Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 121

To Vanessa, From Teacher 121

“I just helped you clean up.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I owe my life to Your Majesty, and I love Your Majesty. A very trivial motive, wouldn’t you say?”

He still wore that clear smile, whether he understood what I meant or not. The mask of feigned serenity soon shattered, and a vein popped out on the King’s forehead.

“Owe your life? And now you’re trying to give it back! You must be insane. Why are you doing this! You could just live comfortably, easily-”

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty. Sister. Vina.”

Vieta cut him off with a voice as soft as a song.

“I am destined to be swept away by the currents. Sometimes I resent being born this way, even as I think, what can I do? All sorts of offers flood in, even to a fool who just hides away and draws pictures.”

Actually, I don’t have much talent for drawing.

The King’s brother, who had been grumbling, gestured to a Ministry of Justice official. She assessed the atmosphere around the table, took out a pen from her pocket, and began to record.

“The priests are a bit of an exception. They never made me any offers. Several priests just stopped by and spouted whatever they wanted. I just pieced together their stories, weaving them like the warp and weft of a loom.”

The King remained silent. Vieta, watching his firm lips, dropped a sugar cube into his tea. Plop.

That was the King’s preference when he was young. It might have changed by now, though.

“I couldn’t contact the outside world. What the priests were doing was too, too bizarre and a massive conspiracy. To awaken the black monster sleeping in the Night Vandalu [a mythical beast or entity] and seize power anew in a ruined world—only a madman would do that. But then I had a good idea.”

A plausible smile hung on his gaunt face, where the bones were visible.

“I thought it would be good to link the priests with some greedy nobles to help Your Majesty finish the cleanup. Yes, that would be good.”

Gideon sighed softly.

“It’s difficult to immediately stop the Night Vandalu’s magic circle from being damaged, but surely someone will notice. If so, I should participate too. I’ll pretend to be very greedy, throw out the bait of the throne, and link together those who are easily tempted—those who weren’t executed in the past due to insufficient evidence, those who dared to show their faces in the sunlight.”

And thus, finally, a perfectly clean cleanup.

A clean cleanup.

At Vieta’s words, the King recalled the words he used when he urged his cabinet. The word, which meant nothing when he said it, felt terrible now because Vieta, the brother he cherished and loved, had included himself in the scope of that cleanup.

“Don’t spare me. You always said that. Sleep peacefully. This kind of thing will keep happening. Don’t let me become a spark that threatens Your Majesty.”

The gentle voice stabbed and tore at the King like a blade.

“You’re not guilty! Not in the past, not now—where is your guilt in all this? You were just manipulated. Why should you die! This cleanup will end with sorting out the nobles twisted by the scent and the sinister priests, as you said-”

“It’s all a lie.”

Vieta, daring to interrupt the King, took a sip of tea with an innocent air.

“Actually, I was greedy for power. I seduced Mother to become King, and this time I conspired with the priests to lure the nobles and destroy my Priva [his kingdom or homeland].”

That’s the truth. Everyone will say so.

The last expression remaining on the King’s face shattered.

“Who would ever know my intentions?”

A bony hand slowly crept up and dared to touch the King’s hand, and began to gently pat the hardened hand. A smile naturally formed at the touch of family warmth after a long time.

“This, too, is probably a gesture to survive. But don’t worry. It won’t last long.”

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

It wasn’t easy to see the King express his emotions, especially considering how that ending would unfold.

If the King of Priva wanted to save his brother again, he would have to give up a great deal. Even then, it would be a difficult task, with all sorts of disputes foreshadowed.

The back that once carried young Rieta felt heavy with memories.

Gideon let out a low breath and rose to his feet first.

The palace officials were all great mages and better than him at defense, so the King would be safe. In that case, it was better to join the other special forces and help search the priests’ interior. The more evidence to suppress the temple, the better. That might save Vieta.

Gideon gave a simple bow and quickly tried to leave the space. However, someone ran up and blocked the door first.

“Captain!”

It was Lieutenant Hisop. His cheeks, stained with black blood, were pale. His urgency, which dared not even offer a salute to the King, was evident.

Gideon frowned at the sight of the blood, and Hisop shouted loudly.

“There are a lot of chimeras [monstrous creatures made of combined animal parts] in the back. A priest who was hiding released the group. Damn it, the houses aren’t far away!”

Gideon turned his back to Hisop and looked at the King. The three palace officials guarding the King stepped forward.

Hisop, having finished his report, barely managed a salute and ran out again. Gideon indifferently checked his sword.

The King frowned.

“Take Zaro from the palace. He’s a great mage, so he’ll be helpful.”

“Your Majesty’s safety comes first, so please stay here. If the special forces can’t stop them, it’s better to move to another place immediately.”

“Aren’t you the King’s direct special combat unit? I can’t believe the captain I appointed is making such weak noises.”

The King said slowly.

“I trust you all.”

Gideon turned around without regret. A long sword crossed the back of his well-tailored uniform.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Snap—the sound of bones breaking and blood flowing down. The state of the chimera was so terrible even before it was killed that it was hard to believe that a human had done it.

Gideon drew his sword and swallowed a sigh.

“Andalus. Naiva.”

“Yes.”

“Go down to the nearby village and inform the local security forces of the situation here. Protect the outside in case the chimeras go down there.”

Andalus and Naiva roughly wiped off the blood and stepped back. Ordinary soldiers also held up their spears to help the special forces, but when a strangely shaped chimera screamed, they covered their ears and collapsed.

“Please just catch those who are running away as much as possible. We’ve put up a barrier, but you never know.”

At Hisop’s polite words, the soldiers turned pale and just nodded, but they didn’t let go of their spears.

“There, there are so many of them.”

Liete panted and spat blood-stained saliva on the ground.

Fortunately, the chimeras behind the temple were only incomplete works, so there were no individuals with great abilities. So magic, swords, and other weapons were enough.

Gideon condensed his magic power and shot it sharply without answering. The monster, flailing its attached limbs, instantly fell backward. He swung his sword down on the other one that was running towards him. Black blood flowed out onto the ground.

“Still, they’re manageable, aren’t they? As long as we don’t use up all our magic power….”

When the red-haired special forces member laughed, Gideon warned without changing his expression.

“Don’t let your guard down.”

“Of course not. Don’t I always do my best!”

Someone snorted at those words, but the respite didn’t last long. Again, incomplete chimeras were rushing in like waves. Gorgeous magic, like sparks, soared up and tore the monsters apart.

No matter how famous the special forces were on the continent for their skills, everyone had a limit to their innate magic power. The special forces, who were not so numerous in the first place, were slowly getting tired and wanted to lie down.

“Are you crazy? Why are there so many eyeballs stuck in there!”

One of the members screamed in horror, looking at the chimera with eight Belov eyeballs embedded in its tail. The eyeballs were spinning around. While he was staggering as bait, another member swung his sword from behind.

The beast, which rotted flesh just by touching it, was paralyzed and stopped, and the swarms of giant moths with poison powder falling from their wings were swallowed by bubble-like barriers. All sorts of chaos were scattered, but it was slowly calming down along with the fatigue of the special forces.

Hisop wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“It’s being cleaned up roughly.”

As he said, the remaining chimeras were made sloppily and did not require powerful magic, and it was enough for the soldiers to stab them with spears. The soldiers, who had not been helpful in the beginning, were now actively cleaning up the chimeras.

Liete also lowered the tip of his sword and took a breath.

“Ah, damn it. Aren’t they crazy? If we hadn’t stopped them, all the priests in front of that gate would have been hurt!”

“I guess they knew we’d stop them, huh.”

One of the members grumbled and wiped the blood flowing from his cheek. As Liete cursed excitedly, Gideon swept his fallen bangs back.

Hisop smiled at the young priest who had released the chimera group.

“Are there any more chimeras?”

The young priest pursed his lips tightly. Hisop smiled kindly and took out Barr. He was going to use mind-confusing magic to make him tell the truth. The magic circle was complicated, but well, it was doable if he had time.

The priest tried to shake off his bound body, but when Barr approached, he squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

“If you follow that road, there are more. There are more!”

“Stronger ones?”

“I don’t know, there are just more. That’s all!”

When Hisop looked at Gideon, he nodded. Hisop smiled kindly and dragged the priest away.

“Let’s go together and see if it’s true or not.”

“Leave me alone!”

The priest shouted, but Hisop dragged him away with a light step. He was planning to throw him away as bait if it was dangerous. Hisop had no intention of protecting these crazy priests at all.

They push others into danger and hide in a safe place themselves? No way.

Gideon said indifferently.

“I will enter the forest.”

When Gideon stood at the front, the other members competed to take the lead, but he flatly refused. He didn’t know what was there, so it was right for him to go first.

The blue forest was beautiful, but it was quiet, with only the sound of leaves rustling in the occasional breeze. There was no sound of insects crying or birds chirping.

It was as lifeless as if it were dead, so only the sound of the members stepping on the dirt was heard, rustling.

However, there was nothing in the clearing at the end of the road. Only traces of trees that had been cut down on purpose remained.

“You said there was something?”

Hisop poked the priest crookedly, and the priest cowered, trembling. Seeing that, one of the members threw the corpse of a small monster onto the ground. The intention was to lure other monsters with blood as bait.

The forest still seemed quiet. The strange sense of unease, in contrast to the silence, made the members nervous. And it didn’t take long.