Chapter 269
Yurik was watching Dardin and Yesung having a conversation from the carriage.
He had a vague idea of what story Dardin would tell Yesung.
If there had been no major changes in the human called Dardin that he knew,
Yesung was probably hearing about the purpose of this bizarre journey right now.
Yurik turned his gaze away from the two people and leaned his head against the carriage wall.
His well-tied platinum hair beca disheveled, but it didn't particularly matter.
While he waited like this for a mont, exactly as he had expected, Yesung ca rushing into the carriage.
Yesung, who had closed the carriage door with a loud sound, imdiately opened his mouth.
"Let's talk."
"Was there sothing to talk about? I thought all the talk between us was finished with last night's deal."
"Did you know? Did you know and still do this-"
"What did I know? Although I don't know what story you had with Dardin, you know that intimidating the other party like now isn't a good attitude, don't you?"
Yurik corrected his posture and sat up straight.
Yesung, sitting across from him, was clearly showing bewildernt, anger, and confusion toward Yurik.
After choosing his words for a mont, Yesung glared at him.
"We both need to be honest. Do you agree?"
"As parties who exchanged equal deals?"
"No."
A brief gap was placed between the words.
"...As family or brothers."
"Ha."
Yurik couldn't help but sneer.
In his opinion, it was only Yesung who hadn't properly played the role of family until now.
Not himself, who had carefully built Shambhala for him, searched for him, and went insane going back and forth between giving up and stubbornness tens of thousands of tis a day!
Clearly Yesung had never cared about such a self.
Yesterday he had hung his head as if he would cry soon after hearing just one word,
Today, as soon as he heard the truth from Dardin, wasn't he chasing after him like a hawk demanding reasons and explanations?
Yurik found this detestable. To be more honest, the fact that Yesung's center was not himself was the most unbearable.
He also wanted to know by what logic Yesung acted and moved.
And quite desperately at that.
"Fine. Let's speak openly to each other. We'll exchange one by one. No lies. No hiding anything. Since I'm the 'younger brother,' I'll concede about the first question."
"What was the reason for establishing the ancient Acheron Empire?"
Sharp from the first question.
Yurik clicked his tongue only inwardly.
"Because you didn't co back."
"What does that an?"
"It's my turn to ask the second question. Yesung. Not you."
"...Go ahead."
"You said you'd go and co back, so why didn't you return?"
"To be honest, I kind of forgot about returning after 3,000 or 8,000 years."
Hearing that answer, Yurik glared at Yesung.
He wasn't angry. He wasn't disappointed either.
But he almost sighed at the fact that his mory was this short.
He almost asked whether he rembered what happened in the Elder Things' garden or the day they first t, but barely held back.
This was a precious private eting he had obtained. There was no need to waste precious ti on such questions.
Yesung asked again.
"What does my not going to Shambhala have to do with the Acheron Empire?"
"Shambhala was so small it wasn't even visible, right? If the entire continent beca one country, I thought that sowhere on this land you would live as an Acheron citizen whether you wanted to or not."
"Wait. Then the Acheron Empire was an expanded version of Shambhala-"
"It's my turn now. Tell what you did after leaving Shambhala. Including the god hunting you ntioned before, don't leave out anything. Everything."
Yesung mumbled and then started with the story of leaving Shambhala.
A long journey. The sea where Shan and Tika settled. The attack of the gray dwarves. Fleeing to avoid the curse of the god they summoned.
Yesung's reckless challenges, continued god hunting. The encounter with Eibon. The appearance of the first mage.
Yurik thought cynically while listening to the lengthy chronicle.
After going through all that trouble to leave Shambhala, he should have at least lived well.
After leaving, far from living in luxury, he had only gotten hurt, dirty, and sick in all sorts of terrible places.
If he had really been tired of Shambhala, he could have just said one word to him.
If he had, he would have built a country bigger than the Acheron Empire, not so village like Shambhala.
Though it was already a thing of the past.
"I listened well. It was an interesting story. Now you can ask."
"The reason for wanting to overturn the western Thurian continent."
"That's a bit complicated."
The carriage was moving at so point.
The scenery that Yurik had once seen in the very distant past was completely new.
Feeling both strange and not strange, Yurik was conscious of the waiting Yesung and slowly continued speaking.
"After establishing the Acheron Empire and creating three homunculi with Eibon's help, I thought I could freely search for you since I had substitutes."
"But?"
"You weren't there."
Probably in terms of chronological order, it was the period when Yesung had thrown himself to Shub-Niggurath or sothing for so worthless mage.
So that's why he wasn't visible?
Yurik began to consider whether to give mitigating circumstances for that part.
But no matter how much he thought about it, being buried sowhere he didn't know for the sake of so mage seed completely wrong.
"Since I was away from my position for a long ti, humans divided up the land among themselves. I thought it didn't matter much so I was going to leave it alone, but a few years ago I was pursued while crossing a border."
"Huh? Pursued?"
"The relationships between the 8 kingdoms weren't good then either. At that ti, I had no ans to prove my identity. How could I prove the identity of soone who had lived for thousands of years?"
Yurik fell into reminiscence.
Now even the country's na was hazy, but he clearly rembered what he had experienced then.
Usually when such things happened, he would solve everything with appropriate gold coins,
But that day the border guard captain must have been in a bad mood because the inspection was quite strict.
In such circumstances, it was natural for a youth with only a decent face but no identification to get caught.
"After shaking off the pursuit and trying to rest a bit, I'd be chased by border guards from other countries, and in the process I ended up consuming too much ti."
"U-uh-huh."
"So I decided. Rather than being this botherso, even if it took so ti, I'd sweep everything away."
Yurik brushed off the dust on the seat next to him with his white hand.
The gesture of sweeping over the silk carpet looked exactly like sweeping away humans from the continent.
"But you walked all the way here yourself..."
Seeing Yesung just gaping, Yurik felt a bit better.
"Th-then are you withdrawing the plan to sweep away the continent?"
"Why would I? You want to just give up after coming this far? Considering future events, proceeding is the right thing to do."
"Why? Since I ca, it's over. Then there's no need to cause such trouble!"
"When I don't know when and where you'll go again. Think of it as a backup plan for that ti. It's more comfortable without people than with them."
"The people who lived here did nothing wrong."
"Neither did I. I didn't commit any wrongs either, but I was suddenly left alone, wasn't I? If there's soone among us who really committed a sin, who do you think it would be?"
Yesung began looking at him like soone who had suddenly been hit.
Yurik sincerely thought he was not at fault.
All of this was Yesung's responsibility for not properly looking back at him, and it was just ti for Yesung to pay the price.
Yurik had not even a speck of intention to stop his plan.
"Besides, the humans currently with aren't following thoughtlessly. They too have their own circumstances, and I promised to fulfill what they want."
"So you can't give up the plan? Just because of that?"
"It's troubleso if you underestimate it like that. Even if you see soone else's arm cut off, the thorn stuck under my fingernail hurts more."
At the finger pointing outside the window, Yesung turned his head.
The expressions of the people escorting and running alongside the carriage were cheerful, and even filled with anticipation.
He could see Cellinne laughing heartily when Bailies shouted loudly.
"Since we've lived for a long ti, we tend to feel indifferent about most things. Even if we get indelible wounds, we soon forget them. But think from a different perspective."
"What thoughts?"
"If you were an ordinary 'human' who lives at most about 70 years. How big would that wound feel?"
Yurik had acquired their way of thinking while being semi-forcibly mixed among people.
It was such a skillful and perfect imitation that it could be called art.
But unlike Yurik, Yesung had never lived mixed among people. He had only observed from afar.
That's why Yurik could well understand the strange sense of distance and lifeless expression that Yesung had.
The current Yurik was the future Yesung, and the past Yurik was no different from the current Yesung.
"Those humans also know about the dangerousness of the plan. How absurd it is, and how great the aftermath would be if it failed."
"But still you can't stop?"
"It's not that we can't stop. We won't stop."
Wildfire running across dry fields.
A downpour like a waterfall.
A small boat on waves that had begun to shake.
Yurik observed Yesung while thinking of such things.
Yesung moved his lips and asked.
"If I stand in your way."
"They would try to kill you. There's only one way to resolve this matter sowhat peacefully."
"What's that?"
"You granting what we want. Including ."
Yesung looked back at Yurik with a dazed gaze.
Yurik instinctively sensed it. Yesung was definitely tempted by the proposal.
If he had been in a similar situation to Yesung, he would have killed all of them on the road and made it as if nothing had happened, even before having this conversation.
But Yesung was neither as violent as Yurik himself nor did he have a devoted side toward humans.
Then naturally he would co out like this.
Half with anticipation, half worried that Yesung might change his mind, Yurik slightly leaned his upper body toward Yesung.
"Not all of them wish for 'continental destruction,' strictly speaking. So if you handle it well, you could minimize the sacrifices, right?"
"That's true too. But do you think I can do it?"
"Why would I make a proposal to you that seems likely to fail?"
Yesung would accomplish it.
Yurik sincerely believed so.
No matter how mighty an empire he built,
No matter how powerful magic he learned or how brave a warrior he beca, he felt like he couldn't even follow Yesung's toes.
So naturally Yesung would be able to do it.
He would sohow manage it so that the multitude of humans who couldn't even perceive Yesung's existence could continue living their lives.
And then he would flutter away again as if asking when he had ever been there.
But until then, they could be together, so for Yurik it wasn't such a bad deal.
And, as he had expected, Yesung imdiately agreed to Yurik's persuasion and nodded.
"Then I should start with the easiest one first."
"Of course."
If the easiest task was referring to Dardin?
Yurik replied readily and began thinking about how Yesung would approach Dardin.
Since it would be disappointing if it ended too quickly, it seed good to give Dardin appropriate hints.
First instill wariness in the humans on this side,
And if Yesung seed too fast, rather blind Yesung's eyes or damage his throat to eliminate ans of communication, then buy more ti to persuade him to settle down sowhere-
Yurik blinked his red eyes.
Yesung, who had been sitting across from him, was now sitting next to him.
Without ti to ask why, Yesung's cold hand wrapped around Yurik's head and pulled him to lean on his shoulder.
It was a sowhat uncomfortable position for Yurik, but he couldn't move carelessly.
"What are you doing now?"
"Doing the easiest thing."
"The easiest? ?"
That he was easy.
Among all these people, that he was the easiest - what did that an?
Did he think he was still a little kid who would co running when his na was called?
Yurik almost got genuinely angry.
But at the words that followed, Yurik's anger lted like a snowfield eting spring.
"I thought it would be good to stay together. You kept being upset and irritable, saying I left you behind."
"...You thought of first? Not soone else? ?"
"Yeah. Because we're family."
Yurik fell silent.
It was perfect task completion that didn't even need objection.
Without any troubleso procedures, it was so simple and clear that he was even sowhat dumbfounded.
Yurik suddenly beca curious.
Why was he speaking as if he was thinking of him first now?
When everything had been secondary, why was he now acting like an older brother, like family?
But Yurik wasn't stupid enough to ask such questions and ruin the atmosphere.
Moreover, being like this... Yurik felt protected.
Though he was the strongest one here,
Why was it that only this life form, who looked like he would die imdiately if his neck was twisted, made him feel this way?
The accumulated resentnt from over thirty million years was washed away.
In Naga's cage, which Yesung had pushed aside to sit next to him, the black snake was peacefully coiled.
Yurik closed his eyes while pondering again the existence of Yesung, who was his older brother, protector, and the only unsolvable mystery.
Ah, how peaceful...
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