MDL | Chapter 2.12

What a foolish prince.

……

……

……Huh? No? Did I speak too loudly? Loud enough to be heard even in that world? Hmm… No, right?

……

……The prince was startled by the voice echoing in his ears. It seemed no one else could hear it. It was a sound only the prince could hear… Yes, like an auditory hallucination.

An auditory hallucination.

Yes.

…An auditory hallucination… that sounded like… the wizard’s voice.

Over the short span of a few days, the prince realized he had grown more accustomed to the wizard’s presence than he had thought. Haha, that’s right. The wizard would surely have scolded the prince with those words. If the wizard had been here, if he had noticed the prince’s hesitation to draw his cursed sword…

If the prince were to cut them down here and now, would that truly be death?

You and I both know it wouldn’t be. The wizard knows it too. A story with a fixed beginning and end. Open the book, close it, and you can meet them alive again anytime.

The prince vaguely understands this too. He knows that he and the others in this world live lives that repeat endlessly.

So, does life and death hold any value?

Would it really matter if he cut down all these troublesome people just this once? They’ll come back to life once the cycle resets anyway.

In that…

Moment of impulse…

The prince unconsciously gripped the scabbard with his left hand. As he pulled the hilt with force, the blade slid halfway out without a sound. It gleamed white, carrying the prince’s impulse. The soldiers facing the prince paled at the sight of the cursed sword’s elegant yet menacing form. The blade seemed to urge the prince on, flashing brightly. The prince’s green eyes began to lose focus. In the halo of light around the blade… it felt as though something was there. If he reached out, he might be sucked in. Like the maw of a shadow monster. Beyond it, an endless void, a hollow cavity leading to “nothingness.”

“Just one month!”

The young king’s shrill cry snapped the prince back to his senses. He pushed the blade back into the scabbard. With a click, the white light emanating from the blade vanished.

What had come over him? The prince wondered.

Perhaps it was the blinding golden light radiating from the palace. The greed embedded in the piles of straw. The desperation to gather every name in the world to uncover the fairy’s name.

Maybe all of that was gnawing at the hearts of even those who had no connection to it.

“No, if a month is too much, then two weeks! Ten days!”

“Let me go! I said let go! You leech, let go!”

“Just ten more days! Please!”

“No!”

“You’re a maiden, aren’t you? You’ve never married, never been engaged, never carried another man’s child. A pure maiden who’s never been touched by a man!”

“Ahhh!”

Rose’s face turned red as she screamed. Honestly, it’s such rude content to shout in front of so many people. If I were in Rose’s position, I’d have screamed like that too.

“Just let me check if she’s a witch or not! Please!”

Rose screamed again. Zig grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him, but the king was no easy opponent. Pushing aside the ineffective soldiers, he grabbed Rose’s ankle. Rose lost her balance and fell. Zig, still holding her hand, tumbled down with her.

“All I need is to see if you can spin straw into gold!”

Sigh, greed really makes people this despicable, huh? The gold thread the queen spun over three days would have been enough wealth for a lifetime. Yet, unsatisfied, he still craved more gold.

Like she had with the other soldiers, Rose thrashed and kicked at the king’s head and shoulders. But the king was far, far, far more tenacious than the soldiers. He tightened his grip on Rose’s leg and held on stubbornly.

That’s when it happened.

From beyond the wall, where lively music, drunken laughter, and chatter had filled the air, a piercing scream rang out.

A violin screeched a dissonant chord.

Then, screams.

The sound of glass and golden plates crashing to the ground.

More screams.

The sound of an instrument’s string snapping mid-play.

Screams again.

The dull sound of something collapsing.

Screams once more.

The sound of people running in chaos.

What is that! Help me! Run! Hurry, hurry! Ah, I’m trapped! Don’t push! I’m going to fall! What is that! I said don’t push! This way! Hurry! Help me, please…

Voices, indistinguishable and jumbled, mixed with the sounds of breaking, trampling, and shattering. Cries of terror, mashed together like clay, no longer even recognizable as screams.

The chaotic noise began in the southwest corner of the palace.

The soldiers trying to separate Rose and Zig, and those facing the prince, all stared blankly toward the southwest. All they could see was the clear blue sky. Just that.

“Look at that!”

A middle-aged soldier, who had been facing the prince, pointed a finger and shouted, forgetting his own situation.

“What is that?”

The question he spat out was identical, word for word, to the terrified questions shouted by those who had seen it before him. Countless questions, crushed and trampled in the chaos and noise.

What on earth is that?

On a clear, blue festival morning. While those who saw it were asking the same question, a piece of the sky cracked and fell.

And what remained in its place was…

Now, you all know it well.

An empty void. A cavity.

A darkness like the bottom of a well.

Or, “nothingness.”

……Yes, that’s right. In the end, the rifts caught up to the prince and his party. The calamity crawled out beyond the prince’s kingdom and spread like a plague. Those two days spent searching for the fairy godmother’s name were a waste. If they had crossed the border immediately, the prince’s party could have escaped further from the rifts.

The chaotic noise, which had initially been distant, grew closer. The rifts in the sky widened and drew nearer. Not just in the sky, but thin cracks began to appear in the air before their eyes. From the gaps where the world had fallen away, black, limb-like shapes began to emerge, writhing and featureless. They began to swallow houses, livestock, and people, gulping them down!

The soldiers were in disarray, unsure of what to do. What use were the king’s orders to detain the outsiders now? Some threw down their weapons and fled blindly. Some ran toward the rifts, trying to save their neighbors. Some collapsed, their legs giving out. Some stood frozen, wetting their pants. And the rest, unable to do anything, swung their weapons wildly in panic. The plants the gardeners had worked so hard to cultivate were mercilessly cut down, the walls were scarred, and blood dripped from the skin of their fellow soldiers.

Chaos… Hahaha, truly chaos!

But since they had experienced this once before, the prince’s party wasn’t as shocked as the others. But could you say their despair was any less? No, you couldn’t.

“Zig! Hurry!”

Their horses must be safe, but I’m worried…….

The prince drew his cursed sword. As if it had been waiting for this moment, the blade gleamed white, then even whiter. It hummed lowly, resonating with the calamity that had befallen the world, trembling as if alive.

From the crumbling cracks in the world, a black arm burst forth. The moment a soldier’s cloak was caught in its grasp, the prince’s sword severed the monster’s arm. The severed limb was sucked into the sword like smoke.

“Let’s go, Princess.”

Taking advantage of the king’s stunned state in the midst of the chaos, Zig quickly helped Rose to her feet.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

What a persistent man.

The moment Rose tried to flee, the king grabbed her ankle again and clung to her.

“You’re not leaving!”

He seemed out of his mind.

“If you’re going to leave, at least prove you’re not a witch first!”

……Did I, by any chance, describe this king as “handsome” a few pages ago? That he had a decent appearance, though not as good as our prince?

I take it back.

There’s nothing uglier than a person consumed by greed, acting so despicably……

“Your boots! Princess, your boots!”

Zig said.

“Just take them off!”

Oh ho, not a bad idea. Rose, following Zig’s advice, tried to remove the boot the king was holding onto, clawing at his hand and head as she did. The more she struggled, the tighter the king gripped her leg, refusing to let go. Even as his forehead was torn and blood dripped from his nose, he reached up her leg, from her ankle to her shin, to her knee.

Meanwhile, the rifts continued to spread relentlessly. A large piece of the sky crashed down near Rose and Zig.

“Damn it, let go……”

Rose finally spat out a curse, her voice trembling. Her eyes met Zig’s. What could she have been thinking in that brief moment? If she gave up, Zig could still escape with the prince. But in the next moment, Zig pulled her closer with even more force. His hands were damp with sweat.

Despite his disheveled appearance and trembling body, Zig smiled brightly at Rose.

Rose shook her head. Her grip on Zig’s hand loosened slightly. The hand that had been clawing at the king’s hair went limp. Then, something… touched her fingertips, which were flailing weakly by her thigh.

Rose’s lips parted slightly. A soundless gasp escaped.

What her hand had touched was, yes, that’s right, everyone. You’re quick to catch on. Yes, it was a pistol. The first thing she had grabbed this morning while preparing to leave again. Before even fully removing her nightgown, she had strapped it tightly to her leather belt with a leather strap… a single gun.

Without fully realizing what she was doing, Rose drew the pistol. She pressed the barrel against the center of the king’s forehead. There was no hesitation. The trigger was pulled, and a fierce explosion echoed. Of course, the sound was drowned out by the other chaotic noises, becoming just another insignificant sound.

A round bullet hole appeared in the king’s forehead. The back of his head had a hole larger than an adult’s fist. Bone fragments, sticky brain matter, and blood gushed out from the hole. Yet, the king’s face still bore an unnatural expression of greed. His eyes were wide with desire for gold, and a strange smile lingered around his cheekbones.

“Ugh, ughhh……”

Rose made a sound, something between a sob and a wail, as she looked at the man she had killed. Zig, holding her limp body, removed her boot for her. The king, even in death, had not let go of her ankle.

A shadow monster, creeping toward them, pounced on the king’s corpse. It was a surreal sight.

Under the clear morning sky, perfect for a picnic. Beneath the bright, rising sun. A black monster, gulping down the half-smiling head of a man, from which red blood and sticky brain matter oozed.

Zig began to slowly help Rose escape. A few soldiers, belatedly realizing the king’s death, hesitated, unsure whether to chase them or flee themselves.

The prince, after cutting down a shadow monster that had opened its maw above him, sliced through the spine of another creature blocking Rose and Zig’s path.

“Hurry. Once we turn that corner……”

The prince didn’t finish his sentence. A panicked soldier, swinging his sword wildly, nearly decapitated him. Perhaps mistaking the prince for a monster, the soldier continued to swing his blade at him. There’s nothing harder to block than the sword of someone who’s lost their mind.

“Your Highness!”

Zig cried out in frustration, but he couldn’t go to the prince’s aid. He was barely managing to keep himself and Rose safe.

Just around that corner were their horses. Why did such a short distance, which would normally take only a few minutes, feel so far away now?

Pieces of the sky crumbled and fell like old plaster. The world’s shell dropped in chunks. Hands and feet emerged from black voids. Soldiers, like pebbles in a rolling barrel, were pushed and shoved as they fled the calamity.

Barely escaping the frenzied soldier’s attacks, the prince looked at the world before him with despair. He saw Zig and Rose, struggling to take even a single step forward.

……Omphalos?

It felt like an unreachable goal, a destination that could never be attained. The strength drained from the prince’s hands, which had gripped the cursed sword so many times to protect his people in past stories.

Perhaps it would be better to just become food for the monsters here.

The prince had seen the inside of the shadow monsters’ black bellies.

There was nothing there. No life, no death, not even pain. Just… nothingness.

The sword fell to the ground. Without a sound, thud. The light that had enveloped the blade vanished. As if reflecting the prince’s loss of will to go on.

……

……

……

That’s when it happened.

“Ahhhhhh!”

A tremendous sound echoed. People’s screams, and… this was……? The sound of something massive rushing forward? Could it be the shadow monsters? No, it sounded more like the pounding of hooves……

“Ahhh! Move! Move, move!”

The sound was coming from around the corner, where the prince’s party had tied their horses!

“Move, I said! Oh no!”

The prince’s head snapped up. Through the haze of dust… three horses, galloping as if their tails were on fire… and a man holding their reins, running alongside them?

No, let me correct that.

It looked less like he was holding the reins and more like he was being chased by the three furious horses. If he slowed down even a little or tripped, the horses would trample him.

“……Wizard?”

The prince muttered in disbelief.

“Everyone, move! If you don’t want to be trampled, move!”

Yes, it was the wizard, who they thought had disappeared!

Haha, everyone. Were you wondering when the wizard would return? It took some time to fix his body, which had been too badly damaged. Of course, he was also waiting for the most dramatic moment to reappear.

“Everyone, move! Move, move, move!”

The wizard shouted again. His sudden entrance, along with the three furious horses, sent everyone into a panic, clearing the way. Even the shadow monsters!

The prince picked up the sword he had dropped. As his hand touched it, the blade began to emit a white light once more.

“Your Highness. Get on! Uh, uh… uh oh……!”

 ……Well, he had been running surprisingly well. But, as expected, a wizard isn’t a wizard if he doesn’t trip. Unable to keep up with the speed of the three horses he was holding onto, the wizard’s feet tangled, and he fell. The prince, using his sword to push off the ground, rushed toward the wizard. He reached out. Just barely, he managed to catch the wizard by the waist. The force sent the wizard’s left foot sliding out, and his body arched from toe to crown, but thankfully, he avoided cracking his skull. The three horses, which had seemed like they would run forever, also came to a halt as if recognizing the prince.

The dust that had been swirling in the air settled white on the prince’s hair and clothes, and on the wizard’s forehead and the bridge of his nose.

Half-cradled in the prince’s arms, the wizard blinked several times. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he just flushed red without a word. The prince felt his own pulse racing wildly. He had run too hard to catch the wizard before he fell.

There were many things he wanted to ask, but the prince first helped the wizard to his feet. He took the reins from the wizard’s hand and swiftly mounted Sleipnir. Taking advantage of the brief opening created by the wizard and the three horses, Zig and Rose also managed to get on their horses.

“Wizard…”

As he had done during their previous journey, Zig tried to let the wizard ride behind him. But at that moment, the prince grabbed the wizard’s arm firmly and pulled him up onto the back of Sleipnir. Zig awkwardly withdrew his outstretched hand and shot the prince a questioning look. However, there was no time to exchange words. As soon as the wizard’s arms wrapped tightly around the prince’s waist, the prince kicked the horse’s sides and galloped off. The other two horses, carrying Zig and Rose, followed closely behind.

They dodged the limbs of the shadow monsters surging toward them like a tidal wave, avoided the rifts in the world, escaped the calamity, and ignored the tears and pleas of those left behind.

Further and further away.

Toward the north.

To Omphalos.