NOVEL NEXT Chapter 230
I may have been imprisoned in this mysterious castle by the Hero of Light, Arpe, but I’ve now gained my freedom.
Arpe knows that I can’t leave, even without physical restraints.
So now, I’m strutting around this castle in the original body of the girl I used to inhabit, not as some ethereal spirit created by the power of the Holy Sword.
Arpe is currently in a deep slumber.
For the sake of her always maintaining a healthy lifestyle, she went to bed early as soon as night fell, and I wandered the castle, scanning the traces left behind by someone.
“Lady Arpe said that the ‘Princess’ and ‘Daughter’ who stayed here lived happily and then departed.”
The maid, Lily, led the way with a candle, showing me around various places in the castle.
“This is the kitchen. The Princess learned to cook here from Lady Arpe.”
“Arpe isn’t good at cooking, though?”
“Thus, at first, she ended up eating dishes that didn’t resemble food, and eventually had to cook for herself to survive.”
“Of course.”
A kitchen where Arpe and her daughter cooked together.
“This is the Princess’s room. Everything the Princess used in her daily life remains here.”
“…It’s tidy. Did someone clean it up?”
“No, I hear it was always like this.”
“So, she was the type to not have many items in her room.”
I was introduced to the daughter’s room.
“This is the personal laboratory where your daughter researched magic. She had exceptional talent and extensive knowledge in magic, and I’ve heard she rose to the position of Great Sorceress before turning thirty.”
“A Great Sorceress… That’s our daughter for sure. It couldn’t have been easy to reach that level by self-study.”
“Though it hasn’t been mentioned that she studied alone.”
“I can tell just by looking. Arpe is clueless about magic. She knew nothing aside from swordsmanship.”
Five hundred years ago.
Now, time has passed, and she must have grown a bit, but back then, Arpe’s abilities were tragically focused solely on physical power.
If I hadn’t done my best as a porter, ‘Bel’, it would have been a great struggle.
So, I can understand.
Since Arpe couldn’t be a teacher, my daughter must have sought out a separate mentor.
“I studied from books. There are more traces on the beginner magic books than on the advanced ones. It means I solidified my foundations well.”
I picked up a book labeled ‘Basic Magic Introduction’.
“…The handwriting is worse than I expected.”
My daughter’s handwriting was so bad that I had to strain my memory just to recognize it as ancient script.
There’s a limit to writing sloppily, but with the old language mixed in, I could guess who she learned from.
“Arpe does have dreadful handwriting.”
She learned everything from Arpe.
While she must have taught herself magic, everything essential for being human was learned from Arpe.
And the reason she learned magic was also clear.
A sorcerer conducts specialized research on a subject, and the amount of information and materials on that subject can usually be inferred from the ‘ratio of books’ on the shelves of a laboratory.
Most of the books my daughter studied were about summoning magic.
And what she wanted to summon was…
“…The introduction to demon summoning. What is a name? …All the books here are about summoning demons.”
Demons indeed.
“There were no separate necromancers.”
She was trying to summon a demon.
She was aiming to summon a demon king.
No need to state who that was.
“…So, this is what she sought out.”
“I have a question. Great Demon Lord Bel Phegor.”
“Are you not afraid of me, Maid Lily?”
“I am a loyal servant of Lady Arpe, so I see no reason to be afraid of the Great Demon Lord.”
Such a cheeky remark.
“Is it because I’ve become like this?”
“Because I’ve come to realize you’re a ‘kind being’ who deeply cares for those around you.”
“Bullshit.”
You’d get stabbed if you went around saying Great Demon Lord Belphegor is kind.
“I am not kind.”
“No, I’ve already heard it all from Lady Arpe. You’ve even saved the world to rescue your wife and daughter.”
“…That’s true, but it doesn’t mean I’m good, right? From a human’s perspective, am I not more wicked than today’s Satan?”
“That’s an interrogation tactic.”
“Gah…”
Incredible.
When I tried to slyly extract information about Satan, it seemed the mere mention of Satan’s name blocked my path to continue questioning.
“I heard from Lady Arpe about the Great Demon Lord when you were known as ‘Bel’. That story was certainly of a person entirely different from what I knew. The Great Demon Lord is a benevolent being.”
“I’m telling you that’s not true.”
“If you were not benevolent, when Lady Arpe attacked you, why didn’t you kill her?”
“…….”
“An ordinary Hero wielding the Holy Sword. The Great Demon Lord could surely have subdued her immediately. No, you most likely could even do it right now.”
“…….”
Lily is pressing me hard.
“How could I betray Arpe in this situation? Ah, am I simply running away?”
“You could seize ownership of the Holy Sword, snatch away Lady Arpe’s body, or even reverse the mana she provided to trap her in a barrier, if you really wanted to.”
“…….”
“Lady Arpe already knows. Even though I strongly opposed it, Lady Arpe poured so much mana into your body.”
It must have been a test of loyalty to gauge whether to betray Arpe.
“Will you betray Lady Arpe’s heart?”
“I won’t betray.”
Once is enough for betrayal.
“I promised Arpe. Having betrayed her once as Bel, I won’t deceive her again.”
“That betrayal was…?”
“Hiding my identity as a demon king. Keeping my true self a secret. From that point on, I treated Arpe with genuine feelings.”
I promised not to treat Arpe untruthfully.
“If I ever wanted to run away, I would have told Arpe directly. I would have expressed my feelings boldly, regardless of whether she bound me or let me go.”
“Not saying that means you have a reason to stay here?”
“Yeah. It’s because of this.”
I pointed to the materials my daughter had been researching.
“There are traces left behind by my daughter here. It’s my duty to scan these traces a little more and read the trajectory of my daughter’s life.”
“Daughter… I have a question.”
Lily asked me with a somewhat melancholy expression.
“Why do you keep calling her your daughter?”
“Do you know her name?”
“Yes. I know it. Lady Arpe told me.”
“I don’t.”
Unfortunately.
“I was banished from the Intermediate Realm long before my daughter was born. I tried everything to return, but it was all in vain. Ten years, a hundred years, hundreds of years passed without success.”
“…The demons summoned from the Demon World say that Bel Phegor lived lazily.”
“I researched and researched always. As long as I was simply sleeping outside with a single body, the others wouldn’t bother me.”
While I lay dormant in the body of a Black Dragon, which could draw attention,
“I put my clones into corpses and researched countless ways to return to the Intermediate Realm. And I reached a conclusion.”
“What was it?”
“I, alone, could not go to the Intermediate Realm by any means from the Demon World.”
No matter how much I researched, the conclusion was singular.
“The Demon God opened a barrier to the Intermediate Realm, using its last vitality and divine power. A red barrier invisible to human eyes, which blocked the ways for demons to cross over.”
“In the end, the only remaining method was…”
“To summon demons from the Intermediate Realm. There was no other way.”
I too.
Satan as well.
Lucifer too.
For different reasons, all three of us were seeking ways to cross over to the Intermediate Realm.
I never discovered it.
Before they, Zephar, summoned me, I was merely hoping for destruction amidst despair and frustration.
Objectively.
No matter how I said I was the daughter of Bel,
My daughter must have simply been born as an ordinary human.
…Living for another 200 years and dying while retaining her youth may be due to her talent as a Great Sorceress.
“So, does that answer your question? Why I won’t leave this place? I want to see a little more of the traces of my daughter’s fierce life. And… I want to fulfill what my daughter truly desires on her behalf. For my daughter.”
“Are you trying to become her?”
“Not exactly, but if there’s something I wish for, I should fulfill it. For instance…”
I picked up a spellbook.
“If my daughter wishes for the end of this world, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“…That’s a dangerous book. ‘Meteor’ you say.”
“I happen to know a certain satellite that’s about to explode. Of course…”
Next to the meteor spellbook.
“There’s also magic for creating a beautiful world.”
The cover of the spellbook written in my daughter’s hand was incredibly lovely and beautiful.
“Indeed, I’m proud of my daughter. I wonder who she takes after to grow up so wonderfully.”
“If that’s the case… How much does she long for her father, uh…”
Lily swept her gaze over me with a complicated expression.
“Should I say mother?”
“Ah, that’s not very important. What’s important is whether I can fulfill my role as a ‘parent’.”
I wasn’t.
“…I am one who couldn’t even give my daughter a name.”
“If that’s the case…”
Lily cautiously opened her mouth.
“If Sorceress Bel, your wife, named your daughter, how about using that name? Calling her just ‘daughter’ might feel lacking.”
“…Did Bel name the child?”
“Yes. That’s what I heard from Lady Arpe.”
My daughter’s name.
“With her permission, I will now reveal it. Your daughter’s name is…”
That name sent a shiver down my spine.
“‘Asydia.’”