Chapter 24

The Genius Knight Who Devours Memories

Chapter 24

He had a dream.

A very deep dream.

A dream so deep that its end could not be known, and once fallen into, it felt as though one could never return.

Rohan was surrounded by countless things there.

Souls?

Vengeful spirits?

Or perhaps evil spirits?

He could not tell what they were, but one thing was certain.

‘It hurts.’

An invisible weight pressed down on Rohan from all sides.

His arms and legs felt heavy.

Even breathing was difficult.

It was not simply a sensation weighing down his body.

Inside his mind. In the deepest part of his consciousness.

It felt as though something black and cold was burrowing in and slowly binding him.

As though countless hands were gripping Rohan’s body and mind, dragging him down toward a bottomless abyss.

Amid that, Rohan suddenly became certain.

‘This is karma.’

The people he had killed.

The lives he had stolen.

The memories he had taken.

He had used all of them to take the lives of even more people.

And now the countless deaths he had piled up were clutching at his ankles.

‘But.’

If someone asked whether he regretted it.

‘No.’

He did not regret it.

Because there was someone Rohan absolutely had to kill.

‘Reinag.’

The man responsible for killing his mother.

Had he not come this far to kill that bastard?

He could not stop after being caught by something like this.

The moment that thought occurred to him, Rohan’s eyes snapped open.

‘This place...’

Rohan was submerged in black water.

No, it was not water.

It was sticky like tree sap and viscous like rotten blood.

Every time he moved, the black liquid clung to his arms and legs.

The more he struggled, the deeper it dragged him down.

‘No.’

Rohan gritted his teeth.

He could not collapse here.

He thrashed his arms and legs.

Twisted his entire body.

Desperately stretched out his hand toward somewhere he could never reach.

But he grasped nothing.

His body sank deeper.

‘I have to survive.’

The moment Rohan squeezed out every ounce of strength and reached out.

Flash-

A light flickered in the darkness.

Rohan stopped moving.

Right in front of him... no, in a place he thought was right before his nose, two enormous blue lights appeared, cutting through the darkness.

Even one of the circles was far larger than Rohan’s entire body.

Infinitely deep,

cold enough to bring frost,

and yet burning with enough heat to blaze.

‘Eyes.’

They were eyes.

There were no visible pupils, nor any expression.

But Rohan instinctively knew.

That existence was watching him.

Sssssss―!

At the same time, the black water moved.

The viscous liquid that had been crushing Rohan slowly began to swirl.

Before long, rrrrrumble―

The entire black sea twisted.

The endless darkness became one enormous vortex and surged toward the existence with blue eyes.

The hands gripping Rohan began to fall away one by one.

The weight crushing his arms and legs disappeared.

So did the cold sensation burrowing into his mind.

And the unpleasantness clinging to the deepest part of his consciousness.

All of it was stripped away.

And finally.

Even the last single drop of black water.

Whoooosh―!

When it was sucked into the enormous existence.

‘Light.’

Rohan felt liberated.

As though shackles that had weighed him down for a very long time had finally fallen away.

And.

.

.

.

Rohan opened his eyes to loud noise and the sensation of something soft tickling his face.

Blue eyes were in front of him.

Rohan knew instinctively.

It was the existence he had seen in his dream.

-Pya?

Only, it was the size of Rohan’s fist.

_____________

“Rohan, are you alright?”

Creed’s voice was full of concern.

Instead of answering, Rohan sat up.

Looking around, he saw that he was inside Wagon Number Two, used to transport the wounded.

Rohan checked his body.

‘I’m strangely fine.’

His body felt light.

If anything, he felt far better than before.

‘Was I so used to the pain that I didn’t even realize I was hurting?’

He had felt something similar not long ago when he killed the Noxis reconnaissance soldiers.

Back then too, immediately after the phantom beast egg absorbed the black energy that left his body, his head had felt much lighter.

‘But this time it’s on a completely different level.’

It felt as though a heavy weight that had been hanging somewhere on his body his entire life had finally fallen away.

“I’m fine. If anything, I think I feel better than before.”

“...Really?”

Creed looked Rohan over with an unconvinced expression.

“What happened?”

At Rohan’s question, Creed briefly explained what had happened after he lost consciousness.

How Rohan had passed out from the aftermath of the explosion.

How the hallucinations had ended when the mage died.

And how the black energy had been absorbed into the phantom beast egg.

“And then...”

Creed turned his gaze to the side.

A fist-sized bird was fluttering there.

-Pya!

“...The egg hatched.”

At that moment, a soldier strode over.

“Rohan! Rohan woke up!”

“Are you alright? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“Thank goodness you woke up. We seriously survived because of you.”

And that was not all.

Soldiers passing by recognized Rohan one after another and approached.

-Pyaaa!

Flap flap―!

“Gah!”

“Aaagh!”

The soldiers who had been surrounding Rohan moments ago all fled at once as though they had planned it.

Rohan blinked.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They saw that thing devour all the black stuff that came out of your body.”

Creed shrugged.

Just then, Mushurin arrived after hearing the commotion.

“Private First Class Rohan.”

“Company Commander.”

“You did well. Your contribution was the greatest in this battle.”

Mushurin spoke with a calm expression, but there was clear recognition in her voice.

“Once the formal report goes up, His Majesty the Emperor may personally grant you a reward.”

A reward from the Emperor.

The soldiers listening nearby murmured quietly.

Rohan himself did not seem particularly interested, though.

-Pya!

Mushurin looked up at the bird with a worried expression.

“It’s completely attached itself to you. It doesn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.”

“What do I do now?”

“What do you mean?”

Mushurin answered indifferently.

“The mission is complete. Our orders were to transport the phantom beast egg to the capital.”

“...”

“We couldn’t control whether the egg hatched in the first place. If it hatched, then we simply bring the hatched creature with us.”

It was an answer very much like Mushurin.

Even while they spoke, the phantom beast continued flying around Rohan without rest.

Flap flap―

Rohan stared at it quietly.

Black feathers. Its entire body was as dark as though it had been dipped in ink, but its two eyes were an exceptionally vivid blue.

Looking closely, a very faint blue sheen seemed to linger between its feathers as well.

‘Is this really the existence I saw in my dream?’

Rohan still found it hard to believe.

One of those blue eyes alone had been larger than his entire body.

Its presence had been overwhelming enough to make him forget to breathe.

Yet the creature before him in reality was merely a fist-sized bird.

-Pya!

It flew close to his face again.

Rohan waved his hand as though annoyed.

“Move.”

-Pya!

Flap flap―

The creature actually moved slightly away from Rohan.

Rohan’s eyes widened.

“You understand me?”

-Pya!

It circled above Rohan’s head.

Before he knew it, Creed, Kaisen, and Johanna had all come closer and were watching.

The one showing the most interest was Kaisen.

“It’s adorable. So damn adorable!”

A voice that did not suit his huge build at all.

Johanna’s face twisted at the sight.

“...Disgusting.”

Kaisen ignored her and let his eyes sparkle.

“It looks like a hummingbird with crow colors!”

-Pya!

“Aww, so cute.”

Kaisen suddenly looked at Rohan.

“By the way, shouldn’t you give it a name?”

“A name?”

“Yeah. It follows you around everywhere. You can’t keep calling it bird, bird forever.”

Kaisen rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment.

Then he clapped his hands as though a good idea had occurred to him.

“How about Karmedius, the Blue-Eyed Black-Winged King who Rules the Pitch-Black Sky! If it’s a phantom beast, then naturally it deserves a name like...”

-Pyak!

The phantom beast quickly backed away as though disgusted.

Johanna immediately said.

“Disgusting.”

“What? You little...”

At that moment, Rohan muttered quietly.

“Nir.”

“Nir?”

“It means black bird.”

Kaisen immediately scowled.

“You seriously have no sense. This isn’t just anyone, it’s a phantom beast.”

But then.

-Pyaaa―!

The phantom beast suddenly flew high into the air.

Then, flap flap―!

It circled around Rohan’s head several times.

It was obviously excited.

“Nir.”

-Pya!

The moment he called the name, it reacted immediately.

Rohan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Tch.”

Kaisen pouted.

Just in case, he called Karmedius several times, but there was no reaction.

Watching Nir flutter through the air, Rohan fell into thought.

‘Is this really that existence?’

An existence that had inspired even awe.

The blue eyes that had rescued Rohan from the swamp of darkness.

If so...

“Nir. What is your ability?”

-Pya?

Nir tilted its head to the side.

Then, flap flap! It flew in front of Kaisen.

“Huh?”

Kaisen’s face immediately brightened.

“You finally noticed my charm?”

Nir stood before Kaisen and opened its beak wide like a baby bird.

Kaisen smiled broadly and reached out.

“Aww, so cute. Can I just touch you once...”

Sssssss―

“Huh?”

Kaisen stopped moving.

Something was flowing out of his face.

Black energy.

Faint black smoke began leaking from around his nose, mouth, and eyes before slowly flowing toward Nir.

Flash― A glow appeared in Nir’s blue eyes.

Whoooosh―!

“H-holy fuck! What is this!”

Kaisen covered his face with both hands.

But it was useless.

The black energy continued leaking between his fingers.

Rohan urgently shouted.

“Stop!”

-Pyak!

Nir closed its beak.

The glow in its eyes vanished at the same time.

Tzzzz...

The black energy flowing from Kaisen disappeared as though it had never existed.

Kaisen’s face had turned deathly pale.

“...”

No one could say anything.

It seemed something dangerous had awakened.

_____________

The knight order arrived at the Imperial capital.

The moment they passed through the enormous gate and entered, Rohan’s eyes widened.

‘...’

A sight that could never be seen in the north.

Countless carriages traveled along the broad main roads,

and multi-story stone buildings stood in rows along both sides of the streets.

The exterior walls of every building were clean and orderly, and statues and fountains had even been installed here and there.

‘There can be this many people in one place.’

The place Rohan had lived was a small village near the frontier of the north.

There had been more wooden houses than stone buildings, and it was rare to see so many people gathered in one place.

“Try not to look so much like a country bumpkin.”

A solemn voice sounded beside him.

It was Kaisen.

He had his arms crossed and was staring ahead with a rather dignified expression.

However.

Flare.

His nostrils moved widely.

His gaze constantly darted left and right.

‘...’

Rohan did not bother responding.

After traveling across the capital for quite some time.

The buildings around them gradually began to thin out.

An enormous wall.

A wall so high that comparing it to the buildings of the capital was almost laughable blocked their path.

At its center stood a massive gate that looked large enough for dozens of soldiers to pass through at once.

The Imperial Palace.

The place where the Emperor of the Empire resided.

Mushurin turned toward the soldiers.

“You all did well.”

The soldiers looked at her.

Several days of marching and battle.

Perhaps because they knew the end was finally in sight, the tension on their faces gradually eased.

“From here, you will follow the Capital Knights to your assigned quarters. Unpack your things and rest.”

“Yes!”

The soldiers’ response was louder than usual.

Mushurin continued.

“The wounded will receive treatment first, and anyone with damaged equipment should have it repaired. We will spend several days here recovering and maintaining our equipment before returning north.”

Soon, under the guidance of the Capital Knights, the soldiers began moving one by one.

Rohan was about to follow Creed when.

“Private First Class Rohan.”

Mushurin called him.

Rohan stopped and turned around.

“You will remain here.”

Mushurin’s gaze moved toward Rohan.

More precisely, above Rohan’s head.

-Pya?

Toward Nir, who was sitting there.

“Because I’ll have to report that separately.”