Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 176

I headed to the reception room with Lundringgen.

“How about decorating this place a bit?”

Lundringgen sat in a chair and looked out the window. Even with the window closed, the noise and fumes from the factory seeped in. He cleared his throat and waved his hand.

“Even he gets tired of seeing you sometimes.”

“The Lord does?”

He chuckled, picking up his teacup.

“He’s been watching you longer than you know. He didn’t just throw out the idea of inheritance or succession on a whim. It was the result of deep thought.”

“I suppose.”

“He commented that you don’t seem human, for better or worse. This scenery was one of those points.”

Nothing to say. I’ve heard that criticism often.

“I’ll consider it.”

Lundringgen pondered for a moment, looking outside.

“Why do you think he left his physical body behind?”

I started to answer, ‘Well…’ but stopped myself.

The Lord being sealed and Karkas taking over the Lord’s body were both unprecedented events. After the Lord died, there were minor things like creating artifacts from his corpse, but never before had a body been left so intact that an old god could inhabit it.

“If you must ask why, it’s because of me.”

“He doubted you until the very end.”

Doubt?

“Whether you could defeat Tiamar and the False God. He wasn’t sure. So, he made a move. He handed himself over to Karkas to give him an equal fight against Tiamar.”

Lundringgen ran his right hand over the tablecloth. Black lines appeared on the white cloth, forming a map.

“The Empire is caught in the middle. Tiamar and the False God won’t cooperate, but they will attack you simultaneously to advance. Can you withstand that situation?”

I don’t think it’s impossible, but the damage would be immense.

“He also knew that Tiamar was fond of you. So, he gave power to Karkas to provoke her, increasing the likelihood that she would join forces with you.”

“Bold move. What if it had failed?”

“You would be finished, and the remaining two would fight forever.”

He put down his teacup.

“Tiamar and Karkas are both incomplete. Tiamar is missing a soul fragment, and Karkas is missing his heart. Two unstable but immortal forces fighting forever.”

Whether Tiamar or the old god wins, there’s no future. It’s better to aim for a stalemate where neither wins.

“A necessary evil. With no value other than not handing it over.”

There’s a slim chance that someone like me or the Lord might emerge.

“Human Edar, you now possess the two things your enemies crave most: Tiamar’s soul fragment and the Lord’s heart. Now that you know their value, handle them with care.”

I looked at the box on the tablecloth.

The old gods must be searching frantically, yet it hasn’t been discovered. Judging by how no magic leaks from the box, it must be extraordinary. This must be why Lundringgen could hide the heart.

“Do you have her soul with you?”

Instead of answering, I looked behind him. Just then, Tiamar walked in. Lundringgen turned to look at her as she entered the reception room with Calliope.

“…?”.

His expression showed interest because the two familiars looked identical. He must have seen Calliope a few times, so he probably wondered if she had a twin.

But the interest was fleeting.

Lundringgen’s eyes widened. He could feel the magic.

“You are…”

Tiamar sat next to me and picked up the teapot.

“It’s hot, isn’t it?”

The sound of tea filling the cup.

Lundringgen opened his mouth slightly and gasped.

“Tiamar?”

“You can see that.”

His face was filled with shock, then calmed down.

“Not the real one.”

He seemed to have mistaken her for the dragon Tiamar. If the dragon had borrowed a human body to come here, he would be alarmed because the contents of the box would be in danger of being discovered.

“But this magic—”

“It’s rude to say I’m not the real one.”

“A fragment, then.”

Lundringgen’s eyes narrowed with caution. Even a fragment is Tiamar’s soul. He was being careful because it could be connected to the main body and transmit information.

“Don’t worry. I’m not connected to the real one you’re talking about.”

“What?”

I nodded to him as he was about to say it was impossible.

“She’s no longer a fragment or a part. She’s human Tiamar.”

“What are you talking about? Not a borrowed body?”

“Well, that’s how it is.”

Tiamar sipped her tea. Lundringgen watched her, frowning. He couldn’t understand the situation at all. I activated the Familiar Creation skill, which had finished its cooldown, in front of him.

“…I suspected your ability. Did you create her in this way too?”

“It’s not just creating. I can also destroy.”

His frown deepened.

“Judging by your expression, you don’t know. I guess it’s strange that you would know.”

She opened the box and took out the orb. Lundringgen tried to stop her, but she was faster, placing it on her right index finger and spinning it.

“W-wait…”

His face turned pale as he watched the orb spin.

I didn’t show it, but I laughed inwardly. Lundringgen isn’t the Lord. But the thought of the Lord making such a face made me feel mischievous.

Tiamar must have felt the same way; she knew the orb’s identity through telepathy and was playing along.

“What’s so great about this?”

“That’s his…”

“I know, I know. It’s Father’s heart.”

“Knowing that, you’re playing around with it?!”

She caught the orb with a snap.

“Are you trying to act important with this little thing? I told you, Edar’s ability isn’t just creating, it’s also destroying. Don’t you understand what that means?”

“…”

Lundringgen, whose face was red as if he was about to curse, closed his mouth. He was furious, thinking the Lord had been insulted, but his reason was trying to figure out the answer.

Tiamar smiled at the sight.

“You can kill the race that Father couldn’t kill.”

Lundringgen’s eyes widened. The color began to drain from his face, which had been flushed with anger.

“You’ve already killed many.”

“Say it again, clearly. Killed? Are you talking about the old gods?”

“Of course. Did you think I just sealed them away?”

A gasp.

Tiamar put down the orb, leaned forward, and said,

“I’ll tell you clearly. Edar can kill me. He’s already killed many of the False Gods. So, stop acting tough and cough it all up. Give me more than just this heart. You’re not just holding onto this, are you?”

A Three-Way Confrontation

Lundringgen looked at me with a surprised expression. His eyes were shaking. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something. It was hard to believe. It meant that I could do what even the Lord couldn’t do.

“That’s—”

“It’s true.”

Tiamar interrupted him, confirming.

“You told Edar that he’s changed a lot. You meant that his soul has changed, not his appearance. Why do you think that is? It’s because Edar has devoured other guys.”

She stabbed the cake that the maid had left with a fork.

“He’s eaten gods and lords, those little shits who have nothing to brag about except being immortal, so he can’t help but change.”

“…”

Lundringgen closed his mouth. The surprise subsided, and worry took its place. Tiamar had seen me absorb the old gods, but he hadn’t.

He couldn’t easily believe her claim.

“I think I still had some lingering attachments.”

But the worry was short-lived.

“Yes, as she said, the Lord’s legacy isn’t just this. The heart is the most valuable legacy… but there are many things that are just as valuable.”

“Are you talking about the things in the Lair?”

“Lair? That couldn’t even be left as a legacy.”

Lundringgen chuckled dryly.

“Greedy bastards laid their hands on it. Even when the Lord was watching, they took it as their own under the guise of ‘the greater good.’ Think back to where the Lord hid her.”

The Lord hid Tiamar’s soul behind a portrait. Considering the value of the soul, it was a very flimsy measure, but in another sense, it meant there was no other way.

“Well, what idiot would put treasure in a place where anyone can come and go? You have to put it in a place where no one knows and can’t enter by chance.”

I nodded.

“But why did he try to hide it? Is it more valuable than the Lord’s heart? If not, why did he try to hide it instead of handing it over to me directly?”

Lundringgen made a bitter face.

“I said it was a legacy, but in reality, it’s not a legacy.”

“Not a legacy?”

“It’s a tombstone.”

Tiamar’s face hardened, and she became serious.

“It’s the place where those killed by the dragon are buried.”

The Dragon’s Graveyard.

The place where the Lord Ailetrione and the dragon Tiamar’s kin were buried, the graveyard where the dragons who died fighting against her were buried.

“Dragons leave behind a lot even in death. So, there are many who seek them. When the Lord was here, no one dared to covet them, but after he left, it’s obvious.”

Of course. Look at what happened to the Lord. An old god stole his body. The dragons buried in the ground may not have a single piece of flesh left, but their scales, bones, and hearts would remain intact.

“Immediately after falling as a mortal, the Lord realized the fate that he and his kin would face. So, he secretly collected the bodies of his kin and created a graveyard.”

What if the graveyard became known to the old gods or the Council?

In the Lord’s view, they would have suffered a fate no different from desecration.

“So, he hid it.”

Tiamar had reason to be serious. Weren’t they the ones she killed? Lundringgen cast a sharp glance at her for a moment. Tiamar bit her lip, reading the blame in his gaze.

“Originally, I was going to spend the rest of my life as a gravedigger. But I guess that won’t work. If you can really kill them… they would want that too.”

At that moment, the orb released magic.

The magic flowing from the orb in the opened box enveloped me, Tiamar, and Lundringgen. Tiamar moved her hand, gathering magic at her fingertips.

“I don’t need it. I’m fine as I am.”

Lundringgen also shook his hand once, chasing away the magic.

“If she were still a fragment, it would be different, but there’s no need to leave this alone. You keep it. So that Karkas can’t take it.”

I gripped the orb.

Crack…

Then, the orb cracked. As the orb broke, the magic within burst out violently. The magic spread in all directions and then swirled around me.

I accepted the magic. The magic absorbed from Blad’s Throne, the magic absorbed from swallowing the old gods, magic more immense than any other entered me.

“…”

At that moment, I felt a gaze.

‘Lord.’

The Lord was watching me. It was just a feeling, but I was sure. The will he left behind saw me, and in response, the magic surged.

Like water boiling just before an explosion, the magic churned inside me. But as the gaze disappeared, the flow calmed down, and the magic was completely absorbed.

That must have been the last defense the Lord left behind.

Anyone else who coveted the heart would have been punished.

————————————

[T7!& *($g%& %@^$6nF7 DSJ*^%&*^%*.]

[&^*$m5J*@*h^^*.]

————————————

As the orb crumbled, a status window appeared. The letters were broken without leaving a single one, so I couldn’t read it, but the meaning was obvious. The Familiar Creation skill had leveled up.

I waited for the reward given after the level increase.

————————————

[T7!& *($g%& %@^

————————————

There was no reward.

No, the reward was the disappearance of the status window.

The letters were erased from the end, and then the status window itself disappeared.

###

The battle continued on the peaks.

The Imperial Army advanced towards the Red Mountain, capturing numerous peaks one by one. The dwarves’ stronghold was a deep mine, so it was so quiet that you wouldn’t even know there was a battle from outside the mountain.

However, when the Imperial Army captured one peak and moved on to another, the mountain echoed with noise.

“Again, they’re coming again!”

Tiamar’s offspring began to dive. They hovered in the sky, and when they saw the dwarves on the ground, they stopped flapping their wings and threw themselves down.

The huge body tore through the wind, making a sharp sound, and the dwarves were terrified by the sound.

“Evade!”

“Scatter! Scatter!”

They scattered without looking at the sky when they heard the sound. They didn’t even aim their guns at the sky. It was useless to shoot. They had learned from experience that few bullets hit the wyverns, and even if they did, they couldn’t penetrate their scales.

“D-don’t come!”

Unfortunately, a dwarf tripped and screamed. A wyvern was rushing towards him, opening its maw [mouth].

“H-heok…!”

Flames were visible in the open mouth. It was about to breathe. The dwarf squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the end.

Crack!

However, the breath was not fired. Just as it was about to exhale breath from its wide-open mouth, a huge mouth bit the wyvern’s neck.

“…!”

The old god, Karkas.

The wyvern was a giant with a height of tens of meters, but Karkas was even bigger. He bit the wyvern’s neck in one bite, crunching, chewing, and shaking.

Thump—!

The body of the wyvern with its severed neck fell on the snow-covered mountain.

“Aaaaaaack!”

The dwarves who happened to be under it were crushed to death, and the breath contained under the wyvern’s neck spread in all directions, igniting the gunpowder barrels.

Kwagwagwang!

Karkas closed his mouth, dripping with blood, and looked at the ground.

Yellow, black, white, smoke of all colors rose from the mountain. A strong wind carried snow, and humans were fighting in it.

“Don’t scatter! Maintain formation!”

The commander of the 1st Regiment, Kodekivitz, smashed an enemy’s jaw with his fist. The owner of the jaw he had broken was a human. No, a monster that resembled a human.

“You replica!”

Kodekivitz shouted and slashed the monster with his greatsword. Taking advantage of the gap, two monsters aimed at him and swung their swords and maces, but the familiars on either side of him blocked them with shields and spears.

Swish!

The familiars grasped the enemy’s essence. They looked like humans on the outside, but they were monsters on the inside, and the monsters were slaves made to imitate the familiars.

“Disgusting.”

Until now, the monsters created by the old gods had bizarre appearances befitting monsters. Even if they were based on elves, they lost their original form when they contained the old god’s magic, but this monster was different.

If they were just standing still, you couldn’t tell who was human and who was a monster. The only way to distinguish them was by the flow of magic.

“Humans, fall back.”

The familiars pulled the Imperial Army back and fought the monsters.