9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 184 - The Abyss (5)

“I, Friedrich Kruger, as Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Schufaben, swear to serve my nation with loyalty, serve my people with devotion, and as God’s servant and His Majesty the King’s servant, protect His Majesty’s safety until the moment my life ends.”

Beautiful golden hair.

Eyes as blue as if they contained the sea.

A young knight of entrancing handsomeness knelt before the throne in white knight’s garb. The king brought his scepter, adorned with pure gold and amber, to touch the knight’s forehead.

“I, Leopold, heir to the great Berg dynasty, remember your oath.”

“What is this…”

The cube’s branches opened once more, light bursting forth, and a storm struck. Wind so fierce I wondered if all the windows in the room would shatter shook my entire body.

With the sensation of being pulled somewhere by powerful force, multicolored lights swirled and flickered before my eyes.

My head felt like it would split as I gritted my teeth and suppressed a scream. Then, shedding tears of pain, I opened my eyes to find myself in this state.

I stood in a magnificent and intricate palace hall. Not far away, in the center of the hall, Kruger was pledging loyalty to the king.

“There was more than one spell cast on it, it seems.”

A leisurely voice reached my ears. Looking beside me, there was another Kruger.

“Not all inheritors of the pact are as perceptive as you, Lucas.”

He pointed at the king, Leopold III.

“He prepared quite thoroughly indeed. Since he couldn’t know whose hands it would fall into, he even cast spells for the benefit of foolish royal heirs. So they could experience firsthand what the pact truly means. Isn’t that right?”

Ah, so it’s like experiential learning.

“Illusions of the past… Playing only in our minds.”

“As expected, quick on the uptake.”

Magic really is one continuous source of amazement.

This ‘illusion’ couldn’t be compared to any technology from the world I lived in.

Everything visible and tangible was incredibly realistic and vivid. Sight, smell, hearing, touch—all were completely identical to reality. Ah, I couldn’t test taste though.

But naturally, the people in the illusion couldn’t perceive our talking or moving about.

A maid came with a golden cup and a large needle. When the young Kruger extended his hand, the maid carefully pricked his fingertip with the needle.

Drop by drop, blood fell from his pale hand into the golden cup.

When the small cup was half full, the maid waved the needle and chanted an incantation. The wound on the knight’s fingertip healed instantly.

“I thought it was just a ceremony.”

Kruger muttered in an uncharacteristically wistful tone.

“Who could have known they’d use my blood for such vile purposes.”

“Even Your Excellency had naive moments, it seems.”

At my teasing, Kruger burst into loud laughter.

Look at that leisure—I’d like to punch him. I’m still boiling with rage inside.

In the blink of an eye, the scenery around us changed completely.

Kruger and I now stood before a spire of the royal castle. A few steps ahead stood the young Kruger, whose appearance hadn’t changed at all.

The scent of blood wafted strongly from him. In the distance, sounds of gunfire, shouting, and clashing swords rang out, grating on the nerves.

‘This spire, it’s definitely…’

It looked far too similar to the tower where Kruger currently lives.

The young Kruger who had been looking up at the spire walked gracefully without footsteps and swung his sword. Blue sword energy burst forth, shattering the spire’s door.

Our bodies moved automatically to follow his steps like ghosts. While I was concentrating on this unfamiliar but quite interesting sensation, the young Kruger climbed the stairs with heavy steps.

Occasionally arrows shot out or magic-based traps sprang up, but he easily disabled them.

Finally reaching the top floor, Kruger faced a mage corps guarding a small door.

“Come no further!”

An old mage shouted.

“Is that a joke?”

Kruger grinned wickedly and charged with his sword.

“Fire!”

At the old mage’s command, dozens of men behind him unleashed beams of mixed flame, lightning, and ice. But Kruger raised a protective barrier around his body and broke through, swinging his sword.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Graaagh!”

The mages’ bodies were torn apart in an instant.

A massacre with blood and flesh flying.

Each time the sword moved, four or five people died.

‘Damn, how do you even fight a bastard like that? He’s more of a monster than Damier!’

I cursed inwardly.

The books and magazines praising the Supreme Leader had emphasized that he was a ‘genius knight perfect in both ability and character.’

Character is bullshit, but his ability is undeniable.

‘Has he gotten weaker now that he’s old?’

Having pointless thoughts, I was pulled through the shattered door.

“You were here, Your Majesty.”

The spacious room was indeed identical to the one I had imagined. Except instead of the full window covering the opposite wall, there was a door leading to a terrace.

In the dark room, starlight and cold wind poured through the wide-open terrace door.

“Ah, it was you, Sir Knight.”

Leopold III leaned precariously against the terrace railing and smiled. Black hair, black eyes gleaming with madness, and a vile-looking face.

‘That guy doesn’t seem quite sane either, does he?’

No, from what I can see now, the young Kruger looks far more normal.

Whether due to the revolutionary faction’s smear campaign or not, people’s evaluation of Leopold III was quite poor.

At best, he was an unfortunate king who couldn’t keep up with the revolutionary tide; bluntly put, an incompetent fool obsessed with luxury and indulgence.

“Please evacuate immediately, Your Majesty. This place is dangerous.”

The young Kruger approached him. Leopold III shook his head.

“You intend to make me a being who can neither live nor die, don’t you? I have no intention of meekly falling for your scheme.”

He fluttered his ornate ceremonial robes and launched into a lengthy speech.

“Sir Friedrich. Did you think I wouldn’t know? You’ve sided with those idiots who call themselves revolutionaries, planning to secure a position for yourself. Perhaps you even intend to betray them and become the new emperor!

You’ll drag me away and confine me somewhere, making it impossible for me to take my own life to protect your life! And you’ll want to find a way to nullify the pact between you and me, but give up! The pact only disappears when you die! Hahahahaha!”

The king burst into mad laughter and threw himself over the terrace.

But Kruger’s response was faster. Before the king’s body could fall even a few floors, energy extending from his sword caught the king.

Wrapped in a protective barrier and floating in midair, the king frowned as he saw Kruger approaching him.

“It’s over, Your Majesty.”

He looked up at the king with his proud blue eyes.

“It’s not the end, but the beginning.”

The king smiled coldly and pulled out a gun hidden in his sleeve, shooting himself in the temple without hesitation.

“See you in hell.”

Bang!

The king spat blood and died instantly.

But the young Kruger did not die. The knight’s impassive face looked down beyond the terrace, swallowed by the darkness of night.

“I told you, Lucas. I didn’t kill him.”

“But you made it appear as if you did.”

Watching the young Kruger decapitate the corpse and manipulate various evidence, I replied lightly.

“Leopold was a cunning man. I merely let him mistakenly believe he was killing me by committing suicide, not knowing the true rules of the pact.”

“In truth, Your Excellency was safe because you had already transferred the pact to another royal family member. Though I don’t know who the inheritor was.”

“That’s not important.”

The scenery was changing again.

***

A strange and vast hall.

The ceiling was so high I had to crane my neck to see it, and instead of starlight, sunlight poured through windows.

Countless bookshelves extending endlessly into the distance. Surrounding this vast sea of books, beautiful clocks and pure gold sculptures adorned the walls.

A large table sat in the center of the polished marble floor with a map of this world spread across it.

An unrealistically beautiful and magnificent space.

“This is…”

“You came! You finally came!”

Leopold III suddenly popped out from between some bookshelves like an alley.

He ran to the center of the hall in one breath, grabbed me in a bear hug, and bounced excitedly.

“What, what?!”

“I’ve been waiting for you!”

“The king? But the illusion can’t perceive us—”

“It’s possible here! I made it so!”

The king spread his arms wide and cheerfully shouted in a somewhat sticky voice.

“This is the Hall of Memory! A palace built inside Sir Friedrich’s mind!”

I reflexively turned toward Kruger. He was staring at the king with an expressionless face.

“How difficult it was to implement this magic! Those poor mages were all slaughtered by Sir Friedrich a few days later!”

“So then… are you the memory traces of the dead Leopold III? Or a copy? A thought-form?”

“Call it whatever you like! Such things are trivial subjects now. What’s important is that the pact’s inheritor has appeared! Haha! Sir Friedrich, you thought the pact was severed! You never dreamed an inheritor existed!”

He did find out eventually though.

I wanted to interject, but couldn’t get the words out. The grinning king grabbed both my hands, startling me.

“Please, restore the dynasty once more so the descendants of the Berg royal house can enjoy glorious splendor again!”

“Pardon?!”

I nearly gaped at the insane words.

“Foolish.”

Kruger, now lounging against a massive sculpture, spoke dryly.

“Risking your life for such an uncertain goal.”

“Just that much? That’s why you’re no good, Sir Friedrich.”

The king clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“Don’t you understand my grand vision? Why do you think I transferred the pact instead of fleeing? Even if I saved this one life, those rebel bastards would remain! And if you died by my hand, dragging you to the afterlife with me? Would that one less person overturn the rebellion?

So I made a choice. To find my successor who would someday bring you down and establish a new royal house! And you are my hope!”

He approached uncomfortably close and patted my shoulder.

“Since Sir Friedrich cannot take your life no matter how he struggles. He can never achieve those black schemes of his. You betrayed me, and you’ll eventually betray those idiots calling themselves revolutionaries, planning to sit on the throne yourself! But as long as I played my trump card, that’s impossible!”

He’s already become something like a king though.

Ignoring my rebuttal, the king glared viciously at Kruger and continued his rambling.

“This magic opening means the inheritor before your eyes is a legitimate descendant of the royal house. Sir Friedrich, if you want to live, help my successor.”

“You’re insane. No, you were always that kind of person.”

Kruger approached with light mockery and swung his sword. The king split in half, then reappeared on top of a bookshelf.

“You will face ruin, Sir Friedrich. You’ll die by the inheritor’s hand. That’s the path decided from the moment I implemented this magic.

Of course, it wasn’t easy. Making the last card to overturn you—could such a thing be simple? I created formulas that never existed in history, used all the castle’s mana stones, and had all the mages chant spells until their stamina was completely exhausted. All to find the inheritor who would kill you.”

Suddenly, chills ran through my entire body.

‘So that magic is why this world summoned me?’

Lightning seemed to strike my brain. I staggered and sat down next to Kruger.

‘I was dragged here just to restore some destroyed dynasty?’

What a bizarre wheel of fate.

Normally, Lucas Redan could never kill Friedrich Kruger. He was a Supreme Leader fanboy paralyzed by fear.

But one day, I was pulled from my perfectly ordinary life into this insane world.

And by some chance, I, who had taken over Lucas’s body as the pact’s inheritor, decided to kill Kruger.

For survival.

For revenge.

Why did Kruger spare me, and…

“Your Excellency.”

I quietly called to Kruger.

“Please tell me once more. Why did you spare my life? Before you knew a pact inheritor had appeared. No, how did I even survive to the point of deciding to kill Your Excellency in the first place? Why was I, born in the chaos when over seventy percent of royals and nobles died, allowed to be among the remaining thirty percent?”

“Do you believe in fate?”

Kruger asked with slight irritation in his voice.

“Lucas, your family survived by negotiating with the revolutionaries. You survived by catching my interest. Quite fortunate, isn’t it? If I had executed you without even knowing of your existence, I would have died without understanding why. But Lucas, surely you don’t want to say this was all predetermined.”

“Then was it all coincidence?”

Leopold III appeared ghostlike before us.

“No, this is inevitable.”

He wore a disgusting smile.

“Sir Friedrich, you walk the path of destruction. I laid the path, but it was your free will that chose to walk it. Even so, isn’t this fate—”

Kruger swung his sword again.

The king split in half and vanished somewhere far away to regenerate, no longer visible.

I gripped my creaking knees and stood up. In the quiet hall, only the soft ticking of clock hands echoed.

“…Your Excellency.”

I called to Kruger in surprise.

His hands—his fingertips gripping the sword—were trembling slightly.

“Your Excellency, are you afraid?”

Then Kruger looked at me. Blue eyes dangerously swirling with all kinds of emotions.

“Afraid?”

“…”

“Lucas.”

He opened his mouth with a strange smile.

“I do not feel fear.”

Suddenly, from very far away, a book shot out from some bookshelf and flew toward us, opening wide.

An old, seemingly fragile book, large enough to cover all the windows on the walls.

The illustration in the book showed a golden-haired, blue-eyed boy I’d seen somewhere before.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

The slowly flowing clock ticks began to speed up.

“Ugh!”

The space shook as if an earthquake had struck. The floor cracked and the glass ceiling shattered, scattering fragments. The bookshelves began falling in a chain reaction, collapsing.

“What is this again?!”

Beside me, Kruger’s fingers and entire body trembled violently. And with strong wind, we were sucked into the illustration.