Chapter 128
【 Secrets That Couldn’t Be Revealed 】
“‘What happened to Sakiel?’”
About an hour had passed since Sakiel had been cursed.
I sat blankly in the shared living area, waiting for news.
Then, as soon as I saw Akkion and Veron—who had taken Sakiel away—I jumped to my feet and asked.
“‘He didn’t… die, right?’”
“He didn’t die. Don’t worry.”
“But his condition was extremely bad.”
Both Akkion and Veron wore dark expressions.
“The fairies treated him as best as they could, but he still didn’t recover properly. So we dealt with the urgent issues first, and Akkion took him to the World Tree as fast as possible.”
“We just have to hope he recovers well inside the World Tree, like last time. Of course, it’ll take just as long.”
“‘He can become okay again, right?’”
Akkion gave a heavy nod and continued.
“He’ll wake up again someday. It’ll take a long time, but someday, he’ll recover.”
It was at least some good news.
If Sakiel had died, I would’ve suffered terribly from guilt.
“What exactly is that World Tree?”
“For us fairies and elves… it’s like a sacred relic? No, you can think of it as a temple.”
“A temple… then there must be a god you serve?”
“There is. Someone who has been with elves and fairies from our birth to this very moment.”
With those words, Veron turned his head westward.
He looked toward the largest tree in the western forest—the World Tree.
“That tree is the only medium through which we can communicate with that being. At the same time, it’s a place where their blessing continuously descends. With that blessing, most illnesses and wounds can be healed.”
“So Sakiel can be healed by that blessing?”
“Exactly. But as I said before, it’ll take an incredibly long time. His body was damaged that much by the curse.”
Before Sakiel was struck by the curse, he had told me something.
That after a long time, he felt he would be able to meet me again.
‘…I really hope we can meet again.’
At the very least, before I died or disappeared, I wanted to speak with Sakiel once more.
There were still so many things I wanted to talk about with him.
And for us to have that proper conversation later, I absolutely had to resolve the curse plaguing this land.
“But Gideon.”
“Yes, Akkion.”
“What did Sakiel tell you? What did he reveal that brought down a curse that severe?”
“The Evil God and the Evil Dragon. Among the Ancient Beings, he mentioned those two.”
At my words, Akkion and Veron—the leaders of both races—showed expressions mixed with multiple emotions.
Shock, fear, confusion—an overlapping blend.
“…Akkion, it looks like Sakiel really risked his life.”
“I think so as well… To reveal that, he would’ve had to endure pain so terrible that death might’ve been preferable… There’s no way Sakiel didn’t know that.”
“Both of you shouldn’t speak about this any further.”
With a heavy expression, I looked between the centaur and the fairy standing before me.
“I don’t want to see anyone else suffer a curse right in front of my eyes.”
“Understood. Still… Sakiel was remarkable. Even thinking about it again.”
“That’s true. If it were me… No way I could’ve done that.”
I quietly listened to Akkion and Veron talk.
And in that moment, someone approached me from the side.
“…Teacher.”
“Gideon. I have so many things I want to ask you, you know?”
“Yes, I’d probably feel the same.”
“Then shall we talk for a bit?”
“…So to summarize, your family has some kind of secret hidden, right?”
“Yes. My ancestor was given the Record Erasure Sentence, and I’m trying to uncover the secret buried within that.”
“Hm, interesting.”
I spoke alone with Kara, away from everyone else.
I told her that my family held a hidden secret—and that I was trying to reveal it.
“Am I the only one who knows besides you?”
“No. Among humans, you’re the only one.”
“That’s surprising. I figured you would’ve told your girlfriend.”
“I judged that… it was better not to tell her yet.”
I still didn’t know exactly what kind of secret my family held.
Depending on what it was, Lisa and others around me could get hurt.
So my plan was to uncover the truth first, then decide whether to tell her.
“Then why did you tell me?”
“I couldn’t keep hiding it after coming this far. When I promised to bring you here, I intended to tell you when the time came.”
My family and the other races.
I had long been certain that something existed between the two.
So when I promised to bring Kara to the Protected Zone, I had already prepared myself to reveal it.
“Then… I should keep it a secret too, right?”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Alright. I’ll keep it secret. It might be a dangerous secret… and who knows what could happen if I go around talking carelessly?”
Kara fell silent for a moment, thinking.
Then, once she seemed to have organized her thoughts, she spoke again.
“Good. Final recap. Your ancestor had ties with the other races long ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“But for some reason, he received the Record Erasure Sentence. The other races were also forced into some contract. Because of that contract, they can’t speak about what happened in the past, and if they try, they suffer extreme pain from a curse. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“And based on what you’ve found, the Ancient Beings—specifically the Evil God and the Evil Dragon—seem to be related to the incident. That’s it, right?”
“Yes, you understood perfectly.”
Kara’s expression once again turned contemplative.
“The Ancient Beings. And among them, the Evil God and Evil Dragon… Hmm. I’m not an expert in ancient studies, so I really can’t tell you much.”
“I heard that even in the Empire, very few people know ancient studies well.”
“Exactly. It’s as niche as research on the other races… no, maybe even more niche. But the Evil God—an Ancient Being—was involved in this incident?”
Kara scratched her head, looking as if she could not make sense of it.
“That’s strange. I know the Empire’s history extremely well, to the point I could recite it from memory. But in all of that history, there wasn’t a single event related to an Evil God. There were incidents involving gods, sure… but not an Evil God—especially not an Ancient Being-level one.”
“Maybe there was, but it was erased through Record Erasure?”
Kara flinched at my words and went quiet for a moment.
“…That’s a reasonable guess. Considering everything I heard, it does sound plausible.”
And then, nodding her head, she activated the spell.
A rift opened in the air, and Kara reached her hand into it.
“Hold on. I’ve got a few books in my subspace, and among them—ah, found it.”
Kara pulled out a book from her subspace and quickly skimmed through it.
“Let’s see… The recorded Evil Gods are three in total… and Evil Dragons… there are a lot. Not just one or two. But the number of Evil Dragons related to the Evil Gods… roughly twenty.”
“…That’s still quite a lot.”
“That Elf, Sakiel, told you to find the Evil Dragons before the Evil Gods, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Twenty Evil Dragons.
Since Sakiel had said to find the Evil Dragons first, it was only right to start with those dragons.
‘But finding and checking all twenty… that’s a problem. How am I supposed to find them?’
The Evil Dragons were also among the Ancient Beings, and there was a reason those beings were called “Ancient.”
‘All of them existed in the distant past—beings that have completely hidden their forms now.’
Because they had completely vanished, tracking their traces was already a challenge.
‘If there were only one Evil Dragon, it would’ve been easier. But twenty of them… that’s overwhelming.’
The fact that there were also three Evil Gods was another problem.
Judging by the circumstances, it seemed like only one Evil God was related to this case, but to figure out which one of the three…
“You look troubled.”
“I am. I finally found an important clue, but it’s not an easy one. It doesn’t point in just one direction.”
“That’s true. Evil Gods and Evil Dragons… Finding even one Ancient Being is hard enough, but those two? That’s dangerous work.”
“Still, it’s something I have to do.”
The mission I received the moment I was transmigrated.
To return to my original world, I had to complete this task.
‘Though lately… I’ve been leaning toward not going back. Still, I really want to uncover the truth.’
By now, it was close to curiosity.
What in the world had my ancestors of the Kyrgram Family done to become connected with Evil Gods and Evil Dragons?
I truly wanted to know.
“It seems dangerous enough to make me wonder if we really need to uncover this secret… but at the same time, I can’t help but be curious. Evil Gods, Evil Dragons, and the other races—what kind of hidden history lies within this Empire?”
“Can I take that as a sign you’ll help me?”
“Of course. I’ll help.”
Kara answered casually, as if it were obvious.
“I’ll help you gather information related to this, and I’ll keep the secret as best I can. But when the day comes that you reveal this secret to the world, you must mention my name—loudly and clearly. Got it?”
“Heh. Understood, Teacher.”
Somehow, that was such a Kara-like response.
“Anyway, Teacher, you’ll be running around investigating for the next two weeks, right?”
“Of course. And speaking of that, why don’t you bring over the luggage you left at your mansion? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable staying here?”
“I’ll move it tomorrow morning.”
Just as Kara said, staying here in the Protected Zone for Other Races seemed far better than in that eerie, ghost-like house.
“Anyway, Teacher. If you’re going to explore the Protected Zone starting tomorrow, can I come along?”
“Hm? Why? You want to go around too?”
“Yes. I want to look for traces as well. Traces that might belong to an Evil God or Evil Dragon that could’ve come here in the past.”
A week passed after that.
I followed Kara everywhere, diligently searching for traces of the past.
But I couldn’t find even one.
No matter how thoroughly I searched every corner, there was nothing.
‘Is it just too ancient?’
I’d heard that these events happened hundreds of years ago.
If that was the case, it made sense that the traces had faded away.
Or maybe…
‘Perhaps that Evil God or Evil Dragon came and erased all traces.’
They had wiped out every record of my ancestors—so erasing traces wouldn’t have been difficult either.
‘It’s already been a week? Then next week… I’ll have to leave this place.’
I thought about searching the Protected Zone one last time before leaving.
I had already examined most areas, but still, I couldn’t be certain.
Maybe I’d find a clue somewhere completely unexpected.
‘I’ll go over it again starting tomorrow.’
Before I knew it, the sun was setting.
As I watched the sun dip below the horizon, I turned to head back to the communal living area from the Centaur plains…
“Hmm?”
The Crystal Sphere in my pocket vibrated.
Kara was contacting me.
“Yes, Teacher. What is it?”
“Hey, hey, hey! Where are you right now?”
“I’m in the Centaur district…”
“You’re not busy, right? You can come to the Elves’ Forest right now?”
“The Elves’ Forest?”
I tilted my head.
I knew Kara had gone to see the Elves today.
But I hadn’t expected her to call me so suddenly, especially when it was already getting dark.
“Isn’t it a bit late? Whatever it is, maybe tomorrow…”
“No, come now. You have to see this.”
Kara wasn’t the type to get worked up over nothing.
If she was reacting like this, there had to be a good reason.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, you see, I just checked the Elves’ mana formation. And… it’s identical to yours!”
“…What?”
“I mean it! Those Elves have a mana formation that’s almost the same as your unique one!”