Chapter 14 | I Swear
* * *
Cryer was down on one knee, kneeling in front of Olivia as he looked up at her from below.
Olivia’s lips slightly parted, not uttering a word as she stared down at him in silence. She tried moving her mouth, but for all their trembling, not a single sound could leave her.
Eventually, Cryer slowly and carefully held Olivia’s hand, pressing the back of it against his forehead.
As though there were an earthquake inside of her, Olivia’s blue eyes fluctuated, and just then, Cryer whispered something. His voice was quiet, flowing through his lips so subtly, it was as though his words were traveling up from a bottomless well.
[Cryer] “I swear, I will not harm you.”
His oath was like magic.
As though it were a spell, it embedded itself deeply within Olivia’s heart, and that small fact plunged her very being into a pit of chaos and confusion.
Was not this not the same man who started the Continental War, forcing the entire nation into a conflict that drowned the land in a sea of blood? And yet somehow, the Cryer in front of Olivia now seemed very different.
Right now, in Olivia’s eyes, Cryer looked like a being more pure and sacred than any one else on earth. No, anything else on earth.
What……? Sacred…..? Him? The thought rattled in her brain at the confusing and conflicting idea. He’s…….
[Olivia] “You.”
Olivia spoke with an expression on her face that was difficult to describe.
[Olivia] “I don’t know what kinds of things you did in the past, but I am certain of one thing.”
[Cyer] “What?”
[Olivia] “Even before you were resurrected, you weren’t an ordinary man. Absolutely not.”
Cryer just smirked, pulling himself to his feet and tapping her on her forehead.
[Cryer] “If you ever get scared of me in the future, remember the oath I made.”
[Olivia] “His Majesty never even did that to me when I was a child.”
Olivia grumbled, gently rubbing her tingling forehead in a circular motion. Eventually, she pressed her palm against Cryer’s back, as hard as steel, pushing him forward.
[Olivia] “Alright, off you go. Find out what’s been going on. I’ll be waiting here for you.”
Even now, Olivia couldn’t smell the blood like he could, and she still had no idea what he meant when he said the land had been corrupted, but that was alright.
She could trust Cryer.
Taking a small step forward as she pushed him, Cryer continued on with his survey of the site. With time, he found several bodies buried amidst the earth.
Time that felt like forever went by as Cryer examined the corpses, looking over the bloodied and sticky soil. The stench clung to his nose until suddenly, upon his face was a terrifying grimace.
And then, Olivia’s eyes widened as the air around him visibly distorted, becoming so heavy that even the clarity of her vision was being disturbed.
[Olivia] “Cry….”
The next moment came quickly. Olivia felt her body being pushed, and she immediately and instinctively went to wrap her arm around his neck.
As she tried to approach, Cryer grabbed her, embracing her easily as he pulled her closer to where was in the middle of the field.
[Cryer] “Princess.”
[Olivia] “What?”
[Cryer] “I don’t think this is an ordinary missing persons or serial murder case.”
Cryer held a branch in his hand, pointing down. Olivia followed it with her gaze, and as she did, her face stiffened.
[Olivia] “This is….”
[Cryer] “Yeah.”
Gesturing towards the already rotting corpse, Cryer’s voice lowered as he pointed out the still very clear pattern etched into the body’s forehead.
[Cryer] “It’s the mark of God.”
* * *
The man responsible for imprinting that mark upon the forehead of the corpse felt despair.
[???] “It’s not enough. Not enough. Not enough. Not enough. Not enough.”
He mumbled to himself the same phrase, over and over again as he started to count the objects before him one by one.
[???] “One, two, three, four……”
The items he moved around with his fingers as he counted were variegated.
There was a messy looking doll, ragged and ruined, a few ripped pieces of fabric, torn fingernails, tufts of hair, and a variety of other things.
And each of these strange and grotesque objects belonged to different people.
Those he had sacrificed for his ancient god.
The man laid out what remained of those people, sitting all by his lonesome as he let out his unhinged mumblings. Then, he suddenly stopped counting.
[???] “I need money.”
More people were keeping their children on a tight leash, and were becoming more cautious themselves, so it was difficult finding prey to sacrifice.
He was looking for some all night, but eventually came back empty handed.
The man rubbed his face, covering up the mark of his staunch faith beneath his hands before changing into neat clothing.
Click–
Right when the man left the house, within only a few steps, he ran into his neighbor.
[Neighbor] “Hey, I haven’t seen you around much these days.”
The man smiled, replying to his neighbor’s casual greeting with a response that was just as casual.
[???] “How have you been? I’ve just had some work to do.”
[Neighbor] “I don’t know what you’ve been up to, but be sure to take it easy, alright? Young or not, you won’t be young forever, you know.”
At his neighbor’s words, the man nodded, just giving a nice and polite smile.
[???] “Yes.”
[Neighbor] “Oh, that reminds me. Hold on a sec.”
His neighbor disappeared inside their home, telling the man to wait. In their absence, all the man did was stand there quietly, the smile still on his face.
[Neighbor] “I hope you’re not feeling sick. You look a little ill. Here, take some of this.”
When they returned, within his neighbor’s hands was a basket of food. It emitted a delicious smelling scent of bread and a myriad of other foods. It was the kind of scent that made it difficult not to get hungry just getting a whiff of it.
The man bowed his head as he accepted the basket.
[???] “Thank you for the food.”
[Neighbor] “It’s nothing. You fixed my roof for me last time. Ah, but by the by, my back hasn’t been feeling good as of late, and my chair’s been rattling up a storm.”
The neighbor looked at him with a look of expectation in their eyes, but the man just shook his head as though it were unfortunate.
[???] “I’m sorry, but I’ll be a little late returning today.”
[Neighbor] “Ah, is that so? Well, I’d appreciate it if you could swing by whenever you have the time.”
The conversation so easily and quickly shifted into this man being roped into fixing a chair, but despite that unpleasantness, the man never once lost his smile.
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Even now, he just nodded his head gently with a polite look on his face.
[???] “Yes. I will do that.”
As the man turned to leave down that empty street, the neighbor bent down, whispering something to themself with their head geared towards the ground.
[Neighbor] “What a kind young man.”
A diligent young man who never once raised his voice, much less caused any kind of trouble. He frequently interacted with the people in this area, and often played with the neighborhood children, too.
He was the kind of friendly neighbor who always listened to other people’s chattering with a smile on his face.
So who could even begin to imagine the truth?
The truth that he was actually the serial murderer from those rumors everyone’s been talking about—the rumors that made everyone shake with fear.
Turning away from his neighbor, the man left. As he walked through the streets, everyone greeted him with joy, and he returned those greetings all the same, spending quite a long time doing it as he did.
His destination was one of the branches of House Taryn’s commerce guild.
[???] “Hello.”
[—] “Oh, jeez! Are you alright?”
[???] “Yes. I’m sorry I disappeared for a little bit without letting anyone know.”
[—] “No, it’s fine.”
Such a flimsy excuse, but the boss accepted it without any questions, despite how he said nothing before his sudden absence.
[—] “It’s already too hard finding others who work just as hard as you do. By the way, do you…..”
That was when the boss inquired about the whereabouts of one of the other workers at the guild, but the man only responded with a meager shake of his head.
[—] “Oh, you don’t know…..? I thought both you and him went missing ‘cause of the rumors. He was always carrying around that ragged doll, saying it was a keepsake from his daughter……..”
While the boss murmured to himself, the young man bowed his head, turning on his heel and heading towards his work space.
Entering the shadows, little by little, the man’s mouth began to pull into a wide grin, twisted enough that it looked as though it would split his face in half.
[???] “He became a noble sacrifice.”
Just beyond the boss’ earshot, the man’s face radiated joy and bliss as he remembered how his missing co-worker met his end.
[???] “Just a little bit more.”
He searched around, scouring for prey at his place of work, but even that was difficult. Everyone was making themselves scarce, trying to protect themselves as best they could amidst the rumors of people being spirited away—whether they were being abducted or murdered.
As he thought before, he had no choice but to save up his coin and simply purchase people.
The man lowered his head and set to work.
[???] “Hah.”
After some time, the man leaned up against the wall, his head tilted up as he peered into the sky. Eventually, he slowly bent down and sat on the ground.
His goal was within reach, just around the corner. He only needed a little bit more, but he still had to work hard.
But as a wise man once said, when one door closes, another one often opens.
[Amber] “What are you doing out here?”
Sitting on the ground, he heard a lively and cheerful voice ring out over the top of his head as he buried his face in his knee.
Impulsively looking up, what he saw immediately in his field of vision was a head full of pink hair, swaying gently in the breeze.
[Amber] “I heard you’re the hardest worker around here.”
Rather than answering the question, the young man simply stared at the woman who suddenly appeared before him.
Her hands were pale and smooth, her nails neatly trimmed, and even her dress was made of materials so expensive and high quality that the nature of it couldn’t be hidden no matter how simple the garment itself was.
Clearly the woman in front of him had no intention of trying to hide the fact that she was a precious and cared for young lady.
[Amber] “The manager said things were getting difficult since the number of workers had decreased these days.”
For the people who worked here, the manager could never simply be addressed as such. Even if you didn’t work at the guild, if you were a commoner, then you still couldn’t call the branch manager of the Taryn Commerce Guild so brazenly.
[Amber] “Tell me if you’re having a difficult time, okay? A man like you who works so hard has a sincerity about you that cannot be bought with coin.”
Which meant the woman in front of him right now was…..
[Amber] “Whatever your difficulty, I promise I will make it right by the name of Taryn.”
Amber Taryn gave a bright smile as she confirmed his suspicions, and once he knew that, the man without any hesitation in his voice, told a story that was eighty percent truth, and twenty percent lies.
[Amber] “Hmm, money? How much do you need? No, just take this with you.’
She reached into her coat pocket, pulling something out and handing it to the man.
It was a pouch that made a shifting noise, and without even looking inside, it was obvious it was filled with coins.
[Amber] “If you need more, ask the manager……Actually, no.”
Amber shook her head, adding one last thing.
[Amber] “Ask the manager to tell me.”
She had heard the struggles of the manager. He was having a very difficult time. Not enough people were working at the guild, and the one diligent worker they had didn’t look well.
And so, out of the goodness of her heart, Amber Taryn decided to help, reaching out with the purest of good faith towards a young man who seemed to be having a hard time.
[Amber] “I will always help you.”
* * *
Knocking on the door of his neighbor late at night was the young man who had received the pouch of money from Amber.
At the same time, beneath that starry night sky pinned with a crescent moon, the palace of the Imperial Princess fell into silence.
Tap, tap—
And within was someone who was busily making their way through the halls, disturbing that stillness.
He kept his body low as he ran through when he suddenly came to a halt. From the direction he was heading came someone’s long and stretching shadow. Instinctively, the knight lowered his body further as he put his hand on the hilt of his blade.
Normally, the Imperial Palace banned those from other nations from carrying weapons on the premises.
However, given that so many foreign knights had been killed in accidents recently, things had reached a point where they were allowed a singular sword to be kept by their side for the sake of self-defense.
Though, obviously, they were only calling them ‘accidents’…….
As more and more knights had accidents while attempting to sneak around, a rumor began to spread throughout these foreign visitors.
[—] —’I heard the knight who beds the Princess is using some kind of trickery to have the knights killed……’
Recalling that story, this knight’s expression crumpled.
[Knight] “Show yourself.”
Growling low, the knight gripped the hilt of his sword even more tightly, preparing himself to draw it and charge forward at any given moment.
As one of those rare few that was a knight not only in name, he was willing to punish the one who dared to keep the Imperial Princess’ favor by using such dirty tricks.
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Just ahead, emanating from that long shadow, a low voice flowed as though it were rising from within a deep pit in the darkness.
[Cryer] “Take care of one, and another pops up in its place. One right after the other.”
The man leaning against a pillar straightened out his posture as he took a slow step forward.
His face was half obscured by the thick shadows, but even through such darkness, the poison that seeped through his words was clear.
[Cryer] “You must be the next piece of trash in line.”