BGDBP 06

Chapter 06

Caroline Mountains, Northern Roroan Empire.

Whether it was spring or summer, this place was always blanketed in pure white snow. But now, a crimson river was flowing where none had existed just moments before.

At the starting point of this relentless downhill torrent of blood and gore stood “Chris.”

If not for his already black hair and attire, it would have been starkly obvious how drenched he was in red.

“Ugh-!”

An overpowering stench of blood and the brutally mangled corpses of monsters finally made a young knight vomit. Even knights with considerable experience struggled to endure this horrific scene.

‘Ugh, this is really disgusting.’

Johannes, his body trembling, approached Chris. At this moment, with Chris in such a murderous state, Johannes was the only one who dared get this close.

It wasn’t because he was someone special to Chris. It was simply his personality to blurt out what needed to be said first and deal with the consequences later.

“Lord Chris. We’ve searched this place thoroughly, but it seems what you’re looking for still isn’t here.”

“Still?”

Chris’s cool gaze, containing red pupils, narrowed sharply. He already had a terrible temper, but right now he was even more irritable and displeased.

“So, what I mean is, it’s that difficult to find—”

“It?”

Chris’s glare grew even more menacing. He even moved his hand to the hilt of his sword.

Johannes Select. Was this how he would bid farewell to the world?!

‘No way that can happen!’

Johannes, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere, quickly extended a small bundle wrapped neatly in a handkerchief.

“Anyway, this seems to be the truth behind the rumors.”

In Johannes’s hand was a small fairy mummy. It merely retained the shape of a fairy, looking so pitiful it seemed it would crumble at any moment.

Yet, this shabby mummy was the very “holy object” for the northern goblins whose entire tribe was annihilated by Chris’s hand today.

‘Meaning this mummy contained a remarkable core.’

Core. A shining stone occasionally found within the corpses of beings who once possessed mana.

This stone was currently the only means for humans, who could no longer produce mages, to utilize magical artifacts.

‘With this core, we could even create a national treasure-level magical artifact, couldn’t we?’

Johannes asked Chris with a beaming smile.

“How should we handle this? Should we proceed to make it into a magical artifact as usual—”

“Handle it as usual.”

“Huh? Again, just like that?”

As Johannes let out a disappointed sigh, Chris’s expression once again turned murderously fierce.

Johannes hurriedly nodded his head.

“Yes. I will follow your will, Lord Chris.”

Still frowning, Chris drew his sword from its scabbard.

As he cleaved the air with his sword aura, a massive and majestic gate opened as if the world itself had been torn apart.

Several knights, including the one who had just vomited, began to stir.

“T-to think such a thing is possible…”
“H-he’s not human.”

The Swordmasters, the captains of the 1st and 2nd Hesperia Knight Orders and the captain of the Caroline Marquisate’s Knight Order, could perform mysterious and powerful techniques using mana, but they could not open Gates.

“Truly, this is the Grand Duke of Hesperia. The only psychokinetic chosen by the god…!”

Among the newly recruited young knights, feelings of chilly awe and fervent respect flowed forth.

“Hmm…”

Watching this scene, Johannes thought this visit to the northern territory wasn’t entirely pointless after all.

Of course, the northern cold pierced right through the skin to the organs just from standing still briefly, and thinking about the piled-up work due to this sudden expedition made every wrinkle of his brain ache.

‘Sigh. When will I escape this hell of work?’

The Hesperia Grand Ducal family that Johannes served was a family busier than fifteen wealthy noble families running massive enterprises combined.

How many titles were attached to Chris, how vast were his territories? The entire north was practically Chris’s.

On top of that, Chris was the only psychokinetic who had slain the Akxia chosen by the god. Whenever Akxia or monsters ran rampant, he had to take up his sword at any time.

‘Despite being so incredibly busy, he constantly roams around looking for that item, and thanks to that, my workload doesn’t decrease, it multiplies.’

Chris lost that item when he was young. It must have been about 18 years ago now. Yet, Chris had been searching for it from then until now.

‘Honestly, how can it possibly be found?!’

It’s not some incredible magical artifact, nor a magnificent gem. How is one supposed to find it? Even ordinary clothes would get moth-eaten and worn out in about ten years; there’s no way it could still be intact after all this time.

‘But he just won’t give up.’

Johannes, odd as he was himself, couldn’t compare to “Christopher de Frian Joseph Hesperia.” This empire’s only Grand Duke.

“Oh, my fate.”

Immediately upon returning to the mansion, Chris washed up and headed to his office.

He hadn’t slept for well over a day, but he wasn’t that tired. Probably because he was a special person.

‘That damn blessing!’

Chris could assert with certainty that he never wanted this power. Of course not. What could a five-year-old child know to desire such power?

Chris still remembers vividly.
The pain when his psychokinetic powers manifested. If that being hadn’t been with him, perhaps the Chris of today wouldn’t exist.

“……”

Chris leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.

‘To me, pointlessly standing there empty-handed, He clearly said.’

“My child. Faithfully carry out the task I have entrusted to you. Then I shall grant you a wish that no one else can achieve.”

Young Chris believed in the god’s promise. So he never once neglected the task of slaying the Akxia.

But the Akxia, those damn creatures, were like cockroaches; no matter how many he dealt with, they kept crawling out.

‘I dare to ask. Is there an end to this task?’

The more he thought about it, it seemed endless.

‘It seems His plan is to have me do this until I grow old and die.’

If that’s the case, couldn’t He grant the wish a little earlier?

With his throbbing head, Chris prayed today as well.

‘Oh, God.’

Whether I was cursed or blessed, regardless, I have not neglected the work for Your sake. Please hear my prayer and let me find it again.

I desire nothing else. Please let me recover what I pointlessly lost in my childhood.

‘If You only let me find it again, I will eradicate every single last Akxia without fail.’

Despite Chris’s earnest prayer, no clear voice of God was heard.

Chris felt hollow.

‘Where on earth could it be?’

Today again, with a face as cool as marble, Chris yearned for what he had lost.

And at that very moment, Piani was trembling with rage.

‘Damn these lunatics!’

After Piani disappeared, Delis searched for her relentlessly.

He wasn’t the only one searching.

Excluding the still-absent Count and Countess, the servants of the Rive Count household, and close nobles who knew Piani all joined in, searching high and low for their beloved Piani.

But not even a trace of her was found.

“Damn it!”

Late at night, having entered his own bedroom for the first time in days, Delis irritably slumped onto the sofa.

Lea, who had followed him in, gently embraced Delis from behind and spoke.

“Darling. Why are you so angry?”
“Does it look like I shouldn’t be angry? My plan just went up in smoke right before my eyes!”

It was a vulgar attitude he had never shown Piani. But Lea, as if familiar with it, maintained a composed smile.

“We can just adjust the plan in another direction.”
“If it were that simple, would I have been smiling and flattering Piani all this time?”
“Flattering? Weren’t you genuinely smitten with her?”

Lea asked playfully.

Delis, one eyebrow twitching, looked back at Lea behind him and shook his head slightly.
“Are you joking? Who would fall for a kid like that?! If she hadn’t had that background, I wouldn’t have even glanced at such a brat.”

Satisfied with the answer, Lea smiled, a smile as thick and alluring as the scent of roses.
Embracing Delis’s face tightly, she murmured,
“Of course that must be it. I was just joking. No one knows your high standards as well as I do, right?”
“……”
“And it’s fortunate. That brat left without anyone finding out, so she won’t cause any unnecessary suspicion.”
“……That’s true.”

Delis muttered softly, then gripped his hair tightly. It seemed losing Piani was no ordinary disappointment for him.
“Dammit, what do I do now…?!”

Delis’s body trembled uncontrollably.

“When father passes, my brother will naturally become the Duke of Emen, and my sister will become the lady of the Hesperia Grand Ducal house with her angelic face, or marry foreign royalty. But if things continue like this, I’ll be reduced to a petty noble without a title!”

Lea placed her right hand on her chest and said,
“Oh, darling. Why worry about that! If you marry me, you’ll become the next Viscount Sicil.”

Her eyes sparkled, and were beautiful.
But facing this beautiful woman, Delis’s expression was utterly cold.

“You expect me to be satisfied with just that tiny title?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want me to be stuck in the west forever, bowing my head to my brother and sister?!”

At his sharp voice, Lea flinched.
“T-that’s not what I meant. I just said it because you don’t want to be a petty noble…”

With trembling hands, Lea cupped Delis’s face.
“Anyway, don’t you worry about anything! With this power of mine, I’ll make sure you get everything you desire.”

Lea was afraid Delis might shake off her hands. But fortunately, he did not reject her touch.

‘He won’t want to lose my special power.’

Lea slowly stroked Delis’s cheek. What a beautiful face it was.

‘No jewel can compare to this face.’

Lea thought that now, at this moment, only she and the moonlight were looking at the most beautiful man in the world.

But she was wrong.

‘Eek! Oh no-!’

A stuffed doll carelessly placed on the mantelpiece was watching the entire scene.