Book 12: Chapter 15: Responsibility

Part 15 Responsibility

“Master…?!”

The one who ran over first was Yeon So-hyeon's Head Maid, Jeong-ah.

Discovering him in the half-collapsed deepest passage, she threw even the torch she was holding to the floor and ran over.

“Master!”

How much she had worried about Yeon So-hyeon.

At the sight of her running with tears even welling up in her eyes Yeon So-hyeon, who was sitting leaning against the wall of the passage, wore a bitter smile.

“…There is no need to make a fuss.”

With that answer, it could be confirmed that he was maintaining consciousness.

A situation of losing consciousness and becoming completely eroded by the demonic qi of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens that was, it was not a 'Black Situation.'

However, Head Maid Jeong-ah's complexion did not brighten at all.

“Master. That mask is…!”

The white mask was still positioned on Yeon So-hyeon's face.

He was not wearing a mask.

The mask was stuck.

“…It does not come off right now. But it is fine.”

“That…?!”

The skin around his face where the mask was stuck was distorted, and pitch-black veins spread out in the shape of tree branches.

She tried to hurriedly support and raise Yeon So-hyeon, but when she extended a hand to him, a burning sharp pain rushed from the tips of the fingers of her extended hand.

“…Ugh!”

It was because of the demonic qi of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens that was leaking beyond the limit, though Yeon So-hyeon was suppressing it.

“Did I not say it is fine?”

Yeon So-hyeon scolded her with a needlessly carefree tone and began to stand up on his own, leaning against the wall.

However, contrary to his words, a thin stream of blood was trickling down from his tightly shut mouth.

“…Master.”

“……!”

While all the heat was stolen away and even his veins froze over a burning pain was running through his entire body at the same time.

The reaction when the demonic qi of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens and the demonic qi of the Demonic Cult contacted each other was more violent than his expectation and painful.

Yet Yeon So-hyeon eventually straightened his waist and stood up on his own.

The newly learned history of the Demonic Cult's birth.

The heavy responsibility as a descendant of the Luoyang Sword Family.

That heavy responsibility, now was rather raising his body.

“I have good news for you.”

“…Yes?”

Like that Yeon So-hyeon, who raised his body, looked at Jeong-ah and said with a smile.

“Geum-jil, who was the enemy of your family, is now dead.”

When Jeong-ah shook her head violently, her hair fluttered in the air.

“Such a person does not matter at all right now!”

In this situation, Geum-jil or whatever what did it matter?

Was her master caring for her, who was merely a maid, even in this kind of situation?

“Master must return to Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment immediately and manage your energy!”

Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.

“No. I cannot.”

“Master…!”

Jeong-ah's cry was earnest, but Yeon So-hyeon was firm, and his will was clear.

“Now, the work is ending. It is the wrapping-up stage. In such a crucial period, variables are bound to exist.”

“Until the work is wrapped up in this current situation, there is no way I will step back from the front line.”

“But-!”

Jeong-ah opened her mouth to say something, but her voice was cut off by others' shouts.

“Leader…!”

They were the Saintess and shamanesses of the Fairy Cult who had hurriedly followed behind Jeong-ah.

Among them, there was someone who wore a slightly surprised expression upon seeing the Dark Venerable's mask and although they felt concern about Yeon So-hyeon's condition, no one dared to mention it first.

“You all worked hard.”

The Saintess of the Fairy Cult shook her head.

“No.”

Although she was blind she approached Yeon So-hyeon without anyone's help.

“We, who lack ability, merely assisted the Leader. How could we be commended for working hard with just that?”

“No.”

Yeon So-hyeon firmly shook his head, denying the Saintess's words.

“It was possible because you all were there.”

His words were the truth.

The Saintess and shamanesses of the Fairy Cult had been steadily searching the underground drainage system in the meantime and ultimately, they succeeded in the mission of finding the way to the deepest part before it was too late.

If not for them it would have been impossible for Yeon So-hyeon to find and strike Geum-jil at the exact time and the exact spot.

And in the process of that search how great was the sacrifice of the Fairy Cult shamanesses who had voluntarily participated in the search.

Many of them went mad from the demonic qi rising from deep underground, or were receiving treatment for its aftereffects.

Many were also missing.

“Is this place…?”

The Saintess changed the subject.

Fitting for the Saintess serving the Medicine Fairy she had not the slightest intention to boast, adorn, or show off their sacrifice.

That was the nobility possessed by them, the shamanesses of the Fairy Cult.

“…Yes. Where this passage ends is the deepest part of this underground drainage system.”

Yeon So-hyeon nodded and looked back.

The other side of the passage.

The torches held by the shamanesses searching down along the passage flickered, illuminating the walls that had collapsed in places.

The sight of the corpses that had fully covered those passages could no longer be found now.

It was an empty passage.

“Saintess.”

Yeon So-hyeon asked the Saintess.

“Does something show in your eyes?”

The blind Saintess raised her head, looked toward the other side of the passage, and sighed.

“…It is full of chaos and confusion, fear and hatred, resentment and grief.”

Was it the emotion harbored by Geum-jil and the colony of corpses surrounding him?

Or was it the fragment left by the pain engraved even in the souls of those who were trapped in this deep underground and suffered from harsh labor hundreds of years ago?

“Leader!”

At that time, the shamaness searching at the front shouted.

They had arrived at the end of the passage and the entrance of the deepest part.

* * *

The deepest layer where the Dark Venerable and the bizarre entity clashed.

The space shaped like a calabash.

That massive space had collapsed here and there in the middle of the battle and was half-buried in soil, with soil still sliding down even now, but it was not a very difficult thing to verify the ‘wall’ of that space at the end of the sloped passage.

“This is…!”

“What is this…?!”

Shamanesses with dumbfounded expressions held torches at the end of the passage and illuminated the wall of the deepest layer.

When Yeon So-hyeon, Jeong-ah, and the Saintess approached, they stepped aside with faces turned white.

“…It seems to be all human bones.”

Just as she said the wall of that wide space was, entirely, composed of thickly smeared plaster and countless human bones.

Bones that appeared to be thighs.

Slender arm bones.

Ribs.

Bones.

Bones.

Bones.

It was a wall made of the bones of at least hundreds perhaps even reaching a thousand people.

“…….”

In the flickering light of the torches held by the shamanesses, it revealed its presence whitely.

Although it was a wall that previously appeared merely black, covered by the Cult's demonic qi now that the demonic qi had vanished, its true form was revealed like this.

“These remains are…”

Yeon So-hyeon, who had heard the history of the Demonic Cult from Geum-jil, could deduce the identity of those remains.

“…They are the remains of those who labored while held here by the previous dynasty and the past Sword Family.”

Those newly put in brought and stacked the remains of those who had died countlessly in the harsh labor and when those who built the wall like that died, the next ones put in came and built the wall with their remains.

No one had explained it separately, but the process in which that wall was built hundreds of years ago seemed to show clearly in his eyes.

“…I have seen a similar record among ancient sorcery rituals.”

The Saintess opened her mouth.

“It is handed down that if human bones are stacked in alignment with a path and a suitable ritual is performed, it becomes a 'vessel' that can contain even formless things.”

What was she looking at with her blinded eyes?

“But, to think it is of this scale…”

Her entire body was drenched in cold sweat.

“Come to think of it, if it is a vessel…!”

Jeong-ah, as if it suddenly occurred to her said with a dumbfounded expression.

“According to tales handed down by word of mouth, I heard that the previous dynasty dug Hwangho, an artificial lake, following the words of a certain Daoist to revive the national fortune.”

“Yes. That tale is correct in the broad framework. But to be more precise…”

Yeon So-hyeon raised a hand and pointed at the ceiling and everyone's gaze went upward following that hand.

“They dug Hwangho, and” his hand went winding down from above.

“Connecting the drainage system starting beneath Luoyang to this place, they made this space beneath the lake.”

“Are you saying this is the underground of Hwangho?!”

The shamanesses and Jeong-ah wore surprised expressions.

It meant that they were currently located underground of a massive artificial lake.

“Yes. This place is…”

Yeon So-hyeon, wearing a bitter expression, looked at the space so massive that the torches could not even fully illuminate looking at the calabash-shaped deepest layer as he continued.

“A vessel to gather earth qi and artificially create a dragon vein.”

Yeon So-hyeon added.

“And it is also the place where the Demonic Cult was born.”

“……!”

“……!”

To those who were surprised, Yeon So-hyeon passed on the history he had heard from Geum-jil.

As that history of deep regret continued, the eyes of the audience grew so wide they seemed about to tear.

“…That is how it happened.”

The shocking secret story Yeon So-hyeon told finished.

“…….”

Everyone once again looked at the deep and wide deepest layer.

But in the eyes of the shamanesses in Yeon So-hyeon's eyes too to the Saintess possessing strange power and to Jeong-ah who possessed Dragon Eyes, in no one's eyes was anything like a dragon vein visible.

What lay here was only an empty space and the remains of those who had died countlessly.

This was merely a legacy of madness.

“…….”

“…….”

In this crazed sight while no one could easily open their mouth, Yeon So-hyeon was the first to speak again.

“Once this matter is wrapped up, I will make this space public.”

“……!”

“I and the Sword Family will take full responsibility for everything. If necessary, I must also request His Majesty the Emperor.”

He kept his gaze fixed on the wall as he continued.

“After recovering all the remains here and officially performing a memorial service, this space must be filled in.”

Those who died hundreds of years ago.

On top of that, those who were merely slaves.

It would be impossible to even find their surviving families now.

Even if we take full responsibility that was about all that could be done.

“But, Master.”

Jeong-ah could not hide her bewildered expression.

“…Outside the Main Family, there will be those who try to exploit this somehow. If that happens, there may be those inside the Main Family who resent Master for revealing our shame.”

It was a rare concern from Jeong-ah.

“That is right. Furthermore…”

The Saintess also nodded, agreeing with Jeong-ah's words.

“In this period when the Demonic Cult is active, we cannot know what impact the revelation of that secret story will have.”

“Waiting for a more appropriate time would be—” Yeon So-hyeon immediately cut off those words and replied.

“It does not matter.”

Although his exhausted look was distinct.

Even more than when the Dark Venerable's demonic qi was mixed in his words, an even heavier weight was carried.

“This is something that has nothing to do with gains and losses.”

“There is no separate, appropriate time for taking responsibility and reflecting.”

He spoke more seriously than ever, nailing down word by word, letter by letter.

“I, and we.”

It was a declaration, and determination.

“Neither bury nor forget history.”