Chapter 202: The Man Behind the Legend (1)

—Ethan’s POV—

I shook hands with Ars, the Golden Dawn Knight, as we stood facing one another. As always, his helmet prevented me from seeing his face.

Even so, I didn’t ask him to remove it. I had a feeling he preferred to remain this way until the very end, appearing as the magnificent, imposing knight whose deeds had been immortalized in legends.

Our handshake lasted only a few seconds before we both withdrew our hands at the same time.

I then turned my head, taking a broader look at our surroundings from atop the hill where countless swords stood embedded in the ground.

The world around me was astonishingly vast, stretching beneath a sky illuminated by a brilliant golden-yellow light.

"Where exactly are we?" I asked, curious about the strange places I occasionally found myself in.

First, there had been that dark world where I’d heard the cries of a mysterious infant.

And now, this place.

"This is my inner world, where my dreams and nightmares manifest together."

Ars took a step forward and stood beside me, gazing toward the distant horizon.

"An inner world? This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing..." I said with a frown.

The Golden Dawn Knight remained silent for a moment, taking his time to consider how best to explain it.

"It’s only natural that you wouldn’t know something like this exists within you. It’s a privilege granted to only a select few in this world."

I found myself listening with growing interest.

After all, he was telling me about things that had never appeared in the game, despite my having believed that I knew everything there was to know about Ordeal.

"A select few? Who exactly are you talking about?"

"I’m sure your mind has already begun considering the possible answers to that question."

Ars raised his hand and extended one finger.

"Bearers of the Mark Curse, for example, because of their powerful connection to the Curse of Darkness."

"Or those who possess exceptionally powerful Blessings, such as your friend who carries the Phoenix Blessing."

He extended a second finger as he spoke.

"Is that all? Curse Bearers and those with powerful Blessings?"

Ars shook his head.

"No. Those are merely examples. Most people with a powerful destiny possess an inner world of their own."

A powerful destiny...

I’d been hearing far too much nonsense about fate lately. Aldrich had been the first to bring it up during our earlier conversation.

Speaking of Aldrich...

"I used my Blessing on Aldrich’s soul, so why did you appear before me instead of him?"

"Who knows? Perhaps because he controlled my body for so long that my soul became bound to his. Or perhaps because I carried a curse similar to yours. Either possibility could explain it."

"I guess I’ve been bombarding you with questions... Sorry about that."

I apologized, unconsciously reaching behind my head.

It wasn’t right to treat Ars as some all-knowing source of information who could answer every question I had.

He was still only human, after all, and had technically lived fewer years than Asterion. Most of the centuries he had spent alive had passed under Aldrich’s control.

Even so, he undoubtedly knew far more than I did, especially when it came to curses.

"I assume your next question will be about the curses themselves."

Ars turned toward me and suddenly made that observation, almost as though he had read my mind.

I immediately apologized again.

"Sorry..."

The conversation was becoming rather awkward.

I wasn’t even sure how I was supposed to address him. He was a legend, a monster among monsters who could kill me with ridiculous ease.

"Relax. I’m enjoying our conversation."

Ars tilted his head toward the sky, seemingly reading my thoughts for a second time.

"I don’t think I’m exactly the sort of person people enjoy spending time with..." I replied with a quiet laugh.

The great knight’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"...You would be surprised by how precious even a trivial conversation like this can become after spending centuries in silence, unable to utter a single word."

...

There was an immense weight behind those words.

Every syllable carried the emotions of a man who had spent his life as a slave to a tyrannical ruling family, only to spend centuries afterward under the control of a cursed monster.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to claim that I understood his pain or what he had endured. Even my wildest imagination couldn’t begin to comprehend something like that.

But perhaps, just a little, I had managed to glimpse a fraction of what he carried inside him.

"Ars... Just to make sure, is there really no way to... you know, keep you alive?"

I hesitated before asking.

I already knew the answer, but some part of me still wanted to cling to hope.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem bothered by the question and answered without hesitation.

"My death was necessary to force Aldrich into his physical form. The fact that he appeared before you is proof that I no longer exist among the living. What remains of me now is nothing more than a remnant that will soon fade away."

Ars raised his hand before his face as he spoke.

"Would you listen to the words of a dying Cursed Hunter, my fellow Curse Bearer of a later generation?"

He turned his head toward me, waiting for an answer.

I nodded immediately.

At that moment, I would have been willing to talk with him forever if that was what it took, despite never having been particularly fond of conversation in the first place.

Ars nodded, satisfied with my response.

And then he began telling me a story.

A story almost worthy of a novel, about a great knight who had reached the pinnacle of strength, yet was also a hideous, grotesque monster.

I felt as though time itself were flowing backward.

I had experienced something similar before, when I witnessed Matheus’s memories.

But this time, I was experiencing the world through the eyes of Ars.

The Golden Dawn Knight.