Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 236: The Forgotten’s Story V & VI

<The Forgotten’s Story V>

She assembled party members for the journey.

She cared not for race, only the ability to endure the rigors of adventuring.

Her first party member was the great magician who would later be known as “Houma Garving”.

When she had spoken to Lyridias, she had contracted with him.

He swore to “definitely unravel the secret of the curse and lift it”.

After that, he was free to take the power as his own, or use it as a foundation for finding the real god or whatever he wished.

But all that would have to wait until the curse nestled in Elysium was lifted and purged.

Her next party member was the prince of Elysium who would later be known as “Three-Swords Ardi”.

She had thought that he would be quite reluctant to join, but he didn’t utter a single word of complaint.

On the contrary, he seemed in high spirits as he prepared for the journey.

「Aren’t you disgruntled?」

To her question……

「Whether this proves to be beneficial or a waste of time, either way, I’m happy to be of service to Her Holiness」

……he gave her such a lapdog-like reply.

As she never had a mother, it was a sentiment she couldn’t understand.

The next one to join her party was a little one who would later be known as “Oblivion Thrusuovu”.

He was a bard she had seen performing in a bar, and she hired him to chronicle their adventures.

The homeland of the little ones was located on the right continent. She had dealings with them on several occasions when she was in Neomia. They were a race with exceptionally good memory and were good with their hands.

She would be lying if she said nostalgia didn’t play into it, but it was obvious that this little one’s abilities would be useful in their adventures.

Last of all, she, the fake queen, who would later be known as “Silent Duin”.

She became Lyridias’ shadow to capitalize on Elysium’s influence all over the world. And she intended to give Lyridias all the glory and all the achievements.

She was always someone with little desire for personal gain or greed.

She wasn’t completely without desires, but she wasn’t a selfish person.

With these three accompanying her, their first journey began.

They went around the dungeons of the center continent, acquired the legacy of the great flame magician in the Dead City of Glass, and fought the fallen hero, Mitera, the king of the dead.

Having obtained a myriad of newfound knowledge and numerous mysteries, their adventures took them across the sea to the strife-torn left continent.

There, she gained two new party members.

A woman with the blood of the old beastkin in her veins who would later be known as “Raging Rmir”.

A Myriad King with the blood of a foreigner in his veins who would later be known as “Resolute Robbs”.

Ardi was against the idea of letting those two join the party until the bitter end. Both beastkin and Myriad Kings were enemies that Elysium had been fighting against for many years.

She could understand how he felt.

But it was no reason to let talented people go.

Leaving aside Ardi,

Rmir and Robbs didn’t harbor any enmity towards Elysium. They were both outcasts who had been ostracized by their people.

Besides,

Rmir was satisfied as long as she got paid.

Robbs just wanted to restore his family’s reputation.

Their motives were simple, but she recognized at once that they were both people who responded to trust with trust.

Ardi’s quips and complaints didn’t last long.

Even if they didn’t want it to, trust grew when people put their lives in each other’s hands. The battles on the left continent were so grueling that they could not have survived if they hadn’t.

The civil war among the Myriad Kings had reached the peak of chaos, and the legacy of the past, which had kept thousands upon thousands alive, was being burned away by the barbarians like it was mere firewood.

They needed to be ruled over by someone.

Someone who understood its importance.

She and her party members plunged into the fray.

The eighth prince, who was leading Elysium’s expeditionary force, was a dangerous man.

He was truly a bloodthirsty beast.

What he desired was not domination, but war. The current conflict on the left continent was the result of his schemes.

She knew without needing to ask.

That this prince was more interested in using them than lifting the curse.

But fortunately, the fifth prince, who was leading another expeditionary force, lent them his aid.

That was only natural.

Because the fifth prince, “the twin-faced king Vigantel”, was Lyridias’ younger brother.

He was recognized as a prince for political reasons, and had been sent to the bloody battlefield. He was also gravely concerned about the curse that blanketed Elysium.

With his help, she attempted to ensnare the forces of the eighth prince in a trap. Setting people up was something both teacher and disciple excelled at, all the more when dealing with royalty.

It was no easy task.

It would take them three years to weaken Elysium’s expeditionary forces and make Robbs the leader of an alliance of Myriad Kings.

Finally able to resume their adventures, they scoured every trace of ruined civilizations and found the sacred mountain of the beastkin in a forbidden land.

It was a holy land that none of the beastkin remembered, the mountain where they had originated from.

There, they found the origin of the curse.

They learned the secrets of the old beastkin that Neomia and Elysium had never known.

But it wasn’t enough.

It was still insufficient to lift the curse.

For the first time, she, who was always calm and collected, showed signs of impatience.

She was carrying Ardi’s child.

She didn’t care about what would happen to her. Her husband was also prepared for any consequence.

But she wanted her child to have a future.That was the first human-like sentiment she had.

The devil whispered to her,

That if the curse couldn’t be lifted, she only needed to find another way.

The power to change curses.

The power to devour curses.

The power to turn curses into power.

Elysium’s curse was originally something that allowed them to oppose the old beastkin.

It was an extraordinary power that gave them the ability to defeat the gigantic beastkin with their human forms.

The side-effect of the curse was a sickness of the soul.

The diseased soul would cause flesh to bloat, bones to warp, and minds to break.

However, this curse didn’t afflict the beastkin. As a matter of fact, some of the women impregnated by the third prince were beastkin, but none of their children showed any signs of having the curse.

And that was not all.

Neither did the children born of elves, little ones, and presumably, dwarves.

This curse was one that only afflicted pure-blooded Hemus. It was almost as if it was the same power as the malignant silver that burned the flesh of beastkin.

The humans still alive had no way of turning into another race.

However, if they could acquire the characteristics of other races externally……

「That’s foolish」

It was a foolish thing to do.

It was simply a folly that people had repeated throughout history.

She knew that. Despite that knowledge, she acquired the power of the old beastkin.

With the power of the old beastkin, she could overcome the beasts of the present.

Using that power, she defeated the eighth prince who had attacked her. She was able to kill the prince, whose curse had made his flesh bloat until he resembled the lump of flesh that Lyridias loved.

It looked like she had succeeded.

But it was a massive failure.

All she had done was resurrect an ancient curse.

To make matters worse, this curse spread through faith. Though it was a fragment of a god that was barely more than a husk of its former self, it invaded people’s wills, transformed their bodies, and manipulated death, souls, and the world.

It burst forth with seemingly limitless power.

Like dark flames that burned for eternity.

This power was far too dangerous.

It was one that no person should ever touch.

Amid her disappointment, she placed her final bet on her homeland, the right continent.

The spire that marked the beginning of the world.

The “Odoriji spire” that was once called the spire of the gods.

It was a dungeon that she had stayed away from because it was just too dangerous. But with her current party members, she felt that they could make it.

According to the great magician,

In the depths of that dungeon laid a way to control that curse.

But things didn’t go quite as planned.

There was a parting of ways.

With the deepest part of the dungeon in sight, the party split up.

Robbs returned to the left continent to reunite the Myriad Kings.

Having received a secret letter from Lyridias, Ardi hurried back to Elysium.

Upon their parting, he gave Rmir one of his beloved swords.

The name of that sword, a token of his affection, was “Star’s Child”.

She also left something in Rmir’s care. It was her own child who had only recently been weaned.

She had a feeling that she was in danger. The fact that she had killed the eighth prince must have been leaked somehow. She didn’t believe that Ardi being summoned back was unrelated either.

She asked Rmir to take her child and lay low for a while.

Agreeing readily, Rmir left the party temporarily.

She promised that they would definitely meet again.

That was a promise that went unfulfilled.

Her last adventure came to an abrupt end.

On a sea voyage to the right continent, a ship appeared in front of her.

It was the first prince’s ship, adorned with the severed head of a knight.

Seeing her husband’s remains, she was profoundly relieved to have left her child in Rmir’s care. Though the memory of it would not remain, no child would want to see their mother become a demon.

She would kill them all.

No matter who she was up against, she was going to kill, kill, and kill until she had killed them all.

The deck of the ship became a scene of gruesome carnage.

After killing about half of the prince’s guards, she realized something. That a power identical to hers was nearby.

What that was, she would only find out a little later.

To cut a long story short, she was defeated by the first prince.

She lost due to Garving’s betrayal.

This was the end of her journey.

What awaited her was torture both long and gruesome, and a lightless world of darkness. There, as if melting into the darkness, she breathed her last.

Her name was taken from her.

The companions she had journeyed with were taken from her.

The man she loved was taken from her.

Glory and acclaim were taken from her.

She was forgotten by all.

At the moment of her death, like any ordinary woman, she had a dream.

She saw a dream where she and her husband held the child they were separated from in their arms once more.

That was the final adventure of the adventurers who would later be known as “Vindoobunikuru”.

A sordid epilogue that was never chronicled.

<The Forgotten’s Story VI>

“I” had a dream of waking up from a dream.

A dream where I opened my eyes and saw nothing.

There was only darkness and the coldness of stone.

And stale, musty air.

After a lengthy period of torture that was so long that I melted into the darkness, I found myself there.

From time to time, I would hear the patter of rats’ feet. They drew close, seeing my dying body as food. As weak as my body was, I was still capable of beating them to death.

I hesitated at first.

No, that’s wrong. I only hesitated the very first time.

Being starved to the brink of death makes one throw away one’s dignity rather easily.

I ate raw flesh and blood, vomited many times, but even so, I ate and extended my life regardless of what foul methods I had to use. So long as one is alive, fate will take its course. The opportunity for revenge will surely come.

So I waited.

I simply waited and waited.

After a year had passed, the first prince appeared before me.

He told me about how Ardi had died. He told me in great detail how he had killed him.

Anger erupting from within, I reached my hands through the bars in a rage.

He watched without even the slightest change of expression, and then, looking bored, he left the prison.

After two years had passed, the first prince appeared before me again.

He informed me that he had killed Lyridias and her younger brother. He told me that it was a family tradition to kill their own kin.

I glared at him, my face twisted in hatred.

He looked at me with an expression of pity.

After five years had passed, the first prince showed up again.

He informed me that he had killed Rmir and Robbs. He laughed and said, “There are only two of your party members left.”

Blood flew as I spat curses at him.

Ten years had passed.

Finally, he came.

With a smile, he informed me that he had failed to kill Thrusuovu after all.

But then, he told me that Thrusuovu, or rather, all the little ones had been wiped out by the elves who had been forced off the center continent and fled to the right continent.

It was clear that he had planned the whole thing.

He was playing. He was having fun with how he killed.

My hatred rekindled, I lashed out at him.

He left with a faint smile on his face. That was the last time I saw him.

Ten years passed.

Twenty years.

Fifty years, and he never appeared before me again.

Perhaps a hundred years had gone by since then.

I survived this unbelievably long time by the light of the flames of vengeance.

But as the great flame magician had said, there is no flame that doesn’t go out.

I ate rats. Made full use of magic. But no matter how consumed by hatred one is, there’s a limit. No matter how much one tries to hold on to life, as long as one is human, there is bound to be an end.

If there is anyone who defies this fate, then that person has ceased to be human.

I could go on no longer.

I could continue to curse the prince no longer.

My life faded, my flesh melted, even my bones turned to dust,

But even then, the flames of hatred would not turn to ashes,

And the rumblings of vengeance refused to be lost to the winds,

Even if I’ve been forgotten by all, I can never forget my hatred.

In the bowels of the prison I had been abandoned in, there remained a tar-like sludge that was a condensation of darkness.

The thing that was born from it is a god, yet not a god.

Of misdeeds and evil schemes,

Of cravings and hatred,

Of silence and the dark fire,

A beast-killing god with golden eyes.

A cursed new god not worshiped by the world.

No one knows “her” name. Therefore, she took the name of Misuranika.

A name in an ancient and dead language.

I’m the “one who is forgotten”, it says.

I woke up from the nightmare.

Is it the height of blasphemy to call the past of the god I serve a nightmare, I wonder?

「Dear?」

Perhaps my tossing and turning had woken her up, but Rana peered into my face.

With the same golden eyes as the Forgotten One.

The same eyes as mine.

She’s never asked me about these eyes before. She says that the things I don’t tell her are things she doesn’t need to know. She trusts me with all her heart, so much so that it weighs on me.

That’s the kind of woman she is.

「I had a bit of a bad dream」

「At times like this, it’s helpful to get some night air. I’ll warm up your chilled body afterward」

「I’ll do just that」

That’s a very enticing offer. I’ll oblige.

I pried the fast-asleep Lanseal off me and slipped out of the warm covers.

Throwing my cloak around my shoulders, I snuck out of the room.

After walking down the quiet hallway and up the stairs, I was surprised to find that there was already someone on the roof.

Her long hair that was as black as night fluttered in the wind. It was a bare-footed girl with a shadowy dress that clung to her skin.

That’s actually quite……

「What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream or something?」

「Yeah, I had a bad dream」

She didn’t look much like a god born of hatred to me. With her gaze still fixed on the plain, she beckoned “Come here” with only a hand.

Standing next to her, I realized how small my god was.

「Tell me about it」

「It’s a dream where an innocent young girl is made to play along with a nobleman’s games, is framed, is forced to leave her country, gets caught up in evil schemes in another country, and eventually loses everything and ends up all alone」

「That’s how it looked to you, huh?」

「Am I wrong?」

That’s what it looked like to me.

I could see it no other way.

「Despite everything, my first husband loved me. As his wife, I loved him too. I won’t let anyone else deny that. Without a doubt, Garving’s evil schemes were the reason why I was forced out of Neomia. Everything, including the later betrayal, was all part of his plan」

「Then, that Garving……」

That great magician is still in this world. It’s just my intuition, but I’m sure of it.

In that case, I’ll definitely put an end to him by my own hand.

「Perish that thought. If he’s still alive, my teacher is no longer human, much less a god. He’s more of a natural disaster like dragons and storms. Humans have no business trying to fight such things. Just endure it until they pass」

「………………」

I don’t believe that the wisdom of mankind will lose to such things.

One day, a way to defeat him will surely be found.

I’m going to leave records of Garving behind for future generations, much the same as I’ve done with the Abaddon. That might prove fatal to him. If I can’t do it, someone else will.

You never know what kind of chain reaction it could spark.

「Misuranika-sama, the First Hero is―――――」

This is not based on intuition.

It’s a conviction I’ve gained from the dreams I’ve had so far.

「Is he the first prince, one of Elysium’s beast-hunter kings, who has lived since ancient times?」

「That’s right. Even now, after so many years, he still controls Elysium from the shadows. That thing is one who possesses the body of a human, but is actually the embodiment of curses」

If he has a human body, then he can be killed.

「Why does he hunt down foreigners?」

「I have no idea. Does he fear foreigners, or is it advice from someone? No, it could be that he’s been doing that all along, I suppose」

Even Misuranika-sama doesn’t know his motives, huh?

「Souya, won’t you change your mind? Won’t you run away?」

「I won’t run away」

「Are you going to fight?」

「Yes, I’m going to fight」

It’s not because I was inspired by your will.

It’s because I can’t stand him that I’m fighting him.

It’s because he’s getting in the way of foreigners like me that I’m fighting him.

It’s because people that are precious to me――――――

「So far, I’ve contracted with all sorts of people to fight Elysium, beasts, and the first prince. Though few, there have been victories. But………………no one has ever fought directly against the first prince and won」

「That’s just “so far,” isn’t it? Everything has an end and a beginning. Just as there is no flame that doesn’t go out, there is no nightmare that doesn’t end」

「Are you not afraid?」

「It’s one of the few things I’m good at」

Well, the fact that, at my core(roots), the part that allows me to feel fear is broken is a sign that I’m defective, I suppose.

「………I’ve given up trying to stop you. Yes, you’re right, there is no nightmare that doesn’t end. One day, the night will end and a new dawn will come. A world without gods and curses」

Illuminated by the moonlight, my god looked like a lunar goddess.

At the same time, her ethereal presence gave me a fleeting sense of unease that she might shatter and fade away at any moment.

「Will you still be my god when this battle is over?」

「That’s impossible. Even if you use your foreign technique, the contract will be burned up(consumed) completely in the next battle. And that’s not all. Your――――――」

「Then I’ll put up a fight befitting one of your followers. Even if I forget, it’s fine as long as you remember」

To be remembered by my god………it’s too good of a death for someone with a death wish.

「Win or lose, you’ll lose everything, you know? There’s no benefit to be gained from fighting」

「I’ll take back what I lose. Even if they get burned to a crisp, I’ll gather up the ashes and remake them. Didn’t you also say it, Misuranika-sama? That they can be reforged anew」

Besides, I don’t think that the bonds I have now will get completely reduced to ashes.

There will definitely be something left. I don’t believe that humans would lose to something like curses. I simply don’t think so.

「It was a foolish question, huh……………… You’ve become stronger. No, I guess it’s me who has grown weaker」

「When we first met, you were close to dying of hunger, remember?」

To think that the frail cat I met that day would become a beautiful girl like this………

In that respect, I’m very fortunate.

「I’m a god, you know? I wasn’t really dying from hunger. I was hungry in the sense that I was starved for human interaction」

「What about now?」

「I’ve overeaten. I’m going to get fat」

「Hmm」

She still needs to eat more.

「Where are you looking at, fool?」

I had been looking at somewhere modest.

「I’m sorry」

「It’s fine. I’ll forgive your one last act of disrespect this night」

Last, huh?

No, it won’t be the last.

In a lot of ways, my god still has a lot of growing to do.

「Souya, kneel」

I obeyed and got down on one knee.

We remade the contract we had made that day in that prison cell.

「The Forgotten One, born of dark fire, asks. Will you become my sword and satisfy my cravings? That sword will earn no honor, that blood will enjoy no prosperity, that soul will know no peace. For all that, if you still have no objections, answer me with silence」

「………」

I answered.

「The Forgotten One, born of evil schemes, asks. Will you turn hardship and humiliation into your own strength, accomplishing what can be accomplished, gaining what can be gained, seizing what can be seized? And are you willing to even plot against kings and slay heroes? If you have no objections, answer me with silence」

「………」

「The Forgotten One, born of misdeeds, will respond to that silence. O wolf knight who serves the blood of dragons. O foreign warrior who holds fast to his beliefs. O strong person who fears not notoriety and fears not death in your dying moments. I forgive your sins, your deceptive machinations, and even if you become the dark spark that ignites disaster, only I will forgive it all. Therefore――――」

A cold body was draped over me. Curiously, it blocked the night wind completely.

I waited for her next words.

I waited, but all I heard was silence.

This silence was probably also a response.

I put my hands around her waist and pulled her into a tight embrace. When I looked at her face, I saw surprise written over her tearful smile.

「I’m really glad to have met you」Please, let me never forget this one moment.

What a cruel tale the true story of the god of adventurers’ journey turned out to be… There’s so much there, especially in the latter half of V, but we’re getting close to the point where it’s getting hard for me to say anything without giving spoilers, so I’ll leave it to you all to find the numerous hints.

That said, despite how to the point and summarized this story is, I really liked how the romance between Duin and Ardi developed, from how he said he preferred her the way she was instead of faking being polite previously, to how they ended up husband and wife here, and to how she went berserk at his death. Though…was Rmir Ardi’s mistress?

Erghh, that last part of V where it kept going “XXX was taken from her”, the verb used there is the same as the “seize” in Misuranika’s vows. I really wanted to use the identical verb, but the sentences sounded really horrible that way so…

Well, there you have it, the end of the recollection arc. Finally, the secret of our cat god’s past is revealed. With this, we’ve hit the mid-point of the volume. Because next is an interlude chapter. Yeah, this volume is so frigging long, it has an intermission lol. It’s really short, but stay tuned!

And a quick note, I made corrections to chapter 231. I forgot I had previously translated the flame as “Final Flame” instead of “End Flame” and I’ve gone back and changed it. And if you can’t remember where it has come up before, “guide of the final flame” is the title bestowed on certain talented mages and it’s said that if 5 of them are present in the same era, the world will be burned down. Rana and Frey both have this title.