426 - Game of Princes #2

I placed my hand on Pride's forehead.

"...."

However, the fellow didn't say a word.

He just wore an expression that said, 'Go ahead and try whatever you want.'

To have such a condescending attitude even while looking up at me.

Perhaps my earlier fussing and various antics gave this guy a psychological advantage.

But since I had already invoked my father's name, I couldn't back down easily.

A top-lane duel with our parents' fates on the line. Something like that was about to begin between this guy and me.

"So-."

Pride finally opened his mouth.

"So, what are you going to do to drive out this 'Evil Spirit' inside me? Are you going to beat me with a holy ash branch? Or maybe sprinkle some holy water?"

"...."

"Or try praying. Invoke your father, Pluto's name. Call upon the name of the great Pluto and pray to drive out the Evil Spirit dwelling in this body. Pray fervently. But it won't do any good."

His voice was calm.

That calmness felt as if it were hiding murderous intent or malice, like a great venomous snake concealing its fangs and slithering quietly through the grass to bite its prey.

"Just as you said, I am an Evil Spirit. An Evil Spirit named the End of an Era. I will end the age of radiant gods and laws, and open a dark and vast age of freedom. Every single god will fall without exception."

"Is that why you killed Bacchus?"

"Yes. Because there was someone who needed the power that man possessed. Festivals and madness, boisterous noise and pranks, and the brilliant light that blooms at the end of deception...."

At that moment, Paranoy cut into the conversation.

"Hassan-nim, you must not listen-ssi...! That fellow is spouting nonsense-ssi...! Those nonsensical words are coming out of those wickedly large breasts-ssi...! Those were nonsense pouches-ssi...!"

"To be told I'm talking nonsense by a Nymph. My heart aches. For now, shall we have that noisy Nymph exit the stage?"

Pa-aaat-.

Suddenly, a loud sound rang out.

Turning my head, I saw Paranoy being blown away by some strange force and slamming into the wall.

"Hieeek-!"

Paranoy was thrown back with a loud scream.

He twitched like a poisoned mosquito before his eyes rolled back, showing only the whites.

"M-My goodness-!"

Byeokryeokje seemed truly startled by the sight.

"It is certain, it is truly the work of an Evil Spirit! My suspicions were correct! My daughter is being controlled by an Evil Spirit!"

To that, Pride, pinned beneath me, spoke.

"Your Majesty, not at all. I am keeping your daughter alive. It is all thanks to me that her heart, which had already stopped once, and her soul, which should have been dragged deep underground, are being held in place."

"Y-You are holding onto my daughter's soul?"

Goooooo-.

Everything in the room shook as if an earthquake were occurring.

Nails and joints embedded in the furniture popped out and broke one by one from the vibration, and cups sitting on the cupboard rolled onto the floor, shattering into pieces.

Even at a glance, this was not normal.

Seureureuk-.

"Old king, Theo Friedrich-. A pitiful man who has lost all his family."

Pride's arms and legs moved violently, acting as if to escape the corner where he was bound to the pillar.

"You can't defeat me anyway. My true body isn't here. But a one-sided relationship is no fun. Since you all seem to like pranks, shall we play a game-?"

And then, from beneath his head pinned by me, he spouted incomprehensible words.

"Why the hell should I play a game with you?"

"Why? I am the high-born Friedrich, but originally I am the Lord of Pride, the masterpiece of the abyss-."

Lord of Pride, masterpiece of the abyss-hearing that, only one thing came to mind.

"You bastard, you were a Gigas."

"Huu-hu-hu-. You're slow to realize."

It seemed that the one who had taken over Princess Pride's body was one of the Gigas, known as the lords of Hell.

Thinking back, it was said that those Gigas bastards needed bodies to serve as hosts in order to operate on the surface, so they tried to get their hands on the bodies of named Monsters.

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Like a Goblin King, a named Hobgoblin.

Or a damn huge Manticore.

Or a Dullahan, the headless knight-.

But did the hosts they could take over include not just Monsters, but even the bodies of ordinary human women?

Shit, a Gigas.

Now the pieces were starting to fit together.

The monsters of Hell created to purge the gods of Hypos. Those bastards were joining hands with the Elves to bring the age of gods to an end.

And one of them had taken over the body of Pride, the most powerful figure in the kingdom, and had been operating in the shadows for a very long time.

Pang-, pa-aaat-!

Finally, there was the sound of something shattering and bursting.

Quickly scanning the room, I saw that the ropes tying Princess Pride's hands and legs-more accurately, the four bedposts that the ropes were fixed to-had shattered.

Paat-!

In the brief moment I raised my guard as the broken fragments flew toward my body.

Seuseuseuk-.

Simultaneously with the forehead being freed from my pressure, Princess Pride's body floated up into the air.

Udeuk, udeudeuk-. Udeuk-.

And then, didn't she twist her joints and neck 360 degrees as if she were an owl? I felt dizzy at this impossibly bizarre physical feat.

It seemed the same was true for Byeokryeokje.

"T-That is not my daughter-!!"

Byeokryeokje was in a state of utter panic.

It was only natural to be terrified when the girl he thought was his daughter was twisting her limbs like some miraculous yogi from Sanskrit.

"Zigres-gun-! Do something-! At this rate, something terrible will happen-! Quickly, drive out the Evil Spirit!"

"Pitiful Theo, you seem not to know why that man isn't moving. I, the Gigas of Pride, and Pride's soul are bound together. If you drive me out, your daughter dies too."

"T-That-."

Byeokryeokje looked at me as if asking if that were true.

To that, I couldn't answer and just remained silent.

In fact, I had a vague inkling.

That if the Gigas were driven out, the spark of life in that body would go out again.

That was why I had hesitated when I tried to drive out the Evil Spirit by pressing down on his head.

And just as the Gigas fellow said, that body was merely a host he had possessed.

Even if the princess were killed, the Gigas bastards lurking in Hell would only lose an avatar and wouldn't suffer any significant damage.

"Well, do you feel like playing a game with me now?"

"What is it? Let's hear it."

I had no choice but to pull over a nearby chair and sit on it.

Then, the princess's body, which had been floating and twisting bizarrely, seemed to find stability and lay down quietly on the bed again.

And then he spoke.

"Relax your expression, Hassan. You seem to think of me as an enemy, but in truth, that's not the case at all. You and I are alike. We're even alike in that we like people."

"You like people?"

"Yes, I like people. Stupid, foolish human bastards. But they're fun to watch. And above all, this vivid warmth that can't be felt in tedious Hell-."

And then Pride stroked his own chest with a 'seureuk'. I thought that if I could touch something like that whenever I wanted every day, I might start to like people too.

"Now, anyway, the content of the game is simple. If you find me, you win. If you find me, I'll answer your questions. For instance, stories about your father-."

Seureureuk-.

With that, Pride lost consciousness.

* * *

"Just what happened...?"

It was a few minutes after Pride had gone quiet that Paranoy regained consciousness.

He just blinked his eyes while looking at the wrecked surroundings, seemingly unable to understand the current situation.

Of course, it wasn't as if I could give him a particularly clear explanation.

In fact, shit, I wished someone would explain it to me. I was probably the most sane person in this place.

"Ueo-eu, uuu-."

Then Pride, who had been closing his eyes for quite a while, opened them. Byeokryeokje, who had been panting, flinched.

"P-Pride."

"Papa-?"

"P-Papa? Did you just call me Papa?"

"What on earth-. Why is my room so messy right now...."

"My goodness, Pride. No, Friede-. My daughter.... My daughter, has your mind returned?"

"Papa, what's wrong? What happened? Please explain what's going on."

The princess had come to her senses.

"Zigres-gun, you have driven out the Evil Spirit! My goodness, how can I ever thank you-."

Byeokryeokje wept with joy at that fact.

But Byeokryeokje was wrong.

I didn't drive out the Evil Spirit.

The fellow had just left on his own.

And, on the princess's white neck, I could see something like a black choker engraved like a tattoo.

I wondered if such a thing had been there originally, but no matter how much I racked my memory, I remembered there being no such thing.

Just in case, I touched her wrist-.

Diring-.

『Name: Friede Friedrich Lv. 34

Status: None 』

Her status was surprisingly clean. If there was anything unusual, it was that her level was higher than expected.

It meant that the Gigas of Pride, who had been using the princess's body as a vessel, had used and trained that body more cleanly than I thought.

More importantly, her name wasn't Pride, but Friede.

It was similar to the name of an Elf I knew.

"Friede, huh."

Whether he heard me murmuring, Byeokryeokje, who was shedding tears, said a word.

"Isn't it a pretty name befitting a princess, unlike a gloomy boy's name like Pride? According to my wife, it's the name of a queen in a far-off foreign land."

"A queen of a foreign land...?"

"It's called Alfheim now."

Friede of Alfheim.

And the Elf I know, Elfriede.

Is there a connection?

While I was thinking that, Princess Friede suddenly let out a groan. Byeokryeokje reacted in surprise.

"W-What's wrong? Are you hurting somewhere?"

"No, it's just, my chest feels a bit heavy. When did I get this big? And now that I see, why has Papa gotten so old? Like a grandfather...."

"She seems to have lost her memory-ssi...! But just because she's lost her memory, she shouldn't think she'll be forgiven for the terrible things she's done-ssi...!"

* * *

The old king seemed very happy that his daughter had returned to her original self, but I couldn't help but be bothered by the choker-like tattoo engraved on the princess's neck.

So the next day.

I decided to call someone I knew who had deep knowledge of tattoos to ask about it.

Antiope, who had come up to the capital on business for the Temple Knights, entered the princess's bedroom and immediately furrowed her brow.

"What's this, a dress that doesn't suit the Prince? Have you finally decided to find your true nature? It suits you well, though."

"What do you mean...? Who are you...?"

Of course, Princess Friede seemed completely bewildered by the situation.

Since the princess's time had stopped at around three or four years old when her breath was taken by poison, she must have felt quite strange toward people who acted like they knew her.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Why have you become such a fragile girl?"

However, Antiope, who had seen the appearance of 'Prince Pride' while serving in the Temple Knights, was equally unfamiliar with this.

"Pa, Paranoy-."

In the end, the princess hid behind the Nymph, who was several spans shorter than her.

After waking up, Princess Friede, who was unfamiliar with and afraid of everything, only opened her heart to her father, Byeokryeokje, and Paranoy, the Nymph who had been there at the time.

According to Byeokryeokje, "My daughter is a child now. Her childlike innocence must naturally only allow her to open her heart to Nymphs who are as pure as she is-."

But I knew very well that this morning, Paranoy was filled with impure expectations, thinking, "I've finally got the princess in my hands-ssi...! I, Paranoy, can become the hidden power of the kingdom-ssi...! I'll designate the Black Brotherhood as the state religion-ssi...!"

One could say Paranoy wasn't a very pure Nymph.

Perhaps it was an imprinting effect, like a duckling's attachment, because Paranoy was the first girl Princess Friede saw after waking up?

Anyway, shit, that's not what's important right now.

I explained everything clearly to my trustworthy friend Antiope. As she listened to the story, Antiope's brow furrowed deeply.

"The Prince was a Gigas? Then that means everything that's happened was the work of those minions of Hell."

"Exactly."

"Wow, I never would have thought. If this gets out, there'll be an uproar. A rebellion could even break out. This is a huge problem. Just think of how many people were purged by Prince Pride...."

"Anyway, after that guy said something about a game, that mark appeared on her neck. It's like a tattoo, but it doesn't show up as an illness. I thought you might know something about it."

"Well, there are only a handful of people who know more about ritual tattoos than I do. Let's see-."

Seureuk.

Antiope narrowed her eyes and looked at the princess's neck. Soon her eyebrows twitched and her body began to tremble.

"This isn't good. Not good at all. This is a Brand of Sacrifice. It's a Brand of Sacrifice. I'm sure of it. I know it well."

"Brand of Sacrifice? Is that a problem?"

"It's a binding brand used by the monsters and jailers of Hell. It's like a stay of execution from Moros, the God of Doom. It's said that the souls of those marked with this are cast into Tartarus forever the day their breath is taken."

"So to speak, are you saying it's like a boarding pass to Hell-ssi...?"

Antiope nodded at Paranoy's words.

"As expected of a senior. You're quick to understand. That's right. Prince Pride..., no, Friede. Tsk, it's so confusing. Anyway, the princess's life is being held hostage. To erase this, the one who placed the brand has to lift the curse."

I see.

I remembered the Gigas of Pride telling me to find him. This was a game of hide-and-seek he had set for me.

Antiope said.

"We'll have to catch that Gigas fellow. Provided we know where he is, of course."

"Since they're lords of Hell, they'll naturally be at the bottom of Hell, Tartarus. In that sense, Antiope. I want to put together a subjugation team. Will you participate? I need to gather strong people."

Flinch.

Antiope trembled at my words.

"What, Hassan, you're not saying you're going to Hell right now, are you...?"

To the flustered Antiope, I showed the Three Keys clinking in my hand.

"That's right. Get ready."