Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 135

Omitted

As for what I knew about the man named Julius, there honestly wasn’t that much.

In the game, if things had gone as they originally were meant to, he was the kind of character who constantly clashed with Alester and built up a rivalry with him.

‘Though by now, that’s practically become meaningless.’

To be honest, since I had been tearing everything apart in what was practically a solo run, the conflicts that were originally supposed to unfold among the royal family had long since— 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

But even so, I couldn’t simply brush off the fact that this man had called me out alone.

‘……So it still exists.’

Inside the Grand Sanctuary, there was an informant who had been communicating with demonkind and leaking internal information.

To begin with, the reason the Grand Sanctuary had been so helplessly toyed with by unidentified beings was highly likely because someone like that had been passing along information in detail.

Since I still hadn’t caught any clues about that side, Julius wasn’t someone who could be excluded from that list of suspects either.

“…….”

Actually, something about it felt a little strange.

At this point, it wouldn’t have been strange if they had already been exposed, yet the fact that there hadn’t been even a single incident that could grab hold of a tail this clearly made it feel as though something was twisted.

Even if he wasn’t in a normal state, the Pontiff was clearly present here—yet they still hadn’t found even a single clue. Well.

It could be proof that events had been moving that urgently, but it was also enough to make me certain that something was definitely off.

As if I were missing something—

“Are you going to become the Pontiff?”

—And before I could properly chew over that thought, the question dropped bluntly in front of me.

“…….”

……At the very least, when it came to the boldness of cutting out all the buildup and driving straight into the main point, even I had to admit I’d been caught off guard.

As I blinked blankly, Julius paid no mind to my reaction and immediately continued.

“Please give it up. I’m asking you.”

“…….”

“I’ll give you anything I can. I’ll do anything within my power. But.”

“…….”

“……Leave the position of this country’s leader to those within the Holy Crown Kingdom. I’m asking you.”

As expected of His Highness the Prince, he was certainly bold.

For someone like me, whose main profession was being a con artist, his straightforwardness—thrusting the main point right in my face without the flowery rhetoric royals so often used—was almost something to admire….

“……Why?”

But if I was going to hear such a proposal, it was only natural that I’d at least ask for the reason.

At those words, Julius’ face briefly twisted.

After a long moment of choosing his words, he finally spoke with difficulty.

“……This country is rotten from the ground up.”

“…….”

Hm.

The moment I heard him open with that, my face twisted fiercely this time.

“I’ve always resolved to change that.”

“…….”

Hmmm.

My face twisted even more deeply than before.

It was the kind of reaction someone would have when faced with a story they had absolutely no curiosity about and no desire to hear.

If one looked only at the response I immediately threw out after listening to Julius for a brief moment, that much would be obvious….

“Rather than this country, where power is granted only to a select few who inherited divine authority, I want to create a nation where the people and the common folk can truly smile—”

“No, wait, wait a second. Stop.”

“…….”

Seeing me wave my hands in outright disgust, as if I had just been approached with some suspicious religious recruitment pitch, Julius immediately shut his mouth.

……He had probably come prepared to lay out his grand vision, yet now he looked faintly wounded.

“I wondered what you were going to say after calling me out separately. To begin with, I have no interest in the position of Pontiff. As for the structure of this country, you well-born royals can figure it out among yourselves.”

“…….”

“I came here for a different purpose in the first place.”

……The Main Quest was to reduce the ‘casualties’ in this succession ceremony.

My objective had never once deviated from that.

As for everything else, it could turn out however it wanted.

“…….”

Hm.

With a reaction like that, the one who had brought it up was the one left flustered instead.

To think I would reject it so cleanly.

Unfortunately, words that would truly leave Julius flustered flowed out right after that.

“Still, there is at least one thing that does pique my interest.”

“……What?”

“You just said.”

I grinned.

“If I don’t sit in the Pontiff’s seat, you’ll do anything, right?”

“…….”

“I just happened to think of a perfect way to make use of you.”

“…….”

It was the kind of smile that would make anyone feel a dreadful sense of foreboding.

▣

“-According to the original text, this is where the real story begins.”

Bailey said that in a cheerful voice as she looked at the darkness writhing around her.

Most living beings feared something that stole away their sight, but she was an exception.

Bailey Varga had been born within this, raised within it, and shaped by it.

In that sense, this Black Night ritual was a ‘story’ that almost brought her joy.

There was no other story whose entire backdrop unfolded in such thoroughly dark tones.

“Endless darkness, endless trials, and within it, the tale of a hero who shines. And as the lead, that Omnipotent One…… My heart is racing. It’s been a long time since I’ve handled material this delightful.”

Moreover, if the one stepping into that backdrop was the very person who currently interested her the most, it would be stranger not to feel joy.

Like a composer crafting her magnum opus, Bailey gazed at the darkness writhing around her. Elisha, standing beside her, read the almost pure passion contained within that gaze, and her face continued to crumple.

The highest-ranking executive among demonkind. The name was Varga.

There were such pieces of information, but fundamentally, there was another name that referred to this being.

Commonly known as. ‘Storyteller.’

Anyone who knew why she was called by such a title would feel nothing but unease at what she was saying now.

In other words, she was insane. A madwoman obsessed with self-satisfaction and artistry.

And even more threatening because that madness was backed by the ability to ‘do’ just about anything.

……This woman.

If it was to witness the ‘scene’ she wished to see, she was the kind of woman who would truly do anything.

And in Elisha’s memory.

What was firmly etched there was the recognition that very few of the ‘scenes’ this woman wished to see had ever been anything but horrific.

“……So, what exactly do you want to do?”

When Elisha brushed back her hair and asked that question, the answer that immediately returned made it obvious.

“People will have to die. Many of them.”

“…….”

“A story about a hero struggling to protect people shines brighter in failure. Mr. Aiden Kellermain has never properly experienced any kind of failure until now.”

In other words, he was an uncut stone.

To become a true hero, a brilliantly shining jewel, he still required a great deal of refinement.

As she said that, her eyes turned toward the undulating surface of the sea around them.

In truth, her gaze was not on the water itself, but on what lay in the deep beneath it.

The Storyteller knew what the greatest obstacle written in the original text of the Black Night ritual in the Holy Crown Kingdom’s scripture was.

A sea of the dead filled with supernatural beings and wandering spirits. And beneath it, lurking, the ‘God of Death.’

Even in the original text of the Black Night ritual, rather than confronting it, the account spoke of somehow escaping from it.

So she would use that as the central axis to gradually pressure the humans here. Increase the number of sacrifices one by one.

Grant them a dilemma, let him grow within it, and Aiden Kellermain would be refined further and further into an even more magnificent jewel.

‘……Ahh, how beautiful.’

Bailey caressed her face with an ecstatic expression.

“You know.”

Elisha, who had been silently watching her from the side, let out a deep sigh.

“I was the one who made the proposal first, but even so, is there really a need to go that far?”

“……You’re not the type to care about human lives either, are you? Ancient beings like you and me wouldn’t pay much mind to such things.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

Ordinarily, human lives were not something Elisha particularly cared about either.

To be honest. Humans who were not special beings like Aiden Kellermain were, in Elisha’s eyes—

……something akin to insects.

Things that could exist or not exist. It made no difference.

She wouldn’t go out of her way to touch them just to kill them, but if they irritated her in front of her eyes, she could crush them without feeling a shred of guilt.

However.

“……It’s just that, unlike you, I can look at the situation a bit more calmly.”

Unlike Bailey, whose mental world was rather peculiar, Elisha prided herself on being relatively reasonable.

In other words.

It meant she had already learned how Aiden Kellermain reacted when matters involving ‘human lives’ were threatened.

……And that was made perfectly clear by the very first thing Aiden said after returning to the royal camp and gathering everyone together.

“Let’s build a raft.”

“…….”

“…….”

At the sudden declaration, a heavy silence fell over the surroundings.

“……A raft for what?”

The moment someone asked that, Aiden immediately pointed at the sea surface sloshing at their feet.

“We cross.”

“…….”

“I don’t know who’s orchestrating this right now, and frankly I’m not sure what they want from me either. But I have no intention of moving the way they want.”

“No. I’m just annoyed.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes and looked toward the flickering flames shimmering on the distant horizon.

Although he had blocked the endlessly rising sea midway, the water had already risen so terrifyingly high that parts of the Grand Sanctuary, which stood on lower ground, were submerged.

Even so, there was still something intact.

The massive torch located at the center of the Grand Sanctuary. In other words, the Altar.

Though it was a supernatural sight—flames burning within the water—it had the effect of being clearly visible even from this distance.

Through that, it was at least possible to roughly gauge the current position of the Grand Sanctuary.

Soon.

“We should at least go there and ask for help. Otherwise, nothing will get done.”

“…….”

As an even deeper silence fell, Alester quietly raised his hand.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“……You know, the situation we’re in right now is unfolding exactly like the Black Night ritual in the scripture, right?”

“Yes. Someone is staging it that way.”

“Then we absolutely shouldn’t come into contact with the water. According to the scripture, inside the water there is—”

“Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve killed a dragon too.”

“…….”

“I’ll figure that out somehow as well.”

“…….”

Left speechless, Alester slowly lowered his hand.

“Honestly, I don’t know who’s staging this situation or what they want from me. But I have no intention of moving according to their script.”

Aiden spoke calmly with slightly drooping eyes, then irritably ran a hand through his hair.

“……If we leave it alone, who knows how many people they’re planning to kill.”

—It was clear in his gesture that a deep disgust for those who toyed with human lives was embedded within him.

“Black Night ritual or whatever, let’s just end it quickly.”

“…….”

“Let’s all head to the Grand Sanctuary. I’ve thought of a way.”

As those words continued to fall, Bailey listened blankly, and Elisha beside her finally let out a suppressed snicker.

“See?”

……As expected, he was a man who never moved according to anyone’s predictions.