NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 77
– 1 –
“Welcome, Master.”
“Teacher, sorry for being late. I was in the library.”
Xue went to pick up Sonia, but Maria arrived with her.
The two seemed to have recovered much of their former relationship.
It appeared they had been together from the start, as I witnessed Maria in a maid outfit and Sonia in a mage’s robe grabbing each other’s hands tightly before letting go.
If they could rely on each other like that, I hoped they could endure whatever came their way.
Of course, both needed to be alive for that to happen.
“How have you been, Maria? Sonia. I went to check the dungeon without coming to see you on purpose, and yet you are the one apologizing. It’s fine. You both look good working hard.”
“Thank you.”
“Then, let’s go. Ah, Maria, you don’t have to come.”
However, I hesitated to take Maria with me this time.
“Why…?”
“Because we are going to the Underground Prison from now on. Of course, it’s fine if you want to come, but…”
She indeed had some experience from being in similar places for a long time in the past.
She might have PTSD; it was only natural to consider that.
“Why are we going to the Underground Prison…?”
“I’ll let you know once we go. If you don’t want to go, it’s something you don’t need to hear.”
“…”
“You don’t need to worry if you’re not coming; just take it easy.”
“Prison…?”
As expected.
Upon hearing we were going to the Underground Prison, anxiety filled Maria’s eyes.
Sonia looked just as uneasy. If this wasn’t about Maria, it was ultimately her issue as well.
Then, as if she thought of something, Sonia asked me.
“Is it related to the nobles who came here a few days ago?”
“Smart. That’s right.”
They seemed to relax a bit at my answer, but they still looked troubled and full of questions.
We had newly established the Underground Prison, but they had never been down there, so their anxiety was understandable.
Meals for the nobles staying here had been delivered through Skeletons, meaning they had no reason to enter that place either.
If they noticed the signs of people being imprisoned here a few days ago and today, it was only natural for them to feel fear. Especially Maria, who had quite the experience of being detained for a long time.
Essentially, it was normal for them to find it strange that I, the Dungeon Lord, was being so lenient with them.
Still, Maria mustered her courage.
“I’ll go. It doesn’t feel right to send Sonia alone to such a place…”
“A brave decision. I like that.”
“I’m not doubting you, Master. But…”
“It’s okay to have doubts, Maria.”
I said to her as she looked at me with confusion.
The words I had engraved in her mind.
“I told you, didn’t I? It’s fine to hate me.”
“Ah… yes.”
After a moment of daze, the light returned to her eyes, and I led the two down to the Underground.
Then, after joining Eve, who was waiting with the door open below, I started to talk about what they needed to know.
“I have a gift for Sonia here.”
“A gift…? In prison?”
“Yes. I’m not sure if you’ll be happy about it. Eve? Please open it.”
– Click.
Clank!
As I said that, the steel door to the deepest part of the Underground Prison opened.
“Lady…!”
Creak!
Inside, a girl with disheveled orange hair bowed her head as if she had fainted, but upon hearing the door open, she lifted her head.
It was Elenore Claymel.
– 2 –
‘Why… why?’
In the darkness, Elenore felt something growing slowly within her heart.
‘Wasn’t it to use me? The Dungeon Lord…’
The name of that growing thought and emotion, feeding off her rising despair, was “despair.”
‘If not, why go through the trouble of capturing my entire family? Right…?’
After returning to the dungeon, Libertus immediately separated her from her family and isolated her in a solitary cell.
Of course, Libertus prioritized checking on the dungeon over her matters.
He first received the handover of the tasks that Scarlett had been diligently overseeing, allowing her to return to her main duties.
‘That… that was close…’
However, she had no way of knowing that.
All Elenore knew was that if she didn’t follow the Dungeon Lord’s orders, one of her family members would die.
When she tried to resist in confusion, she saw her younger brother clutching his neck, struggling to breathe.
As a result, she was forced to enter the solitary cell, but that still didn’t answer her agony.
‘But why am I locked in a solitary cell? I can’t understand… understand… understand…’
Clank!
As she sank deeper into the despair she created for herself, the brief solitude, where she lost track of time and how her family was doing, drew to a close.
“Lady…!”
As soon as she recognized Libertus, she attempted to kneel before him.
She didn’t know what was happening, but she had to seek forgiveness from the master of the dungeon. She had thought she had already been forgiven, but still.
Creak!
Of course, that attempt was stopped by the magical restraints around her neck…
But she didn’t care. She kept trying to approach the Dungeon Lady with a strangely distorted expression.
“Didn’t you intend to use me? So you saved me, right? Right?”
People easily lose their mental balance when betrayed by their expectations.
It was something she had been forced into, yet for Elenore, who was imagining a new life in the dungeon, the sudden solitary confinement was incomprehensible and despairing.
“Sorry, but…”
Of course, Rita had no reason to fulfill her biased expectations.
Her actions of using Elenore to kill the branch family only reinforced her biases.
While the real victims were not her but Sonia and Leonis, she was also in a situation where she lost a subordinate.
Rita found Elenore to be an interesting subject, but had no reason to feel any affection for her.
“What I want from you is something different, Elenore. To finish a task.”
Elenore’s eyes gradually tinted with despair, which Rita noticed. Nevertheless, she continued to speak to the prisoner about what she wanted.
Then the prisoner, renewed with hope, asked.
“What task…?”
“Everything must be concluded by the one who made the pact. Though you acted out of revenge against another person, I have nothing to do with that. Therefore, I can only hold you accountable.”
Rita trampled on that hope once more.
“That matter has ended…!”
“Did I ever say that?”
Elenore found herself unable to continue speaking, lips trembling, as she realized she had no memory of Libertus saying such a thing.
Seeing the frozen prisoner, the Dungeon Lord narrowed her eyes. It was a deliberate act.
“How bold of you, to arbitrarily judge my intentions.”
“No, no…! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, just take care of my family’s safety…! Just end it where I am!”
In that moment, while she prioritized her family over herself.
Rita internally raised her score for her.
“Still the same. What a waste.”
If she had grown up in an ordinary family rather than a family like that, she seemed to be quite a resourceful person.
However, she did not express that further and looked toward Sonia, who was waiting behind her.
“Do you know who she is?”
“No… but if what the teacher said is true, she…”
Sonia shook her head once and looked down at Elenore with a complicated expression.
Her teacher simply confirmed that guess.
“Yes. She’s the one who brought your senior to this state.”
“…! Is she a lady? Right?”
Clank!
Upon hearing that, Elenore immediately turned her gaze from Rita to Sonia, crawling over on her knees.
Her blind attitude was such that she barely paid attention to the shackles around her neck; she stumbled back a couple of times, yet her desperate demeanor was too tragic to be mocked.
“I’m sorry. Truly, I’m sorry! So please, just kill me! I deserve to die! So please!”
“Why would someone like you…?”
As Rita had anticipated, compassion seeped into Sonia’s voice upon seeing Elenore’s state.
Yet, all judgments must be made with clear understanding of the sinner.
Libertus immediately ordered Eve.
“Lift her head.”
– Click!
“Ugh!”
As she approached Elenore in that state, she whispered something to her.
Just loud enough for Sonia and Maria right in front of her to hear.
“Though she is a mage, she is still in her early stages, so she cannot handle a single person. The person you’re begging for is like that. She is unqualified.”
“…!”
And in that moment, a wave of humiliation and disgust passed over Elenore’s face.
People do not change easily. For Elenore, who had lived her life like that, this painful time was far too short to bring about transformation.
“You…!”
“No, no, no! I was wrong! I’m so sorry! Just, just me…!”
As the one confessing her sins begged for the lives of her family, even for an instant displaying such an expression and demeanor, Sonia was visibly shocked.
Elenore, regaining her senses, once again buried her head and apologized and pleaded, yet it was so striking that it barely registered in Sonia’s thoughts.
For someone like her, who had seen the darker sides of humanity, this was a rare sight.
“Whether human or demon clan. While demons may be simpler, they possess various complexities, Sonia. You cannot see them from just one angle.”
And Libertus’ tone remained kind toward Sonia.
“But, teacher… even so, that’s…”
“Yes. She is quite extreme. Typically, people don’t bend like this. This is a beautiful collaboration created by a fantastic environment and her loyalty to her family.”
“That…”
“To revive her family, she can kneel before a monster like me. In truth, her lineage did just that.”
Sonia understood that Rita was speaking in a sarcastic manner.
And that allowed her to realize something.
Though Elenore has certain advantages, beyond that, in her current state, she was more harmful to humanity than even a monster.
In a way, the knives that stab from behind are often much more deadly than the swords that one faces head-on.
“Do not misunderstand, Sonia. Such occurrences are quite commonplace in this world. Parental obsession can do that to a child.”
“How do you know that, teacher…?”
“Well, how did I come to find out?”
Oblivious to the accelerative misinterpretation within her own words, Libertus murkily waved his hand, letting Elenore be and standing up, saying one last thing.
“This is a gift. I hope you can ease the knots in your heart.”
“Teacher…”
“I won’t listen to your thanks. That’s not necessary. I’m tired. I need to sleep a bit. Come see me after you’ve made a decision.”
“… Yes. Teacher.”
Of course, the Dungeon Lord’s body wouldn’t feel physical fatigue.
“Xue. Will you help them?”
“Yeah… don’t worry.”
“Then. I trust you.”
“Yeah…!”
Her reassurance was enough to give Sonia and Maria time to judge Elenore.
As Libertus’ small figure disappeared beyond the prison, Sonia and Maria turned to look at each other.
“What will you do…?”
“First… I’ll try talking to her.”
“Alright. I’ll be right next to you.”
“Thank you, sister.”
Their eyes turned toward Elenore.
“Please… just me, just me…”
She was still bowing her head, pleading.
As time went on, she grew more and more haggard, yet continued.
Watching that, Sonia realized there were others she needed to meet in order to understand her condition better.
“… I want to meet her family.”
“Okay. Come with me.”
Xue willingly helped her.
Sonia’s decision took another two days.
The day of judgment also happened to be the day Rita finished her contract with Elias.
– 3 –
Revenge and forgiveness. The possibilities were fifty-fifty.
That possibility depended on whether Sonia could find someone to rely on emotionally and whether that person would respond to her.
In either case, there was nothing for me to lose.
“If possible… I want to talk to my senior once more. Teacher.”
And with Maria’s support, Sonia’s choice was to listen to the thoughts of the one who had the most eligibility to be judged.
Normally, it would be a situation where one shouldn’t even be able to hear.
“That’s an unexpected choice.”
“Is that not allowed…?”
“Well, I guess we can try it.”
Fortunately, her teacher was someone who could hold even the dead in this world.