Chapter 339
To a chilling degree.
“You don't look well. The long journey must have been hard on you.”
“…No, I'm fine.”
“What will you do now? There is still time before your audience with His Excellency the Chancellor. Would you like to rest at your lodgings? Or, you are free to look around the Imperial Capital.”
Chris’s eyes lit up.
“Is it alright for me to walk around the Imperial Capital?”
Duke Sant gave a good-natured smile.
“Of course. You, Grand Duke, are also a loyal subject of His Majesty the Demon Emperor. Please, feel free to look around anywhere you wish. The Imperial Capital is safe, so there is no need to worry about your well-being.”
“In that case, I will look around for a short while.”
“Ah, however. There is one thing to be aware of. Do not set foot in the ‘Garden in a Painting’.”
“The Garden in a Painting?”
“I do not know the exact location myself.”
A curious statement.
“Because the Garden in a Painting is made so that it cannot be found by anyone other than the four highest-ranking Demon Kings. It’s unlikely that you would accidentally set foot in it, but please be careful, just in case.”
Chris nodded his head.
It was highly likely that a very important secret was hidden there, but the risk of trying to find it was too great.
Afterward, Christian wandered the streets of the Imperial Capital.
There were many shops on the main street, but unlike the ordinary cities outside, there was no one soliciting customers.
People were buying, drinking, and enjoying themselves in a calm atmosphere.
‘It really is like a paradise.’
Chris thought blankly.
‘I just don't get it. I wonder if they have any Bulmongju?’
But it was in that moment.
Chris’s body froze stiff.
He had spotted an unbelievable face across the street.
“…Marie?”
A girl with a pure and beautiful appearance.
‘No, that's not Marie.’
That girl was not a ghost.
She was a living human.
‘But why do they look so much alike?’
No, it wasn't a matter of resemblance.
Her face, her build, everything was perfectly identical.
To the point that he thought it must be Marie’s appearance from when she was a living human, before she became a ghost.
“Wait!!”
As the girl turned her back with a flick and was about to disappear, Chris urgently got up and grabbed the girl's hand.
“…What… is it?”
The girl tilted her head and looked back at Chris.
It was the clear voice of a person, not the spiritual voice of a ghost.
“Do you know me?”
At the voice, filled with puzzlement, as if she didn't recognize him at all, Chris fell silent.
She was definitely not Marie.
It wasn't just the difference between a human and a ghost.
Her eyes, which seemed somewhat empty.
Her chilly voice.
They were completely different from Marie's.
“…I grabbed you because you look like a girl I know. I’m sorry.”
“I do?”
The girl narrowed her eyes, as if in suspicion.
“By any chance… are you trying to hit on me?”
“No. That’s not it….”
The girl spoke in an indifferent voice, showing no particular emotion.
“There's no need to be embarrassed. It is not wrong to feel an attraction to someone you've met at first sight. I understand.”
“……”
It was a response that left him speechless.
“So, what do you want to do with me? Do you want to go on a date or something?”
“…That's not what I said.”
“Didn’t I say it's alright because I understand? Ah, by any chance, do you desire my body?”
“That's not it!”
Chris looked aghast.
This girl. She was different from Marie, and yet somehow similar!
“Let me be clear, it's not like that at all. So, can we just talk for a bit?”
“Hmm. You seem to be a very shy person. Alright. Buy me a drink.”
“…A drink?”
“Isn't this the kind of situation where you drink to liven up the mood? That's what I read in a book.”
“…I'm not sure what kind of situation you're talking about. Fine, let’s go.”
They went to a nearby pub.
‘What on earth is going on.’
The girl ordered a beer, and since they didn't have ginger ale, Chris ordered a strawberry juice.
The girl looked at the charmingly decorated strawberry juice that had been placed in front of Chris and wore a strange expression.
“Do you like strawberry juice?”
“…I ordered it because I can't drink alcohol.”
“Hmm? You can't drink. How strange.”
Was it his inferiority complex?
The way the girl tilted her head seemed to mock him, as if asking how on earth someone couldn't drink, and Chris flared up slightly.
“Strawberry juice is rich in nutrients and is a drink that helps magi by boosting their vitality.”
“Ah, I see. How strange.”
The girl chimed in with a deadpan expression.
“But if you want to boost your vitality, wouldn't it be better to mix in a little more blood?”
“!!”
Chris frowned.
‘This is what Marie is always saying, isn't it?’
When Marie brings him strawberry juice, she always brings it while talking about virgin's blood juice.
‘Just what is this girl's identity?’
She was a peculiar being.
She was clearly a living being.
But strangely, even when facing her and talking, he couldn't feel any vitality.
Yes, it was just like facing a doll.
‘She's the complete opposite of Marie. Marie is a ghost, but she was more full of life than anyone.’
The same appearance, but the complete opposite feeling.
And yet, here and there, he felt a similar sensation.
Was it really a coincidence?
“…Let's exchange names, at least. I am Christian of the Dark Demonic House. What is your name?”
“I don't have one.”
“…What?”
“I said, I don't have a name.”
He thought she might be joking, but the girl’s indifferent eyes were not those of someone telling a lie.
“…Then what should I call you? There must be a name people call you by, right? No, who are you?”
“That's a secret. I am forbidden from telling anyone who I am.”
“……”
Incomprehensible words.
After that, Chris asked a few more questions, but most of the answers were similar.
She did not give a single clue that would allow him to guess her identity.
Just then, the girl stared at him and asked.
“Who is this person that looks like me? Is she someone precious to you?”
Chris was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.
“…Yes, she is a precious being.”
Even though she was a noisy ghost who wasn't much help.
Chris affirmed the girl’s question.
“…I see.”
The girl wore a puzzled expression for a moment, then rose from her seat.
“It's time for me to go back, so I'll be on my way now. Well then.”
“!!”
Before he could say anything, the girl turned her back with a swish and disappeared.
“Wait!”
He rushed out of the pub, but the girl was already far away, at the end of the street.
‘How did she get so far, so fast?’
Fwaat!
If he lost her here, he couldn't be sure when he would see her again.
Chris quickly used his light-foot technique, but something incomprehensible happened.
No matter how fast he ran, he could not catch up to the girl.
She seemed to be walking slowly, but the distance between them did not close. It was as if she were using the legendary Earth-Shrinking Art.
The girl changed directions here and there as she moved away, as if she were trying to shake him off.
‘I can't lose her.’
Chris gritted his teeth.
The scenery of the Imperial Capital passed by in a blur, and it was when he could no longer tell where he was.
The girl stopped in front of an archway situated between tightly packed buildings.
She turned her head, glanced at Chris, and then slipped inside. It was after Chris had followed her through.
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery changed.
Swoooooosh.
The wind blew.
The buildings that had filled the surroundings had vanished without a trace, and suddenly, a wide-open place overgrown with bushes appeared.
‘I've been transported to another space.’
Chris gulped.
‘I have to go back.’
He had a bad feeling.
An instinctive sense of crisis welled up, telling him to leave this place at once.
But when Chris looked back, he wore a look of dismay.
The gate he had entered through had disappeared.
“Where is this place?”
Flowers, trees, and fountains, decorated splendidly.
In that moment, the story he had heard from Duke Sant came to mind, and a single name came out.
“…The Garden in a Painting?”
The forbidden grounds of the Imperial Capital, which only the four Demon Kings could enter.
* * *
‘Is this really the Garden in a Painting?’
Chris wore a wary expression.
On the outside, it was just a beautifully decorated garden.
But his soul’s intuition was screaming a frantic warning.
That it was dangerous.
‘The appearance of the garden is also artificial.’
Chris noted that he could not hear the sound of a single insect.
The flowers and landscaped trees were as beautiful as a painting, but he could not feel any vitality from them at all.
‘Even Lenin's Scissors, which cut through space, don't work.’
This entire space was covered in a powerful barrier.
Having no choice but to step forward, a horrific being appeared.
A distorted face, dripping with ooze.
Wings extending from its back. Multiple pairs of arms and legs.
It was a humanoid monster!
“…A demon?”
But he soon shook his head.
He couldn't feel any evil energy at all.
‘He's a pure human. But why is he such a monster? Like a chimerical monster, a chimera?’
A chimera refers to a species born from the artificial synthesis of various magical beasts.
However, it was an art that was only possible on magical beasts; it was impossible to use on humans.
Just then, the monster leaped at Christian.
[Kuaaaaaaaah!]
Chaang!
His Dark Demonic Energy blocked the monster.
It was a considerably powerful force.
Roughly 3-Star to 4-Star?
But then, the monster showed an unexpected reaction.
Tears streamed down from its distorted eyes, and it said these words.
[K-kill… me.]
“!!”
Chris’s face hardened.
Paaat!
Chris’s sword sprayed blood.
It was the hot, red blood of a human.
The fallen monster closed its eyes, its face now at peace.
But it wasn't over.
Perhaps they had heard the commotion?
Monsters began to appear from here and there.
They were all humanoid monsters, and they acted the same as the one he had just cut down.
They, who had clearly once been ‘human’, shed tears and begged for death.
[Kill… us….]
[Please….]
Chris gritted his teeth.
‘Damn it.’
The monsters charged, and Chris’s sword sprayed blood again.
This was different from simply cutting down a monster.
It was a filthy feeling.
After he had thus slaughtered all of the endlessly swarming monsters, a stillness descended.
‘What on earth is this?’
Monsters like this would not have been created naturally.
This was the doing of the Demon Emperor.
‘Why would the Demon Emperor do something like this?’
There had to be a reason.
‘I have to know.’
He went deeper inside, but then Chris stopped in his tracks.
‘This is…?’
An even more horrific sight appeared.
Children were hanging from the trees of the garden. Like fruit.
Branches had dug into the children's bodies like tentacles, and he could hear the children's screams.
The blood-red magic circles engraved on the trees reacted to the children's screams and emitted a ghastly light. As if they were absorbing the children's emotions of pain.
‘Insane.’
Chris’s hand trembled.
He had seen all sorts of cruel sights since his past life, but this was one of the most horrific among them.
But it was in that moment.
A low voice was heard from behind him.
“Well now, this is a problem. I was wondering what kind of rat had snuck in. Is it Christian of the Dark Demonic House?”
“!!”
He was a handsome man with hair like blazing fire.
Chris’s body froze stiff.
It was the first time he had met this figure, but he could tell who he was at a single glance.
“Don't tell me… are you the Demon King of the Red River?”
The 4th-ranked Demon King, the ‘Grand Marshal of the Magus Empire’.
A being at the level of High 9-Star, no less, who possessed a power equal in rank to the Blood-Drenched Demon King in her prime during his past life.