Declared Dead, Exiled, and Betrayed— Now I Walk Away, but I'll Save One Who Cared - Chapter 72

Was this the power of the shrine?

Power… or perhaps a curse?

Some kind of compulsion?

Or… something else entirely?

While I was lost in thought, Claire slipped away.

“Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?”

Michelle responded to my frustration.

“She got away again.”

“It looked like you let go of her on your own.”

“No… I asked something completely different from what I intended, and before I knew it, I had let go…”

“Really?”

From Michelle’s perspective, it hadn’t seemed that way at all.

I had struggled against something.

I had clenched my teeth, resisting with all my might.

But to Michelle, it had looked like a perfectly normal conversation.

Not even a flicker of odd expression on my face.

Could this have been Claire’s doing, not the shrine’s?

If that was the case, then which side was she really on?

Disemna and the Ruin Demons were clearly separate factions.

If Claire had simply been eliminating the Ruin Demons because they had become an obstacle, then she could still be on Disemna’s side.

And yet, whenever I faced her, the sense that she might be an enemy disappeared.

Why?

I could have used more force.

I could have bound her with magic instead of just grabbing her arm.

Could she be using some sort of magic that affects perception?

An ability that dulls my judgment?

“I still have no idea what she really is… Honestly, it would be easier if she was just some wandering pervert or something. Then I could just kick her out.”

“Lax…”

Michelle gave me a weird look.

I couldn’t blame her.

If Michelle hadn’t experienced the same wrongness I had, then from her point of view, I had just started spewing nonsense.

Damn it, this is Claire’s fault!

“Claire is as strange as ever, but from my perspective, your conversation with her didn’t seem unnatural. Could some other force have been at work? I didn’t sense anything unusual.”

“I see… Well, no point in dwelling on it. Everything about this is strange. Disemna’s behavior suggests it isn’t the type to fight openly. We should assume it will use all kinds of tricks against us. There’s too much we don’t understand—about past allies, about Claire, about the Ruin Demons, even about this shrine.”

“That’s true.”

Finally, a normal conversation.

It helped me regain my composure.

“Stop calling me weird names.”

…Or so I thought.

I turned toward the voice—

Claire was standing there.

“You—why are you back?”

“No reason… I just finished what I had to do, so I returned. You did tell me to explain, Lax.”

That was true.

But I hadn’t expected her to actually come back.

I had been prepared to scour the entire kingdom to hunt her down.

And once I did, I had every intention of dragging her back by force.

Still, if she was willing to talk, I would listen.

But…

Why did she suddenly look so sorrowful?

“I want to tell you everything. I hate living like this. But I can’t. I have to bear my sins. I can’t run away.”

“What are you talking about?”

Was that regret in her voice?

Or an apology?

I didn’t understand the meaning behind her words.

But there was something genuine in them.

She, too, was carrying a burden.

Come to think of it, everyone was.

No one was simply looking for an easy life, or indulging in luxury, or tormenting others for fun.

Well—except for Duke Horneld.

He had been completely self-serving and had brought about his own downfall.

Shifa bore the weight of the city’s future.

Eranda… had only ever thought about herself.

But even she, before her betrayal was exposed, had pretended to consider the city’s well-being.

The kings of both nations bore the weight of their kingdoms.

Michelle probably bore the weight of protecting me.

And even Disemna…

The writings in the shrine suggested it was seeking something for itself.

But was that all?

Had it really spent all this time preying on humans just for power?

“It’s not here…”

Claire muttered under her breath.

“What isn’t?”

She knelt down, her shoulders slumping.

Her magic was still active—she was searching for something.

“I thought for sure it would be here.”

“What are you looking for?”

She didn’t answer.

She just crouched lower, holding her head.

Her magic began to wane.

Had she… given up?

“Over there… I think there’s a place where Claire’s magic isn’t affecting the shadows.”

“…What?”

Michelle pointed toward a specific spot.

Looking closely, there was indeed something there.

A dark mass.

Claire’s magic had passed over it, but it hadn’t responded.

Unlike the walls, the floors, or the ceiling—

Which faintly glowed white when touched by magic—

That spot alone remained unchanged.

Something was there.

“Was it deliberately ignoring this? No… that doesn’t matter right now.”

“What is it…?”

As I picked up the black object, glowing letters appeared before my eyes.

<<Find the fragments. Once that is done, I shall blind the eyes of men and move forward. Toward that castle. Toward the moment when the promise shall be fulfilled. I must not forget. This reverence. This devotion. I shall reach that place and become the strength of that one.>>

This message suggested that Disemna was not simply acting on instinct.

It, too, was moving with a purpose.