Crown of Thorns

I could see an archaic castle made of gray. After leaving the soldiers guarding it behind, I gradually entered deep inside. Quickly permeating through a hall full of colorful decorations that did not match the village at all, I floated towards the direction of the sounds.

Unusual guests were in attendance. They were chatting quietly in front of a table full of all kinds of food. Their expressions were not very bright. In particular, Baron Behemen’s face was crumpled, as if he would swear at any moment. It was because of the man sitting across from him. The man muttered to himself with a sour look.

“It doesn’t look as dangerous as the rumors have said.”

“It’s because you don’t know anything. People are dying in the untimely invasion of monsters. There are no men but the soldiers who guard the front wall. Isn’t that right?”

“So you sent two kids this time? And kids that are no better than a dying skeleton at that?

“What, what do you mean skeletons. It seems that there was an accident in the middle of the road because it was so remote. Besides, they’re not that young. It’s because they couldn’t eat properly that made them look like…”

“I mean, they don’t even eat well enough for them to look their age. And well, I don’t think that was going to happen were you to share a little bit of the food you have. And an accident… Every child who comes from here seems to be in some sort of accident. No one’s ever been in good shape. Why didn’t you mind them? We need more people, that’s why we call for them, but they don’t help much. You must’ve felt relieved when this didn’t come back to haunt you.”

“Well, that’s…”

Baron Behemen kept his mouth shut as if he had nothing to say, though his expression was remarkably vile. His arrogance of stabbing the sky was revealed. It was as if he was inwardly asking, “whom do you dare to lecture?!”. His eyebrows were severely distorted, but he soon tried to smile, and then he spoke.

“It’s still a dangerous place anyway. I can’t relax for a moment. There’s no immediate way to live on the day of the monsters’ invasion, I also have to buy enough time until I hear news from the country, and that’s not a lot of support.”

He then looked around for no reason and continued to speak in a low voice.

“So I’d like you to put in a good word for…”

A man with a bright uniform and a national symbol answered with a smile as if he could not understand Baron Behemen’s words.

“I’d like to check it out myself first. Actually, I came to the Witch’s Forest a long time ago, and I remember that it wasn’t such a scary place.”

Baron Behemen hurriedly waved his hand at the remark.

“Oh, no. What do you mean it’s not a scary place? That can’t be! With how dangerous of a place the Witch’s Forest is? It’s a place that you can’t get in without a forest ranger. And the only one left is not coming back. He was a genius about the woods, but he ended up being eaten by monsters.”

Then he glanced, but the man nodded as if he had become interested.

“There’s even a forest keeper… It would be worse than a battlefield then, no? Although I’m the one in charge of the expedition, so I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult.”

“I’ve heard that you’ve been active in numerous battlefields and monster hunts. You’ve made a great contribution this time, too. But as soon as you got back, you got assigned to the Witch’s Forest. Since you’re here, why don’t you take a break? Why would you have to do such a dangerous thing…”

The man interrupted Baron Behemen’s words and said,

“If there is no one to guide me through the forest tomorrow, I’ll go and get back at my own discretion. I’ll have to get up now to be ready. So… oh, thank you for the delicious meal.”

“Yes? Oh, yes…”

The man left the door with a blank look on his face, leaving Baron Behemen to his woes. I hesitated between following the baron, who remained, and the man who strode off and ended up choosing the latter. He was out of my expectations. It had occurred to me that he would be related to Teror’s death.

Several men waiting outside followed as the man began to walk. They looked like knights, wearing similar uniforms. Each had a good physique and a sharp sword. The man who had just talked to Baron Behemen stood out amongst them all. He was tall and didn’t look too old on the outside, but there was an unusual atmosphere about him.

They walked across the hall with no hesitation; perhaps they had already been assigned to their rooms. As the uniformed men walked down the hall, which was heavily decorated with colorful ornaments, I had thought that this place was similar to a palace. The man’s voice broke the silence of the place, which had only relayed the sounds of footsteps for a while.

“It’s very colorful. If you don’t know it, you might think that this is a palace.”

His expression was very cold and hard. When he talked to Baron Behemen a little while ago, he felt a little light. In just a moment, however, I could feel the weight of his voice. It was thick, low, and heavy. As if he were someone else entirely.

“Leader, why would they leave such a man alone? The village people we passed through all looked haggard and hopeless. I’m sure everyone knows that it’s the result of all the villager’s wealth being concentrated in the castle here…”

“Of course they know. But they’re not interested. They just need to stop the monsters from crossing the mountain. Or at least have enough time to prepare for the country’s defense. You still don’t know? The fact that the person sitting on that high of a place would even throw away his family in order to follow his own greed.”

“Le-Leader. No matter what, courtesy to His Majesty should…”

“Courtesy?”

The man turned away and looked at the person who had spoken. His gaze was so fierce and sharp that the other person’s open mouth slowly closed. The man, who had been glaring still for a while, moved his steps again and spoke.

“This country is similar to rotten water, and the one in the middle of that rotten water is His Majesty. Yes, he’s the one who got me here, and so I should be polite. No matter how dirty and ugly he is, I will swear allegiance to him.”

Those who followed the man’s footsteps, without saying anything, just looked at his back and tried to minimize their presence. The man spoke in a self-contradictory voice again.

“But I don’t want to. I don’t want any honor in this country. But even so, at least I don’t want to throw away my pride. I don’t want to put my feet in there. If there is any hope, we can’t help but avoid rotten water because it pollutes clean water. In the end, there is no way this country will have a bright future.”

One of the men who kept his mouth shut at the end of the remark continued.

“Leader, are you really going to the Witch’s Forest tomorrow?”

“Yes. You must have felt it, too. It doesn’t look as dangerous as they think. I’m so angry to see how much support he’s received.”

“Rumor has it that in the middle of the Witch’s Forest, there is a tower where the Witch is trapped…”

“Do you believe that?”

The men looked at each other with puzzled faces as the man they called Leader burst into laughter. It was not long before his words continued.

“He must have been afraid of the unfavorable eyes of the world, regarding his selfishness to satisfy his greed. And so he needed something to place their resentment on. It’s just a fairy tale. A fairy tale that will dazzle the people. It wouldn’t have been difficult for people to see only what they wanted to see and believe only what they wanted to believe. They’re so naive. Or are they clever and just didn’t have the confidence to face the truth?”

“So you mean it’s really a fairy tale?”

“Yes. There was no such story saying that the darkness swallowed the world after the witch appeared. The witch began to show up only after everyone was confused by the darkness that had engulfed the world. It was also instigated by the highest person in authority. I managed to find the books in the imperial palace. They tried to distort all the facts, but the truth never disappears.”

“Well, then the witches…”

“They’re victims. Those are the poor ones who sacrificed themselves for the greed of the ugly old man.”

I didn’t know that there would be anyone left looking for the truth; A warrior who goes through the same thing and understands the world, and a knight who stands back and looks at the truth. This must have been another one of God’s arrangements for the world.

At the end of his words, silence reigned again, and so I immediately returned to the place where Baron Behemen was. Baron Behemen was hurling abuse at the table as if his anger had not been resolved. He broke most of the articles, saying, “How dare you be so rude to a nobleman?” In other words, he imagined himself to hit the man from earlier. And because knights also had titles, they would probably be of similar rank; a small Baron who only ruled the mountain village.”This is a big deal, indeed. If there are reports that this place is not as dangerous as they thought, support will be reduced. Maybe the interference with the town will get worse. How do I stop him?”

Greed was endless, and the more you had, the more you wanted. There were people who would not mind doing anything to keep what they had. One of them was the emperor, who made the world grovel in pain. The nobles who believed and followed the emperor were bound to be the same. The faithful would have died early or been pushed far away, and only those who were equally eager to fill their stomachs remained. The reality was that the only knight wishing to know the truth was flung to the battlefield, fighting a war that would only benefit the tyrant even more.

And when I saw the state of the remote ruler of a remote territory, far from the country’s center, I easily concluded that nobles in other places would only have more, not less.

“If that knight dies… If the knight, who’s done a lot of work on the battlefield, dies, his doubts about this place will be solved all at once, and he won’t have to send anyone back…”

Baron Behemen’s eyes shined horribly as he was muttering to himself. Then, he gave the order to bring Teror in right away. I had thought of the emperor, who was said to be a man capable of throwing away his family to keep his greed. What big or small rulers did was all one and the same.

There was nothing more to watch, so I returned to the tower and flipped the deck of cards. There was no future for both the unknown man and Teror.

Since the world is rotten and cannot see the light, there is no way for this world to be saved.

I approached the sleeping Evan and gently swept down his white hair. A soft texture trickled down between my fingers. I touched it, but it didn’t remain in my hand. The white hair went off like a mirage, like melting snow.

I was already prepared for this, but my heart was pounding. Don’t be so weak. It’s just the beginning, and the road ahead will be even tougher, you shouldn’t worry about the short loneliness after sending Evan.

If you do anything wrong, you will be left alone again and live forever in an endless longing.

Whether it’ll end up being a fence, shackles, or obstacles, the opportunity is now. I don’t know if I’m meant to meet him or if I’m meant to change his fate, but I decided to take advantage of this opportunity. There are no coincidences. No, even if there are, there is no coincidence that happens when you want it to. It’s either fate or chance.

I had been thinking of changing my destiny since the beginning, so it wouldn’t be difficult to link my fate with his. If each of the two separate cogwheels of fate were to be linked, then everything would finally start anew and stray away from the past.

Yes. Those who see the truth and those who are seeking the truth, if the two of them meet and undergo a change, there will be plenty of possibilities.

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T/N : My spider senses are tingling, do we have a second ML? (๑•̌.•̑๑)ˀ̣ˀ̣