NOVEL NEXT Chapter 233
Finally, the truth was revealed.
Through everything that had happened so far and my conversation with Arpe, I grasped the underlying circumstances of it all.
To summarize briefly:
My daughter Asydia gathered the remnants of the Demon King’s Army to summon me.
The head of the organization, Zephar, absorbed her group and turned it into his own private organization.
Arpe merely watched and observed the whole thing.
“Zephar is using me to summon my daughter. Do you know what method he might be using?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to know that much, nor did I have any desire to.”
“I get it; as a Hero, it’s concerning if you interfere too often in the Intermediate Realm’s affairs. It must have been quite shocking when I showed up unexpectedly.”
After all, it was a witch named Bel from 500 years ago who appeared.
“At first, I thought it was the witch Bel and tried to capture her, but I hesitated after seeing the state she was in. The reason I didn’t kill her right away… maybe I thought it was Asydia.”
“That was part of it.”
If it wasn’t the witch Bel but rather Asydia’s soul that was summoned to this land…
“You’re a Hero, but you don’t have the ability to see souls. No matter how much of a Hero of Light you are, spiritual matters are a different story.”
“…….”
“So you remained silent or observed until you were certain. And you realized that the being claiming to be the witch Bel was ‘Demon Lord Belphegor.'”
“Right.”
At some point in time.
It doesn’t matter when.
What’s important is that Arpe knew this and not long after, she kidnapped me.
“…Creating clones was your specialty.”
“Was that when you had your ‘certainty’?”
“It was the moment when 99.9% became 100%.”
“Where did the possibility before that come from?”
“All the actions of someone who looks like my daughter resemble that guy, how could I not suspect?”
“…….”
Is this what they call the Hero’s insight?
“I have been watching you. For a long time. Ever since you started hunting Demon King Beelzebub. There were moments I lost track, but I have always kept an eye on you.”
Perhaps the time missed was when it came to Belselphia.
“…I wanted to follow, but at that time, things here were chaotic as well.”
“What kind of situation?”
“That’s a secret.”
I thought they hadn’t confirmed it as Celcius’ territory, but it seems something must have overlapped at that time.
An incident I shouldn’t know about, one that would put Arpe in a difficult position if I learned.
“Okay, Arpe. Let’s conclude that your kidnapping was meant to save me.”
“That’s….”
“If I were to be captured by Satan, what could happen to me? Just think of it as rescuing me before I could be captured.”
Because of past ties.
“But Arpe, you’ve committed a grave mistake now.”
“If it’s about the Empire—”
“It’s not about the Empire. It might concern the Empire, but even if the Empire fell and all its people were wiped out, I’m not here to question that.”
The Empire is a separate matter.
“Asydia.”
Every time I say her name, it feels strange.
The name of Asydia I knew used to evoke feelings of anger and hatred, but now, I feel I shouldn’t harbor such emotions.
“You let the organization named after my daughter run rampant.”
I saw it.
Traveling with Lucius, I witnessed the traces left by the former Demon King’s army across the continent.
“Attacking cities with Sand Worms and ominous crows, implanting parasitic wasps into humans to make them explode, manipulating the Demon King to destroy cities, and colluding with Satan’s Demon Army to plunge the world into chaos.”
Those were the significant events I personally witnessed during my travels.
“If you ask, I could tell you countless more. Even without my words, I can recite what Asydia has committed. Just looking at the case files.”
“…….”
“And the most horrifying thing they did was… attempt to summon Demon Lord Belphegor.”
I opened my shirt.
“While offering numerous people as sacrifices.”
Naturally, the area where my heart used to be—was wide open.
“When I was first summoned to this world, I possessed this girl’s body. It was bewildering. The one who summoned me was Zephar, and he showed not only hostility but also tried to control me.”
Now I know the reason.
“But I escaped. I barely managed to run away from the altar of consciousness using Teleport Magic. During my escape, I witnessed countless girls who looked similar to this girl or were not drastically different. Corpses with their hearts ripped out.”
I understand why that happened.
And I understand what it was.
“Asydia killed numerous people to offer them as sacrifices. At the very least, a minimum of 660 humans.”
Human sacrifices.
Beyond the level of using goat’s blood when dark sorcerers summon demons, those are among the most heinous acts.
“Zephar intended to summon me by offering humans. He planned to dig into their hearts and to allow me to inhabit their bodies easily.”
“Exactly.”
“And you just watched.”
“Yes.”
Arpe slowly rose her body.
“I had no intention of aiding Zephar, but I wished for his success. If he succeeded, at least one of you two, father and daughter, would be able to reunite.”
“Even after all this?”
“Bel said it, right? No matter how miserable the world is, living in this world is far more valuable than dying.”
“…Well, that might have been just something said to win your favor at that moment.”
Of course.
No matter how miserable the situation, living is certainly better.
However, there are times when death can be a relief.
Among one in a hundred, or one in a thousand.
If someone speaks about how this world is better than rolling in a pile of dung in front of such people, it makes sense to rescue that person from the dung pile while saying it.
Belphegor did just that.
He has done it, and the woman he saved is now right in front of me.
“Arpe.”
And now, this woman is broken.
“I’ll apologize in advance. I’m sorry. I’m no longer referring to myself as ‘Bel’ but as ‘Witch Bel,’ so I cannot extend my hand to you anymore.”
“Is it because of that Hero you’re currently holding onto?”
“Not entirely.”
Although I did raise Lucius as a Hero, it has nothing to do with ‘putting up a front’ against Arpe.
“Thank you for raising my daughter, for spending time with her, and for witnessing her last moments. Also, I truly appreciate that I was able to see a glimpse of her face at least once.”
“How about I say what you should have said?”
Arpe turned towards me with a disheartened smile.
“Being grateful is being grateful.”
“I must say my piece.”
As expected.
Arpe knows me well.
“Yes, what would our Sorceress of Crimson Lotus, who claims to have awakened from a seal after 500 years, want to say?”
“I will correct the fact that the organization named Asydia which insults my daughter’s name has been allowed to run rampant until now.”
While I’ve thought about this for a long time, I now have a more definitive reason.
“I will destroy Asydia. Even if they managed to summon my daughter or summoned something else, the harm they have inflicted upon humanity is indescribably immense. From now on… I will erase it one by one.”
So that no trace of me, Belphegor, remains in this land.
“Didn’t you feel anything as Asydia, the organization using your daughter’s name, killed numerous humans and committed human sacrifices?”
“…Hero Arpe has already died at the hands of Demon King Bel. The Empire’s princess and Emperor, Leberced Arpe, has died as well.”
Arpe calmly shook her head.
“All that remains for me is just being Asydia’s foster mother.”
“So you stood by quietly, perhaps thinking you might encounter Asydia again, regardless of whatever they were doing?”
“……I had no reason to intervene, right? Am I wrong?”
As expected.
“I don’t know about you, but what if you witnessed that girl, who wished to meet her father her entire life, suffering through that pain and forcibly extending her lifespan with magic just to meet her father, die right beside you?”
“…….”
“Can anyone easily say that everyone dies? Surely not. If someone who had died returned to life, just how much more ugly and cruel could humanity become? Demon Lord. You’ve seen plenty, right? Especially….”
Click.
A white light began to glow from Arpe’s outstretched hand.
“How desperate parents become when they lose their children.”
“…Yes. I know.”
Having buried my wife and children in my heart without even seeing them born.
Arpe, who had to witness her child’s death while living together for 200 years.
“Especially when that child’s death.”
And.
“…If I could have prevented that death.”
The mother who regrets for 300 years, unable to pass on the Holy Sword, a means for her child to continue living.
“I am, you know, a failure as a mother. Other mothers would hand over their lives if it meant they could save their child, but I couldn’t bring myself to go that far.”
“…….”
It’s because she isn’t my biological child.
To say that, I know Arpe’s feelings for Asydia were genuine.
“If I could meet my daughter, Asydia again, I wouldn’t care what happens to the world. Look. Now I’ve met you, her father, like this, haven’t I?”
Arpe raised her Holy Sword, the White Silver Lord, high.
“So stay put. Bel. While you quietly close your eyes, they will come for your daughter. Or…”
Click.
“They might join forces and summon Asydia’s soul.”
“I said I needed to say my part, right?”
I placed my hand over my heart.
“I refuse.”
With all my sincerity.
“Asydia herself would not want that.”
Just like when I last parted with Arpe, I raised my hand in a halting gesture towards her.
“Farewell, Arpe.”
Now.
An enemy.
Asydia’s foster mother.
Leberced Arpe is right in front of me.