Chapter 18: To the Dark Lord’s Castle!
Chapter 18: To the Dark Lord’s Castle!
IN a modest inn standing on the outskirts of the Port City, Aki, Nako, Johann, and Leo—who came running from the Academy’s Branch after receiving Johann’s magic note—gathered inside their reserved room. Among the unexpected gathering, Aki restlessly surveyed the room to bring some sense of reality to her disbelief Nako was with her.
The early afternoon’s gentle sunlight spilled in through the semicircle dormer windows inside the small room with several wood post beds. A plain dining-room table furnished the center of the room, and it was there that Aki and Elias sat across from Nako and Johann. Leo sat inelegantly with his legs crossed on the nearest bed.
He carefully studied Nako’s face before breaking the silence by saying, “…I thought it was weird for Johann to suddenly call for me, but I wasn’t expecting a new face. So, little lady, you’re Aki’s little sister Nako that we’ve heard so much about, huh? I guess you’re sisters for a reason, you sure look alike.” He looked from Aki to Nako’s face, comparing them.
Elias nodded in the chair next to Aki. “I agree. I never thought we would get to see the two of them together this soon. You never know what to expect in life,” he said with a wry smile.
“You really don’t,” Nako responded, her smile equally wry.
Nako was nervous being surrounded by the Hero Party members at first, but their amicable behavior gradually eased her anxiety. She had thrown off all reserve with Johann before she even saw him with Aki. Elias’ gentle nature and Leo’s friendliness helped to further relax her.
Nako quietly stood from her chair and looked at each person in the room before dipping her head to them. “Um, I’m so sorry for causing you trouble with my abrupt appearance! Ever since I heard from the Dark Lord that Sis is with the Hero, I’ve been thinking of a way for us to meet up. I didn’t want her to continue being so terribly worried about me… That’s when I decided to leave the castle without informing the Dark Lord.”
“Aah,” Leo hummed as soon as he heard her explanation and scratched the back of his head. “I get that’s what led to where you’re at now. But, for argument’s sake, is it really possible to escape the infamous Dark Lord’s castle unnoticed? The Dark Lord ain’t someone who’d turn a blind eye to one of his people fleeing without a catch.” Leo narrowed his violet eyes on Nako, searching for the truth.
The Dark Lord was the only person in the world who possessed an enormous amount of powerful magic to travel freely between worlds. It should have been a piece of cake for him to detect anything unnatural in his territory such as Nako sneaking out of his castle.
Nako put her hand to her chin to ponder his question. A minute later, she slapped her hands together as she came to an answer. “Umm, this is only a possibility, but…” Ako, Elias, and Leo’s full attention turned to her as she continued, “Kerdy is incredibly kind, so I think he knew and let me go anyway.”
Nako was convinced by her own answer. Everyone else, however, didn’t follow her logic.
“Kerdy?”
Who’s that? Did she have a friend called Kerdy?
The same question crossed everyone’s mind when Nako noticed their dubious expressions and smacked her hands together again.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Kerdy is my nickname for the Dark Lord! Because his real name is Kerdes Noin. See?” She put her index finger to her lip and cutely tilted her head as if that explained it all. The others gawked at her.
The overwhelming presence of the Dark Lord who instilled fear into the souls of people throughout the world and the adorable nickname Kerdy went together as well as milk and lemon—as in, not at all. By no means could anyone else in the room ever call the Dark Lord, Kerdy like some schoolyard friends.
What the heck kind of life is she living with the Dark Lord? I totally thought Nako was helplessly suffering at his hand, and that I had to rescue her as soon as possible, but are things actually congenial and cozy between them?
Leo rolled around on the bed laughing. “Hahaha! What the heck is with that name?! The Dark Lord’s Right-hand is pretty scary too for being capable of calling the world’s source of fear by a cute nickname!”
“…My image of the Dark Lord has been ruined. Kerdy, is it?” Johann absently muttered.
Contrary to everyone’s stunned reactions, Nako excitedly leaned forward. “Yes! I would be ever so happy if you would all call the Dark Lord Kerdy and become his friends! I believe he would be delighted by it. I mean, Kerdy has always been bothered by the fact he doesn’t have a single friend.”
“To think you would even give us information that could disgrace the Dark Lord…” Johann put his head in his hands, unsure of how to respond.
The most powerful and dreaded man in the world was bothered by the fact he didn’t have any friends…
He surprisingly sounds like an honest person who would be hard to hate. Maybe we can find a way to settle things between the Dark Lord and Elias without fighting. Is it possible to resolve things through words? Aki shook her head.
Either Elias or the Dark Lord had to be sacrificed to refill the world’s Creation Energy—someone still had to suffer in the end.
To be brutally honest, I don’t want Nako getting too attached to the Dark Lord… Then again, she could say the same thing to me. Do I have any right to say that when I’ve started developing feelings for Elias? When I think about the Dark Lord defeating him, I’m ridden with the fear of losing him.
Having heard the whole conversation, Elias brought his coffee to his lips and summarized the situation, “I see. From what you’ve said, the Dark Lord isn’t restraining you against your will, but you are living together under intimate terms.
“With that in mind, there is a good possibility the Dark Lord let you go see Aki out of respect for your wishes. If he had, he should have known you would make contact with the Hero because Aki is with me, but…did it not cross his mind that we might take you as a hostage and use you against him?”
Aki’s head jerked in Elias’ direction. Per their current positions, Nako and Elias were enemies; capturing Nako and using her as a trump card in the fight against the Dark Lord was a plausible tactic. Aki was fairly certain Elias and the Hero Party members were the few people who wouldn’t take such a violent method though.
Furthermore, the Dark Lord should have known letting Nako act on her own would lead her into danger wherever she went. Yet he still let her go alone. Did he allow her to leave because he knew the Hero Party members would protect her when she met up with her older sister? As it stood, Johann rescuing Nako from ruffians is what led to her being reunited with Aki.
Elias placed his cup on the saucer and intently stared at the swirling brown liquid with his green eyes. “…After listening to Nako, I feel like we were mistaken to automatically perceive the Dark Lord as an evil villain.
“Our view of him is strongly influenced by the information given by the Sanctuary to the Hero Party and the Kingdom’s Consul indemnifying the Dark Lord as a villain who controls monsters to attack humans and obstructs the Hero’s mission as his archenemy. History has repeated until now with only the Hero defeating the Dark Lord after all. And they say history is written by the winners.”
Leo crossed his legs on the bed and prudently agreed, “Good point. But, if you think about it carefully, Creation Energy will be injected into the world whether the Hero or the Dark Lord is defeated. Yet why do we have such a rooted resentment for the Dark Lords? Don’t the Hero and the Dark Lord stand on equal terms when it comes to being a heroic figure necessary to save the world?”
“That’s true…” Aki consented and added in a hushed tone, “What if the information has been manipulated to set the Dark Lord up as evil?”
Clever manipulation of the information available to the world propped the Dark Lord up as the villain, at the same time they excessively espoused the Hero as a savior. Only the administrative arm of the Holy Kingdom—the Sanctuary—who controlled all information on the Hero and Dark Lord and shared that information with the Hero Party and the Kingdom’s Consul would be capable of massively altering the details.
Does the Sanctuary have an ulterior motive to intentionally distort the facts? Is there more to the legends than they’ve let on?
All eyes naturally turned on Johann—a Holy Kingdom Priest. As a High Priest, he possessed knowledge of what was going on.
He dropped his eyes to the table and weakly shook his head. “…I cannot discuss anything on the matter.”
Something sharp glinted in Leo’s narrowed eyes. “And that’s the real answer right there. The Sanctuary is hiding the key information from us,” he said, a pressing inquiry imbued in his tone. Johann shifted in his chair.
Wh-What’s with this tension?
Amid the quickly escalating tensions, Aki looked at her hands, unable to bring herself to look at their faces.
Elias, Leo, and Johann were all in sync as members of the Hero Party and, from all appearances, they had a good relationship. However, they all had different reasons for being a part of the Hero Party, and that hindered their ability to be open with each other. As an outsider who had only just joined their Party, Aki was in the dark about their backgrounds.
She stole a glance at Johann’s face. Does Johann know more about the relationship between the Hero and the Dark Lord than he’s letting on? Does he know something the rest of us couldn’t even imagine? Why doesn’t he tell us the truth then?
Nako observed the other’s wordless display of distrust and spoke with reserve, “…Um, everyone, Johann has been struggling with this very thing, so if possible…um…I hope you won’t blame him too harshly….”
Johann’s head shot up at her unexpected vindication on his behalf. “Nako, you do not need to concern yourself with me. This is a corner I put myself into.”
“But! Everyone will continue to misunderstand you! You don’t want to keep secrets from Lord Elias and the rest, do you?”
“I…” His eyes wavered.
Aki and Elias exchanged looks before turning their gaze on the speechless Johann. She didn’t know what Johann knew about the Hero and the Dark Lord or what kept him from telling Elias about it. But the reason would need to be extraordinary to have cornered the sincere Johann into not telling them.
She believed he was trapped between Elias and the Sanctuary and suffered the most because of it. That was exactly why they needed to support him as his friends. They needed to become a comfortable place for him to turn to from his complicated circumstances.
Aki placed her hand on top of Nako’s on the table. “Nako, don’t worry, Elias, Leo, and I have no intention of blaming Johann. To be honest, I hope he will someday tell us what he knows, but I understand he has reason not to.”
“I couldn’t have said it better. I’m satisfied as long as you decide how you want to handle things from here of your own volition—and yours alone. We won’t force the truth out of you. Will we, Leo?” Elias looked over at Leo. He scratched the back of his head, clearly put on the spot.
“Aah, I guess so. I understand fully how much Johann is suffering being stuck between us and the Sanctuary,” Leo consented, straightening up on the bed and casually bowing his head to Johann. “Sorry, Johann. I went too far.”
Johann’s eyes widened at Leo’s apology and his expression softened. “Not at all. I have honestly been saved by you confronting me to my face about this all the time. I am sor—” He broke off and looked around the room at his friends. The corners around his eyes softened into a smile faintly touching his lips. “…My mistake. Thank you for everything, everyone.”
“Eeeeh?!” Thunderstruck by the glimmer of a smile on Johann’s face, Aki fell out of her chair.
Was she dreaming? Had the day finally come where the relatively expressionless, stern-faced Johann thanked them with a smile?
She sat back in her chair and scooted closer to put her hands on his shoulders, shaking him. “Johann! What happened to you? Were you spelled to thank us with a smile?! Are you sick? Did someone poison you?!”
“Excuse me? How am I supposed to interpret your reaction? Am I not allowed to thank you with a smile? And would you please quit shaking me?!” He swatted her hands off his shoulders.
Nako pressed her hands over her mouth as she watched Aki and Johann’s banter from the sidelines, but she couldn’t keep her laughter in any longer.
“You did such a good job, Johann! I’m so proud of you! Good boy!” she praised, ruffling his hair.
“Please stop that,” he demanded, but his bashful laughter gave him away.
Oh? What’s this? Johann and Nako seem to be getting along well. Aki dropped back in her chair and assessed Johann and Nako’s friendliness with each other. Maybe Nako’s innocent cheerfulness has started to melt the icy walls locking his heart away. It’s pretty apparent he’s changed a little just by being around her.
Elias clapped his hands. “All right, shall we get back on topic? Now, Nako, what do you plan to do from here? Is it okay for me to assume you will be coming with us?” He inclined his head waiting for her answer.
Aki and Nako had successfully reunited, giving them the option to return to their world right away. But they both felt responsible for being chosen as the Hero and the Dark Lord’s Right-hands; abandoning their roles to selfishly return to their lives wasn’t even a thought. They assumed it wouldn’t be easy without the Dark Lord’s assistance anyway. The best option at hand was to travel to the Dark Lord’s Castle together and try to talk things over. That way they could fulfill their duty and secure a way home.
Nako glanced around the room with a hint of unease as she carefully weighed the best way to bring up the important news she had for them. Eventually, she exhaled her hesitance.
In a gesture much like Aki, she placed a fisted right hand in front of her chest and quietly opened up to them. “…You should know that I accidentally overheard Kerdy and one of his subordinates having an important conversation about the Hero and the Dark Lord’s War. There’s a possibility if we continue on this path that Lord Hero, Kerdy, Sis, and I will all lose our lives…”
“What…?”
We’ll all lose our lives?
The jarring effect of her comment struck Aki first before Elias and Leo’s faces twisted with a similar expression of surprise. Only Johann quietly kept his gaze trained on a dent in the table.
Nako continued with a grim expression, cutting through the thick silence, “Which is why I thought we could do something about it if Kerdy and the Hero worked together. I acted on an impulse to come here without thinking about the consequences. I was certain the Hero Party would listen to me since Aki was chosen as the Hero’s Right-hand…”
“What are you implying, Nako? Are you saying our tragic future can be avoided if the Hero and Dark Lord work together?” Elias asked.
She sadly shook her head. “Um, I’m sorry. I don’t know the details, but from what I caught of Kerdy’s conversation, the 27th Hero and Dark Lord War—our war—falls under different circumstances from prior generations. Apparently, this time won’t conclude with one surviving and one dying.”
“It’s completely different for us then?” Aki muttered in a stupor, her voice echoing off the walls of the quiet room.
What does it mean for the circumstances to be different than any prior generation? If none of us are safe, there’s a possibility all four of us will be sacrificed with neither side surviving.
Leo groaned. “That’s a crazy story. Is it true, Nako?”
“Probably…but it’s not like Kerdy told me himself…” Nako’s voice trailed off.
“I can affirm that much,” Johann vaguely answered, despite refusing to explain anything to them.
“Johann?” Aki couldn’t help calling his name.
A bitter smile touched the corners of his lips. “This is actually the Sanctuary’s most important secret, as such I cannot fill you in on the particulars, but the battle between Elias and Kerdes falls under completely different circumstances from successive generations of Hero and Dark Lord Wars. Therefore, I am in support of Nako’s plan to go see the Dark Lord.”
“Hold your horses there, Johann. Aiming to form a cooperative relationship with the Hero and Dark Lord is a favorable turn of events for us and poses no problems here, but does that fall in line with the Sanctuary’s will when they’re the ones endorsing the war in the first place?” Leo reasonably pointed out.
“Elias going to Kerdes falls perfectly in line with their plans, but the two of them developing any kind of alliance does not. As I have informed you before, the Sanctuary is an organization that obeys the Goddess’ will.
“I am in a position of detailed knowledge about the Goddess through what the Sanctuary knows. And that very Goddess wants to—for certain reasons—assemble Elias, Kerdes, Aki, and Nako in the same place at the same time. For that purpose, the Goddess used Aki’s notebook to guide Elias to the Dark Lord.”
“The Goddess does keep specifying the next destination…” Aki answered slowly.
“Indeed, she does. However, if you followed those instructions to the Dark Lord, there is a high possibility Elias would fight Kerdes without knowing anything about the truth, and everyone would fall victim to the Goddess’ plot right there and then,” Johann proclaimed. Everyone stiffened.
A shiver of horror coursed along Aki’s spine and she shuddered. The notebook didn’t react inside her pocket. She had blindly believed the Goddess was on their side until now, but as a matter of fact, the Goddess was the most suspicious being of them all. The Goddess was their greatest ally and the Dark Lord was their worst enemy—she trusted what others had led her to believe all along. But were things not as they seemed?
Just who is our ally and who is our enemy?
Leo uncrossed his legs and dropped his feet to the floor. He questioned Johann while he tightened the laces on his boots, “Johann, are you okay spillin’ that much info? Isn’t this one of the Sanctuary’s heavily guarded secrets?”
“Indeed, it is. However, it is a fact you will be faced with if you all go with Nako to meet Kerdes. It poses little problem in that case. Besides…” He lifted his head and his face lit up with a heart-squeezing smile.
“In any event, I want to remain on Elias side more than I do for the Sanctuary and the Goddess. Regretfully, my fear of the Sanctuary still wins, leaving me terribly pained that I cannot divulge the whole truth, but regardless of everything else, I want to be with you all. Please, please take me with you to the Dark Lord.” He stood and bowed deeply to Elias.
Elias leapt from his chair. “Johann, don’t do that. I wish you wouldn’t bow to me. You’re a part of our Party, right? I’m of the opinion it’s inevitable you can’t explain things because of the precarious situation our positions put us in. I won’t use that as a reason to ostracize you from the party.”
“But, had Nako not come to see us, I would have never had a reason to divulge this critical information to you and possibly allowed you and Aki to walk straight in to the arms of danger… Worse, I may have let you die when I could have stopped it.”
“That’s not true,” Nako flatly denied. “Weren’t you always worrying about it on your own, Johann? After seeing you earlier, I’m convinced you would have explained the situation to Lord Elias and my sister before things truly took an ugly turn for the worst. After all, you love your friends.”
Shock flared in his eyes before he quickly averted them and awkwardly twiddled his fingers. “M-My affections for the others has no particular place in—wah!”
“I see, I see! Johann loves us, eh? Someone needs a little help in the honesty department again.” Leo strutted over to Johann and wrapped his arm around his head and roughly moved it around. Locked in his choke lock, Johann defiantly glared up at him despite the happiness tugging at the corner of his eyes.
“I keep telling you to please stop treating me like a child!”
“How can I not when you’re a shorty?”
“I plan on growing taller!”
Taking advantage of the sudden harmony brought back to the room, Nako intently studied Leo’s face. Leo noticed her gaze and angled his head toward her.
“What’s wrong, Nako?”
“Uh, um…this is real abrupt, I know, but don’t you think your facial features are similar to Kerdy’s?”
“Huh?”
Nako’s crazy comment shocked everyone present, including Leo.
Leo resembles the Dark Lord?
Pointing to himself, Leo asked Nako, “I look like the Dark Lord?”
“Yes. Um, it’s just a semblance though.”
“No way. There’s nothing in common between us. That’s a bad joke,” Leo laughed it off. Aki took a hard look at his profile.
She had glimpsed the Dark Lord’s face when he kidnapped Nako, but things were so crazy at the time she didn’t remember it in detail. His otherworldly beauty left a lasting impression on her, but the question of whether he shared semblance with Leo could be true while at the same time they gave off two utterly dissimilar impressions.
Elias lightly clapped his hands. “We won’t get anywhere if we try to debate that here and now. At any rate, let’s start by going to the Dark Lord’s castle together. Once we learn about the Hero and Dark Lord’s war and the Goddess’ intentions, we can determine if we will join hands with the Dark Lord,” he finalized, getting a firm nod from everyone present.
Their journey had the potential to take a different path than all the Hero and Dark Lord wars for generations past.
I’m bothered by Nako’s prediction we will all lose our lives, but…with Elias, Leo, and Johann fighting together, I’m certain we won’t lose to anyone we may make as an enemy. We just have to believe in each other and our own strength to fight till the very end.
Elias motioned to the door. “With that said, let’s go to the Dark Lord’s castle!”