Chapter 470

Belkerp's wife, named Lucy Tarant, was someone he met about 50,000 years ago in a rural town far from the capital Maron of the Adorarim Kingdom.

By chance, a monster appeared where she was picking herbs outside the town, and Setepuenberkelp, who happened to be nearby, saved her-that was the beginning for the two of them.

After that, Lucy continued her fervent and intense advances at every opportunity, and ultimately, Setepuenberkelp was won over by her.

"Aggressive person, huh."

"Being proactive in love is a good thing!"

"That's right. Once she set her mind on something, she had the personality to never stop until she accomplished it..."

After that, Belkerp married Lucy, and the two lived happily together in the rural town.

But a few years later, somehow having sniffed it out from somewhere, the Adorarim Emperor at the time came incognito all the way to that tiny backwater town himself.

He said: A being who was formerly a Clear Elf, and moreover one legendary even among them, being cooped up in a mere rural town would be an apology owed to our ancestors.

Please come live in the capital as a state guest. He would guarantee status and livelihood, and strive to make life more comfortable than now.

The two, who were just starting to want children, considered their child's future and concluded that while leisurely life in the rural town was fine, exposure to various things in the imperial capital and acquiring knowledge would definitely broaden future possibilities.

Settling on that idea, the two promptly moved for the sake of their yet-unseen child to a house prepared in the imperial capital that was a bit large for just the two of them.

Apparently, they had intended to prepare a grand mansion, but the two weren't seeking to be celebrated; they just wanted to live happily together and raise the child they would eventually have.

So they refused any unnecessary status or honors, accepting only the land to live on and living expenses.

At that time, feeling uncomfortable just receiving without giving, Belkerp offered to the emperor to gradually infuse this country with a portion of his cutting-edge magical science, within a range that wouldn't bring chaos to the world.

The emperor agreed without a second thought, and out of consideration for him, without revealing the source, he gradually leaked the information to the magical science research institutions.

Thanks to that, this Adorarim Kingdom hinted at even greater development through technology slightly ahead of other countries.

"Up to here, not only is there no problem, but it seems like smooth sailing..."

"Yes, when we moved to the imperial capital together, people's lives around us gradually became more affluent, and when her pregnancy was discovered, that was truly the happiest time in my life. I even thanked the gods, thinking that living for this world's sake until then was to obtain this happiness. I dreamed of a life where she would die of old age, I would watch over our children and grandchildren, and leisurely follow after her, overflowing with hope. But-up until this point, I, who had only properly interacted with my fellow Clear Elves, didn't know... Just how greedy other humans could be."

The emperor at the time had two sons.

High Elf species, excluding former Clear Elves or some high-ranking Elf species, have difficulty conceiving children compared to others.

Deep Elves were no different, but luckily-or unluckily-brothers born with almost no age difference was a rare situation.

Normally, the older brother, or sister, would inherit and become emperor, but since their abilities were similar and ages close, there was much dispute over who to make emperor.

The eldest son wasn't particularly attached to the position, but he had a good personality and many people admired him, so those around him strongly supported him.

The second son was obsessed with the position of emperor, and by favoring those who sided with him, he gathered allies to rival his popular older brother.

That succession dispute had already turned into a quagmire, with factions on both sides even sending assassins to kill the opposing prince.

The emperor, unable to overlook it any longer, announced that whoever contributed more to the country's development by the time of succession would be the next emperor.

And to prevent any foot-dragging, he kept a strict eye on both factions, superficially ending the conflict.

The brother didn't like disputes, so he was relieved, and regardless of who would take the throne next, he began diligently working harder than ever so that both brothers could contribute to the country's development.

That, perhaps due to his selflessness, led to successes in various state affairs, solidifying his position as the emperor's right-hand man.

But as for the younger brother, his desires came first, leading to spinning his wheels.

In his haste to get even one step ahead of his brother, he ended up causing major damage in a national project.

From anyone's view, the contest was already decided.

The emperor himself had even secretly begun moving to make the older brother the next emperor.

Hearing this from a spy placed around the emperor, the younger brother panicked.

Even the position of crown prince would be considerable for anyone else, but he strongly yearned to be someone whom everyone served and no one defied.

So he couldn't give up. He wanted to become emperor no matter what.

To that end, either a legitimate method of achieving a grand project that would turn things around in one fell swoop, greatly overshadowing his own failure.

Or the crooked plan of somehow eliminating his brother and making himself the sole heir.

But the latter would almost certainly make him the suspect, and since his faction had jumped the gun on assassinations before, vigilance was high, making it nearly impossible without leaving evidence.

That left only the former, but if he could think of such a plan, he wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

Truly backed into a corner.

However, at such a time, one of his faction's sharp-eared members suggested this to the younger brother.

He said: There's an incredibly skilled technician in this country.

That person is a disciple of a certain Clear Elf and has inherited vast research materials.

If all that's written in those research materials were realized, greatly developing the country further would be easy.

Yet that technician is doling out information bit by bit to extort money from the country.

Moreover, hiding those vast research materials somewhere, planning to leech off the imperial family for generations with descendants, living in luxury.

And so on, with truth and falsehood mixed into a chaotic mess of information, but since the younger brother himself had felt the country's technical prowess gradually increasing lately, he immediately began investigating for more details.

Those who bit on it were some researchers dissatisfied with not being taught more despite clearly having higher technology, only getting it in small doses.

The reason Belkerp's information leaked despite being regulated was due to them.

And with their information, the younger brother identified Belkerp's existence and residence.

"At that time, I was receiving money from the country, and the house and land were provided by the country too. So that man apparently believed all the rumors."

If I can steal the research materials that this Belkerp person is hiding, I can outdo my brother!

Driven by such delusion, the younger brother tried to capture Belkerp.

But even though no longer a Clear Elf, he remained an exceptionally outstanding Dispel Magic user and technician.

He was deftly evaded, yielding no good results.

Also, naturally, Belkerp thought something was off around him, so he headed to the castle to request an investigation from the emperor.

"Why didn't I handle it myself right away back then? I still regret it even now..."

Belkerp, for better or worse, had no close ties with anyone but Clear Elves, and even after marrying Lucy, they lived a peaceful rural life.

The neighbors where they lived were all simple and good people.

So he misunderstood. That all people are rational, and inherently good in nature.

But getting information that Belkerp was heading to the castle, the younger brother panicked, thinking his actions had been sensed and he would be reported to his father.

No longer able to be choosy, he resorted to forceful measures.

He ordered a unit he kept for dirty work to raid his house and take the research materials by any means necessary.

About 50,000 years ago, the system was still underdeveloped, and there was no such thing as Item Box.

So he thought the materials must be there somewhere, but Belkerp had already developed a magic that became the prototype for Item Box and had the gods experimentally incorporate it into the system, so all materials were inside it.

Thus, no matter where or how much they searched, nothing would turn up.

However, the unit prepared by the younger brother also knew what would happen to them if they failed.

At such a time, during the raid on the house, they found Lucy hiding and trembling.

The unit's members tortured her, thinking the wife must know.

They inflicted every imaginable pain to make her talk.

But she didn't know details about such materials, and even if she spoke of Item Box, no one would believe her.

And so, at the end of those cruel acts, she died.

"When I returned home after speaking to the emperor, the mansion was ransacked. Lucy! I desperately searched for her. And when I stepped into the kitchen she usually used for cooking, I saw it. Her beautiful eyes were gone, nails torn off, ears and nose sliced away-"

"That's enough. I'm sorry for making you recall painful things, Belkerp-san."

Digging his nails into his arm until it bled, trembling and shedding tears, Tatsuro couldn't bear it and stopped the story.

After that, he spent the whole night crying while gathering her body and the parts that originally belonged to it as finely as possible, modifying a Life Magic magical tool he had, and repairing her flesh.

He even neatly fixed the crushed baby along with her womb, further improved the Life Magic magical tool, improvised a box-type magical tool that prevented decay, and stored it in the Item Box (provisional).

Having completed all processes, he became a demon of vengeance.

Using his innate intellect, analytical ability from Dispel Magic, and numerous magical tools born from all sorts of knowledge, he began investigating who and why had subjected her to this.

Fortunately, he was a specialist in investigation.

In just one day, he understood the whole picture. He immediately took action.

First, the humans who directly harmed her.

They had fled abroad but were easily found.

He conducted all sorts of human experiments he had sealed away for being inhumane, killing them all without exception after pains no ordinary person would experience.

Next, the younger brother who gave the order, the root cause this time.

Gradually abducting people around him, sending parts of their bodies every night, cornering him mentally too.

Naturally, the younger brother used money to hire many skilled guards.

However, even if he wasn't suited for combat, that was from a Clear Elf perspective.

Unless they brought a Clear Elf here, no matter how tough the guards, it meant nothing.

In the end, abducting the younger brother himself, he repeatedly inflicted all known physical and mental pains and sufferings, healing him, hurting him again, healing; even when begged to kill him, he hurt and healed; even if he tried to become a vegetable, forcibly restoring sanity, taking exactly 10 years to slowly kill him.

And during those 10 years, he was active in other ways too.

He killed all the faction members who fed ridiculous information to the younger brother's ears, and killed the researchers who blabbed about his information too.

Furthermore, he couldn't tolerate the younger brother's genes remaining.

He couldn't overlook those who killed his child and stole the right everyone naturally has to leave descendants, nonchalantly propagating.

He couldn't endure genes similar to that man's continuing endlessly in this world.

With such thoughts, he killed the emperor, his father, mother, wife, children. He killed all the wife's relatives too.

At the point where only branch family relatives remained, for the sake of his plan, he temporarily left them alone.

The imperial family massacre incident remains a major event in history even now.

However, to settle it, a man from the branch family, also a Deep Elf like the emperor, inherited the throne, and a few years later, calm was restored.

However, he wouldn't forgive. His heart would never heal.

That guy's genes still remained.

About 1,200 years passed since the imperial family massacre, the incident gathering dust and forgotten by most.

But the incident happened again.

Again, the entire imperial family was killed, this time down to all relatives.

"Huh? But there was still an emperor, right? What's going on?"

"That's a descendant of a Deep Elf orphan I found on another continent. I brought him saying I'd make him emperor, plastically altered a boy with blood close to the emperor at the time to resemble his face, and left him as the sole survivor drawing the emperor's blood."

"So, the emperor we talked to is..."

"Yes. A complete stranger with no connection to the Clear Elf couple who founded this country. But the surrounding guys celebrated it as a miracle survivor, and a few days later, the boy who was persecuted as an orphan different from others became emperor of a vast empire. With this, one of my revenges was fulfilled. I wanted to show them a complete stranger sitting in the emperor's chair."

A chill ran through Tatsuro and the others at Belkerp's dry smile.

"After the revenge ended, I began immersing myself seriously in research on whether I could achieve her revival."

What he arrived at was a method of forging a new soul, imprinting pre-death memories onto it, and transplanting it into the dead body.

Even hearing such a story, anyone would dismiss it as absurd nonsense.

But his obsession completed it under a perfect theory.

"For that, a massive amount of computational devices were needed. Fortunately, I had researched the foundation for that long ago. So I immediately set out to secure the location and materials for it."

First, deciding the materials would be this country's people was quick.

For that, a place close to this country was desirable.

As a result, over long years, he built a vast underground facility.

Funds and such were obtained by contacting shady organizations and selling them crime-useful technologies.

"Could it be that the magical tool for forging identification is also something you spread, Belkerp-san?"

"Ah, there was something like that too. But since they seized and analyzed such things, leading to complex attribute magic circles, you should thank me instead."

"That technology was originally yours too..."

The magical tool for forging identification that was mentioned when Tatsuro and the others were checked for authenticity in front of the imperial palace.

Apparently, he was the one who provided the technology now rampant in criminal organizations.

Learning this, Ishtar wore an expression unsure whether to be impressed or angry, and sighed.