Chapter: 256
A flash of starlight.
After a bright light swept by, the first to regain consciousness was Diakonos.
With an uncomfortable groan from the sensation of being bound, Diakonos opened his eyes and soon saw the Dolos family members being restrained by the heroes.
The way they were treated felt reminiscent of how one might handle serious criminals, prompting Diakonos to let out a small sigh and think, “So, it’s been discovered.”
Diakonos understood well that what they, the Dolos family, were doing was not easily comprehensible to the people.
It was only natural that those who did not understand the happiness of serving the Master could not grasp it.
Of course, even with that knowledge, it didn’t mean he could accept the current situation cheerfully.
How could he not have complaints?
After all, they had worked tirelessly for humanity’s happiness, and it was morally wrong for such individuals to receive that kind of treatment.
Therefore, as the representative of Dolos, Diakonos spoke to those restraining them.
“…You don’t need to go this far; I’ll comply with the interrogation, so please release the others. It’s simply wrong to treat those who have devoted themselves to people like this.”
Upon hearing Diakonos’s words, Dwight, who was looking at them from the front, asked in a conflicted voice.
“…For the people, you say? Do you really still believe that?”
Feeling a pang of sorrow at Dwight’s question, Diakonos realized how pitiful it was to be misunderstood.
Why didn’t they understand?
While it was undoubtedly sad to mourn the deaths of people, sometimes there were sacrifices in this world that simply couldn’t be avoided.
That had been the case last time.
Those who died were sacrificed for the happiness of those who remained.
Serving the Master was true happiness.
So why couldn’t they grasp that obvious truth?
That very obvious fact…
“…Huh?”
At that moment, as such thoughts crossed his mind, Diakonos felt an unprecedented and terrible dissonance in his life.
Wait, why was that?
The belief that serving the Master was happiness, something he had always accepted as absolute…
Why did it suddenly seem wrong to him?
No, why had he not thought it was wrong or strange until now?
It is indeed absurd to dismiss the death of people as unavoidable sacrifices.
“Uh… Uh…?”
The instant he began to think it was strange, a flood of dissonance overflowed in Diakonos’s mind.
It felt unusual, strange.
It was as if the very foundation that composed his life was being turned upside down.
He could no longer understand what happiness in serving the Master was.
He couldn’t grasp why they had struggled so hard in offering themselves to that Master.
He even felt lost as to why he had thought people would naturally be happy with that.
As he reflected on it again, it was unbelievable.
Why had he never felt it was strange until now?
After all, that Master was…
The dissonance and doubt grew, coiling around each other in a cyclone.
At the end of it all, Diakonos realized he had been living his life under an erroneous assumption and stared blankly at his own hands.
Those rough and calloused hands were the hands of a laborer.
He had felt pride every time he looked at them.
Because that roughness was proof that he had lived his whole life to help others.
But now…
Diakonos let out a small sigh.
“Aah.”
Long ago, a man realized he had been born with a blessed body and later built his family, naming his castle Dolos.
Dolos, which means “slave” or “servant.”
The reason he had chosen such a derogatory word for his family name was that he wished for his descendants to use the strength they were born with to help others rather than flaunt it.
Following the will of that founding ancestor, Dolos family became a lineage dedicated to serving people.
That was their belief, and that was their pride.
Dolos was a family that lived without shame in work for others, proud to live like servants.
But who had they really been working for all this time?
Diakonos looked at his hands once more.
Hands that had devoted a lifetime for a witch.
Hands of a fool who had driven the very people he should have helped into despair.
He could no longer feel any pride in those hands.
“Aah… aah…”
The slave awakened from a long, wandering dream covered his face with his hands and wailed.
All that remained for the awakened was the dirty pride left by the years in confusion and the horrific truth that he had acted against his belief to help others.
Feeling the weight of the sin he had committed, Diakonos collapsed toward the ground as if being crushed by it.
As the belief that had sustained him crumbled, wrinkles formed on his once robust body, and even his hair, which seemed indestructible, turned completely white.
In an instant, Diakonos aged dramatically, and a sound resembling continuous sobbing escaped his lips.
His wail resonated in a way that felt like a cry emerging from deep within his soul, leaving everyone around him speechless.
Only those from Dolos, who could understand a semblance of his feelings, shared in his suffering.
“What have I been doing all this time…”
“Aah… Aahhh!”
The cries of Dolos echoed for a while.
*
During a momentary break, I stepped outside with Sylvia to get some fresh air and let out a deep sigh.
“…Ha. This feels awful, really.”
“…I can relate.”
Sylvia murmured alongside me in a gloomy voice.
I could see other people around us, all wearing complicated expressions and sighing heavily.
It was clear that they all felt terrible judging by their expressions.
Having seen the Dolos people, freed from the control of the Witch of Lust, crying, who wouldn’t feel that way?
“…The interrogation is ending like this, right?”
“Yes, well… it’s not like we’re in a situation to hold anyone accountable.”
We hadn’t specifically discussed it, but it seemed the interrogation would conclude without any special measures.
I thought everyone probably shared the same opinion.
We had barely managed to calm those who were not only mentally destabilized but also attempting self-harm due to overwhelming guilt.
It was simply heartbreaking that the Dolos had to suffer in such a way after having been manipulated by the witch.
“…I wonder if Florene is okay.”
“…Well, Marin and Dwight are still comforting her, but…”
Among everyone, Florene seemed to be among the most distressed.
It seemed she felt especially guilty, considering she had been directly manipulated by the witch.
Just as I felt guilty about injuring Yoon Si-woo after losing consciousness to Evangeline, Florene was struggling to bear the times she had put me and the other children in danger.
She was almost apologizing to me to the point of wanting to die.
She cried her eyes out, and though I couldn’t fully understand her words, she kept mentioning how I could have been in serious trouble because of her, even throwing in makeup and the front lines for good measure. No matter how many times I told her it was okay, she wouldn’t stop crying.
It broke my heart to see Florene, who was usually so innocent and cheerful, sobbing with a twisted expression, as if the world was ending.
While the thought of not being able to forgive the Witch of Lust crossed my mind, I saw Dwight emerge looking haggard alongside Diakonos.
Since Dwight had been with Florene until just a moment ago, I cautiously asked.
“Dwight, how’s Florene?”
“…For now, I put her to sleep with magic and entrusted her to Marin. I thought she wouldn’t stop crying if left alone. More importantly, Diakonos wants to ask you something.”
“Ask us?”
Looking at Diakonos after hearing that he had a request, he slowly bowed his dazed face towards us.
“…First, I must express my gratitude. Thank you for liberating us Dolos from that damned witch’s curse. And I have something to ask regarding that.”
The once resolute demeanor seemed to have vanished, and he now seemed overwhelmingly weakened.
Right now, the only thing that moved his body was the sense of responsibility as the family representative.
As Sylvia and I nodded, he weakly made his request known.
“…I want you to finish it.”
He added further details alongside his request to finish it.
There were still demonic beasts remaining in the basement of the Dolos mansion.
Sylvia, Dwight, and I gasped in surprise upon hearing those words and quickly led everyone towards the Dolos mansion.
In the basement, as guided by Diakonos, we came across it.
There was a large pit in the basement.
Black waves that seemed to undulate on their own.
“Ugh… Don’t tell me that’s all…?”
“Yes, it’s the demonic beasts.”
Diakonos explained.
He mentioned that the Dolos family had repeatedly conducted a ritual referred to as ‘baptism’ in that pit.
He spoke of soaking in that pit full of demonic beasts and treating it as if it were something divine, shuddering as if recalling terrible memories.
I thought for sure he would ask Sylvia to purify the demonic beasts, but, contrary to my expectations, he asked me instead.
“…I would like you to burn the whole mansion down.”
“…Burn it down?”
“Yes… everyone wishes for that. Coming here would bring back bad memories. So please, burn it down completely to leave no trace.”
Feeling the fervor in his request, I silently set the mansion ablaze.
As the demonic beasts burned, I wondered if it were their cries as well.
The mansion crackled and burned eerily.
Diakonos stood silently, shedding tears as he watched the mansion blaze.
I could only guess what emotions were contained within those tears.
Regardless, once the mansion was completely burned to ashes, Diakonos ceased his weeping, bowing his head to me with a slightly relieved face to express his gratitude.
I hoped this would help him find some peace of mind.
*
After burning down the mansion and on our way back to the interrogation room where others were, I noticed Dwight making a strange expression for a while, so I asked him.
“What’s wrong, Dwight? You’ve had a bad look on your face since earlier.”
“…It’s nothing. Just, I’m a little bothered by the conversation I had with the Witch of Lust earlier.”
“Which part?”
“…The part where she revealed everything without hesitation. Until now, she had kept it all tightly concealed, yet suddenly she opened up when caught. Isn’t it weird? It felt like she acted as if it didn’t matter now that her usefulness was over.”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but agree; it did seem strange.
Besides that, I had something weighing on my mind too.
“…Sylvia, didn’t you say that before the witch disappeared, she mentioned, ‘it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re finished now’?”
“Yes… I’m not sure whether that was merely to scare us or if there’s genuinely something there.”
Upon hearing Sylvia’s words, I felt a chill run down my neck.
Could that boastful witch have said something like that without any intention?
What if she really had already done something…
Boom.
“What is that sound? Did everyone hear that?”
“Yes… I heard it.”
That was when we suddenly heard a strange noise from somewhere.
Sylvia didn’t seem to be too concerned about it, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake a feeling of foreboding.
Why? Was it just me, or did it seem like a sound I had heard somewhere before?
Just as I was pondering that, I saw Dwight’s face turn pale as he mumbled.
“…That sound, could it be…?”
In the instant after that, I recalled when I had last heard that sound.
Yes, that sound was undoubtedly from when the high-tier beast invaded the city…
The moment the thought came to me, Dwight muttered.
“…The barrier.”
It was the sound made when the barrier was falling.
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