76

A white stag trudged forward.

White clusters of flowers bloomed along its footsteps.

They lit up the darkness where nothing had been visible.

Clack.

The stag that brushed past Hamel shook its head.

Its antlers scattered the surrounding darkness.

Flap.

At the same time, the startled flapping of crows’ wings came.

The nervous sound suggested an attack could come at any moment.

Then the white stag tapped its forehooves in place.

One by one, luminous spheres rose from the ground.

And the next moment.

Whoosh.

Light burst around the white stag as if it were exploding.

The dome-shaped white light pushed away all the black smoke around it.

Flap, flap, flap.

The boundary between light and darkness.

There, coarse wingbeats and countless black feathers were visible.

Beaks and talons scratched at the white light as if trying to block it, but it was meaningless.

They were swept away by the light like foam carried off by waves.

The darkness and the red stars that had surrounded Hamel were nowhere to be seen.

A white space with nothing in it.

The white stag slowly approached Hamel.

Until a moment ago it had been merely a dazzling stag, but now it was something else.

Up close, it was as enormous as an elephant.

It even had two heads.

Its antlers were ornate like coral and its fur, appearing soft, flowed like a waterfall.

Although its appearance was quite different, Hamel knew the stag’s name.

“Lunacornus.”

When Hamel spoke the name, the stag slowly nodded up and down.

Had Hamel burned the ring with the Azure Flame and been released?

If the same cause had released the familiar darkness and crows, that made sense.

But Hamel found it hard to understand why Cornus had saved him.

“Why did you help me?”

The stag gazed at Hamel silently.

Then it suddenly tapped Hamel’s hand with its antler.

Hamel, puzzled, raised his hand and opened it.

In it lay the cracked ring from earlier.

Was it because it had released him from the contract?

He couldn’t be certain of the answer.

Just as he was about to ask, light flowed from the ring.

“…What is this?”

[There is a little left, you see.]

A voice resonated in his head.

Blinded, Hamel closed and reopened his eyes and saw a different-looking ring on his hand.

A ring engraved with the stag’s emblem.

Hamel looked up to ask what it was.

But nothing was there anymore.

And the white space collapsed as if a pane of glass had shattered.

At last, the disconnected exterior view was revealed.

“Ughhh…”

Rupert clutched his severed hand and doubled over.

He moaned in pain, but no one could approach him easily.

“Hamel!”

At that moment, Daniel and Ono hurried over.

Rena also hurried up.

They quickly checked Hamel from head to toe and asked.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Hamel calmly nodded.

They breathed sighs of relief.

“What happened?”

Ono stepped forward to explain.

“When you burned that ring and the black smoke began to cover you, you suddenly disappeared.”

“I vanished entirely?”

“Yes. As if your existence had been erased.”

Hamel finally realized that the space he had been in did not belong to this world.

He shuddered.

He could feel what kind of beings he had been up against.

Beings possessing godlike power.

Hamel had been fighting such beings.

“…”

I must become stronger.

At this rate, I won’t be able to fight them.

Hamel felt his weakness anew and clenched his fist tightly.

Ono asked Hamel, seeing him like that.

“Did the Lunacornus save you?”

“How did you know that?”

Hamel asked in puzzlement, and Ono snorted a laugh.

He then pointed with his finger to one side and said.

“Because I asked for it.”

Following his finger, what entered Hamel’s view was an empty leather pouch.

The pouch that had been full of gold coins and jewels was empty.

“Then could it be…?”

“Yes, I poured it all out as an offering.”

“…”

Hamel was speechless.

He’d spent it all?

It was an amount that couldn’t be repaid even by handing over Haidern’s income for decades.

“I set a trap to lure the demon; I didn’t mean to spend it like this…”

Hamel was astonished, but on the other hand, he finally understood.

The power Cornus had just shown was beyond reason.

Even though Cornus had been released from the contract thanks to Hamel, a weakened Cornus couldn’t have driven away the ancient demon.

The reason it was possible must have been Ono’s offering.

By spending all the wealth, he must have restored, for a moment, the dignity of the old god’s strength.

‘Then this is…’

Hamel looked at the ring in his hand.

Hamel thought over Cornus’s last words and nodded.

It seemed this was an offering returned in excess of what was necessary.

A snow-white ring engraved with the stag’s antler motif.

It looked just like Cornus’s antlers.

Hamel tucked the ring into his chest and thanked Ono.

If it weren’t for him, Hamel might never have returned.

“Thank you, Mr. Ono.”

“Enough. More importantly, finish up the situation.”

Ono, having received the thanks, waved his hand dismissively.

Then, looking exhausted, he sank down on a pile of fallen stones.

Hamel turned his head as instructed and looked around.

Ruins with no trace left of what had been the Great Hall.

In one corner, the fallen sword master Raikard and people had gathered.

“Ah… father.”

Rupert, clutching his blood-dripping hand, staggered and approached in that direction.

The people trembled but blocked his way.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

“You are no longer our young master! You demon!”

From the young page to the old gardener.

They desperately stood between Raikard, who had protected them, and Rupert.

Despair clouded Rupert’s eyes.

He could not move closer and just stood there, his mouth opening and closing.

Hamel approached Rupert.

When he got closer, he realized Rupert was muttering the same words.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

“…”

Hamel quietly placed a hand on his shoulder.

Rupert flinched and turned his head.

When he met Hamel’s eyes, he seemed surprised for a moment, then averted his gaze.

Unable to meet Hamel’s eyes, Rupert lowered his head and trembled as he spoke.

“I’m sorry. Lord… I… I…”

Rupert, who could not continue for a while, slowly knelt and bowed his head.

“…Please kill me.”

“…”

What should be said?

It was at that moment when Hamel was choosing his words.

“…How noisy.”

The fallen Raikard opened his mouth with difficulty.

“My lord!”

“Lord!”

Those gathered around him cried out in delight.

Raikard slowly raised his upper body, leaned against the wall, and spoke.

“Everyone, please make way.”

“But…”

When the young page hesitated, Raikard looked at him calmly.

Those who understood the silent look then stepped aside.

Then the gazes of the kneeling Rupert and Raikard met.

“Ah… father.”

“…Foolish boy.”

Raikard showed a sad expression at Rupert’s ruined state.

Rupert felt the same.

He looked as if he would die at any moment from having done that to his father with his own hands.

“Sir Hamel. You are an Exorcist priest, so I ask you: do you think that worthless one is guilty?”

“No, that’s not so. Sir Rupert is not a contractor but a victim of possession, a victim of a demon.”

“Is that so?”

Raikard nodded and suddenly removed the signet ring from his finger as he spoke.

“Come, take it. From now on, this is yours.”

“…!”

Rupert trembled as if electrocuted.

He then shook his head violently and answered.

“I… I can’t. I’m not fit for it. It’s too heavy to bear… Please allow me to die as I am.”

“…”

Raikard watched him quietly for a moment and then said.

“Raise your head.”

Rupert lifted his tear-streaked head.

Through his blurred vision he saw his father’s bloodied face.

It was…

“I have never once thought you unworthy.”

It was the first time he saw his father’s kindly smiling face.

Rupert went rigid.

Thinking it couldn’t be true.

But Raikard did not stop speaking.

“Driving you like that was my fault born of excessive ambition. I’m sorry.”

“Th-That can’t be. You’ve always been ashamed of me, haven’t you? Haven’t you despised me as a coward? To me…”

Rupert’s words slowed down.

He trembled, squeezed his eyes shut, and blurted out.

“Didn’t you say it would have been better if we’d died together?”

“…”

Hearing this, shock filled Raikard’s eyes.

Guilt, regret, and even lingering resentment.

“…I’m sorry. That too is my sin.”

“…”

Rupert sobbed even more at Raikard’s apology.

He wished he hadn’t heard it.

The more he heard Raikard’s sincerity, the more his regret seemed to gouge at his chest.

“I could not bear the sorrow alone and blamed you… I should not have done that to you.”

Rupert could not reply to Raikard’s words.

He only sobbed over his own foolishness.

Raikard, looking apologetically at Rupert, turned his head to look at the castle folk.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault he’s come to this. Could I please cover for my foolish son’s mistakes?”

“…lord.”

The people exchanged glances and then all bowed their heads.

“We will keep our worries away.”

“Thank you.”

Raikard slowly nodded.

He felt his end was approaching.

“Sir Hamel. I entrust the rest to you. Please, that foolish one…”

“Wait a moment.”

Hamel interrupted Raikard’s words.

“…?”

Of course, Raikard.

But confusion showed on the faces of the people who had been sobbing nearby.

It’s not common to interrupt a dying man’s last words.

Nevertheless, Hamel left Rupert and approached Raikard, saying:

“Stop talking and lie down. If you keep talking you’ll actually die.”

“???”

Raikard tilted his head, not understanding Hamel’s meaning.

Even a bishop-level priest would struggle to treat injuries of this severity.

‘But it’s as if this man somehow thinks I’ll survive…’

It was the moment Raikard’s questions deepened.

Hamel calmly reached out his hand.

“You too will die someday, but…”

Blue flames arose from Hamel’s hand.

A huge blaze burned fiercely, as if reaching the sky.

“But that day is not today.”

The flames condensed, smaller and smaller.

Then they emitted white light and shifted to a deep blue, like lapis lazuli.

A blue, star-like sphere fell toward Raikard.

In an instant, a sharp freshness and a tingling sensation spread through his body.

Sensation that had disappeared from his hands and feet returned, and his whole body began to warm.

And it was not just his imagination.

Whoosh.

Raikard’s entire body was engulfed in blue flames.

The flames that seemed ready to burn everything instead knit Raikard’s wounds.

Broken bones reset, festering wounds and dead blood burned away.

“What… is this?”

Raikard could only mutter in disbelief.

Although he still struggled to accept what had happened before his eyes, one thing was certain.

Today was not the day his death would come.