Chapter 222: Auction House (12)
It had truly happened in an instant.
I thought I saw a strange light leak from the hand of the Auctioneer on the platform, and before I could even blink, Valen Zeisho—who had been standing right beside me—was already in front of him.
And more than that, his arm had already pierced straight through the Auctioneer’s chest.
In his hand, which had passed through the Auctioneer’s body and emerged from the other side, he held an Iron Needle of a Strange Shape.
“Ku…!”
The Auctioneer collapsed without even managing to scream properly.
His eyes were wide open in disbelief, but the light of life was already rapidly fading from them.
“Kyaaaah!!!”
At the sight, the audience instantly descended into chaos.
The lively atmosphere from moments before vanished without a trace, replaced by sharp screams and the terrified cries of people in panic.
In a sense, it was only natural.
From their perspective, an Elf who had suddenly appeared had just murdered the Auctioneer.
In truth, aside from me and Princess Velita, no one realized that he had just saved their lives.
“Guards! Call the guards!”
“What in the world is this commotion?!”
“It’s murder! Murder!”
Some people sprang up from their seats, while others shoved their escorts forward.
Soon, the doors of the Auction House burst open with a loud crash, and heavily armed guards poured inside like arrows shot from a bow.
“Calm yourselves.”
Valen Zeisho’s low voice echoed through the chaotic Auction House.
Though his voice was quiet, almost like a whisper, it carried clearly even to my ears on the second floor.
But no one listened.
The guards had already surrounded him beneath the platform, leveling spears and blades at him.
“…And all of you, leave this place at once. If you value your lives.”
Even so, Valen Zeisho merely issued another warning without the slightest concern.
There was not a trace of agitation in his voice.
He sounded as though he were simply stating an obvious fact.
“Drag that bastard out at once!”
“How did a lunatic like that get into such a sacred place…?!”
No one paid heed to his words.
“Wait, is he perhaps going to be auctioned off as well?”
“…Hey! Guards, capture him alive! Don’t kill him!”
There were even those who spoke with intrigued voices amid the chaos.
“Ha.”
Valen Zeisho let out a short sigh.
Then, still holding the Auctioneer’s corpse in his hand, he casually tossed it aside.
The body rolled pitifully across the floor.
“…”
And then he glanced upward—toward where I was seated.
It was only for a brief moment, but our gazes clearly met, and I immediately understood what his look meant.
Without hesitation, I moved to Princess Velita and grabbed her arm.
Then I instinctively drew up my Divine Power, beginning to envelop both myself and her.
“Wh-what is going on…?”
Princess Velita looked at me in shock, but I gave no reply.
There was no time for that now.
Valen Zeisho slowly swept his gaze over the guards approaching him and the still-murmuring crowd trapped in confusion.
“…”
His eyes had grown cold.
Among them, he paid particular attention to several individuals who exuded especially strange auras, and he muttered in a low voice.
“Though it pains me to say this, my skill is no longer what it once was.”
With those words, Valen Zeisho pulled out a single old, filthy branch from his coat.
Once, it had been the bow of a Hero who had saved the world, and it had been called the Elf’s Treasure.
Now, however, it looked no more than a pitiful piece of firewood.
Even so, it still contained immense power.
Valen Zeisho gripped it.
At once, thorny vines burst forth from his hand as though exploding.
At the same time, they swiftly wrapped around the remains of the High Elf that had been placed upon the platform.
Just before the thorny vines completely swallowed everything without leaving the slightest gap, I faintly heard Valen Zeisho mutter in regret.
“…What a truly lamentable affair.”
“What is that—?!”
Someone cried out in horror, but their scream did not reach the end.
Kwaaaang!
From the bodies of the spectators and guards whom Valen Zeisho had been watching earlier, a strange light began to erupt—just like it had from the Auctioneer.
And it soon led to a horrific and powerful explosion.
‘…He’s insane.’
Instinctively, I realized that the explosion now rushing toward us was on an entirely different level from the ones I had experienced before—far more dangerous and far more powerful.
With my Divine Power alone, I would not even be able to fully protect myself.
Princess Velita likely had her own means of protecting herself.
…But there was always the chance of “what if.”
I couldn’t simply leave her to fend for herself.
Before I knew it, I had already moved Princess Velita behind my back.
“Kh.”
A searing, intense pain flared near my collarbone.
At the same time, an indescribable, strange power flowed out from my body and enveloped the two of us.
“…This.”
Princess Velita stared at my back in shock.
At the bizarre energy flowing from my body, she could only widen her eyes in astonishment.
Then, accompanied by immense pressure, the force of the explosion crashed down upon us.
Yet the power of the Brand had already wrapped around us, brushing aside the approaching hand of death.
The explosion—which would have swallowed us whole without leaving even a trace—spread in all directions, ignoring the two of us.
‘If I had tried to block it head-on, I really would have died.’
My Divine Power, even the Necklace forged from Dragon’s Scales—everything might have evaporated.
I felt a fresh chill at the sheer ability of the one who could commit such an absurd act.
What sent an even greater chill down my spine was the faint presence of another Brand within the explosion.
“…”
After what felt like an eternity, I came back to my senses and realized that Princess Velita and I had been pushed some distance away from where the auction had taken place.
Ordinarily, we would have remained where we stood, but perhaps because of that faint aura of the Brand—
I didn’t know the exact reason, but it seemed we had been shoved back by the aftermath of the explosion.
Fortunately, neither of us had a single injury.
I immediately rose to my feet, checked both my condition and Princess Velita’s, and then tried to head back toward the interior of the Auction House.
But just then, someone stepped forward and blocked my path.
“Greetings.”
The Man without a Head.
It was him.
He still held the Mask in his hand, and an unsettling aura flickered above the empty space where his neck should have been.
“As expected, you were alive.”
His voice was as gentle as ever.
There was even a faint joy woven into it.
“I must apologize, but I am not in a position to allow this long-awaited reunion to continue uninterrupted… I ask for your understanding.”
With those words, the Man without a Head raised his Staff toward me and Princess Velita.
Valen Zeisho stood in the middle of the devastated Auction House.
Right beside him, the Remains of the High Elf stood completely intact, without a single scratch.
It was not because of the thorny vines that had spread from his hand.
From the beginning, the explosion itself had spread in a strange pattern, never even including this area within its range.
“…”
At the epicenter of the explosion—upon the blackened and gouged earth—someone was already standing.
It was a small figure wearing a Robe.
That person paid no attention to the horrific devastation around them and simply stared blankly at Valen Zeisho.
“You… were lucky.”
A beautiful voice flowed from beneath the Robe.
Yet it was heavily hoarse and strangely clumsy.
“That… lucky… life, I will spare it. So… go back.”
With those words, the robed figure took a step toward Valen Zeisho.
The steps were unsteady and staggering, like those of a patient who had only just risen from a long sickbed.
“…”
Without a word, Valen Zeisho placed his hand upon the Remains of the High Elf beside him.
At that, the robed figure flinched and warned in a low voice.
“Take… your hand off. Now… take your hand… off him.”
“…And who do you think this is?”
At Valen Zeisho’s question, the robed figure answered in a trembling voice, as though calling out a name long and painfully missed.
“Valen Zeisho……”
The voice trembled.
“My… benefactor… And… family.”
Deep sorrow and blind obsession were mixed within it.
“If you touch… I won’t… let you… live….”
“This is not Valen Zeisho’s remains.”
Despite the killing intent in the robed figure’s warning, Valen Zeisho merely shook his head slowly.
“Nor is it the remains of someone connected to him… Yes, Titania. It is not her remains either.”
His voice carried a trace of grief.
Though his gaze rested upon the Remains of the High Elf, it seemed he was truly looking at someone beyond them.
“…She suffered greatly because of me.”
Valen Zeisho gently caressed the Remains of the High Elf as he muttered.
“When I returned after the Great War… she was already suffering from a long illness and a curse. She had endured it for so long that she said she had lost her former beauty, and she did not even wish to show herself to me.”
Deep sorrow and regret filled his voice.
“She… could not change. Her corpse emitted venom due to the curse, and I had to personally cremate her body and hold her funeral with my own hands. And to honor her, I carved this while recalling her appearance. …When it drifted and drifted until it reached this place, I even felt it was a kind of calling of fate.”
The death of one family member had summoned another sibling.
Muttering so, Valen Zeisho looked at the robed figure—the one who had called him family.
His eyes were filled with deep sorrow and pity.
“Arpentia.”
“…Huh?”
At the sound of her name, the robed figure—Arpentia—stared at him blankly.
Valen Zeisho could see straight through the face hidden beneath the Robe.
Arpentia, looking at him.
Her eyes.
Those eyes that had once been as beautiful as the sea itself—
Even in this situation, they failed to recognize him.
Looking at those clouded eyes, he muttered in lament.
“Have you come to the point where you cannot even recognize my face?”
“…Valen… Zeisho…?”
Arpentia called his name in a voice so faint it seemed she had just awakened from a distant dream.
Valen Zeisho looked at her and suppressed the sorrow boiling up from the depths of his heart.
“What in the world led you down this path?”
His voice was low and heavy.
“What seized you so completely that you would destroy with your own hands what we all protected… what held you fast enough to bring you to this state?”
Muttering so, Valen Zeisho raised the old branch—the fragment of the bow once called the Elf’s Treasure—and aimed it at her.
The tip trembled slightly, but his resolve was firmer than ever.
“I have come to take your life, Arpentia.”