ready yet!?” Riphal yelled, frantic. The sight even brought Kiefer to the verge of tears.

Because it was clear. They were just too late. Sui was fatally wounded. And yet Riphal kept yelling.

Sui smiled gently. “You never change, Riphal… You’re so loud…”

“I told you not to talk! We’ll get you the Sacred Hollow soon, and…”

Sui shook his head. He looked like he wanted to say something, but all he ended up doing was sighing. Then he looked up at Riz. “Rigwaltz… I don’t have the strength… to chit-chat. Persuade the king… for me…”

Riz was quiet for a moment, deep in thought. And then, “Your Majesty. Your decision.” His tone was sharp, far removed from the frivolous tone he’d been joking around with just a few minutes ago. He even said Your Majesty.

And the king…

“……”

Riphal grimaced. It was the expression of someone who was bearing a terrible burden - the true face of a king. Kiefer had seen him use it before, back when he swung his sword and ended many, many Stohlian lives at once to protect the secret of his country, to move forward on a road paved with sacrifices.

He had to decide now. What was most important now? What was the most correct course of action?

Riphal narrowed his eyes, then looked to Riz. “Kuu.”

That was all he needed to say to Riz. He moved a hand to Kuu, who was still clinging to Sui, and swung it against a pressure point in her neck.

“Ah…”

That’s the only sound she made as she lost consciousness. Riz picked her up gently. “You’ve worked hard. Have a good rest, now,” he whispered.

Riphal watched them, then looked back to Sui. Calm had washed over his face. He looked at ease.

“Th, thanks,” Sui forced out. “I guess I won’t see her again before I die…”

“…We don’t know if you’ll die yet. The Sacred Hollow should be ready soon. You might make it if we get you in there as soon as possible.” Riphal’s face warped with sadness. “But… the odds aren’t with us. It’s more likely that you’ll die…”

Sui smiled. “I’m in a bit of trouble, aren’t I…?”

The hooded men appeared again. “The preparations for the Sacred Hollow are complete.”

The Sacred Hollow…

Kiefer hadn’t a clue what that was. But it sounded like fatal wounds at this level might even be cured there.

“It’s ready, but we can’t bring you there now,” Riphal said. “Because you might just die anyway…”

That was his decision. His decision as king.

He hadn’t wavered. He made his decision as soon as Riz asked for it.

A kind who didn’t hesitate… and people who believed in him. Sui and Riz accepted his words as if they were the most natural thing in the world.

“…I’m glad you said so, Your Majesty… I’m not confident that I’d live either…”

Sui smiled.

Unbelievable, Kiefer thought. So the king’s subordinates could throw away their lives for him this calmly. He wasn’t ordered to. No hostages were taken to force him to. He simply threw his life away like it was the natural thing to do.

That was this country’s true power. The fact that the people would throw their lives away with ease for the king’s sake. The fact that the king would offer himself up as sacrifice to move forward. They didn’t stop, either. After the north, they moved towards the center of the continent. Someday they’d even reach Roland…

“The monster of a Cursed Eye we’ve been looking for,” Sui said. “It’s in the Southern Continent…”

“……”

The Southern… Continent?

The monster of a Cursed Eye they were looking for?

Wh-what?

They c, couldn’t mean Ryner…

“Then that monster is the one who did this to you?” Riphal asked.

“N-no… It wasn’t Tiir Rumibul. Riphal… you know it just as well as I do… right? We can’t beat him…”

“…Tiir Rumibul?” Kiefer repeated, quietly, so no one would hear. Tiir Rumibul? Never heard of it. Sounded like the name of a Cursed Eye bearer they were after, though.

“But… he’s dangerous,” Sui continued. “Somehow… he’s finding the Cursed Eyes everywhere, and… gathering them up…”

“Ah, shit,” Riphal said. “We can’t stand up to them if they’re together. What scale are we talking?”

“I don’t know… but I heard there were some in Nelpha… from my brother.”

“…Lir. He was supposed to be in Roland, though…”

Kiefer nearly gasped.

“…It’s probably fine if we leave the Iino Doue to Lir. But if it wasn’t them, then who did this to you…?”

“An assassin from another country… who used a Rule Fragment like Lir’s lightning beast ring…”

Riphal’s expression changed to one of despair. “Which country? Nelpha? Runa?”

“…It seems like… more than one country, now…”

Riphal’s grimace deepened. “I knew it. The south’s… where that gate is located.”

“…I don’t know… but, one most likely is…”

The conversation became incomprehensible. Kiefer didn’t have the context to follow, and came out of it without understanding much of anything. Rule Fragments, lightning beast ring, gates… she didn’t understand a lick of it. But she still understood that something was happening in the south. Something big.

“And… in Roland, a monster called Ryner Lute is using a certain power…”

Kiefer’s mind went blank.

D-did he just say… Ryner Lute? Why would Ryner’s name end up in this guy’s mouth?

“…Ryner Lute?” Riphal repeated. “What’s that?”

What were these people saying? Kiefer couldn’t comprehend it. It was too sudden. What’s Ryner? Kiefer had come here to figure that out. So why…? What was he? Was there a way to save him? She’d left the south and come here to the far north to find answers… but to think that she’d hear his name all the way up here.

Kiefer shivered.

What if the answer she’d been searching for all this time really was here…?

“He isn’t your average Alpha Stigma bearer… he might not look like it, but we’ve seen how much of a monster he is…”

Riphal seemed like he understood it all with just that.

Sui looked relieved to see it. “Ahh… Riphal, you know…”

Riphal nodded.

He knew. The thing that Kiefer most wanted to know.

Riphal really knew that!?

And just as he was about to open his mouth again…

“…Ah.”

Kiefer noticed Riz’s sharp blue gaze on her.

“Your Majesty,” Riz said before Riphal could speak. “This is a conversation we shouldn’t be having around outsiders.”

This… was bad.

It wasn’t just Riz. Riphal and Sui were glaring at her, too.

Since when…?

She soon got her answer. “You turned white as a sheet the second the Southern Continent came up,” Riz said.

Kiefer felt like she was going to cry. So they’d been watching her for a reaction since the beginning, even now, when one of their allies was on his deathbed…

“Then you reacted again at Roland. A third time at Ryner Lute…” Riz smiled. “This has become quite the interesting affair, hasn’t it? Somebody get Sui to the Sacred Hollow at once. We can hear the rest from this here lady…”

She had to act now. Kiefer flung her heels off and ran. She had to find a way to escape. But… Riz grabbed her by the hair, then pulled her just close enough to punch her stomach to knock her down.

“Guah!”

Kiefer wasn’t the one to let out a pained yelp. That was Riz, who Riphal had just punched in the face.

“What’re you doing, you bastard!?”

“I should be the one askin’ you! Don’t go punching the womb of a woman who might bear my children!!”

“Wh-whaat!? Are you serious!?”

Riphal grinned. The same innocent and childish grin as always. “I already said so before, didn’t I? I need love to be at least this stimulating.” Then he glanced over at Kiefer. “I don’t wanna be the boor who asks a girl about her past, but… I’m in a pinch, here, ‘cause that’s what I’m going to need to do.” He looked disappointed. “But don’t worry. I don’t care about your past, even if you were a spy or an assassin sent to kill me, as long as you truly come to my side. Then you’ll have nothing to worry about…”

He looked at her kindly. But his tone was sharp enough to kill.

“…So?” Riphal asked. “What will you do?”

She had two choices. She could sell Ryner out or die.

“……”

Kiefer sighed, then looked up at the sky. Was this far off northern sky really connected to the sky that Ryner was under now?

She had regrets.

“…Aww, I’m gonna cry. You’re too far away, Ryner…”

Her choice was…

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