Act 4-38 - Chance Meeting After Two Hundred Years |
The raid on Heinstia had finally closed its curtain.
Although 『Devil's Piper』 lost a few of their upper brass in the raid, they managed to annihilate the Inquisition squad, the greatest power in the Regios Kingdom.
The Inquisition squad lost their sorcerers, their Four Great Sages. Even their main supporter, Cardinal Zebedai, had been killed.
They were completely annihilated to the point that it would be literally impossible for them to make a comeback.
Lambert was walking around the devastated holy city. In his hand was the guqin that was entrusted to him by his friend.
Some buildings were set ablaze, crumbling to ashes.
The corpses of huge insects and numerous humans were scattered along the streets.
The sunset peeking from behind the clouds illuminated the ruined city.
Lambert threw the guqin into the blazing flames and slashed at it with his greatsword.
Lambert fulfilled Alvana's last wish.
Thus, the beautiful sound of the Yutelbe tribe that could charm even spirits and control human minds was lost forever.
「…Sorry, Alvana. I can't betray my raison d'etre.」
Before he turned around to leave, Lambert made sure that the remnants of the guqin had truly been burnt inside the flames.
In the fight in Heinstia, 『Devil's Piper』 lost 『Gu』 and 『Rose of Subkingdom』 from their Eight Wise Men.
Although Lambert had confirmed that the 『Knight of Blood Mist』's armor had already been crushed under the rubble, he believed that the other party had survived with some sort of method since he didn't find their charred body.
The survival of a sorcerer who dabbled in the forbidden arts was not something to be trifled with. Lambert knew that best.
So far, the Eight Wise Men that had been subjugated by Lambert were Manzi of the 『Ugly Corpse Old Man』, Le Look of the 『Laughing Clown』, Charlobe of the 『Spinner of the Truth』, 『Gu』, and Alvana of the 『Rose of Subkingdom』. That totaled to five.
If the Eight Wise Men of 『Devil's Piper』 really did compose of eight people, there were three others including the 『Knight of Blood Mist』.
‘… 『Devil's Piper』 might've already prepared to launch an all-out war.’
Lambert pondered by himself as he walked.
『Devil's Piper』 had already been working together with the nobles in the kingdom, ready to overthrow the kingdom.
『Devil's Piper』's existence had finally come to light due to the case involving Count Aubock. The large-scale attack of the undead on Barreira City literally shook the entire kingdom.
Now that they had managed to destroy their greatest stumbling block, the inquisition squad, they were obviously ready to win the war in one sweep.
「…Maybe the final battle with those fellas is just around the corner.」
Lambert muttered.
Two hundred years had elapsed since the unification war.
At this point, it was already far too late to overturn Lambert's infamy as the greatest sinner in Regios Kingdom's history.
Lambert himself didn't really care about that.
He believed that what turned him into an undead was his last wish to see the future that his lord had envisioned in the past and to subjugate 『Devil's Piper』, who tried to destroy it.
There, seeing the current peaceful era, he thought that he wanted proof that his death was necessary.
―In fact, Lambert had one regret left.
Lambert wanted to know how his lord, Aurelia, lived after his death and how her death was.
He could get the information about her as much as he liked, whenever he wanted, from an information broker or history book.
After all, she was the king who ended the chaotic era and united the entirety western Worimia.
Anyone with a bit of intellect—or rather, a bit of education—should have known about her.
But for Lambert, Aurelia was his benefactor, best friend, lord, the woman he loved despite knowing that his love would never come true…and the greatest betrayer in Lambert's life.
How did she spend the rest of her life after that. Would he regret once he knew?
That was what Lambert felt.
Properly speaking, Lambert had pretty much seen the peaceful Regios Kingdom.
Lambert's journey would be completed once he saw the royal capital, the face of the kingdom.
And strangely enough, he felt that the final battle against 『Devil's Piper』 would happen in the royal capital.
「When that time comes…I, an undead bound to my regret, might die for real.」
And Lambert felt that day would come soon.
Lambert didn't fear vanishing after accomplishing his goal.
From the very beginning, he was supposed to die two hundred years ago on the last day of the unification war.
「We seem to have lost, my dear knight. Do you know the way back?」
「Yes… As you command, Your Majesty…」
Suddenly, he heard a nostalgic voice from afar.
It was the voice that he thought he would never hear again.
Thus, Lambert stopped in his place.
He thought it was just his ears playing tricks on him.
Lambert wasn't very surprised by that since he knew that undead tended to experience illusions of their past more than living beings.
Alas, he still couldn't suppress his curiosity and turned around to the direction of the voice.
Some distance from him…a woman with an extremely shabby appearance was standing beside an armored knight.
The woman had dull blonde hair, wore an old coronet on her head, and was clad in tattered clothes.
As for the armored knight…he was undoubtedly wearing the Organ armor of the demon generals.
「WHO'S THERE?!」
Lambert unintentionally raised his voice.
The blonde-haired woman only spared a glance at Lambert before she touched her lips while tilting her head.
「Strange. My dear knight, there are two of them.」
The man clad in Organ armor didn't even spare a glance at Lambert.
「YOU ARE NOT GRIFF! SPEAK YOUR NAME! WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT ARMOR?! THE PROOF OF LOYALTY OF THE DEMON GENERALS! IS THE ONE WEARING THAT ARMOR A HUMAN?! OR AN UNDEAD?!」
Lambert voiced his question.
Yet, the blonde-haired woman just wore a smile on her face as she shrugged her shoulders, ignoring Lambert and entering into the shadows of the building.
The man in Organ armor also followed her from behind.
Lambert was looking dumbfoundedly at them for a while. Alas, he snapped out of it and chased after them immediately.
When he reached the place they went into, the two had already vanished.
He looked on the ground, to his sides, and above him.
He couldn't easily notice their traces within the ruined holy city.
And just like that, in his annoyance, Lambert hit the ground with his greatsword.
Lambert recalled their conversation from a while ago and shook his head.
「Impossible…that can't be…Griff.」
Lambert muttered in anguish.
Yes, Lambert tried to convince himself that the man in Organ armor wasn't his best friend, Griff.
The reason being was the condition to become undead.
After their death, their mana mustn't be scattered outside but locked inside due to their regret during life.
Strong regret, powerful mana, and the long time it takes for the mana to remain stable inside the corpse—and lastly the necromancy to be used on the corpse, only then did the corpse become an undead.
In normal situations, everyone who died had some regret in their life. Alas, most of those regrets wouldn't stay for too long.
The above factors enabled Lambert, who already had powerful mana and yet was unable to see the end of his dream, to become an undead even after more than two hundred years.
「Does that mean you're not living a brilliant life as the hero who led Regios Kingdom to its victory?! Did you not die in peace?!」
Lambert’s wail resounded throughout the ruined city.
Alas, no one heard his wail.
~ACT 4 FIN~
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TN: With The end of Act 4, I decided to drop this project due to its' low popularity and replaced it with The Protagonist of Isekaied Story With Cheat And Harem Has No Idea That All Of The Heroines Has Already Been Stolen By Me~Urgh, My Stomach Is Killing Me~
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THE NEW PROJECT:
Journey of The Childhood Friend Who Got Betrayed by Sword Saint
The Protagonist of Isekaied Story With Cheat And Harem Has No Idea That All Of The Heroines Has Already Been Stolen By Me~Urgh, My Stomach Is Killing Me~
(~’.’)~You Can Read The Advance Chapter by Clicking the Image Below and Become My Patron~(‘.’~)