Chapter 303 - Episode Three - A Certain Fixer's Fate (2) (Side: Peter)
A mature man with green and white hair was sitting comfortably in front of Peter and Myunhi.
He was relaxing with a steamy teacup in his hand.
He enjoys the aroma, sips a little, and places the cup on his desk, where he seems to have taken the liberty of rummaging through Peter’s papers.
“D-Don’t tell me, the real Count …… Julem ……”
A look of despair appeared on Myunhi’s face.
The man sitting comfortably in front of her was the very same Count Julem described in folklore.
The fact that he attacked Peter suggests that this was no mere prank.
In addition, the men and servants that Peter had left at his base were at least as good as B-level adventurers.
They were not someone who could be kicked out by the delusions of a madman.
However, at the feet of Count Julem, Peter’s men were lying dead and out of breath.
You can find no signs of fatigue or wounds on Count Julem.
“…… It’s been forty years. What are you doing here after all these years?”
“You know it. You know why I’m here. Do you think it’s just a coincidence?”
Of course, Peter knew without being asked by Count Julem.
The only thing that could have triggered Count Julem’s appearance to Peter at this time was the resurrection of the god Kudor, which Peter had done to warn him.
“Yes, I knew you were here to take it out on me. I’m sorry, but thanks to your stupid advice, I, I have finally achieved the resurrection of the god Kudor! No matter what you do now, it’s too late. If you’re going to kill me, kill me. You’ll be coming after me soon enough. That won’t change.”
There was silence for a few moments.
Count Julem drank slowly from his teacup, nodded in satisfaction, and turned his attention back to Peter.
“You don’t know anything, pitiful ex-pope. Why did I bother to give you a warning? Why have I neglected you in your search for the god Kudor until now? It is true that you have changed your face and identity. But you think I didn’t supplement you after all that time you spent moving around, interfering here and there?”
“What are you talking about ……?”
“Let me tell you something, ignorant Lord Peltaire. Kudor’s seal would have been broken eventually even if you hadn’t moved. Kudor wasn’t just waiting for someone else to break the trial. That was just one of the conditions for the seal to be broken. Of course, there’s no guarantee that someone would be able to break through three such crazy trials by chance at a time of crisis in the Dinrat Kingdom. Kudor’s seal was also able to be broken when Kudor sensed a huge magical power.”
Count Julem says this simply, as if he’s speaking of the obvious.
Peter’s mouth drops open in dismay.
If this is true, then all the decades of effort to prolong his life and break the seal of the god Kudor may have been for nothing.
But there was no way that anyone could know so much about the conditions under which the seal of the distant, ancient, mythical being of Kudor could be broken.
Peter reminded himself that he must be bluffing.
“How could you possibly know such a thing?”
“It’s set in stone in Kudor’s hand. There is no reason not to do so. As a matter of fact, that’s why the high-ranking spirits who still have their heads on a swivel are still living quietly, cowering and breathing, trying never to provoke Kudor. It’s as if they don’t know how much magic Kudor can react to. This is why humans, who as a species are unable to match the higher spirits, are able to become the rulers of the world. As in the age of mythology, it is more reasonable for human beings to be slaves who praise the higher spirits as gods. Even though many years have passed since he fell asleep, the human race has been protected all these years.”
“Wha- …… Wha- ……’
Count Julem states as if it were common knowledge that even Peter, the ruler behind the Dinrat Kingdom, did not know anything about it.
Peter wanted to dismiss Count Julem’s talk as the ravings of a madman.
But, his strange atmosphere, his lore, and his track record of easily destroying the best sorcerers he had gathered did not allow him to do so.
“If you knew everything …… then why did you come in front of me!? What did you want to do!”
“From the beginning, all I saw was Kudor. My goal is to destroy Kudor, the guardian god of humans. I’ve been trying to figure out how to kill him. Fortunately, he is an artificial spirit, forcibly grafted together, and has the great disadvantage of being unstable. In order to keep his vast unstable power as a deterrent to the world, he had to keep sleeping. So in the meantime, I could prepare as I pleased.”
Count Julem speaks while moving his hands in an exaggerated manner.
It was a puppet-like, deliberate, contrived movement.
“The reason I took the trouble to advise you was just one of the steps I took to kill Kudor. If Kudor wakes up voluntarily, there is a high possibility that his movements will be impossible to track. I didn’t know where Kudor was sleeping, and I couldn’t afford to waste time searching for him. Besides, I didn’t want to read Kudor’s scriptures. That’s why I threatened you, the pope of the Kudor Church, who was close to Kudor, to expose the cathedral. You have worked very hard for me, Lord Peltaire.”
“N-No way …… I-Impossible, it’s impossible! The god Kudor is not a being that can be managed by trickery! You’ve never even seen the god Kudor, and yet you talk like you know him so well!”
Count Julem did not respond to Peter’s provocation.
But merely laughed it off as if it were a mockery.
“I’m a very, very busy man, but I came all this way to see you because I wanted to thank you.”
Count Julem said and left his seat,……, and at the same time, he disappeared in a daze.
Peter looked around in a panic, but could not see him.
As soon as the thought popped into my head that he was gone, he heard a quiet tap on Peter’s shoulder.
I tried to jump away, but he was still holding me by the shoulder and I couldn’t move.
Count Julem’s face was close to the tip of Peter’s nose.
As soon as he does, Count Julem’s fearless and thoughtful face collapses.
The edges of his mouth split wide open and contorted. Both of his eyes were out of focus and looked like ornaments.
It was the look of a monster.
But this was more natural.
A person’s face is a reflection of their personality and the path they have taken in life.
The face of a monster who has never aged normally, who has been stirring up the world, who has been using up other people’s lives in games and schemes, could not possibly be that of a mature gentleman.
“Thank you, Lord Peltaire, thank you …… It is because you gave up your identity, bent your beliefs, distorted your way of life, and even stopped being a human being to seek out Kudor, that we have one more stone to kill Kudor. I am very grateful to you from the bottom of my heart.”
Peter tried desperately to resist, but Count Julem, like a stone statue, refused to budge.
“Get away from him!”
Myunhi swings her staff and removes the tip, exposing the blade and slashes at Count Julem.
A distinct metallic sound echoed from the clothes on his back.
It was a very puzzling phenomenon. The clothes did not allow even the slightest deformation when the blade struck them.
When Count Julem looked back at Myunhi, his face had already changed from that of a monster to that of a gentleman, but Myunhi knew she’s dead.
“Ah, ah, ……”
“You’re a little annoying. Be a Fogg.”
Count Julem pointed his finger at Myunhi’s forehead.
A pale glow lit up his fingertips.
“No, no …… no! Nooooooooooo!”
Myunhi held her head and cried out as if she had lost her mind.
Her legs trembled and she couldn’t stand, collapsing on the spot.
Myunhi’s vision is distorted by the fear that surrounds her, and stomach juices rise from the pit of her stomach.
Breathing hard, she looks desperately at her arms.
“I-I don’t want to, no! I don’t want that! At least, at least, I want to die as a human being!”
“Haha, I’m just kidding, I have a sense of humor, don’t I? Even I can’t handle such a complex phenomenon as rewriting the entire structure of an organism without a magic formula.”
Myunhi, exhausted by fear and stress, collapsed limply onto the floor.
“Did you come here to harass me because you’re so proud of your victory? You’re such a little guy.”
“No, actually I have a favor to ask. I feel uncomfortable asking a favor of Lord Peltaire, to whom I owe so much, but I thought it best to ask you.”
“Nothing you say can be ……!”
“I told you that I would turn the four great powers against the Dinrat Kingdom. That’s not a lie. The Riveras Kingdom have already begun to make their move, haven’t they? I’m sure you’ve already heard the report that a priest has come from Alfheim, the Sky Country, to extract the witch Altamir. You must have also noticed that there are suspicious movements in the Galshard Kingdom, right? What about the Maharaun Kingdom? The five grand masters there are quite crafty, so I wonder if they are still able to hide it?”
Count Julem counted, folding his fingers and smiling.
“You who are helpless and unable to do anything should go to Kudor. That is all I ask of you. Originally, I had prepared to turn the Dinrat Kingdom into a sea of flames at any time just to kill Kudor. Now, Kudor will not be able to pursue me alone, and will continue to expose …… large gaps, and will be exhausted. Your actions will also bring Kudor one step closer to ruin.”
“Ugh ……”
He had no intention of obeying no matter what was said, but Peter could not help but obey Count Julem’s words, even though he knew that it was to drive Kudor to ruin.
If he didn’t cry out to Kudor, the Dinrat Kingdom would be destroyed first.
“It’s the reason why I came all the way to the front of the room to talk about it ……”
“I’m busy, so I’ll leave you to it. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to say and what you want to do. If you want to get behind my back, you can try to keep everything quiet to Kudor. But no matter how you think it through, I don’t think you can be more than a useful pawn to me.”
Count Julem disappeared with a chuckle.
Only the sound of the monster’s laughter remained and reverberated in the blood-soaked room.
In the midst of all this, the ex-Pope, who had been informed that most of his life, all that he had spun with all his heart and soul, had been nothing more than a ruse by the monster, crouched there helplessly and cried without being able to control his voice.