Episode 382: Jess Milo (2)
"...Jess Milo??"
Arthur’s eyes widened in shock. It was a na he hadn’t expected to hear.
An Absolute who revels in the concept of ‘death’. The King of the Dead had tracked down Reto’s energy?
[To be precise, it was the energy of immortality.]
“Immortality’s energy??”
It seed that when he achieved synchronization with Reto, an energy erged—one that Jess Milo reacted to.
He rembered that Reto had once called Jess Milo his archnesis.
Arthur had long suspected there was a backstory between the two Absolutes, though he had intentionally ignored it—He feared getting entangled with Jess Milo by showing unnecessary interest.
But now...
“Jess Milo is chasing Reto?”
Reto was Arthur’s heart. He could no longer ignore this.
“What does he want with you, Reto?”
[To confirm my ‘true death.’]
“You an he wants your death?”
[That’s right.]
“This may be a foolish question, but… why did you hide? If he’s the King of the Dead, wouldn’t he have the power to grant you peace?”
[She failed.]
“She failed?”
[My physical body was destroyed, but my soul, being a transcendent entity, couldn’t perish. That was her doing. This incomplete death is the one flaw in her legacy.]
“You entrusted your life to Jess Milo?”
[It was sothing both she and I wanted. She believed she could sever the fate of immortality, so we made a pact. The remnants of that contract still linger in the chains of eternity.]
A contract between two Absolutes.
The novel had never gone into detail about such a thing, so this was the first Arthur was hearing of it.
“So, unlike the other Absolutes, Jess Milo remains in this world because of that?”
[She wants to correct her one mistake. But she’s failed every ti. Now that I’ve t you, I don’t want to entrust my life to her again. I don’t want to fall into eternal sleep once more under her so-called ‘eradication.’]
Death and immortality.
A contract between two contradictory Absolutes had apparently persisted since the distant past.
Arthur gave a hollow laugh and fiddled with the red ring on his finger—The Ring of Desire.
An item he’d obtained during the mine commission in Beneta, the Dwarven territory.
It was once owned by an immortal being, and the wish it carried was "death."
‘Jess Milo was the one who placed that desire in the ring, wasn’t she?’
An item that could bring absolute death to its wearer. It had successfully destroyed the immortal’s physical body.
Now, after the ring had passed to Arthur, the wish within it had changed—to "survival," infused by Reto.
A wish specialized for survival, suited to an immortal.
Still, whether this ring could protect him from Jess Milo’s death remained uncertain.
“Can Jess Milo track our location every ti synchronization occurs?”
[As long as the contract's chain isn't severed... yes.]
“That’s the worst case. Even if you survive, I’d die under her erasure.”
Jess Milo had made her presence known from early on in the novel—Unlike other Absolutes who slumbered in the spiritual realm, she was active in the real world.
This ant she had, to so extent, broken free from the divine restrictions, making her a catastrophe Arthur could encounter at any mont.
“We need counterasures.”
[As long as you avoid her ‘domain,’ she won’t be a major threat. Even she can’t fully use her powers in this world.]
“Then… isn’t there no need to hide?”
[Death always follows her. There’s nothing to gain from attracting her attention.]
Reto was hiding to prevent others from discovering Arthur was his host.
Arthur nodded.
As Reto advised, avoiding her domain should suffice.
‘Jess Milo has only ever manifested in the “Territory of the Dead,” after all.’
When rescuing Lochter in the past, Arthur had encountered dangerous gold coin puppets within the Territory of the Dead.
The “Territory of the Dead” was once used by black sorcerers under Kal Blazer.
After Kal’s fall, those black sorcerers vanished, aning the forces capable of manifesting Jess Milo were gone.
Realizing this gave Arthur so relief.
[She exists wherever death exists. Rember that.]
“Just one more thing to worry about…”
Arthur sighed and looked down at Keros. He was now sleeping peacefully—unlike before. After gently stroking his fur, Arthur left the room.
When he returned to Aintrier, he would need to be wary of Jess Milo.
So many thoughts filled his head today.
***
Three days passed.
Arthur’s group remained at the mansion. The witches, taken as scapegoats, were still too severely damaged to move imdiately.
However, their condition had noticeably improved. As VIP guests, they were receiving the best care, food, and accommodations.
It seed all of them would soon be up and about.
At dawn, as the attendants prepared breakfast, Natasha ca to see Arthur.
He was munching on cookies while reading a letter when he smiled at her visit.
“Lady Natasha, it’s been a while.”
“Three days is ‘a while’ now?”
“Did you have that much to talk about with the witches?”
“It’s still not enough.”
“Then you should enjoy your reunion so more. What brings you here?”
“I heard Karl sent a ssage. It’s about the Black Market, right?”
Arthur, still chewing his cookie, glanced at the letter he held.
It had arrived this morning—how did she know?
“I saw a ghost visit the mansion.”
“So even spirits can’t escape Lady Natasha’s eyes.”
“Hmph, who do you think taught them spiritual arts? Quit with the obvious and hand it over.”
Arthur smirked and handed her the letter. He knew what she really ant by all that.
“Hm. That Karl guy’s doing better than I thought.”
She lowered the letter with a crooked smile. Though she hadn’t shown it much while reuniting with the witches, her resentnt toward the Black Market still lingered.
“One of their hideouts where witches were imprisoned and used as scapegoats—I’ll take care of that myself.”
“No traces must remain.”
“Traces?”
Natasha scoffed and slowly raised her fist. Her piercing gaze accompanied it.
“I’ll erase everything. Not a drop of blood will remain. Let go.”
Arthur gave a bitter smile and nodded.
“Alright. Then go.”
“Heading out already?”
“Karl is nearby. I’ll join him and move together.”
“Listen to Karl. Don’t kill everything you see.”
“You think I’m an assassin or sothing??”
Ironically, Arthur imagined Karl, the actual assassin, trying to stop her from going too far. But he held his tongue and saw her off.
As she reached the door, she paused and asked,
“By the way, what’s your next plan?”
“Next plan?”
“You’ve already cleaned up Aintrier and the Black Market. Got your sights on sothing else?”
“Not yet. It’ll change depending on the situation—like Karl’s one-year truce with Pri Root.”
“Hmph. Got it. I’ll contact you when I’m done.”
Waving her hand, Natasha left.
Fenry, Karl, and now Natasha—With all three high-level fighters involved, the Black Market wouldn’t last long.
“Three months at most, right?”
Arthur looked down from the door to beneath his chair, where a black puppy, resembling a Shiba Inu, was sticking out its tongue and looking up at him.
Keros, who had awakened two days ago, had left the bed and stayed by Arthur’s side.
He was still recovering and building up his strength.
“Here you go. Eat up. It’s a special al today.”
Arthur placed a golden chunk of at in front of Keros.
Bark!
Keros barked once and began devouring the at.
He ate with incredible gusto.
Even though the at looked three to four tis larger than his body, Keros tore into it ferociously.
Arthur watched with a satisfied smile.
“Eat up and recover. Ti to get revenge.”
At the ntion of revenge, Keros lifted his face from the bowl, baring his teeth in frustration.
“Got your head chopped off by the Sword Demon, huh?
If you were in your True Body, you’d have won, right?”
Bark!
“Good. Then let’s eat well and aim for the True Body.”
Bark bark!
A Mid-Body Cerberus has two heads.
A complete True Body has three. That was how the novel described the perfected form.
As Keros swallowed at with a vengeful heart—
Bang!
The door Natasha had exited through suddenly burst open. Lily appeared, waving a letter.
“Arthur! Natasha ran away from ho!”
Spotting Keros, she froze in surprise. Arthur had intentionally kept Keros’s awakening a secret to surprise her.
She tossed the letter in the air and dashed over.
“Keros!”
Krrang!
Keros tried to intimidate her—demanding not to be disturbed while eating so he could get stronger faster—but she ignored him completely.
Keros soon found himself being lifted and squished by her cheeks mid-air.
“Ahaha! I’m so glad!”
It seed she had already forgotten about Natasha.
Arthur watched for a mont, then caught the letter she had thrown. It looked like a note Natasha had left for the witches.
Lily, however, had interpreted it as a “runaway note.”
“Um…”
Just then, another hesitant voice ca from the door. Soone had followed Lily.
“I’m… Levina.”
“Ah, Lady Levina. How are you feeling?”
“Thanks to you, I’ve recovered enough to take walks now.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Despite her youthful face, her hair was stark white.
Arthur knew this was a side effect from the divine curse used when she was made a scapegoat.
She had co with Lily, but her expression made it clear she had sothing to say.
“I…”
She trailed off, then bowed deeply.
“I heard you’re the benefactor of the witches. It’s late, but I wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us.”
“Then… may I ask one favor in return?”
“…Yes? Oh, of course.”
“Could you tell everything that’s happened to you?”
“…Ah…?”
Levina turned to look for Lily. But Lily had already taken Keros outside, laughing.
Levina gave a faint smile, then nodded at Arthur.
There were things she couldn’t say in front of Lily or Natasha—the horrific truths of the Black Market’s past.
But this man, she felt, she could speak to.
He was, after all, the only human who could change the witches’ fate, as Lily had said.
It was a long story.
And Arthur’s face grew increasingly hard as he listened.
The fate of the scapegoated witches was tragic. He felt certain now that he had done the right thing by letting Natasha handle the remnants.
By noon, the story ended. Arthur gave a bitter smile and nodded solemnly.
“Thank you. We must honor the spirits of the dead witches.”
“We will do that ourselves. But… may I ask for one more thing?”
Levina glanced up carefully.
“I would like to go to the forest. Today, if possible.”
“Today?”
“Please.”
She bowed again.
The forest she ant was Ordor Forest—the witches’ holand.
“But aren’t many witches still unwell?”
“We’ve rested enough. It’s hard to walk, but if we use carriages...”
“Hmm…”
“E-everyone desperately wants this!”
The mansion was located in a remote corner outside Aintrier.
It would be a grueling journey to Ordor Forest.
And sending them alone wasn’t an option.
They needed protection, but sending Lily would be risky,
and Dorneph would be too excessive.
‘Shouldn’t have sent Natasha away…’
Just as Arthur was wrestling with how to safely and quickly escort the witches—
“…Samuel?”
“Yes?”
“Oh, never mind. Just a na that ca to mind.”
Samuel Barber.
With that na ca a solution.
In the chaos of handling Aintrier, Arthur had completely forgotten—about the spatial portal being maintained in one of Aintrier’s top-level warehouses.
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