RGS Vol 7 Part 3

The ground he examined closely with a torch was indeed black. The land was completely charred, as if everything had burned. While Truyde was the one who had made the Dragon’s Forest this way twelve years ago, the newly blackened land was not his doing. What was clear was that the forest had expanded, as reported.

No, it was called a forest, but there wasn’t a single tree or blade of grass, rendering it a completely useless land.

A place that was entirely dead, yet had expanded its area as if it were a living organism?

Truyde couldn’t believe it even after seeing it himself. He had come all the way to the edge of the castle to see the entrance of the forest and still shook his head in disbelief.

“Someone must have done something.”

He spoke definitively, and his subordinate glanced at the surrounding soldiers.

“But who could do such a thing?”

“Are you saying the ground changed by itself?”

The subordinate fell silent, but his face still showed confusion. He knew it was a bizarre and unsettling occurrence, but he hadn’t expected Truyde to come and verify it himself. Because of this, it only made the soldiers feel the seriousness of the situation more keenly.

“The original boundary was over there?”

Truyde pointed to a distant flame, barely visible and looking smaller than his palm. As soon as his subordinate confirmed, he immediately issued orders.

“Send a soldier in.”

Though his voice was not loud, the soldiers were greatly shaken. While they did not murmur, they all looked frightened and tried to retreat. They all lowered their heads simultaneously, fearing they might catch his eye. Truyde glanced around at the soldiers and raised his chin.

“You fools. Can’t you even distinguish between the real and the fake? This land was intentionally burned down to cause confusion.”

He spat out coldly and then turned around to his subordinate, urging them. The subordinate, having no choice, forcibly dragged out the first person who had discovered the place and ordered him to enter the blackened ground. However, the order was not obeyed, and only after threatening with a sword did the soldier enter the ground, trembling.

Still, the soldier must have been afraid to go far, because he stopped only three or four steps away from the group. He lowered his head with his eyes tightly shut as if praying in fear. Seeing him like this, as if begging for his life, everyone held their breath and watched him.

If he remained unharmed, as Truyde said, the ground must be a fake that someone had used to trick them. Countless eyes were fixed on the soldier. If this blackened ground was truly part of the Dragon’s Forest, the soldier would disappear like the other soldiers.

However, even after a long time had passed, long enough to ease their tension, nothing happened to the soldier who had bowed his head. Out of courtesy, Truyde waited a little longer before turning to the soldiers.

“Did you see? That ground is not real.”

He declared with certainty, casting a scornful look at the soldiers. However, it did not last long. The soldiers’ eyes all turned to something behind Truyde. Moreover, all of them were showing the same expressions. Truyde saw it before turning his head around. The same fear spread in his eyes wide with astonishment.

What on earth…?

Norhox’s secret passage was as complex as a maze, and it took some time to find the way out. Fortunately, the exit he came out of was connected to a secluded wall of the Regas Palace, allowing Abel to escape without being noticed by the guards. The Regas Palace, which he had first seen by chance 12 years ago, was a place where all its rooms were lit up and were filled with the sounds of music and laughter. However, now, it was nothing but silence.

Leaving the empty building behind, where all the owners had disappeared, Abel hid himself between the bushes and the wall. There was something he hadn’t told Truyde when talking about the forest. It was something he had discovered first that made him wonder why no one was seen in the forest.

It was the charcoal. Passing through the forest, he had seen it several times. At first, he thought it was just the remains of trees that had burned long ago. However, when he happened to turn his gaze by chance, he saw a long shadow of the remains created by the setting sun. It took the shape of a human figure. The moment he saw it, a cold shiver ran through his entire body.

At the same time, a question arose in his mind.

If so many people had died, where are the bodies?

After a long time, Abel lifted his eyes from the remains that were half his height and looked around. On the endlessly blackened land that stretched out the horizon, there were partially burned remains that were sparsely standing, just like the one he had seen earlier.

He had simply thought of it as the remains of the burned trees.

But what if they weren’t?

Suppressing his frightening thought, he turned his eyes again, and this time, something else caught his eye. As darkness fell and the sunset, a red dot appeared. Inside the remains, a faint red glow that wasn’t visible in the daylight could be seen. It was an ember that hadn’t gone out, indicating that the remains had not been burned long ago.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Srrrr.

Though no actual sound was heard, it felt as if everyone heard the same sound echoing in their ears.

The sound of a pile of sand collapsing. When they witnessed the soldier who had stepped onto the blackened land bowing his head as he collapsed, it was an image that would inevitably be engraved in everyone’s mind. Cracks appeared on his skin and clothes, like a spiderweb, and he split apart.

From the inside, a bright red light seeped out. The light, which seemed blinding for a moment, vanished in an instant, and the soldier turned into black ash before everyone’s eyes, collapsing to the ground. The living being with soft skin and red blood had transformed into a part of the blackened land, unrecognizable, in just a single breath.

Click, Clack.

At the sound of a few footsteps, the soldiers all began to flee. They were too terrified to even scream. Truyde’s subordinate panicked, and he tried to stop them, but no one else helped him. Truyde, who should have been giving orders, was frozen like a statue, his eyes fixed on the soldier who had turned into ash.

‘You. You are the forest’s greatest secret.’

Clack.

Truyde took a step back, biting his trembling lips just like the fleeing soldiers. Karas’ words echoed loudly in his mind.

D*mn it, what the hell?

Is this really because of me?

Is it really because of me that the forest had changed and was cursed?

“Duke!”

With a loud shout, his subordinate grabbed Truyde’s arm and pulled hard. As Truyde was dragged back, he turned his fierce eyes towards his subordinate, who spoke with a trembling voice.

“Look, look beneath your feet.”

The spot where Truyde had just been standing just moments ago had turned into blackened ground.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Twitch.

The tips of his fingers moved so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable. It was the first sign of life from the body that had been lying on the bed like a corpse. Though the movement began faintly at his fingertips, it gradually spread to his whole hand, arm, shoulder, leg, foot, and head, as if a frozen body was slowly thawing.

The body, which had been so stiff it seemed not to be breathing, suddenly took a deep breath, causing it to relax entirely. His chest heaved a few times as his breathing steadied. Finally, as if waking from a deep sleep, Karas’ eyelids began to flutter.

In the middle of the forest, the remains that Abel had seen were still faintly glowing with embers in the darkness. The embers, which could be extinguished at any moment, had no way to reignite. However, a tiny red dot in the black ash flared up miraculously, bursting into flames and coming back to life.

Those flames spread slowly, crawling across the ground into the forest, like a living creature devouring its host. At that exact moment, as the flames burst out in the middle of the forest where no one else was watching, someone’s eyes in a completely opposite palace snapped open.

The gray snake-like eyes glowed like flames in the darkness.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

The Regas Palace, the most splendid part of the palace, was once a place everyone wanted to visit and stay. Even the lowest-ranking servants who did the most menial tasks exuded a pleasant fragrance and were able to eat the most delicious food in the palace. However, in just a matter of few weeks, this place transformed into a ghost house, a place no one wanted to visit.

Countless Regas were dragged into the Dragon’s Forest by soldiers and never returned. When the palace emptied, new Regas were brought in from outside the palace, but they were taken away before they could even unpack. The palace no longer had the beautiful and charming Regas that once graced it.

Some Regas tried to escape, fearing death, but it was difficult to avoid the eyes of the soldiers who guarded the Regas Palace tightly. Then, some tried to escape the palace by bribing or seducing soldiers. Some even survived by disguising themselves by changing clothes with their servants. However, most were caught or failed to escape the palace.

Yet, a few Regas did manage to survive unnoticed. For those who did, the Regas Palace became a place of terror that they could never look back on.

Except for one.

He had barely managed to survive by disguising his servant as himself and sending him into the forest, however, he couldn’t abandon the palace.

It had been two years since he entered the Regas Palace. Not catching Norhox’s eye, he occasionally offered his body to the ministers and visiting nobles to barely stay in the palace. He endured, thinking he couldn’t leave before securing a significant position. However, he knew he would soon be kicked out due to his lack of popularity.

Perhaps because of this, the servant that was assigned to him was mute.

Such bad luck.

Gritting his teeth, he encouraged himself to hold on a little longer. However, after the Emperor arrived, the situation suddenly changed, and when it became clear that all the Regas would die, he barely managed to escape with only his body.

The servant, who he had thought was bad luck, turned out to be his fortune. He had felt such a great sense of relief when he tricked the mute servant into being handed over to the soldiers as a Regas. The fool, perhaps realizing what was happening, screamed as he was dragged away. However, no one could understand his words since he couldn’t speak even a single word properly.

Thus, he managed to save his life. He should have just fled far away, but he couldn’t. The money he had saved was still in the Regas Palace. After bribing a guard, he entered the palace again, thinking that today was his last chance. He had learned that Truyde and the emperor’s battle would end tomorrow.

Of course, the winner would be Truyde. If so, he might refill the Regas Palace with new Regas. He couldn’t let someone else take over the room he had been using and find the money he had hidden. So, he snuck back into the palace in the middle of the night, disguised as a servant. His disguise was perfect. He had even dyed his hair black.

Clatter, clatter.

Relying on a small candle, he struggled to remove the double-layered cover inside the drawer. He had to hurry and leave before dawn. He felt uneasy because there were unusually many soldiers around the Regas Palace tonight.

That’s why, when the cover finally opened with a click, he was too overjoyed to notice the presence behind him.

Haha, it’s done.

All the beautiful and popular Regas died in the forest, but he, the most ignored one, was the winner.

Once I safely leave the palace, I can eat and live comfortably…

“Hehe.”

The sudden eerie laughter shattered the Regas’ thoughts like glass. At the same time, a chill ran up his spine to the top of his head. Turning his head around in shock, he saw someone standing right behind him, laughing.

“It’s you. You. The real Regas.”