< 157. The night is deep. >
*
As the rain stopped, the festival began again. Now, mages were shooting fireworks into the sky, and drunken elves stumbled around, bursting into sporadic laughter with those they bumped into.
Fernandez was walking through the crowd. It was a noisy festival, but it made sense. The Guimerin clan, who had wandered hopelessly for a year, had found a new home, and the Malerun clan, who had occasionally been taken as sacrifices to their king for centuries, had finally found freedom.
Fortunately, most elves either didn’t recognize him or were too drunk to approach him. Fernandez walked briskly toward the inner sanctum, heading to Leia’s office.
*
-Knock knock.
“Come in.”
As he opened the door adorned with intricate carvings, he saw Leia standing in front of a table cluttered with a large nautical chart, a compass, and other tools. She was holding a glass of amber-colored liquor and gazing at the table.
Leia glanced at Fernandez as he entered and poured him a drink into a crystal glass.
“My people were kind enough to share their drink. Being a queen isn’t so bad.”
“I could never do it.”
“Hehe, do you even see the throne in your eyes? Drink up. The banquet is in full swing, shouldn’t you enjoy it too?”
Leia laughed as she walked to the reception area. She stretched out on a purple velvet sofa, propping her legs on the wooden table and letting out a sigh.
“All this court etiquette is tiresome. It’s been a thousand years since we all became sailors, yet there are still traditionalists around.”
“Even without tradition, it’s not exactly a dignified sight.”
“Aren’t you younger than me? Friend, let’s not talk like old folks.”
Leia sipped her drink and watched the fireworks exploding outside. The room lit up in vibrant colors with each burst.
“It’s a good season. This winter will be warm.”
“Congratulations on the victory.”
“Would it have been possible without you? Meeting you that day in a small village in the wasteland was a great fortune for me and our people.”
Leia turned her head to look at Fernandez. The room, illuminated by the faint glow of magical lamps, and Leia’s expression, swirling the sticky, potent liquor in her mouth, were mesmerizing.
“So, tell me what you desire. Aside from the tribute I’ll send to the church, what do you want?”
Leia’s gaze openly swept over Fernandez. She then set her glass down and crossed her legs the other way.
Fernandez ignored the careless exposure of her attire and looked into Leia’s eyes as he spoke.
“Take me to the north.”
“Hmm, troublesome… What?”
“The north. The land of the northerners.”
Leia looked momentarily flustered, then blushed and lowered her legs. She adjusted her attire slightly and moved her glass aside.
“Ah, right. You spoke with that outsider. Do you have business in the north? Can you tell me about it?”
“Signs of a Great Demon have been detected in the north. There’s not enough evidence to confirm it’s him, but there’s definitely a demon behind it. And I’m a demon hunter.”
“Can you trust that outsider’s words? Didn’t he say he made some deal with Malerun?”
“He said he supported the hunt for a god.”
Fernandez rolled the glass in his hand as he spoke.
“Richter whispered the location of Kian, the Grand Duke of the North Sea, to Malerun, and the northerners taught Malerun a spell to capture the sea god. In fact, Malerun used the northerners’ unique magic system. He must have liked it.”
“If there’s a way to hunt a god, why didn’t the northerners do it themselves?”
“Well, there might have been restrictions. Or the backlash was too strong. There could be many reasons. And killing a god, if successful, is a scheme without consequences. If they killed Kian, they’d incur MacLaren’s wrath, so there was no need to take the risk.”
Kian, the Grand Duke of the North Sea, was one of the many minor deities who couldn’t enter the Temple of the Gods. He lay dormant in the depths of the North Sea, and his divinity was stolen by Malerun’s spell.
The reason Malerun stayed in a region of the North Sea for so long, and the spell to capture and steal Kian’s divinity, was completed before they even arrived. He boasted, “You’ve already lost,” relying on the stolen divinity.
Fernandez found his carelessness amusing. If he had used the magical circuits on the capital ship to engage in a magical battle, the outcome might have been different. But he panicked when Fernandez easily destroyed his magic with a magical wedge and offered a truce.
‘It takes an incredibly long time to fully assimilate the divinity of another god.’
Even Mumto, the demon who hunted divinity, couldn’t fully dissolve the fragments of gods he had swallowed. The first god he swallowed, Kadán, still maintained his independence even after a thousand years.
If even a Great Demon couldn’t do it, it was nearly impossible for a mortal to awaken as a god by gaining divinity in such a short time. If it were possible, the world would be overflowing with all sorts of minor deities.
“Did you hear why they helped Malerun hunt the gods?”
“They said the northern gods were being hunted by demons and their followers. They’re offering that power to their master. So, before that demon gains enough power, they wanted to help the Elven King and strike first.”
“Gods and god hunting. Ha, it’s a tangled mess of a story…”
The queen of a race exiled from the continent for killing their own god sighed with sad eyes. She nodded at Fernandez.
“Alright. I’ll take you to the north. What else do you need?”
“Can you deliver this report to the church?”
“That’s simple. We’re planning to dock at a nearby port to resupply. I’ll send it then. And we’ll head straight to the north.”
Fernandez nodded briefly at Leia’s words and downed his drink.
It was done. The bitter and sticky poison flowed down his throat, warming it, and soon seeped into his body, disappearing. No drunkenness came over him.
Fernandez glanced once at the fireworks outside the window and then set down his glass.
“Thank you for the drink.”
“Indeed. The night is late. Rest well. Enjoy the festival on your way back.”
Leia nodded readily. Fernandez chuckled at her words and grabbed the doorknob.
*
Fernandez was cleaning the blade of King Dane’s sword with an oiled cloth. The ancient dwarven craftsmanship, the achievements of the King Knight, the blessings and protection of the gods. Combined, the blade of this sword never dulled, but wiping the cool blade helped him focus.
King Dane’s swordsmanship could slice through space itself. It was a technique so miraculous that even magic struggled to replicate such phenomena.
After numerous attempts, Fernandez realized that this technique could only be performed with this sword. The unbreakable blade. When it sliced through space, ordinary longswords would shatter along with their blades.
As his cloth wiped away the dirt and dust from the blade, he suddenly stopped. There, engraved in crooked ancient runes, was the word “Dain.” Its meaning was “compassion.”
[Always protect the weak. No matter your vow, have compassion for those who fall along the way.]
It was as if he could hear the king’s voice from that day. Chivalry, the foolish vows and vague honor for which idiots would lay down their lives. In a past life, he might have mocked them.
Though he didn’t follow the rigid chivalry of those knights, Fernandez no longer mocked them. Even if he didn’t praise their nobility, at least he no longer scorned them.
-Knock knock.
At that moment, a soft knock was heard. Fernandez stopped wiping the blade, slowly sheathed the sword, and turned his head.
The door opened slowly, and slightly damp hair glistened. Abel stood at the door, looking at him.
“I came to return your sword.”
Abel held out the greatsword she had been carrying.
“Isn’t that a relic of your church? Too precious for a woman’s hands.”
Fernandez took the greatsword from her hands. At that moment, a divine chill ran through the hilt and into his veins. Fernandez, who had been absentmindedly gazing at the blade, soon sheathed the sword and leaned it against the wall.
“Are you feeling well?”
“Thanks to you, I’m quite comfortable. Indeed, I understand why you told me not to turn into a dragon. It’s quite exhausting.”
Abel smiled softly and approached the table. She picked up an overturned empty glass and said,
“Did you not plan to offer your guest a cup of tea?”
Without a word, Fernandez poured tea into her glass and sat across from her. He needed to explain the upcoming journey, and he was also concerned about her condition. It was just as well.
“The night is deep, so a long conversation might not be suitable.”
“Dragons don’t need to sleep. And neither do you, do you?”
Abel smiled softly and sipped her tea. Well, saving time was good. Fernandez unfolded a map and spread it on the table.
“I won’t be returning immediately. It might be a long journey. I planned to explain when Kirhas was here tomorrow, but this works. Briefly, the journey…”
“No. Do as you see fit. That’s not what I was curious about.”
-Thud.
Abel swept the writing tools off the table with her arm. What was she doing? As Fernandez frowned, Abel leaned in close and whispered softly.
“Do you know? Dragons lay eggs. I’ve never laid one, but that’s what they say.”
“…So?”
“Then, when a dragon turns into a human, don’t you wonder what they would give birth to?”
“Have you been drinking?”
“I showered instead of drinking.”
“Then have some tea and get some rest.”
“Are you serious? Do you think a dragon would get drunk from drinking?”
“I have no response to that.”
Fernandez slowly leaned back as he spoke. With the dragon’s keen spatial awareness, Abel had closed the exact distance between them.
Dragons do not rush. Their time is long and leisurely. It was the unique composure of a long-lived race.
“I said I wanted to prepare your constellation right next to mine. Do you remember?”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand what that means?”
The stars in the sky shine in their places, no matter how much time passes. No being can truly be immortal, but the lifespan of stars is entirely different from that of mortals.
Thus, asking to be together beside a constellation was perhaps the most romantic confession Abel could make. Fernandez closed his eyes.
-What are you hesitating about?
‘Are you okay?’
-Well, to be honest, I’m not sure either. Aria, that child’s chastity? Affection? Loyalty? Well… If I were you, I wouldn’t have embraced that woman. But Fernandez.
Faijashi’s voice continued.
-You’re not me, are you? You and I have already become different beings. By this time, Aria has just been born, or perhaps not yet. I don’t want to interfere in your path.
‘At the end of this path, even after our goal is achieved, will you and I still be different beings?’
-Well. I hope so, but maybe not. I might disappear, or you might disappear. If we become one, it won’t be Faijashi or Fernandez. It will be an entirely different being.
The gap with the past had widened that much. For him, who now acted with thoughts and beliefs that the past Faijashi would never have had, the past was now just a memory, an experience.
So this was a kind of escape. Or perhaps a kind of wandering or amusement. Fernandez slowly opened his eyes.
Abel was looking at him with anxious eyes. She watched Fernandez, who remained silent, chewing her lip.
Thump, his heart pounded. It wasn’t due to the lingering soul of King Dane, which no longer remained even as a fragment. This beat was his own. The cry of young blood, a young body, and instinct.
Feeling his blood boil, Fernandez instead laughed. This immature sensation was unfamiliar and delightful.
“You’ll regret it.”
“Me? Or you?”
“Both of us.”
“Regret is attachment to past choices. Fernandez. And I have little attachment to the world or fate.”
But dragons are greedy. Abel smiled cautiously as she looked at him. Her blue eyes shone brightly.
“Diemonica can stay active for three days without sleep.”
“Interesting. Is that a threat?”
“A warning.”
Fernandez pinched out the candlewick with his fingers.
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