Chapter 9: Lauti

“Sir Anak.”

“…Yes?”

“Is something troubling you? You’ve looked unwell for a while now.”

At least the captain still maintained a basic level of courtesy.

“No, it’s just… memories, here and there.”

But then another voice came from the back.

“Then tell us a heroic tale, Sir Anak!”

The tone was as if demanding a performance from a jester.

“Flamel! I told you not to be rude!”

The commander scolded him, but it was no use.

On the contrary, even the knights who had been silent started to join in.

“Heroic tale! Heroic tale!”

“Heroic tale! Heroic tale!”

Had it been childish whining from boys, it would have been better.

But their eyes were looking down on me, ordering a jester to perform, nothing more.

The captain looked at me with a troubled expression, saying nothing.

Yes, staying silent is the easier way out.

“…Very well. What story would you like to hear?”

There was no reason I couldn’t tell them a tale or two.

Today was a day full of old memories anyway.

And they were the ones who would regret their rudeness.

“Could you tell us about the events at the Withered Tree Fortress?”

The Withered Tree Fortress… Ah, yes.

Lauti truly shone during that time.

“At the time, the Withered Tree Fortress was under the control of Commander of the Undead Legion, Georges. Understandable, given he was part of the Demon King’s army.”

The Withered Tree Fortress.

Its formal name is El Boor Gart, meaning “Stairway of the Glorious Mansion.”

It is located deep within the vast Enoch Canyon, and during the war between the Kingsley Dynasty and the Powerre Union, which lasted for over seventy years, it was the most strategic location—and where the fiercest and longest battles took place.

Both sides lost countless soldiers there.

The ashes from their cremated bodies covered the entire canyon.

Though the fortress was built from red stone, its nickname “Withered Tree Fortress” came from the wooden tablets inscribed with the names of fallen soldiers, covering the canyon walls around the fortress in place of gravestones.

It was, in every sense, the perfect place for the Undead Legion to be stationed.

And then there was Commander Georges.

Known as the Lord of the Dead, he commanded legions of undead and could raise the dead to fight once more.

But despite his title and status, he was a bright and cheerful man—beautiful, even, if you’ll believe it.

Not just in appearance.

His character was equally admirable.

The regions under his control were mostly peaceful, and civilians were rarely harmed.

Even when he stood in our way, he remained gentlemanly, never resorting to cowardly tactics even when he could have easily crushed us.

At times, he would even show us respect and retreat.

He reminded me a lot of Lowell.

Like Lowell, he was like the sun—someone who lit up everything around him.

Had he not been a demon and a servant of the Demon King Thanatos, he might have been the hero who saved the world.

Though… he did have an overly dramatic sense of aesthetics.

Half the nicknames we bear came from him.

My own title, “Deceiver of Summons” was coined by Georges himself after I lured his Death Knight unit into a trap and destroyed them.

Aegina’s nickname, “Golden Flash,” was also his creation.

Because he was such a powerful and respected figure among the demon army, when he began calling us by those names, they quickly spread—even our allies and enemies adopted them.

“We had to pass through that fortress to reach the Demon King’s castle. But El Boor Gart was a fortress deemed impenetrable even when not under undead control. And with the undead soldiers of wars past rising again and again… under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible.”

Fortunately for us, Georges wasn’t in the fortress at the time.

But even so, it was a grueling battle.

“While the others drew attention outside the fortress…”

While our other companions distracted the enemy at the front, I, Lauti, and Aegina headed deep into the fortress, aiming for the Ritual Chamber, where a large-scale barrier had once been managed during the war.

Despite the distraction, the inside of the fortress was still crawling with undead soldiers and demons, and Aegina and I gave everything we had to protect Lauti.

Maybe it was easier than what the others faced on the front lines, but for us, too, it was a battle so intense we almost forgot how to breathe.

Endless waves of skeletons and Death Knights blocked our path so fiercely that we couldn’t move even a single meter forward.

Eventually, we reached the Ritual Chamber—but that was only the beginning.

Our plan was for Lauti to perform a purification ritual using the chamber to spread holy power throughout the entire fortress.

If she succeeded, the whole fortress would be cleansed, and not a single undead would remain—but it would take time.

“Once we reached the Ritual Chamber, we layered multiple barriers over the door and piled debris into a barricade. Aegina was already completely exhausted, and I had almost no mana left.”

We had no more installed defensive seals left.

If the door broke down, we’d have no options left.

‘…Except for one.’

“We fought with everything we had. We were worried about our friends fighting outside, but if we failed, we’d be trapped inside the fortress for good. Surrounded by skeletons and phantoms, with the clanking footsteps of Death Knights drawing nearer—it was enough to dry the blood in your veins.”

Eventually, the barrier tore apart.

The makeshift barricade crumbled easily.

Aegina prepared one last attack, sensing the end, and I began reciting a spell I had never wanted to use.

“And just then—Lauti’s ritual was completed.”

Light filled the entire chamber.

The overflowing holy power instantly caused the undead soldiers to lose all strength and vanish.

And through the Ritual Chamber, that light spread throughout the entire fortress.

“It was truly a sight to behold. Tens of thousands of undead soldiers stationed in El Boor Gart were purified in an instant.”

Lauti, the Empress of Silence.

I would dare say she holds the greatest divine power of anyone on this earth.

Rudakasiapha.

The name means “kind turtle,” and this sacred hill is considered one of the holiest sites, along with the Temple of the Gods in Asgard and the first temple of the Holy Empire—Amesa Temple.

If Asgard is a divine villa tended by fairies and sacred beasts where the gods once descended, then Rudakasiapha is the place where, since ancient times, the great gods delivered their oracles and revelations to mankind.

Lauti was born with a divine oracle from the goddess Eldeya, declaring that she was the first priest of the divine Eldeya and that she would reveal the goddess’s holiness upon the earth.

People were told to treat her as they would treat Eldeya herself.

She was raised in Eldeya’s temple and, with her overwhelming divine power, healed countless sick people from a very young age.

The story of her healing a blind old woman as a child is especially well known.

People worshipped her as they worshipped Eldeya, just as the oracle had foretold.

Eventually, even high-ranking priests began to revere her as a god, obeying even her smallest words as if they were divine.

In the end, she took a Vow of Silence to prevent the confusion and chaos caused by such devotion.

Except in very special circumstances, she never broke that vow.

During our travels, she only broke it twice.

The others around the fire seemed quite satisfied with my story.

We were nearly at the campsite for the night, and they didn’t seem like they would demand any more entertainment from me.

One of them asked if Lady Lauti was truly that beautiful.

I replied that she was indeed beautiful.

Then they asked if she was more beautiful than Lady Aegina.

It was a foolish question.

If Aegina was a forest, Lauti was a lake.

Their charms were entirely different and couldn’t be compared.

Still, knowing they weren’t looking for a complicated or thoughtful answer, I simply told them that Lauti was a bit more beautiful—at least in my eyes.

Their eyes sparkled.

They had already seen Aegina’s dazzling beauty, so to hear that Lauti surpassed even her, they each began to imagine it, marveling.

And then came that flicker in their eyes—the vulgar desires, plain and unashamed.

I clenched my fists without realizing it.

I understood those base desires all too well.

Foolish and weak as I was, I hadn’t been completely free from such feelings during the journey.

It had been a blessing to have Lowell and Aegina by my side.

Their nobility and purity had reminded me constantly that such desires were never mine to claim.

Then one of the knights, Flamel—the same one who had first demanded a trick from me—stepped in closer and asked if I had seen anything during the journey.

I asked what he meant, though I was already uneasy.

His eyes, full of crude desire, and his voice, slithering like insects, repulsed me.

He went on, saying that I had traveled with such beautiful women, camping together almost every night, and fighting intense battles.

He wondered how we handled things like bathing.

That was when I understood what he really meant.

My blood boiled.

My mind grew hazy, but one emotion grew darker and more intense.

Flamel grinned and asked if I had seen anything special at night—perhaps behind a tent, or in the bushes near a stream.

He was indulging in filthy fantasies, imagining what he pleased and asking me to validate it, as if saying, You’re no different, are you?

Worse, he dragged Lowell, Aegina, and Lauti into those fantasies.

And the other knights smirked as they watched, enjoying the discomfort and vulgarity of the moment.

The captain, as before, stepped in and told Flamel to stop—but it was too late.

With a short incantation, I unleashed the spell “Shard of Sleeplessness.”

Crimson-black tree roots shot up from the earth and crushed Flamel’s head.

That disgusting expression was obliterated, erased from the world, and that vile voice would never defile the air again.

The horses reared up in panic at the sudden eruption.

The knights, caught between shock and chaos, stumbled about trying to control them.

In the midst of that confusion, I acted.

I called upon Sylph and told her to drop them.