He can’t believe Krazen so kindly sent even this to the human world. Krazen must have foreseen such a situation and purposely allowed the chalice to leave his possession.
“That old man has always been cunning.”
Nevertheless, having his efforts lessened brought immense satisfaction. Aragorn tapped the chalice and then grinned.
A dragon’s treasure is useless to a demon, as it never reveals its true power in their hands. The only people who can use the dragon’s treasure are humans that the dragon himself recognizes.
Considering Krazen’s deep-seated disdain for humans, it made sense that he had given the chalice to Kanut. Although Kanut was human, he was destined to eradicate humanity.
Then Peridot Crisiona. Wouldn’t she, who has the darkest desires of everyone he knows, be able to use it?
‘To find Rekiel, you need not only the sword and the bell, but also this… I can’t give it to Titania Oberon now.’
No, was it Shay? Well, it doesn’t matter which one is her real name. The only thing that matters is that she still has a lot of life left. She mustn’t gather all the treasures before he manifested. Otherwise, if she collects all the treasure before he intervenes, she’ll just go straight to Rekiel.
That can’t happen. At least one of the treasures must be hidden where it cannot be found.
‘Because it’s inherently darkest under the lamp.’
Aragorn, who took on human form, picked up the chalice and poured out the water in it. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if it’s water or not. Any water would do as long as it wasn’t dirty.
Aragorn hummed, put on the robe conjured from thin air and pulled the hood down. While he was on his way to see Peridot, he thought of seeing an old friend. He so craved the rotten soul that he had to endure every time he wanted to devour it.
‘Hmm, this is fun.’
Aragorn grinned.
A state where half of one’s soul is eaten, so one is neither alive nor dead. It might be quite amusing to make it like that.
* * *
After the feast, only the charred remains of the bonfire remained.
Aside from the snores of a few drunk young men sprawled on the ground, scratching their bellies, the early morning was silent. In the deepest part of the dungeon, which was designed to imprison vicious criminals, a wretched figure was muttering to himself.
“All I needed was the sword, just the sword.”
Thud, thud. Kanut banged his head against the earthen wall.
He failed to get his hand on Trachian’s sword. That was the reason it ended up like this. Meiru Trachian flatly refused, saying she would not give a sword to a man. When he found the old woman, he should have taken the swords from her floor by force.
However, Meiru was a guardian fiercely protected by Trachian, and the barrier surrounding Meiru was so strong that even his might as the guardian of Dragonas could not do anything about it.
In the last Lakurum, he tried to attack her, only to be deflected. He then tried to find Meiru Trachian again in this lakurum, but failed. He had never seen Meiru again.
“If you collect three treasures and have the right to one of them… the path to Rekiel will open.”
Kanut muttered despairingly. He gave up 20 years of his life for this, but it was worth it. There was still a lot of time left. Although it has been hidden until now, Kanut was actually born with an unusually long lifespan, even though he was not a painting wizard.
Dragonas said that his lifespan was over 200 years. Nearly an eternity in comparison to others. With this as his weapon, he would have a long time to find the sword. To find the true owner of the Trachian sword.
“Rekiel of the Sky… … .”
If only he had the sword of Trachian, he would have been able to summon it. Then he could have turned the whole world upside down and turned every human into the weak beings that they were in ancient times. Humans from the gathering era who did not know how to settle down in one place and did not know how to farm or raise animals. The ancient humans before the appearance of painting wizards. He could be their new god. Because Rekiel must grant the wishes of those who summon him.
Thunk. Kanut gritted his teeth and scraped the dirt off the wall. The dirt dug into his usually neat fingernails, but he didn’t care. Krazen’s treasure. He has to take that and run away. And enjoy this long life.
“It is unfair. It’s really unfair. I was so close.”
It was out of genuine benevolence that Kanut first created the organization Fata-Morgana. From an early age, Kanut travelled in and out of Dragonas’ subspace with his grandmother.
Dragonas sat him on his lap and told him various stories, the most interesting of which was about the ‘Painting Wizards’. Trading life for it, they wielded strange magic, using painting as a medium. However, when their lifespan falls below one-third, a demon appears and will try to devour their soul.
Dragonas felt sorry for the painting wizards. He wanted to prevent the evil demons that were already awake from harming them. So Kanut looked for the painting wizards and brought them to Dragonas’ hideout.
That was just the beginning. The painting wizards who had reached the end of their lives fell asleep peacefully without encountering any demons, and Kanut felt proud of how he had protected them. Of course, the reason the painting wizards used up their lives was because they used their power to beautifully decorate their hiding place, but Kanut believed that he protected them anyway.
As time passed, followers gradually became necessary. Kanut went out and gathered followers to follow him, and they came up with ideas. Kanut, who no longer wanted to be ordinary, decided to accept their attractive offer.
Let’s gather the painting wizards. If they leave them alone, their souls will be eaten by the devil, so what a merciful thing for them to do. There was nothing to be afraid of as long as they had painting wizards. Nothing was impossible. At some point, Kanut stopped listening to Dragonas. Instead, he listened to someone else.
“So, after all this, why hasn’t he shown up? He called me his friend!”
He admired the white skin and the beautiful-coloured hair, which sparkled like a jewel. One day, the man suddenly appeared in front of Kanut, as if by magic. He was a demon with the sensual beauty Kanut desired—appearance and voice—that could easily enchant others. Even his hand gestures. Kanut desired to resemble the demon. He was secretly proud and honoured to be friends with a demon.
The demon was smart and clever. It was the demon who said that if he let number 1092 take possession of the bell, he would definitely be able to lure her to his base. Kanut agreed readily because, even if he did that, there was no way the ownership of the bell would be transferred over. The plan seemed to promising but…
“It failed! Argh!”
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